Month: October 2008

Palin’s White America

by tristero

Nate Silver has an utterly brilliant post which analyzes, by race, where recent Palin events are held versus Obama’s. The conclusion: Palin is speaking to a far whiter swath of America than Obama. But that’s not all. Palin is speaking to a whiter-than-average swath of America. (Obama, in general, is speaking to a more representative sample of the population). This places, perhaps, her already notorious “pro-America places” quote in a very disturbing context:

We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard working very patriotic, um, very, um, pro-America areas of this great nation.

Nate concludes with admirable caution that this is not necessarily a racist election strategy. It could be simply pragmatic:

Since white voters have historically turned out at higher rates than minorities, and since there are probably proportionately more swing voters among whites than among minority groups, one can argue that Palin’s choice of locales reflects optimal strategy. Still, the difference between her geography and Obama’s is fairly striking.

Equally striking are the stunning charts Nate has at his post. Go on over and give them a look.

Colin Powell and $150 Million

by dday

Colin Powell walked into the Beltway’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Meet the Press, and endorsed Barack Obama today. Hopefully that’ll turn out better than the vials of anthrax. This is devastating for McCain, of course, because Colin Powell was John McCain before John McCain became John McCain, if that makes any sense at all. He was the Very Serious GOP Daddy who everybody in the media establishment fell all over admiring. Heck, even Oliver Stone gives him a wet kiss in “W.” And so Powell’s rejection of McCain shows that the GOP nominee is no longer worthy of admiration.

But rather than one man’s endorsement, I’m more impressed with the 3.1 million endorsers who have supported Barack Obama, with an average contribution of under $100, from retirees to students, and who donated $150 million dollars in the 30 days of September.

Those are endorsements I can get behind.

.

Saturday Night At The Movies

W: Stone looks back… and to the Right

By Dennis Hartley

Two of America’s finest actors

No one has ever accused Oliver Stone of being subtle. However, once audiences view his highly anticipated film concerning the life and times of George W. Bush, I think the popular perception about the director, which is that he is a rabid conspiracy theorist who rewrites history via Grand Guignol-fueled cinematic polemics, could begin to diminish. I’m even going to go out on a limb here (gulp!) and call W a fairly straightforward biopic.

Stone intersperses highlights (is that the right word?) of Bush’s White House years with episodic flashbacks and flash forwards, ostensibly beginning in the late 60s (when Junior was attending Yale) and taking us up to the present day. I don’t think a full plot summary is necessary; if you are a regular Hullabaloo reader, you know the story all too well: Alcoholic son of Texas oil millionaire stumbles through early adulthood, gets into Yale (and eventually Harvard) through the back door, marries a librarian, then discovers his Special Purpose after helping Poppy become President. Thanks to the savvy guidance of a homunculus sidekick whom he dubs as “Turdblossom”, he is elected as the governor of Texas (twice) and then finds God, who informs him personally that he is destined to become President, because He has a Special Mission for him. Turns out that his Special Mission is to fight the Evil Doers where they live, after they stage a terrorist attack on America. Trouble is, there seems to be some confusion as to exactly where they live. In the meantime, he’ll need to bitch slap that Bill of Rights (just a little), for our protection.

Best supporting performance?

I’m not saying that Stone doesn’t take a point of view; he wouldn’t be Oliver Stone if he didn’t. He’s already catching flak in some corners for the amount of screen time spent dwelling on Bush’s battle with the bottle (I will say that the manufacturers of Jack Daniels must have laid out some serious bucks for the ubiquitous product placement throughout the film). Bush’s history of boozing is a matter of record. It’s part of his story (and could explain a lot of things). Some are taking umbrage at one of the underlying themes of Stanley Weisner’s screenplay, which is that Bush’s angst (and the drive to succeed at all costs) is propelled by an unrequited desire to please a perennially disapproving George Senior. I’m no psychologist, but that sounds reasonable to me.

Live, from New York…It’s Saturday Night!

