October 02, 2009

10/2: The Right's New Target

Fresh off their successful campaign against ex-WH green jobs adviser Van Jones, conservative bloggers are hunting for their next scalp: Education Dept. official Kevin Jennings. Righty bloggers are attacking Jennings over (among other things) advice he gave to a gay student whom he counseled 21 years ago. Although Jennings recently admitted that he "should have handled the situation differently," righty bloggers are accusing Jennings of "ignor[ing] child sex abuse" and are urging Pres. Obama to fire him. Meanwhile, liberal bloggers are defending Jennings and decrying "the Conservative Attack Machine" that's targeting him.

What else is happening in the blogosphere?

• Most conservative bloggers (Erickson, Rubin, Malkin, Allahpundit) are mocking Obama after Chicago lost its bid for the 2016 Olympic Games in spite of the President's lobbying. However, a few conservative bloggers (Glass, Hillyer) are urging their colleagues not to celebrate Chicago's defeat.
• Liberal bloggers (McCarter, Dayen, Walker 1, Walker 2, Walker 3) don't perceive any of the various public option compromises being advocated by members of the Senate Finance Committee as adequate substitutes for a public option. Lefty bloggers (Moulitsas, Hamsher, Bowers) continue to push hard for a "robust" public option.
• Liberal bloggers (Bowers, Moulitsas) see good news for Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA) in the new PA SEN poll conducted by Quinnipiac Univ. Meanwhile, conservative bloggers think that ex-Rep. Pat Toomey (R-PA) is "rising." In other Senate news, several of the front-page contributors at RedState have endorsed CA SEN candidate Chuck DeVore (R), calling him "our best bet" against Sen. Barbara Boxer (D).
• Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas has endorsed the Republican candidate, Assemb. DeDe Scozzafava, in the NY-23 race. Meanwhile, RedState editor Erick Erickson urges the GOP WH '12 contenders to join ex-Sen. Fred Thompson (R-TN) in endorsing Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman.
• Liberal bloggers (Bowers, Bink, Yglesias) continue to defend Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) after he made controversial remarks about the GOP's approach to health care, while conservative bloggers (Malkin, Hoft) continue to criticize Grayson. Meanwhile, Jim Geraghty examines Grayson's potential GOP challengers.
• Liberal bloggers (Dayen, Benen, Coates, Morrill, Kleiman) are accusing TX Gov. Rick Perry (R) of engaging in a cover-up "after he swept three appointees from their jobs just two days before they were set to critically examine a flawed arson investigation that contributed to the execution of a Corsicana man."

JENNINGS: The Next Van Jones?

Conservative bloggers are blasting Jennings:

• Pajamas Media's Scott Ott: "Let's be clear: Kevin Jennings let a potentially terminally-ill minor and a victim of rape walk out of his office, and Jennings never reported the incident to the boy's parents, the school nurse, the police, or anyone who might help protect this child. This Kevin Jennings is President Obama's new 'safe schools czar.' Consider the implications. Is the United States suffering from such a dearth of qualified applicants for this position that the president couldn't find someone who lacked a track record of child endangerment? Can you picture this man traveling the country as the president's emissary for safety in our schools? So egregious is this appointment, it's hard to imagine a worse pick. It's almost as if the White House is intentionally pushing the limits until we no longer feel outrage."
• Power Line's John Hinderaker: "Obama nominee Kevin Jennings actually said that the founder of NAMBLA -- the North American Man-Boy Love Association -- Harry Hay, is '[o]ne of the people that's always inspired me.' If you're not aware of it, NAMBLA is an organization that advocates sexual relationships between middle-aged men and teenage and pre-teen boys. Why, exactly, would a President put someone who admires those who advocate homosexual relationships between middle-aged men and high school or junior high school aged boys in charge of 'safety' in American public schools? Who would do that? It's not as though Kevin Jennings' benign view of such exploitation is a secret; on the contrary, this is his career, his claim to fame, his qualification for federal employment. One can only ask: is the Obama administration completely insane?"
• Michelle Malkin: "Regarding his illicit drug use, Jennings now says that the experience makes him a better safe schools czar -- just as his admission of failure in handling the child predator disclosure makes him more qualified for the job. Screw up, move up. It's how the Obama administration rolls. Feel safer?"
• The Heritage Foundation's Rory Cooper: "A senior official in the Obama administration responsible for child safety has been exposed to have ignored child sex abuse when he was a high school teacher, and yet retains the confidence of the Secretary of Education. [...] It appears that a growing double standard is emerging among liberals. After months spent scolding the disgraced former Congressman from Florida, Mark Foley, for exchanging lurid text messages with a 16 year old page, it appears there is only silence regarding this senior Obama Administration official's illegal behavior, condoning child sex abuse. Just as in the Roman Polanski case, the hypocrisy must end."

