February 08, 2007

2/8: If You're Gonna Embrace The Netroots...

... then embrace the netroots. There's only one possible happy ending to the John Edwards/Amanda Marcotte story: A full-out Edwards embrace of Marcotte and the hard-hitting ethos of the 'roots. If there's one thing lefty blogs care more about than getting the U.S. out of Iraq, it's fighting back hard against conservative opposition (witness Sen. Barack Obama's (D-IL) strong netroots praise when he froze out FOX News re: madrassa). Edwards can still turn this into a positive development. But the Blogometer believes his current statement alone will not make anyone happy. On the plus side, neither Edwards nor the bloggers apologized for Marcotte's remarks (Marcotte is only sorry "if anyone was personally offended"). But if Edwards wants to turn this story aroundm he'll have to go on the offensive, hitting all the outlets and sources who created this problem.

EDWARDS: The Bloggers Strike Back

TPM Cafe's Greg Sargent reported the John Edwards campaign was "in bunker mode" with "staffers aren't answering phone calls and emails" after the Amanda Marcotte controversy began. Trouble first started for Edwards 2/1 when the initial announcement of the Pandagon blogger's hire drew quick conservative blogger heat. But the story did not metastasize until 2/7 when both the AP and the New York Timesran stories featuring calls from the Catholic League's Bill Donohue to fire Marcotte and fellow blog hire Melissa McEwan.

Statements from the Edwards campaign confirming that they were now reconsidering the fate of the two lefty bloggers drew quick and fierce reaction from their netroots brethren. MyDD's Chris Bowers explains why the issue is so important to his community: "I have spent nearly the last four years of my life working on full-time progressive movement building. ... Given this, I would rather find a new line of work than, in a Democratic primary, support a candidate who first courts the progressive movement, and then throws it under the bus at the first sign of pushback from the right-wing."

Bowers continued: "If Amanda and Melissa are terminated ... [Edwards] campaign will have contributed to the longstanding goals of the conservative movement and DLC-nexus alike to defund, marginalize, ostricize, and otherwise diminish the influence and credibility of the people-powered netroots and grassroots. Such a move would reinforce every elitist, ignorant, double-standard, disinformation campaign ever run against the netroots and the blogosphere."

The clear netroots consensus was that the Edwards campaign needed to hit back, and hit back hard. Atrios wrote: "Any campaign which doesn't know how to deal with these people should just shut itself down." The rest of the netroots then went into high gear showing how the Edwards push back should have proceeded.

Daily Kos' Kagro X went after ABC News' Terry Moran for his piece on the story titled 'Does John Edwards Condone Hate Speech?' Kagro notes: "No surprise here, though. Terry Moran's brother, Rick, writes -- perhaps unsurprisingly -- pretty much the same stuff at his blog, RightWingNuthouse. That'll explain the blindness in the Terry's right eye."

AMERICAblog's John Aravosis went after the AP and their sources, calling Donohue a "Jew-hating homophobe" and asking the AP: "What will the Associated Press come up with next? David Duke on the merits of the fight for black equality, or Lynette "Squeaky" Fromm's inside look at the State of the Union?" Atrios also went after Donohue quoting him on lesbians "something I'd expect to see in an asylum, frankly" and then adding: "There's literally nothing conservatives can say which will get them off the teevee."

Many on the left also looked to the GOP field for targets, settling on Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) blog-aide Patrick Hynes at Ankle Biting Pundits. In an effort to identify "less than demure" statements from righty bloggers affiliated with GOP campaigns Glenn Greenwald dug up Hynes calling Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) a "Pig Man" as well as Hynes posts "continuously disseminating anti-Mormon stories in order to damage Mitt Romney's standing among evangelical Christians." Greenwald also points out that Hynes has referred to America as a Christian nation. Media Matters chips in on the Hynes assault noting that Hynes once called Chelsea Clinton ugly.

Also focussed on McCain, Crooks and Liars Cliff Schecter reminds MSMers that McCain recently hired Terry Nelson "the one who approved the "call me" race-baiting ad that played on fears of miscegenation, which led those liberals at Wal-Mart to fire his firm they found it so offensive."

The situation still remains a possible plus for Edwards if he retains the bloggers and becomes aggressive on the issue. MyDD's Bowers admits: "While there is no way I will support Edwards [if] Amanda and Melissa are fired, I will immediately become a staunch Edwards supporter if they are not fired."

