Friday, May 2, 2008

02 May 2008 12:58 pm

Talking To The Other Side

Peter Suderman doesn't understand why Democrats don't want their politicians going on Fox.

02 May 2008 12:41 pm

Government-Assisted Suicide

Megan blames the government for the DC Madam's suicide:

When an unjust law makes someone's life so unendurable that they end it, I lay much of the responsibility at the foot of the law, the system that contributed. Yes, clinical depression is complicated. But suicide very often has a traumatic trigger, and it's pretty clear that the trigger here was the unnecessary prosecution of a woman who wasn't doing anything the government had any business interfering with.

We sometimes forget that the people in the glare of our media frenzies are human beings.

02 May 2008 12:29 pm

Quote For The Day

"When I said [I was] 'disgusted,' that came with the ABC debate. When she threw out [Nation of Islam leader Louis] Farrakhan, when she said the word Farrakhan and Hamas -- to somehow attach that to Sen. Obama -- I just thought that was beneath everything that she used to stand for. And I think at some point, she's going to be disappointed in herself for having done that," - Michael Moore, on Larry King.

He makes the elemental error of thinking either Clinton ever asks him or herself the question: was it wrong for me to do or say that? They only ever ask: did I get away with it?

02 May 2008 12:03 pm

"The dumbest thing I've heard in an awful long time"

Bloomberg on the McClinton gas tax summer holiday. But Clinton gets even more shameless - admonishing the Congress to act. Jeez. Listen to her:

"I believe it would be important to get every member of Congress on record," she said, per NBC/NJ's MIke Memoli. "Do they stand with the hard-pressed Americans who are trying to pay their gas bills at the gas station or do they once again stand with the oil companies? That's a vote I'm going to try to get, because I want to know where people stand, and I want them to tell us - are they with us or against us when it comes to taking on the oil companies?"

Blech. Once the primaries are over, she'll be dropping the subject.

02 May 2008 11:59 am

In Britain, The Tories Surge

An historic landslide in local elections pushes the Labour party into third place. It now looks extremely likely that my old college friend, Boris Johnson, will be the next mayor of London, which, to those of us who knew him, is simultaneously exhilarating and terrifying. But this is great news for the new green, moderate Tory leader, David Cameron. By taking the Tories back to the center (in stark contrast to the direction Rove and Bush have taken the Republicans), the prime minister's job is now his to lose in the next general election.

02 May 2008 11:42 am

One More Drug War Victim

At some point, I presume, enough people will get sick of this:

A musician who was denied a liver transplant because he used marijuana with medical approval under Washington state law to ease the symptoms of advanced hepatitis C died Thursday.

02 May 2008 11:20 am

Debating The Real Issues

Commentary's Abe Greenwald takes Obama to task for refusing coffee and asking for orange juice instead:

The switch from juice to coffee is a rite of adulthood. It’s not that Obama seemed to hold himself above the coffee drinkers. It’s that he seemed to lag behind them. He’s still on fruit juice while the adults are sipping bitter and bracing coffee.

Even his commenters say this is stretching it:

You guys are just running out of things to say.

Continue reading "Debating The Real Issues" »

02 May 2008 11:06 am

The Meaning Of Obama

A reader writes:

In this ongoing debate between your Boomer and Gen-Y readers, neither side can see the forest for the trees.  The most sensible way of viewing this, appropriately, is through the middle-ground lens of Obamaian politics:

Yes, Obama has moved a generation of people who came of age knowing two political monarchs: the Clintons, and the Bushes.  I'm 20 -- I'm one of those people.  And yes, the reason Obama has so inspired us is that he makes us believe politics can work for us. 

But to call it an intelligent move to opt out should he somehow fail requires a philosophy bordering on nihilism.  Obama is not our savior, and you were right when you wrote that his campaign represents exactly the opposite of messianism.  His greatest accomplishment is that he has reminded my generation of the power we have to hold our leaders accountable.  And sure, it will be a lot easier to believe that if he wins.  But if he doesn't, we cannot abandon that fundamental truth of his candidacy.  To do so would not be intelligent -- it would be stupidly hopeless.

