Friday, May 23, 2008

23 May 2008 12:59 pm

Don't Do It!

Heh:

Obama insisted on a campaign with a low-drama quotient, and that's basically what he's gotten. If he wants to see a flurry of outrageous memos, suicidal bullying of the press, and prolific backbiting, he should pick Clinton.

23 May 2008 12:54 pm

Just To Make Hitch's Day

A story from the antipodes:

When two New Zealand pilots ran out of fuel in a microlight airplane they offered prayers and were able to make an emergency landing in a field — coming to rest right next to a sign reading, "Jesus is Lord."

23 May 2008 12:20 pm

Team Of Rivals Gaining Traction?

Clinton's leading fundraising chair:

"There's a risk that if she isn't invited on the ticket, Hillary's political and financial supporters may not feel compelled to be as integrated and involved in the Obama campaign in order to provide the maximum support that he'll need to prevail in November."

So it gets clearer that they're bargaining for the veep slot. More straws in the wind here. But the money angle is an absurd lever. Obama's money machine doesn't need Clinton in any way. And the Democrats would be suicidal to turn off that spigot by handing the nomination to Clinton.

Nonetheless, the logic I laid out a few weeks ago still holds. The upside of an Obama-Clinton ticket would be considerable. I know I've been all over the place on this. My fear of an Obama-Clinton ticket is because of what I think of the Clintons. My interest in an Obama-Clinton ticket is because of what I think of the Clintons. They're dangerous to Obama - the overthrown dynasts who are pulling a Richard II right now. But they're just as dangerous in the tent and out of it. Obama needs to figure out which is the greater danger. I don't envy him.

But when you think about it, the Clintons' popular vote argument is not an argument for winning the nomination. You can't change the rules in the fourth quarter. But it is an argument for the veep slot. Put this way, the dead-ender act is not so psycho. The Clintons, like it or not, do have a base in their party. They've been beaten but not destroyed. Obama has to do something about it.

Continue reading "Team Of Rivals Gaining Traction?" »

23 May 2008 12:08 pm

Toxic II

A candidate creates an atmosphere, no? A round-up of pro-Clinton bloggers. Taylor Marsh:

Tumulty, like so many others, are ignoring Clinton's only goal, which is to make the case to SuperDs that she would be the best nominee against John McCain, the traditional media, as well as the Obama blogs, are missing one of the greatest political dramas ever to unfold, second only to the 2000 election.

Clinton is campaigning on counting every single vote. But also that every Democratic delegate should be focused on who can win in November.

Obama is campaigning on disenfranchising voters so he can win, regardless of whether he's got the strongest case for November, which he does not.

TalkLeft:

While the Obama blogs are having a conniption because Hillary Clinton is talking about counting the votes in Florida and Michigan, it remains striking to me that these same blogs have never expressed much concern about the Media's disgraceful behavior in this campaign. Indeed, any mention of the sexism and misogyny in the Media and elsewhere makes them look down at their shoes, or worse, even defend the perpetrators.

Here's a writer at No Quarter going after Josh Marshall:

One is immediately stumped when searching for words that aptly describe the bilge sinking the increasingly cumbersome and tedious vessels that comprise the patently venal fleet of Obamablogs. According to one writer who has a predilection for reinscribing misogynistic tropes in almost every essay he pens, Hillary Clinton is “[t]oxic,” for she has the temerity to situate the controversy surrounding the seating of the delegates of Florida and Michigan within the august traditions of Voting Rights and Civil Rights that define the modern Democratic Party

Wolcott:

I'm still for Hillary, though I recognize that the flag flapping above the fort is tattered and the time is drawing near for the bugler to sound the blue notes of valedictory.

23 May 2008 11:52 am

Internet Rumors

Is Tucker going to make a run at the libertarian ticket? Go Tucker.

23 May 2008 11:35 am

"We All Have A Piece Of Each Other"

Obama in Florida:

23 May 2008 11:32 am

McCain's Anger Management

Yesterday was not a good day.

