Month: August 2008

Oh No

by digby

From Moira Whelan at Democracy Arsenal:

With NORTHCOM taking the lead on briefing the public, it’s clear the Bush Administration wants to send the message that everything is under control. Instead, to those that do this for a living, the message is clear that everything is absolutely and completely broken. Perhaps the state governments need help. Perhaps FEMA is not up to the job. Perhaps the Bush Administration simply wants a uniform on camera, and this way of doing things is preferable to things happening the way that they should (a process, by the way, that WORKED before Bush screwed it up). NORTHCOM taking the lead in public relations is a clear indication that nothing has been fixed in DHS and FEMA since Katrina. As a result, there is no confidence in FEMA’s ability to respond to this hurricane. With NORTHCOM at the helm, the Bush Administration either doesn’t care if, or doesn’t want, the systems to work. This Administration has issued a lot of reports since Katrina (none of which suggest the military should take control, incidentially), but no one has been held accountable and the lessons have not been learned. The priority is still on preventing embarrassment, not keeping people safe.

Why would they? Republicans believe that the only purpose of government is to take taxpayers money to enrich the already wealthy. All else is superfluous. Naturally, they haven’t fixed anything. They don’t know how to make government perform for the people because they don’t want to. A big disaster is a big opportunity.

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Contest!

by digby

Blue America is having one, and you can participate. Here’s Howie:

Today’s the first day of a week-long Blue America contest, I’d like to invite you to participate in. Some of our candidates have been endorsed by the DCCC’s Red to Blue program, which makes it easier for them to access institutional Democratic money– big donors, labor unions, single-issue groups, incumbents, etc. And some haven’t. Blue America wants to spotlight nine of our House endorsees this week who may eventually wind up in the program but who need campaign cash to compete effectively now. These are the nine: Sam Bennett (PA-15)- Lehigh Valley
Debbie Cook (CA-46)- Orange County
Larry Joe Doherty (TX-10)- northern Austin to Brenham and Katy
Alan Grayson (FL-08)- Orlando
Jared Polis (CO-02)- Boulder and Westminster out to Eagle County
Dennis Shulman (NJ-05)- northern New Jersey from Bergen and Passaic around to Warren County
Annette Taddeo (FL-18)- Miami-Dade from Miami Beach and Coral Gables down to Key West
Russ Warner (CA-26)- northeast L.A. suburbans from Rancho Cucamonga to Arcadia
Barry Welsh- (IN-06) east central Indiana centered on Muncie We’re counting votes at a just launched new ActBlue contest page. Whether you donate a dollar or $20 or $2,000 to the candidate, of your choice, it counts as one vote– although you can certainly vote for as many candidates as you’d like. The candidate who gets the most votes gets a $5,000 Blue America check. The winner will be announced on Saturday, September 6th.

The presidential race is fun and interesting, but this is where the real action is for progressives. We need more of them in congress, no matter who wins the presidency or the Blue Dogs will continue to have veto power. Vote, and vote often!

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Maverick Mom

by digby

I’m back now (luggage is lost, naturally) and I’ve had some time to talk to my friends in Alaska and review what’s being said about Sarah Palin. Here’s the most interesting thing: my brother in law and his girlfriend, both teachers, card carrying NPR listening, Riverdance loving, Jim Lehrer watching diehard liberals …. quite like the woman. They don’t like her social conservatism, but it’s so prevalent in Alaska that they hardly notice it. What they like is that she took out Frank Murkowski, cancelled his secret backroom deals, sold the Governor’s private jet and told the oil companies to wait in line. They like that she is giving checks from the surplus to every Alaskan to help pay for the astronomically rising costs of heating oil up there. They see her as a down-to-earth, post-partisan problem solver. Others may as well.

And obviously, she’s a huge hit with the religious right. They know a genuflection when they see one and are very pleased that McCain showed them the proper respect by picking not just a social conservative, but a full blown creationist fundamentalist. They will enthusiastically vote for her and feel good about being “feminists” when they do it. (The media will likely have “learned their lesson” from the trashing they gave Hillary Clinton and will be much more careful this time. Nice how that works for the Republicans.)

So, I wouldn’t be too smug about Palin. She’s got something about her that the people who know her really like. She has an 85% approval rating up there, which includes quite a few liberals. Her western state appeal is an amalgam of right wing populism and libertarianism, something that shouldn’t be discounted among swing voters who might also find her to be an attractive working mom who manages to run the state while taking care of her snowmobile champion husband (Arctic NASCAR) and their five kids. (A politically incorrect friend of mine in Alaska called the ticket “The Maverick and the MILF” and it may work better than we think.)

