Author: Matthew G. Saroff

Alterman on Stevenson

No Comments

Eric Alterman explains why comparing Obama to Adlai Stevenson is not a compliment.

Stevenson was a snob, and in many ways, not much of a liberal. He charmed intellectuals with his calls for a commitment to “cold-eyed humility” and a recognition that “our wisdom is imperfect and our capabilities … limited.” Though he might have been a classier fellow than General Eisenhower, bookwise — an ironic egghead after their own hearts — his politics were frequently indistinguishable from the plain-spoken military man. (When following his election loss, a woman tired to soothe his feelings by telling him that he had “educated the country,” Stevenson replied: “Yes, but a lot of people flunked the exam.” Stevenson’s high opinion of his own intellect helped define in the public mind the “effete liberal” stereotype. Yet Stevenson was hardly less committed to the Cold War than Eisenhower, and though he opposed McCarthyism, he had no problem with dismissing teachers for being Party Members or using the Smith Act to prosecute others. In this regard, he epitomized the weak-kneed response of so many liberals to what was among the most significant threats to civil liberties in the history of the republic, and later, the cause of much disillusionment on the part of young leftists with their tut-tutting liberal elders. In keeping with his profile in cowardice, Stevenson also opposed both public housing and what he called “socialized medicine.” He had little sympathy for much of the New Deal and a great deal of trouble making up his mind about the repeal of Taft-Hartley Act. Regarding the great moral and political and political issue for American liberals, civil rights, he was notably AWOL. (In this respect, he was less brave, and less liberal than the much-derided Truman.) Yes, the Kennedys treated Stevenson unconscionably, but Irving Howe aptly termed “Adlaism” to be “Ikeism … with a touch of literacy and intelligence.”

In fact, in this assessment, Stevenson come across far more like Joe Lieberman than even the troubled nobility of “Hamlet”.

White House Attempting to Foist Permanent Military Presence in Iraq, Chris Dodd Says No Bloody Way

No Comments

The White House and the genocidal ethnic cleansers Iraqi government have released a statement of principles that amounts to an agreement to have US troops in Iraq FOREVER.

Chris Dodd has released a statement vehemently disagreeing with this:

Frankly, it’s hard to believe that the Administration is just beginning to figure out what the future bilateral relationship with Iraq should look like after more than four years of military occupation. But, this declaration of principles is more notable for what it doesn’t say than what it does. It does not require Iraqi leaders to make substantive progress on their political benchmarks nor does it end US military involvement in Iraq. Indeed, Senator Dodd is fearful that the lack of clarity on the long-term presence will be used as a justification by this Administration for a permanent military presence in Iraq, at precisely the time when we should be declaring the opposite. In a Dodd Adminsitration, there will be no permanent bases in Iraq.

Update:
Obama and Clinton have now declared themselves to be members of the “No Permanent Bases” caucus too.

Arabs Bail Out Citigroup…AGAIN!!!!

No Comments

In 2001, Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal rescued Citigroup, and this time, it’s the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

BTW, look at the terms:

  • They get a 4.9% stake.
  • In exchange for its investment, ADIA will receive convertible stock in Citigroup yielding 11% annually. (They are making the loan at 11%, when junk bonds get 9%, WTF????)
  • The shares are “required to be converted into common stock at a conversion price of between $31.83 and $37.24 a share over a period of time between March 2010 and September 2011.” (It’s currently trading at $29.75, the lowest since 2002, so this means that the conversion essentially means that they are very nearly paying for this investment)
  • This gives them a bigger stake in the firm than Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. (remember him?)

If this company isn’t functionally insolvent, then its management needs to go to be fired, and criminally investigated, because the only way a non-insolvent company takes a deal this bad is if someone is breaking the law.

Investors have increasingly expressed concerns about Citigroup’s “tier 1” capital levels — a common measure of a bank’s capital adequacy — which for the first time in years fell below its 7.5% target in the third quarter. Although the bank is still considered to be well capitalized, investors worried that Citigroup would be forced to cut its dividend.

H/T The Big Picture.

Trent Lott’s Retirement Announcement…Made Alone

No Comments

Seriously, when was the last time that you saw a major political figure making a retirement announcement without his family there, or at least his entourage?

Adblock

Something funny is going on here.

The current conventional wisdom is that he is doing this because he wants to avoid the two year wait that is required if he waits until after January 1 by the new ethics reform laws, but the fact is that he can do an awful lot, and get paid for it, as a “consultant” anyway.

Of further interest is that because he is resigning in an odd numbered year, Mississippi is required to hold a special election within 90 days, and with the DSCC flush, and the RSCC flat broke, this actually provides a small chance of a Democratic pickup in what would be a low turnout election.

There is the possibility is that some sort of scandal is brewing, most likely either something related to the VECO bribery that has ensnared the entire Alaska congressional delegation, or sex.

It it’s sex, it could be either the DC Madame, or the promised revelations by Larry Flynt.

My money would be on sex, particularly of the gay variety, since any bribery allegations would still end up seeing the light of day if he left.

Then again, this might just a big F$#@ you to Bush, who gleefully knifed him over his Strom Thurmond comments.

Clinton Promises Major Increase in Autism Funding

No Comments

Full disclosure, my son is on the spectrum, very high functioning Aspergers, so I consider this statement from the front runner that she plans to increase funding for research and education to $700 million a year to be a very good thing.

By way of comparison, that figure is 7½ days in Iraq.

