July 27, 2006

7/27: The Best Policy

Righty bloggers seem to have forgiven Ankle Biting Pundits founder Patrick Hynes for not disclosing his connections to Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) early and openly enough. Lefty bloggers are chalking the episode up as just another example of conservative skullduggery, but Hynes never had much of a chance of wooing them over to McCain's camp anyway. The lesson here: in a medium as wide open and fast paced as the blogosphere, honesty may always be the best policy, but it also matters how quickly you get your story out there.

Jim Geraghty at National Review Online called out Ankle Biting Pundits founder Patrick Hynes for not disclosing his paid consultant relationship with Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) 7/26. Geraghty had heard rumors of Hynes' McCain employment, but Team McCain denied any relationship. Geraghty then saw an New Media Strategics release announcing Hynes' role as McCain consultant. Geraghty goes on to criticize Hynes for anti-MA Gov. Mitt Romney (R) Ankle Biting Pundit posts he made since joining McCain's staff.

Geraghty finishes: "I don't think Hynes is a bad guy. ... There's no reason to think that anything Hynes wrote is anything less than his unvarnished opinion; but his readers ought to be informed that McCain is not just his favorite presidential contender; he is, ultimately, a client."

Hynes responded both in an email to Geraghty and at Ankle Biting Pundits: "Jim Geraghty at National Review's TKS beats up on me today for not disclosing my relationship with Straight Talk America earlier than I did. In retrospect, I think he is right. ... I ought to have disclosed my relationship with Straight Talk America earlier. The reason I didn't do so is because I was not being paid 'to blog'. I have been a political consultant for fifteen years. That's what I was doing for Straight Talk America: providing political consulting."

Hynes' righty blogger friends were quick to forgive. Ryan Sager at RCP Blog: "Hynes is handling this correctly. There's basically no excuse for not disclosing the relationship earlier. And his past comments about similar scandals on the Left now look awfully hypocritical. But, unlike on the Left, it's not all deny, deny, deny. He handled something in the wrong way, and now he's saying so forthrightly." Tim Chapman: "I think Hynes is handling the whole thing quite well." Instapundit: "Hynes acted as go-between on our podcast interview with John McCain; I didn't realize he was actually being paid by McCain's PAC. Not sure it would have mattered, really, but I would have liked to know."

Less affiliated bloggers pointed out a little hypocrisy in Hynes position. Wonkette's David Weigel: "But Geraghty skips the best part of this - Hynes' reaction to the 2005 news that Daily Kos blogger Markos Moulitsas had served as a consultant for Howard Dean while keeping up his blog." Beltway Blogroll (go team!): "The controversy surrounding Hynes is even more interesting in light of some of the criticisms he has leveled against top bloggers on the left. He has been particularly critical of [Matt] Stoller. At The Channel Changer, a blog of his focused on competition in the communications industry, Hynes has called Stoller a "suspected paid Google/MoveOn shill" in the battle for "network neutrality."

Back on the right, Ryan Sager at RCP Blog takes the opportunity to dig at McCain: "isn't McCain the one always hyperventilating about "circumvention" of campaign-finance laws. He and his pals even wanted to clamp down on the Internet recently to prevent bloggers from coordinating with campaigns. And now this is what his PAC is up to? Very odd."

The kerfuffle did not escape DailyKos' founder Markos Moulitsas' attention: "Ha ha! Conservative blogger was a paid shill for John McCain and failed to disclose it. He was also one of the jokers who criticized me for working for Howard Dean in 2003 -- even though I DID disclose the arrangement." Atrios piles on.

