Category: Politics

Howard Dean’s 50 State Strategy is Dead

No Comments

I agree with Chris Bowers’ assessment.

They are looking at more centralized control (under Howard Dean’s 50 state strategy, the money was sent to the state committees to hire organizers), and more focus on swing states.

Not surprising. The first thing that a new president does is take control of the party apparatus and direct it toward his reelection.

That being said, it appears that with the new strategy, Ted Stevens would be returning to the Senate, having handily defeated Begich, as would Norm Coleman.

So Predictable

No Comments

It’s been about a day, and Hamas launches mortar shells at Israel, and they miss, with the shells landing somewhere in Gaza.

Not surprisingly, it appears that the war has boosted Likud in the polls, with, “right-wing and religious parties are projected to control a 10-seat majority over a coalition of center, left, and Arab parties in the 120-seat parliament,” which means no unity government.

The other big political winner in the war is Labor, which went from 4th or 5th place to a solid 3 in polls

The election is still 3 weeks away, but Benyamin “Dick Cheney without the Charm” Netanyahu looks to be lock as next PM.

An Army of Over-Promoted, Ideologically Vetted Homunculi

No Comments

That’s the way that commie/pinko publication The Economist describes Bush appointees in general, and Alberto “Abu” Gonzales in particular, in an article describing his legacy.

It’s nice to see the knives come out from the right, even if it’s just the UK right.

I’m waiting for the Weekly Standard to do the same.

If I were a betting man, I would bet on their Labor Day issue of this year.

H/T WallStreetJackass.

My Heart Bleeds Borscht

No Comments

It appears that no one wants to hire people whose last job was as one of Bush’s Evil Minions™:

As President-elect Barack Obama’s team transitions into the federal government tomorrow, President Bush’s political appointees will be locked out, and in these tough economic times many of them are scrambling to find new jobs. High-ranking White House loyalists have deluged Washington headhunters with pleas for jobs. Corporations and nonprofit organizations have stopped hiring. With the GOP out of power, jobs on Capitol Hill are scant and K Street lobbying firms have trimmed their golden parachutes.

So this is the new reality: Instead of boasting to friends and colleagues of new jobs in goodbye e-mails, many longtime Bush aides have offered home phone numbers and Gmail and Yahoo e-mail addresses as their new contacts.

“For Republicans, the inn is full,” lamented veteran GOP operative Ron Kaufman, a close White House adviser to former president George H.W. Bush and an executive at Dutko Worldwide. “You have lots of folks in the House and Senate on the streets and 3,000 administration appointees on the streets at a time when the job market is shrinking anyways. It’s just not a fun time.”

You know, Republicans claim to hate the federal government and DC culture. So just go home.

This has been your daily dose of Schadenfreude.

Matt Taibbi is a National Treasure

No Comments

And his devastating take-down of New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman is one of many jewels that drip from his mouth.

A sample:

My initial answer to that is that Friedman’s language choices over the years have been highly revealing: When a man who thinks you need to break a vase to get the water out of it starts arguing that you need to invade a country in order to change the minds of its people, you might want to start paying attention to how his approach to the vase problem worked out.

Brilliant.

On Centrism

No Comments

Words I never sought that I would say, but this is a great editorial in the Wall Street Journal.

Thomas Frank calls centrism a “chump’s game”, and notes that the “triangulation” of Bill Clinton and his ilk did nothing but allow the radical right wing to move the “center” further right.

Mr. Frank is right, and here is my favorite bit:

And centrism’s achievements? Well, there’s Nafta, which proved Democrats could stand up to labor. There’s the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act. There’s the Iraq war resolution, approved by numerous Democrats in brave defiance of their party’s left. Triumphs all.

Histories of conservatism’s rise, on the other hand, often emphasize that movement’s adherence to principle regardless of changing public attitudes. Conservatives pressed laissez-faire through good times and bad, soldiering on even in years when suggesting that America was a “center-right nation” would have made one an instant laughingstock.

Is Peace Even Possible in the Middle East?

No Comments

Jeffrey Goldberg says that Israel can’t make Peace with Hamas.