As usual, Stone has assembled a massive cast with a bazillion speaking parts (I daresay he matches the late Robert Altman in this department). His choice of Josh Brolin for the lead initially struck many people as an odd selection (including yours truly), but now that I have seen the film, I have to say it was a smart move. Brolin is nothing short of brilliant. He doesn’t go for a cartoon caricature, which would have been the easy route to take; I think he pulls off a Daniel Day Lewis-worthy “total immersion” quite successfully. It is interesting to note that Brolin (tangential to Junior) has been accused of riding into a Hollywood career on the coattails of his dad (James Brolin) and stepmother (Barbara Streisand); if Stone chose his leading man with this in mind, he is a very canny operator.

Some of the other standouts in the cast include Toby Jones (Infamous) as Karl Rove, James Cromwell and the great Ellen Burstyn as President and Mrs. Bush Sr., Jeffrey Wright as Colin Powell and Richard Dreyfuss (perfect!) as Dick Cheney. Wright and Dreyfuss play off each other beautifully while recreating Cheney and Powell’s tiffs. Scott Glenn isn’t given an awful lot to do as Donald Rumsfeld, but he has the evil squint down. The only misfire is an overly mannered Thandie Newton as Condoleezza Rice; it is like she dropped in unexpectedly from a Saturday Night Live sketch. Perhaps it is not entirely her fault, because they put so much prosthetic on her face, she can barely move her lips.

Perhaps I should qualify something. When I called this a “straightforward” biopic at the top of the review, I was speaking in relative terms. You have to keep in mind that in one respect, Stone is boldly going where no filmmaker has gone before. PT 109 aside, this is the only biopic about a president to be released while he is still sitting in the Oval Office; and since the former film dealt with JFK’s WW2 exploits, and not his actual presidency, I believe that makes Stone’s film even more unique. Another hurdle to consider is the fact that the Bush administration has probably been satirized, parodied and ridiculed (via print, blogosphere, TV, film, theater, comedy club, YouTube, T-shirt, billboard, semaphore, smoke signal and conversations around the water cooler) more than any other presidency in my lifetime (not that they haven’t asked for it in every way imaginable). My God, all I have to do is see the president’s mug on CNN; within moments he is bound to say something that will have me biting through my lower lip and passing coffee through my nose (hey, even grim laughter qualifies as levity, in these dark times). This zeitgeist makes it virtually impossible for someone to make a “serious” biopic about George W. Bush. By playing it straight, Stone is really being subversive (clever boy!).

If the Bush administration had never really happened, and this was a completely fictional creation, I would be describing Stone’s film by throwing out superlatives like “A wildly imaginative look at the dark side of the American Dream!” or “A vivid, savage satire for our times!” But you see, when it comes to the life and legacy of one George W. Bush and the Strangelovian nightmare that he and his cohorts have plunged this once great nation into for the last eight years, all you have to do is tell the truth…and pass the popcorn.

Watch it and weep: Bush Family Fortunes , Bush’s Brain, K Street (TV series), That’s My Bush!(TV series), Recount, Unprecedented – The 2000 Presidential Election , Unconstitutional – The War On Our Civil Liberties, Uncovered – The Whole Truth About the Iraq War, Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers, Iraq in Fragments, No End in Sight, Fahrenheit 9/11, Uncovered – The War on Iraq, Rush to War, Body of War , In the Valley of Elah, Grace Is Gone, Taxi To the Dark Side, Dixie Chicks: Shut Up & Sing .

Previous posts with related themes: War, Inc. Standard Operating Procedure, Harold and Kumar Go to Guantanamo Bay/Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? Stop-Loss, Military Intelligence and You! Lions for Lambs, Red State.

.

Dim Bulb

by digby

You can’t make this stuff up:

How many members of Congress does it take to change a light bulb? Americans may soon find out, courtesy of a contrarian piece of legislation introduced this month by Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota.

Titled the “Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act,” the bill seeks to repeal the nationwide phase-out of conventional light bulbs, the kind that have been used for more than a century — pretty much since the invention of the incandescent light bulb.

