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First, from Howard Kurtz:

If Polanski was an ordinary Roman, and not an award-winning film director, we wouldn’t be having this debate. There is sympathy for him because he’s considered a great artiste. The Hollywood elite wouldn’t give Polanski the plumber the time of day if he had sexually assaulted an underage girl. And that suggests to me a stunning double standard.

As Glenn Reynolds asks, “Suggests?”

Then there’s this from Megan McArdle:

You would think we’d busted him for unpaid parking tickets. The guy drugged a thirteen year old girl in order to rape her. Perhaps the French have some sophisticated, European point of view on these things that I, with my puritan ancestry, simply cannot rise to.

And here’s my personal favorite:

If his unspeakable deed doesn’t meet the standard, what exactly would Roman Polanski have to do in order to become a pariah in this town … I mean, besides vote for Sarah Palin?

Read the whole thing.

UPDATE:   A paragraph from scathing post by Kate Harding at Salon:

It is possible to have all the answers in the board room and to be at a complete loss for words in your first campaign.  At least the cat seems to have caught the tongue of brilliant businesswoman and gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman.

Meg Whitman

I’m stumped by this.

Meg Whitman has been outed by the media for not being a diligent – or even irregular – voter. Disappointing, but not a death sentence.  This failing could have been so elegantly and instantly resolved!  Whitman needed to simply fall on the sword and identify herself as someone who, like many Americans, had long been disenchanted with the political process.  That should have been her first answer.  Her second answer?  Embarrassed and challenged by her kids, having taken a front seat in the interesting campaigns of Mitt Romney and John McCain, she came to the conclusion that doing the “business” of the people was an enriching form of service and not the unreachable frontier she had always misjudged.  With her children grown and with a successful career at EBay to her credit, she decided it was long overdue for her to give back.  In 2009 she seeks to begin a new era in her life, and to step up at a time when it is clear California desperately needs people who can read a spreadsheet.

Am I missing something, or should this not have been on her teleprompter at the California Republican Convention this past weekend?

Switzerland

During the healthcare reform debate (which is really an insurance reform debate) we’ve heard a lot about the British National Health System (almost totally socialized and roundly criticized) and a little about the French system (less socialized, less criticized).   I recently heard a suggestion that the Swiss system might be a model that would work in the USA.  Here’s a summary and analysis of how that little alpine country approaches health insurance:

“He’s turning the presidency into an infomercial,” warned former White House speechwriter Matt Latimer. “It’s not just damaging to the White House. It will also ultimately hurt President Obama’s image as a fresh, non-Washington leader.”

Overexposed?

Some seem to feel that President Obama is beginning to over-expose himself by carrying the flag as the main spokesman for his administration.   He is the best representative of his ideas.  However, it is customary, especially on issues of great import like health care and the war in Afghanistan, to show a parade of supporters from Capitol Hill, the Cabinet, and state Governor’s, all reinforcing the President’s agenda and message.

Obama isn’t finding any courage in his party loyalists.  No one wants to put their seat on the line (literally) to defend his unpopular health care agenda.  Fewer still, are willing to sit on the TODAY show couch and champion sending more troops to Afghanistan.  Instead you see John McCain and Joe Lieberman doing it.

Today, yet another woman tossed her hat into the ring to become part of the nation’s political landscape. 

Former E-Bay CEO, Meg Whitman made it official, and announced that she will run for Governor of California.  Who would WANT that job, you might ask.  With California’s bond rating in a slump, tax revenues evaporating, and Sacramento spending still untethered, it seems like an impossible job.  Yet Meg Whitman has a cool, calm, reasoned attitude about it.  She knows the meaning of “a billion dollars” because she has a billion dollars.

What’s that, you say?   Yes, it is an interesting collection of names.   Here’s how they fit together today.

Fox Commentator Glenn Beck

First, I have met Glenn Beck in person, and he exudes kindness, class, and warmth.  You can’t help but like that man.

But the man I see on television is not that Glenn Beck.  That man’s an entertainer, playing to an audience – not always a perceptive political analyst.  I find myself agreeing with Beck on substance most of the time, but wincing at his style.  Can’t we do a better job of talking about important issues — without all that yelling?