PBD - Progressive Blog Digest: 02/01/2009

PBD - Progressive Blog Digest

Saturday, February 28, 2009

AUGUST 31, 2010

Obama keeps a campaign promise (they can do that?), setting a definite date for the end of the US combat mission in Iraq

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/27/114027/598/147/702594

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/president-obama/obamas-speech-by-august-31-2010-our-combat-mission-in-iraq-will-end/
As a candidate for President, I made clear my support for a timeline of 16 months to carry out this drawdown, while pledging to consult closely with our military commanders upon taking office to ensure that we preserve the gains we’ve made and protect our troops. Those consultations are now complete, and I have chosen a timeline that will remove our combat brigades over the next 18 months.

Let me say this as plainly as I can: by August 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end. . .

Obama’s budget: perspectives from the left and right

Krugman: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/opinion/27krugman.html
Elections have consequences. President Obama’s new budget represents a huge break, not just with the policies of the past eight years, but with policy trends over the past 30 years. If he can get anything like the plan he announced on Thursday through Congress, he will set America on a fundamentally new course.

The budget will, among other things, come as a huge relief to Democrats who were starting to feel a bit of postpartisan depression. . . . [read on]

Brooks: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/opinion/27brooks.html
Obama’s budget is far more honest than the ones that preceded it. It imposes real pay-as-you-go rules on future outlays. Intellectually serious efforts are made to pay for at least half of the cost of health care reform.

But the ingrained habits are still there, and the rot is not expunged. . . . [read on]

And then there is the response from the netherworld of Broder-land

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/25/AR2009022503125.html
Is he naive? Does he not understand the political challenge he is inviting? . . . [read on]

Pssst! Obama’s popularity is going UP

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/27/142612/221/70/702679

It’s about time

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/obama/chi-conscience-rulefeb27,0,1515759.story
Taking another step into the abortion debate, the Obama administration Friday will move to rescind a controversial rule that allows health-care workers to deny abortion counseling or other family-planning services if doing so would violate their moral beliefs. . .

Good thing Judd Gregg didn’t accept Obama’s offer to be Sect’y of Commerce – he’d be stepping down right about now

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/report_gregg_steered_earmarks_to_project_in_which.php
Gregg Steered Earmarks To Project In Which He Had Invested . . .

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/oopsie-by-digby-lets-hear-some-more.html

The Party of No? The future prospects of the GOP

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0209/19346.html

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/david-keene-speaks.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/017076.php

Let’s hope Michael Steele is the head of the GOP for a long time – but I don’t think he will be

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/gop-senators-blast-steele-over-talk-of-primary-challenges.php
[Eric Kleefeld] Michael Steele's back-and-forth flirtation with possible primary challenges to the party's pro-stimulus Republicans is now causing him to catch some real flak. And it's not just from those same Republican, but also from conservatives concerned about winning elections -- perhaps indicative of internal strains in the GOP between a hard-line conservative agenda, versus the basic electoral goal of winning office. . .

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/steeles-new-gop-message-my-bad-bachmann-to-steele-you-be-da-man.php?ref=fp1
[Eric Kleefeld] Michael Steele sure has an interesting idea for how to rebrand the Republican Party: Loudly announcing at CPAC that they messed up, and pledging to do better now.

"Tonight, we tell America: we know the past, we know we did wrong. My bad," said Steele. . . .

Oh, christ

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/steeles-new-gop-message-my-bad-bachmann-to-steele-you-be-da-man.php?ref=fp1
[Eric Kleefeld] [C]heck out this latest development in Steele's campaign to create a hip-hop image for the GOP. Michele Bachmann praised Steele's speech: "Michael Steele! You be da man! You be da man."

And no, this is not from The Onion. . . .

http://firedoglake.com/2009/02/27/michael-steele-takes-the-rnc-down-to-funkytown/
[Watertiger] So the RNC is making a last-ditch (and bewilderingly tone-deaf) effort to resuscitate the party by tapping into "hip hop" America's mad bank. It must be fairly disorienting to be one of the six or seven black people in the Republican Party, with all your white peers trying to speak your "language" loudly and slowly, like tourists in a foreign land. . . .

Bobby Jindal: hope of the future?

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/26/carville.republicans/index.html
Commentary: Jindal leads GOP on a 'march of folly' . . .

Jindal told a big fat lie during his speech last week

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/27/141551/365/94/702671

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/jindal_admits_katrina_story_was_false.php

Watch: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/relive_jindals_tall_tale.php

http://firedoglake.com/2009/02/27/bobby-jindal-revises-his-katrina-story/
Bobby Jindal Revises His Katrina Story . . .

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/jindals_office_tries_to_spin_katrina_story_digs_it.php
Jindal's Office Tries To Spin Katrina Story, Digs Itself In Deeper . . .

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/campaign_2012_/2009/02/jindal_down.php
[Mark Kleiman] Politico says he "clarified" his story about Sheriff Lee and the rescue boats. I say he was caught fibbing. Should be hard to recover from.

An open mike!

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/27/35858/2601/271/702494
[Jed Lewison] It turns that there was an open mic recording Bobby Jindal's every word before his disaster of a speech on Tuesday night.

He didn't say anything particularly screwy, but it's still funny listening to him complain about his throat, asking his advisers whether he should speak loudly or softly, and reminding himself to speak "slow."

More!

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/its_jindalriffic.php
[Times-Picayune] Louisiana's transportation department plans to request federal dollars for a New Orleans to Baton Rouge passenger rail service from the same pot of railroad money in the president's economic stimulus package that Gov. Bobby Jindal criticized as unnecessary pork on national television Tuesday night.

And here’s a lie ABOUT Jindal from Fox News

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/27/4450/72120/268/702497

The GOP horse race for 2012

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/02/27/palin_poll/index.html

Video from CPAC

http://firedoglake.com/2009/02/27/early-morning-swim-103/

The kind of people they are

http://washingtonindependent.com/31751/conservatives-confident-their-day-is-coming
Tucker Carlson closed out the first day of the Conservative Political Action Conference to a chorus of boos. His crime: informing a crowd of youngish, frustrated conservatives that if they wanted to succeed, they had to copy The New York Times.

“The New York Times is a liberal newspaper,” said Carlson. The catcalls started in. “They go out, and they get the facts.” More boos. . . .

“I hate smart Jews”

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/simple-answers-to-simple-questions-by.html
In his CPAC speech, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell insisted that conservatives are more "interesting" and "fun" than liberals. Here's his proof: "who wants to hang out with guys like Paul Krugman and Robert Reich when you can be with Rush Limbaugh?" . . .

Yeah, this’ll work

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/02/27/demint/index.html
[Jim DeMint (R-S.C.)] Earlier this week, we heard the world’s best salesman of socialism address the nation. . . . [read on]

Remember when Mike Huckabee was a refreshing, self-deprecating voice in the GOP? Well, like all the others he’s been disciplined into reciting the same old code words

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/campaign_2012_/2009/02/huckabee_selfdestructs_as_a_national_candidate.php
“The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics may be dead,” said Huckabee, “but a Union of American Socialist Republics is being born.” . . .

Are Joe the Plumber’s fifteen minutes of fame up yet?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/27/13652/0384/127/702638
[Think Progress] On Wednesday, Joe "the Plumber" Wurzelbacher said that if he were in Congress, he would "probably be in jail" because he’d be charged with "slapping some member." He added, "And that’s not [bull] either." ThinkProgress asked Joe at CPAC yesterday which members he would most like to slap. "Pretty much anybody that’s stood there and said anything bad about our troops, pretty much anybody who sat there and talked treasonous talk about America," Joe said. He then implied that some members of Congress should be shot . . . [watch]

Jim Bunning (R-KY), continuing to undermine his own party

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/report-bunning-threatens-revenge-against-gop-to-resign-and-hand-seat-to-dems.php
Bunning Threatens Revenge Against GOP, To Resign And Hand Seat To Dems . . .

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/27/124357/507/140/702625

A step backward for theocracy

http://lafiga.firedoglake.com/2009/02/27/dobson-steps-down-from-focus-on-the-family-replaced-by-real-life-dr-strangelove/

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/017080.php

Inside baseball: how voting patterns in Congress make forging a majority difficult – and forming bipartisan coalitions almost impossible

http://www.nationaljournal.com/2008voteratings

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/02/vote_rankings_moderates_disappearing_from_the_gop.php

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/02/27/nationaljournal/index.html

Oooh, ouch. Not good

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/secret-coleman-e-mails-reveal-intentional-hiding-of-witness----franken-camp-wants-double-count-claim.php
Secret Coleman-Lawyer E-Mails Reveal Intentional Hiding Of Witness . . .

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/busted_again.php
[David Kurtz] Just when the election court in Minnesota had given Norm Coleman's legal team a break by reversing itself on a decision to strike a witness' testimony because Norm's lawyers withheld evidence from the Franken team, it turns out there's more evidence related to Coleman's lawyers' contact with this same witness that they still hadn't divulged until Franken's lawyer brought it out this morning on cross examination of the witness. . . .

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/coleman-lawyer-to-court-we-dont-want-to-un-count-votes----but-you-have-to.php
Coleman Lawyer To Court: We Don't Want To Un-Count Votes -- But You Have To . . .

http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2009/02/27/franken-coleman-update-022709-am-edition-oh-my-goodness/
Oh. My. Goodness. . . .

Special election to unseat Roland Burris (D-IL)?

http://www.propublica.org/article/ill.-gov.-looks-to-bump-burris-with-special-election#8653

Bonus item: He. Lost!

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2009_02_22_archive.html#355139264091407069
[Atrios] Wolf Blitzer is going to interview John McCain again.

This is such a surprising development that they sent out a press release about it. . . .

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 8:17 AM

Friday, February 27, 2009

KNOW YOUR ENEMIES

The next big fights over the budget and health care

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/stimulus-package/white-house-ready-for-message-war-over-budget-health-care/

Kicked off the pages of the NY Times, Bill Kristol lands a gig with the Washington Post – and continues right in stride, calling the GOP to arms in obstructing the Obama agenda

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/redux-by-digby-many-people-ascribe.html

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/017056.php

Roveanism 101: accuse your enemies of doing what you do yourself

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/02/26/rove/index.html
[Karl Rove] Mr. Obama, on the other hand, routinely ascribes to others views they don't espouse and says opposition to his policies is grounded in views no one really advocates. . . . [read on]

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/017062.php

Know your enemies: inside accounts of the CPAC conference

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/john-bolton-the-mustache-lives.php
[Matthew Cooper] If you imagine Paul McCartney at Shea Stadium in 1965 you have some idea of the reception that the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, gave John Bolton this morning. . . . [read on]

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/a-choice-not-an-echo.php
[Matthew Cooper] Zesty and dated rock tended to accompany speakers here at the Conservative Political Action Conference. Creedence Clearwater Revival "Down on the Corner" for John Bolton, Smashmouth's cover of "I'm a Believer" for Mike Pence, early Beatles--"Love Me Do"--at the Building a Conservative Hispanic Coalition seminar and Kenny Loggins hit from the Top Gun soundtrack, "Danger Zone". . . . [read on]

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/02/26/citizenship/index.html
[Alex Koppleman] Apparently, there is one sure way to get applause at the Conservative Political Action Conference, which began today and continues through Saturday: Suggest that Barack Obama was born in a foreign country and isn't really eligible to be president. . . . [read on]

http://www.slate.com/id/2212324
[Christopher Beam] This year's Conservative Political Action Conference is impressively diverse: The groups that have set up booths include FreedomWorks, Freedom's Defense Fund, Freedom Alliance, the David Horowitz Freedom Center, Let Freedom Ring, FreedomFest, Young Americans for Freedom, the Campaign for Liberty, and my favorite, Youth for Western Civilization. As for the actual attendees, about half appear to be college students, while another one-quarter look like those guys who hang around university libraries into late adulthood. . . . [read on]

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/26/1204/74246/850/701891
[Barbara Morrill] If you're going to be in the Washington D.C. area for the next few days, and possess a masochistic desire to delve into the mind of today's Republican Party, then CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference is the place for you.

