tag:blogs.trb.com,2012:/news/opinion/chanlowe/blog/251 2012-02-13T20:01:05Z A blog from the Sun-Sentinel's editorial cartoonist, Chan Lowe. Movable Type 3.36 tag:blogs.trb.com,2012:/news/opinion/chanlowe/blog//251.314669 2012-02-13T19:54:26Z 2012-02-13T20:01:05Z

The mockery that wealthy polo magnate John Goodman has made of the institution of adoption has once again attracted world attention to South Florida, and as usual, for all the wrong reasons. What makes his act even more of...

Chan Lowe The mockery that wealthy polo magnate John Goodman has made of the institution of adoption has once again attracted world attention to South Florida, and as usual, for all the wrong reasons. What makes his act even more of a travesty is that Mr. Goodman has cynically taken advantage of a legal process that, until just a couple of years ago, was barred in Florida to couples that happened to be gay. Yet, the same state that feared gay parents would somehow “infect” children, or worse, assumed that they were really pedophiles who only wanted children in order to satisfy their base urges, has breezily allowed a grown man to adopt his adult girlfriend in order to protect a portion of his fortune. ]]> Then there is the secondary question no one has even considered: Presumably, Mr. Goodman intends to have the kind of relationship with his newly adopted daughter that, to put it delicately, is officially frowned upon between parent and child in this state. You have to wonder just what was going through the mind of the Miami-Dade judge who approved this unholy legal move. Maybe he was thinking, “At least, he isn’t gay.” tag:blogs.trb.com,2012:/news/opinion/chanlowe/blog//251.314604 2012-02-10T21:02:57Z 2012-02-10T21:08:59Z

If you use your imagination, you can almost hear the political gears grinding in the Oval Office over this decision. Valerie Jarrett and Kathleen Sibelius are arguing passionately for the preservation of women’s rights. You owe it to them,...

Chan Lowe If you use your imagination, you can almost hear the political gears grinding in the Oval Office over this decision. Valerie Jarrett and Kathleen Sibelius are arguing passionately for the preservation of women’s rights. You owe it to them, Mr. President⎯not just politically, but on principle. It’s everything you stand for in a nutshell. At the other end of the sofa, Bill Daley and Joe Biden⎯two veteran Catholic pols who should know⎯imploring him to let this battle slide and live to fight another day. “The blue collar types won’t go for this,” they counsel, “even though their wives all use birth control. The Republicans’ll turn this into a ‘war on religion.’ They’ll make the slippery slope argument!” Evangelical feelings weren’t even considered. After all, their hatred is visceral, and how many times can you vote against the same candidate? ]]> Daley and Biden, of course, were right from a political standpoint. The White House, in its self-centered myopia, thought it could tough it out until some Democratic senators who are facing tough reelection battles, like Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Bill Nelson of Florida, started screaming that standing tough would cut the knees out from under them. So the White House didn’t exactly cave, but it bent. It’s hoping the nicety about insurance carriers rather than employers offering the birth control will quiet the waters. It won’t. This was way too great a gift to the other side. That doesn’t mean the righteous opposition isn’t overreacting, mind you. Most women feel they’re entitled to birth control coverage as part of their health care. And why shouldn’t they? You don’t hear any faith-based institutions screaming about covering Viagra. It’s only fair to give the ladies a fighting chance. tag:blogs.trb.com,2012:/news/opinion/chanlowe/blog//251.314549 2012-02-09T21:10:46Z 2012-02-09T21:13:50Z

Personally, I don’t know why anybody would want to take a cruise, but maybe I should check with my newspaper’s advertising department to see how much coal the cruise industry shovels into the engine room before I go and...

