Month: August 2008

What Did We Tell Georgia?

by

by hilzoy If this is true, whoever is responsible should be banned from foreign policy for the rest of his or her natural life: “Mr Saakashvilli may also have banked on support from his closest ally, US president George W Bush, whose administration is said to have given tacit support for a Georgian assault on … Read more

Your Liberal Media

by

by hilzoy This is a very puzzling article: “Obama Tax Plan Would Balloon Budget Deficit, Analysis Finds On the campaign trail, Sen. Barack Obama bashes President Bush for “reckless” economic policies that are “mortgaging our children’s future on a mountain of debt.” But the Democratic presidential candidate has adopted a key component of Bush’s fiscal … Read more

Strange Days

by

by hilzoy The forthcoming Atlantic article on Hillary Clinton’s campaign, and the internal emails that go with it, sound fascinating, in a train-wreck sort of way. The most odious moment so far: “Mark Penn, the top campaign strategist for Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign, advised her to portray Barack Obama as having a “limited” connection “to … Read more

Georgia

by

by hilzoy

First, a bit of levity on a very serious subject: apparently, this map actually ran next to a story on (the present conflict in the former Soviet Socialist Republic of) Georgia (h/t Ezra):

Georgiagooglegoofsmall

Now, the NYT:

“Russian troops that had poured into the disputed territory of South Ossetia moved to enclave’s boundary with Georgia on Sunday, witnesses said, as the conflict appeared to be developing into the worst clashes between Russia and a foreign military since the invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.

Overnight, Russia landed ground troops off of warships into the disputed territory of Abkhazia and broadened its bombing campaign to the Georgian capital’s airport.

The Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe said Georgia was ready to negotiate a ceasefire, but a top Russian defense official said no formal offer had been received.

Georgian authorities said Sunday morning that they expect Russian attacks to come on three fronts — from Gali and Zugdidi, two spots on the Abkhazian border, and from Ossetia, according to Gigi Ugulada, the mayor of Tbilisi. They also expect more bombing on the Kodori Gorge, the only part of Abkhazia that remains under Georgian control.

Witness reports from the border between South Ossetia and Georgia suggested that Russian forces had moved up to the winding, disputed boundary line.

But a top Russian defense official said Sunday that Russia had no immediate plans to move troops into Georgia.”

This is, obviously, very worrying. I suppose the good news is that Russia does not yet seem to have moved ground troops into non-disputed parts of Georgia. The bad news is that they have not only moved into South Ossetia, but into Abkhazia as well; and are bombing undisputed parts of Georgia, including an airport near the capital. (Note: the reason I’m distinguishing between Russia attacking South Ossetia and Abkhazia on the one hand, and other parts of Georgia on the other, is not because I think that attacks on the former are somehow OK. It’s that in situations like this, there are natural lines where someone might stop, and it’s worth paying attention to whether or not they have been crossed. Sending ground troops into non-disputed parts of Georgia constitutes crossing such a line.)

Putin:

“Russian PM Vladimir Putin earlier suggested it was unlikely that South Ossetia would re-integrate with the rest of Georgia, saying the country’s territorial integrity had “suffered a fatal blow”.”

Meanwhile, Ukraine is reserving the right to bar Russian warships from returning to Ukranian ports that Russia has leased. (Some of those ships are positioning themselves around Georgia’s coast.) The UN Security Council is meeting but not getting anywhere, which is not that surprising in view of the fact that Russia is one of its permanent members. The US “warned Sunday that “disproportionate” actions against Georgia could have a “significant long term impact on U.S.-Russian relations.”” Western European governments have also been very critical of Russia. A group of US and European envoys is heading to Georgia to try to negotiate a truce. Meanwhile, the fighting continues.

Thoughts and good references below the fold.