That their philosophy and theology will simply never allow them to make a real peace.

He relates his discussions with Nizar Rayyan, in which the now dead Hamas leader says that the first priority is to “deal with” Arabs looking for peace deals (i.e. Fatah), calls Jews the descendants of apes and pigs, denies the Holocaust, and says that God is opposed to a religious state in that part of the world.

Let’s be clear there can be no deal with Mr. Rayyan. With him, the point was mooted when he was killed.

On the larger point, the question is, “Can you negotiate a peace with people who believe as he does?”

The answer is clearly no.

Neither can you bomb them until they give up. They are, to quote Elwood Blues, “On a mission from God.”

You can’t kill them all, and any attempt to do so is likely to create more radicals.

What you can do, however, is destroy them as a viable political force. I’m not sure how, but you can reduce people like this to the soap box ranters you see now and again in places like the Boston Common, and that should be the strategy.

That being said, I have no idea how to do that, particularly because today the soap box ranters are a rather potent political force in the territories.

Reid Finally Wins One

No Comments

Every 2 years, both houses of Congress need to pass an organizing resolution, which specifies things like committee members for the various parties.

Because the Senate is a continuing body, only 1/3 are reelected at a time, and this organizing resolution is subject to filibuster, I was fully expecting the ‘Phants to do Harry Reid like a two dollar whore.

I’m pleasantly surprised that Reid got exactly what he wanted, with no filibuster.

The Democrats gets +3 on most committees, +4 on the Appropriations and Armed Services committees, +1 on the Intel Committee (decreed by statute), +2 on the Joint Economic Committee, and even membership on the Ethics Committee (which is standard).

The reason that this happened, I think, is that if they had continued to operate under the old organizing resolution, the Dems would have been at +5 on Appropriations, which would have made things rather tough for the ‘Phants.

Is a Negotiated Solution Involving Gaza and the West Bank Even Possible?

No Comments

Regardless of the final status of a negotiated solution regarding Israel and a Palestinian entity (or entities, with the West Bank and Gaza going separate ways), there will doubtless be compromises on both sides that will outrage significant constituencies on both sides of this dispute.

Whether one is talking about East Jerusalem, the “Right of Return”, water rights, transit rights, etc., it there will be provisions that people on one side or the other will not be happy about.

If one, for the moment, ignores the substance of these compromises, and agrees to the existence of these compromises, it raises an interesting question: Is there actually anyone in the Palestinian community who can negotiate such a deal and survive long enough to make it stick?

We know that the compromises of Michael Collins with regard to the 6 northern counties or Ireland were directly responsible for his death at the hands of anti-Treaty faction of the IRA.

The important thing to remember in the case of Michael Collins is that despite his death the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 was a done deal, and remained a done deal.

While there is a a real possibility of political assassination, as a result of successful negotiations, it has already happened with Rabin in Israel, but on the Palestinian side there is a real possibility that with the assassination and/or the overthrow of of whoever signs such a deal will abnegate whatever deal that is signed.

Hamas is for the foreseeable future without the institutional imperatives to even enter into such a negotiation, and on the PA side, Mahmoud Abbas carries the moral weight of Hillary Duff.

He’s a party apparatchik who survives through appeasing the various factions and playing them off one against the other, and as such it is unlikely that he would have the political ability to survive a successful final status negotiation.

So, the question is how does one create an environment that will facilitate the creation a movement and/or leader in the Territories that will have the political and moral infrastructure to allow for a successful negotiation?

Barack Obama , Bite My Shiny Metal Ass

No Comments

So, Barack Obama was there to unveil Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine as the new head of the DNC for the press, but Howard Dean, the outgoing head of the DNC, was not invited, “at the request of Obama advisers.”

Dean took a lot of heat for his 50 state strategy, with people like James Carville and Rahm Emmanuel lambasting him for things like putting resources into the hands of local Democrats in places like Alaska, where Democrat Mark Begich defeated longtime Republican incumbent Ted Stevens in a tightly contested race this cycle.

