June 08, 2006

6/8: Zarqawi Is Dead: Day I

As the Blogometer hits deadline, blogosphere reaction to the death of Abu Musa'ab al-Zarqawi grows faster than can possibly be read, let alone commented on. So far though, some quick generalizations can be made. Like last week's arrest of the Toronto terror suspects, this is by and large a righty blogosphere story. Lefty comments are perfunctory, if they exist at all. If this changes we'll note it tomorrow.

On the domestic front the blogosphere is still buzzing about the 6/6 results from CA 50. Lefty bloggers look like they are ready to punt on the "culture of corruption" meme, but outside of that they are still divided as to why women's studies professor Francine Busby (D) lost. Righty bloggers are now unified in using the victory to push GOPers nationwide to abandon the Senate immigration plan.

Iraq the Model sums up righty blogger reaction to news of Abu Musa'ab al-Zarqawi's death: "CONGRATULATIONS TO IRAQ, CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WHOLE WORLD ON THIS VICTORY." Michelle Malkin has video of the announcement and Outside the Beltway links to CNN footage explaining how Zarqawi's body was identified.

Earlier in the day Strategy Page reported: "Except for his verbal attacks on the U.S. and the Iraqi government, he is almost totally distanced himself from the central leadership. Other al Qaeda leaders have been trying to down play anti-Iranian and anti-Shia rhetoric, and have been strongly discouraging attacks on civilians. ...Given that Zarqawi has become a loose cannon and that his actions are handicapping Al Qaeda's efforts, it seems reasonable to expect that an accident may befall him at some point in the near future."

Righty blogs were quick to jump on any MSM coverage that downplayed the significance of the news. Rantingprofs highlights just one example: "As I type this, NBC's Mike Boettcher breathlessly reports that the "reaction isn't good" because there's just been a bombing in response to this. Imus asks the obvious question: how do we know the bombing is a response to Zarqawi? and Boettcher is obviously caught up completely although to his credit after a beat he replies, "you're right, we don't know."

Fellow righty NewsBusters ads: "You just knew it. The MSM had to find a way to downplay the significance of the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq. Whereas he had been portrayed as the key to violence in the country, now that he's dead, he is described as just one among 'many thousands'. And sure enough, on CNN this morning at about 6:20 AM, there was Octavia Nasr CNN's senior editor for Arab affairs, interviewed by host Soledad O'Brien, suggesting that Zarqawi's death might not really be such a 'big deal', after all." NRO's Mediablog has a thorough roundup of MSM coverage.

Other righty reax include:

• Counterterrorism Blog: "Reacting to the killing of al Zarqawi in Iraq, pro-Jihadi commentators on al Jazeera rushed to assert that the "death of Zarqawi won't weaken al Qaida but will actually unify the organization." Abdelbari Atwan, the editor of al Quds al Arabi accused Jordanian and US intelligence of penetrating the inner circles of Zarqawi and were successful in getting to him." He added that the killing of Zarqawi was coordinated with the appointment of the ministers of defense and interior in Baghdad."
• American Footprints: "This should be a pick-me-up for morale for a few days at least."
• Mudville Gazzette: " Small wonder the locals turned him in - but the fact that they did so reveals much about Iraq, where such events are happening more frequently as Iraqi troops "take the lead" and terrorists resort to increasingly heinous actions in response."
• Cliff May at The Corner: "It's very good news. It's not 'mission accomplished' but it is substantial progress. No, this won't persuade every suicide bomber to leave Iraq, go home to Peshawar and open a health spa. But when you eliminate the top general, it makes a difference. When a major corporation loses its CEO its stock goes down."
• Jonah Goldberg at The Corner: "Oil Drops Below 70...on news of Zarqawi's death.
• Peter Brookes at The Corner: "The death of Zarqawi couldn't come at a better time considering the violence we've seen in Iraq in recent days. But, perhaps, most intriguing is the (early) reporting that Zarqawi's end came from tips given by associates. This sort of "actionable intelligence" is critical in prosecuting an insurgency and, perhaps, most importantly shows significant discord in al Qaeda's ranks."

