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Ben Cartwright: Invisible

2009-07-06T22:32:02Z

Watch Ben in Silent Partners, the new episode of In Their Boots, a documentary series about the impact the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are having on people here at home. This episode focuses on the partners of members of the military serving under Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

As a committed and patriotic partner of a gay servicemember who has served a tour in Iraq and is preparing to deploy to Afghanistan, one word best sums up my experience: INVISIBLE.

To an entire branch of our government, I do not exist. I am in a loving, devoted relationship with a brave service member who, with courage and my sacrifice and support, has fought for our country on the ground in Iraq. But his family - our family, means nothing to the leaders of our nation. In fact, if the Department of Defense learned of our relationship, my partner would be subject to investigation, prosecution and a possible dishonorable discharge: consequences severe enough to ruin his entire future.

While my partner serves our country during these wars, I receive no benefits (medical benefits, family separation allowance, etc); I cannot access the family and spousal resources on the military base out of which he serves, or take part in military family events. I have no access to "military spouse" support groups and networks. When my partner graduated from military training and when he left for Iraq I had to stand on the sidelines- to vanish, disappear from his life and pretend I did not know him. I was proud to see him off, but heartbroken that I could not give him a hug and what could have been a final kiss goodbye.

These are just a few examples of how invisible I feel, and how invisible I remain.

Dan Brown: The National Governors Association Takes Action to Reform Teaching-- With No Teacher Input

2009-07-06T22:21:05Z

Would you re-write a fire-fighting handbook with no input from fire-fighters? Hire a committee of 60 academics and only one doctor to re-draft medical protocols? Madness!

Yet the National Governors Association (NGA) and its educational arm, the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) are following just that disingenuous path by writing national educational standards for mathematics and English language arts to be implemented by America's K-12 teachers-- with virtually no input from them. Of the over sixty members named from the NGA and CCSSO's standards-making groups, only one, Vern Williams of Virginia, on the mathematics feedback group, is a working classroom teacher. And forget about including any parents or students in the process.

National standards have the backing of President Obama and Secretary Duncan. What this group writes matters; it will become the playbook for teachers across the country. The folly of excluding expert teachers' voices from the shaping process of these standards is profound. Teachers know how to blend academic rigor and supporting learning environments; it's what they do.

I'm not saying that all of the university professors and test-making consultants who actually were included are out of touch with the day-to-day working of K-12 classrooms. At best, our leaders are kidding themselves if they think they can get the best product by shutting the door in the faces of the teachers who are going to live and breathe the results of this process. Or, at worst, it shows in elected leaders a patent mistrust of educators, a hopeless sentiment.

President Obama said-- quite encouragingly-- "America's future depends on its teachers." Let's see them get a seat at the table.

Dan Brown is a teacher and the author of The Great Expectations School: A Rookie Year in the New Blackboard Jungle. His new blog for the Teacher Leaders Network will launch this month.

Obamas Tour Kremlin With Russian First Lady Svetlana Medvedev

2009-07-06T22:19:45Z

MOSCOW — Russia's first lady Svetlana Medvedev took Michelle Obama and her two daughters on a low-key tour of the Kremlin just hours after they arrived in Moscow on Monday.

They set out on their tour as President Barack Obama began talks with Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev elsewhere in the Kremlin on arms control and other issues.

The fortified Kremlin is a leading tourist attraction in Moscow as well as where the presidential offices are situated.

Michelle Obama _ wearing a peach Narciso Rodriguez dress _ and daughters Malia and Sasha had tea in the Winter Garden. They went into the Cathedral of the Assumption, the largest cathedral in the Kremlin, where czars were once coronated.

They also toured the Armory museum, which boasts a large collection of imperial regalia, and the State Diamond Fund, home to the 190-carat Orlov diamond and the world's largest sapphire.

Neither of the girls was shown in official photographs of the visit. State television, which has devoted considerable airtime to the summit, has not broadcast footage of the Kremlin tour.

Michelle Obama, who has upstaged her husband during previous visits to Europe, is expected to keep a lower profile during the two-day trip.