Palin is so unknown that something even more significant than “troopergate” may yet emerge. Alaskan politicians are all just one degree of separation from each other and the big money oil interests that fuel the state. Who knows what could come out? But I would not assume that her inexperience or her small state background will work against the ticket. It could play well in the western states, a couple of which are necessary for the Democrats to win in the fall.

She’s obviously a disaster from my perspective — her extreme social conservatism is an immediate disqualifier for any office, much less the vice presidency. But I really hope the Obama campaign does not take to heart some of the “advice” it’s getting about going after Palin with snappy slogans over her picture that say “this is what McCain thinks is ready to lead?” After all the talk in this election about feminism, I think the Obama campaign is sensitive enough to know that that reads like a sexist dogwhistle loud enough to shatter the sound barrier. This is not a good approach.

I don’t think that many Hillary followers will vote for an anti-choice zealot, but there is no point in unnecessarily suppressing the female Obama vote by thoughtlessly pushing buttons that don’t need to be pushed. McCain chose Palin partially because they wanted to keep open the wounds of feminist discontent and there’s no reason to help them by picking at the scabs. There are many things on which to attack her — her social conservatism, her anti-environmental extremism, her bad policies, even her potential corruption, but her inexperience has to be handled very deftly. (To me the single best way to discredit Sarah Palin among female voters, is to attack her as a heartless extremist who would let the polar bears drown rather than admit that global warming exists.)

In truth, she doesn’t really have enough experience, but a lot of the criticism I’m seeing could easily be read as both sexist and elitist. Barack doesn’t have a ton of experience either, but his qualifications are made manifest by his ivy league education, cosmopolitan background, urban connections and endorsements from other powerful people. I can easily see certain rural, working class voters not being impressed with big city Dems’ disdain for her “big state with no people” and her “beauty queen” background. This is the kind of thing that makes the elitist tag stick.

Luckily, I think McCain’s miscalculation may have been in not recognizing that the Obama campaign just won a primary where a lot of these issues were raised and they have very recent experience dealing with it. His brain trust will know better than to fall for the easy trap. The rest of us should too.

Update: Unsurprisingly, Katha Pollit makes a good argument from the feminist perspective.

Update II: The media are helping their friends, as usual:

• CBS’ Schieffer asserted Palin was “against earmarks” and “bridge to nowhere” without noting her earmark requests, previous reported support for bridge

• AP falsely suggests Palin supports benefits for same-sex partners of state employees

• Media affix “maverick” label to Palin as well

• Fox News host set up false contrast between Palin and Biden, both of whom have sons going to Iraq

• Fox News graphic falsely claimed “Obama campaign disse[d] Palin for small town origins”

• With morning announcement of Palin pick comes morning sexism on cable news

• Mitchell falsely claimed McCain has not set a “threshold” for his VP to be “ready to step in on a moment’s notice”

• Forbes.com claimed Palin “oppos[es]” earmarks — but her administration said it requested them this year

• WSJ reported that Palin “highlighted her opposition” to “that bridge to nowhere” — but not her previous reported support for it

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Something Is Seriously Wrong With This Country

by tristero

Obama leads only by 8 points. Bizarre.

The New Nixon

by dday

There’s quite a lot to say about Sarah Palin. There’s actually quite more to say about Barack Obama’s magnificent speech, but John McCain kicked the soccer ball and the media herd is chasing it. So we’ll go with Palin for now and come back to Obama’s speech on the weekend.

What’s striking to me is what has happened in Alaska since Palin was swept into office as a reformer. In 2006, sitting governor Frank Murkowski finished third out of four in the primary due to corruption scandals. A good chunk of the Republicans in the state legislature are either under indictment or under suspicion. Ted Stevens will go to court in September. Palin offered a new direction from that culture of corruption.

And then she came into office and did the same thing as every other Republican in Alaska. The most prominent scandal, for which she is currently under an ethics review, concerns her trying to get her sister’s ex-husband fired as a state trooper.

Gov. Sarah Palin, a rising young GOP star mentioned as a possible running mate for John McCain, could see her clean-hands reputation damaged by a growing furor over whether she tried to get her former brother-in-law fired as a state trooper.

A legislative panel has launched a $100,000 investigation to determine if Palin dismissed Alaska’s public safety commissioner because he would not fire the trooper, Mike Wooten. Wooten went through a messy divorce from Palin’s sister.

Palin has denied the commissioner’s dismissal had anything to do with her former brother-in-law. And she denied orchestrating the dozens of telephone calls made by her husband and members of her administration to Wooten’s bosses.

There’s actually tape of a Palin aide pressuring the Public Safety Department to fire Wooten. And when the Public Safety Commissioner wouldn’t, she fired him and replaced him with someone who would. Someone who had a history of sexual harrassment and is now the PUBLIC SAFETY commissioner.

