Saturday, April 12, 200812 Apr 2008 08:40 pm "Clinging To Guns"An interesting analysis of the voting in states with the highest gun-ownership rates. So far, Obama has beaten Clinton in almost every one. 12 Apr 2008 08:17 pm Will Clinton Over-Reach?The "bitter" spat is gold for Morris-Rove politics, which is why Clinton is exploiting it so baldly. It is exactly the kind of debate that has constructed American politics since Vietnam; it is exactly the kind of politics that Obama has been trying to transcend. Clinton will use anything at this point to destroy Obama's candidacy and message; but by adopting Rovism at its reddest, the Clintons do risk looking too obvious. Check out the comments in CNN's Politicker. At some point people will realize that the Clintons represent a continuation of the kind of politics that has made a serious engagement with this country's profound problems impossible. Or is acknowledging profound problems now unpatriotic? Is this election about how to salvage the least worst option in the Iraq disaster? Is it about restoring some kind of fiscal sanity? Is it about doing all we can to unite Americans in a war against Islamic terrorism? Is it about restoring America's compliance with the Geneva Conventions? Or is it again about red-blue culture wars? We know what the professional political class is comfortable with. We know what Rove and Bush and Penn and Clinton believe. What we will find out soon is if Americans want more of the same. It's a free country - and people can vote. Goodbye to all that? Or hello again - for yet another cycle? A reader writes:
Continue reading "Will Clinton Over-Reach?" » 12 Apr 2008 05:58 pm Mental Health BreakEnjoy Tab and be a "mindsticker": 12 Apr 2008 05:55 pm The PreambleBen Smith has more of Obama's remarks in San Francisco. Here's what preceded the passage jumped on by Clinton, McCain et al:
It is indeed easier to play the red-blue resentment game. We'll see if it still works ... 12 Apr 2008 05:18 pm Clinton PouncesShe goes in for the kill on Obama's "bitter" comments, as one would expect. The goal is to kill Obama's candidacy - for now and in the fall, if she can. Noam thinks she's playing into Republican hands. You think? Here's the
Whatever works - or might work. I still reserve judgment on how this eventually plays out. America is a little too angry and restless right now to be parsed once again into the red-blue divide, even if it helps the Clintons for a nano-second. Just out of interest: how regularly does Clinton go to church, compared with Obama? An "elitist", of course, is someone reared by a single mother whose net worth is a fraction of the multi-millionaire former first lady. Al Giordano comments here. David Brody wonders what the big deal is here. Ambers on Obama's "regrets" here. 12 Apr 2008 05:01 pm So Fallows Is FallibleWe now have Japanese waistline mandates. Here's Jim in a 1986 article on fitness in Japan:
12 Apr 2008 04:59 pm Israel's NukesThomas Barnett last year:
So why does Krauthammer want to up the ante? 12 Apr 2008 04:10 pm The View From Your WindowMontevideo, Uruguay, 10.42 am. 12 Apr 2008 03:31 pm Krauthammer vs Krauthammer, Ctd.A reader notes:
His source is this. More here. If accurate, it would render Krauthammer's argument about Israel's needing US nuclear protection from a first strike risk implausible. 12 Apr 2008 03:12 pm The Decline of GrammarA weekend Atlantic archive classic: Geoffrey Nunberg's 1983 essay on the changing nature of grammar and its police:
12 Apr 2008 02:47 pm Face Of The DayA mourner cries during a funeral of Riyadh al-Nuri, a senior aide to the Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in the home town of al-Nuri in the Sadr City Shiite district on April 12, 2008 in Baghdad, Iraq. Al-Nuri was shot dead by unknown gunmen in Kufa near The holy Shiite city of Najaf on April 11, 2008 after Friday prayer. Seven people died when U.S. helicopters fired on homes and shops in Sadr City district early Saturday according to the Iraqi police and hospital officials. By Wathiq Khuzaie/Getty. 12 Apr 2008 02:12 pm Obama, Israel And HamasChait responds to Ezra's accusations that Obama has been intimidated by the Israel lobby because he won't negotiate with Hamas:
Matt weighs in:
12 Apr 2008 12:51 pm Owning A "Somalia With Oil"Blake Hounshell writes:
12 Apr 2008 11:23 am Obama RespondsNo backing down: I don't think he's wrong either. And, in this strange, constantly shifting campaign, I'm not going to venture a guess as to its impact. Matt is just as suspicious of the instant consensus that this is a killer. What we're testing in this election is just how deeply American politics has changed in the wake of the Bush-Cheney disaster. Most seem to think it hasn't; and Obama's campaign is therefore a "fairy-tale." Well, we're finding out. 12 Apr 2008 11:22 am "We had legal opinions that enabled us to do it."While the blogosphere explodes dissecting how big a snob Obama is, the president of the United States cops to authorizing torture:
Notice that for this president, the law is an obstacle to be overcome with opinions he orders up from his underlings. 12 Apr 2008 10:19 am Who Needs A Veep?From Arthur Schlesinger Jr.'s 1974 rant against the vice presidency:
12 Apr 2008 09:25 am The Audacity Of ComplexityA reader writes:
12 Apr 2008 08:32 am Malkin Awards All AroundThis is one of the most intolerant exchanges I have ever seen: 12 Apr 2008 06:52 am Crayola Art
(Hat tip: Sheila Ryan) Friday, April 11, 200811 Apr 2008 08:52 pm Face Of The DayIraqi men take part in Friday prayers in the holy city of Karbala on April 11, 2008. Gunmen shot dead a top aide to radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in Iraq's holy city of Najaf today, sparking anger among his followers as they battle government forces on two fronts. By Mohammed Sawaf/AFP/Getty. 11 Apr 2008 08:11 pm At The MoviesGreat moments in film one clip at a time. 11 Apr 2008 08:10 pm AP Confirms ABC NewsTorture latest:
They knew what they were doing. The law was "fixed" to back up what was already decided. The parallel to WMD intelligence - the Downing Street memo - springs to mind. 11 Apr 2008 07:54 pm The Red-Blue DivideThese remarks by Obama in San Francisco are, to put it gently, not the most felicitously phrased:
You can see the point he is trying to make - it's the Thomas Frank argument - and you can argue about its merits, back and forth. I don't think it's meant pejoratively about the blue collar workers Obama is trying to engage. But the context of these remarks is political gold for McCain and Clinton. Especially Clinton. You will hear these words on Fox News for a very, very long time. 11 Apr 2008 07:47 pm Krauthammer vs Krauthammer, Ctd.A reader challenged me to explain why this sentence in Charles Krauthammer's column didn't address the precise question I asked about whether Israel's own nuclear deterrence isn't enough:
My bad. I guess I just presume that the Israeli nuclear capacity - of which we know not a huge amount for sure - is capable of devastating Iran and constructed to ensure invulnerability in any first strike. I'm not sure how Charles knows otherwise, and if there's evidence that Israel cannot unilaterally have viable nuclear deterrence, I'd be interested in understanding that further. But how many nukes would it take to devastate Iran? I imagine that both sides would get to the MAD point pretty quickly. I also presume that if Iran passed the nuke bomb threshhold, the Israelis would be way ahead of the game in making sure their deterrence was valid, and as devastating to Iran as any exchange would be to Israel. If the Israelis need help in maintaining such deterrence, we should of course, be willing. But I see no reason why fusing America's deterrence policy with Israel's makes Israel any safer and some reason to fear it would play into the hands of the worst elements in Iran's leadership. I also think that once you have conceded that there may be any element in the Tehran leadership that is rational and is capable of responding to rational deterrence theory, the entire premise of the World War IV case implodes. The evidence of revolutionary Iran is, moreover, that it has acted as rationally as one might predict in responding to real military threats. If deterrence worked against Mao and can work against Kim Jong-Il, then a nuclear Tehran may be containable. 11 Apr 2008 06:32 pm Comedy ContestYouTube is holding a sketch comedy contest. One of the finalists:
Here are the rest. 11 Apr 2008 06:16 pm Diller's Black WebJeff Jarvis worries. My own view is what it has always been: never bet against Barry Diller. He's smarter than anyone else out there (with the exception of Rupert Murdoch). 11 Apr 2008 05:13 pm RNC vs ObamaIn North Carolina, the GOP is ignoring Clinton. 11 Apr 2008 04:52 pm Leadership Is Hard WorkAbove is a new proposal for a world leaders' retreat. Subtopia explains:
Could we put it on Mars? 11 Apr 2008 04:39 pm On Books And BrainsRaymond Tallis explains why neuroscience can't fully describe our experience of literature or the world:
(Hat tip: Frank Wilson) 11 Apr 2008 04:19 pm Silencing CorvinoA sad day for Catholic education, when a reasonable, extremely well-educated, respectful lecturer on morality and homosexuality is barred from even engaging in a debate on a Catholic campus. I've made forceful arguments and enjoyed really stimulating discussions over the years at Notre Dame, Boston College, Marquette, Fordham, and many other places of Catholic learning. When will the church realize that allowing the truth to emerge from reason is not a threat to God or the church? Why are we so afraid of the truth? 11 Apr 2008 03:51 pm "Stalker Enthusiast"Strange advertisements for binoculars in 70s/80s era style. 11 Apr 2008 03:46 pm The Toll, ContinuedA reader writes:
Continue reading "The Toll, Continued" » 11 Apr 2008 03:40 pm Gerson On PEPFARIt's a very encouraging column, and it will always be on the good side of the ledger of the Bush administration: that they gave a damn about people with HIV when they didn't have to. PEPFAR is still up for renewal, and the repeal of the ban on all travel and immigration into the US for people with HIV is finally in the Senate version. No other civilized country still has this ban, enacted by Jesse Helms decades ago. And yet there is still some Republican resistance to lifting it. The president and his friends who have done so much to alleviate the stigma of HIV in America and the world need to tell their GOP allies that there is nothing to fear in removing this anachronism. It will simply treat HIV as it does every other similar disease and require all immigrants to prove that their illness will not become a public charge on government services or expenditure. And it will end an unwarranted stigma and allow the US to be treated once again as a leader - rather than an immigration outlier like Sudan and Saudi Arabia - in the way it treats all non-citizens with HIV. 11 Apr 2008 03:22 pm Immaturity Has BenefitsHumans' long development phase may have more purpose than you think. (Hat Tip: aldaily) 11 Apr 2008 02:50 pm Art In IraqHas it ground to a halt? From an Iraqi sculptor on the NYT blog:
But those murals on the massive concrete walls we've constructed to separate sects? Who's painting them? 11 Apr 2008 02:50 pm Creationist BubblesScientific American reviews Stein's Expelled:
Continue reading "Creationist Bubbles" » 11 Apr 2008 02:14 pm Mental Health BreakSeeing music: (Hat tip: Notcot) 11 Apr 2008 01:45 pm Lesbians And ClintonA reader writes:
Continue reading "Lesbians And Clinton" » 11 Apr 2008 01:37 pm Krauthammer vs Krauthammer
Is Iran deterrable or not? And if it is, why is Israel's own nuclear deterrence not enough? Joe Klein weighs in here. 11 Apr 2008 01:18 pm Not A Flip-Flop?Michael Scherer studies McCain's position on torture. Marc summarizes McCain's stance. My own view and distinct recall of the passage of the Military Commissions Act is that McCain blinked - and is still blinking in the face of massive pressure from the torture-wing of the GOP, which has at its center the vice-president's office. Largely, I think McCain's stand has been admirable; but it would not be intellectually honest to describe it as steadfast. Maybe if he gets to be president, this nightmare will end. But his legislative actions have ensured legal immunity for the civilian war criminals and the possible continuation of torture under Cheney's and Bush's extra-legal rule. 11 Apr 2008 01:10 pm "Nothing But Contempt"Begala has at Penn. It is also, sadly, hard not to feel the same thing about Begala. I don't think I've ever heard him say in public something that wasn't purely designed to achieve a political end. He was trained by the Clintons well. 11 Apr 2008 01:07 pm Bill's BillHe's earned tens of millions - but still costs tax-payers almost twice as much as any other ex-president. 