Read more

Straight Talk In Ohio

by

by hilzoy

A couple of days ago the Ohio Democrats released this ad:

It shows footage from the town meeting described here:

“Mary Houghtaling, who runs a hospice in Wilmington, Ohio, choked up as she told McCain of DHL’s plans to close its domestic air hub in her town, a move that could throw 8,600 people out of work. “This is a terrible blow,” McCain told her. “I don’t know if I can stop it. That’s some straight talk. Some more straight talk? I doubt it.””

Interspersed with the footage are screens that say:

“McCain and his campaign manager, Rick Davis, played roles in the fate of DHL Express and its Ohio air park as far back as 2003.”

And:

“Those jobs are on the chopping block because Sen. McCain and his campaign were involved in a deal that resulted in control of those positions being shifted to a foreign corporation.”

— Joe Rugola, president of the Ohio AFL-CIO”

And:

“The firm of Rick Davis, John McCain’s campaign manager, earned $185,000 lobbying for foreign ownership, and $405,000 after the deal passed Congress”

It’s a very powerful ad. The sight of McCain saying “I don’t know if I can stop it. That’s some straight talk. Some more straight talk? I doubt it”, about a deal he and his campaign manager were involved in making possible, is jarring. And reminding voters that McCain is surrounded by ex-lobbyists cannot help his efforts to convince them that he is a maverick who recognizes that Washington is broken and wants to change it. Especially since, in this case, one of the people McCain’s campaign manager was paid to lobby was, well, John McCain.

That said, when I first saw the ad I wondered whether there was less to this story than met the eye. To be clear: I absolutely think that it’s a mistake to have lobbyists (including lobbyists who, like Davis, are presently “on leave”) running campaigns and serving as senior advisors to candidates. I could be persuaded to make an exception for people who are paid a flat salary to lobby for some worthwhile cause, like the environment or vaccinations for third world children or workplace safety, from which neither they nor the people who pay them will personally profit, but I think that people who have been paid, and might well be paid again, by private corporations or foreign governments should not manage anyone’s campaign.

That said, I do not have a problem with private employers deciding to relocate their facilities, or with foreign ownership of companies that operate in the United States. Moreover, Davis’ lobbying seems to have occurred between 2003 and 2005, and McCain’s involvement was in 2003, so it seemed worth asking whether, at the time, there was any reason to think that the deal might actually cost Ohioans jobs. Because if it looked like a good deal for Ohio at the time, that would make the story told in the ad look very different — though it would leave intact the general issue of having lobbyists running the McCain campaign.

I was also curious what on earth Congress had to do with what sounded like a normal deal. So I cranked up Lexis-Nexis. Short answer: yes, there were concerns about the effect on jobs at the time. What’s below the fold is an explanation of the deal, and of those concerns; I suspect it will be of interest mostly to people for whom the ad raised the kinds of questions it did for me.

Read more

Not a Fun Post to Write

by

by publius Well, Edwards did it. So I apologize to Mickey Kaus for writing this. Foolish me — I thought it was impossible for someone running for President to be that monumentally stupid. I was wrong. Lesson learned.

John McCain Is A Liar

by

by hilzoy Here’s McCain’s new ad: Script: “Life in the spotlight must be grand, but for the rest of us, times are tough. Obama voted to raise taxes on people making just $42,000. He promises more taxes on small business, seniors, your life savings, your family. Painful taxes. Hard choices for your budget. Not ready … Read more

Uh Oh

by

by hilzoy Eric already wrote about South Ossetia, so I’ll just note the other very bad development of the day: “A move by the civilian leadership on Thursday to impeach President Pervez Musharraf left Pakistan on the brink of a political crisis that threatened to paralyze the government at a critical moment when the United … Read more

Ivan, Go Fly Your MIG

by

by Eric Martin Um, wow: Georgian troops launched a major military offensive Friday to regain control over the breakaway province of South Ossetia, prompting a furious response from Russia — which vowed retaliation and sent a column of tanks into the region. The fighting was the worst outbreak of hostilities since the province won de-facto … Read more

Virtue Triumphs!

