The Larry Kane Report

The White House, any White House, has access to the best and smartest in American life. For all of his troubles, George W. Bush has some very talented people working with him. That’s why I can’t figure out why this White House is so slow to react to impending problems.

The reaction to months of stories about bad treatment for wounded soldiers was almost too late. The stories were out there. But it took Defense Secretary Gates to finally act.

The potential scandal over independent influence in the firing of U.S. Attorneys, who may have refused pressure to indict Democrats, was another case of the administration waiting for events to overtake it, rather than acting quickly.

And now, silence on a most serious matter.
The comments by Joints Chiefs Chairman General Peter Pace about homosexuality have drawn no response from the top at all. General Pace’s comments that homosexuality compares to adultery as an immoral act were ill-advised. The General did respond that he should not have offered his personal views, but rather, he should have supported the don’t ask, don’t tell policy of the Pentagon.

I can’t figure out why people in power believe they have the moral authority to preach to us about immorality. In this case, the General should look inward at a Pentagon that has given us faulty and disorganized results of the war for years. He should be worried about immoral practices of Pentagon contractors who have ripped us off. He should be worried about Generals who are not honest about results. He should find it immoral that the ceremonies greeting the coffins of dead soldiers are not allowed to be photograped. It is immoral that the General has said little about the treatment of returning war veterans.

There are 65,000 gays in the military. Their service and their honor has been tainted by his unfortunate remarks.

Who is he to declare what is moral and what is not in America?

General Pace has bigger problems than worrying about the sexual preference of his brave troops.

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The Democratic Party’s decision to cancel its participation in a national TV debate run by Fox in the summer is a serious mistake in judgment and a worse decision when it comes to strategy. The pullout was announced after Fox News chief Roger Ailes made a crack about Barack Obama during a recent speech, deliberately confusing Obama with Osama. The presumption is that the Democrats should punish Fox for its imagery as a conservatively-biased network.

The arguments about Fox have been around for years, but whether you are a fan or not, Fox is still a major network news operation, and it is absurd for the Democrats to turn down a chance to be seen by a large audience, and especially in Nevada, an early and important primary state for the 2008 campaign.
There is a bigger issue here. Any political organization or candidate declining an invitation from a news organization because of a perception of bias, is playing a dangerous game. There is the possibility that the party decision to pass on the Fox debate may bring an act of solidarity from other news outlets, not necessarily in sympathy to Fox, but in respect for the rights of journalists to bring all forms of perspective to newscasts, without fear of retribution by politicians or political organizations.

This not about Fox. This is about a bad choice. In a sense, it almost censorship and bias in reverse. The Democratic Party and the candidates would be wise to reconsider the decision, and open their minds about this debate. Otherwise, the big loser won’t be Fox News, but rather the Democratic Candidates who want to be President.

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Milton Street’s antics in the current election cycle show symptoms of a man who is bored. First, he announced a run for Mayor. Then he filed for Council, upsetting his own family. And now there is  an attempt to hurt Bob Brady.

But make no mistake about Milton. He is smarter than you think. His legal move to get Bob Brady off the ballot because Brady had to amend his own filing means that he wants to show the contrast in what might happen next. Street’s residency and petitions will be challenged. If he gets thrown off the ballot, he could point to the system and charge that Brady gets to stay on, while he, Street, gets thrown out.

I’ve watched Milton for 35 years. He is a likeable guy. There have been a few ups and a lot of downs, but his move to run for council against his own nephew, takes the cake for strangest political act of 2007. Sharif Street, the son of John, must feel betrayed by Unce Miltie. And Milton can’t really be that bored, what with people challenging his residency, and a serious federal indictment awaiting him.

In the strange world of Philly politics, the suspicious, of which there are many, would believe that one of the big five candidates is behind Street, to steer attention away from the contest. That is ludicrous. This is simply a circus act being perpetrated by one of the great comic actors in recent political history.

Milton Street loves attention. Maybe he thinks that after 7 years of his brother making all the news, HE deserves the spotlight. Or maybe he is just bored, in that suburban New Jersey house, in his alleged home in Philadelphia, or wherever he lives.

Get it while you can Milton. And pay attention to those corruption charges. I’ve visited many local politicians for interviews inside federal prisons. They all wear prison green, share the TV, work for pennies a day, and do not enjoy the freedoms to make the kind of weird news that you’ve created over the last month. You never know the outcome. So get it while you can.

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Even the jurors in the case knew it. Scooter Libby was sacrificed to take the fall for the people in the administration who may have committed an act close to treason by “outing” an undercover CIA agent.

You can think what you want about Libby, but history shows that he’s been a public servant for a long time, and one who has served his master, Vice President Cheney, well. The prosecutor in this case, an independent Republican , was determined to prove that there was an attempt to cover up leaks that exposed Valerie Plame, the wife of an energetic war critic. So he went after Libby on the perjury charges. It was the prosecutors way of letting the administration know that someone would be held accountable for the leak.
Libby is guilty. But even his attorneys suggested that he was taking the rap for Karl Rove and others who might have inadvertantly or intentionally, leaked the CIA operative’s name. Some observers have suggested that this is a grim reflection on Vice President Cheney. That might or might not be true. But when someone in an administration finds a way to expose an undercover agent. regardless of her husband’s political views, it is simply, and without debate, bad behavior.

If I were Scooter Libby, I would be mad as hell. All the reporters he trusted and all his “friends” at the White House let him hang out in the worst way. I don’t sympathize with his current problems, but I do wonder how far loyalty goes when it is not returned.

It would have been appropriate in the beginning, when all this erupted, for someone to stand up and say, “I did it.” Instead, we got a long and costly investigation and trial, and in the end, a scapegoat who was shafted by his friends.

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A reader named Pete challenges the fact that this reporter, and others, took nasty Ann Coulter to task for her gay slur against John Edwards, and ignored some nasty remarks by Bill Maher. Pete has a good point. So I checked it out.

During his most recent show, Maher insinuated that it was okay to report that some people said that they wished the attempt to kill VP Cheney in Afghanistan was successful. Then he added his own comments. Maher said, “I’m just saying if he did die, other people, more people would live. That’s a fact.”

Writer “Pete” (check comment below) was right on in one respect. Maher’s comments were disgusting, and tasteless. But he was wrong in another way. People in the media are not reluctant to report bad taste, whether it comes from the right or left.

Ann Coulter was way off base. So was Bill Maher. Barry Goldwater once said, “Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice.”

In this era of well known people embarrassing themselves with ugly behavior , I say, extreme behavior in the defense of the far right and extreme left is wrong, not helpful to the greater good, and just plain stupid.

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