August 31, 2005

8/31: How High's The Water, Papa?

Although Pres. Bush had already been taking some criticism from liberal bloggers re: Hurricane Katrina since the time it hit, in the past 24 hours the floodgates (so to speak) opened wide and many assign him a great deal of blame for the flooding and slower-than-expected response efforts. But there is also a split among them, as some pointedly decline to add their voice to these claims. Conservatives defend him against the myriad charges. Beyond Bush, there is criticism of the media's coverage from both the right and left, plenty of discussion about the merits of looting.

In other news, bloggers are disagreeing about what an uptick in the poverty rate means, anti-war mom Cindy Sheehan's NPR interview raises eyebrows, and the Able Danger story continues to simmer.

KATRINA I: Twenty Feet High And Rising

Kevin Drum at Political Animal: "On Monday it looked like New Orleans had escaped the worst of Hurricane Katrina. Now it looks like the worst just took an extra day to happen." Conservative Michelle Malkin has been covering Katrina non-stop (with a single detour for a post about Cindy Sheehan) and calls it the "worst natural disaster in American history."

Conservative Glenn Reynolds posts links to a number of charitable orgs. which are providing hurricane relief. Reynolds posts a reader suggestion: "I would suggest people donate through their companies whenever possible. Most major corporations offer matching funds to the dollar for charitable donations." Truth Laid Bear creates a page specifically for bloggers donating to charities, with a list of "suggested charities" and info about each. Volokh Conspiracy's Orin Kerr asks for a group of readers willing to match his donations dollar-for-dollar up to $1K.

Liberal Reed Hundt, at TPM Cafe: "The National Guard members from Mississippi and Louisiana in Iraq ought to be brought home immediately. That isn't a "cut and run" strategy: it is an act of necessity as well as compassion.

Times-Picayune-associated NOLA.com hosts a variety of amazing photos of the flooding and damage; its NOLA View blog is sharing readers' stories.

Libertarian Megan McArdle, on long-term effects: "The gulf area produces about 10% of our crude oil, and an even bigger percentage of our refined petroleum products. Right now, both are shut down. Expect $3 gas over labor day (urp . . . I just moved my holiday camping trip two extra hours away from the city) and if facilities are seriously damaged, a sizeable impact on consumer spending in the months ahead.

Ex-N.O. resident SobekPundit posts photos from his last visit to the city: "I'm glad I had a chance to see it when I did, because I may never again get a chance to see it like it was." N.O.-based Ernie The Attorney, who had written late 8/28 that he was going to ride out the storm in the city (see 8/29 Blogometer), eventually got out to Jennings, LA, and posts via e-mail: "Now I'm able to see TV and the devastation. I can't process this information. That's it. I'll try to figure out how to deal with this in the morning."

KATRINA II: Well, Don't We Feel A Little Silly For Complaining About The Slow August News ...

BuzzMachine's Jeff Jarvis asks in a headline: "Should New Orleans be rebuilt?" He writes: "Having visited the city often in my last job, I was always struck by its poverty and its lack of a workable economy. Tourism is pretty much the only industry. The food is great. The attitude is fun. But big companies had left." He suggests: "Perhaps it should go with its strengths and be rebuilt as a tourist destination before all its restaurants have branches in Vegas. Perhaps it should be smaller and rather than investing in rebuilding, the money should in some cases be spent on relocation."

L.A. Cowboy criticizes N.O. Mayor Ray Nagin: "We should all be asking -- after all this time -- why have buses and trucks not been commandeered to get the poor out of the city? Why are the residents of New Orleans not being told HOW to get out of the city instead of just being told that they must get out of the city? And when Mayor Nagin announced the new flooding of much of the rest of New Orleans in his latest interviews - why did he not offer any plan to get those with no resources of their own -- to get out of the city?"

A diarist at Daily Kos makes an alarming prediction: "What I am going to say now is that there are thousands who are dying and dead. There will be scandal and rioting and rightly so in my opinion as the "Negroes" of New Orleans and tourists were left to drown. And that's what happened to a lot of people but the news media and the public is slow to announce and realize the obvious." The title of the post -- "Put the Ni--ers in the Superdome: Part II" -- draws immediate criticism from some commenters, but others argue it's fitting: "Remember David Duke? Leave the title."

Liberal Eve's Apple quotes from a pro-life e-mail she received: "The image of the hurricane above with its eye already ashore at 12:32 PM Monday, August 29 looks like a fetus (unborn human baby) facing to the left (west) in the womb, in the early weeks of gestation. ... Louisiana has 10 child-murder-by-abortion centers - FIVE are in New Orleans."

Right Wing News, in the 2nd of 2 posts about pro-looting liberals at Democratic Underground: "Just because I find this line of thinking to be surprisingly perverse, even for a bunch of liberals at the DU, here are more quotes from patrons of the Democratic Underground who've spoken out in favor of looting." He links to the relevant discussion threads, and quotes some of the more outrageous comment. Liberal Atrios: "New Orleans is being destroyed. Looting, especially by those who are obtaining food, water, and other necessities, is about number 589 on the list of things which matter right now." Conservative Instapundit: "[I]t's one thing for desperate people to help themselves to bottled water, food, or diapers from abandoned stores, and another to just sack those places for valuables. People doing the latter should be shot."

KATRINA III: Forget Plamegate -- Now There's Blamegate

Among Bush's critics, all on the left:

• Will Bunch at Philadelphia Daily News' Attytood collects reports which suggest the Bush admin. failed N.O., including a 9/04 report from the Times-Picayune, which states, "the cost of the Iraq war forced the Bush administration to order the New Orleans district office not to begin any new studies, and the 2005 budget no longer includes the needed money, he said."
• Swing State Project: "Bush can't handle an unexpected event. After 9/11, he kept reading My Pet Goat and then hid on Air Force 1. After the Tsunami, he did almost nothing until the entire world community's outrage forced him to act. After the worst distaster ever, Bush took a break from his vacation to try and swindle seniors -- but not to help victims."
• Liberal Amanda Marcotte defends politicizing the hurricane: "I'm always puzzled by people who want to somehow depoliticize things because they are important -- politics are those things that are most important. Granted, the politics should be pertinent to the discussion at hand and not just tacking your pet project onto the latest story, like making a hurricane about abortion."
• Markos Moulitsas posts a photo of Bush holding a guitar with the presidential seal on it, and comments: "There will be a time for a full accounting of what went wrong, both preparing for this thing and relief efforts afterward. I don't know if the time is now or later. ... I just wish that the president gave a damn about what's happenend. Unfortunately, he's too busy playing 'country rock star.'"
• AMERICAblog: "People are trapped and dying, the president is still on vacation, and the Democratic party is silent about Bush's deadly vacuum of leadership during a time of crisis. Where the hell is the Democratic party?"

Among his defenders, all on the right:

• Balloon Juice's John Cole, at RedState: "So obvious was the need for immediate action that President Bush declared Louisiana a disaster area several days prior to the Hurricane hitting the region. ... Bush will eventually visit the region, when his presence will not be a distraction, just as he did in 2004 when Florida was ravaged by four hurricanes. Not that any of that matters to those who are motivated only by hatred for the man."
• At The Corner, Byron York responds to rumors, spread in part by Air America's Randi Rhodes, that Bush played golf yesterday: "The only problem is, according to the White House, the president didn't play golf yesterday. He took part in a Medicare event at" a country club in AZ "during which he made some remarks about the hurricane -- but there was no golf." Ankle Biting Pundits points out that Cindy Sheehan repeated this rumor as well.

Among those pursuing a third way, both from the left:

• Matt Yglesias reserves his finger-pointing for later: "Awful as this all it, it wasn't in any way unpredictable, and looking at what's going on it's hard to escape the conclusion that the relevant officials don't seem to have done the proper planning. I suppose the full-scale finger-pointing can wait for a while (I, for one, have no real idea who the relevant officials are)..."
• Kevin Drum: "At the risk of sounding overly righteous every time disaster strikes, can I please suggest that Katrina is really not an appropriate subject for partisan jabbing right now? That goes for both left and right."

BLOGS VS. THE MSM: It's All Geraldo's Fault!

Righty Hugh Hewitt writes, TV coverage "can and does communicate invitations to lawlessness which are acted on by people who realize that there is no threat of police arriving and arrest." He argued this point during the '92 L.A. riots, and makes the point again. "The government cannot enforce such a ban, but it is very much in the interest of the people in the devastated region these media outlets purport to serve to downplay civil unrest." He adds, "moderators at bulletin boards have to be careful to avoid allowing fear mongers to post junk without any sources whatsoever," linking to a Free Republic post about 1000s of bodies discovered floating in Gulf Port, MS. Hewitt: "There's enough dire news as it is."

Lefty Duncan "Atrios" Black has another criticism of MSM coverage: "It's a shame that from what I've seen in the media they don't seem to understand the importance of maps. Disaster footage is flashed randomly on the screen, devoid of any genuine geographic context. Maps appropriately scaled for the location of the footage would provide actual useful information. Otherwise, it's mostly just disaster porn."

TV Newser posts the transcript and a link to video of CNN meteorologist Chad Myers flipping out at anchor Carol Costello, throwing his papers to the floor.

SHEEHAN: NPR Move

A number of conservative bloggers are talking about Sheehan's NPR interview, in which she hung up on NPR's Neal Conan. At The Corner, Jonah Goldberg reported hearing that "when the questions got a bit pointed -- not hostile, but not catering to her publicity script for upcoming events -- she basically bailed on the interview." PoliPundit's Lorie Byrd: "I have read many of the outrageous Sheehan quotes, but had not heard them come out of her mouth. I heard it in this interview, though, and it was not pretty. Listen for yourself."

According to a release, declared Iraq vet/WV SEN candidate Hiram Lewis (R) has said he "will travel to Crawford, Texas, to demand a meeting with Cindy Sheehan. 'If she refuses to meet with me there, I will follow her on her bus tour and continue to demand a meeting until she agrees to talk with me face-to-face.'" Blogcritics: "[T]his charade takes Mr. Lewis out of serious contention for the US Senate."

RedState: "Cindy Sheehan is going to protest the performance of the Blue Angels at the Brunswick, Maine, Airshow on September 10. I really don't what more to add to this. I don't know that it is even possible to add anything to it."

NRO's Eric Pfeiffer reports that Gary Qualls, father of a soldier killed in Iraq, is upset with Sheehan's supporters for putting his son's name on a cross: "Some of Sheehan's supporters claim they only created one cross, like they have for all the other fallen soldiers in Iraq. However, Qualls told me that in fact three crosses and one Texas flag 'memorials' were created. He's taken back each one and continues to hold them in his possession." Qualls: "It's disrespectful. They have these crosses is a ditch. That is not honoring fallen soldiers."

SENATE '06: Get Bucked

Swing State Project's Tim Tagaris is quite impressed that the 1st e-mail he's received from MT SEN candidate Jon Tester (D) is a call to help victims of the hurricane. MT-based liberal Spun and Spinning posts a photo of Tester moving hay bales: "When I see some one pick up a bale, I can tell ya right away if'n they have moved a little hay before. This guy has bucked a few in his day....right hand back, left hand forward."

ABLE DANGER: John Q. Dangerously

Captain's Quarters picks up on an AP story indicating that data-mining programs have run afoul of privacy laws, and comments: "Without a doubt, data mining will cause problems with privacy, but rather than toss out the technique -- which appeared to work pretty well for the Able Danger team -- we should instead move to limit its application." A report from DC's WTOP station suggests Able Danger may have been similarly problematic: "A Pentagon spokesman now says 'there's no reason to doubt the specific recollections' of the growing number of team members" who said they had identified several eventual 9/11 hijackers in '00. JustOneMinute: "I can not find an actual Pentagon statement. And it is certainly possible that WTOP is hyping an out of context quote. For example, a spokesperson may have said "there's no reason to doubt the specific recollections... but we can't find any support for it."

BOLTON: Not Making Amends By Making Amendments

Left-leaning Democracy Arsenal criticizes U.N. Amb. John Bolton's move to add hundreds of pages of amendments to the mostly-completed U.N. Millennium Development Goals: "If his goal was to build support for American positions, Bolton would have worked to quietly build consensus around a handful of the issues considered most important. Instead he's launched a broadside against the whole enterprise of reform, targeting head-on matters that are hot-buttons to most of the membership."

ECONOMY: Poor, Poor Pitiful Us

AP reports: "Even with a robust economy that was adding jobs last year, the number of Americans who fell into poverty rose" to 12.7%, or 37M, up 1.1M from '03.

• Right-leaning ParaPundit, in a post titled "It's The Immigration, Stupid": "Lower class whites are getting their incomes kept down by the Hispanic influx. Plus, the number of Hispanics is growing and their poverty rate is much higher than the white poverty rate. So even if the Hispanic poverty rate does not grow the growth of the Hispanics as a percentage of the total populaton increases the percentage of the total population living in poverty. One cause of rising poverty is therefore obvious."
• Conservative Jayson Javitz: "The poverty meme. Ah, yeah, that annual rite of passage -- when Republicans occupy the White House, that is."
• The Left Coaster's Steve Soto: "Congratulations George W. Bush: under your watch, and with your recipe of three rounds of upper income and corporate tax cuts to spur along a pathetic number of new jobs over the last four years, the poverty level has now gone up all four years you have been in office."
• Liberal Newshog: "That George is sure good for us po'folks ain't he?"

NAM exec Pat Cleary, blogging at RedState: " On the eve of Labor Day 2005, organized labor has sunk to a new low. Last week, two workers were shot in a Wal-Mart parking lot," and in response, the union-run Wake-Up Wal-Mart blog asked readers: "Have any of you experienced any problems in Wal-Mart parking lots?" Cleary: "In other words, we are very sorry for these people who were shot -- but hey, if it helps further our own ends, what the hey?"

OBIT: Hey Jude

Reason's Jeff Taylor eulogizes "supply-side economics" coiner Jude Wanniski, who died 8/29 "The popularizer of supply-side economics, and to hear him tell it, a great many other things as well, has died suddenly of a heart attack. Jude Wanniski was an idea man to his core. Big ideas, small ideas, brilliant ideas, silly ideas. Talking to him, or better still watching him work a room of power brokers, was a series of declarations and questions. "You should do this," "have you tried that?" Ideas careened out of the man."

IN THE STATES: Is Meat What's For Dinner?

Conservative South Dakota Politics highlights a minor controversy about how the SD Dems' comm. dir. is a vegetarian, considering the state is heavily agriculture-based: "Everyone can eat whatever they want, there should be no debate on that issue. The issue is whether this is smart in terms of politics given the facts of our state." Both parties have issued statements about the flap. From the Rapid City Journal's Mount Blogmore sorts it out: "Some GOP bloggers learned that one of the new hires might be a practicing vegetarian -- one who questioned an anti-animal-activist billboard -- and devoted some space to that, er, situation. Then the official SD Repub Party joined the act, although they could only muster that the new Dem staffer 'implied' a position."

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Upon Review

Mickey Kaus: "I just installed the highly-touted Google Desktop search engine because a friend of mine told me that it will change my life. It will. My computer is now running about half the speed it used to and I'm going to lose my job! I think I will now uninstall Google Desktop."

LEST WE FORGET: Zombies Who Need Robots

The Poor Man presents: "Barbra's All-Star Tribute to New Media."

Posted by at 12:12 PM

August 30, 2005

8/30: The Day After Tomorrow ... Er, Yesterday

Whenever there's a big story out there, at the Blogometer we look to the front page of Technorati to see whether the posts we read correspond to what people are looking to read about. Earlier this a.m., as many 6 of the top 10 searches were hurricane related, including the top 2. Along with variations of the hurricane's name there were searches for "New Orleans," "Biloxi" and "Superdome."

Anti-war mom Cindy Sheehan remains a big story -- though well below her previous Technorati dominance (see 8/18 Blogometer) -- as her supporters work to get the word out about the upcoming move out of Crawford, expanded campaign and bus trip for what's expected to be a large anti-war rally DC next month. Meanwhile, a few conservative blogs try to stir up some controversy about VA GOV candidate/Dem LG Tim Kaine's authenticity as a sportsman, relating to comments he'd made to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Iraq, Judy Miller, Ann Coulter, Jonah Goldberg and various WH'08 contenders all find themselves debated in today's edition as well.

Plus, the Blogometer looks at where all the John Roberts coverage has gone, and we present our latest Blogger Spotlight.

HURRICANE KATRINA: When The Levee Breaks

CNN.com's report about levee break and subsequent flooding gets plenty of coverage, as blog automated aggregators BlogsNow and Memeorandum show. Brendan Loy and others post a Google Maps image of where the breach occurred. Loy: "Long story, but I never really ended up going to bed. Argh. Anyway, it's very difficult to tell how serious the situation with the levee breach is. The tone of the media coverage certainly doesn't suggest that this is the beginning of the inexorable lost-city-of-Atlantis flood that we've been fearing all along, but then again, I'm not sure I trust the tone of the media coverage."

Daily Kos' regular "Cheers and Jeers" contributor Bill in Portland Maine dedicates the above-the-fold section of his post this morning to posting the Red Cross' website and phone number.

The New Orleans Times-Picayune's home page announces: "Today the paper is being distributed electronically only." The Times-Picayune's NOLA View hasn't been posted yet today, but last p.m. put up an eerie photo of the Superdome, taken from T-P HQ.

Univ. of Chicago's Daniel Drezner calls attention to an '03 post at A Perfectly Cromulent Blog decrying TV news' coverage as "hurricane porn." A Small Victory's Michele Catalano agrees, posting images of news websites calling the hurricane "our tsunami" (see 8/29 Blogometer) and New Orleans the next "Atlantis." Instapundit and others reply that Katrina was "worth the hype." Drezner updates: "Valid arguments.... except I've been so inured to prior hurricane porn that it's now tough for me to distinguish between a genuine menace to mankind vs. some weathermen breathlessly claiming that some tropical depression could be huge." Below the Beltway: "I think its fair to say that nothing like this has ever happened in a major American city and it may be a long time before things are back to anything approaching normal."

CAP's Think Progress coins a phrase: "The Superdome Society": "In New Orleans, many ... low wage earners have congregated at the Superdome. Their stories reveal the conditions faced by the poor in America," including "Fending For Themselves" and "Families Dependent on Gov't Assistance." Both points are illustrated with excerpts from a story in the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Liberal Chris Bowers sees a different effect at work: "Is it just me, or was the subject already thoroughly changed from the war to the hurricane? The news seems to have changed dramatically over the past two days, and I am having difficulty finding things to write that are related to politics."

WHITE HOUSE '08: They Could Be Contenders

Conservative Ace of Spaces HQ argues that ex-NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) being pro-choice won't kill his chances with social cons: "That was in New York. He will not bring a pro-abortion agenda to the federal level." Plus, Pres. Bush is "well-liked by social conservatives, but he is not the most forward-leaning on the pro-life position. Alan Keyes is strongly pro-life, and he has no chance of winning." More: "It's just not true that social conservatives do all the compromising. If it feels that way, it's largely just because people of course are most aware of when they're not getting what they want, and less aware of when others aren't getting what they want."

Starting 8/29, ret. Gen. Wesley Clark is blogger-in-rotation at TPM Cafe's Table for One. From his first post: "Not only do I disagree with the premise by which this Administration started the war in Iraq, I also disagree with their current strategy of urging American 'resolve' and fighting in Iraq in an open-ended manner. Simply 'staying the course' is not an option, and neither is cutting and running. Too much is at stake. ... I'd like to read some more of your ideas here at the TPMCafe, so don't be shy." In the 24 hours since the post went up, it has collected 165+ comments.

The Corner's Tim Graham, on VA Gov. Mark Warner's (D) announcement that he won't challenge VA Sen. George Allen (R): "Warner, touted as a Southern moderate despite raising our taxes in Virginia, must be serious about running for president, since he's already hired the obligatory Howard Dean-loving Internet specialist from MyDD to make him look less moderate."

PoliPundit's DJ Drummond takes strong exception to the validity of Patrick Ruffini's GOP-oriented WH'08 poll, for not being weighted, for not guarding against multiple votes, and for listing "several qualified candidates" as "fantasy" candidates. Ruffini replies in the comments, Drummond responds in a subsequent post, and Ruffini eventually files a post at his own blog.

BLOGS VS. THE MSM: Photoshop Til You Drop

Washington Monthly's Kevin Drum compares an AFP photo as it ran in the Los Angeles Times, BBC's website, and New York Times. The NYT's is darker than the rest; the LAT's is definitely the brightest. He compares them against what seems to be the original photo at Yahoo, and concludes the NYT probably "ran it straight."

The Left Coaster rejoices: "It is clear to me that the spirit of True Conservative Barry Goldwater is walking the state whispering into the ears of those conservatives who still have functioning cranial organs. How can I tell? The Arizona Daily Star publicly declared: No more Ann Coulter!" The dropping of her syndie column comes as part of a general overhaul of the op-ed page; the Daily Star's David Stoeffler attributes significant criticism of Coulter to conservative readers. In his first piece for the Huffington Post, Crooks & Liars' John Amato takes on Coulter for calling NYCers "cowards." The Moderate Voice's Joe Gandelman adds: "There is a bigger issue here than an Ann Coulter ... and a Michael Moore ... The issue is the deterioration of public discourse in our country -- and Coulter is symbolic of it."

IN THE STATES: Just Shoot Me

Alexandria Falls Church resident Patrick Ruffini notices VA LG Tim Kaine (D) telling the Richmond Times-Dispatch that "he occasionally takes his two sons shooting while visiting the Greenbrier and Homestead resorts." Ruffini posts links to and photos of the Greenbrier and Homestead, which are expensive and swanky. Ruffini, on this fact and a couple similarly-revealing Kaine quotes: "There's a campaign-ending moment in there somewhere." Commonwealth Conservative: "Even if he were trying, I doubt Kaine could sound like more of an elitist."

ROBERTS: Why Isn't Anybody Picking On Me?

For several weeks, the Blogometer included a dedicated section for coverage of SCOTUS nominee John Roberts. We haven't done one lately because, well, there isn't much controversy these days. This is sure to change as hearings get under way next month, but we thought it might be interesting to check in with several of the SCOTUS-focused blogs, and find the last post where they mentioned Roberts. This isn't to say that nobody is discussing Roberts: clearly some are, but for a few who had hung their shingle on the Roberts fight, they have obviously scaled back their efforts. We've organized them from most recent to least:

• RedState's Confirm Them: 8/30
• National Review's Bench Memos: 8/30
• Washington Post's Campaign for the Supreme Court: 8/29
• Conservative Underneath Their Robes: 8/29
• NWLC's Nomination Watch: 8/26
• TPM Cafe's SCOTUS page: 8/25
• Liberal Balkinization: 8/25
• Goldstein & Howe firm's Supreme Court Nomination Blog: 8/23
• Libertarian Prawfsblawg: 8/17
• CAP's Supreme Court Extra: 8/13

One early salvo in the expected resurgence of the Roberts fight is the new site StopJohnRoberts.com, which is launching an new ad against his nod. One of the organizers announces it in a thank-you post at MyDD: "I wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone here for your help in producing this new ad opposing the nomination of John Roberts. The script was developed off suggestions and ideas from feedback from bloggers and netroots activists. We wanted to produce an ad that could be shown in red and blue states and put pressure on Senators around the country to oppose Roberts's confirmation."

SHEEHAN: Cindy Arafat?

Sheehan quotes Lennon/McCartney for the title of her latest cross-posted message to the public. Sheehan includes the text of a letter she will send to all 535 members of Congress, and calls on her supporters: "Now we need your help. We are taking Camp Casey to Congress. We plan to hold rallies and meetings in key Congressional districts (Democrats and Republican alike), where the incumbent is weak on the war."

Liberal BradBlog posts a photo of Iraq vet/Army Spc. Tomas Young (and wife Bree); Young was paralyzed from the chest down in Iraq, and wants to meet with Bush.

Axis of Logic posts details on the 9/24 anti-war protest in DC.

A new BlogAd promoting the Rightalk online radio network -- which counts among its hosts both establishment conservatives and bloggers -- appearing on conservative blogs portrays Sheehan as Yasser Arafat. Liberal Blogtemps posts a partial copy and singles out frequent liberal-target Michelle Malkin, on whose site this ad was found: "Obviously Michelle Malkin supports this advertisement on her blog and mind-boggling demonization of Cindy Sheehan. Shame is the word for such divisive arrogance. Shame on the advertiser, shame on the publisher."

Conservative The Political Teen puts together a montage starting with "all the video I had of Sheehan" and took out clipworthy pieces." And conservative satire blog Huffington's Toast posts an imaginary book cover for an imaginary romance novel.

BACKLOG: The Goldberg Files

Over the weekend, Jonah Goldberg called attention to the neo-Nazi elements who were traveling to Crawford to join Sheehan's protest, writing at The Corner: "GOOD FOR CINDY! She's rallied the Nazis to her cause (obviously unintentionally, but it's interesting how her message resonates in such quarters nonetheless)."

At Daily Kos, Armando called Goldberg's snark "A New Republican Low": "Let's be clear here -- Cindy Sheehan detests Neo-Nazis. Not only will she not embrace them, she will run them off. Republicans, on the other hand, seek the bigots out and make them part of their team. Despicable Republicans. Despicable Goldberg." He also observed that RedState "joins the detestable conduct" for writing: "Ah, White Supremacists and Democrats together again -- they haven't shared the same talking points since when? 1861? 1963?" And Atrios posted an excerpt about National Review from the Chicago Reader on how U.S. periodicals misreported and editorialized against the civil rights movement.

Posts like these apparently provoked a flood of e-mails, and Goldberg posted a clarification: "I think Sheehan has absolutely no sense of proportion or responsibility when she calls Bush a terrorist and a murderer or when she ascribes comic-book-villain motives to the administration. ... If you leave yourself no room, rhetorically speaking, between yourself and the crazies don't be surprised if the crazies respond to your rhetoric."

IRAQ: Running The Time-Tables

At TAPPED, liberal Matt Yglesias considers Sen. Ron Wyden's (D-OR) "Late Edition" appearance this weekend, and observes, it seems he is "creeping toward timetableism": "Obviously, Democrats are looking for some kind of political sweet spot here. Unfortunately, it's not clear that whatever middle ground Wyden's looking for is really there." Armando at Daily Kos: "Maybe a little push for Wyden on this? Senator Wyden, consider blending General Clark's approach in there with yours."

Liberal Juan Cole, at Informed Comment: "Parliament has abdicated its responsibilities toward the constitution and put it in the lap of the October 15 national referendum. Al-Hayat aptly said that the Iraqi constitution has been delivered by caesarian section. It was plucked from the womb of the drafting committee before the latter could give birth to it naturally. Sunni negotiator Salih Mutlak called it 'a minefield.'"

Conservative Betsy Newmark points readers toward a new Weekly Standard piece: "For a while now, Stephen Hayes has been beating the drum of the connections between Iraq and Al Qaeda. He must feel like no one is listening."

ROVE-PLAME-MILLER: Cry For Me, Argentina. Cry?

An 8/29 New York Times editorial titled "Free Judy Miller" drew derision from the left and right. Conservative Tom Maguire snickers at the part where the Times mentions a petition in was signed by "European writers, journalists and thinkers" including filmmaker Pedro Almodovar. Maguire: "Perhaps the Times is under the misapprehension that John and Teresa won last fall." Arianna Huffington, at her Post: "Which do you think is more likely, that" the signees understand the case, or "someone put a petition in front them and said 'The Bush administration is throwing reporters in jail, please sign!'" More Huffington: "[F]ar from rallying support for Miller, today's pitiable plea instead calls attention to how little support for Miller there actually is ... even among the Times' own op-ed columnists. Not one of them has written a single word" about Miller since she was incarcerated." Pandagon's Jesse Taylor: "There's a really simple way to make sure that the continual national embarrassment of having Judith Miller be the longest-imprisoned reporter in the history of the United States no longer continues. Fire her ass."

GREAT DEBATES: Mission Krep

GMU prof Andrew Krepinevich's Foreign Affairs essay "How To Win In Iraq," aka the "oil-spot strategy," suggests the U.S. focus on providing security for Iraqis rather than hunting down insurgents, and then expand those zones over time. On 8/28 it got a favorable mention from the NYT's David Brooks, and it's still being discussed. It's received a cooler response in the blogosphere, from conservatives such as Garfield Ridge to liberals such as Matt Yglesias.

• Neoliberal Eduwonk thinks the strategy has domestic application: "Isn't this basically the same strategy that education reformers should pursue in the cities? Instead of just supporting often isolated politicians who are constantly under attack or fighting hopeless guerilla warfare inside bureaucracies, establishing some oil spots in big cities, winning victories, and establishing some proof points ... seems like a more promising strategy."
• Radical centrists Mickey Kaus and Andrew Sullivan agree, with the latter adding: "I feel the same way about equality in marriage. Let's leave Massachusetts alone, let's build the case for gay marriage by showing how it works in a handful of places and then work from there."

Just as the NYT's Paul Krugman and a number of bloggers have been re-arguing the WH'00 FL debacle (see 8/29 Blogometer), recently other bloggers have been re-arguing an even older debate -- the one over the '98 book "The Bell Curve." The debate comes up as co-author Charles Murray publishes a new essay in Commentary. Titled "The Inequality Taboo," it is largely about the recent controversy surrounding Harvard pres. Larry Summers. The Blogometer isn't going to wade into it, but a few of the pertinent contributions are here: Steve Sailer; TPM Cafe; Brad DeLong; No Speed Bumps; Eschaton; Andrew Sullivan; Lawyers Guns & Money.

BLOGGER SPOTLIGHT: In The Adesnik Of Time

Today the Blogometer talks to David Adesnik, who contributes to the long-running center-right group effort at OxBlog.

What is your full name?

Ariel David Hauptman Adesnik. (I go by 'David' to minimize the gender confusion.)

What is your age?

28

Where did you grow up?

Greenwich Village, Manhattan. Not far from Matt Yglesias, although I never met him until two years ago.

Where do you live now?

Charlottesville, VA. I'm just finishing up a year as a fellow at UVA's Miller Center of Public Affairs and will be moving to Washington at the end of the summer.

What is your occupation? Have you ever worked on a political campaign or for the mainstream media?

I am looking for jobs right now. If you want to offer me one, please contact me at oxblog@yahoo.com. When I was fifteen, I spent two weeks working on a Senate campaign in New York. In college, I wrote a twice-a-month column for the daily student paper.

When did you start blogging and why?

In September 2002, because I realized how little I knew about current events even though (or precisely because) I was getting a Ph.D in international relations. After 9/11, that didn't seem like an acceptable state of affairs.

What has been your favorite post, or favorite story to write about, in that time?

I rarely write about my personal life, but I did post a tribute to my mother after her ordination as a rabbi just over two years ago. That will always be my favorite post.

Describe your typical blogging schedule. And what is your average output?

In general, I only blog after finishing my day's work on my dissertation. I'd say I put in around ten hours a week on the blog, although that has fallen somewhat as I approach the final stages of my dissertation. My output is unpredictable. Even I don't know what my instincts will tell me to write.

Who is your favorite political blogger? Favorite non-political blogger?

The answer to the first part of that question is a tie between Dan Drezner and Phil Carter (who joined the 101st Airborne earlier this summer -- I wish him all the best.) As for non-political blogs, I don't read'em.

Who is your favorite mainstream media columnist?

Jackson Diehl at the WaPo. He understands democracy promotion as an idea and as a policy better than anyone else I've read.

What is your favorite television news program, either network or cable?

I don't have cable and I only watch the networks because they show reruns of "The Simpsons" and "Seinfeld." But my mom has a huge crush on Jon Stewart, so I'll say "The Daily Show."

What MSM-produced websites (i.e. newspapers, magazines) do you visit on a daily basis?

My homepage is www.washingtonpost.com. I usually give the Times a look, as well. Then I read blogs.

What non-MSM websites (i.e. blogs) do you visit on a daily basis?

My top three are Glenn Reynolds, Kevin Drum and Matt Yglesias.

How often, or do you ever, read a newspaper in its dead-tree (i.e. print) form?

I have a subscription to the Washington Post because you can't rest a bowl of cereal on a website.

How do you see the new media and old media affecting and influencing each other in the next five years?

I believe in convergence. The first thing is always tell people (especially journalists) is that the blogosphere is not trying to replace or overthrow the established media. With a few exceptions, bloggers provide opinion and analysis, not original coverage. The blogosphere is basically a virtual op-ed page.

Nonetheless, the blogosphere is a threat to the MSM, but only because we insist that it live up to its self-professed standards of objectivity and impartiality. However, I think journalists are pretty open-minded (especially compared to politicians) and have begun to integrate new media approaches into their own work. I expect that this convergence will only increase in coming years. Of course, I may be totally, catastrophically wrong about that. (It wouldn't be a first.)

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Cracking The Code

Picking up on conservative Will Vehrs' attempt at a Blogging Code of Ethics -- inspired by a debate at UVA's Sorenson Institute Summit on Blogging and Democracy in the Commonwealth -- liberal Raising Kaine tries its hand at spelling out a list of good-blogger rules:

1. "Fully disclose," unless there is an "overriding ethical or legal reason."
2. "Do not lie or knowingly disseminate false information."
3. "Properly attribute the source of information, photos, etc. -- do not plagiarize."
4. "Do not attack private individuals, including fellow bloggers. For public officials, make sure that whatever you say is factually based, and ... avoid going ad hominem if at all possible."
5. "Obey Will Vehrs Rule #5. 'If I perform the work of a newsgathering journalist in the course of my blogging, I will endeavor to follow generally accepted codes of journalistic conduct, including shielding sources when the reason is explained.'"
6. "Obey Will Vehrs Rule #6. 'I will not censor or edit the feedback I receive except for foul language or malicious intent. I will endeavor to be accessible to my readers and to respond to their complaints and suggestions.'"
7. "Have fun."

LEST WE FORGET: But It Still Isn't The Dullest Blog In The World

The Agitator's Radley Balko declares 6/27/05 as "The Day Blogging Ceased to be 'Edgy.'" This was "the day the Air Conditioning Contractors of America started its own official blog. I give it another three months before those bastards from the oscillating fan industry start trolling the comments section with snarky rejoinders."

Posted by at 12:41 PM

August 29, 2005

8/29: Katrina And The Waves

The only story that matters this a.m. is Hurricane Katrina. Where many had assumed the city could have been utterly destroyed, it seems clear at this point that it has been spared the worst: there will probably still be a New Orleans tomorrow. But the city has sustained massive damage and flooding already, tens of thousands are riding it out inside the compromised Superdome, and the rest have fled. It's big news today, but the area may be uninhabitable for weeks after the storm passes.

HURRICANE: You're Gonna Need A Bigger Boat

A few Katrina-related resources:

• Jeff Jarvis and Michelle Malkin both have impressive round-ups of hurricane blogging.
• New Orleans Times-Picayune has a breaking-news blog, which provides reports from the area.
• In a headline, a Daily Kos writer advises the best way to help out: "Give Money Only, and Give to the Red Cross."
• See Flickr's Katrina page for amateur photos related to the hurricane.
• An apparently still-functional outdoor webcam on the LSU campus.

Blogger reax:

• >> Steve Gregory reports at one of the Weather Underground blogs, the worst has probably been avoided: "Just before heading for some sleep -- I sent an advisory around 2AM indicating that Katrina was going to weaken a bit, and that it would skirt the east of New Orleans. That's has in fact happened, sparing the city of New Orleans from a truly catastrophic event." At the same site, Jeff Masters observes: "New Orleans will not suffer large loss of life from Katrina."
  
  

  >> One of the most popular links has been to the NWS alert, which Poliblog's Steven Taylor calls "so shocking in its language, that even though it can be found on their server, it reads like a hoax." A sample: "MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS...PERHAPS LONGER. AT LEAST ONE HALF OF WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALL FAILURE. ALL GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL...LEAVING THOSE HOMES SEVERELY DAMAGED OR DESTROYED." And: "POWER OUTAGES WILL LAST FOR WEEKS...AS MOST POWER POLES WILL BE DOWN AND TRANSFORMERS DESTROYED. WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS." Viking Pundit calls it "almost hysterical." A CNN report suggested in its headline that "Katrina may be 'our Asian tsunami'" -- as several bloggers quote it -- before apparently being retitled. VodkaPundit's Stephen Green compares Katrina to 9/11.
  

  >> Bloggers in the area write matter-of-factly about the grim situation. N.O. Pundit: "There is a Schroedinger's Cat quality to watching the spinning red ball: does the New Orleans that I know even exist right now, hours before landfall? Surely the buildings are there right now and the people who remained are fine right now. But in a sense, some of those buildings have already fallen and some of those people have already met tragedy." Paul from Wizbang, a New Orleanian: "New Orleanians have a sense of humor... Less face it, to put up with our politicians you need to... But that was on display in the hotel lobby where people were greeting each other, 'So, where did you used to live?' I met a woman who used to live uptown. I told her I used to live in Metairie." NOLA Blogs has a list of bloggers from the area. Rogers Cadenhead: "Looking around New Orleans with GeoURL, I've yet to find a blogger sticking around for Hurricane Katrina." On 8/27, before it was clear how serious the storm would be, Sporked could write: "I'm sure this will be great fun." Drudge Report-like Dead Pelican reported at 6:41 a.m.: "THE DEAD PELICAN MAY BE LOSING POWER SHORTLY. WE WILL STAY ONLINE AS LONG AS POSSIBLE. GOOD LUCK TO ALL, AND GOD BLESS." NOLA-based Ernie the Attorney, during the weekend: "So I tried to leave New Orleans today at 12:30 pm but after 4 hours of driving I had only made it 15 miles. I was alone and tired so I decided the safe play was to return. It's kind of sad when the 'safe play' is to go back and wait to be pounded by the gnashing fury of a Category 5 hurricane."
  

