Slicing and Dicing of the Issues People Are Talking About
Marc Fisher
Post Metro Columnist
Thursday, September 29, 2005
12:00 PM
Potomac Confidential fills the midday lull with discussion by Metro columnist Marc Fisher of the latest news and a rigorous slicing and dicing of the issues that define who we are and where we live.
Fisher was online Thursday, Sept. 15, at Noon ET to discuss the local response to Katrina, the latest entry into the D.C. mayoral campaign and the race for governor in Virginia.
In his weekly show, Fisher veers wildly from serious probing to silly prattle, and is open to topics local, national, personal and more.
Archives:
A transcript follows.
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Marc Fisher: Welcome aboard, folks.
Our Man Rocci tells me that our vaunted polling technology is on the fritz, so the poll I had prepared for today's show will exist only in some nether region of cyberspace for now. Sorry.
So much on the plate today--the American University scandal (subject of Tuesday's column), the Bobby Haircut/Peter Angelos/Martin O'Malley campaign dynamic in Maryland (today's column), the violence at Montgomery County high school football games, the indictment of D.C. developer Doug Jemal, the Virginia governor's race. Sunday's column was the latest in my series on Why People Live Where They Live, this time the author of the "Creative Class" bestsellers, Richard Florida.
Two Pick Stories of the Week: Steve Ginsburg's Campaign Journal in Metro, in which he tracks a rush-hour race from Woodbridge to Washington involving several modes of transportation: The guy in the car came in LAST.
And Les Carpenter's lovely Sports piece yesterday on an entire region's loss, as radio coverage of the St. Louis Cardinals moves off the legendary KMOX, ending the Cards' status as the team of the entire Midwest.
Another bit of radio news: In further fallout from the Michael Graham episode (the WMAL talk host who called Islam a "terrorist organization"), WMAL program director Randall Bloomquist is out, leaving for a job in Atlanta. Where will the D.C. talk station go? Very much up in the air.
On to your comments and questions, after the Yay and Nay of the Day:
Yay to Anthony "Bowtie" Williams for resurrecting what we used to call the City Under Siege. The mayor, who at this very moment is announcing that he will not seek a third term, deserves credit for the obvious accomplishments of a new and extended downtown, revitalization of numerous neighborhoods, and the restoration of some basic competence to some essential city agencies. People are moving into D.C. in droves and the mayor gets kudos for making that possible. More important are his less obvious accomplishments, including vast swaths of new housing in the very neighborhoods where he is least popular, which leads us to...
Nay to Anthony "Bowtie" Williams, for undermining what could have been a magnificent legacy by failing to make the link in voters' minds between development for the well-to-do and support of those most in need. Only in the last months of his second term has he invested heavily in showing that restoration of neighborhoods helps people at all economic levels. Only now is he attacking the deepest social problems in some places. And still, he has left virtually untouched the most pressing problem of all, the public school system.
More on the mayor as we push on, but it's your turn....
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Washington, D.C.: As a former A.U. student, I found your article on A.U. president Benjamin Ladner repulsive. Not a Post fan myself (I stopped subscribing to the Post after it became a propaganda tool for the war in Iraq), it's obvious that a small group of influential people are using this paper to discredit Dr. Ladner and get him fired. I admit that Dr. Ladner's compensation is steep and he may have not used good judgment in using the university's resources for his own benefit. But let's not forget about all the good things that he has done for A.U. Not only has he tightened standards and raised the school's profile, but he has also given the school a greater international footprint by collaborating with governments and schools in other countries. In fact, that was one of the reasons why Dr. Ladner took the much hyped trip to Nigeria. If you travel to a foreign country as a representative of a major university, the last thing you want to skimp on is airfare. Despite Dr. Ladner's salary, nobody can say that the school was lacking in funds, or that the school's development needs were ignored. I don't know who Dr. Ladner rubbed the wrong way, but if these people really cared about the school, they would have tried to settle their differences in a more amicable manner, rather than humiliating him through the Post and damaging A.U.'s reputation in the process.
Marc Fisher: Wow. You're really in the tank for the guy. Let's see--the last thing you want to do is skimp on airfare? Because the donors you're going to find in Nigeria won't talk to you if you flew in coach? AU isn't short on funds? Is that why they're stripping out the tennis and golf teams? Is that why adjuncts are paid $3,000 to teach an entire course? Is that why professors make less than the national average even while living in the nation's 2nd most expensive metro area?
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Washington, D.C.: After A.U. President Ladner resigns, which seems inevitable, is there any way to force the resignation of the trustees who negotiated secret contracts and supported spending the universities money on his lavish lifestyle? Really, Ladner is only half the problem here. His entitlement mentality is astounding, but A.U. gave him a contract that permitted most of these abuses!