Very little reaction from lefty bloggers. Under the header "Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is Dead" at DailyKos Georgia10 writes simply: "Finally." Other lefty takes:

• Taylor Marsh: "This is a psychological lift, but reality remains terribly grim in Iraq. Al-Zarqawi's killing doesn't dent the insurgency reality."
• AMERICAblog: "My first reaction, though, is this: GREAT. Whatever you think about the war in Iraq, Zarqawi was a significant threat to Coalition troops and Iraqi military forces and civilians, and his death is a victory for progress and security."
• The Democratic Daily: "If the insurgency is slowed long enough for the newly completed Cabinet to begin establishing more order and security, progress may become more than the Bush administration's opinion."
• Peking Duck: "That's what they say. Maybe this is the great turning point (like the taking of Baghdad, the capture of Saddam, the new elections, the new constitution, the new government, the new new government, etc., etc.) that'll launch us to victory."

Lefty bloggers are still spinning their big 6/6 loss in CA 50. The Brad Blog isn't so sure Busby actually lost 6/6: "The biggest concern about the race, by far, is that San Diego County uses two types of Diebold voting systems -- optical-scan and touch-screen -- both of which have not only proven to be disastrously unreliable in San Diego County and California in the past, but have also been demonstrated over the last six months to feature dozens of exceedingly well-documented and remarkable security vulnerability, making them extremely accessible to tampering." Seeing the Forest picked up on Brad's insight: "The result of the election is left open to doubt based on the integrity of the Republicans -- in a special election made necessary by a corrupt Republican."

Swing State Project blamed Busby's ground game: "There's another take on this, though, and that's the Busby campaign's failure to fire up their base. I'm inclined to agree with this assessment -- when I saw a plea by Busby on the DCCC blog on the 11th hour of race, saying that they needed 100 more volunteers to execute their ground game effectively, I knew that this was gonna be rough. If the Busby campaign was more effective at firing up the base, they would have had more than 300 volunteers for their election-day ground game and wouldn't have needed that last-minute plea."

Michael Crowley at The Plank highlighted differing views from some papers you might have heard of:

Dueling Headlines: Victory In California Calms GOP - washingtonpost.com; Narrow Victory By GOP Signals Fall Problems - nytimes.com

Crowley also posted on the results showed the GOP base is open to Pres. Bush immigration reform plan: "It's worth noting that William Griffith, the conservative immigration-Buchananite in the CA-50 race, pulled a pathetic 3.7 percent of the vote. That's despite the calculated effort by Busby to pump him up in hopes of peeling off votes from GOP frontrunner Brian Bilbray. Doesn't that offer some minor consolation for pro-"amnesty" Republicans quaking over the disquiet of hard-line border-security voters? (Yes, Bilbray was apparently fairly tough on immigration himself; but Griffith was endorsed by the San Diego Minutemen. You don't get much more cred than that....)"

Righty bloggers are in agreement that CA 50 ought to signal House GOPers to stand tough against Pres. Bush's immigration plan. Under the header "CA 50 Votes Against 'Comprehensive' Immigration Reform" PoliPundit writes: "President Bush "defeated John Kerry by 10 points here in 2004, and Republicans have a 44 percent to 29 percent edge over Democrats in voter registration." ... Last night, the Republican candidate did not receive 9.55% of 'natural leaning' Republican voters, which happens to be President Bush's margin over John Kerry. Bilbray did not receive those votes because they were lost inside the Beltway. ... The Republican Party can not afford to loose 10% of its base in November nor can they replicate this level of funding in other Congressional races."

Right Wing News reports on conference call with Ken Mehlman 6/7: "He said the Republican ground game made a big difference and turned a 31% margin for Busby in absentee ballots into a 20% margin, which helped guarantee Bilbray's victory. ... I asked Ken if the fact that Bilbray won was an indication that Republican voters and the public in general favored the House plan. Mehlman basically said no -- they really favor the comprehensive plan the president wants and they don't know that much about the specifics." RWN did not like that answer at all:

Let's think about this. Bilbray's top issue was his get tough stance on illegal immigration and he was very vocal about his opposition to the comprehensive illegal immigration reform that came through the Senate. In fact, everyone seems to be willing to acknowledge that is why he managed to win the Republican primary. Then, Bilbray gets into a race with Busby who strongly supports the comprehensive illegal immigration that came out of the Senate, so much so that she was even inviting illegal aliens to vote and work on her campaign. Then, after a campaign which seemed to revolve around illegal immigration finally ends, Bilbray wins and Busby loses. Yet, Mehlman looks at all and comes to the conclusion that even though people voted against the candidate who supported comprehensive immigration reform, that's what people really want? Ken, Ken, Ken, you're great, but people aren't going to be fooled by that ridiculous spin.

