THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2016
FRIDAY EXCHANGE
AP Photo/Evan Vucci
Ivanka Trump, right, looks on as her father, Republican
presidential candidate Donald Trump, delivers a policy
speech on child care Tuesday in Aston, Penn.
Hillary sharpens,
Trump softens.
But he’s rising
inhabit a living hell and there-
fore have nothing to lose by
voting for him hovers some-
where between condescension
and insult.
ASHINGTON — If
But, as every living
you are the status
commentator has noted, the
quo candidate in
foray into African-American
a change election in which
precincts was not aimed at
the national mood is sour and
winning black votes but at
two-thirds of the electorate
countering Trump’s general
think the country is
image as the bigoted
on the wrong track,
candidate of white
what do you do?
people.
Attack. Relentlessly.
Result? A curious
Paint your opponent
dynamic in which
as extremist, vola-
Clinton keeps upping
tile, clueless, unit,
the accusatory ante
dangerous.
just as Trump
Indeed, Hillary
keeps softening
In an act
Clinton’s latest
his tone — until
national ad,
inds herself
of brazen she
featuring major
way over the
Republican pol- rebranding, top, landing
iticians echoing
in a basket of
that indictment
deplorables, a
they set
of Donald
phrase that will
out to
Trump, ends
haunt her until
thus: “Unit.
Election Day.
endow
Dangerous.
(Politics 101:
Even for
Never attack the
him with
Republicans.”
voter.)
That was
(2) The
stature and
the theme
immigration
empathy. wobble. A week
of Clinton’s
famous “alt-
of nonstop
right” speech and of much of
word salad about illegal
her $100 million worth of ads. immigration left everyone
Problem is, it’s not
confused about what Trump
working.
really believes. Genius. The
Over the last month,
only message to emerge from
Trump’s new team, led by
the rhetorical fog is that he is
Kellyanne Conway, has
done talking about deportation
worked single-mindedly to
and/or legalization. The very
blunt that line of attack on the discussion is off the table until
theory that if he can just cross years down the road.
the threshold of acceptability,
Case closed. Toxic issue
he wins. In an act of brazen
detoxiied.
rebranding, they set out to
Again, that’s not going to
endow him with stature and
win him the Hispanic vote.
empathy.
But that wasn’t the point. The
Stature was acquired in
point was to soften his image
Mexico, whose president
in the Philadelphia suburbs,
inexplicably gave Trump the
pundit shorthand for white
opportunity to stand on the
college-educated women that
world stage with a national
Republicans have to win (and
leader and more than hold
where Trump trails Romney
his own. It’s the same stature
2012 by 10 points). Which
booster U.S. Sen. Barack
brings us to:
Obama pulled off when he
(3) The blockbuster
stood with the French presi-
childcare proposal. Unveiled
dent at a news conference in
Tuesday, it is liberalism at
Paris in 2008.
its best, Big Government at
That was part one: Trump
its biggest: tax deductions,
the statesman. Part two: the
tax rebates (i.e. cash), and a
kinder gentler Trump.
federal mandate of six weeks
Nervy. Can you really
of paid maternity leave. The
repackage the boasting,
biggest entitlement since,
bullying, bombastic, insulting, well, Obamacare.
insensitive Trump into a
But wait. Didn’t Trump’s
mellow and caring version?
acolytes assure us that he
With two months to go? In
spoke for those betrayed
a digital age in which every
by the sold-out, elitist,
past outrage is preserved on
GOP establishment that for
imperishable video?
years refused to stand up
Turns out, yes. How?
to Obama’s overweening
Delect and deny — and pre-
mandates, Big Government
tend it never happened. Where proligacy and budget-busting
are they now — the birther-
entitlements?
ism, the deportation force, the
No matter. That was
scorn for teleprompters, the
yesterday. There is no past.
mocking of candidates who
Nor a future — at least for
take outside money? Down
Ivanka-care. It would never
the memory hole.
get through the GOP House.
Orwell was wrong. You
Nor is it meant to. It is
don’t need repression. You
meant to signal what George
need only the sensory over-
H. W. Bush once memorably
load of an age of numbingly
read off a cue card. “Message:
ephemeral social media. In
I care.”
this surreal election season,
And where do you think
there is no past.
Trump gave this dish-the-
Clinton ads keep showing
Whigs cradle-to-college
actual Trump sound bites
entitlement speech? Why, the
meant to shock. Yet her num-
Philadelphia suburbs!
bers are dropping, his rising.
Can’t get more transparent
How? Trump never goes
than that. Or shameless. Or
on the defensive. He merely
brilliant.
creates new Trumps. Hence:
And it’s working.
(1) The African-American
OREGON CAPITAL
blitz. It’s a new pose and the
novelty shows. Trump is not
very familiar with the lan-
guage. He occasionally slips,
Get the inside
for example, into referring to
scoop on state
government
“the blacks.” And his argu-
and politics!
ment that African-Americans
By CHARLES
KRAUTHAMMER
Washington Post Writers
Group
W
INSIDER
Library questions
Calling foul
D
T
escribing a problem is the
irst step in solving it. So
far, Astoria’s city council has
only offered a title: Library.
Oh – and three council-
ors did inally, after extended,
ill-designed discussion, vote
to try to scrape up a minimal
sum for a renovation of cur-
rent facilities, which prompted
expert warnings of expen-
sive errors. No wonder the
ive councilors who voted on
an array of scenarios failed to
satisfy a seeming majority of
voters.
