5/31: Europe Non Troppo

Foreign issues took center stage in blog conversations as the U.S. took it easy this Memorial Day weekend: including France's rejection of the EU constitution and a New York Times report about how the CIA transports enemy combatants. At home, we detect an uptick in stories and arguments about Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) running for POTUS. Meanwhile, a new blog/website goes online this a.m.: TPMCafe. And, last but not least, Oliver Stone.

TRACKBACKS: Drudge IS Big -- It's The Stories That Got Small

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

• Despite prominent placement on the front page of the Drudge Report since last night, a teaser for the book by Washington Post reporter John Harris about the Clinton WH has attracted a moderate level of attention. Most of the interest owes to its implications for Sen. Hillary Clinton's (D-NY) presumed WH '08 bid. Among the higher-profile blogs following the link: conservative Neal Boortz and liberal Pandagon.
  
  

  >> Conservative The Anchoress offers: "My theory: this is the press' way of helping Hillary in her '08 presidential run. Publish all this sensational crap now, and in two years, it's meaningless and forgotten." Lorie Byrd asks: "Is America Ready For Another Soap Opera Presidency?"
  
  

  >> Liberal "Atrios" reposts Sally Quinn's Washington Post article, calling it the "biggest self-indictment of the beltway kool kids ever written." David Sirota picks up on the article and writes: "What is truly nauseating is not the corrupt and cliquey insiderism -- it is the outrage over lying about sex, and the subsequent silence we've all experienced from the media/political Establishment when it has come to the current administration's lying about war." DailyKos concurs.

WAR ON TERRORISM: Is This Any Way To Win A War?

New York Times on apparent CIA-controlled civilian front company Aero Contractors, which controls planes used in moving about terror detainees, and which "can go places American military craft would not be welcome." Talk Left's Jeralyn Merritt terms the fleet "Ghost Air" after the term "ghost detainees." Hawk Bill Roggio at Winds of Change asks, "If you are al Qaeda, and you are interested in interdicting or attacking CIA air services that transport captured high value targets, how would you go about finding out how the CIA is moving these prisoners around?" The answer is "Read the New York Times."

"Armando" at DailyKos quotes from a Washington Post story wherein Gen. Richard Myers is mentioned as saying that "the U.S. has done a good job of humanely treating detainees." The article also has him saying "the U.S. was doing its best to detain fighters who, if released, 'would turn right around and try to slit our throats, slit our children's throats.'" Armando's take: "That inspires confidence in the humane treatment that will be offered General Myers. Boy, it suuuure does."

Little Green Footballs links to an AP version of the story, and comments on Myers' statements: "In a world where millions of people rage over the nonexistent 'abuse' of a book, and where Amnesty International compares Guantanamo Bay to the Soviet gulag, Gen. Richard Myers tries to bring some sanity back into the discussion."

Hawkish moderate Andrew Sullivan, on a Washington Post report that analysts involved in making pre-war WMD judgments have since been promoted: "It's a Bush administration meme. If you screw up, you get promoted, as long as you're a team player. If you really screw up, you get a Medal of Freedom. If you screw up to such an extent that it cannot be ignored, then you find a couple of low-level grunts to scapegoat. If you get something right, but Cheney got it wrong, you're fired. Is this really a way to win a war?"

EU VOTE: Non!

The French vote to reject the EU contitution is widely-discussed, mostly by right-leaning bloggers. Next up, as the AP reports, it's the Netherlands' turn to vote. PoliPundit, on the "undemocratic" nature of the Dutch standards: "A yes vote needs only 45 percent, no matter the turnout. A no vote needs 55 percent, with at least 30 percent turnout. How very fair!" Instapundit notices the same.

Conservative humorist Mark Steyn, who has a considerable online following, slams the "Eurofetishists." As quoted by USS Neverdock, Steyn writes: "'Europe' has fallen behind America in every important long-term indicator, from economic growth to demographics. 'Europe' is an indulgence the real Europe can't afford."

Right-leaning Instapundit offers a brief round-up to writers who see French protectionism and skepticism about a "Greater Europe" as keys to understanding the "no" vote. Under the header "Red State/Blue State France," conservative Power Line posts an image of the French results, region by region. Lyon and Paris are blue like U.S. major cites; more rural areas are colored red. Post title:

Lefty Max Sawicky offers some reasons why the "no" vote was good for the French economy. Meanwhile, The Left Coaster says: "The European worker has everything to lose and nothing to gain no matter which way the EU vote went."

