http://youtu.be/_borufk9RTc

It’s amazing how quickly a PR crisis can strike today. Here soldiers returning from Afghanistan are charged $200 for having an extra bag — carrying their weapons — on a Delta Airlines plane.  One would think there would be some flexibility at the gate.  But evidently there was not.

Too bad for Delta. That $200 per soldier baggage fee will cost Delta hundreds of thousands of dollars in crisis communications costs. A little common sense can go a long way.

UPDATE: Delta has graciously changed it’s baggage policy for soldiers. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/06/09/army-welcomes-delta-policy-shift-on-extra-baggage-fees/?test=latestnews

Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger published a piece in today’s Washington Post on the eventual American withdrawal of forces from Afghanistan.  His advice? Slow down and do it right. Or, rather, slow down and do it as well as possible.

Kissinger, whose writing I find impenetrable at times, is crystal clear in his op-ed today. He spells out the potential dangers of America leaving the region too soon and creating a power vacuum. Afghanistan would once again become a chess board with competing regional interests moving their respective — and highly armed — pieces within its borders.  That could draw the whole region — Pakistan, India, Russia, and Iran — into a larger conflict, Kissinger argues.  As tempting as that may sound to some, that would be a bad idea. A lot of nuclear weapons are involved.

Afghanistan is not now atop the national radar.  We are all too busy — myself included — weighing punishment for a congressman showing off his undershorts.  But debate on Afghanistan will unquestionably (one would hope) ratchet up throughout the 2012 campaign season, and that is another thing about which Kissinger cautions.  Calls for the quickest exit from Afghanistan should not become a political sport.  Long-term sober judgement is needed here.

Come to think of it, long-term sober judgement is needed just about everywhere today, isn’t it?

"Call Someone Else" Harry Reid

Several years ago my brother Gerry half-jokingly relayed what his first words would be if he learned that one of his siblings or close friends had, for some crazy reason, killed someone. “I’ll bring the saw; you get the acid,” he said.

I liked that response.  It’s what I would expect from a brother or close friend, and hopefully what they would expect from me. You stick by each other in time of crisis.  No matter what.

Anthony Weiner needs friends like that now.  And he doesn’t seem to have any, save, perhaps, Matt Damon, for whom I now have some grudging respect. Damon pointedly said today that a fundraiser he had planned for Weiner was postponed and not cancelled.  He would be there should Weiner want to reschedule.

Contrast that with how quickly Weiner’s former colleagues jumped ship on him. Nancy Pelosi scheduled ethics hearings almost before Weiner’s excruciating Monday news conference was over, and this today from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) as quoted by The Associated Press:

“Asked what he would do if Weiner called for advice, [Reid] replied he would tell him ‘call somebody else.’”

“Call someone else.”  That’s what Harry Reid would say.

It is a quote I may never forget.  It is right up there with Reid’s “The war is lost” remark during the most trying period of the Iraq War.

I haven’t seen eye to eye with Anthony Weiner since I worked in the New York City Council close to 20 years ago, when he was a member, and Weiner can call me for advice any time.  I would tell him that, after doing everything possible to save his marriage, he should find new friends.

I am always amazed at how quickly some politicians, on both sides of the aisle, throw their colleagues overboard in times of crisis.  Weiner may have done some unfortunate things – and yes he lied about them – but that doesn’t make him disposable cargo on the SS Democrat.

Weiner didn’t kill anyone.  He doesn’t need acid and a saw. But I’m sure could use a friend with a set right now, and grumpy old Harry Reid doesn’t have one. Never did.

http://youtu.be/l2vdvzMSKS8

This may be the best ad of President Jimmy Carter’s unsuccessful 1980 re-election bid. From the distinct accents of the characters, one can only imagine that this targeted New England seniors. What I find most remarkable about this ad, though, is just how well it would fit into President Obama’s messaging today. Listen to the copy:  Seniors. Social Security. Medicare. But as touching as it is, doesn’t it have that Jimmy Carter downer feel? Have we ever had a more depressive candidate?

