March 28, 2007

3/28: Ahead Of The Game

Unlike their conservative counterparts, the netroots are largely satisfied with their WH '08 field (Sen. Hillary Clinton being the glaring exception). So while conservative bloggers are busy running with MSM leads attacking whatever candidate they have a problem with, the netroots are largely united in pushing back against MSM storylines that attack Dems. After AP, Politico, and Richard Cohen all hit Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) (AP and Politico for being "lightweight," Cohen for having "a tendency to manipulate facts") the netroots hit back hard, detailing past descrepencies with the AP reporter Nedra Pickler's coverage, connections between Politico and Matt Drudge, and Cohen for being "elitist." Considering any WH campaign would love to have this kind of free rapid response, how much better will the evntual Dem nominee emerge if conservative blogs don't start playing the same game?

GIULIANI: Unapologetically Teve Torbes

RCP Blog's John McIntyre says Larry Kudlow's recent interview with Rudy Giuliani focussed "primarily on economic and war issues" and comments: "I have been saying for some time now that there is a real opportunity on the Republican side for a candidate to fill the Steve Forbes-kind of role in the GOP field with an unapologetic embrace of low-tax, pro-growth, supply-side policies. ... With Kudlow's prodding, Giuliani seemed to willingly embrace the supply-side mantle."

MCCAIN: Politics Is As Politics Does

Two major stories drove John McCain discussion 3/27, neither of them positive for the Senator. RedState's Erick Erickson provides some back story on the hacking of McCain's MySpace page. A McCain MySpace graphic was changed to read: "Today I announce that I have reversed my position and come out in full support of gay marriage ... particularly marriage between passionate females." Erickson explains: "The template [McCain] used was created by Mike Davidson, a talented guy who knows his internet. He's a co-founder of Newsvine.com. Well, not only did McCain take the template, but he also used Mike's graphics without permission. Mike, who inspired the title of this post, decided to retaliate."

The other event driving McCain-blogging was the five year anniversary of McCain-Feingold's passage into law. Townhall's Mary Katharine Ham snarks: "Ahhh, can't you just feel how much cleaner politics is now than it was in 2002? Is it the lemony-fresh scent of Randy "Duke" Cunningham's fall from grace? Or, the sparkle of fresh negative advertising popping up earlier than ever? ... Um, no. Politics is still politics five years later. And, the bill that was supposed to get the money, corruption, and negativity out of politics has succeeded in dealing a blow only to our access to free political speech and John McCain's popularity among conservatives, both of which have dropped dramatically."

McCain did himself no favors by discussing the subject on Laura Ingram's radio show. The Brody File writes: "I know he believes strongly in it but if he can't strongly mobilize the base and instead has parts of the movement actively working against him, then that is spelled T-R-O-U-B-L-E." Race 4 '08's Gary Miller is harsher: "John Sidney McCain would set the conservative movement back a generation. ... when you listen to this audio from today's Laura Ingraham show, you realize that this is a man who would simultaneously swear to "preserve, protect and defend" the Constitution and yet would gut the first item in the Bill of Rights."

Also on CFR Townhall's Matt Lewis defends My Man Mitt from charges he lied about McCain's beliefs on the subject: "Yes, technically McCain was misquoted -- but not misrepresented. It is clear that McCain agrees with the courts -- that's why he is quoting them. In my view, this is a matter of semantics (and not worth flaming somebody over)."

Eye on '08's Soren Dayton basically concedes the point but offers no apologies: "I do not think that this is "just" semantics. ... In other words, McCain is himself quoting the legal concept underlying what he believes to be the constitutionality of some or all of BCRA in support of his law. That's how I understand that. Now, does McCain also believe that? Probably. But I think it is far to pithy an question." Lewis also posts a bevy of CFR related videos from the Straight Talk Express.

THOMPSON: Like Obama, But With More Experience

The conservative blogger honeymoon with Fred Thompson isn't over yet, but it is experiencing some early turbulence. Although The Corner's Ramesh Ponnuru would "probably support Thompson if he got in the race" he still advises "Thompson would hurt himself if he tried to maintain that he was always pro-life."