Chan Lowe Personally, I don’t know why anybody would want to take a cruise, but maybe I should check with my newspaper’s advertising department to see how much coal the cruise industry shovels into the engine room before I go and make a sweeping statement like that. Viral diseases, crimes of violence, theft, seasickness, weight gain, liver damage, possibly getting stuck at the dinner table for the entire journey with people who deny the theory of evolution…sounds like the kind of vacation from which lasting memories are made. Be sure to send pictures. ]]> tag:blogs.trb.com,2012:/news/opinion/chanlowe/blog//251.314499 2012-02-08T20:47:23Z 2012-02-08T20:55:13Z

You need an ego that stretches from sea to shining sea to even contemplate running for the presidency of this great land, but you also require a hide like a rhinoceros. Imagine what it must be like to put...

Chan Lowe You need an ego that stretches from sea to shining sea to even contemplate running for the presidency of this great land, but you also require a hide like a rhinoceros. Imagine what it must be like to put yourself up on display, election cycle after election cycle, spend a considerable amount of your own fortune to service your ambitions, approach friends and strangers with hand outstretched, ask them to be enablers for your self-indulgence, tramp from hotel to hotel in out-of-the-way places (a lot of them snowy), eat rubber chicken day after day in banquet halls with incredibly boring people, and find out that after all that trouble, most folks still don’t like you. ]]> This is what has happened to poor Mitt Romney. Lord knows he tries to connect, but there’s that darned animatronic thing about him that leaves folks cold. Bill Clinton, several sources have reported, was capable of making every woman he encountered think she was the only one in the room. In the hands of someone less flawed, this talent might have made him President of the World. But Romney⎯God bless him⎯passes through a crowd like a hole in the air. The clothes have no emperor. I wonder if he watches the returns from places like South Carolina, Minnesota (a state he won last time around), Missouri and Colorado (next door to UTAH, for crying out loud) and weeps softly on his wife’s shoulder, wondering if the last fifteen years or so of his life have been steeped in folly. Probably not. That ego of his, which is as broad and deep as his support is not, takes over and sustains him. The biggest obstacle he ever had to overcome was to convince himself that he was suitable for holding the office in the first place. It’s all been downhill from there. tag:blogs.trb.com,2012:/news/opinion/chanlowe/blog//251.314432 2012-02-07T20:54:52Z 2012-02-07T20:59:58Z

If you saw the now-famous Clint Eastwood Chrysler ad, you would probably agree that it’s hard to find it offensive, unless those who do your thinking for you on cable TV and talk radio told you to be offended....

Chan Lowe If you saw the now-famous Clint Eastwood Chrysler ad, you would probably agree that it’s hard to find it offensive, unless those who do your thinking for you on cable TV and talk radio told you to be offended. Under certain circumstances, one can say that individuals interpret different events through the prism of their own belief systems, life experiences and upbringing. But to find something objectionable about this shamelessly pro-American ad, delivered by an American icon, can only be attributed to political cynicism and a touch of defensiveness. I speak of Karl Rove⎯Republican strategist, architect of two George W. Bush victories, and holder of the questionable sobriquet, “Turd Blossom,” conferred by his former boss. He found the ad “offensive,” and sounded off about it on⎯where else?⎯Fox News. ]]> You’d think this guy, after reaching the pinnacle of his profession, would just retire and shut up, already. Maybe he spied a cheap opportunity to spin the ad into an anti-Obama rant. Maybe he felt that Mitt Romney’s op-ed piece a few years ago in the New York Times urging that Detroit be allowed to fail couldn’t go undefended from Mr. Eastwood’s steely gaze. Rove said this is what happens when government is allowed to mess with private enterprise; the ad was was Chrysler’s payback to Obama for saving its bacon. If that is so, why is Wall Street so against the man? Mr. Eastwood, a long-time Republican and libertarian, disagreed. He claimed the ad was non-partisan. I tend to give a man who packs a .44 Magnum the benefit of the doubt. I suggest that Mr. Rove put a sock in it and do the same. tag:blogs.trb.com,2012:/news/opinion/chanlowe/blog//251.314368 2012-02-06T20:08:17Z 2012-02-06T20:15:48Z

As I’ve said before, it’s seductively easy for an organization to take its eye off the ball and elevate its self-preservation to a position above its original mission. This is particularly true of outfits that feel their purpose here...

