Mitt Romney's Neoconservatism

James Kitfield has an interesting piece at the National Interest, "Mitt Romney's Neocon Puzzle."

It's a decent piece, although windy, and inaccurate, IMHO, on the public's perception of foreign policy this season (it's not that people don't care about world affairs, but that the economy is the overwhelmingly dominant issue). Here's an interesting bit, however:

In emerging as the Republican nominee for president, Mitt Romney vanquished primary opponents representing venerable strains of GOP thinking. Representative Ron Paul, the libertarian from Texas, was the strongest voice for a more isolationist foreign policy. Former senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania gave the most authentic voice to the populist nationalism of the Tea Party movement. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich most closely aligned with the neoconservatives who were ascendant in George W. Bush’s first term with their staunch support for the Israeli Right and disdain for talking with distasteful adversaries. Gingrich blasted the Obama administration for being “wrong on Iran, wrong on the Muslim Brotherhood [and] wrong on Hezbollah.” Former governor Jon Huntsman of Utah, former ambassador to China, stood in for the realist or liberal-internationalist wing of the party that dominated the George H. W. Bush administration.

Romney must reconcile these competing camps and weave their various policies and rhetorical positions into a coherent foreign-policy narrative. His task is complicated because the old Republican orthodoxy of staunch anticommunism and a strong defense was upended at the Cold War’s end, and George W. Bush’s Iraq invasion still generates controversy and dissention within the party. Beyond that, there are the added challenges of the country’s deep partisan divide and political dysfunction, as well as a shifting global landscape.

Actually, I don't even think it's fair to call Ron Paul isolationist --- that then becomes a slur against folks who hold traditionally isolationist views without attacking Israel or courting 9/11 truthers (e.g., Eugene Gholz, Daryl Press, and Harvey Sapolsky, "Come Home, America: The Strategy of Restraint in the Face of Temptation").

Not only that, I'd argue Romney's clearly in the neoconservative camp --- it's not really a puzzle to me. Romney's 2010 book, "No Apologies," laid out a fairly standard national greatness foreign policy. I'd have to break out my copy to be more specific (and I may just do that later), but between that and the pool of top neocon advisors working with Team Romney, it's pretty straightforward. Here's the announcement from the campaign, from last November, "MITT ROMNEY ANNOUNCES FOREIGN POLICY AND NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISORY TEAM." I'd point to Eliot Cohen, Robert Kagan, and Dan Senor as some of the more prominent neocons at the announcement, but don't take my word for it. Ari Berman at The Nation just about had a fit over Team Romney's neoconservative bona fides, "Mitt Romney's Neocon War Cabinet."

Berman mentions Ambassador John Bolton as an advisor to Romney, although he's not cited at the campaign's announcement. Bolton has repeatedly rejected the neoconservative label, although that hasn't stopped the left from attacking him mercilessly, at Daily Kos, for example, "Knuckle-dragging ultrahawks dominate Mitt Romney's foreign policy team."

Plus, listen Romney's CBS News interview at the clip above, and at Twitter, "Mitt Romney tells CBS News' Scott Pelley it's "unacceptable" for Iran to get nuclear weapon." That sounds more bellicose than the "evil" George W. Bush administration.

In any case, the question ultimately is whether Romney's foreign policy will be an improvement over the Obama administration's. I'd say that's a no brainer as well, but the proof is in the pudding, so let's hope #RomneyRyan win it in November.

New York Times Says GOP Riven by Factions, Cites Mostly Establishment Types Who Spite the Tea Party

I don't recall George Pataki as a big tea party champion, and former veep Dan Quayle is interviewed. Dan Quayle? See, "A Party of Factions Gathers, Seeking Consensus":

It is common for parties out of power to suffer an extended identity crisis. The Democrats struggled for 12 years until Bill Clinton emerged to unite left and center in an uneasy alliance to capture the White House. It has been happening to Republicans for at least four years as different conservative factions have competed for dominance and as outside forces, from the grass-roots Tea Party activists to “super PACs” and other groups financed by wealthy conservatives, have to some degree undercut the party establishment.