Here are some of the fun activities they have planned . . . [read on]

http://firedoglake.com/2009/02/26/joe-the-plumber-michelle-bachmann-palin-video-everyones-already-seen-kick-off-cpac/
[Blue Texan] Joe the Plumber, Michelle Bachmann & Palin Video Everyone’s Already Seen Kick Off CPAC . . . [read on]

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/gratitude-by-digby-cpac-dispatch-john.html

Michael Steele, the gift that keeps on giving

http://www.americablog.com/2009/02/gop-chair-steele-compares-jindal-to.html
GOP chair Steele compares Jindal to "Slumdog Millionaire"
[John Aravosis] In the movie Slumdog Millionaire, the lead character is Indian. And he's illiterate and from the ghetto, but somehow he manages to prove he's the smartest guy on the block, but no one believes him. And Bobby Jindal is Indian-American. Get it? They're both Indian. Isn't that funny? . . . [read on]

Just a coincidence I’M SURE

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/02/26/burris_son_got_job_from_blago.html
The son of embattled Sen. Roland Burris (D-IL) "is a federal tax deadbeat who landed a $75,000-a-year state job under former Gov. Rod Blagojevich five months ago," the Chicago Sun-Times has learned. . . .

More: http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/02/26/burris-the-sequel/

Jim Bunning (R-KY): there’s something wrong with this guy

http://www.americablog.com/2009/02/kentucky-paper-on-gop-senate-smackdown.html

The Norm Coleman case seems to be coming to an end in Minnesota – what next?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/dont_look_now_but.php
[David Kurtz] In a nutshell, Norm Coleman has lost but refuses to concede and now wants to throw out the original election, the one he lost, and hold a new one. . . . [read on]

http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=news-000003062248
Senate Democratic leaders said Thursday that they see a light at the end of the tunnel in the protracted Minnesota Senate race and expressed confidence that Democrat Al Franken would fill the vacant seat in a matter of weeks.

“The projections — and they’re not locked in — are that this should all be finished by the very beginning of April,” said New York Sen. Charles E. Schumer . . .

http://www.americablog.com/2009/02/norm-coleman-cant-win-and-gop-governor.html
[Joe Sudbay] Big shot Republicans are raising money for Coleman to keep this battle going and to keep Franken out of the Senate. . . .

So, it's no wonder that Coleman's protracted effort has resulted in yet another example of the GOP in-fighting that already popping up in so many places. Think Progress highlights an intra-state battle between the Republican Governor, Tim Pawlenty, and the former Senator . . .

More: http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/2/26/133858/036

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/minnesota----the-spin-doesnt-stop.php

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/court-sides-with-franken-forbids-coleman-from-sneaking-new-evidence-in.php

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/minnesota-court-opens-door-to-counting-more-votes----and-who-will-benefit-is-not-yet-known.php

Negotiations in Afghanistan?

http://www.juancole.com/2009/02/negotiations-in-afghanistan-iran.html

Investigation of Bush era interrogation tactics coming?

http://washingtonindependent.com/31685/senate-intelligence-committee-weighing-review-of-cia-interrogation-tactics

Former CIA head . . . well, just read it. You wouldn’t believe me if I made it up

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/report_goss_knew_foggo_shared_a_girlfriend_with_ru.php
Report: Goss Knew Foggo Shared A Girlfriend With Russian Spy, But Hired Him Anyway . . .

George Will won’t back down over his factually challenged global warming column

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/in_new_column_will_sticks_to_his_guns_on_global_wa.php

http://www.americablog.com/2009/02/george-will-stands-by-his-discredited.html

Media bias: which way it really tilts

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/2/26/21750/2500

How talk radio hurts the GOP (thanks to AG for the link)

http://www.amconmag.com/article/2009/feb/23/00006/

Republican governor calls Rush an “idiot”

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/017055.php
[South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford] "I don't want [Obama] to fail. Anybody who wants him to fail is an idiot, because it means we're all in trouble."

Rush responds: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/017067.php

Bonus item: Joe the Plumber – who is he talking about?

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/02/joe_the_betrayer.php
"He doesn't care about what's best for America," Wurzelbacher said. "He only cares about what's best for [himself]."

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:16 AM

Thursday, February 26, 2009

CLOSE THE DOOR BEHIND YOU, PLEASE

Iraq troop withdrawals coming

http://washingtonindependent.com/31410/more-on-the-iraq-troop-reduction-plan

“Truth and Reconciliation” over Bush/Cheney war crimes. Is it possible?

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/02/25/pelosi/index.html

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/02/25/whitehouse/index.html

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/02/25/prosecutions/index.html

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/25/151512/978/970/701787

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/25/142630/880/983/701766

Coming: health care reform

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/2/25/17235/8249

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=11852

Oh, listen to them whine. The new line from the Repubs is that the Dems have it easy, you see, because they only offer simplistic, popular solutions where Republican policies are too complex and subtle (yeah, right, like “Tax cuts solve everything”)

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/boehner-gop-policies-are-politically-harder-dems-offer-free-lunch.php

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/02/25/boehner/index.html

Meanwhile, the Republicans hone their new complex and subtle policy tack

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/017043.php
On Monday, RNC Chairman Michael Steele appeared on Fox News, calling for a "spending freeze." . . .

http://washingtonindependent.com/31396/gop-turns-to-talk-of-spending-freeze
“We’re advocating that Congress freeze all federal spending immediately,” said Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), the chairman of the House Republican Conference, during a Tuesday luncheon at the conservative Heritage Foundation. “People out there are hurting, and they understand what you do when times are tough. You make hard choices. . . .”

More: http://www.slate.com/id/2212252

How many ways to say it? Michael Steele is a moron

http://www.americablog.com/2009/02/rnc-chair-steele-on-civil-unions-are.html
GALLAGHER: Do you favor civil unions?

STEELE: No, no no. What would we do that for? What are you crazy? No. Why would we backslide on a core, founding value of this country. I mean this isn't something that you just kind of like, "Oh well, today I feel, you know, loosey-goosey on marriage." I mean, this is a foundational principle of this country. It is a foundational principle of organized society. It isn't something that, you know, in America we decided, "Let's make it between a man and a woman; oh well now, let's change our mind and make it between anyone and anyone." No.

GALLAGHER: So no room even for a conversation about civil unions, in your mind?

STEELE: What's the difference?

GALLAGHER: Well, you're not calling it marriage.

STEELE: Is it?

GALLAGHER: I don't know. I mean, I... I...

STEELE: I mean, like Sarah Palin said, you put lipstick on a pig, it's still a pig. . . . [read on]

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/steele-keeps-door-open-for-rnc-to-abandon-specter-in-primary.php
In an interview today on Morning Joe, Michael Steele seemed to be trying to back off of his prior statements about how Arlen Specter could face a primary challenge for supporting the stimulus bill -- but in the process, he only ended up saying that the RNC might not support Specter . . .

Another day of Republican Jindal-bashing

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/jindal-speech-gets-bad-reviews----on-the-right.php
[I]t's just a disaster for the Republican Party," said Brooks.

http://firedoglake.com/2009/02/25/searching-for-bobby-jindals-political-future/
I thought Bobby Jindal gave possibly the worst response to a Democratic speaker in the history of democracy. . . . [more]

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/president-obama/gop-strategist-jindals-speech-was-painful-and-a-good-night-for-sarah-palin/
GOP Strategist: Jindal’s Speech Was “Painful” And A “Good Night For Sarah Palin” . . .

More: http://www.americablog.com/2009/02/jindals-reviews-are-in-really-poor.html

http://washingtonindependent.com/31419/you-blew-it

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/25/132014/598/1009/701732

And then there’s . . . Newt

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/02/newt_clap_louder.php
Bobby Jindal got a good national launch out of last night. His story is compelling. His values appeal to most Americans . .

And Rush: http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/02/25/limbaugh/index.html
"I love Bobby Jindal, and that did not change after last night. Nothing that happened last night changed my mind.” . . .

"[I]f you think -- people on our side, I’m talking to you -- those of you who think Jindal was horrible... I don’t ever want to hear from you ever again."

And one good Jindal-bashing from our side

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/25/what-should-government-do-a-jindal-meditation/
[Paul Krugman] [L]eaving aside the chutzpah of casting the failure of his own party’s governance as proof that government can’t work, does he really think that the response to natural disasters like Katrina is best undertaken by uncoordinated private action? Hey, why bother having an army? Let’s just rely on self-defense by armed citizens.

The intellectual incoherence is stunning. Basically, the political philosophy of the GOP right now seems to consist of snickering at stuff that they think sounds funny. The party of ideas has become the party of Beavis and Butthead.

Usually being in the minority unites a party – not so for the divided Republicans

http://firedoglake.com/2009/02/25/bobby-jindal-and-the-republicans-fail/

Perjury by former head of the CIA?

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/report_goss_knew_of_foggos_shady_past.php
Report: Goss Knew Of Foggo's Shady Past . . .

http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/008971.html
[Laura Rozen] Source said that Goss lied in his testimony, that he was not aware about the problems with Foggo when he hired him for executive director. He said that a major fight had broken out between Goss staffer Patrick Murray and then associate deputy director of operations Michael Sulick about the Foggo hiring. "Murray told ADDO/Counterintelligence Mary Margaret that if Dusty's background got out to the press, they would know who to come looking for. Mary Margaret tried to warn them that Dusty Foggo had a problematic counterintelligence file. Sulick defended Mary Margaret. Goss told deputy director of operations Steve] Kappes he had to fire Sulick." After that, Kappes and Sulick quit. "Goss bears major responsibility here," source says. It was finally the "White House tht demanded that Goss fire Dusty and he refused." So they both got fired.

Norm Coleman’s case falls apart

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/unforced_error.php
[David Kurtz] This afternoon, after the Coleman team was revealed to have withheld evidence from the Franken legal team, which rightly flipped out, the court ordered the testimony of a key witness struck from the record, dealing yet another blow to Coleman's tattered case.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/minnesota-judges-strike-key-coleman-witness-after-failure-to-share-evidence.php
Minnesota Judges Strike Key Coleman Witness, After Failure To Share Evidence . . .

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/coleman-camp-gets-caught-not-sharing-evidence-with-franken-side-coaching-witness.php
Coleman Camp Gets Caught Not Sharing Evidence With Franken Side, Coaching Witness . . .

You lose the recount, you ask for a trial. You lose the trial, you ask for a whole new friggin’ election

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/coleman-lawyer-declares-whole-election-tainted----and-doesnt-rule-out-re-vote.php

The kind of people they are

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/02/25/legislators_promiscuity_comments_cause_uproar.html
[Taegan Goddard] A Republican legislator in Colorado opposed a bill requiring pregnant women to be tested for HIV, so that if they are infected their babies can be treated to prevent the transfer of the virus, the Rocky Mountain News reports.

But it was his reasoning that sparked outrage.

Said state Sen. Dave Schultheis (R): "This stems from sexual promiscuity for the most part, and I just can't go there. We do things continually to remove the consequences of poor behavior, unacceptable behavior, quite frankly. I'm not convinced that part of the role of government should be to protect individuals from the negative consequences of their actions."

Leave Bristol alo-o-o-one!

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/25/9453/43679/966/700766

Matt Drudge – a standing joke

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/and-yet-still-rules-their-world-by-dday.html
[Digby] This is really a jump the shark moment for Matt Drudge . . . [read on!]

Bonus item: Obama – Antichrist, or Hitler? It’s so hard to know

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=219482&title=unusual-suspect

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:32 AM

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Obama reaches out to McCain – and what does he get?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/017019.php
At the closing session of the "fiscal responsibility summit" at the White House yesterday, President Obama graciously introduced John McCain and invited him to go first in raising a point or asking a question.

McCain apparently thought he'd get in a little dig at his former campaign rival, and began talking about the bloated Pentagon budget. "We all know how large the defense budget is," the Arizona Republican said. "We all know that the cost overruns, your helicopter is now going to cost as much as Air Force One. I don't think that there's any more graphic demonstration of how good ideas have cost taxpayers enormous amount of money."

