Inside the Beltway

NEWS AND OPINION:

DeMINT ON PATROL

It could be a smart backlash against shrill candidate debates. An upcoming presidential campaign encounter takes the high road, offering five White House hopefuls the chance to stand on a stage alone and answer direct policy questions from (drum roll please) Republicans Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina, Rep. Steve King of Iowa and Robert George, professor of jurisprudence at Princeton University and founder of the American Principles Project, which organized this nondebate.

In six days, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich gather for the “Palmetto Freedom Forum” in Columbia, S.C.

“This event will allow us to engage candidates in a fair and meaningful way instead of forcing sound-bite answers to complex issues,” Mr. DeMint says.

“To drill down beyond the stump speeches is vital in the nomination process,” agrees Mr. King.

TO THE LETTER

“Since the merits of the Law Review’s selection policy has been the subject of commentary for the last three issues, I’d like to take the time to clarify exactly how our selection process works.”

Harvard Law Review president Barack Obama, writing a public response to criticisms of the publication’s affirmative action policy, on Nov. 16, 1990.

“If Obama were as smart as a fifth-grader, he would know, of course, that [it should be] ’merits … have.’ Were there such a thing as a literary Darwin Award, Obama could have won it on this one sentence alone,” observes American Thinker contributor Jack Cashill, who parsed the entire letter and uncovered the grammatical high jinks.

Mr. Cashill, author of the recently published book “Deconstructing Obama,” also believes the letter confirms the president’s “inability to write,” adding, “Although the letter is fewer than a thousand words long, Obama repeats the subject-predicate error at least two more times.”

PERRY/BACHMANN 2012

A Republican dream team? At the moment, that would be the aforementioned Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann, at least according to the 75,000 people who’ve chosen their ideal GOP pairing for the White House through a “trending online poll” at www.2012dreamticket.com.

The site offers 30 candidates to chose from — including those who insist they’re not running (Jeb Bush, Rep. Paul Ryan, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie) and those who like to tantalize the public (Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani) and interesting possibilities (John Bolton, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky). The minimal electoral process boils down to this: “click and drag” candidate photos.

XXX MARKS THE SPOT

“Lucille Ball is protected. Desi Arnaz is not. Cher is safe, but not Sonny. President Obama and family are shielded, as are the Clintons: Bill, Chelsea and both Hillary and Hillary Rodham. But there’s nothing for Nancy Reagan or Rosalynn Carter,” says Washington Times national reporter Cheryl Wetzstein, who writes of the ICM Registry on the front page of Tuesday’s paper.

What top-tier list is this? These are names deemed important enough to be preemptively blocked from getting an “.xxx” domain name attached to them. ICM Registry, which is managing the new “.xxx” top-level domain, has set aside a reported 15,000 names for cultural or other reasons. Jesus won’t become Jesus.xxx, nor will men named Mohammad, no matter what popular spelling they use. But Jerry Falwell is vulnerable, as is Billy Graham.

All but three members of the House Judiciary Committee are protected. Chairman Lamar Alexander, Texas Republican, and Rep. Bob Goodlatte, Virginia Republican and leader of a subcommittee on the Internet, are safe. But no blocks could be found for Democrat Reps. Hank Johnson of Georgia or Ted Deutch of Florida; or for Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, Wisconsin Republican and chairman of the House Judiciary subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security.

Inquiring minds can check these and other names at https://www.icmregistry.com/who is/.

CAMO-BABY

Camouflage for the woodlands, the desert and the nursery? Oh, why not, as long as it helps out military moms and dads. The Kimberly-Clark Corp. is offering new “limited-edition” Huggies Camo Diapers — yes, camouflage for baby bottoms — through November at Wal-Mart. Nice: The company is donating from sales to Operation Homefront, which provides emergency assistance to the families of service members and wounded warriors.

Also nice: Huggies, Wal-Mart and Operation Homefront will host baby showers for expectant military moms in Washington; Fayetteville, Ark.; San Diego; San Antonio, Texas and Fort Bragg, N.C. See details at www.huggiescamo.com.

POLL DU JOUR

• 27 percent of Republicans say they most likely would support Texas. Gov. Rick Perry for president in the GOP primaries.

• 37 percent of tea party supporters, 34 percent of conservatives, 32 percent of men, 23 percent of women agree.

• 14 percent overall most likely would support Mitt Romney for president in the GOP primaries.

• 11 percent of tea party supporters, 17 percent of conservatives, 14 percent of men, 15 percent of women agree.

• 10 percent overall most likely would support Sarah Palin for president in the GOP primaries.

• 6 percent of tea party supporters, 8 percent of conservatives, 8 percent of men, 13 percent of women agree.

• 9 percent overall most likely would support Rep. Michele Bachmann for president in the GOP primaries.

• 14 percent of tea party supporters, 8 percent of conservatives, 8 percent of men, 10 percent of women agree.

Source: A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll of 467 Republican voters, from a larger poll of 1,017 U.S. adults conducted Aug. 24 and 25.

• Notices, noise, camouflage to jharper@washingtontimes.com