4/14: All In The Family

Assuming that House Maj. Tom DeLay bothers to keep abreast of the blogosphere, he might be simultaneously pleased and displeased at what they're saying. Unfortunately for him, he's still a major topic of discussion -- other controversies have risen and fallen, but DeLay keeps coming back. On the other hand, the debate has spun off several sub-controversies which actually deflect some of the heat. Case in point are new reports on how other members of Congress have family on staff. One of the most-widely cited examples is Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-VT); the conservative blogs are singling this out. Then again, even on conservative blogs one hears doubts or concerns about DeLay. A common assertion goes like: 'I'm not a big fan of DeLay, but he didn't do anything wrong.'"

Meanwhile, liberal bloggers are unimpressed with his expressed regrets about comments he made regarding judges -- which some-to-many took as threats against the judiciary -- in the wake of the Terri Schiavo case. Plenty of liberal blogs are also concerned about permanent repeal of the estate tax ("death tax" to conservatives, "inheritance tax" to liberals) which has passed the House and is headed to the Senate.

Also in the blogs: John Bolton's temper, Rupert Murdoch's vision, and one DeLay supporter's confusion about his hometown.

TRACKBACKS: Motion For DeLay

Where the blog swarm is headed, who's taking part, and what they're saying:

• Which members of Congress have family members on payroll? The Los Angeles Times and VT's Bennington Banner (focusing on Sanders) both have widely linked stories. And the AP provides a list of all members with family on payroll. Bloggers linking to any of the above tend to be conservatives or centrists: Brothers Judd; Joe's DartBlog; Signifying Nothing; GOPBbloggers; Centerfield; Asymmetrical Informationl; Instapundit; Potomac Gadfly; FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog; Slings and Arrows; Swing State Project.

  >> From the AP numbers, right-leaning Outside the Beltway's James Joyner puts together an "admittedly crude" data table to find out which member's family members are paid the most. DeLay comes in 3rd. Adds Joyner: "The bottom line is that, unless DeLay's wife and daughter are not actually doing the jobs for which they're being paid, there's nothing unusual going on here. I'm no fan of DeLay's but this doesn't strike me as problematic within the confines of the current system."

  >> Centrist Roger L. Simon: "I had to laugh when I read that the former 'socialist' mayor of Burlington has been caught with his wife and step-daughter on the payroll from campaign donations. Those who think this exonerates Tom DeLay, accused of the same thing, are of course ridiculous. To the extent this may or may not be legal or improper, it doesn't necessarily implicate or exonerate either of them."

  >> Conservative American Princess, on payrolled family members: "It's hypocrisy, pure and simple. But I also say its corruption, flat out. These practices may not be illegal, but they are definitely not above the ethical radar. I think its time that Congress called an end to these practices. Its all fun and games until someone loses their chair."

  >> Liberal Media Lies, from the Banner story: "Somewhere in Washington, Tom Delay is smiling. I'm not."

• Drawing some attention as well are reports, particularly from the Washington Post and New York Times, about DeLay's apparent apology at the 4/13 presser. Most linking, but not all, are lefty blogs: Bark Bark Woof Woof; Abysmal Kingdom of Mike; The Moderate Voice; DailyKos.

  >> Centrist law prof Ann Althouse: "It's true, there are congressional checks on the judiciary, but we expect you to exercise them responsibly. The really effective congressional check, however, is the Senate's power to confirm. DeLay, not being in the Senate, is left to chatter about impeachment (ridiculous), the 'power of the purse' (underfund the courts? that's just destructive), and cutting back jurisdiction (show me the proposal and I'll comment). In short, he's just saber-rattling, or as I prefer to call it "purse swinging." I know he's hot to keep some sort of Schiavo-momentum going. But the serious debate about judges is the one going on in the Senate."

  >> Liberal lawyer Jeralyn Merritt calls it a "non-apology" and adds: "If one of my clients gave this kind of apology at a sentencing, the Judge would throw the book at him ... he's not sorry for the content of his intemperate remarks, only for the way he phrased them. That's like saying he isn't sorry for the crime, only that he got caught.