Joseph Nye: Robert McNamara

2009-07-06T22:17:16Z

When I was a young assistant professor at Harvard during the Vietnam War, the name Robert McNamara had purely negative connotations. Influenced by David Halberstam's The Best and the Brightest, and by the disaster of the war, I could not imagine that I would like him some day. But I came to know Bob in 1987 when we spent some time together on an oral history of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and saw him on various occasions after that. I realized that he cared deeply about moral issues. Now I assign the Errol Morris film "The Fog of War" to my students in a course about leadership and ethics in foreign policy. What the fim shows is a man who belatedly realized his frailties and decided to warn a younger generation not to repeat his mistakes. Many former policy makers spend their time after office trying to cast their actions in the best possible light for history. Bob was a rare exception in exposing his mistakes. Of course, he never dropped all the veils. Some things related to family and Vietnam were too sensitive to expose. And he never really came to terms with the question of whether he could have saved lives if he had gone public with his dissent after he lost faith in the war. Like all of us, he was a flawed man, and some part of me will never forgive him for the consequences of his mistakes in Vietnam. But another part respects him for his efforts to come to term with his actions and to help a younger generation to learn.
When I heard of his death today, I was both saddemed and reminded that redemption is a difficult process, and that the lives of leaders are more complicated than I thought when I was an assistant professor.

Christina Bellantoni: Obama about to be campaigner-in-chief; Dodd changes Twitter picture

2009-07-06T22:14:47Z

First published at WashingtonTimes.com

President Obama next week will join New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine for a rally at Rutgers.

Corzine faces a tough reelection bid this fall, when just two states (New Jersey and Virginia) hold gubernatorial elections.

The endorsement is likely to give the governor a boost, though Corzine had been a fervent supporter of then-Sen. Hillary Clinton during the 2008 Democratic primary.

Corzine blogged in a note to supporters that he considers the president "a close friend" and partner:

Vice President Biden was already here and got our campaign started with a bang. On July 16th, President Barack Obama will join me at Rutgers University in New Brunswick to help to kick our campaign into a whole new gear.

...

After eight long years, we finally have a partner in Washington who shares our values and vision for a more progressive New Jersey.

But we still have more to do, and with a partner in Washington who shares our values and priorities, I’m confident in what we can accomplish in the next four years.

Virginia Democrats say a presidential campaign trip for state Sen. Creigh Deeds, the Democratic nominee for governor, is likely to come soon.

Last week when Obama was in Northern Virginia for a health care town hall, Deeds was campaigning in Williamsburg.

During the event's introduction, Obama thanked Gov. Tim Kaine, his friend who he named as chairman of the Democratic National Committee, and freshman Sen. Mark Warner and the other members of Congress in attendance.

He didn't name or offer praise for Deeds, the gubernatorial candidate who is behind in fundraising and name recognition after winning the nomination in a 3-way Democratic primary.

It is possible the president did not want to engage in political activity during an official policy event since the town hall was about health care. Former President Bush used to keep such events separate.

When Deeds beat former Delegate Brian Moran and former DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe in the primary, Obama did ask Virginians to support the new nominee.

The president also spoke to Deeds on the phone, telling the Democrat he is "committed to helping him win this November." The previously deep-red Virginia turned into a battleground state in recent years, and voters backed Obama in both the primary and general election in 2008.

But Deeds' GOP rival, former Attorney General Bob McDonnell, will have plenty of help as well. The Post speculated Monday Sarah Palin will likely be coming to the Old Dominion along with a host of other top national Republicans.

Also worth noting, the president's star power is still valuable, as evidenced by Sen. Chris Dodd's Twitter feed.

Dodd used to have as his profile image a photo of himself at the dais leading one of his Banking Committee hearings.

But the embattled Connecticut Democrat recently switched it to this image of a friendly moment at the White House.

A larger version:

— Christina Bellantoni, White House correspondent,
The Washington Times

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Avery Corman: Robert S. McNamara Remembered (From Afar)

2009-07-06T22:12:44Z

The summer of 1962 and the Army was on maneuvers in North and South Carolina training for its McNamara-conceived Operation Swift Strike. The idea of the Defense Secretary was to modify military training to enable the U.S. to fight brushfire wars instantly anywhere around the world. Involving 70,000 troops, this was the largest peacetime exercise since the end of World War II.

On a platform watching a parachute drop of men and equipment was McNamara along with several military bigwigs in uniform. I, too, was in uniform, about ten feet away, really a solar system away from those men, a freelance writer from New York. I was there because my Army Reserve unit was due for its two weeks summer active duty period and they sent us to South Carolina. Our Army jobs were in public information and we spent the time writing press releases about the maneuvers. I just happened to end up near the reviewing
platform.

I was struck by McNamara's appearance on that platform, imperious, deferred to, a celebrity, or something else, a member of royalty playing with his soldiers and toys, as the paratroopers drifted down, some of the chutes opening badly, those men injured as they rapidly thudded to the earth.