The president, taking away the senator's fun, agreed . . . [read on]

Guess what? People care a lot more about good results than they do about “bipartisanship”

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/2/24/122512/209

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/02/24/bipartisanship/index.html

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/24/1303/26787/729/701011

Annals of lousy headline writing

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/22/obama.so.far/index.html
Clinton's mockery of Obama proves true
During the most contentious stretch of the Democratic presidential primary campaign last winter, then-candidate Hillary Clinton mocked Barack Obama for his pledge to transcend Washington's entrenched partisanship.

"The sky will open. The lights will come down. Celestial choirs will be singing and everyone will know we should do the right thing and the world will be perfect!" Clinton bellowed.

Obama dismissed Clinton's sarcasm as overly cynical and further evidence she was a creature of Washington. But as President Obama prepares to make his first major address to Congress, Clinton's comments are borne out. . . .

We don’t have Judy Miller any more, but we do have Liz Sidoti

http://firedoglake.com/2009/02/24/aps-liz-sidoti-puts-words-in-obamas-mouth-over-social-security/
AP’s Liz Sidoti Puts Words in Obama’s Mouth Over Social Security . .

Is the GOP pulling support from troglodyte Jim Bunning (R-KY)?

Maybe: http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2009/02/24/2473874-bunning-says-he-might-sue-if-gop-backs-another

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/bunning-if-nrsc-runs-candidate-against-me-ill-sue.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/017027.php

Maybe not: http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/02/24/bunning/index.html

RNC head Michael Steele is DUMB

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/2/24/131831/999

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/brilliant_purge.php

I take it back! http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/steele-backtracks-on-punishing-gop-senators-who-voted-for-stimulus.php

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/02/no_formal_repercussions_likely_from_rnc_for_stimulus_defectors.php

Bonus item: Ouch!

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/02/24/huntsman/index.html
Sometimes, even Republican governors get frustrated with their party's congressional leadership. Take Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who let loose during an interview with the Washington Times, saying the GOP's leaders in Congress are "inconsequential" and that they've failed to move beyond "gratuitous partisanship." . . .

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/017018.php

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:15 AM

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

A HARD RIGHT

Obama’s plea for reason

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/017010.php
"I think there are some very legitimate concerns on the part of some about the sustainability of expanding unemployment insurance. What hasn't been noted is that that is $7 billion of a $787 billion program. And it's not even the majority of the expansion of unemployment insurance," Obama said. The president added, "If we agree on 90 percent of this stuff, and we're spending all our time on television arguing about 1, 2, 3 percent of the spending in this thing, and somehow it's being characterized in broad brush as 'wasteful spending,' that starts sounding more like politics. And that's what right now we don't have time to do."

The constant bashing and demonizing of Obama from the right has had an effect . . . on the right

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/obama_honeymoon_ends_but_only_among_conservatives.php
[David Kurtz] Gallup polling shows that the drop off in Obama's approval ratings from January highs is attributable solely to disenchantment among conservatives -- and that his standing among Democrats and independents has either held steady or actually risen. . . .

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/02/publics_view_of_obama_polarizing_non_republicans_still_love_him.php
Public’s View of Obama Polarizing . . .

More: http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/2/23/144723/603

Entitlement reform, clearly needed, can only happen if both parties will get behind it. Apparently Obama has decided there is no way Republicans will work on it with him now – and he’s not too sure about many Democrats, either

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/the-story-behind-that-scrapped-white-house-social-security-task-force.php

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/will-the-white-house-avoid-the-entitlement-spending-trap.php

The Republicans seem to be hardening in their opposition to Obama’s policies

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/obamas-teach-in.php
[Charles Grassley, R-IA] "I'll be working in the Senate as the Ranking Member of the Finance Committee and a senior member of the Budget Committee for fiscal responsibility and an honest accounting of how Congress and the administration tax and spend. The current administration inherited a $1 trillion deficit, and in just the first few weeks it added another $1 trillion to the debt with its economic stimulus bill. The bill included new and expanded entitlement programs, and if they're made permanent, they'll add at least another $2 trillion to the deficit.

"Looking ahead, we're hearing from some people that we can't reform government entitlement programs until we reform the entire health care system. The problems with our health care system need fixing, but for a lot of people, health care reform is code for spending more, not less. American taxpayers are being asked to swallow a lot right now, and it brings to mind the old joke about Wimpy's hamburgers. Wimpy said, 'I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.' There's too much of that kind of attitude in Congress and the White House today."

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/02/23/qotd/index.html
[Michael Steele, GOP head] I mean, we have watched over a trillion dollars worth of cash flow into this economy, into the system. The market response to that has been obvious. It's not -- it's not pulling the triggers that need to be pulled. And now we're talking about new spending. . . .

But, you know, this new spend is just an amazing amount of cash, and the inflationary effect, the deflationary effect, all of those things are going to come to head at some point . . .

[NB: Inflationary AND deflationary? Thanks for the economics lesson, Dr. Steele]

As for their alternatives . . .

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/02/23/gop/index.html
[Alex Koppelman] Months after its drubbing in the 2008 election, the GOP still remains a party without a real public face or a coherent strategy. The debate over the stimulus has made that clear . . .

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=11783
[David Sirota] Say what? Republicans are preparing "to use the ballooning deficit to renew their push for additional tax cuts?" Excuse me, but last I checked, we know that Republicans' previous tax cuts were one of the biggest factors creating and expanding the federal deficit.

I mean, fine - let the Republicans push for tax cuts. That's what they do. But citing deficit concerns as the reason we need more tax cuts? Really? They are going to cite a problem as the justification for expanding the causative factor of that problem?

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/23/17453/6639/979/699728

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/02/newt_gingrich_leading_insane_conservative_effort_to_close_deficit_by_reducing_revenues.php

Watch the GOP try to reframe the decision to let Bush tax cuts lapse, as they are scheduled to do without congressional action, as an Obama TAX INCREASE. And watch the media help them

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/02/republicans_about_to_lie_in_tax_cut_bed_of_their_own_devising.php
[Matt Yglesias] Recall that the purpose of writing the sunsets into law was to bring the “ten-year cost” of the cuts down. Basically, they wrote a tax cut bill that was too expensive to pass. Then instead of actually moderating the scale of their agenda, they made the cost appear smaller by arbitrarily phasing the cuts out . . .

Hit ‘em again . . .

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/stimulus-package/dems-hit-house-republicans-with-robocalls-hammering-opposition-to-stimulus/
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, headed by Chris Van Hollen, will start pumping new robocalls later today into the districts of a dozen House Republicans, attacking them for voting against the economic recovery plan and reminding voters that it was supported by business groups.

The calls also hit the Republicans for voting “against the largest tax cut in history,” a reference to the tax cuts in the bill that the GOPers opposed, and an early clue to an attack line the Dems will be using in the run-up to the 2010 midterm elections. . . .

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/017007.php

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/23/104747/968/969/700771

One of the most irritating events of the Bush/Cheney years was their (illegal) use of nongovernmental e-mail accounts to shield wrongdoing, their failure to properly archive emails generally, and then the discovery that emails from crucial periods (like the genesis of the Plame scandal) were suddenly “missing.” Now it gets worse: the Obama DOJ takes the Bush side of the argument

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/obama_admin_backs_bushies_on_missing_emails.php

http://www.propublica.org/article/obamas-doj-opposes-lawsuit-to-release-missing-bush-e-mails#8446

Karl Rove asks for an extension on his subpoena to testify before Congress, gets it, then fails to appear anyway. I guess this is what you might call “contempt”

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/quelle_surprise_rove_a_no-show_again_for_us_attorn.php

More: http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/02/23/will-the-house-hold-rove-in-contempt-before-march-4/

The kind of people they are (redux). More nastiness from Jim Bunning (R-KY)

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/giving_trash_a_bad_name.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/017015.php

The know-nothings

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/017014.php
[South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R)] "The Golden Gate Bridge was a Hoover-era infrastructure project designed to get the economy going. The L.A. aqueduct system was a Hoover-era, you know, infrastructure program designed to get the economy going. The Hoover Dam was a Depression-era, you know, project designed to get the economy going." . . . [read on]

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/let-us-pray-by-digby-from-think.html

In Minnesota, the long slog goes on . . . .

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/vote_fraud_/2009/02/minnesota_wheres_the_outrage.php
[Mark Kleiman] If I were a Minnesotan, I think I'd be pretty angry about the way that Norm Coleman and his friends in the national Republican Party have deprived the state of half its representation in the Senate. It's now clear that Coleman can't win, but the Republicans are happy to spend a few million bucks to make Obama find two Republican votes rather than only one to break filibusters and do other things for which Senate rules impose a super-majority. . . . [read on]

More: http://www.americablog.com/2009/02/norm-coleman-cant-win-now-hes-just.html

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/coleman-lawyer-well-rest-our-case-this-week-maybe.php

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/minnesota-court-no-to-coleman-and-yesnomaybe-to-franken.php

http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2009/02/23/franken-coleman-update-022309-a-few-loose-ends/

Bonus item: “Pit bull” Sarah Palin sure has been doing a lot of whining

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/02/23/palin/index.html

http://firedoglake.com/2009/02/23/mccain-palin-make-way-for-the-republican-whiner-krewe/

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:49 AM

Monday, February 23, 2009

THE KIND OF PEOPLE THEY ARE

The kind of people they are (part one)

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/02/22/shelby_doubts_obama_citizenship.html
Alan Keyes isn't the only one keeping alive rumors that Barack Obama isn't a natural born citizen.

At an event last week in Alabama, Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) answered a question from a constituent in a way that indicates he still holds doubts . . .

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/smart-by-digby-richard-shelby-left.html
[Digby] Richard Shelby left the Democratic party in 1994 finally signaling the final success of the Southern Strategy and the long overdue gathering of all conservatives under the same banner. It was a good day for Democrats. We may be a lot of bad things, but at least we don't have to claim this nasty, braindead piece of work . . .

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016998.php
[Steve Benen] Why is it so painfully difficult to take the Republican Party seriously in the 21st century? Because they haven't quite figured out that credibility comes with a degree of political maturity. . . .

http://firedoglake.com/2009/02/22/senator-richard-shelby-undermines-our-president-in-wartime/
Senator Richard Shelby Undermines Our President in Wartime . . .

More: http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0209/Shelby_dabbles_in_citizenship_rumor.html

http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/born_in_the_usa.html
The truth about Obama's birth certificate. . . .

And by the way . . .

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/22/11498/8165/286/700445
[Sen. Richard Shelby] Well his father was Kenyan and they said he was born in Hawaii, but I haven't seen any birth certificate. You have to be born in America to be president.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/01/opinion/l01mccain.html
McCain Was Born in the Panama Canal Zone. . . .

The kind of people they are (part two)

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/she_should_go_far.php
[A] tough stance toward illegal immigrants was a given for the 1,250 delegates and guests at the convention. Carly Fiorina, a possible contender in the party's U.S. Senate primary next year to challenge Democratic incumbent Barbara Boxer, made them the butt of a joke in a hotel penthouse breakfast speech. When her family first moved to California, Fiorina recalled, her little brother asked, "Mommy, do they speak English there?"

"Wasn't that prescient," she joked, sparking a burst of guffaws. . . .

The kind of people they are (part three)

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/one_class_act.php
[Louisville Courier-Journal] U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning predicted over the weekend that U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg would likely be dead from pancreatic cancer within nine months.

During a wide-ranging 30-minute speech on Saturday at the Hardin County Republican Party's Lincoln Day Dinner, Bunning said he supports conservative judges "and that's going to be in place very shortly because Ruth Bader Ginsburg ... has cancer."

"Bad cancer. The kind that you don't get better from," he told a crowd of about 100 at the old State Theater. . . . [read on]

The kind of people they are (part four)

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/delightful.php

Haley Barbour, former head of the RNC and one of the most cynical political operatives of our time, whines that Obama is too good at it

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/02/22/obama-in-perpetual-campaign-barbour-says/
"He's going to those places for a reason," Barbour said on CNN's State of the Union. "I mean David Axelrod, who's his campaign consultant/manager/guru really is one of the brightest, most capable people in American politics. And so this is what we've become accustomed to, the perpetual campaign." . . .