Bachmann, a first-term Republican, is challenging the nation’s embrace of energy-efficient compact fluorescent lights, saying the government has no business telling consumers what kind of light bulbs they can buy.

“This is an issue of science over fads and fashions,” Bachmann said in an interview Tuesday.

.

2 Things To Remember

by tristero

Even though the great Nate Silver projects 347 electoral votes for Obama versus 191 for Bush/Palin -I’m sorry, I meant McCain/Palin, an honest slip – there is no reason to celebrate yet.

1. The lead is narrowing. Poll-freaks will tell you that this is normal as the election grinds into its final weeks. I say poppycock. Especially after the last debate, this election should be a rout. I see no reason to deem a “normal” tightening of the race as “acceptable.” It is not. Admittedly, Nate’s latest posted analysis of the slip in the polls for Obama provides reason for my left brain not to be concerned, my right brain is starting to worry.

2. Even if you believe that 1, above, is silly, unsophisticated, and unrealistic – a not unreasonable position, says my left brain – I hope you will agree with this: It is not enough for Obama to win. Republicans must lose. Big time. The more the merrier.

Therefore, it is important that we do what we can, donate (through progressive groups) to Obama and other worthy candidates, participate in GOTV efforts and, of course, vote ourselves. As previous races have demonstrated all too clearly, Democrats are extremely gifted at wresting defeat from the jaws of victory. This time, let us take nothing at all for granted.

For my money, Obama has not won until he is sworn in and Bush has boarded the plane for his trophy ranch and sea-ment pond in Crawford.

Inflationary Numbers

by digby

Man, that ACORN sure is despicable with it’s underhanded registration practices. Something should be done about it:

Dozens of newly minted Republican voters say they were duped into joining the party by a GOP contractor with a trail of fraud complaints stretching across the country.

Voters contacted by The Times said they were tricked into switching parties while signing what they believed were petitions for tougher penalties against child molesters. Some said they were told that they had to become Republicans to sign the petition, contrary to California initiative law. Others had no idea their registration was being changed.

“I am not a Republican,” insisted Karen Ashcraft, 47, a pet-clinic manager and former Democrat from Ventura who said she was duped by a signature gatherer into joining the GOP. “I certainly . . . won’t sign anything in front of a grocery store ever again.”

It is a bait-and-switch scheme familiar to election experts. The firm hired by the California Republican Party — a small company called Young Political Majors, or YPM, which operates in several states — has been accused of using the tactic across the country.

Election officials and lawmakers have launched investigations into the activities of YPM workers in Florida and Massachusetts. In Arizona, the firm was recently a defendant in a civil rights lawsuit. Prosecutors in Los Angeles and Ventura counties say they are investigating complaints about the company.

The firm, which a Republican Party spokesman said is paid $7 to $12 for each registration it secures, has denied any wrongdoing and says it has never been charged with a crime.

The 70,000 voters YPM has registered for the Republican Party this year will help combat the public perception that it is struggling amid Democratic gains nationally, give a boost to fundraising efforts and bolster member support for party leaders, political strategists from both parties say.

Those who were formerly Democrats may stop receiving phone calls and literature from that party, perhaps affecting its get-out-the-vote efforts. They also will be given only a Republican ballot in the next primary election if they do not switch their registration back before then.

Some also report having their registration status changed to absentee without their permission; if they show up at the polls without a ballot they may be unable to vote.

Golly, I’d bet if they look into it further they’ll find out that in spite of what we’ve been told, it was the Republicans who were responsible for the housing meltdown too. Shocking stuff.

But here’s the kicker:

Some also report having their registration status changed to absentee without their permission; if they show up at the polls without a ballot they may be unable to vote.

Oddly enough this happened to me in 2006. I did not request an absentee ballot and I didn’t turn one in. But they had me down as an absentee voter and I had to cast a provisional ballot. It’s a hassle to do it and if people are in a hurry, they may not bother. They told me to call back in a month to find out if my vote counted. I did and they didn’t know what I was talking about.

I have no idea how it happened. In my case it was probably some kind of computer glitch because I certainly didn’t change my registration or fill out any paperwork. But it was something of a shock and made me wonder if someone wasn’t playing around with my registration.