23 May 2008 11:29 am

Malkin Award Nominee

"Put very simply: John McCain is a liar. He's a man without honor, without integrity, who could not have captured the Republican nomination had he run on making comprehensive immigration a top priority of his administration. Quite frankly, this is little different from George Bush, Sr. breaking his "Read my lips, no new taxes pledge," except that Bush's father was at least smart enough to wait until he got elected before letting all of his supporters know that he was lying to them.

 

Under these circumstances, I simply cannot continue to support a man like John McCain for the presidency. Since that is the case, I have already written the campaign and asked them to take me off of their mailing list and to no longer send me invitations to their teleconferences. I see no point in asking questions to a man who has no compunction about lying through his teeth on one of the most crucial election issues and then changing his position the first time he believes he can get away with it," - John Hawkins, RightWingNews. La Malkin herself seconds:

They’ve learned nothing. Nada. Zippo. How about you?

23 May 2008 11:05 am

The Next Conservative Idea?

Bainbridge:

I can’t think of anything more contrary to the spirit of Burkean conservatism than a search for the “next big thing.” Indeed, I would argue that a large part of the problem with modern conservatism is that Bush and the K Street Gang were more concerned with finding something big to do than with standing athwart history shouting stop.

Megan's response:

...as a policy matter, conservatives need to figure out how they're going to stop the juggernaut. Reagan did it with tax cuts, big increases in defense spending, and deregulation. The first two are pretty much out of the picture, and no one's mounted a serious drive at deregulation for more than a decade. It would be nice if one could win an election on "Don't just do something--stand there!" This would quite warm my little heart. But it doesn't work. Conservatives need to figure out how they are going to roll back the bad ideas and prevent new bad ones from getting through. For that, they need a proposal a bit more eloquent than "Stop!"

My related thoughts here. At a deeper level, the betrayal of so many conservative principles by the Republicans under Bush and Rove means that whatever emerges from the ashes of conservatism will probably not emerge quickly. Obama's redistributionist approach to taxes is galling; his insouciance toward the welfare state unappetising.

Continue reading "The Next Conservative Idea?" »

23 May 2008 10:38 am

California's War Dead

A census of some of the best of America. And how moving that so many were immigrants:

At 7, Victor H. Toledo-Pulido was smuggled across the border from Mexico through rugged mountains into California. He and another soldier were killed in May 2007 when a roadside bomb exploded near their vehicle southeast of Baghdad.

"They judge us, and they say we just come to take their jobs and positions, but we also make sacrifices. Victor worked since he was little, in the fields and in restaurants," his mother, Maria Gaspar, said after the 22-year-old Mexican was killed in Iraq. "He was Mexican, but he thought like an American. And he gave his life for this country."

Dozens more were the children of immigrants, including Bunny Long, 22, a Marine lance corporal whose parents came from Cambodia, where the Khmer Rouge imprisoned them for four years in a labor camp.

"This is our home," his father, Sim Long, said after his son died. "I'm very proud that Bunny was able to give back to his country. Our country."

23 May 2008 10:08 am

Could Gordon Brown Be Dumped?

James Forsyth, perhaps a little excitably, reacts to last night's Tory by-election landslide:

A few weeks ago, the idea that Gordon Brown would be challenged for the Labour leadership would have sounded as, if not more, absurd as the idea that the Tories would win Crewe and Nantwich with a majority of nearly 8,000. But now it seems possible if not yet probable. The number of Labour MPs who now look almost certain to lose their seat is more than the number needed to trigger a leadership contest.

Labour is now in freefall; it is hard to remember the last good week for the government and the public seem to have taken against Brown with a passion. Brown was hidden in this contest—his image was on everyone but Labour’s leaflets. That, obviously, could not be done in a general.

The Guardian panics:

In scenes reminiscent of New Labour's byelection successes in the 90s, jubilant Tories in Crewe and Nantwich celebrated as their candidate, Edward Timpson, won with 20,539 votes, 49%. The result, on a high byelection turnout of 58.2%, was particularly sweet for the public school-educated Timpson, who brushed off Labour's "anti-toff" campaign to secure the Tories' first byelection gain since 1982.