Also looking into Thompson's pro-life past, AmSpec Blog's Philip Klein finds '95 testimony on partial birth abortion and summarizes: "Thompson expresses concern that if a partial birth abortion ban is passed and held up in the courts under the commerce clause, then it may lead to further expansion of government in other areas. To be clear, he ultimately voted to ban partial birth abortion, but what his statement reveals is a concern about limiting the power of the federal government."

Race 4 '08's DaveGreviews Klein's work and later recaps: "I've concluded that Sen. Thompson a) is, and has always been, opposed to the notion of a constitutional right to an abortion; b) is, and has always been, in favor of banning partial-birth abortion; c) is, and has always been, in favor of restrictions on most later-term abortions (post-first trimester); and d) is now across-the-board pro-life, but in the 1990s, was in favor of earlier-term abortions (first-trimester) remaining legal."

In other Thompson blogging, Outside the Beltway's James Joyner reminds readers the Thompson voted for McCain-Feingold and adds: "It's not therefore clear in what sense Thompson is more "conservative" than McCain. Mostly, I think, it's that Thompson hasn't gone around grandstanding on issues that would win him media acclaim at the expense of his party." NY Sun's Ryan Sager stands by his claim voters "know precisely zero about Fred Thompson past what they know of him from Law & Order" and adds: "Mr. Thompson's political experience is limited to a short, uneventful stint in the Senate - reminiscent, perhaps, of one Barack Obama."

Also, K-Lo is still linking to a transcript and audio of Thompson's Paul Harvey Show segments. His latest hits Charles Sheen and Rosie O'Donnell for siding with the 9/11 truthers.

CLINTON: We're No Pushovers

Admitting he is "participating in an anti-[Hillary] Clinton electability narrative," MyDD's Chris Bowershighlights recent polling on HRC and blogs: "If 50% of adults of voting age say they won't vote for a candidate, that candidate will have difficulty being elected nationwide." First clarifying that he still believes any Dem nominee will win in '08, Bowers jusitifies his HRC doubting: "In the end, I justify this somewhat mild questioning of Clinton's ability to win the general election because I don't want to see the progressive movement become a bunch of pushovers in important Democratic primaries. If our candidates can get taken down based on "electability," while establishment candidates receive a pass on the concept, then we will have ceded an important strategic position."

HRC did get some rare lefty blogger praise from Silicon Valley maven Michelle Kraus who reports on HRC's recent swing through the Golden State at The Huffington Post: "Hillary Rodham Clinton was very impressive when she came through northern California last weekend and wowed audiences from San Francisco to Silicon Valley. She upped the stakes significantly even with the "ATM machine" Democrats of California. ... She has become a Presidential candidate deeply at ease in her own skin."

OBAMA: Toxic, Cynical, Corrupt, Elites Not Wanted

The netroots have begun a concerted effort to push back against MSM suggestions that Obama is "all style and little substance." TPM Cafe's Greg Sargent takes on Nedra Pickler's AP article suggesting Obama has "delivered no policy speeches and provided few details about how he would lead the country." Sargent blogs: "What about this speech on March 21 [Senate floor speech on Iraq]? What about this one on March 2 [address to AIPAC]? ... If you want to say these speeches are too short on specifics, go ahead, but that doesn't mean they're not policy speeches -- just thin ones." Jeremy Cluchey of Obamarama asks: "AP reporter stumps for Clinton?" and links to pastcritiques of Pickler's Dem coverage.

Also on the warpath, Glenn Greenwald attacks The Politico for being "poisonously joined at the hip" to Matt Drudge after a Mike Allen "petty, trite hit piece" on Obama was quickly linked to by Drudge. Greenwald also attacks WaPo's Richard Cohen for writing, "a tendency to manipulate facts may bear watching in Obama." Greenwald concludes: "It is inevitable that the Beltway elite are going to end up hating Obama for exactly the same reason they hated Howard Dean -- because by all appearances (which, in my view, are still incomplete and uncertain), Obama is not one of them, does not want to be one of them, and is actually going to run his campaign by attacking the toxic, cynical, corrupt attributes which define how they operate." For his efforts, Cohen was awarded "Wanker of the Day" by Atrios.

