February 14, 2007

2/14: Just The Beginning?

We're in Day 9 of the "The First Blog Scandal Of Campaign 2008", and the Blogometer worries that the resignation of Shakespeare's SisterMelissa McEwan from the Edwards campaign is not the end of the story. McEwan's postings were nowhere near as inflammatory as co-hire Amanda Marcotte of Pandagon, and yet, apparently she was on the receiving end of just as nasty an email campaign (ed. note: this comment in no way condones the anti-Marcotte campaign). With another Catholic group expanding their anti-Edwards blogger efforts to other candidates, the Blogometer hopes we all can tone done the level of vitriol to non-violence threatening levels.

EDWARDS: You're Either With The Bloggers, Or You're With The Terrorists

Melissa McEwan chose her own blog Shakespeare's Sister to announce her resignation from the John Edwards campaign. McEwan stressed "the campaign did not push me out" and apologized to all the progressive bloggers who supported her throughout the ordeal. McEwan concluded: "It is not right-wing bloggers, nor people like Bill Donohue or Bill O'Reilly, who prompted nor deserve credit for my resignation ... but individuals who used public criticisms of me as an excuse to unleash frightening ugliness, the likes of which anyone with a modicum of respect for responsible discourse would denounce without hesitation."

Picking up on McEwan's "frightening ugliness" sentiments, MyDD's Chris Bowers heads his post "Terrorism Remains A Key Political Tool Of the Right" and links to a Wikipedia entry noting "since 1977 in the United States and Canada, there have been 17 attempted murders, 383 death threats, 153 incidence of assault or battery, and 3 kidnappings committed against abortion providers." Bowers connects the dots: "Much like the democratic means attempted by conservatives to outlaw abortion, the media pressure against Edwards didn't work. Unfortunately, the violent threats against Melissa did. ... Terrorism and the threat of violence against American citizens remains a key political tool for the American right-wing."

Taking a slightly different view, Matthew Yglesias argues the episode says more about the Edwards campaign: "[B]ased on their own reaction to the controversy it appears that nobody at the campaign decided to vet [Amanda] Marcotte before they hired her? Presumably, these were both decisions handled at a fairly low level (I doubt Edwards himself was huddled in a room with three top advisors discussing blog hiring policy for hours until after controversies started breaking out) but it all seems a little amateurish."

Daily Kos' Kagro X notes that the "Catholic-based advocacy group" Fidelis has expanded the story past the Edwards campaign calling on Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to "publicly condemn the anti-Catholic and anti-Christian blog posts by Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwan." Tired of attacks from the right Bowers admits: "You know what? I don't want Hillary Clinton to apologize for her war vote anymore, because I am sick of Democrats apologizing."

Others on the left kept the battle focussed on the man who helped break the story into the MSM the Catholic League's Bill Donohue. AMERICAblog links to video of the "religious right hate-speech 'expert'" telling a "gook joke" on television and firedoglake's TRex points out earlier Donohue campaigns included an attack on Lipton for an onion dip commercial that featured "a person holding a bowl of onion dip while waiting in line to take communion-the implication being that this person planned to dip the Eucharist in the onion dip."

DEM FIELD: Sorry No More

Connecting the Edwards blogger story with Obama's recent apologies for implying the US troops died in vainMyDD 's Bowers writes: "Great! Yes! More apologies! It appears that there is nothing that Democrats and progressives can do, no matter how amazing, without being forced to issue a constant stream of apologies and resignations whenever the right-wing demands them."

Bowers is tired of the whole system and wants all the attacks and apologies to just end. He advises: "People have to start pushing back from our end. Stop agreeing with the right-wing attacks. Stop attacking the individual right-wingers who make the attacks (they have an endless supply of those) and start attacking the system itself. Just stop apologizing for crying out loud."

CLINTON: "9/11 Made Her Do It!"

Discussion of HRC still centers around Iraq with Arianna Huffington posting on "Team Hillary's Latest Excuse for Iraq Vote." Huffington writes: "Team Hillary's attempt to out-weasel John Kerry's legendary "I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it" continues in earnest. Its latest explanation/rationalization? 9/11 made her do it! That's right, the Clinton camp is now reading out of the Bush administration's wing-and-a-prayer book."

More towards the center Kausfiles argues the early start to the primary season will end up benefitting HRC on the issue: "How Obama May Have Saved Hillary ... She's in trouble now because of her pro-war vote, and her unimpressive attempts to explain it without repudiating it. But the 2008 campaign has started so early that there's plenty of time for her to reverse field and recover. ... If it were December or even October, things might be different and she'd be in real trouble."

DODD: Ned Lamont Wants You (To Help Chris Dodd)!!!

My Left Nutmeg's Matt Browner Hamlin posts an email from Ned Lamont supporting Chris Dodd's Restoring the Constitution Act. Lamont tells his supporters Dodd has been a leader on the issue, working to overturn the Military Commissions Act "almost immediately after the passage of the bill." Lamont urges recipients to sign on as a citizen co-sponsor of the bill at Restore-Habeas.org.

