February 05, 2007

2/5: So What?

Righty bloggers are trying to make an issue out of John Edwards hiring of an official campaign blogger, Amanda Marcotte, whose past opinions on the Duke rape incident have since been scrubbed from her blog Pandagon. The Blogometer highly doubts any of this will come back to hurt Edwards. The blogging medium eats and breathes intemperate comments and a candidate who plays it safe in selecting an official blogger just shows they do not have a firm understanding of what drives the medium (keep in mind an official blogger is different than a netroots/new media coordinator ... the first being the blogging voice of a campaign, the latter more of an online message/constituent manager). As Ezra Klein said about the Marcotte hire: "Here's the other thing. I hardly ever read campaign blogs, even for campaigns I really like. They're not usually written very well, and the people who write them sometimes don't really seem to understand how the blogosphere works. ... To summarize all that I've just said, campaign blogs aren't usually written by Amanda Marcotte."

DEM FIELD: Still Looking For Online Gold

After noting that no Dem "has really struck online gold" producing an "army" of supporters "ready to engage in all forms of activism," MyDD's Chris Bowers details 3 possible "themes" that could solidify "massive netroots success." Including:

• Restoration: "I think [Gore's] large following online comes from being a symbol of "what could have been" had the 2000 election not been stolen. ... A Gore victory would be viewed by many as not unlike liberators returning local rule to a city or country that had been under foreign occupation for a number of years. It is interesting how Clinton seems unable to tap into this same feeling, probably because many activists see her as somehow complicit with the occupiers in a way that Gore is not.
• New America: "I have written before about how I think Obama, through his biography, mannerisms, and profile, taps into a Generation X, Creative Class desire to entire a new political era not dominated by the same divisions and debates we have faced for decades. Whereas Gore might be tapping into a deep desire for a restoration of what was lost under Bush, Obama might instead be tapping into a strong desire for something very new in American politics."
• Never Again: "Many people want to see more investigations into the past six years, legislation with a serious chance to end the war, less willingness to compromise with Republican minorities that gave use no quarter just a few months ago--they want to see more, and they want to see it now. ... If there is a desire for restoration, and a desire to move beyond current political dynamics, I think there is also a desire to make sure that what happened over the past several years never happens again.

Bowers concludes with advice to Dem campaigns: "Find a vein of the activist zeitgeist, and be willing to tap it. Above all else, that is the path toward netroots success for presidential candidates."

Also not smitten with any one candidate yet, AMERICAblog's Rob in Baltimore is still pleased with the "great field of candidates" at the DNC winter meetings and says he would be happy to vote for almost all of them. Something he doesn't think he could have said "at this point in the 2004 election."

TPM Cafe's Eric Kleefeld posts video from most of the '08 field who spoke at the meetings.

CLARK: Just One More Middle East War Away From A Viable Candidacy

Despite still not announcing his '08 intentions, ex-Gen. Wes Clark still maintains the high esteem of many left bloggers. MyDD's Matt Stoller "was reminded what a real leader looks and sounds like" after a 45 minute conversation with Clark at the DNC winter meeting 2/2. Stoller posts video and comments on Clark's chances: "A lot of people think that Clark and Richardson are second or third-tier, and can't possibly win. That might be true. But if Bush ratchets up and attacks Iran, something that we all know is likely, all of a sudden room opens up for a genuine antiwar candidate."

On Daily Kos, diarist Tom Rinaldo posts a friend's glowing review of Clark's speech and diarist plant attempts to correct the "misconception about the role that a four star general plays in formation of policy within the United States Armed Forces" by detailing all Clark did for "the health, welfare and well being of the people" under his command.

CLINTON: Rage Against The Machine

Hillary Clinton continues to face credibility problems with the online left, particularly over foreign policy. Under the header "Pandering For Naught To The War For Israel Machine" The Left Coaster's Steve Soto argues that there's little difference between Clinton and Pres. Bush on Iran: "The only difference between Hillary's position and Bush's policy is that she favors the ISG approach of opening and maintaining a dialogue with Iran and Syria. But other than that, Hillary would be willing it seems to start a war with Iran to stop their nuclear program."

