12/13: Are You Ready For Some '08?

December 13, 2006 12:27 PM | Permalink |

While lefty bloggers had plenty of other things to say about Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) 12/12, surprisingly few had anything to day about Obama's 12/11 Monday Night Football intro. The Plank had a post before the clip aired more poking fun at MNF's cultural demise than commenting on Obama, and Crooks and Liars posted the video (a full 30 hours after it aired), but among the netroots big boys, nary a mention. Righty bloggers on the other hand couldn't get enough of the bit. Were they genuinely impressed with Obama's sense of humor, or were they just happy to see Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) squirm?

OBAMA: Why Do Lefties Hate Football? ... And Why Do Righties Hate The NFC?

The Corner was full of reactions to Obama's MNF intro 12/11. Rich Lowry included some email reactions of readers:

I watched the Bears game with my father & wife's grandfather in Dupage County, Illinois. Unlike the rest of America we know how to vote. (Have fun in Washington, Congressman Peter Roskam!) Both my father & my wife's grandfather started voting Republican right out of the womb. But when the Obama Monday Night Football cameo ended they both turned to each other & said, "I like that guy." Mitt, John & Rudy, be afraid, very afraid.
Obama's turn on Monday Night Football was actually very well done. I don't like his politics, but it's hard not to like the person. He's got an easy smile and came across like "It's cool to be asked to do this, so I am doing it." Nothing awkward at all. He's very non-threatening.
I think it was a pretty good political move. Any chance to snub Hillary, who at times has portrayed herself as some sort of Chicago sports fan, is a plus for him.
The NFC has become so much worse, and more boring, than the AFC, that I did not even know it happened until you told me.

The Right Angle's Ivy Sellers posts video of the clip and adds: "After watching the clip, I've got to hand it to the guy -- that was pretty good. Hillary had to be squirming for a minute or two."

Definitely not watching football 12/11, Andrew Sullivan does post the text of Obama's address to Rick Warren's mega-church and liked Obama's words: "They impress me. They give me hope. That's all for now. And it's enough for now."

Lefty bloggers were watching CNN 12/11 and they were not happy with the network's "cheeky feature segment on the similarity between "Osama" and "Obama," complete with side-by-side photos of the two." The Plank's Michael Crowley acknowledges the bit was intended to be funny but adds: "on some level I'm sure this stuff sinks in." TPM Cafe's Eric Kleefeld includes Obama's quote from the piece: ""I mean, it would be one thing if my name was 'John Hussein Smith.' When you're already starting with 'Barack Obama...'"

Obama's NH tour continued to draw lefty blogger reaction 12/12. TAPPED's Ezra Klein admits to finding the "Obama hype" puzzling, but after watching video of Obama in NH, he came away impressed: "It's one of the most remarkable addresses I've ever seen, and, in its soft and irresistible way, it explains the whole of the buzz. In possibly the most telling section, he gives a great riff on health care, which manages to totally inspire while not actually saying anything sweeping or controversial. Watching it, you'd swear he just promised the stars, the sky, and universal insurance, when he really just committed to electronic records. And yet, you scarcely mind, if you even noticed.

Also commenting on the substance Obama's NH speech, The Huffington Post's David Sirota is in full attack mode: "Most of Obama's speech is a rambling ode to happy-sounding concepts like "democracy" and "unity" and "bipartisanship." It was only toward the end that the audience got a taste of substance on the defining economic issue of the next 50 years: globalization."

Sirota goes on to hit Obama for buying into the "Great Education Myth - the idea that if we only just made everyone in America smarter, we would solve outsourcing, wage depression and health care/pension benefit cuts that are the result of forcing Americans to compete in an international race to the bottom." Sirota continues, blaming "Big Money" for propagating the Great Education Myth so they can deflect attention away from reform of "our trade policy to equalize capital protections (copyrights/patents) and human protections (labor/wage/enviro)."

LANDSCAPE '08: They Took The Country To Pottery Barn, Not Us

Picking up on Hotline editor Chuck Todd's 12/12 observation that former Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and MA Gov. Mitt Romney (R) advisor Mike Murphy's 12/12 Los Angeles Timesop-ed seemed to scream: "PRES. BUSH, STOP IRAQ FROM BEING A 'REPUBLICAN WAR'!" DailyKos' founder Markos Moulitsas writes: "Ultimately, it is Bush's war, even though McCain and Lieberman have struggled mightily to make it theirs as well."