Chan Lowe As I’ve said before, it’s seductively easy for an organization to take its eye off the ball and elevate its self-preservation to a position above its original mission. This is particularly true of outfits that feel their purpose here on Earth has been blessed by the angels (as in the cases of the Roman Catholic Church and the Penn State football program, mentioned in the hyperlink above). The more outwardly sacrosanct the mission, the more the mere mortals involved in that organization are able to rationalize their activities in the servicing of it. ]]> The Komen Foundation, whose mission is without question a noble one, allowed itself to become overly sensitive to political currents, which in the area of women’s reproductive health can be treacherous to navigate. One might also say that it has grown so large and unwieldy that its numerous partnerships with many commercial enterprises have hobbled its ability to act independently, and in the best interests of those it purportedly aids. This black eye may have done the outfit a lot of good, or at least will have if the organization’s leaders decide to learn from it while they are so furiously trying to clean up the damage they’ve done to their beloved charity's image in the name of ensuring its survival. tag:blogs.trb.com,2012:/news/opinion/chanlowe/blog//251.314291 2012-02-03T21:53:47Z 2012-02-03T22:01:23Z

And they accuse Barack Obama of not being able to speak without a TelePrompTer. Every time Mitt Romney goes even slightly off script, he utters inanities so maladroit that they almost sound like he spent time polishing them. It’s...

Chan Lowe And they accuse Barack Obama of not being able to speak without a TelePrompTer. Every time Mitt Romney goes even slightly off script, he utters inanities so maladroit that they almost sound like he spent time polishing them. It’s actually painful to see Romney step on his tongue with such regularity. Sure, he’s rich⎯but so was FDR, who had a similar upbringing, went to the same schools, and also grew up in posh, protected surroundings. Nevertheless, he had a finely tuned politician’s ear for the vernacular and the daily concerns of those less privileged, and those with no privileges whatsoever. ]]> pretend for a few months that he cares about the plight of the poor, for if he doesn’t, not only will he lose, he’ll drag the whole down-ballot slate into the toilet with him. You can bamboozle the booboisie (an H.L. Mencken creation, not mine) into voting against their own best financial interests by dangling eye candy like gun rights, gay marriage, school prayer and the denial of climate change and evolution in front of them, but one thing they will not forgive is a candidate who says he is not concerned about them. Who looks like he’s detached and aloof. Who doesn’t even play touch football on the lawn of the family compound. Who tosses off $10,000 bets the way you’d toss away an empty packet of chaw. Even if you have no intention of being the president of all Americans, it’s unwise to tip your hand so soon. ]]> tag:blogs.trb.com,2012:/news/opinion/chanlowe/blog//251.314221 2012-02-02T17:59:45Z 2012-02-02T18:07:22Z

Well, at least we know what it’s all about, now. It isn’t about faithfully representing the people of Florida District 22, because he just coldly abandoned them. It isn’t about never shying away from a challenge, which is what...

Chan Lowe Well, at least we know what it’s all about, now. It isn’t about faithfully representing the people of Florida District 22, because he just coldly abandoned them. It isn’t about never shying away from a challenge, which is what Congressman Allen West was crowing just a few weeks ago when the Florida Legislature redrew his district to include more Democratic voters. It’s about putting his career in Congress first and foremost. It’s been about that ever since he first decided not to run in his own home district. Evidently, the war veteran found the self-described “Jewish mom from Plantation,” Debbie Wasserman Schultz, more fearsome, even, than Iraqi militants. ]]> Somehow, I don’t think carpetbaggers hopping hither and yon in search of U.S. House districts that will elect them is what the Founding Fathers had in mind when they conceived of “citizen legislators.” While Congress may appear to be one sometimes, it isn’t a traveling circus. My editorial board colleague Gary Stein summed it up thus: “If West keeps moving north, soon he’ll be running for Prime Minister of Canada.” All this is further proof that once these professed anti-government types get a taste of the heady atmosphere in Washington, D.C., they lose no time succumbing to its seductive charms. Like their more entrenched brethren, they come to need that fix. At least Mr. West seems to have learned something about politics during his short career. Word has it that he’s actually going to be taking up residence in his new district. I’m sure Ms. Wasserman Schultz will miss her favorite constituent. tag:blogs.trb.com,2012:/news/opinion/chanlowe/blog//251.314176 2012-02-01T20:24:54Z 2012-02-01T20:31:57Z