That’s shades of Archibald Cox and Elliot Richardson and William Ruckleshaus. I understand that the state trooper and her sister had a messy divorce, and he’s been alleged to have done all sorts of terrible things to the sister and the kids, but firing people who refuse to carry out your wishes – well, that’s good for Woodward and Bernstein’s career, but not for the country.

And there’s more.

Siun reports that Palin broke the law to ensure that Alaskan water would stay dirty:

It is against the law for the governor to officially advocate for or against a ballot measure; however, Palin took what she calls “personal privilege” to discuss one of this year’s most contentious initiatives, which voters will decide Tuesday.

Along with taking a position on the big mine’s side, Palin’s administration apparently used state Department of Natural Resources resources to lobby for defeat of the Clean Water Initiative under the pretense of creating a state run website to “educate” citizens. The citizen group Alaskans for Clean Water responded by filing “a complaint against DNR for a recently-launched state website meant to clarify the issue for voters. “

The complaint alleges that the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) improperly attempted to influence the outcome of an election by publishing information against the initiative on its website. It also alleges that DNR failed to report to APOC the expenditures, including employee time, related to creation of the information.

“It has become clear to us that the Department of Natural Resources is working hand-in-hand with the industry, and that the state is inappropriately making efforts to influence voters on this ballot initiative,” said Art Hackney, a co-sponsor of Ballot Measure #4.

Now, this reflects Nixon as much as it reflects our current White House resident. When the laws constrain you, use a “personal privilege” or make a signing statement. The point of similarity is contempt for the rule of law and a belief in the expansion of executive power.

There are a lot of ways to talk about Palin. She is a creationist-loving anti-choice, environment-despoiling gift to the fundie right who’s resume is so thin that she doesn’t really know what the Vice President does. It’s clear that McCain, who has only met Palin a few times, sees the election as an uphill climb and tried to use the pick to command the news cycle with a surprise. Maybe that works for a day, but over time this could backfire heavily. Like Eagleton heavy.

Not to mention that she is completely in line with Fourthbranch Cheney and Spiro Agnew and the rest of the Corruptocrats on the issue of abuse of power. The Anchorage Daily News put it best:

She can look you in eye and tell you black is white.

Especially when there’s oil involved.

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Priorities

by digby

The Poorman points out the obvious: Alaska seems very foreign.In fact, it is — and I know this because I graduated from high school in Fairbanks and lived there for years. It is actually, in many ways, like a foreign planet. A very cold and icy foreign planet. Don’t tell Cokie.

There is much to be said about Sarah Palin, but I think the thing I like the most about this choice is the fact that McCain chose someone from the state which is simultaneously the most oil drenched and the one that is suffering the most dramatically from global warming. Not that the governor cares. She’s far more concerned about saving blastocysts in petrie dishes than saving drowning polar bears.

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Initial Thoughts On The Last 24 Hours

by tristero

Obama’s speech was the greatest I have ever heard live by a major politician, both in terms of content and delivery. No wonder McCain wanted to, and did, step on it immediately. Let’s not forget to mention it. Again, and again.

After Gore gave a very good speech, albeit with the delivery oddly rushed, not a single bloviator on CNN – not a single one – deigned to discuss it for about 10 minutes, until Gergen said that Gore said something appreciative. Susan Eisenhower’s speech received more attention. I found that incredibly disrespectful of a man who counts the Vice-Presidency of the United States as just one spectacular achievement out of a lifetime of service to his country (and world) and a clear sign that the msm still hates his guts.

Speaking of bias, was it just me or was the coverage on CNN negative for the most part? I wonder if we’ll see all the bloviators frowning so deeply just before McCain accepts.

Obama chose Biden partly because of his reputation in foreign policy, which directly addresses an important component of the actual job of being president. McCain chose Palin merely because she was useful in shoring up a demographic needed to win an election. She has, as far as anyone knows, no other qualifications or experience that is directly relevant to running an entire country. It is like Bush nominating Miers for the Supreme Court because she’s a good person.

The decision to choose Palin demonstrates McCain’s impulsiveness, his erratic character, and his lack of seriousness about the actual job of being president.

Palin is, apparently, a radical Christianist, in the mold of Dobson, Robertson and others. Therefore it is only fair to ask her these questions, among many others:

Does Palin wish to undermine science by permitting religious doctrines like “intelligent design” creationism into the public school curriculum? UPDATE: Palin is a “teach the controversy” creationist (note: there is no scientific controversy to teach. ).

Did Palin support Randall Terry in his attempts to undermine the US judiciary and prolong the vegetative state of Terri Schiavo?

Since McCain believes America is a Christian nation, what positions does Palin believe non-Christians should be permitted to hold in the US government?

Does Palin consider Catholics to be Christian?