  >> For more than a few lefty bloggers, Pres. Bush bears a lot of responsibility for the suffering that is expected. Diarist Patricia Taylor at Daily Kos: "Historically, it is the National Guard, along with other emergency personnel, who attempt to provide emergency services to the community in disaster relief situations like Katrina. And where are these National Guard right now? Iraq." Wampum calls it "A Bush-made catastrophe in the making..." Skippy the Bush Kangaroo and Swing State Project make similar points. So does Steve Gilliard, who writes: "The next closest thing to this is a nuclear explosion." AMERICAblog suggests that New Orleans could get more attention from the Bush admin. by renaming the storm "Hurricane Terri"; a little Photoshop work places Terri Schiavo's face over the eye of the storm. TalkLeft: "One other point: we need to stop destroying the Louisiana wetland which serves as a buffer." Wizbang's Paul picks up the Daily Kos diary, and adds this comment: "Actually if the dumbass used google news they would have known the Guard is in the Superdome." Liberal BooMan Tribune: "It looks like it is time to put partisanship and politics aside. Dealing with this calamity is going to require a unified approach from all Americans."
  

  >> In 5/05, Chris Mooney wrote a piece for The American Prospect titled "Thinking Big About Hurricanes" and eerily subtitled "It's time to get serious about saving New Orleans." But Mooney wasn't the only one to write such a piece, as several bloggers link to an '02 Science World article, and then a few others to a public radio report, both addressing the possible destruction of New Orleans by hurricane. At his personal blog, Mooney raises other issues not being discussed: "Sea Level Rise," "Coastal Wetlands Losses, and "The Hurricane-Global Warming Link."
  

  >> Brendan Loy stayed up all night blogging the storm, and is back at it again now. LA-based Josh Britton has been blogging around the clock. And others around the country are paying close attention as well. Just a few among the many: Daily Inklings; Yippie-Ki-Yay!; Lean Left; Phog Blog; The Jawa Report; Politickal; Michael Totten; People Get Ready; Donklephant; California Conservative; Angry Bear; Backcountry Conservative; Blogs of War; Baldilocks; Talking Points Memo.

SHEEHAN: The Road Ahead

As mentioned above, Sheehan's protest is not the major story it once was, but it still rates a mention on the front pages of Eschaton and Daily Kos this a.m. Liberal radio talker Brad Friedman of BradBlog, has been in Crawford with Sheehan and her fellow protesters all weekend, broadcasting multiple special shows. At Democrats.com, David Swanson shares his experience of going down to Crawford. Big-name visitors to "Camp Casey" this weekend included Al Sharpton and actor Martin Sheen.

NRO's Eric Pfeiffer reports from Crawford: "Cindy Sheehan has admitted she will only travel for two days on her own 24 day bus tour to Washington DC after protesters leave Crawford" on 8/31, heading to DC for a planned anti-war demonstration on 9/24. More: "Sheehan cited 'previous speaking engagements' as her reason for not being able to travel with the proletariat protesters. The first day of her tour which is "not political" will target" House Maj. Leader Tom DeLay.

Little Green Footballs posts 2 photographs of the same event -- Sheehan kneeling before crosses -- which are wildly different in effect: "Here's a touching scene, featuring Cindy Sheehan and the Reverend Al Sharpton, in front of crosses, looking solemn and sad. Now let's zoom out and see the media swarm around this manufactured event..."

Mimicking taunts from liberal bloggers about pictures showing few protesters on the pro-Bush side, conservative blog round-up GOPINION posts photos of Sheehan sitting alone, with the headline: "Where Are All The Protesters?" GOPINION links to a Right Wing Nut House post arguing that the protest is rather small: "It's like this 'mass movement' exists only on a Hollywood sound stage. When the cameras are turned off, it disappears like smoke from a fog machine wafting up into the rafters."

Liberal radio talker Taylor Marsh criticizes Sheehan's call for an immediate withdrawal from Iraq: "An immediate pull-out of troops is simply not a moral, or to put it more bluntly, an American interest option. So, it's with all due respect that I say to Cindy Sheehan ... What part of catastrophe don't you understand?"

WHITE HOUSE '08: Step By Step

Conservative Baseball Crank argues, as per the post's header: "How A Social Moderate Can Win The GOP Nomination In Six Easy Steps" The steps are: "1. Don't Run Against The Social Right"; "2. Federalism, Federalism, Federalism"; "3. Promise to Appoint Conservative, Pro-Democracy Judges"; "4. Show Some Backbone In Other Areas"; "5. Do No Harm"; "6. Nominate A Conservative Running Mate." He concludes: "[M]aybe Rudy Giuliani is the guy who can do it, and maybe he's not. ... But I do believe that, by following the road map laid out above, a candidate who, for example, personally supports legal abortion could nonetheless win the GOP presidential nomination, and do so with his or her principles more or less intact."

Left-libertarian Arthur Silber: "As the Bush foreign policy self-immolates and disintegrates more with every day that passes, we are witnessing a political and moral vacuum. ... In this atmosphere, the politician who stepped up ... could become a national leader with an enormous following in record time. It could make him or her the next President. Except for Feingold, no one has even tried to rise to the challenge -- and all the rest of them affirmatively avoid it."

SENATE '06: Hackett Talk

At MyDD, Chris Bowers posts a map of ex-House candidate Paul Hackett's donors -- they are spread all across the country -- and writes that Hackett would be the "crowning jewel" in the DSCC's recruitment for SEN '06. Cleveland-based liberal hawk Democracy Guy disagrees: "I've never seen a rationale for a US Senate campaign that forgets to actually discuss the state in question, let alone that the candidate hasn't won a single race higher than city council. Worse yet, as with every single other utterance from the liberal blogosphere, there is no mention of the post 9/11 dynamic in the electorate, which will be the very first hurdle any US Senate candidate from Ohio will have to clear."

IRAQ: Double-Take

New York Times has a full translation of the Iraqi constitution. Power Line: "I'm still working my way through it, but it generally looks good, despite being a little 'liberal,' in the American sense, in places." Captain's Quarters, on the constitution going forward above Sunni complaints: "Had they voted in the last election, they could have had their own representatives in the negotiations to tell them that [supporting the constitution is for the best]. Hopefully Sunni voters will have seen the idiocy of their boycott and what they lost as a result, and will not make the same mistake twice."

New York Times reports, Army contracting official Bunnatine Greenhouse, who in '03 criticized some of Halliburton's Iraq contracts, has been demoted; although she once had "stellar" performance ratings, her reviews "became negative at roughly the time she began objecting" to the contracts. Rising Hegemon: "Just in time to be ignored because of a Hurricane and the so-called Iraqi Constitution..."

On 8/25, independent journalist Michael Yon posted "Gates of Fire," an account of a firefight in Mosul, in which he temporarily stopped reporting and started fighting, against a terrorist who had been caught and released previously. Technorati counts 260+ links to the specific post and BlogPulse counts 180+. Conservative Day By Day cartoon compares the hotel-bound AP reporters in Baghdad unfavorably with Yon.

Blackfive reports that Army CoS Peter Schoomaker is setting forth new guidelines for dealing with soldiers' blogs, and quotes the message in full. The Army is concerned that terrorists are reading the soldiers' blog entries to try and determine weaknesses.

Right-leaning Gregory Djerejian writes a post titled "The Flypaper Fallacy: 10 Reasons Not To Believe the Hype" Number one: "It assumes a finite number of jihadis willing to die."

THE MARCH OF BLOGS: A Blog Named Sue

SEO Book blogger Aaron Wall is being sued by Internet marketing company Traffic-Power.com over comments made by others at his blog. The Blog Herald reports: "If successful the case has the potential to cause major upheaval in the blogosphere as comments would need to be filtered in cases where there was even the slightest chance someone might sue or find the comment offensive or disagree with it."

Pajamas Media, the yet-to-debut news service/ad agency by Roger L. Simon and Charles Johnson, announces a name change. They write, the name originated as a response to now-CNN/then-CBS exec Jonathan Klein's Memogate-era dismissal of bloggers, but "as we have gone forward putting together this company, it has become clear to us that we do not wish to be defined merely as gadflies in opposition to mainstream media." The About Us page also mentions: "Key details of the plan are still under wraps. For now, the co-founders will say only that there will be a significant unveiling in the fall of 2005."

BlogAds founder Henry Copeland announces, in an e-mail: "The current Blogads logo is terrible -- I can say that because I drew it in March 2002, expecting the scribble to last two days. So please tell your designer friends about our need for a brilliant new logo. Winning designer gets $1000."

Over the weekend, UVA's Sorenson Institute held a Summit on Blogging and Democracy in the Commonwealth, which was attended by several high-profile VA bloggers. In attendance were bloggers from Raising Kaine, Commonwealth Conservative; The Red Stater; Shaun Kenney; Bacon's Rebellion; Waldo Jaquith. Inspired by discussion at the conf., Will Vehrs at Bacon's Rebellion attempts a "blogger code of conduct." QandO's Jon Henke doesn't see the point: "I've managed to make it 30 years so far without writing down my formal code of ethics. I'm certainly not going to do it so I can petition the legislature for the right to speak freely."

In an attempt to head off disruptive posters, Daily Kos', Hunter proposes that readers rate posts that are "pointlessly ad hominem" or "unintendedly sexist" a 2 on a 5-point scale. Not so low as to suggest the poster for banning, but low enough to send a message; he calls it the "Hunter 2." He polls readers for their opinions of the idea; over half the respondents approve, but over a third doubt it will work.

BLOGS VS. THE MSM: Re-Fighting Florida

This weekend, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman appended to his column a correction to a previous column, where he had cited evidence that then-VP Gore would have won the WH under most counting scenarios. His initial column had set off a round of complaints from conservative bloggers, and this correction only brings more complaints. Patterico's Pontifications has a lengthy post attempting to rebut Krugman's claims. Michelle Malkin and Tom Maguire join in, although after a series of updates, Maguire makes a partial defense of Krugman.

At NRO's Media Blog, Stephen Spruiell disputes Washington Post online columnist Dan Froomkin's assertion that no war critics are calling for an immediate withdrawal. "I normally avoid going into Froomkin in detail, because that daily chore would leave room for little else on the Media Blog. In the interests of my sanity, I will leave it to somebody else to start a FroomkinWatch blog. Any takers?"

BACKLOG: Vincent

Univ. of MI prof Juan Cole defends his comments on the murder of journalist Steven Vincent in Iraq, in light of fierce criticism by Vincent's widow, Lisa Ramaci-Vincent (see 8/23 Blogometer). Writes Cole: "I am clarifying my remarks because Vincent's widow is circulating a misleading characterization of them. I understand the grief of a bereaved widow, and I am not interested in arguing with her. But Vincent does not get a pass on being criticized simply because he is dead." Cole: "His death was most unfortunate, and I felt it. He was a colleague of sorts. But he behaved foolishly and frankly ignorantly." But lefty UCLA prof Mark A.R. Kleiman is incensed by Cole's response, writing a 10-point reply: "Perhaps you can explain how you square your contemptuous dismissal of Ms. Ramaci-Vincent with your criticism of George W. Bush's treatment of Cindy Sheehan? ... The main difference I can see between the two cases is that Mr. Bush hasn't insulted Ms. Sheehan's dead son, while you have insulted Ms. Ramaci-Vincent's dead husband." More: "In the course of criticizing Mr. Vincent's conduct ... you never find occasion to criticize the conduct of his murderers ... It's fair to ask whose side you take: that of the victims, or that of the perpetrators?"

INTRODUCING: Chancellor Of The Chequer

Righty Pejman Yousefzadeh has closed up shop at Pejmanesque, and moved his primary blogging efforts to A Chequer-Board of Nights and Days, which is a group blog at which he is the primary contributor. Others include QandO's Henke, Patrick Frey from Patterico's Pontifications, and Leon H from Macho Nachos and RedState, to which Yousefzadeh also contributes. The title comes from the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Honey, I Shrunk The President

Liberal BAGnewsNotes posts a photo of Bush walking out in front of a blue curtain in a hangar, looking a bit small in comparison: "Often, a news image will lead the wire because it captures some underlying truth about the political moment at hand. ... Because the meeting took place in Bush's aircraft hanger in Crawford, it seems the photographer's vantage worked substantially to the President's disadvantage. If Bush's policies are shrinking in popularity, this image might well serve as visual documentation."

LEST WE FORGET: Regrettably Pro-War?

Liberal Fafblog "interviews" several top Senate Dems about the situation in Iraq:

FAFBLOG: So what's up, Democrats?
JOE BIDEN : What's up is the war in Iraq, which is terribly mismanaged, Fafnir.
FB: Oh wow! Are you guys against the war, too?
JOE LIEBERMAN : Oh no, we're not AGAINST the war!
HARRY REID : We're all FOR it!
BIDEN: It's the best worst idea in the world, and we're gonna run with it to victory!
HILLARY CLINTON : Watch me eat a bug!
FB: So we can actually win the war! That's great news!
LIEBERMAN: Yes!
REID: Sort of!
BIDEN: Maybe!
CLINTON: I can wrestle a buffalo!

Posted by at 01:01 PM

August 25, 2005

8/25: Isn't It Labor Day Yet?

Note: Because The Hotline is is taking off Fridays in August, the next edition of the Blogometer will be posted on Monday the 29th.

Pres. Bush takes a hammering in these last 24 hours, arguably more so than in recent weeks. Liberal blogs have criticized his Iraq strategy as adrift or worse for nearly 2 years now, but the generally-acknowledged unease about the war's progress -- the uncertain Iraqi constitution, Bush's basement-dwelling poll numbers, Cindy Sheehan's widely-covered protest in Crawford -- gives them more confidence, perhaps more cohesiveness, and certainly a more receptive audience. Meanwhile, conservative bloggers seem to be having more doubts, or at least are feeling more comfortable expressing them, than in months past. While plenty are willing to attribute this to the doldrums of the late summer news cycle or the temporary confusion over the unresolved constitution, no one can say for sure what this will mean in 2 months, let alone 2 weeks. The liberal blogs hope to sustain the momentum they've picked up; conservatives hope that Iraq -- and Bush's approval rating -- starts looking up.

In other news, or what there is of it, the Pat Robertson flap is sticking around for another day, one liberal lays out a sweeping strategy for the anti-war movement; one conservative argues the libertarian nature of many blogs hurts its WH'08 predictions, plus a few WH and GOV rumblings rate mention. What's not news? The CIA leak probe, Able Danger, the SCOTUS nod of Judge John Roberts, and pretty much everything else.

BUSH: Are You There, Competence? It's Me, Margaret

At his NRO blog, ex-Bush speechwriter David Frum argues that Bush is using his bully pulpit "very badly indeed." For example, Bush "will agree to give what is advertised in advance as a major speech. An important venue will be chosen. A crowd of thousands will be gathered. The networks will all be invited. And after these elaborate preparations, the president says ... nothing that he has not said a hundred times before." Frum also makes the point: "Supporters of the war can argue that the public is mistaken, overly influenced by biased news reporting. Yes, yes. But mistaken public opinion is just as powerful as sound public opinion."

Bush-supporting conservative The Anchoress writes, she's "gettin' antsy": "Does anyone remember April and May of 2005? And the months preceding them? The Orange Revolution? The Arab Springtime? The Cedar Revolution of Lebanon -- all of them seeming to have a fire lit under them, a wonderful fire of liberty. It's very troubling. Worrying. People seem to be running out of energy here, and W is simply not rallying them ... The momentum has stopped. Everything has come to a screeching halt. Is there something he's not telling us?" On a more optimistic note, she adds, "he always comes back from his August vacation with a surprise, with something unexpected. ... I hope I see something, come September. I really hope so."

Liberal BOPnews' Stirling Newberry: "Bush is one more upward bounce of gas prices from being in the depths of his Presidency. This is where most Presidents are in the second year of their first term: they've put an economic plan in place, they don't have much more wiggle room, and it is just going to take time to work. However, Bush isn't near the beginning of his economic cycle -- he's near the peak of it. If people aren't happy now, they aren't going to be getting any happier any time soon."

IRAQ I: We Went Through Hell ... Just To Get To Hell?

Lefty Needlenose poses the rhetorical question, just how "brazen a liar" is Bush re: our Iraq commitment? A 6/19 John Burns NYT story quotes a "senior Marine officer" in DC saying: "Look for covering phrases like 'We need to start letting the Iraqis stand on their own feet, and that isn't going to happen until we start drawing down.'" Needlenose finds an 8/24 Financial Times story reporting that "significant numbers" of U.S. troops will be withdrawn over the coming 12 months, and quoting a Centcom official saying: "We believe at some point, in order to break this dependence on the ... coalition, you simply have to back off and let the Iraqis step forward." Needlenose connects the dots: "It's only been two months, and we're already hearing those 'covering phrases,' even as the president lies ever more frantically to distract the public."

Righty Wizbang guest-blogger Rob Port, of Say Anything, takes a different approach to the FT report: "Excellent news. I never understand why stories like these don't get more attention. While the anti-war left demands that the troops be brought home there is light at the end of the tunnel in Iraq." Pro-war but recently-skeptical Belgravia Dispatch comments on same: "The President today gave another hard-hitting 'stay the course' speech. But there continues to be a sense of drift and muddle on the future direction of Iraq policy. I wonder if this explains some of the downward movement in the polls?" Hullabaloo's liberal Digby, on Bush's speeches and travel: "He must be thrilled to be back in the saddle, running for president, which is the only thing he knows how to do."

Iraqi blog The Mesopotamian: "There are rumors in the air about an impending massive terrorist campaign -- massive number of car bomb attacks, mortar attacks, and sabotage of the basic services, water, electricity etc. This threat of possible escalation must be taken seriously; because in the present situation on the ground it is not difficult to carry out ... Although we don't like to compare with Vietnam but it is Tet-Offensive style of thinking." Conservative Junk Yard Blog considers the possibility: "On the one hand, attempting a Tet might result in catastrophic losses for the enemy, which would be to the good. But on the other hand, such a broad and lethal series of attacks would probably kick up the anti-war movement here and dishearten our allies in Iraq."

Bush critic Peter Galbraith was quoted in the latest David Brooks NYT column praising the Iraqi constitution. Liberal Daily Kos' Armando: "Galbraith may think this is a good deal for the Sunni, and maybe it is, but it is pretty clear the Sunni don't. And excuse me Mr. Galbraith, on this their opinion matters a whole hell of lot more than yours. Cuz they are the ones who might bring the violence, not intelligent rational you. Sheesh." Conservative JustOneMinute is skeptical as well.

IRAQ II: The War At Home

Liberal Street Fighter: "The new antiwar movement is no mirage," but the "impact of Camp Casey may yet prove to be a blip if antiwar activists fail to develop strategic principles to guide our action." Therefore LSF introduces a planned series of posts starting with "The Antiwar Pragmatist, Part I" where the "primary" goal is to "End the US military occupation of Iraq." Toward that end, LSF lists 6 intermed. goals, including: "Provide means of meaningful political interaction between progressives and the half of America that is politically disengaged/disenchanted/disempowered." LSF then assesses the "Current Orientation of Forces," including "Bushco," the Dem Party, the "antiwar movement," "general public" and "netroots." One tangible suggestion: "[W]hat if thousands of us each sent a pen to the Rummy. ... Saul Alinsky's first rule of tactics is this: Power is not only what you have, but what your opponent thinks you have. 10,000 pens in the Pentagon mailroom would be an awful lot of 'thinks we have' in DC."

Michelle Malkin, Ace of Spades and others post video stills from a report by KOMO-TV in Seattle from a 7/31 incident in which 2 Iraq vets were beaten unconscious by attackers who had allegedly "groped" their dates at a nightclub. Police have released certain images, hoping to identify the men. Ace: "Let's John Walsh 'em."

SHEEHAN I: On Hallowed Ground

As of late last p.m., Cindy Sheehan is back in Crawford, TX.

Liberal blogger/radio talker Brad Friedman went live with a special edition of his show last p.m. to provide "uninterrupted coverage" of the Joan Baez concert and Sheehan's return: "Following Joan Baez' performance, Cindy Sheehan made her first public statements since returning to Camp Casey in Crawford, TX. She spoke about the media attacks on her, and at length about Casey. Both moving and at times, funny." Friedman has posted the show as an MP3.

At NRO's The Buzz, Eric Pfeiffer reports from the scene of "Camp Casey II," the larger campsite that has gone up in the time Sheehan was gone: "It was an emotional moment for the protesters and Ms. Sheehan. About 10 supporters encircled Sheehan quite literally fanning her with protest signs, while others brought her catered food and refreshments. ... After having a bite to eat, Sheehan joked with her supporters, mocking the Bush supporters standing outside 'Camp Casey II.'" He posts photos of a smiling Sheehan, and adds: "Most of the photos I have seen in the media today reflect the moment where Sheehan was crying. I do think this is somewhat misleading. While she is certainly entitled to her grief, most of the scene was quite jovial, which is not reflected in the mainstream media's coverage." Earlier in the day, Pfeiffer posted photos and narration of scenes from around the Crawford campsite.

Liberal BrainShrub reports on the pro-Bush "Camp Reality" nearby: "I've noticed that the conservatives on the other side of the ditch are losing the terminology they have used to justify their agenda. They no longer use 'We support our troops' without the caveat 'and President Bush.' I've noticed that the flag waving has subsided a bit, and they've started using the Presidential Seal a lot. There are more crosses and Jesus references than ever, it's as if they have realized that patriotism is no longer their exclusive domain, so they are retreating to the fundamentalism where they know they are safe."

SHEEHAN II: The Legacy Project

Conservative milblog Blackfive posts a short bio of Casey Sheehan, including a summary of the events that led to his death, and lists the names of other U.S. soldiers killed along with him, on the Palm Sunday he died. Title of post: "Army Specialist Casey Sheehan -- Someone You Should (Have) Know(n)." The Great Satan quotes Sheehan saying of her son, "he's always going to be my hero, and I'm not going to let anyone exploit and call him a hero because he was a war victim." TGS responds: "No one that is except myself. Is that right? ... He joined the military out of integrity. He re-enlisted out of integrity, and volunteered for a rescue mission out of integrity, yet you want to play him as a victim?" More: "I can't speak for all veterans, I can't speak for Casey Sheehan, but I can speak for myself when I say there is no other greater honor than to be buried in your uniform, with a military ceremony. This noble gesture is something that the 'anti-war' zealots loathe..."

For awhile we've been noting Sheehan's updates at various locations, without much rhyme or reason. Yet clearly her letters are being hosted on multiple sites at a time; while we can't say the following list is exhaustive, we can say definitively that her latest, "Camp Casey, Day 18" is hosted at Daily Kos, the Huffington Post, Truthout, and Michael Moore's site. Conservative Politicalities responds to her latest message in the form of a point-by-point commentary on an AP story. Politicalities congratulates her on "learning the art of the fisk," then proceeds to fisk her. Politicalities, on Sheehan addressing Bush as "George": "Just go ahead and address him as Chimpy McBushitler; you know you want to."

AMERICAblog: "Interesting that Bush and the White House had to make major travel and logisticial arrangements so he could travel to Utah and Idaho basically just to bad-mouth Cindy Sheehan. All he has to do is walk down the road and he could talk to her face to face. ... It's really creepy that he has gone to such lengths to trash the woman. Major presidential speeches in the reddest of red states. Amazing, but not surprising that the MSM lets him get away with this crap."

WHITE HOUSE '08: Why The Blogosphere Won't Predict The '08 Nominees

Conservative Ankle Biting Pundits reported on 8/24, "a high level GOP source" said Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) "is privately meeting with his top advisors and political contributors to discuss the prospects of an independent bid" for WH'08.

Mike Huckabee President 2008 reports, AR Gov. Mike Huckabee (R), "already scheduled to be the keynote speaker at New Hampshire's largest GOP gathering this weekend, has agreed to fill in at another GOP event after Governor Mitt Romney abruptly cancelled. ... Folks, I can tell you now that Mike Huckabee will charm the pants off of these people and he will make the most of this opportunity."

NYC conservative Karol Sheinin argues that neither the Dem-oriented straw polls at Daily Kos and MyDD nor the GOP one by Patrick Ruffini are useful predictors of the '08 primary elections. Ret. Gen. Wesley Clark tops both Dem polls; ex-NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Sec/State Condoleezza Rice top Ruffini's. But none of them have "anything resembling a prayer to win." To start, "the blogosphere is ... much more libertarian that the general population." Giuliani is pro-choice, pro-gay marriage and "on his third marriage," while Rice has never run for office, is single, and "no woman, much less a black one," is viable. She also opines that conservatives lean toward Giuliani and Rice because they "like and support them," whereas the left "seems to have chosen Clark for the same 'winnable' reasons they chose Kerry the last time around."

MIDTERMS '06: Coleen All Cars!

At Talking Points Memo, guest Michael Crowley notes that "Sheehan-aligned" FBI whistleblower/House candidate Coleen Rowley (D) seems to advocate a "pronto" withdrawal from Iraq, and considering her opponent is "Establishment Man" Rep. John Kline (R), the race "promises to be an intense culturo-political flashpoint." He writes: "The caliber of Rowley's political skills remains to be seen. But Republicans like Kline must be in a cold sweat over the war, and over Bush's flailing attempts to shore up public opinion."

IN THE STATES: Why Exactly Does Weld Want To Be Gov Again?

Fired Up! Missouri reports, MO Gov. Matt Blunt (R) is "scrambling to cover his own lawbreaking tracks" after the MO Ethics Commis. "found probable cause to believe that Blunt accepted and did not report an illegal in-kind contribution from" Hwy Commish Mike Kehoe. Since July, Blunt has tried to "dodge the ethics case" by making 2 payments to Kehoe, but the Ethics Commis. nevertheless recommended the case to the MO AG. With OH Gov. Bob Taft (R) having just pled no contest to similar charges, "just yesterday, Blunt quietly amended his ethics reports for a third time and made another" $6.7K payment to Kehoe.

The Moderate Voice's Joe Gandelman, who supported now-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) in the '03 recall campaign, now looks at a Los Angeles Times story reporting that Schwarzenegger's $6K/mo. Sactown hotel suite is paid by a lobbying interest; gov. spokesperson Rob Stutzman explains the money is disclosed and "pays little attention to who donates," "in any case." Gandelman isn't impressed: "That won't be a good enough explanation for the independents and moderates who supported him who didn't want to keep the existing incompetent and fund-raising-crazy Democratic administration in power. ... You don't hear much anymore about changing the constitution so foreign born American residents can run for President, do you?" Schwarzenegger was a guest on Hugh Hewitt's nat'lly syndicated radio show yesterday; the transcript is available at Radio Blogger.

MA-based Soxblog writes, although "not an admirer" of ex-Gov. Bill Weld (R), he predicts Weld's "quixotic quest will be successful," and he will defeat AG Eliot Spitzer (D) for NY GOV. While Weld was "mostly as unprincipled a politician as you could find, he did amass a solid record in two areas: He ardently opposed taxes and he ardently supported progressive social issues." Plus, Weld also has a "thick rolodex" and he "understands" something important: "Spitzer is a little bit creepy. There's something about his headline chasing and Javert-like intensity that will likely unnerve the electorate in a high profile and competitive race."

BLOGS VS. THE MSM: You Stay Classy, Cable News

NRO's Media Blog keeps tabs on the latest contretemps between CNN and FNC, with an assist from TV Newser, which points out that CNNHN has started showing "lowbrow" FNC-style car chases. Media Blog's Stephen Spruiell sums up: "Last summer when I saw 'Anchorman' for the first time, I could only dream that one day, real anchormen like 'Wolf' Blitzer and 'Shepard' Smith would battle it out in the streets, like men. Today, that dream is one step closer to reality."

ROBERTSON: Only In August Would This Be A Three-Day Story

Robertson's remarks continue to be a popular story. Memeorandum-ish algorithm-based blog aggregator Unpartisan counts "32 News Stories, 69 Liberal Blogs, 24 Conservative Blogs" for Robertson's apology since 8:00 p.m. last night. As a testament to the Robertson story as well as the fact that nothing else is going on, its #2 headline is about his initial remarks, from the night earlier, counting "25 News Stories, 34 Liberal Blogs, 13 Conservative Blogs."

• And at Ragged Thots, conservative Robert George noted the irony of Jesse Jackson passing judgment on Robertson, asking: "Would sending both reverends to Cuba to hash out Caribbean basin policy be a violation of the embargo? I mean -- assuming that they have to stay there?"
• Earlier in the day, Robertson drew skepticism by trying to explain that "take him out" didn't have to mean "assassinate." Liberal DC Media Girl asks, "why can't our liberal media call this man an 'extremist cleric'? I think he's worked hard for that upgrade."

9/11: Thankless Work If You Can Get It, And You Can Get It If You Try

Captain's Quarters' Ed Morrissey takes issue with the 9/11 Commis.'s timeline for Mohammed Atta, and "the trip to Spain that Atta undertook" in 7/01" "creates new problems," and addresses complicated, disputed speculation about Atta's whereabouts. He writes: "It also highlights the real possibility that Iraqi intelligence had connections to the plot and the plotters in at least some support capacities."

THE MARCH OF BLOGS: Get It? No? Still Searching For A Better Slug Than 'Blog News In Brief' ...

We noted a milestone of sorts last week when DC Mayor Anthony Williams started his own blog on his city website. But then last a.m., the Washington Post reported that Williams had not updated the page since his initial entry, and the 40+ commenters were getting restless. Post header: "Mayor Punctuates His New Blog With Silence." Williams was spurred to add his latest entry, which makes multiple references to Yoda and addresses his readers' concerns. After that post went live, the AP wrote a follow-up.

• News to us: The Christian Coalition has a blog. It has multiple contributors, covers various DC issues, and has RSS and trackbacks but has not enabled comments.
• Also new: Peter Daou, creator of Salon's blog-watch, The Daou Report, launches News Unfiltered; it hosts press releases courtesy the U.S. Newswire. The blogroll includes "Blogs of the Left," "Blogs of the Right," and "Blogs of the Middle & More."

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Questions Without Ready Answers

Steven Den Beste, author of the late, great, much-lamented USS Clueless, wrote in 4/03 about Iraqis: "We won't make them into copies of us. (We couldn't if we tried, and we don't really want to anyway.) But we must now use our control over Iraq to implement Arab Civilization 2.0. By creating a prosperous, democratic, secular, liberalized nation there, we now can show the Arabs by example what is wrong with their culture which seems to give them 'failure after failure after failure,' by showing them an alternative which is more successful, and showing them that example in an Arab nation." Conservative Daily Pundit's Bill Quick quotes this and asks: "Is this what we have accomplished with the new, federalized, tripartite, Shia-dominated, oil-dependent Iraq? Is this the ideological, religious, and economic model that will shake the Sunni world to its core, while at the same time shattering the towers of Shiite Iran and defeating the Saudi Wahhabist wellsprings of terror? A prosperous, democratic, secular, liberal Iraq? Is this what we're creating today? Really?"

LEST WE FORGET: ... The Aristocrats!

Well, it's not that obscene. But tread carefully as you read the latest post at The Gaping Maw, a blog run by "Scott" -- Maxim UK editor/Huffington Post contributor Greg Gutfeld's "roommate" -- who finds out the awful truth: "Please sit down, if you aren't already seated. My Greggie is STRAIGHT! Straight, unlike his manhood. And married. Married? To a woman no less." Scott sadly changes the "About" line on the blog to "Formerly the official unofficial Greg Gutfeld fan blog," and announces a new subject is needed. The Blogometer suspects this may be the last entry.

On a marginally less-ribald note, at the Huffington Post, Max Blumenthal's latest attack on Christopher Hitchens compares Hitchens' recent Slate articles to S&M: "Reading Hitchens' attempted take-down of Sheehan was to watch him wander into his own, personal intellectual leather dungeon, lie on his back, and surrender his soft belly to the sharpened stilleto heel of a peacenik dominatrix he fabricated in the liquidized recesses of his mind."

All right, that's quite enough.

Posted by at 12:35 PM

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 12:32 PM

August 23, 2005

8/23: A Lot Of People Say What's That? It's Pat!

And then out of nowhere, Pat Robertson said something wacky, perhaps even dangerously wacky, and the whole blogosphere (or what seems like it) took an enjoyable detour into unanimous denunciation. On the "The 700 Club" yesterday, he advocated the assassination of anti-American Venezuelan pres. Hugo Chavez. Plenty of reax follow below.

In other news, MO Dem consultant/blogger Roy Temple is seeking to have his network of blogs recognized by the FEC as a legit media enterprise -- the so-called "exempt media." Since a cross-partisan coalition of bloggers testified on possible new restrictions earlier this year (see 6/29 and 7/30 Blogometers) many have been watching the FEC closely.

In WH'08 politics, BC'04's blog guru opens up a unique "straw poll" for readers, introducing the option of indicating a preference for a fantasy candidate and measuring candidates' state-by-state support. Meanwhile, liberal Daily Kos hints at a top secret anti-DLC project which is set to roll out in early Sept.

Also, the Able Danger roller-coaster continues. After falling off yesterday, a new military source has come forward, and the story rolls on for (at least) another day. And via its blog, John Podesta's CAP continues to go after conservative bloggers who have criticized 9/11 commis. Jamie Gorelick.

Plus, don't miss our latest Blogger Spotlight.

ROBERTSON: Hugo Pool

• Left-leaning media watchdog Media Matters prints excerpts of Robertson's remarks. Media Matters emphasizes the following: "You know, I don't know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it. It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war." Also: "We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability. We don't need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator. It's a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with."
  
  Many treat it as humorous; a few on the left call him an American mullah or make a similar comparison; a few on the right note that Robertson incorrectly cites the Monroe Doctrine as granting the U.S. power of assassination in South America.
  
  

  >> Header at AMERICAblog: "Who would Jesus assassinate?" Header at Sploid: "Psychotic TV Preacher Calls For Assassination of Hugo Chavez." Atrios, who is a fellow at Media Matters, criticizes the AP for reporting the story but not crediting Media Matters for the catch. Some credit for the rapid pile-on is due to the website Memeorandum, which keeps track of which particular news articles are linked by which blogs. Once the release started gaining attention it rose to the top of Memeorandum, and there attracted even more comments. Although originally posted in the mid-afternoon yesterday, it's still the top story at deadline.
  

  >> From the left... Mark A.R. Kleiman: "I strongly disapprove of political murder, but the day Chavez and Robertson both die will be a pretty good day for the cause of civilization." The Talent Show suggests Dems "borrow a page" from the GOP "playbook and insist that high-profile conservatives ... go on record about whether or not they agree" with Robertson. American Leftist defends Chavez as democratically-elected and wildly popular to boot. Beautiful Horizons: "Nothing makes Chavez happier than when Washington is demonizing him. Nothing motivates his supporters even more."
  

  >> From the right... MN-based Captain's Quarters, on Robertson's invocation of the Monroe Doctrine: "Er, no. The Monroe Doctrine forbade Europe from interfering in Western Hemisphere politics, establishing American independence on both continents. It did not mean that we reserved the right to stuff Chavez into a trunk and toss him into the Pacific." James Joyner: "The usual suspects on the Left are weighing in, of course, lumping all of the Right in with Robertson. Since many on the Right do the same with Jesse Jackson and Michael Moore, I suppose that's par for the course."
  

  >> Conservative Sundries Shack begins an unequivocal denunciation of Robertson: "Pat Robertson dos not speak for me." And alluding to Muslim non-confrontation of terrorists, concludes: "There. See how easy that was, my Muslim friends?" Liberal David Sirota makes a related comparison: "To an objective non-American ... is there really much of a difference between a terrorist leader going on television and issuing a fatwa against American political leaders, and Pat Robertson going on television and essentially issuing a fatwa against democratically-elected leaders in other countries?"
  

  >> Washington Monthly's Kevin Drum: "Excuse me for a second while I peruse my Bible. Was there a part I missed where Jesus taught the parable about killing people who make trouble for you?" But fellow liberal Ezra Klein disagrees: "The Bible, after all, offers no shortage of grounds on which you can put a man to death."
  

  >> You want more? There's more, almost all of it from the left: Blogs of War; QandO; Left in the West; Pandagon; In the Bullpen; Oliver Willis; AintNoBadDude; The Left Coaster; Suburban Guerrilla; Best of the Blogs.

BLOGS VS. THE FEC: By The Time WH'08 Rolls Around, Will Karl Rove And Matthew Dowd Be Big-Time Bloggers And Accredited Journalists?

Ex-Sen. Jean Carnahan CoS/MO Dem consultant Roy Temple is seeking an FEC advisory opinion on whether the nat'l "network of progressive blogs" he runs as a part of Fired Up! LLC company "falls within the press exemption" of fed'l campaign finance laws. The FEC is required to deliver a response within 60 days. Temple's post announcing his request can be found at his "flagship" site, Fired Up! America.

For those unfamiliar with the websites, Temple launched Fired Up! Missouri earlier this year, followed by the nat'lly-focused site, plus Fired up! Washington (the state) and Fired Up! Maryland.

In the official request -- available here (PDF) -- Temple atty Marc Elias describes Fired Up LLC as a "network of web sites that provide a progressive viewpoint on political issues of the day," which "conducts original news reporting of its own," and "publishes commentary on social, political and economic justice issues," and is "neither owned nor controlled by any political party, political committee or candidate." Elias provides examples where online-only news orgs. were granted status as a "press entity," and argues that Fired Up! LLC meets the criteria for a press exemption.

Update: Lawrence Norton is General Counsel to the FEC, not Temple's atty. Our goof.

WHITE HOUSE '08: Who Needs Fantasy Football When You've Got Fantasy Politics?

GOP consultant Patrick Ruffini announces his latest WH'04 straw poll, which this time asks voters to choose from among the many presumed GOP candidates on the "Main Ballot" and allows for voters to indicate a preference for an unlikely candidate on the "Fantasy Ballot." With 1400+ votes accounted for, Rudy Giuliani (29%) leads on the main ballot, followed by VA Sen. George Allen (25%), ex-Speaker Newt Gingrich (17%), MA Gov. Mitt Romney (9%) and CO Rep. Tom Tancredo (6%). With the fantasy candidates in play, the results look much different: Sec/State Condoleezza Rice (40%) leads by a wide margin, VP Cheney (17%), FL Gov. Jeb Bush (10%) Fred Thompson (8%) and Giuliani (7%). Note: %ages have been rounded like they taught us in elementary school. Ruffini also shows which fantasy candidates take votes away from which expected candidates: Bush and Cheney take support away from Allen more than Giuliani; Rice and Thompson take support away from Giuliani more than Allen. The results are also split up by state, region and (as usual) which blog they came in from.

At RedState, the somewhat cryptic "Thompson to run for President?" post causes some initial confusion, but quickly all realize the prospective WH'08 GOPer is ex-HHS Sec. Tommy Thompson, not Fred Thompson. Discussion commences on Fred Thompson's unlikely WH prospects, and Hunter S. Thompson's even less likelier ones.

John Hawkins of Right Wing News interviewed Gingrich and posts the transcript to his blog. Issues discussed include Iraq, health care, border security, gay marriage and others. The WH'08 race was not addressed specifically. Gingrich, asks if he reads any blogs regularly: "No, I flip around but I don't read any one blog in particular."

BLOGS VS. THE BELTWAY: So Much Drama In The DLC

At Daily Kos yesterday, site founder Markos Moulitsas intimated that an under-wraps project targeting the DLC will be made public soon: "Two more weeks, folks, before we take them on, head on. No calls for a truce will be brooked. ... We need to make the DLC radioactive. And we will. With everyone's help, we really can. Stay tuned."

Little Green Footballs has some fun at his expense, photoshopping Kos's face onto the head of Dr. Evil, counting down the days until he "unveils his top secret plan to destroy" the DLC. David Wissing offers the now-commonplace criticism that no Kos-backed candidates have won office.

DLCers Marshall Wittmann and Ed Kilgore both have written favorable posts focusing mostly or in part on writer/musician/indie TX GOV candidate Kinky Friedman in the past few days.

DEMOCRATS: The Tone Wars

At TPM Cafe, Matthew Yglesias quotes ex-House candidate Paul Hackett (D-OH) talking about Iraq in a non-inflammatory manner, and comments: "It warmed my heart to hear ... Hackett's Bush-bashing. But I'd much rather live with a moderate tone and an anti-war policy than live with the reverse. Liberals need to be clear about what our priorities are." Digby at Hullabaloo disagrees: "he immoderate tone that thrills the netroots is not just for emotional satisfaction; it is a political strategy for beating the opposition. I think that many in the netroots are no different than the vast majority of Americans everywhere." Digby writes, Dems "have been successfully tagged as being soft on terrorism, crime, national security" and more because they let GOPers "bash, swift-boat and deride with impunity."

ABLE DANGER: Like That Zombie You Thought You Already Killed ...

The New York Times reports, Navy Capt. Scott Philpott is stepping forward, saying Able Danger did in fact identify Mohammed Atta as a Qaedist as early as 1/00. The story attracts some attention, such as from conservative Balloon Juice, but not a great deal of commentary yet. War and Piece's Laura Rozen, one of the few liberals following the Able Danger as close as many on the right, reported ahead of the New York Times story that they had a different photo of Atta than the infamous passport shot. More is likely to come.

William Tate of What's In The News finds what he believes may be the "smoking gun" in a controversial memo [PDF] written in '95 by then-dep. AG Jamie Gorelick. He points out that the memo, which outlines the intel "wall" between DoJ and DoD agencies, explicitly states that it "goes beyond what is legally required," and Tate points out that it was delivered to the Office of Intel Policy Review, which advises the gov't agencies including DoD. Thomas Lifson at The American Thinker writes, "Tate points out that the current political points being scored by Clinton and Gorelick defenders in citing Pentagon lawyers as the ones blocking intelligence sharing are irrelevant."

• Think Progress' Judd Legum: "This argument is an embarrassment. Gorelick's 1995 memo would never be used to provide legal guidance to the Department of Defense. It was a memo that laid out procedures between the FBI and the criminal division of the Justice Department. It imposed no restrictions on information sharing between the DoD and the FBI."
• Ed Morrissey writes a critical post about Gorelick, which he later updates: "I'm getting some visibility over at Think Progress, because the mass e-mails have started again. They're pretty easy to spot -- they contain no argument whatsoever, just mindless regurgitation of the talking points of TP..."
• In a follow-up post, Legum reiterates his point above, heading the post "Ahoy Captain Ed: You're Still Wrong."

Pseudonymous Juan Non-Volokh, at the Volokh Conspiracy: "Time will tell whether there is anything to the Able Danger story ... but it is clearer than ever that Jamie Gorelick should not have served on the 9/11 Commission." Regardless of the truth about the "wall," Gorelick "undermines its credibility, and provides undo fodder for political partisans and conspiracy theorists."

SHEEHAN: Bring Back Plamegate! Bring Back Michael Jackson! Anything But This!

Sheehan writes at Daily Kos: "I love you people on the Daily Kos so much. My mom is stable and is moving to her own room today to begin physical therapy. ... I am going back to Camp Casey soon. In the next couple of days. Thank you for all of your support and love." At The Huffington Post, enviro activist Kelly Meyer "came to a new and profound understanding" of the Sheehan protest while "listening to Sting's song "They Dance Alone"; lyrics and an explanation are provided. Reporting from the scene in Crawford, NRO's The Buzz has gone to an all-Sheehan format, with lots of photos of the goings-on.

Sadly, No! reports that GOP-leaning 527 Move America Forward is behind a new website, Casey's Kids-To-Kids. Casey is, in this case, a spaniel recovered from a Sacramento dog pound. Sadly, No! notes the similarity of names to Army Spc. Casey Sheehan: "Yeah, you think I'm kidding, like this is the Onion or something." Much more derision follows. On the other hand, the website says Casey the dog was recovered in '01. The site is also set up for sending supplies to Iraqi children.

Matt Margolis at Blogs for Bush posts results of a BlogPulse trend search for the terms "Cindy Sheehan" and "Casey Sheehan." It shows Cindy Sheehan's meteoric rise to prominence: "In the beginning, the difference in percentage of blog posts mentioning Cindy Sheehan and Casey Sheehan was minimal. As time went on, and her story got more popular, Casey Sheehan became much, much less relevant than his mother." But it also shows a sharp drop-off where she left Crawford for CA. He adds: "If there is anything this graph proves, it is that Cindy Sheehan's 15 minutes of fame are near over."

IRAQ: In Limbo

Liberal Univ. of MI prof Juan Cole, on the 3-day delay before the constitution is now supposed to be finished: "The rule of law is no longer operating in Iraq, and no pretence of constitutional procedure is being striven for. In essence, the prime minister and president have made a sort of coup, simply disregarding the interim constitution." John Hinderaker takes a more optimistic view: "All of the parties appear to be united on the main point: there really is a country called Iraq, and they really are debating its future." As long as that remains true, I am pretty confident that the outcome of the current bargaining will be positive.

Lisa Ramaci-Vincent, wife of murdered journalist Steven Vincent (see 8/3 Blogometer), writes an outraged response to Cole, who had speculated that Vincent was murdered by locals because he was sleeping with his Iraqi translator (see 8/10 Blogometer). Ramaci-Vincent argues that the relationship was not a sexual one: "Cheap shot, Mr. Cole, against a remarkable woman who does not in any wise deserve it." The comment is posted with editorial emphasis by Murdoc Online.

New York Post's Ralph Peters notes that the U.S. writes that U.S. recruitment is up, and each of the Army's 10 divisions will meet its YTD expectations. Conservative Betsy Newmark calls it a "story that hasn't got much press although if the news were the opposite, you know you'd be reading about it all over."

BLOGGER SPOTLIGHT: The Julian System

Today the Blogometer talks to libertarian Julian Sanchez, who blogs at Notes from the Lounge, as well as for his employer, Reason, at Hit and Run.

What is your full name?

Miguel Frederick Julian Sanchez, though I've always gone by Julian. There's also a whole string of lineage-revealing Spanish appendices that I've never bothered to fully memorize.

What is your age?

The space age. Also, 26.

Where did you grow up?

Norwood, New Jersey.

Where do you live now?

Washington, DC, in the U street neighborhood.

What is your occupation? Have you ever worked on a political campaign or for the mainstream media?

Assistant editor for Reason magazine. Not sure that counts as "mainstream," but it's a print monthly that's been around for a good while. And I'm on the record with too many preposterous opinions to ever be anything but a liability to a political campaign.

When did you start blogging and why?

Early 2002, because my former college debate partner had started one, and it looked like fun. I thought it might kick my ass to get more writing done if I imagined someone out there might conceivably be reading my output. And I started blogging at Reason's Hit and Run blog because, well, they pay me to.

What has been your favorite post, or favorite story to write about, in that time?

Well, the thing that got the most attention was when I exposed gun scholar John Lott's penchant for posing as one of his own former students (the fictitious "Mary Rosh") in various online discussion fora. The most fun might have been an extended debate with conservative blogger Eve Tushnet about abortion and (eventually) infanticide, which one of my blogging friends referred to as a "Highlander-style intellectual duel."

Describe your typical blogging schedule. And what is your average output?

I blog at least a few times a day on Reason's "Hit and Run" weblog, typically I just scan through whatever my RSS reader has turned up first thing in the morning and find a couple things worthy of comment. On my own site, I'll usually let it languish for a few days, then be motivated to churn out a mini-essay and a couple shorter squibs.

Who is your favorite political blogger? Favorite non-political blogger?

Political blogger's tough; probably a tossup between Radley Balko at The Agitator, Matt Yglesias, and Tyler Cowen at Marginal Revolution. Among the non-political folks, probably Grant McCracken at cultureby.com, though some politics sneaks in from time to time.

Who is your favorite mainstream media columnist?

(Sound of crickets.) Can I count Virginia Postrel as a columnist? If so, her. I'm watching to see how John Tierney grows into the new column, which has been interesting so far.

What is your favorite television news program, either network or cable?

I don't really watch TV news, but I suppose "The Daily Show," if that counts as a news program.

What MSM-produced websites (i.e. newspapers, magazines) do you visit on a daily basis?

Slate, NY Times, American Prospect, New Republic, Nat'l Review, The Nation, Wired, The Economist, Washington Monthly, BBC.

What non-MSM websites (i.e. blogs) do you visit on a daily basis?

Slashdot, Boing Boing, Volokh Conspiracy, Eschaton, The Agitator, TPM Cafe/Matt Yglesias, A&L Daily, Andrew Sullivan, Overlawyered, Dan Drezner, Marginal Revolution, Catallarchy, Culture by Commotion, Crescat Sententia, The Fly Bottle, Unqualified Offerings, Cafe Hayek, Agoraphilia, Lawrence Lessig, Brad DeLong, Crooked Timber, Amptoons.

How often, or do you ever, read a newspaper in its dead-tree (i.e. print) form?

I still skim at least the A section of the NY Times and the Washington Post over breakfast each morning; often I'll spend longer with the Sunday NY Times.

How do you see the new media and old media affecting and influencing each other in the next five years?

First, I think the distinction will cease to be as sharp as that -- "old media" and "new media" -- if it even makes sense now. In that vein, part of the effect we're already seeing is that "new media" provide an efficient filter mechanism for "old media." Whereas an editorial page or political mag editor might once have waited for writers to bubble up from smaller papers, or popped in to the offices at the Harvard Crimson to ask about bright prospects, writers can increasingly just start writing and prove to the editors that they're capable of building an audience by... actually building an audience. The boundary's already quite porous; scan a random New York Times Book Review and you're likely to find a blogger's name. And I'm one of a handful of journalists I know who basically got their jobs as a result of their blogging. And plenty of the top bloggers -- Andrew Sullivan, say -- are established "old media" writers.

The current division of labor seems likely to persist for a while, with traditional outlets retaining the advantage on actual reporting, while the distributed intelligence of the blogosphere brings expertise to bear for opinion, news analysis, and fact checking. But it'd be interesting to see whether the ubiquity of wireless access and small, cheap portable recording technology will create a wave of genuine citizen journalists -- something like what Indymedia is already doing (with mixed results). That would probably have the effect of diminishing further whatever remains of the aura of authority of mainstream media -- again, I think, a mixed blessing: Part of the upshot of that is a tendency to dismiss stories you find ideologically uncongenial because, hey, everyone's just grinding their own axe. But it also means further attenuating the "gatekeeper" power of pro journalists and editors to decide what's news, and a denser, more Roshamon-style perspective on the news.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Here And Yon

At his blog, Mosul-based journalist Michael Yon tries to explain an overlooked difficulty in reporting from Iraq: "The greatest paradox I have seen in this war results from 'proximity delay.' The proximity delay for me is caused by being embedded so closely with Duece Four soldiers that I often see things unfolding before they happen, and then I am in the thick of events as they occur. But then I am asked not to write about events." Writes Yon: "And so, I never release the slightest hint. But then somebody in Baghdad -- three steps removed from the action here in Mosul -- releases it to CNN and the rest of the world. What is seen on television and in the papers is practically always inaccurate, or is at least poorly framed. But I rarely waste a breath trying to correct the information. It's too late. Life is busy here."

LEST WE FORGET: Wait Until You're Older

News you can use from the Newark Star-Ledger: "Too close for comfort: Blogs put teens at risk." A chilling excerpt: "To be sure, one of the blogs created by teenagers who hail from such New Jersey towns as Fair Lawn, Midland Park and Bloomfield -- to name a few -- carries a link to a place called 'Pimps that Have Their Hos on Chains.'"

Posted by at 12:28 PM

August 22, 2005

8/22: Quiet Riot

The war in Iraq is over and we have lost, say a growing number of liberal blogs. Conservative bloggers too are distressed, with some speculating that the war will be lost if Iraq's constitution turns it into a theocratic state. This is not the only Iraq-related story from the weekend, and bloggers aren't the only ones worried. 2 possible WH candidates, Sens. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) and Russ Feingold (D-WI), are generating buzz -- both positive and negative -- for their criticisms of the war. Meanwhile, anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan is still in CA, having left TX late last week to on account of her ill mother. Yet Sheehan is expected to return. As this week begins, it seems more media, more anti-war activists, and more counter-protesters have decided Crawford is the place to be. Otherwise there have been no significant developments in the Crawford standoff, where the attention seems to be on the amount of attention Sheehan and her supporters are getting.

In other news, the war and domestic issues are costing Pres. Bush even some GOP support; conservative bloggers are rallying around an indie House candidate Jim Gilchrist, whose main issue is illegal immigration; Able Danger takes a tumble and CAP defends 9/11 commish/ex-Clinton official Jamie Gorelick; and much, much more!

IRAQ I: We Knew From The Start / Things Fall Apart

• On the right, there is more than unease about the direction of the Iraqi constitution:
  
  

  >> NRO's Andy McCarthy writes in a post at The Corner that the war will be lost if Iraq is allowed to create an Islamic state instead of a democracy: "When and where militant Islam thrives, America and the West are endangered. That is also a fact. How can we possibly be urging people who wisely don't want it to accept the government-institutionalized supremacy of Islam?" NRO's Michael Ledeen follows up later, mostly in agreement: "I'm also concerned because our current ambassador, Zal Khalilzad, was previously ambassador in Afghanistan and he sat still for a constitution that called the country an 'Islamic Republic,' fulfilling the demands of the Iranians. I hope he's braver in Baghdad."
  

  >> Austin Bay posts a letter from a Sunni friend in Iraq who believes there should be a 5-year waiting period before writing a constitution. Little Green Footballs and Instapundit both link to The Big Pharoah, which calls it a "disaster in the making," and urges readers to call the State Dept. Conservative Belgravia Dispatch is flabbergasted that Defense Sec. Don Rumsfeld and JCS Richard Myers can't cite the number of independently able Iraqi security officials offhand, even as they talk about exiting Iraq. Cunning Realist, who has fast become one of the left's favorite self-described conservative bloggers, makes a similar criticism.




• On the left, there is detectable schadenfreude:
  
  

  >> Toward the end of a long post titled "Slouching toward the Islamic Republic," lefty Billmon writes: "It is increasingly clear, though, that whatever the original face value of Bush's promises of liberation, the American public is no longer willing to pay the price to redeem them." MyDD's Jerome Armstrong: "I'm beginning to believe that the best way to end the war in Iraq is not so much as the Democrats uniting against it (sorta late for that), but for the Republican Party to have a division over staying or getting out of Iraq."
  

  >> Vanity Fair's James Wolcott compares the pro-war/pro-women's rights arguments of liberal hawk Roger L. Simon with AEI's Reuel Marc Gerecht, whose "Meet the Press" appearance is attracting plenty of criticisms from liberal blogs. As Wolcott argues, "one of the leading neocon architects of the very war that Simon champions ... isn't that concerned that a new Iraq constitution might roll back and restrict women's freedoms, subjecting them to Islamic law." Crooks and Liars has video and a short round-up of liberal reactions to Gerecht.
  

  >> Inspired in part by New York Times' Frank Rich writing that the Iraq war "is over," a TPM Cafe contributor asks, "shouldn't we as an exercise, be trying to figure out how the conservative rhetoric machine is going to spin the fact that America DID NOT WIN THE WAR?"

WHITE HOUSE '08: Hagelian Dialectic?

Sen. Chuck Hagel's (R-NE) comments on Iraq are attracting some attention. Header at Lean Left: "GOP Rush To Discredit Hagel In 5, 4, 3..." Conservative Tim Graham, at The Corner: "I hate to sound snarky on a Sunday, but precisely where is the 'news' in this story? "Hagel Says Iraq War Looking Like Vietnam." He's been saying that for two years." Liberal The Poor Man: "I suppose the wingnut contingent will soon have to stop complaining about All The Good News You Aren't Hearing About, and start intimating that [the left is] happy that we have failed, and are probably somehow responsible for it, too. F--- you. Seriously: f--- you, and f--- anybody who kind of looks like you."

Liberal Oliver Willis proposes: "In 2008, Democrats need to get rid of strategy and go with their 'gut.' The Democrat who demonstrates the most 'gut' should be the nominee. We'll follow along and see who's got it, and who's gutless." So far, Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) appears an early favorite for calling for an Iraq timetable. MyDD's Chris Bowers: "I would like to alert the entire Democratic establishment to something very important that happened within the netroots over the past twenty-four hours: the meteoric rise of Russ Feingold..."

MyDD is hosting a "straw poll" measuring its readers' support for possible WH Dem candidates. Like recent polls held at Daily Kos (see 6/21 and 7/19 Blogometers), ret. Gen. Wesley Clark leads the pack, here with about 27% of the vote. Ex-VP Gore and Feingold are the only others to poll in double-digits. Rounding out the top 5 are NY Sen. Hillary Clinton and VA Gov. Mark Warner.

SHEEHAN: The Only News Is No News

At Huffington Post, Sheehan herself addresses a post to Matt Drudge -- who has publicized some of her more controversial remarks -- saying that she is not "the issue"; the "disastrous war that's killing our sons and daughters" is.

NRO's Eric Pfeiffer flew to Crawford over the weekend, where he will be posting live to The Buzz from "Camp Casey." So far he has a few photos up, along with his first impressions. Liberal blogger/radio talker Brad Friedman is in Crawford, where he will broadcast live early this p.m.

Gene Allen, a reader of Power Line who lives in the area near Bush's ranch, has been filing dispatches for the blog. On 8/21 he reported, a "pro-Bush gift shop with a Ten Commandments monument out front" received a bomb threat, and also that an anti-war protester had been jailed for a separate dispute with a Bush supporter. Photos are said to be forthcoming.

RedState's Josh Trevino recently traded several e-mails with Sheehan spokesperson Michelle Mulkey, in an attempt to clarify the truth behind the 3/05 e-mail where Sheehan is alleged to have said, inter alia, "My son joined the Army to protect America, not Israel." Mulkey maintains that a "hacker" changed Sheehan's words later. At RedState and Macho Nachos, Leon H outlines several points where he finds Mulkey's explanation unsatisfactory.

TNR's Jon Chait writes in the Los Angeles Times: "Sheehan also criticizes the Afghanistan war. One of the most common (and strongest) liberal indictments of the Iraq war is that it diverted troops that could have been deployed against Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Are liberals who make that case, yet failed to enlist themselves, chicken hawks too?" Kausfiles calls it a start on the "badly-needed liberal case against Sheehanism."

REPUBLICANS: Bailing On Bush?

Conservative UCLA prof Stephen Bainbridge writes in a post that has gathered much notice from conservative blogs: "It's time for us conservatives to face facts. George W. Bush has pissed away the conservative moment by pursuing a war of choice via policies that border on the criminally incompetent. We control the White House, the Senate, the House of Representatives, and (more-or-less) the judiciary for one of the few times in my nearly 5 decades, but what have we really accomplished? Is government smaller? Have we hacked away at the nanny state? Are the unborn any more protected? Have we really set the stage for a durable conservative majority?" Guesting at Michelle Malkin's blog, Junk Yard Blog's Bryan Preston objects to Bainbridge's post, allowing he has a point on domestic issues, but disagreeing vehemently on foreign policy. He writes: "It seems that the Summer of Sheehan has everyone a little on edge."

IMMIGRATION: The Passion Of The Gilchrist

Minuteman Project founder Jim Gilchrist is running for SEC chair Chris Cox's safe-GOP House seat in the OC. Almost instantly, he has the support of some high-profile conservative bloggers. PoliPundit encourages readers: "Please give whatever you can. Or the politicians will continue to condone the illegal invasion of America." Gilchrist's donation site is done through his own website, and there is no immediate feedback on how much has been raised, such as the ActBlue.com page used by bloggers to raise money for ex-House candidate Paul Hackett (D-OH).

California Conservative gives Gilchrist a favorable mention, as does Michelle Malkin's website, thanks to guest-blogger Lorie Byrd (usually of PoliPundit). Conservative Powder Blue attended Gilchrist's announcement, and writes, "illegal immigration is not an issue unto itself. There are literally dozens of other issues that are directly related to ills that illegal immigration causes. ... This country badly needs someone like Jim Gilchrist and I am proud to support him." Right-leaning OC Blog: "Gilchrist does not come across as a wacko. Instead, he displays the plain-spoken eloquence of a citizen-politician. He will indeed make this an interesting race."

Conservative Mark In Mexico, unsurprisingly based in Mexico, posts a very lengthy and frank post on the trouble with Mexico, titled "The last word on Mexico." It includes a "refugee assimilation plan."

BLOGS VS. THE BELTWAY: Debbie Does Friendster

Liberal Chris Bowers issues his 2nd memo to Beltway Dems. His 1st was issued through the NDN's New Politics Institute (see 8/11 Blogometer). He differs from Daily Kos' Moulitsas, who had said at an NPI event in DC that the liberal netroots were mostly non-ideological. Writes Bowers: "If you want to effectively communicate with the netroots, and if you want to effectively harness its power, then you need to recognize that we are ideological as well as reformist."

BOPnews discusses a young woman who uses her account at popular friendship networking site Friendster to help pro-choice causes: "The next world of political organizing is in the person to person space -- whether a replacement" for the declining MeetUp.com, "or in the more creative use of sites like Friendster -- this allows organizations to reach out to real people who have expressed real interests and can build real bonds. In the flesh world someone like Debbie would be a ward captain, or an organizer for a city chapter. It's just that her precincts are in the netropolis."

ABLE DANGER: Saving Gorelick

JustOneMinute's Tom Maguire, upon learning that Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer has changed his story, and apparently did not give specific names of terrorists to the 9/11 commis: "Well, I bet folks have a few oaths for [Rep. Curt] Weldon [(R-PA)] and Shaffer just now." Previously, Mickey Kaus had been speculating that there were in fact 2 Mohammed Attas, and the one picked up by Able Danger was not the one Kaus himself found in a news story from 1991.

Think Progress' Judd Legum posts the e-mail contact info of a few top conservative bloggers, asking readers to repudiate their "smear" of ex-Clinton official Jamie Gorelick. Conservatives have said she helped create a "wall" between the FBI and Pentagon which hindered investigations; liberals say this is not so. The post at Instapundit was written by Univ. of WI law prof Ann Althouse, who defends her involvement in an 8/20 post at her own blog. Instapundit's regular pundit, Glenn Reynolds, followed up later this weekend: "I haven't written anything about Jamie Gorelick and Able Danger, so I guess I'm dropping the ball in the "continual smear" department." In an update at the link above, Legum asserts that Reynolds should still get e-mails, "because he needs to issue a correction to his readers." Legum also follows up with another post, noting that Reynolds has criticized Gorelick for different reasons, and decries his "Instamorals."

CAP's Legum also called calls NRO's John Podhoretz "compulsive liar" for similar statements about Gorelick. At The Corner, he apologizes in part for getting "an adverb" wrong.

ROVE-PLAME-MILLER: Kelly's Heroes

At his Ragged Thoughts blog, New York Post's Robert George assembles a 2-week outline in 7/03, a time coinciding not only with the Wilson op-ed, Scooter Libby and Karl Rove conversations with reporters, and the Matt Cooper column, but also with the misbegotten BBC report on "sexed up" Iraq war justifications and the apparent suicide of UK weapons expert David Kelly. Previously but under-reported are brief correspondences between Judy Miller and Kelly. Miller mentioned a member of the Kelly "fan club" saying that "things went well"; in a terse reply, Kelly wasn't so sure. George asks: "From which side of the Atlantic was that 'fan club' member? Who was it? Keep in mind the context: Kelly's testimony was vital to the Blair government's assertion that BBC reporter [Andrew] Gilligan had overstated the information Kelly had given him. So, what does 'things went well' mean in Miller's context?"

FIGUEROA: Too Late, But Don't Blame The Blogs

Liberal All Spin Zone reports that the body of Latoyia Figueroa has been recovered, and her boyfriend is in custody. The search for Figueroa received nat'l media attention earlier this month, thanks to mostly-left-leaning Philly-based blogs such as All Spin Zone.

ConservativeRedState notes that the boyfriend will be charged with the murder of Figueroa and her unborn child, on account of the so-called Laci and Connor's Law, and comments further on the perceived "turn in the bend in this country in regards to respect for the unborn."

MISCELLANY: You Breit And Risen Angels

• In the Los Angeles Times' "Outside the Tent" column, the usually-anonymous author of Patterico's Pontifications, Patrick Frey, has an op-ed criticizing the Los Angeles Times for failing to report information reflecting poorly on Sheehan.
• Fishbowl LA notes that many wire stories linked by the Drudge Report now go through Breitbart.com, a website owned by author/ex-Drudge collaborator Andrew Breitbart. Breitbart.com features AP and Reuters wire stories with no ads and a nearly black-and-white design.
• In a post at Wizbang, WILLisms' Will Franklin decries the abuse of blog carnivals, and defends his implementation of a ratings system for his hosting of "Carnival of the Vanities" (see 8/18 Blogometer).
• Conservative The Jawa Report hosts a "Left and Right Bloggers Military Service Survey," asking a number of top bloggers about their service. On the left, Daily Kos' Markos Moulitsas and One Good Move's Norm Jensen have served. On the right there are a few more, including Kim DuToit, James Joyner, Blackfive and John Cole.
• NJ-based Jeff Jarvis: "The Lower Manhattan Development Association is waiting until Sept. 23 to decide the fate of the IFC at Ground Zero. I agree with Take Back The Memorial: We must not wait until then. To have this hanging over the memorial events on the fourth anniversary of the tragedy would be an insult to the memory of those who died that day." For more, see the 6/27 Blogometer.
• TalkLeft posts photos and local news reports from the Hunter S. Thompson funeral at Woody Creek.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: The War On Politicians

Andrew Sullivan guest-blogger Walter Kirn: "My problem has nothing to do with the drugs themselves, though, or the use of them, but by the hypocrisy. How come candidates get to admit to crimes that, when they're elected, they put others in jail for but have not been punished for themselves? ... The next time a presidential candidate makes his ritual drug confession, I think they should be given a choice: serve out the prison term or pay the fine that applied when they offended or recuse themselves and their administration from enforcing the same laws. Better yet, let them commit to changing the laws that they were fortunate enough not to have been caught breaking. Fair? I think so."

LEST WE FORGET: Purple People Eater

Washington Post's Joel Achenbach complains about writing his Post-sponsored blog this weekend. The piece is somewhat amusing, but the accompanying cartoon is definitely worth a look.

°   °   °   °   °

SCOTUS SPECIAL: Boxing Day

What the blogs are saying about John Roberts:

On 8/19, radio talker Hugh Hewitt looked at the massive Reagan Library document dump and decided to "organize a division of labor for blogger review of these files," encouraging people to "'adopt a box' of Roberts documents for careful review and analysis," then posting results to one's blog.

Hewitt's producer, blogging at Radio Blogger, keeps track of which bloggers have signed up to read through each box, out of several dozen boxes. Captain's Quarters is the largest blog signed up, with 2 of its writers reading at least 3 boxes. After that there are dozens of smaller blogs involved, including Tapscott's Copy Desk, Brainster's Blog, Kennedy V. Machine and FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog. Some sign up to read through entire sections of boxes.

Later, Hewitt announces there are "no headlines" in his box. But Captain's Quarters finds grist for a possible Dem "smear" against Roberts in a foreign policy memo.

FAMOUS LAST WORDS: Anti-Monarchist?

Right-leaning Bittersweet Me was on the fence about Roberts, until learning of the WH memo where he recommended that Reagan not give an honor to Michael Jackson: "I was undecided on Judge Roberts but this new development has me well in his camp. ... You have to love his candor."

Posted by at 01:09 PM

August 18, 2005

8/18: Light It Up

Note: Because The Hotline is is taking off Fridays in August, the next edition of the Blogometer will be posted on Monday the 22nd.

Each time this week we've visited Technorati, the popular blog search engine, the "Top Searches This Hour" feature has placed "Cindy Sheehan" at the very top. At one point this a.m., "Sheehan" was also #5. The Blogometer is trying to remember the last time this happened, but no person or event -- not the fight over Terri Schiavo, not the 7/7 bombings -- stands out.

No doubt about it, the biggest story this a.m. is the vigils held nationwide in support of grieving military mother/newly-minted anti-war icon Cindy Sheehan. Supporters post photos and share their experiences from last night's events -- and so do the critics. The vigil is just the latest in a succession of mini-stories that have offered enough points of entry for bloggers across the political spectrum to stay interested, despite protestations from some that Sheehan has jumped the shark. Although the various tangents -- vigil, neighbor reactions, activist participation, Sheehan's public statements -- are keeping the Sheehan story afloat, the fact remains that the ongoing struggle in Iraq and the emotional pull of her loss made it a story in the first place.

Whether the Sheehan movement produces a lasting change in the political climate or dissipates at month's end, it has become the lastest instance of blogs giving life to a story that might otherwise have been marginalized. Following the OH 02 swarm on behalf of special election candidate Paul Hackett (D), it's also the 2nd time in a month that the liberal blogosphere has had a major impact on the Beltway media.

Also in today's edition: conservative bloggers take it upon themselves to investigate the Air America scandal, both sides debate what's to be done about Iraq, and the Weekly Standard intervenes in the liberal blogs' fight with the Dem establishment.

SHEEHAN VIGIL: The Price Of Solidarity Is Last Night's Vigil-ance

Eye on Williamson County attended the Crawford vigil, and gives a 1st person perspective: "My wife and son had an opportunity to talk with Sheehan afterwards to offer our thanks and encouragement. She was very gracious and hugged each of us." DFA-affil. Blog for Iowa reports on MSM reports, mostly from the midwest but on each coast as well. Another DFA-affil. blog in AZ reports 82 attendees at a Mesa vigil.

Suburban Guerrilla's Susie Madrak: "Tonight I went to one of the anti-war candlelight vigils, held at a Methodist church in Germantown. Celeste Zappala, whose son Sgt. Sherwood Baker was killed in Iraq, was one of the speakers. She stood on the altar, flanked by her two surviving sons and her daughter-in-law and spoke quietly to the 300 or so people in the pews. And when she gestured toward the baptismal font, saying simply, 'He was baptized here,' it seemed like there wasn't one person in the place who didn't choke up with tears. ... At eight o'clock, the church carillon rang out 'Amazing Grace' and the crowd sang along. And it was then I saw a driver hold up the little halogen light on his keychain as he drove past. We're not alone. Remember that."

Little Green Footballs calls the main vigil a "Moronic Convergence in Crawford." California Conservative spots an AP photo of a protester at the WH vigil holding the sign: "Bush Kills for Money." NRO's Eric Pfeiffer attended the WH vigil, and posts photos of the pro-Sheehan/anti-war crowd from MoveOn as well as the counter-protesting anti-Sheehan/pro-war crowd from Free Republic. Pfeiffer writes of the pro-Sheehan side: "The crowd was split between those observing a more traditional vigil and those who wanted to conduct another angry protest of all things Bush. ... Most of the protestors continued the chant of, 'Meet with Cindy,' while the chant leader segued into 'This war was for oil!'"

Conservative Gateway Pundit reports from St. Louis: "Last night the camera crews were out in force ... But, to their disappoinment, they went home empty handed. There were no pictures slapped on the front page or any page of the Post Dispatch this morning. There was no notice on the 10 PM news. ... No one showed up!"

Pandagon's Austin-based Amanda Marcotte announces she will be at the protest site this coming Sat., and offers advice to others who might do the same: "I think going to Crawford and showing your support with your presence is a great idea, but I do have to concur with the doubters that this is not a time to peddle other lefty agendas or tout your eccentricities. In other words, if you are going to go, for the love of god, dial down the hippie shit while you're there."

SHEEHAN DEBATE: The Quotable Sheehan

Last p.m. and this a.m., Drudge Report splashes the banner: "CINDY UNLEASHED: 'THE BIGGEST TERRORIST IN THE WORLD IS GEORGE W. BUSH'" He includes several more Sheehan quotes from a 4/27/05 speech at SFSU. Among other excerpts from the "foul mouthed tirade": "If George Bush believes his rhetoric and his bullshit, that this is a war for freedom and democracy, that he is spreading freedom and democracy, does he think every person he kills makes Iraq more free? ... If he thinks that it's so important for Iraq to have a U.S.-imposed sense of freedom and democracy, then he needs to sign up his two little party-animal girls. They need to go to this war." Liberal Norwegianity responds: "So who, exactly, is it that has a problem with these words? They sound remarkly dead on to me. I just wish some more of our political leadership had the balls to unload a 'foul-mouth tirade' of their own."

TAPPED posts the letter from almost-2nd Lady Elizabeth Edwards supporting Sheehan.

Booman Tribune and Corrente are just a few of the liberal blogs linking to an letter by an Iraq vet incensed by the cross desecration, from the Operation Truth veteran blog. Power Line reports: "Gene Allen is our man on the scene in Crawford this week. ... Gene reported that Bush supporter Rowena Jhant had sought to straighten the crosses." Power Line posts a photograph of her doing so.

At Blue Oregon, lefty Todd Barnhart posts an open letter to Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR). Barnhart mentions a personal family tragedy he has in common with Smith, and asks him to "explain to [Bush] the pain Cindy Sheehan has suffered."

SHEEHAN FALLOUT: Hard Count

WSJ's Opinion Journal publishes an op-ed by Ronald Griffin, whose son Spc. Kyle Griffin was killed in Iraq in '03. He leads: "I lost a son in Iraq and Cindy Sheehan does not speak for me." He concludes: "Honor their service. Never dishonor them by giving in. They never did." The piece merits positive mentions from conservatives Cori Dauber, Dean Esmay, and others.

Conservative Betsy Newmark: "As he says so well, parents of fallen soldiers hold different views and how can one mother speak for all of them? Just as how could a few New Jersey widows speak for all the families who lost loved ones in Vietnam? We can't drive foreign policy by what grieving parents advocate. That is what makes being president so very difficult."

Liberal Ana Marie Cox, in a post unrelated to the Griffin op-ed: "Is that what the debate has come to? Which side can corral the saddest crop of widows, parents, and orphans? Call it a harms race. Better: an ache-off. We hope the grimly absurd image of two competing camps of mourners illustrates why it is we've been somewhat reluctant to weigh in on Sheehan's cause: Grief can pull a person in any direction, and whatever 'moral authority' it imbues, we can't claim that Sheehan has it and those mothers who still support the war don't."

AIR AMERICA: Or, How They Learned To Stop Complaining And Investigate For Themselves

A dearth of MSM coverage of the Air America financial scandal -- known variously on conservative blogs as Air Scamerica or Air Enron to name 2 nicknames -- leads syndie columnist Michelle Malkin and radio talker Brian Maloney to publish joint reports on the case. The 1st -- "Inside Air America: An Investigative Blog Report" -- went up last p.m. at Malkin's eponymous blog. They write: "According to court records" they obtained, "another major creditor has been demanding that Air America pay up." They refer to Multicultural Radio, which is "accusing" Air America and parent company Piquant LLC of "engaging in a 'sham transaction' and 'fraudulent conveyance' of assets in order to avoid paying its debts." So far they have declined to pay, "despite a court order and scathing words from a New York judge overseeing the case." Malkin posts scanned excerpts of the records in JPG form. She follows up with a summary of comments from influential conservative blogs, including Power Line, Captain's Quarters, PoliPundit and Hugh Hewitt.

• At his Radio Equalizer blog, Maloney announces that "Part Two: Beyond Evan" will appear there on Thurs.
• Conservative-friendly New York Sun, which has done most of the MSM reporting on the radio org's finances, is the 1st to pick up on the report.
• The Philadelphia Inquirer has a story on the "blogswarm" around Air America, featuring comments by Malkin and Maloney.
• Low-circulation NYC weekly Bronx News has a report on its own editor, Michael Horowitz, who was the very 1st to report on the Air America situation.

IRAQ: How Much OF This Is Sheehan Fallout?

Lefty Matthew Yglesias notes he has not been a fan of Sen. Russ Feingold's (D-WI) "misguided" CFR legis. or "lonely stand against the basically unobjectionable" PATRIOT Act, but for endorsing "the view that we need a timetable for withdrawing from Iraq ... for now, I'll be a fan. Not that I expect this will make a big impact on national policy." MyDD's Scott Shields: "The decision to boldly make a stand on troop withdrawal should win Feingold a good amount of national attention, if not flat out support, especially coming right now as Cindy Sheehan has forced the debate on Iraq to the fore."

Conservative Riding Sun compares WWII-era Japanese propaganda aimed at U.S. soldiers (via 2Bangkok.com) and New York Times columnist Bob Herbert's 8/10 column. Riding Sun writes, their similarities are "eerie." Both depict U.S. wartime leaders as living comfortably while soldiers on the front lines face death.

The question of whether the Iraq war is a "noble cause," asked recently at TPM Cafe and Eschaton, finds one answer liberal-leaning at Democracy Arsenal, which posts the lyrics of a country song by Iraq war vet Luke Stricklin. Lyrics highlighted: "Really don't care why Bush went in to Iraq / I know what I done there and I'm damn sure proud of that." Democracy Arsenal: "Perhaps it is not wise for the United States to commit so much blood and treasure to the struggle for democracy in Iraq. Perhaps. But it most certainly is noble." It finds an audience on the center-right, with links from OxBlog, Instapundit and The Moderate Voice.

Conservative Belgravia Dispatch writes, Zarqawi might win, unless "we can provide security in this country by decisively beating the insurgents. Can we? Who is convicingly explaining how? My confidence is waning. Perhaps we could start holding towns, really holding them, like Ramadi. ... We can and must have a plan to do better. The rough status quo is becoming increasingly untenable in my view."

MIDTERMS '06 I: Did Hackett Just Let A Blogger Announce For Him?

Rep. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), in a post at his netroots-oriented GrowOhio blog, announces he will not challenge Sen. Mike DeWine (R). He adds: "This site is nearly two months old, and I often stop by to read comments ... I plan on taking an active role as our online community continues to increase in size and capability." Jerome Armstrong says Hackett is available: "It's either Tim Ryan or Paul Hackett. Very conflicting rumors on Ryan out there, as for Hackett, he's in it if it's available."

Kausfiles: "According to the Rasmussen robo-poll," Pres. Bush's "disapprovers disapprove much more vehemently than the approvers approve ... Doesn't this imbalance of fervor mean something in low-turnout elections, such as the upcoming 2006 mid-terms? Specifically, doesn't it mean the anti-Bush forces should do very well in 2006, in a mirror-reversal of the 1994 mid-terms?"

A few on the left pick up a New York Times report from this a.m., "Bad Iraq War News Worries Some in GOP on '06 Vote." The Left Coaster: "Democrats should ... make the GOP explain why the war and privatization are such good ideas, and make the GOP run on Iraq and Social Security next year." NDN Blog: "More than 2,000 coalition troops killed, turmoil on the ground, no exit strategy -- And now they're starting to worry?"

Washington Monthly's Kevin Drum: "Over a third of Americans now favor an immediate withdrawal from Iraq, a number that's been growing steadily, but none of the 'serious' public faces of the party -- people like Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, and John Kerry -- are ready to join them. Not one. I can't think of a single exception." Although Iraq could be "bad news" for the GOP in '06, but it "could cause an even bigger crackup" for Dems: "The dovish left is losing patience with establishment hawks, and if this continues we can be sure that Karl Rove will do his best to hammer" home this disconnect with voters. Liberal Steve Clemons, at the Washington Note: "I was stunned to learn this weekend that subscriptions to The Nation are surging. And while it's not precipitous, TWN has been told that subscriptions to the New Republic are falling. ... In the foreign policy arena, TNR has moved -- sometimes dramatically -- to the right, where the journalistic space is crowded, and perhaps The Nation has absorbed part of the Bush-frustrated centrists while maintaining its liberal base."

9/11: Ready, Willing And Able

Captain's Quarters has another update in what he's calling the "German Connection" -- about Iraqi intel officials arrested in Germany in 2/01, and speculates they may have had contact with the 9/11 hijackers. He adds: "Far from insisting that no such cooperation occurred, [German] intelligence showed that Iraqis and Islamists had bridged together on occasion through neo-Nazis and other extreme right-wingers within Germany. This assessment, mind you, came out more than a year after 9/11, when the American political bureaucracy kept insisting that no such connection existed." Just One Minute follows up: "However, finding follow-up has been difficult. Needed -- eager German-speaking Googlers! The hope is that the German press may have more on this. The prosecutor's name, Kay Nehm, may be a starting point."

NETROOTS: Who Sets The Standard?

Dean Barnett, one of the 1st righty bloggers tapped by the Weekly Standard to write online columns, offers advice to liberal bloggers by way of a response to liberal Bob Brigham of Swing State Project. Brigham was the subject of his most recent commentary; in the initial version, Barnett had mixed up DLC with DCCC. Brigham fisked the piece, calling it "shitty ass." Writes Barnett: "Brigham can't tell the difference between a mistake and a 'f---ing lie.' I know his response was just a manifestation of the angry young blogger shtick, but it's tired. All the obscenities, all the rage -- what do Brigham and his ilk think they accomplish?" More Barnett: "I were a young left wing blogger, I'd know pretty damn well what prejudices might be working against me and work to show that those prejudices are unfounded. What are those prejudices? I would say the maturity and propriety of left wing bloggers are in question. So if I were writing a left wing blog, I would bend over backwards to not fuel those prejudices and to show that in my case they don't apply."

At TPM Cafe, Rick Heller notes the Barnett piece "argues that Paul Hackett's gained the support from the liberal blogosphere despite stances on the issues more centrist than liberal, because of the vigor of his attacks on the President. ... Could this be the recipe for party unity -- moderate in substance but highly partisan in style?"

SSP's Tim Tagaris reports on Brigham being at the PLAN kickoff (see 8/17 Blogometer): "He said it was one of the most amazing experiences of his life, and he would blog about it right now but he is out to dinner with Governor Brian Schweitzer and Jon Podesta (he loves name-dropping)." Weekly Standard's Jon Last, at Galley Slaves: "And you can guess who was giving advice to whom."

WHITE HOUSE '08: Newt-Wittmann '08!

DLC's Marshall Wittmann: "Now that Casino Jack Abramoff has performed his first perp walk, the reality of the corruption of the Republican establishment may begin entering the public consciousness." He speculates that ex-Speaker Newt Gingrich might actually make a WH'08 bid. Although "far-fetched," he notes, "initial polls demonstrate he still has a following among the GOP faithful. And he is perfectly situated to run against the 'betrayal' of the 1994 Republican revolution that has fallen into a big government, big money, big corruption abyss. ... Run, Newt, run!"

BLOGS VS. THE MSM: Liberal Bloggers' Least-Favorite Liberal?

The Left Coaster's Steve Soto criticizes Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen for "easily" dismissing the Plame outing and absolving reporters for getting it wrong about Saddam's WMD: "This is a perfect example of what I call the 'stenographer mindset,' where many coddled, lazy, and scared Beltway media types appear to care more about maintaining access and their perks than they do in actually questioning what they are being told by our government." Soto, AMERICAblog and others pick up on a Cohen quote about the leak from an NYC panel, carried by E&P: "This is not a major story. It's a crappy little crime and it may not be a crime at all." Hullabaloo's Digby writes, as one of the "liberal elite pundits, whom everyone assumes speak for 'reasonable Democrats' are the first link in a chain that defines Democrats as being without conviction or belief," Cohen is a "large part of what ails" the left.

Arianna Huffington quotes an anonymous source "familiar" with the New York Times and the Judy Miller situation. The source: "The thing you've got to understand ... is that every big decision that comes out of the Times comes directly from the top. Nobody does anything there without Arthur Sulzberger's approval. It's the larger, untold story in all of this -- that he now runs the newsroom."

L.A. Observed collects reports from various news source on the Los Angeles Times' financial woes. For one, advertising is down 11% from last year, which is even "worse" on the "internal politics scale, since advertising volume at the corporate rival (oops, I mean sister paper) Chicago Tribune was up 6.7%." Righty Hugh Hewitt: "That Robert Scheer, he sure is good for revenue. Ditto for Michael Kinsley. If I was [new Times editor Dean] Baquet, I'd start a 'Survivor' style contest: Which byline gets tossed? At least that would make the paper interesting for a few weeks."

SCOTUS SPECIAL: Another Memogate?

What the blogs are saying about John Roberts:

Conservative Generation Why takes issue with the speculation surrounding the recent Washington Post report about Reagan-era Roberts docs that have gone missing (see 8/17 Blogometer). He quotes Reagan Library archivist Sharon Fawcett and the Post: "[T]he folder was evidently lost later when all of the Roberts documents were transferred to new, acid-free folders and reorganized in anticipation of their disclosure to the Senate and news media. [Fawcett said it] is 'very difficult to believe it's anyone other than ourselves responsible for this loss.'" And comments: "So really, this story has nothing to do with the review by 'two lawyers from the White House and the Justice Department in July.' Just another insertion of irrelevant facts to pin something on the 'Bush people.'"

Group blog PrawfsBlawg opines about the available Roberts memos: "What mostly strikes me about the Roberts memos so far is that they speak to just how young he was ... this is a young, brash, bright, energetic lawyer -- sometimes cocky, sometimes witty, sometimes a little arrogant. In other words, much like many other young lawyers before him and since, feeling the first flush of their talents at use, but perhaps not so cognizant of the limits of their knowledge and not yet fully chastened by experience. This is a Roberts with substantial technical skills and (usually) a nice, light touch in his writing, but as yet not fully seasoned by that practical wisdom that is so essential to the compleat lawyer."

SCOTUS SPECIAL CONFIRMATION: Judge Wedge

Conservative Confirm Them comments on the Washington Post story analyzing tension between different wings of the Dem party: "The Roberts hearings will give full throat to the Democratic moonbat coalition -- what with Senators Leahy, Kennedy and Durbin on the committee. And then there's 'slow Joe' Biden, who'll be grinning frantically as he seeks to garner activist support for his nascent presidential bid while simultaneously trying to avoid coming off as a left-wing lunatic. Not to mention obnoxious non-pareil Chuck Schumer. Talk about a parade of horribles ... Red State Democrats watching from home will be, figuratively, shrieking in anguish."

Volokh Conspiracy's Orin Kerr wrote, in response to the AP story on the ABA rating of Roberts as "well qualified" that "it would have been really funny if the ABA had rated him "Over Qualified" instead, but I guess the ABA isn't known for its sense of humor."

SCOTUS SPECIAL COVERAGE: Product Of His Environment?

NewsBusters' Lisa Fabrizio takes umbrage at an AP report on Roberts' IN hometown: "Described alternately as 'insular,' 'Mayberry-like,' and 'nearly all-white,'" the writers have raised serious questions about the racial integrity of John Roberts' boyhood town. ... While conveniently ignoring the fact that most towns were not integrated when Roberts grew up, that didn't stop our intrepid reporters. They next noted ominously that some properties in the town had racial restrictions dating back to the 1920s! But after conducting what appears to be exhaustive research on the deed to his parents' house, they were forced to conclude that 'the Roberts property did not include a racially restrictive covenant.' Better luck next time." NRO's Media Blog, on the same dispatch: "Translation: It's hard to know whether Roberts' upbringing in Mayberry made him a racist. Some say it's possible he's an intelligent man capable of grappling with policy issues independently of where he grew up."

BLOGGERS VS. BLOGGERS: Breach Of Netiquette

A few weeks prior to the 3rd anniversary of the Carnival of the Vanities -- the original blog "carnival," i.e. a weekly blogger-submitted/edited collection of links to interesting posts, hosted at different sites each week -- WILLisms hosts this latest. But Dodgeblogium is troubled: "The host does not seem to get the spirit of [the Carnival] and has instituted a rating system which is pretty nasty. Expect fireworks from this one. I expect it is deliberate. Will probably increase his hits significantly. He doesn't take construction criticism very well either. How pathetic." His post rated a 5 out of 10. WILLisms features a picture of Carly Simon in concert, and adds the tagline: "You're so vain. You probably think this carnival's about you." A vigorous debate follows in the comments to his post.

Lefty Lawyers Guns and Money's Scott Lemieux and has been debating Donklephant's centrist Justin Gardner, along with others, about whether Instapundit's Glenn Reynolds is in fact a "centrist" or "center-right" or what. Start here and scroll down through the numerous comments that follow.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Groupier

QandO's Jon Henke: "One of the most frustrating things about blogging is the difficulty of getting the widespread attention that particularly good posts deserve -- and, the other side of that coin, having to wade through tons of other stuff to get to the really good stuff. It's frustrating as a blogger and as a reader. So, for what it's worth," he starts up a new Yahoo Group, titled "Blogosphere." Henke: "We'll see if it becomes useful. Frankly, though, it would be very helpful to open up my email and find interesting stuff."

LEST WE FORGET: Fun In The Sun

Bored by the late summer doldrums, IMAO's Frank J. offers a few modest proposals for enlivening the news: "Random Special Governor Election! Look at the surprise of one governor as he is randomly picked to have a special election in one month! Watch as the other party scrambles to get a candidate! Excitement!" And: "Get Out of Supreme Court Free Card! The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court will set out a jar of jellybeans. Whichever politician comes closest to guessing how many jellybeans are in the jar will be able to have any case he or she wants automatically thrown out of the Supreme Court!" Also: "Bribes Are Legal Tuesday! Only on the first Tuesday in August, it's legal to bribe your Congressman. Better rush to the bank!"

Posted by at 12:21 PM

August 17, 2005

8/17: So He Says About 'Able,' He Says

Web readers: To go directly to the SCOTUS coverage click here.

Almost as soon as Slate's contrarian blogger Mickey Kaus noted that conservative bloggers had beaten a "semi-full retreat" on the Able Danger data-mining story (see 8/10 and 8/11 Blogometers) last p.m., a possible "whistleblower" figure had stepped forward: Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer, saying he was ordered in '00 to withhold from the FBI information identifying al Qaeda agents in the U.S., including 9/11 hijackers such as Mohammed Atta and unknown others. What seemed a false start hinging on the dubious reputation of Rep. Curt Weldon (R-PA) is now enjoying a strong resurgence.

Speaking of whistleblowers, reports have ex-FBI agent/MN House candidate Coleen Rowley (D) heading down to Crawford, TX to join anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan and support her request to meet with Pres. Bush. While the left is pleased about tbe attention the story is receiving -- no longer do they complain that the MSM is ignoring them (as Sheehan did during her 8/10 "blogcall") -- a few are starting to wonder if the protest is being mishandled. Yet the most-remarked tangent surrounding Sheehan concerns the miniature crosses her supporters had erected to honor dead soldiers, only to be run over by a local resident. Meanwhile, bloggers play dueling transcripts with Sheehan's latest TV appearances, as she denies some controversial remarks attributed to her, while making new ones.

In today's edition we also debut a new feature rounding up blog news from the MSM and non-blog websites. And if you were expecting to see another installment in our "Communities" series, well, we're working on it.

TRACKBACKS: Put Your Lips Together And Blow

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

• 2 New York Times stories and 1 from the New York Post dealing with 9/11-related failures have generated major buzz in the past 24 hours. The first, from 8/16 by Philip Shenon, identifies Weldon's Pentagon source re: Able Danger as Shaffer, who says he is coming forward despite the damage it could do to his career. Shaffer contends his Able Danger team "repeatedly contacted" the FBI in '00 seeking meetings, but military attys forced them to stay quiet. Conservative bloggers including Power Line and Instapundit are pleased to see the story move forward; many preface their comments with "if true" caveats, but Shaffer seems well on his way to "whistleblower" status on the right side of the blogs.
  
  

  >> From the right... NRO's John Podhoretz: "If he's telling the truth, then the entire history of the last five years needs to be rewritten." Captain's Quarters: "At least we know that Rep. Curt Weldon didn't make up the whole story." Mark in Mexico: "Now I understand the timing and political significance of Clinton's statement yesterday that he would have ordered a hit on Osama bin Laden if only the intelligence agencies had told him that bin Laden was a threat. Clinton knew that the Able Danger program and his operatives' ignoring the information that Able danger unearthed would be political dynamite." Right Wing Nuthouse: "But if the 9/11 Commission staff is lying, don't you think that's something we should know? It worries me that the staffers may have pulled a 'Sandy Berger' and sanitized Commission records when they were in the National Archives last week."
  

  >> From the left... Laura Rozen finds it "disturbing that it's so hard to understand even now that Shaffer has gone public what exactly Able Danger came up with in terms of information on Atta and the other 'Brooklyn cell' individuals they allegedly identified." At Political Animal, Kevin Drum agrees the details are "still not very clear. 'Linkages' between a 'loose configuration' that was 'tied to' an al-Qaeda cell. Still, Shaffer is clearly claiming that they had Atta's name and wanted to tell the FBI about it." Left-libertarian Jim Henley: "I always thought the government was able to identify the 19 hijackers awfully fast after September 11, 2001. I'm not sure the Able Danger story explains how that could have happened, though." Kaus himself thinks Podhoretz and other conservatives are making a mistake by going after Commis. member/ex-Clinton official Jamie Gorelick and her "wall" between the Pentagon and FBI, but says that "doesn't mean there wasn't a mistaken culture of caution and compartmentalization" hindering investigations.
  

  >> Slate's liberal Eric Umansky, a Weldon skeptic, interviewed the Rep. for a post at his personal blog. Weldon confirms that the only copy of the Able Danger chart he owned he had given to then-dep. NSA Stephen Hadley. Weldon explains he found out about Atta being on the chart when he asked Hadley's office if they had a copy of the chart: "They said no. So I asked them to recreate one -- it was only then that they told me they had actually ID'd Atta and had recommended sharing it." Umansky comments: "So Weldon's story seems to have been consistent ... As to whether to join Weldon in his belief, well..."
  

  >> Conservative The Anchoress looks at the 2 stories and recalls an 8/12 post by Ed Morrissey at Captain's Quarters, asking why the arrest of 2 Iraqi spies in Germany in early '01, as reported 1st by a Parisian newspaper and then confirmed by BBC and Reuters, never made it into the 9/11 Commis. report. Today Morrissey follows up, noting his latest Daily Standard column is about the discrepancy. In the post, he writes: "For a commission that chided two administrations about failing to connect dots, the Omission Commission appears to have left more than a few dots off the map."
  

  >> More: RedState; Brothers Judd; Ohiocore; Right Wing News; Aaron's CC; Balloon Juice; Daily Pundit; The Sundries Shack; Flopping Aces; Junkyard Blog.



• On a related point, this a.m. the Times' Eric Lichtblau reports that the State Dept. told the Clinton admin. in 7/96 that bin Laden's "move to Afghanistan would give him an even more dangerous haven as he sought to expand radical Islam 'well beyond the Middle East,'" yet the gov't "chose not to deter the move."
  
  

  >> From the right... USS Neverdock scos at Clinton telling New York magazine: "I always thought, that bin Laden was a bigger threat than the Bush administration did." Wizbang, too, with this header: "Clinton Ignored Bin Laden Warning During Lewinsky Affair."
  

  >> From elsewhere... Liberal Pudentilla at the anti-capitalization Skippy the Bush Kangaroo: "therefore, bush's iraq war was clinton's fault. rove's exit strategy begins to take shape." The Moderate Voice makes a different point: "The reality is: both parties dropped the ball until the towers were hit."
  

  >> More: Ranting Profs; Bark Bark Woof Woof; The Right Scale.



• Meanwhile, New York Post's Deborah Orin this a.m. calls ex-NYC U.S. Atty Mary Jo White a "Cassandra" figure for pleading with Gorelick to "tear down the wall between intelligence and prosecutors, a wall that went beyond legal requirements."
  
  

  >> Power Line's Scott Johnson: "It is not clear to me from Orin's story exactly what White's memo is addressing. Orin does not include the date of White's memo, which would also be of interest. All issues related to "the wall" should certainly have been explored by the 9/11 Commission and covered in its report. I hope Orin will stay on the case beyond today's story." At The Corner, Jonah Goldberg calls it a "fairly explosive scoop." Betsy's Page says, the wall "was a scandal then and still is. It is the reason why so many have never had any great respect for the 9/11 Commission's supposedly objective and final analysis of the problems that led to 9/11. If they couldn't be fully honest about this part of the history, what else might they have been ignoring or downplaying?"

SHEEHAN I: Her Crosses To Bear

In a diary for Daily Kos, Sheehan herself addresses the damage done to roadside crosses, a component of her protest, which were trampled by a vehicle in recent days: "This man who ran over the crosses thinks he is a better American than we are. He thinks we are more patriotic than we are. Does he really believe that he is honoring the memories of the fallen and his country by running down 500 crosses and about 60 American flags?" More Sheehan: "We are moving to a place that doesn't have much shade and I put out an appeal for tarps and a soldier from Ft. Hood brought some to us that he 'borrowed' from Ft. Hood for us to use. I have had a lot of soldiers from Ft. Hood come out and tell me to keep it up and that I am doing a good thing." Left in the West: "I used to think that some liberals were not really supporting the troops very well, but I know that no liberal that I have met is so indecent as to drag pipes mutilating the crosses of the dead. I am done taking crap from Republicans about liberals that don't support our troops." Conservative agree the cross vandalism is bad, then move quickly to other tangents. Michelle Malkin: "Nice to see the far Left finally outraged about the desecration of crosses." Angry in the Great White North: "For what it's worth, I think the symbol of the cross was desecrated the moment Cindy Sheehan and the Sheehanites started putting them up. But it's a free country, you know."

Dem Bloggers: "The past several days have been rocky for Cindy down in Crawford but now a neighbor will allow Cindy to use his property which will put Cindy about a mile away from the shrub himself!" Of news that Rowley will be joining her: "Heck yea! Cindy has struck a nerve and shes not backing down." Conservative James Joyner snarks: "Surely, Jesse Jackson can not be far behind." MyView: "The whistleblower with no agenda against the Bush Administration is joining the left wing anti-war activists in Crawford, TX. Gee, couldn't be cause she's running for Congress now could it?" Captain's Quarters, who lives in the CD where Rowley will be challenging Rep. John Kline (R-MN): "Will Rowley issue a joint statement of support for these arguments with David Duke and Michael Moore? Will she also stand with Sheehan to promote the notion that this country deserves no sacrifice and stands for nothing but killing?"

At the Huffington Post, Salon's Eric Boehlert argues that conservative criticism of Sheehan has gone too far: "For those keeping score at home, Cindy Sheehan is a 'crazy,' 'anti-Semite' 'peacenik' 'kook.' An 'exploited,' 'left-wing moonbat' 'crackpot' whose behavior borders on 'treasonous' ... It's telling that when this story first broke, GOP pundits at least had the decency to preface their smears with obligatory nods to Sheehan's sacrifice. No more. It's war."

SHEEHAN II: What Will Be The Larger Meaning? That's Still An Open Question

Liberal journalist Chris Nolan calls Sheehan the left's Terri Schiavo, and fears that the "media circus" is getting out of hand. Noting that a well-to-do neighbor in L.A. is going out to Crawford, she comments: "Cindy Sheehan is now a Lefty Cause Celebre and the spectacle that's being created around her detracts from her message, just as the religious fervor surrounding Schiavo detracted from that cause." Liberal 1115 notes a pattern in Bush's refusal to meet with Sheehan: "Other than the current situation with Cindy Sheehan, the examples are numerous: Protesters that were separated from Bush with buses or were herded into 'free speech zones' miles away from him. Social Security 'town meetings' and campaign speeches where only hand-picked supporters were allowed to attend. The continuing refusal to speak with to the NAACP." Liberal The Tattered Coat argues that Sheehan could help break through the public's "cognitive dissonance" re: Bush, explaining, "American supporters of the President ... wanted to be duped. The alternative would have resulted in a painful shattering of illusions."

A commenter at TPM Cafe posts a partial transcript from the 8/15 "360" where Sheehan disclaimed comments attributed to her in a letter sent to "Nightline" in Mar. and reprinted by Christopher Hitchens on 8/15: "I do believe that the Palestinian issue is a hot issue that needs to be solved and it needs to be more fair and equitable but I never said my son died for Israel." Last p.m., NRO's Media Blog questioned her denial: "I think that if Sheehan saw the letter and signed off on it, that's enough to make her statements to Cooper dishonest. One of the many reporters documenting Sheehan's every move should ask her about this letter as soon as possible."

Confederate Yankee posts a partial transcript from "Hardball" wherein Sheehan says she oppposed the Afghanistan invasion, saying among other things: "I believe that our troops should be brought home out of both places where we're obviously not having any success in Afghanistan. Osama bin Laden is still on the loose and that's who they told us was responsible for 9/11." Confederate Yankee: "To summarize Cindy Sheehan: Nothing is ever worth fighting for, and nothing is worth defending, except for my son Casey, and because he died, we should abandon 50 million people in two countries." The Political Teen has the video. Righty Karol Sheinen prefaces a short list of controversial Sheehan quotes by asking: "Can you 'smear' someone by just quoting them?"

NETROOTS: Another Piece Of The Infrastructure

8/16 was the launch of PLAN, the Progressive Legislation Action Network, a project spearheaded by currently MT-based liberal activists/bloggers David Sirota and Matt Singer. The Sirotablog has an announcement. The PLAN website says the org. will "drive public policy debates and change the political landscape in the United States by focusing on attainable and progressive state level actions." Ezra Klein: "For years now, the Christian Right and the anti-tax zealots have focused on the state and local elections no one else was interested by, and it's been key to their consolidation of power. I'm very glad to see Democrats building counter-institutions to fight at the micro level..."

Ex-Spinsanity co-editor Brendan Nyhan writes, "The Internet politics bubble continues" with an article by MSNBC's Tom Curry citing the Paul Hackett campaign as a new campaign model that could make the current one "obsolete." Nyhan disagrees: "Consultants, TV ads and local knowledge are not going away. That's know-nothing hype of the sort we saw during the Internet bubble in business. The lefty blog infrastructure is going to help liberal candidates raise more money, but it's not going to change politics as we know it. ... The problem is that lefty bloggers think the Howard Dean/Paul Hackett phenomena are replicable, and they're not."

PULPIT POLITICS: Sunday Posting Going Up

Conservative Trey Jackson, who attended the Justice Sunday II event in Nashville, TN, is now posting video from the trip, including an interview with Evangelical Outpost's Joe Carter and Captain's Quarters' Ed Morrissey. He also provides video of speeches by House Maj. Leader Tom DeLay and ex-Sen. Zell Miller.

In a lengthy post, abortion-moderate conservative Bill Ardolino at INDC Journal criticizes pro-life conservatives Michelle Malkin and Hugh Hewitt for their "condemnations of RU-486" over a minute number of deaths attributed to it. Righty Dean Esmay agrees.

ROVE-PLAME-MILLER: Bob Dole, Co-Conspirator?

Appraising an op-ed by Bob Dole in the New York Times, liberal David Corn flags him for "pandering" to the Times by complaining about Judy Miller's jailing, and for insinuating there is an "intent to harm standard" in the IIPA, which there is not. At TAPPED, Sam Rosenfeld calls the op-ed "cute" on the Times' part. He calls the part of it "explaining and endorsing" the Pence-Lugar shield law "perfectly commendable," but the rest is "nothing but innuendo and errant speculation, with a few choice GOP talking points ... thrown in for good measure." More: "Passionate support for a colleague in harm's way is certainly understandable. But when the smoke eventually clears, is this really how the Times wants the record to show it acted throughout the Plame ordeal?"

Arianna Huffington notes the possibility that Miller could be charged with criminal contempt after her civil contempt incarceration is over on 10/28: "Was the fear of additional legal steps being taken against Judy Miller the reason for Monday's preemptive PR campaign? Was this why Floyd Abrams went on Lou Dobbs and the New York Times did a glowing pro-Judy editorial?" Daily Kos: "Miller and the Times are desperate for some modicum of high ground to stand on, but they are merely defending that most detestable practice of modern journalism -- the anonymous attack on a political enemy. The more they defend the practice, the deeper in mud they wallow."

BLOGGERS VS. BLOGGERS: Sorry State Of Affairs

Patterico's Pontifications: "I'm disappointed in John Cole. His recent rant against Michelle Malkin defends the indefensible. He should know better." For details, see the 8/16 Blogometer. More Patterico: "Cole thinks the divorce isn't news. Malkin disagrees, and so does the AP. ... But Cole has come completely unhinged on the topic, excusing nasty leftists' personal and juvenile attacks on Malkin and her appearance." Reading said pontification, Balloon Juice's Cole decides to apologize: "I want it made clear that I in no way think the racist crap that is heaped upon Malkin is in any way fair, or justified, or deserved." He adds that he still disagrees about Sheehan's divorce records, but adds: "there will be a time for that later, and I don't want this turning into a typical Washington non-apology apology." Damnum Absque Injuria: "I'm all for quaint concepts like privacy and all that fun stuff, but then again, divorces are public records, Sheehan has made herself into a public figure, and news is news, particular when it goes to a person's credibility." [Update, 9/6: It appears as though we missed the overall intent of that post.] Say Anything: "Line up guys! The woman of your dreams is about to be single again!"

IRAQ: Time For A Suellentrop Follow-Up?

Rising Hegemon: "Watching the Daily Show last night, one could not help but notice the pall over a comedy show when [liberal journalist Sy] Hersh is saying his sources within the Pentagon are telling him that their intelligence is showing that a strong possibility of 'Tet-Like' offensives in Iraq in the near future, including a Battle for Baghdad."

BLOG NEWS BRIEFS: Cuban Blogger Crisis

Search Engine Journal reports, IceRocket blog search engine investor/Blog Maverick blogger/referee nemesis Mark Cuban says the day that Blogspot blogs are excluded from itss searches is "drawing closer due to the use of the service by blog spammers." Feedster lauches is the latest to rank blogs with its Feedster Top 500. Top overall blog: Jason Calacanis-owned Engadget. Top liberal blog: Daily Kos, at #5. Top conservative blog: Michelle Malkin at #9. DC's Mayor Anthony Williams (D) launches a blog, albeit without evident permalinks. He writes: "As I welcome you to my blog I'm asking myself the question: What is a blog anyway? Is it a modern high-tech version of the diary logging the experiences and observations of a local public official? Is it an almanac capturing my far flung and scattered interests in fields ranging from ornithology to baseball? ... I'm not really sure. We'll figure this out as we go." CT LG Kevin Sullivan (D) launches his own blog at Blogspot.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Salt Lick

Eric Alterman, on the spate of stories from 8/15 about how Bush is reading Mark Kurlansky's "Salt: A World History": "Guess what people, they're constructed by aides who have no idea -- or concern -- with what the president is reading, or even if the president is reading (or can read). Every year the press falls for them because they think there's nothing more important about which to write in August than some dumb fictional reading list that is designed purposely to fool people that the president is a more serious person, intellectually, than he really is."

LEST WE FORGET: Who Needs Your Opinion

If there's one thing bloggers love to do, it's participate in surveys. If there's 2 things they like to do, add hosting one's own survey. And if there's a 3rd thing, well, maybe some like to make up surveys out of whole cloth. Last week, conservative humor blog The Nose On Your Face posted the "results" of a "survey" of fellow bloggers. A sample:

Why do you blog?

• Everyone needs a break from internet porn-surfing sometimes. (43%)
• To make the voices stop. (18%)
• For the free punch and cookies. (16%)
• Bush's Digital Brownshirts make me. (14%)
• The ladies seem to like it. (9%)

Have you suffered any of the following blog-related afflictions over the past year?

• Low-traffic Panic Disorder (93%)
• A caffeine overdose (92%)
• Swamp ass (90%)
• Insomnia secondary to stat-checking (87%)

°   °   °   °   °

SCOTUS SPECIAL: Is There A "Sandy Berger" In The Bush Admin?

What the blogs are saying about John Roberts:

• Joe Gandelman seems to be the 1st to notice the Washington Post story that some Roberts documents re: his affirmative action work in the Reagan WH recently went missing after a review by WH attys. Gandelman is still sure Roberts will "get on the court," but perhaps "with questions that hurt his image." A few others join him, but the real blog swarm today (see the other Blogometer section) is around Able Danger and the 9/11 Commis.
  
  

  >> CAP's Think Progress: "It's a strange story, but here's what we know so far: 1. No one at the archives remembers the file being returned. 2. It's very unusual for the archive to lose a file. 3. The two administration lawyers are now helping the archives 'reconstruct the file' from their notes. 4. The White House and the Justice Department refuse to name the lawyers involved. Are we supposed to believe that this file magically disappeared?" Conservative La Shawn Barber: "Do they reveal Roberts is anti-skin color preferences, and therefore, conservative? Or did he capitulate and play PC with the other liberal boys and girls? Can't wait to find out which." Jeff Gannon -- yes, that one -- "Sen. Ted Kennedy has requested a Justice Department investigation. How long before he demands a special prosecutor?"

CONFIRMATION: Lots Of Confusion About What His "Equal Pay" Work Is About

• USA Today's report, "Roberts scoffed at equal-pay theory" from 8/16, gets plenty of comment, in particular from liberals who take it as evidence that Roberts is a misogynist.
  
  

  >> AMERICAblog: "The more papers that get released about Supreme Court nominee, the farther to the right he appears to be. Why are the Dems caving in on this fight?" Pandagon's Amanda Marcotte: "Of course, back in the 80s, one could be more open about the piggish belief that women aren't up to speed in ability. Now you have to polish that turd up with some pseudo-feminist bullshit and/or some cheap pseudo-scientific amateur theorizing."
  
  

  >> Markos Moulitsas headlines a post: "Gender equity the silver bullet?" He writes, it is "simply unacceptable ...to ridicule the notion of gender equity in the workplace..." He updates later with a correction based on the Daily Kos commentariat: "Roberts wasn't talking about equal pay for equal work, but "equal pay for different jobs of comparable value, based on factors such as skills and responsibility." That does muddy the issue quite a bit ... If nothing else, it makes this issue too complex to become that silver bullet." At Obsidian Wings, Sebastian Holsclaw explains how "equal pay for equal work" differs from "comparable worth" theory. The former, he writes, is not "radical"; the latter is, as Roberts had asserted.
  
  

  >> Donklephant's moderate Justin Gardener has been mostly pro-Roberts, but doesn't agree here at all. He adds, "another thing that needs to be taken into consideration is the fact that this memo was written 21 years ago. People's attitudes change, and I'm hoping that's the case here."
  
  

  >> Conservative Unalienable Right writes, USA Today's article is "not an honest portrayal of the opposition to a proposed 'comparable worth' policy. The real issue is who decides what an individual should be paid by their employer -- their employer, or some federal bureaucrat in Washington. In a free society, the federal government doesn't tell private employers what to pay their employees." PoliPundit's Jayson Javitz: "And if you believe the partisan-liberal media is starting to go into high dudgeon mode over that nomination -- given the harsh reality, for the far left, of Roberts' upcoming confirmation -- well, you ain't see nothin' yet."

Having read the "hilarious" Washington Times profile of Roberts, DLC's Bruce Reed writes at The Has Been, "conservatives can rest assured that whether or not Roberts is reluctant to overturn Roe now, he would never have voted for it in the first place." Noting Roberts' school newspaper op-ed oppposing coeducation because it would be easier to study without a "[b]londe giggling and blushing behind me," Reed writes: "Anyone who dismissed all women as giggling blondes in 1972 certainly wouldn't have found a right to privacy in the Constitution in 1973."

Posted by at 12:38 PM

August 16, 2005

8/16: Mother, Should I Trust The Government?

It may turn out that 2005 will be the Summer of Sheehan -- no matter which side of the increasingly emotional divide one finds themselves, the fact remains that it is an incredibly compelling and unnerving debate. Both sides see the other as insincere at best and hateful at worst; the Blogometer detects a perceptible uptick in the number of four-letter-words we've come across since the plight of Cindy Sheehan came to attention last week. Over the weekend, one conservative blogger drew sharp attacks from the left blogosphere over comments made; yesterday and today another conservative is coming under considerable fire, and this time some conservatives join in.

And yet there are other stories bubbling up which may have a greater impact on news cycles through the end of the year, to say nothing of future elections. For starters, let's take the '06 midterms -- there's tension on the Dem side of TN SEN, and on the GOP side of NY SEN. Iraqi leaders' decision to extend the deadline for signing a constitution has both sides nervous; most on the right prefer that they not rush, but some on the left argue the U.S. itself is doing the pushing. Closer to home, emergency declarations by 2 Dem govs. in the SW have helped bring the sleeper issue of immigration to greater prominence, and the Washington Post possibly averts a blog swarm by withdrawing its support from a Pentagon-led 9/11 event. Meanwhile, 2 previous swarms -- surrounding the Air America and CIA leak investigations -- have now let up considerably, although there's an intriguing turn in the latter story. All that and more below, plus our latest Blogger Spotlight.

SHEEHAN I: Tactical Dilemma

Sheehan's self-described "radicalized" political beliefs have been the staple of GOP commentary since last week, and now some liberals are wondering if they shouldn't change tactics -- not that there's necessarily agreement on what that shoul be.

WSJ's James Taranto has made a point of listing various controversial statements by Sheehan, which he notes the MSM has not covered. One example comes from a 4/05 speech in Berkeley: "I was raised in a country by a public school system that taught us that America was good, that America was just. America has been killing people ... since we first stepped on this continent, we have been responsible for death and destruction. I passed on that bullshit to my son and my son enlisted. I'm going all over the country telling moms: "This country is not worth dying for." Taranto, on the MSM's motives: "They need something to do; they want bylines -- and 'heartbroken everymom' makes for a much more compelling story than 'extremist hatemonger.'" Conservative Lyflines finds more, such as Sheehan saying "we have had hundreds of our children killed to gain control of the oil fields."

Marie at The Left Coaster offers Sheehan some advice on what to say publicly: "You are front and center of a peace movement, but you are not the peace movement. The poignancy of your simple request to help you deal with the pain of losing your son is what gives you power. ... No need for you to try to connect all the dots on the irrational and massive US war machine for your fellow Americans simply because you have airtime. Just nudge them in the direction of questioning their support for the madness in Iraq is enough."

A Daily Kos diarist argues that the left is "making errors" in framing the Sheehan debate. The author argues for various shifts in rhetoric, such as emphasizing her "sacrifice," the "useless" war, and calling the "Camp Casey" Crawford sit a "vigil." More: "We should call her "Mother Sheehan". We should never call her Cindy; I don't know her. "Mother Sheehan" is her title, and expresses her ceremonial status as a bereaved mother, calling forth over the dead body of her son. She is not a person now, she is a mother, which is not an expression of her individuality, but rather the expression of her eternal character: the mother, the bringer of life who has been wronged by state power." 109 comments follow, with many of them hostile to some suggestions. One commenter says the new moniker "makes her sound like an ancient crone in a nursery rhyme." Another proposes "Gold Star Mother Cindy Sheehan."

SHEEHAN II: (Don'tcha Know That She's) Not Their Style? (Ev'rything About Her) Drives Them Wild

That Sheehan husband Patrick Sheehan had filed for divorce (dissolution, actually) was first mentioned yesterday; now it is confirmed, as The Smoking Gun has posted the documents online. The breaking of the news itself is the source of some ethical hand-wringing on the right and considerable outrage on the left.

Michelle Malkin was the first high-profile blogger to publicize the Superior Court records discovered by Dang If I Know -- calling it "Like it or not ... news" -- and it is she who draws most of the attention. Right-leaning John Cole points out that Malkin opposed the New York Times' questions about John Roberts' adoption records, and says: "Knock it off, take down that post, and then apologize. ... Even if you think it 'proves' a point. If it proves anything, it proves that losing a son in war f---s up families. Thanks for the deep insight." Liberal DC Media Girl: "That these wingnuts will say anything and stop at nothing to win, while putting on a great show of taking offense when the shoe is on the other foot. ... Open war on the self-hating racist bitch Michelle Malkin. OPEN. WAR." There's more from liberals Arthur Silber and Crooks and Liars, among others. At a lower volume, conservative The Political Teen agrees that the divorce should not be a public matter. Conservative Daily Polemic defends Malkin, stating that the news was "pretty gosh darn thoroughly and extensively reported throughout the entire MSM yesterday." Late last p.m., Malkin commented on the responses: "Looks like they need their prescriptions filled. Pronto."

Meanwhile, liberal radio talker Taylor Marsh criticizes the 8/15 Taranto column for implying that Time had reported Sheehan's family was "imploding" because of her activism; Time wrote that the Sheehan family was "imploding under its grief" at Casey's loss.

Crooked Timber's Ted Barlow posts a joke e-mail from conservative book editor "Lucianne" to conservative author "Hugh": "I think that we've got a buyer for Unfit To Grieve: The Real Cindy Sheehan. Regnery is already covering their bases with a quickie by Michelle Malkin -- In Defense of Public Stocks. ... We've got the rights to about twenty pages' worth of funny photoshops of Michael Moore, so we can always fall back on that if need be."

SHEEHAN III: Everybody's Got One -- And We'll Show Them To You

L.A. liberal Marc Cooper writes, he is generally not "comfortable giving the relatives of slain soldiers special moral status in dealing with issues of war and peace," but he writes: "The conclusion I have reached is -- to paraphrase Military Genius Don Rumsfeld-- you have to go with the anti-war movement you've got, not the one you'd like to have." More: Pres. Bush "cannot and will not meet with her again because he has nothing left to say to Sheehan nor to anyone else in justifying a war that -- everyday -- seems to be getting worse."

Conservative La Shawn Barber: "I question why people seem to be obsessed with one woman. I couldn't care less whether the left is using her; so what if they are? I think MSM is playing up the Sheehan 'scandal' to distract from more important things, such as" the Air America scandal and Gov. Bill Richardson's (D-NM) declaration of a "border emergency." She adds: "Sheehan pales in comparison."

Right Wing News collects quotations from Sheehan and supporters, including actress Christine Lahti and ex-KKK leader/ex-LA House member/ex-U.S. Sen. candidate/ex-LA Gov. candidate/ex-con David Duke. Soon to be ex-blogger Arthur Chrenkoff rounds up a number of quotes from parents whose children were killed in Iraq, and who support the war. Chrenkoff makes use of a line from Maureen Dowd's 8/10 column, "The moral authority of parents who bury children killed in Iraq is absolute." The term has also been commented upon by Iraq hawks Christopher Hitchens and Taranto.

Liberal Joe Scott , on why Sheehan should have an audience with Bush: "For me, the meaningful part of her protest is that Sheehan's anger toward Bush increased when it became clear to her both that the U.S. had not found any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and evidence that the administration had actively discussed an invasion of Iraq long before the 9/11 terrorist attacks."

BLOGS VS. THE MSM: You Can't Please All Of The People All Of The Time

Although PoliPundit's Lorie Byrd had issues with Newsweek's story about Bush's visit with the families of troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan (see 8/15 Blogometer), the article is generally being praised by conservatives such as Wizbang, The Anchoress and Michelle Malkin as portraying Bush in a positive light. Liberal Steve Soto comments: "As soon as Cindy Sheehan started doing some damage to Bush's image as a wartime leader, we could expect to see this: a story from the mainstream media telling us that Bush really does care..."

IMMIGRATION: It's Been Awhile Since We've Heard Much On This

Western Democrat's Kari Chisolm gives Gov. Bill Richardson (D-NM) the benefit of the doubt for declaring a "border emergency": "Not that being too subtle can't get you into trouble. But what seems on the surface to be a very brash Red State move is actually a smart Dem move." CAP's Think Progress isn't so sanguine: "While crime and drug smuggling are no doubt serious concerns that need serious consideration, illegal immigration itself is a complex issue, as Richardson should know. Meeting with [Minutemen pres. Chris] Simcox, and thus implicitly legitimating a radical fringe group ... fails to appreciate the nuances."

Conservative Decision '08: "I agree with" AR Gov. Mike Huckabee's (R) decision to support the children of illegal immigrants: "[W]e shouldn't punish children for the lawbreaking of their parents." So does unofficial Mike Huckabee President 2008, who writes: "In a nutshell, Huckabee's stance on illegal immigration is that illegals who are caught should be deported. Period. But if they are not caught, and instead remain here to raise their families, Huckabee's pro-life sentiment drives him to support providing prenatal care for all unborn children -- no questions asked." In AR, a group of illegals had been deported without their children, and are now returning. MHP08: "If you want to guarantee that deportees return to the U.S., separate them from their children."

RedState posts a release from the Club for Growth's endorsement of SEC chair/ex-Rep. Chris Cox's (R-CA 48) replacement candidate, John Campbell, who faces a special election. "Campbell is a solid candidate with a long career in the California legislature. I've no personal experience or knowledge of him, but with the Club's endorsement, it's fair to say he comes highly recommended." In the comments, Allan Bartlett identifies himself as a CA 48 resident and Club member, and directs readers to his Powder Blue Report blog, where he argues that anti-immigration activist Jim Gilchrist is the candidate they need.

PoliPundit's anonymous PoliPundit, a "recent legal immigrant" to the U.S., objects to the WH's immigration plan, and lists 2 "demands": "1. Americans never asked for a massive new guest worker program. Our political leaders should not create one. 2. All illegal immigrants must be deported, and the borders closed to future illegal immigration. ... Over the next few weeks and months, this will become an inceasingly loud debate. We will need to make sure that the beltway establishment hears our outrage." The post collects 220+ comments, which is a lot even for the highly-trafficked PoliPundit.

FREEDOM WALK: Post Drops Out Before Blog Swarm Coalesces?

Fishbowl DC 's Garrett Graff notes that the Washington Post has decided not to sponsor the Pentagon's "Freedom Walk" 9/11 commemoration (see 8/15 Blogometer). He adds: "The article mentions that there were messages circulated internally at the Post yesterday. Anything worthwhile that someone wants to pass along?"

Liberal DCDL notices that the Pentagon's future plans for Freedom Walks may have been revised, as the following passage has been removed from the Pentagon's About the Walk website: "The goal for the 5th anniversary in 2006 is for each state to host a Freedom Walk in order to provide an opportunity for as many citizens as possible to reflect on the importance of freedom."

AMERICAblog, which had raised the issue in several posts over the weekend" "How they ever thought this was a good idea is beyond me..."

SENATE '06 I: Have You Seen Ford Lately?

TN-based ex-MSNBC corr. Sharon Cobb reports that she had an interview set up with TN Rep. Harold Ford Jr. (D-NJ), which he then had his spokesperson contact her to "cancel due to something with his family" -- only to her knowledge of his activites, she writes, "he blew me off." She writes, "I don't understand ... how a Congressman running for the US Senate can blatantly be so disrespectful to a group of individuals who want to know what he has to say so they can make an informed choice at the ballot box." She notes that Ford primary opponent/state Sen. Rosalind Kurita (D) scored points at a Democracy for TN forum -- which Ford skipped -- "by saying, 'At least you know I will show up!' Brilliant!" TN-based Team GOP blog touts Kurita's savviness over Ford's.

Marc Crispin Miller posts the audio from a speech delivered by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), in which Comments from Left Field says the new strategy is for DSCC leadership to "choose who will run against vulnerable" GOPers. In a transcribed portion, Schumer says Gov. Ed Rendell (D-PA) "would not run and that [Dems] would not want him to run." PA-based Comments from Left Field calls the 1st announcement "Soviet Politburo tactics" and criticizes Rendell for poor campaign advice.

SENATE '06 II: Married To The Mob?

At his blog, conservative CNBC host Larry Kudlow calls the New York Post's story on Pirro's illegitimate daughter an "ugly story ... the sort of thing that usually comes out in hotly contested political races." Kudlow notes that the GOP is looking again at atty Ed Cox (R) and supports the idea: "[N]o disrespect meant to Pirro here, but Cox is conservative, and he has a huge knowledge base, ... Cox would be a great choice; he isn't hampered either by personal or political problems. Maybe the GOP should take another look." NYC GOPer Robert George : "Pirro has a 'husband problem.' Hillary Clinton does not. It might be different in other parts of the country, but New York voters don't equate a felony conviction on tax fraud charges (Al's problem) with the impeachment of a president (who carried the Empire State quite handily twice). "

Since late last week, Patrick Ruffini has been polling readers about which possible SEN '06 GOPer interests them most -- with nearly 2K votes recorded as of this a.m., Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (WV) leads with 40.6%, followed by Westchester DA Jeanine Pirro (NY) at 23.1% and MD LG Michael Steele at 20%. Voting remains open.

IRAQ: Unconstitutional Crisis

Lefty Middle East prof Juan Cole : "The one-week extension is clever, since it avoids the dissolution of parliament and it keeps the pressure on the various parties to agree. It is not clear, however, what difference a week will make. I suppose they could serially amend the interim constitution to allow further delays, but at some point this procedure will begin to look silly." Earlier, had called it "clearly unconstitutional," to the objection of ex-AP reporter Christopher Allbritton. Lefty Atrios agrees with Albritton.

Right-leaning Charging RINO: "I think the submission of an uncompleted or unsatisfactory draft constitution would have been far worse than extending discussions for a little while longer." Mark Noonan at Blogs for Bush: "Well, the Iraqi's couldn't quite get it together by yesterday on their Constitution...but Americans who's ancestors took 11 years to figure it out really have nothing to say on a week's delay in finishing it up." Liberal Yale prof Jack Balkin : "Why didn't the Iraqi delegates agree on a constitution on time? The answer is simple. The deadline imposed on them was an artificial one imposed from without rather than by the political necessities of Iraq itself."

Whiskey Bar's Billmon, on JCS Richard Meyers' request that unreleased Abu Ghraib photos stay that way: "But surely Gen. Myers understands that while shots of helpless little boys being anally raped don't exactly meet local community standards (either here or in Iraq) the Freedom of Information Act doesn't have an obscenity exemption. Or a stupidity exemption, which would have left Myers, not to mention his boss, completely in the clear."

ROVE-PLAME-MILLER: Is Arianna The Only Reporter On This Beat?

Liberal Arianna Huffington files her latest installment of "The Judy File": U.N. Amb. John Bolton, while blowing off most reporters, "apparently has a warm spot in his heart for at least one journalist: none other than Judy Miller. According to a trusted Judy File source, Bolton recently took time out of his busy schedule to pay a jailhouse visit to Judy. No word on what they talked about. ... Just two potential Plamegate sources shooting the breeze." Wonkette's Ana Marie Cox attempted to debunk the story, but later was forced to admit that she "called the wrong jail."

AIR AMERICA: If The Fitzgerald Case Will Just Have To Work Itself Out, Shouldn't That Standard Apply Here, Too?

Radio Equalizer's Brian Maloney obtains what appears to be a memo from Air America host Randi Rhodes making "demandes" on the ownership, including a private jet so she can fly down and do her show live from Crawford. Maloney suggests Air America is counting on the Sheehan story to deflect attention from the radio org's legal/financial woes. Power Line's Scott Johnson reports back on his efforts to get the Minneapolis Star-Tribune (a frequent adversary) to cover the "local angle" -- "putative" MN SEN candidate Al Franken (D): "Last week the Minneapolis Star Tribune had a reporter working" on it, and "I had heard on the grapevine that the story would come out on Saturday. As the lady said on Saturday Night Live, "Never mind." Instead, the Strib ran the NYT's "lame" version.

INTRODUCING: Let's Get Funky

• MyDD founder Jerome Armstrong, who has been collaborating on a book about the future of the Dem Party with Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas, announces that the "working title is Donkey Fall, and the subtitle is something like, How to get the Democratic Party moving again (or, giving the ass a good kick in the ass)." Armstrong provides "the skinny" on what the book is precisely about.
• Less than a week after the rollout of Power Line News, right-trending Charles Johnson at Little Green Footballs announces the "new and improved" LGF News. The rather attractive site (the Blogometer is reminded of The Onion) has 3 tall, tall columns, each filled with RSS headlines and short blurbs. The top 3 columns are, R to L -- "BBC: Front Page"; "WaPo: Front Page"; "Yahoo: Middle East"; above that are links to MSM websites and a search form for Yahoo and Wired News.
• Rude Pundit blogger Lee Papa show made the front page of the New York Times' Art Section this a.m. Reviews are posted to his show-based The Year of Living Rudely blog. NYC culture blog Gothamist "found much of the show quite funny as well as interesting politically, but we didn't get so much more out of it than simply reading Papa's blog."
• RedState announces NAM exec/blogger Pat Cleary will join the RedState collective as an occasional contributor.

BLOGGER SPOTLIGHT: Winger

Today the Blogometer talks to righty John Hawkins, who blogs at Right Wing News and maintains the website Conservative Grapevine.

What is your full name?

John David Hawkins

What is your age?

34

Where did you grow up?

In the sleepy little town of Stoneville, NC -- Population 1000 -- Yee-Ha!

Where do you live now?

Recently, I moved to the North Carolina coast from Charlotte, North Carolina. I know that's a little vague, but I like having my privacy.

What is your occupation? Have you ever worked on a political campaign or for the mainstream media?

If all went well, I was planning to go full-time on my blog at the end of 2005. Unfortunately, all didn't go well, I was laid off from my job doing technical support, and since then I've been trying to build up my traffic and look for another gig. If I can get just a little bigger, I'll feel comfortable going full-time on my blogs, but in the interim, if there's anyone out there looking to shower some dough on a conservative writer, feel free to drop me a line. All of us members of the VRWC need to look out for each other.

As to the other part of the question, I've never worked for the media, but I did work on a few North Carolina Republican campaigns way back in 1990. However, after coming to the conclusion that politics was a dirty business after getting to see some of the backstage shenanigans going on (which in retrospect, seem pretty tame), I lost interest in doing anything political for about a decade.

When did you start blogging and why?

As I was watching the Election 2000 debacle in Florida, I became so aggravated with the pro-Gore bias of the media that I decided to start my own website to help present a conservative viewpoint. The breaking point for me was when I was watching a show on CNN and an emailed comment from a listener came in suggesting that "Bush should concede." I made a decision then and a few months later, Right Wing News went live.

What has been your favorite post, or favorite story to write about, in that time?

That's more than 4 1/2 years worth of my material, but my all time favorite post is probably Confessions Of An Isolationist Wannabe.

It had my name stripped off of it and floated around the net as one of the emails people send their friends and David Frum even quoted from it in a column in the Daily Telegraph. All in all, it was a fun piece.

Describe your typical blogging schedule. And what is your average output?

On a typical Sun-Fri, I probably work 3-4 hours a day compiling the daily news section on RWN and the posts at Conservative Grapevine. On top of that, I usually put in another 4-8 hours writing. So typically I put in 8-12 hours a day, 6 days a week and pump out something like a thousand plus words and 35+ links per day M-F.

Who is your favorite political blogger? Favorite non-political blogger?

Michelle Malkin is my fave political blogger. She puts out a lot of material, she hits a lot of topics that have been missed elsewhere, and she often has a unique take on the material she's covering. Quite frankly, I'm amazed she has time to do it all in between her columns, filling in on Fox, writing books, and taking care of her kids. She's a very talented, talented person.

Non-political? I don't read that many non-political blogs, but Joyce from Transcended.net is the best read for me mainly because she reminds me of a lot of girls I knew in college. Plus, just look at her -- ouch -- is she hot.

Who is your favorite mainstream media columnist?

Mark Steyn is heads and tails above everybody else. Not only is he an incredible writer, he has a way of making incisive points about the hot topic of the day that everyone else seems to be missing. Steyn is the Mark Twain of conservative punditry.

What is your favorite television news program, either network or cable?

Truthfully, television news shows don't do much for me. They repeat so much information and I -- so -- could not care less about the kidnap-victim-of-the-day stories and hot-celebrity-trial gossip that seem to dominate so many of those shows. But, if I had to pick one, I'd go with Joe Scarborough, who'd be a big star if he'd leave MSNBC and go to Fox.

What MSM-produced websites (i.e. newspapers, magazines) do you visit on a daily basis?

While I end up hitting a lot of the biggies daily -- Fox, the WaPo, the NYT, etc. -- it's only because they're linked by a blog or website that I frequent. None of them are bookmarks for me.

What non-MSM websites (i.e. blogs) do you visit on a daily basis?

There are way, way, way too many to list. I regularly hit 90+ blogs and about 15 websites Sun-Thurs. If I had to pick 7 faves, they'd probably be Drudge Report, Lucianne, RealClearPolitics, Michelle Malkin, The Corner, Instapundit, & Polipundit.

How often, or do you ever, read a newspaper in its dead-tree (i.e. print) form?

The only reason I ever touch a dead-tree paper these days is to look at the classifieds. Local news and sports don't interest me that much and papers can't compete with online publications when it comes to delivering political news.

How do you see the new media and old media affecting and influencing each other in the next five years?

The new media will continue to make a larger and larger impact as our audiences grow -- and the number of eyeballs reading us will continue to expand. Over time, I expect the old media to push back against the encroachment of the blogosphere with more hit pieces, with limited calls for regulation, and on a happier note (at least from a blogger's perspective), I look for them to start buying us out.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Unless the IL GOP Can Get Its Act Together By '08 ...

At Volokh Conspiracy, Northwestern prof Jim Lindgren says he usually votes Dem at the state level, but comments on the Jonathan Turley-Dick Durbin controversy: "[O]ne of my Democratic senators that I do not plan to vote for is Durbin. ... Durbin's offensive grilling of Viet Dinh was the first strike. His comments on Gitmo, for which he gave only a limited apology, were the second. Now, unless there is some reason to doubt Turley's account, this is the third strike. It is true that lawyers and politicians are two groups in society not noted for honesty, but if Durbin adopts a tone of moral superiority in his questioning of John Roberts in the Judiciary hearings, it will be interesting to watch whether Durbin can pull it off with a straight face."

LEST WE FORGET: Separated At Birth?

Sharp as a Marble sets the record straight: "Because of the sheer number of posts regarding Cindy Sheehan and some confusion that has followed, I figured I should point something out. Cindy Sheehan is no relation to Billy Sheehan . Which is which? One has throngs of screaming fans, a burning desire to make it big on the stage, and whose eccentric behavior could easily be attributed to the stresses of instant popularity. The other is a former bass player for Mr. Big."

Posted by at 12:00 PM

August 15, 2005

8/15: The Parent Trap

Web readers: To go directly to the SCOTUS coverage click here.

Cindy Sheehan, the "gold star" mother who is seeking an audience with Pres. Bush and is now in her 2nd week of camping outside his Crawford ranch, remains the most-discussed person in the political blogosphere. This a.m., "Cindy Sheehan" remains the #1 search on Technorati, as she was last Thursday. She is also the #2 most "prominently featured" person at BlogPulse, behind "person" Harry Potter and 1 place ahead of list mainstay Bush.

By this point, her saga is among the most emotional blogosphere debates of the year, perhaps second only to the death of Terri Schiavo in March. However, because the left was generally united in that case, a strong component of the Schiavo debate was largely an internal fight between "pro-tube" and "anti-tube" conservatives. This time there are just a handful of dissenters, making this one is a classic left-right battle, and unsurprisingly, it all boils down to Iraq. After Valerie Plame, Sheehan has become the latest proxy for debating the whether or not this war is a just one.

Liberals, perhaps spurred by Bush's low approval numbers, view Sheehan's plight as a powerful story of loss, as well as a chance to create a unified anti-war movement where one really hasn't gone before. They criticize conservatives for treating her callously. If conservatives are at all split, it is primarily about how much Sheehan is being used and how much she is responsible. They argue that Sheehan's politics are fringe left and point out that Sheehan's family disagrees with her crusade.

Also recapped from this weekend: a number of mostly-conservative blogs live-blogged Justice Sunday II on-the-scene at Two Rivers Baptist Church in Nashville, TN; plus, discussions of the CIA leak investigation and Air America's finances continue to churn; and law prof Jonathan Turley gets the better of Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL).

The first sentence of the first paragraph drew a few complaints; we've gone ahead and rephrased it slightly to eliminate any confusion.

SHEEHAN: Meet The Parent

• What the blogosphere is saying about Cindy Sheehan:
  
  

  >> Liberal bloggers call out conservatives for trying to interfere with Sheehan -- EllaGoes passes on the word that when conservative counter-protesters arrived at the ranch outside Crawford, "Sheehan supporters stood and sang 'God Bless America.' The response? A repeated chant of 'We don't care. We don't care. We don't care...'" A Daily Kos diary quotes a Sheehan supporter calling for reinforcements: "The brownshirts have arrived! Anyone willing to walk the walk needs to get to Crawford NOW!" Blunt News hosts video from ABC News, featuring a Bush neighbor in Crawford who "admits trying to intimidate" her and supporters by firing a rifle. Blunt News comments: "The Secret Service didn't even take this guy in."
  

  >> Conservatives don't believe the left has Sheehan's interests in mind -- Paul Geary of The New Editor is "feeling sorry" for her, writing: "This crowd will drop Cindy Sheehan as soon as the lens caps go on, or as soon as the next invented scandal involving the White House captures its fertile imagination. ... If she's remembered at all (doubtful), she'll be remembered unkindly not because she questioned the war, but because she questioned the war using the rhetoric of those whose obvious primary motive is hatred of the president and hatred of the US." Alarming News: "Nothing is done or said unless it can hurt Bush. They really couldn't give two figs about Cindy Sheehan, it's all about their Bush obsession."
  

  >> Some liberals want Sheehan to take her fight to Washington -- Frameshop's liberal Jeffrey Feldman argues that the Sheehan protest now "indicates that Americans are now thinking about the War in Iraq through the frame of the family, rather than thinking about Iraq through the frame of 'terrorism' or 'ideology.' The implications of this shift from ... are profound. Not only does this shift forewarn a political tidal wave soon to break on the President's foreign policy, but also of a much deeper, tectonic shift in the strategy beneath all the recent gains" by the GOP. He writes, the "great success" of Sheehan's protest "is no less than the moral authority for the Democratic Party to speak for the American family." But he fears that "overpaid and out-of-touch" Dem consultants will "suffocate" the party from making use of it. Daily Kos: "If Cindy Sheehan travels to Washington, DC, maintains her focus on the family costs of the Debacle, and to the Common Good of the country, it will have a great chance of resonating in a way a more traditional anti-war movement might not."
  

  >> Conservatives chew on the available evidence of what Sheehan's family thinks -- Early in the a.m. on 8/11, It Comes In Pints posted a letter from Sheehan's family, originally sent to KSFO: "The Sheehan Family lost our beloved Casey in the Iraq War and we have been silently, respectfully grieving. We do not agree with the political motivations and publicity tactics of Cindy Sheehan. She now appears to be promoting her own personal agenda and notoriety at the the expense of her son's good name and reputation. The rest of the Sheehan Family supports the troops, our country, and our President, silently, with prayer and respect." A few hours later, it was picked up by the Drudge Report, too. Dang If I Know posts links to a document strongly indicating that Sheehan husband Patrick Sheehan, has filed for divorce. It is available on the Solano Co., CA Superior Court website, titled Case ID: FFL087021 - SHEEHAN, PATRICK VS. CINDY.
  

  >> On 8/12, liberal Huffington Post featured only Sheehan-related stories (approx. 20) on its front page. HuffPo's anti-HuffPo satirist Greg Gutfeld writes: "No one sent me the email about it being ALL-CINDY FRIDAY, and now I feel like a wallflower at an orgy. A BIG FAT HAIRY WALLFLOWER. It's like showing up at a costume party, and everyone but me came dressed as a blood-sucking ghoul!" Today HuffPo fronts posts about other topics as well, although the top slot features a photo of the FNC logo and the header "THE SLIMING OF IRAQ MOM CINDY SHEEHAN..." Also prominently featured is an update from Sheehan herself, titled "Day 9 at Camp Casey". Sheehan reacts to Bush saying: "I have to go on with my life" as an explanation for not meeting with Sheehan: "WHAT!!!!!????? He has to get on with his life!!! I am so offended by that statement. Every person, war fan, or not, who has had a child killed in this mistake of an occupation should be highly offended by that remark. Who does he think he is?"
  

  >> A few other reports:
  

  • On 8/11 we covered Sheehan's sometimes-emotional, sometimes-raucous "blogcall"; now organizer Joe Trippi posts a WAV audio file of the Sheehan call on his blog.
  
  
  • Drudge Report reports that Sheehan recently said: "My son was killed in 2004. I am not paying my taxes for 2004." Drudge's source is not listed, but it comes from a Veterans for Peace speech in Dallas on 8/5; a fuller account can be found in a comment at Blog for America.
  
  
  • Moderate Joe Gandelman analyzes Sheehan's impact on each side so far. For the left, it has "given the floundering anti-war movement a focus, direction, and what Hollywood likes to call a 'high concept' symbol to press its case against the war," though the movement shows a "drift towards radicalism." For the right, it's "an instance where the rapidity of conservative response to Bush problems has been impressive," although criticisms of Sheehan could backfire.
  
  >> More from the right... Protein Wisdom's Jeff Goldstein protests: "'How dare you! Cindy lost her son!' has, in short order, become the new 'RACIST' or 'HOMOPHOBE' of progressive poltico speak." PoliPundit's Lorie Byrd finds Newsweek's report on Bush's private meeting with families of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan contains too much "editorializing," such as suggesting that Bush might be "agonizing over the war that he chose to start." Conservative Brainster calls the whole scene "Crawfordapaloooza," because it's "become an annual event, with some liberal or other heading out to the Western White House demanding to see President Bush." In '04, it was Dem ex-Sen. Max Cleland.
  
  

  >> More from the left... Liberal Hullabaloo suggests the "anti-military right" is on the rise. He asserts that "veterans are being called cowards and fakers, disabled vets are mocked for not having the right wounds," and quotes a comment from a or getting them in the right way, GOP hags are wearing cute little 'purple heart' bandaids on their cheeks." He bases it on a comment from The Poor Man which may or may not be genuine. Daily Kos approvingly quotes mid-tier conservative blogger Cunning Realist, who writes: "The growing division between the professional class of spinning punditry and the vast expanse of Middle America that actually does the working, the fighting and the dying so the pundits can spend their time chattering has never been more clear than with this story."

BLOGGERS VS. BLOGGERS: Media Whores Online

The controversy over Sheehan spills over into personal acrimony amongst bloggers, starting with RedState's Erick Erickson, who wrote on 8/12: "Cindy Sheehan's son was killed in Iraq. She's a grieving mother. Last year, the President met with Mrs. Sheehan, comforted her, and grieved with her. At the time, Mrs. Sheehan thought the President had done well and appreciated him. Enter August, no major news, and a media still smarting over the President's re-election despite everything they threw at him. Cindy Sheehan returns entering stage right -- this time a left wing media whore in the form of a grieving mother." Erickson later apologized for the "media whore" line in a subsequent post.

Liberal bloggers found the comments, and MyDD's Jerome Armstrong finds it "sorta ironic" that whereas Red States disallows profanity in its comments, Erickson "gets a free ride for using the term 'whore' to attack someone. But not just for any old someone, but" Sheehan. Lefty Steve Gilliard responds calls Erickson's comment "a truly vile and rephrensible thing. Mrs. Sheehan lost her son in combat fighting for this country. To call her a 'left-wing whore' will affect how people see you and your site. Even your readers disagree with the sentiments here and their expression." Liberal TBogg: "Suffice it to say that he is a dick and next time he says that "we" will remain in Iraq, someone needs to ask him when he's going to hop his bloated ass over to Iraq and take Casey Sheehan's place."

In the afternoon of 8/12, Eschaton posts Erickson's e-mail address and AIM handle, both available on RedState previously and still. Before long, Erickson posted to RedState reports of hate mail and death threats, quoting a few, editing for profanity.

Fellow RedStater Josh Trevino considers the term "media whore," arguing it is "correct to apply the term to Ms. Sheehan, who is not merely expressing public grief over her son's death -- for which no person of ordinary compassion could condemn her -- but also railing against American 'imperialism' and the state of Israel; and declaring America a one-party state saved from fascism by the internet(!). Oh, and the 2004 elections were, apparently, fraudulent. We may feel empathy or pity as it strikes us for the circumstances that brought Ms Sheehan to utter these absurdities: but we are under no compulsion to respect them, nor to call them anything but what they are."

Erickson wasn't the first to make such an argument. On 8/11 Instapunk dissented from those on the right who say Sheehan is being used. Instead, he writes: "This is perversion. And it's time somebody said it out loud. Cindy Sheehan, your son died a hero. Go home now and find some meaning in it that isn't just about you and the politics of those who hate their country."

It's not for everybody but certainly clever, The Poor Man Photoshops Paul Krugman, liberal blogger Duncan Black and others onto the cover of Pet Sounds, and composes lyrics set to "Kokomo." Balloon Juice's John Cole swears off writing about the issue, since "the jackasses on the far left are going to distort this post, lie, vilify, and attack anyway, and it just isnt worth it..."

PULPIT POLITICS: And Justice Blogging For All...

• FRC's Charmaine Yoest , who organized the blogger delegation (and as we reported on 8/10, faced some scrutiny for covering their expenses), posts a series of observations, including this conclusion.
• Not all conservatives agreed on JSII's socially conservative message. Captain's Quarters' Ed Morrissey, who live-blogs within a single post, complains: "We have another reference to a 'right' to homosexual sodomy. I'm no fan of the Lawrence decision, but why pick on 'homosexual' sodomy? It sounds like sodomy doesn't bother them at all, just the homosexuals. Can we just drop the footstamping about homosexuality?" Meanwhile, Yeah, Right, Whatever comments: "I can't say that I disagree with what I've heard so far. What concerns me is that some of the speakers are speaking in such a strong religious manner that they may turn off some of the less fervent among us."
• Nashville's own Bill Hobbs quotes from the songs: "At first glance, the chorus reads as if it's a call for some kind of imposed theocracy, but it's not -- it's a recognition that even those in the highest seats of power in government are, ultimately, not God." Like Morrissey, he keeps his live-blogging within a single post. So does Joe Carter at Evangelical Outpost
• TN-based liberal Jackson Miller comments, "after hearing the same fear-mongering over and over again for over an hour, I have realized there is no substance here tonight. ... While I attempted to come here today without any pre-conceived ideas, I am going to have to stand by my earlier assertion that the intention of Justice Sunday II is to co-opt Jesus and Christianity for the political goals of the Extreme Right." Nevertheless, he thanks Yoest for arranging for him to attend. Red State Rant's Lance McMurray says thanks as well, and tips his hat to his fellow JSII bloggers.
• Alarming News' Karol Sheinen misses having ex-Sen. Zell Miller in public office. Trey Jackson posts photos of a pro-choice protest outside the church.
• Outside the event, liberal Tennessee Guerilla Women reports: "I didnt catch sight of Phylis Schlafly or Tom Delay, and Ill probably sleep better for it. Media people were crawling all over the place, asking us why we were there and taking our pictures. The rightwing Redstate.org came by with camera in hand. We snapped their pictures too."
• From a further distance, moderate Ann Althouse comments on James Dobson saying "unelected judges believe they know better than the American people": "There's no detail or serious analysis of the kind that would be interesting to someone who has studied law. These are ridiculous overstatements, and I'd be embarrassed to be sitting still listening to such empty jabbering."

ROVE-PLAME-MILLER: How Do We Know For Sure Fitzgerald's People Aren't Leaking?

From journalist Murray Waas' Whatever Already blog: "What has not been previously reported until now (a blog breaks news!?), is that not only could Rove not remember the name of the journalist who purportedly might have told him of Plame's CIA employment, but he also claimed to remember virtually nothing about the circumstances of the purported conversation. He could not even recall whether the conversation took place on the phone or in person."

Meanwhile, liberal bloggers are swarming around a Waas article in the Village Voice, which reports that FBI investigators "doubted" several key points in Rove's testimony.

ThinkProgress, the blog of John Podesta's Center for American Progress, lists the "21 Administration Officials Involved in Plame Leak," starting with Rove and Libby at the top, followed by Rice and Hadley, concluding with VP Cheney and Bush. Each entry has a picture and oppo-style quotes from major news publications. The Mahablog calls it "a great Traitorgate info resource."

BLOGS VS. THE DCCC: Burton's Certain

National Journal's Beltway Blogroll quotes DCCC comm. dir. Bill Burton defending the cmte from complaints that it hasn't adopted the same "50-state strategy" supported by DNC chair Howard Dean and the liberal netroots. Burton said the DCCC has "more than 30 candidates to contest GOP-held House seats in 2006 -- 10 times more than the same point" in '03. Burton also noted that ArchPundit, Seeing the Forest, Sisyphus Shrugged and other liberal blogs are still on good terms with the DCCC.

BLOGS VS. THE MSM: That Warmongering Post

Liberal AMERICAblog's John Aravosis notices that the Washington Post will be a co-sponsor of the Pentagon's 9/11 rally/concert, as reported by Editor and Publisher: "A newspaper is cosponsoring a government propaganda rally. Lovely. How low can the Washington Post go? They got us into this war and now they're going to help keep us there. Way to go Wash Post." After a few more outraged posts on the subjects he he writes: "Enough already. It's time for the Washington Post to start acting like a real newspaper again rather than the spokesman for the Bush administration and the Iraq war." He provides contact info (including e-mail address) for Washington Post publisher Bo Jones. Lefty Atrios says he isn't so bothered by it: "Now that they've unequivocally revealed their true face, we can just treat them as they are. And, yes, there are good reporters at the Post. But, the Post as a Washington Institution is just a bootlick to Republican authority.

IRAQ: You'd Have To Ask Larry Noble

The question is posed at liberal TPM Cafe: "Is Iraq a Noble Cause?" The responses differ wildly; the 1st comment, in part: "Iraq is a noble cause, but not the way you intended the question to be read. We made a major error in invading Iraq. We violated international law and common decency in doing so. Now the noble part is doing what is necessary to atone for that." Armando at Daily Kos sees the Bush admin -- as well as conservative bloggers -- attempting to "shift the blame" for when "Baghdad becomes Saigon," as he had predicted earlier.

OHIO 02: Anti-Regulation Paranoia? These Lefty Blogs Almost Sound Like Businessmen!

Ohio 02 and Swing State Project initially bought into a rumor posted at the OH-based gossip page The Whistleblower, which claimed Rep.-elect Jean Schmidt (R) is already working on the "Bloggers Reform Act of 2006" which would include criminal penalties for "all the lies published on their blogsites." RedState's Mike Krempasky then called Schmidt's office, obtained their denial on the record (as well as their interest in starting a blog on her House site), and posts his results as debunking the claim. SSP and Ohio 02 amend their posts, the latter calling it "another typical Whistleblower scoop."

AIR AMERICA: The Times, Are They A-Changin'?

Conservative, Michelle Malkin notes the first appearance of a New York Times story about Air America's possibly illegal loans, which she is disappointed to find not on A1 but on the "NY/Region" page. She writes: "The article is a rehash of everything blogs and a sprinkling of MSM outlets have already reported. Underwhelming. Entirely expected. And wholly inadequate given the paper's massive previous coverage of Air America." Malkin later pointed out that the Times "botched" some of its reporting in the story. Macho Nachos adds: "The good news is that the Times was only behind the Arizona Republic, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, The Oregonian, the Washington Times, the Sun, the Post, the Daily News, the Opinion Journal, Investors Business Daily and about a zillion blogs (with no editors!) on this story that almost exclusively happened within the confines of New York."

MISCELLANY: If Both Sides Hate You, Are You Necessarily Doing Something Right?

• On 8/10 pollster John Zogby took heat on the left for allegedly skewing poll results to suit conservative clients; this weekend Zogby takes it from the right. PoliPundit notes that Zogby wrote in a Financial Times op-ed that Bush "and his team wanted" war with Saddam "from the time they took office," a claim D.J. Drummond calls "plainly as a pack of lies."
• Conservative PoliPundit looks at the GOV races in the West and the Pacific West. Liberal Chris Bowers provides his ranking for SEN seats the Dems will have the hardest time defending; #1 is the MN seat being vacated by Mark Dayton.
• Ex-Reagan aide Lynn Nofziger asks for prayers for GOP activist Paul Weyrich, who recently "had a nasty accident that left him crippled and in constant pain," and whose legs were to be removed by doctors last week. Like Nofziger, conservative Bizzy Blog has had differences with Weyrich, but salutes him.
• Liberal Truth Caucus, which recently posted photos of a booze-addled College GOPer event, now has "exclusive" photos of College GOPers hanging out with Reagan-era College GOP chair Jack Abramoff.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Over Construction

Riding Sun's Gaijinbiker quotes from a Globe and Mail op-ed which explains how blogs killed the "Under Construction" signs once ubiquitous on personal homepages: "The weblog format, which date-stamps every update and puts it in chronological order, understands that nothing is ever finished. Old homepages were designed to reach a state of completion, but blogs are designed to be added to, bit by bit, day by day. If a weblog comes to an end, as they sometimes will ... then something's gone amiss. The natural state of the blog is a work in progress, and that's a natural fit with its users. We don't need to put pictures of Mr. Under Construction on blogs, because he's perfectly implicit." Riding Sun's Gaijinbiker provides a link to his own outdated homepage, and adds: "I have a feeling that showing someone your old website is going to become the modern equivalent of showing them your old high school yearbook photo."

LEST WE FORGET: Weapon Of Choice

Christopher Walken is running for president in 2008?! That's what it says at Walken2008.com. The following quote, attributed to Walken, is prominently featured on the page: "Our great country is in a terrible downward spiral. We're outsourcing jobs, bankrupting social security, and losing lives at war. We need to focus on what's important-- paying attention to our children, our citizens, our future. We need to think about improving our failing educational system, making better use of our resources, and helping to promote a stable, safe, and tolerant global society. It's time to be smart about our politics. It's time to get America back on track."

However, World Net Daily suspects that it's an "elaborate hoax being perpetrated by members" of the anarchic General Mayhem message boards -- and reports that the site was registered on 8/10 by someone named Richard Strickland of Destin, FL. After Sheehan, "Christopher Walken" was the #2 search on Technorati this a.m.

°   °   °   °   °

SCOTUS SPECIAL: Topsy-Turley

What the blogs are saying about John Roberts:

RELIGION: The Turley Tapes

Washington Times reports, GWU law prof Jonathan Turley claims to have tapes proving that his Los Angeles Times report was correct -- to wit, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) asked Roberts about whether religion would interfere with his decisions (see Blogometers for 7/26 and 7/27). Durbin had denied being the source and denied asking the question; ex-Sen. Fred Thompson (R), Roberts' "sherpa," disputed Durbin's assertions. Now Durbin has revised his statements.

Conservative Betsy Newmark: "It appears that the first lie was the way Durbin said the conversation with Roberts went in the first place. Durbin apparently lied to Turley at first by saying that Roberts said he would recuse himself from any decision that conflicted with his religion. But the people who were from Roberts' side deny that is what he said. And it would have been a big story if it had been true. But it wasn't and Durbin himself denied that that was what Roberts said when the story broke." More Newmark: "I predict that no other news sources than those with a conservative bias like the Washington Times or Fox News will revisit the story. We'll see if the L.A. Times does since theirs was the paper in which Turley's column first appeared."

Conservative Hugh Hewitt: "Professor Turley is no conservative, but a very reputable law prof and usually a pretty sharp talking head as well. I beleive him, and so should you." In a header, Power Line calls Durbin "The Cowardly Liar."

GROUPS I: Neocon, Paleocon, Silicone

At Bench Memos, NRO's Jonathan Adler acquits Roberts of being unconservative for having done moot court work on bealf of Playboy Enterprises, which Human Events Online reports has caused some consernation, such as from conservatve gadfly Eugene Delgaudio, who "says conservatives should be 'outraged'." Adler reminds readers: "One of the basic underlying values of our legal system is that all parties merit zealous representation, and it is improper to presume that he supported the position of those he helped represent." Commenters at GOP-leaning Confirm Them note that in the case at hand, Justice Thomas agreed with Playboy (which won its case) while Justice Breyer dissented.

GROUPS II: NARAL The Trouble In The World

Fox News reports that NARAL's comm. dir. has resigned over the ad flap. Conservative Tiger Hawk comments: "I find it hard to believe that NARAL's communication director would quit in the teeth of a nomination battle without having been pushed out. It is a virtual certainty that NARAL gave him an incentive to leave, and perhaps an ultimatum."

At its blog, Bush v. Choice, NARAL states that it "stands behind the original ad, but when people and talking about an organization when they should be talking about a potential lifetime appointment something's gotta give. It's just too bad that people need a reminder like this to focus on what's really important."

Posted by at 12:44 PM

August 11, 2005

8/11: Who You Gonna BlogCall?

Note: Because The Hotline is publishing four days per week in August, the next edition of the Blogometer will be posted on Monday, August 15.

Web readers: To go directly to the SCOTUS coverage click here.

Last p.m. the Blogometer listened in on a conf. call for bloggers -- termed a "BlogCall" by organizer Joe Trippi -- featuring Cindy Sheehan, the anti-war activist/mother of a soldier killed in Iraq. The call featured short statements by Trippi himself and co-organizer Bob Fertik. Trippi used his time to promote the website MeetWithCindy.org. Fertik noted that Sheehan has "been on this crusade for a year now," testifying at Rep. John Conyers' (D-MI) recent Downing Street Memo hearings.

Sheehan then gave a brief statement, thanking the bloggers on the call for getting the word out -- when the Secret Service "intimidated" her outside Pres. Bush's Crawford ranch, she said, it was the blogs who got the word out. Sheehan: "Thank God for the Internet and the blogosphere or we wouldn't know anything, and this would be a fascist state." Sheehan added: "One person can't make a difference, but one person with millions of people behind her can." Later in the call, however, she did admit, "I still don't know really understand what they [blogs] are."

At one point during the call, Fertik noted "hostile forces" in the MSM working against her, likely a reference to FNC's Bill O'Reilly, whom Sheehan said had lied about her. Salon blogwatcher Peter Daou later noted that the MSM would bury this story as best it could. Sheehan concurred, stating that of 4 interviews she had scheduled with MSNBC, 2 were canceled and 2 simply never took place. Sheehan: "They don't want it to be the story."

Questions came from About.com's Deborah White, bloggers from Crooks and Liars, Seeing The Forest, Arctic Beacon -- the site which pushed the dubious "Bush Indictment" story to the top of Technorati (see 8/10 Blogometer) -- and others. At one point, Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) came on the line; she and Sheehan related like old friends, declaring their love and support for each other. In fact, at times it seemed less a conf. call and more a party-line support group. Although the debate about whether what bloggers do should be called journalism will continue, it does seem that the neologism "blogcall" does indeed describe a different event than a traditional reporters' conf. call.

In today's edition, we follow the latest developments in the CIA leak investigation, the strange tale of "Able Danger," a new memo on the progressive blogosphere written by bloggers for Beltway consumption. Plus, we debut a new recurring feature, describing the various online communities which bloggers have created for themselves. To jump straight to that, click here.

TRACKBACKS: Swarm Feelings

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

• "Cindy Sheehan" is the #1 search on Technorati this a.m.
  
  

  >> For regular updates on various stories related to Sheehan's endeavors, liberal Ramblings from My Mind has been posting seemingly around the clock -- to MSM stories, advocacy groups and independent bloggers. Crooks and Liars has plenty, too. An interview should be posted sometime today. Think Progress hosts the audio of Sheehan's appearance on Bill Press' radio show.
  

  >> News Hounds, which participated in the blogcall noted above, tells it from her perspective. Others who blogged it are Democracy Cell Project Blog, and Philly Future, and the Daou Report, which raises the same Aruba dilemma (liberal blog swarms still can't compete with round-the-clock coverage of stories like the disappearance Natalee Holloway) as he did on the call.
  

  >> In a diary for Daily Kos reports that an "anti-Cindy" rally sponsored by local conservative radio stations had either been canceled or moved. Also, as of last p.m., this particular diary entry had raised $1.4K to assist Sheehan's cause. Additionally, CNN's Anderson Cooper was originally going to have Sheehan on "360" but "chickened out" before it took place.
  

  >> Congressional Quarterly's Craig Crawford, at the Huffington Post: "This could be a perfect storm for a media frenzy, the political world's answer to the Aruba chase. A mother mourns the loss of a child and demands answers from the government. But unlike the poor mother of the girl missing in Aruba, the mother now living in a tent in Texas is at the center of a truly meaningful debate." He points out that Sheehan's story is getting attention, primarily from newspaper columnists across the nation.

ROVE-PLAME-MILLER: Pincus And The Brain

Walter Pincus' latest Washington Post report on the CIA leak investigation raises eyebrows. While the article's hook is primarily that prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald is looking closely at how ex-Amb. Joe Wilson got the assignment to visit Niger -- the CIA and WH tell different stories -- a number of liberal bloggers try to read Pincus' hints, all the more intriguing because Pincus ends up having to report on his own previous reporting.

Liberal Needlenose: "Who cares if Karl Rove, Lewis Libby, and whoever else may have blabbed about Joe Wilson's wife all told a version of events that the CIA denies? Pincus coyly explains," of the 2 sources which "'appear to support the view'" that Valerie Plame suggested Wilson, the 2nd of them -- a Senate Intel Cmte GOPers' statement -- "'depends in good part on'" the 1st, the State Dept's INR memo. Needlenose: "In other words, in the course of an apparent inquiry into who sent Joseph Wilson to Niger, Pincus seems to "accidentally" stumble onto the discovery that the only document backing up the White House/Republican viewpoint is ... the State Department memo. You know, the same classified State Department memo that would get Karl Rove and Lewis Libby in deep trouble if it was shown to be their source of information about Valerie Plame Wilson." Rising Hegemon: "But importantly that version of events was given to [Bob] Novak, Matt Cooper and Pincus himself, most certainly from Rove and Libby. The State Department memo had information on Valerie Plame's status with the CIA. If Rove and Libby knew of that State Department Memo in advance, they are in some serious shit."

For Daily Kos' Armando, this backs up the notion that jailed Times reporter Judy Miller "may have been given the memo for her review by Lewis Libby. And that is why her testimony is critical to the investigation."

AMERICAblog, on the agreement between the WH, State Dept. and Senate GOPers: "Interesting. Are we looking at a conspiracy here?"

9/11: What Did They Know And When Did They ... Sorry, That Cliché Goes With The Above Item

Conservatives Ed Morrissey and Tom Maguire ponder new reports from the New York Times' Doug Jehl about "Able Danger" -- a Pentagon data mining project which supposedly identified Mohammed Atta and other 9/11 hijackers as al Qaedists in '00. The 8/11 report says the 9/11 Commis. was notified of the program 10 days before it issued its report; on 8/10 Jehl and cowriter Philip Shenon had quoted Commish John Lehman as saying they were unaware of its existence.

Noting that the 9/11 Commis. didn't mention Able Danger in their final report, Morrissey argues, they "ignored those facts which did not fit within its predetermined conclusions ... even though [Able Danger] absolutely refuted the notion that the government had no awareness that Atta constituted a terrorist threat." Maguire writes that Rep. Curt Weldon's (R-PA) claims look better in light of new reporting. He adds, "a point to ponder -- was Atta noted ... as a key Al Qaeda figure even in 2001, or was he just one name among fifty, or five hundred? I suspect that Congressional hearings into this will be forthcoming."

Early this a.m., Morrissey updates, re: the 8/11 story: "Interestingly, the New York Times changed its headline overnight from '9/11 Commission's Staff Ignored Military's Early Identification of Chief Hijacker' to '9/11 Commission's Staff Rejected Report on Early Identification of Chief Hijacker'. Nothing else changed in the story except the headline. Did the Times feel uncomfortable with the clearly accurate first headline and want to attract less attention in the blogosphere?"

Liberal War and Piece's Laura Rozen writes: "I was at a talk Weldon gave at the Heritage foundation back in 2002, where he was making the same claim and showing the same chart of the al Qaeda cells. ... I even went up afterwards and asked if it would be possible to get a copy of the chart that accompanied his talk and that he's been showing recently, but it proved elusive. So why is this coming forward in a more prominent way only now?" The link goes to a Real Video version of Weldon's address; the relevant portions are at minutes 24, 31, and 33:30.

Kevin Drum writes that he was recently sent a link to a report on Able Danger in the latest Government Security News, but initially passed when he noticed Weldon was the key source. However, the story is more detailed than the Times reports. Drum wants to hear from Commis. Exec. Dir. Philip Zelikow, but for now guesses "that Weldon and his source may be considerably embroidering the scope and reliability of what the Able Danger team actually uncovered ... as people are often wont to do after the fact.

Going on the 8/10 story, Mickey Kaus suggests that the Times is "asymptotically approaching the truth, bloggy-style, by publicizing an uncertain story and initiating what is in effect a dialogue with those who have additional, clarifying information to offer..."

Ranting Profs notes, the Times makes "no effort made at all to make it clear that this happened during the Clinton administration, but more damning, there is no effort made to explain that" Able Danger's info wasn't shared because of the "wall" between intel agencies. Baldilocks: "Are the agencies working in concert now to help decrease the likelihood of another attack? I pray so."

REPUBLICANS: ANWR Doing This Why?

Hugh Hewitt calls it "astonishing" that so many House GOPers oppose including ANWR in a budget procedure, and warns what will happen if "the GOP does not deliver on new oil exploration in a time of $60 a barrel oil": "I doubt the Speaker will be swayed, but if this measure fails in the House, it will be an invitation to the base -- every bit as compelling as the failure to confirm [John] Roberts would be in the Senate -- to sit out '06."

BLOGS VS. THE DCCC: Oh Come On, Emanuel ...

Liberal Swing State Project's Bob Brigham -- who since the OH 02 vote has been vocal in his criticism of the DCCC's hesitancy to compete in non-swing CDs -- writes of a conf. call with DCCC chair Rahm Emanuel (D-IL), he has "never left" a conf. call feeling "so uninspired ... First, the DCCC screwed up the format of the call so that it was one directional. The blogosphere by nature is a fan of communicating-with instead of talking-at. Then Congressman Emanuel actually went out of his way to blab about the one-directional nature being a good thing and then talked about wanting more of it." More: "I'm holding out hope for Emanuel. ... But nothing leads me to believe that the DCCC realizes the importance of investing early and running full campaigns. Everything still seems based on the last two weeks and 30 second ads."

Daily Kos' Markos Moulitsas writes, "campaigns have learned the wrong lesson about the [Paul] Hackett surprise, with a bunch of campaigns asking to 1) meet with me, and 2) help them raise money. That's a double insult." He writes, "I'm not a gatekeeper. I don't decide who is "in" and who is "out". All these campaigns profess love for the netroots, yet none of them seem to be doing anything more to "reach out" to the netroots than sending me an email." More: "And just as importantly, the netroots is not an ATM. It's a message and activist machine. You do everything right, there's some money. But if you start sniffing around the blogs expecting to see dollar signs you're going to be sorely disappointed."

Liberal Matt Yglesias, at TAPPED: "[T]hanks to Howard Dean, Paul Hackett, Brian Schweitzer, and others it seems to me that more and more liberals are ready to hop onto the gun-toting progressive bandwagon. ... Riding support for gun rights to a rapprochement with elements of the white working class strikes me as obviously the correct move for Democrats to be making."

NETROOTS: Have The Potential To Help, But Still Dangerous -- You Know, Like Guns

NDN's New Politics Institute -- which aims to help Dems work with the left-leaning blogosphere more effectively -- releases a memo penned by MyDD's Chris Bowers and BOPnews' Matt Stoller, titled "The Emergence of the Progressive Blogosphere." The memo describes the growth of blogs and of their influence, the differences between the liberal and conservative halves, and advises campaigns on how to best make use of political blogs.

The advice supports the recent trend of including non-supporters in blog-related events, such as Tim Kaine's GOV campaign, and the FRC's efforts with Justice Sunday II (see 8/10 Blogometer) "Link to interesting blog posts from your web site/blog; make sure you link to a few posts that disagree with you. This will lend your online presence more credibility. Listen and respond to criticism. These are your friends and often not that experienced in politics -- treat them like they are here to learn, not like they are cynical, hard-boiled reporters." Along the same lines, Bowers and Stoller note that even like-minded bloggers can't be expected to toe an official line when the facts don't support it. They advise: "It is important to remember at all times that bloggers are both campaign activists, and a sort of journalist. ... Treat bloggers like friends and allies, but also realize you are on the record."

The full PDF version includes an Appendixed directory for the top 100 liberal blogs by traffic, which is very much incomplete, sometimes omitting contact names for well-known blog authors (such as non-anonymous bloggers at Daily Kos and Swing State Project. It also assigns category names to blogs, such as Community, Commentary, and News Site, which are all self-explanatory. Yet it also includes a category as Magazine, which we're pretty sure doesn't refer to the recent FEC-spurred fad for jokingly renaming blogs "online magazines." Unfortunately, there is no methodology to explain this. There is also a complementary list of top conservative blogs, albeit with less detail provided.

Lefty economist Max Sawicky comments this a.m. that he thinks Bowers' and Stoller's NDN's Sitemeter records are off, writing, "if I took the Sitemeter numbers seriously I'd be well-advised to find another pastime." On the same note, Bowers wrote about the memo at MyDD and had to add this update: "Just got an email from Democratic Underground. Turns out their weekly page views are actually around 7,000,000 -- bigger than Daily Kos. Holy Crap. Much bigger than I thought. I wonder what Free Republic is. "

SENATE '06: We're Not Above Instant Clichés Here -- Ahem ... Can He Hackett?

In light of his "fatass drug addict" remark (see 8/10 Blogometer) TNR's &c. asks whether "neophyte" Paul Hackett has what it takes: "[O]ne wonders whether Hackett's sharp tongue could lead to a gaffe-fest during a far longer and harder statewide campaign." More: "Hackett blew off some campaign opportunities in the race's final hours ... and grew openly hostile towards the media." If Hackett wants to challenge Sen. Mike DeWine (R) in '06, Dems "should make sure he's clear about what he's getting into."

DeWine is #1 on MyDD's latest target list of vulnerable Senate GOPers, followed by Rick Santorum (PA), Lincoln Chafee (RI), Jim Talent (MO), Conrad Burns (MT), Jon Kyl (AZ), Bill Frist's open TN seat, and John Ensign (NV).

AIR AMERICA: Franken's Monster

Michelle Malkin keeps the ball rolling re: the "Air America Scandal" -- the phrase is on a GIF icon she and other bloggers use with each related post -- by noting stories from the New York Post and New York Daily News. The 2 papers report on a shake-up at the Girls & Boys Club which had curiously laned $875K to the radio network. She also links to several other bloggers closely tracking developments.

Radio Equalizer's Brian Maloney quotes Al Franken commenting on-air about the issue: "And he uh, borrowed (laughter) $875,000 from, I don't know why they did it, and I don't know where the money went, I don't know if it was used for operations (softer, faster), which I imagine it was." Maloney: "Care to elaborate on this, Mr. Franken? That's a big point to bury in your public statement. ... Don't you feel you've a moral obligation to get to the bottom of this, Mr. Franken? Why not be above-board, rather than misleading and evasive?"

INTRODUCING: Real Ultimate Power Line

Power Line's John Hinderaker announces: "There are lots of places to go for breaking news, but until now, to our knowledge, there hasn't been a place where you could go for the latest wire service stories, web-based commentary, and other news sources. So we created one": Power Line News, which is "intended to be the ultimate resource for news junkies. You can check out breaking news stories, see how the stock market is doing, and pick up the latest in blog-based political commentary via RSS feeds from top political sites." Power Line News features a world map underneath the title banner; when one rolls the mouse over continents/regions/major countries a pop-up window displays links to major papers from that area. Below are 2 columns -- the left is devoted to an AP newswire, features RSS feeds for Power Line, Michelle Malkin, Hugh Hewitt, PoliPundit and Captain's Quarters.

MISCELLANY: What's So Funny?

• Responding to Mithras' complaint, noted in this space on 8/10, that there are no funny conservative bloggers, IMAO's Frank J. explains why Mithras doesn't think conservatives are funny: "KEY HUMOR ASPECT NUMBER ONE: Humor involves shared, unsaid beliefs between who tells joke and who hears it." Brainster agrees: "Just as people who are likely to find the endless twists and turns of Plamegate fascinating are also mostly the ones who hollered 'Whitewater? Boooorrrrinnnng!'"
• As of 8/10 Technorati's David Sifry is up to part 5 of his "State of the Blogosphere" report (see 8/3 Blogometer). He posts a bar chart as comparing popularity "as a function of links" among blogs and the MSM. New York Times, Washington Post and Yahoo! News handily lead all other U.S. news sites; the top blog is cool-stuff compendium Boing Boing, which is bigger than USA Today, FoxNews.com, and a few others. Daily Kos and Instapundit, the only 2 political weblogs in the list, trail Salon and MTV.com but lead the Los Angeles Times, Slate and NRO. At his Part 4 concerns "spam blogs" and "fake blogs."
• CJR Daily interviews Abbi Tatton and Jacki Schechner, CNN's "Inside the Blogs" reporters.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: The Modern Era Of Ticket-Splitting

Vanity Fair's James Wolcott tells left-leaning hawks, "by subscribing to Bush's War on Terror and the invasion of Iraq with every corpuscle of your tired body you've made common cause with Republican conservatives, neoconservatives, and Christian fundamentalists who are dedicated to destroying those parcels of liberalism on which you stake your tiny claims of pride..." At Instapundit, left-leaning hawk Michael Totten says he voted for a GOP WH and a Dem Congress, adding: "Politics isn't binary, James. It's not a war between the white hats and the black hats -- or the blue hats and the red hats for that matter. ... If you're a liberal I suppose the choice is an easy one. Some of us non-liberals see nuance and shades of gray"

LEST WE FORGET: Sports Guys Vote, Too

Page 2's Bill Simmons: "What will we see? That's easy -- a female president. If you don't think Hillary Clinton will be running the country in four years, you're crazy. Ever been stuck in a room full of women when they decide on something ridiculous like "Andie McDowell has been the most beautiful woman in Hollywood for the past 15 years" and they will absolutely stick together until the death when you're posing counterarguments? Well, I think that's how the 2008 election is going to unfold -- Hillary is going to be Andie McDowell-ed right into the presidency. If she becomes president, that means any woman can become president. It's too important not to vote for her. So they'll vote for her." Conservative Vox Popoli: "The amazing thing about Simmons is that his uniquely convoluted reasoning leads him to the correct conclusion far more often than not, as long as the Celtics and Red Sox aren't involved."

°   °   °   °   °

SPECIAL: In Turnaround

What the blogosphere is saying about Pres. Bush's pick of John Roberts for the SCOTUS:

Washington Monthly's Kevin Drum rewrites the NARAL ad to make it less "outrageous" and more effective. He changes it so that it is clear Roberts' briefs were filed well before the clinic bombing referenced in the ad, and changes the middle section to say: "John Roberts was just doing his job: he was defending conservative ideology for the first Bush administration. But conservative ideology has real world consequences."

NRO's Stephen Spruiell reports that NARAL was behind the rumor that FNC would air their ad: "I just got in touch with Dan Balz, who wrote the Washington Post report that Fox News along with CNN would be running an ad from NARAL falsely accusing John Roberts of harboring sympathies for abortion-clinic bombers. As I mentioned in an update to the post below, FNC told me that NARAL 'actually never approached us for a buy.' Balz confirmed that he got the bum information from NARAL and that the Post will run a correction, and good for them. Now. Will CNN announce that it reported incorrectly that Fox News would also be running the ads? Or will it continue to pass on NARAL's lies about its lying ad?"

ROE V. WADE: Let's Get Contrarian

CAP's Supreme Court Extra has been surprisingly quiet over the past week, but now returns with a post arguing that the possible "overruling" of Roe v. Wade is not the key issue, "but whether it will be emptied of its substance through a series of incremental cutbacks."

Bench Memos' Gerard Bradley disagrees with the notion that the SCOTUS's current balance should be kept: "Should Lincoln have sought to keep the Court delicately divided between those who thought that Dred Scott was rightly decided -- and those who didn't? ... Do not the calls for 'centrist,' 'mainstream,' and 'moderate' views in a nominee -- all to "balance" the Court -- imply that, to constitutional questions at last, there are no right answers?"

°   °   °   °   °

COMMUNITIES: In The Company Of Blogs

As people tend to self-segregate in the offline world, so do people who spend a lot of their time online find, join or create affinity groups. While the larger world has buttons, apparel and bumper stickers, the blogosphere has buttons, badges, icons and flags advertising one's interests, origins and beliefs. Today we begin what we expect to be a weekly series focusing on the associations that bloggers have created for themselves.

We thought a good way to get started would be to ask someone who has already been following the phenomenon closely: N.Z. Bear (not his real name) who for several years has maintained a popular blog-ranking website, The Truth Laid Bear, or TTLB. In mid-June, Mr. Bear revamped TTLB, introducing a Communities page to keep track of the various alliances, brotherhoods and sisterhoods that have formed. He was generous enough to oblige, and explain the TTLB Ecosystem and how it led to the creation of his Communities page:

"TTLB is most widely known for the Blogosphere Ecosystem, which ranks blogs according to the links they receive from other blogs. The Ecosystem has existed in its current form for over two years (and was originally born in a more primitive and manually-generated state way back in June 2002), and has proven to be tremendously -- perhaps even obsessively -- popular. But the Ecosystem suffers from a weakness: it views the blogosphere as an undifferentiated mass, providing a single, hierarchical listing across every single weblog it tracks. Which is fun for bloggers who want to know where they stand in the blogosphere-wide popularity contest -- but not all that useful for blog readers looking to find the particular blogs that are covering subjects they are interested in.

"My new Communities feature fills this gap by providing individual pages dedicated to sub-groups of bloggers. Each community page shows the most recent and most popular posts by member blogs, as well as an Ecosystem-like ranking that shows the relative popularity of blogs within the community. Some communities are informal ones grouped by factors like nationality -- such as Iraqi
or United Kingdom blogs. Others are more organized collectives where bloggers consciously banded together around common interests -- such as The Cotillion (conservative women) or the Life, Liberty and Property community (libertarian/anarchist/minarchist bloggers).

"The existing community pages at TTLB are a mix of groups I reached out to prior to the launch of the Community function in June, and groups that have requested inclusion on their own. And more are being added all the time."

To give you a better idea of what he is talking about, below we have partially reproduced the TTLB Communities page as it looked as of this a.m. Some groups N.Z. explained above, others are self-explanatory, and others we'll get to eventually:

Community Name                    Members     Recent Posts
Gossip, Celebrities & Fashion         8            66
Raging RINOs                         74           306
The Academy                          24           124
The Conservative Brotherhood         16            42
The Cotillion                        49           106
The Axis of Naughty                  23            43
The Liberal Coalition                33            47
The Wide Awakes                      42            68
Life, Liberty, Property              55           136
The Big Brass Alliance              282           759
Milblogs                            202           203
Canadian Blogs	                    409           553
Blogdom of God	                   4521          2197
United Kingdom Bloggers            3240           690
The Alliance of Free Blogs          405           770
Humor & Satire                       43           105
Iranian Bloggers                     32            21
Iraqi Bloggers                       35            13
Gunbloggers                          88           120
Education Blogs                      22            26
The Blogging Tories                 116           146
Munuvians                           167           223
College Football Blogs               54            51

Over coming weeks and months, the Blogometer will tell the stories behind many of the communities TTLB tracks, and plenty that it currently does not (if yours is not, you can e-mail him here). We'll explore how these communities came together, what they mean to the bloggers who participate, and what enduring significance they may have. For the veteran blog reader, it should be an occasion to revisit old times. For the newcomer, this should be a useful way to get acquainted with the personalities and predicaments of the blogosphere that has gone before.

Posted by at 12:52 PM

August 10, 2005

8/10: Infinite Justice

Note for web readers: To go directly to the SCOTUS coverage (or what there is of it) click here.

In today's edition, we also have a new installment of our Political Money Blog report. Click on the link to skip to that.

As we reported yesterday, the Family Research Council approached media blogger Jeff Jarvis about attending and writing about the Justice Sunday II in Nashville this weekend and paying his travel expenses. Amused that they would ask someone so often critical of the religious right and concerned that FRC was trying to buy publicity, he declined.

We wondered if he wasn't alone in receiving the offer, and what the story behind the financial assistance was, and so we talked with Charmaine Yoest, a part-time fellow with the FRC who has spearheaded the blogger outreach, and who blogs herself at Reasoned Audacity. Yoest explained the inspiration for the invitations stemmed from her experience as one of several U.S. bloggers flown to Edinburgh by billionaire Richard Branson to meet with Bob Geldof and blog the events surrounding the Live8 concert. She found it a "fantastic model" for starting a blogosphere-wide discussion on Live8's goals, and FRC agreed to duplicate it for their 2nd Justice Sunday event.

Among the bloggers headed to Nashville are Ed Morrissey of Captain's Quarters, Beth Woodson of Yeah Right Whatever Atlanta-based Trey Jackson, Joe Carter of Evangelical Outpost. Some are driving in, and others live in the area, such as Bill Hobbs. When we talked to her last p.m., there were a total of 9 signed up, with a few others unconfirmed. As of early this a.m. Yoest has a new post up, explaining some of these details which were not in her initial mention of it.

Yoest disagreed particularly with Jarvis' description of the trip as a "junket," pointing out that this was the only way that most bloggers could attend and stressing the fact that they are paying only for coach fare, a hotel across the street from the church, plus snacks and wireless access. What about the issue of paying for publicity? Yoest endorses the idea that disclosure is the best way to keep it honest. In fact, "Captain Ed" already has a post about the controversy, disclosing the airfare he will be accepting.

Back at Jarvis' blog, some commenters encourage him to go ahead and take the trip. And Hobbs wrote there as well: "I'm going to live-blog the event partly because, well, I'm a political conservative, but also as an exercise in instant online journalism. There is supposed to be a counter-protest with Barry Lynn, etc., and if it materializes outside the church, I plan to report on it as well, via photographs, audio interviews and of course text on the blog."

The fact that the bloggers listed above are all conservatives was something she was "disappointed about." Yoest told us she approached several bloggers of a secular or liberal bent, including Barbara O'Brien of The Mahablog, Jeralyn Merritt of TalkLeft and Univ. of Madison-WI prof Ann Althouse. The bloggers mentioned showed interest, but ultimately had to decline due to scheduling conflicts. FRC's outreach is similar to a recent move by the camp of VA GOV candidate Tim Kaine (D) to invite conservative bloggers to participate in its conf. calls. If information on the Internet wants to be free, perhaps access in the blogosphere wants to be bipartisan.

9/11: Enemy Mine

Doug Jehl reports in the 8/9 New York Times that, according to Rep. Curt Weldon (R-PA) and an unnamed official, the CIA used data mining to identify 4 of the eventual 9/11 hijackers living in Brooklyn in 2000. Reactions reached critical mass last p.m., and so we address it here today. Slate's Eric Umansky approaches it skeptically: "So, what we have in the NYT are allegations by a congressman known to make wildly dubious claims, and one former defense official who backs up the congressman but for some reason declines to put his good name to the ... facts."

Captain's Quarters' Ed Morrissey notes that nothing was done with the info: "The reason for the inability to share information with the FBI, information that might have led them to 'connect the dots', in the parlance of the 9/11 Commission, was the wall between intelligence and law-enforcement operations constructed in large part by the Clinton Administration."

JustOneMinute's Tom Maguire senses "robust skepticism leaking though the ink," adding: "Dare I guess as to what is going on? Well, the Times had to know this was pretty weak soup, but they front-paged it anyway. Maybe they figure they will go with what they have, and see if they can shake something loose."

Mickey Kaus is amused by the fact that the New York Times' ed. board opposes data-mining, such as the library book access made possible via the PATRIOT Act. He adds: "It's been obvious for a while that we're going to match the terrorists in the cyberspace race we'll have to give up some of our privacy. Letting a government supercomputer scan my credit card receipts and Amazon searches seems a relatively inoffensive place to start." Intel Dump's Phil Carter agrees that the "potential promise outweighs the risk," but expresses more skepticism about the article.

Captain's Quarters contributor Dafydd Ab Hugh lists the assumptions and conclusions Umansky follows to discredit Weldon's claims in favor of the CIA version. Hugh adds: "But then again, I'm not a member of an intelligence organization that is desperately trying to convince the world that it's not utterly incompetent."

DELAY/ABRAMOFF: Is This Bubbling Back Up?

Yesterday MT GOPers object to the MT Dems' anti-Sen. Conrad Burns (R) ads on the ground that they claim disgraced GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff gave money to Burns' re-election campaign, but at TNR's &c., Michael Crowley points out that Abramoff did in fact contribute to Burns' PAC, and he argues that "Abramoff gave his tribal clients highly specific instructions about how to distribute their political dollars, and that he watched over these donations carefully. ... In other words, these donations were obviously Abramoff's handiwork."

At TPM Cafe, Yale Daily News' Josh Eidelson writes: "It can get confusing keeping track of the colorful cast of characters connecting" House Maj. Leader Tom Delay with Abramoff. "So here are my nominations for Jack Abramoff's top six associates of questionable repute": ex-DeLay CoS Edwin Buckham, ex-ARMPAC dir. Karl Gallant, ATR's Grover Norquist, GOP operative Ralph Reed, ex-DeLay General Counsel Tony Rudy and ex-DeLay spokesperson Michael Scanlon.

DEMOCRATS: Wannabe Like Paul

Washington Monthly's Kevin Drum lists 10 possible explanations for "what the hell is wrong with Democrats these days," and asks readers to vote. There are 150+ responses in the comments.

Swing State Project catches OH 02 Dem nominee Paul Hackett on a radio show calling Rush Limbaugh a "fatass drug addict," and is most pleased: "Dayumn!" AMERICAblog: "One reason people love Paul Hackett is because he is fearless. He should give lessons to other Democrats on how to have a spine and how to fight back." Audio available at MyDD.

ROVE-PLAME-MILLER: Proof That This One Is Dead And Buried?

For some strange reason, the phrase "Bush Indictment" has been one of the top searches at the blog search engine Technorati, and when we last looked it was indeed the #1 hit. Follow it long enough, and you'll end up at a left-wing website called Arctic Beacon, and to this page in particular, alleging that special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has already handed down indictments in his CIA leak investigation. Some suspect a "Google bomb" -- efforts to deceive Google's ranking algorithm -- aimed at Technorati was initially responsible for artificially increasing its popularity. Whatever the reason, by now it has snowballed and many of the top posts mention first that they saw it on Technorati. Suffice to say the story is false, and the more reputable, highly-trafficked blogs the Blogometer tends to follow have made little or no mention of the story. However, a number of left-of-center bloggers, such as low-traffic blogs Food for the Brain and Blanton's and Ashton's simply like having the phrase out there, so they pass it along.

IRAQ: We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Arrested Without Our Families

Later this p.m. anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan, mother of a G.I. killed in Iraq, will appear on a "BlogCall" -- i.e., conf. call -- organized by Dem consultant Joe Trippi, Democrats.com's Bob Fertik and CodePink activist Jodie Evans. At his blog, Trippi writes: "I just got off of the phone with Jodie Evans, who is with Cindy in Crawford right now. They had 3 and a half inches of rain last night. The camp is flooded, all of their supplies are soaked. Even worse, Cindy is running a fever and has a sore throat." Righty Michelle Malkin promotes the term "grief pimps" to describe those pushing Sheehan's story in the media, and collects conservative reaction. There is considerable sympathy for Sheehan, but more than one imagines that her son would not approve of his mother's activism. For Malkin's commentary on the case, lefty Duncan Black deems her "quite possibly ... America's Worst American."

Liberal Middle East scholar Juan Cole comes under fire once again for suggesting that slain journalist Steven Vincent is largely responsible for his own death on account of his reported romantic relationship with his Iraqi translator. Cole: "Vincent did not know anything serious about Middle Eastern culture and was aggressive about criticizing what he could see of it on the surface, and ... he was acting in an extremely dangerous manner." Critic Martin Kramer responds: "What reeks of bad taste is Cole's superior dismissal of Vincent, as if his death somehow proves his ignorance. Point of fact: you can know everything "serious" about Middle Eastern culture and never criticize it even in the mildest way, and still get yourself killed by fanatics." Jeff Jarvis piles on: "Well, how about his murderers didn't know anything serious about civilized culture and they were behaving in a way that should bring your condemnation?"

At TPM Cafe, Hoover fellow Larry Diamond wants to know why the MSM has not "challenged" the Bush admin. on the subject of keeping permanent bases in Iraq.

BLOGGERS VS. BLOGGERS: For The Record, That Is Not The Correct Usage Of The Word "Taxonomy"

Over the past weekend, and previously missed by the Blogometer, Right Wing Nut House assembled its own "Moonbat Blog Taxonomy," ranking the blogs by their "Reality Quotient." Political Animal's Kevin Drum and TalkLeft's Jeralyn Merritt fare the best; Daily Kos and Democratic Underground message board fare the worst. Continuing the same left-right "taxonomy" scuffle, Fables of the Reconstruction decides the conservative blogosphere is lacking humor.

Since the weekend, NRO contributors have been debating issues surrounding when life begins at The Corner. We didn't go back to he beginning, but starthere with a post by Robert P. George, and scroll up -- look for comments by John Podhoretz, John Hood, Peter Robinson, Iain Murray and Ramesh Ponnuru. As one might expect, someone eventually mentions Star Trek.

MISCELLANY: You Get What You Pay For

• Weblogs, Inc. owner Jason Calacanis doesn't believe the just-released ComScore (PDF) study on blog traffic (see 8/9 Blogometer). Among other survey claims he doesn't buy, Gawker and Fleshbot (not safe for work), 2 blogs owned by Calacanis rival Nick Denton get more traffic than long-running techie message board Slashdot, but Calacanis shows this doesn't match up with traffic results as measured by Amazon's Alexa. Young Manhattanite, like Calacanis in a subsequent post, wants to know more about how ComScore does business.
• Syndicated advice columnist/The Stranger editor Dan Savage is guest-blogging for Andrew Sullivan this week.
• Liberals and a few secular conservatives are hostile to an 8/9 USA Today op-ed criticizing the theory of evolution. Crooks and Liars has a round-up.
• At TAPPED, Robert Kuttner points out that some of the data for John Zogby's 8/9 Wall Street Journal op-ed criticizing the labor movement was funded by the conservative Bradley foundation. He writes, they "certainly got their money's worth -- not just a poll emphasizing the negative, but an impartial-sounding op-ed with a market value of several tens of thousands of dollars if it were sold as ad space."

POLITICAL MONEY BLOG: The Balance Of The Force

On 8/8 the BlogAds company, which sells vertically oriented advertising on many of the top weblogs, debuted its conservative blog advertising network, identified by the button icon displayed on member sites, sometimes as Buy the Right Ads. The network finally joins its liberal counterpart, launched in early may, known by its equivalent button, Advertise Liberally.

The networks make it easier for advertisers to know what it is getting from its ad buy. Would they know AMERICAblog is run by a staunch liberal? What on earth do you make of something calling itself BeldarBlog? These networks save advertisers the trouble of extensive research into a particular blog's topical focus and readership. BlogAds founder/president Henry Copeland has already done this for them.

These are only two among thirtysomething other "MiniNetworks" that BlogAds provides to readers. Other politically-relevant ones include Republican Women, Evangelical Bloggers, and a non-partisan Political Insider network). However, they are also among the largest. The liberal network currently includes 72 participating blogs with a total readership of 12.4M readers -- or impressions, in adspeak -- per week, making it the biggest by far. Likewise, the conservative network is still in its first week but is already number three overall with 35 blogs and 2.4M readers per week. The difference in overall traffic is reflected in the pricing, as you can see in the tables below, which compare the top 5 trafficked blogs for each side:

Buy The Right Ads:
Blog                        Ad Spaces   Cost     Traffic/Week
Michelle Malkin                 9       $205        624,215
PoliPundit                      1        $50        253,158
Hugh Hewitt                     6       $300        213,534
Wizbang                         2        $75        149,042
The Political Teen              8        $30        100,737


Advertise Liberally:
Blog                        Ad Spaces   Cost     Traffic/Week
Daily Kos                       8       $750      3,767,891	        
Democratic Underground          4       $300      1,478,988
Raw Story                       1       $350      1,022,737
Eschaton                        4       $400        856,536
Crooks and Liars                3       $250        576,554

The model for each network is identical. Earlier this year, Copeland approached Philly-based MyDD contributor Chris Bowers about setting up the network. Last month, Copeland approached NC's John Hawkins, founder of the blog Right Wing News and news board Conservative Grapevine message board.

In each case Copeland turned the organization and administration over to each administrator. Bowers and Hawkins each compiled lists of bloggers with a potential interest in each network. So far Hawkins has done this on his own, whereas Bowers has relied upon informal advice from BlogPAC, an org. involving some of the best-known liberal bloggers.

Both serve on an unpaid basis, although each were granted the privilege of sponsoring new BlogAds members -- currently the only to participate is by invitation. They also stand to make a percentage of the revenue from their recruited bloggers, although the figure is monetarily insignificant.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: If You Don't Do This, You're Officially A Bad Person

Sisu is just one of several right-leaning blogs that posts today's Day by Day cartoon, which is an appeal for readers to simply click this link to support the cancer clinic treating cartoonist Chris Muir's sister. The cartoon characters explain: "Why? To raise the Yahoo rating ... a high listing is vital to the clinic's visibility with a timed ad on a local CNN cancer special August 14th and 20th."

LEST WE FORGET: Hey, Hey, You, You Get Off Of My Topic

WuzzaDem imagines the Rolling Stones getting political on their next record. Sample lyrics: "Chuck Schumer! / You legislate so good... / Chuck Schumer! / Just like a Senator should."

NOTES AND ERRATA: Haven't Been There, Haven't Done That

Yesterday's edition left the impression that National Review correspondent Byron York was in Crawford, TX, and that he had taken the photo featuring NSA Stephen Hadley and WH dep. CoS Joe Hagin sitting with Cindy Sheehan. In fact York is in DC this week, and the photo came from Daily Kos. We promise this is the last time we will make this mistake about this particular post.

°   °   °   °   °

SCOTUS: SPECIAL: Just The FactCheck, Ma'am

What the blogs are saying about Pres. Bush's pick of John Roberts for the SCOTUS:

FactCheck.org's highly critical take on NARAL ad associating Roberts with violent anti-abortion groups is approvingly cited by conservatives and some moderates, including Daly Thoughts, Donklephant and Eugene Volokh. A RedState contributor calls it "the most uncompromising slam-down I have ever seen."

More than a few bloggers are upset that CNN and FNC have agreed to run the spot. Captain's Quarters expects a backlash, and predicts the networks could change their mind before it even runs. Another RedStater adds, the irony is that "CNN has has repeatedly used" FactCheck to "ridicule and malign false and misleading campaign advertising and statistics. ... How sad for CNN to reject its own fact checking tradition and willinging allow itself to be used as a propaganda machine of the left to smear a man with lies."

NARAL: Can't Catch A Break

ON 8/1, NARAL's Bush V. Choice blog issued a call to action, asking them to spread the word about Roberts: "We've listed five of the some of the most well-known progressive blogs below -- go to them and make your voice heard. Use their comments sections to make sure that choice is being discussed as something that affects women, not just politics." The blogs targeted were Daily Kos, Eschaton, MyDD, The Left Coaster and Swing State Project. Last p.m. Markos Moulitsas, often a critic of the single-issue groups, noticed and responded: "Problem is, politics can't be divorced from the issue. So NARAL goes around endorsing Republicans like [GOP RI Sen. Lincoln] Chafee because they talk a good game about choice. But then, Republicans like Chafee vote for people like Trent Lott and Bill Frist as majority leaders. And then they vote to confirm reactionary anti-privacy, anti-choice judges like Janice Brown."

DOCUMENTS: Better Shred Than Read?

Liberal Crooks and Liars, on the delayed release of many Roberts-related documents: "The purge begins of Roberts papers. Even the conservatives are starting to have reservations. [James] Dobson on [FNC] Monday was not too thrilled with his work on gay rights and he wouldn't acknowledge NARAL's new ad." AMERICAblog reads into the same report that Roberts opposes a constitutional right to privacy: "If Roberts opposes the right to privacy, we have to know. After all the missteps, the right-wingers will want to know that he is on their side on this one."

Posted by at 12:40 PM

August 09, 2005

8/9: Blog Days Of Summer

Note for web readers: To go directly to the SCOTUS coverage (or what there is of it) click here.

If there's one thing that's markedly different about the blogosphere than the MSM, it's that seasonal cycles -- such as the accepted fact of slow or silly news days during August -- don't always apply. This a.m., most news cablers and websites focus on the Shuttle landing or celebrity illness, shootings and disappearances; at best, Yahoo! News' AP wire leads with a yawner about Pres. Bush's econ. team assembling in Crawford. We'll often look to Memeorandum to see which news story the blogosphere is swarming around, but there isn't much -- as of this moment, the most talked-about story is arguably a New York Times column by John Tierney about crystal meth. A big news day this isn't.

Yet the top tier of political blogs seem to treat August like any other month; just because there isn't a major newspaper story to follow doesn't mean that bloggers are at a loss for things to talk about. A number of liberal blogs are getting behind anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, the mother of slain Army Spc. Casey Sheehan, who is waiting outside Bush's Crawford ranch with the intention of confronting him about the Iraq war. Conservative bloggers continue to do heavy lifting on their current obsession -- the troubled and possibly illegal financial dealings of liberal radio outfit Air America. In the ever-present Rove-Plame-Miller CIA leak investigation, James Carville's comments to Don Imus last a.m. sounded like they could have come from a blog -- and indeed several bloggers take note of what he said and zero in on the New York Times' editors. Beyond those stories, there are all kinds of interesting nuggets in today's news, about Jack Abramoff, PA political websites, Dem infighting, and the sequel to Justice Sunday.

What makes for a big news story among bloggers and their readers do not always make for a big story on TV or in the press. The threshold for what constitutes news on a blog is different, and often lower, than would be necessary to justify a TV segment or wire story. It's not always easy to compare the MSM and the blogosphere. August is just one reason.

IRAQ: Travels With Cindy

Sheehan is getting attention from the blogosphere, and as of this a.m., Sheehan's name ranked 3rd on Technorati's top searches, behind Peter Jennings and ahead of other top searches for Robert Novak and Air America.

At Democrats.com and Daily Kos, activist David Swanson reports: "Cindy Sheehan phoned me from Texas a few minutes ago to say that she's been informed that beginning Thursday, she and her companions will be considered a threat to national security and will be arrested. Coincidentally, Thursday is the day that [Sec/State Condoleezza] Rice and [Defense Sec. Donald] Rumsfeld visit the ranch, and Friday is a fundraiser event for the haves and the have mores. Cindy said that she and others plan to be arrested." Perhaps it was only a matter of time before Sheehan posted her own diary to Daily Kos, telling her story of waiting outside "Camp Casey" in Crawford.

Some debate whether or not she should expect to have an audience with Bush. A Meet With Cindy has a petition urging Bush to do so. The Mahablog discounts a WH official's assertion that because Bush met with her previously, he cannot meet with her again, and finds precedent involving Lincoln. Liberal Steve Gilliard: "Somehow, the longer she dogs Bush, the worse it becomes. And if someone should be as stupid as to have her arrested, it will become a major story. As a Gold Star Mother, she should have her question answered."

Reporting from Crawford, NRO's Byron York posts a photo of Sheehan sitting on lawn chairs with a small group sitting around her. He writes: "The man sitting on the pavement" is NSA Stephen Hadley, "while the man sitting in the chair to the right" is WH dep. CoS Joe Hagin. He adds: "They discussed with Sheehan at length the president's thinking in the decision to go to war in Iraq, and Sheehan simply refused to believe that they might have been sincere."

Right Wing News thinks the left is exploiting Sheehan, adding: "I don't like saying this, but I find people like Cindy Sheehan and Kristin Breitweiser, who've parlayed the death of a loved one into 15 minutes of fame, to be more than a little bit ghoulish. Sheehan's son died over a year ago and Breitweiser's husband died on 9/11, yet they're still out publicly demanding attention and sympathy for their loss."

Drudge Report contends that Sheehan "dramatically changed her account" of meeting with Bush, quoting from a Vacaville Reporter news story. But Raw Story contends that Drudge "grossly took Sheehan out of context" and that Sheehan and her husband "were not adulatory as the article by Drudge suggests." The 6/24/04 Reporter article is available online; decide for yourself.

PULPIT POLITICS: Incredible Sunday

Centrist Jeff Jarvis mentions an e-mail offer he has turned down: "I got a most odd invitation to come to Nashville to blog Justice Sunday II Tom DeLay, Zell Miller, Chuck Colson, James Dobson, Tony Perkins, and Phyllis Schlafly. ... That's most odd, since I've held these events -- and politicians sucking up to them -- in disdain. But what's interesting is that they offered to cover travel expenses. I said no thanks for a few reasons: don't want to publicize their event, don't want to take the money. But if any blogger does take their money, I hope it is disclosed." Jarvis links to conservative Reasoned Audacity, who on 8/4 posted an open call for bloggers who want credentials to liveblog the event.

ROVE-PLAME-MILLER: Faster, Patrick Fitzgerald! Keller! Keller!

Arianna Huffington's report that New York Times' Doug Jehl "has been assigned to do an in-house investigative report" for the paper, and Carville's 8/8 Times-questioning "Imus" appearance -- as reported by conservative Newsmax -- are the grounds for more questions about what Times editors knew about Miller's reporting.

• The Next Hurrah points out that Jehl and Miller "have a bit of history" -- he has "done a lot of work to discredit" some Miller stories, but also "he has been burned" by her in the past.
• At Hullabaloo, Digby points out that Carville wife Mary Matalin "is up to her ears in this thing. She was, after all, hired back specifically to handle the post Novak damage control.
• Film producer Jane Hamsher, at Fire Dog Lake homes in on Exec. Editor Bill Keller, whom she writes "has been playing violin accompaniment in the sonata of the martyred Judy" and has "never explained her apparent lack of any supervision..."
• Digby adds, "their loyalty to Judith Miller is misplaced and it's hurting their reputations. They are going to have to start making some tough choices about what is really important to them."

DEMOCRATS: Define "Centrist"

Working Life reposts a vitriolic e-mail sent out by a staff member for Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) to fellow Dems. Meeks supported CAFTA; his aide makes allegations of racism against its opponents, and concludes: "Put that in your elitist pipe and choke on it!" Working Life follows up with a series of questions.

At TPM Cafe, centrist Michael Lind makes an argument he has made elsewhere, that the Dems should adopt a line of economic liberalism and social conservatism. At Instapundit, centrist guest-blogger Michael Totten disagrees: "As far as I'm concerned, social liberalism is the best thing the Democratic Party has going for it. They should keep that and drop the pacifism and isolationism instead." But Centerfield doesn't think can work for them: "As I see it, social liberalism is THE core value of the contemporary Democratic Party. ... It is such cultural issues which define the Red/Blue divide much more than economic issues." NRO's Ramesh Ponnuru has a different response: "[T]he views of commentators are likely to be skewed because they are more likely than the public at large to be socially liberal and economically conservative. In general it remains true that national-security and social issues tend to favor the Republicans, and economic issues the Democrats." He adds, "if Lind's analysis of the electorate is right ... then their inability to shed this electoral liability should be a cause for gloom among Democrats."

Liberal Street Fighter writes an open letter to DNC chair Howard Dean opposing the idea of state-by-state "medical practice boards," asking: "how can you ... endorse such a terrible imposition onto the privacy of women in states where our party might not hold the majority?

SENATE '06: Tester-ing The Waters And Doing Pirro-uettes

MT Dems have been running a TV spot tying Sen. Conrad Burns (R) to GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff, and now GOPers there have sent a letter to station managers requesting that the spot be taken down. Crooks and Liars reproduces the letter, and previously furnished the video. The Dems have a response out, although we couldn't find it online at press time. On a related note, Talking Points Memo looks into money "funneled" to Abramoff through Guam. In a subsequent post, a reader suggests the malefactor in this instance is more likely Guam court officials rather than Abramoff himself.

>> Swing State Project reports that liberal blogger Matt Singer has signed on with the campaign of MT SEN candidate Jon Tester (D). Singer's blog, Left in the West, now has now added a disclosure message to the top of the page. Tester has an ActBlue fundraising page, where he has raised just shy of $17K from 22 donors. And while we're on the subject, it bears mentioning that Pearl Jam is playing an 8/29 benefit concert for Tester in Missoula.

Daily Kos' DavidNYC, on announced NY SEN candidate Jeanine Pirro (R): "Amusingly, the GOP is saying that the sins of the husband should not be imputed to the wife - while at the same time claiming that Hillary's ancient marital issues will "cancel out" Pirro's problems. Not the first time the GOP has talked out of both sides of its mouth. Pirro is allegedly the GOP's dream candidate for this race - but I ain't buyin' it. There's no chance she'll beat Clinton." PoliPundit's Jayson Javitz, on the same: "[E]ven a half-decent run by Pirro would set her up for major races down the line. By 2010, for example, so many businesses will have fled the Empire State, to avoid Spitzer's upcoming tyranny, it's hard to see how Mr. Overregulation would not be a vulnerable incumbent..."

BLOGGERS VS. BLOGGERS: Gimme Some Sugar, Baby

Business consultant Joe Sherlock is upset that a diarist on Daily Kos has "hotlinked" an image from his site, i.e. used an image hosted on Sherlock's server for display on a page at Daily Kos. As Sherlock explains, the diarist used his costly and "limited bandwidth to fuel part of his big blog so to speak. No credit, acknowledgement, hat tip, or link to my site, however." He writes: "Despite all the cash coming in from blog-ads, his store, etc., this cheapskate is doing the equivalent of siphoning gasoline from my little old Plymouth coupe to fuel his big party limo. Talk about a Limousine Liberal! What to do? Well, what if I routed the Plymouth's filler neck to a tank filled with sugared water? ... That's sort of what I did." Sherlock replaces the image on his server with one that reads: "The operator of this site is a cheapstake, a bandwith thief, and a jerk." Later, Markos Moulitsas protests that he has "no control over the diarists," but adds, that "doesn't negate the fact that he's got a point." The picture was removed, the diarist apologized to Sherlock, and the matter ended amicably.

Ezra Klein criticizes Dem activist David Sirota for taking a too-confrontational tack with fellow liberal bloggers who don't agree CAFTA is necessarily as bad an agreement as he does.

Protein Wisdom has a substantive round-up of commentary on the critical "taxonomy" of conservative blogs (see 8/4 and 8/8 Blogometers). Meanwhile, the author of the original post issues a non-apology.

MyDD's Chris Bowers -- a critic of PoliticsPA and its sister sites -- notes they revised a story originally posted without being verified: "I want to highlight this first, because it shows quite clearly that back on Friday PoliticsPA was lying. Had I not bothered to point out that they were lying, they would never have bothered to post their 'retraction.'"

AIR AMERICA: Flying Blind

New developments in the Air America financial situation, with the New York Post reporting that Al Franken told listeners he hasn't been paid since the start. Michelle Malkin comments: "Cue the violins." Meanwhile, Radio Equalizer's Brian Maloney reports that Air America was "days late" with its most recent payroll. He reprints part of a letter from Air America brass stating that it's just a processing issue, but Maloney posts comments from those who have handled payroll, and don't buy that explanation.

WHITE HOUSE '08: Case Closed?

Washington Monthly's Kevin Drum is distinctly underwhelmed by New York Press' Matt Taibbi's promised reporting on WH'04 vote fraud in OH. Drum is skeptical about claims of a stolen election in OH, but was willing to consider new info. Instead, he comments: "It's pretty silly stuff, not worth wasting your time on. ... But at least there's a lesson here: don't tell people you're going to blow the lid off a story until you actually have a smoking gun in hand."

MISCELLANY: Good News And Bad News

• This a.m. righty Arthur Chrenkoff presents the latest in his "good news" series -- Good News from Afthanistan #15. Chrenkoff also recently announced that a new job he has taken will require him to cease blogging.
• WILLisms provides a chart showing how U.S. tourism has rebounded since 9/11, in fact to well-above immediate pre-9/11 levels.
• Mike the Mad Biologist and Pandagon take issue with a post by fellow liberal Matt Yglesias at TAPPED. They believe he underestimates the danger of teaching Intelligent Design.
• Right-leaning Marginal Revolution: "Your chance of dying from avian flu is much greater than your chance of dying from terrorism. Yet the Bush Administration is still doing virtually nothing." Left-leaning Seeing the Forest adds: "Actually, so far there is a 50% death rate in people who catch this from handling birds. If this virus mutates an ability to pass from human to human it is estimated that 50% of the planet will be infected within a year. You do the math."
• Grim's Hall asks if conservatism is a "character defect." In a lengthy response, Cassandra at Villainous Company argues it is not, and the 2 continue to debate it in the comments below her post. On a related note, Neo-Neocon addresses the subject of whether a psychological disorder explains left-wing terrorist sympathizers.
• Stirling Newberry at BOPnews comments on the Oil-for-Food, a topic usually the province of conservative bloggers: "Paul Volcker's investigation has been thorough and unflinching, and promises another installment in a definitive report. If the UN believes in its mission then it should take the opportunity to clean house."

BLOGGER SPOTLIGHT: Mystery Man

Today the Blogometer talks to Dem pollster Mark Blumenthal, who blogs at Mystery Pollster.

What is your full name?

Mark Blumenthal

What is your age?

42

Where did you grow up?

Cleveland, Ohio

Where do you live now?

Washington, DC

What is your occupation? Have you ever worked on a political campaign or for the mainstream media?

Pollster. I'm currently a partner in the Democratic polling firm Bennett, Petts and Blumenthal. I volunteered on various Ohio campaigns as a teenager and worked on the national field staff of Gary Hart's 1984 presidential campaign.

When did you start blogging and why?

I started writing Mystery Pollster in September 2004. I thought there might be an audience in the blogosphere for commentary about polls, not just through them; something that would help explain what pollsters do and the emerging methodological challenges we face.

What has been your favorite post, or favorite story to write about, in that time?

The post that got the most attention by far was the one that ran on Election Day titled, "Exit Polls, What You Should Know." I urged readers not to put blind faith in leaked mid-day numbers, suggesting that given the statistical sampling error involved they would be "better off flipping a coin to determine the outcomes of states like Ohio, Florida, Wisconsin, Iowa, etc." That first item led to several months of posts on exit poll controversy. Although I know considerably more about exit polls now than I did then, the original post still holds up pretty well.

Describe your typical blogging schedule. And what is your average output?

In the weeks leading up to the election, I was posting at least once a day, sometimes more often. In 2005, I've been averaging about 3 posts a week. I tend to write longer than most bloggers, so that's still quite a bit.

Who is your favorite political blogger? Favorite non-political blogger?

Political blogger: Mickey Kaus. Non political: A tie between PVRblog and Tour de France 2005 blog

Who is your favorite mainstream media columnist?

Hard to chose just one, but if I must: Michael Kinsley.

What is your favorite television news program, either network or cable?

If the "Daily Show" doesn't count, then "Inside Politics" ... er, "CBS Evening News."

What MSM-produced websites (i.e. newspapers, magazines) do you visit on a daily basis?

Typically NYTimes.com and Slate.

What non-MSM websites (i.e. blogs) do you visit on a daily basis?

Daily: Kaus, Andrew Sullivan, Wonkette, Josh Marshall, RealClearPolitics. Many, many others a few times a week.

How often, or do you ever, read a newspaper in its dead-tree (i.e. print) form?

I try to read the Washington Post every day, NY Times on weekends.

How do you see the new media and old media affecting and influencing each other in the next five years?

The lines between new and old media are already blurring rapidly, and I expect that trend to accelerate over the next five years. The more interesting question is how the online media sphere will evolve as economic pressures build on "mainstream" news organizations to make up revenue lost on the shrinking pool of "dead tree" subscribers.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Has The Blog Boom Not Even Truly Begun?

This week ComScore released the results of a months-long study (PDF) of blog readership, sponsored by LiveJournal/Movable Type creator SixApart and Wonkette/Defamer publisher Gawker Media. Having read the study, BuzzMachine's Jeff Jarvis presents a number of charts, including a list of which websites reach the best unique audience. Conservative non-blogs FreeRepublic.com and the Drudge Report stand out far ahead of the pack. Most are non-political humor, fashion, celebrity and technology sites; Daily Kos barely rates on their top lists, coming in 3rd to last. Gawker founder Nick Denton is pleased to report that blog readers tend to be "young, rich and influential," just as his sales staff tells advertisers. Jarvis writes that the survey "should help persuade advertisers to shift more of their online budgets to blogs." While a few "adventurous brands, such as Nike, Absolut and Audi, have experimented with blog advertising ... the vast majority of advertisers have been waiting for data. Here it is."

LEST WE FORGET: Doesn't Anyone Remember Any Other Lines From Animal House?

Instead of an actual Author Bio like other Huffington Post contributors, Maxim UK editor Greg Gutfeld uses the space for his Double Secret Hidden Blog. Much of it concerns his workout routine. Among his idle thoughts, verbatim: "THE janitor at my apartment complex approached me as i was returning from the gym this morning. i have a ground floor apartment. he was mopping. he smiled at me, and said, 'hey you ever hear any noise outside your window?' i said, 'no, but then i sleep like a rock.' He said, 'good.' NOW I AM SCARED. VERY SCARED."

°   °   °   °   °

SCOTUS SPECIAL: Will NARAL Ad Have Blog Legs?

A contributor to My Left Wing defends a new NARAL ad "essentially arguing" that John Roberts "endorses the violent tactics of Operation Rescue and its band of loonies," arguing that the right already uses such tactics, and they need to "swiftboat" Roberts.

• Bench Memos calls the NARAL ad "particularly mendacious," adding: "There are plenty of laws that criminalize violence outside abortion clinics. Roberts never took any action to undermine any of them. It is NARAL that has the 'ideology' that every law should be distorted to advance the cause of abortion."
• Daily Kos then responds to Bench Memos, calling the NARAL ad "inflammatory" but "not untruthful."
• Center-left Brendan Nyhan comments on same: "The irony is that this is the same sort of black-or-white logic that liberals denounce when the shoe is on the other foot. Criticizing the execution of the war on terror doesn't mean you support Osama bin Laden. And filing a brief against the application of a law to violent anti-abortion protestors doesn't mean you support their actions. If we can't make these sorts of elementary logical distinctions, our democracy is doomed."

Posted by at 12:14 PM

August 08, 2005

8/8: Signing Off

Note for web readers: To go directly to the SCOTUS coverage (or what there is of it) click here.

Whether one was a fan or detractor of ABC News anchor Peter Jennings, many in the blogosphere find something nice to say about him this a.m. Of all the kinds of stories that attract blog swarms, obituaries tend to be among the least substantive, as there isn't always a clear news hook besides noting the somber milestone. This is mostly the case with Jennings obits, although more than a few reflect on having watched Jennings in the days before the Internet, and a few even share detailed stories.

Elsewhere, various intricacies and questions surrounding Patrick Fitzgerald's CIA leak investigation heads into its 2nd month as a major blogosphere preoccupation. Most discussion centers on Robert Novak's evacuation from "Inside Politics" on its penultimate episode. Additionally, a new report suggesting that VP Cheney CoS Scooter Libby might be Judy Miller's source gets some play itself.

And while many Dems and liberals claim a partial victory in the OH 02 special election decided last week, liberal discontent with the DCCC actually seems to be on the upswing. While some liberals criticize the DCCC's actions prior to the vote, others poke holes in a post-election memo from the cmte. And we'll probably see more of this before long.

TRACKBACKS: Peter The Great

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

• >> On late 8/6, TV Newser and a few others started hearing rumors that ABC affils. had been told to "prepare for" Jennings' death. The Political Teen reports: "Matt Drudge was addressing rumors of the death of former ABC news anchor Peter Jennings around 11pm eastern, however he couldn't confirm them. The AP officially broke the story around 12am eastern." The Disney Blog heard the same, but "refused to post anything about it" at the time.
  
  

  >> After his passing the next evening, reactions ran the gamut, from shock -- The Corner; Ranting Profs; Outside the Beltway -- to mere mentions -- Alarming News; AMERICAblog; Southern Appeal; PoliPundit -- to career retrospectives -- Wizbang; The Moderate Voice; Michael King -- favorable recollections of his 9/11 coverage -- The Talking Dog; Protein Wisdom -- admittances of rarely or never watching -- Dan Drezner; Volokh Conspiracy; Outside the Beltway -- and for some conservatives, acknowledgement of disagreement with Jennings' supposed politics, but respecting him regardless -- Damian Penny; Protein Wisdom; Power Pundit; Rhymes With Right. Newly-minted ConservaGlobe: "I am on the right side of the political spectrum, and I had my disagreements with ABC anchor Peter Jennings. However, Mr. Jennings did a lot to cement my interest in world politics."
  
  

  >> Many bloggers simply offer condolences -- The Anchoress; Right Wing News; Ranting Profs; Skippy the Bush Kangaroo; Patrick Ruffini; Fafblog; GOP Bloggers; Legacy Matters; Daily Inklings.
  
  

  >> Conservatives Michelle Malkin and Ed Morrissey both disapprovingly note that anti-smoking group ASH sent out an e-mail "to tell people that it predicted the likelihood of his death when Jennings first disclosed his illness." A few others offer references to Jennings' smoking -- Ace of Spades HQ; La Shawn Barber's Corner.
  
  

  >> A contributor to Christian blog Oh How I Love Jesus writes about learning English by watching Jennings' broadcasts. The View From My Chair is upset that NBC broke into the final segment of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" (on the West Coast) with news of Jennings' passing: "Eulogies for Peter Jennings are appropriate for his contribution to the MSM and they will be on all newscasts this evening and tomorrow. Interrupting regularly scheduled broadcasts should be reserved for critical news announcements only."
  
  

  >> Some posts are more critical of Jennings. Brothers Judd cites a specific grievance. Baldilocks writes: "I really hate it when someone I merely dislike dies a painful death like this, because I want them to be healthy and well so I can dislike them with a clean conscience."
  
  

  >> Related: the ABC news story on his passing · Crooks and Liars re-posts Jennings' 4/5 announcement of his illness · click here for Jennings' appearance on "The Daily Show" · Jennings' ABC bio · initial reactions from ABC brass and talent · TV Newser has a round-up of reactions from Jennings' colleagues · Jennings' Wikipedia entry.

NOVAK: Drama Prince

Journalist Robert Novak's 8/4 early departure from the set of "Inside Poltics" -- and subsequent indefinite suspension from CNN -- was the talk of the blogosphere late last week; The Political Teen and Crooks and Liars both have video.

Josh Marshall asked Novak sparring partner James Carville about the scene, and reports back that Carville "had no idea why it would have set Novak off." He quotes Carville: "At the time I thought it was like a 2.5 (on the scale on pundit show smackdowns). But when I heard it again later, I thought, no, it's more like a 1.5." Marshall notes that Novak "stomped down to the 9th floor to talk to the CNN brass after he left the set." Marshall thinks the "real money quote isn't the barnyard epithet that sent Novak to the CNN penalty box, but the 'Just let it go!' he barked at Ed Henry as he started to bolt the stage. To my eyes that line seemed to have a lot more uummmph behind it than the BS headliner." TAPPED wonders if Carville's on-air comment to Novak about needing to "show the right wingers that you are a stand-up guy," suggests that Novak "already named names": "If so, is the VRWC silently sharpening their knives in the event that Novak's spilled the beans?"

Mystery Pollster's Mark Blumenthal points out that the large book visible on the desk before Henry was "Who's Who in America." Mickey Kaus, on why Novak wouldn't "want to say whether he in fact got Plame's name from Who's Who": "[B]ecause the truthful answer would be 'no.'" Wizbang posts Plame husband/ex-Amb. Joe Wilson's "Who's Who" entry.

Washington Monthly's Amy Sullivan, who interviewed him in late '04, writes that Novak "has threatened to immediately terminate any interview in which such questions are raised ... I'm almost certain (although I could never get anyone at CNN to confirm it for me) that he threatened to walk off the set if anyone at the network asked him about Plame." NYU j-prof Jay Rosen sums up his thoughts: "Old Novak rules: sorry fellas, can't talk. New rules: Novak chooses. This, I believe, is the cause of what happened on air. The legitimacy of Novak's exemption from questioning had collapsed earlier in the week. Ed Henry was ready with that news. Novak was not ready to receive it."

ROVE-PLAME-MILLER: The Libby Factor

At the American Prospect, journalist Murray Waas reports that Miller met with Libby 2 days after Joe Wilson's 7/03 op-ed in the NYT. Daily Kos' Armando, a previously grudging admirer of Miller's refusal to testify (see 7/8 Blogometer) adds, "if Libby was Miller's source, and she was honoring her pledge of confidentiality, then Libby is a douchebag for not personally releasing her. And, then Miller was doing the right thing by not breaking her promise. In other words, LIBBY, RELEASE MILLER! FREE JUDITH MILLER!" JustOneMinute: "It is not up to Libby's attorneys to open private negotiations with Ms. Miller's team about the circumstances under which she will testify -- folks would have good reason to scream 'Collusion!' On the other hand, if Fitzgerald orders Libby to negotiate and/or oversees the effort, any resulting deal may (Miller might argue) be viewed as coerced. A conundrum." JOM also continues to promote the theory that Russert issued a too-specific denial re: Miller, and so should still be considered a possible source. Arianna Huffington speculates that Miller could face another contempt charge for requesting to serve her sentence at home on account of her husband's ill health, only for him to depart on a Mediterranean cruise upon her jailing.

Newsweek's Michael Isikoff reports that the DoJ official overseeing Fitzgerald's investigation is leaving, and that one possible replacement is a member of Skull & Bones, like Pres. Bush. The Left Coaster notes that this news is actually more than a week old, and links to a 7/29 post on the matter. Talking Points Memo focuses on the absence of phone records: "My understanding is that this issue is become a key one for whatever it is that Fitzgerald is trying to prove. But is this credible?"

Mark A.R. Kleiman puts more stock in a Los Angeles Times report that Bush "sacked" the prosecutor originally investigating disgraced GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff, and writes, this matter "calls for a Resolution of Inquiry, which is the first step toward impeachment and which is a privileged motion that must be brought to a vote on the floor." He adds, if the GOP wants to "support corruption and cover-up, make them vote for it. Again, and again, and again."

At the Huffington Post, ex-Clinton adviser Paul Begala predicts that Bush will end up pardoning dep. CoS Karl Rove.

DEMOCRATS: The Don't-Get-Along Gang

Jesse Lee, blogger for the DCCC's Stakeholder, fires back at Swing State Project's Bob Brigham, who attacked the DCCC for being slow to support OH 02 Dem candidate Paul Hackett (see 8/4 Blogometer). Lee disagrees with a fundraising claim Brigham made on "IP" last week, adding: "Congratulations to Bob Brigham for his first lie on national television." In an update after speaking with Brigham, Lee pulls it back a bit.

On an unrelated note, Dem activist David Sirota criticizes the DCCC's reaction to the OH 02 race: "Incredibly, [the memo] makes not one mention of the Iraq War and its effect on the election. Not one. It is as if the party is going out of its way to deny the importance of Democrats taking a strong position against the war, or making the war a serious issue in their campaigns." Sirota makes the memo available in PDF form: page 1; page 2. MyDD adds that the memo-writer mixes up rural counties with suburban and exurban counties.

Ron Brownstein's National Journal cover story on the Internet and the left is released in its entirety to Daily Kos. Armando disagrees with a comment by DLCer Ed Kilgore, who tells Brownstein: "If we put a gun to everybody's head in the country and make them pick sides, we're not likely to win." Armando: "Ed, this is simply not true. And once you realize that, you will see why we are right and you are wrong. When we make folks pick sides against the GOP Extremism of Dobson and the committed support to a policy of making sure the government leaves you alone in your private decisions advocated by Liberals, they will pick our side, in droves. Don't fear that fight."

BLOGGERS VS. BLOGGERS: There's Something About Malkin

Volokh Conspiracy's David Bernstein takes issue with the "taxonomy" of conservative bloggers at Fables of the Reconstruction (see 8/4 Blogometer), in part because of personal attacks on Michelle Malkin. He writes: "Attacking Malkin in this way comes with especially poor grace from the left blogger community, which -- dare I note -- includes, as far as I'm aware, no female, nonwhite blogger nearly as prominent as Malkin."

Lefty UT-Austin law prof Brian Leiter defends the post, despite being "more vulgar than funny on the subject of Malkin, though I much prefer his vulgarity to her different brand..." On the other hand, liberal Sivacracy writes: "I can hardly believe I'm defending Michelle 'Japanese Internment During WWII Was Peachy' Malkin, but for" Fables blogger Mithras to "label HER a bigot after calling her an 'affirmative action hire' [and worse] is beyond hypocrisy, and really sickening."

Wizbang's Jay Tea argues that conservatives can count more "serious essaysists" in the blogosphere than can the left.

AIR AMERICA: Still No Love From The Times

Expected '06 Dem GOV candidate/NY AG Eliot Spitzer is investigating Air America's financial situation, according to the New York Post.

Meanwhile, conservative bloggers are pleased to see the Arizona Republic weigh in on the Air America story, editorializing: "You don't have to be a Columbia School of Journalism grad to sense that this developing story might have legs." RedState notices.

Michelle Malkin continues to ask: "How much longer will Air America's cheerleaders at the New York Times remain silent?"

IN THE STATES: First OH, Then The WH

At The Has Been for Slate, DLC's Bruce Reed calls the OH GOV race the "most important contest in America" in '06. Govs "have the power to appoint a network of political allies to jobs across the state and the proximity to maintain it" -- which would be very useful in capturing OH's 20 EVs in '08.

SENATE '06: Rosalind Kurita, Jump A Little Lighter

Jerome Armstrong encourages readers of MyDD to donate to Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV): "Byrd is our truth-teller, and will nail [potential '06 opponent/Rep. Shelley Moore] Capito to the wall over her pro-privatization statements in support of Bush's attempt to dismantle Social Security." He adds: "The entrance of Capito into the US Senate race would also open up the toss-up 2nd CD of WV, where ex-state party chair Mike Callaghan is ready to gain the seat for Democrats.

MyDD's Scott Shields, on the anti-Frist blog ads being run by '06 TN SEN candidate/state Sen. Rosalind Kurita (D): "Wisely, she's trying to take advantage of netroots disgust with Frist to raise some much-needed funds. Two, these ads aren't just running at progressive sites. They're running at the Tennessee newspaper sites and the conservative blogs Instapundit and BillHobbs.com. Kurita knows that to beat the nationally recognized Ford, she needs to raise her profile."

Crooked Timber's Ted Barlow takes exception to a claim by Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) that the fed'l tax rate "for the average family has gone up from 2% (in 1950) to 27% today" and that "income from a second worker simply replaces the money that the family pays in increased federal taxes." Barlow is "rather sure that this isn't true," and elaborates.

MISCELLANY: Rime Of The Accident Submariners

• Gateway Pundit live-blogged the weekend rescue of the bathysphere-bound Russian sailors. Former submariner Ultraquiet No More offers perspective.
• Conservative Stop the ACLU promotes a report from Christian org. Reclaiming America that the FL Supreme Court "is responsible for helping to fund" the FL ACLU.
• A number of liberal blogs link to a page at the Truth Caucus with photos from a recent College GOPer event at DC's Old Ebbitt Grill. "Guests of the party are seen passing around a trophy cup full of liquor as if it's a '70s-era bong."
• In a post titled "The Republican Noise Machine Enters Local Blogospheres," MyDD's Chris Bowers notes links between PoliticsNJ/PoliticsPA/PoliticsNH/etc. are linked to the conservative Claremont Institute. Noting that liberal bloggers often turn to PoliticsPA for political news, Bowers declares: "Enough is enough. No wonder conservatives dominate local blogospheres. It's time to pull the plug on Politics PA."
• A diary promoting ex-GOPer/Navy veteran Eric Massa's (D-NY) House candidacy gets front-paged at Daily Kos. Over at RedState, Mike Krempasky is skeptical of Massa's explanation of his break with the GOP; at different times, he appears to have given different answers.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Mild Thing

Univ. of TN law prof Glenn Reynolds reflects on the evolution of Instapundit on the eve of his 4th blogiversary: "I think that the tone has gotten milder. This was never a rantblog, but I decided over a year ago, during the election runup, to try to be extra-conscious about word choice, and to avoid name-calling as much as possible. Over-the-top hysterics on other blogs turn me off even when they're from someone I agree with, and I suspect many people feel that way. You can have strong opinions without strong language, and they're usually more persuasive that way, or so it seems to me."

LEST WE FORGET: Bet Letterman Regrets Never Copyrighting The Phrase "Top Ten"

IMAO presents the "Top Signs Your Corporation is stealing from the Boys and Girls Club"

°   °   °   °   °

SCOTUS SPECIAL: Kids

What the blogs are saying about Pres. Bush's pick of John Roberts for the SCOTUS:

ASSESSMENTS: For Bloggers' Eyes Only

UCLA law prof Eugene Volokh obtains permission from "solid liberal" atty Ken Karst to reproduce an e-mail Karst sent to colleagues. Writes Karst: "I am one of those liberal law academics whom Justice Scalia sometimes blames for the Supreme Court's straying from the True Path. Even so, I believe the Senate should confirm Judge Roberts's nomination. By all accounts, he is a first-rate lawyer, who listens carefully to arguments, even when they go against his initial inclinations. He seems to me to be a true conservative, who sees the judicial role as one in which courts conserve."

Conservative bloggers at Confirm Them and Patterico's Pontifications scoff at a letter from Carter-appointed fed'l district judge Marilyn Hall Patel urging Roberts to denounce his supporters' ads and request they be discontinued, while not specifically asking that his opponents discontinue theirs.

NEW YORK TIMES: Kidding Around

Matt Drudge's report that the New York Times was investigating the Roberts' adoption turns out to be mostly correct.

Times Public Editor Byron "Barney" Calame is still on vacation, so St. Louis' own Joe Plambeck from the Office of the Publisher sends out emails to inquiring readers. His e-mail quotes a "senior editor" at the Times: "We did not order up an investigation of the adoptions. We have not pursued the issue after the initial inquiries, which detected nothing irregular about the adoptions." Polipundit got the e-mail, and posts it.

Wall Street Journal's James Taranto wonders whether the adoption inquiry really is part of the "standard background check," as the Times told Drudge. Taranto: "As far as we are aware, Roberts is the only adoptive parent to be nominated to the Supreme Court in recent times, but did the Times make intrusive inquiries about the children" of Ginsburg or Breyer?

The popular conservative cartoon Day by Day contrasts the NYT's interest in the Roberts adoption with their non-reporting on Air America's financial situation.

FAMOUS LAST WORDS: Thanks, But No Thanks

News that Roberts did pro-bono work in a gay-rights case brings back unserious rumors about his personal life (see 7/22 Blogometer), this time in the form of a tongue-in-cheek blog inviting other blogs to express their solidarity with him. Founding member Villainous Company explains the site's existence.

Posted by at 12:30 PM

August 04, 2005

8/4: Doing The After Math

Note: Because The Hotline is publishing four days per week in August, the next edition of the Blogometer will be posted on Monday, August 8.

Note for web readers: To go directly to the SCOTUS coverage (or what there is of it) click here.

The OH 02 special election is still on the minds of both liberal and conservative bloggers. On the right, several bloggers argue that Dem Paul Hackett's narrow defeat should not be taken as an indication that the Dems can make significant gains in the '06 midterms. Nevertheless, the left has already put its mind to building on the lessons of the race, identifying promising races and desirable candidates. Notable is one liberal blogger's harsh attack the DCCC for not fully supporting Hackett; he promises that the blogs will do their job for them.

Meanwhile, Pres. Bush's comments on the "war on terror" raise many an eyebrow, a fishy story in the Arizona Republic garners plenty of attention, and -- because this is our last Blogometer for the week -- we make note of some "Friday cat-blogging" on what is basically a Friday for us.

TRACKBACKS: It's Not So Much A "Bushism" As A "Bush Admin-ism"

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

• The Pentagon's attempt to relabel the GWOT (Global War On Terror) as the GSAVE (Global Struggle Against Violent Extremism) has been the subject of not a few recent blogger musings. But everyone has an opinion about Bush's reiteration that "war on terror" is still the operative phrase for him, if not the Pentagon, as covered by the New York Times.
  
  

  >> A number of conservative/centrist responses can be filed away into the "Bush is right -- this is war" category: Mark In Mexico;, BuzzMachine; Althouse; Ace of Spades HQ; The Corner.
  

  >> On the left, most responses fit into the "This admin. is full of morons" category: Skippy The Bush Kangaroo; Echidne Of The Snakes; Eschaton. To be fair, a few of the conservative responses fall into this category as well.
  

  >> From the right: James Joyner: "I've never been happy with the phrase 'war on terror' because one can not eradicate a reaction with military force. Our enemy is not 'terror or even 'terrorism' but rather radical Islamists. Unless we find a way to rid the world of the madrassas and other breeding grounds for fanatics, terrorists will continue to multiply as their brothers are killed, much like Bush is right, though, that we are indeed at war and the alternative phrasing of Rumsfeld and Hadley does no better at capturing the essence of the fight while also being wordier and less elegant." · Orrin Judd writes, this is "why we Americans like the stupid ones to be president: clarity." · Balloon Juice: "Have I mentioned how much I hate the news in August?"
  

  >> From the left: The Left Coaster's Steve Soto: "So, did anyone tell Bush what came out of these meetings of his own senior national security advisors that have been going on since January when this new language was cooked up? And how stupid are Andy Card and Stephen Hadley feeling now?" He also asks, "will Eric Schmitt and Thom Shanker of the New York Times go back and burn their sources who fed them the original crap that the new language 'reflects the evolution in Bush's own thinking'?" · Amygdala calls it the "Great War On Language": "Let me know what we're fighting tomorrow, okay? I gotta get some sleep."

MIDTERMS '06: The Dis(GOP)memberment Plan

Daily Kos diarist Superribbie lists the 25 most Dem-leaning CDs held by GOPers, meant as an initial guide for where to look for '06 gains.

In May, Swing State Project proposed MT state Senate Pres. Jon Tester (D) as its 1st '06 candidate to support, in his campaign against Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT). On 8/3 they remind their readers: "Watch this race, it is going to rock."

OH 02: Capped And Recapped

RedState recaps the race: "Hackett did not apologize for being a Democrat because publicly he never said he was a Democrat. Hackett criticized the President in small groups and nationally, but locally and in his ads he ran advertising making it look like he supported the President. Lastly, Hackett did not take a strong "Democratic message" into a Republican district. The only message he took was that he was an Iraq war veteran. In fact, while Hackett is vastly better looking than the Queen of the Damned look alike he ran against, at least with Schmidt it is clear from her website that she was a Republican. Hackett hid from his Democrat label."

Ex-Dem poli sci student Jonathan McPeak: "Mr. Hackett probably did as well as he did despite his rhetoric, not because of it. Even I could have been persuaded to vote for Mr. Hackett if he had not cursed at me multiple times when I met him at a debate last month ... Calling the President a chicken-hawk and a son of a bitch was rude, offensive and politically stupid. If Democrats had any clue as to how to behave like statesmen, they might not be out of power right now and Mr. Hackett might have won."

Volunteer Glenn Reynolds volunteers his thoughts at Instapundit: "Pundits and press always try to turn these by-elections into big leading indicators of the next election, but they're usually one-offs of no enduring significance. I think this was one of those." Reynolds, on why the conservative blogosphere didn't rally to Schmidt's cause: "Judging from what I read in a lot of blogs, I think that Bush's fair-weather federalism and general lack of enthusiasm for small government means that a lot of the base is less motivated."

DEMOCRATS I: The D-Trip Be Trippin'

DCCC exec. dir. John Lapp writes in a diary at MyDD: "I first want to thank Jerome Armstrong and Markos Moulitsas Zuniga for taking the time to come by" the DCCC. He adds: "On our website, by the end of the year, we will list every single Congressional District and those candidates who have the courage to file for Congress. And we will do our best to update it on a timely basis when new candidates have filed, with the latest contact information so that the grassroots and netroots can get involved." In the rather substantial post, he "challenges" the netroots to "help all Democrats. Get involved. Work hard. Donate money. Persuade. Motivate. Change minds."

>> Swing State Project's Bob Brigham responds in a comment below: "Right now, I think the DCCC is totally f---ing irrelevant (members of the media can quote me on that as some of your colleagues already have). ... The DNC is kicking ass with the 50 state strategy and the contrast between the DNC and the DCCC couldn't be clearer. If people want donate to some Fighting Democrats," he posts a link to BlogPAC. More Brigham: "I could really care less whether you get your act together, because as OH-02 showed everyone, we'll step up and do it ourselves."

Markos Moulitsas agrees with News Blog commenter James Powell, on what the progressive "litmus test" should be (noted in the 8/2 Blogometer). In full: "Does candidate 'distance himself' from the party and/or its leaders, or is he proud to be a Democrat? Does he talk like a bureaucrat or like a regular person? Does she make it clear that she opposes Bush and the Republicans? Does she back down when the corporate press/media or Republican pundits attack him, or does she stand by her words? Does he sleepwalk through the campaign, or does he act like he wants to win?" Adds Moulitsas: "Notice the complete lack of ideology."

AMERICAblog and Andrew Sullivan guest-blogger Franklin Foer ex-Speaker Newt Gingrich's comments in the Washington Post that Hackett's near-miss should "serve as a wake-up call" for the GOP. TalkLeft's Jeralyn Merritt: "Normally, I don't quote Newt Gingrich as an authoritative source. But I'm making an exception this one time..."

ROVE-PLAME-MILLER: Weren't The Liberal Blogs Going To Keep This Story Alive?

Liberal UCLA prof Mark A.R. Kleiman deems the following from the 8/3 New York Times a "smoking gun": "At one point, the aides were asked why [Time's Matt] Cooper's call to Mr. Rove was not entered in [WH dep. CoS Karl] Rove's office telephone logs. There was no record of the call, the person who has been briefed said, because Mr. Cooper did not call Mr. Rove directly, but was transferred to his office from a White House switchboard." Kleiman: "If you believe that explanation, I'll tell you another. Obviously, call logs aren't of any value unless all calls are logged: the whole point is to allow someone to say, months later, 'No, I know I didn't talk to X on that date; I've checked my call logs.' This reads to me like strong evidence that Rove and his crew knew at the time they were doing something they didn't want to get caught doing. In prosecutorese, that's called 'evidence of consciousness of guilt,' and it's extremely helpful in proving intent."

Under the header "Steal This Headline!" conservative Rove-Plame-Miller watcher Tom Maguire writes: "With a slow news month looming before us, enterprising journalists (and bloggers!) might be able to turn some of the following ideas into bylines": "Russert -- 'I Told Libby About Plame'"; "Joe Wilson Interviewed By Fitzgerald"; "Eason Jordan, formerly of CNN, Cooperated With Fitzgerald's Investigation"; "Conservative Journalist [NRO's Cliff May] Confirms Plame Spy ID Was Widely Known"; and "Former CIA Spokesman Documents Warning To Novak."

BLOGS VS. THE MSM I: Fall Of The Republic

Joe Gandelman at The Moderate Voice picks up the same Arizona Republic story as a number of other bloggers, explaining: "The American Center for Voting Rights Legislative Fund has issued a stinging report saying the Democrats were 'far more involved' in voter intimidation, suppression in the 2004 elections than Republicans." But soon after, Gandelman posted an update: "It turns out that there has been some controversy about this group itself perhaps being a GOP front group" -- a number of key officials were also BC'04 officials -- "The fact that this has been a controversy that goes back months certainly does CHANGE the context of its findings."

In fact, there has been some debate recently about ACVR's political objectives. As Memeorandum shows, liberal bloggers, including Jesse Taylor and The Brad Blog maintain it is a GOP "front group." Most conservative bloggers don't bother updating to note the controversy. Betsy Newmark does, and Ed Morrissey points out that a signatory to the report is a Dem consultant, Brian Lunde. For its part, the Republic removed the story (once available here) from its website; "Roger Ailes" digs up the Google cache of the Republic story. Brad Blog has a field day with it, rounding up other conservatives and news orgs. which ran the story.

BLOGS VS. THE MSM II: Sit And Spin

Think Progress is appalled that FNC's Bill O'Reilly said of the Gitmo detainees: "I don't give them any protection. I don't feel sorry for them. In fact, I probably would have ordered their execution if I had the power." Crooks and Liars has the video in WMV and QT.

Palestinian-American Harvard student Fatina Abdrabboh, who recently wrote a New York Times op-ed (much-derided by conservatives) about how her faith in the U.S. was restored when Al Gore picked up and handed back the car keys she had dropped while exercising on a campus treadmill, now has a less-optimistic op-ed in the Christian Science Monitor. Right-leaning James Chen comments: "Despite Al Gore's heroics, it may have been too little and too late to change Abdrabboh's mind about Americans. The pendulum has swung back towards her original view that Americans are, by-and-large, anti-Muslim." Chen bemoans the fact that "major newspapers like the New York Times and Christian Science Monitor continue to give a serial malcontent like Abdrabboh a channel with which to broadcast her distorted and truly paranoid views of American society. Her complaints about being watched and then ignored by non-Muslims -- all while living in the liberal enclaves of Ann Arbor and Cambridge -- are so trivial as to be laughable."

PULPIT POLITICS: I Believe In Angels ... Wah Wah Wah Waaah Wah (You Know, Like On Fox News)

Washington Monthly's Kevin Drum cites "outrage fatigue" as one reason why he didn't mention Bush's statement in support of teaching Intelligent Design along with evolution theory in public schools. He cites a few quotes from the WH'00 campaign, noting that it's nothing new. He adds: "Actually, what bugged me most about this whole affair was reading the faux outrage from Bush's conservative supporters in the blogosphere, as if they had no idea he felt this way before this week. Give it a rest, guys. ... You all knew what you were voting for when you put these guys in power. I'm happy to see you on the side of the angels here, but it's a little late to pretend to be shocked that the Republican leadership feels this way."

IN THE STATES: RINO-plasty

Univ. NV pres./NV GOV hopeful James Rogers is leaving the GOP. Lefty Hugh Jackson at the Las Vegas Gleaner is "taking credit," thanks to a 7/19 post, which first reported that Rogers had donated to Dems including John Kerry and Ted Kennedy.

Taegan Goddard finds a message (reproduced verbatim) from Amboy Duke Ted Nugent (R?) on his official website message board: "after as much gungho hardcore scrutiny, review & disecting as put forth toward any endeavor or consideration in my life, the Nugent family has decided that for a variety of reasons, I will not run for MI Guv in 06. We continue however to review ops for 2010 while maintaining upgrade pressure on all politicos for the very clear & obvious quality of life upgrades we have all listed here & then some. stay on course my friends. I am with you all the way."

BLOGGERS VS. BLOGGERS: Who's Who In The Blogosphere

Liberal Fables of the Reconstruction offers a clever, if acid "Conservative Blog Taxonomy." Targeted: Instapundit, Michelle Malkin, Power Line, Little Green Footballs, Captain's Quarters, Volokh Conspiracy, Hugh Hewitt, Dean's World, BuzzMachine, RedState. Liberals should find it very amusing. Conservatives probably will not.

INTRODUCING: The Adventures Of Barone Munchausen

Conservative analyst Michael Barone has launched a blog at U.S. News. He leads off with an interesting post explaining why the framers included an age limit to serve in the House and Senate.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Starry Night

Liberal DC blogger Kriston Capps, on the Basra murder of pro-war journalist Steven Vincent: "I was not kind to his work -- in fact, I have to own up to calling him a hack over a relatively insubstantial matter -- so it's with real regret I express my sympathies to Steven Vincent's family and friends in light of his tragic murder in Basra. Yes, it's too easy to cock off on a blog. Yet I don't think it's appropriate or even possible to consider all the morbid possibilities of this world when we do write about other people and their ideas. I don't feel particularly ashamed for using the word 'hack,' but I am sorry that I was wrong. Dying as a result of pursuing the truth is a display of integrity that should never be asked of a journalist."

LEST WE FORGET: Teenage Mutant Ninja Kittens

Catblogging (see Blogometer) is usually reserved for Fridays, but because we're on a short-week schedule this month, we present "The Kittays Can JUMP!" from the BruStru message board, an amusing photoset of feline acrobatics captured with a high-speed camera.

°   °   °   °   °

BLOGOMETER SPECIAL: 83 Pages, What Do You Get

What the blogs are saying about Pres. Bush's pick of John Roberts for the SCOTUS:

It took a day or so for people to read through Roberts' 83-page response to the Senate Jud Cmte questionnaire, but now the responses are starting to trickle in. The answers, released late 8/2, is available here.

Righty Carol Liebau, at Confirm Them is reassured that Roberts is, in fact, a conservative -- or was 20 years ago: "Here's hoping that Judge Roberts hasn't changed the vast majority of his views since his days in the Reagan Justice Department. But given their own shifts over the same duration, won't it seem a little silly for the Democrats to react like they've just discovered hidden writings of the antichrist?"

Conservative Power Line's John Hinderaker: "As has been widely reported, Roberts' answers include an essay in which he argues for 'modesty' and 'humility' on the part of judges. These paragraphs are worth reading because they give us a sense of what Roberts' style on the Court is likely to be, but it is hard to see how anyone could take issue with them. The Democrats are still trying, but they have yet to lay their hands on an effective weapon to use against Roberts."

Also at Confirm Them, conservative Pejman Yousefzadeh notes NARAL's criticism in a Washington Post story that Roberts gave "lawyerly answers" to some answers: "I admit to a few 'lawyerly' writings myself, but that may have to do with the fact that I am a lawyer. As is Judge Roberts. Having thought -- at least up until this point -- that 'lawyerly' writing was to be aspired to by lawyers, I have to say that I am at a loss to respond to this criticism."

Daily Kos' Armando notes that in the same Post article, Roberts is reported as having "approvingly quoted from a dissenting opinion by Justice Hugo Black in a 1965 court decision, in which the majority held that a Connecticut law forbidding the use of contraceptives was unconstitutional." Armando: "Roberts, unless he expressly states that he will not overturn Griswold and Roe, must be filibustered. There is no other way."

GAY RIGHTS: New Cause For Worry On The Right?

Among early reactions to the 8/4 Los Angeles Times report that Roberts did pro bono work on a noteworthy anti-discrimination case, this from Begging to Differ: "I'm starting to think that those who call Roberts the anti-Souter are just wishful thinking."

Libertarian-leaning McQ from QandO: "Seems to me, as I stated once before, that it is going to be almost impossible for anyone to take any sort of a campaign by the left to keep Roberts off the bench seriously. However, given the above information, I wonder what the reaction of the far-right (aka religious right) will be to this news?"

RELIGION: The Norm Show

At Balkinization, liberal Terrapin Mark Graber writes, "there may be a difference in the nature of Catholic opposition to abortion and Catholic opposition to capital punishment. Still, if Judge Roberts took his orders from the Pope, I suspect he might frequently vote differently than he actually does and will."

At NRO's Bench Memos, Gerard Bradley offers 2 "reasons why the hand-wringing over Roberts and religion is misplaced": "Does anyone doubt that if Roberts were pro-choice that we would not be having this discussion?" And: "Would someone please identify one moral norm that might be involved in some decision a Justice Roberts would be called upon to render, but that moral norm cannot be known by unaided reason? Does not John Roberts's own Catholic Church say of the norms that might be so implicated: They are written on the human heart? They are naturally knowable?"

CONFIRMATION: What's The Question?

A few liberal bloggers have started to suggest, or open discussion about, which lines of questioning should be part of Roberts confirmation hearings:

At CAP's Supreme Court Extra, ex-Justice John Paul Stevens clerk Eduardo Penalver points out that there should be "cert pool reports" available from Roberts' time as a clerk -- clerk-written memos advising whether or not the court should take a particular case -- and recalls that while such memos "should ideally be balanced and nonideological," sometimes "it mattered a great deal which case wound up with which clerk." He adds: "In light of the personal nature of the pool memos, a thorough reading of the memos Roberts wrote during his time at the Court would likely provide some valuable insights into his personal approach to the law. And, because they are just sitting in the Library of Congress, there's nothing that the Bush administration can do to block access."

Noting that liberal judges are comfortable with citing foreign court rulings on human rights whereas conservatives generally are not, liberal Mark Leon Goldberg at TAPPED writes, "the senators who will decide his fate could come close to determining the conservative cloth from which Roberts is cut by asking him if he sees propriety or value in citing foreign decisions in his own opinions."

From TPM Cafe: "To put it simply may Judge Roberts be asked whether he believes that adherence to the magisterium (or its infallible teachings) affects the health of his soul and his hopes of heaven? that certain/all of the Holy Father's solemn proclamations are infallible? that dissent from church doctrine is an act against the will of Christ Himself? E.J. Dionne, Jr., says questions may be asked. But what are those questions?"

DEMOCRATS: Always Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide

At TPM Cafe, Yale law prof Jack Balkin writes: "May a conscientious Democratic senator vote against Roberts? Yes, if he or she believes that appointing Roberts is likely to move constitutional law in a direction that the Senator believes is inconsistent with the best interpretation of the Constitution." More: "Things change, and someday, one hopes, the two parties will return to a less antagonistic relationship. But that happy day will not be hastened by Democratic acquiesence. The Democrats must earn reciprocity and respect through their resistance; otherwise the only peace they will obtain is through their total irrelevance."

INTRODUCING: Wire Post To Wire

Patrick Ruffini debuts a new service at his website: "SCOTUS Wire is an automated clipping service for the first blogged Supreme Court nomination in history. It aims to gather every news story and blog post on Judge John Roberts and lets you decide what's important." The feature is similar to his 2008 Presidential Wire, tracking stories from both the blogs and the MSM.

NOTES AND ERRATA

Questions, comments, reservations? Drop us a line at blogometer@nationaljournal.com.

Posted by at 12:38 PM

August 03, 2005

8/3: OH Well

Note: The Blogometer's SCOTUS Special will return tomorrow

Over the past 24 hours, the biggest topic of discussion in the political blogosphere has been the OH 02 special election to fill the House seat vacated by U.S. Trade Rep. Rob Portman. The race pitted ex-state legislator Jean Schmidt (R) vs. Iraq war vet Paul Hackett (D), in a district Pres. Bush won with 64% of the vote in '04. By many accounts, the politically active liberal blogs -- the netroots, as they call themselves -- helped push what might have been a sleepy summer race into a nailbiting preview of the '06 midterms. To wit, in the final days the DCCC and NRCC made a combined $465K worth of ad buys. A frequent refrain among liberal bloggers was, if they could win here, they could win anywhere. Although they didn't win, the race might have been close enough to put the nat'l Dems and GOP on notice.

Liberal blogs had been talking about Hackett's campaign for weeks, their interest fanned by his strong campaign, his war record, plus a few minor controversies surrounding Schmidt (see previous Blogometers). Until just this week, conservative blogs by and large ignored the race until just this week -- among other factors, Schmidt inspired no such interest. This morning, it's probably bigger than ever -- at press time, Hackett's name was the #3 search on all of Technorati.

Elsewhere in today's edition, Bush's comments on the teaching of Intelligent Design theory casuse a major stir among conservative bloggers, the death of a freelance journalist in Iraq elicits an outporing of comments, and more.

TRACKBACKS: To Live And Die In Iraq

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

• U.S. freelance journalist Steven Vincent was shot dead in southern Iraq on 8/2. After the OH 02 race, this is the biggest thing out there.
  
  

  >> Vincent maintained a blog with the same name as his book, In The Red Zone. When we last checked, there had been no update (others had writing privileges) but the comment section of the most recent post was filling up with condolences. Vincent also freelanced occasionally for National Review Online; in a Corner Post, K.J. Lopez posts links to the 19 pieces he published there between 10/03 and 6/05. His final piece was posted to NRO just hours before his death. Vincent had an op-ed in the New York Times which may have angered the militias in the area where he reported.
  

  >> Apparently the first blogger to pick up on the initial AP report was Fayrouz Hancock, author of Iraqi in America: "Steve Vincent, our man from Basra, has been shot to death in Basra. ... I'm shaking while writing this update. When I received my friend's e-mail yesterday, I had a bad feeling that something will happen to Vincent." Aussie Arthur Chrenkoff, who knew Vincent, writes: "Steve had a successful and rewarding career as an art critic in New York. Then came September 11, and his life would never be the same again. ... Too old to enlist (his only military experience, driving a cab in NYC, he says), too freelance to hope to accompany the troops, Steve made the decision to see Iraq away from the front lines: 'I sought to embed myself in the Iraqi society.'" Chrenkoff closes: "Insha'allah. But in the meantime, I hope they'll get the bastards."
  

  >> More reactions from: Power Line; Lorie Byrd; Bloggledygook; Tapscott's Copy Desk; Michael Yon; Daily Inklings; Kesher Talk; Little Green Footballs; Publius Pundit; Michelle Malkin; Captain's Quarters; Unqualified Offerings.

OH 02: A Troubling Victory, An Encouraging Loss

With 753 of 753 precincts reporting, Schmidt defeated Hackett by a total of 59,132 votes to 55,151, or 51.74% to 48.25. Hackett was an initial longshot; the final tally was closer than many expected.

Liberal blogs Swing State Project, MyDD and Daily Kos all followed the race very closely. SSP was so overloaded with traffic that it went down for a few hours; Ohio 2nd blog exceeded its bandwidth and is still down. In the final days, SSP's Bob Brigham and Tim Tagaris blogged from OH 02, and their frequent posts from last p.m. tell the story best. Their final post of the evening -- still the top post this a.m. -- reads: "OH-02: C-E-L-E-B-R-A-T-I-0-N"

In light of the close results, liberal Wampum lists 13 House GOPers who narrowly won in '04, including Jim Gerlach (PA), Chris Shays (CT), David Dreier (CA) and House Maj. Leader Tom DeLay, adding: "I think it's time to review these races, as well as the 40 or so next closest races." More: [T]his is no time to play shrinking violet." MyDD's Jerome Armstrong argues that Hackett's next move should not be to recontest OH 02, but to run statewide.

At a page on its website, the Cincinnati Enquirer kept track of blog commentary throughout the p.m. Readers of NRO's Buzz column write in to report that humidity forced hand ballot counts; the machines wouldn't work.

As Schmidt's victory finally became clear late in the p.m., Brigham wrote at SSP: "I'm hearing the "F" word from a whole lot of people. Lots of rumors of potential fraud, lots of sketchy stuff..." Meanwhile, Right Wing News delves into the message boards at Democratic Underground, and concludes that the left is "just going claim every race they lose is fixed." Conservative Captain's Quarters only half-jokingly titles a post: "Let The Lawsuits Begin." Liberal Josh Marshall takes a different tack: "The key was that Schmidt's home turf was late reporting. This is a solid Republican district, though. And Hackett made them really work for it."

The Al Franken Show blog, Daily Kos and others respond to a column by National Journal's Charlie Cook, reproduced in a diary Daily Kos. Wrote Cook: "A Schmidt win of less than five points should be a very serious warning sign for Ohio Republicans that something is very, very wrong." Markos Moulitsas comments: "So the state GOP avoids a 'devastating blow,' but only by the hair on their chinny chin chin. ... It's a new day for the Democratic Party, one in which no Republican district is safe." Tagaris at SSP, on Cook's column: "Talk about lowering the bar for Ohio's Republican Party. ... Anything within 10" in a CD that Bush won in WH'08 by 50+ points "shows the ship has already sunk" for the OH GOP. Cook and Tagaris debated methodology at MyDD.

Under the header "Kossacks Are Now 0-16," RedState's Erick Erickson lists several factors why the race was less competitive than it seemed: "Schmidt lost a lot of grassroots support early on"; "Even Club For Growth wouldn't back Schmidt"; "Hackett had to run ads that made him look supportive of the President"; "Hackett had a compelling biography being a marine and Iraq veteran. That's what distinguished this election and it still didn't work for the left." RedState's Mike Krempasky is somewhat more generous: "The only really significant things about this race are 1) online donations for Hackett have been extraordinary -- somewhere north of 400K in short order, and 2) the absolute 'bleh' that Schmidt inspires in her voters."

For more reactions, see: PSoTD; Nathan Newman; Irregular Times; Politburo Diktat; Drudge Retort; The Public Square; NDN Blog; Right Wing Nut House; No Silence Here; Daly Thoughts; Approximately Perfect; Whiskey Bar; The Left Coaster; Simply Appalling; Social Concern; Chris Geidner.

PULPIT POLITICS: Present At The Creation

Yesterday reporters asked Pres. Bush about whether Intelligent Design theory (ID) should be taught in schools. His response -- "I think that part of education is to expose people to different schools of thought. You're asking me whether or not people ought to be exposed to different ideas, the answer is yes." -- causes a firestorm on the right, where his defenders are very few. Instapundit has a worthwhile round-up. Crooks and Liars has a short round-up of comments from the left, which are predictably disapproving.

Right-leaning Balloon Juice: "My days of defending this President are over. To have the leader of the country, the leader of the party, and the person who proclaims that he wants to be known as the 'education president' to state, even casually, that he thinks intelligent design should be taught alongside evolution is lunacy of the first order. ... Intelligent design is creationism. It may not be quite as audaciously stupid as the nonsense peddled by the 'young earth' crowd, but it is creationism."

Using his "best Scalia-type textualism," Protein Wisdom's Jeff Goldstein takes a contrarian stand: "[W]hat the president said is unproblematic and, on its face, at least, eminently reasonable." If present, he would have asked Bush "if he was indeed advocating the teaching of Intelligent Design in science classes specifically, and if so, how --and to what degree ... I would further follow-up and ask those on the right who have been so quick to howl over this vague news item if they support the teaching of the 'origins of life' in science classes."

More comment from: Don Surber; Ambient Irony; Garfield Ridge; Politburo Diktat.

ROVE-PLAME-MILLER: Because We're Not About To Call It "Treasongate" Or "Nadagate"

Conservative Tom Maguire tries to figure out, "what game is Ms. Miller playing at? ... [S]ince she is choosing to stay in jail, does this mean that she must be acting in noble defense of a journalistic principle? Maybe. Or maybe there is a book deal to consider, or maybe she and the Times figure that the embarrassment factor of disclosing that their reporter outed Ms. Plame to Libby is too ghastly to endure. But being in jail can't be fun, either. And if she was really protecting a source, I think she could get out, and battle Fitzgerald another day. Which leaves me circling around -- what principle, or person, is she protecting?"

Re: Arianna Huffington's Miller reporting (see 8/1 Blogometer), liberal TAPPED's Matt Yglesias observes that for the left, Miller should be a bigger "get" than Rove: "If you were trying to think of someone more loathed on the left than Rove, especially the media-obsessed bloggy portion of the left, you'd be hard pressed to come up with a better candidate than Miller. What's more, you can at least have a certain admiration and respect for Rove; he's only doing his job. Miller, on the other hand, has just been doing, well, Rove's job, for quite some time now. Last but not least, if Rove landed in jail, he'd just be replaced by someone equally awful, while it seems plausible that The New York Times wouldn't actually feel the need to hire a new Ahmed Chalabi sock puppet."

Mickey Kaus isn't much impressed with Anne Kornblut's 8/2 New York Times report (see 8/2 Blogometer): "It makes an incremental contribution on the teeny-tiny question of whether to read much evidentiary value into Novak's use of Plame's maiden name. In other words, it's a blog item!"

MIDTERMS '06: Does Hilleary Have A Motor In The Back Of His Honda?

Washington Monthly's Kevin Drum, on the "turncoat" Dems who supported CAFTA: [T]he problem with the defectors is not so much that they allowed CAFTA to pass. It's not that noxious a bill..." However, Dem unity "would have forced Tom DeLay to put the screws to a dozen more of his people than he otherwise had to, and would have forced some GOPers in "weak districts to vote for CAFTA whether they liked it or not," which would have made them "would have been more vulnerable in 2006."

Conservative Blogging for Bryant cites a release from the camp of '02 GOV nominee/'06 SEN candidate Van Hilleary (R-TN) "challenging anti-war activist/actress/workout guru Jane Fonda to a debate. ... I don't know whose idea this debate was, but it's just plain embarrassing. Who's next on the list? Alec Baldwin? Barbara Streisand? Challenging a celebrity who has never held a public office to a debate is beneath Van Hilleary and it's beneath the office he's seeking."

Objectivist Simply I comments on TN SEN Dem candidate Rosalind Kurita's blog ads imploring readers to "Replace this Republican Doctor..." -- Frist -- "...with this Democratic Nurse" -- Kurita: "This is a masterful Internet campaign and as a trial for Tennessee politicians, I hope it pays off for her so more politicians will be encouraged to take the chance on blogs. When you think of the visceral hatred of much of the left right now and their desire to lash out at Frist, I doubt Kurita will have any trouble fundraising this quarter."

Crooks and Liars posts vide of Sen. Robert Byrd's (D-WV) new TV ad combating recent the NRSC ads against him.

BLOGS VS. THE FEC: A Noble Thought

RedState's Krempasky -- who testified before the FEC in June -- hears that "John McCain has circulated" the name of "regulator extraordinaire"/CRP pres. Larry Noble to fill the seat of outgoing FEC commish Brad Smith. Krempasky: "This would be like replacing Paul Tagliabue with Bud Selig -- Obi Wan with Palpatine -- and the list goes on. He simply believes -- quite radically -- that you can regulate all the bad, all the hurt, all the meanness out of politics -- leaving only warm and fuzzy townhall meetings -- probably paid for at taxpayer expense."

AIR AMERICA: Terrified Of Flight

According to radio talker Hugh Hewitt, his produ