Andanh.com

From the political notebook:

' John McCain is in a pickle over taxes and Social Security.

On taxes, McCain wants to run up a big score on Barack Obama. Obama will raise taxes, goes the McCain refrain. I won't.

On Social Security, however, McCain favors a bipartisan commission approach. For that, he has said there would be no preconditions, that everything would be on the proverbial table.

And that obviously would include higher Social Security payroll taxes.

McCain's pickle results from accepting the view that the politics of Social Security are toxic and will burn anyone going it alone. That means that only a bipartisan approach will work, as the two parties give each other cover.

It's highly unlikely that such a kumbaya moment is ever going to occur on Social Security. Democrats are deeply resistant to private retirement accounts as part of the system and Republicans are deeply committed to them.

Moreover, relying on a bipartisan commission is hardly a Straight Talk Express approach.
Obama has at least put a partial Social Security fix on the table, an increase in the payroll tax for those making more than $250,000 a year.

It's a terrible idea, part of a series of tax increases Obama supports that would seriously deplete investment capital in the country.

But at least Obama isn't hiding behind a commission to be named later.

The conservative position on Social Security, which McCain has indicated he shares, is that the declining ratio of workers to retirees makes the existing reliance on intergenerational transfers – where current workers pay the retirement benefits of current retirees – unsustainable. Instead a transition needs to take place to a system in which workers save for their own retirement over the course of their working years. Retirement benefits under the old system would have to be financed during the transition.

Social Security politics may not be as toxic as commonly assumed. President Bush ran twice as a supporter of private retirement accounts and many thought it helped him rather than hurt him. Democrats don't seem to be having much success in making Social Security a decisive issue in congressional races either.

Chances are there won't be meaningful Social Security reform until a candidate for president runs on the basis of a fairly specific proposal and wins.

McCain should give it a shot. He's bucking the political headwinds anyway. It gets him out of his taxation pickle. And it puts more gas into the Straight Talk Express.

' Sen. Ted Stevens is the perfect emblem of what's wrong with congressional Republicans. He's been the foremost practitioner of the spend-and-elect politics that has come to dominate Washington Republicans.

When Democrats support spending, it's often for causes they at least partially really believe in. For Republicans, big spending is often too much mostly about power and politics. Perhaps that's part of the reason why it seems that big spending among Republicans leads to corruption of the sort Stevens is accused of more often than among Democrats.

Regardless, big spending is at best short-term politics for Republicans. If the public wants more spending, voters will ultimately turn to the Democrats. They're better at it.

The only Republican hope is to be there when the electorate wants governmental restraint. But at this point Republican credibility about exercising such restraint is shot.

Reformers, such as Arizona's Jeff Flake, couldn't get House Republicans to unilaterally foreswear earmarks. The beginning of political recovery for Republicans will be when they realize that they can't win a spending contest with Democrats.

' Mesa Police Chief George Gascon's column on illegal immigration for the New York Times was more than a little hysterical, and demonstrated the continuing gap between local law enforcement officials and the public on the issue.

Gascon depicted local police officials as being pressured to engage in illegal and unconstitutional activities to combat illegal immigration. Failure to do so could be “career-threatening,” he claimed.

That's not what's being asked. All that's actually being asked is that local law enforcement be willing, in the course of their ordinary duties, to help enforce the immigration laws along with all the other laws, ranging from the significant to the trivial, they enforce.

This can be done without racial profiling or trampling on anyone's rights. It might, however, adversely affect the ability of the police to gain the cooperation of the immigrant community on other matters. That, however, is a price the public seems willing to pay for a more effective deterrent against illegal immigration generally.

According to Gascon, “effective policing requires residents, regardless of immigration status, to trust the police.” The public wants those who are here illegally to have reason to worry about the police.

(column for 8.3.08)

Some impressions after the first week of practice.

'Defensively, this team is deeper than any Cardinals team I can remember. The addition of veteran Bryan Robinson bolstered the defensive line. If rookie ends Calais Campbell and Kenny Iwebema come through, the line will have a good rotation. The linebackers are a veteran group, and the safeties are solid. The corners, I think, are decent but the position isn't as deep as the others..

'The offensive line depth is so shallow, it's scary. Injuries have hit at center. There isn't much experience behind the starting tackles, either. This group needs to stay healthy. The season depends upon it.

'The quarterback "competition" is close. Matt Leinart has looked sharp at times and struggled at other points. He didn't look good Saturday, throwing a couple of ill-advised passes. Judging from comments from the crowd and conversations I've  had with fans, Leinart has zero equity with them. The fans, overall, seem to be pro-Kurt Warner. One lady who attended practice earlier this week made sure to point out, fairly loudly, how much better Warner performed in one session than Leinart did.

'But, Warner has had his ups and downs, too. It's hard sometimes to evaluate the quarterbacks because each has worked with inexperienced receivers who aren't always where they are supposed to be.

'Larry Fitzgerald is impressive. I know, the guy already was pretty good with two Pro Bowls in four years. But he's worked incredibly hard in this camp. He hasn't missed a practice, and I've yet to see him run less than full speed on a route.

'The Cardinals can't run a successful screen pass to save their lives. Historically, they've been awful at it, and the play hasn't looked good in camp, either. Of course, it's hard to run one successfully when linebacker Karlos Dansby is defending. He covers ground so quickly that it's hard for the running back to get started.

'The Cardinals are hoping that receiver Early Doucet doesn't miss much time with a strained hamstring. He suffered the injury at the end of Friday afternoon's practice and sat out Saturday. I thought Doucet was coming off two excellent days of practice before the injury.

And finally, the players are taking Sunday off and so am I. I'll catch up with everybody on Monday. Of course, if news breaks, I'll post it on azcentral.com as soon as possible and blog.