Inside the Beltway

NEWS AND OPINION:

GROOM BASHING

The drive-by media get their revenge. Some news organizations were not kind to Rush Limbaugh, who married his sweetheart Kathryn Rogers on Saturday. The Boston Herald called Mr. Limbaugh “a conservative Casanova,” while HBO host Bill Maher suggested guests “instead of throwing rice, throw Vicodin.” The Kansas City Star quipped, “Rush Limbaugh’s getting married (maybe he isn’t gay after all, not that there’s anything wrong with that).” Wedding entertainer Sir Elton John did not escape criticism either, from those vexed that he accepted a reported $1 million to croon tunes for the happy couple.

“Should Elton be shamed for accepting the cash? Yes. He is directly supporting Mr. Limbaugh and his endeavors - his future happiness! - by agreeing to perform at the man’s wedding. It will be Rush who writes out the check to Elton for the seven-figure sum; money that, let’s all face, Elton doesn’t really need. And even if his intention was to donate the cash to a lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender youth group, it’s already bloody money, and tainted,” insists Ryan Tedder of Queerty.com, a gay news site.

THE PLOT THICKENS

Many are poring over the margin notes and scribbled asides of Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, as revealed by newly released documents from the William J. Clinton Presidential Library reflecting her times in that administration.

“As more and more of the documents are sifted through, look for the nominee that National Review writer Ed Whelan called ’the blankest slate’ to take on the decidedly clearer tones of a committed liberal,” says Carrie Severino, a former clerk for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and current chief counsel of the Judicial Crisis Network.

“The documents show a politically savvy Kagan, and bring to the fore the question of whether she would be able to set aside her deeply ingrained political instincts to evenhandedly apply the law,” Ms. Severino adds, citing documents that indicate Ms. Kagan’s zeal for gun control, assisted suicide and a recommendation that the Clinton administration spend $400 million to battle global warming.

“As previous documents have shown, Kagan recommended Clinton sign a partial-birth abortion ban that included [then-Sen.] Tom Daschle’s amendment for a health exception, despite the fact that the Clinton DOJ had determined the law was unconstitutional on two different grounds,” Ms. Severino notes.

“It shows her moving ahead with an unconstitutional course of conduct for political reasons. She also recommended that Clinton and his HHS rule that the Hyde Amendment cover all Medicare funds, thereby banning Medicare from covering abortion. This position will likely irritate pro-choice groups as it shows she is more pragmatic than principled in this area.”

SNAKE OIL

Vision of pristine white beaches and innocent wildlife sullied by BP oil makes dramatic news coverage. But those visions are media melodrama, says one eyewitness.

“We have had a few tar balls. But we have tar balls every year as a natural product of the Gulf of Mexico. [Fifty-thousand] to 750,000 barrels of oil seep in the Gulf of Mexico through the floor every year. So, tar balls are no big deal,” Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour tells Fox News.

“The biggest negative impact for us has been the news coverage. There has been no distinction between Grand Isle and Venice and the places in Louisiana that have had oil washing up on them,” Mr. Barbour continues. “The average viewer thinks that the whole coast from Florida to Texas is ankle-deep in oil.”

Not so, he says.

“Our tourist season has been hurt by the misperception of what is going on down here. The Mississippi Gulf Coast is beautiful. As I tell people, the coast is clear. Come on down.”

MEMO TO ROBERT GIBBS

Helen Thomas, recent cover dowager of the Drudge Report, has now earned the title “Mount St. Helen” for her regular eruptions over the decades, according to Media Research Center analyst Rich Noyes - who has tracked her most bombastic remarks.

Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer has asked Miss Thomas’ employer Hearst to fire the veteran White House scribe for her very public insistence that Israel “get the hell out of Palestine.” But that may not be necessary.

“They don’t have to. The White House press corps could pull her credentials at any time,” observes Lucianne Goldberg, proprietress of her self-named news site.

PINING FOR GROWNUPS

“The Republican Party is preferred over the Democratic Party for handling the two top-ranking issues of public concern - terrorism and federal government debt. The Democratic Party is preferred by much wider margins for the environment and discrimination against minority groups - but these are among the least worrisome issues to Americans,” says Gallup Poll analyst Lydia Saad.

Republicans themselves appear to be more vigilant. More than half - 53 percent - of say terrorism is “extremely serious,” compared with 34 percent of Democrats. Fifty percent of the Republicans rank the federal government debt in the same category, compared with 26 percent of Democrats.

HISTORIC PERSPECTIVE

“In March 1911, just a few months after the Mexican Revolution began, President William Howard Taft sent 30,000 troops - regular Army and National Guard - to keep an eye on the border. In 1916, following Pancho Villa’s raid of Columbus, New Mexico, in which 18 Americans were killed, President Woodrow Wilson sent an entire army into Mexico in pursuit. But a century later, ’concerned citizens’ are going to protest President Obama’s plan to send a token force of 1,200 guardsmen to the border?” asks Illinois historian and Beltway reader Stan Welli.

“Those who now criticize Arizona and its immigration legislation would have had apoplexy.”

POLL DU JOUR

c 64 percent of U.S. voters say it is likely a Republican will be elected as the next president.

c 61 percent expect politics in Washington to be “more partisan” over the next year.

c 61 percent say Democrats are acting in a partisan fashion.

c 52 percent say Republicans are acting a partisan fashion.

c 52 percent say President Obama is governing like a partisan Democrat.

Source: A Rasmussen Reports survey of 1,000 likely voters conducted June 1-2.

c Observations, press releases to jharper@washing tontimes.com