Oh-oh (thanks to Digby for the link)

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/02/21-0
Renowned investor George Soros said on Friday the world financial system has effectively disintegrated, adding that there is yet no prospect of a near-term resolution to the crisis.

Soros said the turbulence is actually more severe than during the Great Depression, comparing the current situation to the demise of the Soviet Union.

He said the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in September marked a turning point in the functioning of the market system.

"We witnessed the collapse of the financial system," Soros said . . .

How Obama will do deficit reduction: add the costs of the Iraq war into the budget (which Bush and the Republicans refused to do), then cut those costs with troop reductions

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016994.php

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2009/02/63186549/1

Boo. Hoo.

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/02/22/new_jobs_elude_bush_appointees.html
"The jobless rate is hanging high -- for many of the roughly 3,000 political appointees who served President George W. Bush. Finding work has proved a far tougher task than those appointees expected," the Wall Street Journal reports. . . .

Fewer asylums, more prisons: the connection

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/crime_control_/2009/02/out_of_the_asylum_into_the_prison.php

Preview of 2012? Bobby Jindal, governor of Louisiana, and heir to the party’s right vs. Charlie Crist, governor of Florida, and pragmatic moderate – unless they decide to switch places

http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=news-000003058073

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/017001.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/017000.php

Where’s Sarah?

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/palin-shuns-spotlight-to-pick-up-the-pieces-2009-02-22.html
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) is uncharacteristically shunning the spotlight this week in an apparent effort to repair damage to her political stature back home. . . .

Right winger joins CBS

http://blogs.jta.org/politics/article/2009/02/19/1003145/ballabon-joins-cbs-news

Bonus item: Heh. Condi gets a not-very-lucrative book deal

http://firedoglake.com/2009/02/23/well-now-we-know-the-price-of-failure/

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:59 AM

Sunday, February 22, 2009

CUTTING COMMENTS

REAL fiscal discipline

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/22/us/politics/22budget.html
After a string of costly bailout and stimulus measures, President Obama will set a goal this week to cut the annual deficit at least in half by the end of his term, administration officials said. The reduction would come in large part through Iraq troop withdrawals and higher taxes on the wealthy . . .

Trashing Obama’s housing program: the lies have already begun

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016992.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016993.php

Well, a GOP governor finally does reject (some) stimulus money – and wouldn’t you know it would come at the expense of unemployed workers?

http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2009/02/jindal_rejects_32_million_in_s.html
Saying that it could lead to a tax increase on state businesses, Gov. Bobby Jindal announced Friday that the state plans to reject as much as $98 million in federal unemployment assistance in the economic stimulus package. . . .

More: http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/02/bobby_jindals_hostages.php

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/kamikazee-governors-by-digby-i-guess.html

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/02/21/louisiana-gubernatorial-sitcom/

California’s Republicans see a new way to invigorate themselves

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016988.php
CALIFORNIA GOP TO PUNISH MODERATES . . .

More: http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/2/21/213121/578

The downhill slide gets steeper . . .

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/burris/1443349,roland-burris-meets-with-feds-022109.article
Federal authorities questioned U.S. Senator Roland Burris today at his lawyer’s office -- a long-awaited interview involving his U.S. Senate seat appointment . . .

More: http://www.propublica.org/article/crucial-burris-testimony-220#8440

Wow, it’s a new world isn’t it? Google Earth reveals US predator drones at an air base in Pakistan

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2009/02/pak-press-shows.html

More: http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/2/22/315/44946

The problem with Bagram

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/21/05813/4934/656/700051

Old lies die hard. Republicans are STILL trying to claim that Obama’s election was illegitimate because he is not a US citizen (even though his mother was)

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2009/02/obama-birth-cer.html

George Will publishes a falsehood-riddled column on global warming. Doesn’t the Washington Post fact-check these things?

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/where_theres_a_george_will_theres_a_way_to_deny_gl.php
[Zachary Roth] [I]t took us about ten minutes -- longer, it appears, than the Post's editors spent -- to figure out that Will, like Barnes, was essentially making stuff up. . . . [read on]

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/post_ombudsman_responds_unconvincingly_on_will_col.php
[Zachary Roth] After days of radio silence from the Washington Post, the paper's ombudsman, Andy Alexander, has sent out the following statement . . .

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/02/washington_post_stands_by_climate_change_denialism.php
[Matt Yglesias] This started as a problem for Will, his direct supervisors, and the Post’s ombudsman. But now that the Post as a paper is standing behind Will’s deceptions, I think it’s a problem for all the other people who work at the Post. . . .

Good on ya, Mark: http://www.samefacts.com/archives/the_wayward_press_/2009/02/letter_to_the_washington_post.php
Dear Mr. Alexander:

Your response to queries about George Will's misrepresentations both of scientific fact and of how those facts have been reported by scientists, published on the Web, has left me, and many other long-time admirers of the Post, dumbfounded and dismayed. . . . [read on]

Sunday talk show line-ups

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/22/02148/8341/377/700346
NBC Meet the Press: Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R); Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R); Roundtable with: Al Hunt (Bloomsberg), Michele Norris (NPR), and Becky Quick (CNBC).

ABC This Week: California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R); Roundtable with: Paul Krugman (The New York Times), Economics Professor Nouriel Roubini (NYU Stern School of Business), and George Will (ABC News).

CBS Face the Nation: HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan; New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine (D); Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R); Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland (D).

CNN State of the Union: Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R); Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY); Arnold Schwarzenegger; Shaun Donovan; "Good Morning America" Anchor Robin Roberts.

CNN Fareed Zakaria GPS: Retired Pakistani cricketer Imran Khan; Minxin Pei (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace); Author Kishore Mahbubani; Shekhar Gupt (Indian Express); Nobel Laureate in Economics Joseph Stiglitz; Nobel Laureate in Economics Edmund Phelps; Dr. Jeff Sachs (Columbia University's Earth Institute).

Bonus item: Kos on the politics of blogging: an oldie but goodie

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/21/1253/48485/661/700054

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:59 AM

Saturday, February 21, 2009

CRAZY MEN

Richard Perle, compulsive liar

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016972.php
[Steve Perle] Neocon mastermind Richard Perle spoke in D.C. yesterday, and argued, with a straight face, that neoconservatives don't actually exist. And if they did exist, they wouldn't deserve the blame for the Bush administration's foreign policy failures.

Dana Milbank, who was on hand for Perle's remarks, said the experience of listening to all of this was like "falling down the rabbit hole." . . . [read on]

http://washingtonindependent.com/30878/just-ignore-everything-richard-perle-says-for-the-rest-of-his-life
[Spencer Ackerman] Just Ignore Everything Richard Perle Says for the Rest of His Life . . . [read on]

The Santelli rant (DON’T MISS IT)

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/2/20/04348/4032

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/02/20/gibbs_v_santelli/index.html
Matt Drudge and the conservative blogosphere tried to turn him into the new Joe the Plumber -- or perhaps something even bigger. . . .

The White House slaps him down: http://oxdown.firedoglake.com/diary/3786

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016979.php

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/02/the_santelli_clause.php

http://firedoglake.com/2009/02/20/rick-santelli-angry-white-male-20/

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/populism-tango-redux-by-digby-following.html

It’s only a matter of time . . .

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-burris-election20feb20,0,6262957.story
A former top official for then- Gov. Rod Blagojevich said Thursday he got a "courtesy call" from Roland Burris last fall noting Burris' interest in a vacant U.S. Senate seat—a contact Burris failed to mention to lawmakers in his evolving testimony about how he got the job. . . .

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/20/51135/7072/79/699635
[Sun Times] If Sen. Roland Burris misled an Illinois House impeachment panel with a false account of his appointment, he did the same thing with the Illinois Supreme Court last month.

In a lawsuit to force Secretary of State Jesse White to certify his appointment to the Senate, Burris submitted the same Jan. 5 affidavit to the state high court that he had earlier sent to the House panel. The truthfulness of the affidavit has since been called into question. . . .

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/20/burris.governor/index.html
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn called Friday for Sen. Roland Burris to resign. . . .

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090220/ap_on_re_us/burris_blagojevich_54
Burris' support in black community begins to waver . . .

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/20/15369/0127/833/699874
WH press secretary Robert Gibbs sends an unmistakable message to Illinois Senator Roland Burris, saying that his appointment had been based on representations that were at "variance" with what actually happened, and urging Burris to take some time this weekend to "think of what lays in his future." . . .

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/02/darrel_thompson_sure_can_quit_burris.php
[Matt Yglesais] Three weeks ago, Darrel Thompson, a senior adviser to Harry Reid, was dispatched to serve as Chief of Staff to Senator Roland Burris to help him put a team together and manage his office. Now Thompson is quitting as Democrats everywhere once again hop off the Burris bandwagon . . .

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/20/AR2009022001630.html
Sen. Roland W. Burris (D-Ill.) has no intention of quitting, his spokesman said Friday . . .

The GOP suddenly discovers the virtues of congressional oversight (which they trashed during the Bush years)

http://firedoglake.com/2009/02/20/the-essential-oversight/

Coleman’s desperate case goes crazy

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/coleman-changes-position-yet-again-now-wants-to-throw-out-already-counted-ballots-he-said-were-legal.php
[Eric Kleefeld] The Coleman campaign has just filed a very interesting motion in the election trial, changing their position for the fourth or fifth time on whether to count rejected absentee ballots -- and demanding that votes they've already stipulated as legal should be thrown out. . . .

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/franken-lawyers-call-for-sanctions-against-colemans-legal-team.php
[Eric Kleefeld] Norm Coleman's legal filing from this morning, calling for the throwing-out of ballots he previously agreed were legal, really has the Franken camp angry. The new Franken filing in response doesn't just call for the Coleman lawyers' request to be denied, but goes further: "Contestants' effort to renege on the stipulation they freely entered and eviscerate the binding order of this Court warrants the imposition of sanctions." . . .

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/accusations-and-recriminations-fly-in-arguments-on-coleman-motion.php
[Eric Kleefeld] The Coleman camp sent up James Langdon, the member of the team who has best come across as sympathetic and sincere. "We understand that we stipulated, and we take that very seriously," Langdon said. "However, our research told us we could not stipulate to make something legal that was in fact illegal." . . .

The Franken camp sent up David Lillehaug -- whose distinction among the Franken team is how effectively he does anger.

Lillehaug tore into Langdon's "however" clause: "There is no 'however' with stipulations of this sort."

"The parties -- at least one party -- worked in good faith to reach this stipulation," he later said. Moreover, he added, both parties had told the court that they had worked together, had agreed that these ballots were legal, and dismissed any and all claims related to them with prejudice.

Lillehaug declared that in any court, you can't scrap a settlement you entered into: "It doesn't matter whether you're in small claims court, or conciliation -- or whether you're a former United States Senator." . . .

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/strong-investment-by-dday-this-endless.html
[Dday] This endless trial in Minnesota over their US Senate election is really working out well for the Republicans. Norm Coleman's lawyers get to make any wild charge they want, contradicting themselves over what ballots should count and what shouldn't, and in the meantime, the winner of the election, Al Franken, isn't seated as the 59th Democratic Senator, making it harder to break the obstructionism and making the Senate more reliant on the Axis of Presidents Nelson and Collins. It's a great little racket they've got going. So they decided to keep funding it. . . . [read on]

Crazy man in Utah

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016984.php
[Steve Benen] Utah state Sen. Chris Buttars (R) generated some attention for himself this week with a breathtaking anti-gay tirade in which he called gay people "the greatest threat to America going down I know of." He went on to compare homosexuality to alcoholism, and described gay people as "the meanest buggers I ever seen. It's just like the Moslems." Buttars concluded, "It's the beginning of the end.... Sodom and Gomorrah was localized. This is worldwide." . . . [read on]

Puh-thetic

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/02/20/meghan-mccain-tells-gop-to-get-tech-savvy-2/
The Republican Party needs to change — at least when it comes to its use of technology, Meghan McCain says. . . .

