August 24, 2005

8/24: Keep Iraq-ing In The Free World ...

Today it's quieter in the blogosphere than it has been for a few weeks, evidenced by the fact that Pat Robertson and Cindy Sheehan remain top figures of discussion, though not much has changed with either in the past 24 hours. However, news that Sheehan will return to Crawford does set up the question of whether she can attract anything approaching the same level of interest in coming days as she has recent weeks. But that hasn't happened yet.

Nor is much going on with Able Danger, Air America, or the all-but-dormant Rove-Miller-Plame case. Arguably the biggest subject for debate is the Iraqi constitution, the text of which was released yesterday. Minor controversies floating around include the recent practice of including military operation names on soldiers' gravestones and the firing of conservative radio talker Michael Graham. For once, it feels like August in the blogosphere.

IRAQ: Constitution Unconventional

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

• The AP provides partial text of the proposed Iraqi constitution, and among bloggers left and right, the response is decidedly mixed. Much of the discussion focuses on whether the language regarding Islam means Iraq will become a theocracy or another Iran. But there's more to it than that, and we still haven't seen the whole thing -- to say nothing of a completed version.
  
  

  >> Among the optimists... Conservative Bill Roggio: "It is unreasonable to assume Islam will not play a role in influencing the society of Iraq, or any other predominately Muslim nation. ... The real test of Iraq's commitment to democratic principles under the influence of Islam will come with the implementation of the constitution by the next elected assembly. But to state an Islamist regime has been created based on the text of the constitution is unfounded." Publius Pundit: "One of the more interesting phrases I'm hearing on all the talk shows is how the two principles of not being able to legislate against Islamic standards and not being able to legislate against democratic standards are inherently contradictory. That's an interesting word for it, and a view that is definitely false. Think of the restrictions on lawmaking as overlapping rather than contradictory, like a boolean graph. Only those laws that comply with both can be made, so don't expect women to be strung up and hung execution style."
  

  >> And the pessimists... Liberal hawk Michael Totten is not pleased with the religious aspects: "There is no silver lining here, no 'bright side' to look on. It's bad news, period. At least it's a draft." TalkLeft: "So Iraq will become a Theocracy, [Pres.] Bush will declare victory, and the troops will begin coming home. Except for the 1,900 of them that died. If our Government told you in 2003 it wanted your son to go to war in a foreign land to topple a regime and ensure that Islam had its proper place in the replacement government, what would your reaction would have been?"
  

  >> Falling somewhere in the middle... Conservative Troy prof Steven Taylor writes, "part of the overall problem is that Iraqi society itself is not one in which gender equity is the norm -- and it is foolish to assume that a new constitution will be able to impose such practices onto the population. However, I do concur that clear statements of equal rights are needed -- more so, perhaps, than will be included." Kausfiles takes issue with assertions by Slate's Fred Kaplan and Univ. of MI Juan Cole that Islam being 'a fundamental source' for legis. in the Iraqi constitution is the same as 'the fundamental source': "I'd say a) by buying off the mullahs with the weasel-word 'fundamental,' this provision looks on its face like a win for the anti-clerics; and b) Kaplan and Cole are so eager to find fault with the constitution (and, by implication, the war) that they've lost touch with logic."

>> Other thoughts:

• Power Line's Paul Mirengoff: "It's premature to assess with any confidence the strengths and weaknesses of the draft constitution."


• Liberal Matthew Yglesias, at TAPPED: "The other thing is that the text I've seen doesn't address, well, any of the topics you expect to see in a constitution. Which powers do the different branches of government have? You won't find out here. Will there be a judicial system? Who sets it up? Who knows." Liberal prof Cole says the AP's version is leaving out some relevant parts of the constitution.


• Right-leaning Balloon Juice: "I was under the impression that the real need for compromise was that in order for the Constitution to be ratified, it had to have approval by numerous different regions within Iraq. I don't see how this version will meet that standard, as the Sunni bloc is vehemently opposed."