Libertarian Charles Paul Freund approvingly cites a Washington Post op-ed by David Ignatius, which is heavily critical of French pres. Jacques Chirac.

INTRODUCING: The Marshall Post

At his blog Talking Points Memo, ex-Washington Monthly/ writer Josh Marshall this a.m. debuts TPM Cafe (first mentioned by the Blogometer on 4/21). On the About page, he describes it thus: "TPMCafe is a public meeting place to read about and discuss politics, culture and public life in the United States. The site hosts both blogs and public discussion areas."

The overall effect is less like the Huffington Post, another group project spearheaded by one individual, and more like National Review Online, with its multiple, complementary blogs.

The front page, nicknamed "The Coffee House," features familiar to left-leaning blog readers: Steve Clemons from The Washington Note, Ed Kilgore from New Donkey, Mark Schmitt from The Decembrist, plus Columbia prof Todd Gitlin, "60 Minutes" producer David Gelber, and left-moving policy wonk Marshall Wittman. This section has been active since at least 5/27, though only went public today.

A secondary but key feature is a page titled "Table for One," which will feature a rotating cast of guest-bloggers. From 5/31 to 6/3, the guest-blogger will be ex-Sen. John Edwards (D-NC).

Matt Yglesias has relocated his personal blog to TPM Cafe, changing his URL from http://yglesias.typepad.com to http://yglesias.tpmcafe.com. He announces this in a final post at his old address.

Other sections include "America Abroad," about foreign policy, and Warren Reports, on the middle class.

CONG. TRAVEL -- Not Just About DeLay Anymore?

Conservative Captain's Quarters' Ed Morrissey notices: "Caitlin O'Neill, who works for [House Min. Leader] Nancy Pelosi, forgot to file her disclosure form (PDF) for a trip she took to Havana, Cuba. O'Neill ... identifies the purpose of her trip -- as an official duty of Congress -- as 'religious education.'" Morrissey: asks "Has religious education become an official government duty? What would Pelosi's allies at the ACLU say about that?"

Moreover, the "entire cost of O'Neill's trip was borne by the Universal Life Church," which offers free online ordination. More: "So perhaps the House Minority Leader can explain why Caitlin O'Neill went to Cuba in the middle of last December for five days as a guest of a fake church that issues mail-order ordinations."

WHITE HOUSE '08: Like A Roller Coaster Of Hillary

Reuters treatment of VP Cheney suggesting that first lady Laura Bush would beat Clinton in WH '08. Outside the Beltway and others treat the remarks in a light-hearted manner.

Liberal Oliver Willis, on HRC critic Peter Paul calling the aquittal of Clinton's fundraiser an "indictment": "Up is literally down with these yahoos. Rosen was acquited, and that somehow shows that Hillary & Co. are guilty. Somehow."

Righty Tom Maguire replies to recent Hillary Clinton statements, including where she says she is "not one who feels comfortable setting exit strategies," with sarcasm, terming it: "Leaving Iraq While Waiting For Godot."

In a post titled "A Mitt Romney Candidacy is Not Remotely Viable," Mormon blogger Way Off Bass argues that many Christians have seen LDS "as a cult for far too long" for MA Gov. Romney to win the GOP primary.

BLOGS VS. THE MSM: We Go Away For A Weekend, And When We Come Back It's All About The Clintons Again

Conservative Patterico's Pontifications expands on the L.A. Weekly's Jeffrey Anderson article suggesting Los Angeles Times reporter Richard Serrano had a sealed document damaging to one of ex-Pres. Clinton's pardons in 1/01 and yet did nothing about it. He write: "Serrano has a reputation as a dogged investigative reporter, and he seems to come up with a lot of scoops. I sincerely doubt he hid the existence of this document. But the L.A. Weekly story raises a lot of questions about why The Times sat on the information about Horacio Vignali for months, until it was otherwise made public by Congress. ... I have sent Serrano a link to this post and asked him if he can shed any more light on this."

BLOGS VS. THE MSM: Will You Or Won't You?