I couldn't agree more.

02 May 2008 10:59 am

McCain's Jeremiah Wright

It's George W. Bush:

02 May 2008 10:39 am

After Wright Week

Richelieu accesses the damage:

Obama was sloppy about it and late, but he now has the right political answer to Wright: I'm finished with him. And while GOP hearts were undoubtedly warmed by the whole fiasco, the odds are that Rev. Wright is now an issue in decline; some damage done but little chance he'll be the big factor in October among swing voters who will decide the election.

Obamalibs and Obamacons need to take a deep breath and realize that the most collateral damage is now. And the good news is: unless Wright decides to become an even bigger asshole, the worst is over. And Clinton still can't win.

02 May 2008 10:27 am

Webb For Obama Veep?

Many readers like the idea. A typical email:

Makes a ton of sense, subject to the caveat (is he a loose cannon?) that you noted.  He reinforces Obama's "Iraq" and "change" messages; has national security cred (was Reagan's Navy Secretary) without being an old insider; clearly has the testicular fortitude to be an attack-dog when necessary, yet (as a former Republican) can claim to be post-partisan; has (had?) a son in Iraq just like McCain; was a Vietnam hero like McCain; and may even be able to reach the Appalachian Scots-Irish demographic that Obama has had so much trouble winning.  And, of course, he could help in Virginia, a state that already looks promising for Obama.

02 May 2008 10:01 am

Life/Death, Ctd

A reader writes:

As the father of two very young boys, there is a deep empathetic sorrow when looking at those photos.  We forget, in an era of camera phones, that those images were meant to be the last and perhaps only reminder of deepest love, affection and tenderness. It is not about death.  It is about memory.  Our terribly human and ultimately feeble attempt to hold onto that which is gone from us.

02 May 2008 09:55 am

Sid vs Obama

After once smearing Lewinsky as a liar, the Hugh Hewitt of the Clintons is still at it:

Almost every day over the past six months, I have been the recipient of an email that attacks Obama's character, political views, electability, and real or manufactured associations. The original source of many of these hit pieces are virulent and sometimes extreme right-wing websites, bloggers, and publications.  But they aren't being emailed out from some fringe right-wing group that somehow managed to get my email address.  Instead, it is Sidney Blumenthal who, on a regular basis, methodically dispatches these email mudballs ...

Whatever works, whatever works ... to keep the Clinton machine in control of the Dems.

02 May 2008 09:48 am

China's Number One

In CO2 pollution, that is.

02 May 2008 09:06 am

The View From Your Car Window

Amado, Arizona, 6.30 pm. Don't get any ideas: car window views are accepted very, very occasionally, if they're exceptionally evocative in the judgment of our blue ribbon panel of judges.

02 May 2008 08:31 am

Looking To November

Daniel McCarthy on Obama's slump:

The political environment that exists now...is nothing like the one that will exist in the summer, let alone November, when the Democrats will be fighting McCain instead of each other and the media glare will be upon the Arizonan as well as Obama. The present circumstances are — as several commentators, including me, have pointed out — the best that McCain is likely to enjoy for the rest of the season. I suspect present conditions are also nearly rock-bottom for Obama, though it’s a mistake ever to underestimate how much slime a Clinton can excrete. Nevertheless, barring new skeletons spilling out of Obama’s closest, the race is going to get better for him and worse for McCain.

Here's hoping.

02 May 2008 07:57 am

The Gas Tax Holiday Opportunity

Chait gives four reasons why Obama's stance on the gas tax holiday helps his campaign. I wish I could be as confident. You have to hand it to the Clintons: there's no racial subtext they won't exploit; and no gimmick they won't deploy.

(Hat tip: Publius)

02 May 2008 07:15 am

Is It Porn Or "The Hills"?