  >> Eric Pfeiffer from Beltway Buzz is one of the few conservatives to jump in on the DeLay presser, to criticize the Times: "While the Washington Post, USA Today, Chicago Tribune and other media outlets perform admirable jobs of covering the DeLay press conference yesterday; the New York Times pulls off another hack job." Pfeiffer points out Sheryl Gay Stolberg's lead is: "Deflecting all questions about his ethical conduct and political future, Representative Tom DeLay, the House majority leader, on Wednesday stepped up his crusade against judges."

• And mostly liberal bloggers point up an AP report on the estate tax vote: Demagogue; Skippy the Bush Kangaroo; Political Animal.

  >> Liberal Talking Points Memo: "That is about a trillion fewer dollars in the US Treasury over the course of the same decade in which" Social Security will begin to draw on T-bills to meet its obligations -- "In other words, [GOPers] could not care less about Social Security and everything they say on the subject is a joke." Liberal Left Coaster lists the 40 Dems who voted with the GOP and praises Rep. Jim Leach (R-IA) as having "true courage" for being the only GOPer to oppose it.

  >> Conservative Rossputin: "The debate in Congress is too much about class warfare and not enough about ethical taxation, but I can't complain: Americans don't go for 'soak the rich' so Democratic tactics seem likely to fail. The death tax should soon be killed or severely wounded."

BOLTON: Joltin', Revoltin', Molten ... Bolton!

AlphaPatriot calls the Dems' delay on the cmte vote on John Bolton until next week a "further example of crass obstructionism."

Lefty Steve Clemons: "Big news this morning. [New York Times'] Douglas Jehl reports that Senator Chris Dodd [(D-CT)] is digging deeper into the reasons why John Bolton requested mega-secret intercepts from the National Security Agency. ... Lincoln Chafee [(R-RI)] opened this line of questioning in the Senate hearings. Senator Dodd may be taking it further."

Several conservatives note the Senate testimony [warning: PDF] on Bolton's supposed bad temper: "Was it louder than normal? Probably. I wouldn't characterize it as screaming at me or anything like that. It was more, hands on hips, the body language as I recall it, I knew he was mad."

National Review's Rich Lowry: "We can't have this in the U.S. diplomatic corps! What if Bolton puts his hands on his hips when dealing with a French or North Korean diplomat at the UN? Can you imagine the international outrage? Would our standing in the world ever recover?" Transterrestial Musings' Rand Simberg: "Well, you can imagine that when I read this, I was simply shocked at the thought of such a monster representing us at Turtle Bay, reinforcing our international image as an out-of-control cowboy, hands on hips, fingers just centimeters from holsters. I decided to interview some other former staffers to see if this frightening incident was just the tip of an iceberg of hot fury. I got a few leads from the DNC, and came up with some pretty juicy stuff." Simberg then "interviews" 3 fictional people.

Blogs for Bush's Mark Noonan quotes the Washington Post's Dana Milbank, on Bolton: "Most Republicans skipped the hearing, leaving Democrats largely unchallenged as they assailed Bolton's knack for making enemies and disparaging the very organization he would serve." Noonan: "Dana: Bolton will not serve the United Nations; he'll be serving the United States in the United Nations. His loyalty is to country, not to corrupt and worthless international talk shop. This does illustrate, however, the leftwing/MSM view that the UN is over and above the United States and that anyone we send there should, after all is said and done, serve the United Nations and not the United States."

Reason's Jacob Sullum, at Hit and Run: " The usual phrase is 'only hearing what he wants to hear,' and clearly that was not Bolton's problem, although it may have been [Pres.] Bush's and Vice President Dick Cheney's in connection with Iraq. Nor was Bolton, per Ford's account, simply guilty of tautologically wanting to hear what he wanted to hear. Rather, he was guilty of trying to silence someone who disagreed with him, either because he was certain the analyst was wrong or because he thought the truth didn't matter."

DELAY: Yes, There's More

Common Cause's CommonBlog: "Here's the question reporters should be asking: does this use of government resources [i.e., conf. calls from DeLay's office involving the NRCC and RNC] comply with House ethics rules? Here's the thing: the NRCC and the RNC are political. They are in the business of running campaigns. It would be against House ethics rules for DeLay to conduct any election-related business out of his office on the Hill. It would be against ethics rules for DeLay to have his legislative staff, who are paid with tax dollars, working with a campaign committee to strategize for his reelection next year. (One that may be a little closer than before, thanks to this mess.)"