By "anti-toff", read "anti-elitist." If this swing were duplicated in the next general election (which it won't), the Tories would have five times the seats as Labour.

(Photo: Peter MacDiarmid/Getty.)

23 May 2008 10:02 am

Tortured Political Analogy Of The Decade

McCain is David Cook. Not the hair.
 

(Hat tip: Galley Slaves)

23 May 2008 09:53 am

McCarthyism As Farce

Hugh Hewitt:

And did the Obama rally begin with the Soviet National Anthem?

No I didn't make that up.

23 May 2008 09:52 am

Hillary-Induced Madness

John Cole is at his breaking point:

It is mind-numbing. This isn’t an election anymore. This is a secret bet between Bill and Hillary ala Trading Places in which they bet how much bullshit they can make the electorate swallow.

23 May 2008 09:25 am

Burma Is Dying

The human catastrophe continues:

"Why not move the bodies out of the water?" I wonder. Well, where is it dry? Ah, nowhere. The grounds are saturated and now the rains have hit again and are predicted to drop another 12 centimeters of punishing water in the next five days. The UN spokesperson predicted that these rains will collapse those fragile, life-protecting shelters. But wait — weren’t we told earlier that people were congregating in the monasteries where the floors were more stable even if the roofs had fallen in? Yes. But the situation is fluid. The military has sent them home. What home? There is no home. If people congregate with those conniving monks, they might drum up some plans. And so they must go out into the open air.

23 May 2008 09:10 am

Rove's Map

Noah Millman questions a few of the electoral maps floating around. I'm still befuddled why anyone would want to listen to the worst political strategist of our time.

23 May 2008 08:43 am

That Farm Bill

Publius:

I think farm bill opponents need a new political strategy. Most of the opposition focused on how the bill was wasteful pork. And it truly was — reading about it makes you want to take a long shower. But that said, the pork argument doesn’t really resonate all that well...Instead, farm bill opponents should have spent more time arguing that it’s a substantively bad bill — more precisely, it’s a bill that jeopardizes health and increases hunger. For one, the subsidies of corn, sugar, and meat play a huge role in our nation’s obesity problem (not to mention in the broader lack of nutrition).

23 May 2008 08:29 am

The GOP's Job

Ruffini:

In the minority, our job is to 1) make the majority’s life miserable, grinding the House and Senate floors to a halt, and building a narrative of the Democrats as broken and incompetent, and 2) offer big, bold alternatives to this mess like the Contract did in 1994.

Whatever you do, don't cooperate for the common good.

23 May 2008 08:21 am

Nightmare Ticket

The Onion proposes.

23 May 2008 07:58 am

Sistani Shifts

It's another fascinating development:

Iraq's most influential Shiite cleric has been quietly issuing religious edicts declaring that armed resistance against U.S.-led foreign troops is permissible — a potentially significant shift by a key supporter of the Washington-backed government in Baghdad...

But — unlike al-Sadr's anti-American broadsides — the Iranian-born al-Sistani has displayed extreme caution with anything that could imperil the Shiite-dominated government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

The two met Thursday at the elderly cleric's base in the city of Najaf south of Baghdad.

If Maliki continues to isolate Sadr and Sistani backs him, we could have a moment when a Shiite government in Baghdad asks the US to leave. Then what will Bush do? Or McCain?

23 May 2008 07:13 am

On Burke, Etc.

Another view and worth reading. Yes, Burke was a sentimentalist; but he was also a Whig. We should indeed be careful when ascribing issues such as marriage reform to a man who lived centuries before such an idea would become mainstream. But an essay that does not include Burke's support for, say, the American Revolution in its account of his view of political change is incomplete, it seems to me. I might add that my own preference for a skeptical conservative approach to the modern liberal order is much more indebted to Oakeshott than to Burke.

As for Yuval Levin's backing for a Sam's Club conservatism, all I can say is that I admired Ross's and Reihan's contribution (although it isn't out yet), but I don't see government redistribution of taxes and welfare to the working poor to be a genuinely conservative response to growing social and economic inequality. It strikes me as a palliative. And I fear it is more about solidifying a Republican majority than reimagining conservatism in our times. But that's an argument we should probably leave until their book comes out.