But in some ways, the Republican Party today appears more factionalized — ideologically, politically and culturally — than Republican leaders said they could remember in recent history.

There are evangelicals, Tea Party adherents, supply-siders who would accept no tax increases and a dwindling band of deficit hawks who might. There are economic libertarians who share little of the passion that social conservatives hold on issues like abortion and same-sex marriage. There are neoconservatives who want a hard line against Iran and the Palestinians, and realists who are open to diplomatic deal-cutting.

More than anything, the party is racked by the challenge to the establishment from Tea Party outsiders, who are demanding a purge of incumbents who play by a set of rules that many of these Republicans reject.

“The party itself is in a transition time,” said Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the No. 3 Republican in the House. Highlighting a shift in the House to a younger and less traditional generation of conservative leaders, he said, “My theory is the Senate is like a country club and the House is much like having a breakfast at a truck stop.”

Representative Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican running for the Senate, said that if Republicans won in November, the magnitude of the country’s fiscal problems — and the general agreement among Republicans about addressing them by reducing spending — would overcome any jockeying among factions.

“I think the fiscal issues we face are so big and so overwhelming that there’s little reason to focus on the other things,” Mr. Flake said. “That makes it by definition easier to manage, because those issues are so big and require so much work.”

It may not be easy. When Republican leaders sought to push the party’s nominee, Representative Todd Akin, out of the Senate race in Missouri, for saying women who are victims of “legitimate rape” rarely get pregnant, Mike Huckabee, the conservative talk-show host and 2008 presidential candidate, came to his defense.

“In a party that supposedly stands for life, it was tragic to see the carefully orchestrated and systematic attack on a fellow Republican,” Mr. Huckabee wrote in an e-mail to supporters.

This article's the lead story at the paper's front page, so no doubt the editors think "factionalism" is the defining element of the party. But remember, this is the paper marked by a "progressive worldview," as Arthur Brisbane put it, so limited government principles --- and living within one's means --- are ridiculed as "extremist" (or "racist," if you're criticizing the president).

More at that top link, FWIW.

'The Fountainhead'

I watched it on TCM this morning. What a movie. Wikipedia's entry is here.

Should CNN Abandon Traditional 'Objective' News Format?

The longstanding news model in American journalism has been professional objectivity. I've argued many times that we've reached a new era of partisan journalism that harkens back to the late-18th century model of the partisan press. Between Fox News and MSNBC on cable, and the Rupert Murdoch properties (NY Post, WSJ) versus just about everybody else in print journalism, the battle lines have been drawn now for almost two decades. But CNN keeps plugging away under the premise that its reporting is non-partisan. Put aside Soledad O'Brien for a moment, or Don Lemon perhaps. As noted earlier, Wolf Blitzer and a few others continue follow the old fashioned "watchdog" style of journalism that treats government skeptically and which stands up for the interests of the public. But with the ratings challenges at CNN, perhaps it's time to junk that approach and go balls out for an ideological framework?

The Los Angeles Times reports, "Is CNN looking for its own game change?":

With the Democratic and Republican national conventions just days away, there's already suspense behind the camera: CNN is staring down one of the worst crises in its 32-year existence.

The cable news network that dominated the political discussion during the 1990s has slumped to record ratings lows this year, with its prime-time audience plunging by more than 40% compared with four years ago (No. 1 Fox News and runner-up MSNBC have each posted double-digit increases). Critics are attacking the Time Warner-owned network's coverage as dull and rudderless. CNN Worldwide President Jim Walton recently announced he will leave at the end of the year, observing that CNN needs "new thinking."

Many industry watchers say change is long overdue, but CNN sees the presidential campaign as an opportunity to prove the doubters wrong. Its new multimillion-dollar studio in Washington is arriving just in time for the President Obama versus Mitt Romney showdown, even if the convention coverage itself doesn't necessarily promise changes that will make viewers snap to attention. The network will start the convention coverage every morning at 5 Eastern time and continue right through a midnight interview show hosted by Piers Morgan, who hosts its flagship prime-time interview program.