Kos continues: "Democrats have made clear their solution -- a withdrawal timetable. That is our solution. Bush, McCain, Lieberman, the remaining neocons, and the "serious" pundits are betting that sending more troops and some extra loud clapping will spontaneously generate magic ponies in Iraq and all will be well. They're wrong, and all they're doing is getting more of our own killed, but they've making their choice in opposition to Democratic wishes and those of the American people. ... In 2008, there will be no way that Republicans will be able to shirk off responsibility for their war. They broke it, they bought it. It's theirs."

GOP FIELD: A Sweet 16 For McCain

DailyKos' founder Markos Moulitsas invites readers to examine the GOP's '08 primary calendar:

January 21: Iowa
January 28: New Hampshire
February 5: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Michigan,
Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina,
North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah,
and West Virginia.

Kos comments: "That's 16 states in the first two weeks of the race, including delegate-rich New Jersey, Florida, Missouri and Michigan, giving the guy with the most media buzz and money an advantage. At this early point of the race, that person is McCain."

MCCAIN: Romney's Not The Only One With A Past

IA's Krusty Konservative does "not have a horse in the 2008 race" but after hitting Romney earlier KK decided to examine McCain's conservative record:

Gay marriage: Senator McCain is an opponent of a federal amendment to ban gay marriage.
Tax Cuts: An early opponent of the Bush tax cuts - McCain voted against them in 2001, citing his desire for fiscal responsibility. Later, he changed his position on the Bush tax cuts and voted for their extension after he began looking towards an '08 run.
Abortion: McCain says he has a 100% pro-life voting record. While it's not 100%, it's pretty good, overall. However, he has a few are trouble spots.
Immigration: McCain's position is a tough one for most konservatives, but it's an issue that also haunts konservatives like Brownback and Huckabee.
McCain Feingold (what's with all the co-sponsorships with the most liberal members of the Senate?): Perhaps the most liberal item in the McCain record - it especially affects political speech on the right, while allowing unions and other voices on the left to go unabated.
War on Terror: McCain takes a brave stance in support of the Iraq war, calling for a substantial troop increase in the short term to "turn the tide" against the terrorists and rising sectarian violence.
Spending: this is where I find the most agreement with Senator McCain. He has a very strong record opposing rampant federal spending, pork, and earmarks.
Ethanol: OK, this isn't an issue for konservatives per se, but it's a big deal for Iowans. McCain has always opposed subsidies for ethanol.

ROMNEY: Getting His $250K Worth

IA's Caucus Cooler posts an email from Romney fundraiser Nicole Schlinger whom CC claims signed with Romney for "somewhere in the neighborhood of 250K." The email titled "Clarifying Gov. Romney's Support for Traditional Marriage" includes:

As you may know, an article is being circulated today by supporters of Sen. John McCain as an attempt to mislead voters about Governor Mitt Romney's unwavering support for traditional marriage. In fact, his record of defending marriage is unassailable, and frankly is unmatched by any other political figure in America. ... He does believe, however, that we should be a tolerant nation. ... Mitt Romney is 100% committed to a federal marriage amendment, while other possible candidates for president, including Senator John McCain, are not.

CC comments: "A couple of small shots at McCain and an empassioned defense of her man. Nice pick-up for team Romney."

Back in DC, Eye on 08 is tracking "Evangelical media" reaction to the "Romney/gay story" including a "Romney Family Values Stand Under Fire" story from "Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network." Eye08 also links to CBN's The Brody File posting about Brian Camenker Mass Resistance group attacking Romney on marriage. Eye08 adds: "When Brody says,"Family conservative activist groups like Family Research Council and Focus on the Family are not happy" he knows what he's talking about."

RedState's Leon Wolf is not done getting his money's worth out of his Lexis access, this time highlighting a 7/25/02 Hotline write up of a Boston Globe piece on Romney and the minimum wage. Wolf comments: "Apart from the fact that this is not exactly a "conservative" or "business-friendly" view of the minimum wage (it is, in fact, one of the oldest plays in the liberal Democrat playbook), the story of Mitt Romney's journey to this position is damning for its similarity to other journeys that Mitt Romney has recently taken."