Reminding netrooters that "as Markos himself always says, not everyone has to show up at Dailykos" MyDD's Bowers asks readers to check out Dodd's 3:30 PM chat at Booman Tribune. The Booman plugs the appearance as well: "He will be here to talk about the Restoring the Constitution Act of 2007. This act would help repair the damage down by the Military Commissions Act of 2006."

After seeing him at a rally in Manchester, NH, Blue Hampshire's Gallichon says he is forming "an increasingly favorable impression" of Dodd. He adds: "He talked a lot about the rule of law and America's role in the world. I'm glad to see that wasn't just talk."

OBAMA: Bigger Than Dean

MyDD's Bowers claims Barack Obama's "Facebook organizing is working" pointing to large crowds in the college towns of Durham, NH and Ames, IA. Bowers adds: "He is already generating the same kind of crowds in February that Howard Dean only started consistently generating in August of 2003."

Building on similar sentiments, fellow MyDDerMatt Stoller blogs that Obama "has a national megaphone" he could use to ask people to do "anything really" including for 1M "to call Congress in February to ask for a withdrawal from Iraq" or "ask for universal health care." Stoller claims Obama "knows this" but is afraid if it doesn't happen "he'll get embarrassed." Stoller concludes asking: "Obama knows there's a hunger out here for change, and that if we have leadership we will follow. Does he trust the American people enough to make the ask, and change the country?

Still defending Clinton, TAPPED's Garance Franke-Ruta argues that Obama's views on Iran are in line with HRC's. She writes: "Hillary Clinton has long been out of sync with Dean and Obama on the Iraq War, and, since 2005, Edwards's position on it has evolved more that hers. But all four of them have been tough talkers when it comes to Iran, and Dean seemed to be suggesting last fall that it would be politically advantageous for Democrats to attack Bush over his failure to properly handle the threat it poses."

GIULIANI: The InstaCandidate?

Rudy Giuliani continued his strong blogosphere showing when AmSpec Blog's Philip Klein broke news that "stalwart conservative lawyer and former solicitor general for the Bush administration" Theodore Olson will be supporting Giuliani's campaign. On Giuliani's social views Olson writes:

Rudy's views on many, many issues are going to be very compatible with people in the conservative political community and the political legal community. Nobody's going to be able to find a candidate with whom they agree with 100 percent on every issue. Overall, Rudy's strength of character, his capacity for leadership in a time when a strong executive is important, his energy level, his ability to provide the kind of leadership that Ronald Reagan did -- I think that is going to be very persuasive with conservatives.

Linking to the AmSpec post, RedState's Pejman Yousefzadeh adds: "Whether he reads blogs or not, Giuliani is following the advice they dish out for his campaign. Note that whenever he is asked about his position on abortion, he is upfront about his views, gives no indication that he is going to change them, but stresses that if he is given the chance to appoint judges and Justices, they would be in the model of John Roberts and Samuel Alito."

Pajamas Media's Bill Bradley posts video of Giuliani addressing global warming "in the Silicon Valley" but Michelle Malkin is not impressed by his criticism of Al Gore "for not having enough zeal to take on the special interests" on climate change.

Reaction in PJM comment boards was mixed with Jacob writing: "Gore goes on about global warming but doesn't really offer any solutions. And Giuliani isn't some kumbaya-solve-the-problem-by-banning-cars nut. He points out we use do things like technology and alternate fuels to combat global warming and also it'll fight pollution which is also a good thing. This sounds a lot like the Instapundit position, who's not a crazy lefty. The more you think about it the more Giuliani sounds like the Instapundit candidate."

ROMNEY: Right Guy, Wrong Job?

A 'friend' of IA's Caucus Cooler was in Dearborn, MI, for Mitt Romney's official WH'08 announcement and writes while [Romney] "wasn't bad by any means" Romney has been "more comfortable giving a speech." CC's friends adds: "The loudest and longest cheer of the speech came a few minutes later after Mitt expressed his support for the President when it comes to Iraq. He ends talking a lot about freedom. ... All in all, I'd say the weather hurt the energy in there a little bit."

The Corner's Kathryn Jean Lopez also admits "Mitt wasn't a flawless event (at one point what may have been repetition for emphasis certainly looked a little bit like he had lost his place in the speech) but it was an enthusiastic Dearborn announcement." K-Lo blogs "He certainly brought the family message home, for what it's worth ... you kinda got the impression you were (one of 800 people) joining a Romney family reunion." But again, Iraq hounded Romney in K-Lo's opinion, commenting on his closing she writes:

He's not running for governor of the U.S., but president of the United States. Even aside from the questions conservatives have, I'm not sure people yet have a sense that he's the right guy for that job.

Other Reax:

• Granite Grok: "he expresses some great notions and hits all the right conservative hot buttons. The big question is whether he can make people believe that HE believes this stuff."