As during the primaries this year, there will be round tables overseen by Anderson Cooper — perhaps the network's biggest star — and other anchors, along with a stable of commentators such as the liberal James Carville and his conservative commentator wife, Mary Matalin. Statistics guru John King will work his hands over the "magic wall" of the electoral college once more — in fact, the new studio has two such computerized graphics boards, for even more "Minority Report"-like razzle-dazzle. It will be the first time CNN has managed its convention coverage from Washington.

"In the next six months, there's going to be a huge amount of viewer interest," said Wolf Blitzer, the veteran CNN anchor and reporter who will be a prominent face at the conventions. "I think people will come back and watch us."

More at the link.

Wagner in Israel: Promoting Anti-Semitism or Fighting Censorship?

From Professor Michael Curtis, at American Thinker:

Should the music of Wagner be played in Israel?

There is, in fact, an Israeli Wagnerian Society, but attempts to play the music -- by Zubin Mehta in 1981, by Daniel Barenboim in 2001, and most recently in June 2012 at Tel Aviv University -- have been opposed by groups in Israel. The TAU president stopped the private concert on his campus, arguing that it would offend the public, especially Holocaust survivors, of whom 200,000 remain alive in Israel.

Wagner was an unremitting anti-Semite, as shown both in his prose and in his music expression. His article Das Judenthum in der Musik (Jewishness in Music), written in 1850 under a pseudonym, is a strong criticism of the role of Jews in German culture and society in general, and a more personal attack on the composers of Jewish origin, Giacomo Meyerbeer and Felix Mendelssohn, of whose success he was jealous.

More pertinent to the issue than his anti-Semitic writings is the fact that the music of Wagner and the persona of Wagner became linked with and embedded in Nazi propaganda. Hitler, at least in official pronouncements, spoke of the Wagnerian opus as the best expression of the German soul and in his Table Talk expressed admiration for Wagner. Indeed, the composer became a symbolic and even mythological figure in the Nazi regime, with its racial and genocidal anti-Semitism. Hitler had a special seat at the opera house in Bayreuth, which Wagner built. Recordings of Wagner's opera Rienzi usually opened the Nazi Party conferences.

The case of Wagner is unique. No one objects to hearing the music of Chopin, who disliked Jews and also made anti-Semitic utterances, though they were casual rather than virulent. The piece Carmina Burana by Carl Orff has been played in Israel, though Orff was close to the Nazi Party and obliged the Party by writing new incidental music for A Midsummer Night's Dream to replace the original music of Felix Mendelssohn, who had been banned as a Jewish composer. More difficult to assess politically was the pragmatic Richard Strauss, who was not a Nazi but who was president of the Reichsmusikkammer (German State Music Chamber), 1933-35, a period during which Jews were prevented from performing, and then president of the Nazi-controlled Permanent Council for the International Cooperation of Composers. The difference between these other composers and Wagner was not only the prominent use made of him in Nazi ideology but also the claim, which may be unfounded, that his music was played in Dachau and in the death camps to accompany the murders...

I can't imagine there'd be much of a market Wagner in Israel, in any case. But it's good to debate censorship. I say let the marketplace sort things out.

More at the link.

New Romney Ad: 'It Ain't Right'

An excellent clip:

The Evolution of the Republican Party Voter

From Michael Barone, at the Wall Street Journal:

The core of the Republican Party throughout its history has been voters who are generally seen by themselves and by others as typical Americans—but who by themselves don't constitute a majority of what has always been an economically, culturally and religiously diverse nation. But, as the electoral data cited above suggest, the nature of that core group has changed over time.

In the 19th century, the Republican core consisted of northern Protestants (and any blacks who were allowed to vote). It was founded as a North-only party, and its first presidential candidate, John C. Fremont in 1856, received no votes in slave states.