Finally, in a separate post Daily Kos' Kagro X urges the rest of the Dem field to rally behind Edwards for the good of Dems as a whole: "On the surface, the purpose of the attack is to portray the Edwards campaign as out-of-step with mainstream political thought, by holding up the most strident examples of his bloggers' writing, and then hoping the audience will play the guilt by association game. ... But to the extent that the netroots seek to demand a show of loyalty by Edwards, that same demand must be made of every Democratic campaign. Today, the target is Edwards. Tomorrow, should this vendetta prove successful, the target could be anyone."

Kagro continues: "All of the other candidates ought to take the opportunity to preemptively hit back at the right, and give Edwards cover to retain his bloggers if that's what he opts to do. ... If you want Edwards to stand up, realize that you're going to have to demand that all the campaigns stand up. Literally. They're going to have to say that they stand by Edwards. Because these attacks only really hurt campaigns among primary voters. That's us."

EDWARDS II: Gentle John

Edwards did not have a great day in non-Marcotte blogging either. Picking up on The Plank's analysis of Edwards' recent Iran statements, TAPPED's Garance Franke-Ruta disagrees with those arguing Edwards repudiated his more hawkish rhetoric. She writes: "Rather, the more temperate rhetoric Edwards has been using with American audiences -- and, specifically, liberal American ones -- is understood as what American politicians have to do to win office. But unless and until Edwards takes any options off the table (an approach he told Ezra would be "foolish") we have to assume he meant what he said at Herzliya, even if he's chosen to court the blog-reading Democratic primary audience in a more gentle voice."

And at The Huffington Post Rose Ann Demoro derides Edwards' health-care plan as "disappointing and shortsighted." "The Edwards plan looks a lot like the healthcare plans being touted by other decidedly non-populist politicians including George Bush, Mitt Romney and Arnold Schwarzenegger, in addition to Hillary Clinton's dismal 1993 plan."

OBAMA: Playing Catch Up

Barack Obama's continued delay in acknowledging the netroots continues to roil the movement's leading lights. DailyKos' founder Markos Moulitsas picks up on this statement from Obama in the Politico: "But I think we are in a moment where there is a possibility, not a certainty, but a possibility of bottom-up activism that I think could reshape the political landscape."

Kos responds: "Barack, it already did. It was called Dean for America, and it happened in 2003-4. Everyone else is still playing catch-up. I don't mean to sound snippy or negative. I'm genuinely psyched that others are playing catch-up. Just don't pretend you've stumbled onto something new."

In more glowing Obama coverage, Andrew Sullivan describes Obama's 6/26/06 Keynote Address to the Call to Renewal's Building a Covenant for a New America conference as "the finest public speech on religion in public life in years."

RICHARDSON: Willing To Defund The War

Daily Kos' Mcjoan previews NM Gov. Bill Richardson's (D) 2/8 address to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, including these key points:

• Renew the US commitment to international law and treaties, including abiding by the Geneva Convention, shutting down Guantanamo, rejecting torture as a policy device
• A "wholesale assault" to reduce global warming, including going beyond the Kyoto protocols in establishing national benchmarks for environmental protection;
• Engage our enemies by having direct talks with North Korea, Iran, and Syria;
• On Iraq, Richardson wants ... troop redeployments this calendar year, a conference of nations in the region to help negotiate solutions that would keep Iraq a unified state, and a reconciliation conference to bring the Iraqi sects to the table to devise a governance plan.

Mcjoan concludes: "Given that the escalation is going to happen under already-authorized funding, I asked Gov. Richardson if he would be willing to support defunding the war. His reply: of course. He wants to see a "date certain" by which funds will be cut and troops redeployed, and would like to see those dates preceded by a series of benchmarks."

GIULIANI: IA Or Bust!

Reacting to ex-AR Gov. Mike Huckabee's (R) admission that only a top three finish allows him to campaign past IA, the Caucus Cooler runs through the GOP field and concludes the same can be said of Rudy Giuliani:

If Rudy falters in Iowa what happens next? A trip to New Hampshire, where McCain has already won and a state that Romney shares a border with (he's already up to 20% in the latest NH poll). After that? It's to South Carolina where Rudy's social views are even less relateable than they are to the Iowa electorate. Not to mention McCain has been endorsed by most of the key leaders and Romney seems to have soaked up the rest. So if Rudy stumbles in Iowa his next two challenges will be states where his opponents have major advantages. By the time he gets to friendly territory Feb 5th it will probably be too late.

HUCKABEE: Needed Elsewhere

RedState's Dan McLaughlin labels Mike Huckabee "The Right Man For The Wrong Job" and identifies three reasons why:

• (1) Huckabee is the wrong man to lead the national GOP ((a) Huckabee isn't all that conservative, especially on fiscal issues, and (b) Huckabee has his priorities wrong)
• (2) Huckabee's presence in the race serves no useful purpose
• (3) Huckabee is needed elsewhere, in Arkansas, to run for the United States Senate.

