Politics

Arrgh.

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I like Glenn Reynolds. I read him every day. But on certain legal subjects near to my heart, he completely screws up the law. (Last time it was on RICO’s application to the RIAA.)

My beef with Glenn follows. Oh, and as a general rule: do not assume that I, Glenn Reynolds, Eugene Volokh, Professor Bainbridge, or any other self-professed legal professional, knows what the hell they’re talking about when they’re talkin’ law.

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Now that’s what I’m talking about

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Before the primary in New York, I endorsed Edwards, mostly on the believe that he alone (more than Kerry and more than Bush) stood the best chance of uniting the nation….something I believe should be a national priority during times of war. But perhaps there is another way… Sen. McCain Open to Being Kerry’s VP … Read more

Tax cuts spur jobs growth (Government Jobs, that is)

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From Marshall: Lest we miss any opportunity to give the White House a hard time over Friday’s disappointing employment report, let’s not overlook this important detail. None of those 21,000 new jobs came from the private sector. They were all the result of increased government sector hiring. And then there’s this “The numbers … reinforce … Read more

‘Cuz I think Harley gets twitchy without a Plame thread…

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Testimony from Karl Rove, which included a flat denial that he was the anonymous leaker in the Plame case… has been anonymously leaked to The American Prospect. Somebody in TalkLeft’s comment section claims that this is perfectly legal, as the attorneys were only requested to keep things quiet, but… I’m sorry, folks, I tried, but … Read more

The NASCAR mileage

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The White House has changed its mind (must be “Kerry’s flip-flop” influence…at least I’m sure it’s not Bush’s fault) and decided that the 9/11 panel won’t be limited to hour with Bush. McClellan’s comments suggested the administration had undergone a second change of heart about the commission. Bush originally had opposed the panel’s request for … Read more

Nice shot.

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In support of von’s implicit call for comity, I shall discard the post I had planned and instead note that the lovely and talented Respectful of Otters has elegantly demolished a meme that I didn’t even know was up and running. Some big, bad VRWC Death Beast I am; this is the blogging equivalent of … Read more

Arrgh…

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An entire post about the RNC and Moveon and a recent letter sent by the former to target activities done by the latter and campaign finance rules just got flushed into the ether. Grumble, grumble, groan. Anyway, to summarize (because I don’t think that I can summon up the deathless prose that graced the original): … Read more

Toast and Bitter Revenge.

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Steven Taylor has altered the Toast-O-Meter’s format to reflect Kerry’s effective capture of the Democratic nomination; there are some changed categories and a couple of new ones. Personally, I expect that a see-saw will be be a better metaphor than a toaster for this election (up to the primaries, at least), but that’s just me. … Read more

Fine, Fine, You’re Being Credited. Happy?

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Wonkette goes to some trouble to thoroughly debunk rumors (from Page Six of the New York Post, no less!) that Senator Kerry plans to give Terry McAuliffe the axe. I’m still trying to figure out whether she’s just making fun of Drudge’s often-hysterical (both of the major definitions apply here, actually) writing style or not. … Read more

But they said nice things about McCain.

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Or, Why Johnny can’t spend George’s Soft Money.

Also from the Weekly Standard’s David Tell comes an article about certain rulings about McCain-Feingold – and why it’s continuing to have the same effect on Democratic soft money fundraising as a .45 caliber hollowpoint bullet has on the average human spine:

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Not a “Statistician” Indeed…

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Asked why he later backed down from emploment predicitions in a report he signed, Bush reportedly said “I’m not a statistician. I’m not a predictor.” He’s not someone who can run an effective campaign on the job-creating effects of his tax-cut program either, obviously. U.S. employers added just 21,000 positions in Feb. Pertinent paragraphs: America’s … Read more

Beware of lawyers offering advice, if they ask for no fee.

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Were I inclined to offer Kerry advice on a winning message against Bush, I would simply state: Read William Saletan’s recent article in Slate. Then read it again: Yesterday Kerry’s campaign responded to Bush’s ads by accusing the president of “unsteady leadership.” In the Democratic primaries, this accusation worked for Kerry, because liberals think Bush … Read more

Huh?

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Is there a story behind this CNN sign? (Via Yahoo AP Or is it just a random local issue? I’m genuinely curious: I wasn’t aware that the Democrats were having a problem with CNN.