So enduring was the trauma of the Civil War that for nearly a century afterward the Republican Party had much the same base, while the Democratic Party's base, sometimes united but sometimes deeply divided, consisted of white Southerners and big-city Catholics. In 1944, Republican presidential candidate Thomas E. Dewey carried the popular vote outside the five boroughs of New York City, Chicago's Cook County and the South (defined as the 11 formerly Confederate states plus West Virginia, Kentucky and Oklahoma). Dewey got only 10% of his popular votes and no electoral votes in the South.

Over the next four decades the biggest partisan shift was among white Southerners, while blacks since 1964 have voted about 90% Democratic. By 1984 and 1988, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush were getting about one-third of their popular and electoral votes in the South. In the presidential elections since 1988, Republican nominees have gotten 34% to 39% of their popular votes and 60% to 69% of their electoral votes in the South.

A party that attracts new support from a segment of the electorate tends to repel part of its old coalition. As the 1990s began, political pundits were opining that Republicans had a lock on the Electoral College—just before Bill Clinton, with assistance from Ross Perot, picked the lock and ripped open the door. Democrats won the popular vote in four of the five next presidential elections.

Republicans similarly embarrassed the pundits who said two decades ago that Democrats had a lock on the House of Representatives. Republicans won the most popular votes and most seats in seven of the nine congressional elections beginning in 1994.

As a result, the Republican core going into the 2012 election is no longer northern Protestants but white, married Christians...

RTWT.

Code Pink Women for Peace Take Their Vagina's to Tampa

Vulgar.

Really vulgar. Skanky even.

At The Shark Tank, "U.S. Military Presence at Republican Convention, Code Pink Comes Dressed as Pink Vaginas."

PREVIOUSLY: "Respect Women! Dress Up Like a Vagina for Equal Rights!"

Wolf Blitzer in Tampa Bay for the Republican National Convention

Another Howard Kurtz interview with Wolf Blitzer:

Howard Kurtz Interviews Wolf Blitzer

This interview's from just a couple of days ago, from CNN's Situation Room:

CNN's been doing well lately, and not just Wolf. Anderson Cooper questioned Debbie Wasserman Schultz surprisingly hard the other day, and Dana Bash acts like a serious journalist most of the time.

Mitt Romney's Convention Interviews on Fox News Sunday

At The Right Scoop, "FULL INTERVIEWS: Mitt Romney on Fox News Sunday."

And at the Wall Street Journal, "Romney: Obama Wages ‘Campaign of Anger’":

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney said Barack Obama’s political struggles can be chalked up to the president’s “campaign of anger and divisiveness,” which Mr. Romney said was a sharp contrast to the Obama message of 2008.

“I think his whole campaign has been about dividing the American people,” Mr. Romney said on “Fox News Sunday” with Chris Wallace. “I think it’s one of the reasons why his campaign, despite spending massively more than our campaign, that his campaign hasn’t gained the traction that he would have expected. I think people have seen this campaign of character assassination and divisiveness as being very different than the campaign of hope and change that he ran on originally,” Mr. Romney said.

The most recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll found Mr. Obama leading Mr. Romney 48% to 44%, which was within the margin of error.

In an interview at Mr. Romney’s summer home ahead of the Republican national convention, the candidate touched on several other key topics...

Keep reading.

And the Washington Post's new poll has Romney up 47 to 46 percent, via Michelle Fields on Twitter.

A Dame to Kill For: Jessica Alba Takes Target Practice in Los Angeles

At London's Daily Mail, "Ready to shoot! Jessica Alba gets some target practice at Los Angeles firing range as she trains for new role."

She's starring in the upcoming movie, "Sin City: A Dame to Kill For," a sequel to 2005's "Sin City."

'Midnight Train to Georgia'

Gladys Knight is Mormon, something I learned when working on yesterday's Mitt Romney entry.

