Our Man in Baghdad

Posted on August 13, 2011 by billmanzi

Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki, seeking to lend a hand to beleaguered Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has come out with strong words of support for the Syrian dictator, saying that the Syrian street protesters are affiliated with al-Queda, and that they should use “democratic means” to bring about change. Prime Minister al-Maliki did not mention in his statement that Syria has NO democratic institutions, like free elections. The Iraqi Prime Minister’s Party also blamed the Syrian street protests on the Israelis, indicating that the Arab Gulf states were in cahoots with the Israelis to foment insurrection.

Shaker Darraji, a member of Mr. Maliki’s State of Law bloc, said the Syrian protesters were members of Al Qaeda and that the Israelis and the Arab Persian Gulf states were behind the demonstrations.

I pointed out the obvious in 2008. The Iranians have indeed expanded their influence in the Middle East as a result of the American invasion of Iraq, and the Iraqi support for the Assad regime is just another manifestation of that influence. That is our man in Baghdad, taking orders from the Iranians, and issuing support to a key pillar of Iranian influence in the region, the Assad regime. The Iranians, using Assad and Syria as a way station, armed and continue to arm Hezbelloh in Lebanon, creating a tinder box on the Israeli border. The last Lebanese-Israeli border war, a consequence of repeated border provocations by Hezbelloh including the ambushing of an Israeli patrol and the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers, caused untold misery for both Lebanon and Israel. And this is the vision for the new, democratic Iraq? This is why we spent trillions, and sacrificed countless American lives? So that our man in Baghdad can offer support to the greatest agent of instability in the Middle East, the Iranians?

The lack of a realistic assessment of true American interests in the Middle East continues to haunt this country. The Iraqi debacle, a combination of arrogance and overreach, will come into full view in the very near future. Read the New York Times story on the Iraqi Prime Minister supporting the al-Assad regime here.

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The Republican Debate

Posted on August 12, 2011 by billmanzi

As anticipated the Republicans were a bit livelier in their big debate last night. And this morning the pundits are out in force, analyzing the debate performances. Red State gave an interesting view, with Erick Erickson not really giving any of the field high marks, declaring Romney the winner by default. I watched it and was taken by several things.

1) Newt Gingrich- I thought he had a good debate. He took on Chris Wallace because he is fed up with the media fixation on his campaign failings. Not sure it was the smart thing to do in the long term, but he certainly turned the focus away from his failed campaign infrastructure during the debate, even comparing his foibles to that of Ronald Reagan. Gingrich’s other point, that the so called super-committee set up as part of the debt ceiling deal was a stupid idea, is essentially correct. But as Erickson points out debating has never been a problem for Gingrich. Organizing and working have been the problems. Good performance, but still a second tier candidate who will be crushed in Iowa.

2) Michelle Bachmann- She held her ground against the attack she knew was coming from Tim Pawlenty. And while many are incredulous about the substance of her answers on the debt ceiling, and her highlighting the save the traditional light-bulb legislation as a major accomplishment, I think that misses the essential appeal of the Bachmann candidacy in Iowa. She is the anti-Washington candidate, standing her ground against those selling governance and compromise as essential to the future of the Republic. Not raising the debt ceiling, as Rick Santorum pointed out, was not a mathematical possibility. And if that is the standard of judgement then Bachmann loses the argument to Pawlenty and Santorum. But in my opinion that is not the standard. I think Bachmann more than held her ground, and was not at all injured by the attacks.

3) Tim Pawlenty- A genuine nice guy trying to get tough. I just don’t think he made any progress by virtue of the debate. His hope rests on superior organization on the ground, where most feel he has invested to produce the best Iowa field team. Failure to score in the top two in Ames would have to be considered a bad blow to the Pawlenty campaign. But it could be worse. He could be Jon Huntsman.

4) Jon Huntsman. The biggest waste of Presidential campaign resources since Fred Thompson’s candidacy. His contributors should sue the campaign for malpractice. This guy does not know where he wants to be positioned, and his halting, tentative performance should make clear that he will never break the 4% mark. He should spare himself further embarrassment and get out now.

5) Mitt Romney. Governor Romney, after some tough interactions on the stump in Iowa, performed well. I agree with Erickson that he wins by not losing. And although Pawlenty went after him a bit on Romney Care the barbs were mostly exchanged between the other candidates. Romney continues his inexorable march to the nomination, despite the best efforts of some Republicans and the media to portray him as a weak front-runner.