We know who was right, and John Aravosis nails it when he says, “There is a real problem when Joe Lieberman is treated better than Howard Dean.”

The argument is that he was on travel, but, his his brother Jim notednoted, “If he had been asked to go to that event, he would have been there.”

While it’s true that Dean was noted by Obama glowing terms in his prepared statements, it was literally in the same sentence as Rahm Emmanuel.

It’s entirely true that Obama might not have been aware of what is going on with his staff, most likely Rahmbo, and Dean, but as Harry S Truman said, “The buck stops here.”

House Rules Update

No Comments

Well, the incoming House of Representatives has adopted the new rules for the 111 House of Representatives.

Because the house is elected every two years, it’s easier to change the rules than in the Senate, which is technically a continuing body, because 2/3 of its members are returning every Congress.

The changes made are generally fairly obscure, but the important ones are changing the motion to recommit such that a report must returned “forthwith”, rather than “promptly” and eliminating term limits on committee chairs.

The change in the motion to recommit means that a motion to ammend a bill must be voted on then and there, as opposed to being sent back to committee, where, at best it is delayed, and frequently dies.

The Republicans have been using it for some time to obstruct legislation.

The end of term limits for committee chairmen is also an improvement, though less of one.

It return the chairman system to one that is largely based on seniority, though the case of Waxman beating out Dingell at the Energy and Commerce Committee shows that it is not universal.

I’m not a fan of seniority determining who is chairman of a committee, but under the Republicans, it became pay-to-play for chairmanships, which is worse.

Also interesting is a provision for the House to continue its contempt of Congress actions against Harriet Miers and Josh Bolton, which means that they might have a receptive Attorney General actually enforce the subpoenas for them to testify.

Of course if I were in Congress, I would trying to get the House Sergeant at Arms to arrest them and lock them in the House basement, which was last done in the 1930s.

This is why you should be glad that I am not in Congress.

If the ‘Phants Can’t Kill the Stimulus Package

No Comments

They will do their level best to ensure that whatever passes is so broken as to be useless.

Case in poiny, Mitch McConnell is suggesting that instead of revenue sharing grants to the states, that they be loans:

But back to my original point: This idea was tried once before, in the depths of the Depression. In 1932, Congress appropriated $300 million to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to send to the states for unemployment relief. (Unemployment insurance did not exist until the Social Security Act of 1935 was passed). Unfortunately, Herbert Hoover’s RFC didn’t offer the funds to the states as grants but as loans. Already all-but-insolvent, many states didn’t take the offer. And the economy continued its plunge into the abyss.

This is Mitch McConnell’s idea of a policy worth reviving.

I would note that for a non trivial number of states, I think that it’s around 15, this loan would not allow them to prevent draconian cuts in services, because they are not permitted to take out loans for operating expenses, only for capital investments.

These folks are not concerned that a stimulus package will not work, they are concerned that it will work, because if government works, then they are fracked politically.

Harry Reid: Bite My Shiny Metal Ass

No Comments

It seems that he is is afraid of his own shadow, because now he is going on about the risks of “overreaching”.

The American people don’t give a damn about overreaching right now. They care about results, and the Republicans will do everything that they can to prevent results, so when he says, “essential for President-elect Obama and congressional Democrats to work closely with Republicans in the new Congress,” he is simply giving Republicans a club to hit him with.

Tim Kaine to head DNC

No Comments

I think that this development reflects a decision by Barack Obama to de-emphasize and reduce the activity level of the Democratic National Committee.

Regardless of his virtues or vices, and I see VA Governor Tim Kaine as a Conservative in the party, it’s clear that he can’t devote himself full time to running the DNC.

In normal times, being governor is a full time job, and now, with state finances imploding, it’s twice that.

Fire Michael Griffin

No Comments

Seriously, the current NASA administrator’s activities with regard to the transition are insubordination.

We now have reports that he is now pimping out his wife to support his continued tenure at NASA by having her send out an email begging people to sign an online petition supporting him.

It gets even better, as it appears that Griffin spent $57,000 to print and bind copies of his speeches, and then sending copies to Obama.

