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Must Read Op-Eds for July 19, 2011

Here are today's must read opinion and editorial columns.THE REAL DEAL ON THE DEBT DEBATE  BY JOE SCARBOROUGHPOLITICOI consistently ranked as one of the most

Here are today's must read opinion and editorial columns.

THE REAL DEAL ON THE DEBT DEBATE  BY JOE SCARBOROUGHPOLITICOI consistently ranked as one of the most fiscally conservative members of Congress over my four terms and never voted for a tax increase. And I wouldn’t vote for one today. But I learned through the years that politics is the art of the possible... Considering the challenges facing America this century, any Republican who squanders the chance to cut $4 trillion from our debt in exchange for $1 trillion in tax loopholes is no conservative in my book. It’s time to tell Americans the truth. And the first party to do that will own the future.

 


THE ROAD NOT TAKEN  BY DAVID BROOKSNEW YORK TIMESAll of these groups [of Republicans] share the same mentality. They do not see politics as the art of the possible. They do not believe in seizing opportunities to make steady, messy progress toward conservative goals... They believe that if they can remain pure in their faith then someday their party will win a total and permanent victory over its foes. They believe they are Gods of the New Dawn. Fortunately, there are still practical conservatives in the G.O.P., who believe in results, who believe in intelligent compromise. If people someday decide the events of the past weeks have been a debacle, then practical conservatives may regain control.

THE TABLES ARE TURNED ON RUPERT MURDOCH  BY JOE NOCERANEW YORK TIMESOne feature of Murdoch’s career is that he’s never played by the rules that apply to other businessmen. That’s one reason I think he seems so shellshocked in those paparazzi photographs: unable in this dire circumstance to make his own rules, he simply doesn’t know how to react or what to do. On Tuesday, when he is excoriated in Parliament, it will be the first time he has ever truly been held to account. It undoubtedly won’t be fun for him. But there are many people who are going to take great glee in his misery — not unlike the way his newspapers have always taken such glee in the misery of others.

HERMAN CAIN'S BIGOTRY  BY EUGENE ROBINSONWASHINGTON POSTIt is time to stop giving Herman Cain’s unapologetic bigotry a free pass. The man and his poison need to be seen clearly and taken seriously. Imagine the reaction if a major-party presidential candidate — one who, like Cain, shows actual support in the polls — said he “wouldn’t be comfortable” appointing a Jew to a Cabinet position. Imagine the outrage if this same candidate loudly supported a community’s efforts to block Mormons from building a house of worship. But Cain’s prejudice isn’t against Mormons or Jews, it’s against Muslims. Open religious prejudice is usually enough to disqualify a candidate for national office — but not, apparently, when the religion in question is Islam.

CITIZEN MURDOCH  BY RICHARD COHENWASHINGTON POSTThe similarities between Kane, Hearst and Murdoch are numerous. It’s hard to summon any pity for any of them. As for Murdoch, he set the tone for his newspapers just as surely as Henry II was responsible for Thomas Becket’s murder — “Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?” The political class has turned against him, celebrities, too, and he had to kill the News of the World, a revolting scandal sheet he much adored. There is no sadness here, merely just deserts. “Rosebud.” “Hacking.” It amounts to the same thing. It’s a wrap.