6) Were there any other candidates there?

Many people seemed stunned by the unanimous show of hands by the assembled candidates that they would reject a 10-1 “grand bargain” that provided for that ratio of spending cuts to revenue increases in order to solve our budget problems. While I was not surprised by the response it just shows how dug in the Republican base is on that issue. As a substantive matter the position is ludicrous. But as I pointed out on the Bachmann matter that is not what the candidates are thinking about as they hope to gain traction with Republican primary voters.

A win for Romney, with Bachmann, in my opinion, also a winner and now poised to win Ames and then withstand the coming entry of Governor Perry into the race.

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Corporations Are People

Posted on August 11, 2011 by billmanzi

Mitt Romney “taking questions” in Iowa. After watching this exchange it is no wonder that Romney has not spent much time in Iowa. The big debate is tonight, on Fox. I anticipate a little more body contact during this debate, as Tim Pawlenty and Jon Huntsman are already on the verge of extinction. Mitt’s contention, that corporations are “people”, was probably not the exact message he was looking to send, but he got a bit ruffled. He can expect a little bit more of that tonight, only the hecklers are likely to be his fellow Republican candidates.

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Dylan Ratigan Rants

Posted on August 10, 2011 by billmanzi

And Ratigan’s rant is wrong in which way? The idea that both Democrats and Republicans are ignoring the FUNDAMENTAL math involved with the federal budget is undeniable. That fundamental math involved could be understood by a grade school student. Good for Dylan Ratigan. He said something that needed to be said.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640

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Defeat in Wisconsin

Posted on August 10, 2011 by billmanzi

The big push by organized labor and the Democratic Party to flip control of the Wisconsin State Senate away from Republicans has gone down to defeat, with only two of the necessary three Republicans losing the recall campaigns. It is, no matter the spin, a big win for Governor Scott Walker and a big defeat for organized labor and the Democratic Party. So what happened?

Organized labor has suffered a series of defeats across the country. Even in Massachusetts the Legislature has enacted a modest diminishing of the collective bargaining rights of labor. Is labor being picked on? Or are the defeats at least in part due to miscalculation by labor itself? From my perspective it is time for labor, especially municipal and state employees, to look in the mirror. I have, as Mayor, negotiated over 30 collective bargaining agreements in six years. Included in those are two major health care deals which changed our plans to more accurately reflect the market. I do not approach this an a foe of labor, but as a friend. But the plain fact is that labor, in many cases, simply refuses to accept economic facts. Mayors throughout the country, squeezed by massive increases in pension and health care costs, bring these hard facts to the negotiating table during labor negotiations. Invariably we all hear the same response: “the City is hiding money”, “(insert name here) got an unjustified (raise, promotion) so we should all get the same deal”, “take it from another section of the budget”, “the Wall Street guys got away with murder, don’t blame us”, etc.

Inevitably the system is not just in many ways. But the executives HAVE to balance budgets by law. With the explosion in fixed costs that means something has to give. But labor, in many cases, just will not make even slight adjustments. In Massachusetts labor could have had a deal that provided for first rate health care and helped localities to save jobs WITHOUT the need to modify collective bargaining rights. They chose to dig in and give nothing instead.

The public, and the great middle, is where this fight will be won or lost. And people in that category are looking at some of the benefit packages and rebelling. They are being squeezed economically, and being asked to finance pensions and health care that they have no chance of achieving in their own lives. The arrogance of some of the responses, and the sense of entitlement that is exhibited in some of those responses, is alienating the very folks that vote and participate. Wisconsin is not a “conservative state”, but the Democrats and labor took a hard one on the chin yesterday.

Finally, as a political matter, the Democrats and Labor needed to do a lot more than “recall” state senators. They needed to only “recall’ where they could win. The White House and the National Democratic Party better sharpen their political operation pretty fast. The old saying “Proper preparation prevents poor performance” comes to mind here. Republican clean sweep in 2012? No longer is that prospect a pipe dream.

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Mayor Bloomberg on Infrastructure

Posted on August 9, 2011 by billmanzi

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, along with former Governors Ed Rendell and Arnold Schwarzenegger have joined forces to talk about America’s continued failure to fund the infrastructure needs of our nation. The new group they have formed, Building America’s Future, is advocating a ten year program that would devote $200 billion annually to restoring our crumbling infrastructure. They have issued an impressive report that breaks out into three areas.