23 May 2008 12:50 am

The Kabuki Dance Continues

From the NYT:

A spokesman for Mrs. Clinton’s campaign said Thursday that Mr. Clinton had not had private conversations in which he was pushing her for the vice presidency or arguing that she deserved it, and that he believed the choice of a running mate was a personal one for the nominee.

And "personal" for the Clintons means that one of them is not a part of the decision?

Thursday, May 22, 2008

22 May 2008 11:06 pm

Polling Marriage

Pollster's bottom line:

The net effect of some 16 years of public debate was a 10 point decline in opposition and a 12 point rise in support.

There is an obvious backlash moment in 2004, but it soon recedes and the trend continues. We will continue to have ups and downs. But we have changed consciousness for ever.

22 May 2008 10:57 pm

"Today You Have Rejected The Old Politics"

That's, er, the Conservative candidate in the Crewe by-election in Britain - and now member of parliament. A massive 17 point swing to the Tories. The Anglo-American mood is restive.

22 May 2008 10:04 pm

Political Blogs

A new ranking list of English-language sites from a big news aggregator in Europe, Wikio.

22 May 2008 09:23 pm

Race In Kentucky

From al-Jazeera (via Kos), some raw reporting not widely aired in the US:

22 May 2008 08:25 pm

Quote For The Day

"I can tell you this. My goal is to have the best possible government. And that means me winning. So, I'm very practical in my thinking. I'm a practical guy. One of my heroes is Abraham Lincoln. Awhile back, there was a wonderful book written by Doris Kearns Goodwin called 'Team of Rivals,' in which she talked about how Lincoln basically pulled all the people he'd been running against into his Cabinet. Because whatever personal feelings there were, the issue was, 'How can we get the country through this time of crisis?' I think that has to be the approach one takes to the vice president and the Cabinet," - Barack Obama, in Boca Raton today, according to Andrew Romano.

My piece on Obama and the "Team Of Rivals" can be read here.

22 May 2008 08:02 pm

Dirty Politics In Britain

A video on Labour's class warfare in the Crewe by-election tonight. Tame by Rove standards, of course. But too much for many British voters. The Tories are poised to win another crucial test. Brown's government appears to be crumbling.

22 May 2008 06:53 pm

Let The Children Go

I have to say that I am heartened by the Texas court ruling. I found the forcible separation of so many children from their mothers to be a very unsettling act of government power. The "imminent danger" standard seems a fair one to me.

22 May 2008 06:47 pm

Hillary for SCOTUS??? Ctd

A reader writes:

I had the great honor of clerking at the United States Supreme Court (and before that, clerking for a judge on the District of Columbia Court of Appeals who was later appointed to the Supreme Court).  It is a wonderful, wonderful place to be – if you like quiet, if you don’t mind having a staff of perhaps six or so people total, if you enjoy spending your days reading briefs, opinions, and memos by kids a year out of law school, and if you like keeping a low profile.  (And if you don’t mind wading through the many cases that don’t make the headlines because -- unless you are a law nerd -- they are boring.)

In other words, even though it is a position of great power, it is one where daily life bears not the slightest resemblance to daily life for a person near the top of the Executive or Legislative branch.

Continue reading "Hillary for SCOTUS??? Ctd" »

22 May 2008 06:28 pm

Did She Ask?

Al Giordano:

The Field can now confirm, based on multiple sources, something that both campaigns publicly deny: that Senator Clinton has directly told Senator Obama that she wants to be his vice presidential nominee, and that Senator Obama politely but straightforwardly and irrevocably said “no.” Obama is going to pick his own running mate based on his own criteria and vetting process.

22 May 2008 06:24 pm

Redlasso: YouTube For The Deaf?

A reader writes:

I'm deaf, and I'm so used to being cut out of the whole Youtube phenomenon.  For Obama speeches, I've got this whole thing down where I open two windows, one with the speech and one with the transcript, and go back and forth between them (I'm a good lipreader so it works pretty well).  Then I found out that Obama's campaign has a whole section of captioned videos on his website -- only candidate to do so!  (I was already a major fan but that helped.)

