Category: Politics

We Have a Report that Elana Kagan Will Be the Scotus Nominee

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Not surprising.

Basically, they are choosing her because of her ability to get ahead in legal academe without saying, or publishing much.

She was tenured at the University of Chicago, and later Harvard, where she became Dean of Harvard Law, but her record of publications is remarkably sparse, though I think that Paul Campos’ comparison of her to Harriet Miers is a big much:

Yesterday, I read everything Elena Kagan has ever published. It didn’t take long: in the nearly 20 years since Kagan became a law professor, she’s published very little academic scholarship—three law review articles, along with a couple of shorter essays and two brief book reviews. Somehow, Kagan got tenure at Chicago in 1995 on the basis of a single article in The Supreme Court Review—a scholarly journal edited by Chicago’s own faculty—and a short essay in the school’s law review. She then worked in the Clinton administration for several years before joining Harvard as a visiting professor of law in 1999. While there she published two articles, but since receiving tenure from Harvard in 2001 (and becoming dean of the law school in 2003) she has published nothing. (While it’s true law school deans often do little scholarly writing during their terms, Kagan is remarkable both for how little she did in the dozen years prior to becoming Harvard’s dean, and for never having written anything intended for a more general audience, either before or after taking that position.)

On the other hand, the fact that she has not been a Federal judge, or worked as a US Attorney, and she made the prima-donnas at Harvard Law play nice.

Still, I think that it is her lack of a record that has put her in this position, which I think is a bad idea.

It will just push Obama’s opponents to look harder, and they will find something eventually.

Appointing a real liberal would be day 1 news, but instead, we will have a drip, drip, drip, about her.

I also think that this is a real attempt to avoid a fight, and once again, because the Republicans understand that unreasonable opposition is their best political tactic, it will fail.

Color me unimpressed.

The Demon Sheep is Back

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For a sequel, it’s pretty good.

A while ago, I, and pretty much everyone else in the blogosphere, along with the inestimable Rachel Maddow, pointed out just how remarkable, in a Plan 9 from Outer Space way, Carly Fiorina’s demon sheep campaign ad against Tom Campbell was.

Well, the California Democratic Party and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee riffed on that bit of political agitprop, and came up with a “sheep” ad of their own.

It’s actually amusing, or it is if you’ve seen the original in all its ghastly glory, though I’m concerned that this is not a good allocation of resources. After all, amusing me, a voter who does not live in California, and would sooner gnaw off my own leg than vote Republican, does not help Barbara Boxer get elected.

When Glenn Beck is More Reasonable than You…

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Bummer of a birth mark, little Johnny

It’s game over, dude.

In this case, it’s John McCain, who is suggesting that mirandizing the alleged Times Square bomber is somehow evil and wrong, and Glenn Beck, yes, Glen Beck, who is suggesting that we need not shred the Constitution, and give American citizens their constitutional due.

So John McCain is being called a demagogue, by the tag team by Jon Stewart and Glenn Beck.

Click for full size


This is one big shark that he jumped.
With Frikken

Lasers!Jumping C. Megalodon*

*The largest shark, and likely largest predator fish ever. It died out some 1.5 million years ago. The Genus is still in dispute, between either Carcharodon (Great White) or Carcharocles (broad toothed Mako). But in either case, you are jumping C. Megalodon, you have jumped the biggest shark ever.

Greece Bailout Finalized

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The bottom line is €120 billion in loans and guarantees, along with some fairly brutal austerity measures.

Of course, the problem is not that the Greek government is profligate, it has amongst the most meager safety net in the EU, but rather that the populace aggressively evades taxes, and the tax collection authority is inefficient and corrupt.

Estimates have the Greek government, “losing as much as $30 billion a year to tax evasion.”

The solution here is very simple. While the German people may object to lending money to the Greeks, which is one of the reasons that Angela Merkel dithered, I don’t think that the German people would object to lending a few hundred to a few thousand of their nastiest most aggressive tax collectors to Greece.

