February 17, 2006

2/17: On A Friday

Thanks to that other GW's birthday, Hotline is taking Monday off. The Blogometer will return on 2/21.

Today's edition is an unusually long one for a Friday, tracking an unusually large number of stories. We'll let the stories tell themselves:

EAVESDROPPING: Senate Lets The Beat Mmmmm ... (Eaves) Drop

Several major developments on the domestic surveillance front have sparked a lot of talk on the left -- First, Washington Post reports that the Senate will not investigate the NSA's eavesdropping program because the WH rejected a request to have ex-AG John Ashcroft and others testify. On the House side, New York Times reports that the Intel cmte has agreed to open an inquiry on the program, though there's debate about the scope. Finally, Reuters reports on a fed. judge's ruling that the DoJ must respond within 20 days to requests for documents related to the NSA wiretap program.

First first -- A disappointed Bark Bark Woof Woof, on the Senate: "Oversight? Sure, as long as they do exactly what the White House tells them to oversee." The Carpetbagger Report: "It's quite a shell game. Both Intelligence Committees effectively announced that they won't ask any questions about the program's legality or execution, but are committed to changing FISA to make Bush's actions legal -- after the fact." Cenk Uygur, at Huffington Post: "These are the same Republicans who had the audacity to pretend they cared about the rule of law when Bill Clinton was President. ... I suppose it shoud come as no surprise that the people who were willing to so grossly violate the President's privacy (when it was not their President), now have no problems violating your privacy." Democratic Veteran: "One hundred years from now (if the Republic lasts that long), our grandkids are going to study invertebrates and start with the US Senate."

Early last p.m. at right-leaning Volokh Conspiracy, GWU law prof Orin Kerr called attn to the DoJ report on the 1st jud. opinion "touching on the NSA domestic surveillance program was issued today, and it didn't go well for the Bush Administration." Privacy rights group EPIC put in a FOIA request with DoJ, but was turned in. The District court judge "rejected DoJ's position, and ordered DoJ to review the documents, determine what is discoverable, and comply with the request in 20 days." Atty Glenn Greenwald adds more details and analysis: "As I have been indicating, this scandal has many tentacles. And each of them is growing inexorably." Democratic Daily Blog doesn't expect the court ruling to be the final word: "The Justice Department isn't about to turn over those documents just because a liberal activist judge has ordered them to."

Kevin Drum interprets a story from the Washington Post about how SSCI chair Pat Roberts is "considering legislation that would make it easier to prosecute leaks -- legislation that even John Ashcroft thought went too far. If Roberts is serious, the press could be in real trouble when it reports on things like the CIA's secret prisons or the NSA's domestic spying program."

CHENEY: Drinking Games

Although local police have no more questions in VP Cheney's accidental shooting of TX atty Harry Whittington, bloggers have plenty more. And though Cheney addressed the alcohol issue in his interview with FNC's Brit Hume this week, those questions are the most-asked -- and most controversial. Partial transcripts of the WH press corps pressing WH spokesperson Scott McClellan are available from Holden -- currently in possession of one pony -- at First Draft. Crooks and Liars posts video of "BushCo. apologist" Dick Morris taking the alcohol charge seriously on "Hannity & Colmes" last p.m.: "The alcohol theme has reached critical mass now and the traditional media as well as the 24/7 talking heads are taking the lead on this."

Tapped's Garance Franke-Ruta points out a few unanswered questions about the Cheney case, but adds: "I also think that people who are now speculating that Cheney put off his conversation with police on Saturday night because he had been drinking at lunch or after it are not thinking much more clearly about the situation than Cheney was initially." She argues that it's likely Cheney had a drink after the shooting to calm his nerves, chalking up the delay to Cheney's "natural distrust of the press" and "bad decision-making." But she notes: "The vice president has not held a press conference in three-and-a-half years and did not have press staff with him at the Armstrong Ranch; the idea that he would have, on his own, drafted and released a press statement or called a reporter about what happened is preposterous." Most of the commenters disagree with her take. So does Atrios: "I'm also amazed at the number of media types who claim to speak for the true men of the heartland who don't get that yes, in fact, drinking and hunting are commonly paired activities."

