Thursday, August 31, 2006

Okay, I'm In

Thomas Frank:

What we have watched unfold for a few decades, I have argued, is a broad reversion to 19th-century political form, with free-market economics understood as the state of nature, plutocracy as the default social condition, and, enthroned as the nation’s necessary vice, an institutionalized corruption surpassing anything we have seen for 80 years. All that is missing is a return to the gold standard and a war to Christianize the Philippines.

Historically, liberalism was a fighting response to precisely these conditions. Look through the foundational texts of American liberalism and you can find everything you need to derail the conservative juggernaut. But don’t expect liberal leaders in Washington to use those things. They are “New Democrats” now, enlightened and entrepreneurial and barely able to get out of bed in the morning, let alone muster the strength to deliver some Rooseveltian stemwinder against “economic royalists.”

Mounting a campaign against plutocracy makes as much sense to the typical Washington liberal as would circulating a petition against gravity. What our modernized liberal leaders offer — that is, when they’re not gushing about the glory of it all at Davos — is not confrontation but a kind of therapy for those flattened by the free-market hurricane: they counsel us to accept the inevitability of the situation and to try to understand how we might retrain or re-educate ourselves so we will fit in better next time.

...

Everything I have written about in this space points to the same conclusion: Democratic leaders must learn to talk about class issues again. But they won’t on their own. So pressure must come from traditional liberal constituencies and the grass roots, like the much-vilified bloggers. Liberalism also needs strong, well-funded institutions fighting the rhetorical battle. Laying out policy objectives is all well and good, but the reason the right has prevailed is its army of journalists and public intellectuals. Moving the economic debate to the right are dozens if not hundreds of well-funded Washington think tanks, lobbying outfits and news media outlets. Pushing the other way are perhaps 10.


The dominance of foreign policy issues combined with the perfectly justified fear that under a Republican congress the opening of just about any domestic policy door was opening the door to disaster has made me less than interested in wonky domestic policy issues than I would otherwise be.

But, whether we win or lose or November it's time. It was wrong to think that such issues would dominate in 2004, and it's wrong to think they'll be enough in '08, but it's time to make the case for less stupid domestic economic policies.

Late Night

Neko Case - Maybe Sparrow



Frothy Mix

Oddly, he isn't referring to Santorum.

He'll Flip If They Need Him

Yes Dan Gerstein (cough liar cough) has said that Lieberman will continue to caucus with the Dems but I stand by my prediction that the deal is he'll flip if the Republicans need him to flip to maintain control of the Senate.

Webb's Son Going to Iraq

Link:

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Senate candidate Jim Webb will miss the Labor Day weekend parades, picnics and speeches that open the fall campaign stretch run to be with his son, who ships out with his Marine unit to Iraq next week.

Webb decided Thursday to skip the traditional holiday gatherings in Buena Vista, Covington and elsewhere that are normally must-attend events for those seeking statewide office.

Marine Lance Cpl. Jimmy Webb, 24, is deploying with his unit to combat duty, and the Democratic challenger to Sen. George Allen chose to visit his son until he leaves.

"I'm very proud of my son. Neither he nor I want him to be viewed differently than any of his fellow Marines. He's a tough young man and a fine Marine," Webb said in an e-mailed statement to The Associated Press.

Buy This Book

Wanker of the Day

David Broder.

Evening Thread

Enjoy.

Betting Time

Monthly jobs report comes out tomorrow. Consensus forecast says +125K jobs. As I almost always do, I'll take the under bet.

Buchanan Nation

Proving yet again that there's literally nothing a conservative commentator can say which will keep them off of respectable news outlets.

Liddy's Cash

Thanks for wasting money, Liddy.

Nasty Season

It's getting ugly.

Radicals and Extremists

Greenwald:

The Cold War didn't end with wars on the Soviets but with engagement of them and treaties with them, signed by the Neville Chamberlain of the 1980s, Ronald Reagan. Those who considered Reagan a Chamberlain appeaser back then were radicals and extremists (and were viewed as such). They still are extremists, but they also happen to be the ones guiding the dominant political party in our country and they don't just want to prolong the war in Iraq but want several new wars (at least). That ought to be the principal issue in this election.

Purging the Moderates

For some reason this whole Rhode Island senate primary story just isn't getting any play.

Looks like Linc might be toast.

Fresh Thread

Enjoy.

Who Are People?

When George Felix Allen says that "people" don't care about his Macaca remark one can only assume he means, you know, "real Americans" unlike that Macaca fellow.

This Film Is Not Yet Rated

Watched a copy of the movie the other day, which will be out soon. It was fairly entertaining and a reasonable well done indictment of the power and secrecy of the MPAA, but I think it was a bit too tailored towards a hip insidery audience to be all that effective as a tool of persuasion. We learn that the MPAA operates with extraordinary secrecy, dishonesty, and inconsistency, that it's obsessed with sex and doesn't care too much about violence, that Christian (and only Christian) clergy have always been participants, or at least observers, in the ratings process, and that they often have rather large influence on how movies eventually get made/edited.

Still it's hard to see who, except for those of us who were prone to agree anyway, will find any of this convincing. I agree that it's absurd that sex is treated as something more shocking and dangerous than violence, but I think it's an absurd aspect of our society as a whole. The movie addresses this point, in part, by showing a lot of sex scenes which pushed movies into NC-17 territory but I imagine lots of people would agree that such scenes should push movies into NC-17 territory.

Anyway, it's not bad but I would've preferred it to be a bit more informative and a bit less shocking/jokey/cute.

Changing My Scene

More Like This

Begala yesterday:

BEGALA: For some, yes. I mean, I think the better criticism of Rumsfeld is that he has failed in his job. As I said, bin Laden walks the earth. That is wrong. That is because, I believe, the mass incompetence of Donald Rumsfeld and President Bush.

And so, if you're working at the White House -- if you're Karl Rove, right? And I used to work there -- what do you do? You know, the president is not popular. Mr. Cheney is not popular.

The one person they have is Condoleezza Rice, who the country still likes and trusts. And yet, she's not out there.

Rumsfeld and Cheney and Bush are. And believe me -- you can check -- there are four or five different strains of venereal diseases more popular than Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld. And so, as a Democrat, I want to Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld to...

CLARKE: You've probably been waiting all summer to use that line.

BEGALA: I want them on the (inaudible) every day.


We've finally started to see more Democrats internalize the idea that these people are stupid, and ugly, and nobody likes them. They should be treated with the derision and contempt they've deservedly earned.

Webb and Murtha for Lamont

Good deal:

RICHMOND, Va. -- Democratic Senate candidate Jim Webb, for years a Republican, said Wednesday he would not hesitate to support Democrat Ned Lamont over Democrat-turned-independent Joe Lieberman in Connecticut this year.

Webb, who is challenging Republican Sen. George Allen's bid for a second term, was emphatic in backing his new party's nominee over Lieberman.

"Joe Lieberman got too close to this administration," said Webb, who bolted the GOP in part because of President Bush's decision to invade Iraq and his handling of the war since then.

Webb, a decorated Marine rifle company commander in Vietnam and author of six novels based on his combat there, served as a top military aide in the Reagan administration, including a year as Navy secretary.

Webb wrote before the 2003 invasion that an Iraq invasion would destabilize the Middle East, empower Iran and lock the United States into a long-running Vietnam-style quagmire.


But what the hell does he know. [/sarcasm]

And Murtha:

In response to one question, Murtha also said he would campaign in Connecticut for Ned Lamont if invited.

Follow the Money

It is the case that the Washington Post editorial board positions on educational issues tend to fit remarkably well with the business model of Kaplan.

I'm sure it's a coincidence.

Pundit Life

I was thinking more about Sebastian Mallaby's mocking of requiring insurers to cover wigs. It is, as Ezra suggests, precisely the kind of thing that most people wouldn't think to add to an a la carte insurance policy, precisely because most of us aren't really equipped to sensibly make such decisions. More than that it highlights the pathological lack of empathy someone like Mallaby must have.

Here's a guy who undoubtedly has pretty damn good insurance through his employer. If an illness strikes and he's unable to continue the backbreaking work of typing a couple of columns per week about how other people have too much insurance at a very minimum I'm sure his employment contract contains a long term disability rider to ensure he'll keep his insurance and a hefty percentage of his salary. Since he's one of the gang of tenured pundits it's likely they'll just let him contribute when he can and keep paying him. Given his hairline it's true he might not bother with a wig, but even when he's able to work he'll be able to phone it in from home or the hospital. If he has a family there's probably a spouse who can pick up the slack in the childraising duties. If not, well, there's no problem there then.

