Saturday, October 14, 2006

14 Oct 2006 11:17 pm

Giuliani and Assault Weapons

As Jon Stewart said of John McCain, Giuliani has turned his straight talk express into a bus to bulls**t-town. The Stranger notices the U-turn.

14 Oct 2006 09:08 pm

Shilling or Reporting?

Fox News stars also pitch products on the radio. Are they journalists or salesmen? Paul Mulshine says that whatever the answer, they aren't conservatives.

14 Oct 2006 07:29 pm

Dean Barnett's Crush

Victor Davis Hanson has given Hugh Hewitt's stand-in, Dean Barnett, the vapors. Money quote:

"I would be by his side like a Spartan at Thermopylae."

Just so long as you're not right behind him, Dean. Barnett is even dreaming of sending fawning IMs to conservative students. I thought we needed a constitutional amendment to stamp out that kind of thing.

Seriously, of course, VDH has written some great stuff and, having debated him, I know what Barnett is talking about.  But his defenses of this administration's Iraq war are getting thinner and thinner. We know the rationale; and we know the stakes; and many of us want to win. Instead of repeating why the war matters, why not use his great mind to explain what the Bush administration has gotten wrong and how to put it right? VDH wants to win this war. So why keep backing people who only know how to lose?

[In the first draft of this post, I didn't realize it was Dean Barnett who was writing on Hugh Hewitt's website, not Hewitt himself.]

14 Oct 2006 07:25 pm

An American Sentenced to Death

In Iraq, an American citizen who appears to have had no fair trial and is being frog-marched to the death penalty with the help and support of the U.S. military. He has no rights any more, of course. Scott Horton explains the facts and background of the case here. Money quote:

On Tuesday, the President intends to sign the Military Commissions Act of 2006, which purports to terminate the writ of habeas corpus for US detainees overseas. In so doing, he may well be confirming a death sentence for Mohammed Manaf. This case is shocking because it deals with an American citizen who is being stripped of his rights under a foreign legal process, including the right to a trial, at the insistence of US Forces. It provides strong grounds to question what US Forces are doing in the Central Criminal Court of Iraq. As a practitioner in that court, I can only say that none of the facts detailed in the Brennan Center's papers or described by the defendant's attorney strike me as surprising. They are consistent with things I observed with my own eyes in Baghdad in the spring of this year.

What passes for justice in Iraq right now - in a Baghad in sectarian meltdown - is a travesty. But it is merely a tiny glimpse of the threat to basic liberties that this president has advanced and pioneered.

14 Oct 2006 06:23 pm

YouTube of the Day

A boy sings about his two fathers - and how much he loves them. He was adopted when he was one.

14 Oct 2006 05:53 pm

Heads Up

Just a reminder that I'll be reading and signing books in Washington, D.C., tonight at 6 pm at Politics and Prose at 5015 Connectitcut Avenue; I'll be on CNN's Reliable Sources tomorrow morning at 10 am. And the C-SPAN interview with Brian Lamb is broadcast Sunday night at 8 pm and 11 pm. I just got back from Hartford, and need a nap. Later.

14 Oct 2006 04:15 pm

The Fizzling of A Gay Panic?

Anti-gay initiatives are not creating much excitement among the Christianist base of the GOP, according to this NYT piece. Why? Perhaps the more people see the non-event of marriage equality in Massachusetts and the benign impact of civil unions in several other states, they realize that the push against gay couples is less about saving civilization, and more about cynical partisan politics. Virginia's proposed draconian ban on any rights for gay or straight couples outside of heterosexual-only civil marriage may be the test case. If it loses, the tide may have surely turned. In New York State, a democratic Rubicon has also been crossed.

14 Oct 2006 03:17 pm

The View From Your Window

Arlington, Virginia, 11 am.

14 Oct 2006 02:31 pm

MySpace Politics

Will these politicians please leave the web alone?