MyDD's Matt Stoller is also worried about HRC's "pandering to the extremists at AIPAC" writing: " She has been pro-war, she is currently failing to do anything to stop the war, and she's providing rhetorical cover for Bush to start a new war. That's very very bad."

Also in HRC talk, The Huffington Post's Bill Katovsky claims the only conversation Clinton wants to have is "with her staff and advisers behind closed doors -- far removed from any snooping camera phones and open mikes" and Matthew Yglesias looks at state-by-state polling results and disputes claims that HRC has "a daunting advantage in the upcoming primary race."

DODD: Truth-Talker

Pam's House Blend argues Chris Dodd just "raised[d] the bar for the candidates in favor of civil unions" by coming out in favor of amending the Defense of Marriage Act "to allow civil unions created at the state level to have full parity of benefits at the federal level." Writing "he knows he can't win, so he speaks the truth" Daily Kos diarist quaoar claims Dodd as his new WH '08 favorite. (Pam also posts video of Dodd's interview with AMERICAblog's Joe Sudbay).

EDWARDS: Hawk & Dove

John Edwards reached out to TAPPED's Ezra Klein in an effort to repair the damage done to his netroot's foreign policy by comments made in Israel that "all options are on the table" when it comes to dealing with Iran's nuclear program. Klein posts the full transcript of the interview, and on Iran Klein allows: "His position here is more thoughtful and nuanced than his comments at the Herzliya conference revealed."

Picking up on Klein's interview The Washington Monthly's Kevin Drum argues Edwards in no way "backed off his hawkish Iran comments" but instead was just "engaging in Politics 101: telling different audiences what they each want to hear." Drum says that he likes Edwards but concludes: "I'd sure feel a lot better if even a small part of Edwards' comments to the Prospect had made their way into his speech at Herzliya."

EDWARDS II: Fumble?

Beltway Blogroll's Danny Glover labels Edwards hiring of Pandagon's Amanda Marcotte as the campaign's official blogger "the first blog scandal" of '08. Righty bloggers are definitely treating it that way.

Glover explains that Marcotte, like most bloggers, is "fast and loose with her opinions" and that some of her recent opinions on the Duke rape case "didn't sit well with somefolks ." Marcotte has since deleted the post in question adding this disclaimer: "Since people are determined to make hay over this quick shot of a post, I'm deleting it and here's my official stance. The prosecution in the Duke case fumbled the ball. The prosecutor was too eager to get a speedy case and make a name for himself. That is my final word."

Righty bloggers determined to make the story stick to Edwards have noted that Edwards refused "to speak out against the misconduct of Defendant Nifong and the injustice of the Hoax" and also began cataloging some of Marcotte's more spicy posts including this reprintable one: "There's no real reason that NASCAR has to have a political edge to it, much less be some weird symbol of Southern male white supremacy and yet through careful Republican marketing, it has become just that."

GRAVEL: Blogger Tested, Granny D Approved!

Writing up each candidate's DNC winter meeting performance MyDD's Jerome Armstrong quotes Mike Gravel "anyone who voted for the war... is not qualified to hold the office of the Presidency" and comments: "In short, Gravel will not give Edwards, Biden, Dodd, Clinton any breathing room." Also at MyDDJonathan Singer reports Gravel has the support NH 'democracy activist' Granny D.

OBAMA: More Atticus Finch Than John Wayne

The absence of a campaign-driven, pro-active online strategy continued to be a topic of discussion regarding Barack Obama. AMERICAblog's Rob in Baltimore reports from the DNC winter meetings: "If each of the candidates is saying roughly the same thing, it's going to be who executes best who gains advantage. In that, Obama has a lot of catching up to do. Very quickly both John Edwards and Hillary Clinton had their DNC speeches up on YouTube and their websites. Even this morning Obama's website and YouTube don't have his speech up there - a substantial missed opportunity with no excuse." Not started by the Obama campaign ObamaCorps looks to harness Digg and YouTube to help Obama get his message to more voters.

Also at the DNC winter meetings, MyDD's Matt Stoller reports: "Apparently, today in the black caucus at the DNC meeting Illinois State Senate President Emil Jones caused a ruckus when he slammed the caucus for murmuring that Barack Obama isn't 'black enough'. The general gist of his comments was 'how long are we going to have to pay back the Clinton's', and it revealed a generational split among black political leaders between the old patronage model and a newer movement model."