The good news is that if it happens, you can vote provisionally. But it’s the kind of this that’s designed to screw up the process and make people think twice about whether or not it’s worth it.

Update: FDL had more earlier this week on similar GOP shennanigans in California.

.

Hack For Hack

by digby

One of the most sickening things we have had to endure during this election season has been the sight of Wolf Blitzer sitting across a desk from Glenn Beck and “interviewing” him as if he weren’t a cretinous, mouth-breathing, talk radio hack. So, it’s good news that Beck is leaving for the far more lucrative wingnut welfare ghetto at Fox, where he belongs.

Sadly, CNN has decided it’s a good time to elevate the unctuous blowhard William Bennett and they’ve given him a truly terrible show laughably called “Beyond The Politics.” Check this out:

BENNETT: Once again, I’m joined by four exceptional thinkers from very different fields. Bill Galston is with the Brookings Institution, Tara Wall with “The Washington Times”, Cornel West, professor at Princeton University, and Andrew McCarthy with “The National Review”. [West is the only liberal of the bunch.]

This week, a federal judge ordered the release of 17 Chinese Muslims held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Why do I bring that up? “The New York Times” headline said, “In Blow to President, Judge Orders 17 Detainees at Guantanamo Freed.”

On Wednesday, a federal appeals court halted that plan for at least a week. Were we conveying more rights to alleged terrorists while government is growing? And while it’s growing, does it lose focus? This is one of the things we conservatives worry about that we say we like limited government, the government that does a few things and a few things well. As we’re seeing the expansion of this government, we’re wondering about whether government’s doing its first job.

MCCARTHY: And we’re also seeing that when you allow your national security issues to be delegated to courts, which is a vast departure from our founding idea, which is that national security decisions are the most decisions made by a political community, they’re made to be made by the political branches, not by the courts, this is what you see when you have your most unaccountable officials making these very important decisions.

And it actually seamlessly, I think, fits into a lot of our other discussion because here you have government colliding with itself to fairly well. We have a treaty that says that you can’t send people back to a country where you have reason to believe that they’ll be persecuted, which is why we can’t send these – repatriate these guys back to China.

We have two statutes that say if you have received paramilitary training, or you have been involved in the promotion of terrorism, which there is indication that these guys have, the government says they’re a threat to the Chinese, not to us. But under our law, they shouldn’t be allowed to be brought into the United States. It’s actually a violation of congressional statutes. And you have a federal judge who thinks he’s not limited by any law whatsoever. So you have all these things combining in a perfect storm. And what it means to the American people is less security.

[…]

WEST: But I think we can’t deny, though, that as we approach the end of the age of Reagan, the end of conservative rule, in addition to the economic catastrophe, you’ve got…

BENNETT: You’re sure it’s over?

WEST: I think it’s – I think we’re reaching an end. I mean, I think it’s a good thing, but we’re reaching the end.

BENNETT: Well…

WEST: But let’s be honest about it. I mean, we know torture is a mark of uncivilized behavior. Any country associated with torture will have their image besmirched around the world. That’s part of our challenge, too.

In addition to that, we had Katrina. So you got these three pillars, as it were. So that when we’re talking about strong government, tapping people’s phones, strong government, promoting torture under some kind of other language, this is something that can never be morally justified.

BENNETT: Was there torture at Guantanamo?

WALL: Yes, I mean…

WEST: From what the evidence…

WALL: There’s – what evidence? There’s no…

WEST: There’s no evidence, no torture has ever taken place whatsoever?

BENNETT: Guantanamo?

WEST: Is there any evidence, any torture taken place in the last ten years by American authority?

MCCARTHY: What are you talking – what do you mean by torture? I mean, are you talking about water boarding? We’ve water boarded three guys so far as we know.

WALL: I also think the…

MCCARTHY: I don’t think it’s trivial at all.

WALL: (INAUDIBLE) water board these detainees.

WEST: Torture is taking place.

