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11/17: He's Not A Bad Man

November 17, 2006 12:18 PM | |

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Just in case we haven't made this clear enough, we'll do so now: righty bloggers don't like Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) (and for many of them, that's putting it mildly). Some people fail to understand why McCain's support for campaign finance reform so irks conservatives but as Team McCain's interaction with right blogger stalwart Captain's Quarters illustrates, it simply does. Following criticism of the AZ Senator, Team McCain sent CQ a copy of McCain's upcoming GOPAC dinner speech. Despite agreeing with most of McCain's thoughts, CQ still concludes: "John McCain is not a bad man, just a seriously misguided one, and his speech tonight is excellent and should get broad dissemination."

MCCAIN: "Regular Republicans" Seen In Public With McCain

RedState's Erick Erickson claims Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is waging a "Secret War Against the GOP." Erickson describes McCain efforts "to slay state Republican Chairmen who are not already loyal lieutenants in the McCain '08 Army." Specifically, Erickson cites efforts to "astroturf" MI GOP chair Saul Anuzis out of his seat usingphonywebsites that accuse Anuzi of favoring MA Gov. Mitt Romney (R). Erickson also claims McCain's "foot soldiers are preparing to do the same thing to Katon Dawson" in SC.

Back in DC, National Review Online's Jonathan Martin reports on "new faces" in attendance for McCain's GOPAC dinner address 11/16: "Among them, Terry Nelson, a top aide of President Bush's re-election campaign and native of that first caucus state that McCain skipped in 2000 but won't again. Also there was lobbyist Wayne Berman, a top Bush donor in both '00 and '04, whose wife happens to be the current White House Social Secretary. Republican regulars, all."

As for the speech itself, Martin reports that taking a more conservative bent, Ronald Reagan references outnumbered Teddy Roosevelt ones, but there were also "healthy dollops of criticism about his party, a reminder that we're "not a nation of Social Darwinists" and an unvarnished assessment of the "dire" situation in Iraq." Martin concludes: "It seems that, much like the man their candidate alluded to nine separate times in his speech tonight, the 2008 Straight Talk crew thinks it may best to "let McCain be McCain." For the most part."

Following an earlier 11/16 post criticising McCain for violating conservative "First Principles" by sponsoring campaign finance reform, Team McCain emailed Captain's Quarters an advance copy of McCain's GOPAC speech, and CQ was impressed but still hammered McCain on BCRA:

McCain invokes Reagan often in this speech. However, one has to wonder how Reagan would have viewed the BCRA, McCain's brainchild. Reagan eliminated the Fairness Doctrine and allowed for the maximum possible political debate, while McCain's BCRA criminalizes the criticism of incumbents by independent groups within 60 days of an election. Freedom of speech is a conservative value that McCain doesn't applaud. Hypocrisy, indeed. ... John McCain is not a bad man, just a seriously misguided one, and his speech tonight is excellent and should get broad dissemination.

ROMNEY: Clearly A Threat To Democracy

The netroots have taken notice of MA Gov. Mitt Romney (R) founded Bain Capital's purchase of Clear Channel. MyDD's Chris Bowers picked up the story from Rochester Turning who writes: "Mitt Romney is running for president in 2008 (some consider him the frontrunner for the Republican nomination). I bet a fleet of t.v.and radio stations might come in handy. Remember - this is how Berlusconi got elected in Italy." Bowers adds: "To prepare for their 2008 runs, most potential candidates stock up on staff, a Leadership PAC, and support from party leaders, advocacy organizations, and grassroots groups. Mitt Romney buys a media empire. I can't argue with what will probably be an effective strategy, but I can fear for American Democracy. Maybe Romney did this in order to match Giuliani's defacto news organization, Bloomberg."

GIULIANI: A Steady Hand Through Darkness

IA's Caucus Cooler has text of ex-NY mayor Rudy Giuliani radios ads currently running in IA and NH and paid for by Draft Giuliani:

At times of crisis, Americans look to their leaders for strength, hope, and leadership. Five years ago, Americans looked to our president first, but we also looked to another man to help guide us through the darkness, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. He wasn't just the mayor of New York, he was America's mayor . . . Rudy Giuliani has shown us what it takes to lead in the toughest of circumstances.