• A diarist at Daily Kos speculates that the section regarding Iraq's oil was crafted by "everyone's favorite Iraqi neocon crook," Ahmed Chalabi, and that he stands to get very rich off it.


• Conservative Damian Penny points out, "the text of the constitution won't matter one bit if Iraq's future government doesn't hold itself to the provisions and limits therein."

IRAQ II: No Slogan

An AP headline causes a stir: "Troops' Gravestones Have Pentagon Slogans"; the names of U.S. military operations -- Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom -- can be placed on the stones free of charge, if the family wishes. TalkLeft points out one problem: "The Pentagon claims to give families of the fallen approval over the contents of the gravestones, but that hasn't always happened." Desert Storm vet James Joyner: "To the extent this is controversial, it is that we are using silly propagandistic names to begin with. But that is not an invention of the Bush Administration." Conservative Say Anything: "These aren't 'slogans.' Calling them that makes it sound as though this were some sort of crass political maneuver." Liberal Ugga Bugga: "This White House politicizes everything."

Washington Monthly's Kevin Drum: "Judging by his recent public performances, [Defense Sec. Donald] Rumsfeld has no clue what's going on in Iraq. He doesn't know where the insurgents are coming from, he doesn't know how well our training operations are coming along, he has no idea how long we're likely to stay, and now he doesn't know why casualties are up from roadside bombs. I had a guy working for me once who, after several months on the job, continued to show this level of cluelessness in his area of expertise. You'll be unsurprised to learn that I fired him."

BUSH: How Long Before This Guy Gets A Segment On "Hardball"?

Making the rounds on liberal blogs these past 24 hours: a photo of 73-year-old veteran Bill Moyer wearing a cardboard tab over his ear that says "Bullshit Protector" while listening to Bush speak in Donnelly, ID. Currently, Technorati counts 555 posts with Moyer's name. Crooks and Liars invites readers to write their own caption. Swing State Project determines he likely hails from the KY-02 CD, and half-jokingly suggests he challenge Rep. Ron Lewis (R): "Another undoubtedly straight-talking war veteran. Perfect!"

SHEEHAN: Waiting For Cindy

Early this a.m., Sheehan announces at the Huffington Post: "I'm coming back to Crawford for my son. As long as the president, who sent him to die in a senseless war, is in Crawford, that is where I belong." She reiterates her planned questions for Bush, adding: "The answer to that question will not bring my son back. But it may stop more meaningless deaths." Arianna Huffington herself writes about meeting Sheehan, and posts a photo of the 2 standing together.

Liberal Paul Van Heden, who is blogging from Crawford, argues: "IMHO bloggers are getting to much credit for covering the event. The only hard-core bloggers I've meet here so far are myself, TruthOut and BradBlog. There are rumors that Markos Moulitsas from the Daily Kos is here, but I haven't seen him. The real force behind the media coverage are the common citizens here who are writing letters, urging friends to contact their congresspeople, and taking telephone calls from media organizations to lazy to send a reporter to do it in person. Case in point: The only major publication I've meet in the six days I've been here is Eric Pfeiffer, a columnist for the National Review. Let me repeat what I just wrote just in case you think I'm kidding: A columnist for The National Review. What this means is that resistance to the Iraq war is not being driven by progressive media or by bloggers. It's organic and much more mainstream than anyone cares to admit."

Liberal AMERICAblog quotes Bush's response to reporter's questions about Sheehan, and comments: "Think about that. Not so much what the bonehead said, but the fact that Bush is now having to deal with Cindy. She's under his skin... and ruined his vacation."

At NRO's The Buzz, Pfeiffer interviews Sheehan supporter/hippie songstress Joan Baez.