14 Oct 2006 02:04 pm

YouTube Politics

In Britain, the hip young new Conservative leader, David Cameron, isn't merely in favor of a carbon tax and gays getting married, he's communicating with the public on his own YouTube vlog. The only trouble is: it's excruciatingly lame. Check it out:

Which led a naughty Labour Party politician to post a YouTube parody of populist Dave. We may have started a new wave of political warfare. Forget the ads. YouTube your message direct to the voters. I prefer the parody myself. Here it is:

14 Oct 2006 11:00 am

Sex Sells

So why not add some boobs to feminism? And sell some beefcake for wounded vets?

Am I wrong?

14 Oct 2006 02:25 am

Oh, Brother

I'm glad I'm not related to Jake Ford.

Friday, October 13, 2006

13 Oct 2006 11:17 pm

Christianism Watch

From Madison's Capital Times:

The main spokeswoman for a group supporting Wisconsin's proposed constitutional ban on gay marriage and civil unions has little regard for the separation of church and state, which she calls a "fictitious wall."
"Speaking of it as if it has some kind of constitutional authority is completely bogus," said Julaine Appling, president of the Wisconsin Family Research Institute, at a debate Thursday at Edgewood High School.

First Amendment? What First Amendment?

13 Oct 2006 09:08 pm

State of Denial

Some Republicans think the president is out of touch with respect to the Congressional elections, and their potential aftermath. He is said to have no plan if things go awry. That's not like this president, is it? Just ask the troops risking and losing their lives because he had no plan for the post-invasion in Iraq.

13 Oct 2006 07:50 pm

Email of the Day

A reader writes:

My entire family is reading your book together, we're giving each other until Thanksgiving when we can all get together and talk about it. I'd list our nuanced and passionately held political affiliations just to show the incredible range of your appeal, but Bill Clinton beat us to the punch with the speech you linked. It doesn't matter anymore. If you're remotely sane, vote Democrat.

If Dick Armey (who has made my skin crawl for years) has suddenly become inspiring to me and Bill Clinton (who has made my father's skin crawl for years) can motivate disaffected old-school Republicans (and he is, believe me), then there truly is a tsunami on the way.

13 Oct 2006 07:36 pm

Jeb, Karl and Foley

Maybe the FBI needs to question the governor of Florida as well. And I'd put Karl Rove under scrutiny as well.

13 Oct 2006 07:22 pm

The View From Your Window

New York City, from the East Village, 6.30 pm.

13 Oct 2006 06:55 pm

Outed

They've done it to me now. What will my mother say?

13 Oct 2006 06:29 pm

The Weirdness of Cheney

A reader reminds me of Joan Didion's peerless dissection of the life, work and personality of the most powerful vice-president America has ever known. I read it a while back. If you haven't read it, here's the link. Money quote:

[Cheney's] every instinct is to withhold information, hide, let surrogates speak for him, as he did after the quail-shooting accident on the Armstrong ranch. His own official spoken remarks so defy syntactical analysis as to suggest that his only intention in speaking is to further obscure what he thinks. Possibly the most well-remembered statement he ever made (after "Big-time") was that he did not serve in the Vietnam War because he had "other priorities."

Bob Woodward, in Plan of Attack, describes an exchange that took place between Cheney and Colin Powell in September 2002, when Cheney was determined that the US not ask the UN for the resolution against Iraq that the Security Council, after much effort by Powell, passed in November:

Powell attempted to summarize the consequences of unilateral action.... He added a new dimension, saying that the international reaction would be so negative that he would have to close American embassies around the world if we went to war alone.

That is not the issue, Cheney said. Saddam and the clear threat is the issue.

Maybe it would not turn out as the vice president thinks, Powell said. War could trigger all kinds of unanticipated and unintended consequences....
Not the issue, Cheney said.

In other words the Vice President had by then passed that point at which going to war was "not about our analysis." He had passed that point at which going to war was not about "finding a preponderance of evidence." At the point he had reached by September 2002, going to war was not even about the consequences. Not the issue, he had said.

Whatever else this is, it is not conservative. It is a kind of blind brutalism. When combined with the unfettered power of the executive he and his acolytes have constructed, it is deeply disturbing.

(Photo: Shawn Thew/AFP/Getty.)

