March 19, 2007

3/19: An Opening?

Before recommending The Nation's editorial against House Dem supplemental funding for the Iraq war Talk Left's Big Tent Democrat writes: "This is a dishonest joke. IF the House Dems wanted to end the Iraq Debacle, they would NOT fund it. But they do not want to end it. They want to RUN ON IT in 2008." Expressing similar thoughts while introducing the current Senate Dem Iraq plan, DailyKos' founder Markos Moulitsas wrote 3/8: "All the Iraq proposals in the House and Senate have my head spinning. It seems everyone is happy to introduce bills (especially the presidentials), but no one seems to push them."

While Barack Obama's "early and steadfast opposition to the war" continues to draw grassroots enthusiasm, there's clearly an opening for WH'08ers in Congress to establish anti-Iraq war credentials by championing legislation that could actually affect US policy. Will anyone fill the void?

CLINTON: Out Front On The Housing Bust

Hillary Clinton's 3/15 support for "foreclosure timeouts" is winning her blogger praise. Atrios highlights Clinton's call for consumer counseling and "breathing room from foreclosure" and responds: "This sounds about right. Essentially you need to make it possible for people to refinance, both by getting rid of prepayment penalties and strongly "encouraging" lenders who gave out a bunch of mortgages they shouldn't have to renegotiate the terms in order to make repayment more realistic."

OBAMA: Not Playing Around

The sheer number of supporters turning out to see Barack Obama continues to impress netroots veterans. Atrios writes: "10,000 people showing up to see Obama in March of '07 means...something. Not just about Obama (though about him, too), but about the willingness of large numbers of people to show up for a political rally. Something's up."

Blogging from Oakland, CA, CA Progress Report's Frank Russo says, "Obama's early and steadfast opposition to the war was the single biggest issue that drew many in the crowd to attend," but Russo also noticed "an overarching theme" as he talked to those in attendance: "Obama is a different kind of candidate, that his campaign is one of hope and not negativity."

Also blogging the event, Daily Kos' FemLaw came away with the same two talking points: "Take-home point of the speech? We have real, critical life and death issues facing our country, and our leaders are "treating politics like a game." We want, and deserve, better than that, and we have the power to change it. ... Best line yet about his plan on the war: 'We have to be as careful about getting out as we were careless getting in.'"

The Oakland Tribune has video from the event here, and CaliticsBrian Leubitz posts a San Francisco Chronicle photo, adding: "Obamarama Photo from the SF Chronicle: No description necessary."

GIULIANI: Lemonade Expert

RCP Blog's Tom Bevan lets readers know that '93 NYC Conservative Party nom. George Marlin has a new website, RudysReallyLiberal, attacking Rudy Giuliani "across a variety of issues using clips and quotes of Giuliani's own words from the late 80's and early 90's."

In more positive Rudy-blogging Captain's Quarters liked Giuliani's response to revelations his firm does work for Citgo: "This particular issue always looked like a non-starter. ... Giuliani had a good response ready. He noted that Chavez and Venezuela would not present much of a problem had we developed alternative energy resources and eliminated the need to import so much oil. ... All in all, a good response. Giuliani took a weak lemonade and made some strong lemonade."

MCCAIN: Pansy Allies Wanted

A John McCain in Cedar Falls, IA, interview with The London Telegraph is drawing predictable reactions from different conservative blogging quarters. Explaining how he would improve the US's image abroad, McCain told the Telegraph: "I would immediately close Guantanamo Bay, move all the prisoners to Fort Leavenworth (an army base in Kansas) and truly expedite the judicial proceedings in their cases."

Ankle Biting Pundit's Bull Dog Pundit responds: "Now I love John McCain's views on the war and spending, but this kind of stuff really infuriates me - and I know I'm not the only one. ... Perhaps he needs to realize that while the "ugly American" image may be true, the problem is not with what America is doing, but how his buddies across the pond view it. Does he really think that closing Gitmo is going to assuage the pansies and feckless Europeans?"

Andrew Sullivan was a tad more impressed, hoping more MSM outlets would notice that McCain is running against Pres. Bush: "He's getting more candid about it by the day ... McCain wants to put torture behind us, and to reach out again to allies."

Also reporting from IA, the Caucus Cooler says "the straight talk express" drew "large crowds" at townhall stops in Alton, Des Moines, Ames, Mason County, and Cedar Falls. CC adds: "McCain also distinguished himself by spending long periods of time fielding questions from all-comers. ... McCain also got in trouble over the weekend for using the term 'tar baby,' when answering a question about men's rights in divorce proceedings from one of Dr. Mark Klein's friends."

MCCAIN II: Party Like It's '00

McCain aide Patrick Hynes posts video from a McCain stop at ex-NH GOP Chait Jayne Millerick's house and tells his Ankle Biting Pundit's readers, "No other Republican candidate is attracting such large crowds at so many events here in the Granite State."

Granite Grok's Doug Lambert is also hearing good things about "enthusiasm" for McCain: "It seems as if his supporters truly are everywhere. Could it be that he remains almost as popular in NH as he was back in the 2000 race?"

MCCAIN III: The Straight Talk Express ... In HDTV

The Brody File breaks his "Straight Talk Express" discussion with McCain into 13 separate videos including some titled "McCain's Message to Evangelicals" (McCain: "Just give me an honest and fair assessment."); "McCain on His Past "Agents of Intolerance" Remark" (McCain: "Sometimes you say things in anger you don't mean."); "McCain Says Conservatives are Holding a Grudge on Campaign Finance Reform" (McCain: "Some people in Washington did not like CFR. They didn't like it because it deprived them of some money.")