Also commenting on the Politico-Drudge connection, MyDD's Matt Stoller explains why the 'experience' attack is so important: "The whole point of the 'experience' frame is to whitewash Clintonian complicity in Iraq and in the corporate takeover of our government from the early 1990s onward. Lest we forget, it was Hillary Clinton who screwed up the universal health care debate, despite a massive public mandate for universal health care in the 1992 election and high public support for it. Don't be fooled by the experience frame, because it's coming from the right-wing hawks in both parties"

OBAMA II: Black Like Who?

Jack and Jill Politics' Jill Tubman posts an email that has gone "viral" and "will be seen by potentially hundreds of thousands of middle class African-Americans, especially women." The email is from a wife watching 2/10's The State of Black America hosted by Tavis Smiley and featuring a panel with Charles Ogltree an Cornel West among others. After some on the panel, including Smiley and West, expressed doubts about Obama based on his absence from the event, the emailer writes:

If I had the technological saavy, I would jump off this page with all the passion, hope, rage and volume of Spike Lee's Dap and tell you, brothers and sisters everywhere, please please please WAKE UP!!!!!!!! The best thing Barack can do for us is to win, not show up at yet another black forum simply to prove he's one of us by placating the egos who believe Barack should clear his calendar for their "ultimate black" event!

RICHARDSON: Two Days Late, But Hopefully Not A Dollar Short

The Blogometer apologizes for missing this earlier, but MyDD's Jonathan Singer posted an interview with Bill Richardson 3/26. Excerpts include:

• Singer: "I was wondering if that's an indication that you're not going to be focusing as much on Iowa or that, alternatively, you just see Nevada as a better opportunity in some respects?"
• Bill Richardson: I see Nevada as a better opportunity. I believe I'll do well in Iowa but obviously because of my Western roots I believe that I have a greater potential to do better in Nevada. ... But realistically Nevada has more opportunity for us because of the Western state proximity, and I'm a Western Governor, etc.
• Singer: Can you talk a little bit about some of those issues that don't crop up in, say, New York or in New England or areas like that but are important to the West, and the Mountain West particularly?
• Richardson: Okay. First, issues relating to water. Water conservation, water availability, new water technologies, number one. Number two, immigration issues are very important in the West because of the very strong Hispanic immigration. Three, agriculture, the role of the family farm, ranches, the fact that in the West a large portion of the West is owned by the federal government.

PROSECUTOR PURGE: All About Lam

Talking Points Memo continues to focus on San Diego USA Carol Lam and the relationship between her firing and ongoing investigations into GOP corruption that might lead to the WH. TPM's Paul Kiel details the reasons "we're so suspicious" including:

• Lam was never confronted over her approach to immigration prosecutions, the given reason for her dismissal.
• In November, shortly before Lam was fired, a Justice Department official brainstormed about how to explain firing several U.S. attorneys
• Lam was fired midway into a historic, wide-reaching public corruption investigation that targeted a number of Republican members of Congress and the executive director of the CIA.
• Despite the fact that it was one of the highest profile federal investigations being undertaken at the Department, Lam's investigation into Duke Cunningham and others is never mentioned in the Justice Department emails that have been released. Not once. This must have been discussed at the highest levels, but we've seen no record of those communications.
• The FBI's bureau chief in San Diego has said, "I guarantee politics is involved" in Lam's firing.
• the day after Lam informed the Justice Department that she planned to execute a search warrant on CIA Executive Director Kyle "Dusty" Foggo and the same day that it was reported that her investigation had spread to Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA), Alberto Gonzales' chief of staff Kyle Sampson wrote to a White House official: "The real problem we have right now with Carol Lam that leads me to conclude that we should have someone ready to be nominated on 11/18, the day her 4-year term expires."

Kiel delves deeper into DoJ explanations that Lam was fired for not prioritizing immigration cases here, writing: "the demand that Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and others were making, that her office have a "zero tolerance" policy of prosecuting alien smuggling, was an impossible one. ... There are approximately 140,000 immigration arrests in Lam's district per year -- and approximately 110 lawyers in her office to handle them. They manage to file around 3,000 cases per year total, one of the largest loads in the country."