"This has been a source of personal frustration for me for a very long time," said McCain of the party's seeming disconnect with technology. "Unless the GOP evolves as the party that can successfully utilize the Web, we'll continue to lose influence" . . .

[NB: So they need McCain’s daughter to tell them that?]

Obama says he has no intention whatsoever of reviving the Fairness Doctrine – but the Right wing yakkers see a way of whipping up false paranoia and they’re not letting it go

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/02/20/fairness/index.html

http://firedoglake.com/2009/02/20/despite-obamas-opposition-jim-demint-planning-legislative-circle-jerk-on-fairness-doctrine/

Bonus item: Not funny

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/02/18/delonas/index.html
[Alex Koppelman] A political cartoon printed in Wednesday's edition of the New York Post is already stirring controversy. The image . . . was drawn by Sean Delonas -- who has a history of work perceived as racist, homophobic and misogynistic . . .

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 8:21 AM

Friday, February 20, 2009

CONVENTIONAL WISDOM

Why the “liberal” media usually doesn’t act that way

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/wired.php
[Josh Marshall] The formal government itself has all sorts of different layers to it -- the current crop of political appointees, the career employees, etc. But for the moment, let's put everyone who draws a paycheck from the United States government to one side and focus on everyone else.

Who are we talking about? The journalists. The lobbyists. The people who work in the think tanks and quasi-think tanks where purported policy experts work. The employees of the majority activist groups on both sides of the political spectrum. The list could go on and on. But this gives a basic flavor of who we're talking about.

We're coming off of, or at least we've had a period of (because who knows about the future) thirty plus years of conservative dominance of Washington. By some measures you could say forty years. But at least thirty, notwithstanding Bill Clinton's eight years in office. That conditions a generation of people with mindsets based around Republicans being the party of power, the party whose ideas get vindicated at the polls. Most of all Washington is a city that coddles up to and worships power. But a generation of one party holding the reins selects for certain kinds of journalists in key positions of power, the policy experts at the think tanks who get the journalists calls, the lobbyists who move the most money and so forth. You build up a set of assumptions about what kinds of people and ideas are respectable and which aren't. Which are old-fashioned, which are 'cutting edge' and so forth. Who defines conventional wisdom?

In all of these respects, DC remains overwhelmingly wired for the GOP. . . . [read on]

Will the Obama Justice Dept support contempt prosecutions against Rove, Miers, and Bolten for dodging congressional testimony?

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/feature/2009/02/19/pelosi_prosecutions/index.html

More: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/judge_obama_admin_must_weigh_in_on_us_attorneys_fi.php

When will Obama’s Sect’y of Labor be confirmed?

http://www.americablog.com/2009/02/finally-labor-secretary-who-supports.html

Afghanistan: looking ahead

http://attackerman.firedoglake.com/2009/02/19/a-heavy-load-a-heavy-load/

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/02/experts_call_for_lowered_expectations_in_afghanistan.php

Roland Burris, still lying

http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docid=news-000003055685
The names of lobbying clients that Sen. Roland W. Burris declared to a state legislative panel do not match those on records he filed over the last decade with Illinois and Chicago agencies, a CQ analysis of the records has found. . . .

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/19/135450/644/335/699379
[Chicago Tribune] Wright [Burris' attorney] told The Associated Press on Thursday that he never said he was handing over a complete list. . . .

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/02/19/bonus_quote_of_the_day.html
[Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL)] "Short of Roland Burris resigning or resolving this issue -- if he can, and I don't know if he can -- I don't know what will stop it. I'm tired of this Blagojevich burlesque that's been going on for so long. The people of our state should be spared this."

Is Norm Coleman’s case in Minnesota ever going to end? Looks like it

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/minnesota-trial-finally-picks-up-the-pace.php

More: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/coleman-lawyer-he-started-it.php
[Eric Kleefeld] You might be forgiven for thinking the Minnesota trial is quite simply insane. . . . [read on]

GOP governors made a lot of noise that they would reject the stimulus money for their states, on principle. No one should have believed them for a second. Sure enough . . .

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/everyone-has-their-price----grandstanding-gop-governors-are-taking-the-stimulus-money.php
Rick Perry (R-TX)

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/gop_guvs_called_on_their_bs.php
Mark Sanford (R-SC)

More hypocrisy: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/behold_the_hypocrimap.php

The GOP’s vaunted “party unity.” What it really means

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/19/12541/0385/373/699325

The ridiculous Michael Steele

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/02/19/rnc-chair-plans-off-the-hook-campaign-tells-critics-to-%E2%80%98stuff-it%E2%80%99/
Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele says his party is going to launch an "off the hook" public relations campaign that will update the GOP’s image by translating it to "urban-suburban hip-hop settings."

The new GOP leader told the Washington Times that the party’s defeat in states like North Carolina and Virginia made it clear they needed a new approach.

“We need messengers to really capture that region — young, Hispanic, black, a cross section…” he said in an interview published Thursday. “We want to convey that the modern-day GOP looks like the conservative party that stands on principles. But we want to apply them to urban-surburban hip-hop settings.”

He added, jokingly, that “we need to uptick our image with everyone, including one-armed midgets.”

Steele described the new multi-platform PR offensive as “avant-garde, technically. It will come to [the] table with things that will surprise everyone — off the hook.” Asked whether that meant cutting-edge tactics, Steele demurred. “I don't do 'cutting-edge,’” he said. “That's what Democrats are doing. We're going beyond cutting-edge.” . . .

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/steele-promises-new-image-for-republicans-in-hip-hop-settings.php
[Eric Kleefeld] This sort of sounds like a middle-aged man talking to his kids, trying his utter best to sound as if he's cool. . . .

More: http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/02/19/steele/index.html

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/02/19/steele-and-boehner-go-gangsta/

For the GOP, up is down, black is white

http://firedoglake.com/2009/02/20/just-another-day-in-conservativeland/

Bizarro world

http://firedoglake.com/2009/02/19/breaking-obama-set-to-declare-totalitarianism-leading-right-wing-morons-agree/
[Thers] Leading right-wing morons agree: Barack Obama's presidency is indistinguishable from a totalitarian dictatorship. So perfidious is this man that he even now plots to impose sweeping imaginary laws in order to silence conservatives from speaking out against the other sweeping imaginary laws he plots to impose. Top Political Scientists call this the "tyranny of the subjunctive," and all citizens ought to fear it, as it were. . . .

Bonus item: Reality Bites

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/do-not-read-this-story-while-drinking-liquids.php
"Bush rules improved the environment, says former EPA administrator" . . .

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:26 AM

Thursday, February 19, 2009

DO-OVER

Under two separate investigations, Roland Burris promises to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, this time. Really

http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/1435030,roland-burris-impeach-statement-021709.article
The newspaper revealed Burris quietly filed a revised affidavit with the House committee that detailed previously unknown conversations concerning campaign fund-raising with Blagojevich's brother. The affidavit also disclosed discussions Burris had about his potential appointment with other Blagojevich insiders.

Burris made neither fact known in a Jan. 5 sworn statement to the committee or during testimony before the panel three days later in which he confirmed speaking to only one Blagojevich ally about his appointment and denied any quid pro quos took place leading up to it. . . .

http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2009/02/burris_in_the_bunker_cancels_t.html
Burris in the bunker. Cancels Thursday schedule. . . .

Echoes of Blago: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/surreal.php

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/im-smart-not-like-everybody-says-like.html
I'm Smart, Not Like Everybody Says, Like Dumb, I'm Smart, And I Want Respect! . . .

Senior Illinois senator Dick Durbin all but pulls the plug on Burris

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/no_love_lost.php
"When we met with Roland Burris in January, we made it clear that in order for him to be seated in the U.S. Senate he needed to meet two requirements - first, that he submit the proper paperwork certifying his appointment, and second, that he appear before the General Assembly's Impeachment Committee to testify openly, honestly and completely about the nature of his relationship with the former governor, his associates and the circumstances surrounding this appointment." . . . [read on]

Oh, really? I'll believe it when I see it

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/cha-ching-or-not-which-gop-governors-could-really-turn-down-stimulus-bucks.php
[Eric Kleefeld] So with the stimulus bill now fully passed and signed into law, are there still any Republican governors who might actually go so far as refuse some or all of the cash, even if it goes against the immediate interests of their states? The answer is Yes. . . . [read on]

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/high-wire-act-by-digby-handful-of.html

The Republicans keep trying to find reasons not to hold investigative hearings on Bush/Cheney crimes

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/goper-we-cant-investigate-bush-because-of-the-bad-economy.php

Civil war in Iraq? Who could have foreseen this?

http://www.juancole.com/2009/02/iraq-kurdish-arab-war-in-offing.html

Looking toward Afghanistan

http://washingtonindependent.com/30597/group-aims-to-preempt-a-progressive-split-on-afghanistan

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/02/america_needs_more_realistic_aspirations_in_afghanistan.php

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/2/19/25634/9173

Destroying California and their own Republican governor: the hard right rules the GOP

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-budget18-2009feb18,0,2637442.story
Senate Republicans oust their leader, who had joined with Democrats to forge a budget package . . .

And nationally . . .

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/02/18/moderates_fear_republican_study_committee.html
[Taegan Goddard] Moderate House Republicans "are more worried about the pressures from their right, where the Republican Study Committee is taking names and conservatives are raising the prospect of primary challenges, than about potential fallout from opposing a popular president," reports CQ Politics.

CQ Weekly has a must read piece on the Republican Study Committee, "the caucus of the most rightward thinking members of the House."

More: http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=weeklyreport-000003052470

The ultra-ambitious Eric Cantor (R-VA) wants a higher national profile. He’s getting it

http://firedoglake.com/2009/02/18/great-moments-in-pocket-lining-the-cantor-family-bailout/

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/no-he-cantor-by-digby-i-have-to-say.html

Sarah Palin’s long winter of discontent

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/18/AR2009021803177.html
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) owes income taxes on nearly $17,000 paid to her as travel reimbursements when she spent nights in her Wasilla residence, according to a state legal opinion that the payments were not legitimate business expenses . . .

http://www.adn.com/palin/story/693695.html
The governor's office wouldn't say this week how much she owes in back taxes for meal money, or whether she intends to continue to receive the per diem allowance. As of December, she was still charging the state for meals and incidentals.

"The amount of taxes owed is a private matter," Sharon Leighow, Palin's spokeswoman, said . . .

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/02/18/palin/index.html
February has not been a good month for Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. . . .

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016944.php

The beginning of the end of Norm Coleman’s case in Minnesota?

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/minnesota-court-rejects-coleman-witness----and-perhaps-his-whole-argument.php

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/court-to-coleman-no-were-not-changing-our-ruling-against-you.php

The Republicans and their talk show cronies have made hay by whipping up fear over the renewal of the Fairness Doctrine (not that there would be anything wrong with that). Obama says he has no intention of doing so – think this will stop the bleating?

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/02/18/fairness/index.html

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:32 AM

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

DUMP HIM

Roland Burris admits another lie under oath. Look, it’s very simple. If he had admitted during his nomination that he (a) met with Blago’s brother and other members of the Blago team and (b) agreed to do fundraising for Blago, he would never have made it into the Senate. Instead, he lied about it. Dump him

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/burris_now_admits_he_tried_to_raise_money_for_blago.php
[Chicago Tribune] U.S. Sen. Roland Burris has acknowledged he sought to raise campaign funds for then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich at the request of the governor's brother at the same time he was making a pitch to be appointed to the Senate seat previously held by President Barack Obama. . . . [read on]

http://www.pjstar.com/archive/x1284809537/I-will-answer-any-and-all-questions
[Burris] "There were never any inappropriate conversations between me and anyone else. And I will answer any and all questions to get that point across to keep my faith with the citizens of Illinois."

Burris did not take questions . . .

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/17/13219/8038/133/698548

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/02/17/breaking-burris-fesses-up/

http://www.americablog.com/2009/02/democratic-attorney-general-in-illinois.html
Democratic Attorney General in Illinois wants Burris investigated . . .

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/02/17/burris/index.html
[Alex Koppelman] "One Democratic source put it this way: 'He's in deep shit.'" . . .

