Saturday, November 14, 2009
Heckuva Job
That's what we pay them for.
WASHINGTON — In the official record of the historic House debate on overhauling health care, the speeches of many lawmakers echo with similarities. Often, that was no accident.
Statements by more than a dozen lawmakers were ghostwritten, in whole or in part, by Washington lobbyists working for Genentech, one of the world’s largest biotechnology companies.
E-mail messages obtained by The New York Times show that the lobbyists drafted one statement for Democrats and another for Republicans.
Jobs
As Herbert says, the administration had better get serious about jobs. The recession is in some ways invisible to elites as college educated people are actually doing pretty well, and places like DC and NYC are faring better than elsewhere for obvious reasons.
They Loved The Myth
It's still deeply depressing just how willing and eager our mainstream media people were to swallow and propagate the obvious lies told by the Bush administration about 9/11, and that years later they aren't filled with revulsion at these truly horrible people.
Yet both Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Vice President Dick Cheney, Farmer says, provided palpably false versions that touted the military’s readiness to shoot down United 93 before it could hit Washington. Planes were never in place to intercept it. By the time the Northeast Air Defense Sector had been informed of the hijacking, United 93 had already crashed. Farmer scrutinizes F.A.A. and Norad records to provide irrefragable evidence that a day after a Sept. 17 White House briefing, both agencies suddenly altered their chronologies to produce a coherent timeline and story that “fit together nicely with the account provided publicly by Deputy Defense Secretary Wolfowitz and Vice President Cheney.”
Farmer further observes that the Bush administration wrongly asserted that the chain of command functioned on 9/11; that President Bush issued an authorization to shoot down hijacked commercial flights; and that top officials at F.A.A. headquarters coordinated their actions with the military. Farmer’s verdict: “History should record that whether through unprecedented administrative incompetence or orchestrated mendacity, the American people were misled about the nation’s response to the 9/11 attacks.”
Hard Work
I dunno, I'm not sure I worry too much about a Lou Dobbs candidacy. I don't think he's especially appealing, and he doesn't strike me as someone with the fortitude to actually stick with it. It's hard work to run for president.
Bye Bye
Pool club gone.
THE SUBJECT LINE on the e-mail simply reads, "The End."
As in, the end of the Valley Club, the small, sleepy Huntingdon Valley community pool that was thrust into the national spotlight this past summer, allegedly for discriminating against minority campers who'd signed up to swim there for 90 minutes each week.
Yesterday, Valley president John Duesler announced that the club's board of directors had voted 5-1 to file this week for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
Friday, November 13, 2009
If It's Friday....
Orion Bank, Naples, FL gets EATED.
Century Bank, a Federal Savings Bank, Sarasota, FL gets EATED.
Big ones.
Century Bank, a Federal Savings Bank, Sarasota, FL gets EATED.
Big ones.
Depends On Who The Leaders Are
Yes it's true that crackpot political movements can achieve power, but they aren't going to achieve it under the leadership of Sarah Palin.
Clear And Present Danger
Just who would willingly pay for Charles Krauthammer's regular ragegasms...
Do Something
Yes, Congress's unwillingness, especially tools like Bayh, to do anything while pretending everything is the president's responsibility has become comedy. Obviously the president has veto power which gives him a significant ability to stop legislation if he wants, but if Congress wants to come up with a "jobs bill" of some sort they, you know, can just do it.
Not Really What It's For?
I know I live in that alternative universe known as the Northeast Corridor where we have good if not perfect passenger rail and, depending on the city, passable if far from awesome local public transit, but I'm always a bit struck by people who fail to comprehend the point and strengths of rail travel.
It's over a thousand miles from Miami to DC. Even if there was a real 200 MPH top speed SUPERTRAIN it would still be, at best, a 7 hour trip given intermediate stops. That's a trip some people might take for various reasons (aversion to flying, sightseeing, potential greater reliability in bad weather seasons), but it wouldn't really directly compete with air travel.