Conservative John Cole has his questions too, but points to liberal Jane Hamsher's assessment of the situation -- including "Boozehound Cheney was drinking all day" -- and decries her "factless assertion[s]": "[The left has] Cheney in a possibly compromising position, yet are going to blow it because of their overeagerness and their hate. Again." In his 2/16 column, New York Times' David Brooks [sub. req.] criticized liberals' suspicions "'So, just a question: how thorough was the investigation of what happened?' the influential blogger Josh Marshall queried darkly." Daily Howler's Bob Somerby responds: "Given the circumstances of the past several days, that may have been the most obvious question on the face of the whole bloomin' earth! But for Brooks-to-the-feudal-manor born, such a blatantly obvious question is an attempt to 'sniff up' a 'vast conspiracy!'"

Arianna Huffington describes Cheney's connections to the Armstrong family, and (referencing "The Sopranos") describes the ranch as a GOP "Bada Bing": "Put it all together and I think I'm starting to get a better picture of why Dick Cheney was 'so confident that Katharine [Armstrong] was the right one' and 'an excellent choice' to put the shooting story out."

BUSH: Blind Leading The Blind?

In our 2/14 edition we noted the debate sparked by a much-noticed Greenwald's much-noticed post asserting that nowadays, "in order to be considered a 'liberal,' only one thing is required -- a failure to pledge blind loyalty to George W. Bush."

WSJ's James Taranto argues that Greenwald fails to support his thesis that GOPers such as NH Sen. John Sununu and ex-Rep. Bob Barr have been called "liberal" and concludes: "Bush is not perfect but he is far better than the alternatives that were on offer in 2000 and 2004. Those on the left who look at the right and see blind loyalty for the most part are actually viewing a reflection of their own blind hate."

Ex-GOPer Marshall Wittmann argues: "Yes, there is an element of conservatism that attempts to apply a Leninist discipline on ideological heterodoxy. In fact, the Moose was the target of their efforts. The Moose has enjoyed the distinct pleasure of being labeled both a Republican squish and a Rovian plant. But, based upon personal exposure to both sides of the political spectrum, this mammal can confidently observe that there is more tolerance for differences on the right side of the spectrum than on the left." Ramesh Ponnuru at The Corner: "Maybe we'll get Marshall back some day?" At Instapundit, just keep scrolling.

RedState's Moe Lane agrees with Wittmann, admits to his own support of gay marriage (legislated, not court-imposed), and argues: "I think that there's a few people out there who don't quite grok that the GOP is a bit less ideological and a bit more coalition-ish than conventional wisdom would have. I also think that there's also a few people out there who grok it quite well -- and choose to ignore it because political dualism is so very, very useful to them."

Ed Morrissey criticized George Will's latest column on FISA and the Bush admin, writing: "I enjoy George Will's columns; he isn't exactly a hard-line conservative, but he usually covers the center-right well enough. In today's effort, though, Will starts off on a rant that not only goes far off the tracks, it doesn't even start on them." According to Andrew Sullivan -- who certainly has been defending his status as a conservative for awhile -- the above passage originally omitted "hard-line." He asks: "Why the new qualification? For some reason, a 'coding error' omitted one word from the original post. LOL. Nevertheless, George Will believes in limited government, the rule of law, and prudent foreign policy. He always has. That used to make a person 'conservative.' Under this president, it makes one a member of the opposition."