It’s obvious what Mitt Romney’s advisers decided to do in Florida. In order to prevent fatal wounding by a thousand cuts over a period of months, they elected to win quick and, if necessary, to win dirty. Yes, in...

Chan Lowe It’s obvious what Mitt Romney’s advisers decided to do in Florida. In order to prevent fatal wounding by a thousand cuts over a period of months, they elected to win quick and, if necessary, to win dirty. Yes, in the short run, those suffering the nine-day scorched-earth lead-in to the Florida primary might conclude that Romney was, as Newt put it, ruthlessly “carpet-bombing” with negative ads and presenting nothing positive about his own vision for America. But negative advertising has been proven over and over again to work, even though voters claim to dislike it. By November, general election voters wouldn’t even recall the Florida ugliness, so went the reasoning. With attackers from his own party out of the way, Romney would have the luxury of attacking only President Obama (always a crowd pleaser), and unveiling his own rationale for wanting to be president (we’re still waiting). Romney’s people weren’t counting on the durability of Newt’s rage. Had Romney won in an honest, clean way, Newt might have gracefully folded his tent and offered his support in exchange for a juicy cabinet post. But they also knew that Romney’s support was so lukewarm that he ran a high risk of losing unless he went nasty. ]]> They kicked him too hard and too often, and now he’s going to worry at Romney’s heels like a rabid terrier all the way to the Tampa convention, and maybe beyond. This primary reminds me of one of the Godfather movies, when Michael Corleone visits the village of his father’s birth in Sicily for the first time. He notices that there are only women to be seen in the town. “Where are all the men?” he asks his guide. “All dead from vendettas,” the guide answers. ]]> tag:blogs.trb.com,2012:/news/opinion/chanlowe/blog//251.314106 2012-01-31T20:47:01Z 2012-01-31T20:57:02Z

The recent story about how pythons have taken over the Everglades⎯and are eating everything in sight⎯prompts us to re-examine the precarious balance between man and beast in this humid swamp we South Floridians call home. When you think about...

Chan Lowe The recent story about how pythons have taken over the Everglades⎯and are eating everything in sight⎯prompts us to re-examine the precarious balance between man and beast in this humid swamp we South Floridians call home. When you think about it, everything was doing fine down here until homo sapiens came along in search of mild winter weather. For a short while, hot summers drove him off until he invented air conditioning, which allowed him to become a permanent fixture amid the other subtropical fauna. With Man came hobbies and interests. His love of reproducing microcosms of the oceans within his dwelling inspired him to import exotic species such as lionfish to populate his aquaria. When he tired of them eating up the rest of his piscine investments, he tossed them into the nearest canal. Now lionfish, which have no local predators, have become a menace to our waters, decimating the indigenous species. ]]> A desire for more land upon which to build crackerbox developments caused Man to import the melaleuca from Australia to drain the swamps. Again, lacking predators, this tree grew out of control until a special beetle that enjoyed feasting upon it had to be imported. Likewise, Man’s hankering for products from afar brought unwanted hitchhikers to our shores, like the Formosan termite and the white-footed ant. Now we speak of the Burmese python, which was imported willy-nilly by commercial interests to satisfy herpetophiles’ desire to share their domiciles with slimy, slithery things. Of course, they soon got too big for the condo, and⎯well, you know the rest of the story. It makes you wonder which species are the pests. tag:blogs.trb.com,2012:/news/opinion/chanlowe/blog//251.314035 2012-01-30T20:21:37Z 2012-01-30T20:30:07Z

While the Florida Republican primary is a spectator sport for many of us here in the Sunshine State, there’s a sense that we all may be witnessing history in the making. If Mitt Romney clinches it, which, as of...