by

by hilzoy It’s not every day that I can write a headline like that and come close to meaning it with a straight face. But today, I can: “Nikki Tinker, the Democratic attorney who based her primary challenge to first-term Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) almost entirely on appeals to race and religion, has gone down … Read more

Why Are The Olympics In Beijing?

by

by hilzoy Before the location for the 2008 summer Olympics was decided, when people were wondering whether Beijing would get it, I scoffed. “Ha ha ha!” I thought: “How on earth could they possibly decide to hold the Olympics in a city where it’s barely possible to breathe?” Silly me. I still don’t understand how … Read more

Hamdan Verdict

by

by hilzoy From the NYT: “A panel of six military officers convicted a former driver for Osama bin Laden of one of two war crimes charges on Wednesday but acquitted him of the other, completing the first military commission trial here and the first conducted by the United States since the aftermath of World War … Read more

Now Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Program

by

by Eric Martin As expected, the Iraqi parliament failed to pass a provincial elections law, thus pushing the elections themselves back to some point in 2009 (hopefully).  The reason that the Iraqi legislature is having such a tough time agreeing on an election law is that the disagreements over the parameters of the law represent … Read more

McCain’s Catch-22

by

by publius I know the more reasonable interpretation of Obama’s consistent 5-6 point lead in the national polls is that Obama’s in deep trouble. But if you look beyond the silly headline, the new TIME poll has some ominous numbers for John McCain — numbers reinforced by the recent AP and CBS polls as well. … Read more

Smash a Mole

by

by Eric Martin Colin Thomas-Jensen at the Wonk Room reminds us that tomorrow marks the ten-year anniversary of the US embassy bombings in Kenya.  Three al-Qaeda operatives, thought to have had a hand in those attacks, have been active in the Horn of Africa region ever since.  During this span, the US government has worked … Read more

Loves It!

by

by publius If anyone is looking for an early Christmas present for me, I have a suggestion: The Republican Policy Committee’s new “spoken word” CD, Freedom Songs: The American Empowerment Agenda. Here’s a description: Freedom Songs: The American Empowerment Agenda is the RPC’s policy recommendations presented on a spoken word album. Listen and leave your … Read more

I’m A Guy??!

by

by hilzoy Andrew Sullivan posted a link to this site that tries to figure out your gender based on your web browsing history. I tried it, with amusing results: “Likelihood of you being FEMALE is 5% Likelihood of you being MALE is 95%“ Sigh. It does provide some indication of what its conclusions are based … Read more

Paris Hilton Responds

by

by hilzoy See Paris Hilton Responds to McCain Ad and more funny videos on FunnyOrDie.com I’d try to summarize this for people who can’t watch videos, but it defies description.

Miss Buffalo Chip

by

by hilzoy Here’s a video of John McCain saying he encouraged his wife to compete for the title of “Miss Buffalo Chip”: And here’s a link to video of the contest he was encouraging her to join. It’s, um, pretty special. The Jed Report thinks this shows that John McCain had no idea who he … Read more

But He Was Only Dead After You Killed Him…

by

by Eric Martin The following bit of argumentation, tendentious as it is, comes from Michael O’Hanlon and Kenneth Pollack. Considering the authors, and the subject matter (Iraq) it shouldn’t surprise me, but Stephen Biddle’s byline appears on the same piece, and he’s not nearly the hack that O’Hanlon and Pollack are.  Collaborating with the pollyannic … Read more

Tire Gauges

by

by hilzoy It’s hard to convey how depressing it is to return from ten days away and find that the Big Story in politics involves tire gauges. So let’s march through the facts. Obama said this a few days ago: “There are things you can do individually, though, to save energy. Making sure your tires … Read more

“Come Back To Work”

by

by hilzoy Yesterday, John McCain called on Congress to start working for the American people: “Congress should come back into session, and I’m willing to come off the campaign trail. I call on Senator Obama to call on Congress to come back into town, and come back to work, come off their recess, come off … Read more