Marc Fisher: A bunch of the trustees are talking about governance reform, and certainly that's a major concern among the university's major donors and the faculty. In this post-Enron climate, trustees are suddenly realizing that there's more to supervising the administration than dining off the prexy's bountiful table.
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Washington, D.C.: Marc --
I'm not going to defend A.U. President Ladner because I think he brought this on himself even if these expenses were allowed by his contract. Appearances matter. However, I think all A.U. students and alums need to be asking just what exactly the Board of Trustees have been doing. I'm particularly incensed by those trustees now calling for Ladner's ouster -- where were they when this was all going on? I wonder if this lack of governance by the Board is an A.U. problem or representative of university boards around the country. Either way, both Ladner and the Board should be under fire.
Marc Fisher: The letters and email traffic among the trustees indicates that quite a number of them were really blindsided by this. There's lots of complaint about a secret compensation deal between Ladner and a very small group of trustees. That doesn't excuse the ignorance of the broader trustee group, but it might explain why this situation was allowed to deteriorate to this point.
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Alexandria, Va.: Marc,
Great piece on A.U. I graduated as Ladner was arriving at the school in '94, and am now proud to say I have never given the school another dime after the $80K+ that my parents paid for my education. Who knows what my donation would have gone to fund!
If, despite its hefty price tag, A.U. had a huge endowment, a world class library, and generous financial aid available for students who needed it, I don't think anyone would be as concerned about the president's compensation. As it stands, A.U. has none of these things and costs a bomb to attend, so Ladner shouldn't act so surprised that students, faculty, alumni and many members of the Board of Trustees are OUTRAGED that he appears to have maintained an extravagant lifestyle at the expense of more important university funding priorities.
Thank you Washington Post for the detailed coverage!
Marc Fisher: The main point is that there are plenty of great colleges where the presidents earn a small fraction of what Ladner makes, and those presidents are highly visible on campus and stand for academic freedom and other principles important to the faculty and students, rather than seeing the presidency as a chance to dine big and live large.
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Can we vote Ladner and Ehrlich off the island?: We get a two-fer this week! And, to complete the trifecta, all we have to do is add DeLay to the list.
When was the last time we had a week like this? Given, Ehrlich's isn't a scandal, but he obviously could care less about getting votes in the D.C. suburbs after his lovefest with Angelos at Camden Yards.
Marc Fisher: It's not a good week for gluttons, but it is a good week for shining light on those who take the rest of us for saps.
At the start of the District's push for a baseball team, Ehrlich came to the Post and talked about how he wouldn't do anything to prevent the good people of the Washington area from getting a team. Within a couple of hours after that appearance--after Angelos had blown a gasket over the governor's remarks--the Ehrlich folks tried to take back his words. He's tried to play both sides publicly, while privately he was doing Angelos' bidding.
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Oakton, Va.: Prexy? Wow, had to look that up. Not sure how often I will be able to weave that into conversations.
Marc Fisher: Has a cooler, more knowing sound than prez, which sounds more like a guy who's been in the job too long.
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Washington, D.C.: Marc,
I think you should write about the assortment of characters that hand out the Express every morning. My local guy is creepy and takes a while to hand you a newspaper so he has time to look you up and down. He has even commented on when I arrive to the Metro. On the other hand, there is a very sweet man that says hello to every single person exiting the Metro. These people now seem like an integral part of my morning commute in both positive and negative ways.
Just a comment, thank you!
Marc Fisher: I wouldn't dare disparage any of those fine Express distributors. Mostly because I could be one of them any day now. Have you seen the tidal wave of layoffs in the news biz lately?
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20010: In 100 words or less, where's the most interesting political scene: D.C., Maryland or Virginia? Why?
Marc Fisher: Very tough one. They all have their moments. I think Virignia is intrinsically the most fascinating of the three because the cultural divide in the state is so deep and abiding and will only get more so. The District, as the most dysfunctional, is a splendid source of stories and an all too regular fount of anguish. Maryland is just becoming a two-party state, and things there are getting much more interesting. If I have to pick one, it's Virginia.
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Franconia, Va.: I guess it's a good thing the Nats are out of the wildcard race given that many of us couldn't watch the Nats sweep the Marlins this week. It's insulting that Gov. Ehrlich had a hand in keeping us from watching the games on TV. I don't pay too much attention to Maryland politics, but I'll certainly be tempted to give a donation to his opponent in the race next year.
Marc Fisher: As a Starpower (now RCN) customer, I get to see all the games, but I feel your pain. The saddest part of this is that there is no strong prospect for the TV situation changing for next season. Possible new Nats owner Jeff Smulyan was on SportsTalk 980 last evening and basically said that he'd try to knock some sense into Angelos and Comcast, but he wasn't offering any creative ideas or any real hope that the deadlock would end. Angelos clearly doesn't mind having the O's be the only team on DC TV, even if he has to eat the money spent on producing Nats TV for an audience of next to no one.