MIDTERMS: Oliver Twist

Yesterday we cited a post by MO Dem consultant Roy Temple reporting that Sen. Jim Talent (R-MO) finance dir. Jack Oliver had improperly received a check from the Coushatta Indian tribe -- then clients of GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff. But as our own Marc Ambinder reported at Hotline On Call, there is no evidence the $10K check was anything other than a routine donation to the RNC that Oliver, as RNC dep. finance chair, legally solicited. The assertion that the check was a personal check is wrong. Wrote Ambinder: "A copy of the actual check, written about nine days later and provided to the Hotline by the RNC today, lists the recipient as the Republican National Committee. Why? The tribe wanted to achieve 'Eagle' level status. Who recruited Eagle-level donors? Jack Oliver."

Burlington Free Press picks up on the "astroturf" blog controversy between the camps of Rep. Bernie Sanders (I) and businessman Richard Tarrant (R) in VT SEN we noted on 2/15. The Free Press describes the blog as "neutral-looking" and offers competing quotes from the campaign spokespersons. Sanders' Jeff Weaver: "This is a very disturbing development for a lot of reasons. This is the kind of negative, dirty-tricks kind of campaigning that we've seen in the rest of the country." Tarrant's Tim Lennon said it was a "coincidence" that 20-year-old Tarrant employee who runs the blog started on the Tarrant campaign at the same time the blog went up: "It's just something he chooses to do on his own time. As far as we know, there is nothing improper about what [Tarrant staffer] Jeff [Bartley] is doing."

Very early this a.m., Swing State Project's David NYC found an AFP story at Yahoo! News on the "Fighting Dems" cong. candidates (see 10/19 Blogometer) he likes, and asks his readers to give it the maximum 5 stars: [T]his isn't really about getting this particular story on the Yahoo [most-recommended] list (though that would be nice). I'm more interested in seeing if the readers of a blog like this can actually affect that standings on that list." As of mid-morning, the story had 4 stars, and was not listed in the Top 15 Most Recommended.

New NE-based Leavenworth Street gives odds on the GOP SEN primary -- Pete Ricketts 2:1, David Kramer 4:1, and Don Stenberg 7:1 -- and explains the reasoning behind those picks.

IN THE STATES: Are OH Politics Really This Much More Dysfunctional Than Other States? Or Do They Just Have More Bloggers?

Anonymous IA-based Who's Makin' Bacon? has an "exclusive" scoop -- businessman/'02 GOV candidate Bob Vander Plaats (R) is about to drop his current GOV bid and join Rep. Jim Nussle's (R) ticket: "Vander Plaats staffers are whispering about a day-long meeting he had this week with Jim Nussle to talk about becoming running mates. Apparently, Nussle, Vander Plaats and their wives" met earlier this week and "came out of the meeting singing Kumbaya." More: "Watch for the tell-tale signs: Vander Plaats hasn't updated his website in a few days and hasn't been mentioned in the press campaigning for a few days now. If you called Vander Plaats headquarters tomorrow, you'd be told that he is not on the road and they might admit that he is in a daylong meeting."

At Brewed Fresh Daily, Tim Russo reports that OH Dem chair Chris Redfern told the blogger interview consortium Meet The Bloggers that the anonymous blogger behind the controversial (and now-defunct) High and Broad is indeed OH House Dem Caucus comm. dir John Kohlstrand. Russo writes: "Whether or not there are any consequences or apologies forthcoming is an open question, among others." But he adds: "There are new rules in the blogosphere, and they were written in Ohio by Ohio bloggers. ... You will take personal responsibility for what you post on a blog" -- especially if you are working for a campaign or party. Jill Miller Zimon writes that Kohlstrand called her this a.m. to apologize for his controversial post (which some, but not Zimon, took as anti-Semitic). She writes: "He told me on the phone that he expects to speak with and apologize to Eric Fingerhut as well, and said at least a few times that he feels badly and he really likes and respects Eric. Since I got to hear his voice for half an hour, you will have to trust me, and my judgement, that I believe John was and is being sincerely contrite." Note: Yesterday we mistakenly referred to Kohlstrand as OH Dem comm dir. We have struck-through and corrected that references in our online archives; click here to see the corrected section.

HOUSE GOP LEADERSHIP: Giving Him The Cold Shadegg?