Still, it's a section rather than everything, and I'm used to just watching videos you post to get a flavor -- facial expressions, that sort of thing.

So I was thrilled when I noticed that the video you posted a bit ago, Ellen talking to McCain about gay marriage, had a "cc" symbol in the upper right corner.  I jumped through some hoops, downloaded some stuff, et voila -- captions!

I'll tell Redlasso directly about my happiness too but wanted to let you know, in case it's an element you hadn't thought of and you were weighing which of two versions of the same video to post.

22 May 2008 05:47 pm

Face Of The Day

Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman testifies regarding the Bush Administration's energy policy in the House of Representatives May 22, 2008 in Washington, DC. Bodman rejected a call from some in Congress to release some of the government's Strategic Petroleum Reserve. By Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images.

22 May 2008 05:13 pm

Dynasticism Watch

Could someone please tell Ted Kennedy that the Senate is no family's preserve?

22 May 2008 05:03 pm

About Last Night

Thanks to all of you who came to the Immigration Equality Awards and fundraiser in Chelsea last night. It became a standing room only event, and raised around $200,000. Listening to my fellow honoree, Stacey-Ann Chin, was a particular pleasure. Funny and acerbic and self-aware, she nonetheless managed to convey what it is for some people around the world to live as gay or bi or transgender. In Jamaica, her homeland, to be gay is to live with a risk of constant physical danger, along with psychological and spiritual etiolation. Immigration Equality has rescued dozens of gay asylum-seekers, fleeing regimes murderously intent on abusing them and their loved ones. It has also done a huge amount to raise awareness of the US's still-standing ban on any and all HIV-positive tourists, visitors and immigrants. I was really honored to be there. And you can still donate here.

22 May 2008 04:49 pm

McCain's Medical Records

Timed for a Friday release before a Holiday weekend. If there's some troubling data in there, I don't think this is a story that will be over by next Tuesday. Age should not be an issue, in my view. But health is a legitimate question in a presidential candidate. I hope the Senator is in fine form. He certainly keeps a schedule that would defeat most forty year-olds.

22 May 2008 04:43 pm

Strict Scrutiny And Gay Rights

Dale Carpenter looks at the deeper and longer-lasting legacy of the California court decision.

22 May 2008 04:26 pm

Is Environmentalism A Religion?

NRO echoes NYRB. And, of course, it can be a religion. But I don't see why it has to. Finding pragmatic solutions to pressing problems is not a religious crusade. But if the problems can be overcome by human adaptation but remain fatal for other species, is there not another dimension here? Here's the latest on what is happening to our planet:

The Living Planet Index monitors more than 1,400 species. From 1970 to 2005 the report shows an overall fall in population trends of 27%.

The declines are due to human activity such as habitat destruction, pollution, overexploitation such as fishing, the spread of invasive species and climate change.

Obviously, these changes have happened for ever - but there is little doubt we are accelerating them. And this does reach deeper, moral questions. Do we humans have a moral obligation to the planet we live on, to the species with whom we share this world? I'd say a firm yes. I don't believe that our world is merely to be used with no respect for its conservation. Does this spring from a religious viewpoint? In my case, yes. But it isn't necessary to view this moral obligation from a religious viewpoint in order to see it as a powerful principle to defend. (And if you haven't read Matt Scully's book, Dominion, do yourself a favor.)

                        

22 May 2008 04:11 pm

"Toxic" And "Poison"

Josh Marshall and Jonathan Alter unload on the unhinged Clintons.

22 May 2008 03:56 pm

Feel The Blog Love

The Dish list of our favorite blogs keeps expanding. Check them all out in the lower right-hand column called "Blog Love". If you're new to the blogosphere, it's a pretty good list of many of the best out there. Surf on.