Chan Lowe While the Florida Republican primary is a spectator sport for many of us here in the Sunshine State, there’s a sense that we all may be witnessing history in the making. If Mitt Romney clinches it, which, as of this writing, it looks like he will, it could represent the high water mark for tea party influence in the GOP. Yes, he won it dirty by outspending Newt Gingrich five-to-one, but winning by stuffing obscene amounts of money into the system has an honorable history here. Romney’s victory will be a triumph of blandness, and a late-in-the-game spasm of muscle flexing by what is left of the Republican establishment⎯a group of old bulls that still has trouble accepting that their dalliance with the tea party was a Faustian pact. ]]> It’s a shame that Newt could not have taken Florida; a big prize from such a diverse electorate could have accorded him the credibility to slingshot to the nomination. In the end, the nation would have benefited from a clear-cut matchup between the creed of the social/fiscal conservatives and the forces of progressivism. In the general election, we could have hashed out which philosophy we as a people wished to be our guiding star and defining principle for the next few years. Instead, we will get tapioca pudding out of the pragmatic, timid wing of the Republican Party. The presidential election will be a “clash” between two moderates who agree on more than they disagree. It will devolve into a meaningless slugfest based on personality, and the hackneyed old “who would you rather have a beer with?” poll. It will bore us to death. We’ll miss you, Newt. We’ll miss your overarching ego, your shoot-from-the-lip inanities, and your half-baked intellectualism. Most of all, we’ll miss your passion. tag:blogs.trb.com,2012:/news/opinion/chanlowe/blog//251.313907 2012-01-26T21:03:45Z 2012-01-26T21:08:18Z

Libertarians and far-right crazies notwithstanding, it looks like there are a few things the federal government can accomplish better than the individual states. The exploits of Seal Team Six are so praiseworthy that the Walt Disney Co. even attempted,...

Chan Lowe Libertarians and far-right crazies notwithstanding, it looks like there are a few things the federal government can accomplish better than the individual states. The exploits of Seal Team Six are so praiseworthy that the Walt Disney Co. even attempted, unsuccessfully, to trademark the name for future commercial exploitation, and what higher American honor is there than that? If only the Navy Seals’ heroism, self-sacrifice, efficiency, improvisational skills and sense of teamwork could be transmogrified from the battlefield to the political arena. This country would run like a Swiss watch, and moreover, be the envy of the world. ]]> But Democracy is sloppy, and it’s meant to be. It’s how the Founding Fathers designed our system. They didn’t, however, count on virtually unlimited special-interest money clogging the gears of that system, nor could they have envisioned a disengaged and willfully ignorant electorate that has become tragically susceptible to misleading advertising and demagoguery. Polls show our respect for Congress hovering at somewhere around 12 percent. Yet, at least 50 percent of Americans are happy with their own member of Congress. We cannot blame the institution for obediently bowing to our national will⎯or lack of it. tag:blogs.trb.com,2012:/news/opinion/chanlowe/blog//251.313855 2012-01-25T21:41:04Z 2012-01-25T21:48:43Z

There is a rich history of political parties trying to influence the opposition’s winnowing process, in order to ensure that the least viable candidate is ultimately presented as the nominee. No one should be surprised that the Democrats are...