Also on the conference call, Hugh Hewitt asked Mehlman what Bilbray's small margin of victory meant for GOPers in the fall: "It is lower than it was for Bush," he said, but added that the Dems' strategy hinges on the idea that the margins will fall precipitously all over the country, and he thinks this race shows that isn't a likelihood. Am I saying we're not in a tough race this year? No, we're in a very tough race this year. But I think what we're seeing is this alleged harbinger of things to come, which a lot of the MSM is saying will be a Democratic majority, is in fact a harbinger of something different."

State Senate Pres. Jon Tester (D) stopped by MyDD to thank his netroots supporters for their contribution to his big 6/6 win: "You did this. Thanks to your dedication, hard work and support, yesterday we surged to victory in the MT Dem primary. Sen. Conrad Burns' tally yesterday was the worst primary election performance by an incumbent MT senator in over two decades. Nearly 108K Montanans voted the Dem ticket yesterday -- more than any other Dem primary since '94 and nearly 11K more than the GOPers this year.

TPMmuckraker reports that the Capitol Hill house bought by Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA) ex-staffer Letitia White and a defense contractor is also the headquarters of the Small Biz Tech PAC which is run by Lewis' stepdaughter, Julie Willis-Leon. TPMmuckraker's Justin Rood asked Willis-Leon if the PAC received any special treatment from Lewis: "Absolutely not," she told me. "You might note that the PAC has never contributed to him," she added." Rood then went to the 114 3rd St. SE address, took pictures, and reports: "The upkeep of the outside property isn't what I'd call hospitable, and I don't just mean the doorbell. Look at those bushes in front of the house - those need some serious trimming.

Josh Marshall at the mother ship Talking Points Memo has some non-GOP ax to grind on the issue: "And then late this evening, the LA Times ran the developing story of Lewis-White-Willis-Leon lobbying operation as their own without mentioning that each of the key points was first reported by Rood. When a reporter who writes for a 'blog' breaks stories with his own enterprise reporting, you should credit his work just as you would a reporter who works for a print publication."

DailyKos notes TPMmuckraker reports that the CBC is still backing Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) and wonders: "I still don't get why the Congressional Black Caucus insists on standing firmly behind Jefferson. It doesn't say much good for the organization to close ranks behind a crook and thief like Jefferson."

TPMmuckraker also looks at the international angle and wonders, "At what point does this become a diplomatic issue?" The muckraker goes on:

According to the FBI affidavit released yesterday, the FBI is convinced that Nigerian Vice President Atiku Abubakar agreed to help push through a telecom deal in his country in exchange for some serious money. ... As I noted yesterday, Abubakar is making a run for the presidency in Nigeria now - and apparently running on something like an anti-anti-corruption campaign. It's a distinct possibility that the FBI will be reaching the climax of its investigation just as he's rising to power. ...According to The New York Times, Bush administration officials "have been reluctant to speculate publicly about the effect of the investigation of Mr. Jefferson on American relations with Nigeria, which is one of largest exporters of oil to the United States."

BLOGGERS VS. CAREER DEVELOPEMENT: Blogging And Your Day Job Just Might Not Mix

Two major lefty bloggers had their careers crash into their professional lives this week. The nomination of University of Michigan professor Juan Cole, whose Informed Comment blog is wildly popular in lefty 'sphere circles, was voted down by Yale's tenure committee. The Jewish Week contacted Cole for comment:

"The articles published in the Yale Standard, the New York Sun, the Wall Street Journal, Slate, and the Washington Times, as part of what was clearly an orchestrated campaign, contained made-up quotes, inaccuracies, and false charges," he said. "The idea that I am any sort of anti-Jewish racist because I think Israel would be better off without the occupied territories is bizarre, but I fear that a falsehood repeated often enough and in high enough places may begin to lose its air of absurdity."