11 Apr 2008 12:55 pm The Far Right and ObamaThey are now using his staggeringly honest autobiography against him, using out-of-context quotes to make him seem like a racist. Yes, the repellent Coulter - still treated as a legitimate voice on the far right - has called Obama's book a dime-store "Mein Kampf." Sometimes I wonder if some white Republicans actually believe that black people in this country have no reason to feel any anger or alienation at times. I'm not talking about letting it consume you - just feeling it, dealing with it, managing it. I guess I might feel the same way as these sheltered folk if I weren't gay. But anger is a totally legitimate thing to feel when you grow up and realize you will never be allowed to celebrate a marriage or build a family like your parents or siblings. It is totally legitimate when your emotional core is constantly ridiculed, demeaned and even treated as a sickness or a sin. It became a necessity when hundreds of thousands died while others looked on, or persecuted the sick with segregation or disdain, or blamed them for their disease. It is totally understandable when even now, after living in this country for 24 years, with a family and a home, I have to seek a waiver from the government every year to allow me to stay in this country because I have HIV, and only people married to a member of the opposite sex are treated like human beings if immigrants. The government denies you family, dignity and even a secure home - and you are never supposed to feel anger? My "conservative" position in gay politics has never been that anger is wrong. It is that it cannot provide the full answer. It's a trap that can destroy you if you allow it to. We have to get beyond anger to explain, engage, persuade, reason, integrate ... in order to make anger less relevant to the next generation. With gays, each generation springs afresh from new heterosexual homes and families, and so healing can be relatively fast, even if it is never easy. But with African-Americans, these disadvantages and resentments and feelings are more easily passed from generation to generation, and skin color can act as a constant, unpassable feature of your life that can drive you crazy if you do not master it. Economics entrenches this. You have to be blind not to see the pathos of so many trapped in this. Conservatives should be able to see this pain, and help alleviate it in ways that make sense (not socialism or big government dependency), not dismiss it as a form of hatred. The great spiritual gift of Obama is that he has mastered this - not by suppressing it or denying it. But by confronting it, looking at it, expressing it, and channeling it to better ends. That some on the far right would now use this process of honesty as a way to describe Obama as a racist is a sign of their cramped hearts, frightened souls and utter inability to empathize. One day, they will feel ashamed. Right now, they simply have to be overcome. (Photo: Tim Sloan/AFP/Getty.) 11 Apr 2008 12:32 pm Relieving The Military's Strain?Not-so-fast. Phillip Carter writes about actual combat tour length:
11 Apr 2008 12:31 pm McCain Sends ArnoldThat's his surrogate at the Log Cabin Republican convention - something Bush never did to my knowledge. McCain has said he'll meet with LCR's leadership. If you want a sign that Rove's bigotry may not define the GOP in this election cycle, this is a small, slender reed of hope. McCain should support some kind of civil union for gay couples. He'd bring a lot of moderate Republicans with him if he dropped the total, blanket hostility to legal protection for gay relationships that the national GOP now upholds. More from the convention here. 11 Apr 2008 12:03 pm Eight Factual Errors?Tapper checks Bill's latest flim-flam on Bosnia. Man, has that old pol lost his touch. 11 Apr 2008 11:51 am The Mood In IraqMichael Yon argues that it's more important than statistics or over-arching calcification of the "political" system. And he says it's changed dramatically since the change in US strategy:
This is obviously a subjective and anecdotal inference, as Yon concedes. But it may be true - I cannot know this far away - and worth adding to the equation. 11 Apr 2008 11:42 am Aging TalentConcerts won't save music:
11 Apr 2008 11:40 am "You are truly a piece of work, Hillary Clinton."Brendan Loy tells the truth. 11 Apr 2008 11:34 am Brown To Hire Penn?Uh-oh. I guess the Tories will win next time, then, won't they? |