I link. You decide. Never say I don't care about my straight male and lesbian readers.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

01 May 2008 11:02 pm

Death, Children, Victorians

A reader writes:

In regards to the Victorian post-mortem photographs, notice how very, very many of them are children.  Sometimes infants, sometimes toddlers or school-age kids, but children.  Not teenagers who might have been working (it was the Victorian era, after all), not young adults who might have died by violence that perhaps they might have been partially responsible for.  Children.  I'm an ICU physician in a busy pediatric intensive care unit.  I've seen enough children die to last me the rest of my or anybody else's life.  I'm as aware as anyone what an awful, nearly-irrecoverable mess we in this country have made of the environment, of national and global politics, of the economy. 

But one thing tells me that there's a chance for humanity - so many fewer dead children.  Almost any kid in this country can get a vaccine. Very few - not none, but few - children in this country grow up with unsanitary water.  If you show up in an ER with a serious infection, you'll get treated.  Questions about money might come later, but the treatment will nearly always happen.  It's not a perfect fix by any stretch.  But when a child dies now, it's not a family photograph, it's news.

01 May 2008 09:53 pm

A Clintonite On Indianans

Not a pretty sentiment from Mickey Kantor in 1992:

01 May 2008 09:48 pm

The Priorities Of The Right

A reader notes:

This is fantastic. If you go to The Corner right now:

- The number of times the words "health care" is mentioned: 7
- The number of times the word "Iraq" is mentioned: 15
- The number of times Rev. Wright is mentioned: 230

And no, I'm not kidding.

I bet you're not.

01 May 2008 09:34 pm

Robert P. George To Head AEI?

That's a rumor I just heard. George is by all accounts a charming fellow, good to his students, a wonderful teacher, and a civil, meticulous, if fanatical participant in the culture wars. But he is also one of the most extreme theocons around:

Continue reading "Robert P. George To Head AEI?" »

01 May 2008 08:24 pm

Face Of The Day

Holocaust survivor David Mitzner recites the Kaddish during the Days of Remembrance Program in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol May 1, 2008 in Washington, DC. Organized by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the remembrance program was held on the day of the national commemoration of the holocaust, the attempt by Nazi Germany to extinguish European Jews before and during World War II. Mitzner was born in Warsaw, Poland, and acted as a courier between the Russian and German occupation zones during the war. He was captured and imprisoned in a Soviet gulag in Siberia for eight years. By Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.

01 May 2008 07:09 pm

Not Muddled, Implausible

Ross on McCain's policy problem.

01 May 2008 06:50 pm

What The Old Farts Don't Get

A reader writes:

Your old farts really do miss the point completely, don't they? These younger people were convinced that political involvement was useless because the the system was so broken. They came of age anywhere from the second Clinton term (Lewinsky) through the disaster of the Bush years. They have no reason to believe that politics can work, or that it is possible to effect any large scale change, so they work locally or just opt out.

This is what Obama has tapped into. The reason all those thousands of young Dems registered for the first time and voted in a primary was because he made them believe honorable politics was possible. And if someone like Obama gets chewed up by the system because the forces arrayed against him are too strong -- just look at the sworn enemies who are teaming up to bring him down, united by nothing more than a vested interest in the status quo -- then they will conclude that the system is as broken as they thought it was.

The mistake is reading this as an Obama personality cult, in which case "grow up" would be appropriate. But the Obamaniacs I meet are nothing like that...

Continue reading "What The Old Farts Don't Get" »

01 May 2008 06:45 pm

Dissent Of The Day

A reader writes:

You wrote about abortion:

"The argument is that life-taking of the innocent is the deepest moral evil."

Actually, this is false--and false for a reason that bears on our political culture.

Continue reading "Dissent Of The Day" »

01 May 2008 06:17 pm

The Next American

A British toddler decides to emigrate:

01 May 2008 06:14 pm

The Most Unpopular President In Modern Times

President Bush sets a new polling record: a 71 percent disapproval rating:

CNN Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider adds, "He is more unpopular than Richard Nixon was just before he resigned from the presidency in August 1974." President Nixon's disapproval rating in August 1974 stood at 67 percent.