I'm not going to claim to have a deep understanding of living life as a member of the working poor - and, no, years of being a relatively impoverished grad student don't really qualify - but I do know the experience of someone in that situation is exactly like Mallaby's... not. To eat and feed their kids - let alone keep their insurance if they have it - they'll have to keep working as much as possible in jobs which require a bit more physical activity then flicking fingers across a keyboard, and a bit more contact with other people than a telecommute.

Clueless pundits.

Republicans Suck

New Ap/Ipsos poll(.pdf). In response to the question:

If you had to choose, who would you say you trust to do a better job of protecting the
country?


37% say Democrats, 32% Republicans. If they push "leaners" they get 47% Democrats 40% Republicans.

60% more terrorism is likely because of the Iraq war.


Time to update the storyline, gang of 500 wankers.

Worthy Dying For

Sean Hannity's view of the world.

Sunset Kiss In Santa Barbara

Haha.


Poor Gerstein is such a whiner. I'm going to be sad when we don't have Dan to kick around anymore.

Nice sunset, Lamont's folks mocked when the ad first debuted.

"It's actually a sunrise," Gerstein initially insisted. "It's very much a sunrise."

Actually, it's very much a sunset, as pro-Lamont bloggers gleefully pointed out. They even tracked down the video used in the ad on the Getty Images Web page. Clip 843-2: "Wide shot sun setting over ocean/ birds walking along water's edge/ Santa Barbara."

"Wow," said Gazeena, the helpful customer rep at Getty Images. "That's too bad."

There is a 30-day return policy, she offered. But it's only good for half the purchase price, somewhere around $1,000, she said. "And if it's already been used, I'm not sure that applies."

Apparently that's not going to be an issue; Gerstein said they were going to continue to use the ad.

"Of course we will," he said. "Why in God's name wouldn't we, just because Ned Lamont's people reflectively attack us? That's just insane."

Good stuff, Dan, remember? Think about the good stuff ...



(via FDL)

High Holy Day

I really don't understand the fetishization of 9/11 remembrance.

It's weird.

Adapting to Win

Ken Mehlman's been running around berating all the media figures telling them it was wrong to say we were "staying the course" because what we were in fact doing was "adapting to win."

At Bush's little campaign rally last night he said we were going to "stay the course."

Morning Thread

Enjoy.

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Tofu and Bambi Burgers

I'm quite sympathetic to the plight of the modern vegetarian. It's true that they can't just eat their tofu in peace. Probably a lot of that is innocent. I know that I'm genuinely interested in why people choose to be vegetarians, and therefore ask, but I also know that I wouldn't want to have to explain my eating choices to everyone I meet. Eating is part of that short list of rather fundamental human desires.

When I was in grad school I made a lot of tofu at home becaue it was cheap and because it kept well, and having a car which wasn't surviving the New England winters all that well limited my trips to the supermarket. It can be quite tasty.

But these venison burgers were even tastier...

Olbermann

Will have video up if someone else doesn't get it converted first:


...here it is, at C&L.


The man who sees absolutes, where all other men see nuances and shades of meaning, is either a prophet, or a quack.

Donald H. Rumsfeld is not a prophet.

Mr. Rumsfeld’s remarkable speech to the American Legion yesterday demands the deep analysis—and the sober contemplation—of every American.

For it did not merely serve to impugn the morality or intelligence -- indeed, the loyalty -- of the majority of Americans who oppose the transient occupants of the highest offices in the land. Worse, still, it credits those same transient occupants -- our employees -- with a total omniscience; a total omniscience which neither common sense, nor this administration’s track record at home or abroad, suggests they deserve.

Dissent and disagreement with government is the life’s blood of human freedom; and not merely because it is the first roadblock against the kind of tyranny the men Mr. Rumsfeld likes to think of as “his” troops still fight, this very evening, in Iraq.

It is also essential. Because just every once in awhile it is right and the power to which it speaks, is wrong.

In a small irony, however, Mr. Rumsfeld’s speechwriter was adroit in invoking the memory of the appeasement of the Nazis. For in their time, there was another government faced with true peril—with a growing evil—powerful and remorseless.

That government, like Mr. Rumsfeld’s, had a monopoly on all the facts. It, too, had the “secret information.” It alone had the true picture of the threat. It too dismissed and insulted its critics in terms like Mr. Rumsfeld’s -- questioning their intellect and their morality.

That government was England’s, in the 1930’s.

It knew Hitler posed no true threat to Europe, let alone England.

It knew Germany was not re-arming, in violation of all treaties and accords.

It knew that the hard evidence it received, which contradicted its own policies, its own conclusions — its own omniscience -- needed to be dismissed.

The English government of Neville Chamberlain already knew the truth.

Most relevant of all — it “knew” that its staunchest critics needed to be marginalized and isolated. In fact, it portrayed the foremost of them as a blood-thirsty war-monger who was, if not truly senile, at best morally or intellectually confused.

That critic’s name was Winston Churchill.

Sadly, we have no Winston Churchills evident among us this evening. We have only Donald Rumsfelds, demonizing disagreement, the way Neville Chamberlain demonized Winston Churchill.

History — and 163 million pounds of Luftwaffe bombs over England — have taught us that all Mr. Chamberlain had was his certainty — and his own confusion. A confusion that suggested that the office can not only make the man, but that the office can also make the facts.

Thus, did Mr. Rumsfeld make an apt historical analogy.

Excepting the fact, that he has the battery plugged in backwards.

His government, absolute -- and exclusive -- in its knowledge, is not the modern version of the one which stood up to the Nazis.

It is the modern version of the government of Neville Chamberlain.

But back to today’s Omniscient ones.

That, about which Mr. Rumsfeld is confused is simply this: This is a Democracy. Still. Sometimes just barely.

And, as such, all voices count -- not just his.

Had he or his president perhaps proven any of their prior claims of omniscience — about Osama Bin Laden’s plans five years ago, about Saddam Hussein’s weapons four years ago, about Hurricane Katrina’s impact one year ago — we all might be able to swallow hard, and accept their “omniscience” as a bearable, even useful recipe, of fact, plus ego.

But, to date, this government has proved little besides its own arrogance, and its own hubris.

Mr. Rumsfeld is also personally confused, morally or intellectually, about his own standing in this matter. From Iraq to Katrina, to the entire “Fog of Fear” which continues to envelop this nation, he, Mr. Bush, Mr. Cheney, and their cronies have — inadvertently or intentionally — profited and benefited, both personally, and politically.

And yet he can stand up, in public, and question the morality and the intellect of those of us who dare ask just for the receipt for the Emporer’s New Clothes?

In what country was Mr. Rumsfeld raised? As a child, of whose heroism did he read? On what side of the battle for freedom did he dream one day to fight? With what country has he confused the United States of America?

The confusion we -- as its citizens— must now address, is stark and forbidding.

But variations of it have faced our forefathers, when men like Nixon and McCarthy and Curtis LeMay have darkened our skies and obscured our flag. Note -- with hope in your heart — that those earlier Americans always found their way to the light, and we can, too.

The confusion is about whether this Secretary of Defense, and this administration, are in fact now accomplishing what they claim the terrorists seek: The destruction of our freedoms, the very ones for which the same veterans Mr. Rumsfeld addressed yesterday in Salt Lake City, so valiantly fought.

And about Mr. Rumsfeld’s other main assertion, that this country faces a “new type of fascism.”

As he was correct to remind us how a government that knew everything could get everything wrong, so too was he right when he said that -- though probably not in the way he thought he meant it.

This country faces a new type of fascism - indeed.

Although I presumptuously use his sign-off each night, in feeble tribute, I have utterly no claim to the words of the exemplary journalist Edward R. Murrow.

But never in the trial of a thousand years of writing could I come close to matching how he phrased a warning to an earlier generation of us, at a time when other politicians thought they (and they alone) knew everything, and branded those who disagreed: “confused” or “immoral.”

Thus, forgive me, for reading Murrow, in full:

“We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty,” he said, in 1954. “We must remember always that accusation is not proof, and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law.

“We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men, not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate, and to defend causes that were for the moment unpopular.”