Liberal CAP notes at ThinkProgress that its dropthehammer.org website received an error-filled letter from DeLay constituent/Baptist deacon/Pearland, TX city councilman Kevin Cole: "Tom Delay happens to be my congresman [sic] and I am happy with the job he does for me and my district. Why don't you get the F@&* out of our district and leave us alone." Cole also manages to spell Pearland as "Pealrand."

BLOGS VS. THE MSM: The Difference Between Blogging And Reporting

Right-leaning Irish Trojan's Brendan Loy argues that the AP misrepresented Israeli PM Ariel Sharon by reporting that he "ruled out" a strike against Iran, and quotes the transcript, in which Sharon only utters a "bundle of equivocation." Comments Loy: "Bottom line, if Ariel Sharon had wanted to say, 'We are taking the preemptive option off the table,' he could have. But HE DIDN'T. And yet the AP is reporting that he did!" Kausfiles links to Loy and adds: "In this case, the credentialed AP writer had to work from a live broadcast, tape, or transcript, the same as any blogger. Unfortunately, the resulting product does not meet blog standards! ... But, hey, give the AP a special constitutional privilege."

Conservative Power Line's Paul Mirengoff, on why Bush's "poll numbers are down": "Pundits attribute this to gas prices, the Terri Schiavo dispute, the social security debate, etc. I think the answer lies in the fact that people aren't paying much attention to politics, and thus are defaulting to the tenor of MSM spin. This hypothesis is probably impossible to test, but I rely in part on the phenomenon of the convention 'bounce.' Conventions represent one of those moments when America (a) pays some attention to politics and (b) gets a much less MSM-filtered view of the world. Thus, the extent to which a party or does or does not get a convention bounce can be instructive." The Dems "got essentially no bounce," though "their message already had been widely promoted by the MSM." Then thew GOP got "more than" a 5% avg bump -- "He did not obtain this bounce on any spectacularly good news the Republicans were able to tout. He obtained it, I think, because, with a bit of reflection, people realized that on most fronts (the economy and the overall war on terror) things were going reasonably well. Today, the news (if it were reported) is better." Mirengoff compares it to '88, when Mike Dukakis led before the GOP convo: "By the end of that convention, if memory serves, the entire Dukakis lead had disappeared. It's amazing what can happen when Republicans get to talk to America. And it's even possible to talk to America in the absence of a political convention.

Moderate Jeff Jarvis notes that media mogul Rupert Murdoch gave a speech to ASNE (in which Jarvis apparently had some small amount of input) telling those gathered "that papers are whistling in their own graveyard and recommending some solutions, including even blogs." Jarvis: "I was impressed to see Murdoch giving this warning to the nation's august editors -- and also impressed to see him embracing new ways to do things, including citizens' media ... [and acknowledges] that he and the assembled sages aren't the ones to reinvigorate news." Jarvis adds, parenthetically: "I was flattered to be quoted in the speech." Meanwhile, Romenesko picks up on an Editor and Publisher story about it, titled "Murdoch: Newspapers Must Stop Fearing Web".

BLOGS VS. THE WORLD: Culture Of Fear

Nonpartisan Personal Democracy Forum has been debating amongst its contributors the significance and likely impact of FEC and other gov't agency regulation of political blogging. Contributor Chris Nolan thinks the fears are overheated; Mike Krempasky says there's good reason to be concerned. Krempasky also posts a link to S.678 [warning: PDF], Rep. Jeb Hensarling's (R-TX) "Online Freedom of Speech Act."

LEFT VS. RIGHT: Anti-Semitism Watch

Conservative SoxBlog, on the "far left's burgeoning anti-Semitism problem, specifically as it relates to some of the left's ranking blogs." SoxBlog's Dean "James Frederick Dwight" Barnett notes use of Nazi rhetoric by "Armando" of DailyKos and by Oliver Willis -- "widely recognized as the left's dumbest blogger and a relentless imbecile" -- and concedes they probably didn't know what they were saying. But he notices the "notoriously anti-American" Univ. of MI prof Juan Cole, "a man of great learning and erudition," as he "constantly reminds his audience," using the same rhetoric. More: "An additional point of interest is that Juan Cole was on last week's conference call where four star kook Wesley Clark suggested the Bush administration was implementing a foreign policy designed by American Jews Douglas Feith and Richard Perle at the behest of former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. So in sum, Juan Cole and other leftists push long recognized anti-Semitic buttons; they are rewarded by various Democratic politicians cozying up to them.