WALL: …is astonishing, the liberties we afford these detainees. We had…

WEST: With no…

WALL: We had…

WEST: No habeas corpus.

WALL: We had…

MCCARTHY: Do you want no intelligence?

WALL: Our board actually had some of these military experts, our editorial board had some of these military experts and that – that oversee these military courts and the due process. And it is astonishing to hear the liberties that are afforded to these.

I mean, they get more liberties quite frankly than American citizens who are represented. And in fact, when what has happened with the Supreme Court, I think not only does it put in balance or it weakens our own security as a nation…

BENNETT: Right.

WALL: …I think it sends a message to terrorists, particularly in a time – and Homeland Security experts will tell you, particularly — this is a time that these terrorists, al Qaeda, and others, are paying very close attention to what is happening during the election.

It goes on like this for quite some time, with Cornell West ever more incredulous as these people look him square in the eye and contend that the sun rises in the west and sets in the east. There is no torture. In fact, these detainees have been treated like kings! Better than American citizens!

William Bennett is a conservative operative, no different than Glenn Beck. And CNN has given him his own show from which to launch and validate right wing talking points. Fox doesn’t do this. There are no equivalent shows on their network. They have no Joe Scarboroughs or Bill Bennetts.

So, while I celebrate the departure of Beck from CNN, it’s pretty clear that CNN is still angling for their fair and balanced share of that mean, older, conservative male audience that everyone values so highly. Bennett ought to fill Beck’s shoes quite nicely.

.

The Shame Of Johnstown

by dday

As we head into the home stretch of the election, the disturbing examples of racism has risen. But for me, this one is personal:

My mother is from Johnstown. My grandmother and my aunt still live there. I spent many weeks and months there as a kid. The people in this video are people with whom I have probably eaten in the same restaurants, shopped in the same stores, walked down the same streets. They are working people who haven’t had much economic opportunity in their Western Pennsylvania steel town in their lives. To see the racism somewhere that you have spent time is much more impactful. I always knew it was in the background, and I must admit that I’ve seen it at times in my own family. But a video like this with its countless examples is depressing.

I’m not concerned about Pennsylvania – the leaps forward in voter registration will make a difference. And both of my Pennsylvania resident grandmothers are voting for Obama. Neither were on board but I managed to convince them. But as we’ve been saying here for a while, the election is merely a part of the fight – then there’s governing. And the poison that has been injected into the discourse is going to be a strong deterrent.

But of course, it’s no different than the demonization of liberals and Democrats that has been a hallmark of the Republican noise machine for decades. One of the best ways to combat this is to reveal it – to create moments of recognition, moments of shame, moments of revulsion. Johnstown needs to know about Johnstown.

…I should add that this doesn’t appear to be the prevailing opinion.

.

Tell Them To Mind Their Own Business

by digby

It looks like the amendment to ban gay marriage in California is going to be a squeaker, unfortunately. And since Obama is way ahead here, it may be that we don’t get the turnout that’s needed. (That youthquake needs to be a 9.0.)

So, there are a few things to be done in these last two weeks if you care about civil rights and think it’s outrageous that anyone believes they have the right to interfere in the marital arrangements of other consenting adults.

1) They need money. You can donate here.

2) If you live in California, volunteer. The Mormons have decided to make this their pet project and have flooded the Yes campaign with money and volunteers. The no campaign needs help.

Here are some links:

Campaign’s latest ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHeTVAE4ZkY

Hello, I’m No On Prop 8 (great Mac ad spoof): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9T7ux8M4Go

Volunteer to Make History http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxHWB6eZ2JY

Ellen Urges Californians to Vote No on Prop. 8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cd_ai2LrgJ0

Logos, buttons, graphics: http://www.noonprop8.com/action/downloads

In this historic year it would be a shame if California couldn’t muster the votes to knock down yet another barrier to civil rights.

.

Tinklenberg Closing In On OVER $125,000!

by tristero

$116,000 as of the time of this post. Give, baby, give! Why? To defeat this asshole:

UPDATE: Up to $122,000 Keep going!

UPDATE: Goal met! Why stop now?