ROMNEY: To Join McCain In Campaign-Finance Dog House?

IA's Krusty Konservative praises Mitt Romney for being "the most aggressive kandidate running for president in Iowa" but goes on to question his focus on smaller communities instead the Quad Cities and Council Bluffs of the world. Also in IA, Caucus Cooler gives kudos to Romney for "his diligence in working the state" but also notes that each visit seems to be "marked with another Mitt-flop." This time the issue is Romney's '94 position campaign finance reform, which after looking at The Hill's coverage, CC describes as "more stringent than what was implemented by McCain-Feingold."

Christian Broadcasting Network's The Brody File seems to be warming to Romney, noting that the total lifetime conservative ratings of Romney endorsing congressman is higher than those endorsing Sen. John McCain (R-AZ).

At Townhall, Romney fan Hugh Hewitt highlights Club for Growth's findings that Romney's "call for permanent tax cuts, tax reform, spending discipline, regulatory relief starting with the reform of Sarbanes-Oxley, and tort reform" are "solidly pro-growth." Romney's 2/7 discussion with Larry Kudlow on taxes is on YouTube.

Finally, David All profiles MyManMitt founder Justin Hart who is careful to stress: "I'm an official unpaid fundraiser for the Mitt which is about the extent of my relationship with Boston HQ. I have contacts and friends within the campaign but MyManMitt has no official standing within the campaign."

IRAQ: No Coasting Allowed

Netroots impatience with Dem inability to affect US policy in Iraq is growing. Daily Kos' Mcjoan calls Sen. Jim Webb's (D-VA) speech on the Warner/Levin resolution "a bit of a disappointment" and call on him "to show the way" on Iraq.

At Calitics, dday thanks Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) for his work on oversight and intelligence but says, "it's important to note that Waxman voted for the war, is not part of the Out of Iraq caucus, and while he has finally come out against the escalation, is "on the fence" about de-funding the war and bringing the troops home." Dday concludes: "he has been allowed to coast on his reputation and give no definitive answer on the conflict."

Even freshman members are facing netroots doubts. Down with Tyranny is disappointed Reps. Kirstin Gillibrand (d-NY), Michael Arcuri (D-NY), and Patrick Murphy (D-PA) not only failed to join the progressive caucus, but also joined the "reactionary" "New Democratic Coalition of Corporate Whores" and the Blue Dogs. DWT warns: "Like many Republicans, the New Democratic Caucus (aka- Ellen Taucsher's Republican-lite Brigade) and the Blue Dogs, both creatures of the corporately-owned DLC, want to appear to oppose the war, while not doing anything at all to stop it. ... We're going to be a lot more selective in 2007 and 2008 about who we raise money for.

IRAQ II: Who's In Charge Of The Senate Again?

Conservative bloggers seem pleased with the final outcome of the Warner/Levin resolution. Townhall's Hugh Hewitt congratulates Maj. Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) for forcing "the Democrats to flee from the prospect of voting on the Gregg resolution." Hewitt also noted that signers of the NRSC pledge, can now feel free to donate to the GOP again.

At RedState, AcademicElephant participated in a blogger round table 2/7 with Major General Kenneth Hunzeker, who is in charge of training the Iraqi police forces. AE writes: "You might expect him to be rather downcast, for as we understand it his is a thankless, dead-end mission. But not so. The General was realistic but overall upbeat--even, to borrow his phrase "Pollyanna-ish" about the progress of the Iraqi police."

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Getting Voters To The Straw Polls

Blog P.I.'s Not Paul Begala notes 2/6's Daily Kos straw poll had 'only' 25K votes after 24 hours and asks:

The percentage of registered voters who actually vote in national elections is somewhere around 60-70%. Granted, voting is only one of many activities occuring at dKos, but it still bears asking: why does a community of political activists with a half million visitors and 100K+ registered users not vote in higher numbers in these things? Anyone?

LEST WE FORGET: The New North

Looking to give non-DC readers a feel for the city, Matthew Yglesias highlights his favorite item in newly elected mayor Adrian Fenty's First 100 Days initiative: new maps of taxi zones. Yglesias notes the two key features of the new maps:

• North will be at the top of the map.
• The correct fares will be listed.

Yes. Seriously. This is what we have to look forward to. Accurate fare information and maps with north at the top. And I'm legitimately excited. Seriously.

Posted by Conn Carroll at February 8, 2007 12:41 PM