I looked up a ticket on Amtrak from Miami to DC and it was almost $400. I could have hopped a cheap commuter airline for half that. Until passenger rail is cheaper than air travel, its hopes for becoming popular are doomed.
It's over a thousand miles from Miami to DC. Even if there was a real 200 MPH top speed SUPERTRAIN it would still be, at best, a 7 hour trip given intermediate stops. That's a trip some people might take for various reasons (aversion to flying, sightseeing, potential greater reliability in bad weather seasons), but it wouldn't really directly compete with air travel.
Don't Care What's True
Last night in comments to this post I said that I didn't care of Palin's charges were true. My point wasn't that I have no interest in truth, just that I have no genuine interest in the Palin freakshow except to the extent that it says something about our media and John McCain. If true, then the McCain campaign people were tremendous dicks, if not true it means Palin is (shocker!) less than honest but despite this the media is going to spend 3 months talking about her even though her actual political future (meaning elected office or any position with actual power) is probably less promising than my own.
The point is the whole thing's a freak show, and that's much more important than any of the "facts" of the freak show, none of which matter at all, true or not...
...as Boehlert says:
There's never a proper left-right analogy, but imagine if John Kerry had put Dennis Kucinich on the Veep ticket and then lost. Kucinich would have increased stature in the Democratic party, and probably be quite popular with "the base," but the press would mostly ignore him other than to occasionally sneer. I'm not equating Palin and Kucinich, just trying to imagine who might occupy a similar space on the left.
The point is the whole thing's a freak show, and that's much more important than any of the "facts" of the freak show, none of which matter at all, true or not...
...as Boehlert says:
So I guess my question is, besides the larger and authentic one (who, besides journalists and GOP partisans, cares about Sarah Palin?) is, has the press ever treated an election loser the way it now treats Sarah Palin? Has the Beltway press ever turned an election loser like Palin into a political rising star, even though there's no evidence to suggest her stature has changed since last November's embarrassing thumping? (i.e. What "magic" is Stephanopoulos talking about?)
There's never a proper left-right analogy, but imagine if John Kerry had put Dennis Kucinich on the Veep ticket and then lost. Kucinich would have increased stature in the Democratic party, and probably be quite popular with "the base," but the press would mostly ignore him other than to occasionally sneer. I'm not equating Palin and Kucinich, just trying to imagine who might occupy a similar space on the left.
Hot And Sexy Pols
I won't deny that certain kinds of personal charisma matter to some degree in politics, but spend a few hours on the CSPAN, or look through a presidential portrait gallery, and you realize that... well, our elite politics-as-theater-criticism pundits are far more obsessed with how sexy they are than voters must be.
I Don't Think It Is True
Krugman:
Or at least not obviously true. I mean, as a rough rule of thumb I wouldn't argue with it, but there are impacts if unemployment is geographically concentrated, there are impacts on individual long term employment prospects due to long spells of unemployment, etc. I don't think it's obviously true that more total amount of work is always more superior to slightly less but more spread out work.
But, more importantly, more jobs are needed. They aren't appearing.
Should America be trying anything along these lines? In a recent interview, Lawrence Summers, the Obama administration’s highest-ranking economist, was dismissive: “It may be desirable to have a given amount of work shared among more people. But that’s not as desirable as expanding the total amount of work.” True. But we are not, in fact, expanding the total amount of work — and Congress doesn’t seem willing to spend enough on stimulus to change that unfortunate fact. So shouldn’t we be considering other measures, if only as a stopgap?
Or at least not obviously true. I mean, as a rough rule of thumb I wouldn't argue with it, but there are impacts if unemployment is geographically concentrated, there are impacts on individual long term employment prospects due to long spells of unemployment, etc. I don't think it's obviously true that more total amount of work is always more superior to slightly less but more spread out work.
But, more importantly, more jobs are needed. They aren't appearing.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Heckuva Job
I spent some time in New London when this issue was a Big Deal, and while I eventually came around to the idea that while really awful policy it shouldn't be unconstitutional, it was still an example of local private and public players behaving very badly...