And so good night, and good luck.

Making Shit Up

Ah, to be a Reublican candidate for governor...


...but at least he apologized and said he was wrong.

Fresh Thread

Enjoy.

Ho Ho Ho

The clueless cruelty of the Washington Post pundit set.

A good example of this came from Mallaby, who mocked Minnesota's insurance climate for mandating coverage of massage and wigs. (Minnesota, incidentally, has the lowest uninsured rate in the nation.) Ho, Ho, Ho. He had a good laugh over that one, I'm sure. Except the wigs are for chemotherapy survivors -- the sort of thing none of us expect to need, but may one day find necessary to continuing our lives. Good wigs, sadly, are very expensive, and few major businesses appreciate Cancer Chic among their employees. Without one, a breast cancer survivor can scarcely hope to continue her normal life. And massages, which sounds silly, are often more effective, less costly, and safer than over-the-counter medicines in treating back pain. Few folks know that. Like Mallaby, they've not read the studies. Unlike Mallaby, they're not professional domestic policy thinkers. Yet if he could make so elementary a set of oversights, why do we expect the average American can do better? And why are we so willing to abandon them if they fail?

Hypocritical, Sad, and Pathetic

Jack Kemp is still alive? I had no idea.

Afternoon Thread

Enjoy This is Our Emergency by Pretty Girls Make Graves.




"Too Much Time"

If Lieberman paid that guy more than $100 to make that ad I'd say the problem is that he isn't spending enough time in the editing room.

Onward to Iran

I don't know how crazy the leaders of Iran are, but I do worry they don't quite understand just how crazy some of the influential people in this country are.

Sunset over Santa Barbara

Poor incompetent liar Dan Gerstein. Is there anything they won't lie about? Putting an ad out with stock footage of a sunset over Santa Barbara and then trying to claim it's a sunrise.

Truly silly people.

Core Inflation

Yes, the focus on core inflation is absurd. The reason that the number is important is because food and energy prices are more volatile month to month so by excluding them you're getting a better sense of the underlying trend. But over the longer term the underlying trends in food and (especially) energy actually matter.

Wanker of the Day

Joe Lieberman.

Serious

So Chris Shays says there hasn't been progress in Iraq since January. But in March he agreed with his BFF Joe Lieberman's courageous declaration that there has been progress. In the debate with Lamont, Lieberman (CFL-CT) asked "are we going to abandon them while they are making that progress? "

Shays used to say a timetable was a bad idea. His BFF Joe Lieberman said a timetable would be a victory for terrorists. Now Shays says a timetable is a good idea and his BFF Joe Lieberman says he needs to study Shays' ideas more carefully.

And these are the people the Bullshit Moose thinks are serious about foreign policy.

Did serious become slang for "fucking wrong about everything all the time" while I was sleeping?

Bush is serious, yo.

One Casey

We can now define the unit of time of One Casey as being Equal to somewhere between two and three Friedmans. For simplicity, we'll call it Three Friedmans. On the calendar it goes.


BAGHDAD, Iraq - The top U.S. general in Iraq said Wednesday he believes Iraqi forces can take over security with little coalition support within a year to 18 months.

"I don't have a date, but I can see over the next 12 to 18 months, the Iraqi security forces progressing to a point where they can take on the security responsibilities for the country, with very little coalition support," Gen. George Casey said in Baghdad.

That takeover would not mean U.S. troops leaving immediately. It is part of a U.S. military plan to hand over responsibilities, move into large bases and provide support while Iraqis take the lead. A U.S. drawdown would start after that occurred.

Calling Bullshit

Yglesias throws away his sensible liberal membership card.

Hooray for him.

What Is It About Blogs That Breaks Brains?

This is amusingly incoherent.

WaPo Endorses Donna Edwards

That's pretty weird.

You can help Edwards and other fine candidates here.

Hiding Me Head in the Sand

Meanwhile in the forgotten war:

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A roadside bomb exploded in Baghdad's oldest and largest wholesale market district, killing at least 24 people and wounding 35, part of a surge in bloodshed Wednesday that left 52 dead, authorities said.

Earlier, an explosives-rigged bicycle blew up near an army recruiting center in a city south of Baghdad, killing at least 12 people.

Violence across
Iraq has spiked in recent days, with more than 200 people killed since Sunday in clashes, bombings or shootings — despite U.S. and Iraqi officials' claims that a new security operation in the capital has lowered Sunni-Shiite killings there, which had risen in June and July.

A U.S. Marine from the 1st Brigade of the 1st Armored Division was also killed in action Tuesday in Anbar province, the U.S. command said.


Kinda reminds me of Philadelphia.

Chumps

From the Ted Strickland campaign:
On August 20th, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that a Republican named Nathan Estruth showed up at a Clermont County Democratic rally to give Ted a chance to persuade him.

Link

In a county that proudly paints itself political red, where about 70 percent of voters backed President Bush in 2004, Nathan Estruth showed up at a park Saturday morning to hear the blue people.

In particular, he wanted to listen to Ted Strickland, the Democratic candidate for governor who, with U.S. Senate candidate Sherrod Brown, was headlining a three-day bus tour promoting the party's statewide ticket in some of Ohio's most Republican counties.

Estruth, a father of four who typically votes Republican, milled in the back of a partisan crowd of about 100, one of just a handful of people not wearing a shirt promoting a Democratic candidate. At the urging of a friend, he came to give the Democrats, who have been out of power in Ohio for more than a decade, a chance to win his vote.

"It's just common sense that we need change," Estruth said at Veterans Memorial Park in Union Township. "Frankly, it's about change for change's sake."

Unfortunately, Mr. Estruth said he wasn’t convinced.

After the 40-minute rally, Estruth said he was not ready to vote Democratic. He was put off, he said, by their harsh rhetoric.

"I wanted to see if he was an executive with clear plans for fixing the state," he said about Strickland. "What I got was partisan talk. He confirmed my worst fears."

However, there might be another reason that Mr. Estruth wasn’t ready to vote Democratic. Via Buckeye State Blog, we learn that he happens to be the president of Common Sense Ohio, a Blackwell-supporting group that’s been running hundreds of thousands of dollars of advertising across that state attacking Ted.

The BSB post: http://buckeyestateblog.com/node/2592

Common Sense Ohio: http://www.commonsenseohio.org

Common Sense Ohio’s ads began running on August 16th. The president of the group is on the record alleging to be a Republican just “checking out” Ted Strickland at a rally held on August 19th.

Wouldn’t it just be common sense that the president of a group spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to destroy Ted Strickland had already made up his mind?

Morning Thread

Enjoy.

Ted Stevens is A Truck Which...

...ah, never mind. It's too late to come up with any comically bad mixed metaphors. Just wait for Tom Friedman's next column.


But he is a wanker.

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Poor Kyra

As many reasons as I've had to criticize Kyra Phillips over the years I actually imagine she's probably an ok person, so I do feel a bit bad that her family life has just gone from zero to nightmare in 30 seconds...

``Live From'' anchor Kyra Phillips had apparently left the set around 12:48 p.m. EDT Tuesday for a bathroom break while the news channel carried Bush's speech marking the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Phillips' wireless microphone was turned on and picked up about a minute and a half of a muffled conversation she had with an unidentified woman where she apparently talked about her husband, laughed and talked about her brother.

``I've got to be protective of him,'' she said without being aware that the mic was on. ``He's married, three kids, and his wife is just a control freak.'' CNN anchor Daryn Kagan broke into the telecast immediately afterward updating viewers on what Bush had been saying.

Late Night

Enjoy.

Beyond Macaca

I'm shocked to discover that the racist George Felix Allen likes to hang out with racists.

Evening Thread

Enjoy.

Funny

at Youtube cglcivics writes:

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Serious

Cheney, almost exactly 4 years ago:


Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt that he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us. And there is no doubt that his aggressive regional ambitions will lead him into future confrontations with his neighbors -- confrontations that will involve both the weapons he has today, and the ones he will continue to develop with his oil wealth.

...


The elected leaders of the country have a responsibility to consider all available options, and we are doing so. What we must not do in the face of a mortal threat is give in to wishful thinking or to willful blindness. We must not simply look away, hope for the best, and leave the matter for some future administration to resolve. As President Bush has said, time is not on our side. Deliverable weapons of mass destruction in the hands of a terror network, or a murderous dictator, or the two working together, constitutes as grave a threat as can be imagined. The risks of inaction are far greater than the risk of action.