13 Oct 2006 05:56 pm

Quote for the Day

"It was not an abstract question for me. I wondered: is the point of our life on earth to become like Jesus, or is it to maintain formal affiliation with the Roman Catholic Church? I honestly don't believe God will ask of me, in the day of judgment, "Were you an obedient Catholic? (Or Orthodox, or Presbyterian...)" He will ask me, "Did you love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind? Did you love your neighbor as yourself?" I had made in my life till that point the fundamental error of conceiving of the Church as an end in itself, rather than a means to the end of becoming a saint in Christ," - Rod Dreher on why he has finally left the Roman Catholic Church for Orthodoxy.

There is much in his honest anguish that, to my mind, is symptomatic of true faith.

13 Oct 2006 05:37 pm

YouTube of the Day

Watch the federal drug tsar, John Walters, boast about spending federal money on stopping Nevadans from deciding their own policies on marijuana regulation. It's one more sign that this administration loathes states' rights if they get in the way of big government moralizing. It's a classic case of the GOP's attack on principled conservatism and states' rights. If you're a Nevadan, you have a chance to tell the federal government where to shove it. Vote yes on Question 7. If you're an American tax-payer, tell the feds not to spend your money interfering with state politics.

13 Oct 2006 04:25 pm

Heads Up

I'll be on C-SPAN's Q & A with Brian Lamb about "The Conservative Soul" this Sunday at 8 pm and 11 pm. It's a full hour of conversation about the book, politics, conservatism, faith and America. My interview for NPR's "All Things Considered" can be heard online here.

13 Oct 2006 04:23 pm

The Onion and North Korea

Prescient genius strikes again.

13 Oct 2006 03:48 pm

Conservatism and the Democrats

As usual, Bill Clinton isn't dumb:

"This is an election unlike any other I have ever participated in. For six years this country has been totally dominated - not by the Republican Party, this is not fair to the Republican Party - by a narrow sliver of the Republican Party, its more right-wing and its most ideological element. When the chips are down, this country has been jammed to the right, jammed into an ideological corner, alienated from its allies, and we're in a lot of trouble ... The Democratic Party has become the liberal and conservative party in America. If you want to be fiscally conservative, you've got to be for us. If you want to conserve natural resources, you've got to be for us," he said. "If you want a change of course in Iraq ... you've got to be for us."

Fiscal conservatives, limited government conservatives, libertarian conservatives: in this election, the Democrats are the only way to stop the abuse of power now dominant in the GOP leadership.

13 Oct 2006 03:37 pm

Malkin Award Nominee

"It's early in the probe, but we may be looking at emerging evidence of a homosexual recruitment ring that operated on Capitol Hill," - Cliff Kincaid of Accuracy in Media. The column is one of the most disgusting smear pieces yet to emerge from the bigoted swamp that is the Republican far right.

13 Oct 2006 03:20 pm

Chris Shays ...

... has lost his mind.

13 Oct 2006 03:08 pm

Fighting for Conservatism IV

The last excerpt from the Cato debate. A woman finds it "appalling" that a conservative could support equality in marriage. I respond - or try to.

13 Oct 2006 02:37 pm

Vive La Resistance

Dick Armey unloads another barrage:

"Freedom is a gift from God Almighty, and we have a responsibility to protect it. Christians face a temptation to power when we are fortunate enough to have a majority of support in Congress. But government can never advance a faith that is freely given, and it is corrosive to even try. ... And so America's Christian conservative movement is confronted with this divide: small government advocates who want to practice their faith independent of heavy-handed government versus big government sympathizers who want to impose their version of 'righteousness' on others through the hammer of law."

It's great to see a Republican call it like it is - for the sake of politics, and for the sake of religion. I'm beginning to feel what may be a sea-change out there. I guess this election will either confirm or refute that.

13 Oct 2006 02:09 pm

Virtual Book-Signing

Several readers have asked me if there's a way to get a signed copy of the book without making it to one of the few book readings/signings. Well, I asked HarperCollins, and the answer is: yes, there is.

If you join the book club, and buy the book, you can email me your questions and criticisms (theconservativesoul@gmail.com) - but also, if you want a personalized signature in your copy, let me know and include your name and full mailing address in the email. Put the words "signed copy" in the content line of your email, so we can expedite things.