...more here.
When Pfizer announced on Monday that it was closing its global research and development headquarters in New London, Conn., the news reverberated far beyond the struggling seaport city. The project, part of an urban renewal effort, was the basis for a much-debated 2005 Supreme Court decision upholding government’s eminent domain rights to take private property for public use.
But the New London redevelopment never got off the ground, even after the local and state governments spent more than $80 million to buy and demolish private property to pave the way. Now comes the blow from Pfizer: how will its withdrawal affect future eminent domain battles in redevelopment projects? What are the lessons learned for urban planners and local governments?
...more here.
Did All That Money Go To Kristol and Barnes?
I thought she was vetted on a Weekly Standard Cruise.
Really classy, McCain campaign.
And she says that most of her legal bills were generated defending what she called frivolous ethics complaints, but she reveals that about $500,000 was a bill she received to pay for the McCain campaign vetting her for the VP nod.
She said when she asked the McCain campaign if it would help her financially, she was told McCain's camp would have paid all the bills if he'd won; since he lost, the vetting legal bills were her
Really classy, McCain campaign.
Shocked
Hey, Politico finds a nut.
The Republican National Committee’s health insurance plan covers elective abortion – a procedure the party’s own platform calls “a fundamental assault on innocent human life.”
Federal Election Commission Records show the RNC purchases its insurance from Cigna. Two sales agents for the company said that the RNC’s policy covers elective abortion.
Credit
All hailed wingnuttia for driving Dan Rather from the teevee. (I happen to think it was a Rovian ratfuck, but that's just me.)
Greg Sargent wonders whether the dirty fucking hippies (and the staid folks at Media Matters) will get the credit for the end of Dobbs' on CNN.
Greg Sargent wonders whether the dirty fucking hippies (and the staid folks at Media Matters) will get the credit for the end of Dobbs' on CNN.
Cycles
For a brief time it seemed like cell phone companies, flawed as they are, had retreated a bit from their earlier widespread practices of screwing their customers whenever possible. Now it seems those days have returned.
Sweet Charity
Good. Someone else who gives a shit can run them with federal tax dollars.
The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington said Wednesday that it will be unable to continue the social service programs it runs for the District if the city doesn't change a proposed same-sex marriage law, a threat that could affect tens of thousands of people the church helps with adoption, homelessness and health care.
Lentz
I have no knowledge of the other people in the race, and I really haven't followed what he's been doing in as a state rep, but I met Bryan Lentz several times and he seemed to be a decent guy. I was impressed with his basic campaign strategy, which was to knock on every door in his district, a feat just about doable given the size.
Anyway, whoever wins the primary hopefully Dems keep Sestak's seat... well, hopefully a good Dem keeps the seat, anyway.
Anyway, whoever wins the primary hopefully Dems keep Sestak's seat... well, hopefully a good Dem keeps the seat, anyway.
How To Lose Elections
As I've written many times, swing voter types vote Republican because they worry Dems will take their tax dollars and give goodies to people who don't deserve them. They vote Dem in hopes that Dems will actually give them some goodies. If the conservadems continue down this path 2010 will be awful. Conventional wisdom will assure us that 2010 was awful because Marxist Obama passed a socialist health care plan, but the true story will be that Dems lost because they didn't give the goodies to the right people.
...correct link in there now.
...correct link in there now.
All The Action Just Went To The FHA
That's what a mortgage broker told me in early '08...
Housing isn't going to recover. Sure there are some submarkets where extreme overbuilding happened and things really are at fire sale prices, but overall...housing isn't going to recover because home prices are still high relative to historical trends. They're only remaining that way because of all of the efforts to prop up home prices.
The Federal Housing Administration said Thursday morning that its cash reserves had dwindled significantly in the last year after a record drop in home prices.
.
Still, agency executives stopped short of saying that a direct bailout would be needed. The F.H.A., which insures loans made by private lenders, guaranteed more than $360 billion in mortgages in the last year, four times the amount in 2007.