Matt Stoller at progressive activist MyDD picks up on a WTNH item reporting that Sen. Joe Lieberman's (D) campaign is busy producing a TV ad with footage from ex-Pres. Bill Clinton's Waterbury, CT, visit. Stoller writes: "Lieberman's meltdown has stopped. This is going to be a dogfight from here on out." DailyKos' founder Markos Moulitsas echoes Stoller's "meltdown" line and laments: "Bill Clinton is doing whatever he can to rescue Lieberman from defeat. He may pull it off, as the Clintons and their lobbyist and establishment and DLC friends band together in common cause against Lamont's people-powered army." My Left Nutmeg notes that Lieberman will have an infusion of cash to run the ads since cable exec Ned Lamont recently triggered the FEC's millionaire exemption rule: "It's an ironic provision in this case, since Joe Lieberman still has far more in his warchest than Ned Lamont and has FAR outspent Ned Lamont, whose campaign has turned down donations from corporate lobbyists and corporate PACS, the bread and butter of Lieberman's campaign wealth. And now because Ned has invested his own money in the campaign, Joe Lieberman can go back to the corporate trough and collect more $2,100 $4,200 checks from executives of pharmaceutical companies, energy companies, and defense contractors."

Lamont's Internet comm. dir. Tim Tagaris stopped by MyDD to announce: "If this were a prize fight, we'd be in the middle of the 'championship rounds.' He goes on to ask readers to participate in Lamont's "Family, Friends and Neighbor Program" which allows users to "send a postcard with a personalized message from you to your family, friends and neighbors in Connecticut. Later, follow up with phone calls to your get-out-the-vote list reminding your network to vote for Ned on August 8." Atrios also plugs the program and comments: "It's gonna come down to turnout at this point."

Connecticut Blog and Connecticut Bob both have media of a Lieberman "robo call" going out to CT Dems. Connecticut Blog has just the audio, while Connecticut Bob has added "commentary and sound effects" to a video that pokes fun at both Clinton and Lieberman.

Spazeboy has video of Lamont speaking at a Central Connecticut State University candidate forum and comments on Lieberman's absence form the event: "Senator Lieberman was not confirmed to attend, and unsurprisingly did not attend. Senator Lieberman has passed up three opportunities to speak publicly in New Britain in as many months. The first was on May 11 when the NAACP held a candidates forum at CCSU. At this event, Lieberman's campaign manager spoke in his stead and it is my understanding that Lieberman himself had committed to attending. The second was on June 22, when Senator Lieberman was expected to attend the monthly New Britain DTC meeting - at this event, a representative from the Lieberman campaign spoke briefly. The third was today at CCSU - I saw no representative from the Lieberman campaign."

DailyKos diarist SimpleMan reports on a Pomfret, CT, Lieberman appearance: "That's right, Lieberman canceled at the last moment because he thought BLOGGERS might have showed up and started asking QUESTIONS. While I make it a policy never to harass candidates no matter how obnoxious they might be, I saw too many Lamont buttons and stickers at the event to guess that Lieberman would have been received cooly at best if he had had the guts to show up." Connecticut Blog links to SimpleMan and blames the MSM: "Good grief. Joe Lieberman is now afraid of BLOGGERS who ask questions? How pathetic but I'll bet my soul this will be the new line of attack from the Lieberman campaign and if yesterday was any indication, the mainstream media will jump on the bandwagon soon enough. We're ambushing him with our cameras and our questions? Maybe if the mainstream media did their job, we wouldn't need to be on the frontlines asking the real questions that really matters to people."

Finally progressive Matt Stoller at MyDD takes the time to thanks Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) for her CT appearance for Lamont: "African-American politics is hugely fascinating and not at all well-understood by most white Americans. This alliance, of African-American progressives like Waters and white good government progressives, could be enormously powerful. Combined with the youth vote and a majority of Hispanics, that's a majority progressive country right there. In the more immediate short-term, if Ned Lamont wins, it will be because CBC member Maxine Waters decided that taking a political risk and bucking the party was the right thing to do. ... Last week, Maxine Waters was a progressive hero."