Round on both Ends, and “High” in the Middle

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On the Today Show, this morning, Tim Russert said that if, in the 2000 election, it was “Florida, Florida, Florida,” this time around it’s “Ohio, Ohio, Ohio.” Hailing from the Buckeye state myself (which I’m currently very upset with for its recent DOMA, I must admit), I’m perhaps more aware than most of what’s been … Read more

Yeah, it’s over.

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Kerry’s going to be the Democratic candidate. Sure, he lost Vermont* and will probably lose Georgia**, but other than that, it was all him. Edwards is apparently going to bow out gracefully tomorrow; when that happens, the arcane art that is Democratic delegate selection will virtually guarantee Kerry’s elevation to candidate. So, that’s the end … Read more

The usual half-baked analysis.

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Over at dKos there’s a somewhat pessimistic thread about Democratic chances for Florida this election cycle. I’m not all that interested in discussing that, partially because it’s way too early to say that one state or another is or isn’t in play (shoot, Caesar’s latest map has Florida going blue and the election going to the Democrats), but mostly because I wanted to note something that I would have thought was obvious: to wit, that the only winning strategy is a fifty-state strategy.

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Super Tuesday. Whoop-de-doo.

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Exciting, this is not. As it stands, Edwards is apparently significantly behind just about everywhere, Dean and Clark are out, Sharpton’s a joke and Kuchinich’s… actually, Kuchinich is probably doing pretty good for himself with this Real Presidential Candidate routine, given that his voter demographic probably has the highest percentage of nubile college students. Nice … Read more

I see a woman in a red scarf…

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A telepathy charge is quickly gaining ground around here and Tacitus.org lately. Every time someone suggests the Bush Administration has some unexpressed motive as the only way to rationalize seemingly contradictory or otherwise inexplicable evidence, Bird Dog starts handing out his coveted Carnak Awards, and Slartibartfast virtually hurls the Tarot Cards from the card table. … Read more

Legal meme analysis while you wait.

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Sasha and Eugene Volokh have put up a couple of interesting posts about the limits of Congress’ ability to strip the Supreme Court of jurisdiction in a particular area. Well worth checking out. BTW, ‘interesting’ in this context translates to ‘I understood what the heck they were talking about’. You’ve no doubt noticed that I … Read more

Thanks for sharing.

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I’ve been meaning to blogroll QandO for a bit, now, so I’ll introduce him with this post about Representative Corrine Brown. I’ll be honest: I couldn’t believe at first that any Congressperson could be enough of a fool to say “You all look alike to me” in public, but apparently she did. Brown has since … Read more

Meanwhile, back at the primaries…

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…Kerry won Idaho and Utah; Hawaii’s… shoot, are the polls still open for those guys? Could be. Anyway, no surprises and no insights, except that Kerry’s current glidepath doesn’t seem to have wobbled any. One week to go before the fireworks… And now, to sleep. It’s been a day.

Fools. And knaves.

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Well, Bush did it:

“Today,” Bush said, “I call for the Congress to promptly pass and send to the states for ratification an amendment to our Constitution defining and protecting marriage as a union of a man and woman, as husband and wife.”

Bush could have endorsed an Amendment that merely held that a gay marriage in one state need not be recognized as a marriage in another — an Amendment that lets the states decide. It would’ve had broad support.* (Indeed, even Rep. Barney Frank, the openly gay Massachusetts Congressman, has endorsed this approach.) Instead, Bush has endorsed an Amendment designed to prohibit the states from conducting their own affairs. Bush — the freely-spending champion of “limited” government — has decided that the federal government should now reach into the bedrooms, town halls, and churches of communities around the nation.

And so Bush feeds a narrow constituency, at the expense of the whole.

von

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The Primaries That Everybody Forgot

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Or, Why Progressives are going to have to vote for Kerry
A Speaking Truth To… Well, Not Impotence

Tomorrow are three more primaries – Hawaii, Idaho and Utah… and, apparently, nobody really cares, including the candidates. Granted, Utah’s Democrats are running their campaign out of the public library system because the (Republican-controlled) legislature decided not to fund primaries this year, Idaho’s Democrats are just downright rare and Hawaii… sorry, if I was running for President I’d visit Hawaii at least once to ‘canvass’. Just like Dennis Kuchinich, who’s apparently the only one who bothered – I’m telling you, this entire primary is apparently just one long Spring Break for this guy. If I was single, I’d be deeply envious.

