September 23, 2005

9/23: Blogger Barrage Besieges Beltway Bosses

There's quite a bit of interaction between bloggers and cong. members to report this a.m. The conservative blogosphere's crusade against what they consider gov't pork elicits responses from House GOPers -- some of it to their satisfaction and some not.

Plus, Eschaton's Duncan "Atrios" Black and RedState's Mike Krempasky testified before a House cmte on 9/22, hoping to avert FEC rules that would infringe on bloggers' freedom to cover campaigns. And a conversation between Power Line's Paul Mirengoff and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) about the same issue has more than a few observers asking just what McCain thinks the McCain-Feingold law means.

Meanwhile, liberal bloggers are very interested in a report that Jack Abramoff claimed close involvement with Karl Rove, and debate the WH Dem hopefuls' decisions on the upcoming John Roberts votes -- in particular WI Sen. Russ Feingold and NY Sen. Hillary Clinton. And what's to be made of the National Enquirer's story that says Pres. Bush is hitting the bottle again? Some on the left see that as a possible Rovian trick. Plus, more on Hurricane Rita.

BLOGS VS. THE FEC: Speaking Truth To Power Line?

Black and Krempasky -- who testified before the FEC about blogs and possible new campaign finance rules on 6/29 (see 6/30 Blogometer) -- testified before Rep. Bob Ney's House Admin. Cmte on 9/22. The AP carries a report. Their testimony can be found here; the archived webcast is here.

Black writes: "The committee was exploring the issue generally, and in particular a Reid proposal in the Senate to essentially make the court case moot by changing the law. Not many members were present, and those who were clearly sided with a very hands off approach, however that's achieved. ... Overall, I'm not too worried about this issue at the moment. One way or another I predict a decent outcome for the whole process." In a later post he disputes AP write-up, which states bloggers have told the FEC that regs. "even ... just on advertising" would have a "chilling effect." Disclosure of blogad purchases by campaigns doesn't bother him; what does is that disclosure reqs. for "bloggers which are not required of any other members of the media or which in any way open up bloggers to FEC scrutiny that other media are not subject to ... would have a major chilling effect." Instapundit, on the same story: "You'd think the First Amendment would take care of this, but, you know, 'eternal vigilance' and all that. My advice: Tar and feathers futures -- buy!" More Soft Money Hard Law: "The House Committee hearing yesterday was not overrun with Members anxious to ask their questions. No more than four attended at any one time, and it was a short time, at that. None seemed eager to advocate regulation of Internet politics, though Chairman Ney did seem to smart somewhat from recent experience with cyber-criticism."

In a separate but related event, on 9/21 Power Line's Mirengoff attended a dinner with McCain, where he answered questions on the record: "I asked Senator McCain about the impact of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform act on bloggers. He replied that he wanted no government regulation of the internet." Mirengoff told him that a court decision based on McCain-Feingold "was serving as the basis for proposals to regulate the bloggers. McCain responded that he was not aware ... and that he would look into the matter. He then reaffirmed that there should be absolutely no regulation of the internet in the name of McCain-Feingold or campaign finance reform." Patterico's Pontifications: "I could understand if McCain had said that he had heard some people say that the legislation would impact bloggers, but he disagreed. But to say that he was not even aware that the litigation had raised that prospect -- I'm sorry, but I find that astounding." Conservative Skeptic's Eye, on the same: "So, did McCain forget? Was he unaware of these arguments? Or did he artfully avoid a little 'straight talk' in an effort not to arouse the ire of an influential blogger? We report, you decide."

SPENDING: Constituent Services

Right-leaning Punditeria wrote a letter to Rep. George Miller (D-CA) asking whether he would cut "some of our local transportation bill pork so that the money could go to Katrina recovery." Miller responded, Punditeria quotes the reply, and comments: "I think the Congressman's argument is that because the whole budget is askew, and priorities are wrong, we shouldn't have to tighten our belts to pay for Katrina recovery. Am I wrong to think this is short-sighted and a little bit childish?" Nicholas Schweitzer posts an e-mail from Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) announcing a presser to be held on 9/22 with several other Senate GOPers (including John McCain) to "release a menu of specific options to find savings to pay for our Hurricane Katrina relief and recovery expenditures." Schweitzer: "I can only assume that the good Senator from Oklahoma and his staff have been paying attention to the [TTLB PorkBusters project], and that's how my name ended up on an email list. I find this very encouraging. Keep it up!"

Washington Post's Achenblog, on the House GOP recommendations, which include a number of Medicare cuts: "So many politicians hide behind generalities or vague references to pork or waste or earmarks or whatnot. At least you know where some of these House Republicans stand. Which is: We should raise taxes on the poor."

At TPM Cafe, Reed Hundt advises "creating an economic redevelopment and social reconstruction agency for the Gulf, giving it a time line, appointing a business person with real management experience as the boss, and setting a fixed date for its termination. It needs to spend the reconstruction money; in fact it needs to state what is necessary. The Congress doesn't know and left to its own devices might build more bridges to just about anywhere."

Conservative RedState's Jay Reding: "President Bush went from an isolationist to a nation-builder by necessity following the terrible events of September 11, 2001. Now, necessity demands that he go from being a big spender to a fiscal hawk."

At the same site, Pejman Yousefzadeh advises: "The key for the anti-porkers is to stop thinking that this battle will be won in the short term on pure outrage alone. It may be that small government advocates will have to settle for a mere 30% of what we want this year. And perhaps another 30% the next year. And the year after that. Etc. Eventually, the gains add up and we have a more responsible budget. But they will only add up if we are patient enough to dedicate ourselves to a long term fight in order to bring about that more responsible budget."

WHITE HOUSE '08: Does This Foretell A Clinton-Feingold Ticket?

Daily Kos' Markos Moulitsas writes, the "litmus test people must be having a tough going these days, as everyone's favorite candidates are failing to follow the script." Sens. Hillary Clinton (NY) and Joe Biden (DE) both voted against Roberts but for the war; WI Sen. Russ Feingold voted against the war but for Roberts; and ret. Gen. Wesley Clark is "talking Dems out of calling for withdrawal from Iraq." Moulitsas adds, "if we're looking for purity in our 2008 nominee, we'll have to look elsewhere. Or, we'll have to realize that no candidate is perfect, and none can ever be perfect." In the comments below, more than a few agree with this sentiment: "Methinks Feingold is finished." Noting that Feingold's fellow WI Dem Herb Kohl voted the same, one writes: "Obviously Kohl and Feingold both must be worried that Wisconsin is turning Republican underneath their feet."

Liberal MyDD's Chris Bowers, on HRC's "no" vote: "This helps my image of Hillary. I'm not about to go work for her," but with "every good vote she has made this year, opposing the limiting of class action lawsuits, to not invoke cloture on the bankruptcy bill, against the budget, against drilling in the Arctic refuge, against CAFTA, and now against Roberts, she is going a long way to showing that she is not some stereotype of a conservative/moderate/DLC Democrat." At RedState, NAM VP Pat Cleary finds it "puzzling [that] she'd use up this bullet at this time," considering Roberts' confirmation is a sure-thing: "Why wouldn't she join the bandwagon here, move to the center and live to fight the next nominee?"

Earlier in the day, Moulitsas opened up 2 new straw polls, eliminating the "stragglers" from his 9/19 straw poll (see 9/20 Blogometer) but adding 1 fantasy candidate to each: DNC chair Howard Dean in one poll, and ex-VP Gore in the other. Dean takes 37%, leading decent-showing runners-up Clark, John Edwards and Feingold; Gore takes 48%, leading the same runners-up, taking nearly equally from all comers, including HRC, Other and No Freakin' Clue.

ABRAMOFF: One To Watch

Washington Post reports, dep. AG nominee Timothy Flanigan recently told the Senate Jud Cmte that lobbyist Jack Abramoff "bragged" in '03 that he was "that he was in contact with" Bush adviser Karl Rove on behalf of Tyco, where Flanigan was an exec. Dem-leaning Swing State Project: "In 2006, the Republicans will fear two words: competence & corruption. The worst case scenario is when the Democrat is authentic." MyDD's Scott Shields: "With the arrest of David Safavian, I was wondering how long it would take the Abramoff scandal to reach the White House. I've got to admit... this was much faster than I expected." Liberal War And Piece: "Is this an accident that the Bush administration picks nominees who are so intertwined with those being investigated? The proliferation of conflicts of interest is dizzying."

BLOGS VS. THE MSM: Hard Times?

Center-left Mickey Kaus (scroll down) points out that the New York Times is "crack[ing] down on papers that syndicate its op-ed columns. ... Meanwhile, by plastering the NYT home page with little orange 'you gotta pay' logos, the NYT makes it look as if much more of the site is behind the subscriber wall than actually is. So TimesSelect is hurting the readership even of Times writers who are still 'free.'" And he points out that Maureen Dowd has yet to provide a promo video as the other columnists have done, adding, "If the TimesSelect home page were like the Kremlin Wall on May Day -- and it is! -- you would take Dowd's video absence as the sign of a deep internal rift." He also asks: "Will Times Web chief Martin Nisenholtz make up the columnists' diminished book and lecture fees?"

Conservative The New Editor's Tom Elia disputes an AP poll showing Bush with a 40% rating; the poll includes 23% non-voters and has an 8-point Dem regis. advantage. He asks: "How is this an accurate representation of the electorate?"

DAVIS-BACON: The Wages Of Weather

Lefty Carpetbagger Report reports that House Dems have 186 cosponsors on a bill to re-instate Davis-Bacon in the Gulf Coast area. And Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ) is earning tepid praise from liberal bloggers for his letter calling on Bush to do the same, albeit for 60 days. Josh Marshall: "It doesn't really ask him to call [off the "Gulf Coast Wage Cut"]. The letter, which is supposedly going to be released tomorrow, asks for him to leave it in place for no more than sixty days. ... But, really, why even wait sixty days? It was a bad idea to start with. And all the excuses about cutting red tape are bunk. Can't they do better?" Uggabugga sees a parallel to WH spokesperson Scott McClellan's comments that suspending the Act will help "women-owned and minority-owned businesses" to the old joke about how the New York Times would subhead a story on the end of the world: "Women and minorities adversely affected." For the 2nd time in as many days, WSJ's James Taranto points out Davis-Bacon was intended to benefit "white workers who belonged to white-only unions over non-unionized black workers."

RITA: Road Rage

Conservative Michelle Malkin posted a round-up of news from bloggers in and around the Rita storm path last p.m., and updates it several times. She posts multiple e-mails, including this one: "I want to be the first to formally predict that within HOURS of Rita hitting the Texas coast, some Moonbat (probably from within the MSM) will accuse Bush of taking better care of his own state than of Louisiana."

Liberal Swing State Project's Bob Brigham, who visited the N.O. area in the immediate aftermath, posts a photo of a dead person, and intones that "Texas bloggers won't have to see (and smell) such a sight": "The Republican Administration did nothing to evacuate those who could not themselves, they did nothing to stop the flooding until it was too late. And that is why the Bush Bodies floated and bloated."

Much-discussed is the fact that cars are running out of gas on the highway out of Houston. Conservative blogHOUSTON gives Mayor Bill White good marks for his response so far. At The Corner, Jonah Goldberg posts e-mails from readers around the evacuation here and here. One writes: "The traffic situation in Houston is lapsing into incompetency on the part of local and state officials. First, they tell everyone to evacuate the city, especially in low lying areas, and then they ask them to sit on highways that do not move." PoliPundit's DJ Drummond, from Houston: "If you want a signature word for Hurricane Rita, an apt choice might be 'gasoline' ... every refinery in the Houston/Galveston/Baytown area has shut down in preparation and evacuation for Hurricane Rita. In consumer terms, fully 27% of the United States consumer gasoline production has become unavailable for the next week at least."

Houston-based Beldar Blog: "My preliminary impression, In a nutshell: Don't blame Bush, state, or local officials for the evac gridlock. Blame Katrina and the local news media. Katrina + news media hysteria = lots of folks in non-flood-prone areas of Houston, who otherwise would have hunkered down altogether or at least waited until tomorrow to evac, instead hitting the road yesterday afternoon, last night, and today = avoidable degree of gridlock."

BUSH: I'll Take Potent Potables For $500, Alex

The National Enquirer story claiming that Bush has fallen off the wagon is getting wide play on the lefty blogs, including some of A-listers Crooks & Liars, AMERICAblog and Steve Gilliard. Liberal Loaded Mouth: "I'm starting to fear that the rumors of him drinking again are going to be used against him for negative purposes, and it's that kind of crap which makes me hate politics ... it could be true even though it was printed in the National Enquirer. However, to place a conspiracy spin on this, how do we know that Rove didn't help place it in that rag?" Avedon Carol at The Sideshow wonders, "when people talk about how his drinking might become a problem or get out of control I just think, "What's the difference? How could he be worse?'"

Conservative Ian Schwartz at The Political Teen is disgusted that a number of liberal bloggers have picked up the story: "Since when has anyone taken The National Enquirer seriously?" When a reader responds that the Paula Jones story originated in the Enquirer, Schwartz responds that the Enquirer is "the only 'media' covering this."

PoliPundit's Lorie Byrd posts a link to "the most pointless ad I have ever seen" -- a MoveOn TV spot calling Bush a "misleader" over Katrina and stating we are "no safer" now than 4 years ago. Writes Byrd: "Not only have these extreme liberal groups decided that not only does it not matter how much damage they do to the country, as long as Bush is destroyed, but they have evidently decided that bashing Bush also gets top priority over their own self interest to not waste their contributors' money by attacking a man that will never again run for public office."

SENATE '06: Man Of Steele

This week's revelation that the DSCC had illegally obtained SEN candidate/LG Michael Steele's (R-MD) credit info -- by using his SSN, obtained from public documents -- has set off a couple different debates. Captain's Quarters' Ed Morrissey points out that DSCC chair Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has made an issue of identity theft before. Michelle Malkin notes: "There has been no outcry from privacy advocates, the ACLU, the champions of clean campaigns, or any major MSM editorial board. Needless to say, if it had been Republicans involved in this outrageous scheme and the target had been a liberal minority politician, it would be a front-page NYTimes scandal." MD-based The Hedgehog Report: "All the whining and crying we hear from Maryland Democrats about [Gov. Bob] Ehrlich's supposed ethical lapses, yet at the same time, they are sending out their people to illegally obtain Michael Steele's credit reports. Nope, no hypocrisy here..."

Of Katie Barge, the now-fired staffer responsible for obtaining the documents, Morrissey notes in the above post that she has quite a resume as a researcher" -- for Media Matters and Edwards' WH campaign: "It seems that Ms. Barge got hired by the DSCC for exactly the purpose for which she got suspended." Hugh Hewitt nicknames her "Schumer's Colson."

BLOGGERS VS. BLOGGERS: Semiotically Offensive

When the Steele/DSCC story 1st surfaced, Morrissey noted it (in the post mentioned above) and praised Steele: "I had the good fortune to see Steele speak in person to the Republican convention in 2004, and the man will provide Democrats with nightmares on the stump. Articulate, knowledgeable, passionate, and humorous, he embodies the communication skills of a Ronald Reagan with a keen grasp of policy." Before long, a commenter suggested: "Captain Ed, may I recommend not using the modifier 'articulate' when refering to African-Americans?"

The same day, liberal Oliver Willis, himself an African-American and a Media Matters employee, mocked Morrissey: "Aw lawzy! That Michael Steele is sho nuff one of them 'articulate' negroes. One of 'the good ones,' you know?" TBOTCOTW: "All this outrage over the use of the word 'articulate' to describe a black man who is, in fact, articulate is ridiculous (but unsurprising) coming from a guy that used the phrase 'the filthy Wolfowitz' to describe a Jew. At the time I was willing to assume that Oliver was just being stupid, but now I think maybe I should hold him to his own standard and call him a racist." In the comments to a later Willis post on race and blogging (in which Willis says his racial politics are closer to "Bill Cosby than Michael Eric Dyson") a fierce debate breaks out on the meaning of "articulate." Among those involved: St. Wendeler of Another Rovian Conspiracy and Protein Wisdom's Jeff Goldstein, defending Morrissey; plus Days of the Locust's Paul Malcolm and others criticizing him. Derrida is mentioned. In a post titled "Moribund intentionalism and the death of the author II: The Wrath of Cant" at his own site, Goldstein deploys Derridean concepts such as "signifiers" and "signified" to show how words were put into Morrissey's mouth. Since it went up last p.m., it's picked up 70 comments.

This a.m., Morrissey asserts that he "wasn't aware that 'articulate' constituted some sort of racist smear," adding: "Fortunately, here in the sane world, paying one person a compliment doesn't denigrate anyone else, because most of the people here understand that good qualities such as articulation don't amount to some strange zero-sum game. ... Politics has many inarticulate boobs in office and out; all one has to do to understand this is to tune into a Congressional hearing to find them."

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Universal Reduces Political Movers And Shakers Into Billboards?

Instapundit writes, Universal is opening free screenings of the movie "Serenity" -- based on the cult Joss Whedon sci-fi series "Firefly" -- to bloggers, asking in return that they write a post about it. In NYC there will be a special screening for readers of Talking Points Memo, in the Twin Cities one for readers of Power Line (nothing for Atrios in Philly, though) Conservative Town Hall posts a list of participating theaters. Daniel Drezner has more, as does Alina Stefanescu.

LEST WE FORGET: Rhapsody In JetBlue

At Chase me ladies, I'm in the cavalry, Harry Hutton live-blogs Wednesday evening's dramatic emergency landing. It's funny because everyone's okay.

Posted by at September 23, 2005 12:33 PM