Sneaky

The only possible way they're going to win with a write-in candidate in DeLay's district is to actually have her name be on the ballot... so they're going to throw a special election.

Jut Lie Back And Think of Lieberman

Uh, ew?

Bush's BFF

E&P:

NEW YORK It was on the front page of The Washington Post, and bylined by a well-known and respected name, Peter Baker, but one still had to wonder: Did Borat have anything to do with this?

The Baker story broke news about an upcoming visit to this country by the president of Kazakhstan, an accused thief and "autocrat" who, nevertheless, will soon be receiving a warm welcome both at the White House and the Bush compound at Kennebunkport. With this fresh publicity, he may now be the second most famous Kazakh in America, though still trailing far behind Borat Sagdiyev, the comic creation of Sasha Baron Cohen of "Ali G" fame.

The long-awaited "Borat" movie -- with the title character in the role of foreign journalist traveling the U.S. -- is coming out this fall so normally one might suspect that the Kazakh leader, Nursultan Nazarbayev, has timed his visit to help boost the movie debut of a favorite son. However, the Kazakh government has blasted Cohen in the past (and threatened legal action) for allowing Borat to, among other things, make fun of his homeland, demean women, slander gypsies and (in a famous song) urge listeners to "Throw the Jew Down the Well."


The Borat movie will be an event...

Concern Trolls

The cutest kind of all.

Great Moments in Cable News

The best political team on television.

From Race-Baiting to Red-Baiting

The last honest man sure is a delightful fellow:

While the Republican-American may be guilty of lax journalism, the real shame belongs to Lieberman's independent campaign, which has spread the Waterbury paper's fantastic claims. The senator's communications director even quoted the editorial in a widely circulated statement on the race.

With the help of the Waterbury Republican-American, Joe Lieberman is keeping alive the politics of another Joe: the one named McCarthy. And in so doing, Lieberman's proving that the shock waves from a primary election in the summer of 1946 are still being felt in this summer of another primary election that has dislodged another senior senator.

Support the Troops

Now would certainly be a good time to cut military brain injury research funding.

Serious

I was sitting here thinking about the Lamont/Lieberman race and I suddenly remembered the father and son who came to vote while I was standing outside the polling place in CT. They came together, though in separate cars, and the father rolled down the window and said something along the lines of "I voted for your guy because he won't send my son off to war." Aside from the buzz cut there wasn't anything which identified the son as being in the military in any way, though he certainly could have been.

It's the height of buffoonery to lend support to the lunatics who are running our foreign policy. It is the very definition of "unserious" to support these clowns. The judgment of anybody who supports these people is so flawed as to defy comprehension.

Please consider making a small contribution to one of these fine candidates or to any of your favorites. The end of the quarter is arriving.

Wanker of the Day

Chris Graham.

The Will

Rumsfeld fully embraces the Green Lantern Theory of Geopolitics.

Rumsfeld said there was no doubt the United States could win militarily in Iraq if it stayed the course.

"The important question is not whether we can win. Of course we can win. We won't lose a single battle," he said. "But do we have the will?"

Magical Thinking

Dionne writes:

The Republicans' restiveness suggests that Bush may not be able to stick with his current Iraq policy through Election Day. Even if he does, he will come under heavy pressure from his own party after Nov. 7 to pursue a demonstrably more effective strategy -- or to begin pulling American forces out.



But he won't. There won't be a more effective strategy. And forces won't be pulled out.

This has been made clear over and over again. I don't know why people refuse to listen.

Morning Thread

Enjoy.

Monday, August 28, 2006

No Less

Indeed:

I’m certain that Dole, Rove, Bush and a host of others are peeing themselves at the thought that they might lose the Senate and Democrats might gain subpoena power because they lost control of the extreme right wing of the party. It’s as big a story as the Lamont/Lieberman race, but somehow the media seem not to care, so feel free to poke your favorite wingnut and tell them they really ought to be enraged about this.

We really owe our right wing blog bretheren no less.


It's a bigger story, really.

When I was in Connecticut I tried to kid a NYT reporter by asking if they were going to devote as much attention to the Rhode Island race as they did to the Connecticut race. I got a somewhat confused look, and then in a response a question about how Matthew Brown was doing.


Matthew Brown dropped out of the Democratic primary race in April.

Late Night

To Go Home (legal .mp3 download) from M. Ward.

Fresh Thread

Enjoy.

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

This is not going to be pretty.



Bigger version here.


Open Seat

Someone at the DSCC has the right idea.

It's All Good

Greenwald has a post on something I've discussed a few times, the tendency to spin literally any news as good for Republicans. The Republicans and their lickspittles in the media have used this strategy for so long it's reflexive. They don't even have to think about it anymore. No matter what happens it's good for Bush and good for Republicans.

The problem is that supposedly neutral reporters and even Democrats seem to fall for it every time.

71

Assuming I counted correctly it's 71 days until election day.

Not the Guy

The guy cable news has been following nonstop apparently did not kill Jonbenet Ramsey.

Cheer up guys. Maybe OJ'll do something soon. Or, you know, you could check out what's going on elsewhere in the world.

Falling Star

It's nice to see Ken Blackwell is probably following Katherine Harris along the path to obscurity.

Wanker of the Day

Saint John McCain.

We Heart McCain

Members of the liberal media try to explain why.

Tucker Carlson's explanation was probably more accurate:

McCain ran an entire presidential campaign aimed primarily at journalists. He understood that the first contest in a presidential race is always the media primary. He campaigned hard to win it. To a greater degree than any candidate in thirty years, McCain offered reporters the three things they want most: total access all the time, an endless stream of amusing quotes, and vast quantities of free booze.

...

I saw reporters call McCain "John," sometimes even to his face and in public. I heard otherse, usually at night in the hotel bar, slip into the habit of referring to the Mccain campaign as "we"- as in, "I hope we kill Bush." It was wrong, but it was hard to resist.

More on the Wanker Caucus

From Dean Baker:

In addition to conflating Social Security and Medicare as “entitlements” that will pose problems, the column also has a few other standard scare tactics. For example, it projects a rise in spending from approximately 20 percent of GDP at present to 40 percent in 30 years. The biggest part of this rise is due to a rising interest burden. See, if we run larger deficits, and Congress never responds by either raising taxes and/or cutting spending, then we get a rising interest burden. Silly trick, but this is the Post.

Plays for Sure for Real

Someone's conquered Windows' stupid DRM. Good. Maybe they'll stop wasting time trying to make life difficult for customers.

And, no, I'm not advocating piracy.

They Write Books

The accented one has written a book.


Depravity

Heh. Indeed.

Origination of the soldiers-are-dead-meat-anyway theme can be traced to Brit Hume of Fox News. It should be read in the same context as Mama Bush's observation that the New Orleans evacuees in Houston, considering their origins, had lucked into a pretty good thing.

Nobody combines banality and viciousness like the InstaPundit.

Baghdad BoBo

Of course this is not going to happen as long as George Bush is president. He's told us so.

Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki predicted it "will not be long" before US troops can start withdrawing from his country but would not commit to a timetable.

Maliki said in an interview with CNN that Iraqi security forces were growing stronger alongside the 138,000 US troops still in Iraq nearly three and a half years after the invasion to oust
Saddam Hussein.


At least 5 more Friedmans to go.

Joementum '08: Biden Boogaloo

I don't know what's wrong with the brains of these people:

Biden dismissed the notion that he was a "Northeastern liberal" who would have a poor showing in the South against other likely contenders such as Virginia Gov. Mark Warner and former Sen.
John Edwards of North Carolina, the 2004 Democratic vice presidential nominee.

"Better than anybody else," Biden said, when asked on "Fox News Sunday" to rate his chances of winning Southern states.

"You don't know my state," he said. "My state was a slave state. My state is a border state. My state has the eighth-largest black population in the country. My state is anything from a Northeast liberal state."

Car Share for Students

After plugging Philly Car Share yesterday I noticed something I hadn't realized, that anyone 18+ is eligible to join. Unlike the rest of us people that young need to already be covered by basic insurance (very minimal under Pennsylvania law), but a lot of college kids are probably covered under the parents' insurance anyway.