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Washington, D.C.: Do you think the citizens of D.C. will finally appreciate and miss Tony Williams once he's gone? He's been derided as a no personality stiff, and one who only caters to the wealthy, but he's done some magnificent things for this city that no other mayor has ever achieved, and may never achieve. The list of potential candidates to replace him seem either too set in their ways or swayed by popular opinion (Cropp), or too young/inexperienced/underqualified (Fenty).
Marc Fisher: Oh yeah. Just have a look at the field of five who hope to follow Williams. It's not a heartwarming experience. A couple of them have some of the strengths you'd want in a mayor, but none has even close to the skills that Williams has, even considering how politically inept Williams is.
NEarly everyone I talk to is still pining away for a different, non-existent candidate; that's why you still keep hearing rumors about ex-US Attorney Eric Holder jumping into the race. That won't happen, but the persistence of the rumors shows just how weak this field is.
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Bethesda, Md.: I don't have a problem with O'Malley pretending to have a connection with Montgomery voters. What's he supposed to do -- say, 'I left Montgomery County, and did very nicely without you, nyah, nyah, nyah.'
Marc Fisher: Well, he could have mentioned one--just one--concrete idea for MoCo in his address in Rockville yesterday, or he could have taken note of any of Montgomery's concerns about state policy. But we heard not a single word about the ICC, gangs, school funding, land use or any of the county's top shelf issues.
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Rockville, Md.: Marc --
What do you make of Mr. Florida's argument, that cities must cater to the "creative" class to survive? Seems like a recepit for making cities unlivable for kids, families, workers, i.e., anyone who isn't young, single and overeducated.
Marc Fisher: Florida's vision of a thriving city is indeed geared toward the young, the single, gays and others who may not be fully invested in the city as a lifelong home. But he also notes the importance of having a housing mix that is diverse enough to allow families to set down roots, and surely that's something that persists as a major problem in Washington, where the woeful schools and the soaring real estate prices conspire to force many folks to leave when their kids reach school age.
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Woodley Park, Washington, D.C.: As a new resident of the District and a purchaser of an over-priced condo, should I be concerned about property values under the mayoral administration of any of the announced candidates? Are the announced candidates as business-friendly as Mayor Williams?
Marc Fisher: It's a mix. Vincent Orange and Linda Cropp make the strongest noises about maintaining the Williams approach of keeping investment coming into the city and boosting the tax base so that all may thrive. Adrian Fenty picks up a lot of that message but mixes it with a more populist appeal to those who have been left behind, and Cropp also hits that theme, so in those two cases, it's hard this early in the campaign to see which approach will prevail in their own minds. Michael Brown plays the Marion Barry card harder, emphasizing those neighborhoods that feel left out by the Williams years. I haven't a clue about the fifth candidate, Marie Johns, who appears to believe that she's due a promotion from some job at the phone company.
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Washington, D.C.: Didn't Randall Bloomquist work for the Post years ago writing about radio? Before he took to the habit of ruining radio stations, that is.
Also, for your information, Molly Ivins has referred to Texas governor Rick Perry as Governor Goodhair for years. That woman can come up with some great lines.
Marc Fisher: You know, I have that same vestigial memory of running across Bloomquist in the clips here. I'll have to check.
Glad to hear about Ivins--she's a cracker jack reporter and columnist.
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Hyattsville, Md. On a lighter local note -- did I miss the Post's article on the release of the Jim Henson-Muppet stamps yesterday? I know Henson was born in the south somewhere, but he lived all of his formative years right here in Hyattsville. He continued puppet making at UMD where he met his wife. I bet most folks in the region don't know he grew up in the area.
washingtonpost.com: Postal Service Unveils Muppets Stamp Set (AP, Sept. 28)
Marc Fisher: I missed that--thanks. Sounds like I'll have to work that stamp into my mix, along with the dwindling supply of those diamond-shaped District of Columbia stamps and the cool Dr. Seuss ones.
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UpMo, Md.: So, the mayor has decided to stop taking the butt-kickings and go after some cash. Smart man. Which of the voting groups in D.C. will prevail: those who want style over substance (my MIL in NE) or those who a Williams clone (my husband's golf buddy on 16th Street)?
Marc Fisher: I wish we were really going to have such a clear choice, but I don't see it. Who is the Williams clone in this race? I don't see one. Style over substance describes several of the contenders.
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19th St NW: Angelos, Ehrlich, et al: The Orioles took out a full page four color ad of the guy in an Os jacket, congratulating him for doing the team's bidding in negotiations with MLB. (They didn't put it that way, but that was the import.) So Ehrlich gets a big Democratic contributor to maybe sit on the sidelines. But what he doesn't seem to realize is that Angelos is now the most hated -- HATED --man in the Baltimore metro region. If Robert Irsay (who moved the Colts to Indy) were brought back from the dead and put in a "most hated man" contest with Angelos, he would probably lose. I don't see what Ehrlich gains in the public eye from being embraced by a man who ruined one of the great baseball franchises of the 2nd half of the 20th century.
