March 06, 2007

3/6: A Difference Of Style, Not Substance

Following Joe Klein's continued insinuations that Atrios is an "ideological extremist" TPM Cafe's Greg Sargent links to a list of Atrios' positions on a broad array of issues and asks: "Which ones does Klein agree with, and which ones does he disagree with?" Atrios' lists include such 'extreme' positions as: "Undo the bankruptcy bill enacted by this administration;" "Increase the minimum wage and index it to the CPI;" and "Simplify and increase the progressivity of the tax code."

Noting Klein's previous objections to Atrios' use of the term "wanker," Sargent asks: "How is the term 'ideological extremist' as used here anything more than a meaningless slur, just like 'wanker' or 'jerk' ... or anything else?" The Blogometer also doubts that Klein disagrees with many of Atrios' policy positions, let alone would describe them as 'ideologically extreme.' We speculate that the real issue here is that Atrios' "Wanker of the Day" grates on Klein's ears just as bad as Klein's attacks on bloggers grates on Atrios.

CLARK: Too Little, Too Late

Linking to a Clark Community Network post reporting ret. Gen. Wes Clark has no plans on announcing a WH '08 bid for the next three months, MyDD's Chris Bowers writes: "I can't seriously believe that he thinks he will delay as long as last time and still be an effective candidate against a far, far more star laden field." Bowers further notes that "the draft movement for him this time around is about one-tenth of what it was four years ago" and goes on to promise he will cross "Clark off all straw polls until he actually declares his candidacy."

CLINTON: Big Sister

Blogger reports from Selma, AL, continue to roll in, and while they are not all bad for Hillary Clinton, they still point to Barack Obama as the clear winner of the day. Alabama-Democrat writes: "As far as Hillary's speech went I thought it was very good, but my expectations are usually to high for her, because she is no Bill Clinton. Mrs. Clinton did do a good job of saying that "we" endured the civil rights struggle together and relating to the civil rights pioneers that the celebration was being held for. I still think, if one had to judge, Obama won the day if not for his speech itself for a much better supporting cast."

Back in the Golden State, Calitics Todd Beeton has a lengthy post about his efforts to track HRC down at a 3/3 fundraiser in Laguna Beach, CA. Unable to find the event's address (hosted at a private home) on Google, Beeton drove around Lahuna beach till he stopped to ask "two women adorned with STOP THE WAR paraphernalia" if they knew where Hillary was. One of them did and wrote him directions. Beeton later finds the house "at the top of a huge hill, not surprisingly, in quite a wealthy neighborhood" manned by activists from Military Families Speak Out. Beeton posts video of Clinton ignoring the protestors as she exits the residence and drives of in her motorcade.

More defensive of HRC, Media Matters Eric Boehlert chides MSMers for portraying her '02 Iraq AUMF vote as possible "doom" for her campaign. Boehlert points to ABC News polling showing 52% of Dems "don't even think Clinton's vote to authorize the war was a mistake" and comments: "Reporters and pundits though, remain committed to the story. I suspect journalists are married to the Clinton Iraq-vote story because the tale fits in nicely with their preferred narrative about the candidate, that she's cold, overcalculating, and insincere."

MyDD's Matt Stoller doesn't call Clinton cold, overcalculating, or insincere but he does post a mash up of Macintosh's 1984 Big Brother ad with HRC taking the place of Big Brother on the omnipresent video screens. In place of the hammer throwing Mac liberator that ends the original ad, a woman wearing an Obama t-shirt does the the honor in this send up.

Finally, Mark Foley exposer Lane Hudson blogs at Huffington Post about his discovery of a "'Hillary '08' bear" in the Fox News stores of Dulles Airport. Hudson writes: "Did Hillary license merchandise that ended up being sold in stores branded by Fox News? Something along those lines is more likely. I was going to buy one for evidence, but I'm broke, so I didn't. I'll be asking Hillary's folks if they know anything about it. If I get any new information, I'll be sure to update to let you know."

EDWARDS: Bothered By "Christian" Word

Former Pres. Bush Spec. Ass. David Kuo sat down with John Edwards to talk faith and politics. Portions from the full interview, that can be found at beliefnet, include:

• Kuo: What parts of American life do you think would most outrage Jesus?
• Edwards: Our selfishness. Our resort to war when it's not necessary. I think that Jesus would be disappointed in our ignoring the plight of those around us who are suffering and our focus on our own selfish short-term needs. I think he would be appalled, actually.
• Kuo: In what ways do you feel God is happiest with you right now?
• Edwards: I think he would be happy with the fact that I have focused on people who live in poverty here and people without healthcare. And the suffering of others in other parts of the world, like some of the work that I've done on humanitarian issues in Africa, for example, and going to the slums outside of Delhi and India.
• Kuo: Do you think that America is a Christian nation?
• Edwards: That's a good question. I never thought of it quite that way. There's a lot of America that's Christian. I would not describe us, though, on the whole, as a Christian nation. I guess the word "Christian" is what bothers me, even though I'm a Christian. I think that America is a nation of faith. I do believe that. Certainly by way of heritage--there's a powerful Christian thread through all of American history.

