Month: October 2007

Becoming Half Mean

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by publius

I’ll second Andrew Sullivan on last night’s debate:

As someone who thinks Obama is still the best bet for real change in this election, I kept feeling underwhelmed by his performance. You wait for him to go in for the kill … and … he … never … quite gets there. He seems to be possessed of an almost pathological high-mindedness, and an inability to encapsulate his arguments in ways that get traction against his opponents. . . . Goddamn it: stop being so fricking reasonable and above it all.

To his credit, Obama wants to be a world-historical president. He wants to be transformative. He wants to be an FDR. A Kennedy. Even a Reagan. He wants to be what Bill Clinton could have been. He wants to usher in a new age, a new paradigm, and a new coalition.

Like many intellectuals before him, however, Obama is losing himself in a false romantic narrative of the mythical “Great Presidency.” Instead of acting — instead of seizing the existential moment — he is trying to emulate how these presidencies are remembered in the popular mind. He’s seeing what we today remember about FDR and Kennedy’s challenges to the nation, about Reagan’s public optimism, etc. And he’s trying to mimic that through high-minded nobleness. This is bad.

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Waterboarding

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by hilzoy From the NYT: “In an effort to quell growing doubts in the Senate about his nomination as attorney general, Michael B. Mukasey declared Tuesday that waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques “seem over the line or, on a personal basis, repugnant to me” and promised to review the legality of such methods if … Read more

E. Coli Conservatism Strikes Again

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by hilzoy Honestly, you just can’t make this up: “The nation’s top official for consumer product safety has asked Congress in recent days to reject legislation intended to strengthen the agency, which polices thousands of consumer goods, from toys to tools. On the eve of an important Senate committee meeting to consider the legislation, Nancy … Read more

Obama’s Really Really Bad Move (Opening Edwards)

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by publius Obama’s new Social Security line of attack against Clinton is not merely a horrendously bad idea itself. It’s bad enough to make people like me (tentative supporters) question whether his campaign has the political smarts for prime time. I won’t repeat the arguments because others have made them so well (see Garance, Josh … Read more

The Huckabee Spoiler Alert

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by publius Via (man or machine?) Benen, I saw the Huckabee Risin’ poll in Iowa. Ana Marie Cox threw cold water on the methodology, but even fundraising indicates Huckabee is getting stronger. Stronger, though, is not necessarily strong. And I still don’t see him as a viable candidate. What I do see him as is … Read more

Privatizing The Military

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by hilzoy While I was off being busy, I kept meaning to comment on the Blackwater story, but never found the time. It seems pretty clear to me that the main problem is not individual trigger-happy contractors but a larger structural point: the absence of any legal framework for holding contractors accountable*. This is something … Read more

Nominee – Worst Op-Ed of 2007 Award

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by publius Sebastian Mallaby makes a strong run at Worst Op-Ed of 2007 this morning. Here’s the part that caused me to spit out my hippy Kashi crunch cereal: Clinton’s rivals are contemplating history and deriving only a narrow lesson about Bush: Don’t trust him when he confronts a Muslim country. But the larger, more … Read more

Induction Falsified Again!

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by hilzoy I had no great hopes for tonight’s Red Sox game. I know the Red Sox. I grew up in Boston. I used to love the Red Sox, until I decided that they were not a baseball team, but an instrument of torture in the hands of a sadistic God. My prediction for the … Read more

No Immunity For Telecoms

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by hilzoy OpenLeft has a petition opposing granting immunity to those telecoms that provided data on their customers — meaning us — to the government for years, in apparent violation of a number of laws. Glenn Greenwald, who has been all over this issue, has a decent summary of the relevant statutes: “And now, some … Read more

In Defense of Beauchamp

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by G’Kar I stayed away from the entire Beauchamp affair. I was aware of it, and I had my own opinion, but since I had no way of proving anything one way or the other, I saw no real value to jumping into the fray. However, an experience I had the other day has left … Read more

Probably Get Fooled Again

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by publius The poor administration — they’re really just misunderstood “doves” on Iran. Despite officially designating a foreign government’s military as terrorism supporters for the first time in history, they say they’re getting a bum rap. Here’s the Post: Both publicly and privately, White House and other administration officials have expressed frustration over the talk … Read more

Hawk ‘N Dove

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by publius Regardless of how you come down on political tactics, I think we can all stipulate that the American public is more nationalistic and war-happy than we would like them to be. Maybe we can change that through strong principled stands, maybe we can’t. That’s part of the simmering fault line within the progressive … Read more

Real Support

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by G’Kar A brief post, as I’m not somewhere with a dedicated internet connection at the moment. But I couldn’t read this comment without (after letting my blood pressure abate) making at least a brief response. I will note that, of course, I do not speak for all soldiers, or even necessarily any subset of … Read more

Mercy… Uncle…Etc.