The Office

by

by publius Let’s move on to a more serious topic — The Office. To my shame, I was a BBC snob and refused to watch the American version for years. But after hearing virtually everybody I know (including people whose tastes I share) rave about it, I decided to jump into Season 3 for starters. … Read more

Magically Delicious

by

by Eric Martin Remember, Clive Crook is a conservative-leaning economist: It is worth remembering where the blame for this neutering of fiscal policy lies: squarely with the Bush administration. At the start of this decade, the budget stood in surplus to the tune of 2.4 per cent of GDP. On unchanged policy, this was expected … Read more

Clueless

by

by hilzoy Cernig at Newshoggers posted an excerpt from a McClatchy article on Pakistan that includes this astonishing statement: “”One thing we never understood is that India has always been the major threat for Pakistan,” said former U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Wendy Chamberlain, now the president of the Middle East Institute.” Just. Shoot. Me. Now. … Read more

Mark Salter And ‘The One’

by

by hilzoy

Watching McCain’s new video, ‘The One‘, I remembered a recent New Republic piece on Mark Salter:

“Salter is still McCain’s chief wordsmith as well as a top campaign operative and, for all practical purposes, McCain’s brain. (…) “Salter’s just spent so much time with McCain that I don’t know if McCain’s figured out Salter or Salter’s figured out McCain,” says former McCain media adviser Mark McKinnon. Another person friendly with both men calls it a “mind meld.” But Salter not only channels McCain better than anyone. He has also demonstrated a one-of-a-kind instinct for how to craft McCain’s public image. Over the years, he has taken the raw material of McCain’s biography and temperament and turned it into a compelling narrative that supersedes politics–one about an independent-minded war hero who celebrates courage and humility, demands individual sacrifice, and excoriates vanity.”

This is the particular passage that the video brought to mind:

“But nothing seems to rile up Salter like Obama himself. In a February speech drafted by Salter, McCain cracked that he did not harbor the “presumption that I am blessed with such personal greatness that history has anointed me to save my country in its hour of need”–clearly a taunt aimed at Obama. Salter recently told The Boston Globe that Obama’s campaign is based around a “messianic complex.” “Yeah, I think politics have changed,” Salter said to me, referring to Obama’s campaign. “The politics are: ‘Elect me!'”

Like Jean Rohe, Obama also provoked Salter into some intemperate typing–even before the campaign began. After Obama and McCain differed over ethics reform, in early 2006, Salter wrote a long and overheated letter under McCain’s name ripping Obama for “self interested partisan posturing,” leading to unhelpful press chatter about McCain’s temper. (Salter says Weaver often jokes about removing the “send” button from his keyboard.)

All the more galling for Salter is his belief that Obama the candidate is lifting from McCain’s oeuvre. Obama has recently described his transformation from a selfish young man who thought “life was all about me” to an adult who realizes “that life doesn’t count for much unless you’re willing to do your small part to leave our children–all of our children–a better world. Even if it’s difficult. Even if the work seems great. Even if we don’t get very far in our lifetime.” Salter hears in this an echo of McCain’s longtime account of outgrowing his troublemaking and self-centered youth to find a higher purpose in serving others. (“I often regret that we didn’t copyright ‘serving a cause greater than your self-interest,'” he cracks.)”

Think about the last paragraph I quoted …

Read more

The One

by

by hilzoy Very, very quick note: I am absolutely no judge of these things, but I think this new McCain video truly jumps the shark: It has been reported for a while (though alas I can’t find it now) that the McCain campaign refers to Obama as ‘the One’, with contempt. I don’t think that … Read more

It’s Official

by

by publius The FCC has officially ordered (pdf) Comcast to stop blocking traffic (I posted on this last night in more detail). I’ve embedded the press release below. The actual order isn’t out yet, but I’ll have more when it does. One thing that comes through in the press release though is that the FCC … Read more