As it stands not, Greek austerity is being carried on the back of the lower and middle classes, while the wealthy will continue to avoid paying their share. Only a few thousand of the 11 million Greeks claim an income above €100,000.00, and this is clearly not true.

Wanker of the Day:

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Reliably spouting right wing talking points since 2004

Barack Obama.

For claiming that there were no oil spills from platforms and as a result of Hurricane Katrina:

I don’t agree with the notion that we shouldn’t do anything. It turns out, by the way, that oil rigs today generally don’t cause spills. They are technologically very advanced. Even during Katrina, the spills didn’t come from the oil rigs, they came from the refineries onshore.

The problem here, as the folks at Media Matters so ably note, this is false. Hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil and distillates were spilled offshore as a consequence of hurricane Katrina.

It’s not true, it’s never been true, and he’s a smart guy, and he knows this.

You Idiot, You Were the One Slowing It Down!

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So now Angela Merkel is complaining that the rescue package for Greece is moving too slowly:

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday Greece’s international bailout must be accelerated for the sake of the entire euro zone, as the far bigger Spanish economy suffered a credit rating downgrade.

Yo! You Moron!!!!! The person who has being doing all that She can to slow walk this rescue is one, “German Chancellor Angela Merkel.”

I understand that the German public does not like the idea of bailing out Greece, but you pandered to, and encouraged, that sentiment relentlessly, unlike some of the members of your cabinet with whom you clashed, who have accepted the truth.

I hate this, “Why are you slowing down because I’m laying across the tracks,” act.

Failing by Design

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So, after releasing an ambitious plan to reign in the exotic insurance-like financial instruments known as swaps, Blanche Lincoln is saying that she thinks that the proposal will not survive the Senate:

Senator Blanche Lincoln said she isn’t sure her plan to make banks wall off their swaps-trading desks has enough support to become part of financial-regulatory overhaul, while calling the provision effective change.

……

“I don’t know if I have the votes” for the provision, Lincoln said today. When the measure comes to the floor for debate, senators could vote to remove her plan, Lincoln said.

Let’s be clear, Senators don’t say things like this about proposals of theirs that they want to pass, they say it about proposals of theirs that they want someone else to kill.

Lincoln is trying to present herself as the liberals’ great white hope in the primary, but it’s just a pose, which is why the US Chamber of Commerce is doing a TV ad blitz for her.

Do not be deceived: She is owned by Walmart, the big banks, the health insurers, and the rest of those pig felching rat bastards.

When the Bigots Lose Tom Tancredo………

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You know that they have gone too far:

Former Congressman Tom Tancredo — the same guy who said we should send the president back to Kenya and said a Supreme Court nominee is part of the “Latino KKK” — said this weekend that the new Arizona immigration law goes a little too far.

“If I had anything to say about it, we’d be doing it in Colorado,” Tancredo told Denver news station KDVR. But, he said, “I do not want people here, there in Arizona, pulled over because you look like should be pulled over.”

We live in very strange times.

Buck Fen …… (Nelson, that is)

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So, the Senate attempted to begin debate on the financial reform package, and the vote failed by 57-41, with Ben Nelson (DINO-NE) voting with the ‘Phants.

Reid voted “no” as well, but included a motion to reconsider, which is a parliamentary trick to get a do-over.

Still, the most effective thing that the Dems could do right now is to take action against Ben Nelson.

If they start taking real actions against recalcitrant members of their own caucus, it makes it that much easier for them to deal with the Republicans, because they won’t get knifed by the Liebercrats.

Nobody Goes There Anymore, It’s Too Crowded

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It appears that after a few years of being the government in Gaza, Hamas is getting complaints that they have sold out:

Hamas, the Palestinian faction viewed by many in the West as a nest of terrorists and Islamic hard-liners, is battling a curious new epithet: moderate.

Fifteen months after a punishing Israeli offensive failed to dislodge Hamas from power in the Gaza Strip, rival resistance groups and some former supporters say the organization has become too political, too secular and too soft.

“People in the street say Hamas has changed,” said Abu Ahmed, spokesman for the military wing of Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian armed group in Gaza that complained recently that Hamas had arrested four of its militants as they tried to attack Israeli soldiers near the border. “They’re paying a price for that. People need to know that Hamas is still committed to the resistance.”