Mitt Romney: A Charitable Man With a Sense of Faith, Not the Mean, Rapacious Businessman the Democrat-Media-Complex Foists on the American People

A surprisingly good cover story from Maeve Reston, at today's Los Angeles Times, "A Mitt Romney most of America doesn't know":

BOSTON — Edward Albertian had been working for only a few weeks at his new job, managing the first two Boston-area Staples stores, when he got an unnerving call from his wife. As Staples staffed up, Albertian had been poaching talent from his old company, and his former boss was piqued.

That morning, a courier had delivered papers to Albertian's wife threatening them with eviction unless they immediately repaid the $250,000 loan from Albertian's former company that they had used to buy their home.

A few days later the couple, with their newborn son and 2-year-old daughter in tow, were invited to Staples' Watertown headquarters and found themselves sitting across from Mitt Romney, whose company, Bain Capital, had invested money in Staples. He had heard about their predicament from the chain's co-founder, Tom Stemberg.

They talked for less than half an hour about the young store manager's goals and his role in the company. Then, "Mitt opened his checkbook and wrote a check for $250,000," Albertian, who is now chief operating officer of the Massachusetts-based Transnational Group, said of the 1987 encounter.

"He said, 'You're going to be great. As soon as you sell the house, then you can pay me back, but I want you to focus on Staples and building this into a great company,'" Albertian said. (Stemberg later assumed the loan, and Albertian paid it back over a number of years).

That was the Mitt Romney known to friends and business associates: a man generous to those in need, whose charitable acts stemmed from a deeply rooted sense of duty to help his neighbors.

While Ms. Reston points out that Team Romney's been careful in rolling out personal stories, especially relating to Romney's Mormonism, the Obama-enabling press has been itching to fill in the details, as unfavorably as possible:

George W. Bush connected with voters by revealing his struggle with alcoholism and his path to redemption through his faith. President Obama shared stories about growing up with a single mother. Romney has forgone those sorts of personal anecdotes; instead, his narrative has focused on others — like his father's path from being a carpenter who sold paint cans from the trunk of his car to becoming the head of American Motors.

For more than a year, Romney relentlessly hammered at President Obama on economic and budgetary matters, only recently switching to attacks centered on welfare. That strategy left largely unspoken by the candidate three of the most important elements of his life: his Mormon faith and related acts of charity; his time at Bain Capital; and his signature achievement as governor of Massachusetts, the state's healthcare plan — all matters deemed politically problematic.

As a result, 10 weeks before the election Romney remains an enigma to many Americans.

Democrats have done their best to fill in the blanks, pairing stories about Bain deals that led to layoffs with Romney's plans to shrink federal programs for the poor or shift them to the states. The result: Some of his closest friends and former colleagues say the portrait of Romney as a cold, calculating businessman bears little resemblance to the man they know.

Romney's advisors have long shrugged off his likability problem, arguing that voters care most about competence and insisting that Obama's middling job approval rating is a far more important number.

But in recent days advisors have signaled an intent to fill in the portrait of Romney. Last Sunday, for the first time, his campaign invited reporters to watch Romney attend church, one of its first formal recognitions of his faith. This week's Republican National Convention looms as their biggest opportunity to flesh Romney out with testimonials from people he has helped throughout his business career and through his church.

While some might see a contradiction between Romney's private acts of generosity and his plans to shrink government programs that help the poor or college students, those close to him say there is none. It stems from his belief in individual responsibility and self-reliance, and the view that every American has a duty to help others either through their community or through their church.

"He believes government has a certain role as far as helping people, or helping provide an infrastructure in areas where you can help create opportunities," Romney advisor Kevin Madden said. But his guiding principle is a belief in "putting our faith in individuals and free markets and free enterprise" rather than "government being the only engine."

Keep reading.

This is an amazing piece, and I'm giving Maeve Reston a major shout out here: good on you, lady, this is the kind of reasonably balanced journalism that should be the standard in campaign coverage.

