November 28, 2005

11/28: Foreign Objections

Bloggers have families like everyone else, and so last week blog-based debate slowed considerably. Returning from holiday, Iraq seems to be the focus for many. A LAT report this weekend suggesting the WH is caving to political pressures and moving toward troop reductions in '06, while the Washington Post reported a poll showing most Americans believe Dems criticize the war for partisan gain, rather than out of patriotism. Plamegate continues to develop, as Time's Viveca Novak has been called to testify, questions about Bob Woodward's journalistic ethics linger, Saddam's trial gets under way again, and another straw poll of conservative bloggers shows the WH '08 GOP field remains in a holding pattern. Meanwhile, several current topics originate with papers based in non-Thanksgiving-celebrating Britain, including controversies about whether Pres. Bush planned/joked about bombing Qatar-based satellite TV channel al Jazeera, whether private contractors have been shooting at cars on joyrides, and on the lighter side, Bruce Willis' planned pro-war film based on the writings of popular reporter-blogger Michael Yon.

IRAQ: Please Don't Go

On 11/26, Los Angeles Times reported, the "emerging of a convergence of opinion" on withdrawing from Iraq includes Sec/State Condoleezza Rice, and in an 11/30 speech, Bush is "expected to herald the improved readiness" of Iraqi forces.

>> Josh Marshall: "What we have is posturing and positioning over the political consequences of withdrawal. The White House and the president's partisans will lay down a wall of covering fire, calling anybody who considers withdrawal an appeaser, to allow the president to go about the business of drawing down the American presence in Iraq in time to game the 2006 elections." Think Progress: "Remember: bringing the troops home is only a bad idea if someone other than Bush suggests it."

>> Justin Gardner at centrist-Donklephant writes: "The Roveian way of doing things is to double the PR budget and forget about what's right or wrong, because history is written by the winners. My grave fear, though, is while we may seem like the winners to some right now, the Iraqis will end up losing so much."

>> Pro-war bloggers have a few different reactions. QandO thinks the LAT gives too much credit to anti-war advocates, writing, "it's not so much a convergence as it is a band-wagon effect, where those who would like to take credit for political reasons are now going to try to spin any troop removal as something pressure here at home helped to make happen. In actuality, it's all about politics... again." John Cole agrees politics are involved, but focuses on the admin: "Once again, it appears as if the Bush administration is going to do the wrong thing for purely political reasons."

Washington Monthly's Kevin Drum quotes ex-Iraq interim PM Allawi and a gov't-aligned Shiite leader as denouncing human rights abuses by the current Iraqi gov't, and concludes: "There is domestic politics involved in all this, of course, but the bottom line is that Ayad Allawi, who is no shrinking violet, is already horrified by the activities of the current Iraqi government. The most powerful unofficial member of the current government, however, says you ain't seen nothing yet."

On 11/26, Washington Post reported: "Just three of 10 adults accept that Democrats are leveling criticism because they believe this will help U.S. efforts in Iraq. A majority believes the motive is really to 'gain a partisan political advantage.'" Protein Wisdom's Jeff Goldstein writes, "if I'm reading this right, 70% of Americans believe that Democratic party criticism of the war is motivated by partisan political impulses -- a desire for power, to put it more forcefully -- rather than a desire to help the US win the war in Iraq." Ace of Spades HQ: "In fairness, the WaPo does report it, but only as a brief item in a news-roundup sort of article. The MSM won't be doing major analysis of the poll or running stories about past wars in which relentless negativism undermined troop morale."

Actor Bruce Willis is planning to make a movie based on the heroics of the Deuce Four Army battalion in Mosul as recorded by blogger Michael Yon. For an example of his reports, see here and here. Needless to say, the pro-war bloggers who make up Yon's fan base are pleased: Betsy Newmark: "Read all the details and you'll get what seems to be a much fuller picture of life for our soldiers in Iraq. In the hands of a good screenwriter, this could be a great movie and I wish Bruce Willis the best of luck." Roger L. Simon: "I'm placing a bet right now this movie will go through the roof, to the consternation of many of Willis' peers." Ed Morrissey notes that the story 1st reporting it is the Times of London: "Does this news come from the American media? No, we get to find out about it from the UK."

Instapundit's Glenn Reynolds appeared on "Reliable Sources" this weekend. He later recalled saying that Plamegate "was a reverse-Watergate, with the press, not the White House, keeping the important secrets about what happened. But looking at the transcript, I see that Iraq is also a reverse Vietnam ... In Vietnam, the brass talked happy-talk, the press talked to grunts and reported that the war was going worse than we were told. But now it's Americans who are talking to the grunts," and "getting a different picture of how the war is going."

IRAQ II: Terminate With Extreme Lack Of Prejudice?

London's Daily Mirror reported 11/22, according to a secret UK memo, British PM Tony Blair is said to have talked Bush out of bombing al Jazeera; others suggest he was joking or seeking a response. The WH has called the story "outlandish" and will not respond; so far only left-leaning bloggers are giving the story much attention. Also, the controversy draws some comparisons to the '04 docu about al Jazeera during the war, "Control Room"; in part, the film covers the accidental U.S. killing of Baghdad correspondent Tareq Ayoub. At The Moderate Voice, Joe Gandelman summarizes: "Call it the controversy that won't go away... the controversy that has gotten attention here in the United States but is snowballing in Great Britain." As Crooks and Liars points out, Britain has invoked the Official Secrets Act to dissuade the press from publishing related memos. At his blog, Conservative MP/London Spectator editor Boris Johnson promises to print the memo if he can, even if it means jail time. Univ. of MI prof Juan Cole: "Plotting to assassinate civilian journalists in a friendly country is certainly against the law, and if Bush is ever impeached, this charge will certainly figure in the trial." Lefty Steve Clemons criticizes foreign policy hawk Frank Gaffney, who has defended the idea of bombing al Jazeera as "enemy propaganda." UCLA prof Mark Kleiman: "Note that we aren't at war with Qatar, and that bombing Doha, the Qatari capital and Al-Jazeera HQ, would have been nothing less than mass murder. Remember, folks, that's our flag -- yours and mine -- that's being dishonored by the current occupant of the White House and his cronies." A blog purporting to be written by al Jazeera staffers has been set up on Blogspot, titled Don't Bomb Us. In a recent post they offer " 5 things you should know about Al Jazeera (especially if you landed here from LGF)": "George W. Bush has received approximately 500 hours of airtime, while Bin Laden has received about 5 hours of airtime." Little Green Footballs, which did link to DBA, on the controversy: "Al Jazeera is milking it like a prize Holstein, of course, and American moonbats are falling right in line."

According to the UK Telegraph, a "video appearing to show security guards in Baghdad randomly shooting Iraqi civilians has sparked two investigations after it was posted on the Internet." Daily Kos' Hunter comments: "For those with short memories, it was the alleged misconduct of armed contractors in Iraq that led to the killing and public display of four of them, hanging from a bridge... which led to two separate massive retaliatory assaults against Fallujah... which led to a widespread backlash in Iraq... which led to, among other things, a widened insurgency..." Crooks and Liars has what appears to be the video in question. AMERICAblog: "But hey, please don't let this jaundice your view of the war. We wouldn't want our troops to have bad morale while the Republicans leave them for sitting ducks."

WHITE HOUSE '08: Giuliani/Rice Still The Ticket That Sets GOP Blogger Hearts Aflutter

Last week righty radio talker Hugh Hewitt held the latest of the regular straw polls last week. Full results here. With 12.6K participating, ex-NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani wins the top slot again, taking 27% to the 20% showing by the next runner-up, VA Sen. George Allen. On the "fantasy ballot," Sec/State Rice cleans up again with 39%; next closest is Giuliani again, with 10%.

What does the center-left think of McCain's chances? At Slate, Mickey Kaus posted Sunday show commentary to the effect that conservatives are warming up to liberals, arguing: "Let's see. Conservatives are for McCain. Liberals like McCain. Centrists love McCain. Doesn't that mean McCain might, er, win?" Brendan Nyhan disagreed, writing, "prominent conservatives like David Keene and Grover Norquist still loathe McCain, and they are major players in the GOP nomination process." And a bit further left down the dial, Matt Yglesias concurs with Nyhan: "Under the current circumstances, it's very much in the interests of the Democratic Party and many liberal institutions to play up their points of agreement with the Senator. It's also in the interests of the White House to try and stay more-or-less on his good side. And McCain has always been adored by the press. As a result, he's very popular: People only hear good things about him. A real campaign would look very different." Meanwhile, McCain's fundraiser speech for George Wallace Jr. -- who has spoken before the controversial Council of Conservative Citizens -- drew a disapproving note at Eschaton.

MIDTERMS '06: Collaborators And Collaborations

In a related question on Hewitt's poll, see above, 89% of participants said the GOP cong. was "too collaborative" with Dems, whereas 5% found the balance "just right," and 2% said the GOP is "too confrontational." Hewitt adds in a follow-up post: "And with more than 12,300 votes cast as of this moment, Majority Leader Frist has received just 74!"

In recent weeks, Dem-supporting bloggers have discussed starting individual blogs to watch all 435 House races. Now District Blogs has been started to keep track of them all -- currently there are 31 listed. DavidNYC, a proponent of the blog plan, explains that the site it aggregates feeds from already-existing single-district blogs" and also "allows people who want to start their own district blogs to create one right away, hosted at DistrictBlogs. The combination of these two features means that DB has the potential to become a very powerful district-level tool."

TAPPED's Sam Rosenfeld: "The increasing likelihood of an indictment heading Ney's way for favors he did on Jack Abramoff's behalf makes this a good time for political junkies to start watching the race forming in his district more closely." Chillicothe Mayor Joe Sulzer (D) is the likely nominee, albeit with 2 challengers. Rosenfeld asks, "given the stream of awful legal news that Ney has endured over the past week: Do the Republicans have a candidate ready in wait in case Ney actually has to bow out?"

At MyDD, Jonathan Singer writes: "There is a common misconception among members of the Washington cognoscenti that there will not be enough Republican retirements in the House to offer the Democrats a real shot at recapturing the chamber next year." He notes that Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) announced his retirement, making that 5 so far. More Singer: "Republicans are quickly approaching the point at which they could lose the House just by failing to hold on to their open seats -- a situation even the Democrats did not face in 1994."

PLAMEGATE: Once Again, It's Foremost A Press Story

According to the New York Times, Time reporter Viveca Novak has been subpoenaed to discuss her interaction with Karl Rove atty Robert Luskin. TalkLeft: "She is not, by the way, related to Robert Novak." As usual, the left is on it 1st: With transcripts and quotations from old news stories, Booman Tribune delves into why prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald would call her in. The going assumption: "He's bringing in Ms. Novak because he is now investigating Rove's lawyer. He wants to know what Luskin was leaking to reporters." Firedoglake's ReddHedd thinks Fitzgerald is still trying to get to Rove: "While I do think that it is tenuous that a judge would allow Fitz to break that attorney/client relationship by forcing Luskin to become a witness against Rove, it is possible that this could be a tactic in terms of forcing Rove's hand." And as usual, the 1st conservative to weigh in is Tom Maguire, who notes that Time's "swift compliance does make quite a contrast with their previous position" -- i.e. Matt Cooper's fight to protect his source (Rove). Maguire: "And Time was criticized at the time for folding up, rather than making a stand for press freedom. So, has Time surrendered all notions of a free press, and does it now consider itself to be an arm of the Fitzgerald investigation?"

For months, Plamegate bloggers have questioned what NBC's Andrea Mitchell did and did not know about Valerie Plame before the scandal broke. Speaking on the air in 10/03, Mitchell said Plame's CIA employment was well-known. Now MSNBC's own Don Imus has asked her about it; Mitchell says she simply "messed up." At JustOneMinute, Maguire posts the transcript from her Imus appearance. Maguire figures her answers are confused at best and misleading at worst: "Is Andrea Mitchell sitting on a Bob Woodward style revelation that she had received an early leak that Ms. Plame was at the CIA?" At The Corner, conservative Cliff May asks: "Possible motive for her suddenly muddled memory: Who wants to be questioned by the FBI? Who wants a subpoena? Who wants to hire a lawyer and face a grand jury? Who wants to rat out a source or go to jail to protect one?" Liberal Jane Hamsher: "I live for those special moments when she, Tim Russert and Chris Matthews get together and "question" each other like they're all not up to their eyeballs in it."

WOODWARD: Tool Time

... The Washington Post had two more pieces about its own Bob Woodward, by media reporter Howard Kurtz and ombudsman Deborah Howell. Fishbowl DC's Garret Graff: "The Plamegate investigation seems to be beginning a cottage industry in newspapers writing profiles of their own writers. I mean how many times before Judy Miller did newspapers publish profiles of their own staff (at least while they're still alive)?" Graff calls the Kurtz piece "even handed" and writes: "Critical to history or tool of the elite? Kurtz reports, you decide."

Frequent Tim Russert critic Arianna Huffington highlights negative remarks by WaPo's Broder and Robinson on "MTP" 11/27: "It was a great opportunity for Tim to look at the broken conventions regarding confidential sources and the broken trust between the public and the press. But instead, Tim went right back to the old playbook," believing (as Huffington does not) that "the main problem" here is "how does the press repair the damage done between journalists and anonymous sources?" Liberal Sisyphus Shrugged writes: "Now journalists are part of the ... glittering world of Washington society, and a pundit is someone who knows someone who can get him or her on the teevee. The people in power aren't just subjects, they're friends, and the rules for interacting with your friends are very different than the rules for interacting with sources."

HUSSEIN: Trial By Firefight?

Some reaction to this a.m.'s proceedings in the Saddam Hussein trial:

Donklephant: "Hussein's posturing during the opening segment of the trial threaten to make a mockery of the rest of the proceedings. Maintaining the safety of the trial participants looks to be a challenge as well." Captain's Quarters: "Saddam complained about not having a pen, being guarded by foreigners, and a broken elevator as his latest contribution to his trial for mass murder, continuing to demonstrate that he still doesn't quite grasp the stakes involved. ... The professionalism of the Iraqi court stands in stark contrast."

Stop The ACLU highlights ex-AG Ramsey Clark's role as a Hussein atty. Power Line: "Clark is one of those lefties who never met a dictator he didn't suck up to." PoliPundit: "I know this is an awful thing to suggest, but I wonder how many people will be watching just to find out whether or not Ramsey Clark meets the same fate as some of Saddam's previous lawyers. Hopefully the violence surrounding the trial will not continue and the former leader of Iraq will receive a fair trial -- followed by a fair hanging." A Blog For All: "Clark wants the attention focused on himself, and couldn't care less about Saddam's victims, which is at the heart of this trial."

BLOGGERS VS. BLOGGERS: Trackbacks Of My Tears

As of this a.m., Pajamas Media is still hosted at the old osm.org site, but along with the name change (see 11/22 Blogometer) it has a new logo and is starting to host more content at their original URL. They are also still debating what the website is supposed to be. On 11/24, Pajamas Media held a blogjam featuring Reynolds and fellow advisory board members May, Adam Bellow and Tammy Bruce. Although it's the most open the company has been yet, most critics are unmoved. One is Jeff Jarvis: "Here's the challenge, folks: Stand back and see whether you can agree on just one thing. Finish this sentence in no more than 10 words: Pajamas Media is _________________. Until you can do that, there is no sense in arguing over logos, names, functionality, linking, comments, anything. What are you? Why do you exist? Until you can answer that, you shouldn't exist. You don't exist." Another is alienated PJM contributor Laurence Simon, who complains that he wasn't told ahead of time: "It's rather ironic that this is happening on Thanksgiving. On this day, across the land, families are being divided into 'Adults Table' and 'Kids Table.' Similarly, OSM/Pajamas Media is having the "Adult Conversation" in earshot of the kids, but the kids are not invited to participate because it is assumed they have nothing to learn from such discussions or contribute to such a debate." Simon, proprietor of the "Is Full of Crap" websites, has launched pajamasmedia.isfullofcrap.com as a discussion forum. A few of PJM's top bloggers are weighing in there, including Reynolds himself, who concedes a lot needs to change. John Cole is another: "I understand Roger and Charles are probably overwhelmed, but it just seems to me there needs to be, at the very least, a daily email to everyone involved. I am willing to to help them out, but I am so in the dark I just don't know how to help." Although not affil. with blogosphere death pool-organizer Simon, there is a death pool for Pajamas Media.

Truth Laid Bear's N.Z. Bear, recently decided to change his site's ranking system so as not to count "open trackback" posts, which can be used to artificially inflate one's rankings. A number of low to mid-level traffic bloggers are upset. Perhaps most upset is WV-based Daily Mail columnist Don Surber, who figured out the plan before implemented and confronted Bear about it; Surber posted the exchange, adding: "These people are acting very MSM of late. They have a little bit of power and they insulate themselves from their audiences and act as if they are better than everyone else."

MISCELLANY: Special [Error]-Wallace-Sheehan-Matthews Edition!

• [We've removed this item, about a Capitol Hill reporter who was alleged to be friends with a key figure in the Abramoff scandals. Because the factual validity of the item has since come into question, we figured we'd better take it down, pronto. Apologies to all involved.]
• Liberal Crooks and Liars targets FNC's Chris Wallace for pushing Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) on whether Bush ever linked Saddam to al Qaeda. "Wallace did everything he could to make it seem that Bush never linked the two. Is he kidding? Levin did a good job of fighting back."
• Power Line declares anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan's time as a celebrity "over," after her Thanksgiving vigil drew just 100; they post a wire photo of Sheehan waiting to sign books, with no one around but photographers. They praise the Washington Post for portraying it accurately, as The American Princess compliments the AP: "Cindy's lonely. And the Associated Press is being surprisingly honest about it."
• Early last week a handful of Canadian papers attributed remarks arguably complimentary of al Qaeda, to MSNBC's Chris Matthews. The comments were quickly taken up in the blogosphere, and on 11/22 Matthews sent a clarifying message to RedState, which posted it in full: "I don't know why the reporter chose to ignore my clear statement was the appropriate response to terorism, why he chose to skip to my strong belief that we need to get behind this massive hatred we're facing in the Muslim world. ... I was invited by the political science students. I'm pretty sure they taped it because that had an audi-visual person there putting on my microphone." Some of the commenters are amused: "Matthews gets his words twisted by the MSM? Oh, sweet poetic justice."

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Not-So-Lonely Jew On Christmas?

As the calendar leans toward Christmas and concurrent end-of-year holidays, yuletide-blogging is starting up. This past week, presumably unbeknownst to the other, 2 Jewish bloggers weighed in -- both for and against the seasonal cheer. Conservative Ross Kaminsky: "Sure, it's nice and PC to call it the holiday season but walking down the street, despite the occasional token menorah or dreydel, it's obviously Christmas. And to be clear, I don't dislike Christmas. It just doesn't have any real meaning to me. Sometimes I do wish all the red and green lights would go up a week or two later. Is that so wrong?" Liberal Ezra Klein: "I'm heedless. Reckless. Rash and unthinking. I shopped, ignoring the warnings, on Black Friday. And despite all the folks complaining about Christmas music, I thought it was great. Mostly because of all the Christmas music. I, after all, spend all year waiting for Christmas music. ... I write this, though, because I seem to be the only one. Everyone else I know despises Christmas music and wants to go all Seattle-protestor on every retailer who plays it."

LEST WE FORGET: American Pamplona

At NAM's Manufacturer's Blog, Pat Cleary attempted to visit the post-TG "Black Friday" rush at a Fairfax Co. Wal-Mart, and returned with gritty details and photos: "Hemingway found Pamplona because, as he said, he went searching for something that would awaken his senses to both life and death. Emerging from Wal-Mart this morning, seeing even more police cars, the parking lot now closed off completely, the woman being loaded on the stretcher into the ambulance, we felt a special bond with Hemingway. Life and death indeed."

Posted by at November 28, 2005 12:41 PM