Bloody Hands of the Hypnotized

Yglesias:

And what kind of sense does it make to fight Mahdi Army militiamen on the one hand, and on the other hand have the leaders of the Sadr Movement sitting in parliament and in the cabinet?


Certainly isn't like our civil war.[/Rumsfeld]

The Wanker Caucus

Oh boy, Bob Kerrey's in the WaPo again telling us that the richest country in the world isn't going to be able to take care of its old people.

With Brainwashed Pride

Iraq'd:

DIWANIYA, Iraq (Reuters) - Two dozen Iraqi soldiers were killed in fierce street fighting with Shi'ite militiamen in the city of Diwaniya on Monday in some of the bloodiest clashes yet among rival factions in Shi'ite southern
Iraq.


Thirty seven people were killed, according to army, militia and medical sources. Five soldiers were posted missing in a battle officials said began late on Sunday when troops tried to detain men of the Mehdi Army militia of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

In Baghdad, a suicide car bomber killed 13 policemen and wounded 62 other people outside the Interior Ministry, police said, in one of the deadliest attacks in the city since U.S. and Iraqi troops launched a big security clampdown three weeks ago.

Seven U.S. soldiers were among more than 60 people killed on Sunday in violence that challenged assertions by Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki that his forces had the upper hand in violence that many fear could turn into all-out civil war.

Overnight

Fallen


Sunday, August 27, 2006

Have You Had Enough?



More from Howie Klein.

Wanker of the Day

Rahm Emanuel.

Toon




From Mr. Fish at Harpers.

Evening Thread

Enjoy.

So Much Better All The Time

Meanwhile, in the forgotten war;

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A spate of car bombings and shootings across Iraq killed at least 55 people on Sunday, but Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said violence was on the decrease and that the country would never slide into a civil war.

A top government official said Maliki planned to reshuffle his coalition cabinet just 100 days after it was formed because he wanted to root out disloyal or poorly performing ministers and rally factions behind his national reconciliation plan.

More Thread

Enjoy.

OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

The stupid! It burns!

Fresh Thread

Enjoy.

Housing

This Washington Post column on affordable housing is on the whole pretty good, though I have a couple of quibbles. First it overemphasizes "the problem is the government!" rhetoric. It's true, in a sense, as bad zoning laws and community resistance do cause a lot of problems but it's wrong to take away from that the idea that the solution is complete government non-involvement. Better laws, not no laws. Yes, Houston has no zoning laws but it still has building codes.

The second is that it doesn't address directly the undiscussed cost of suburban home ownership - the need for one car per driving age person in the household. It does speak highly of a dense development around a metro station, but I've noticed few explicitly acknowledge the high cost of automobile ownership. Yes people talk of high gas prices, yada yada, but it's important to acknowledge that automobile ownership overall is a tremendously costly and development which allows families to reduce the number of cars per household should be a goal (in tandem with providing decent mass transit, of course).


For local people who wish to reduce the number of cars in their household I highly recommend Philly Car Share. For people who don't need their cars to commute it's a great service.

Serious

The man the Bullshit Moose thinks is "serious" about foreign policy says this is the solution for Iraq:

I believe that the best way for us to win the war in Iraq is to come together - the administration, Congress, and Republicans and Democrats - to find a solution that will allow our troops to come home with Iraq united and free, with the Middle East stable and the terrorists denied a victory.


That's a solution? We gather around the campfire and agree on something?

We are truly ruled by imbeciles.

Overnight

Rock on.

Saturday, August 26, 2006

Late Night

Spend a little time with Rowley Birkin QC.







More Thread

Enjoy.

Fresh Thread

Enjoy.

Easy Answers to Easy Questions

Greg Sargent asks:

RI-SEN: When Will Bigfoot Pundits Bemoan Laffey?


Never.

This has been another edition of easy answers to easy questions.

Wanker of the Day

Glenn Reynolds.

The Last Honest Man

So, when Democrat Ned Lamont says we need to start a timetable for withdrawal, Lieberman says that would be a victory for terrorists. When Democrats in the Senate put that up for a vote, Joe leads off the debate on the side of... the Republicans. But when Republican Chris Shays says we need a timetable then Lieberman says:

Sen. Joe Lieberman, the three-term Democrat whose independent campaign for re-election is being seen as a referendum on the Iraq war, said Friday he would consider taking a look at a fellow lawmaker's proposal for a timeline for troop withdrawals.

The proposal was floated by Republican Rep. Chris Shays, another Connecticut politician facing a tough re-election battle with an anti-war candidate. Shays has long been a supporter of the war and previously opposed withdrawal timetables.

"It seems to me that Chris is saying, maybe we ought to set some goals for when we want to get out, and I'd like to see what he has in mind before I comment on it," Lieberman said while campaigning in New Haven.

"As I've said to you over and over again, the sooner we get out of Iraq, the better it's going to be for the Iraqis and us, but if we leave too soon for reasons of American politics, it's going to be disaster for the Iraqis and for us," he said.


What a wanker.

Memories of Uncle Alan

Just so history doesn't forget:

One way homeowners attempt to manage their payment risk is to use fixed-rate mortgages, which typically allow homeowners to prepay their debt when interest rates fall but do not involve an increase in payments when interest rates rise. Homeowners pay a lot of money for the right to refinance and for the insurance against increasing mortgage payments. Calculations by market analysts of the "option adjusted spread" on mortgages suggest that the cost of these benefits conferred by fixed-rate mortgages can range from 0.5 percent to 1.2 percent, raising homeowners' annual after-tax mortgage payments by several thousand dollars. Indeed, recent research within the Federal Reserve suggests that many homeowners might have saved tens of thousands of dollars had they held adjustable-rate mortgages rather than fixed-rate mortgages during the past decade, though this would not have been the case, of course, had interest rates trended sharply upward.

American homeowners clearly like the certainty of fixed mortgage payments. This preference is in striking contrast to the situation in some other countries, where adjustable-rate mortgages are far more common and where efforts to introduce American-type fixed-rate mortgages generally have not been successful. Fixed-rate mortgages seem unduly expensive to households in other countries. One possible reason is that these mortgages effectively charge homeowners high fees for protection against rising interest rates and for the right to refinance.

American consumers might benefit if lenders provided greater mortgage product alternatives to the traditional fixed-rate mortgage. To the degree that households are driven by fears of payment shocks but are willing to manage their own interest rate risks, the traditional fixed-rate mortgage may be an expensive method of financing a home.

Conclusion
In evaluating household debt burdens, one must remember that debt-to-income ratios have been rising for at least a half century. With household assets rising as well, the ratio of net worth to income is currently somewhat higher than its long-run average. So long as financial intermediation continues to expand, both household debt and assets are likely to rise faster than income. Without an examination of what is happening to both assets and liabilities, it is difficult to ascertain the true burden of debt service. Overall, the household sector seems to be in good shape, and much of the apparent increase in the household sector's debt ratios over the past decade reflects factors that do not suggest increasing household financial stress. And, in fact, during the past two years, debt service ratios have been stable.


As I wrote at the time:


Has He Gone Insane?

Snitchens

Those bloggers sure do have foul mouths.

Media Matters

From Jamison Foser:

Wrong About Everything

All the time.

Morning Thread

Enjoy.

Friday, August 25, 2006

Dead Man Walking

PsiFighter37 makes the case for Lieberman's inevitable cutting and running from the campaign.

I don't buy it because Lieberman is no longer behaving as a rational actor. In addition, the window for a graceful exit is fast closing making it difficult for him to leave with any kind of dignity intact.



Still, I'd certainly prefer a "graceful exit" and do hope the powers that be are working to provide him with one.

Friday Cat Blogging

Chicken Feces

I bet Jeff Goldstein thinks it's yummy chicken salad.

Joe for Joe

It's all about Joe.

Afternoon Thread

enjoy.

McCain Hearts Bush and the War

Release:

MCCAIN STATEMENT ON WAR IN IRAQ For Immediate Release Friday, Aug 25, 2006 Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator John McCain released the following statement on the war in Iraq:

“I agreed with the President’s difficult decision to go to war in Iraq. I remain fully supportive of his determination not to leave Iraq until the freely elected government of that country and its armed forces are able to defend their country from foreign and domestic enemies intent on thwarting the will of the Iraqi people to create a civil society in which the rights and security of all Iraqis are protected.

