August 01, 2005
8/1: Unfinished Business
Note for web readers: To go directly to the SCOTUS coverage (or what there is of it) click here.
This a.m. finds a few bloggers reacting to news of now-UN Amb. John Bolton's recess appointment, while others are still focused on events from the past week. The apparent financial scandal at Air America has gained some MSM attention, not to mention the ire of lefty bloggers, who reserve judgment. Voting in the OH 02 special election is set for 8/2, and although it remains a long shot for Dems to win, the netroots are hopping with updates and attempts to tie the GOP candidate to the party's corruption problems. Senate Maj. Leader Bill Frist's decision to support the stem cell bill splits conservatives along roughly the same lines as did the Terri Schiavo debate. There is not a great deal of news in the Patrick Fitzgerald investigation; the biggest development, as we'll see in the next section, is a report that WH officials may have known of Valerie Plame's identity well before previously thought.
TRACKBACKS: A Different Kind Of "Push Back"
Where the blog swarm is headed, who's taking part, and what they're saying:
- The biggest story this a.m. is Massimo Calabresi's Time story indicating that WH officials including Karl Rove may have learned of Plame's connection to husband Joe Wilson's Niger trip before his New York Times op-ed, and likely received this info from an admin. source, instead of the media. As usual, more than a few liberal bloggers jump on the story, while only a few conservatives give it any attention.
>> From the left -- Think Progress: "Today's disclosure adds further evidence that the White Hose consciously dug out Plame's identity, used it, and then engaged in a massive cover-up by pinning blame elsewhere. Moreover, it appears far more players were involved in this orchestrated, administration-wide effort than previously believed." · Angry Bear: "[I]t does not matter who within the Administration let Karl Rove know that Ms. Plame was a CIA agent. He should not have leaked this information to various reporters" · Daily Kos: "If this doesn't get the media swarming again, then, the media will further prove themselves to be a bunch of worthless sycophants."
>> From the right -- In a rather long NROCorner post, John Podhoretz argues that the Time piece makes it more, not less likely that the WH learned from the media, because State did not communicate with them: "[F]or those who think something very bad happened here, why isn't attention now circling around the State Department, whose two top guys at the time -- Colin Powell and Richard Armitage -- leaked like sieves to the media?" · JustOneMinute notes that the story "crushes earlier timelines focusing" on the African trip where then-Sec/State Colin Powell carried a secret memo using Plame's name.
>> More -- UNCoRRELATED; TalkLeft; MoxieGrrrl; Brothers Judd; Skippy the Bush Kangaroo; Suburban Guerrilla; AMERICAblog; The Mahablog; Notes in Samsara.
BOLTON: For Our Money, It Doesn't Get Any Better Than When He Sings "When A Man Loves A Woman"
Liberal think tanker Steve Clemons of the Washington Note has driven much of the online opposition to the Bolton nod, but this week he is, as he explained "hovering in an undisclosed location, trying to improve the world in some modest ways," and so has turned his blog over to a group of scholars and pundits from the right and left, but with a generally skeptical line on the Bolton nomination. Among them are the Washington Monthly's Paul Glastris, New York Post's Robert George and TPM Cafe's Mark Schmitt. Guest blogger Jeremy Dibbell from Charging RINO is the 1st to weigh in once it was announced that Bolton would get his recess appointment: "I'm not going to size up the many ramifications of a recess appointment yet... the deed is not done, and there will be ample time for discussion after the fact if and when the president takes that step. For now, we cannot let up: we must make perfectly clear that no member of the Senate, Republican or Democrat, Bolton proponent or opponent, should sit quietly by and let a presidential nominee get away with submitting an untruthful disclosure form to the Senate."
Daily Kos' Hunter explains why he actually supports the Bolton recess appointment: "If you're out to prove spectacular Bush administration incompetence and corruption, Bolton is the yellowcake-dusted gift that keeps on giving."
Liberal hawk Roger L. Simon: "Mr. Bolton is supposed to be too intemperate for the job, too rude. People I know who know Bolton, however, pooh-pooh this as partisan slander, saying Bolton is actually a nice guy. But I hope they are wrong. If there is one thing that pseudo-idealistic kleptocracy the United Nations needs right now, it is some rudeness..."
Mark Kilmer, at GOP Bloggers: "It's unlikely, methinks, that he's going to waltz in and clean house, smacking the lazy and inefficient international bureaucrats around on day one, but it will be good to have someone at the U.N. who gives a damn."
Judd Legum at CAP's Think Progress objects to Bush's description of Bolton as the "permanent" Amb., noting that he would have to be reconfirmed in 1/07: "If the administration was really interested in a representative with some permanence, President Bush would nominate a candidate who could be confirmed by the Senate."