This quality of being above it all, lordly, ordering up many thousands of soldiers so he could try out his concept was foreshadowing for his behavior and the decisions Robert McNamara made in blundering us into Vietnam. Foreshadowed, but you couldn't know it at the time. Only a few men died during the maneuvers, elsewhere. McNamara wouldn't have been able to see them die from where he was standing.

Brad Schreiber: Errol Morris and the Passing of Robert McNamara

2009-07-06T22:01:38Z

Months before he won the Academy Award for Documentary Feature for The Fog of War, I was fortunate enough to interview Errol Morris for the first time, for Entertainment Today. Our one-on-one and his film shifted the rage I felt toward Robert McNamara to something more akin to sympathetic revulsion. With the passing of Mr. McNamara, and with the pure vitriol on the Net today aimed at him, I thought I might re-post Errol's unique perspective on a most complex man.

Errol Morris is like a Mensa teddy bear. His warmth and humanity are unrestrained. When you compliment him on his accomplishments in redefining documentary film, he says, "Awww," in a tone of voice that is both humble and charming. But ask him a question about film theory, history or his latest film The Fog of War, an examination of the life and mind of former Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, and the cuddly persona converts to that of scholarly orator, one who speaks with authority, memorized citations at the ready, with a smooth clarity and purpose.

Morris is not your typical interview subject. He is known for inventing the Interrotron, a camera that allows the interviewer and subject to see one another, while getting the subject to look straight at the lens. His techniques include re-enactments, fluid and varied editing, a willingness to explore the psyche of subjects and evocative soundtrack music, once again using the work of Phillip Glass for Fog of War (opening Dec. 19).

There is yet another tool of the trade Morris employs that is not only unique but hard to define. His usage of "visual analogies," symbolic representations of themes, is present in Fog with a series of dominoes falling. Not only did the Cold War mentality and a "domino theory" of Communist incursion influence McNamara's service to presidents Kennedy and Johnson, but the dominoes also speak to McNamara's lessons on war within the film, informed as well by his involvement with the devastating firebombing of 67 Japanese cities during World War II. At that point in the film, the archival footage of bombs being dropped changes to numerals being dropped, another potent visual analogy.

"Actually, they're handwritten numbers," explained Morris, "and the numbers come from documents which we found in the National Archive which were prepared by Robert S. McNamara. Very few people today know about the firebombing and hardly anybody knows about Robert McNamara's role in the firebombing. There have been I don't know how many biographies of McNamara. None of them have mentioned any of this history. And I believe we were the first people to find those memos, those notes. I don't think they've been looked at since the end of World War II."

Critics of McNamara, as sole, belated government apologist for this country's role in Vietnam, most pertinently in his memoir, In Retrospect, may gain more perspective, in light of McNamara, in Fog of War, not only acknowledging that we came to the brink of nuclear annihilation with the U.S.S.R. three times but his strongly advocating nuclear nonproliferation. "There was a screening in New York," Morris recalled, "earlier this week and Morley Safer was there and I had a long conversation with him. And he said, 'Well, you know, McNamara has made a career out of hand wringing.' And I said, 'Would you prefer that it was a career of self-congratulations?'"

Morris's documentary brings to the fore many considerations about McNamara, including his appointment by JFK after being head of the Ford Motor Company, the nefarious Gulf of Tonkin episode, the Bay of Pigs, the Cuban missile crisis and McNamara's complex relationship to ultra-hawk, Air Force General Curtis LeMay, who directly confronted JFK, advocating nuclear war. "Now, there is no more Krushchev," Morris analyzes, "there is no more Soviet Union and there was no nuclear Armageddon in 1962. But one thing if not certain is pretty damn clear: if we had invaded Cuba, if we had bombed Cuba, in all likelihood, the Russians would have been forced to respond, quite likely with nuclear weapons. They had them and they were in a position to use them and to make matters worse, the local commanders had autonomy from the Kremlin to use them at their own discretion if necessary."

McNamara's "lessons" in Fog of War take on a greater significance when applied to the current military action in Iraq and its corresponding connection to a Southeast Asian conflict that resulted in more than 58,000 American and 3.4 million Vietnamese dead. Morris feels the associations will be made and thus does not refer to current geopolitics in the documentary: "... For me, the meaning of the story is that when you have a predisposition to see something, you can ignore endless evidence to the contrary. And you can even imagine confirming evidence. That's the worst of it. It was in service of this theme, believing is seeing, which as we all know has currency for our particular time in history, because regardless of whether this is a replay of Vietnam or something very different, there are identifiable themes here. And they relate to many of the things that McNamara is saying. Empathize with your enemy. Try at least on some level to understand your enemy without being too touchy-feely. ...It becomes more and more evident every day that our fantasies about weapons of mass destruction were just that and that the evidence for them is spurious at best."