Some other preliminary questions to ask Palin:

Besides Canada, has she ever been out of the US? Where? For how long?

Who is the head of Australia, North Korea, South Korea, Afghanistan, Israel, the EU and the UK? Who is the president of Brazil?

What is the difference between Shia and Sunni Islam?

What is NAFTA?

Who was John Locke?

Go long
by Dover Bitch

Like most of America, I can’t say I know much about Sarah Palin. But here’s a few instant (yes, you could say knee-jerk) reactions to today’s news that she’s on the ticket with John McCain.

McCain has definitely concluded that he wasn’t going to win without doing something dramatic. Just like his surge in Iraq, McCain has decided to “Go long.”

McCain got what he wanted and needed the most: Nobody is talking about the magnificent speech Barack Obama gave last night.

John “never surrender” McCain just gave up on trying to attack Obama’s experience. It was a calculation he was willing to make. Interesting.

Palin is already benefiting from extremely low expectations. Really can’t get much lower than a complete unknown. Biden will have to realize that winning a debate against her is pointless. He will need to share a stage with her, but win a debate against McCain.

Palin has already started blowing the dogwhistles:

Now, no one expects us to agree on everything, whether in Juneau or in Washington. But we are expected to govern with integrity, and goodwill, and clear convictions, and a servant’s heart.

She said Nook-yoo-ler.

Whether this pick is just another gimmick in a long line of McCain’s gimmicks, it is striking to me that a man who told America that Obama is a big risk in an uncertain world has chosen a running mate who said this in her introduction:

If our state wanted a bridge, I said we’d build it ourselves. Well, it’s always, though, safer in politics to avoid risk, to just kind of go along with the status quo. But I didn’t get into government to do the safe and easy things. A ship in harbor is safe, but that’s not why the ship is built.

It’s been noted that McCain likes to roll the dice. He is now asking America not just to gamble on an unknown, but to gamble on a pair of gamblers.

Palin has an interesting personal story and in our superficial national discourse, that will be a plus for her. As much of a dull blade as Rep. Eric Cantor can be, I was actually worried that he would be the surprise pick. I’m less worried about Palin, but going with somebody other than Mitt or Lieberman was a good move.

I think we’re going to see a lot more of Hillary Clinton over the next two months than I thought yesterday.

The fact that there are only a couple months before the election might help Palin quite a bit. Everybody knew Arnold Schwarzenegger already, but his initial victory in California was facilitated by the extremely short campaign allowed by the special election. There’s less time for something really embarrassing to happen.

The vice presidential selection is not as important as everybody will make it out to be today. (UPDATE: As was pointed out in comments, in the case of McCain’s age, it is a big deal. Good point. Damn, knee-jerk reactions.)

Even though Palin comes with a scandal in progress, I wonder if the Obama camp will get drawn into making a big deal about it. I think it will help blunt her claims to be a big reformer, but as I wrote above, the person they really need to defeat is John McCain.

UPDATE: That didn’t take long. Palin’s big reformer talking point is already falling apart. Really, really falling apart.

We’ve already heard all the great things that we’re going to hear about Palin. Everything from here on out is going to be stuff they didn’t want to talk about. This could get good.

Time For Them To Own Their Failure

by digby

I am traveling today, so I won’t have the time to really delve into the speech, the convention etc until tomorrow probably.

Barack Obama said a lot of great things last night. But there was one thing he said that I’ve been waiting for, desperate for, and I couldn’t be happier that he said it:

For over two decades, he’s subscribed to that old, discredited Republican philosophy – give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else. In Washington, they call this the Ownership Society, but what it really means is – you’re on your own. Out of work? Tough luck. No health care? The market will fix it. Born into poverty? Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps – even if you don’t have boots. You’re on your own.

Well it’s time for them to own their failure.

I think this is the key to the case and when I heard it, I stood up and cheered.

I know that point is not very hopeful or very uplifting and it won’t be the biggest selling point among swing voters. But there were plenty of those things in the speech. This is the case against conservatism that people need to hear in this country if we hope to move ahead. (Remind me to relate my convention story of trying to convince the 19 year old “independent” that his tax burden wasn’t the reason he couldn’t afford college. People have been brainwashed.)

My mind was greatly relieved last night. I think we are heading into the fall campaign with a standard bearer who is prepared now to take the fight to the Republicans. He’s not going to lie back and take the character assassination now that McCain has shown that he’s willing to roll around in the mud with the filthiest of GOP pigs. And he’s not going to pretend that conservatism isn’t responsible for the mess he’s asking to be allowed to clean up. That bodes well for the long term.

For the first time, I’m feeling not just optimistic about the Dems chances of winning (I’ve always felt that) but that they might just win on their own terms.

Yes they can.

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Post-speech analysis
by Dover Bitch