OHIO 02: Well, Isn't That Special?
Swing State Project's Bob Brigham writes that while the Cincinnati Enquirer says OH 02 candidate Jean Schmidt (R) has "almost a 'file-card' memory to recall details about people, places and issues" but claims she had not heard of OH GOPer/coin dealer Tom Noe, although she testified before him.
Editor and Publisher reports that ex-Toledo Blade writer Fritz Wenzel, media strategist for Schmidt, may have known about OH's Coingate/Tom Noe scandal before it broke. Atrios and Daily Kos both pick the story up and promote it. Daily Kos' Armando: "Schmidt's connections to Noe seem undeniable, and yet, she denied them this morning. A liar? Absolutely she is."
MyDD's Chris Bowers is disappointed but not altogether surprised that the Cincinnati Enquirer endorsed Schmidt. He touches on 3 "areas where the Enquirer was not entirely truthful," and provides an e-mail address for readers to submit letters to the editor.
Crooks and Liars has video of the Hackett-Schmidt debate.
STEM CELLS: Fighting Words
Conservative Carol Liebau writes, on "FNS" on 7/31, "it was reported that Bill Frist had done something totally unforgivable in the course of changing his position on stem cell research" -- he "reported his switch to The New York Times before he even bothered to contact the President." In a comment to the Liebau post, Skippy the Bush Kangaroo contributor Cookie Jill writes: "I applaud Mr. Frist's support of stem cell research. As a physician, he knows what science breakthroughs can mean. However, I wonder how much he, via his investments in hospitals, stand to make in research funding. I think that is where his true values lay... money."
Title of a RedState post: "Bill Frist: Traitor." RedState's Augustine writes: "Dr. Frist betrayed the conservative movement, President Bush, the history of the Republican Party, and thousands of defenseless Americans. ... There is simply no justifiable reason for Dr. Frist to have changed his position on such an important matter, except in some crass attempt to appeal to a biased media. After years of claiming to be a pro-lifer -- after accepting money, support, and applause from the pro-life community -- Dr. Frist throws them overboard for the sake of The New York Times." INDC Journal's Bill Ardolino, himself a target of RedStatecriticism on the issue, responds: "Augustine's characterization that" so-called snowflake babies "'would not exist' if Frist 'has his way' would seem to be inaccurate demagoguery," adding: "Frist is not proposing any action that would incite the creation of embryos not already scheduled for destruction. Thus, there is no unavoidably cynical inconsistency to Frist's latest position."
GOPer Patrick Ruffini: "If the issue were explained correctly, there would no reason for any serious libertarian or economic conservative to split from the social conservatives, because the issue at stake is not stem cell research, but taxpayer subsidies."
Another RedStater writes: "We're going to lose this one. Let's be honest about it: Bill Frist's little pirouette on slicing and dicing children was merely a precursor of things to come."
Atrios calls Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) "too stupid to breathe" for saying of the stem cell bill: "This will be one of, I believe, the first time we've ever used taxpayer money to pay for the intentional destruction of human life and that's what this does."
AIR AMERICA: The Stock Ticker And The Super Jumbo
Conservative Captain's Quarters writes that the New York Sun advances the story "by leaps and bounds," noting that now "we have potential wire fraud, forgery, and fraud by deception, and probably a host of other potential charges against" ex-Air America exec. Evan Cohen. He adds, Air America "did not pay a dime back before this investigation broke open. Nor did they agree to pay back the illegal transfers immediately, which again underscores their fragile economic status."
Conservative Michelle Malkin keeps updating a post with new news and angles, and proposes a series of questions to: "1) Why don't Air America radio execs make it clear, once and for all, exactly how much they have received from Gloria Wise and how much, if any, [current Air America parent] Piquant has repaid to date? 2) Has the liberal radio network received any other loans from any other non-profit organizations? 3) If so, how much was received and how much, if any, has Piquant repaid?"
At Radio Equalizer, radio talker Brian Maloney (who first brought the story to attention) presents the results of the "Air America Scandal" logo contest he asked readers to come up with.
Wizbang notes that CNN and FNC have picked up on the story, adding: "In the end, the blogosphere cost Air America a half a million dollars. ... Now it's just a matter of when they write the check. They do have the money... Right?"
Righty Leon H at RedState: "What was significant about this loan was that Evan Cohen, who was Director of Development for Gloria Wise was also chairman of Progressive Media. What has made this story significant politically is that Progressive Media was the company that owned and operated the liberal talk radio network Air America Radio."