Glenn Reynolds: "At this point, I don't think it's that they're not vetting people. I think it's that the vetters have a rather unusual understanding of what constitutes a problem."

Liberal bloggers, on the other hand, are criticizing the right-wing campaign against Jennings:

• The Washington Monthly's Steve Benen: "The Conservative Attack Machine seems to have a new hobby. In the wake of Van Jones' departure, every day is a game of 'which administration figure can we target this week?' The latest target is the Department of Education's Kevin Jennings. [...] This is about targeting administration officials the right considers vulnerable. Next week, it'll be someone else. The week after, someone else. This anecdote from Jennings' book has been around for quite a while, but it's become a 'story' now because conservatives got bored with their last target and needed a new one. Hopefully, the White House will ignore the cries."
• Media Matters: "Many in the conservative media are engaging in an all-out attack on Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools director Kevin Jennings, unleashing anti-gay rhetoric, grossly distorting a discussion Jennings recounted having with a teenager, and, in some cases, even pushing for him to be fired or to resign. But these right-wing caricatures of Jennings are undercut by the fact that education and other officials have spoken highly of Jennings, who has received numerous awards and was a one-time appointee of Republican Massachusetts Gov. William Weld."

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Indefensible

The Nation's Katha Pollitt unloads on Roman Polanski's defenders (h/t Quin Hillyer):

"It's enraging that literary superstars who go on and on about human dignity, and human rights, and even women's rights (at least when the women are Muslim) either don't see what Polanski did as rape, or don't care, because he is, after all, Polanski--an artist like themselves. That some of his defenders are women is particularly disappointing. Don't they see how they are signing on to arguments that blame the victim, minimize rape, and bend over backwards to exonerate the perpetrator? Error of youth, might have mistaken her age, teen slut, stage mother -- is that what we want people to think when middle-aged men prey on ninth-graders?

The widespread support for Polanski shows the liberal cultural elite at its preening, fatuous worst. They may make great movies, write great books, and design beautiful things, they may have lots of noble humanitarian ideas and care, in the abstract, about all the right principles: equality under the law, for example. But in this case, they're just the white culture-class counterpart of hip-hop fans who stood by R. Kelly and Chris Brown and of sports fans who automatically support their favorite athletes when they're accused of beating their wives and raping hotel workers. No wonder Middle America hates them."

LEST WE FORGET: Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi!

McSweeney's contributors Wayne Gladstone and Ian Carey compile a list of "Failed One-Liners From My Audition For Host Of Australia's Funniest Home Videos":

• "I said throw a shrimp on the Barbie -- not Grandma!"
• "It's like the lady's saying to her dog, 'don't you dare eat my toast.' And the dog's saying, 'I vegemite. I vegemite not.'"
• "Is that a wombat in your pants, mate or are you just happy to see me? Crikey! It IS a wombat!"
• "That's not a boy paralyzing himself on a trampoline. THAT'S a boy paralyzing himself on a trampoline."
• "To wallaby or not to wallaby: that is the question. Crikey! NOT to wallaby."
• "Didgeridoo? More like didgeriDON'T, am I right?"
• "Ouch, looks like that Australian native just took a boomerang right to the aborigi-KNEES!"
• "Maybe the baby ate your dingo!"
• "Crikey! That's the crikiest criker in who ever criked a ... I'll just show myself out."

Posted by Ian Faerstein at October 2, 2009 01:03 PM