And we have months and months to go.

01 May 2008 06:11 pm

Chait vs Media Matters

TNR's TRB is told it's "unethical" to write that Clinton has no chance of becoming the nominee.

01 May 2008 06:03 pm

In The Tank

It seems to me that if ABC News wants to retain any credibility, they have to yank Stephanopoulos from hosting a Clinton town hall event. The pro-Clinton bias is getting ridiculous.

01 May 2008 05:52 pm

Yglesias Award Nominee

“Some people say John McCain isn't conservative enough. But there's more to conservatism than low taxes, Jesus, and waterboarding at Gitmo," - P.J. O'Rourke.

I wish that didn't come across as a brave statement. But for the next generation in particular, conservatism has become synonymous with debt, torture and bigotry. It will take another generation to repair the damage to the brand that Bush, Cheney and Rove have inflicted.

01 May 2008 05:40 pm

Lose-Lose at Gitmo

A depressing but vivid report from the Hamdan "trial":

This week's proceedings have demonstrated once again that in the military commission system, both sides surely can lose. Hamdan loses no matter the outcome: in the "tales I win, heads you lose" world of Guantánamo detention, even an unlikely acquittal at trial would not lead to release, but to continued indefinite confinement as an "unlawful enemy combatant." And the United States loses by squandering a historic opportunity to demonstrate to the world that it can provide impartial justice instead of pressing forward in a fatally flawed system that permits conviction by hearsay statements extracted through techniques long considered torture by civilized nations.

More here.

01 May 2008 05:26 pm

A Recession Or Not?

A reader writes:

If you define a recession as two consecutive quarters of real GDP declines (as most do), you have to look at what the government uses as their number for inflation.  For the past two quarters, the government has used an inflation number that is in the mid-2% range.  If you used a number that actually reflected inflation (the government's official inflation number has been adjusted numerous times since the 1970s), real GDP would have been negative for both quarters.

Another adds:

I learned in ECON 101 back in 1979 that it constituted back to back negative growth quarters and to be determined by some panel many months or years into the future. So the actual meaning has no real life application. Further, the definition itself is rather arbitrary and archaic in modern times due to rapid fluctuations. In my view, economic conditions should not be constrained by arbitrary dates, if the economy is not growing, then it is a recession; and I would add that if the economy is not growing in pace with population growth then we have what many economists call a growth recession since the per capita GDP is contracting.

01 May 2008 05:03 pm

Is Hillary Clinton Really Eric Cartman?

A reader proposes:

I have thought long and hard  and I believe that Eric Cartman is emblematic of Hillary Clinton both physically as well as in maturity and of course the overwhelming need for us Americans to respect her authoritah! 

Cartman is also, of course, a complete chameleon, depending on whatever he needs to be at the time - and totally evil. But there is one distinction between Cartman and Clinton. In the end, you feel some love for Cartman. And he makes you laugh, while she merely depresses beyond measure.

01 May 2008 04:46 pm

Obama, McCain, Pandering

On ethanol, Philip Klein has a point.

01 May 2008 04:42 pm

Martin Marty On Wright

Even the pastor's defenders think he's lost it in the last week. For Marty's previous assessment of Wright, see here. Wright is doubtless a complex figure: you cannot deny his theological depth, his intellectual gifts, his service in the Marines, his contribution to his community. But he is also clearly an ego-maniac, as some preachers often are. And he has succumbed to bitterness, envy, paranoia and racial polarization. One thing cable news cannot convey: human beings can contain a great deal of good and bad at the same time.