Marc Fisher: Yeah, I've been hearing the same talk shows you have, and the anger against Angelos for ruining the Orioles franchise is indeed palpable. But Ehrlich wins in two ways by playing out the campaign like this: 1) As you say, he at least neutralizes Angelos, who is traditionally one of the Dems' top donors. This time around, look for Angelos to give Ehrlich big money; he hates O'Malley that much. 2) Depsite the antipathy toward Angelos, folks in the Balto region still cherish their O's and if Ehrlich can present himself as the guy who saved the franchise, that has to help.
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Link?: Marc,
I'm intrigued by the Steve Ginsberg reference in your intro but am having problems locating it. Any chance we could get a link or at least a published date?
Thanks!
washingtonpost.com: Va. Candidate Heads On the Beaten Path (Post, Sept. 29)
Marc Fisher: And note that the slugs did best and the mass transit folks did better than the guy driving solo.
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Millersville, Md.: Please tell Governor Haircut that if his pal Peter Angelos put a competitive team on the field O's fans would flock to see it. No need to rob the Nationals to help the rich get richer.
Most O's fans I know hate Peter Angelos. I'm not sure having his endorement will benefit Mr. Haircut as much as he apparently anticipates.
Marc Fisher: Actually, O's attendance was fine this year. Angelos' scare tactics were just that--sure, the numbers would be much higher if there were a competitive team on the field, but given the advent of a new team in D.C. and the collapse on the field, the O's did just fine.
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Mysterious stench in DC: I heard it originated from the American University campus. Is that true?
Marc Fisher: Ha!
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Silver Spring, Md.: Marc, when you and Gene went to the O's-Yankees game, did you happen to notice one of the O's dragging what appeared to be a pink Barbie suitcase out to the bullpen? I've seen it the past two games I've been to, and wondered if it's a hazing thing.
Marc Fisher: I completely missed that, and we had two long rain delays in which to watch for wacky stuff. What we did witness was a remarkable effort by the Camden Yards ushers to police the speech of a bunch of loud but jolly fans who were right behind home plate, yelling at the players. We watched at least four people get tossed from the stadium purely for speech violations (I didn't know there were any rules on this, and the ushers and cops weren't listening to any protests against these ejections.) The only abusive fan they didn't throw out happened to be...a Maryland state senator, who was plastered and barking really dumb insults at the Yankee batters.
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Baltimore, Md.: Marc,
Nice gratutious swap at Ehrlich's appearances on WBAL today. Has it ever occurred to you that a large (perhaps primary) reason he makes these appearances is because he knows, and a very large percentage of the populace knows, that he will never under any circumstances get a fair shake from the Sun or the Post?
Face it, if a Democratic politician appeared live for two hours on a radio show and took calls from constituents, you'd think that politician was a man of the people. The fact that you feel the need to chastise Ehrlich for doing such shows your pettiness.
Marc Fisher: Well, maybe you're not a regular reader. If you were, you'd know that I'd happily rip any pol, of any party or ideology, who tried to avoid the questions of the public and the press by mounting a propaganda show of the sort that Gov. Haircut favors. Even if you love the guy, do you really appreciate your tax dollars going to pay for all those TV public service announcements in which he shows up to fix people's houses and that sort of thing?
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Silver Spring, Md.: Marc, my view of the Maryland governor's race is this -- it will be Erhlich vs. either Duncan or O'Malley, and if you despise Bobby Haircut as much as I do, I'm not about to trash Doug or Marty -- they're the best we have right now. I have my choice, and it's not someone I have ever voted for (hint, hint), but either of them, whoever wins, will get my vote in November 2006.
Marc Fisher: Lesser of evils voting has its merits, of course. But a campaign is about vetting folks who put themselves up for public inspection, and that process includes asking all sorts of questions, which is the phase we're in right now. So feel free--poke at the merchandise; you can always put your doubts aside later and make the least objectionable choice.
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DC in VA: Marc- Are you nervous about the two new gossip columnists muscling in on your political beat? Not that you are vapid and starry-eyed, but rather will they try to be journalistic and writerly and steal some of your lines?
Marc Fisher: Rox and Amy, the new Sourcettes, are going to kick some stuff on the big Style Page Three, and I'm happy to feed them whatever items I can and lap up their dishing every morning.
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Washington, D.C.: Fisher, you fell beneath contempt last week when you wrote: "When someone is randomly slain on a street in a relatively safe neighborhood, that is a bigger story and a more important case for politicians' attention than when, for example, a drug dealer is taken out by a competitor at a known drug market."