• Power Line's Paul Mirengoff: "Romney used the museum and the technological advances it chronicles to speak about his life-long pursuit of innovation and transformation in the public and private sectors. This, I believe, will be the major theme of his campaign. And it's a valid one. ... The biggest political cloud on the horizon for Romney, as for all Republican contenders, is probably the war in Iraq."


• Captain's Quarters: "It seems like Romney has decided that his toughest competition will come from McCain instead of Giuliani. ... The little digs about someone who hasn't run a corner store as well as the "outsider" remarks clearly reference McCain. He wants to bump McCain to the side of the road by reminding Republican conservatives of all the compromises and aisle-crossing McCain has done in over twenty years in Congress."


• The Brody File: "Evangelical Christians are going to want Romney and all the candidates to talk a lot about the the present culture war that currently exists today ... [after quoting from Romney]Ladies and gentlemen, that's boiler plate Ronald Reagan conservatism. And while Romney wants to be portrayed like that, he will have to actually come out with bold policy initiatives to prove it.


• The Right Angle's Ivy Sellers: "Romney's campaign team has certainly played their cards well, at least where publicity is concerned. Currently Matt Drudge has the embargoed-till-delivery speech posted in full on his website. Maybe presidential hopefuls will now think twice before announcing a weekend when nobody's watching."

IRAQ: Stop The Madness

Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) has posts at MyDD and Calitics telling readers that the current House vote on Iraq is "an important first step" in getting U.S. troops out of Iraq. She urges netrooters to "continue to hold President Bush accountable for his disaster in Iraq" by supporting her own bill, H.R. 508, which "would bring our troops home within six months, provide economic, humanitarian and diplomatic aid to help the Iraqis rebuild their country."

Patience for further steps seems to be wearing thin however. MyDD's Matt Stoller links to Glenn Greenwald questioning of Dem motives for not exorcising their power to end the war and asks: "Is it time to work to run primary campaigns against Democrats who won't argue for ending the war? ... It's obvious that no Democrats in DC, with a few exceptions, feel any pull towards withdrawal. So they are screwing over us, who voted them into office to end the war, and we're enabling them with cheerleading. We must put incentives in place to stop this madness. And believe me, it's madness."

A Dear Colleague letter from Reps. John Shadegg (R-AZ)and Peter Hoekstra (R-MI) is also getting plenty of lefty blogger play. Daily Kos' Kagro X highlights his favorite passage, "If we let Democrats force us into a debate on the surge or the current situation in Iraq, we lose," and adds: "If we have an upperdownvote on the escalation, Republicans lose. Because nearly everyone in America opposes it, including a significant number of the Republicans who received this letter. And if there's a straight-up vote on it, they lose.

IRAQ II: Blunt Assessments

Righty blogger posting on the Iraq debate is uniformly against the House Dem resolution portraying it as "Defeat Only." Thoughts include:

• Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO) at RedState: "Almost twenty-four years ago, in November 1983, the Congress voted for withdrawal from Lebanon by March of 1984. Many of the proponents of today's resolution voted then to leave. They lost 153 to 274, but the message was sent, and we left anyway, and when we left, the myth of American weakness began to take hold in al Qaeda."
• Red State's Mark Kilmer: "The Democrats have introduced their anti-Bushie war resolution, vowing support for our troops - fingers crossed - and slipping them the verbal knife."
• RedState's Pejman Yousefzadeh: "Even after winning control of Congress thanks in no small part to their campaign against the continuing reconstruction effort in Iraq, Democrats still feel that they are on shaky ground in addressing the issue of our presence in Iraq."
• RedState's Marcus Traianus: "The truth is Democrats have no alternative to our current plan for achieving victory in Iraq except to attack those who continue to show leadership in carrying out a strategy this country agreed was prudent. Their only hope is based on a political calculation that we will lose; public opinion will stay low and their contra- intellectual filibuster can continue until 2008."

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Nothing New

IA Progress' Chase Martyn has a bone to pick with The Atlantic's profile of gay activist's Tim Gill's involvement in IA state Rep. Eric Palmer (D) recent victory over socially conservative IA state Rep. Danny Carroll. After quoting Carroll's attribution of his loss to "the activism of Grinnell College students" Martyn writes:

Yup, that's right: Danny's pretty sure it was us. We're pretty sure it was us. And the number of college students who voted for Eric Palmer is remarkably close to the number of votes Danny lost by. But Joshua Green still blames the gays. ... It may be sensational because a few of Palmer's donors were gay, but it is certainly nothing new.

LEST WE FORGET: No Matter What Your Opinion Of Climate Change, She Has A Point

The Corner's Kathryn Jean Lopez notes the headline "HOUSE HEARING ON 'WARMING OF THE PLANET' CANCELED AFTER SNOW/ICE STORM is "just not the best P.R. for your cause."

Posted by Conn Carroll at February 14, 2007 12:30 PM