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by publius If the liberal blogosphere collectively stipulates that everything Scott Beauchamp said was wrong, can we stop hearing about it? What if I personally send every conservative blogger $20? We give. Seriously. White flag. No more. Mercy. UPDATE: I should say that while I (intentionally) don’t know much about it, this in no way … Read more

Scary Scientists!

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by hilzoy I was just going over the stuff in my junk email to see whether I could delete it all, and I found the most astonishing message: “Dear Dr. [hilzoy], From your article titled “The implications of advances in neuroscience for freedom of the will.” (Neurotherapeutics. 2007 Jul;4(3):555-9.), we learned of your research with … Read more

Give ‘Em a Break

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by publius I’m not sure I entirely understand Brian Beutler’s argument here. The point — familiar enough — is that Congressional Democrats suck. But to support this conclusion, he offers up the failure to override the SCHIP veto. I’m not attacking Beutler (he’s one of the good ones), but I’m frankly tired of this line … Read more

A Mystery

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by hilzoy The NYT had an article yesterday on the smear campaign against John McCain that helped win George W. Bush the nomination: “A smear campaign during the primary in February 2000 here had many in South Carolina falsely believing that Mr. McCain’s wife, Cindy, was a drug addict and that the couple’s adopted daughter, … Read more

The Rule Of Law

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by hilzoy From the NYT: “On the second day of confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Mr. Mukasey went further than he had the day before in arguing that the White House had constitutional authority to act beyond the limits of laws enacted by Congress, especially when it came to national defense. He suggested … Read more

Attorney General Nominee Disavows Torture

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by Katherine The President’s nominee for Attorney General was introduced to the committee by a Democratic Senator, who vouched for his integrity, his qualifications, and “his interest in working with all of us in making our homeland more secure, and at the same time protecting our citizens’ rights and liberties.” He repeatedly told the Judiciary … Read more

CATS!

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by publius I also trust everyone is fully aware of the pure awesomeness that was the UK-LSU game. I’m tempted to get a virtual Blue-White cheer going. Farley maybe? — you’re an adopted Kentuckian (not the real thing like me, but close enough, assuming you can now pronounce Louisville with two syllables).

The Too-Clever-By-Half Filibuster Strategy

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by publius I’ve been away and am catching up with news. But I did see Peggy Noonan’s interesting observation about the Protect-Bush-First thinking within the Washington GOP establishment: But maybe Mr. Bartlett’s attitude illustrates a larger reality. The Bush people don’t seem to spend much time on loyalty to the party per se, only to … Read more

Look At The Dancing Lady!

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by hilzoy Via Kevin Drum: this test of whether you’re right- or left-brained is very cool. I’ve always wondered which side of my brain is dominant: I have some very left-brain features — logic, words, realism — and some very right-brain ones — emotion, “big picture”, imagination, and spatial perception, at which I am unexpectedly … Read more

Noted Without Further Comment

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by publius Krauthammer: I could never vote for her because the Clintons’ liberal internationalism on display in the 1990s — the pursuit of paper treaties and the reliance on international institutions — is naive in theory and feckless in practice.

Scalia as Bauer

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by publius I can’t believe I’m just seeing this, but everyone should check out Dahlia Lithwick’s foray into animation. I think I’m opening class tomorrow with it. (It’s a small part, but I liked the Ginsburg clerk the best).

Super Kabuki Watch – Immigration Edition

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by publius A question for ya. Let’s say you’re the Bush administration. Let’s say you have no real interest in cracking down on illegal immigration. But, you’re getting a lot of heat from parts of the base. What do you do? This is a cynical interpretation for sure, but maybe you write administrative rules so … Read more

You write Malkin, I read Hillary

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It’s now clear (SAT time):  Michelle Malkin : Obsidian Wings as Hillary Clinton : Republican party Malkin is the one common enemy that unites all the warring factions.  In any event, before I slink back into that long night of semi-permanent retirement, let me offer the following two thoughts: 1.  Malkin is not the conservative … Read more

Why Coulter is Better Than Malkin

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by publius If you haven’t read Michelle Malkin’s odd, rambling response to Ezra Klein’s debate challenge, it’s well worth the price of admission. Not so much for the substance, but for the sheer rage dripping from it. It’s also interesting from a psychological perspective. In fact, Malkin’s response distinguishes her in interesting ways from Ann … Read more

Point Malkin

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by publius I originally agreed with Ezra Klein on this whole SCHIP business. But after reading this measured, articulate, and well-reasoned post, I think Malkin convinced me. In all seriousness, that post is either the most brilliant conceptual art in the history of blogging, or it’s the most rage-filled sputtering nonsense I’ve ever read (and … Read more

The First Rule of Holes

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…. is when you’re in one, stop digging. (Yes, yes, I’m on semi-permanent hiatus.  But I make a special exception for Malkin, who, as John Cole rightly relates, "is a gaping asshole and everything that is wrong with the Republican party.") UPDATE: Compare: "I certainly am not convinced that a government-run system is the answer, … Read more

Why Armenia?