CLINTON: A Doubly Or Triply Unfortunate Position

The Huffington Post's Sheldon Drobny reminds readers "that Bill Clinton was responsible for the execution of a mentally retarded murderer" due to DLC wishes to demonstrate "that Democrats were not soft on crime." Drobny argues: "I strongly suspect that [Sen.] Hillary [Clinton (D-NY)] voted for the war in Iraq because of the same political expediency."

In a seemingly unrelated post Matthew Yglesias wishes "we could keep the discourse a little bit more elevated" than a New York Timesarticle on gender barriers HRC will face in her WH run but also adds: "There are much better questions to ask about Clinton's views on national security policy than whether she's too girly to handle it. Indeed, there's at least some indication that fear of this sort of misogynistic attack is part of what's motivated her to take such a hawkish line which winds up being doubly or triply unfortunate."

GORE: Dated Obama, Married Gore?

Al Gore's 12/11 refusal to rule out an '08 run continues to tantalize lefty bloggers. Firedoglake's Pachacutec: "From the time I saw An Inconvenient Truth, I thought it was a campaign film. It included a lot of rebranding of his image and some inoculation against his perceived flaws in the public mind, brought to you by the establishment media in 2000."

At The Huffington Post, Taylor Marsh adds: "When you hear a big time politician like Al Gore continue to offer caveats on running for president he's seriously thinking about running for president. ... Or maybe I'm just hoping beyond hopes we will actually have a deep thinking candidate that knows about foreign policy and military issues, while having deep knowledge of the biggest challenge we face in our lifetime, energy independence. So, stop by Run Obama. But then get serious. Say it with me: Run, Al, run."

KUCINICH: The "Cure"

The Nation's John Nichols reports that Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) is running "to cure what ails his own Democratic Party. The Democratic disease, he says, is caution regarding the antiwar position it should be taking." Nichols concludes: "Kucinich's presence in the debates could well sharpen the discussion among Democrats regarding the war. And as Kucinich rightly points out, that sharpening is needed. Indeed, Kucinich argues, the fate of the Democratic Party could rest on the question of how it responds to the desire of Americans to bring the troops home."

Ohio2006 Blog is "very glad that he will join the field. It's not that I think he has a chance to win, it's that his hard-core anti-war stance will force the other Democratic candidates to take seriously the views of anti-war Democratic voters."

TX 23: Christmas Coal For The GOP

MyDD's Chris Bowers celebrates ex-Rep. Ciro Rodriguez (D) victory over Rep. Henry Bonilla (R) writing: "This seat is Ciro's to hold until redistricting. He beat an incumbent pretty badly tonight, and now he is once again an incumbent Democrat from a majority minority district. ... Considering Ciro's strong voting record, the TX-23 will be a cornerstone of a blue majority for a long time to come." Bowers also notes the TX's Burny Orange Report was the "first news source in the nation to call the election."

National Review Online's Kathryn Jean Lopez calls the loss "Salt in the November GOP Wound" and RedState's AdamC adds: "I'm not sure Republican leadership understands how bad the GOP brand has been hit in the last 2 years. If anything good can come from this loss, maybe they will realize it wasn't one bad night. It's been a bad two years."

DEMS: And The Next Lieberman Is ...

DailyKos' founder Markos Moulitsas hits former Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-CA) campaign manager Katie Merrill for writing: "Only a month has passed since the Dems took back the House and Senate, and the divisive efforts of the netroots to rid the party of elected officials they don't agree with has geared up in full force." Kos responds: "It's not surprising that this writer ... would try to head off what will be a vicious fight for this seat in a primary. ... Unlike her apparent hero Joe Lieberman, Tauscher won't get a "do-over" if she loses." Kos points readers to a Tausher constituent's response to Merrill at Calitics titled "Ellen Tauscher Does NOT Share My Values":

Last year, after most of the members of Ellen Tauscher's New Democrat Coalition made a rare break with their globalist dogma to vote against CAFTA, NDC leaders scurried to assure K Street lobbyists that the Coalition was still on board to promote future free trade agreements. ... Obviously, Tauscher's highly touted free trade agreements are mostly fair to business, not to labor or Americans concerned with earning a living wage so that they can support themselves and their families.