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/corruption_in_washington_/2009/02/sen_roland_w_burris_dhunger.php
[Mark Kleiman] Boot him. Now. It's the right thing to do, and his replacement is likely to be a stronger candidate in 2010, even if Burris isn't in jail by then.

http://www.americablog.com/2009/02/democratic-attorney-general-in-illinois.html
[Joe Sudbay] It is truly phenomenal how badly Blago screwed up this situation. The reason Illinois had a vacant seat was because its junior Senator, Barack Obama, became president -- against enormous odds. Instead of creating a Senate legacy for Obama, Blago created a scandal. And, Roland Burris helped insure that the scandal still has legs. Great work.

The Trib says: http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/vox_pop/2009/02/roland-burris-resign.html
The benefit of the doubt had already been stretched thin and taut by the time Roland Burris offered his third version of the events leading to his appointment to the U.S. Senate. It finally snapped like a rubber band, popping him on that long Pinocchio nose of his, when he came out with version four.

Let’s see if we have it right: Burris had zero contact with any of Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s cronies about his interest in the Senate seat being vacated by President Barack Obama— unless you count that conversation with former chief of staff Lon Monk, and, on further reflection, the ones with insiders John Harris, Doug Scofield and John Wyma and, oh yeah, the governor’s brother and fund-raising chief, Robert Blagojevich. But Burris didn’t raise a single dollar for the now ex-governor as a result of those contacts because that could be construed as a quid pro quo and besides, everyone he asked refused to donate.

The story gets worse with every telling.

Enough. Roland Burris must resign. . . . [read on]

Obama to send 17,000 troops to Afghanistan

http://www.juancole.com/2009/02/obama-orders-17000-us-troops-to.html
[Juan Cole] What we saw in Iraq was that the sheer number of troops did not matter so much as how they are deployed and for what purpose. . . . [read on]

More: http://washingtonindependent.com/30487/as-expected-obama-approves-troop-increase-to-afghanistan

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/02/more_troops_to_afghanistan.php

Cheney “furious” that Bush didn’t pardon Libby

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2009/02/16/2009-02-16_exvp_dick_cheney_outraged_president_bush.html
Several sources confirmed Cheney refused to take no for an answer. "He went to the mat and came back and back and back at Bush," a Cheney defender said. "He was still trying the day before Obama was sworn in."

After repeatedly telling Cheney his mind was made up, Bush became so exasperated with Cheney's persistence he told aides he didn't want to discuss the matter any further.

The unsuccessful full-court press left Cheney bitter. "He's furious with Bush," a Cheney source told The News. "He's really angry about it . . .”

More: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/rove_i_think_about_scooter_every_day.php
Fox News "consultant" Karl Rove was asked this morning about the report that Dick Cheney was furious with President Bush for not pardoning Scooter Libby . . .

Now Norm Coleman wants a whole new election in Minnesota

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/coleman-going-for-do-over-spokesman-declares-election-fatally-flawed.php
Spokesman Declares Election "Fatally-Flawed" . . .

More: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/coleman-camp-unprepared-for-quick-trial.php

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/coleman-apparently-laying-groundwork-for-appeal.php

Mother/daughter relationships: Bristol Palin gets interviewed by Fox

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/02/17/bristol-palin-abstinence/
In 2006, as a gubernatorial candidate, Sarah Palin filled out a questionnaire emphasizing her support for abstinence education. She wrote that “the explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support.” . . .

Palin’s views came under fire when it was revealed that her then-17-year-old daughter Bristol was pregnant. In her first public interview, Bristol told Fox News’ chief Palin cheerleader Greta Van Susteren last night that abstinence is “not realistic at all” . . .

http://tbogg.firedoglake.com/2009/02/17/nobody-puts-sarah-palins-baby-in-the-corner/
[Tbogg] Continuing with her stalker-like obsession with the Palin family, Greta Van Susteren wings her way to Alaska to interview high school dropout & teenaged babymama Bristol Palin . . .

Wait! A camera crew? Guess what happens? Go on, guess. . . .

Sarah Palin jumping in front of cameras while hauling a baby around like a prop? Nobody could have seen that coming...

As for that "Bristol and Levi were already planning to get married" Republican convention storyline? Eh. Maybe later . . .

Facebook “clarifies” its new IP policy – short version, if you post it, we own it

http://www.americablog.com/2009/02/how-many-more-clarifications-is.html

Rebranding the GOP

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/17/74344/4778/246/698435

The kind of people they are

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016931.php
[Steve Benen] In general, I avoid commenting on Michelle Malkin posts -- there's rarely any point -- but she had a gem today that's just too amusing to ignore. (via Memeorandum) The headline reads, "President Obama's 2,000-point tumble” . . .

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016922.php
[Steve Benen] A friend passed along an item from the weekend, with an audio clip of Michele Bachmann chatting with a conservative talk-show host in Minnesota. In the ongoing debate as to which member of Congress is the single most ridiculous, this interview is very compelling evidence that Bachmann is, at a minimum, near the front of the pack. . . .

Bonus item: Rocked

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/aerosmith-to-house-gop-dont-use-our-song.php
Aerosmith to House GOP: Don't Use Our Song . . .

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:17 AM

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

TOTAL WAR

The GOP: “total war”

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2009/02/23/090223taco_talk_hertzberg
[Hendrik Hertzberg] Hill Republicans have opted for total war. . . [read on]

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/its-all-theyve-got-by-digby-if-youve.html
[Digby] Conservatives believe they are an oppressed minority. They even believed it when they were running the whole damned world. But now that they are actually in the minority, their worldview shattered by ideological failure, their sense of oppression and victimization are more important to them than ever. . . [read on]

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016915.php
[Steve Benen] The House Republican Whips released a video this morning, bragging like conquering heroes about their unanimous rejection of the economic stimulus package last week. It's possible the GOP base will love it -- rocking out to "Back in the Saddle" while reading party talking points -- but I found it kind of embarrassing. As Jason Zengerle explained, "[I]t's basically a litany of every tired, failed GOP buzzword (from ACORN to golf carts), all set to the tune of ... Aerosmith.... [Y]ears from now, when historians are trying to sort out what went so terribly wrong with conservatism in the early twenty-first century, I really hope this little video doesn't get overlooked." . . . [read on]

More: http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=news-000003052605

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/2/16/16202/6599

Eric Cantor (R-VA), man of modesty

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/house-republicans/eric-cantors-mentors/
Eric Cantor’s Role Models: Newt Gingrich And Winston Churchill . . .

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/study_harder.php
[Josh Marshall] I'm not sure what other ways he's going to follow in Newt Gingrich's steps. But GOP House whip Eric Cantor seems to have the megalomania and ego front down pat. . . .

More: http://washingtonindependent.com/30394/what-is-eric-cantor-thinking

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/maybe_cantor_wants_it.php

Predicting the future

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/2/16/184827/594
[Josh Orton] Three total Republicans voted for Obama's stimulus, because just six months from now (if that long), they'll declare the legislation a failure, months before any evaluation is reasonable. Their declaration will be treated as legitimate.

Meanwhile, the traditional media dutifully reports Obama's supposed failure at bipartisanship. . . .

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/philosophical-differences-by-digby.html

How the Republicans can reduce the size of the stimulus bill, if they have problems with it

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/16/begala.carolina/index.html
[Paul Begala] If you oppose stimulus, don't take the money . . .

What the Republicans said in 1993 – sound familiar?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/15/113912/339/871/697810
Rep. Robert Michel (R-IL), Los Angeles Times, 5/28/93:

They will remember who let loose this deadly virus into our economic bloodstream.

Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-GA), GOP Press Conference, House TV Gallery, 8/5/93:

I believe this will lead to a recession next year. This is the Democrat machine's recession, and each one of them will be held personally accountable.

Rep. John Kasich (R-OH), 8/5/93:

Do you know what? This is your package. We will come back here next year and try to help you when this puts the economy in the gutter...

Rep. John Kasich (R-OH), CNN, 7/28/93:

This plan will not work. If it was to work, then I'd have to become a Democrat...

[more]

The Republicans are ruining California – is this their plan for the rest of the U.S. too?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/17/us/17cali.html
The roots of California’s inability to address its budget woes are statutory and political. The state, unlike most others, requires a two-thirds majority vote in the Legislature to pass budgets and tax increases. And its process for creating voter initiatives hamstrings the budget process by directing money for some programs while depriving others of cash. . . .

Republican lawmakers, who tend on average to be more conservative than the majority of California’s Republican voters . . . have unequivocally opposed all tax increases. . . .

http://www.calitics.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=8089

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2009_02_15_archive.html#8306049243745632150
[LAT] Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is preparing to send pink slips to 20,000 state workers . . .

I’ve been wondering why no one points this out in the midst of all the hoopla about “bipartisanship.” The Obama plan WAS bipartisan, worked out in consultation with Republican governors (who have to make their states work and can’t afford ideological posturing). Why do only congressional votes count?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/17/us/politics/17repubs.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/15/AR2009021500472.html

Did Joe Lieberman save Obama’s stimulus bill?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016913.php

Oh oh

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29207954/
Pakistan has agreed to suspend military offensives and impose Islamic law in part of the restive northwest, making a gesture it hopes will help calm the Taliban insurgency while rejecting Washington's call for tougher measures against militants. . . .

Dems say, show us the OPR report

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/dem_senators_to_doj_hows_that_report_on_torture_op.php
They also suggest that they'll take action if the evidence shows that DOJ lawyers shaped their opinions to conform to the White House's views . . .

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/16/144042/589/468/698213
[McJoan] Three things that are interesting in this report, two that are not terribly signficant, but one that has some implications for further action Holder's DOJ could take. First, there's now "official" confirmation of what all of the shrill bloggers and civil rights activists have known all along--the Yoo/Bybee's memos were crap, poorly argued and not "consistent with the professional standards that apply to DOJ attorneys. Second, former Bush officials are actually arguing that the OPR--the professionals who are tasked with reviewing DOJ actions--isn't qualifed to do its job. Somehow I don't think that argument is going to sway Holder.

But the third thing that is interesting, and potentially significant, is this:

One of the lawyers said he was stunned to discover how much material the investigators had gathered, including internal e-mails and multiple drafts that allowed OPR to reconstruct how the memos were crafted. In a departure from the norm, Jarrett also told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee last year he would inform them of his findings and would "consider" releasing a public version.

It's the process, baby. The question of "how the memos were crafted" is the key question from a political standpoint, particularly for a Senate Judiciary Committee that is primed to investigate. Looking at the e-mails of the back and forth of the memos in process, leading to who might have been pressuring for the conclusions, will be important information for Leahy's committee.

As an aside, anyone want to take best on whether that e-mail trail leads to David Addington?

Roland Burris, STILL trying to explain his lies

http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2009/02/burris_on_monday_tries_to_save.html
Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.) trying to save his sinking Senate career, delivered a brief statement Monday morning where he argued he answered questions about the contacts he had with former Gov. Blagojevich team leading up to his appointment. He did not take questions.

Said Burris, "Very brief statement is that we said in our testimony before the impeachment committee -- my lawyer stated that we will have to file official information in our report because there were some questions asked where we had to get some additional information for the committee. He also stated that we might be incomplete in our report, therefore, we -- if we check the transcripts -- that we would file supplemental information -- (off mike) -- because we might not have answered all questions." . . .

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/02/16/burris_makes_another_statement.html
[Taegan Goddard] Burris did not take any questions.

First Read says the new Burris revelations may be enough to: "(1) Seriously hurt Burris' chances of surviving primary challenges from strong Democratic challengers like Lisa Madigan, Jan Schakowsky, Jesse Jackson Jr. or others, and (2) Embolden those Democrats and give them prime oppo ammo."

Republicans hope the controversy allows them to win the Senate seat in 2010. . . .

http://www.suntimes.com/news/brown/1432864,CST-NWS-brown16.article
[Mark Brown] I'll leave it to the proper investigative bodies to decide whether Roland Burris committed perjury last month in testimony before the Illinois House impeachment committee. From a strict legal perspective, maybe he didn't.