Harper Collins has "book-plates" - essentially adhesive, paper inserts for the first page - that I can dedicate to you or a friend or family member, sign, and send back by mail. They look like the inserts people once put in books to mark them as part of their own library. When you get it, just peel off the back and stick it into your copy of the book. It's as good as waiting in line at Barnes and Noble.

Please no lengthy dedications: just the name of the person you want the book dedicated to, or I'll develop carpal tunnel syndrome. But the general rule is: if you buy the book, I'll find a way to sign it, if that's your preference. It's one more way a blog can interact with a book. Reminder: the email address is theconservativesoul@gmail.com. And put "signed copy" in the content line. Join the virtual book club with a virtually personalized edition. More details here.

13 Oct 2006 01:37 pm

Yglesias Award Nominee

"I'm extremely troubled by the fact that the record tax revenue was offset by record spending, which increased 7.4 percent from a year ago. Even more depressing is that a supposedly conservative Congress and President allowed education spending to rise over 28 percent in one year, and Medicare to grow at a rate of 12 percent over the same time period.

Can there be any better evidence that you can't control the deficit until you get a handle on spending.  Why do we have to explain this to a supposedly 'conservative' Congress and GOP, who have 'gone native' and utterly failed to grasp the necessity of actually cutting government? And they wonder why some conservatives are thinking of staying home on Election Day (I'm not one of them, but there are many who may do so). Memo to the GOP: Conservative anger isn't about Mark Foley - it's about spending like Democrats (as well as immigration).

But the real buzzkill on this news is the utter failure to rein in entitlement spending. If nothing is done about actually cutting Social Security and Medicare rather than reducing the size of its growth then all the prosperity and growth isn't going to matter one bit.

Quite simply, Social Security and Medicare are bankrupting the United States.  The GOP has done nothing to stop the train wreck and can only say 'Yeah, but the Democrats will be worse'. That's not comforting. It's like asking if you would rather die from a firing squad or lethal injection. Either way you're dead," - right-wing blogger, Bull Dog Pundit, exposing the fiscal insanity behind the Bush facade.

13 Oct 2006 12:34 pm

Republican Cognitive Dissonance

Earlier this week, secretary of state Condi Rice and First Lady Laura Bush attended a State Department ceremony for the new global AIDS coordinator. His name is Mark Dybul. Money quote from USA Today:

At a State Department ceremony this week, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warmly acknowledged the family members of Mark Dybul, whom she was swearing in as the nation's new global AIDS coordinator.

As first lady Laura Bush looked on, Rice singled out his partner, Jason Claire, and Claire's mother. Rice referred to her as Dybul's "mother-in-law."

There you have it. Among decent elite Republicans, there is often great acceptance of gay people as individuals, and of their families and spouses. "Mother-in-law" is itself an affirmation of marriage for gay couples; and the secretary of state just used those words. And yet her party officially regards gay unions as, in James Dobson's words, a prelude to the "destruction of the earth". So which is it, guys? Let us know some time, will you?

(Photo:  J. Scott Applewhite, AP.)

13 Oct 2006 10:55 am

Muslims and Macs

The debate continues. I might add that I've long felt that the Apple stores are almost sacred in their architecture. If only we designed new churches as imaginatively ...

13 Oct 2006 02:05 am

The Foley Factor

Gallup detects a meltdown in white religious support for Republicans. The Dems are now even with the GOP among frequent church-going whites. Money graph:

This poll doesn't look so good either.

13 Oct 2006 01:41 am

The Abuse Continues?

We have more evidence of serious detainee abuse at Guantanamo Bay:

In a sworn affidavit filed with the Pentagon Inspector General, Sgt. Cerveny says she met several Navy prison guards at a club on the base where, over drinks, they described harsh physical abuse.
"One sailor specifically said, 'I took the detainee by the head and smashed his head into the cell door,'" Sgt. Cerveny tells ABC News in an exclusive interview.