Brian Maloney relates the negative feedback he's received from the left, especially against The Mahablog's Barbara O'Brien, who wrote that the story "appears to be phony," in part because she cannot find a website for the Bronx News or writer Michael Horowitz, who was on the story prior to Maloney. O'Brien calls other evidence more an "empty water pistol" than a smoking gun. Her post has since been reproduced at Daily Kos and The American Street. Conservative Politburo Diktat counters O'Brien, pointing out a directory listing for the newspaper, and calls her "a liar." In an update, NYC-based O'Brien promises to keep looking, adding that she suspects the Bronx News is "a glorified advertising circular"
INTEL: Thanks To One-Handed Economist For Letting Me Know This Was Originally In The Middle Of The Air America Story
Lefty prof Juan Cole is prompted by a New York Times report on pre-war WMD intel to ask: "Was a CIA analyst fired for coming up with a source that said there was no longer an Iraqi nuclear program, while Bush and Cheney were pressing the agency to support their policy of going to war against Iraq? By the way, there was nothing secret about such reports. Imad Khadduri, a former Iraqi nuclear scientist, was telling anyone who would listen the same thing, and you could read it in the Irish Times in winter 2002-2003 if you were of a mind to."
MILLER: Tales From The Big House
Arianna Huffington continues to write about the New York Times' Judy Miller. Huffington reports that Miller atty Bob Bennett's words and actions seemed to confirm the rumor she'd heard that Miller had already worked out a book deal on the Plame investigation and her subsequent jailing. Huffington also writes, multiple Miller acquaintances have come to her, and a "recurring theme in many of the conversations and e-mails is how Judy, to the dismay of many of her colleagues, never played by the same rules and standards as other reporters..." One such incident included accepting a vehicle and translator from Ahmed Chalabi for use in Iraq. The post also includes small details, such as Miller has only been outside in the prison yard a couple of times, and she was distressed by a Lloyd Grove column criticizing her husband for taking a pre-planned cruise.
LABOR: The Chances Of This Re-Emerging As A Major Issue Sometime Soon Are ...?
A Washington Post profile of "labor gadfly" Charles Kernaghan draws notice from some on the left. Gary Farber at Amygdala writes, though the :fight for labor rights is passe, or an outright enemy, in the view of many, as are child labor laws, unions, and any and all sorts of rights, or protections, of workers, these days," Kernaghan "fights the good fight." At Talking Points Memo, Josh Marshall largely accepts counter-Kernaghan argument, put forth by liberal journalist Matt Yglesias (most proximately) that imposing Western standards on 3rd-world sweatshops is not always fair. But e adds: "There is one thing, however, that this line of reasoning misses: political violence. Which is, after all, the grand-daddy of extra-economic inputs. You can't make a solid argument that wages in other countries have found their natural level if one of the major 'inputs' is organized political violence to keep wages low and labor activism inert."
DEMOCRATS: Makes Me Wanna Holler
Patterico's Pontifications notes that DNC chair Howard Dean's erroneous criticism of the SCOTUS's Kelo decision have been all but ignored by the MSM (see 7/27 Blogometer) while numerous conservative blogs have made an issue of it. "Patterico" asks: "The next time Howard Dean is on a Sunday talk show, will the host ask him if he is more likely to support a conservative like John Roberts because he would likely be a vote for property rights?" In a 7/29 speech, Dean apparently said the same thing again. Power Line's John Hinderaker asks: "Dean continues as chairman of the Democratic National Committee, and an overwhelming majority of Democrats cheer his absurd pronouncements. Isn't it reasonable to ask, at this point, whether there are any adults left in the Democratic Party? And if so, where are they?"
Protein Wisdom's Jeff Goldstein sarcastically defends ex-Pres. Carter's recent anti-Gitmo speech in England: "As to whether or not Carter's comments provide rhetorical cover for the terrorists -- of course not! Carter is simply voicing his dissent, and if a former US president can't openly criticize his government -- publicly, overseas, during wartime, and on the basis of a narrative of events that an investigative panel has already concluded simply does not represent the facts on the ground -- well, then the terrorists have already won."
REPUBLICANS: How Long Before "Tax And Spend Republican" Enters The Popular Lexicon?
RedState's Adam C criticizes the "Transportation Pork" and "Energy Pork" bills ins a post titled "The Fall of Republican Fiscal Conservatism." He praises those sens. (all GOPers) who voted against the 1st: John Cornyn (TX); the 2nd: Mel Martinez (FL), John Sununu (NH), Lincoln Chafee (RI); or both: Judd Gregg (NH), Jon Kyl (AZ) and John McCain (AZ).
