March 30, 2007

3/30: Round Two

While NV Dem Chair Tom Collins and Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) said netroots pressure had nothing to do with their decision to nix a Fox News-sponsored WH '08 debate, anyone following the story would have suspected otherwise. Now, despite earlywarnings , the Cong. Black Caucus has gone ahead and partnered with Fox, and the netroots campaign to quash that is already underway. If the netroots manage to notch another victory onto their belts, who could be next? It's not like they don't have anysuspects .

GOP FIELD: Back To Basics

The Corner's Larry Kudlow hopes "the big three Republican presidential candidates - Messrs. Giuliani, McCain, and Romney follow suit with Pres. Bush's 3/29 call for: 1) No to the pork barrel laden Iraq funding bill; 2) No to Congress' attempt to micromanage the war and help the enemy with specific withdrawal timetables; and 3) No to the implied tax increase coming out of the Democratic Congress' budget making process. Kudlow adds: " It's good to see him restoring conservative principles on the war, on taxes, and on overspending."

GIULIANI: Not Running For Mayor Of NYC

Doubts about Rudy Giuliani's fealty to low taxes drove in depth exchanges between AmSpec Blog and The Corner bloggers. Contributions include:

• The Corner's Ramesh Ponnuru: "Giuliani even got involved in a Democratic primary race to oppose an assemblywoman who had voted to end the commuter tax. Nor was this the only time Democrats got to the mayor's right on taxes."
• The Corner's John Podhoretz: "The issue was a little more complicated than that ... In short, the Giuliani opposition to the commuter-tax repeal tells you nothing about his view of taxation generally. As mayor, he did what he could to cut some of the most onerous taxes in the nation that had been imposed specifically by the City Council and previous mayors."
• The Corner's Jonah Goldberg on federalism and taxes: "Still, I think if Giuliani is going to win over social conservatives he's going to have to master this sort of argument more than others. He needs to explain why what's good for New York isn't necessarily good for Montana or Georgia and how he understands and respects that."
• Ramesh responds: "Sure, support for higher local taxes doesn't necessarily mean support for higher federal taxes. But Giuliani was resisting a federal tax reform because he wanted the federal tax code to continue to subsidize high-tax states."
• AmSpec Blog's Philip Klein: "Furthermore, Giuliani did cut taxes as mayor, which was no easy task in New York City, so the fact that he would now be open to the idea of a flat tax, or at least flatter tax, while a reversal, is not as totally out of left field as if he had a record of supporting and imposing higher taxes.

Also at AmSpec Blog, Klein notes that a new YouTube showing Giuliani endorsing Mario Cuomo clips the middle portion of a press conference out to skip Rudy's worry "about rising property taxes in and around New York City."

Some Cornerites and AmSpecers worry all this cat fighting makes them look bad.

GIULIANI II: Thanks But One Giuliani In The WH Is Enough

In case you were wondering, tentative and committed Rudy-blogger-supporters are not thrilled about reports that Mrs. Giuliani "would sit in on Cabinet meetings" if Rudy were elected. Ankle Biting PunditsBull Dog Pundit blogs: "No offense to Mrs. Giuliani, but nobody is electing her. I can certainly understand a man wanting his wife's opinion on certain things, but to have her sit on policy meetings for which she is completely unqualified is out of bounds."

MCCAIN: Loyalty Was Never His Strong Suit

Townhall's Dean Barnett argues The Hill's claims that John McCain felt out Dems about a party switch in '01 have "essentially buried John McCain's campaign for the Republican nomination." More Barnett: "this incident illustrates a perfect storm of McCain's shortcomings in a way that none of his other bi-partisan adventures do. The vanity, the immature pique of anger, the utter indifference and disloyalty to the people who voted for him and the party that supported him - they're all on naked display."

Power Line's John Hinderaker counters that any damage on the GOP loyalty front has already been done: "Will these reports hurt McCain with the Republican party's base? Probably not much. The base already doesn't consider him a very loyal Republican; that's the price you pay if you want the media to praise you as a "maverick." But the marginal impact of this story is no doubt small."