“I have often emphasized the importance of leveling with the American people about the high costs and many difficulties of the mission, the potentially calamitous consequences of failure and the many benefits of success, as the President has also frequently stressed. But I have never intended my concern that the American public be fully informed about the conduct and consequences of the war to indicate any lessening of my support for our mission there. On the contrary, I view a candid, informed public discussion of the war as critical to sustaining popular support for the war and, thus, indispensable to ensuring the ultimate success of our mission. And I commend the President for his public statements offering Americans an honest assessment of the progress we have made in Iraq and the challenges that still confront us there, and, of course, for his determination to defend American security and international peace and stability by succeeding in this arduous and costly enterprise.”

Eschaton Assignment Desk

A cookie for the reporter who calls the Lieberman people to ask them if Chris Shays' Iraq policies would be a "tremendous victory" for terrorists.

Iraq'd

So now Lieberman supporter Republican Chris Shays is pretty much stealing Ned Lamont's line on Iraq word for word.

Who's the serious one on foreign policy I wonder, Lieberman or Shays/Lamont? Perhaps the Bullshit Moose will tell us.

5th Party Candidate

Poor Joe, bottom of the ballot.

Two weeks after losing the Democratic primary, Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman has qualified for a place on the November ballot as a petitioning candidate, the secretary of the state said Wednesday.

But on a ballot crowded with at least five Senate candidates, the three-term incumbent and former Democratic vice presidential nominee will be harder to spot.

Republican Alan Schlesinger will occupy the top line, followed by Democrat Ned Lamont, Timothy A. Knibbs of the Concerned Citizens, Ralph A. Ferrucci of the Green Party - and then Lieberman.

"The good news is name recognition is not going to be a problem," said Dan Gerstein, Lieberman's campaign spokesman.

Nedrenaline!

I hear Clinton's meeting with Lamont went well, and that her guy Howard Wolfson will be working to coordinate the Dem response to Lieberman's crap (my word).

Scary Bad Words

The shrinking violets at the NY Sun have discovered a word so foul that they couldn't possibly print it in their pages:

The news about Mr. Mele drew a more vitriolic reaction from left-leaning commentators. A prominent Web activist who goes by the online name Atrios, Duncan Black, reacted to the news by tarring the McCain devotee with a British vulgarity similar to "jerk."


Except of course when they do:


Manhattanite "Kat" Ellis (Debra Messing) has to attend her sister's wedding in England. The best man, awkwardly, is her ex-fiance, who dumped her shortly before their own wedding. Unwilling to show up alone, she does what anyone would do - namely, pilfers $6,000 from her 401K to purchase the weekend services of the Big Apple's top male escort, Nick Mercer (Mr. Mulroney). From this premise the film proceeds pretty much as you'd expect: Nick wows the assembled wedding guests; Kat overcomes her heartbreak; the two interact with lovable Brits who use words like "scrumpy" and "wanker"; and, eventually (come to think of it, rather quickly), they fall in love.

Everybody's Fault But Mine

The truly puzzling thing about Lieberman's support from ridiculous people like the Bullshit Moose is that over the past 6 years Lieberman has displayed a remarkable record of incompetence. I know his supporters love his support for the Iraq war because they like the fact that there are people out there are who are as stupid as they are, but aside from that Lieberman's creation of the disastrous DHS and his 42 minute love-in at Michael Brown's confirmation hearing really deserve more attention.


And Dan Gerstein is such a wanker. Really, please, for the sake of the party and the country no candidate should get within 10 miles of this guy ever again.

WAAAHHHH

Like every other member of the WATB party, Ann can't handle being challenged.

Morning Thread

Enjoy.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Ew

Uh, ew?

Late Night

Rock on.

Evening Thread

Enjoy.

Wanker of the Day

Nicco Mele.

Blogoweirdo

What the hell is in the TNR water cooler?

Lieberblogging

Yglesias says:

Anyways, I guess I've been remiss in my Lieberblogging . . . any reader intel on what Connecticut's favorite independent has said about Iran recently?


Well, yes. Lieberman agrees that we invaded Iraq not because of any silly old nonexistent weapons of mass destruction but because we "were trying to go and pop the head of the snake in Iran."

This is who the Bullshit Moose thinks is "serious" on foreign policy. He also said we can't leave Iraq because then Iran will invade and oil will be $200/barrel.

Freaky Ricky

I'm a bit surprised Freaky Ricky suddenly started running negative ads against Casey. His first bunch of ads were bizarre-scary-immigrant ads, quite stupid I thought, but the second bunch were actually really good at make him seem not so freaky. Transitioning from "likeable guy Ricky" to "nasty Ricky" so quickly is weird.

The Real Deal

Yglesias writes:

Democrats had better be prepared to confront this business aggressively. Unfortunately, I'm afraid that they won't be. Months and months ago when the groundwork for all this was being laid by conservative pundits and so forth I made it a habit to ask every Democratic politician I came across whether or not they were prepared for Iran to be an issue in the '06 midterms. Absolutely none of them seemed to be. People were either confident it wouldn't come to that, confident they could gin up a counter-pan if it did come to that, or else just expressed outrage at the idea that the GOP might politicize national security. But of course the GOP will politicize national security. What's more, they should politicize national security -- it's an important and legitimate issue in political debates. Democrats can't just plead for the refs to call a foul, they need to try to engage in this debate and win it.



In discussing Iran, Mark Warner said it was "the real deal." Fortunately for him this far out even wannabe '08 contenders don't really have to decide what this precisely means or what we should be doing about it. However, this type of rhetoric, regardless of the merits, simply provides the crazies who happen to be running our country right a license to do pretty much whatever they want. Whatever problems we face in the world it's important to understand that the choices are "do basically nothing" or "let George Bush do something" and it's doubly important to be able to recognize that "do basically nothing" is often going to be the preferable option. Republicans apparently think Iran has already annexed Kuwait, which I must have missed, but that shows how "serious" they are.

I don't know if Iran's going to take center stage as we head into November - though CNN is there to oblige them if they so desire - but, yes, both on the policy and the politics the Dems had better be ready.

Housing

Barry has some interesting discussion of the housing bubble. It's probably pretty difficult to argue convincingly against the idea that it has been in large part driven by increasingly bad lending practices (which were, it must be said, encouraged by Uncle Alan Greenspan). The "price" of a house isn't really the sales prices, it's the monthly mortgage cost, and continuing to hand out low-initial rate ARMs and no-interest loans kept depressing the mortage cost while simultaneously allowing actual home prices to rise.


New home sales were down sharply, and there's a new record for unsold inventory. Construction jobs are going to start disappearing rather fast I imagine, which could tip us into recession. Then other people lose their jobs. Then the foreclosures...

Fortunately my Egyptian cotton futures investments are netting me 47 quatloos per second.

Silly Laura

You don't roll out new product until after Labor Day. We all know that.

But, seriously, I can't really figure out what the administration is doing with Iran. Maybe there's a master plan, maybe the crazies are all fighting for control in the background, maybe there's nothing going on.


Politically the Democrats are going to have to be prepared to respond to whatever crazy shit they come up with.

Lieberman Campaigning With Republicans

We warned you...

It's Official

Sam Seder will be moving to the 9AM-noon slot.

The Banal Leading the Banal

Greenwald:

At the risk of beating a dead horse, there is one other point worth making about the Ann Althouse Op-Ed. In the very first sentence, Althouse criticized Judge Taylor for "referring to [Earl Warren] as 'Justice Warren,' not 'Chief Justice Warren,' as if she wanted to spotlight her carelessness." The day before, Althouse created an entire post on her blog with the exclusive purpose of making this same "point" ("How can you forget to call him Chief Justice?").

But Madison Guy points to another Op-Ed written by Althouse in the NYT back in 2005, the purpose of which was to defend the Sam Alito nomination. To do so, Althouse said this: "Yet while Justice Burger remained conservative, Justice Blackmun went on to write the opinion legalizing abortion in Roe v. Wade and, eventually, to vote consistently with the liberal justices." As Madison Guy notes: "that would be Chief Justice Warren Burger, right?"


Oops.

I know I overuse the word banal when referring to the lovely Ms. Althouse, but it's because I really never quite understood the word until she came into my life. Its meaning suddenly became clear.

Morning Thread

Enjoy.

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Shadows

The smash things crowd is getting uppity:

Some policy makers have accused intelligence agencies of playing down Iran’s role in Hezbollah’s recent attacks against Israel and overestimating the time it would take for Iran to build a nuclear weapon.

