June 15, 2005

6/15: There Are Slow Days, Even In The Blogosphere

The Hotline's Blogometer takes the daily temperature of the blogosphere. For more information on the thinking behind this feature, go to the end of the story.

How slow of a news day is it? Forget the fact that an ex-Bush admin. economist is making waves as a 9/11 revisionist ... Social Security is a top story. That's either good news for Pres. Bush, or simply evidence that not much is happening in the blogs today:

TRACKBACKS:

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

• This New York Times header explains why the story beneath it is getting some attention from the left: "Ex-Bush Aide Who Edited Climate Reports to Join ExxonMobil."
  
  

  >> Happy Furry Puppy Story Time: "Everybody loves the 'spend more time with the family' excuse, last used in this Administration by George Tenet. Of course, in this context, it means 'threatened with bodily harm if they narced on anyone and then released into the wild to get a six-figure lobbyist job.'"
  

  >> More: MoJoBlog; Think Progress; NewsHog; The Moderate Voice; Amygdala; Sisyphus Shrugged.



• The AP reports that Senate GOPers are again talking about raising the retirement age to 69.
  

  >> Conservatives tend to support this plan, but one at Outside The Beltway is nonplussed: "I'm looking for a little help/perspective on this one: when I started working at age 16, I was told that the federal government was going to take a portion of my earnings for my own good, but that there was nothing to worry about because I'd get it back -- plus interest -- when I turned 65. Now they want to back out on what at the time seemed like a contractual agreement. If they extend the retirement age, aren't they essentially reneging on a contract because they can't stop spending money on superfluous things?"
  

  >> TalkLeft: "Do we have to work ourselves into the grave to collect our money? Maybe if we didn't have a President who lied to us and led us into an unnecessary war at a cost of untold billions, the U.S. would be able to honor its obligation to its own citizens."
  

  >> Others: Burnt Orange Report; Spoons Experience; Fladen Experience; Skippy the Bush Kangaroo; Northwest Noise; A Green Conservatism.



• A UPI report about ex-Labor economist Morgan Reynolds suggesting that the U.S. gov't conspired to bring down the Twin Towers raises a few eyebrows.
  

  >> Little Green Footballs speaks for many, writing that Reynolds is "now a full-time member of the Tin-Foil Hat Brigade." But Vox Popoli takes it more seriously: "It is always important to remember two things. First, the unthinkable is a lot more thinkable to those who are forced to spend their days thinking about everything that could possibly go wrong around the world. Second, there are thousands of conspiracies that are established in the historical record." At The Corner, K.J. Lopez points out that Reynolds has written on "9/11 Skepticism" for the paleo-libertarian site Lew Rockwell.
  

  >> More reactions: Say Anything; Infinite Monkeys; Wizbang; Ace of Spades HQ; Esoterically; Hit and Run; Best of the Blogs.

BUSH: Into The Fray

Matt Margolis at Blogs for Bush: "Bush ripped the Democrats tonight during a GOP gala in Washington," and he quotes from a news dispatch quoting Bush as saying, among other things: "Members of the other party have worked with us to achieve important reforms on some issues, yet, too often, their leadership prefers to block the ideas of others." Margolis adds at the end: "Thank you, Mr. President, for telling it like it is." John Miller, at The Corner: "Bush's speech last night was okay ... but one line condemning Democratic obstructionism really grated: 'It is the philosophy of the stop sign, the agenda of the roadblock, and our country and our children deserve better.' Umm, 'the philosophy of the stop sign' sounds like a pretty good definition of conservatism, whose adherents are supposed to stand athwart history and all that."

2008: Third Party's A Charm?

In a column for Real Clear Politics, New York Sun's John Avlon makes the case for a successful 3rd party bid in '08. Mark Noonan at GOP Bloggers doesn't buy it, arguing that indies "are Republicans and Democrats who, for a variety of reasons, don't want the Party label. They are registered as independents, but they are pretty much just like all other Americans -- people who are registered as independents run from left to right in the political spectrum; for anyone to say that a third or more of the electorate is independent and thus will vote as a bloc for one independent candidate is absurd."