...
“They’re running on empty,” a consultant Ann Schnare said. “It all depends how long it takes housing to recover.”
Housing isn't going to recover. Sure there are some submarkets where extreme overbuilding happened and things really are at fire sale prices, but overall...housing isn't going to recover because home prices are still high relative to historical trends. They're only remaining that way because of all of the efforts to prop up home prices.
Pushed Out
I guess it's to CNN's credit that Lou Dobbs was pushed out, if a bit slowly. I don't really agree with their conception of what they are/should be, but whatever that is Dobbs surely didn't fit it.
What Are We Doing There?
At least with Iraq, proponents of "Iraq forever!" generally had pleasing stories to tell. That is, crazy or not, they had a plausible sounding justification for why we were there and why we needed to stay. I guess this was in large part due to the Bush message machine and lockstep Republican/conservative mouthpieces, but it did create a degree of plausibility. I don't know how fast we're really going to draw down forces in Iraq, but at least the trend seems to be going in the right direction.
But with Afghanistan... it's... what? I guess someone would have to try to explain just what the fuck we did for the past 8 years before attempting to explain how... now it's going to be different!
At least, maybe, Obama's skeptical...
But with Afghanistan... it's... what? I guess someone would have to try to explain just what the fuck we did for the past 8 years before attempting to explain how... now it's going to be different!
At least, maybe, Obama's skeptical...
Deferment
In case you haven't seen this one by now.
The General has it up.
Oh, and what digby says regarding getting it up.
The General has it up.
Oh, and what digby says regarding getting it up.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Bye Lou
We'll miss you.
Lou Dobbs, the longtime CNN anchor whose anti-immigration views made him a TV lightning rod, plans to announce Wednesday that he is leaving the network, two network employees said.
Happy Hour Thread
A bit early today, it's a holiday! And no one on my block, including me, realized that meant that trash collection wouldn't happen...
No Surprise
JMM:
I think this is an underappreciated phenomenon of the past 8 years, that even when their team ran everything they still felt marginalized and were perpetually acting as victims. "Some Guy With A Sign Somewhere" was a great threat to their personal liberty, as was anyone who didn't pay appropriate respects to Just How 9/11 Made Them Feel.
On the other hand, I think back to how paranoid and in the thrall of their own victimization these folks were a few years when they ran the entire country. So I'm not sure we should be surprised that they go totally crazy when they're largely shut out of power in the country at the national level.
I think this is an underappreciated phenomenon of the past 8 years, that even when their team ran everything they still felt marginalized and were perpetually acting as victims. "Some Guy With A Sign Somewhere" was a great threat to their personal liberty, as was anyone who didn't pay appropriate respects to Just How 9/11 Made Them Feel.
Oy
One risk with putting Dems in power is that they end up doing stuff that they would try to stop Republicans from doing if they were out of power...
He's Going To Decide Which Abortions Are Naughty Or Nice
Buckeye Nut Schell is coming to town... Buckeye Nut Schell is coming to town...
...I'm always surprised by the number of people who can't quite comprehend that, no, actually, the person who inseminated a woman doesn't actually have any say over whether or not she carries that child to term and who can't quite comprehend the implications of suggesting otherwise.
...I'm always surprised by the number of people who can't quite comprehend that, no, actually, the person who inseminated a woman doesn't actually have any say over whether or not she carries that child to term and who can't quite comprehend the implications of suggesting otherwise.
Even Lindsey Isn't Wingnutty Enough For Them
Funny.
CHARLESTON, S.C. - Republican leaders in a South Carolina county have censured their own U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham for working with Democrats on a climate bill and other legislation.
Veterans' Day
I don't have a problem with there being a holiday called Veterans' Day, but it is a shame that we repurposed the November 11th Armistice Day for it.
Green Shoots
I recognize that one can cherry pick good news and bad news to make the case that the economy is getting better or getting worse, but as I've long said it's hard to imagine the economy turning around before the foreclosure crisis ends. It isn't ending.
