SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE:

GOP SINKING IN DEBT TALKS – Apprehension is growing, as noted by A.B. Stoddard and Charles Krauthammer on Fox this evening, that the Republicans are losing control of the public narrative over the debt negotiations.  President Obama apparently stormed out of those talks today, in another adolescent outburst, but there's a feeling that he can shape the public perception to make Republicans look like rigid, selfish ideologists, interested more in politics and protecting their wealthy friends than in the nation.  The worriers are right.  Republicans are losing control, the party is divided, and the press will support Obama no matter what.  Frankly, the GOP's most influential negotiator, Majority Leader Eric Cantor, may lack the skills to control such a high-stakes negotiation.  The best solution may be a series of temporary measures to take us through the 2012 election, after which the parties can negotiate without electoral politics hanging over their heads.

NBC APOLOGIZES – NBC has now formally apologized to members of Congress for recently airing a recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance with the words "under God" taken out.  NBC conceded "a serious error in judgment" by a "small group of people" who have been "reprimanded."  But NBC misunderstands the issue.  The real question in play how a "small group of people" at a major network could make this mistake without realizing it was a mistake.  NBC, and other networks, have problems in the kinds of people they hire.  At one time networks understood the need to show respect for the nation and its basic values.  That understanding has faded with the years. 

OH THE AGONY, OH THE PAIN –  You've probably been reading about the big press scandal in Britain.  Rupert 
Murdoch's News Corporation, which also owns Fox News and the Wall Street Journal here, is being hammered because journalists at its London tabloid, News of the World, apparently hacked into the phones of news sources and ordinary citizens to get scoops.  As soon as the scandal broke, Murdoch closed News of the World, an extraordinary and commendable step.  But critics are unrelenting, and liberals here are now demanding a probe, without any evidence, to see if News Corporation engaged in the unsavory practice here.  No one is defending the hacking, but if you think this anguished uproar is about phone taps, I have a tax increase I'd like to sell you.  It's about Murdoch's conservative politics and the wish of the left to destroy Fox News.  The New York Times, a direct competitor to The Wall Street Journal, and CNN, a direct competitor to Fox News, are particularly delighted by the scandal, featuring it prominently every day.  The New York Times, of course, used classified information to "expose" a critical anti-terror program, and CNN made a deal with Saddam Hussein to go easy on him in exchange for access.  Where was the uproar in either case?

HOW TIMES CHANGE – Topps, the company that makes baseball trading cards, is creating a card for Christian Lopez, the guy who caught Derek Jeter's 3,000th hit, a home run.  I remember, as a kid, how we would buy packs of Topps gum for a nickel, throw away the gum, and keep the trading cards, always hoping we'd get a Brooklyn Dodger in the pack for that nickel.  Now we get...fans?  What comes next, the attendee who survived the most rain-outs?  Hey, I'll trade you a Christian Lopez for two cards with the rain-out guy.  My dream – a card honoring the parking-lot attendant who dented the most fenders.  You never know.  In 2045, that could be the hot one. 

July 13, 2011