Ms. Reston gives a number of examples of personal charity, but this story below is particular interesting, on the refugees from Hurrican Katrina who wound up in Massachusetts in 2005:

The Rev. Jeffrey Brown, who heads a faith-based gang intervention group in Roxbury, Mass., and spoke frequently to Romney during his governorship, saw two facets of the man — the executive and the spiritual counselor — come together after Hurricane Katrina when the Massachusetts Legislature provided shelter on Cape Cod for evacuees. Romney wanted members of the black clergy to attend to the arrivals — because he said some would rather talk to pastors than mental health professionals — and asked Brown to lead the effort.

Romney arrived a few days later, telling Brown he wanted to hear the stories directly from the victims, many of whom were from New Orleans' hard-hit Lower 9th Ward.

"He wanted to make sure that their needs were being met," Brown said. "He brought 50 state agencies down there, and everybody's needs were attended to. I'm talking about people who left their houses in such a rush that they forgot their teeth. He had dentists down there to get them their dentures.… He was on it."

But Brown was most surprised watching Romney interact with victims — praying with them, sitting with them on park benches asking about their families, scooping up children and asking for hugs.

"He was pastoral," Brown said. "He was that person with those people."

Not mentioned there is that Rev. Brown is black, and most of those from the Lower 9th Ward are black. Since Mitt Romney has been repeatedly attacked as racist on the basis of his Mormonism (the Mormon Church discriminated against blacks in the ordination of priests until 1978, a point the left has been extremely eager to exploit), the story of the New Orleans refugees should be a particularly powerful comeback to the left's racist cult of personality destruction.

The Boston Globe reported on Rev. Brown at the time, "1,350 miles away, they find a haven." Also, Rev. Brown is quoted at this piece from the Massachusetts GOP, citing another Boston Globe report, "Boston ministers skeptical of Elizabeth Warren."

Yeah, there's a lot about Mitt Romney --- and the Republican Party --- that folks aren't getting from the MSM. Thanks again to Ms. Reston for getting out a decent piece on the eve of the convention.

Recall in 2008 the Pew Research organization reported on the horribly biased media coverage favoring "The One." Doug Ross has that, "Pew Research Center confirms media bias affected race."

RELATED: I would bet this Politico piece is more representative of the media coverage of Romney's campaign, "Romney defends Swiss bank account" (at Memeorandum).

Tweet this story out here. Spread the word.

Thanks.

UPDATE: Blue Crab Boulevard links:

Reading this, one gets a feeling for Mitt Romney completely different from the usual media smears. This man is not at all like the villain the media/left tries to paint him. He sounds like someone who would be a good friend. And a good man.

He is a good man --- and thanks Gaius!

Also linked at An Ex-Con's View. Thanks!

More! Power Line links at the "top picks" widget. Thanks!

Penélope Cruz to Headline Toronto International Film Festival

Maybe Blazing Cat Fur will provide some local coverage.

At CBC News, "Penelope Cruz, Robert Redford among TIFF's stars."

The Toronto International Film Festival rounded out its 2012 program Tuesday with new titles by master directors like Michael Haneke and Bernardo Bertolucci as well as a star-studded guest list spanning Robert Redford, Penelope Cruz, Johnny Depp and Vanessa Redgrave.

Organizers unveiled a slate of announcements, including final additions to the festival's movie lineup, details of its popular Mavericks talk series, its annual list of expected attendees and news that the fest was opening up its previously industry-only documentary conference to the public.

Set to present 372 films in total (289 feature-length and 83 short films), TIFF expects a galaxy of international stars to descend on Toronto for this year's festivities.

More at that top link.

And be sure to cruise around at BCF, who's bringing you the hot counter-jihad news out of Canada.

Grizzly Bear Kills Man In Alaska's Denali National Park

At the Los Angeles Times, "Grizzly bear kills hiker in Denali National Park":

A hiker in Denali National Park has been killed by a grizzly bear, the first known fatal bear attack in the Alaska park's history, officials said Saturday.

The victim, whose identity was not released because his family has not been notified, was backpacking alone along the Toklat River when he spotted the bear, officials believe.