ROBERTSON: He Talk Crazy One Day

A number of conservatives complained that the MSM went overboard in its Robertson coverage. NRO's Stephen Spruiell: "CNN's Your World Today is covering Pat Robertson's comment that the U.S. should assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez as if Dick Cheney had said it. CNN just aired a segment live from Havana and is promising more to come this hour. ... I'm not trying to defend Pat Robertson, but there's a totally different standard for conservatives who say crazy things than liberals -- especially anti-war liberals -- who do."

But others pointed out it was too easy simply to dismiss him as crazy. Liberal Rock Thrower argues, "before writing Pat Robertson off as some out to lunch nutball, the press and the public would do well to remember that he is a powerful Republican activist with close ties to the President and the Republican Congress." His activities include launching the Christian Coalition, and personally donating $20K+ to GOPers in the past cycle, including VA Sen. George Allen. Andrew Sullivan, back from his "bloggatical," agrees: "Recall that Robertson was on the list of people consulted by the administration on the Supreme Court nomination. He's not an outsider, even though every sane conservative says he is the minute he opens his mouth and says something hateful again."

• Liberal Crooks and Liars heads a post: "Why the Silence on the right-wing sphere over Robertson?" And asks: "It's so quiet you can hear a pin drop. Power Line, Michelle Malkin, (she's on vacation so her subs) Hugh Hewitt, Roger L. Simon, and many more are all silent on Pat Robertson's assassination statements so far."
• In a header, frequent critic of the religious right Jeff Jarvis deems the story "Not news" and asks: "Do we need any further demonstration that Pat Robertson is a loon?"
• The Political Teen hosts video of Robertson's remarks.

WHITE HOUSE '08: Rudy! Rudy! Rudy!

With 12K+ votes accounted for in Patrick Ruffini's latest WH'08 GOP straw poll, ex-NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani maintains a comfortable lead over other popular names: VA Sen. George Allen, ex-Speaker Newt Gingrich and MA Gov. Mitt Romney. Whereas yesterday (see 8/23 Blogometer) Tom Tancredo finished 5th, now John McCain has taken that spot.

Glenn Reynolds notes that Giuliani leads among readers of most blogs who sent readers toward Ruffini's site, even among readers of social conservatives Michelle Malkin and Hugh Hewitt. He adds: "FreeRepublic readers favor Tom Tancredo, which probably says something about the GOP's vulnerability on immigration. And Condi Rice seems to lead pretty much everywhere in the 'fantasy candidate' category. I think this makes her a very plausible VP candidate."

Hewitt: "It is a Guiliani-Allen race -- in the late summer of 2005 -- and will stay that way until the fall of 2007. ... And when John Thune or Tim Pawlenty decide to test the waters, well, all bets are off."

GRAHAM: Shown The Revolving Door

Silent Running notices Michael Graham's name has been scrubbed from the WMAL website; Graham had been fired earlier in the week after complaints from CAIR that Graham called Islam a "terror organization" (see 7/29 Blogometer).

Blog reaction varies widely, from right-leaning Bloggledygook, which calls it a matter of CAIR getting "its panties in a twist over what is basically free speech" and left-leaning Xark! calling him a "moral dwarf on stilts."

This a.m., Drudge Report reports: "FLASH: KFI-AM Los Angeles HIRES Talk Show Host Graham FIRED By WMAL After Islam Remarks... 'KFI has an extended offer for Michael Graham to fill in at the station because KFI still values free speech,' says KFI pd, Robin Bertolucci... Developing..."

BLOGS VS. THE MSM: Darfur, That's A Funny Name For A Missing White Girl ...

Nico Pitney at CAP's Think Progress reports that the DC affils. of ABC, NBC and CBS have refused to air a TV spot highlighting news broadcast's notorious fixation with attractive missing women compared to their scant attention to genocide in Darfur.

Captain's Quarters observes that while the Washington Post has published its own story on the Christian Coalition's financial woes, it has so far run only an AP story on the Air America business: "It seems to me that all of these bills that AAR either refuses to pay or has no funds with which to pay them make this story around 200 times more fascinating than the Christian Coalition story. The Washington Post wouldn't delegate its resources based on the political orientation of CC and AAR, would they?"