The context makes this quote even more appalling. A few days previous, the Post ran the first of several articles on the murder of a 32 year-old man who was walking his dog in Mount Pleasant at night. On the same day, the Post said in only three sentences on the very next page that a 34 year-old man had been killed in Southeast at nearly the same time of night.
In addition to suggesting that the Southeast man deserved to be murdered (apparently only because he was in Southeast; there was no evidence reported to suggest that he was involved in drug dealing or other criminal activity), your implication is that people who happen to live in dangerous areas have no right to expect that the government police their neighborhoods to make them safer. At the very least, you release the news media from its duty to enable citizens to hold public leaders accountable for their priorities and performance.
What I want to know is this: Does the Washington Post officially subscribe to this viewpoint, or are you speaking only for yourself?
Marc Fisher: I am always speaking only for myself, here and in the column.
And I stand by what I said last week: Every murder is an important story, and every murder should be covered in some fashion. The question is which murders deserve bigger play than others, and it seems obvious that a more unusual and shocking murder by definition deserves closer reporting and more prominent play than a murder that fits a tragically more routine pattern. So yes, a murder in a neighborhood that has one a year gets more column inches than one that occurs in a place that sees 75 murders a year. And yes, the random murder of an upstanding citizen deserves more attention than the execution of one drug dealer by another, no matter what neighborhood those events may occur in. All of that said, our primary responsibility as a news organization is to those who are the least among us--our job being to comfort the afflicted as well as to afflict the comfortable--and so we are obliged to report in depth on the causes and events of even what we might call routine murders.
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Bethesda, Md.: Marc - Any idea why four fighter jets flew very low over Bethesda at 11:15 a.m. today?
Marc Fisher: Dunno, but there have been a number of exercises in the past few weeks by military units involved in homeland security for the capital region. Could be that.
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Boise, Idaho: Hi Marc, This is probably more Weingarten's area, but he's not in today and maybe you can help.
I finally saw the "Aristocrats." Why on earth did they mike the mime? I found that so distracting. The mime's telling the joke and he's wearing a lapel mike and one of those belt hang down power/transmitter packs. Geez.
Marc Fisher: My guess is that Penn thought it would be funnier to accentuate the silence. I must admit I didn't notice the mike noises when I saw it.
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Falls Church, Va.: Marc, when you go to games with gene, do you wear your Yankees Suck shirt?
Marc Fisher: Far from it--we go decked out head to foot in Yankee regalia and we do so in utter confidence that we won't be harmed, because when the Yanks are in Baltimore, it's Yankee Stadium South. Easily 70 percent of the crowd was rooting for the Yanks this week, and a similar margin rooted for the visitors when Boston was in town earlier. The Nats fans who whine about the relatively tiny proportion of Cubs or Cards fans at Nats games should check out the spectacle in Balto--we in Washington have it far better.
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Rockville, Md.: Will we ever see any PSA where our esteemed governor shows up to give someone a haricut?
Marc Fisher: Oh man, we need to make that happen. This is a job for any jibjabber video types among you in Maryland.
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Laurel, Md.: Yeah, the O's attendance was just fine this year. It was obvious in the stands that they sold most of their tix to visitors from New York and Boston.
Now that they getting TV revenue from Washington, they don't even have to field a real team to guarantee profits.
Marc Fisher: Well, yes, but right now, the O's are losing money on the Washington TV deal because they have to produce the telecasts but have very little revenue coming in because the games are not actually broadcast on TV except for the few that were on Ch. 20 and the tiny, tiny audience that RCN Cable has (as well as the Direct TV folks.)
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Washington, D.C.: Can we give any credence to Cropp after her debacle with baseball? She can preach populist ideas and revenue-generating coutships all she wants to, but she spit in the face of both of notions just to get the notoriety to run for mayor. Not that it matters much. In a city where Barry has never lost an election, I don't know that I will ever truly have faith in democracy ...
Marc Fisher: Be nice--the same city that voted for Barry 48 times also elected Williams twice. The voting profile of the city has changed quite a bit since the Barry peak--check out the council, which has more serious and interesting members than it used to, and recall the last mayoral race, in which an utterly inept Williams campaign handily triumphed--via write-ins!--over Rev. Wilson's Barry-esque demagoguery.
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Washington, D.C.: With Tony fading into the sunset, when do you expect we should hear Marion Barry's announcement that the comeback kid is coming back for one more run at mayor?
Marc Fisher: Won't happen. Sadly, Barry is a shadow of his former self. His health has been poor and he lacks the energy for that sort of comeback.
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Pentagon City, Va.: All week I have been looking forward to your take on Angelo$ and Bobby Haircut's big show. Will you devote some column inches to this partnership?
Marc Fisher: It's today's column--see the link up top of this chat.