Kiel also identifies emails showing certain DoJ officials "just didn't like Lam - and seemed to harbor a wish that she not succeed." Josh Marshallalso notes FBI special agent in charge of the San Diego field office Dan Dzwilewski told reporters "I guarantee politics is involved." Marshall also says Dzwilewski told reporters "Carol Lam's dismissal would jeopardize on-going corruption investigations" but The Blogometer could find no quote in the article to back up that claim.

Finally on Lam, Marshall reports that ex-Rep. Duke Cunnigham (R) briber Mitchell Wade's first contract for the WH was actually for screening WH mail, not furniture for VP's office as originally reported. Marshall adds: "So it all comes back to the same question. Why did a company like Wade's, which had no track record whatsoever and had only been approved to receive federal government contracts two months earlier, get a contract from the White House to screen the mail of the President of the United States? ... So whose palm got greased?"

IRAQ: Pryor The New Netroots Whipping Boy?

Most of the netroots celebrated the defeat of Sen. Thad Cochran's (R-MS) amendment removing a non-date specific timetable withdrawal language from the Iraq supplemental bill:

• AMERICABlog's Joe Sudbay: "It's not perfect. It's still non-binding, but it is a critical vote to change the course of the war. The Senate bill will go to a conference with the House bill that passed last week."
• MyDD's Chris Bowers: "The only Democrat who voted to strike the withdrawal language was Mark Pryor. I don't care what state he is from--that is the sort of issue that could cause you to lose either a primary or a general election. There isn't a state in the country that currently has a majority in favor of the war, or against this bill."
• DailyKos' founder Markos Moulitsas: "Reid did an incredible job of keeping Democrats together. I mean, he even brought Ben Nelson aboard! Pretty impressive."

Talk Left's Big Tent Democrat dissented: "Hello? He got Nelson and Hagel because the language was NON-binding! Did anyone hear Hagel's floor speech on the issue? HE stressed that point."

IRAQ II: Putting Haliburton To Shame

Conservative bloggers were extremely upset by the Senate vote. Reactions include:

• RedState's Haystack: "I am sick and tired of this laughingly-termed "Conservative Movement". We all suck at it ... When you have that pig loser Chuck Hagel, (yeah-the one that thinks you want him to be your President?) and that (expletive removed in deference to the posting guidelines) Gordon Smith from Oregon BOTH voting against an amendment such as this, what do you have exactly?
• Ace of Spades: "What's the point of forcing a timetable? To reassure American liberal voters that they can trust the promises of the Democratic Party. What's the point of resisting a timetable? To reassure Iraqi civilians, and Al Qaeda terrorists, that they can trust, or fear, as the case may be, the promises of the American government. It's largely a symbolic matter. But whose symbolism is in the American interest, and whose symbolism in only in the interests of a political party and, not coincidentally, Al Qaeda?
• Instapundit: "They're running away with their little curly tails between their legs. ... It's a disgrace, but par for the course for this bunch."
• Don Surber: "Thus the Democratic-controlled Congress puts placing our troops in harm's way on the same level as dairy subsidies, tours of the Capitol and sugar (both beeted and caned). This is worse than war profiteering. At least Haliburton gave the troops something, even if it was tainted water. What does Congress give them?

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: The Church Of Progressivism?

Commenting on Dan Gilgoff's new book on James Dobson, Ezra Klein muses on the megachurch phenomenon:

The megachurches, with their remarkably innovative techniques for constructing social capital and a feeling of connectedness, have been fairly explicit responses to greater geographic dispersal, weakened family ties, and increased insecurity, and so forth. Many of us who don't experience the megachurches as anything but occasionally malign actors on the national stage are quite poor, I fear, at understanding why they are important and why their influence is proving durable. Which is odd, given that the very foundations of the liberal critique of contemporary society -- increased economic risk, civic deterioration, etc -- are exactly what the churches help address.

LEST WE FORGET: Get Over Yourselves

Outside the BeltwayJames Joyner links to news that while only four out of 3.1 mil. ESPN entries chose the Final Four correctly last year, over 160K got the final four right this year. Joyner comments: "Sadly, I was not among them. Having followed college basketball news even less closely this year than in the past, I picked several used-to-be-good teams to upset highly ranked teams whose recent resurgence flew under my radar screen. While I picked seven of the Elite Eight, only Florida remains alive in my Final Four bracket."

Posted by Conn Carroll at March 28, 2007 12:30 PM