Earlier Kos linked to The Hill's 12/12 story on increased lobbyist attendance at a recent New Democrat Coalition "meet-and-greet." Kos explains there is nothing wrong with lobbying per se, but does argue the article underscores the importance of Dem enacting "an ethics reform package with real teeth." Kos added: "Meanwhile, keep an eye on Ellen Tauscher. She's going to have a rough 2008."

Also in lefty blogger trouble for support of trade Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) took to The Huffington Post to defend himself from recent David Sirotacriticisms of Frank's "grand bargain" with business. Frank argues Sirota misrepresented his record writing: "I have worked very closely with Rep. Sandy Levin (D-MI), who has been our leader on trade, to insist on the inclusion of all of these items in trade bills, and I have voted against trade bills including NAFTA, CAFTA, WTO for China, fast track authority, etc. for that very reason. ... My Grand Bargain starts with a way for us to pass a broad liberal agenda - including raising wages (not just the minimum wage), health care, labor and environmental standards in trade agreements, more support for access to education, and an increased public sector in many other areas - and I am prepared to work with some aspects of the business community's agenda if we can get them."

Sirota responds: "There is no debate that our current free trade policy and policies that support "more outsourcing" are ones that are A) corporate-written and B) include no wage, environmental or human rights protections. Continuing those current policies, as Frank said was part of his "bargain," would be continuing to have none of those protections. So there's no misrepresentation there at all."

Sirota adds: "Frank then uses the age-old move of going on to say "but wait, look - I am good on other issues!" It's like a magician trying to make you look in one hand so that you take your eye off the other. ... Just because you have done great stuff on some issues, doesn't mean you are automatically immune from questions about other issues."

IRAQ: Opposition Polling Away From The Pack

In the wake of several polls out lately showing less than stellar ratings of the war in Iraq (see Hotline On Call) righties latch onto Gallup's not-as-bad numbers. The Corner's Byron York cites data a few times and says the numbers "make it clear that most Americans do not believe the U.S. is losing in Iraq but rather than the situation has deteriorated into stalemate." He spins other numbers in what many see as a pessimistic poll as not as terrible as everyone would have us believe. Paul Mirengoff at Powerline says the numbers show that "many who want to see our forces remain in Iraq in substantial numbers have lost faith in Bush."

In the same post, John Hinderaker adds: "The President's position may not be so dire, as long as he aligns himself with the advice he gets from the military. If he announces publicly that he is going to implement the recommendations made by the Pentagon group that is currently conducting a policy review, it would seem that most Americans would follow his lead."

From the left, Minnesota Monitor links to a CBS News account of the Gallup poll and notes that this poll is the first time Gallup has shown the war in Iraq is more unpopular than the war in Vietnam.

BLOGGER VS. BELTWAY: Gotta Repizent

Noting that a "campaign just had a blogger meeting in which a "representative" of Daily Kos was supposedly there" DailyKos' founder Markos Moulitsas clarifies who can and can not "represent" Daily Kos. For those of you keeping score at home only the following Kossacks can "represent" Daily Kos: BarbinMD, Darksyde, DavidNYC, DeminCT, Devilstower, DHinMI, Hunter, Georgia10, KagroX, Mcjoan, Meteor Blades, MissLaura, Plutonium Page, SusanG, and Trapper John.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Wither Reagan's GOP?

Andrew Sullivan plucks his 12/13 Quote of the Day from a Tech Central Station article on libertarian political power by David Boaz and David Kirby:

If Republicans can't win New Hampshire and the Mountain West, they can't win a national majority. And they can't win those states without libertarian votes. They're going to need to stop scaring libertarian, centrist, and independent voters with their social-conservative obsessions and become once again the party of fiscal responsibility. In a Newsweek poll just before the election, 47 percent of respondents said they trusted the Democrats more on "federal spending and the deficit," compared to just 31 percent who trusted the Republicans. That's not Ronald Reagan's Republican Party.

LEST WE FORGET: Congress Critters

Extreme Mortman believes Humane Society Pres. Wayne Pacelle when he says: "The new Congress will be a friendlier environment for animal welfare advocates." Mortman notes: "That's great news for Frank Wolf, Virginia Foxx, Butch Otter, and Robert Byrd. And it explains the loss of Charlie Bass. But too bad for Duncan Hunter and Louise Slaughter. No word from Brian Lamb."