President Obama’s bin Laden bounce in the polls is now completely gone.  That has been reported.  But it’s still interesting to see how recent events have manifested themselves in the InTrade Market, the Irish-based stock market for political predictions.  InTrade is where people wager real money on events of the day.  The odds of Anthony Weiner resigning his seat by September 30th for example, are at 47.9% at this exact moment in time. Another New York Post cover story or salacious photo might move the odds over 50%.

I have always found Intrade remarkably accurate.  It’s amazing how objective people become when money is at stake.

The Intrade chart above illustrates the Obama re-election market. Take a look at how much his share price has dropped since the bin Laden assassination.  It’s remarkable.  His number is still relatively strong, though.  The current Intrade odds of him being re-elected are 60.5%  Not bad. And the clear Republican frontrunner: Mitt Romney.

For real political junkies, InTrade is an interesting market to keep an eye on.  It can offer a concrete bettors perspective  in a swirling political environment.

“I have not seen a city in this bad a shape since I went to East Berlin in 1969.” –GM CEO Dan Akerson in the Detroit News today.

A former business partner finished a thought for me over lunch yesterday, a not unusual occurrence when we get together. (Spend 10 years in a small office with someone and residual mind meld is inescapable.)

It was about the gay marriage issue in New York — whether there is some middle ground where a large majority of New Yorkers, and their representatives in Albany, can agree. What I was flirting with, she already had formalized in her head.

We raised the topic because gay marriage continues to look tenuous in New York. The New York State Catholic Conference and the Conservative Party strongly oppose the legislation and they remain considerable forces in the state. Advocates for gay marriage appear to be several votes short as a result.

The major hang up over the issue, for most people, continues to be the word “marriage.”  Anything short of it is insufficient for those advocating equal treatment under the law, and most of those opposing gay marriage — most, not all — are willing to accept “civil unions” for same-sex couples, extending every legal benefit married heterosexual couples enjoy. It’s the “M” word to which they and their representative legislators viscerally object.

So what if the word “marriage” was stripped out of civil marriages in New York State?  Say instead of receiving a “marriage license”, one received a “certificate of civil union” or something along those lines. It would be the exact same thing legally, it would just officially be called something else. And isn’t that really what state-sanctioned marriages are, civil unions?

Churches and synagogues would go on using the word “marriage” in their matrimonial ceremonies — this has nothing to do with religious marriage sacraments — but New York State government would not. Marriage for church. Civil unions for state. Officially.

One would be free, of course, to call the status imbued by said certificate of civil union anything he or she wants. But New York State would view the document only for what it is — a legal contract between two people. I, for one, would view that document as no less valid a marriage license than the one I have today –I would call it that – but if it would ease the way to grant others the same legal benefits I enjoy in this state, I’d be happy to sacrifice the word on the certificate.

Vows are to God anyway. Not the City Clerk.

I’m sure some people would hate this idea.  But it’s an idea nevertheless, and maybe one worth discussing if the current legislation goes nowhere.

http://youtu.be/MxYDTTNYMic

You can’t get more basic than this. Television as a political medium was obviously very new here. I assume this was an attempt to target women with whom Eisenhower was very popular.  Then again, Ike was very popular with everyone that year.

http://youtu.be/7E4GC1fUC7k

Congressman Weiner (D-NY) just took full responsibility for his actions to a room full of reporters in what became known as Weinergate.  He apologized for having lied and for covering up his actions.  It must have been excruciatingly difficult to come clean after all this time, and Weiner deserves credit for doing it. He did it completely and with clear contrition.

With that, this matter should be concluded.  Everything else will be up the voters. Only they can judge. We wish his family the best in moving past this.

It appears that Congressman Weiner may now be in real trouble — the type that could result in his resignation.

This BigGovernment.com report –with photographs — will be difficult for him to recover from.  If more explicit photos come out next — and they reportedly exist — it’s over.

There goes another promising career, and for what?