Note that this is in addition to his refusing to cooperate with the Obama transition team.

Of course, even if Michael Griffin weren’t nuts, the fact is that he is doing a lousy job of managing the next generation of NASA missions and vehicles, particularly his beloved Ares I and Ares V launchers, which show every indications of escalating costs and technical problems (like shaking the astronauts to death during launch, which was resolved with a performance hit because of the additional weight).

There are increasing calls for NASA to use the Orion Capsule on an existing launcher, though, in all fairness a study just reported that the early analysis indicates that man-rating a Atlas V or Delta IV would be more expensive than the Ares.

Personally, I’m inclined to doubt this, because the costs of man-rating these systems is a known quantity, while the Ares is still being developed, and costs are likely to escalate.

Also, Griffin’s refusal to provide data on Ares to the transition team (see the refusing to cooperate link) raises concerns that the study was based on data that was cherry picked by Griffin and NASA.

People You Hate to Love

No Comments

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

This man is a nasty piece of work, but you have to admire the shear ballziness that he has exhibited in the past few weeks by appointing Burris to the Senate.

It’s kind of like watching the villains in pro-wrestling, which I did when I was rooming with a wrestling fan. You hate them, but you love them, because they are so much more engaging than the heroes.

Of course, the adult in me realizes that pro-wrestling is really primarily theater, and pro-wrestlers don’t have the power of life and death, as governors do with pardons, or just through the vicissitudes of budget process, which frequently determine who shall live and who shall die.

The Illinois legislature should dump him as soon as possible, and rationally he should never be allowed near the public sphere again, but my yetzer hara* will miss him.

*Yetzer hara is Hebrew for one’s evil inclination, and yetzer hatov is the inclination to do good. Imagine if you will, going to a store, and paying with a $10 bill, and getting change for a $20. When you correct the cashier, it is your yetzer hatov, and when you walk out of the store calling yourself a moron for not keeping the money, that’s your yetzer hara.

Why Yes, We Are A Bunch of Racists

No Comments

Today’s Republican party, where not only does a candidate for chairman of the RNC, Chip Saltsman, release a holiday Christmas CD with “Barack the Magic Negro” on it, but it now appears that doing so help his bid to succeed current Republican National Committee Chairman Mike Duncan.

Of course, former Ohio Secretary of State, Ken Blackwell, decided to weigh in in favor of Mr Saltsman, cementing his role as the biggest Tom of the century in an attempt to use this in his bid to become RNC chair.

When this crap is so toxic that Michael Steele (also looking for the chair) is keeping his head down, Ken Blackwell is bringing Tomfoolery to a new level.

One of the Consequences of the Financial Meltdown

No Comments

Is that it has shown to the world that the Neoliberal economic policies of the IMF and world bank are not applied to Europe and the US.

As such, the parties in power in many parts of the world are becoming far less receptive to “soak the poor” policies that have been foisted upon them by international institutions like the IMF and World Bank.

We are the fruits of that revalation going on in South Africa right now, where South African labor unions have extracted changes in policies from the ruling ANC.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) is getting commitments to poverty reduction in exchange for their support of Jacob Zuma in his confrontation with Thabo Mbeki, and now they want a change in focus for the next government.

Of course, moneyed interests are not amused:

Investors fear the left has gained influence over the African National Congress in the past year and believe it might pressure the government to ditch policies that helped spur nearly a decade of growth in Africa’s biggest economy.

Of course those policies haven’t benefited a majority of the population. The argument is that by keeping social programs sparse, and any minimum wage low, that growth would eventually trickle down.

It hasn’t in South Africa, or anywhere else.

In fact, what is arguably the best example of a formerly poor society becoming well off, Singapore.

Its leader in its formative years, Lee Kwan Yoo, made it clear to its capital class, that it would be unacceptable to take it all, that some of the profits had to find its way to everyone.

Fundamentally, if South Africa wants to follow this path, we aren’t talking going Sweden. Simply by raising the minimum wage, improving the access to health care, and making sure that public school is free, available, and universal, you can improve the lot of everyone.