NON-PROFITS: What the Political Pros Are Using Blogs To Get Across

The blogs at Heritage Foundation and Club For Growth both link to FactCheck.org's critical analysis of the "Social Security calculator" used by Senate Min. Leader Harry Reid.

From the DNC's Kicking Ass blog, on a fundraising drive by DNC chair Howard Dean: "We've been amazed by the support and excitement from Democrats across the country after Gov. Dean's email yesterday." The post links to a DailyKosreader/commenter who made his 1st-ever political donation based on it.

Meanwhile, Ed Kilgore, at unofficial DLC blog New Donkey gives a wide-ranging recap and commentary on Dem struggles with culture issues, as covered in the 3/13 Blogometer.

MISCELLANY: Gay Marriage, Jeff Gannon And Judicial Filibusters -- In That Order

Conservative Ed Morrissey, on CT's passage of a gay marriage bill: "Both sides got some piece of victory, while the centrists won the day. Connecticut will not recognize gay marriage, which fits with the will of the electorate. On the other hand, the legislature made a perfectly rational decision about reinforcing contract law by allowing two adults to form a legal partnership that regulates the public portion of their lives."

At liberal DailyKos, "ePluribus Media" documents that there is no evidence that James Guckert -- known to the world as "Jeff Gannon" -- ever served in the Marines, as he has claimed. Mr. or Ms. Media explains the search and adds: "If Guckert now wishes to change his "patriotic" claim of Marine Corps service to ... say ... the Navy Seals, ePluribus Media would be willing to follow-up on that as well. It's amazing what you can accomplish with more than 800 volunteer investigators."

Conservative Hugh Hewitt writes on the "risks of continued dithering" re: judges and filibusters: "The result is that the GOP is in real danger of alienating a significant slice of its activist base -- a base that has gladly contributed to the campaigns" of the newest GOP sens. "because it understood the need to add Republicans if the body was going to work. ... Now it is being ignored or, worse, condescended to with pull quotes on the need to look beyond the immediate impasse. Talk of senators 'studying' precedents and of the 'cooling saucer' role of the 'greatest deliberative body' in the world have gone from merely annoying to the source of genuine estrangement."

IN THE STATES: Fairness For Fraudulency?

PoliPundit's Jason Javitz, on a promise by Gov. Jim Doyle (D-WI) to veto a bill requiring ID to vote: "You know, the exact same items which are necessary to cash checks (including welfare, SSI, Social Security, and unemployment insurance benefit drafts), to make bank withdrawals, to enter safe deposit boxes, and to buy stuff, with credit cards. But, frankly, I don't blame Governor Doyle ... Without corpses, family pets, non-existent voters, and ineligible felons voting for Democrats, multiple times, in multiple precincts, in states like Wisconsin, by way of example, our intellectual superiors in the media, and academia, then would be saddled with absolute GOP hegemony of a kind unseen in U.S. history."

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: What's In A Blog?

Righty Michelle Malkin, on a Wall Street Journal poll about blog readership: "If there are 120 million Americans adults online, this survey suggests that 31 million Americans read a political blog at least once a month and 6 million Americans read a political blog at least once a day. This would mean that Instapundit is read by less than 3% of those who read political blogs on a daily basis. I don't believe it. I suspect the survey results would be quite different if respondents were informed that the Drudge Report, Slate, Free Republic, Democratic Underground, rushlimbaugh.com, and lucianne.com are not blogs."

LEST WE FORGET:

Lefty iFlipFlop: "My friend, Bill, sent me this photo with the caption, 'I love the South.' The picture made me think, here's George Bush's base. ... What do you think the odds are on Bush supporters watching Queer Eye for the Straight Guy? If they had, this dude would have done a little manscaping."

Want to see the picture? Are you sure? Click here, and don't say we didn't warn you.