In Fog of War, as with those connected to the pet cemetery in Gates of Heaven, the unjustly accused murderer in The Thin Blue Line and others, the process of examining quirky, iconoclastic or highly complex personality drives Morris. " I think what's documentary-like about me -- parenthetically and quickly -- is my obsession with investigation that many documentary filmmakers do not share. And my obsession with unconstrained monologue -- of putting people in a place where they're trying to tell you who they are and how they should be understood in their own words."

Ariel Gonzalez: Sarah Palin and Anti-Intellectualism in American Life

2009-07-06T22:00:00Z

In his article on the Quitta from Wassila, Todd Purdum asks, "What does it say about the nature of modern American politics that a public official who often seems proud of what she does not know is not only accepted but applauded?" Is the intrepid Vanity Fair reporter shocked, shocked, to find that book larnin' is an electoral liability in God's country? He must be familiar with Richard Hofstadter's Anti-Intellectualism in American Life, which was published in 1964, the year of Sarah Palin's birth. Hofstadter, an esteemed history professor at Columbia University, began work on this groundbreaking study after the defeat of Adlai Stevenson, the Democratic nominee whose willingness to speak in complex, allusive sentences made him a darling of academia and the literati. Stevenson's reluctance to dumb down was interpreted by many as evidence of a vacillating, elitist character. This was nothing new. Hofstadter shows the divide between intelligence and intellect that has existed on these shores since the time of the Puritans. Intelligence is considered essential to practical problem-solving; it "seeks to grasp, manipulate, re-order, adjust...[it] will seize the immediate meaning in a situation and evaluate it." Whereas intellect "is the critical, creative, and contemplative side of mind...[it] evaluates evaluations, and looks for the meaning of situations as a whole."

Like George W. Bush, Sarah Palin fears self-evaluation and contemplation. They both prefer to be ruled by their gut instincts. Of course, they're too arrogant and insecure to acknowledge when these instincts lead them astray. Palin also shares a dangerous sense of unearned entitlement with the former president. She believes she's destined for greatness. So did every other White House aspirant last year. But as we saw yesterday, she won't crack the books and do her homework. Rather than tutor herself on foreign and domestic issues, she has decided to rely henceforward on personality and platitudes. If you haven't already, read her resignation statement, a jaw-dropping aria that should be entitled "Palin Agonistes" or "The Passion of Sarah." She must have composed it herself. (Ye shall know them by their poor writing skills!) Others have critiqued her rambling incoherency, grating informality, and overuse of capitals and exclamation marks. But what stood out for me was the seemingly boundless capacity for deception and delusion. She's not taking "a quitter's way out." Nah, she'll do more for her state by abandoning it in the middle of a recession to raise money in the lower 48 to pay off her legal bills. And who inspired such selflessness? Why, our troops -- or "Troops," as she puts it. "They're bold, they don't give up, they take a stand and know that LIFE is short so they choose NOT to waste time." Honey, if our "Troops" borrowed a page from you, they'd be going AWOL en masse. The low point, however, was the poll she took of her five kids. This is what she claims to have asked them: "Want me to make a positive difference and fight for ALL our children's future from OUTSIDE the Governor's office?" For the moment, let's accept the unlikelihood that she posed such a fatuously constructed, egregiously slanted question to her brood. How did they answer? "It was four 'yes's' and one 'hell yeah!' The 'hell yeah' sealed it -- and someday I'll talk about the details of that." No, she won't. We'll never hear of it again. Because she's lying or twisting the truth. How could a 15-month-old Down's baby comprehend that question? And what about Piper? She's eight. What's she supposed to say? "I don't want you making a positive difference and fighting for kids?" Okay, boys and girls, repeat after me: "Mommy is a passive-aggressive monster."