And Arianna Huffington suggests Obama's recent success nailing down Hollywood donors is due to Tinseltown bias for good casting. Huffington reasons: "But after 6 years of Bush's all-hat-no-cattle leadership, the American public seems ready to abandon the John Wayne fantasy. The question is: To be replaced by what? ... With his moral sense of social responsibility and his "audacity of hope" optimism, Obama may help the country leave behind John Wayne and embrace Atticus Finch.

RICHARDSON: On The Path Towards Contention

Bill Richardson received rave reviews from his DNC speech:

• MyDD's Jerome Armstrong: "I really like Governor's as Presidential candidates, they have accomplishments they can point to, and Richardson has foreign experience as well. He was very well received by this audience, with multiple standing ovations, and Richardson probably moved up a few notches in their views."
• MyDD's Jonathan Singer: "Though he went noticeably over the soft seven-minute time limit, he kept the audience with him -- not just because he had supporters strategically located throughout the hall but also because he gave a very good speech. It's not be enough, in and of itself, to get him into the top tier of candidates, but it may just have gotten him on that path."

VILSACK: No Candidate Left Behind

Tom Vilsack's loudest DNC applause line came when hr called for the overturn of the No Child Left Behind Act reports MyDD's Jonathan Singer. Singer concludes: "Not a bad speech, and in fact what he had to say was fairly good. But his delivery wasn't terribly energetic and he didn't really connect with the crowd, which he probably needed to do in order to break out this weekend."

GIULIANI: Strong In Blue

Rudy Giulianicampaign efforts to promote recent polling showing Giuliani "has more strength in traditionally blue states than other Republicans, especially the former "maverick" John McCain" scored positive blog posts from Power Line's Paul Mirengoff and Captain's Quarters.

Mirengoff writes: "I still believe there are more than a de minimis number of conservatives who will be unable to support Giuliani under any circumstances. But that may prove more troubling in the general election than in the primaries." CQ adds: "Once expected to be the centrist candidate of choice, and even a risk for an independent bid that would capture the center from both parties, McCain seems to have ceded most of that ground to Giuliani, at least at this early stage of the campaign."

Giuliani also sat down with former press secretary to Gov. Mark Sanford (R) Will Folks for an interview now posted at SC Hotline.

HUNTER: Just One Issue Away From Being A True Conservative

Right Wing News make "The Conservative Case for Duncan Hunter" including:

• He Is The "National Security Candidate"
• Good Fences Make Good Neighbors: Duncan Hunter has been one of the Republican House leaders in the fight against illegal immigration.
• His Trade Position May Be a "Bug" To Republicans, But It Can Be A "Feature" To Democrats: There is one area in particular where Duncan Hunter departs from the conservative orthodoxy and that's on trade issues.
• All This And He's Socially Conservative, Too

MCCAIN: Missing Out On 80% Of Life

RedState's Rob Bluey hits John McCain for not attending the the Heritage Foundation's Conservative Members Retreat in Baltimore, MD 2/3. Bluey writes: "While McCain may not have won over any members by appearing at the retreat, his absence allowed former Gov. Mitt Romney to seize the spotlight and continue to build relationships with House Republicans. ... One Republican member estimated that 90% of his conservative colleagues oppose McCain, even if they won't say so publicly. ... Now the question becomes whether he'll make the same mistake by turning down an invitation to speak at CPAC, one of the largest gatherings of conservatives in Washington, D.C. ... With Romney and several other Republican hopefuls already on the agenda, one has to wonder how McCain plans to win over conservatives if he doesn't show."

ROMNEY: Drudge Dividends

IA's Caucus Cooler is already tracking the benefits of Mitt Romney's victory in the "Drudge Primary." CC notes: "While almost all of the major U.S. dailies picked up on the Romney abortion flap, Drudge did not. And this week Drudge did pick up the Romney v. Hillary story that is certainly going to endear the Governor with social conservatives. ... Meanwhile, Matt has jumped on most if not all of the negative Rudy, McCain, and Hillary stories that have popped up around the blogosphere. It's an interesting contrast, one that's worth keeping an eye on."

