8/19: Jack Tanner Rides Again
NJ GOV has come to the rescue of the liberal blogger corps. After weeks of painstakingly researched posts about health care, liberal bloggers are finding solace in a race that (this week at least) is focused on the potentially salacious. Bad week for ex-US Atty Chris Chrisite (R) means good week for health care-weary bloggers.
But beyond simply slamming Christie, the left is also laying praise on Gov. Jon Corzine (D) for his tactics this week. Of particular interest is a video released by ThinkProgress camp of Corzine calling Christie "a lawbreaker" in an interview.
Jonathan Singer writes:
"These are strong words...[and] the form of these words is effective, too. It recalls a scene from 'Tanner '88', Robert Altman's excellent 20 year old mockumentary about a presidential aspirant in which the candidate, played by Michael Murphy, delivers a fiery address to his staff, who surreptitiously film then release the speech. While this video doesn't have the same artistic flair or framing of the video shot for 'Tanner', with the camera filming upward through a glass coffee table, it does offer a similar result -- a sense of being brought inside the circle."
As for Christie's handling of the situation, liberal bloggers are less impressed. Emptywheel smells blood in the water on the issue of Christie's loan to an assistant in his office when he was U.S. Atty, and highlights Christie's admission (click "Christie Mortage Loan" to view) that he's made similar loans in the past. From the blog:
I'd be really curious who and what those loans were about. But looking through his disclosure forms, I don't see any hint of them, unless they involved the Christie Family Charitable Foundation, which he had until he became US Attorney (but in which he said he had no management control). Now he did say he and his wife had give money, so maybe that's where this money came from. But don't you think Mr. Transparency ought to tell us about all the funky loans he has given in the last little while?
Liberal blogger Steve Singiser on last few days in the Garden State: "About the only good thing you can say about" Christie's "horrific news week is that he seems to be getting all of it out of the way quickly."
NH 01: Stand-In And Deliver
Conservative bloggers continue to to focus on members of Congress who have canceled town halls, transformed them into conference calls or moved them to union halls. Moe Lane sees a political opening in NH for Manchester Mayor Frank Gunita (R), who's challenging Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D). The Rep. hasn't held any town hall meetings yet, and Gunita announced he will hold one 8/31.
Lane praises the move, titling his post "Frank Guinta does the job Carol Shea-Porter can't." Lane on Shea-Porter: "Expecting moral courage from a professional antiwar activist is like expecting a jackass to sing: there's nothing stopping you from doing it, but there's no getting past the fact that the jackass simply lacks the basic ability in the first place."
FL SEN: Lincoln Mark II
Liberal blogger Singiser weighs in on Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart's (R) self-recusal from the short list of contenders for caretaker of Sen. Mel Martinez's (R) seat. The decision means Gov. Charlie Crist's (R) plans for the seat have "gone awry," Singiser writes, and means that "the only thing that is clear at this point is that Crist has a pretty sizable mess on his hands, where he could take some fire no matter who he appoints."
HEALTH CARE: The Tables Have Turned
On Monday, it was progressives who were firing on Fort Sumter over health care. Today, it's the conservatives who are ready to start a civil war over the issue. Erick Erickson takes aim at the Heritage Foundation and Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY) for backing co-ops. Hertiage raised the topic in a policy brief, which Erickson says has led to "confusion" among GOPers.
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"The Heritage Foundation, which played a vital part in building conservative support for Romneycare in Massachusetts, is setting the stage for Republican capitulation on healthcare ... By throwing untested cooperatives out as an idea, the Heritage Foundation gave an option to Democrats struggling to keep their 'reforms' from sinking.
Enzi's recent backing of cooperatives as a compromise solution to reform is evidence of the Heritage Foundation fail, Erickson writes.
"The Democrats have latched on to cooperatives as their fallback with useful idiots like Enzi on board. After all, Enzi's logic goes, Heritage likes them so they must be okay and conservative. But they are not."
His advice for both the think tank and Enzi is direct.
"So Mike Enzi: shut up. You too Heritage. I value your contribution, but trying to helpful in a debate where it is clear what Democrats really want just sets you up to be used and abused. You should have seen this coming and your judgment must be suspect on this as a result."
Meanwhile, John Hinderaker isn't moved by the gun-toting health care town hall protestors. He writes, "This strikes me as very dumb. Leave your guns at home!"
THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Bob Novak, RIP
Bloggers on both sides of the spectrum mourned the passing of columnist Bob Novak. One especially personal obit, from conservative blogger Paul Mirengoff:
"As I college student I devoured the Evans and Novak political biography of Lyndon Johnson. I don't recall ever enjoying a political biography more. When I finally met and spent some time with Novak two years ago, I told him so. Novak seemed to appreciate the compliment, but was still unhappy about what an uncooperative source Johnson had been (by contrast he described Barry Goldwater as a great source).Over time, I became increasingly less enamored with Novak's work. Experience had taught me that, frankly, I could never be fully confident that the story I was reading was based on an attempt to tell the whole truth, as opposed to an attempt to say something that would serve the interests of a friend or, above all, a valued source.
There's no disputing, however, that Novak for better or for worse was a giant, perhaps the giant, of Washington journalism."