Anyway, there are three primaries tomorrow, and everyone’s assuming that Kerry will win them, but nobody really cares too much by how much. So be it: I’ll say Kerry by double digits in all three and no three-way splits, just to keep up with my usual obsessive look at the primaries. We’ll discuss the alternate title of this post under the fold. Warning: you may not like it, much. I’m in Giving Advice That I Know Probably Won’t Be Followed Mode again.

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Some people can’t take a hint.

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Unlike many of my compatriots, I am not really amused at the fact that Nader has decided to run for President again. There’s something vaguely depressing about watching a 70 year old man spend valuable lifespan campaigning for a single-digit percentage of the popular vote, not to mention the fact that he’s probably going to … Read more

Isengard on the Potomac

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Part I: Mission Statement This is the first in a planned series on Bush’s environmental record Environmental protection is a progressive obligation. By that, I mean specifically that rolling back regulations should not be the focus of the EPA. (It’s similar to the logic that explaining to employers how to work around overtime regulations should … Read more

Edward(s) for President

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Ever begun to wonder (somewhere between that 2nd and 3rd cocktail) if you’d make a good president? Yes, you? Political Junkie, blog-addict, arm-chair pundit…it’s had to occur to you, even if only to imagine yourself with access to the WH’s infamous kitchen or to search out the supposed secret tunnels under the Rose Garden. (Does … Read more

Polls: Putting the Junk in “Political Junkie”

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Mad props to Pejmanesque, but using 627 words to indicate that …at this stage in the game, at least, no one has the first clue what is going to happen with the presidential race. Certainly not the pollsters is about six hundred words too many. Check it out: he’s got some good ones this time, … Read more

Our Hero, Bradley Smith?

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Well, the Wall Street Journal thinks so: he’s the FEC chairman who has to determine policy on 527s and their shaking soft-money makers. Smith happens to be against restricting 527s, apostate Republican that he is, which makes the entire thing so blissfully ironic: we’ve got one of those 180 degree turnarounds going on here all … Read more

Jesus may love you, but I think you’re an…

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Andrew Sullivan has made a post that I find myself agreeing with completely (which is actually an odd sensation, albeit not totally unfamiliar, but I digress). You can find the post here.

I think there are some people who are taking this entirely too far. When John Derbyshire asks for someone to make a citizen’s arrest on officials executing their duties as they belive mandated by the California Constitution, we ought to stop and think about just what this means and where we’re going. When the American Family Association’s Center for Law and Policy calls for these officials to be arrested and charged with felonies, they just need to be told to shut their pie holes, becuase they certainly aren’t contributing anything meaningful to the situation.

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So, What Does It Mean?

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The WI primary, that is. Several thoughts:

1). We’re going to start seeing articles about how Edwards is on a comeback, not to mention ones intimating that Kerry may be faltering. It is my pious hope that nobody reading this will be surprised by that revelation. What is more up in the air is whether this does represent the comeback of Edwards and/or faltering of Kerry; just because it’ll sell papers doesn’t mean that it’s false. Complicating matters are the next three primaries: Hawaii, Utah and Idaho. The latter two are not likely to be Kerry bastions, to put it mildly; heck, Utah Democrats are running its primary out of public libraries because the Republican-controlled legislature didn’t feel like allocating the cash for primaries this year*. Don’t expect any useful data until 3/2.

2). If Kerry falters and Edwards gains, the front-loading of the primaries is going to work against picking one candidate. Kerry needs less plurarities and more outright wins, and he seriously needs a two-man race. Edwards needs Howard Dean. Dean… as far as I can tell, Dean doesn’t need a damned thing, which is why I don’t think that he’s going to drop out of the race.

3). Zogby got this one seriously wrong. Worse-than-TN wrong. Either Zogby hasn’t calibrated open primaries properly, or he has difficulty assessing Edwards, or both. Either way, don’t automatically expect him to get GA correct.

And finally:

4). The percentage of people who will resist the temptation using this primary to grind whatever ax they feel like grinding will be rather small. Depressingly so, in fact.

Moe

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Polls are closed in Wisconsin…

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…and Kerry, well, it’s only 10% 18% 23% 30% of the total. In a conservative state. With an open primary. I’m sure that he’ll snap right back. Anybody got a link to how Chandler’s doing in KY? I’m not sure why I’m interested in that race, but I am. UPDATE: Well, Kerry’s winning. At the … Read more