Tony Blair Cause of Murdoch Divorce?

Much speculation that Rupert Murdoch’s divorcing of his wife Wendi is because she had an affair with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.  Blair is godfather to the Murdochs’ older daughter, Grace.

Tony’s not helping.  His spokesman issued a Clintonian denial that they “are” having an affair.  Notice lack of “never had” an affair.

Is this the affair that so shocked David Cameron and was supposed to be a threat to his governing agenda?  I don’t see why it would affect Cameron’s government.

Update — Blair’s spokesman is now saying there was never an affair.

Another Clean-Up on Aisle Mitt

Mitt seems to be morphing into Triumph the Insult Dog.  Someone needs to lock him in a kennel, strap the kennel to the roof of a plane, and fly him home.

It’s one think to insult the British, who won’t stop being BFF’s with us.  I can imagine President Obama and David Cameron having a good laugh about Mitt “Middle of Nowhere” Romney.

But now Mitt has insulted the Palestinians, and they’re not going to laugh it off.  In a speech in Israel, he basically called them lazy and stupid because they lag Israel economically and said the Israelis were “culturally” superior.  Cause we don’t already have enough problems in the Arab world.

And once again, Mitt’s crack staff got their facts wrong.  In his speech, Mitt said that per capita GDP is $21,000 in Israel, compared to $10,000 in the West Bank and Gaza.  He got that hugely wrong.  Israel has a per capita GDP of $31,000, while it’s $1,500 for the Palestinians.

Mitt runs around saying this offensive stuff, but the Obama Administration, which actually has to govern and not just cram their mouths full of feet, has to clean up his mess.

 

 

There Goes the Special Relationship

Let me begin by saying, “Thank you, God.”

From The Guardian:

“Mitt Romney handed Barack Obama a priceless gift for the U. S. presidential election campaign when the presumptive Republican nominee blundered on his first diplomatic outing by questioning whether London was capable of staging a successful Olympic Games.

“In a move that astonished Downing Street, hours before it laid on a special reception for Romney at No. 10, he told NBC there were ‘disconcerting’ signs about the preparations for the Games.

One senior Whitehall source said:  ‘What a total shocker.  We are speechless.’

“David Cameron wasted no time in slapping down Romney hours after his remarks were broadcast.  On a visit to the Olympic Park, the prime minister said:  ‘We are holding an Olympic Games in one of the busiest, most active, bustling cities anywhere in the world.  Of course it’s easier if you hold an Olympic Games in the middle of nowhere.'”

Cameron gets the rhetorical gold, Mittens gets the rhetorical lead.

And, GOP, don’t you think you need to get a new nominee?  Wouldn’t you agree there are “disconcerting” signs about him?

We Are All Keynesians Again

Mitt now acknowledges that we can’t cut spending immediately without killing our fragile recovery.  In an interview with Mark Halperin from Time, Mitt said:

“Well because, if you take a trillion dollars for instance, out of the first year of the federal budget, that would shrink GDP over 5%.  That is by definition throwing us into recession or depression.  So I’m not going to do that, of course.  … I don’t want to have us go into a recession in order to balance the budget.”  Sounding a little like Paul Krugman there, Mittens!

I had wondered how Mitt, given his business background, could not understand basic economics.  The truth is that he does understand.  Until now, he’s just been shy about admitting that knowledge because he’s been pandering to those who want huge cuts and want them immediately, not understanding the drastic economic contraction that would cause.

Look at what David Cameron’s austerity has done to Britain, sending her back into recession.