I, for one, appreciate the
beautiful new libraries at
Naselle, Washington, and Sea-
side as civic ornaments.
I’ll offer some questions
which should help achieve a
useful description of the prob-
lem:
Is a signiicant dollar
expenditure appropriate in
order to achieve a major civic
ornament? Can we quantify
that value?
How many patrons use the
public library today, compared
with 10 (or 20) years ago?
How does circulation com-
pare, over a similar time span?
How have online down-
loads to personal devices
(tablets, iPods, Kindles,
smartphones, etc.) affected
circulation?
How does the Asto-
ria Library compare with the
libraries at Clatsop Commu-
nity College and Astoria High
School?
Choices made today will
affect the library, which has
belonged to all 10,000-plus
Astorians for a century or
more. The city council owes
taxpayers deliberate, compe-
tent problem-solving. I’d like
to see a ballot measure based
upon such a study.
RALPH WIRFS
Astoria
his is in response to the
editorial “Agricultural
decisions should be based on
facts” (The Daily Astorian,
Aug. 30). The suggestion in
this editorial that neonicoti-
noids’ impact on bee popula-
tions is “folklore” and “postur-
ing” is insulting. Of course that
is the editor’s stance. Most of
the newspaper’s parent compa-
ny’s revenue comes from agri-
culture. But please, don’t play
your readers for stupid.
Here is another quali-
ied long term study suggest-
ing there is, indeed, enough
evidence to suggest a link:
“Nearly two decades of data
reinforce concerns that pesti-
cides are really bad for bees,”
mentioned Aug. 16 in the
Washington Post. I can pro-
duce more links to studies say-
ing the same thing.
The editor’s last sentence,
though, was a real corker: “ …
we must bear in mind that ter-
restrial and aquatic farmers
are the best stewards among
us.” Yep. Business can always
be trusted to put people and
the environment before prof-
its. Right. Some farmers are,
indeed, good stewards. But
corporate farming, not so
much. It’s that proit thing.
Geneticists are increas-
ingly inding convincing evi-
dence that chemical exposure
in humans (whether ingested,
inhaled, or simply exposed to)
can show up in the genes of
subsequent generations. Agri-
cultural fertilizer runoff is hav-
ing impacts — sometimes dev-
astating — on rivers, aquifers
and even the oceans, so much
so that experts say potable
water will be a serious issue in
the second half of this century.
There simply aren’t enough
long term studies to say with
any certainty that the chemi-
cal manufacturers’ claims of
5A
“safety” are valid. With all the
“cides,” be them “insecta” or
“pesti” or “herba” that we are
applying to our crops and soil,
we are playing Russian roulette
with the environment and our
genetics. In the game of Rus-
sian roulette, sooner or later the
gun goes off.
BILL GRAFFIUS
Gearhart
What’s a liberal?
f you think it’s OK to union-
ize public employees who
are over-protected, making
it next to impossible to ire a
worthless employee, you’re
probably a liberal.
If you have no problem
with the unions taking dues
from all employees, and sup-
porting only the Democratic
party with those dues, you’re
probably a liberal.
If you think it’s OK for the
unions, with the help of the
Democratic party, to negoti-
ate wages and beneits that far
exceed those in the private sec-
tor, you’re probably a liberal.
If it doesn’t bother you that
unions are one of the main rea-
sons that our local and fed-
eral governments can’t bal-
ance a budget, you’re probably
a liberal.
If you don’t think we have
enough labor laws to protect
the working class, without the
need of unions, you’re proba-
bly a liberal.
With this kind of thinking,
I’m guessing that you also have
no problem with the illegal
aliens’ devastation to our coun-
try, either. Yes, you’re a liberal.
With these being some of
our most major problems, and
the fact that they get big support
from both Hillary Clinton and
the liberals, our country is in real
trouble. God, please help us.
JIM ELVIN
Salem
I
Keep beneits
I
am a public school teacher
serving Clatsop County.
Every day I am on the front
lines, and I am proud to
keep my commitment to my
community.
When ireighters, nurses,
and teachers like me were
hired, our employers offered
salary and beneits packages
that we agreed to accept. The
work we do is dificult, and
sometimes dangerous. Sta-
ble compensation packages
ensure that state, county and
city employers can recruit and
retain a qualiied workforce
that doesn’t turn over every
year or so.
Even so, retirement bene-
its have already been reduced
substantially for the public
workforce. It is disheartening
when powerful people call on
our employers to change the
rules and further reduce our
retirement beneits, especially
when those calls are based on
false information.
Here is the reality: There
have been two lengthy and
expensive Public Employees
Retirement System (PERS)
lawsuits that brought bigger
pension shortfalls, and the Ore-
gon Supreme Court has made
it clear that employers cannot
reduce beneits further. There
isn’t a single proposal being
put forth today that would
withstand legal muster, or
make a signiicant reduction in
the state’s pension bill without
threatening our retirement.
Instead of entering another
round of costly legal ights, it’s
time for the state to pay its debt
through the normal budgeting
process. Real leadership from
Gov. Brown and state lawmak-
ers will move the state forward
and keep the promises made to
workers like me.
CHUCK ALBRIGHT
Astoria
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