Although the 2/2 resolution of the House maj. leader race in favor of John Boehner was to the partial satisfaction of GOP-leaning bloggers, now a few are clamoring for more involvement by that race's dark horse/conservative favorite, Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ). Heritage's Mark Tapscott argues, as others did then, that Boehner would have lost to now-Maj. Whip Roy Blunt without Shadegg's involvement in the race. He advises: "House leaders on the GOP side of the aisle would be wise to bring Shadegg into a visible position in their ranks. Doing so would put some meat on their vows to get serious about cleaning up congressional ethics. Not doing so will give the lie to those vows in the most vivid possible manner." Townhall's Tim Chapman: "There are a lot of egos involved here, and unless leadership really buys the notion that this is a win for them, and not just some way to placate rank and file conservatives, then we are very unlikely to see any movement on this front." He suggests they give Shadegg a role similar to the one by U.S. Trade Rep./then-House Rep. Rob Portman, who was tapped as a WH liaison.

BLOGS VS. THE FEC: Nothing Gets Our Juices Flowing Like A Fight Drawn Along The Bitter Lines Of Campaign Finance Law

Election law prof Rick Hasen points out a new challenge to the McCain-Feingold/BCRA where a coalition of groups have petitioned the FEC for an exemption to the certain "electioneering communication" prohibitions in the law. Picking a fight, he writes: "In my view, it may be a bit premature to rely upon [the case] for anything of substance. In any case, reading the 'test' that these groups would put forward ... makes it clear that this would create a gaping hole in BCRA, essentially allowing virtually all sham issue advocacy to be paid for by corporate and union funds. To paraphrase one of these ads (with tongue firmly planted in cheek): 'Call Bob Bauer. And tell him what you think of his test that would gut one of the major provisions of McCain-Feingold.'" Perkins Coie atty Bob Bauer comments on the substance: "This a lawful and orderly way to go about doing what most participants in the debate -- including the authors of the law -- have at one time or another believed to be useful or necessary or both." And returns the volley: "So, to answer Rick's call to action with another: 'Call Rick Hasen. And say 'no!' to any gutting of this rulemaking: tell him that you would welcome his considered and constructive -- but ONLY a considered and constructive -- contribution to this effort to protect the right to engage in real grassroots lobbying.'"

At RedState, ex-FEC commis. Brad Smith explains "how campaign finance enforcement is institutionally biased against conservatives."

PLAMEGATE: Classification Warfare?

NRO's Byron York reports on Exec. Order 13292, the "little-known but enormously consequential expansion of vice-presidential power" authorizing him to classify info. In Cheney's FNC interview this week, Cheney indicated the order authorized him to declassify the info his ex-CoS Scooter Libby leaked to reporters. It doesn't surprise the darkly-querying Josh Marshall that Cheney would want this authority, and notes the "discussion about this turns on the power to declassify." He writes: " It would make sense to me if, in the administrative or statute law, the power to classify assumes or equates to the power to declassify as well." But the order "doesn't speak specifically of the power to declassify."

TERRORISM: Any Port In A Storm Of Controversy

Michelle Malkin does a round-up on reports that the Cmte on Foreign Investment "has approved a deal that will put six major ports" in the U.S. "under the control of a state-sponsored company based" in Dubai, UAE. She quotes extensively from reports and other opinions, and posts contact info for the WH: "The buck stops with the White House. The president has the ultimate authority to stop the deal. And he should." Captain's Quarters cites several passages where 9/11 hijackers lived and worked in, or received assistance from people in the UAE: "In fact, many of the 9/11 hijackers transited through the UAE, and a significant amount of al-Qaeda cash came through UAE-based accounts. If they run their own country's borders so poorly, why would we trust them to run ours?"

SPENDING: A New Porkbuster?