OBAMA: What's Jim's Crime Exactly?

Among the uniformly positive praise for Barack Obama's Selma, AL, performance youth activist Illai Kenney says Obama was "Crazy Good in Selma" adding: "I also liked the fact that Obama talked about his grandfather in Kenya. He could have just been an American who happened to have a Kenyan father but he embraced his heritage and his white mother from Kansas. He told the truth about his father not being in his life and how Black men can do better. This is another powerful message that I identify with on a personal level."

The Alabama-Democrat found Obama's Moses/Joshua generation analogy "phenomenal" but took issue with those comparing Obama to JFK: "Kennedy was a serious 'cold warrior' not just bells and whistles. I think people should with hold this much praise of Obama until we see more from him."

In non-Selma Obama blogging, MyDD's Matt Stoller takes the possibility of Obama's hiring Jim Margolis as another reason to worry about the Obama campaign: "From what I understand, Margolis is pretty bad when it comes to the poor commission structure of Democratic media consultants. ... the choice of Margolis is another example of the good old boys club at work. As such, Obama is building an old school campaign where the internet is an afterthought, a high end ATM and walled garden of social networking. It's too bad. Obama could really let his movement change politics if he only embraced it."

DEM FIELD: Leadership Wanted On Card Check

At The Huffington Post labor activist Jonathan Tasini articulates key questions unions will be asking when choosing which Dem to support in '08 including: "Can the Candidate actually talk about unions? ... Can the Candidate break from the false worship of the twins gods of the so-called "free market" and so-called "free trade"? ... Which Candidate actually has walked a picket line or spent quality time on a union organizing campaign? ... Which Candidate can show a real record of fighting for good laws, or at least a real plan for the future?"

Tasini also identifies some specific make or break issues candidates must support, including:

• Fast Track: I do not know how any union can endorse a candidate who doesn't vote against "fast track."
• Employee Free Choice Act: this is a no-brainer. The real question, though, is will those candidates take a leadership role in fighting for the bill?
• Health Care: ... at the very least, a labor-backed candidate has to be pushing a plan that takes away the power from the insurance industry and drug companies to exploit tens of millions of Americans.

WEBB: Still A Netroots Favorite...

Virginia Beach Dems says Sen. James Webb's (D-VA) legislation "prohibiting the use of funds for military operations in Iran without the consent of Congress" is exactly "the kind of legislation we're looking for." VB Dems continues: "You have to start somewhere, and the Congress during the Vietnam era started by preventing a widening of the war ... It took time. A great deal of time, and they had far more anti-war votes than we do now."

VB Dems noted Maj. Leader Harry Reid's (D-NV) support of the positively, but Taylor Marsh wanted more: "Harry Reid offered some drivel that went like this... "very, very confident ... in real generality ... that I can support" Webb's resolution. "In real generality"? What the hell does that mean? It's doubtful Reid even knows. In case I haven't made it clear before, I'm starting to wonder about our majority leader. He's been positively spineless on Iraq. If he can't support Webb's bill all bets are off with me."

GIULIANI: Competence Please

Responding to Instapundit queries on Rudy Giuliani's popularity among conservatives, Shots Across the Bow responds: "To me, it's a pretty simple answer really. Conservatism has never been dominated by the religious right the way liberals have always pictures them to be. Fiscally conservative socially liberal conservatives are a dime a dozen. It just doesn't make for good campaign fodder for either side to recognize their existence. Hey, my ideal candidate is one who is strong on defense, a champion of the balanced budget, and believes that the best government is the smallest government. Show me a candidate like that, and he's got my vote no matter what letter comes after his name."

The Brody File posts reader email voicing different sentiments but reaching the same conclusion: "I am a Christian, Republican, and a southern social conservative and I am supporting Rudy Giuliani. I don't think he's a liberal as his opponents try to make him out to be. Moreover, I think he has the best chance of winning the White House. ... I think Giuliani is competent and that's what I'm looking for. Conservative values are a matter of one's heart and that is the responsibility of the church. We've had pro-life presidents for 19 years out of the last 27 and we still have abortion on demand in all 50 states. I'm pro-life, but I believe the best deterrent to abortion is education and maternal support."

MCCAIN: The Straight $100 Express

Acknowledging John McCain catches "a lot of flack here at RedState" Erick Erickson still admits McCain "had a decent month." Erickson recounts McCain endorsements from Rep. Chip Pickering, (R-MS) Frank Keating, Sens. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and John Thune (R-SD), as well as recent big So. Cal. money men. Erickson allows: "He may be trailing Rudy, but he's still ahead of the rest of the pack and the general public really likes the guy. I don't think it will be enough to get him the nomination, but with all the crap we pile on the man, we ought to at least be willing to point out he really has done well this past month, even with skipping CPAC."