ROMNEY: Button Pusher

The Corner's Ramesh Ponnuru reports "that the dozen or so attendees to whom I spoke after Mitt Romney's speech" to the Club for Growth's "winter" conference "were impressed." More Ponnuru: "Romney hit every one of the club's buttons. He came out against most trade barriers, for reductions in marginal tax rates, against the "death tax," for cuts in corporate tax rates to make our rates comparable to those of other countries, for federal tort reform, and for scaling back Sarbanes-Oxley. He repeated his call for federal spending to shrink by one percent in real terms every year."

In less positive Romney blogging, there arerumblings that pro-Romney forces on the web are not playing well with others.

THOMPSON: As Good A Christian As Reagan

RedState's Erick Erickson rises to defend James Dobson against the "bashing" he took for suggesting Fred Thompson was not a Christian. Erickson blogs: "[Y]ou people who are so outraged by James Dobson need to suck it up and get over it. ... the reason some of you are so frustrated with Dobson today, is because Dobson is a Christian first, a conservative second, and a partisan third."

More Erickson: "[T]he key difference between a nominal Christian and a Christ following Christian ... is that the former shows his colors by the inactive pursuit of his faith and the latter shows his colors by the active pursuit of his faith. Fred Thompson, I think Dobson is suggesting, falls into the former category. ... if that is the case it'd probably put Fred on par with Ronald Reagan."

And K-Lo is still making sure Cornerites are getting their daily dose of Thompson "commentary."

DEM FIELD: Casey At The Bat

TPM Cafe's Greg Sargent and Eric Kleefeld completed "a comprehensive comparison" of all of Sens. Barack Obama (D-IL) and Hillary Clinton (D-NY) Iraq related votes, and it turns out "the two differed on only one." Sargent and Kleefeld stress: "We are not posting this to suggest that their earlier difference at the start of the war -- their most important difference -- should in any way be overshadowed by these similarities."

The only vote Obama and Clinton differed on: " The confirmation of General George Casey to be Chief of Staff for the Army, held just this past February. Hillary voted against confirmation, while Obama voted to confirm."

CLINTON: Carville And Clinton Sittin' In A Tree...

Linking to CNNtranscripts of James Carville talking about "a couple of less- than-impressive performances at a health care forum out in Las Vegas" by Barack ObamaMyDD 's Matt Stoller wants to know why Carville is still "identified as a CNN Political Analyst" given his close ties to Team Clinton. Stoller blogs: "This is crazy. It's just crazy. When CNN commentator Bay Buchanan took over the Tancredo campaign, she resigned from the network. ... Carville isn't getting money from Clinton, but there are other ways of compensation in politics and everyone knows that."

IRAQ: Blue Dogs And Netroots Living Together ... Mass Hysteria!

A proposal by Reps. Dennis Cardoza (D-CA) and Mike Ross (D-AR) to parcel out supplemental Iraq funding in three month chunks so that Pres. Bush has "to keep coming back for more" is receiving a warm netroots welcome despite the members status as Blue Dogs. A strong critic of almost everything Blue Dog, MyDD's Chris Bowers finds himself "slowly being won over to this strategy" and details its "advantages" including:

• This could keep the caucus unified during a long fight, while slowly picking off an increasingly divided Republican caucus, as we gradually build toward a veto-proof majority.
• It allows the timelines to stay in the bill, which in my opinion is non-negotiable.
• It allows the entire bill, which was an excruciating task to pass through both branches of Congress, intact.
• As both popular and congressional opinion continues to swing to our side, it leaves our options open down the road to eventually just say "you get these deadlines, or none"

The man Matt Stoller has "outsourced [his] policy-oriented opinions on Iraq to," Matthew Yglesias, is also on board: "So I'd say congress should pass a "clean" supplemental that Bush'll feel compelled to sign, but one designed to last a lot less than a full year. Three months, as proposed by Reps. Cardoza and Ross, seems like a good choice to me. That way in three months time, with public opinion even more against Bush and against the war, he needs to come back and ask for more money. ... The point is to try to generate as many votes on this as possible. Either at some point we'll start seeing significant GOP defections (which is the best hope for ending the war while Bush is still president) or else at a minimum GOP incumbents will need to keep casting votes for perpetual war and set themselves up for defeat in 2008."