More McCain via The Brody Files "notebook" from the Straight Talk Express:

• On embattled AG Alberto Gonzales: "Am I concerned? Of course. He has a lot of explaining to do."
• He loves musician Roy Orbison and one of his favorite movies recently was Letters from Iwa Jima. He thought Babel was just OK and hasn't seen Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth"
• He says Bush won in 2000 because he had a better financial and political base.

Not in NH, Jane Galt wonders if HDTV may hurt McCain: "For example, though I've never met him, my understanding from those who have is that McCain's image of vitality is very carefully projected, and that when you actually meet him up close, he looks pretty frail. Will that come out on HDTV?"

ROMNEY: No Word On His Unicorn Preference

TechPresident's David All is impressed with the launch of Mitt Romney's MySpace page: "[S]urprisingly, it's actually very authentic, personal, and hand-crafted for the medium. ... As opposed to simply being a re-hash of Mitt's official/boring/vanilla website (like John McCain's), his team is fully embracing all of the things that makes myspace a great place to hang out, interact, and share with your friends."

IRAQ: Running On The War, Not Ending It

The House Leadership's Iraq supplemental appropriations bill continues to divide online anti-war activists as the final floor vote approaches. MoveOn sent an e-mail to its members noting that while many progressive members believe the bill does not go far enough, they also "see it as the first concrete step to ending the war." MoveOn is still undecided on the bill and the email asks their members: "Should we support or oppose the Democrats' plan?"

Daily Kos' mcjoan puts a slightly more slanted question to Daily Kos' readers: "Given the fact that the bill is little more than a non-binding resolution expressing Congress's wishes for the war along with more funding for it, I put it to Kossacks: Do you support or oppose the Democrats' plan?" With more than 6K voting, a slim 51% majority of Daily Kos readers support the appropriations bill.

DemHillStaffer quickly took issue with mcjoan's characterization of the legislation: "the requirement that benchmarks be met or else there's a withdrawal is still there. so is the withdrawal by sept 2008. this isn't a fair summary." Mcjoan fired back: " There's nothing in the bill that enforces that. They say that the war would be illegal beyond Sept. 2008, but include nothing in the bill to make it so."

Not participating at Daily Kos, but still following the debate at Talk Left, Big Tent Democrat highlights certain arguments in the thread including MyDD's Matt Stoller: "My strategic end goal is to end the war. To do that involves a process of showing that the Democratic caucus is unified behind putting restrictions on Bush and his ability to fight the war, and then using that pressure to remove Republicans (and wayward Democrats) from office in 2008." BTD responds: "All the blather about communications strategies and making the war illegal, etc. was just so much talk. But at least Stoller is now forthright about it."

BTD then quotes DemHillStaffer again: "If [Bush] ignores [the House proposal], we sue and the courts enforce it. if he ignores that, we're in massive constitutional crisis." BTD then hammers his point home: "See? The plan is to sue Bush in October 2008, one month before an election and expect the Supreme Court to do what it never has done - involve itself in matters of war. This is a dishonest joke. IF the House Dems wanted to end the Iraq Debacle, they would NOT fund it. But they do not want to end it. They want to RUN ON IT in 2008."

BTD finishes his post by recommending The Nation's editorial urging Dems "to use the full power accorded Congress in time of war: the power of the purse." Daily Kos' BarbinMD also recommends the item: "Should we as Democrats support the supplemental spending bill? The Nation emphatically says no and advocates the Barbara Lee proposal for a fully-funded withdrawal by the end of the year. Others say yes, anticipating perceived political points and the suggestion that we have to start somewhere. And me? I say no for the simple reason that the bill doesn't do a damn thing."

IRAQ II: Mission Accomplished

Michelle Malkin's coverage of the 3/17 "Gathering of Eagles" counter protest is drawing the most links from conservatives blogging about the event. Malkin writes: "Why did the Eagles come? One common refrain: Vietnam veterans, some fighting back tears, told us they came to show the kind of support for the troops that they did not receive when the surrender lobby marched on the Pentagon 40 years ago today. Mission accomplished."

Also filing reports: Townhall's Mary Katharine Ham ("I was down at the Gathering of Eagles rally this morning on the mall. I filmed a bit, though this is pre-moonbat confrontations, so it's pretty tame."); and RedState's The Fastest Squirrel ("Basically, ANSWER has organized a huge party. There were no speeches (until much later at the Pentagon, apparently) and no attempts at dialogue. It was simply a draw for the old and radical, and the young and gullible.")

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: The Stutzman Code

Commenting on New York Timescoverage of WH '08er use of MySpace, TechPresident's Fred Stutzman writes:

In essence, we're searching for the holy grail of social media. That is, the race in presidential social media is to establish a singular "place", one in which vast swaths of voters can be reached easily and effectively. Obviously, the major vendors like Myspace, Youtube and Facebook would love to be this place - it would be a huge traffic and reputation boon, and no founder of a large consumer-oriented property is going to turn down the chance to play a strategic part in the picking of our president.

The holy grail of social media isn't campaigns throwing their hands in the air and hoping that everyone decides that Myspace (or Facebook, or Youtube) is the singular place to experience candidates. No, that would be too easy. The holy grail (or "social grail", as I just Freudian-mistyped) is actually developing a strategy that leverages the best qualities of social media sites and uses them as effective engagement vehicles. Part of this means ceding control to supporters, which may feel like a dangerous proposition but is actually an undeniable reality.

LEST WE FORGET: If You Absolutely Have To Murder Someone ...

...try not to use Google when making your plans. Freakonomics Blog's Stephen Dunbar draws our attention to a Morris County New Jersey woman who planned her husband's murder using Google searches including: "'how to commit murder,' 'undetectable poisons,' and 'fatal digoxin doses,' as well as searches on local gun laws." Dunbar comments: "This kind of story illustrates why computer forensics is a growing field."

Posted by Conn Carroll at March 19, 2007 12:37 PM