Friday opinion. End of summer, and a hurricane to boot.
Earl (it could be worse) watch:
weatherdude has some great links and prep info.
WaPo on the 2008 fiscal crisis:
In testimony before the Congressionally appointed committee, Bernanke said that statutory gaps were an important contributor to the buildup of risk in the system but that even when regulators had the tools they needed to stem those risks, they did not use them well.
"Once a crisis occurs, timely and effective action by the government is critical to containing the severity of financial disruptions and their economic effects...However, the crisis revealed large gaps in the government's ability to respond quickly, effectively, and with minimum cost to taxpayers and the economy," Bernanke said.
Paul Krugman:
Next week, President Obama is scheduled to propose new measures to boost the economy. I hope they’re bold and substantive, since the Republicans will oppose him regardless — if he came out for motherhood, the G.O.P. would declare motherhood un-American. So he should put them on the spot for standing in the way of real action.
NY Times on polling NYers about Muslims:
Tolerance, however, isn’t the same as understanding, so it is appalling to see New Yorkers who could lead us all away from mosque madness, who should know better, playing to people’s worst instincts.
That includes Carl Paladino and Rick Lazio, Republicans running for governor who have disgraced their state with histrionics about the mosque being a terrorist triumph. And Rudolph Giuliani, who cloaks his opposition to the mosque as "sensitivity" to 9/11 families without acknowledging that this conflates all prayerful Muslims with terrorists, a despicable conclusion.
Republicans will do anything to get elected, including foster hate. It's not new, but neither is it pleasant to watch.
Michael Gerson:
A church in Florida is poised to commemorate an act of violence committed in the name of Islam, the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, with an act of stupidity committed in the name of Christianity, the public burning of the Koran.
This threatened libricide proves little more than the existence of a few attention-seeking crackpots in a continental country -- the natural resource that makes cable news possible. But the Manhattan mosque controversy has exposed a broader, conservative Christian suspicion of mosques and Muslims.
Gerson's been very reasonable of late. The Bush people are looking downright moderate compared to this crowd.
Jonathan Capehart:
For all of Palin’s popularity within the Republican Party and the Tea Party movement, poll after poll shows that the American people don’t think she’s ready to be president of the United States. This was the case last February. Also last April. And now this week in the 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair poll, 59 percent of those surveyed said Palin would not "have the ability to be an effective president." This chart from Pollster.com paints a picture of Palin’s ultimate problem.
Pollster.com: