November 07, 2005

11/7: Paris Is Burning

As the week opens, conservative bloggers have kept their focus on the unrest in France, which has now been going on 11 nights. Meanwhile, liberal bloggers continue pressing numerous questions about the WH and pre-war WMD intel.

For conservatives, the former is a troubling, if vindicating, example that Muslim immigrants are a bigger problem than Europe admits; among the liberals commenting, most point to unemployment and social inequality as the real problem. And re: the latter issue, Dem-leaning bloggers want the Dems and MSM to keep pushing for answers about various intel claims that proved incorrect; to the extent that GOP-leaning bloggers are looking at the same issues, they focus more on the credibility of the admin's accusers or how it's being covered by the MSM.

Plus, bloggers covering the '05 elections in NJ and VA, and the special in CA, are blogging up a storm in anticipation of the 11/8 vote. We'll keep tabs on what we can.

FRENCH RIOTS: And We'll All Come Criticize The Intifada

>> Nearly all of the commentary comes from the right -- Little Green Footballs has termed it the "French Intifada," over the weekend counting off Day 10 and Day 11 while citing news links and joking about the "Grim Milestone" of 100 cars burned. LGF's Charles Johnson thought the media overused the term "grim milestone" when the 2Kth U.S. soldier was killed in Iraq (see 10/26 Blogometer). According to Memeorandum, conservative columnist Mark Steyn's latest for the Chicago Sun-Times was one of the most-linked stories over the weekend, all by conservatives. Among them, Betsy Newmark: "What will probably happen is that enough people will be arrested that the nightly stories of mass riots will stop. The politicians will pretend that they've done something to stop the violence. But that won't be the end of it, of course. Just imagine the opportunities for more rioting as all these hundreds of arrested come to trial." Ranting Profs' Cori Dauber is among those exasperated with the MSM coverage; 1st for being slow to clue in, 2nd for ignoring the War on Terror angle: "Yesterday the AP had an article explaining that the riots in France were all about unemployment. Today the Post has an article from one of their own reporters, and she helpfully explains that really all that burning is just a cry for recognition. How does she know? She asked a bunch of the kids who've been doing the burning, and after all they ought to know." Another is EU Rota: "Old journalistic axiom: 'If it bleeds, it leads.' New journalistic axiom: 'If it bleeds and doesn't shatter leftist myths, it leads.'" Some can't resist having a bit of fun at the expense of the French. Aussie Tim Blair spins the thousands of cars burned as a good thing: "Torched cars = more walking = reduced need to visit gyms. French social policy triumphs again!"

>> From the left -- AMERICAblog's Chris in Paris: "The focus on the right seems to be more about the violence and political finger pointing than the actual problem behind the problem. Of course something needs to be done about the violence but instead of cowboy politics which seem to almost dare the rioters to try again, there should be more time spent on discussing the root cause." On 11/5 he discussed these causes in greater detail. European Tribune's Jerome a Paris calls it a "real political crisis for the government, caught between the Le Pen-light shenanigans and provocations of [Interior Minister Nicolas] Sarkozy (which are strongly approved and encouraged by a good part of the 'law'n'order' rightwing crowd in the country, but criticised by a majority today, including the moderate right)) and the silence of the rest of the government, led by [PM Dominique de] Villepin, which was hoping that the crisis would burn Sarkozy but did not expect to be caught in the flames as well."

>> Centrist Joe Gandelman, who supported the Iraq war, takes seriously the possibility that France's failure to assimilate its Muslim immigrants is a big part of the problem: "Writers and analysts of varying viewpoints have been writing for years about a simmering problem there with its Muslim population."

>> More conservatives on the riots -- Sister Toldjah; Counterterrorism Blog; Captain's Quarters; Roger L. Simon; The Right Coast; Belmont Club.

WMD INTEL I: From I.L. Libby To Al-Libi

On the left side of the 'sphere, one of the most-linked articles was New York Times' Jehl reporting that the U.S. suspected since early '02 that a captured al-Qaeda member, al-Shaykh al-Libi, who had told of an Iraq-Qaeda connection was probably a "fabricator." The DIA report was uncovered at the behest of Senate Armed Forces Cmte ranking Dem Carl Levin. The Times story was announced ahead of publication by E&P, noting the Levin memo.

>> The Times story got links at the top of Huffington Post, from righty Bush critic Andrew Sullivan, and widely-read community blog Metafilter. Think Progress summarizes statements from the Bush admin. based on "false evidence" that apparently came from al-Libi. At The American Street, Mahablog's Barbara O'Brien points out that the captured Qaedist was "not the only intelligence source later uncovered as a fibber. For example, an Iraqi exile code named 'Curveball' was the primary source for the ephemeral mobile biological weapons labs. And there is Ahmed Chalabi, beloved of neocons, who has been accused of feeding the Pentagon all manner of misinformation." The Left Coaster: "Was it a sudden re-growth of guts and balls that did this, or did the Democrats now come into possession of new information that was withheld from them before the election that gave them the club to force this issue out into the open now? We now know the answer, and it is the latter."

>> Pro-war bloggers have not ignored the debate entirely, but there's nothing like a swarm around it -- Under the header "Obligatory Bombshell Blogging," Balloon Juice's Tim F quotes an excerpt and adds: "Quelle surprise." Winds of Change's Dan Darling argues, Libi "he did end up eventually telling his interrogators more than simply that Iraq was training al-Qaeda operatives, as [ex-Sec/State Colin] Powell recounted at the UN in the terrorism portion of his presentation that ... everyone including Levin agreed upon in the [Senate Intel] report 'was carefully vetted by both terrorism and regional analysts.'"

WMD INTEL II: Maybe If It Was A TPS Report It Would Get Done Faster

In the 11/14 Weekly Standard, publisher Bill Kristol pens an editorial calling on Bush to fight back against Senate Dems like Min. Leader Harry Reid, who said the Bush admin. "manufactured" pre-war intel. In the piece, he cites the "bipartisan Silberman-Robb commission" as having "found no evidence of political manufacture and manipulation of intelligence." But liberal bloggers object; Josh Marshall quotes a selection from the report which says the commis. was "not authorized to investigate how policymakers used the intelligence" they had. Marshall asks readers to submit further examples. Duncan "Atrios" Black cites New York Times columnist David Brooks as bringing up Silberman-Robb on the 10/4 "News Hour." Atrios, a well-known as a Brooks critic, asks: "Does PBS care that they employ a liar? Does the New York Times? Sure, people just get things wrong sometimes but when winger central sends out the talking points and they all obligingly repeat them, that's not just getting things wrong that's being deliberately full of shit." Crooks and Liars cites Senate Intel Cmte chair Pat Roberts. Arianna Huffington cites Coburn on "Meet." Media Matters filed an early entry on 11/3, noting Rush Limbaugh, the Wall Street Journal and FNC's Major Garrett as making the same claim.

Liberal TAPPED's Sam Rosenfeld writes, the Senate Dems' win on the forthcoming Intel report coincides with the agreement of both House caucuses to settle their differences and hire a new Ethics Cmte counsel, allowing ethics complaints about DeLay and Bob Ney (R-OH) to be addressed. He asks: "What are the prospects for any of these inquiries amounting to more than whitewashes? It's not hard to imagine Roberts and his fellow Republicans signing off on a grudging and halfhearted judgment of administration deceptions that should satisfy no one."

There's always more speculation out there -- Talking Points Memo notes an Isikoff/HosenballNewsweek story noting that the FBI concluded it did not know the origin of the Niger forgeries without having interviewed Rocco Martino, the Italian businessman who came forward with them. TPM disagrees with the implication of their assertion that U.S. officials couldn't "compel" testimony from him: "I don't know what the Bureau's authority would have been in such a case. But whether they had any power to compel Martino to talk is irrelevant because they didn't even try to contact him while he was here. Conservative A.J. Strata sees a completely different cover-up, one that has the CIA using Wilson's trip to cover their own missteps, and as part of the CIA's ongoing "war" with Cheney and the WH: "The number of people who knew Val was CIA is increasing every day (note to Fitz) and more and more this 'outing' appears to be cover for something else. Those Niger trips had nothing to do with the Iraq war and the rationale for going to war."

BUSH: How Long Before More Conservative Bloggers Are Calling On Rove To Step Down?

Although the above debates relegated Bush, dep. CoS Karl Rove to the back burner, what is being said isn't very good news for him. More conservatives

Heritage's Mark Tapscott lists and debates lost opportunities and other errors by the Bush WH, and finally concludes: "It seems clear now that Karl Rove is indeed preoccupied with defending himself in the Plamegate scandal and avoiding indictment ... That means Rove can't do what he has always done -- keep Bush and the administration focused and moving forward on the basis of a coherent, aggressive political strategy. In other words, the administration is rudderless. That means it's time for Rove to step aside and the President, for better or worse, to find a new chief political strategist. Before it's too late."

Liberal John Aravosis pledges to keep up the fight: "Tell us again why this known security risk retains a security clearance during wartime? This is our issue, folks. It's time we mounted a campaign to yank Rove's clearances and defend our country against a president who puts personal friendship ahead of national security and the rule of law. I'm open to suggestions for additional ways to get attention to this issue - types of protests, online and off, and more."

VIRGINIA GOVERNOR: Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

On 11/4 conservative No Agenda, a site run by Blogs for Bush's Margolis, called attention to the VA BoE censure of LG Tim Kaine's (D) campaign for having put out fliers made to look like they originated from a GOP source, as the AP reported.

On 11/5, Daily Kos diarist Mlk posted scans of a mailer purporting to be the "Official Democrat and Progressive Voter Guide," with a DNC donkey on the front. Yet the mailer portrays GOPer-turned-indie Russell Potts as the true progressive, not Kaine. Mlk points out: "If you read the fine print, it was produced by" the org. "Virginians for Jerry Kilgore," which supports VA AG Jerry Kilgore (R) for GOV. On 11/6, Markos Moulitsas posted a few of the scans to the front page under the header "GOP dirty tricks," and linked back to the original.

GOPers are skeptical. Margolis asked at yet another site, GOP Bloggers: "Does anyone really believe the Kilgore campaign would resort to the same dirty trick as the Kaine campaign... especially when the Kaine campaign may face prosecution for their scheme?"

Meanwhile, pro-Kaine Raising Kaine reports that NoVA residents are getting robo calls purporting to be from the Kaine camp, but at the end say they were paid for by the "Honest Leadership for Virginia PAC" -- which supports Kilgore. RK: "I would strongly urge everyone to be EXTREMELY skeptical about robocalls and mailers during the next 24-36 hours. Probably, the best bet is simply to ignore them ... Also, make sure you let everyone you know about the Kilgore campaign's gutter politics!"

NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR: Caught In The New Jersey Net

Over the weekend, the Drudge Report called attention to questions about NJ GOV GOP nominee Doug Forrester and Dem nominee Jon Corzine's personal lives. In a BlueJersey post cross-posted to Daily Kos, Juan Melli notes that Forrester's campaign has been implicated in some of the rumors, and calls into question whether anonymous NJ conservative blog Enlighten-NJ.

Meanwhile, Enlighten NJ makes a brief nod to the story, and also writes up a report about deceased individuals being purged from the NJ voter rolls.

In a post titled "We're All Larry Flynt Now," Atrios comments: "Some of us remember a few years back when Monica Madness hit that stories came out about Republican adultery. Salon was universally pilloried for daring to publish the fact that Henry Hyde had an affair. We were told that it wasn't about the sex, it was about the lying, and that politicians, Republican ones at least, deserved their privacy. ... I noticed that had apparently changed when the 'Kerry had an affair' rumor surfaced during the election. There was no effort to justify why it was actually relevant to the election. It wasn't about the lying, or whatever, it was just about the sex. Apparently, now, that's the new standard. Adultery, abortions, whatever, are all fair game. There need not be any bullshit justification, or hook of hypocrisy needed, they're newsworthy in and of themselves."

In a separate post, Melli notes that if he wins, Corzine has hinted to the Asbury Park Press that he will appoint acting Gov. Richard Codey (D) to replace him in the Senate. He also notes via the Bergen Record that nat'l Dem leaders want Codey, and that Rep. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) is "out" of consideration.

CALIFORNIA CABLE: Are These Bloggers Pumped Up Or Are They Pumped Up?

California Conservative posts a "Carnival of Arnold" -- a collection of links to posts by right-leaning bloggers supporting GOP CA Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's inits. Among them, Eric's Grumbles Before the Grave supports Prop. 77, the redistricting measure; Gay Patriot praises Schwarzenegger for pressing ahead with his reform agenda despite strong opposition; and union member The Irish Lass recommends voting the anti-union side of Prop 75.

Meanwhile, lefty SoapBlox California, aka Calitics has been closely watching the Field Poll results showing Schwarzenegger's inits trailing, and highlights the "strange bedfellows" the redistricting measure has brought. While some liberal orgs. support it, one GOPer opposed is ex-Maj. Leader Dick Armey. Notes Calitics: "While Prop 77 would likely mean a slight pickup of seats for the GOP, Ohio's redistricting would likely yield up to 5 new Democrat seats. Armey and many other GOP leaders are concerned about this. Who isn't? Arnold. He officially supports Reform Ohio Now." Swing State Project's Tim Tagaris notes that while a couple of the liberal-backed Reform OH Now inits. are looking like they will pass, the redistricting measure trails.

PENTAGON: Any Means Necessary?

Center-righty Andrew Sullivan points out, before a closed-door session of cong. GOPers on 11/4, VP Cheney made the case for allowing "cruel, inhuman or degrading" treatment from of detainees if needed to prevent a terrorist attack. As Sullivan describes it: "A man who avoided service in Vietnam is lecturing John McCain on the legitimacy of torturing military detainees. But notice he won't even make his argument before Senate aides, let alone the public. Why not? If he really believes that the U.S. has not condoned torture but wants to reserve it for exceptional cases, why not make his argument in the full light of day? You know: where democratically elected politicians operate."

Political Animal: "If conservatives dislike Dick Durbin's comparison of American practices to those of Hitler and Stalin, they should make clear to Dick Cheney that America doesn't condone the practices of Hitler and Stalin. Because apparently, the vice president of the United States does condone them. Vigorously."

A front-paged RedState diary challenges last week's Washington Post report about CIA prisons around the world, asking: "Do Dana Priest, the Washington Post, the NY Times and the rest of the MSM really care if their reporting hinders our abilty to prosecute and win a worldwide fight against Islamic-based terrorism?" The diary links over to Priest's 11/4 live chat, where about "80% of the commenters seemed upset that she didn't name the 'several democracies in Eastern Europe' who allegedly host CIA covert prisons for special (i.e., top-level Al Qaeda) prisoners."

MISCELLANY: Including, If You Can Believe It, All Of Today's Plamegate Coverage

• Swing State Project's DavidNYC wonders if scandal-entrenched Rep. Duke Cunningham (R-CA) will ride out his term or step down and possibly trigger a special election: "[W]hile DeLay can probably sink his nails in and cling to life, Cunningham doesn't have a friend in the world. If he has any brains, he'll resign if he's indicted -- why would he want to be criminally indicted lame-duck Congressman for a year?"
• Slate's Mickey Kaus wonders why NBC never elaborates on what Libby was calling Russert to complain about in '03. Many in the blogs suspect Libby had called about a "Hardball" segment on Wilson's Niger trip; Kaus writes: "If it was about Wilson, after all, that makes it much more plausible that Libby and Russert at least came close to talking about Wilson's wife's role in arranging the Niger trip."
• BuzzMachine's Jeff Jarvis is perplexed by the fact that New York Times reporter Judy Miller was given a 1st Amendment award by SPJ, and will keynote an upcoming Pajamas Media launch meeting in NYC. Jarvis: "I don't understand how these players can separate her credibility and ethical behavior (as defined by such thing as SPJ's code of ethics) from their own credibility and trust. Like it or not, we in journalism are judged by our worst work and what we do about it. ... My issues with Miller are not political. They are journalistic. She is no longer credible. So why is she selected as a standard bearer for the First Amendment, shield laws, journalism, or any newspaper?"
• Gateway Pundit calls attention to local St. Louis coverage of Jimmy Massey, an associate of anti-war mom Cindy Sheehan and a former Marine sgt. who claimed to have committed war crimes in Iraq. Massey had formerly received positive press from USA Today, but now the St. Louis Dispatch is reporting that Massey's former soldiers and the reporters embedded with him call his specific allegations "demonstrably false or exaggerated."

THE ALITO NOMINATION: Talk Of Nuclear War? Just Alito Bit

What the blogs are saying about the SCOTUS nod of judge Samuel Alito:

THE SCOTUS FIGHT: The Blog Party

On 11/4, the RNC held its latest blogger conf. call, this time to discuss the Alito nod with conservative bloggers. Decision '08's Mark Coffey gives an overview of the whole call. Tim Chapman has a full transcript. Right Wing News' John Hawkins: "I asked two questions, one of which was: 'If the Democrats were to filibuster, would President Bush like to see the constitutional option used?' [WH confirmation team's Steve] Schmidt sidestepped the question." Later on, Matt Margolis from Blogs for Bush asked why the hearings were being put off until January despite the fact that in the past, hearings have been done in as little as a month. Schmidt came across as not being particularly concerned about the delay. This worries me -- just a little bit -- because the Democrats are going to throw everything but the kitchen sink at Alito." James Joyner gripes that Schmidt ducks some of the harder questions, but does pass note "actual news," with (apparently) Schmidt saying: "We have an extraordinary amount of confidence in Chairman Specter." Margolis, on Schmidt on the delay: "He also said with Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up it complicated things. So, the White House is has "no great concerns" with the hearings beginning on January 9th. I, however, still do." Additional commentary from Ankle Biting Pundits and Suitably Flip.

Since last week, Univ. of WI-Madison law prof Ann Althouse has been defending Alito against criticisms of his FMLA ruling; Alito opponents have cited it as an activist and intolerant opinion, but Althouse disagrees. She takes up a Boston Globe op-ed by Harvard prof Larry Tribe, who writes: "You can't help doing a double-take when you read Judge Samuel Alito's opinion holding Congress powerless to compel states to provide family medical leave to their employees." She responds, incredulously: "Is this really by Larry Tribe?" She argues a few specifics of the case that she thinks he left out, and concludes: "Tribe's eagerness to slam Judge Alito shows."

SCOTUS CONFIRMATION: Nuclear Disarmament

Citing conciliatory statements by Senate Jud Cmte Dems Joe Biden and Ted Kennedy, conservative Ed Morrissey writes, the "political momentum of a Democratic filibuster appears to have dissipated over the weekend"; Kennedy said on "Meet the Press," his "only reservation" about Alito "was that the people who wanted the nomination of Harriet Miers withdrawn now seem so enthusiastic about Alito. If that's the basis of Kennedy's analysis, it demonstrates the shallowness of his intellect."

Liberal Crooks and Liars cites Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) saying on "Meet" that he uses his "medical skills of observation of body language" to tell if people are lying "We have Bill Frist making a diagnosis on Terri Schiavo using old video tapes and now we have Coburn saying he can tell if you're lying just by using his keen training in body language. What's up with some of these Republican doctors? I didn't know that studying body language was a course given to doctors anyway. Can somebody find that class given in medical school?"

SCOTUS IMPACT: Business As Usual

Liberal Yale prof Jack Balkin, at his Balkinization blog: "Movement conservatives and religious conservatives are for the most part delighted with Alito. But for those conservatives in the movement who want a return to a pre-New Deal Constitution, or one with significantly reduced federal powers, I've got news for you. Samuel Alito ain't your guy. In fact, the only Justice on the Supreme Court who takes such views seriously is Clarence Thomas, and if he had made his views known at his confirmation hearings, he wouldn't be on the Court either. ... Business interests do not want a constitutional revolution in federal state relations. They want a flexible, agile, and supple federal power that will deregulate selectively to allow businesses with the most political clout to do most of what they want ... That is why we got John Roberts. That is why we are getting Sam Alito."

ROE V. WADE: You Don't Need A Weather Man To Know Which Way The Wind Roes

Tom Maguire writes that the reason "Alito hit the pro-choice side in three of four abortion cases, is that Alito, with his personal ideology checked at the door, is the sort of judge a true judicial conservative can love. If there are social conservatives looking for a reliable vote to overturn Roe, they may be in for a disappointment." He also speculates that Alito "will not be opposed to some whittling around the edges of Roe -- the Partial Birth Abortion ban (See note below) might represent the sort of balancing of interest with which he would be comfortable. However, my guess is that Alito accepts that a core of abortion rights are well established at this point."

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: We Must Make Amends

Washington Monthly's Kevin Drum asks: "Do you know how many constitutional amendments have been proposed in just the past year? According to Thomas, there have been 47." He lists them all, denoting which amendments were GOP-sponsored or Dem-sponsored or bipartisan. And Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL), "who is apparently extremely fond of making statements via submission of constitutional amendments, has his own special section."

LEST WE FORGET: Coastal Elites

Baltimore Sun's Vozzella reports on the blogging efforts of MD SEN candidates, with special attention to AU prof/CNN talking head/Dem candidate Allan Lichtman, who "claims to be the only real blogger in the race. He has posted about 20 entries on his campaign blog on issues such as stem cell research, Scooter Libby and the Iranian president's recent statement on Israel. And the responses sure don't seem censored. ... Lichtman says he's just glad to get a spirited dialogue going. 'I'm putting myself out there to get really tested,' he said. 'For a while I was a recommended diary on The Daily Coast.'" Thus, apparently, Vozzella joins a privileged club (according to Google) of transcribers who have mistaken this non-existent site for Daily Kos.

NOTES AND ERRATA: First Regaled, Then Begalaed

In our 11/1 edition we cited ex-Clinton adviser/CNN pundit Paul Begala and James Carville as examples of "consultant/pundits on television who frequently make no disclosure." Mr. Begala pointed out to us that he has done no paid consulting work since leaving the WH in '99; all of the work that he has done since -- including his advice to the KE'04 campaign -- has been unpaid. Rather than "consultant/pundit," it would be more accurate to call him an "activist/pundit." A note has been added to the 11/1 edition to clarify this.

Posted by at November 7, 2005 12:49 PM