As America begins to focus on who will be our next president, we want change. We want someone who will rise above partisan politics and get things done . . . Please join us in asking Rudy Giuliani to run for president of the United States. We need his steady hand and his steadfast leadership. Sign a petition to draft Rudy Giuliani for President at draftrudygiuliani.com.

EDWARDS: Only 38 Shopping Days Left!!!

The Huffington Post's Dave Johnson takes Wal-Mart to task for publicizing efforts of a John Edwards volunteer to secure a Playstation 3 from a Wal-Mart on the same day Edwards criticized the company in a conference call with union-backed activists. Wal-Mart released a statement: "While the rest of America's working families are waiting patiently in line, Sen. Edwards wants to cut to the front." Johnson responds: "That is an official Wal-Mart statement! Have you ever heard anything like that from a company? Is this the business Wal-Mart is in? What right does a corporation have to issue a statement like that about any citizen? Is this a company that ought to have its right to operate examined, or what?"

GORE: Chubby Happy People Don't Run For President

Andrew Sullivan links to SFGate's Mick LaSalle's tips for telling if Al Gore will or will not be running:

  • When Al Gore started to run for the presidency in 2000, he was thin. By the time the race was over, he had gained a lot of weight (like Clinton in 1992), and then he kept on gaining weight in the months after the election. ... Big Al is back to being pretty big right now, or at least he was a few months ago when he was going around promoting An Inconvenient Truth. But if he shows up on TV six months from now, looking 40 pounds lighter while promoting The Assault on Reason, then get ready, he's running.
  • An Inconvenient Truth will probably be nominated for an Oscar. It's the third highest grossing documentary in history and the most successful documentary of 2006. It will probably win. If you see a chubby, happy Al Gore standing next to the producer and director, celebrating the win at the Oscars, forget it, he's not running. ... The cultural resentment of Hollywood is almost pathological in certain sections of the country. However, if Gore chooses not to be there -- if he's at the spa that day -- then you can take it to the bank. Big Al's running.

GOP LEADERSHIP: Conservatives Lose Again?

Righty bloggers are already lamenting Rep. Mike Pence's (IN) defeat in the Minority Leader race to Rep. John Boehner (OH). RedState's Erick erickson forwards reaction from a Hill aide: "This is like 1976. Reagan was the guy, but the votes went to Ford." I suspect that in two years, if the GOP does not make gains, both Blunt! and Boehner! will be in trouble. Until then, we're going to rally around the leaders and prepare to fight Nancy and her nattering nabobs of negativism."

Townhall's Dean Barnett is happy the campaign "mercifully" coming to an end. And while he did find Boehner "to be an extremely impressive guy" he again laments the lack of candidate reading on "Islamic terrorism." Also dismayed to learn that Boehner does not read any blogs, Barnett proposes "creating a Congressional-level version of Oprah's book club" and hopes Townhall colleague Hugh Hewitt will use his radio show to induce congressmen to participate.

The Right Angle labels Pence "the Choice of Conservatives ... regardless of how tomorrow's minority leader vote turns out" and posts Human Events Online straw poll results showing Pence receiving 89% of the HEO reader vote. Outside the Beltway finds it "perhaps appropriate" that Boehner and Rep. Roy Blunt (MO) will lead the House Republicans in minority status ... since they helped let them there." OTB adds: "Sadly, one suspects they would have chosen DeLay as Minority Leader if he were still available."

Speaking of ex-Maj. Leader Tom DeLay, he returned to RedState to answer critics of his earlier front page post:

To my RedState critics, I accept your charge that many of the pieces of legislation passed by the Congress in the period from 1995 through 2006 were less-than-perfect. I believe, however, as Bismarck said that, "Politics is the art of the possible". In the U.S. House of Representatives the only things that are possible, in a legislative sense, are those which can get 218 votes. As the House Majority Leader, and before that as the House Majority Whip, I did everything that I could to bring the U.S. government closer to the principles of governance that I put forward in my post. I didn't enjoy the luxury of operating in a pristine policy laboratory; I had to do my best in the world of the possible."