Photos recovered from the victim’s camera show that he stopped to take pictures of the animal for at least eight minutes before he was attacked, they said in a telephone conference with reporters Saturday.

Park Superintendent Paul Anderson said he believes the victim came within 50 yards of the grizzly before it went on the attack. He said the photos show the bear grazing in the willows and not acting aggressively.

Backpackers are told to stay at least a quarter mile from bears when in the park, he said. There have been various bear attacks in Denali over the years, though none have been fatal, officials said.

Park service workers were alerted to the attack Friday by three day hikers who saw an abandoned backpack, torn clothing and blood along the river, according to a park service statement.

Rangers found the body late Friday but could not recover it because the sun was fading and they believed multiple bears were nearby. When they returned in a helicopter Saturday afternoon, a grizzly bear was near the body. It was shot and killed by rangers from above.

It was the first time Anderson said he could recall in two decades that a bear was shot and killed in the park.

I'm sorry the man died, and I'll say a prayer for his family, but what purpose does it serve to kill the bear? He was in his natural element and behaved according to his natural instincts. And it's not like the bear was a domesticated animal with a continued risk if place back with a family. Any of the bears out there are a risk. You're hiking in freakin' Alaska, for chrisakes.

New Blue: Dodgers Revamp With Adrian Gonzalez and Josh Beckett

And Carl Crawford and Nick Punto too.

Amazing. The Dodgers are two games back in the National League West, but all eyes are on Los Angeles to lead the league toward the World Championship.

What a monster trading deal this weekend. The Los Angeles Times has lots of coverage. See, "Adrian Gonzalez and Josh Beckett introduce themselves to L.A."

And, "Adrian Gonzalez makes great first impression":

Only two pitches and Adrian Gonzalez was already illustrating the vision the Dodgers had when they inherited $260 million in salary commitments to acquire him from the Boston Red Sox.

Gonzalez redirected an inside fastball from Josh Johnson inside the right-field foul pole for a three-run home run, and the same fans who were on their feet when he first stepped into the batter's box were standing again, only this time they roared even louder.

When Gonzalez completed rounding the bases after his first-inning blast in the Dodgers' 8-2 victory over the Miami Marlins, Matt Kemp was waiting for him at the plate. Hanley Ramirez was in the on-deck circle. Andre Ethier was climbing up the dugout steps.

The centerpiece of a historic nine-player trade that was completed earlier in the day, Gonzalez was far removed from the drama of the Red Sox and now part of a middle-of-the-lineup quartet that was arguably the best in baseball.

Talking of what the addition meant to his lineup, Manager Don Mattingly recalled how he was once a coach on a New York Yankees team that batted a young Robinson Cano ninth.

"It's getting there," Mattingly said.

Mattingly unveiled what he said would be the Dodgers' everyday lineup: Kemp batting third, followed by Gonzalez, Ramirez and Ethier.

"How do you mix and match them?" Mattingly said. "They're all stars. They all can't hit third."

The four players have made a combined 14 All-Star appearances. They are all still in the primes of their careers, between the ages of 27 and 30.

"It's great, man, it's awesome," Kemp said.

And even more good news, "Vin Scully will be back in the booth next season."

Still more coverage here, "An extraordinary day in Dodgers history: A recap."

Sophia Amoruso's 'Nasty Gal' is Hot

This lady's clothing line is smokin'!

At the Los Angeles Times, "Nasty Gal clothing company — as red-hot as its founder's lipstick":

Sophia Amoruso doesn't care if you're offended by the name of her company.

"If it's a big shock when you hear it," she says, "you're probably not our customer anyway."

She's earned the right to be dismissive. Amoruso, 28, is the founder and chief executive of Nasty Gal, a fast-rising e-commerce site that has managed to keep a low profile despite a cult following of young women who can't get enough of the company's edgy and provocative clothing.