01 May 2008 04:42 pm

A "No-Brainer"

That's how the vice-president of the United States described the following as practised by the American government:

01 May 2008 04:18 pm

An Iranian Dissident Blogger For Obama

He gets the quantum leap in soft power that an Obama presidency would give the U.S.. The Obama candidacy is potentially the most powerful weapon against Islamism this country now has:

Many Iranians are obsessed with Barack Obama. If he goes to Iran, I'm sure he could fill Tehran's Azadi Stadium, which has a capacity of 100,000. To a large extent this is because of the nature of Obama's message about change and hope. Iranian people truly want to change their situation, get rid of decades of marginalization and restore their reputation in the world. They feel connected to his message of change. They are tired of living under the threat of economic sanctions and military attacks. Obama's remark about initiating a dialogue with Iran translated for many Iranians into hopes of normalizing the relationship between the countries and Iran rejoining the international community. For many Iranian women struggling for women's rights, Hillary is incredibly inspiring. Senator McCain, on the other hand, they see as just as a third term of President Bush, and I see no reason for them to connect to him.

Obama remains a game-changer. Hence the resistance from the neocon right, whose interest is in keeping the game as it is. But the interests of the neoconservatives are not necessarily the best interests of the United States. As we have ruefully discovered.

01 May 2008 03:58 pm

Robo-Bug Army

Beware the mini-drones.

01 May 2008 03:47 pm

Killed By Their Own Inventions

Some salutary tales from the edges of research.

01 May 2008 03:39 pm

Life/Death

Contemporary photographs of the recently deceased cause a frisson of transgressive shock. The Victorians were not so squeamish.

01 May 2008 03:23 pm

Past Present

David Frum:

A century and a half ago, the American news media were small, polemical, often heavily subsidized by political parties and relatively poor. Horace Greeley started the New York Tribune with $1,000 in capital. That was obviously more money in 1841 than it is today, but even then, it was not so much money, not the kind of money needed to start a railway or a foundry, more like the kind of money used to start a nice looking Web site today.

Drop by a successful political blog, and you'll notice something -- ads, lots of ads, but special ads, ads from political candidates. Partisans give money to politicians, who pay money to blogs, in order to raise more money from partisans. Again, that looks more like Horace Greeley than like Walter Cronkite's CBS, and even the big media seem to be trending in this direction.

Fox News was created as America's first self-consciously partisan television network. The success of Fox has called forth the flattery of imitation from MSNBC. Partisanship makes political news pay, and that suggests that if we're going to continue to enjoy political news, we're going to have to tolerate a more partisan media. It's a grim bargain, but then our parents thought that having to endure all those ex-lax commercials during the nightly news was a pretty grim bargain, too.

01 May 2008 03:17 pm

Huckabee On Wright and Obama

I've been really impressed by Huckabee's cable news takes on the Wright-Obama ghastliness. He really does seem like a decent, humane guy.

01 May 2008 03:13 pm

"Testicular Fortitude"

Ambers describes Senator Clinton's self-image.

01 May 2008 03:11 pm

Is Israel Doomed?

Jeffrey Goldberg chats with the wonderfully named Gidi Grinstein.

01 May 2008 03:08 pm

A Million Votes ...

... and a number one best-seller on Amazon. We haven't heard the last from Ron Paul - and the principles he represents. Yes, he was brought down by association. That's what they do, we now know, to prevent change. But they can't win for ever. Vive la resistance!

01 May 2008 03:01 pm

The Facebook Generation

01 May 2008 02:45 pm

Cheap Silicon

The silicon shortage is ending; solar may soon get much more viable.

01 May 2008 02:39 pm

Number 17

01 May 2008 02:35 pm

The Andrew Letter In Full

He's prepared to be targeted by the Clintons, but he takes a stand:

I have been inspired.

Today I am announcing my support for Senator Barack Obama for President of the United States of America. I am changing my support from Senator Clinton to Senator Obama, and calling for my fellow Democrats across my home State of Indiana, and my fellow super delegates across the nation, to heal the rift in our Party and unite behind Barack Obama.

Continue reading "The Andrew Letter In Full" »