The unofficial Lamont Blog picks up on a ctnewsjunkie.com story reporting Lieberman's campaign spokeswoman Marion Steinfels describing the independent signature collection effort as "just no ones focus." Lamont Blog wonders: " So are Lieberman campaign workers collecting signatures to create the Connecticut for Lieberman party or not? Are Democratic donors paying for Joe Lieberman to hire workers to collect signatures to help him leave the Democratic party? How much do they earn per signature? So many questions..."

Ezra Klein at TAPPED finds Sen. Russ Feingold's (D-WI) new health care proposal "rather vague." Klein allows "there's a certain savviness to this proposal ... that it seeks national coverage through a piecemeal, but powerful, mechanism." But ultimately Klein is still "on the fence."

Jonah Goldberg at National Review's The Corner forwards a reader's prediction on '08 based on patience:

In 1976, it was Ford's turn. Reagan was 2nd.
In 1980 is was Reagan's turn. GHW Bush was 2nd.
In 1988, It was GHW Bush's turn. Dole was 2nd.
In 1996, it was Dole's turn. 2nd place didn't factor.
In 2000 it was GW Bush's turn. McCain was 2nd.
In 2008 it will be McCain's turn.

MCCAIN: Lefty Bloggers Don't Like Iraq War Supporters

The Carpetbagger Report knows "there are still a few Dems out there who like [Sen.] John McCain [(R-AZ)]," and he wants to put a stop to it." Carpetbagger goes on to list recent proof that McCain is no moderate: "

• First, McCain sat down with Jon Stewart on Monday, defended a "stay the course" approach in Iraq, and praised Bush for acknowledging previous mistakes over the course of the war - acknowledgements that appear to exist only in McCain's imagination.
• Second, McCain announced his opposition to legislation that would allow Congress to sue Bush over "signing statements." Asked for an explanation, McCain said, "I think the president will enforce the law." (There was no indication McCain was kidding.)
• And third, McCain criticized congressional Democrats being right about Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. It's clearly the worst of the three.

Before the Hynes/McCain episode broke, Evangelicals for Mitt felt the need to respond to a Ankle Biting Pundits item claiming: "Romney Caught Playing the Kos/Armstrong Blogger Game." EFM writes: "I actually had to laugh. When some of us joined a Romney Yahoo listserv over a year ago, we never thought we'd be accused of professionalism. But, as I surfed the net today, I noticed that it is true that Gov. Romney already has the best presence on the web."

EFM also notes: "In an ironic twist, Jim Geraghty reports today that the Ankle Biting Pundit himself Patrick Hynes is actually a paid political consultant working for Sen. John McCain. He's already offered a mea culpa for not disclosing this, so I won't pile on.)

Ryan Sager at RCP Blog posts Rep. Mark Kennedy (R-06) latest TV ad and notices a detail missing: "It seems Michael Steele isn't the only Republican Senate candidate this year trying to shake off the scarlet R ... You might notice it doesn't use a certain word. It starts with an R ... Instead, the ad focuses entirely on Kennedy's family. For instance, here're his kids: "Dad likes to help people. He's principled, independent, just not much of a party guy. I meant he doesn't do whatever the party says to.

National Review Online's Greg Pollowitz posts video of the Sen. George Allen (R-VA)/ex-Navy Sec. Jim Webb debate and responds to Webb netroots director Lowell Feld's defense of Webb's resignation from the Reagan administration with a question: "If Jim Webb was correct and the budget of the Navy should not have been reduced, then who was wrong? You see, you can't just say Defense Secretary Carlucci was wrong. Carlucci serves at the pleasure of President Reagan. So, was Reagan wrong, too?