I once read that a majority of people in prison were learning disabled, when we neglect them, we neglect the needs of the greater society.

Rumsfeld Torture Case Dismissed

No Comments

French prosecutors have dismissed a torture case against Donald Rumsfeld based on “customary immunity”…Funny thing though…I’ve never heard them claim this immunity with Israelis. (FWIW, I do believe that Sharon should have spent some time in the clink for his roll in the Sabra and Shatila massacres, because he was at the very least criminally negligent).

My guess is that this came straight from Sarkosy.

Oral Roberts’ Son Resigns as President of Oral Roberts University

No Comments

Shades of Elmer Gantry. They go into the more prosaic stuff, like a nearly $40 thousand shopping spree, and a nearly $30 thousand senior trip for his kids, repeatedly remodeling their home, and requiring students to work on a political campaign for a specific candidate.

There are also allegations that his wife had an inappropriate relationship with an underage student, or students, at the university.

There is a lot to be found, now that the rock has been turned over. I could see a reprise of the Jim and Tammy Fae Bakker PTL ministries.

Bush’s Australian Lapdog Goes Down to Defeat

No Comments

Bush’s best friend in the South Pacific, and a race baiting demagogue, John Howard, has gone down to defeat in Australia. He placed combat troops in Iraq, and endorsed the politics of fear with a zeal that rivals that of Bush and His Evil Minions™.

What’s more, John Howard will lose his own seat, and his party is in opposition in every state and territory.

The Australian people were sick and tired of a government that was more frightening them than it was in serving then.

Would that we had a parliamentary system here.

Gee, People are Upset That Edwards Tells the Truth

No Comments

I’m not a fan of Senator Clinton. I am less of a fan of Obama, whose Adlai Stevensonesque Hamlet act is very old, and whose homophobic dog whistle overtures to socially conservative black Democrats in South Carolina are despicable.

What John Edwards is saying is factually accurate. Clinton is refusing to commit to removing troops from a combat role in Iraq, and while not personally corrupt herself*, she has surrounded herself with people who make money lobbying for big money interests, Mark Penn only being the most egregious case, and she has defended this system of pay to play in the debates.

It is a legitimate course for Edwards to take. For what it’s worth, FDR was very much the slick prepackaged politician in 1932, so Hillary may be better than I expect if she gets the nomination, and wins the general, which is the likely result for any Democrat who wins the nomination this time around.

*She is arguably the second most investigated individual of the past 30 years. The best that Richard Mellon Scaife could come up with Whitewater, a land deal in which she lost money.

Courts Allowing Electronic of Suspects Without Probable Cause

No Comments

Welcome to 1984, only 23 years late.

The feds are increasingly using the enhanced 911 services to track people’s movements, and most of the judicial precedent at this point is saying that they do not need probable cause to get a court order, it is noted that, “Such requests run counter to the Justice Department’s internal recommendation that federal prosecutors seek warrants based on probable cause to obtain precise location data in private areas”, so we get

In one case last month in a southwestern state, an FBI agent obtained precise location data with a court order based on the lower standard, citing “specific and articulable facts” showing reasonable grounds to believe the data are “relevant to an ongoing criminal investigation,” said Al Gidari, a partner at Perkins Coie in Seattle, who reviews data requests for carriers.

Which means that the agents think that all they need to show is that they want the information.

Conversational Hebrew

No Comments

This little tidbit from the times gives one a pretty good idea how people think what they really think about Condoleeza Rice:

The long buildup to Annapolis, together with Ms. Rice’s many trips to the region, have given birth to a new verb in Israeli government circles: “lecondel,” meaning, to come and go for meetings that produce few results. The word is based on Ms. Rice’s first name.

This misadministration still shocks me with its incompetence.

Republican Rivals Start Opposition Research Huckabee

No Comments

Well, this is pretty good evidence that he has them running scared.

I’m not sure really why the need to do the research though. They already have the very public case of Wayne Dumond, where Huckabee lobbied for the convicted rapist’s parole, and Dumond later raped and murdered a neighbor.

He did this because Dumond’s first victim was a distant cousin of Clinton, so the wingers were claiming that he was “railroaded”, because…well…it involved Bill Clinton.

This is how Wingnuts thing.

Georgia’s Sex Offender Housing Laws Overturned

No Comments

This law basically amounted to exile from the state, as it prohibited “registered sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of schools, churches and other areas where children congregate”, and the Georgia supreme court has ruled it unconstitutional.

There were a number of problems with the law:

  • It applied to all sex offenders, so people who were no threat to children, like indecent exposure, public sex or lewdness (like Larry Craig), etc. were covered.
  • It covered 150,000 school bus stops in the state, making it’s coverage too broad.
  • As the court noted, offenders obeying the law, “face the possibility of being repeatedly uprooted and forced to abandon homes.”

Honestly, it’s not like pedophiles can’t drive. I understand that the case that brought this on was a sex offender that was living near a day care center and re-offended, but this should be handled through the corrections process, such as longer sentences, and probation conditions.

Mike Huckabee Calls for Investigation of Bush Over Plame Leak

No Comments

I think that Huckabee has been tacking a bit against Bush, he unfavorably compared Bush and Musharraf, but his latest statement, calling for an investigation of Bush on the Plame affair, is kind of stunning.

I think that Huckabee believes that he can win by tacking against Bush. There is a significant enough plurality of Republicans who are sick of Bush to put him over the top in a multi candidate field.