Portman works well with Democrats?

Do you have as much trouble trying to understand today's political reports as I do? For example, I stumbled on this in the New York Times' report on the new members of the destined-to-be- deadlocked (@$#&#) super committee - a feel-good initiative with the impossible mission of a bipartisan attack on the Federal deficit.

In reference to Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman's appointment, the Times reported: "Mr. Portman, a House member from 1993 to 2005 , was White House budget director under President George W. Bush. Throughout his time in Congress, he has worked well with Democrats even as he voted consistently with the other Republicans." (emphasis added.)

Now I humbly ask the deep thinkers: How can you work well with the other party by consistently voting against it? Is that the same as offering the other side a mop after you've spilled the milk all over the kitchen floor. But maybe there will be a revealing side of his presence on the panel.. Would it be rude to again note that one reason we have this economic mess is that he was Bush's budget director when the deficit climbed to over $10 trillion?

When a letter writer is more than a letter writer

TODAY'S LATEST political commentary arrived in a letter to the editor in the Plain Dealer. It blamed Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio for everything bad in today's bleak economy, including the stock market crash. Why? Because Brown is a "career politician" who refuses to focus on the "fiscal health for America and jobs."

The writer accused Brown of being the culprit because he voted for the debt ceiling deal.

And why do I make that much from a letter-writer? It happened to be composed in the twilight zone by another career politician, Josh Mandel. And who is Josh Mandel? He's the Ohio treasurer and is so identified by the PD. But the paper neglected to tell the reader that Mandel, who longs for a new office every week, is also a Republican candidate running against - yep! - Sherrod Brown. He should thank the paper for its extraordinary free pass.

Akron mayoral debate by the numbers

AKRON MAYOR Don Plusquellic, the former city high school football star, likes to talk numbers as he did as a quarterback in his younger days. One of his favorite numerical references in his bid for reelection to a seventh term in September's Democratic primary is zero to 24. That's how he has been drawing a distinction between himself and his serial rival over the years, Mike Williams. Both men posted milestones in their political careers 24 years ago - Williams then entering City Council and Plusquellic beginning his first term as mayor.

Plusquellic repeated the number again at the widely visited three-person luncheon debate in the University of Akron Student Union to a sell-out audience of 400. It was his way of responding to Williams' pestering (and somewhat empty) charges that Plusquellic's long career has been corroded by intemperate detachment from the people he is supposed to represent. And once again, that the mayor travels too much.

The mayor, straining to suppress his well-known temper, asserted that in Williams' 24 years on council, his record of accomplishment has been zero in contrast to the mayor's own fully committed efforts in behalf of Akron. The operative and oft-repeated notion, loaded I believe, is the mayor's absence from The Neighborhood. I can't get more specific than that because Williams doesn't, either. Nor does it make much sense - much of today's political rhetoric doesn't anyway - for a mayor who can cover his office walls with the national and local awards that he has earned for his service to the city. That helps explain why he keeps getting reelected.

I should mention at this point that the third candidate at the podium was Janice Davis, a pleasant-enough rival who was largely candidate-neutral in the collision between Plusquellic and Williams that was sponsored by the Akron Press Club, Bliss Institute and League of Women Voters. But even Davis, with few specifics, said the city needs to "move forward''. On the other hand, Williams was pleased to portray the mayor as the ruthless commander of a

''dictatorship" who neglected young people, ignored the needs of schools and "and lacked priorities for economic development".

There was historic irony in the school issue. Four years ago the mayor spent much of his time supporting a school levy while ignoring his political campaign. It produced a closer than expected outcome on Election Day. At the windup of the debate, Plusquellic unloaded on the unsurprising rush to Williams' camp by the same group who failed a recall attempt against him a couple of years ago. He wasn't gentle, accusing the group of "half-truths, misleading statements and outright lies." The flare-up seemed to be downright therapeutic for Plusquellic as he left the stage.

You have to wonder how far Williams can take this campaign theme song, So far he hasn't

had a great deal of success raising money. His last report said he had come up with about $17,000 in contributions to which he and his family added $41,000. Plusquellic, meanwhile, reported $180,000! Williams veteran state and national campaign manager, Jerry Austin, resigned after a short stint in apparent disagreement with the candidate' s campaign plan and payments to Austin.

The only good thing to report today is the debate, such as it was, is history. Seldom do these highly orchestrated encounters change many people's minds. OK, back to work everybody.

UPDATE: Jerry Austin phoned me this morning to dismiss back-channel chatter that his departure from Mike Williams' campaign was partly prompted by the payment to him for his advisory service. "Money had nothing to do with it," Austin said. Instead, the veteran campaign consultant said he withdrew from the Williams campaign because of differences with the candidate on campaign strategy. Williams' campaign is being fronted now on a part-time basis by Tara Samples, bailiff for Akron Municipal Judge Kathryn Michael.