But I'll tell you straight up, our new U.S. senator proved himself to be a lying little sneak. . . [read on]

Explain this: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/16/34545/7015/609/698064
REPRESENTATIVE DURKIN: I guess the point is I was trying to ask, did you speak to anybody who was on the Governor's staff prior to the Governor's arrest or anybody, any of those individuals or anybody who is closely related to the Governor? . . .

And this: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/burris_contradicts_sworn_testimony_on_talking_to_b.php
But according to the Associated Press, the transcript of Burris's testimony shows that he was specifically questioned about Robert Blagojevich, and consulted with his lawyer before responding. . . .

Blowing the Stevens conviction

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0209/18920.html
In a surprising move, the Justice Department has removed the prosecution team that won the corruption conviction of former Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) from any further litigation in the case, according to a new court filing.

This comes after Judge Emmet Sullivan, who presided over the Stevens trial and continues to preside over post-conviction fights over the legitimacy of those proceedings, ruled that four DOJ lawyers, including Brenda Morris, chief prosecutor in the Stevens' case, and William Welch, head of DOJ's Public Integrity Section, were in contempt for failure to comply with his orders.

Sullivan has been angered by the Justice Department's unwillingness to turn over documents and other materials related to accusations by whistleblower Chad Joy. Joy, an FBI special agent who took part in the Stevens case, alleges that prosecutors concealed evidence that would have helped Stevens' defense team. . . .

More: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/justice_department_replaces_stevens_prosecution_te.php

One thing you can count on from the Coleman team in Minnesota, it’s consistent inconsistency. After saying they would drop their arguments that forged ballots should count (!), they’re back to arguing it again

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/coleman-lawyer-still-advocating-for-forgers.php

Franken starts acting like Senator

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/franken-criss-crossing-minnesota-as-senator-elect-playing-up-the-economy.php

Two progressivisms?

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=11640

Lazy press from the WSJ

http://mediamatters.org/countyfair/200902160001

Watch carefully: how the Republicans use talk radio to circulate lies into the media mainstream

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2009/feb/16/healthcare-congress-conservative-lies

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016841.php

Bonus item: shed no tears

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/economy-hurting-bush-legacy----literally.php
The lousy economy is now hurting George W. Bush in a pretty direct way: U.S. News reports that fundraising has slowed down for the Bush library, making it difficult to meet the $500 million goal.

The situation is so bad that Bush has had to personally make phone calls to raise money . . .

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:05 AM

Monday, February 16, 2009

LOSERS

Someone apparently needs to explain the concept to John McCain: YOU LOST!!!

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/02/15/stimulus-bill-was-a-bad-beginning-for-obama-says-mccain/
Stimulus bill was 'a bad beginning' for Obama, says McCain . . .

More: http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/15/obama.gop.stimulus/index.html
GOP senators say Obama off to bad start . . .

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/maverick.php
[Josh Marshall] Shorter John McCain: Obama needs to do a better job of letting us jerk him around. . . .

Obama and his relationship with the Dems in Congress

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016900.php

Inside the Beltway

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/opinion/15rich.html
[David Axelrod] “This town talks to itself and whips itself into a frenzy with its own theories that are completely at odds with what the rest of America is thinking,” he says. Once the frenzy got going, it didn’t matter that most polls showed support for Obama and his economic package: “If you watched cable TV, you’d see our support was plummeting, we were in trouble. It was almost like living in a parallel universe.” . . . [read on]

More: http://firedoglake.com/2009/02/15/consensus-reality-vs-beltway-wisdom-on-the-stimulus-bill/

Obama’s to-do list

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/02/obamas_to_do_list.php

The Geithner proposal: Are we headed toward some kind of partial, temporary nationalization of the banks? (One thing for sure: they’ll never CALL it that.)

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/a_bit_of_wiggle_room.php

http://oxdown.firedoglake.com/diary/3661

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/wheels_turning.php

http://firedoglake.com/2009/02/15/geithner-set-to-protect-current-free-trade-regime/

What’s ahead in Afghanistan? Nothing good

http://www.juancole.com/2009/02/us-predator-kills-30-in-pakistan-since.html
[Juan Cole] Afghan President Hamid Karzai tells Aljazeera that he has not spoken to President Barack Obama since the latter was sworn in in January. It seems clear that the Obama team views Karzai as a Bush crony who is personally corrupt and ineffective, and are willing to risk bad realtions in order to push the Afghan elite to adopt new policies. . . . [read on]

More: http://firedoglake.com/2009/02/15/30k-300k-how-many-more-for-afghanistan-and-why/

Torture. What they did

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/breaking-down-sense-of-impenetrability.html

The OPR report on Yoo et al.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016906.php
[Newsweek] "OPR investigators focused on whether the memo's authors deliberately slanted their legal advice to provide the White House with the conclusions it wanted, according to three former Bush lawyers who asked not to be identified discussing an ongoing probe. One of the lawyers said he was stunned to discover how much material the investigators had gathered, including internal e-mails and multiple drafts that allowed OPR to reconstruct how the memos were crafted. In a departure from the norm, Jarrett also told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee last year he would inform them of his findings and would "consider" releasing a public version. If he does, it could be the most revealing public glimpse yet at how some of the major decisions of Bush-era counterterrorism policy were made."

Roland Burris holds a press conference – and only makes things worse

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/2/15/224558/590
[Todd Beeton] Roland Burris held another cringe-inducing press conference today . . .

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/02/15/burris_defends_himself_at_press_conference.html
Burris's attorney "repeatedly stepped in to try to answer questions as reporters insisted the senator take the microphone."

Video: http://www.chicagotribune.com/video/?slug=chi-090215-burriss-wn

Marcy Wheeler’s speculative but not entirely unfounded guesses about what really happened with Burris and Blagojevich

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/02/15/any-bets-burris-did-bundle-donations/
Here's a prediction of where the new Burris controversy is going: I suspect we'll find out, in coming days, that while Burris did not donate directly to Blago, he never refused to bundle donations for Blago. . . .

More: http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/02/15/burris-campaign-for-the-senate-seat/

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/02/15/burris-did-not-want-to-reveal-his-conversations-and-he-didnt/

The media’s fear of bloggers, on blatant display

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/02/msm_derides_bloggers_for_asking_hypothetical_bad_question.php

Well, we knew this, but now we KNOW it

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0209/18832.html
Having just seen what President Barack Obama can do with 58 Democrats in the Senate, Republicans are more determined than ever to keep him from getting a 59th.

Especially if the 59th is Al Franken.

Franken, the former comedian, leads Republican Norm Coleman by 225 votes in a “Groundhog Day” of an election that dawned more than three months ago and shows no signs of ending soon.

Which is exactly how Senate Republicans want it. The National Republican Senatorial Committee held a ritzy fundraiser for Coleman in Washington this week, helping him raise the money he needs to keep his legal challenges alive through a trial and then a lengthy legal process if he loses.

How long should Coleman hold out?

“However long it takes,” says Texas Sen. John Cornyn, who chairs the NRSC. . . .

How much longer? http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2009/02/15/franken-coleman-update-021509-running-out-of-tricks/

Rethinking the filibuster

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/02/the_new_filibuster.php
Kevin Drum raises an important point, namely that “The filibuster was never intended to become a routine requirement that all legislation needs 60% of the vote in the Senate to pass.”

Indeed, the filibuster was never intended at all. . . . [read on]

So, now the Republicans are the party of fiscal discipline. Oh, really?

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/shrink-wrapped-thieves-by-digby-from.html

More: http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=11638
"GOP lawmakers tout projects in the stimulus bill they opposed". . . .

Newt: guru of the new obstructionist Republicans

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/02/15/gingrich-stimulus-2/

More: http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/02/the_gingrich_doctrine_and_the_21st_century.php

The Republicans are losing their minds. Really

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/send-in-gun-nuts-by-digby-wow.html

http://www.congressmatters.com/storyonly/2009/2/15/114712/941/371/640

Bonus item: SNL on Congressional Republicans – don’t miss it!

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/2/15/141218/261

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:45 AM

Sunday, February 15, 2009

MISCONDUCT

Roland Burris has a close encounter with the “P” word. Will he survive it? (What base of support does he have in the Senate, after all? They didn’t want him in the first place)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/us/15burris.html
Senator Roland W. Burris acknowledged in documents made public on Saturday that the brother of former Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich sought campaign fund-raising help from him in the weeks and months before his appointment to succeed Barack Obama as Illinois’s junior senator. . . .

The disclosure was inconsistent with Mr. Burris’s earlier descriptions, including one under oath, of his conversations with those closest to the former governor. It raised new questions about events that preceded Mr. Burris’s unusual appointment in late December, and prompted some Republican lawmakers in Illinois to immediately demand an inquiry into whether Mr. Burris committed perjury.

In a sworn affidavit Mr. Burris sent this month to the leader of the state legislative committee that investigated whether to impeach Mr. Blagojevich, Mr. Burris said that the former governor’s brother, Robert, had called him three times in October and November, seeking assistance in raising campaign money for Mr. Blagojevich . . .

Mr. Burris did not mention those conversations last month when he was testifying under oath before the legislative committee considering impeaching Mr. Blagojevich, who was charged on Dec. 9, in part, with trying to sell Mr. Obama’s former Senate seat for campaign contributions, a high paying job or a federal cabinet post. Nor did Mr. Burris tell the committee about conversations he had with the governor’s chief of staff (who now faces federal charges along with the former governor) and with one of the governor’s top fund-raisers about the open Senate seat.

The committee asked Mr. Burris directly whether he had discussed the seat with anyone on a list of Mr. Blagojevich’s top confidants; Robert Blagojevich’s name was mentioned specifically. . .

[S]ome Republicans said they believed local prosecutors should pursue a perjury investigation against Mr. Burris, and some suggested that his disclosures might actually have been prompted by concerns that some of his conversations with Mr. Blagojevich’s allies were recorded by federal authorities during the corruption investigation that led to the former governor’s political downfall. . . .

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/14/burris.funds/index.html
[I]n a statement released Friday to the Sun-Times along with the affidavit filed February 5, Burris said, "There were several facts that I was not given the opportunity to make during my testimony to the impeachment committee, so, upon receiving the transcripts, I voluntarily submitted an affidavit so everything was transparent." . . .

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/02/14/burris-lied-about-contacts-with-blagojevich/
[Marcy Wheeler, the queen of timelines] So best as I can reconstruct, here are the contacts Burris had with Blago's folks:

July or September: Discussions with Lon Monk about picking up lobbying business to the Governor

Unknown: Conversations with John Harris, Doug Scofield, and John Wyma about seat

October: Conversation with Robert Blagojevich tying money to seat

November: Conversation with Robert Blagojevich tying money to seat

December 26: Conversation with Sam Adam Jr., Blago's maybe Defense Attorney, about appointment

December 28: Conversation with Adam, then Blago, accepting seat

January 5: Roland signs affidavit that does not address contacts with Blago's people, beyond the appointment discussions on December 26 and 28

January 8: In State Legislative hearing, Burris admits to contacts with Lon Monk, but does not mention contacts with four other Blago representatives

January 15: Burris sworn in as Senator

February 5: Burris writes a new affidavit, revealing additional conversations

Lessons in bipartisanship

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/02/an_eternal_optimist_--_but_not_a_sap.php
[National Journal] Obama held no illusions about the scale of the challenges he faces, both economic and political. One of those challenges was the overwhelming Republican resistance to his plan, which frustrated his campaign hopes of quickly bridging Washington's ideological and partisan divides. Obama seemed to split that opposition into several categories. Some of it was ideological: "I think that there were some senators and House members who have a sincere philosophical difference with the idea of any government role in boosting demand in the economy. They don't believe in [economist John Maynard] Keynes and they are still fighting FDR." Some was tactical: "I also think that there was a decision made... where [Republican leaders] said... 'If we can enforce conformity among our ranks, then it will invigorate our base and will potentially give us some political advantage either short-term or long-term." He paused. "Whether that's a smart strategy, I think you should ask them."

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/obamas-winning-week-really.php
[Matthew Cooper] I think Obama's efforts at bipartisanship on the stimulus and in his cabinet appointments will work to his advantage in the long run. He's not a sucker. The president knows that there will be occasions when he can pick up Republican votes and it will serve him well. . . .