She says she was "shocked" to hear several guards from different parts of the camp speak openly of mistreating prisoners. "Everyone in the group laughed at all their stories of beating detainees," she recalled. "None of them looked like they cared. None of them looked shocked by it."

One of the guards "was telling his buddy, 'Yeah, this one detainee, you know, really pissed me off, irritated me.  So I just, you know, punched him in the face.'"

I wonder why they didn't feel shocked. Gitmo is heavily monitored and staffed by professionals. It's certainly more closely monitored than many other detention centers. It couldn't be because abuse and torture are still Bush administration policy, could it?

Thursday, October 12, 2006

12 Oct 2006 11:45 pm

Join the Book Club

Just a reminder that this blog is inviting readers to participate in an online book club discussion of "The Conservative Soul: How We Lost It; How To Get It Back." Buy the book, email me criticisms, I'll read as many as I can and have a third party (a Harvard smarty-pants) select the ten toughest critiques, and I'll respond to each one on the blog. You've got till the end of the month to buy and read the book. And then the fun begins. More details here. Don't forget Amazon's 40 percent off discount.

12 Oct 2006 10:25 pm

Quote for the Day II

"Frankly, I'm unsure what to conclude from this little debate. I will simply note how perplexing I find your own concluding remarks--about how my construal of the liberal bargain is dangerous because it might vindicate those "Christians and secularists alike" who have contended that there is a tension, sometimes requiring that a choice be made, "between Christ and the republic, between God and Caesar." Funny, I thought it was Christ himself who pointed to just such a tension at the core of the human condition.

Why is it that you, like the theocons I examine and criticize in my book, seem so terrified of the American republic falling short of Christ-like perfection? Why is it not enough that the United States be a good and decent country among good and decent countries? Why is it not enough for you and other pious Christians to enjoy the freedom to worship and pray and proselytize in peace? Why, despite your own better judgment, do you so steadfastly resist seeking your salvation outside of politics? Why do you insist on identifying the fate of your soul with the fate of your country?

You may well be right that, at least at this moment in our nation's history, you have more of our fellow citizens on your side of this dispute than I have on mine. But that is precisely the problem - for American religion no less than America's politics," - Damon Linker at TNR, debating Ross Douthat.

Linker nails it in these few paragraphs, but Douthat is, to my mind, easily the best defender of theoconservatism out there, and his arguments are worth reading as well.

12 Oct 2006 09:36 pm

The Brits Want Out

Britain's Chief of the General Staff says it's time to leave Iraq. Money quote:

"Let's face it, the military campaign we fought in 2003, effectively kicked the door in." Sir Richard Dannatt added that any initial tolerance "has largely turned to intolerance. That is a fact."
Sir Richard, who took on his role in August, also said planning for what happened after the initial successful war military offensive was "poor, probably based more on optimism than sound planning".

That's putting it mildly.

12 Oct 2006 08:36 pm

Free John Tierney!

We should start a campaign. Release him from TimesSelect. Same with MoDo and TF, Brooks and ... well, they can keep Paul Krugman expensive. The evidence is in on online newspapers, and the economic case for keeping online news free is stronger than you might imagine.

12 Oct 2006 08:07 pm

Allen, Webb and Warner

A Virginia reader dissents:

1)  The poll you reference is obviously an outlier. Its findings are neither close to nor compatible with the trend line established by other polls.  As a Virginian, I can tell that it's pretty ridiculous to claim anything about this race at this point - the advertising has just ramped up and most people are just now paying attention.

2)  Pundits don't choose Senators. Voters do. Before the last state election, polls placed Jerry Kilgore with leads through much of October. Kaine still won.  Mark Warner and Tim Kaine have built a powerful movement in Virginia - the Democrats have picked up seats in the last two statewide elections. Allen's ground game and plan haven't been successful since 2000. Jerry Kilgore played the Rove card and couldn't beat Tim Kaine, a classical liberal. 

