“Punting the Pundits” is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news medium and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.
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Dana Milbank: Donald Trump is a bigot and a racist
Let’s not mince words: Donald Trump is a bigot and a racist.
Some will think this an outrageous label to apply to the frontrunner for a major party’s presidential nomination. Ordinarily, I would agree that name-calling is part of what’s wrong with our politics.
But there is a greater imperative not to be silent in the face of demagoguery. Trump in this campaign has gone after African Americans, immigrants, Latinos, Asians, women, Muslims and now the disabled. His pattern brings to mind the famous words of Martin Neimoller, the pastor and concentration camp survivor (“First they came for the socialists…”) that Ohio Gov. John Kasich adroitly used in a video last week attacking Trump’s hateful broadsides.
It might be possible to explain away any one of Trump’s outrages as a mistake or a misunderstanding. But at some point you’re not merely saying things that could be construed as bigoted: You are a bigot.
Katrina vanden Heuvel: The Antidote to Cynical Politics
The Republican presidential race has devolved into a disgraceful display of bigotry and bullying. Media organizations are eager to stoke debate over the Syrian refugee crisis, filling airtime and column inches with baseless xenophobia, but they dedicate little coverage to the plight of hardworking Americans who are struggling to support their families. And billionaire political donors are attempting to buy our elections while the extremist lawmakers who benefit from their lavish contributions wage a shameful war on voting rights.
It’s easy to understand why so many people are frustrated with politics. And that frustration has consequences. As Alec MacGillis recently wrote in the New York Times, many Americans whose interests are being neglected have become “profoundly disconnected from the political process.” But while cynicism is warranted, there is a better alternative to abdication — one that is inclusive and inspiring and impossible for the political establishment to ignore. It can be found in North Carolina, in the Moral Monday movement led by the Rev. William J. Barber II.
New york Times Editorial Board: The Chicago Police Scandal
Mayor Rahm Emanuel demonstrated a willful ignorance when he talked about the murder charges against the police officer who shot Mr. McDonald, seeking to depict the cop as a rogue officer. He showed a complete lack of comprehension on Tuesday when he explained that he had decided to fire his increasingly unpopular police superintendent, Garry McCarthy, not because he failed in his leadership role, but because he had become “a distraction.”
Mr. Emanuel’s announcement that he had appointed a task force that will review the Police Department’s accountability procedures is too little, too late. The fact is, his administration, the Police Department and the prosecutor’s office have lost credibility on this case. Officials must have known what was on that video more than a year ago, and yet they saw no reason to seek a sweeping review of the police procedures until this week. [..]
All along, Mr. Emanuel’s response, either by design or because of negligence, was to do as little as possible — until the furor caused by the release of the video forced his hand. The residents of Chicago will have to decide whether that counts as taking responsibility.
Dennis Kelleher: Don’t Let Wall Street Get Away With Dodd-Frank Reform Rollbacks
It’s only November, but if Wall Street gets its way, Christmas could come early for the industry. That’s because its army of lobbyists are already hard at work, trying to hijack the appropriations process as a vehicle to enact its deregulatory wish list. Wall Street is essentially holding national priorities like health care, the environment and education hostage until members of Congress agree to put the industry’s narrow special interests before the interests of the American people.
A key priority for Wall Street this time around is eviscerating one of the most important institutions established under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the Financial Stability Oversight Council. This Council is our nation’s only early warning system for the threats posted by systemically significant nonbank financial firms like insurance giant AIG, which the government and taxpayers were forced to rescue during the 2008 financial crash.
Kimberly A. Johnson: Voter Apathy is Helping Right-Wing Extremists Win the War On Planned Parenthood
Planned Parenthood is under attack. The 2016 GOP presidential candidates are fanning the flames of anti-abortion terrorists. The Republican Party is fueling incidents of violent extremism taking place at clinic locations across the country.
The talking points from the left are only scratching the surface as to the why of it, but liberal activists aren’t offering the most important solution. There’s the shaming of GOP presidential candidates for inciting violence and condoning the incendiary and misleading rhetoric about abortion. There’s talk of gun violence and how it connects to the recent Colorado attack. There’s the outpouring of support for clinic staff and the message that those who are pro-choice won’t back down no matter what. These arguments are necessary and shouldn’t be ignored. However, there’s one talking point that needs to be addressed and repeated over and over again that few, if any, are driving home: The importance of voting.
It’s acceptable and even necessary for progressives to point fingers from a reactionary stance and blame the “bad guys,” but the cold hard truth is that Democrats are partly to blame for the domestic terrorism against abortion providers. Yes, Democrats.
Bear with me.
Zephyr Teachout: Sheldon Silver’s Legacy
There’s an old corruption joke that you’ll find variations of in India, in Nigeria, in China — I’ve heard versions from everywhere.
A bureaucrat from China visits an Indian counterpart and sees the beautiful home, and asks, “how did you get this beautiful house?” The Indian functionary answers, “Can you see that bridge?” “Yes” “10 percent,” says the bureaucrat, smugly. Then, a decade later, the Indian counterpart returns the visit to find an even more beautiful home “How did you get this big and astonishing home?” He asks. The Chinese bureaucrat answers, “Do you see that bridge?” “No,” says the Indian visitor. “10 percent” says the Chinese politician.
The joke is that the worst corruption leaves the country with nothing.
If you look down into Manhattan from the Southern edge of central park, there’s a building, One Fifty Seven, that rises up out off the street, a big, ugly, empty, luxury condominium. Its a building that wouldn’t exist without tax subsidies from New York State. It is a building that wouldn’t exist without Sheldon Silver. Sheldon Silver is going to prison, and we are left with a constant reminder, the shadow from One Fifty Seven of the cost of corruption. Silver presented himself as a tenant’s advocate, but in reality — as we learned at his trial — he was making hundreds of thousands of dollars from Glenwood Management, and then pushing for tax breaks for Glenwood Management. The New Yorkers he was supposed to represent were left out in the cold, fighting for affordable housing. One Fifty Seven is just one of the many buildings that Sheldon Silver got a percent of.
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