Thanks all, for a great Joe Hoeffel fundraising day. And, bonus for me, at the last minute the campaign was kind enough to put us in a skybox for the AC Milan-Chelsea game at Lincoln Field. Chatted with Afro-Netizen, who I also briefly met at the convention.
Bad omen, though. The "red team" (Milan) won.
Monday, August 02, 2004
Howard Dean, He So Crazy
I'm sure Bill Hemmer, Wolf Blitzer, and Judy Woodruff will issue their apologies tomorrow.
From the eggman:
...link
From the eggman:
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Much of the information that led authorities to raise the terror alert at several large financial institutions in the NY and D.C. areas was 3 or 4 years old... NYT Tuesday Page One Splash To Claim: Intelligence and law enforcement officials 'had not yet found concrete evidence that a terror plot or preparatory surveillance operations were still under way'... WASH POST Page One: Alerts Stemmed from Pre-9/11 Acts /// 'There is nothing right now that we're hearing that is new,' said one senior law enforcement official who was briefed on the alert. 'Why did we go to this level?... I still don't know that'... POST: 'Most of the information was compiled prior to the Sept. 11 attacks and that there are serious doubts about the age of other, undated files'...
...link
"Better Qualified to be Commander-in-chief""
WaPo/ABC:
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Kerry leads Bush as "better qualified to be commander-in-chief," by 52 percent to 44 percent.
$2242.36
That's how much we've sent to Hoeffel today, including the $500 that I just sent. Maxed out my promised matching funds, but that shouldn't stop you...
...one step closer!
...one step closer!
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WASHINGTON - The national chairman of the Constitution Party said he filed more than 35,000 signatures Monday to get on Pennsylvania's ballot for the U.S. Senate, all but certainly pitting Sen. Arlen Specter against another conservative challenger this year.
In an unusual cross-party display of animosity against Specter, R-Pa., volunteers for Democratic candidate Rep. Joe Hoeffel helped Constitution Party chairman Jim Clymer collect enough signatures to quality for the ballot.
Democrats have long hoped that Clymer would enter the race, pulling Republican support from Specter and boosting Hoeffel's chances of winning the Nov. 2 election. But Clymer said he expects to have support from Republicans and Democrats who oppose abortion rights - a main plank of his campaign.
"I just don't believe the people of Pennsylvania agree with their views on a number of issues," Clymer, 56, said. "On the issues of jobs, trade, immigration, a runaway judiciary, runaway spending - I think all those issues, Specter and Mr. Hoeffel are on the same side. And I think they're at odds with what a majority Pennsylvanians believe is right."
Specter, a moderate Republican, barely survived a primary challenge this spring against conservative Rep. Pat Toomey. He won by 12,603 votes - the closest challenge of his Senate career.
Hollywood Values
Looks like we know where the Heart and Soul of Republican America is:
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Call out the tow trucks: A 60-foot black-and-white billboard showing Chloe Sevigny pleasuring Vincent Gallo was unveiled Saturday on Hollywood's Sunset Blvd.
The steamy and controversial ad, plugging a notorious scene in the upcoming "X-Rated Adults Only" flick "The Brown Bunny," which opens next month, went up near the famed Chateau Marmont Hotel. Wonder what they'll charge for a room with a view.
...
Gallo is now in New York and says he will attend the Republican National Convention later this month.
"I'm here trying to help out in any way that I can. I have made it clear that I am open in any way to promote and protect the Republican administration," he said.
Cigars and Ties
What Digby says:
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Gosh, what ever happened to the roving band of legal analysts on cable TV 24/7 babbling like magpies about the legal ramifications of cigars and birthday ties? Those were the days, man. The press left no stone left unturned when it came to Monica's wardrobe or big Bill's allegedly curved penis. There would have been screaming headlines if the Secretary of State had been called before the Grand Jury and everyone from Geraldo to C. Boyden Gray would have weighed in on the significance of it.
This is an investigation into matters of political dirty tricks concerning national security that appears that it may involve the president of the United States and nobody gives a shit. This isn't some third rate burglary --- but, wtf. It looks like the only way anyone will pay attention to this story is if Plame goes on Larry King and has a wardrobe malfunction.
Leaks
Yglesias has a post up questioning the motivations for leaking the source of information for the latest terror alert. More generally, I find the "motivations of the leakers" to be an underreported story in almost every context. In fact, quite often the motive-and-identiy of leakers is actually an even more interesting story than the leak itself.
Obviously, during those crazy last days of the Clinton administration, the press collectively agreed to ignore the ugly elephant in the living room - the illegal (And often dishonest) leaks which could have only come from Starr OIC insiders. To me, the fascinating turn events in the whole Plame story, after the initial bit of interest when Novak's column first hit, was the fact that two senior administration officials went to reporters with the story.
But, for various reasons (some good some bad), there's rarely much discussion of these stories-behind-the-stories.
Obviously, during those crazy last days of the Clinton administration, the press collectively agreed to ignore the ugly elephant in the living room - the illegal (And often dishonest) leaks which could have only come from Starr OIC insiders. To me, the fascinating turn events in the whole Plame story, after the initial bit of interest when Novak's column first hit, was the fact that two senior administration officials went to reporters with the story.