BUSH: More Successful Than "Howard The Duck"
Conservative PoliPundit's Jayson Javitz lists Bush's accomplishments in his 1st 180 days of his 2nd term. Unrelatedly, a contributor to liberal AMERICAblog makes the similar point, grudgingly: "For a lame duck, Bush sure has been quacking a lot."
Late on 7/29, liberal blogs raised hackles over video and a still image (available at Crooks and Liars) of what appeared to be Bush giving reporters the finger. Wonkette and others eventually decided the extended finger was most likely his thumb or forefinger.
Conservative Ankle Biting Pundits takes issues with Washington Post's Sebastian Mallaby (incorrectly referred to as "Malloy") for saying Bush is "like a drunk who wanders across a six-lane highway and somehow never quite gets smushed."
At TPM Cafe, Ed Kilgore notes that, according to a Washington Post profile of Sec/State Condoleezza Rice, U.S> foreign policy is guided by "the principle of 'practical idealism,'" which he notes is a term Al Gore tried using during WH'00: "I'm sure of that, because I happened to be present the first time he road-tested the slogan. It did not, needless to say, exactly light up the room. ... But it's good to know that even the most disposable of Democratic slogans is apparently better than what the opposition can come up with on its own."
IN THE STATES: We'll Have To Meditate On This One
Politics1's Ron Gunzburger reports, PA GOV candidate Bill Scranton (R) has been "less than candid" about his ties to the "pseudo-religious cult" led by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The issue was also a problem for him in the '86 PA GOV election, and though his camp now downplays his ties, Scranton has also been involved with Yogi-associated Natural Law Party and John Hagelin's WH'00 bid.
National Journal's Beltway Blogroll reports, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) faces a primary challenger from state House Maj. Whip Steve Urquhart, who will blog the campaign. Beltway Blogroll: "The blog already is a prominent feature in Urquhart's Senate campaign. He announced his candidacy there, he has posted notes from the campaign trail, and he has responded to critics of his campaign theme."
Robert Novak's 7/30 column essentially adds little to the SD blog controversies, but liberal SD Watch relates a phone conversation with one of Novak's reporter: "The Novakista didn't know who [one anonymous blogger was but knew of him. He wanted me to spill the beans. ... My lips are sealed. ... So, I upheld the leftyosphere's vow of omerta. Novak Researcher Dude also thought I was a former Daschle staffer. I am not, just a friend and supporter who did a very small amount of legal work for the campaign committee much prior to the election." A few pro-Daschle bloggers self-outed before the Novak column was published, which only names 1 and doesn't say which blog he wrote. Conservative Ryne McClaren comments on the outings: "Now here's my question: If you start a blog, wouldn't it just be a hell of a lot easier to start signing your name to your posts on Day 1?"
BLOGGERS VS. BLOGGERS: The Whole Listing Concept Is Itself Starting To List
The Blog Herald criticizes Halley's Comment blogger Halley Suitt (who recently appeared at the BlogHer conf., as being exclusionary toward non-A-list bloggers, adding: "My advice: whether you female, male, black, white, gay, straight whatever: understanding Long Tail theory is much better than sucking up to the A-List."
Blogebrity concurs: "What is 'sucking up to the A-list'? What game does Lisa Stone of the BlogHer conference think bloggers have to play? Why do people bitch and moan about lists of popular bloggers, then grumble 'but you have to do what they say'? ... Building a reputation in blogdom isn't about sucking up to an A-list. It's about sharing tidbits with other bloggers, blog readers, forum members, and chatters who might enjoy them."
So does A-lister Jeff Jarvis: "The irony of complaining about 'the A list' is that it gives that list value it doesn't deserve. That is the point of this world: There is no A list. There is only your list. ... It's not about lists. It's about links. ... The worst thing about old media is that it is a closed club. We shouldn't be making this new world into a collection of clubhouses."
Meanwhile, there is this from Halley's Comment: "Jeff Jarvis, I love you man, but this morning you blog about the Blogher Keynote I did with Charlene Li at Forrester and you mention NEITHER OF US, give us no traffic, critique a conference you did NOT attend, give a link to another man who did not attend and then mention Lisa Stone in a dismissive way sans linking her, WHAT GIVES?"
PAJAMAS MEDIA: Get Dressed
Univ. WI-Madison law prof Ann Althouse weighs the pros and cons of the most popular revenue source on blogs, BlogAds, with the upcoming Pajamas Media service. In a lengthy post that includes a reprint of the letter sent to her by PM, she writes: "With BlogAds, you're an independent entrepreneur, with Pajamas, you're more like an employee (with a one-year contract)."