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Commuting: Surely nobody is surprised that the single driver finished last. I've done all of those methods of commuting, and I prefer the trains (VRE/MARC), for the comfort, the availability of a seat, and the perk of being able to enjoy coffee or some food. You do have to follow a schedule, though, since they don't run every few minutes like Metro. Slugging's ok, but I found it strange that most people ride in silence, instead of striking up conversations with each other. That's a little creepy for me, but then, I'm originally from the South, where people actually make eye contact and speak to each other on the street.
Marc Fisher: The slugging ettiquette is indeed a bit creepy, but obviously as a commuting tactic, it works beautifully, and it's a real DC area cultural treasure.
I wish VRE were a real commuter service--the hours are so limited that it serves only that narrow slice of folks who work standard office hours.
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AU: I just get more angry about Ladner every day.
Staff members here haven't had a raise greater than 3% in more than 10 years. Faculty have been held to fairly small raises too. Yet he gets HOW much money?
Really, very little of this was any surprise to anyone on campus, but it is still infuriating. And his lies, now that it has all hit the fan, are the worst of it.
What will it take to get rid of him? And if he stays, will ANYONE respect us in the morning?
Marc Fisher: It's just eternally amazing to me when institutions led by smart and capable people cannot see the inevitability of the only possible resolution of a situation like this. The guy is toast. The longer the trustees cling to him, the more damage they do to a place they love.
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A.U. grad in Arlington, VA: Hi, Marc. I finished graduate school at A.U. in 2001 and while I fully enjoyed my classmates, we were in some really ratty rooms during our time together. I've given donations since, so I'm hoping things have improved. But I was surprised to see this arts center or whatever opening up with nothing in the mail notifying me about this grand building going up, yet I get solicited for donations constantly. Well, why should I donate now, when you can't even bother to tell me what's happening on campus? It's known as having a kick-butt school of communication, but apparently not many people there have learned anything from it.
Marc Fisher: The new Katzen Center is a gem--exquisite art galleries, excellent performance and rehearsal spaces, and a top notch architectural addition to the cityscape. Check it out. Too bad that its opening has to take a back seat to this political nonsense.
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A.U. Prez: Does Mr. Ladner need a bus boy? I'd work for perks only.
Marc Fisher: At this point, he needs an entire clean up crew.
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Maryland: Is it really fair to say, as some of your Web headlines do this morning, that the slain girl in Montgomery County may have started the fight or was potentially the "aggressor"?
Her sister was spit on, and she retaliated by administering a beating. Now that may not be how adults should behave, but it is not completely unjustified. If you provoke someone by spitting on them, and then when they start giving you a good beating, aren't you the aggressor if you pull a knife?
It seems to me the killer consistently upped the level here, going from insults to spitting and from brawling to knifing. The slain girl didn't turn the other cheek, but I'm not sure I would call her the "aggressor."
Marc Fisher: He who throws the first punch, no? The knifing was obviously also aggressive, but arguably more of an escalation of a physical confrontation that the girl who died appears to have started.
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School assaults: The problem isn't Friday night football games, it's parents who don't teach kids to walk away and don't pat them down before leaving for school.
Marc Fisher: And let's take it back a step further--the problem is the parents who fail to teach those kids the right ways to deal with conflicts. Schools cannot fairly be asked to resolve every social and behavioral deficit in all children. It's just not possible.
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Virginia: Marc,
I've read your columns and chats on the two VA Gov canidates, and it irks me how much you equate the two as equally undesirable for the office, yet even your own comments suggest that there's clearly a better choice between them.
For Kilgore, you've laid out a long litany of faults -- obssessed with a divisive social copnservative agenda, refuses to debate his opponents, poor leadership in his previous positions, unrealistic campaign promises, etc.
For Kaine, you suggest that he's a little wishy washy while making statements on the campaign trail. But other than that, reading between the lines, you don't really have a beef with much of his platform or object to how he'd run the state, at least within the confines of Virginia politics.
But the gist of all your columns seems to be that voting for Kaine is as equally a shoddy option as a vote for Kilgore. What gives? I don't even think your criticisms of Kaine even amount to the tired old "lesser of two evils" choice.
It's too easy these days for people to dismiss their responsibility to vote because of some perceived fault in "all" politicans or a mistrust in the two big parties. But nearly every time a political outsider or third party gets a chance in the public spotlight, sooner or later, they lose their luster and it becomes the "lesser of three evils".
Sure, I'd like to see a Democrat stand up and shout out that he's a liberal and proud of it, but I'd also like to see a Democrat win in Virginia because I care about the issues - not the personalities - in politics, so I feel comfortable voting for Kaine.
Maybe the problem isn't the lack of third parties or outsider canidates, but would-be voters and columnists who look to find "perfect match" traits in every political canidate that are better suited to finidng a perfect match for a spouse.