But, for various reasons (some good some bad), there's rarely much discussion of these stories-behind-the-stories.
Money Where My Mouth Is
Let's start off August fundraising with an extra boost to the candidacy of Joe Hoeffel. I'll match 50 cents on the dollar, up to $500 total from me (shh... don't tell Mrs. Atrios), for donations received today.
August is going to be fundraising nagging month. Look, this is it. We've been whining and wailing and screaming for the past 3+ years. 2002 was a bust, partly due to a failure of the Democratic leadership, but partly because there were plenty of underfunded candidates.
So, let's start with Hoeffel and in a few days I'll choose another candidate.
Click to give!
August is going to be fundraising nagging month. Look, this is it. We've been whining and wailing and screaming for the past 3+ years. 2002 was a bust, partly due to a failure of the Democratic leadership, but partly because there were plenty of underfunded candidates.
So, let's start with Hoeffel and in a few days I'll choose another candidate.
Click to give!
Krugman to CBS
At Romenesko:
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From PAUL KRUGMAN: In response to Jim Murphy's comment regarding my July 30 column on the absence of issue coverage in this election, and the "miffed" staff at CBS Evening News: as Greg Mitchell has already pointed out [below Murphy's letter], Mr. Murphy apparently misread what I said. I did not say that there has been no issue reporting at all over the past two months; I said that issue coverage is very thin, and that there has in particular been no clear explanation of even the most basic elements of the Kerry health care plan.
That statement is, alas, true. The CBS evening news report from June 29 was the best coverage of the competing health care plans I could find. But did it explain that the Kerry plan would cover most of those now uninsured? No. Did it explain that the plan would, according to the Kerry campaign, be financed by a tax-cut rollback? No. In fact, by giving time to Bush claims that "the Kerry plan would break the bank", without mentioning Kerry's plan to pay for it with a tax-cut rollback, the CBS report conveyed the false impression that the plan is unfunded pie in the sky.
Bear in mind that this is not one among many issues: health care-cum-tax cut rollback is Kerry's signature domestic policy proposal. Yet a voter who gets his or her news from TV, even CBS with its "issues" series, would have little or no idea of what Kerry is offering, or how it differs from Bush.
Sunday, August 01, 2004
Faith Based Taxation
Wonder if Bush will really make abolishing the IRS a campaign theme [drudge link]. The thing about those who advocate replacing all federal taxes with a VAT taxes, they almost inevitably lie about just about everything when they're advocating it. Any changing tax system needs to start with what it would take for a revenue neutral change. They always set the tax rate too low, often obscuring it by calculating percentages rather weirdly (say, if the total price including tax is $1.30, and the price without tax is $1.00, they call the associated tax rate as ((1.30-1)/1.30)= .23 instead of the .3 that we normally think of it). They claim you can include progressivity by exempting the first $X worth of purchases, ignoring how this would require a massive increase in the underlying tax rate. They pretend compliance and enforcement costs simply don't exist (abolish the IRS!). And, they exaggerate the overly impact on the economy which serious studies find to be at best a tiny bump.
But, I'm sure by next week the media will be goo goo over the fact that we won't have to file our income taxes anymore! Though, the dollar and bond prices may plunge...
But, I'm sure by next week the media will be goo goo over the fact that we won't have to file our income taxes anymore! Though, the dollar and bond prices may plunge...
Nixon and G.
Recently, Michael Kinsley wrote:
From yesterday's weekend All Things Considered, about journalist Jack Anderson:
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These themes have reverberated around Democratic conventions since the first post-McGovernite election year of 1976. By now the word "McGovernite," never exactly filled with schismatic drama and romance, must be about as meaningful to the average voter as "Shachtmanite" or "Albigensian." George McGovern, children, was a senator from South Dakota (a region of the upper west side of Manhattan in the geographical mythology of Democratic Party critics) and the Democratic presidential candidate in 1972. He was, and is, a left-liberal. The Republican offering that year was Richard Nixon (with Spiro Agnew for dessert), but it is the Democrats who have been apologizing for their choice ever since.
From yesterday's weekend All Things Considered, about journalist Jack Anderson:
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Mr. FELDSTEIN: Well, it's pretty wild, but it's true. The CIA started spying on Anderson under Nixon which was illegal, and Anderson found out about it and he sicced his nine kids--he's a devote Mormon and has nine children--on the CIA agents and they waved and let the air out of the tires of the agents and made sport of it all. So everything Nixon tried, you know, didn't seem to work and finally he turned to smearing him sexually and an assassination plot.
NAYLOR: Now what did the assassination plot involve? I mean, was this something that Nixon was directly involved with?
