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The Big O

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Is it satisfying to have the former Treasury Secretary, who sat on the National Security Council, say many, many of the things I’ve said and thought about the Bush administration? You betcha. But what I’d really like is a month off from school and access to the 19,000 documents he gave Suskind. Failing that, here’s … Read more

As Iowa Turns

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This Harkin endorsement can only be good for Dean, and I think it’s a much bigger deal than the four year old Canadian TV show thing. But my favorite line of the AP story on Harkin was this: “To me, it’s a cynical attempt to participate in the Iowa caucuses if that’s the way he … Read more

1968, 1972, 1994, 2000, 2002

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People are still raising the specter of “Dean as McGovern.” (Actually “raising” is not an accurate term anymore. Every Dean supporter has heard this one too many times to count, for over half a year. “Waving around the specter with cries of ‘DOOM! DOOM!’ ” is a little wordy though.)

Here’s my main problem with these comparisons. It’s not that they’re inaccurate or unoriginal (though they are both those things.) It’s this: 1972 was not the worst year for the Democratic party in the last half century, and the belief that it was is a symptom of something seriously wrong with our party.

Yes, it was a landslide. But Democrats still controlled both houses of Congress. And of course, a year and a half after his second term began, Nixon resigned, and “don’t blame me, I’m from Massachusetts” bumper stickers became very popular. In my list of “lousy years for the Democratic Party”, 1972 is no higher than fifth.

These are my top four, in descending order:

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9/11 Memorial Follow Up

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They’ve chosen the design. Times article here, and you can view some of the images here (note that those don’t reflect a recent re-design to conform to Libeskind’s plan–the new design will be unveiled next week). It will probably be impossible to do this right, and even more impossible to please everyone, especially this soon … Read more

Dammit, another Clark post.

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This is my last freakin’ one.

As foretold by the Prophecies of Aberjian,* the Democratic field must reduce to two contenders: the DEAN and the NOT DEAN. These two shall then battle, Thunderdome-style, to the death. Tina Turner will officiate. Thus has it been foretold, thus shall it be.

Now, we know who the DEAN is. (Or at least think we do.) But who shall be the NOT DEAN?

Perhaps we shall soon have our answer. The latest New Hampshire tracking poll shows Clark pulling even with Kerry in New Hampshire. Josh Marshall, reading the tea leaves, prepares the ritual oil to annoint Clark as the NOT DEAN. (Kaus, checking his file, agrees.) Kos, on the other hand, previously reviewed the bones and believes that the Thunderdome-method may be the wrong way to go. He hopes to pull off the difficult task of merging Dean and Clark, Voltron-Style.

As for me, well: Kerry had a recent surge in the nationwide polls, but he’s nearly kaput. Clark’s statements that he won’t be Dean’s running mate seem to foreclose Kos’s hope. And if Gephardt doesn’t win convincingly in Iowa . . . .

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Exquisite in Its Simplicity

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Via Pandagon, from the new Club for Growth ads in Iowa: a farmer says he thinks that “Howard Dean should take his tax-hiking, government-expanding, latte-drinking, sushi-eating, Volvo-driving, New York Times-reading …” before the farmer’s wife then finishes the sentence: “… Hollywood-loving, left-wing freak show back to Vermont, where it belongs.” (here’s a link to the … Read more

Passing it along, Part Two

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Michael Totten tries his hand at political taxidermy, separating the “liberals” from the “leftists.” It’s an interesting piece, and worth reading (Matthew Stintson provides his take on Mr. Totten’s piece — also very much worth reading — here.)

Although I’d quibble with some of the particulars,* I think that Mr. Totten is correct when he argues that there’s a difference in kind, not merely degree, between, say, the DLC (“liberals,” in his view) and the folks at ANSWER (“leftists”). These people do not share the same worldview — indeed, in many ways the gulf is even greater than that between so-called neo- and paleo- conservatives. It’s a mistake to suggest otherwise by falsely placing them on a right-left (or, in this case, left-lefter) continuum.

von

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They decided to change those names…

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… in that Muslim football tournament. For the record, I never particularly cared one way or the other if young people want to call their sports teams “Soldiers of Allah” or “Moujahideen” (in much the same way that I don’t particularly care if they wanted to call a team, say, the “Crusaders”); “Intifada” bothered me … Read more