The first section of the report, A Mounting Crisis, makes the case why U.S. infrastructure has fallen from first place in the World Economic Forum’s 2005 economic competitiveness ranking to number 15 today. We have let more than a half-century go by without devising a strategic plan on a
national scale to update our freight and passenger transport systems. The size of our federal investment in transportation infrastructure as a share of GDP has been dwindling for decades, and most federal funds are dispersed to projects without imposing accountability and performance measures. This lack of vision, lack of funding, and lack of accountability has left every mode of transportation in the United States—highways and railroads, airports and sea ports—stuck in the last century and ill-equipped for the demands of a churning global economy.

The second section of the report, Losing Ground to Our Global Competitors, takes
an international look at transportation infrastructure and highlights certain themes that unify our competitors’ plans while setting our transportation policies apart. Governments around the world—from the EU to China, Canada to Australia—are making unprecedented national investments in transportation infrastructure on the basis of new plans to promote economic growth through infrastructure. Guided by principles of improving economic efficiency and sustainability, other countries are devoting most of their attention and resources to building the high-tech and low-carbon networks for the 21st century. In
particular, they are investing in intermodal freight facilities and strategic corridors, and they are building high-speed rail. A comparative look at high-speed rail networks around the world offers lessons about how to successfully build high-speed rail in strategic corridors—namely between Boston and
Washington, between LA and San Francisco, and in a hub-and-spoke around Chicago—that will ease air travel congestion around the country and unlock potential economic growth in those regions.

Recommendations for Reform include:

1) Develop a national infrastructure strategy for the next decade that makes choices based on economics, not politics.

2) Pass a 6-year transportation bill updated to compete in the 21st-century global economy.

3) Be both innovative and realistic about how to pay.

4) Promote accountability and innovation.

The plan has so many features that make sense that it is difficult to know where to begin. The jobs feature alone would be a huge boost to our country. But it is not really a jobs program, but advocacy for updating our infrastructure so that we can remain competitive as a country with our foreign “business partners”. The idea that we can just let our infrastructure rot is simply not acceptable. Another point that makes good sense is the idea of applying these potential new dollars on the basis of merit, in response to studies showing what our real infrastructure needs are. We need a plan for responsible spending, not spending based on Congressional seniority. Overall, as the Mayor points out, it may appear to be counter-intuitive. But our infrastructure will crumble without the necessary new investment. And that investment, and those jobs, are needed now.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640

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Pawlenty Shoots for Survival in Ames

Posted on August 8, 2011 by billmanzi

The Ames Straw poll takes place this week, with a pre-straw poll debate hosted by Fox News on Thursday. With front-runner Mitt Romney taking a pass on Ames the straw poll has taken on great significance for Tim Pawlenty, who has invested heavily in an Iowa ground game that appears to be making progress. Iowa front runner Michelle Bachmann appears less organized, but still better placed to win the event based on crowd enthusiasm and polling. Ron Paul is pushing hard as well, looking to finish in the top three. And Texas Governor Rick Perry appears poised to enter the race, although his name was left off the Ames straw poll ballot. (Sarah Palin was also left off.) With Perry coming in Rasmussen has done some new Iowa polling:

The first Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Iowa’s Likely Caucus Participants shows that Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann attracts 22% support, while former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney earn 21%. Just slightly behind is Texas Congressman Ron Paul at 16%, followed by Texas Governor Rick Perry at 12% and former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty at 11%.

While Perry will not be on Ames ballot his entry will further marginalize Pawlenty, who will not be able to sustain a fifth place finish in the regular Iowa caucuses. I think he finishes in the top four in Ames, but that may well put him on life support. Pawlenty has driven the only strategy available to him, which is to downplay expectations while pouring money and organization into catching Bachmann by surprise at Ames. If he succeeds he will get a big media bump, and new life. Old pro Ed Rollins over at Team Bachmann is working very hard to make sure that does not happen. The attached Fox video shows just where Pawlenty is training his fire: right on Bachmann. Predictions?

http://video.foxnews.com/v/embed.js?id=1098123798001&w=466&h=263Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com

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Sarah Hits the Mittster

Posted on August 5, 2011 by billmanzi

Sarah Palin launched a hard attack on Mitt Romney, nominally on the issue of his failure to state a position on the debt ceiling debate until very late, but in reality taking on his decision to run quiet on the campaign trail. Romney has concentrated his efforts into fundraising, organizing, and limited public comments on anything. Romney eventually came out against the debt deal, but it was not good enough for Governor Palin, who wants principled candidates in the Republican race. Palin did praise Michelle Bachmann, who came out early and hard against any increase in the debt ceiling. Will Romney eventually be smoked out, or will he continue to be allowed to fly under the political radar screen by Republicans? For all the Romney bashing going on on the Republican side I have not yet seen another candidate with a path to victory. Mitt appears to be set on a general election strategy that may enrage a big portion of the Republican base.