Talking Points Memo believes Cole's rejected nomination was part of an organized neocon campaign. Seeing the Forest also sees conspiracy: "Yale caved to the far-right. Suppose you want a career in academia, want to rise up, want to buy (or keep) a house and car, have health insurance etc., how does your brain digest this news? We remember McCarthyism as a dark period because people were smeared and denied jobs because of their political beliefs."

Over at DailyKos popular diarist and successful spin off blogger Armando is claiming to be throwing in his blogger towel after NRO's Mediablog revealed his Wal-Mart lawyer day-job.

Armando writes: "A major Right wing site has chosen to support a troll's campaign started at this site to out me. The writing is on the wall. I will likely be giving up blogging as a result.
If people were wondering about why I was so adamant about this, I hope this explains it. I have never written about my clients and whenever I had a conflict, I disclosed it. But people of ill will have no decency or limits. If I sound bitter, it is because I am quite bitter about this."

NRO's Mediablog got the Armando info from an intrepid reader: "Our second Kos-related item was brought to our attention by reader W.J.M.L., who directed us to some strange activity on the "Daily Kos" Wikipedia entry. Apparently, Kos diarist Armando Lloréns-Sar isn't comfortable with too many people knowing about his day job as an attorney at McConnell Valdés. ...Then here he writes, "this post should be deleted. It constitutes harassment." W.J.M.L. did some digging and discovered a few reasons why Lloréns-Sar might be uncomfortable with too many people knowing about his professional activities (he threatened to ban one commenter for getting too close to his "personal circumstances"):

"During his time filling in for Kos as the "front page diarist" he wrote a number of pro-corporate articles, of course without disclosing that he is a corporate attorney promoting these same issues for his clients. For example, in this post he takes the pro-corporate position that modern anti-trust law is based on activist judges' rulings and not as the law as written. He fails to mention that he recently represented Wal-Mart in an anti-trust capacity in Puerto Rico. A Daily Kos guy working for Wal-Mart? No wonder he doesn't want anyone to know."

BLOGGERS SPOTLIGHT: Stephen Gilliard

Today the Blogometer talks to Kossack alum Stephen Gilliard , who writes The News Blog.

What is your full name?

Stephen Gilliard Jr.

What is your age?

41

Where did you grow up?

New York

Where do you live now?

New York

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

Writer. Yes I have worked for both political campaigns and the mainstream media.

When did you start blogging and why?

I wrote for a site called Netslaves starting in 1998. IN January 2003, I started to post on Daily Kos. In August, 2003 I started the News Blog.

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

Two things, a 35 part post on colonial history and the hot dog debate. It seems that people in Chicago are offended when you suggest that the meat in their hot dogs must be inferior because they hide them under a lot of crap.

In terms of politics, writing about veterans has been the most fufilling. My father had a 40 year career at the VA, and watching the mistreatment of the Iraq War vets is like reliving my childhood.

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

Well, after the sauna and pedicure.......seriously, I try to post articles by midnight so that readers on the east coast can hit the site before breakfast, like my partner Jen. She has to be at work by 8:30. It usually also reaches our European readers before their day starts as well. I'm usually in bed before three and wake up around 10, answer mail, post up a couple of stories and then go about my errands. I usually will start posting again after 6PM. I think it's important to have new content up so people can read it over breakfast, but that's an advantage of living on the east coast.

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

While I love Kos, running the site means there are many voices there and it limits his writing. But on a daily basis, Matt Stoller of MyDD. His voice is strong, clear and he's got a strong sense of ethics and doesn't try to show everyone how smart he is by being obtuse. He gets right to the point. Jesus's General would come second and Digby third.

Who is your favorite mainstream media columnist?

Warren Strobel of Knight Ridder, it is Joe Galloway until he retires and Jimmy Breslin before he retired.

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

Countdown. The Daily Show is a parody, even if it's hard to tell some days.