DEMOCRATS: Go West, Young Dems

Daily Kos, on NM Gov. Bill Richardson's (D) Western primary idea: "[T]here's no doubt (in my mind, at least) that the Western states are critical to the future of the Democratic Party. And giving them a say on our nominee can only improve our chances in the fall of 2008."

Having read the Weekly Standard profile of "Bubba"-oriented Dem strategist Mudcat Saunders, Political Animal's Kevin Drum asks: "Seriously now, try to answer this question in a concrete way: if you were an average joe in a rural part of the South or the Midwest, how would it help you to vote for a Democrat? What would you get out of it?"

Mark Schmitt, at TPMCafe: "I've never been a Dean enthusiast, but my doubts about him have very little to do with the content of his "controversial" comments or the criticism of them. It's an ongoing worry about whether this is the right job for him and whether he understands the job, which is solely to build a long-term organization for others. ... The best DNC chairs have been people you've never heard of, or, like Ron Brown, you didn't hear about them until later. The job of building an organization is mundane, and the rewards are not immediate. The relevant measure of Dean's success is whether in a few years, Dems have vibrant party structures that can effectively recruit candidates and engage voters, and that are deeply rooted in most states and communities."

REPUBLICANS: Lynch-Pinned

America Blog has a list of the GOP sens. who "refused to sign the anti-lynching resolution." Chris Geidner at Law Dork works on a list of his own. Eschaton: "The evil little troll Jeff Sessions is listed as a co-sponsor even though his press secretary is claiming he wasn't because he was too busy in... France." Then, later: "CORRECTION: It's [AL Sen. Richard] Shelby who's getting Frenchified, not Sessions. So, some confusion here."

SOCIAL SECURITY: Doth Josh Marshall's Eyes Deceive Him?

Liberal Talking Points Memo is incredulous that the following lines made it into a New York Times story on SocSec. The 1st from the Times: "Actually, beginning around 2041 the system would be able to pay about three-fourths of the benefits due retirees, assuming there are no changes in the formula before then." And the 2nd: "[Bush] did not point out those i.o.u.'s are Treasury securities backed by the full faith and credit of the United States, and that the government has never defaulted on its obligations." TPM: "Credit where credit is due: David Stout in today's paper. Lucky for him [ex-public editor Dan] Okrent's not around anymore."

IN THE STATES: Primary Color

RedState, on the VA GOP primary: "[GOV nominee Jerry] Kilgore will be a very good candidate for the GOP as we enter the fall campaign. He is energetic, is presenting his ideas in a coherent format to Virginia voters, and he appeals to the inherent conservatism of Virginia voters. He will also do very well in rural Virginia, thereby preventing [Dem GOV] nominee Tim Kaine from repeating Warner's 2001 victory."

Daily Kos, on results of the (OH-2) special election: "[I]t is funny seeing Pat DeWine, son of the unpopular senator from Ohio, come in a distant fourth. Ouch. What a repudiation of the family name. Can this be a sign that Mike DeWine will face an even tougher race come next year? Not only is DeWine personally unpopular, but Coingate threatens Ohio Republicans with some serious damage. I mean, what kind of people lose over $200 million of the public's money in risky investments run by campaign donors? Ohio Republicans, apparently. Given how things are shaping up, how the hell can [Dem Rep.] Sherrod Brown stay out of the Senate race?

REED: Between Ralph Reed And Harry Reid, Are There Any Decent Headline Puns Left?

RedState's Eric Erickson shares more info on Ralph Reed's troubles in the GA LG primary: "Party sources predict that a prominent Republican figure will publicly call for Ralph Reed to withdraw from his GOP primary race against state Sen. Casey Cagle. The stated rationale will be that Reed, like [LG] candidate Mitch Skandalakis in 1998, could have a disruptive effect on the party's entire general election ticket if he wins the Republican primary next July." Erickson speculates this could be GA Insurance Commish John Oxendine "might just be a fit for that."