The complaints, expressed privately in recent weeks, surfaced in a Congressional report about Iran released Wednesday. They echo the tensions that divided the administration and the Central Intelligence Agency during the prelude to the war in Iraq.

The criticisms reflect the views of some officials inside the White House and the Pentagon who advocated going to war with Iraq and now are pressing for confronting Iran directly over its nuclear program and ties to terrorism, say officials with knowledge of the debate.

Drafty

As I've long said, it'll never happen whether it's in some sense necessary or not.

Racism

Now loud and proud.

The Bush era has been a very bad one for this country.

Sad.

The Mushy Middle

My favorite term for undecided voters often gets a lot of complaints. But I think it's important to understand that "centrist voters" - which conform to some Beltway Pundit view of centrism - and "swing voters" are almost entirely different animals. Centrist voters who conform to the rough Washington Post editorial board center-right position do exist, but most of what we think of as "swing voters" are either completely clueless or they're more in the Ross Perot/Pat Buchanan/Reform Party mold (not mutually exclusive categories) for which there is no clear party.

You reach clueless voters by leading, not pandering, because their cluelessness makes them somewhat difficult to pander to.

And, no, saying people are clueless about politics is not necessarily insulting them. I pay attention to politics. A lot of people don't. They may be smart about many things but not so smart about politics.

Medium John

I agree with Chuck Todd. At least right now John Edwards is the most likely candidate for the Not Hillary position.

That, of course, could change.

Dean Unleashed

YEEEEEEAAAAAARRRRGH

Evening Thread

Enjoy.

WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE

Apparently we missed the apocalypse that CNN kept warning us about yesterday. But, Nouriel Roubini predicts another kind of big one is coming - a major recession.

I recommend putting it all in Egyptian cotton futures.

Sedermania!

In a profile of Sam Seder, the Boston Globe says the Majority Report is moving to the 9AM-noon slot.

Nedrenaline!

UAW for Ned.

Give a Little

Now might be a good time to consider making a campaign contribution to one of these fine candidates or to any of your favorites.

Afternoon Thread

Enjoy.

Lies and the Lying Liars

I'm shocked to discover that Saint "straight talk" McCain and Joe "the last honest man" Lieberman are full of shit.

JOE 2006!

I was wondering why not much was going on with Joe's web site.

Apparently his money is no good.

(CFL-CT)

Style guide for the media:

If you are writing about Joe Lieberman's activities in the US Senate it is fair to refer to label him as Senator Joe Lieberman (D-CT).

However, if you are writing about his election campaign you should label him according to the party he has formed and joined, the Connecticut for Lieberman party.

CNN.Com says he has enough signatures to be on the ballot. So, (CFL-CT) it is.

Wanker of the Day

Ann Althouse.

Althouse thinks that the President's claim that neither courts nor Congress can interfere in his conduct with regard to national security "is a serious argument, and judges need to take it seriously," but she never says why that argument is "serious" or what the court failed to consider in rejecting the administration's theories of presidential omnipotence. Althouse apparently thinks that repeating the words "serious" and "difficult" enough times will bestow on her little platitudes the scholarly weight which her analysis so plainly, so embarrassingly lacks.

Ironically, although Althouse devotes the bulk of her Op-Ed to criticizing Judge Taylor for failing to consider important arguments, or failing to consider them "seriously" enough, it is Althouse's Op-Ed that is completely bereft of reasoning. It's basically one long list of political cliches and banal ad hominem more suitable to a Rush Limbaugh opening monologue than some "serious" legal analysis of a judicial opinion. Althouse -- who yesterday revealingly accused Judge Taylor of being "barely literate" and said Taylor's decision "nauseated" her -- wastes the Op-Ed space of the NYT to mock Taylor for referring to Earl Warren as "Justice Warren," rather than "Chief Justice Warren"; predictably accuses Taylor of being an "activist" judge; and meaninglessly claims that Taylor failed to "suppress their personal and political willfulness." None of this is accompanied by any substantive rationale; it's just one trite, empty, pro-Bush bumper sticker judge insult after the next.

That Althouse's "critique" of Judge Taylor's opinion is so free of substance is not merely ironic but also entirely unsurprising. As I documented yesterday (based on Althouse's forced admissions), she actually had no idea what even happened in this case at least until yesterday. The Bush Department of Justice made the decision not to address the merits and substance of the ACLU's constitutional claims despite being ordered to do so by the court -- twice. Althouse has spent the law week attacking the court for its failure to address arguments that the DoJ never raised -- and now makes the same inane, patently misinformed criticisms of Taylor in The New York Times.

But it is nothing short of humiliating that Althouse had no idea that any of that happened in this case. She hasn't followed this case at all. She has no idea what took place. Just as is the case for her good friend and colleague, Orin Kerr, whom she cites for support in her Op-Ed, Althouse is criticizing Judge Taylor for an "incomplete" opinion because Althouse is entirely ignorant of the fact that the DoJ chose not to advance any substantive arguments on the merits of these claims. She quotes Kerr to accuse Taylor of issuing an "incomplete" opinion, but Kerr -- like Althouse -- simply did not know that the DoJ made no substantive arguments that went to the merits of this lawsuit (because the DoJ, reflecting the Bush administration's belief that it is above judicial review, argued only that the court had no right to decide these issues).

Although these critical events in this lawsuit were all public and reported by major newspapers, Althouse learned of them for the first time -- as she reluctantly admitted -- by reading the Comment section at Volokh on Monday, after which she had to correct a completely false factual claim she made about the case. Her ignorance about these matters was not concerning some obscure legalisitc point. Rather, she was just blissfully and inexcusably unaware of the most important fact necessary for understanding Judge Taylor's decision -- that the DoJ failed to raise any of the issues which she and her good friend, Professor Kerr, find so "immensely difficult."


Though, admittedly, the true wanker is whichever NYT editor stuck this in their pages.

Stop Running Over Pedestrians

Along with just about every resident of this city I do get more than a little annoyed at all of the suburban drivers who are unaware of the fact that a green light does not give them license to make a right turn into a group of pedestrians crossing at a crosswalk. Sure local drivers can be very aggressive, but unlike the suburbanites they're at least aware of the concept of a pedestrian.

The number of people killed on U.S. roadways in 2005 climbed to the highest level in 15 years, an increase tied to rising deaths among motorcyclists and pedestrians, the federal government reported yesterday.

A total of 43,443 people died in traffic accidents last year, up 1.4 percent from the previous year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said. The agency said the motorcycle death toll rose for the eighth consecutive year. Last year, 4,553 motorcyclists died on the roadways, up 13 percent from the previous year. The agency said 4,881 pedestrians were killed last year, up 4.4 percent.

Why Are We In Iraq?

I have no idea, neither do you,* and neither apparently does Joe Lieberman.


*This assertion will inevitably prompt emailers who explain to me why we are in Iraq. Your theory may be correct, but it's just a theory, and they're always a little different. No one in power has articulated a consistent and coherent reason for the invasion. It'll forever be a mystery.

Owwwwwwww

The banality it burns! It burns!

Colossal White

It is worrisome that open unapologetic racism is now acceptable in our mainstream media. Anti-Arab racism has been a staple of our contemporary discourse for some time but now it's increasingly becoming universal.

Purges

It's just awful that the rabid lambs of the Republican party are purging their own:

(AP) Republican Gov. Frank Murkowski, stung by accusations of arrogance
and stubbornness, lost his bid for a second term Tuesday after polling last
in a three-way GOP primary.

Sarah Palin, a former Wasilla mayor won the Republican nomination for governor after holding steady with about 50 percent of the vote through most of the night. Murkowski polled just 19 percent.

Morning Thread

Enjoy.

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Late Night

Enjoy.

My Afternoon

BooMan pretty much sums it up.

Evening Thread

Enjoy.

Armitage

CNN just flashed up his schedule showing he met with Booby Woodward on June 13. But the real interesting question is why was he meeting with Tom Cruise, Tom Davis, and Kurt Weiland of the Church of Scientology?


Serious

This clueless nutter is who the Bullshit Moose thinks is "serious" about foreign policy.

What ridiculous people rule our public discourse.

Colossal White

Ah, racists.

Nothing Short of a Miracle

These are our serious foreign policy thinkers.