TAPPED's Sarah Posner updates us with a new addition to the Ken Blackwell (R) campaign, "Floyd Flake, the minister and former Democratic congressman from New York who launched a burgeoning career as a closet Republican back in 1998 with a speech to the Republican National Committee, recently became the co-chair of Ken Blackwell's gubernatorial campaign. Blackwell, who is a leading light of the GOP effort to cultivate more black candidates (ones who won't make ill-advised and politically suicidal comments to reporters, that is) surely thought he was burnishing his credentials with black voters by bringing Flake on board. Although he spent ten years in Congress as a Democrat, he turned to the free-market ideology that is the bedrock of Blackwell's campaign, when he's not pandering to the theocratic right. But will black voters be swayed by Blackwell's recent crass attempt to make inroads in a Democratic stronghold, where many felt he disenfranchised them in 2004?"

Kausfiles gives the rundown of the righty camps on immigration, complete with rosters. Kaus "hadn't realized the schism on the Right over immigration reform had gotten down to the drawing-up-lists stage. Fun! Here's the wary conservative Enforcement First list. And here's the pandering ... sorry, I mean the pragmatic conservative Comprehensive Reform list ('promoted by the White House Public Affairs Office,' according to John Fonte.) It's Pod vs. Frum! Kemp vs. Newt! .. Who would have thought a canyon-like fault would open up between Shelby Steele and John McWhorter (or, for that matter, between John McWhorter and Heather Mac Donald)? The National Review is split. The 'Likudniks' are split! The Hudson Institute is split. The American Conservative Union is split. The Hoover Institution is split. The Manhattan Institute is split. Even the Wall Street Journal ed page alumni association is split. Here's a partial scorecard..."

Enforcement First: William Bennett, Robert Bork, William F. Buckley, Ward Connerly, John Fonte, David Frum, Frank Gaffney, Newt Gingrich, Jonah Goldberg, Victor Davis Hanson, David Horowitz, David Keene, Roger Kimball, Mark Krikorian, Michael Ledeen, John Leo, Kathryn Jean Lopez, Rich Lowry, Heather Mac Donald, John O'Sullivan, Daniel Pipes, Phyllis Schlafly, Thomas Sowell, Shelby Steele.

Comprehensive: Jack Kemp, George Shultz, Jean Kirkpatrick, Tamar Jacoby, Grover Norquist, Jeff Bell, Bill Kristol Arthur Laffer, Linda Chavez, Lawrence Kudlow, John Podhoretz, John McWhorter, Max Boot, Vin Weber, Richard Gilder, Ed Goeas, Martin Anderson, J.C. Watts, Ed Gillespie, Clint Bolick, Steve Forbes.

Sierra Club's Carl Pope takes to The Huffington Post after the Doha round of trade talks failed and proclaims: "Globalism Is Dead." Pope writes:

"We need to be clear: What is dead is not the reality of globalization -- the removal of technical barriers to the ever more rapid transmission of information, goods, services, and people. The Internet will not stop spreading. Satellites will still beam Al Jazeera past the censors in places like the Sudan. The thousands of miles of fiber optic cable laid in the 1990s will still make it possible to call anywhere in the world for free on Skype. And Boeing and Airbus will continue competing with new generations of jumbo jets."

"No, globalization will not go away. But globalism was different. Globalism was a particular fantasy -- an ideology that promised, when the Cold War ended, that we could all become free and prosperous if only we would worship the speed that new technology made possible and, in particular, that speed with which capital that's been freed from governmental and societal constraints could move. That ideology has collapsed. It just couldn't deliver. ... Fundamentalist ideologies, like globalism, are delusions. But unless we find something more authentic to offer as a way to deal with modern complexity, including the complexities of climate, oil, and energy, things could get much, much worse."

Boing Boing forwards along this Hindustan Times item describing Homer's Indian twin: "On several occasions, the cops had to intervene to rein in the monstrous eater. Once college students took sweet revenge on a restaurateur with Rappai's help. He took an "unlimited meals" coupon and emptied the day's food -- three buckets full of rice, one bucket of fish curry and 10 kg cooked meat -- in no time. Finally, law-enforcers had to be called in to end his sumptuous feast."

Posted by Conn Carroll at July 27, 2006 12:19 PM