Car Sharing
Obviously one could do actual research and try to get a more solid answer, but, hey, this is a blog, so I'll just say that I highly doubt that car sharing programs are "bad" from any perspective. Yes, I probably drive more often than I did when I didn't have a car and wasn't a carshare member, but on the other hand I drive a lot less than I would if I actually owned a car. If not for carsharing, I probably would have been car free for a few years and then I would've purchased a car. They're useful things to have, even in the urban hellhole, and I never liked relying on friends for the occasional car need.
Even if total driving miles stayed exactly the same in a car share versus non car share world, there's great social value in having fewer cars on crowded streets. More parking spots for the rest of you!
And more than that, by reducing the number of necessary cars per household, car sharing reduces overall urban living costs, making it more affordable. Relative to most suburban living, urban hellhole dwellers have a lot more non-car options, whether or not they have a carshare membership.
Even if total driving miles stayed exactly the same in a car share versus non car share world, there's great social value in having fewer cars on crowded streets. More parking spots for the rest of you!
And more than that, by reducing the number of necessary cars per household, car sharing reduces overall urban living costs, making it more affordable. Relative to most suburban living, urban hellhole dwellers have a lot more non-car options, whether or not they have a carshare membership.
Infrastructure
It isn't sexy, repairs and unseen upgrades rarely are, but water systems all over the country need work. Fed says weak recovery and no jobs soon. I'm sure if Obama proposed spending another $30 billion for water projects, the Republicans would say "water projects aren't stimulus." But they said that about, you know, everything.
WIth Us On Everything Except The War
It'll be interesting to see if Reid does cut some deal with Short Bus Lieberman because Washington's Last Honest Man is motivated solely by his higher principles.
Morning Thread
If bearded Greeks equal Al Qaeda I fear for Zach Galifianakis's career (and maybe Arianna Huffington's past).
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
But.... ACORN!
How lovely it's all been.
WASHINGTON — Top executives at Blackwater Worldwide authorized secret payments of about $1 million to Iraqi officials that were intended to silence their criticism and buy their support after a September 2007 episode in which Blackwater security guards fatally shot 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad, according to former company officials.
...
Blackwater’s strategy of buying off the government officials, which would have been illegal under American law, created a deep rift inside the company, according to the former executives. They said that Cofer Black, who was then the company’s vice chairman and a former top C.I.A. and State Department official, learned of the plan from another Blackwater manager while he was in Baghdad discussing compensation for families of the shooting victims with United States Embassy officials.
Missing
I don't think there was ever much hope these mortgage modification plans would help a significant number of borrowers. Plenty of people don't think they should be helped at all, but even aside from the fact that many of these people were victims of dishonest predatory lending practices, there are tremendous social costs to widespread foreclosures.
I'm Pretty Skeptical
I actually doubt the strong conclusions in the described real estate report. I can buy slow shifting tastes moving people to have greater demand for more urban environments, but I don't expect it to happen very quickly. Near term, of course, overbuilt suburban locations will have problems, but as I regularly acknowledge, we have suburban sprawl, in part, because people like it!
Some Did The Right Thing
Plenty of the Dems on this list are, to put it mildly, frequently disappointing. Still, it's useful to provide some evidence that doing the right thing doesn't go unnoticed.
We Know This, Why Don't They
Depressing base turnout is how people lose off-year elections, especially. This is not controversial.
I was Hopey that the Dems had learned this. I guess not enough of them have. Don't let the door hit you...
I was Hopey that the Dems had learned this. I guess not enough of them have. Don't let the door hit you...
If Not For All Those Meddling Poor People
It is depressing how much horseshit Republicans get away with spewing.
Subprime lending was the early signal of the oncoming crisis, but because it was convenient to blame all those shifty poor people our elite press and policymakers continued to be oblivious to what was happening. As I've written many times, way back in 2007, at an ACORN presidential candidate forum, basically every audience member was screaming about predatory lending, but no one paid any attention. Poor people were impacted first by predatory and otherwise crappy lending, but they were only the beginning..