Rep. Adam Putnam's (FL) "white rednecks" flub did not go unnoticed by righty bloggers. National Review Online's Kathryn Jean Lopez calls it "a Macaca-ish moment" and Townhall's Mary Katharine Ham suggests GOPers "should really stop saying dumb stuff" but later minimizes the damage: "Luckily, white Southerners aren't the type to go into identity politics freak-out mode when referred to by a politically incorrect name."

On the RNC chair front, Townhall's Barnett looks at past GOP efforts to operate under "collective leadership" and concludes and quotes ex-Sen./RNC general chairman Paul Laxalt: "[a]s long as the person who is the general chairman has a good relationship with the President, then it works." Power Line's Paul Mirengoff also defends the Sen. Mel Martinez (FL) choice, and takes on National Review Online's Jim Geraghty criticism of Minority Leader Trent Lott (MS).

DEM LEADERSHIP: Whatever The Outcome, Pelosi Wins

Arianna Huffington was among the first lefty bloggers with a post up reacting to Rep. John Murtha's (PA) loss to Rep. Steny Hoyer (MD) in the Majority Leader race titled: "Murtha Loses... But It's Still a Victory for Pelosi." Huffington explains: "Even though her guy lost, this was still a big win for her. A victory for taking a stand -- and for her leadership. Because that's what real leaders do, they take stands. ... It's not about trying to have a spotless record; it's about knowing which battles are worth fighting, whatever the outcome."

Murtha had has own statement posted at HuffPo thanking supporters, promising to focus on Iraq, and ending, "now let's get to work." MyDD's Chris Bowers was also eager to put the whole episode behind him. Instead Bowers put together a wish list for the still open DCCC chair:

  • 1. Little or no possibility of facing a serious re-election challenge him or herself (Reynolds problem)
  • 2. I would strongly prefer someone who entered Congress after 1994, so s/he understands being in the minority and does not take our majority as a natural turn of events. We need someone with fire for many more seats.
  • 3. Not strongly beholden to any particular wing or political infrastructure within the party. I would prefer someone who is not a Blue Dog, not a Progressive, not a New Democrat, not a Clintonista, not from a big city machine. I want an independent operative who can move freely throughout the party, and is not easily pegged as a specific type of Democrat.
  • 4. I want someone who is both respected by, and open to, the ideas coming from places like The New Politics Institute, Crashing the Gate, and the netroots community. We need new campaign ideas for continuing to build upon a new majority.

Bowers goes on to suggest Reps. Tim Ryan (OH) and Zoe Lofgren (CA) fit his guidelines well.

TERROR POLITICS: Finally, A CT Senator The Netroots Can Love

The netroots are celebrating Sen. Chris Dodd's (D-CT) unveiling of his Effective Terrorist Prosecution Act. MyDD's Matt Stoller summarizes the bills contents:

  • It prevents a lengthy court battle over the Military Commissions Act.
  • It restores our adherence to the Geneva Conventions.
  • It restores Habeas Corpus to detainees.
  • It prevents information procured by torture from being used in court.
  • It narrows the definition of unlawful combatant to people who actually are fighting the US.

Stoller concludes: "This is a direct strike at Bush's expanded Presidential authority, and a repudiation of the last six years of reactionary abuse of civil rights." Atrios and Talk Left are also excited and firedoglake's Swopa speculates on when the Senate will move on the bill: "my coldblooded political calculation would be to do so after hearings on Guantanamo, secret CIA prisons, etc., have raised visibility and broadened the public's revulsion over the Bush regime's tactics - but this early commitment from Dodd seems like a good sign."

IRAQ: When Sorry Is Not Enough

The New Republic is coming under heavy lefty blogger fire for their 11/16 mea culpa on early support for the Iraq war. Ex-TNR contributor Spencer Ackerman is the harshest, responding to TNR's pleas to avoid a rush to "realism" writing: "Please believe me when I say that this makes me want to cry, since I used to love working for TNR. But the magazine is setting itself up for making the same mistake over and over and over again. This is the emptiest of evasions -- a fetishization of "seriousness" without ever actually being serious."