22 May 2008 03:51 pm

Ellen vs McCain On Marriage

It really does get personal when you're told to sit in a special segregated section of the marriage bus:

To me what it feels like just, you know, I will speak for myself...it feels when someone says you can have a contract and you'll still have insurance and you'll get all that. It sounds to me like saying well you can sit there (points in one direction), you just can't sit there (points in another direction). That's what it sounds like to me. It doesn't feel inclusive. It feels isolated. It feels like we aren't owed the same things and the same wording.

MCCAIN: Well, I've heard you articulate that position in a very eloquent fashion. We just have a disagreement and I, along with many, many others wish you every happiness.

ELLEN: Thank you. So you'll walk me down the aisle? Is that what you said?

MCCAIN: Touché

If everyone can muster the courage and integrity of Ellen DeGeneres, we will win the vote in California. And we will deserve to. This really is a challenge to the gay community and our families and friends: this is the fight of our generation. What have you done to make it happen?

22 May 2008 03:45 pm

"Far From A Travesty"

Suderman reviews the new Indy movie. Aaron has made me watch the prequels. I forgot how good - and trend-setting - the first one was. Malkin would like Indy to be less Blue State. Sigh.

22 May 2008 03:41 pm

The Tasmanian Tiger Returns?

Adventures in science.

22 May 2008 03:27 pm

Burke And Problems

I don't disagree with Yuval Levin's point about Burke's distinction between "reformation and "change." It's what I was trying to express this way:

[Conservatism] is about a modesty toward what problems government can ever solve. Its responses to emergent questions will not be an attempt to "solve" them, but to ameliorate them with a narrow set of tools.

There is a distinction between tackling problems pragmatically in order to maintain a coherence in a society as it changes over time - and the liberal notion that any given human problem can be definitively "solved." Burke expressed it better, of course, and Yuval's quote is well worth a read.

I used the climate change example - an attempt to address a pressing problem without claiming to definitively solve it, or expanding government's reach still further in overly elaborate and ambitious regulatory schemes. The same perspective informs my own view of marriage reform.

Continue reading "Burke And Problems" »

22 May 2008 03:26 pm

Free Votes Or Culture War?

William Saletan looks at how the British House Of Commons voted on various child-related measures. There's the usual and vital sense of moral engagement as the US - but nowhere near as much polarization. Same with gay issues. And the death penalty. A key aspect is what the Brits call "free votes" in Parliament. On central moral issues, where religion and conscience play a role, the parliamentary parties remove any obligation to follow a party line. There is no cost to violating the party leadership's position. In this pragmatic way, the British have always avoided the danger of Christianism - the conflation of religion and politics and especially the conflation of religion and partisan politics. It's a more civilized way of dealing with these issues. Which us why uncivilized people like Karl Rove don't care for it.

22 May 2008 03:21 pm

Judgment Day

David Corn on Clinton's recent actions:

As Clinton comes to terms with what seems to be defeat, she is trying to have it both ways. She's doing nothing overt to undermine the likely nominee of her party, but she ain't bowing out and she keeps on insisting her party's making a big mistake. None of this is too much of a drag on Obama at the moment. But come June 3--or thereabouts--Clinton is going to have to quit or fire off one helluva shot. Judgment Day is nearing.

Actually, Judgment Day was a long time ago. If I were forced to predict, I'd say she's taking it to Denver. Yes, they're that psycho.

22 May 2008 03:15 pm

Blogger, Please

"At some point I'd grown accustomed to the idea that there was a public place where I would always be allowed to write, without supervision, about how I felt. Even having to take into account someone else's feelings about being written about felt like being stifled in some essential way," - whiney narcissist Emily Gould.

22 May 2008 03:08 pm

Now: Green Boobage

Scientific breakthroughs of the day: briefs that monitor your blood pressure and a solar powered bra.

22 May 2008 02:51 pm

Malkin Award Nominee

"Ask your county clerk if they were a Nazi officer during WWII and had been ordered to gas the Jews, would they? At the Nuremberg trials, they would have been convicted of murder for following this immoral order," - anti-gay group Save California on county clerks issuing marriage licenses to gay couples.

22 May 2008 02:34 pm

See You There

The Democratic convention is powered by Coors.