Even heavy critics of the Dems current supplemental sees possibility in the Blue Dog plan. Talk Left's Big Tent Democrat writes: "The source of the idea intrigues more than the idea itself. I prefer a different approach, but it is a good sign when conservative Dems are preparing fighting tactics, as opposed to rollover tactics." BTD later outlines his concerns: "But the intention of not funding past a date certain must accompany such a proposal. And that intention must be followed up on in determined fashion when the regular appropriations process for the Iraq Debacle begins again in June."

IRAQ II: Baghdad Or Bust

Asking readers, "What if you had the choice to send someone to tell you that story firsthand? Would you send someone like, say, Dan Rather?" RedState's Directors are raising money to send two of their own to Iraq. RedState already has Pentagon approval and is looking to raise $7.5K for the trip. At deadline they had just over $7K.

BLOGGERS VS. MSM: 'Dancing With The Devil'

The netroots are gearing up for round two against Fox News after the CBC announced it would partnering with the news organization to host a Dem WH '08 debate. DailyKos' founder Markos Moulitsas says, "Here we go again," and adds: "The CBC's decision is breath-taking in its stupidity, and the organization will now face the well-deserved scorn of its own constituents as well as outside observers. Candidates will be forced to choose between grassroots activists (of all colors) and an out-of-touch, entrenched inside-the-Beltway organization." Kos urges readers to sign Color of Change's petition against the event.

Under the header "Dancing with the Devil," Color of Change's petition argues: "Fox News has consistently attacked Black people, Black leaders, and Black cultural institutions. Despite this, the Congressional Black Caucus Institute has announced that it will partner with Fox to co-host presidential debates. The Congressional Black Caucus is letting us down at a time when Black Americans need strong and strategic leaders more than ever."

Jack and Jill Politic's Jill Tubman notes: "In 2002, the CBC Foundation was given an undisclosed amount from Fox News and parent company News Corp. Between 2003-2005, they gave the CBC somewhere between $47,500 to $98,998 with numbers for 2006 still unavailable. Don't believe me. Get the facts here and take a look at CBCF's donor list. Are our leaders purchased so cheaply?"

BLOGGERS VS. MSM II: First They Came For Fox ...

While not acknowledging The Politico's 3/29 front page story on the GOP's upcoming '08 "Meltdown," the netroots are elevating their campaign to paint the fledging paper as a cog in the right wing noise machine. A Media Matters report showing The Drudge Report has linked to Politico items "on at least 45 separate occasions" since Politico launched 1/23/07 is just the latest salvo in an ongoing campaign.

Kos quips "Drudge and the Politico, sitting in a tree..." while Atrios labels the paper "Drudgico" and asks, "Why don't they just merge operations."

Also at Media Matters, Eric Boehlert attacks Politico for "hit pieces" on WH '08ers Bill Richardson and Barack Obama. Boehlert explains: "The reporting simply reinforced the notion that Politico plays loose with the facts when dealing with Democratic candidates. I can't find similar examples of The Politico manufacturing phony controversies about Republican candidates. And honestly, I don't want it to. I just want Politico to practice sound journalism."