But what else should we expect? For the past year, Andrew Sullivan has kept a running tally of Palin's numerous prevarications. It's clear this woman has a problem. But a reader of Sullivan's blog suggested that many Christian fundamentalists are untroubled by her cognitive dissonance because they live in a state of constant denial themselves, about evolution, homosexuality, torture, etc. And as Purdum observed, Palin's lack of intellect wins her praise from right-wing Republicans, who listen daily to the wisdom and profundity of Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and Sean Hannity. In fact, all this talk by Limbaugh and Co. of principles is one of the reason that Palin may have a shot at the nomination in 2012. Anybody can espouse principles; policies, however, require brains. So when you hear them go on ad nauseum (I mean you, Sean, you've really got to see somebody about that ideological Turette's) about principles, it's because they have no substantive ideas to propose. But liberals and independents must not let down their guard. Palin's resignation does not mean she's out of the picture. John McCain's unforgivably reckless act of choosing her for a running mate gave her one-hundred-percent name recognition, an invaluable commodity in politics. We must remind the public why that name should never be preceded by any title other than governor.

Palin's Lawyer: Resignation Was An Act Of "Self-Sacrifice" (VIDEO)

2009-07-06T21:23:22Z

Andrea Mitchell spoke to Sarah Palin's lawyer, Thomas Van Flein, Monday about the Alaska Governor's surprise resignation. Van Flein insisted that no scandal instigated the move, and that Palin had already done more in two years than most governors do in eight. Her decision to resign, he explained, was a "self-sacrifice" to save the state from all the frivolous ethics complaints against her.

"Well, I don't think she's upset," he said, when asked about Palin's defensive goodbye speech. "She's actually very articulate. I didn't find her speech rambling at all. She laid out exactly the reasons she had for stepping down and it was really a form of self-sacrifice. She has become the issue. The state of Alaska has been spending money on public records requests, defending or investigating ethics acts with the personnel board, and she had done what she set out to do."

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Michael Jackson Fans Raise Money To Defeat Peter King

2009-07-06T21:19:52Z

There is, it turns out, a political price to pay when you make bold statements calling out Michael Jackson for some of the nefarious moments of his personal history.

Fans of Jackson are mobilizing to raise money for an opponent -- any opponent -- to run against Rep. Pete King, R-N.Y., following the critical remarks the congressman made about the recently deceased pop icon.

Over the weekend, King said that the media had gone far over the top in glorifying Jackson, who he deemed a "low-life" pervert who "may have been a good singer" and "did some dancing."

Now, an ActBlue fundraising site has been set up by "A fan of Michael Jackson" titled "Michael Jackson Fans AGAINST Peter King."

"Peter King ought to let Jackson rest in peace, and focus on the needs of his constituents. As we mourn the loss of an American legend, political grandstanding is not what we need right now!" the page reads. "Fans of Michael Jackson and his legacy stand united against Peter King's hateful words. Please donate here to show Peter King that true MJ fans won't stand for the smearing of a pop sensation!"

The fund is being set up to benefit the Democratic nominee for New York's third congressional district -- a reliable Republican stronghold. The problem is that at this time, there is no Democratic nominee. And King has flirted with a run for New York's governor's chair in 2010. Still, it will be interesting to see the extent to which Michael Jackson devotees can mobilize politically. Who would have thought that the King of Pop's legacy would become a partisan issue?

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Zelaya, Clinton To Meet In Washington

2009-07-06T21:01:01Z

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton plans to meet with deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya this week as the Obama administration weighs responses to his ouster.

The talks planned for Tuesday would be the administration's highest-level contact with Zelaya since he was overthrown in a coup eight days ago, coming two days after his failed attempt to return to Honduras deepened the country's political crisis.

Zelaya met with two senior U.S. diplomats in Washington on Sunday after the Organization of American States suspended Honduras for its role in the coup and before the deposed president tried to return to Honduras by plane. Zelaya got as close as several hundred feet above the Tegucigalpa airport but had to turn away because of obstacles placed on the runway on orders of the interim government.

Clashes between police and soldiers and Zelaya supporters left at least one fatality at the airport on Sunday and thousands of supporters have been marching to protest his overthrow. About 2,000 demonstrated peacefully Monday near the presidential palace.

Zelaya was in Nicaragua on Monday after a late Sunday news conference in El Salvador in which he urged world leaders to step up efforts to return him to power.

Diplomats with the United Nations, the OAS, the United States and European countries worked behind the scenes Monday to seek common ground with interim President Roberto Micheletti, who heads the government that replaced Zelaya. But Micheletti has vowed not to negotiate until "things return to normal."

One option under consideration is trying to forge a compromise between Zelaya, Micheletti and the Honduran military under which the ousted president would be allowed to return and serve out his remaining six months in office with limited and clearly defined powers, according to a senior U.S. official.