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April Story is August Artist of the Month

Posted on August 4, 2011 by billmanzi

Mayor William M. Manzi has named April Story as August’s Artist of the Month. April, a mermaid and fantasy artist, grew up in Amesbury, MA. As a child, she had a vivid imagination. Growing up she believed unicorns ate the apples off the trees in her yard, fairies flew around causing mischief and mermaids swam in the ocean with the dolphins. She brings a bold and slightly abstract view to her mermaids using acrylics on canvas along with mixed textures. Her dream is for people of all ages to have her paintings hanging in their homes.

When asked where she draws her inspiration from, she says: “I am often drawn to nature, energy and emotions. Sometimes I will find myself day dreaming while outside and it will just hit me. For example, I would see a rainbow and at the time I would be feeling insecure and next thing I know I will start to see images in my mind that intertwine what I am seeing and feeling. For the most part I see colors but then I start to see shapes and movement within my mind and I instantly see the next painting.”

April received her associate’s degree in Graphic Design from NECC in Haverhill but decided to become a visual artist instead. She is currently a member of the Greater Haverhill Artist Association as well as the Arts Institute Group of Methuen.

Mayor Manzi stated, “I’d like to thank April for her participation in this program. She is one of the many talented young painters working in our community. It is an honor to display her artwork. I encourage people to come to my office and view her paintings.”

The Methuen Artist of the Month Program was created by Mayor Manzi five years ago in order to give members of the Methuen Arts Community a forum to display their work and to encourage participation in Methuen’s growing creative economy. Methuen artists interested in being considered for Artist of the Month should contact the Mayor’s Office.

April Story is August Artist of the Month

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The New Hostage!

Posted on August 3, 2011 by billmanzi

With all of the nonsense that is being kicked around out there in the media and with all of the blogs (left and right) you might actually think that this “debt ceiling agreement” amounted to something. One of the biggest political hoaxes perpetrated on folks since the last debt deal between Congress and the Administration. Both parties are talking about sending the no-compromise types onto the special Congressional Committee. Hilarious. Does anybody really expect that defense cuts and medicare cuts, put together without a thought to impacts on either, will be allowed to go forward? That is even more hilarious. Spare us the drama. The deal coming down the pike will center on the extension of the Bush tax cuts, which the President can stop on his own. The Republicans may just find out that hostage taking is a two way street.

The upcoming deal will include tax revenues that have been taken, up to this point, off the table by Republicans. The deal on revenues will be well north of $1 trillion, and will include major changes sought by Democrats. The deal will also make changes in entitlements that will save real money, and possibly the reduction of some tax rates, as well as the abolition of the Alternative Minimum Tax. Repatriation of overseas corporate money at greatly reduced tax rates will also be included, if it has not already occurred by next year. The Republicans will be faced with a President who will simply let the entire array of the Bush tax cuts expire for all in the absence of such an agreement. That is worth $4 trillion over ten years. As the attached clip from Steve Rattner shows the prescriptions advocated by both parties, as far as deficit reduction goes, are nowhere near what is needed. Ezra Klein talked about the President’s leverage in today’s column. We will now find out how good of a negotiator the President really is.
That column had the take given by noted deficit hawk Alice Rivlin, who was on the Simpson/Bowles Committee, and co-chaired her own deficit panel with Republican Pete Domenici

“We always started by asking how to slow the growth of entitlements, because that’s what’s driving the budget deficits,” she says. “But then we would find there’s nothing you can do that gets you much money in the near term. Then we would go after discretionary spending, and cap or freeze that. But after we did all that, we would realize we hadn’t closed the gap. This happened on both commissions. And that’s when everyone would realize you need more revenue and turn to improving the tax code.”

That is just what Paul Ryan realized as well, but he just has not admitted it yet. Despondent Democrats should stop whining, and realize that the major engagement has yet to be fought.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640

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