Get Back in Line

by

by Eric Martin Seriously, this country needs at least 8 years of Democratic leadership to even begin cleaning up the mess the GOP has made.  There will be pushback of course: Wal-Mart Stores Inc said on Friday it has held meetings with U.S. store managers warning them of issues that could arise if Democrats win … Read more

The Way You Look Like You Do

by

by Eric Martin So in addition to being too popular, too charismatic and too eloquent to be President, Barack Obama is apparently too physically fit as well.  Those are some serious drawbacks.  If we can confirm that Obama is also exceedingly intelligent, displays good judgment and is competent, this guy’s gonna be downright unelectable.  [UPDATE: … Read more

The Comcast Decision – Why It Matters

by

by publius

Assuming no last-minute shenanigans, the FCC will approve an order today reprimanding Comcast for “throttling” BitTorrent traffic (background here and here). This is extremely big news for several reasons — but primarily because it advances the ball on net neutrality in critically important ways.

For the foreseeable future, the real action on net neutrality will take place at the FCC. That’s because both the advocates and opponents of net neutrality have enough congressional support to maintain a filibuster, but not enough to overcome one.

So at the FCC level, there are two primary obstacles to imposing real net neutrality requirements — (1) legal; and (2) political. Tomorrow’s decision will help on both fronts — and will help a lot.

Legal

The most common legal argument against net neutrality rules is that the FCC currently lacks authority to enact them without additional legislation. I disagree with that argument, but it’s a fairly close question that requires some quick and dirty background on telecom law.

The FCC, like any agency, only has the power that Congress gives it. Thus, the scope of the FCC’s authority comes from the Communications Act (which incorporates the 1996 Act).

The Act however has a funny quirk — it sees the world in buckets. Under the framework the Act establishes, all communications services are classified and placed into a specific regulatory “bucket.” The type of regulations the FCC can adopt therefore depends upon what bucket it’s dealing with. (The buckets are actually statutory “titles” such as “Title II”, “Title III,” etc.).

The problem, however, is that the buckets are based on the assumption that a given company will only provide one type of service (remember that the Act was signed in 1934). For instance, there’s a bucket for “cable,” and for “telephone service,” and for “wireless/radio” (i.e., spectrum users). These buckets are outdated and don’t correspond to modern conditions where crazy things happen like cable companies providing “phone” and Internet services instead of just cable. For instance, your landline phone is regulated differently than your wireless phone because they fall within different buckets (cell phones are essentially glorified radios and thus fall within the “radio” regulatory bucket).

Obviously, these outdated categories create problems when new services emerge. The FCC’s answer to all this is a catch all bucket in which services are reclassified as “information services” (a/k/a Title I).

This bucket is generally considered unregulated. Thus, when the FCC wants to deregulate a service, it takes it out of the traditional regulatory buckets, and puts it in the “information services” bucket. Virtually all types of Internet access have been reclassified as “information services,” and are therefore largely unregulated. (This is what the 2005 Brand X Supreme Court case was about).

So what does all this have to do with net neutrality? Well, remember that broadband access is an unregulated information service — that is, it’s been put into the “catch all” bucket. To impose net neutrality requirements, the FCC therefore must slap a regulation onto a service that’s been reclassified and put into the deregulated catch-all bucket.

So that’s the million dollar question — can the FCC impose this type of regulation on an information service? For somewhat complicated reasons, there’s a pretty strong argument that it can (one that’s consistent with most of the case law), but companies like Comcast dispute that. For obvious reasons, they want to argue that the FCC can’t touch them.

With all that in mind, the really important part of tomorrow’s decision is not so much the Comcast case itself, but that the FCC is expected to recognize its legal authority to impose regulations on this type of Internet service. In doing so, it creates a strong legal foundation going forward for future net neutrality requirements (particularly given that courts traditionally defer to the FCC on this stuff).

But the fun doesn’t stop there — the decision also has important political benefits. Take it to the chorus.

Read more