You know, when I was in college, I had a number of friends who loved obscure rock bands.

If the band released a record, and it achieved any success, these folks would immediately condemn the band as having “sold out”.

I guess that they were upset because it meant that the band was no longer their secret.

I find this amusing, because this seems to be a very similar phenomenon: success, in this case defined as running the Gaza strip, is “selling out”.

It’s nice to see that some stupidities are universal.

Gaffe: When a Politician Tells the Truth

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Michael Steel’s latest comment, which appears to be driving Republicans crazy, and making Democrats chuckle, yet again:

For the last 40-plus years we had a ‘Southern Strategy’ that alienated many minority voters by focusing on the white male vote in the South.

This quote is factually correct. We literally have the memos, reproduced in the writings of folks like former Nixon strategist Kevin Phillips.

But nonetheless, the Republicans are freaking, so, Dave Weigel talks to Republicans, and gets a quote from Bruce Bartlett:

I think it’s too bad that Steele gave Democrats reason to believe that their distorted vision of how Republicans came to dominate the South is correct. It may be his biggest gaffe so far.

(emphasis mine)

Bartlett is upset because this is true.

Charie Crist Gets Lucky

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No, I am not talking about some sort of sordid liaison, I am referring to the fact that his primary opponent in the Florida Senate campaign, Mark Rubio, is is being investigated by the, “U.S. attorney, IRS and FBI,” for misusing Republican Party of Florida credit cards for personal use:

Meanwhile, in a separate inquiry, the IRS is also looking at the tax records of at least three former party credit card holders — former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio, ex-state party chairman Jim Greer and ex-party executive director Delmar Johnson — to determine whether they misused their party credit cards for personal expenses, according to a source familiar with the preliminary inquiry.

………

Rubio billed the party for more than $100,000 during the two years he served as House speaker, according to credit card statements obtained by the St. Petersburg Times and Miami Herald. The charges included repairs to the family minivan, grocery bills, plane tickets for his wife and purchases from retailers ranging from a wine store near his home to Apple’s online store. Rubio also charged the party for dozens of meals during the annual lawmaking session in Tallahassee, even though he received taxpayer subsidies for his meals.

I’m kind of hoping for Rubio to win the Republican primary, and Crist to run as a 3rd party candidate, because I don’t see Democrat Kendrick Meek winning any other way.

He’s a good guy, but there are a lot of people in Florida who just won’t vote for a black man.

Obama’s Speech

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I saw it, actually read it in the closed caption, I was at the gym on a stationary bicycle, and my reaction was that it was a missed opportunity.

He asked the banks to get on board, basically scolding them, but did not name names, or otherwise get medieval on them.

The American public hates the big banks, which, BTW, should be referred to exclusively as Wall Street Banks, even if the effect on poll numbers on financial reform are minor, as I have argued.

The bankers are not stake holders, they are malefactors, and should be treated as such.

Saying, “Can’t we all just get along,” is both bad politics, and bad policy.

Have I Mentioned that I Love Jon Stewart?

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Well Bernard Goldberg, former CBS news man, and the slightly smarter side of the comedy team Goldberg and Goldberg (Bernie and Jonah, no relation and in particular order), had decided to challenge Jon Stewart once again.

Bad move, dude.

Jon Stewart responds, and this time he has backup of gospel singers:

It is a righteous take-down, but damn, Jews can’t dance to gospel for sh%$.*

*So says this yid.

We See the Beginnings of Competence

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About bloody time!

So, after the disastrous negotiations on healthcare with the Republicans, Barack Obama and His Stupid Minions™ begin to get a clue.

On financial reform, Organizing for America, the Obama campaign political arm, is running ads using Republican opposition to financial reform to Wall Street as a club to beat them with.

Certainly, this is better than their strategy on healthcare reform, which was to let Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) sandbag them by engaging in extensive negotiations when she had not the slightest intention of voting for cloture.

H/t FT Alphaville.