How I imagined Michele's own "response"

Sorry, folks, but couldn't resist this "exchange" between two of America's leading Christians in which Michele Bachmann turns down Rick Perry's invitation to a pas de deux at the Texas governor's pray-in in Houston. Her dance card is filled these days in Iowa.

Bush: Read my lips (taxes)

IN MY UNPAID part-time summer job to clear out some of my bulging old files, I happened to discover a 21-year-old newspaper story that tells us of a Republican president's painful effort to balance the federal budget.

The Knight-Ridder piece that appeared on Page One of the Beacon Journal bore the headline: Bush keeps open mind on options to cut deficit. That's George "Read My Lips" Bush, of course. Here are the first two paragraphs:

"President Bush is prepared to consider a deficit-cutting package containing a national sales tax, new excise taxes, a national lottery or virtually any other revenue proposal short of higher income tax rates, Republican congressional leaders said Tuesday.

"In flatly ruling out an income tax boost, Bush's GOP allies in Congress sought to help the president tackle a worsening federal budget deficit without appearing to violate his "read my lips" campaign opposition to higher taxes."

The projected deficit was estimated to be $180 billion. And the Republicans were prepared to circle the wagons around their president, deficit or no deficit. Among the taxes to be discussed were sin taxes, a one-cent national sales tax , a lottery and taxes on consumer items.

Unimpressed with the potential dithering over the needs, the Beacon Journal's editorial that day (May 9, 1990) concluded:

"Should either party feel that it could be blamed by the voters for a tax increase, chances are it will not be approved. Officeholders wish to avoid being blamed regardless of the wisdom of the step being considered". Bush lost the election anyway, blamed by some for raising taxes to offset deficits. So much for the wisdom of the anti-tax voters.

Gov. Perry's pray-in: the church becomes the state

ONE WONDERS: Are we reaching the point where the separation of church and state is no longer a national issue because church is actually replacing state in the corridors of political power? There is no better example of this merger than the one that will occur in Texas on Saturday - the date set aside for Gov. Rick Perry's seven-hour pray-in that is being orchestrated by some of the nation's leading right-wing religious groups.

Perry, who is said to be considering a presidential candidacy, denies there is a whit of politics in the spacious event in Houston's Reliant Stadium. Besides, the guv's partner, the American Family Association, is picking up the tab. The association's shopping list of social concerns not only oppose the usual suspects as abortion and homosexuality, but also has an interesting excursion into the Constitution. The AFA argues that freedom of religion only applies to Christians!

So far, the event has only received 8,000 RSVP's for the stadium that holds 71,000. However it turns out, it will doubtless be a an A-list subject in Sunday's news - which would certainly please the "non-political" governor.

Obama needs a lesson in 'Durocherism'

YOU CAN COUNT me as being among those who weren't happy about the cozy "deal" that President Obama handed the Republicans on the debt ceiling. He still doesn't accept Leo Durocher's warning that "nice guys don't win pennants." So the GOP stalwarts who remain servile to the outrageous agenda of the Tea Party anarchists - even if it means shutting down the government altogether - can be expected to crow for awhile. But the pundits who are already declaring Obama DOA in 2012 ought to be a little more prudent about their credibility.

With 15 months remaining before Election Day (an eternity, really) I will boldly offer my own prediction of what could happen:

Obama could win. Obama could lose. Nothing is set in stone today.

Until then, we will have to put up with the peacocks in our midst.

Romney says he needs a job

TODAY'S PRESIDENTIAL campaign's burning question:

When will Mitt Romney stop kidding around with his audiences that he understands their pain because "I'm unemployed, too." Coming from someone whose wealth is said to be about $200 million, he is a clear choice for the Grumpy Abe Linguistic lunacy (GALL) award.

Mitt, being out of work is not funny - unless you really don't need the money.

The debt limit bill; Boehner's hostage role:

Watching Tea Party hostage John Boehner strutting around with a grin and a victory thumb up blurs the record that he, in turn, held the nation hostage to protect his hide against threats of Tea Party opposition to his own reelection next year. Meantime, anybody who suggests that the winners are laughing all the way to the bank are overlooking an important point: Folks, they

ARE the bank.

Boson, quarks and hadrons for an escapist

I'VE JUST READ a piece in The Economist that was all about the Higgs boson, hadrons and quarks. Don't go away. I was lured by the headline: Enemy in sight?, which is a fitting reference to any story out of the Nation's Capital these days. Happily for me, the magazine article had nothing to do with alarmingly wretched politics but rather it dealt with the 40-year search for something called the Higgs boson. Don't go away.

As I burrowed through the exotic language for an atom of meaning , I finally conceded that for one who didn't do well in high school physics, the tale of the Higgs boson left me at the starting gate. Still, everything has a purpose, I suppose. For me in times like these, it was good to read something that was an unintelligible escape from the otherwise inexplicable folly of our everyday world. To show my appreciation, I may try to work quarks and hadrons into my later posts if I ever figure out what they mean.