Chan Lowe There is a rich history of political parties trying to influence the opposition’s winnowing process, in order to ensure that the least viable candidate is ultimately presented as the nominee. No one should be surprised that the Democrats are running negative ads about Mitt Romney in hopes of aiding Newt Gingrich’s candidacy. Even with all his obvious shortcomings, Romney is the wannabe most likely to attract the all-important center that determines electoral outcomes (now that Jon Huntsman is out of the race). A Gingrich nomination would make the general election Obama’s to lose, and if Gingrich came up short in the primaries, at least the Dems will have gotten a head start taking Romney apart. ]]> wooden, maladroit Romney, a Harvard-trained law professor just might, in the words of Muhammad Ali, “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.” Throughout his life, Newt has believed that he has never met his intellectual match. Let’s hope that, with the help of his temporary allies, he prevails in his quest for the nomination. Conservatives aren’t the only ones who would lick their chops at the prospect of an Obama/Gingrich debate. ]]> tag:blogs.trb.com,2012:/news/opinion/chanlowe/blog//251.313781 2012-01-24T21:34:47Z 2012-01-24T21:40:12Z

So what did happen to all the heavy hitters? How did the Republican race get populated by all these pygmies? If Barack Obama is as reviled as the GOP contends, he should be easy to depose, right? Yet, truly...

Chan Lowe So what did happen to all the heavy hitters? How did the Republican race get populated by all these pygmies? If Barack Obama is as reviled as the GOP contends, he should be easy to depose, right? Yet, truly credible candidates like Jeb Bush have decided to sit this race out. Maybe Jeb sees something the rabble can’t, because it’s blinded by rage. It can’t all be about his last name, even though his feckless brother is the one responsible for running two wars on the credit card and giving the wealthy a tax cut that further bankrupted us. Some Republicans who yearn for the good old days, when a president actually looked like a president ought to, might think there was poetic justice in a sibling swooping in to clean up his brother’s mess. ]]> Of course, the rest of the Bush-weary public might not agree. Maybe the serious candidates are waiting for the ultra-conservative wave to crest and then exhaust itself on the rocks. Only after the crazies have had their catharsis can the political vessel be steered off the shoals and back into the main channel. Good pols like Jeb have ultra-sensitive antennae, and my guess is that they have concluded that Obama has too good a chance of winning this one, regardless of the economy. Best to keep their powder dry and run when the recession’s over. The advantage to that is that once everybody is earning an income again, they’ll get their minds off income inequality, and we can go back to business as usual. tag:blogs.trb.com,2012:/news/opinion/chanlowe/blog//251.313710 2012-01-23T21:00:55Z 2012-01-23T21:17:28Z

The problem with Florida is that it comprises a pastiche of viewpoints and backgrounds from all across the country, reflecting its transplant makeup. It has no indigenous political character of its own, so it needs to follow someone else’s...

Chan Lowe The problem with Florida is that it comprises a pastiche of viewpoints and backgrounds from all across the country, reflecting its transplant makeup. It has no indigenous political character of its own, so it needs to follow someone else’s cue. Florida usually validates the front runner in a race, because as I’ve said before, Floridians are so lackadaisical that they tend to vote for the person they’ve heard of (Exhibit A: Governor Rick Scott, who bought the airwaves before his election. Now you can’t find anybody who’ll admit to having supported him). An exception to this rule is Rudolph Giuliani, who came down here when he was running for president, expecting to corral Florida and its rich trove of delegates because there were so many transplants from the New York area, and he figured they’d know who he was. Ultimately, that turned out to be his Achilles’ heel. They certainly did know who he was. ]]> So Mitt Romney’s strategy rested on three-for-three victories in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. The Inevitability Express would then steam into Florida and pick up the votes of those who had resigned themselves to running a cardboard cutout figure in the general election. Now he is one-for-three, and he is about to discover that the trademark lack of commitment on the part of Florida voters of all stripes makes his support about a millimeter deep. They will, for lack of a better reason, back a winner. It’s too bad Romney won New Hampshire and lost South Carolina, rather than the reverse. The average Floridian’s political memory has an span of about forty-five seconds, so he will remember Newt Gingrich as a winner and Romney as a loser. Should Gingrich snag the brass ring, the real winner of the Florida Republican Primary will be Barack Obama, but we’ll keep that to ourselves.