Romney Refutes His Magic Underpants

The Mittster gave his JFK speech on religion yesterday to allay the fears of conservative evangelical voters that he wasn't Christian enough. Not once during the speech did he mention his magic underpants or temple garment as they are also known. The mere acknowledgment of their existence may have negated any potential gains in trust Romney was trying to win from potential fundamentalist voters that doubt his Christian bona fides.

There's been so much analysis and punditry on the speech that I'm not going to waste much space on it. I do believe Mitt was specifically targeting the zealot base of the GOP that places religiosity over everything else when it comes to elections. Don't believe for a second that it was an assurance that religion and the evangelical power brokers couldn't play a role in a Romney presidency. He was just trying to assuage their fears that his off brand of Christianity wouldn't prohibit him from pursuing the narrowly crafted social agenda that they so crave. As David Brooks rightly points out in today's NYT column a success for Romney would be to gain solidarity in the culture wars that his party has exploited for so long.

The Two Best Things About the Latest NIE

The first best thing about the new NIE on Iran is the gnashing of teeth from apoplectic neo-kooks everywhere. I include in this bunch John Bolton, Freedom's Watch gang and of course the folks at the Weekly Standard and the Wall Street Journal editorial page. This group also includes hardliners in the Israeli government (Ehud Barak for example) who are basically suggesting that the report is wrong.

The second best thing is the news from several sources including Salon and ThinkProgress that the Decider knew about the NIE's conclusions back in August but still continued to insert World War III references in his speeches. Maybe that explains the giggles from the Prez whenever he talks about Armageddon. No seriously, this serves as a check for all of us skeptics out here that know these guys are just using fear of a nuclear Iran for political means. It also weakens any chance of the end of days crowd getting an invasion of Iran as a Christmas gift.

For a great laugh on the “other NIE” read today's Tom Friedman column in the NYT.

METRO Spinning Its Wheels?

This past Sunday the Beacon editorial page framed the METRO sales tax proposal as a social service levy.

Summit County voters, facing a difficult economy, repeatedly have shown a generous spirit, recently supporting levies for children services and mental health, alcohol and drug addiction treatment. As Metro moves forward with its campaign for a sales tax increase, voters must consider carefully their responsibility to help the vulnerable move ahead, too.

The region is never going to get 21^st century transit that provides an alternative for all commuters unless we get past this notion that the buses are there only to help out poor folks. On top of that we are going to increase a regressive tax to help the “vulnerable”out? The odds of a sales tax increase getting approved by voters have to be low. METRO is going to waste too much time spinning its wheels (ha ha wheels) on the sales tax when they should be thinking about a different approach. I go back to my previous posting on this one. The State and this region need to consider a gasoline tax to fund a truly comprehensive approach to public transit. I'm sure the transit systems in New York and Washington D.C. are considered to be more than just a social program.