Also responding:

  • Ezra Klein: "For TNR, it should be no surprise that "We Were Wrong" actually equates to "They are wrong." The magazine only admits error as a way to sucker punch those they believe are even wronger than they -- "the realists," whose understanding that "American power may not be capable of transforming ancient cultures or deep hatreds...does not absolve us of the duty to conduct a foreign policy that takes its moral obligations seriously." This comes in an editorial explaining that the magazine's attempt to "take its moral obligations seriously" led it to commit a great and grave misjudgment."
  • The Washington Monthly's Kevin Drum: "Generally speaking, I favor a warm embrace for people who once supported the war but have since seen the light. ... Even by my soft-hearted standards, though, today's editorial from The New Republic renouncing their support for the war was remarkably clumsy and unsatisfying. ... TNR "deeply regrets its early support for this war," the editors say, but they don't provide a hint about why they regret their support. Is it just because things didn't work out? Because they think things could have worked but they're ashamed of not realizing that George Bush would bollocks it up? Because Saddam turned out not to have any WMD? Or what?"

On the right, RedState featured an Iraq symposium 11/15. Entry titles included:

Hahn writes: "Iraq is no longer part of the war on terror. Whether that statement is true in any objective sense matters very little. I believe that we are obligated, by the terms of our compact with our fellow American citizens, to treat the statement as if it were true. That is because a majority of our fellow citizens have just voted it to be true."

DEMS: Speaking Conservatively

Captain's Quarters notes that nine of 28 new Dem reps will be "Blue Dogs," and that the House caucus will now number 44. Captain Ed says that thin majorities "amplify the importance of factions such as the Blue Dogs, and they intend to take advantage of it." Meanwhile, Hotline's Josh Kraushaar weighs in on a Real Clear Politics discussion of whether Dem "conservatism" actually helped tip the balance 11/7. "This by no means was a mandate for Dem conservatism..... in most cases, they took advantage of ballot blunders and other ethical snafus by Republicans, plus the uniquely favorable environment for Dems."

On the Dean vs. Carville front, Ezra Klein says that '06 "was not a referendum on the 50 State Strategy. It wouldn't have been had Democrats lost, it isn't now that they've won." Dem gains in places like KS and NH was more tied to the environment than Dean's state party-building. Carville's critique is more "a question of resources: Dean both didn't raise as much as some Democrats thought possible and didn't devote as much to 2006 as some -- like Rahm -- thought necessary. There's an argument to be had there. But it's a different one."

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: A Classic Liberal

If you're a righty blogger, you have a post up today celebrating the life of Milton Friedman. Dynamist Blog's Virginia Postrel writes: "He was a great social scientist, a brilliant popularizer and polemicist, and a mensch. His intellectual influence, on both scholarly economics and the revival of classical liberalism, can hardly be overstated. And, more than any other single person, we can thank him for ending the scourges of the 1970s: inflation and the draft."

LEST WE FORGET: It's Like The Middle East, But Different

Slate hosts a less than vicious exchange between Wolverine Jonathan Chait and Buckeye Aaron Marshall including:

  • Chait: "I'm a Michigan graduate and a lifelong fan of the football team. When my non-college-football-fan friends (and here in Washington, D.C., that means almost all of them) inquire about Michigan-Ohio State, they assume the two sides are mirror images. Sort of the way political novices think of the Israel-Arab conflict. In many ways we are alike, but we are different in one critical respect: Ohio State fans are insane hooligans. Not all of them, of course. Not even most. But enough of them."
  • Marshall: "spare me the notion that Michigan doesn't care about this game. Your coach revealed this week that he's been practicing for Ohio State all year long. And we haven't forgotten that Michigan fans were in an ugly, coach-firing mood after the Buckeyes snatched another win away in Ann Arbor last year. Besides, any team whose fans willingly wear maize-and-blue checkered pants in public is pretty into the game.