Not willing to cut McCain any slack, The Right Angle's Matt Naugle hits McCain for making himself available for online questioning ... but only after charging $100 for the honor. Naugle writes: "I understand the webcast is taking place at a fundraiser and McCain's campaign is seriously falling behind in fundraising dollars. But isn't the entire point of a webcast to try to reach as many members of the same Republican base that McCain claimed CPAC attendees aren't part of?"

ROMNEY: There's Politics Going On At This Conference!!!

IA's Krusty Konservative posts video of Mitt Romney staffers Jordan Sekulow and Gary Marx working the main exhibit hall at CPAC but later has to qualify the posting to readers: "I wanted to clarify that I don't think the Romney campaign did anything unethical. Jordan Sekulow and Gary Marx are stand up guys, and I'm told that both of them know how to push it right to the line, but neither get any chalk on their cleats. That's how politics work, I think the Romney campaign was smart to work the CPAC Straw Poll, he needed a win and he got it. I would have done the same thing if I were in their position."

Also with video, The Right Angle's Matt Naugle responds to an earlier Romney press release promising to end McCain-Feingold with video of Romney endorsing taxes on political contributions and limits on campaign spending. Naugle writes: "There are perfectly legitimate points to argue on both sides of the campaign finance debate. And now, Republicans on both sides of this hot issue have a candidate who, at least at some point in time, firmly agreed with them."

Finally, video of Romney and the dragon lady in CPAC's very blue Green Room can be found on left and right blogs.

DEMS: Maybe's Reid's Staff Just Likes Talking To Bloggers?

Netroots frustration with Maj. Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is mounting rapidly. Coupling Reid's "tacit support for the Fox News-sponsored debate in Nevada" with Reid's choice of Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) to deliver the Dems weekly radio address, DailyKos' founder Markos Moulitsas asked if this was Reid's "f--k Democarats week."

Also on happy with Reid, Matt Stoller asks MyDD, Daily Kos, and Huffington Post readers readers to "call Reid's offices and ask him to not legitimize Fox News as a neutral news outlet." Stoller pitches: "It's time to let Senator Reid know that we want him to act like a good Democrat and ensure that the candidate forum in August treats the Democratic Party and our Democratic leaders vying for the Presidency with the respect that they deserve. Treating Fox News as a neutral news outlet by letting them solely host this debate does not do that."

Back in NV, Reno and Its DiscontentsMyrna Minx muses: "I'd hate to be working in Reid's office over the next few days now that the Kossacks are loose. As I have discussed previously, it appears that someone made a unilateral decision (Tom Collins/Harry Reid/Western Majority Project?) without consulting the rest of the state party leadership. Doesn't that seem anti-democratic to you? And who has those pesky updated by-laws anyway?"

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Schumer/Gingrich for 2012?

Freakonomics contributor Stephen Dubner points us to "the most bipartisan thing I've read since ... well ... ever." That 'thing' ... Newt Gingrich's Amazon book review of Sen. Chuck Schumer's (D-NY) Positively American. Gingrich's review includes:

"I am surprised to be recommending Senator Chuck Schumer's Positively American and yet it is a very powerful and effective book. ... For any Republican who would like to understand what happened in 2006, the Schumer explanation is compelling and sobering. He and Rahm Emmanuel have understood that a hard left Democratic Party will never be a majority. They were prepared to recruit candidates who were electable and to accept that those candidates would infuriate their more liberal wing. They saw a center-left majority as preferable to a happy leftwing minority. It is a formidable warning about how they will run 2008 and beyond."

"Finally Schumer lists 11 major areas of solutions. Republicans could easily coopt half of those solutions and challenge Senator Schumer to help pass them into law. ... This is a smart book by an intelligent, liberal Democrat who is determined to turn his party into a governing majority again. It is worth study by every Republican who would like their party and their center-right philosophy to prevail."

LEST WE FORGET: Everyone's Favorite Smug, Arrogant Brat

For his Slate review of the DVD release of Family Ties, David Haglund recounts the show's very first scene where Steven and Elyse Keaton are showing their kids slides of their march on Washington prompting Michael J. Fox's Alex P. Keaton to respond: ""What were you protesting ... good grooming?" Haglund then goes on to explain why Keaton became such a hero to many young conservatives:

How did this happen? Partly, no doubt, it was the sheer absence, before Family Ties, of explicitly conservative young people on network television. And much of the credit must go to Fox himself, whose specialty as an actor was playing the smug, arrogant brat that you like in spite of yourself (see also Back to the Future, The Secret of My Success, The Hard Way, etc.). It seems unlikely that, say, Andrew McCarthy could have exuded such likable sincerity while explaining that "God wants me" to "make a lot of money ... because if he didn't, he wouldn't have made me so smart," as Alex tells that off-screen psychologist after his friend has died. (Even Matthew Broderick, the producers' original choice for the role, might not have pulled this off.)

Posted by Conn Carroll at March 6, 2007 12:30 PM