Marc Fisher: You make a very good point in very persuasive fashion. And yes, as mentioned earlier today, there's a lot to be said for choosing your medicine and taking it. The obligation to vote--to choose--outweighs any disgust over the paucity of good choices.
I have some more columns coming up on the gov candidates. I don't make endorsements--that's not my role--but I do offer perspectives on the candidates and will continue to do so. Ideally, my reporting should be of some use to folks no matter where you are on the ideological spectrum--that's why I tend to concentrate on issues of character and approach rather than on which ones have views that I agree with. You'll find that sort of analysis on the editorial page, such as today's piece there on transportation issues.
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Washington, D.C.: Can Mayor Williams run in Bawlmer to fill O'Malley's vacancy?
Marc Fisher: Wouldn't that be loverly? But that's not what Williams wants--he's looking to make some bucks. Or get a big federal job.
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Baltimore, Md.: I also heard Smulyan last night on the radio and would like to note that the only time he paused in his rebuttal of Boswell's accusations was when he was asked if he really would rather buy the Cincinnati Reds. Although Smulyan denied it, I did note that there was a long pause before he did so.
As for the O's attendance, I don't know what the numbers are for paid attendance (remember that's different than actual attendance), but I would note that the games that I attended which were not the Yankees or the Red Sox, the stadium always felt at least half empty.
Marc Fisher: The nightmare scenario: Smulyan gets the Nats, the TV contract stays unresolved, the stadium gets delayed, and Smulyan moves the team to his home in Indianapolis.
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20019: So, tell me something. The Pres of AU signs a "secret" compensation agreement, that the Trustees didn't know about. Isn't that a textbook definition of fraud & malfeasance? Who's signing the checks, and who's reviewing the books? Why is there any need for this hemming and hawing?
Marc Fisher: The lawyers will be employed by this mess for quite some time to come.
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the last thing I'd want to scrimp on when traveling: For me, food. I want to eat well, or at least know what I am eating. This is only slightly secondary to lodging in country.
I have traveled coach to Europe and Asia, and have travel business class to Asia. Sure, business class is nicer, but when I booked a flight to Asia last fall, I was quoted $7000 per person round trip for business class. My money was paying for the trip, so I choose to fly coach
Marc Fisher: Ah, but it wasn't Ladner's money at stake--just the tuition dollars of families who saved all their lives to get their kids to a good college.
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Natsville: You know, if the Nats had this record but were in the NL West, they'd be heading to the playoffs.
Marc Fisher: My kids were groaning about that very fact as they went out the door to school this morning. It hurts. But we can't complain--we got more out of this season than anyone ever had a right to expect. Check out Tom Boswell's online-only column from yesterday for a beautiful riff on that topic.
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Washingotn, D.C.: Marc-
Great point about the makeup of the new council. But the fact that those serious members aren't the ones running is precisely what makes us nervous!!!
Marc Fisher: Right--so we continue to pine for the Mayor from Heaven, while all we have is the Mayor In Absentia.
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O's selling tickets to out-of-towners: Back when the O's played the Indians regularly, I helped organize a group to buy tickets. All of us lived in the DC area, but we grew up in Ohio and still love our Indians. When I called to buy the tickets, the group sales person said that they had been selling a LOT of tickets to people in Northeast Ohio and they couldn't figure out why. I pointed out that with Southwest service between Baltimore and Cleveland, it's a quick and cheap trip. Do you think Angelos really cares who he sells to?
Marc Fisher: Actually, the reason O's fans have no right to whine about the huge pro-Yanks and pro-Sox crowds at the Yard is that it's not Angelos selling those tix to the out of towners, but rather O's fans themselves, reselling their season tix. The Yanks fans were heavily concentrated in the lower deck, which is primarily season ticket holder country.
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20002: Sometimes, it seems that you refer to Barry as if there is an elephant in the room no one is talking about...
Marc Fisher: Wish that were true. Much as I may criticize Barry, I admire much of what he's done and I think he's an all time great as a political operator. But he is much diminished now and so no longer qualifies as elephant in the room.
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School Conflicts: Public shools must remain secular institutions, and the secular view of conflict is extremely ambiguous. You can take cues from the government, or by what type of behavior is punishable by law. I think schools can merely use punishment or reward, but never instill in students the ethical or moral considerations they need to make these judgements themselves. Parents, and whatever moral and religious tradition they should pass on--and hopefully there is one--are absolutely necessary.
Marc Fisher: Right, but what are schools to do when faced with the large numbers of students who have not been brought up in the proper manner? As a society, we want the schools to replace the parents, but that's not practical. And then we blame the schools, unfairly, when something blows up. Tough one.
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boosting the tax base so that all may thrive: Uh...instead of typing platitudes, please demonstrate practical examples of how the presently boosted tax base has been used in such a manner.
I'm truly in agreement with the questioner to whom this answer was given that the most important issues out there are who can best serve smug expensive condo owners, being of that financial class myself, but really. Name two example?