RedState's Rob Bluey reports Romney arrived early to meet individually with select members before the Heritage Foundation's 2/3 Conservative Members Retreat in Baltimore, MD. Romney had only one applause line during the speech (on reducing the number of MA state employees) but "members of Congress were quick to jump to their feet after the speech."

NRO's Jim Geraghty interviewed Romney 2/3 and asked him what his top three legislative priorities would be if elected. Romney named: 1) "win the battle against the jihad"; 2) " to help the country become more competitive; I want us to reach standards so that they exceed those of Asia"; 3) "to help solve our domestic weaknesses - the failure of health care, failure of our schools. And I want to make us independent of foreign oil."

Picking up on Romney's answer to Rich Lowry criticism that he did not address Iraq in a speech last week to a NR audience, Power Line's Paul Mirengoff responds: "For what it's worth, my view is that Romney is obliged to take a position on the "surge," and he has done so -- he supports it. He is also obliged to answer all reasonable questions about Iraq. However, I don't believe Romney is required to talk about Iraq in every speech, and I think it's understandable, given the uncertainty over the prospects for the president's new strategy, that Romney prefers not to talk often about the subject just now."

It still is not all roses for Romney online however, despite admitting that "most Romney supporters will not be bothered by this, or anything else the Governor does or has done" RedState's Leon Wolf argues Romney's MA health care plan "includes taxpayer-funded abortions."

IRAQ: Keeping Their Eyes On The Ball

A James FallowsThe Atlanticarticle arguing for a resolution stating congressional opposition with Iran inflames an existing debate over netroots tactics. Talk Left's Big Tent Democrat calls Fallows plan "wrong" "dumb" and "obtuse" arguing that Pres. Bush would never ask Congress to authorize military action against Iran. Instead, BTD argues, Bush will justify action against Iran by invoking American presence in Iraq. BTD concludes: " You want to stop military action against Iran? Then work like hell to get us out of Iraq. The path to any attack on Iran is through Iraq." The New Donkey and Daily Kos' Mcjoan are all on the same page.

Also at Daily Kos, Trapper John polls Daily Kos readers on which Dem Iraq plan they prefer. Results include:

• Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel: Immediate withdrawal. Immediate. - 40%
• Barack Obama: Issued plan for total withdrawal by March 31, 2008. 14 months. - 18%
• Bill Richardson: Total withdrawal by the end of 2007. 11 months. - 16%
• John Edwards: Complete withdrawal of all combat troops from Iraq within 12-18 months. 18 months. - 14%
• Hillary Clinton: Wants troops out before Bush leaves office in January 2009. 23 months. - 5%

Finally, Daily Kos' Devilstower suggests Congress amend the the Montgomery Amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act requiring Pres. Bush to seek congressional authorization every time the National Guard is deployed overseas for a period longer than six months. DT writes: "430,000 Nation Guard troops have served in Iraq. At times, they've made up half the forces there. It is within the power of the Congress to remove these forces. ... A bill like this just might get enough votes to override a veto, or might provoke a court fight limiting the president's ability to stock a war with Guard members. ... And if it did, it would actually mean something, not just express the national ennui."

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Ralph Nader Right After All?

Still bitter over his affect on the '00 election, Matthew Yglesias wonders if "one of the memes floating about in the Nadersphere" has been vindicated: "Namely the basically Leninist idea that a Democratic loss and a period of Republican governance would pull the Democrats in a more progressive direction in terms of, for example, questioning "Washington Consensus" globalization."

Yglesias concludes: " At the time, that argument didn't make sense to me. And in some important ways I still don't think it makes a ton of sense logically. But it does seem to be what's happened. Now, was that a price worth paying for the dead in Iraq, the torture, etc.? I don't really think so.

LEST WE FORGET: Not That There's Anything Wrong With That

Watching Rex Grossman stumble all over the football field, The Corner's John Podhoretz wondered: "Hey, is Chicago Bears quarterback Rex Grossman Jewish?" Through the wonders of Google, Mrs. Podhoretz quickly found RexGrossmanIsNotJewish.com which says simply: "sorry jews, it's true."

Posted by Conn Carroll at February 5, 2007 12:35 PM