Subprime lending was the early signal of the oncoming crisis, but because it was convenient to blame all those shifty poor people our elite press and policymakers continued to be oblivious to what was happening. As I've written many times, way back in 2007, at an ACORN presidential candidate forum, basically every audience member was screaming about predatory lending, but no one paid any attention. Poor people were impacted first by predatory and otherwise crappy lending, but they were only the beginning..
People Have To Walk On Them Too
One thing that's been puzzling me lately is just how unconcerned parking lots are with the pedestrian experience. I get that parking lots are about, you know, cars, but people still have to travel from their cars to the Wal-Mart somehow yet there's almost nothing in their design to appropriately accommodate people.
This Is Excellent News For Republicans
Unintentionally funny improper usage aside, they write this fucking article every week. Village reporters just cannot fathom a world in which Republicans aren't ascendant.
It's quite possible Dems will lose - and lose badly - in 2010. A bad economy, failure to deliver a recognizable good health care plan, and the determination that most of the people who vote for you don't deserve proper medical treatment, could all hurt Democrats at the polls. But good news for Republicans? People still hate them.
It's quite possible Dems will lose - and lose badly - in 2010. A bad economy, failure to deliver a recognizable good health care plan, and the determination that most of the people who vote for you don't deserve proper medical treatment, could all hurt Democrats at the polls. But good news for Republicans? People still hate them.
Because It's Worked Out So Well So Far
Shockingly, California has another deficit problem. And, shockingly, Arnie wants to cut more spending.
I guess I shouldn't be too concerned, as a majority of CA residents oppose getting rid of Prop. 13 or removing the super-majority requirement for tax increases...
I guess I shouldn't be too concerned, as a majority of CA residents oppose getting rid of Prop. 13 or removing the super-majority requirement for tax increases...
Monsters
Really awful people.
Judge Arthur E. Grim of Berks County, who reviewed transcripts of about 100 cases of juveniles caught up in the scheme, said the scandal grew out of "unfettered power, greed, opportunity, and intimidation."
Lawyers, court employees, and school officials knew of the scheme, but winked at it for convenience or self-preservation, Grim testified.
...
Grim said "an almost routine disregard for the rights of juvenile offenders" was known to lawyers, court staff, and school authorities, yet went on for six years or more.
He said many school officials supported Ciavarella's "zero-tolerance" policies toward teenagers no matter how minor the offense.
"When a misbehaving kid was brought to school authorities, they immediately picked up the phone and called the police," Grim testified. "They did this because they knew that if they did, that child would go before Judge Ciavarella and would be out of their hair as a problem."
He said many court officials failed to speak out because they owed their jobs to either Conahan or Ciavarella. Under orders from Ciavarella, Grim said, officers of the Juvenile Probation Department stationed themselves outside the courtroom and persuaded parents to give up their children's rights by signing waiver-of-counsel forms that were improper and legally defective.
Monday, November 09, 2009
The Rising
It always feels like the various email missives I get from assorted villagers do little but talk about Republicans. Democrats rule everything, but Republicans are endlessly fascinating to them. Since I'm a lazy blogger I usually don't bother to try to quantify this to prove the point, but today Cillizza gave me an opportunity by running another edition of his "The Rising" series about political "up and comers."
Clicking on the tag we get "The Rising" in its history covering...3 Democrats and 9 Republicans.
Clicking on the tag we get "The Rising" in its history covering...3 Democrats and 9 Republicans.
The Evil Google
As is occasionally pointed out when journalists and news business people complain that Google is stealing their content, if they don't want Google to index their pages they can simply... tell Google not to index their pages by inserting a bit of code into them. What they really want Google to do is pay them for the privilege of making money from a derivative of their product, the way book reviewers always pay novelists, for example.