In exchange, Zelaya would pledge to drop aspirations for a possible constitutional change that could allow him to run for another term, the official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic exchanges.

The Obama administration has made few public moves since Zelaya was deposed, deferring to the OAS. The U.S. has had limited military-to-military contacts and frozen programs that directly aid the Honduran government. But it has not yet determined whether Zelaya's ouster should trigger an automatic suspension in all non-humanitarian American assistance to Honduras.

State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said Monday that the United States "deplores the use of force against demonstrators in Tegucigalpa" and called on "the de facto regime and all actors in Honduras to refrain from all acts of violence and seek a peaceful, constitutional and lasting solution to the serious divisions in that country through dialogue."

"Our goal remains the restoration of the democratic order in Honduras and we renew our call on all political and social actors in Honduras to find a peaceful solution to this crisis," Kelly said. "We're very focused on the need for a dialogue to restore him back (to office) and restore the democratic order."

Another senior administration official expressed some frustration with Zelaya, who rejected advice from the U.S. and others not to press for the constitutional change and not to try to return to Honduras on Sunday while the situation remained volatile.

The new Honduran government that replaced Zelaya has vowed to arrest him for 18 alleged criminal acts, including treason and failing to implement more than 80 laws approved by Congress since he took office in 2006. Zelaya also refused to comply with a Supreme Court ruling against his planned referendum on whether to hold an assembly to consider changing the constitution.

Kal Penn Starts Work At White House

2009-07-06T20:54:09Z

WASHINGTON — Actor Kal Penn started a new job Monday as a liaison between the White House and Asian communities.

The Indian-American actor is taking a break from Hollywood to work as an associate director in the Office of Public Liaison, with a focus on connecting President Barack Obama with the Asian-American and Pacific Islander communities, as well as arts groups.

Penn had a recurring role on Fox's TV show "House" and starred in several films including "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle" and its sequel, "Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay"

Penn, who backed Obama during the campaign, said the new job has nothing to do with his life as an actor.

"I expect to be treated just like any other staff member," he told reporters on a conference call.

He is even applying this quest for a fresh start to his identity, saying he will use his given name, Kalpen Modi, instead of his acting moniker while working for the Obama administration.

Penn described the public liaison office as the "front door to the White House." He said his job would be engaging with constituent communities and making sure they feel that they have a seat at the table.

Asked about the differences between the new job and his work in Hollywood, Penn joked that he now wears a suit.

When pressed about preparing for his first day on the job Monday morning, he said, "I brushed my teeth; I did floss, used mouthwash ... took the bus to work, same thing that everybody does."

Sarah Palin's Resignation In A Minute...And A Half (VIDEO)

2009-07-06T20:04:35Z

Watching Sarah Palin's press conference on Friday was like watching a drunk seal trying to land a plane, or in basketball terms (which Sarah prefers) like watching a grade-schooler try to score on Kobe while jabbering inanely. As Gail Collins put it:

"When she ran for vice president, she frequently became disjointed and garbled when she departed from her prepared remarks. Now the prepared remarks are incoherent, too."

There was something about a fish and sports and a lot about politics and not quitting but then quitting. It ended and I felt more confused than when it started. I felt down right mavericky...or something. So I knew we had to boil this down for you, our lovely fans, to its key moments.

WATCH:

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Michael Wolff: Sarah Palin Is a Long Distance Runner, Not a Train Wreck

2009-07-06T19:54:28Z

Sarah Palin clearly believes that she has been wronged and that she is under concerted attack. She has decided not to relent, or curry favor, or soften her image, or resort to any defensive public relations tactics. She's on the offensive.

Her alternative would have been obvious. Go back to Alaska, put her head down, and try to accommodate her political enemies. Perhaps write a lessons-learned book about her unlikely star turn.

Curiously, and alarmingly, she turns out to be much more seize-the-day than that. She certainly likes the attention. But it's hard not to miss her instinctual combativeness.

Arrayed against an establishment, both Democratic and Republican, which says she is a hopeless lightweight and obviously illegitimate, she keeps coming, keeps giving offense.

This isn't as dumb as it looks.

Continue reading on newser.com

Sheldon Whitehouse: Second Stimulus "Probably Needed"

2009-07-06T19:52:51Z

As job losses mount, Democrats are growing impatient about the impact of the massive stimulus package passed earlier this year, with talk beginning on Capitol Hill about a possible second stimulus bill.