I see lots of things that are swell for me. Better and faster city Govt. services for people who have money. Oh yeah. But not seeing where the "everyone" comes in, unless we're now starting to provide limos to PG Country for the displaced minority working class folks.
(And no Marc, "getting baseball" doesn't count as an example)
Marc Fisher: Check out the extraordinary renovation and rebuilding of several of the city's largest housing projects, transforming them into mixed income communities where poor people now own homes for the first time ever. These are turning into stable and much more secure neighborhoods--that in the end is Williams' true legacy, and he's never gotten proper credit for it.
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Michael Graham: "But Graham believes Washington audiences are eager for talk with more bite. 'Washingtonians are not tight prudes,' he said. 'Real-life people want me to climb up on my pony with my lance and go after those in power. Real-life people who know nothing about Islam look at the newspaper and say, 'Holy crap, why are they trying to kill us?'"
Good lord. So now Mr. Graham is going to give us folks who know "nothing" a nuanced explanation of the real reasons behind the rise of Islamic terrorism?
(Perhaps Karen Hughes can give him some insight, now that she's visibly "shaken" from learning from very polite, and basically pro-Western Turkist women that maybe, just maybe, Middle Easterners don't just "hate us for our freedoms.")
He's the worst kind of know-it-all bully. He can dish out outrageous, inflammatory and demonstrably false slurs, but he too fragile a flower to take the consequences.
This real-life person is wondering hard how he achieved any success at all being both thin-skinned and ignorant.
Welcome to the real world, pal.
Marc Fisher: Some truth to that, but I don't find him all that thin-skinned--after all, he's still on the air defending those comments. What he lacks is much of a sense of nuance, of the notion that the world is much more gray than black and white.
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Tidal wave of layoffs?: Really? Since you mentioned it, no, I haven't noticed. But I like the idea of you handing out the Express. How about one morning you, Weingarten, Wilbon and other columnists take to the streets one day in yellow vests to hand out the Express and meet the public? It would be a gas.
Marc Fisher: Does it have to be the Express? No offense to our peppy little freebie, but couldn't we just sell...the Post?
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McLean, Va.: As a close colleague of Weingarten, do you share his position on the aesthetics of visible panty lines?
Marc Fisher: Not in the least, and I find it to be Gene's greatest character flaw. Well, maybe not the greatest. There is the dog thing. And..., well, no, I see no attraction in the VPL.
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Washington, D.C.: "Actually, O's attendance was fine this year."
Fisher, you dummy - it's possible to go to Orioles games AND hate Peter Angelos.
Marc Fisher: Possible, but somehow a bit painful, no? I went this week for the first time this season, and only because the Yanks are in a pennant race. And I felt guilty doing so. In past years, I would have gone six or eight times.
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Old City, D.C.: I am just very disappointed that Tony Williams is not running again. The revitilization of this city under his administration has been nothing short of extraordinary. I look at the current cropp of candidates and see no one worthy of his legacy. Not even close.
I'm sure you are not looking to endorse anyone yet, but do you have a sense that any of the current candidates can continue to maintain fiscal discipline in D.C., ensure quality delivery of services to citizens, and continue to help turn downtown into a robust vibrant city?
Oh, I should also note that I was thrilled to see Jemal get indicted. He is personally responsible, in my opinion, for the H street corridor remaining a desolute stretch. Maybe with him in priosn there's hope for that part of the city.
Marc Fisher: Jemal also did some extraordinary things for the city--witness the Avalon Theater and the 6th Street synagogue, for starters. And what a great, larger than life character!
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Tenleytown, Washington, D.C.: Marc: If I recall correctly, you have been an advocate for smart growth/transit oriented development. Many such supporters believe that new residential units built near subways can be built with significantly less than one parking space per unit since not all residents will have cars, and that they should be encouraged not to have cars. Given the problems that people without cars had in fleeing Katrina and Rita, don't you think that many people will now think twice about giving up on their vehicles just because they live near subway stops? Won't the demand for parking in such units now significantly increase?
Marc Fisher: No, I don't. That might happen in a coastal city, but folks who choose to live in center cities make a different calculation and go in thinking that hoofing it is likely their best bet in an emergency.
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Olney, Md.: It appears Kanisha instigated the fight but didn't realize her opponent was armed, as I suppose many kids are today. It's a wonder the other student didn't have a gun. I think we need mandatory boxing lessons in schools. At least boxing has rules, street fights don't.
Marc Fisher: Or maybe we should replace all these lessons on tolerance with some good insult sessions--show kids how to use words instead of violence, really cram them with great insults from every ethnic tradition. Classes would be well attended.
That kicks things in the head for this week, folks. Apologies to the many I couldn't get to. Back again same time next time. The cool weather is coming, hallelujah!
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