AMERICAblog, a liberal site not party to the conservatives' anti-pork campaign, takes on earmarks this a.m., as the New York Times reports that Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) has directed $50M in earmarks over 4 years through a lobbyist married to his aide. Ab's Chris in Paris scoffs at "So what does Specter do besides play dumb? Deflect the charges and imply blame on the assistant, of course. What another stand-up guy in the GOP."

BLOGS VS. THE MSM: We Can't Help But Notice That Nobody's Standing Up For The Winter Olympics

HBO's Bryant Gumbel is catching flak from the right for this part of his recent take on the Winter Games: "So try not to laugh when someone says these are the world's greatest athletes, despite a paucity of blacks that makes the winter games look like a GOP convention." Mary Katherine Ham: "This is nice. Real nice. Spirit o' the Games and all that." Ace of Spades HQ: "Suffice to say that Mr. Gumbel will not, in the near future, be commenting on the NBA looking like a Biggie Smalls funeral procession." MRC's NewsBusters provides audio and video. Liberal Matt Yglesias notes: "Newsbusters appears to be objecting to the contention that there are few blacks at a Republican convention, but I believe this is demonstrably true." Jeff Goldstein saw Sean Hannity make the same argument as NewsBusters, and comments: "Predictably, Hannity was outraged at the political suggestion that the GOP is lily-white. To me, the real outrage is the suggestion that we can't be witnessing the world's greatest skiers, skaters, snowboarders, etc., simply because blacks haven't taken up those sports."

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: You So Crazy

As we noted yesterday, Matt Stoller of MyDD has recently argued that the denizens of FreeRepublic.com and the comment sections at RedState are "racist" and out of control, and that the RNC should distance themselves from such online communities. And as we've noted more than once in the past, conservatives frequently delight in scanning sites like Daily Kos and DemocraticUnderground.com for comments calling for death to GOPers and support for America's enemies. We addressed the volatility of blog comment sections on 1/27, in the aftermath of the Deborah Howell/Post.com argle-bargle, and we'll revisit again just to point out: Both sides have serious liabilities in their comment boards and the examples they cite about the other could be easily turned upon themselves.

To use some different examples, it is not unheard of to find the N-word in the comments at the left-wing Eschaton (liberals there will sometimes use it when simulating conservative arguments), and it is not impossible to find commenters at the right-wing Little Green Footballs calling for the deaths of innocents (typically in Middle Eastern countries). What's notable about all of these examples is that the offensive statements are rarely made by a given site's front-page contributors (the anonymous Armando at Daily Kos and the anonymous Blanton at RedState are 2 examples where they sometimes are); the vast majority of wild comments are made by the participants in website comment sections. Charles Johnson at LGF does not police his comments, and takes no responsibility for what his readers say. Markos Moulitsas at dKos has a sophisticated moderating system in place, and leaves this responsibility to the readers themselves. Yet critics of each often lay blame for the worst comments at the feet of the site administrators. Whether they should or should not be is not the subject of our commentary here; that both sides employ a double-standard when criticizing the others' readership is.

Perhaps neutral criteria could be devised for measuring the "craziness quotient" of liberal blogs vs. conservative blogs -- but until anyone knows for certain that glass is a more integral component of their opponents' domiciles than their own, they might want to consider putting their stones away.

LEST WE FORGET: Maybe It's Some Kind Of Promotional Stunt For Pixar's "Cars"?

It's been a troubling month so far for the pseudo-anonymous blogger responsible for the confusingly-named Portland, OR-based Welcome to Blog (aka LauraBush.Info), where a Nissan sedan has lain abandoned in the bushes outside his home for the better part of 2 weeks now. If this is your car, he would like you to contact him about the possibility of having it removed; if it rains anymore, the car may slide down the hill and demolish his modest one-story abode. His initial "police report" is here, and the 11-day update is here. He updates the situation for anyone who might be sitting on the edge of their seat: "I considered attempting to enter the car through the driver's side door to retrieve any registration info that might be in the glove box but I'm afraid that the slightest bit of movement will send it toppling down the hill."

Posted by at February 17, 2006 01:16 PM