Mr. FELDSTEIN: We don't know. Here's what we do know--and it's been really interesting. I've been going through the National Archives documents on this and the White House tapes. We do know that E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy, two names that would become famous a few weeks later during the Watergate break-in when they were arrested as part of that, secretly met at The Hay-Adams Hotel in March of 1972, a block from the White House, and they discussed rubbing out Jack Anderson, and they discussed various ways they were going to kill him. First, they talked about putting LSD in his drink. The trouble was as Mormon and a teetotaler, he didn't drink alcohol. So that was out. So then they talked about making him crash in an automobile accident, but they would have to go to the CIA and use a special car for that. So finally G. Gordon Liddy volunteered to kill Anderson himself personally by knifing him, slitting his throat, and staging it as a mugging that would look like a Washington street crime. At the last minute, this assassination plot was aborted, and a few weeks later, the men were arrested in the Watergate break-in and never had a chance to put their plan into operation.
Playing Politics With Terror Alerts
Ridge, today:
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But we must understand that the kind of information available to us today is the result of the president's leadership in the war against terror, the reports that have led to this alert are the result of offensive intelligence and military operations overseas, as well as strong partnerships with our allies around the world, such as Pakistan.
August Fundraising
It's time to me to Throw the Mighty Force of My Blogs behind a few candidates, as Kos has been doing. Obviously, I'll continue pushing Joe Hoeffel, but i'd like to pick 3-5 more candidates to support. I haven't yet chosen them, but I have been mulling over the criteria I'd like to use to pick them.:
1) They've built a decent online/online outreach operation.
No, this doesn't mean they've purchased blogads. But, we are, roughly, "netroots," and it's only reasonable to throw support behind candidates who have found ways to reach out to the online community (and, no, this isn't a call for candidates to reach out to me personally, or this blog, just more generally).
2) The money we can raise here can make a difference.
This one's rather complicated. Obviously, we can make a difference in terms of their fundraising with candidates who haven't managed to raise any money, but ideally we'd like to actually help someone to win (though, as I'll discuss in a bit, winning isn't the only goal). But, I don't expect to pull in Kerry-fundraising levels of money for congressional candidates (though that would be great). So, we're talking about a bias towards races in more inexpensive media markets, where 10 or 20 grand can be a nontrivial addition.
3) The candidate can win.
An obvious plus.
4) Even if the candidate doesn't win, the money will help seed future operations.
If a candidate has more money, they can hire more staff. This creates some more people with campaign experience, and helps build future operations down the road. In some places, there's a well-established democratic machine, with experience, in some places there isn't.
5) Some local bias. I'd like to help PA races.
Some bias -- as in, all things equal I'll choose a PA candidate.
6) Candidates need to be partisan Democrats.
They can be conservative (though it isn't my preference), particularly if they are running in a conservative area, but they must be proud Democrats. They may not vote as a liberal democrat, but they must be proud to stand next to them.
7) Bias towards helping challengers or redistricting victims.
8) Swing state bias.
None of these are dealbreakers, and I have no strong sense of how each is weighted, but that's roughly what'll guide my choices... Suggestions welcome.
1) They've built a decent online/online outreach operation.
No, this doesn't mean they've purchased blogads. But, we are, roughly, "netroots," and it's only reasonable to throw support behind candidates who have found ways to reach out to the online community (and, no, this isn't a call for candidates to reach out to me personally, or this blog, just more generally).
2) The money we can raise here can make a difference.
This one's rather complicated. Obviously, we can make a difference in terms of their fundraising with candidates who haven't managed to raise any money, but ideally we'd like to actually help someone to win (though, as I'll discuss in a bit, winning isn't the only goal). But, I don't expect to pull in Kerry-fundraising levels of money for congressional candidates (though that would be great). So, we're talking about a bias towards races in more inexpensive media markets, where 10 or 20 grand can be a nontrivial addition.
3) The candidate can win.
An obvious plus.
4) Even if the candidate doesn't win, the money will help seed future operations.
If a candidate has more money, they can hire more staff. This creates some more people with campaign experience, and helps build future operations down the road. In some places, there's a well-established democratic machine, with experience, in some places there isn't.
5) Some local bias. I'd like to help PA races.
Some bias -- as in, all things equal I'll choose a PA candidate.
6) Candidates need to be partisan Democrats.
They can be conservative (though it isn't my preference), particularly if they are running in a conservative area, but they must be proud Democrats. They may not vote as a liberal democrat, but they must be proud to stand next to them.
7) Bias towards helping challengers or redistricting victims.
8) Swing state bias.
None of these are dealbreakers, and I have no strong sense of how each is weighted, but that's roughly what'll guide my choices... Suggestions welcome.
The Incumbent
"If you want change in this country, you ought to vote for President Bush."
--Matthew Dowd, Bush/Cheney Strategist, Fox News Sunday.
--Matthew Dowd, Bush/Cheney Strategist, Fox News Sunday.
Follow the Lies
Digby notes that Reuters has picked up the bullshit Newsweek poll spin, as he notes "just in time for the Sunday gasbags to inscribe 'baby bounce' in granite."
(and, Donkey Rising was on this before I was.)
And, 6:35 AM, the story still says that Kerry gave his speech on Friday night which, if true, would have been after the entire poll they took...
Contact Reuters here.
(and, Donkey Rising was on this before I was.)
And, 6:35 AM, the story still says that Kerry gave his speech on Friday night which, if true, would have been after the entire poll they took...
Contact Reuters here.
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