Cleveland-area bloggers including Brewed Fresh Daily have been unhappy with a section in the Cleveland Plain Dealer highlighting blogs, in part for frequently editing their comments down to a single line. But there is also some resentment that the Plain Dealer is getting this content free. Buzzmachine's Jeff Jarvis shows up in the comments at BFD, siding with the paper. Elsewhere, Democracy Guy explains that freelancing eventually wasn't worth his effort, and so started blogging, and adds: "To then see my blog quoted in the same paper, with the same clumsy editing, is just reaffirmation of the hard truth that big media wants a lot of content they aren't capable of producing, and they want it at no cost."

ABLE DANGER: The Able Guy

Steve Soto comments on Able Danger: "What we may find here is that what started out as just another effort to redirect blame towards Clinton by [GOP Rep. Curt] Weldon and his buddies in the House GOP and Fox News turned into something that the Bush Administration doesn't want its fingerprints on anymore, now that it turns out that Able Danger was terminated by Bush in March 2001, just as the operation found out how involved Saudi Arabia was in supporting Al Qaeda."

Some on the left are perplexed by a section from a New York Times report on Able Danger, which states that James Smith, a contractor who helped assemble the chart showing al Qaeda connections, "had retained a copy of the chart for some time and that it had been posted on his office wall at Andrews Air Force Base. He said it had become stuck to the wall and was impossible to remove when he switched jobs." War and Piece: "It got stuck on a wall?" Hullabaloo: "It would be interesting to know if he switched jobs before or after 9/11."

BLOG NEWS IN BRIEF: Who's Up, Who's Down

As of mid-8/23, all blogs hosted on the mu.nu servers have gone offline. Site admin Andrew Maizels has posted a temporary message on all mu.nu sites apologizing for a "serious hardware failure." Updates can be found at the Munu Emergency Blog. Munivian and LLP community admin. Eric Cowperthwaite e-mails Munuvians and others to note that the "Carnival of Liberty" -- frequently hosted on mu.nu blogs -- this week is at the non-mu.nu Searchlight Crusade.

At Conservative Grapevine, John Hawkins links to the TTLB Ecosystem, and points out: "Michelle Malkin has now passed Instapundit to become the most linked political blog," as a matter of inbound links. Ranked by traffic, Malkin is #9 and Instapundit is #6; Daily Kos ranks #1.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Opportunity Lost

TNR's Michael Crowley is subbing for Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo this week. Of Robert Novak's column criticizing the WH for leaving Sen. John Thune (R-SD) in the lurch re: the likely closing of Ellsworth AFB in SD, Crowley comments: "Given that Democrats often accuse the Bush administration of placing partisan gain above the national interest, Thune's bitter pill seems a chance for a conservative like Novak to challenge that theory -- to praise the White House for taking the high road by not meddling with the nonpolitical commission's cold-eyed decision. The fact that Thune's direct personal appeals to the likes of Karl Rove, Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney got him nowhere make for an especially compelling point."

LEST WE FORGET: Setting The World To Rights

Blame Bush!, the right-wing parody of left-wing blogs, defends Hugo Chavez and slams the Bush admin: "This year, [Chavez] was honored by both Greenpeace and Amnesty International for disposing of the old corroded car batteries in his torture chambers and using cleaner, more efficient solar power to energize the nation's impoverished testicles. Furthermore, spontaneous human decapitations have dropped by 12 percent on Chavez's watch. Can Bush say as much? I don't think so. ... Venezuelan Vice President Charles Rangel (D) had it right. Calls for the assassination of world leaders should be done only by the seasoned professionals on Air America, where they can be directed at members of the Bush administration in a humorous, light-hearted fashion."

NOTES AND ERRATA

In the 8/23 Blogometer we mixed up Roy Temple's atty with the FEC's atty. Temple's atty is Marc Elias.

Posted by at August 24, 2005 12:32 PM