Sales rocketed 10,160% from 2008 to 2011, making Nasty Gal the fastest-growing company in Los Angeles and the fastest-growing retail company period, at least according to the Inc. 5000 list released this month. After securing a $9-million investment in January from Index Ventures, which has also backed Facebook and Etsy, Nasty Gal just scored an additional $40 million from the venture capital firm.

That would be hugely impressive for any 6-year-old start-up. But Amoruso isn't your typical entrepreneur.

She's a community college dropout who has never taken a business or fashion class and admits she doesn't know how to make a PowerPoint presentation. Nasty Gal, expected to bring in more than $100 million in sales this year, is her first company. Previously, she was checking student IDs at the entrance to a college dorm for $13 an hour.

With slightly unkempt hair, bright red lips and a daring sense of style, Amoruso is, employees say, the ultimate nasty gal. Much of what the brand sells is a reflection of her own fashion whims.

"There is not an ounce of pretension about her," said Deborah Benton, who left Kim Kardashian's start-up ShoeDazzle in June to join Nasty Gal as president and chief operating officer. "That core value of authenticity — it comes through loud and clear in the brand."

Some photos of the Nasty Gal line here.

Hundreds Dead in Syria Massacre

At the Los Angeles Times, "Syria massacre reportedly leaves more than 200 dead":

BEIRUT — Syrian activists Saturday reported a massacre in a suburb of Damascus that may have claimed more than 200 lives in the last few days.

Some activists were estimating that the death toll could reach 300 as government forces continued an onslaught against Dariya, a suburb of the capital, using tanks, warplanes and snipers.

Residents found 122 bodies in the basement of a building still under construction, said Abu Kinan, an activist in Dariya. All appeared to have been executed, he said.

Independent confirmation of fatalities and specific events in Syria is difficult because of severe government restrictions on news coverage of the conflict.

Activists reported that about 70 people were killed elsewhere in Dariya on Saturday by government troops storming their homes or by snipers.

"There are many snipers. Every street has a sniper," Abu Kinan said. "They entered the town, and they control all of it now. If someone goes into the street, the snipers begin firing."

Ambulances trying to transport hundreds of wounded, as well as families attempting to flee, are navigating the streets at night without headlights to avoid becoming obvious targets, he said. But the ambulances don't have many options on where to take their patients.

"There are no more field hospitals; they were all shelled," Abu Kinan said. "The injured are considered dead."

Also at the Times of Israel, "Syrian rebels say 440 killed across country in ‘massacre’."

The clip above is unauthenticated but purports to show government forces beating detainees.

Arthur Brisbane Speaks Truth to 'New York Times' Power

This, literally, is too good to be true, from the Times' ombudsman, "Success and Risk as The Times Transforms":

I ... noted two years ago that I had taken up the public editor duties believing “there is no conspiracy” and that The Times’s output was too vast and complex to be dictated by any Wizard of Oz-like individual or cabal. I still believe that, but also see that the hive on Eighth Avenue is powerfully shaped by a culture of like minds — a phenomenon, I believe, that is more easily recognized from without than from within.

When The Times covers a national presidential campaign, I have found that the lead editors and reporters are disciplined about enforcing fairness and balance, and usually succeed in doing so. Across the paper’s many departments, though, so many share a kind of political and cultural progressivism — for lack of a better term — that this worldview virtually bleeds through the fabric of The Times.

As a result, developments like the Occupy movement and gay marriage seem almost to erupt in The Times, overloved and undermanaged, more like causes than news subjects.

Stepping back, I can see that as the digital transformation proceeds, as The Times disaggregates and as an empowered staff finds new ways to express itself, a kind of Times Nation has formed around the paper’s political-cultural worldview, an audience unbound by geography (as distinct from the old days of print) and one that self-selects in digital space.

It’s a huge success story — it is hard to argue with the enormous size of Times Nation — but one that carries risk as well.

You have to read it all. This is the dude's last essay as "public editor," and looks like he's ripped a new asshole for some of the stuffed shirts over there. Politico has that, "NYT's Abramson rebuts Brisbane charge."