THE END OF THE WORLD

Is there any bit of wingnuttery that our cable news won't take seriously?

Wanker of the Day

Jonathan Kaplan.

Dignitude

Oy.

Partisanship

What Ezra says. Every bit of legislation passed in the 90s came out of a highly combative partisan environment. If you think good things came out of that period then you should be a huge fan of mean-spirited partisan debate. Those who remember it as a period of bipartisan bliss really are mainlining the hard stuff.

Public debate is good. I don't know why people have a problem with it.

44-42-3

American Research Group has poll in line with Rasmussen for the Democrat/CFL race.

(via jmm)

Bedtime for Rummy?

Laura Rozen sez Bush is shopping around for a sucker to take over from Rumsfeld.

Sadly, anyone stupid enough to take the job probably won't be an improvement.

The WATB Party

Since whining has become the staple of conservative discourse over the last few years it's fitting that it's all we get out of the Lieberman for Lieberman gang.

45-43-6

According to this Kos diarist, Lieberman's up by 2 in the latest Rasmussen.

Another poll like this and I think we can feel pretty confident. I don't think the Republican candidate will only get 6 - even in Connecticut the lizard brain has to kick in and cause more than 6% to pull the lever automatically for whoever is next to the "R" on the ballot. Joe's gotta be at the absolute ceiling of support from Democrats, too.

Barone

Even a blind squirrel on LSD finds a nut now and then.

Morning Thread

Enjoy.

Monday, August 21, 2006

Decades

We still haven't decided what we're naming this one. Perhaps that's wise as it'll be best forgotten.

Hot Dead Women

oy.

Ramsey

Do people really give a shit? I'm actually not so against outlets like CNN giving the people "what they want" instead of "what they need" at times, but there are many times when I think the judgment about "what they want" is extremely flawed...

Tunes

I've been quite enjoying a copy of Jennifer O'Connor's "Over The Mountain, Across The Valley, and Back To The Stars" I received. It's somewhat Aimee Mannish with a bit more attitude.

Click to download .mp3s of the song Today and Exter, Rhode Island, though I don't think those are the strongest tracks on the CD>


And you can order the CD here.

Uh, CT?

I think this is still preliminary - I don't even think Joe has even officially qualified for the ballot - but he can no longer be on the ballot as a Democrat...

(tip from reader b)

Paging Stephen Colbert

I agree. Alan Schlesinger would be a great guest for the Colbert report.

Macaca!

It's a bit heartwarming to discover that being a racist asshole might cause some voters to stop liking you.

Journamalism

Here's an especially mendacious bit of quote clipping.

America the Fringe

35% support the Iraq war, and 61% oppose, in latest CNN poll.

Not Bad

According to CNN just now a Time poll for a hypothetical McCain-Clinton race has it at 49% McCain 47% Clinton. Given the sycophantic press McCain always gets it's actually interesting that such a thing would be within the MOE.

Clinton doesn't get bad press overall - it's a bit of a mix - but is nonetheless often associated with "divisive" or "polarizing" or "love her or hate her" kind of rhetoric. As is almost always the case with issues or people who "divide the country" such descriptions are completely arbitrary and could apply to just about any well-known person or issue. How often does such rhetoric get applied to George W. Bush for example?

The Deal

Alterman writes:

Here’s my prediction: If Lieberman wins the election, he will not switch to the Republicans, as some fear. But he will do the functional equivalent, which is accept Bush’s appointment to replace Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense, resign his seat and allow the Republican governor of Connecticut to appoint a Republican in his stead. That is the implicit deal between the Lieberman camp and Rove, Cheney, Bush etc and the reason, that alone, in the entire country, this is the only race where this most partisan of political operations, refuses to support the Republican in the race. Bush, Rove and Cheney do not make political decisions on the basis of what they think is good for the country. They care only about their party and themselves. If Lieberman supporters are genuinely supporting him as a Democrat, is it not enough for him to pledge to vote with the party in the Senate. He must pledge that, under no circumstances, will he accept an appointment from Bush or resign his seat under any circumstances, so long as a Republican occupies the state House.


I don't know how likely this is, but if it comes to pass don't say we didn't warn you . Another guess about a likely possibility is that Lieberman's agreed to caucus with Republicans if they need him. If by some miracle the Dems manage to retake the Senate with Lieberman's vote he'll vote for the Repulican Majority Leader instead.

Joe's got many more opportunities for betrayal ahead of him. Maybe he's not as much of a wanker as I think he is. Let's hope we don't find out.


...adding that the not exactly reliable Gerstein has said Lieberman is committed to supporting Reid.

Wittless

Well, Ostrich is one word for him I suppose.

Why Are We In Iraq?

Well, at least now we know it had nothing to do with 9/11.

Serious

Colin McEnroe on the clown show* that is Joe Lieberman.


I suppose another good question might be framed around the idea that this November Senate election will fall just a few weeks shy of the writing of that article, which argued that victory was so close that we would be fools not to stay and harvest it. His new line, as I understand it, is that disaster -- the kind of disaster that could suck the whole region down with it -- is so close that we would be fools not to stay and prevent it.


*My sincere apologies to fine clowns everywhere.

Et Tu, Lawrence?

Joe's beginning to lose his wingnut support.

Shrill

Jim Henley is shrill.

Serious

Lieberman on Iraq in March:

We're talking about 2006, 7, 8... that's three years. And I believe that a lot of very good things can happen in three years in Iraq that ideally would allow us to remove every American soldier who's there today.


Lieberman on July 6:

So I am confident that the situation is improving enough on the ground that by the end of this year, we will begin to draw down significant numbers of American troops, and by the end of the next year more than half of the troops who are there now will be home.


Lieberman on July 19:

The three-term U.S. senator said he believes a complete withdrawal is possible by late 2007 or early 2008.


Lieberman yesterday:

SCHIEFFER: Are you now saying it's time to start drawing down the troops
there, Senator?
Sen. LIEBERMAN: No, and that's absolutely the point I'm making.



But, hey, the Bullshit Moose supports him, and he's always supported the best - Ralph Reed, the Heritage Foundation, John McCain...

Wanker of the Day

Kenneth Pollack.

If only Kevin had been the influential one in the family.*








*joke

Not Going to Leave

Bush (approximate transcript, too lazy to rewind the Tivo):

As long as I am president we are not leaving Iraq.


For those keeping score, that's another 5 more Friedmans at least. Which means Bush doesn't believe there's any way that his "plan" (whatever the hell that is) will "succeed" in under two and a half years.

...Think Progress sez the precise quote is:

We’re not leaving [Iraq] so long as I’m the president.


People don't understand that this is, in fact, the plan. To stay.

Meanwhile

In the forgotten war:

BAGHDAD, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Three members of a U.S. Marine unit were killed in action in western Iraq on Sunday, the U.S. military said in a statement.

The statement released on Monday gave few details of what appeared to be a single incident: "Two Marines and one sailor assigned to Regimental Combat Team 7 died from wounds sustained due to enemy action while operating in Al Anbar Province."

Your Liberal Media

Still not liberal:

THIS WEEK IN PANEL BALANCE. Classic Sunday chat show roundtable on ABC's "This Week" yesterday: George Will, Reuel Marc Gerecht, Fareed Zakaria, and Robin Wright. For those keeping score, that's a conservative, a neoconservative, a moderate conservative, and a straight news reporter.

The Concern Troll

On the internet, and in real life, there is perhaps nothing more annoying than the concern troll, the person who claims to be on your team but is forever fretting about the tone or substance of a particular criticism of the other side. Lieberman has deservedly criticized for his stated anti-democratic belief that criticizing the president imperils the country, but what he was really doing was setting himself up to be the ultimate concern troll. You see, it is actually okay to critcize the administration, but only in the time and place and manner that Joe Lieberman says you can. When is it okay? When Joe says so! Otherwise, it imperils the nation!

Lieberman really revealed his concern troll colors with this comment about Vietnam, a war he has long proudly opposed:

"I was worried about a repeat of Vietnam," he said Friday during an interview aboard his campaign bus. "Public opinion was moving away from supporting the war for reasons that were understandable, but not complete."


Sure, the war was bad but what really concerns Joe is that some people who opposed it maybe opposed it too much! Or for the wrong reasons!

I hate concern trolls.

Taking Terror Seriously

From Tom Tomorrow.



Click through Salon's ad for the rest...