Stupak Doesn't Care If Women Die
I suppose that's unfair, it's possible he's too stupid to understand the consequences of what he's doing, but I'm not sure that's any better.
Not About Pandering
It's possible that Sullivan's "just speak a bit in code to the hard core religious and anti-choice crowd" strategy can work somewhat with some voters, but this isn't and really never will be true for anti-choice people in power. They aren't people who need their moderate discomfort over icky abortion assuaged, they're movement anti-choicers who are going to use their positions of power to make sure women are punished for unapproved sex.
What To Do
We've got a still-fairly popular president, the magic meaningless 60 votes in the Senate, big majorities in the House. I couldn't bring myself to vote for any of the Dems who supported the Stupak pro-sepsis amendment. My rep didn't, so it isn't going to be an issue, but I hope some of the people lose their seats in November.
No Worries
John Solomon was a right wing hack at the AP, a right wing hack at the Washington Post, and if he leaves his job at the Washington Times I'm sure he'll find somewhere else to be a right wing hack in our liberal media.
Morning Thread
by Molly Ivors
Wherein Dr. K. says it's no time for snark.
(h/t Nancy Willing)
Wherein Dr. K. says it's no time for snark.
And if Tea Party Republicans do win big next year, what has already happened in California could happen at the national level. In California, the G.O.P. has essentially shrunk down to a rump party with no interest in actually governing — but that rump remains big enough to prevent anyone else from dealing with the state’s fiscal crisis. If this happens to America as a whole, as it all too easily could, the country could become effectively ungovernable in the midst of an ongoing economic disaster.
The point is that the takeover of the Republican Party by the irrational right is no laughing matter. Something unprecedented is happening here — and it’s very bad for America.
(h/t Nancy Willing)
Sunday, November 08, 2009
Balance
The bubble around the Village is strong. (It is really tempting to muck up the metaphor by making a Prisoner reference, but I will refrain.)
But when you see a crack, it is worth noting.
TIME
Kinda funny he still feels the need to insert that parenthetical balancing crack about MSNBC. Or, was that an editor who put that in?
But when you see a crack, it is worth noting.
TIME
Pretty plainly, Fox News is full of conservative opinion hosts, while its news wing has fixated on anti-Obama causes célèbres from ACORN to the tea-party protests. (Equally plainly, the White House is not concerned about fighting the bias of, say, MSNBC hosts who agree with it.) But Sean Hannity's Republicanism, Beck's populism and Mike Huckabee's Christian conservatism are very different — as are, say, Rachel Maddow's progressivism and Chris Matthews' Democratic insiderdom. American politics has civil libertarians and Wall Street conservatives and social-justice moralist-populists and much more.
And they all, in these unsettled times, have various issues with the centrist establishment — which has its own permutations and camps. All of this promises wild and interesting times for journalists to cover, but they won't be able to do it from the neutral center. Because there isn't one, and there never was.
Kinda funny he still feels the need to insert that parenthetical balancing crack about MSNBC. Or, was that an editor who put that in?
Strike
My local transit authority is still on strike. Management, aided by friendly media, has definitely been winning the PR battle. Their basic strategy has been to announce daily that they are close to a deal, leaving it to the union to say, uh, no we aren't.
Main issue seems to be concerns about the pension. Union wants an audit.
Main issue seems to be concerns about the pension. Union wants an audit.
Sunday Bobbleheads
Meet the Press has Barbour and Rendell.
Face the Nation has Menendez, the greatest living American Dick Armey, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
This Week has Kaine, Steele, General Casey
Document the atrocities!
Face the Nation has Menendez, the greatest living American Dick Armey, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
This Week has Kaine, Steele, General Casey
Document the atrocities!
64
64 "Democrats" voted to pass Stupak's pro-sepsis amendment.
The official list is buried in regular type here.
Over at the Great Orange Satan, Meteor Blades has a list with their states.
Update: First link fixed.
The official list is buried in regular type here.
Over at the Great Orange Satan, Meteor Blades has a list with their states.
Update: First link fixed.
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