Mickey Kaus identifies the New York Times' likely TimesSelect subscribers: "1) Dems Desperately Seeking Cocooning Content"; "2) So rich they can pay $49.95 a year for it"; "3) So poor they can't afford to subscribe to the NYT's paper edition (which includes TimesSelect)." He argues that "the area of overlap between these three circles is not huge."

Left-leaning prof Brad DeLong again criticizes departing New York Times public editor Dan Okrent for criticizing Times columnist Paul Krugman without citing an example.

DEMOCRATS: "Dear Dems" Lives On In The Blogosphere

An online column by The New Republic's Kenneth Baer discussing the plight of "hawkish liberals" leads dovish Matt Yglesias to write that many Dem voters don't like Dem insiders much, and proposes "spending more time trying to convince liberals of the merits of our views, and less time re-enforcing the impression that we're just opportunists searching for votes out there in some ill-defined center."

Liberal Patrick Nielsen Hayden of Making Light -- formerly Electrolite -- joins the debate via Eschaton observes: "The reason so many in the Democratic 'base' are infuriated over being lectured by the likes of Peter Beinart and Joe Biden about the need to 'get serious about national security' is that the people delivering the lectures are precisely those who were wrong about one of the most important national security questions of our time."

BLOGGERS VS. BLOGGERS: Liberal Dance Machine

Last week at the Huffington Post, liberal Max Blumenthal (son of ex-Clinton aide Sidney Blumenthal) and right-trending hawkish lefty Christopher Hitchens traded several antagonistic posts. First, Blumenthal criticizes Hitchens for having "defended" Holocaust denier David Irving. Second, Hitchens dismisses Blumenthal, adding: "If I replied to all the slander that appears on blogs, I would have no job and no life." Third, Blumenthal returns with further accusations about Hitchens' alliance-making, taunting: "Dance, Hitchens, dance."

Liberal Marc Cooper: "Cowardly isn't nearly strong enough to characterize this blast of raw sewage from young Blumenthal. He doesn't have the cojones to just come out and declare Hitch is pro-Nazi. He merely tosses around as much innuendo as his two little hands can scoop. Roll over, Senator Joe. This is McCarthyism stood right on its head." Cooper calls Blumenthal a "Leninist Liberal."

A handful of blogs pick up on all this, including one who calls Cooper "Hitchens' press secretary."

IN THE STATES: If Only John Lee Hooker Had Lived To Blog

Perennial TN gadfly John Jay Hooker has started a blog. In his latest post and others recently, he keeps tabs on the "Tennessee Waltz" arrest of 4 state lawmakers, including Rep. Harold Ford's (D) uncle. One of those he links to is GOP state Rep. Stacey Campfield, whose blog 1st reported that the elder Ford appeared to have resigned.

MISCELLANEOUS: Good Bye Lenin!

At her personal blog, right-trending moderate U. WI-Madison prof Ann Althouse spars with Marymount profs Jason Rosenfeld and David Gilbert, the latter of whom joins her discussion board. At issue: Gilbert's casual praise for V.I. Lenin and Althouse's objection to the characterization.

The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz profiles centrist Jeff Jarvis of BuzzMachine, who has raised hackles on the right and left, and who left S.I. Newhouse's Advance Media recently to work on several online projects, including one with the New York Times.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: If We Don't All Chip In, Who Will?

Josh Trevino at conservative RedState and liberal Kieran Healy at Crooked Timber both offer reflections on military service for Memorial Day. Healy, like left-leaning media journalist Dan Gillmor, offer criticisms of current U.S. foreign policy. For a lengthy round-up of mostly right-leaning Memorial Day posts, see TacJammer.

LEST WE FORGET: Throwing The First Stone

Lefty Marc Cooper retells a story on the occasion of "the precise 19th anniversary of the drunkest I ever got. The story even has a celebrity news hook. Because the drunkest I ever got was with Oliver Stone." Cooper, on waking up out of doors: "And the next thing that happened... or let me be more precise... the next thing I remember, I was soaking wet. Drenched. The sprinklers had gone off and I was laying right on top of one. It was 6 a.m. on the dot, and the hotel timers had gone off."

NOTES AND ERRATA: What's That Je Ne Sais Quois I Can't Describe?

If you haven't already noticed, the Blogometer looks and feels a little different today. As we always said, this is an experiment. As we make a few changes over the coming week, we'll explain what we've been up to. Stay tuned.