PM co-founder Charles Johnson makes a few corrections at Little Green Footballs, including the fact that bloggers would have veto power over individual ads on their sites.
Ace of Spades HQ sides with Althouse: "I'm not knocking Pajamas Media. I suppose they did their best to negotiate with the sort of big coporate advertisers they wanted to attract. But they're barely offering more than Internet-based t-shirt sellers are offering."
Instapundit, who has signed on: "I've already been giving them some informal advice on editorial issues and my big interest -- lining up actual blog-reporters in remote places. But I think the blogosphere's big enough for lots of different approaches."
MISCELLANY: Why Should I Change? He's The One Who Sucks!
- Conservative Ed Morrissey, on the late King Fahd: "With the older generation fading away, we will probably see the true future direction of Saudi royalty in ten years or so. By that time, we had better have beaten and discredited Islamofascism, or our task may be made exponentially more difficult by the Saudi succession." Libertarian-conservative QandO: "For better or worse, a new era in Saudi Arabian history is about to dawn...
- Per a Washington Post report, Right Wing Nut House fears a "coming Bird Flu pandemic" could be "the most calamitous event in American history." A Daily Kos diarist sounds the same alarm.
- Power Line notes that the case of Vladimir Arutyunyan, the Georgian (Republic) man who "tried to assassinate" Bush "has gotten amazingly little interest or coverage, with the exception of a few outlets" such as the New York Sun.
- Right Wing News asked 200 right-of-center bloggers to list up to 12 of their least-favorite conservatives, and produces a list based on 47 responses. The 10 least favorite included, in order of the top 10: FNC's Sean Hannity, PA Sen. Rick Santorum, PA Sen. Arlen Specter, Rev. Jerry Falwell, FNC's Bill O'Reilly, radio talker Michael Savage, Rev. Pat Robertson, author Ann Coulter, AZ Sen. John McCain and -- their least favorite -- Pat Buchanan.
- At TPM Cafe, Michael Lind writes: "Most liberals seem to think that suing gun manufacturers is a clever way to reduce homicides and suicides involving guns. This is not only bad politics, because a lot of would-be Democratic voters own guns, but it is bad morality and bad law."
- Power Line and Daily Kos both pick up on reports that Jimi Hendrix pretended his was gay to get out of Vietnam service. Both disapprove, though his being an "avowed anti-communist" earns some kudos from Power Line, while Daily Kos calls him "the original chickenhawk."
- Instapundit's Glenn Reynolds removes a post and notes: "Several people think that this post, making fun of [Andrew] Sullivan for his "Bush suck up watch," was badly done. On looking at it in the morning, I decided they were right."
THOUGHT OF THE DAY: If True, He Puts Dr. Frankenstein To Shame
Hei Lun at bipartisan group-blog Begging to Differ offers an insight for the "'Hillary looks better every day' category": "Bill Frist is John Kerry. ... Both have been in the Senate for a long time but both have done almost absolutely nothing worthwhile in their time there. Both want to be president, but can give voters no good reason for their candidacies other than that they want to be president. Both want people to vote for them because of what they did before they were Senators."
LEST WE FORGET: First Against The Wall ... Er, Bubble?
To see one of the weirder interactive web animations we've run across, click over to Little Planet, select the villain of your choice, and start flinging their limp bodies around the screen.
BLOGOMETER SPECIAL: Too Quiet?
What the blogosphere is saying about Pres. Bush's pick of John Roberts for the SCOTUS:
In a post titled "Dodd Hallucinates," Andrew Hyman at GOP-leaning Confirm Them quotes Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) as saying on "FNS": "The open-ended question for us clearly is what are his views about some of the basic values, the equal protection clause, the privacy clause of the Constitution." Hyman: "I challenge anyone to go take a look at the Constitution and show me where this mythical 'Privacy Clause' is located. I have never, until today, heard anyone on Earth refer to the 'So-and-so Clause' of any written law, without the word 'so-and-so' actually existing in the text of that law. ... Senator Dodd should know better, and he probably does."
Liberal AMERICAblog comments on a Washington Post report that Roberts was "part of the vanguard" in arguing against affirmative action in the Reagan WH: "It does show this guy is a true believer. And, clearly, he has been groomed for years. It's like the GOP has a judicial pipeline. They started preparing Roberts for the Supreme Court back when he was 26. He proved his mettle, then they kept him around... waiting for the chance."
At TPM Cafe, ex-Sen. John Edwards promotes a speech he delivered for the American Constitution Society on the Roberts nod.
Posted by at August 1, 2005 12:48 PM
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