PROSECUTOR PURGE: The Best Scandals Always Come Back To Hookers

Blogging on ex-AG CoS Kyle Sampson's 3/29 testimony focussed mostly on trying to build a case the WH obstructed justice when it fired San Diego USA Carol Lam. "Big things" coming out of the hearing include:

• TPM's Paul Kiel on two items from Sen. Diane Feinstein's (D-CA) questioning: "The first was a glowing letter about Lam that Feinstein presented from the Director of Field Operations for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency. ... The second was the revelation that after the FBI bureau chief in San Diego complained to the press about Lam's firing, Samspon called FBI headquarters to complain.
• TPM's Josh Marshall: "Attention all chumps who think that Carol Lam was canned for not following administration immigration enforcement policy. Sampson has just confirmed that for all their deep concern about her border enforcement policy, no one from the DOJ ever raised the issue with Lam. Ever."
• More Marshall: "Sen. Kennedy (D-MA) makes a very good point. The prosecutor firings and replacements just happen to be in all the key 2008 swing states, and not in any states that are safe for either party -- with the exception of California, where the Lam -Cunningham investigation is. Why do you think that would be?"
• Firedoglake's Christy Hardin Smith: "Karl Rove may have been involved in the decision to briefly float Patrick Fitzgerald as a great candidate to fire. Sampson's not much help there, though."
• More Smith: "Chuck Schumer seems to have certain suspicions about what Monica Goodling did. In particular, it seems that he may have well-grounded suspicions that she was administering loyalty oaths to Assistant USAs, a career position.
• The Washington Monthly's Kevin Drum: "[H]ere's the single most remarkable thing about Sampson's testimony ... And after all this time to prepare and finally get it right, what did Sampson say? Nothing. Almost literally, nothing. He still didn't have any plausible, documented reasons for firing the USA-8.

In non-hearing but related news, Marshall alerts readers that Lam defender and San Diego FBI chief Dan Dzwilewski has "just announced he's resigning from the Bureau."

The Huffington Post's Joseph Palermo makes the case that Sampson's testimony makes it "clear that top officials of the Justice Department obstructed justice." Palmero argues: "First, Ms. Lam, a Republican, secured a conviction against former California Representative, Randy "Duke" Cunningham ... Then Ms. Lam caught the trail of two well-connected associates of Cunningham's, Brent Wilkes and his old high-school buddy, Kyle "Dusty" Foggo. ... As soon as U.S. Attorney Lam began to secure search warrants against Wilkes and Foggo, Gonzales had her fired. ... Attorney General Gonzales said he had no role in discussing the firings of the eight U.S. attorneys, but today his former chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, told the Senate that Gonzales had signed off on them. ... It has been alleged that Wilkes' company provided high-priced prostitutes to satisfy the carnal pleasures of Cunningham and his well-connected defense and CIA-contractor pals on the taxpayer's dime. The boys at Justice might have fired Lam, not only to protect their colleagues' kickbacks, but to block the exposure of a full-throttle sex scandal."

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Top Ten Things This Administration Is Too Incompetent To Pull Off

Townhall's Dean Barnett sketches out one clever way Pres. Bush could deal with Dems on Iraq:

But what about this: What if the president surprises everyone and signs the bill into law but says the usurpation of the president's Commander in Chief duties are unconstitutional and he has no intention of following the orders of 535 congressional General wannabes. ... If Bush takes such a course, then the Congress can do one or two things: It can bring the law to the Supreme Court for a ruling on its constitutionality, a case that it will surely lose. Or it can just skip that step and go right to impeachment.

LEST WE FORGET: And You Thought Reagan Ended The Cold War

The Plank's Isaac Choitner is tracking coverage of Indian's cricket team current losing streak including this Bombay op-ed:

A lot has been said about what has gone wrong with the Indian cricket and what needs to be done to fix it. But the key to solving the problem lies perhaps in the 1982 flick Rocky III. The players, selectors, and all cricket administrators should sit together and watch this film. [If the team cannot win] they should make way for players who are hungry--they are practicing hard somewhere on the maidans of India with the track Eye of the Tiger in the background.

Choitner adds: "Yes, yes, Rocky II was better. Still, all the cynics out there might choose to remember that Rocky IV concluded with The Italian Stalion peacefully ending the cold war."

Posted by Conn Carroll at March 30, 2007 12:42 PM