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

NY Times, WaPo, Guardian, CNN, MSNBC,

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

Daily Kos, Escaton, Informed Comment, Firedoglake, Huffington Post, Talking Points Memo, Jesus's General

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

Every day, seven days a week. My parents would buy the NY Daily News in the morning and the NY Post in the afternoon.

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

Newspapers have reacted poorly to being challenged online. The impression is that it is smart aleck college kids, when most of my peers are in their 30's and have professional degrees. Josh Marshall has a doctorate in American History from Brown, Duncan Black has a Ph.d in economics, John Aravosis and Kos are lawyers. These are hardly pissed off 22 year olds ranting at the world. I've been freelancing for 20 years and covered everything from real estate to employment. I like to think my opinions are informed.

Yet, you get an amazing amount of arrogance from editors in a variety of areas. The fact is that bloggers are probably more informed than their reporters in specific subject areas. I know reporters have paper thin skins when challenged, but they need to get over it. You get ridiculous things like the SF Chronicle attacking Craig Newmark for Craig's List. That's silly Or trying to hire a right wing hack and then being embarrassed when it was clear they didn't do due diligence.

Many bloggers don't have the respect for reporting skills that they need to, but the media doesn't encourage them to. They see unvarnished arrogance, despite numerous errors on the part of traditional media. . Bloggers are not the enemy of traditional media anymore than radio is the enemy of TV. But the lack of accountability seen in traditional media, is disheartening.

Bloggers will adopt journalistic standards, if they do journalism, because they work, they provide a safeguard, as I learned at NYU. And Newspapers will find, as the Times Picayune did during Kartrina, blogging technology can cut their costs and work to their advantage. It can also get product from bureau chiefs, photographers and editors who don't get space in the main pages. Newspapers are going to find, as CNN and MSNBC have found, breaking down some of the barriers between reporter and reader is healthy. As long as newspapers refuse to engage readers, they will lose them.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: The Neo-Libertarian?

Kos thinks he has identified the future of the Dems: the Libertarian Dem. Kos writes: "It's no secret that I look to the Mountain West for the future of the Democratic Party, people like Brian Schweitzer and Jon Tester. But I also look to candidates like Jim Webb in Virginia and Paul Hackett in Ohio.
And what is the common thread amongst these candidates? They are all Libertarian Democrats. Ack, the "L" word! But hear me out..."

"The problem with this form of libertarianism is that it assumes that only two forces can infringe on liberty...the government and other individuals. The Libertarian Democrat understands that there is a third danger to personal liberty -- the corporation. The Libertarian Dem understands that corporations, left unchecked, can be huge dangers to our personal liberties.
Libertarian Dems are not hostile to government like traditional libertarians. But unlike the liberal Democrats of old times (now all but extinct), the Libertarian Dem doesn't believe government is the solution for everything. But it sure as heck is effective in checking the power of corporations...."

"Of course, this also means that government isn't always the solution to the nation's problems. There are times when business-government partnerships can be extremely effective (such as job retraining efforts for displaced workers). There are times when government really should butt out (like a great deal of small-business regulation). Our first proposed solution to a problem facing our nation shouldn't be more regulation, more government programs, more bureaucracy. The key here isn't universal liberty from government intrusion, but policies that maximize individual freedom, and who can protect those individual freedoms best from those who would infringe."

Jake Tapper at his new Political Punch reports that House Dems are cooking up their own "Contract with America" for later this year entitled "Six in '06."... Unfortunately they haven't quite mastered what their six agenda items should be. For now they look like this:

(1) a minimum-wage increase;

(2) repealing the portion of the Medicare prescription drug

      law that prevents Medicare from negotiating for lower drug prices;

(3) implementing all of the 9/11 Commission's homeland security 

     recommendations;

(4) reinstating pay-as-you-go budget rules;

(5) making college more affordable; and

(6) a sixth plank that has not yet been settled upon.

Wonkette ran with the "not yet settled upon" line and linked to some intrepid entrepreneur at cafepress who was already trying to capitalize on the gaffe by selling "a sixth plank that has not yet been settled upon" t-shirts emblazoned with a DNC logo.

Posted by at June 8, 2006 12:24 PM