This a.m., Erickson reports at PeachPundit that ex-state Rep./'02 SEN candidate Bob Irvin "has done just that," but adds: "I don't know that 'prominent' is an apt description of Bob Irvin. ... It's somewhat humorous then that Bob Irvin should expect Ralph Reed to listen to him when Irvin did not listen to Ralph Reed [and clear the way for now-Sen. Saxby Chambliss in '02]. Reed, along with the rest of the party, was rumored to have put lots of pressure on Irvin to get out of the Senate race in 2002. There is a history there that makes Irvin's call today less credible."

CALIFORNIA CABLE: Leaderhosen

Right-leaning Boi from Troy: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) is "being criticized for spending $80 million on a special election, while he claims that if the system is broken, we should fix it immediately. But the real culprit is California's campaign finance reform! Since the passage of Prop 34, politicians are not allowed to campaign for ballot measures when their name is on the same ballot unless their personal campaign funds (with limited contributions) are used to pay for the advertizing. Were these measures on the ballot in June 2006, then, Arnold could not support his own reform agenda!"

Left-leaning Marc Cooper previews his next L.A. Weekly column at his personal blog. He writes about seeing Schwarzenegger announce the special election: "I started to wonder if Arnold, and his political handlers, have completely lost touch with reality. I emphasize the word 'watched' instead of listened because the jeering, and hissing and booing and chanting was so overwhelming that neither I nor the couple of thousand graduating students and their families could actually hear much of what he said."

BLOGS VS. WORLD: How To Blog With Impunity

The non-profit Electronic Frontier Foundation has created an online Legal Guide for Bloggers. Key sections are devoted to legal liability, defamation and election law.

Jackson's Junction has the transcript and video of an interview blogger Trey Jackson did with ex-Speaker Newt Gingrich.

INTRODUCING: Actually, It's Green

Mark Nickolas, ex-manager to Rep. Ben Chandler (D-KY), has started a new blog: BluegrassReport.org, covering KY state politics and Gov. Ernie Fletcher (R) in particular.

PeachPundit, referenced above, is a new right-of-center blog covering state politics in GA. It will be a multiple-person blog; already contributing are Erick Erickson and Clayton Wagar from RedState.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Vanden Heuvel Is On The Council On Foreign Relations, Right?

Liberal Stygius, on establishing a "progressive foreign policy": "Saying vaguely that, "we do favor the use of force to advance U.S. security and priority matters of national interest," isn't compelling, especially when followed by qualifiers and caveats. It's overly abstract. Those qualifiers and caveats are genuine, and typically correct; we need infinite subtlety to fight a global political war that is also a very violent one. But subtlety is for the foreign policy journals and strategists. America, F--- Yeah! is for the campaign trail; so let's get it on." More: "So instead of rooting around finding ways to reconcile progressive values with national security-speak, first embrace a couple of core premises: 1. There are a group of fanatic killers who want to kill as many Americans as they can; and, 2. Dead terrorists can't kill Americans. Internalize these premises. Believe in them. I have little doubt that progressivism can coexist with them; it's just a question of getting over bad universalizations about human goodness and political cause-and-effect that make one uncomfortable with the notion of killing bad guys."

LEST WE FORGET: See It Again, For The First Time

Left-leaning The Poor Man puts together a parody of conservative Power Line inside of 1 post. Based on a few headlines, you'll know if you'll get a kick out of it or not: "THE DEMOCRAT HATE MACHINE ROLLS ON"; "JAMES SENSENBRENNER: HERO OF DEMOCRACY"; "THE EVOLUTION HOAX"; and "BUSH -- THREE TERMS?" Parodic imitations of political opponents' blogs is a limited, but spirited, activity in the blogosphere. On 4/1, the Blogometer noted Rox Populi's high-quality April Fool's edition, wherein the site was made to appear as Michelle Malkin's.

Posted by at June 15, 2005 12:00 PM