Virginia is NOT a "Red State" as many want to paint it - it's a very divided state where the population centers all vote Democratic. In the past rural votes have been more important, but as Northern Virginia and the Hampton Roads area get larger the importance of rural Virginia wanes.  Allen can't win many votes in Northern Virginia because his entire image is tailored for the rural areas. 3)  I've lived all over this beautiful Commonwealth and I know people all over the state.  When Mark Warner starts campaigning for Jim (which should start real soon now that he's out of the presidential picture) his 70 percent approval rating will change this race.

12 Oct 2006 07:20 pm

Marijuana Vs. Alzheimers

Is there nothing that smoking pot cannot help? No wonder it's illegal. It could put some pharmaceutical companies out of business.

(Hat tip: JFL.)

12 Oct 2006 06:54 pm

Islam Vs. Apple II

A moderate Muslim disagrees - and says MEMRI has exaggerated one atypical Muslim's view.

12 Oct 2006 06:42 pm

Hillary on Torture

Is she back-sliding? That's one interpretation of her recent chat with the editors of the New York Daily News.

12 Oct 2006 06:31 pm

Media Whore Update

I'm scheduled on "All Things Considered" on NPR at 5.35 pm ET, on Larry King on CNN between 9 and 10 pm, and on the Colbert Report at 11.30 pm. I was on the Brian Lehrer show in New York City this morning. You can listen to the audio by clicking on the play button below.

12 Oct 2006 06:26 pm

Businessweek RIP

John Judis laments the end of some great journalism.

12 Oct 2006 06:25 pm

Rove and Foley

Turd-blossom apparently talked Foley out of retiring earlier this year. More genuis from Rove.

12 Oct 2006 06:21 pm

Malkin Award Nominee

"I know the speaker didn't go over a bridge and leave a young person in the water, and then have a press conference the next day. Dennis Hastert didn't kill anybody," - Republican congressman Chris Shays, on the Foley affair. The GOP establishment's avoidance and excuses are now close to clinical.

12 Oct 2006 05:59 pm

Gays, Republicans and Jon Stewart

The creepy predations of the closet-case Mark Foley may have some silver lining. They may force into the open a simple fact, reiterated by Tucker Carlson. Most Washington Republicans have no problems with openly gay people. Many of them have sons and daughters who are gay, including the epitome of conservative Republicanism, Dick Cheney. Dennis Hastert has gay staff. Rick Santorum had an openly gay staffer. They have no problems with gay people. And yet their party platform is vehemently opposed to treating gay people as equal citizens or as full members of their own families. This cognitive dissonance is only kept afloat by the closet, and the lies, eupemisms, and avoidance mechanisms that keep Republicans from facing this issue honestly. Maybe the revelation that Republican Capitol Hill is full of gay people may finally force them into a reckoning. The GOP has to respect gay people and grant us full equality, or they have to join the forces that regard us as anathema to stable society, a threat to the family and all potential child molesters. They cannot continue to have it both ways.

I know no better illustration of the contortions of the right than Jon Stewart's recent interview with Bill Bennett (YouTubed below). I've always had civil relations with Bennett; and he has never shown any personal animus. But when I read his writing, it is filled with fear and loathing of gay people as an alleged threat to the very families we love and belong to. So which is it, Bill? The same goes with someone like Pat Buchanan, who has always treated me with great affection and respect. And yet, in print, he regards my commitment and love for my fiance as a danger to civilization. At some point, these people are going to have to decide. And now is as good a time as any.

12 Oct 2006 04:13 pm

Islam Vs Apple?

This building is allegedly an insult to Muslims. I give up.

12 Oct 2006 03:02 pm

Fighting for Conservatism III

David Brooks and I debate what happened to conservatism under Republican rule. Both David and I agree that a coherent conservative governing philosophy has collapsed. But we deeply disagree about what to do about it. We have a big tussle over the legacy of Newt Gingrich and how to follow it. 

Become part of the debate by joining the book club for "The Conservative Soul." Details here. Amazon is now offering an extra low discount of 40 percent off the retail price. If you're thinking of buying the book, you'd be nuts not to take their discount.

12 Oct 2006 02:33 pm

Warner

I can't say I'm surprised he has dropped out. His inexperience in foreign affairs made his candidacy a non-starter, to my mind. So now we have the big guns: Gore, Clinton, Edwards, Kerry.