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by publius Somebody help me out with this Turkey/Armenian resolution. I feel like I’m missing something. It seems like such a colossally stupid thing to do. Turkey is a key ally, and this is a particularly important time for good relations. I’m not saying that should excuse human rights violations. But it did happen decades … Read more

What’s Tough Got To Do With It?

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by G’Kar If there is a Rosetta Stone to American politics, then it is the ongoing fascination with the need for ‘tough’ politicians. Some people are worried about the ascension of Hillary Clinton because she might not be ‘tough enough’ to hold the office of President of the United States, with Tom Smith at The … Read more

When Wingnuts Attack

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by hilzoy

As you might have read elsewhere, large chunks of the right-wing blogosphere have decided to go after Graeme Frost, the kid who gave the Democrats’ response to Bush’s radio address a week and a half ago. Frost was in a car accident, and S-CHIP, the children’s health insurance program Bush just vetoed, paid for his medical care. First, a Freeper decided to “investigate” the Frosts’ financial situation, via Google. Then the results of his “investigation” were linked all over the right-wing blogs. Michelle Malkin decided to do an on-site investigation of the Frost home and business. As John Cole wrote:

“Maybe she can get some of her flunkies at Hot Air to sit with binoculars and see what they have for dinner. Better not be government cheese, or the SH!T is going to hit the fan.”

(OK, he didn’t use an exclamation point.)

I find the idea of Michelle Malkin poking around people’s homes trying to find out whether they are really as poor as they claim to be as creepy as everyone else. So rather than belabor that point, I’ll make another:

If, for some reason, it occurs to you to fact-check a story like this, please, please, please try to exercise some modicum of intelligence. And if you read someone else’s investigation, please, please, please ask yourself whether there are any obvious problems with it before plastering it all over cyberspace. It’s one thing to investigate the claims made by a kid on the radio privately, and then go public if you find some actual problems. It’s quite another to go after a kid (or anyone else) with allegations whose problems are so obvious that you’d really have to wonder about anyone who didn’t spot them.

The first point made by icwhatudo, the Freeper who did the original Googling, is this:

“Graeme Frost, who gave the democrat rebuttal to George Bush’s reasons for vetoing the SCHIP Bill, is a middle school student at the exclusive $20,000 per year Park School in Baltimore, MD. (…) His sister Gemma, also severely injured in the accident, attended the same school prior to the accident meaning the family was able to come up with nearly $40,000 per year for tuition for these 2 grade schoolers.”

This fact was picked up by all sorts of bloggers, many of whom ask “why a “working family” in need of government-subsidized health care can afford to send two children to a $20,000-a-year-private school” (to cite Michelle Malkin’s version.)

Heavens: who could spot a problem with this? Here is an analogous question, just in case some of you are feeling a little slow:

“John Edwards claims to be the son of a mill worker. But somehow his allegedly impoverished parents were able to find the money to send him to Clemson University, which now costs out-of-state residents all of $22,300 in tuition and fees! Even accounting for inflation, it must have cost a decent chunk of change when John Edwards went there. I wonder how his poor mill-worker Dad managed?”

If you guessed “financial aid”, you win a lifetime subscription to Obsidian Wings! Apparently, most right-wing bloggers are unfamiliar with the concept of “scholarships”, by which private educational institutions defray the cost of tuition for their poorer students. But it’s hard to see how icwhatudo, or any of the bloggers who bothered to click his/her links before linking to his/her post, could have missed this fact, since (as Thers at Whiskey Fire notes) s/he links to this page at the Park School’s website, which is conveniently titled “Cost & Financial Assistance”. You don’t even have to scroll down to find this information:

“Park enrolls students based on their talents and capabilities. Families who are unable to meet the full cost of tuition may apply for the Financial Assistance Program, which supplements tuition payments. Financial assistance does not need to be repaid.

In 2007, 18% of Park students in grades 1-12 received over $2 million in financial assistance that ranged from $1,000 per year to full tuition. Tuition remission for children of our faculty brings that total to 25% of the student body.

Because each family’s situation is unique, it is impossible to predict the amount of funding awarded based solely on income. For example, the number of children attending tuition-charging institutions is an important factor. As a guide, families with incomes up to $160,000 received financial assistance during this past school year.”

It certainly sounds as though a family like the Frosts, who make $45,000 a year, might have gotten some of that financial aid. And, in fact, they did: ThinkProgress reports that the family pays only $500 a year in tuition.

Moving right along:

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I Think Digby Called Them “Scum”

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by publius One of the hazards of blogging is that outrage comes pretty easy. Bloggers are, by nature, an irritated group. Speaking personally, it’s the pent-up irritation at pretty much everything I see and read that keeps me going. It’s a strange symbiosis — bloggers and the outrageous objects of our affection. Easy outrage, however, … Read more

No Method At All

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by hilzoy Remember what the point of the surge was supposed to be? From a background briefing given when it was announced: “The purpose of all this is to get the violence in Baghdad down, get control of the situation and the sectarian violence, because now, without it, the reconciliation that everybody knows in the … Read more