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/14/233652/005/973/697724
[Kos] Yeah, I know there were those who thought that Obama's obsession with "bipartisanship" was some sort of clever master plan to outflank Republicans or something, but in reality, the obsession with getting Republican votes ended up detracting from the selling of the stimulus itself to the American people. . . .

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/14/112715/694/184/697488
[Joe Biden] Asked whether Idaho might get a smaller share of the stimulus package because the entire congressional delegation and Gov. Butch Otter oppose the president's plan, Biden said:

"No. And I think you'll find they'll love it when they start turning spades and building roads and making sure the infrastructure gets built. Let me put it this way: I'll be surprised if those who say they (don't) like it don't use it. I'll be surprised."

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/14/115129/604/169/697503

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/14/13452/3284/620/697060

The Village media realize that, huh, Obama won

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/the_big_disconnect.php
"It's eerie -- I read the news from the Beltway, and there's this disconnect with the polls from the Midwest that I see all around me."

That's from Ann Seltzer, the Iowa pollster who's an expert on public opinion throughout the midwest, as quoted by Ben Smith. . . . [read on]

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/2/14/1597/39888

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/2009_democratic_agenda_/2009/02/winning_beats_losing.php
[Mark Kleiman] Dave Espo of the AP is a pretty good weathervane for the Beltway conventional wisdom. Espo's latest story on the passage of the stimulus bill suggests that the CW, after focusing obsessively on how this or that step in the bill's passage represented a defeat for Obama, have finally noticed that he basically got his way, and that the Democratic team at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue has started to deliver the goods. . . . [read on]

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/props-by-digby-atrios-asks-i-really-do.html

More: http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/02/14/brooks/index.html
[Glenn Greenwald] The New York Times' David Brooks and Gail Collins had an online "conversation" with one another this week, and Brooks did an excellent job of explicitly demonstrating most everything that is relevant -- and destructive -- about the mentality of the standard Beltway journalist . . . [read on]

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016893.php
[Steve Benen] If all you had to go by was Bill Kristol's Weekly Standard column, you'd likely think President Obama's presidency was off to a horrible start. In his new piece, Kristol calls the still-unsigned stimulus package a "debacle," and lists a series of what he sees as political fiascos, chalked up to a "lack of presidential leadership." Republicans, Kristol argues, "have some reason to cheer" and "are relieved by Obama's weak start."

My sense is that much of the political establishment agrees with this. . . .

Karl Rove testimony coming?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/13/AR2009021303093.html

Will we see the DOJ report on professional misconduct by Yoo et al.? Sounds like a doozy

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/02/14/the-push-to-publish-the-opr-report/

Ha, ha. I love it when the Republicans discover new technologies

http://www.slate.com/id/2211247
"To our friends on the 'Net, what's up!" Michael Steele is waving at a tiny video camera at the National Republican Club on Capitol Hill. . . . [read on]

You think it was a mistake when Real American Rush Limbaugh said he wants Obama to fail? A misquote from the liberal media? Nope. He says it again – and means it

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/02/limbaugh_reiterates_desire_for_economy_to_tank.php
“I want everything he’s doing to fail . . . I want everything he’s doing to fail.”

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016892.php

Sunday talk show line-ups

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/15/0363/75448/949/697732
Meet the Press: Senior Advisor to President Obama David Axelrod; Roundtable with: Ron Brownstein (National Journal), Eugene Robinson (The Washington Post), Roger Simon (Politico), and Kimberly Strassel (The Wall Street Journal).

Face the Nation: White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs; Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA); Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL).

This Week: Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY); Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC); Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA); Rep. Peter King (R-NY); Roundtable with: Sam Donaldson (ABC News), Cokie Roberts (ABC News), George Will (ABC News), and Donna Brazile.

Fox News Sunday: David Axelrod; CEO of Google Eric Schmidt; Mark Zandu (Economy.com); Roundtable with: Bill Sammon (Fox News), Mara Liasson (NPR), Bill Kristol (The Weekly Standard), and Juan Williams (Fox News).

[Note: NPR has requested that Juan Williams not be identified with NPR when he appears on Fox]

State of the Union: Sen. John McCain (R-AZ); Robert Gibbs; Gwen Ifill (PBS); NBA Hall of Famer Bill Russell (Formerly of the Boston Celtics); NBA Hall of Famer Magic Johnson (Formerly of the Los Angeles Lakers); Two-time NBA All-Star Chris Paul (New Orleans Hornets); Seven-time NBA All-Star Grant Hill (Phoenix Suns); Two-time NBA MVP Steve Nash (Phoenix Suns); Rep. Aaraon Shock (R-IL).

Bonus item: Former COS Andy Card says, A shirt-sleeved Obama shows disrespect for the Oval Office. Bush never did that. He always wore a suit. Always. . .

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=11606

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:11 AM

Saturday, February 14, 2009

TURNCOAT

Politico: how Judd Gregg’s betrayal of Obama helps the Republicans

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0209/18821.html

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/13/5260/00520/713/696959

More: http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/02/13/1793960.aspx

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/02/the_ever_bolder_gop.php

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/the-bizarre-burgeoning-legend-of-judd-gregg.php

Apparently, Gregg didn’t even tell Obama personally that he was withdrawing

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2009/feb/13/obama-administration-did-gregg-even-tell

I’ve been waiting for this story to come out: how the GOP pressured Gregg to pull out of his promise in order to embarrass Obama – and succeeded

http://www.americablog.com/2009/02/real-reason-judd-gregg-dropped-out.html

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016871.php

And, of course. . .

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/gregg-to-vote-against-stimulus-package.php
Gregg To Vote Against Stimulus Package . . .

Stimulus bill passes

http://firedoglake.com/2009/02/13/house-passes-stimulus-package-and-bipartisanship-is-dead/
House Passes Stimulus Package–and Oh, By the Way, Bipartisanship is Dead

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/02/14/stimulus_plan_passes_senate.html
Stimulus Plan Passes Senate

What Obama has learned from the GOP rejection of his offers of comity and bipartisanship

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/bipartisanship/report-obama-advisers-realize-bipartisan-outreach-has-failed/
[WP] Senior Obama officials portrayed the latest personnel debacle as reflecting badly on Gregg alone, insisting they are still on course to change the tone in Washington and implement the president’s policies. But aides acknowledged that it is now clear that Obama has not been rewarded for reaching across the aisle, and they said he feels no imperative to replace Gregg with another Republican.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0209/18827.html
Emboldened by his victory on the stimulus package — but chastened by the pothole-pocked road that got him there — President Barack Obama and his aides are plunging ahead on a large and expensive agenda that virtually assures 2009 will be marked by intense partisan battles about the size and role of government.

White House aides say they have concluded that Obama too frequently lost control of the debate and his own image during the stimulus battle. By this reckoning, the story became too much about failed efforts at bipartisanship and Washington deal-making, and not enough about the president’s public salesmanship.

For Obama’s next act, the program is the same as he has been planning for months: New Deal-style plans to rescue struggling homeowners and rewrite regulations on the financial markets, plus a budget proposal that lays the groundwork for sweeping health care reform.

But the strategy to promote these items is getting an emergency overhaul. Obama plans to travel more and campaign more in an effort to pressure lawmakers with public support, rather than worrying about whether he can win over Republican votes in Congress. Officials suggested that the new, more partisan tone Obama embraced last week in his speech before House Democrats at their retreat and continued at his news conference Monday was what he should have been doing all along. . . .

More: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/triangulation-now-triangulation-forever-gopers-hang-together.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016883.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016876.php

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/not-one-single-vote-again-by-dday-so.html

Our stupid media

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/so_john_mccain_says_that.php
[Josh Marshall] So John McCain says that Obama needs to work on bipartisanship, which is about par for the course from McCain and for other Republicans these days. I just heard a reporter on MSNBC say that the Republicans have emerged from this battle with their reputation for fiscal discipline strengthened while Obama has had his reputation for bipartisanship tarnished.

As annoying as it is to hear this stuff, I can't say I'm losing a lot of sleep over it. Because in addition to being nonsensical on its face, I really don't think most people around the country are seeing any of this that way. The primary aim of this is to work the refs, the refs being DC political reporters, who are usually pretty easy to work. . . .

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/02/washington_post_notes_damage_done_by_senate_centrists_only_when_its_too_late.php
The Washington Post has a decent article by Lori Montgomery making the point that the changes Senate “centrists” made to economic recovery legislation will make the package much more ineffective, costing hundreds of thousands of people their jobs. But as Jon Chait observes it would have been nice of them to make this point back when it could have made a difference . . .

http://www.americablog.com/2009/02/nbcs-political-team-discovers-there.html
[NBC] Perhaps the biggest fallout from yesterday’s Gregg news is the realization that outside Collins, Snowe, and Specter, Obama isn’t going to receive much support from Republicans, no matter how many of them he tries to appoint to his cabinet, how many times he has them over for drinks at the White House, and how many times he meets with their conference. . . .

[NB: Just figured that out, did you?]

The must-read of the day: why Obama needs more pressure from the left

http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=5bff5e94-6fa6-4a69-9ff2-8f08cb437ccc

Reactions: http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/02/13/pressure/index.html

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/02/the_case_for_a_feisty_left.php

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=11600

The coming fight over health care

http://washingtonindependent.com/30363/gop-stimulus-playbook-useless-in-health-care-battle
Republicans Don't Share Health Care Consensus As They Do on Tax Policy . . .

The coming fight over Social Security

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/read-it-and-weep-by-digby-william.html

More signs that elements in the Pentagon are subtly working against the new President

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/torture/defense-department-statements-about-guantanamo-seemingly-at-odds-with-obama-administration/

Blackwater rebrands itself . . . as Xe

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/blackwater_is_dead_long_live_xe.php

http://attackerman.firedoglake.com/2009/02/13/theletterz/

Bush defenders REALLY don’t want an investigation into war crimes

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/02/13/bushie-deadly-torture-investigations/
Last night on The O’Reilly Factor, Bill O’Reilly showed a clip of a Fox News producer ambushing Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) to accuse him of political hypocrisy for urging an investigation into Bush crimes after he had opposed the Clinton impeachment. “This Leahy thing — this is beyond the pale,” O’Reilly moaned.

Marc Thiessen, Bush’s former chief speechwriter, agreed. Not only would the investigations be hypocritcal, he said, but worse, they would be “terribly dangerous” because they would expose the “facts” of the U.S.’s interrogation techniques to Osama bin Laden . . .

The DOJ’s Office of Professional Responsibility reviewed the role of John Yoo and others in producing custom-made legal rationalizations for a variety of Bush/Cheney crimes. We haven’t seen their report. Why not?

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/02/13/very-harsh-conclusions-about-yoo-and-bradbury/
“Very Harsh Conclusions” . . .

Nice work by David Axelrod

http://christyhardinsmith.firedoglake.com/2009/02/13/oooooohsnap-axelrod-hands-cheney-and-rove-their-stfu-papers/
ROMANO: Can I get a reaction on Dick Cheney's comments that there will be a high probability of a terrorist...that terrorists will attempt a catastrophic nuclear attack in the next ten years?

AXELROD: Well, those...there's no doubt, I think we all live with the reality that there's a threat and it's a grave threat. It existed during the years of the Bush Administration. We're living with it now -- it's something that the President is completely focused on and meets every day on these threats.

I was disappointed with the Vice President's comments, not because he said...stated the obvious which is that there are threats that are grave, but that he suggested that somehow the president's decisions on torture and Guantanamo would increase the likelihood of that.

You know, one of the things that I've been impressed by is the graciousness that President Bush has shown during this transition period and the first weeks of this administration. When he left, he wished us the best -- and I believe that he meant that.

Apparently the memo didn't circulate around the White House, because I've seen...you know...what I consider tasteless comments by the Vice President.

Amazing comments by Karl Rove. You know, the last thing that I think we're looking for at this juncture is advice on fiscal integrity or ethics from Karl Rove. I mean, anyone who's read the newspapers for the last eight years would laugh at that.

The kind of people they are

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2009_02_08_archive.html#9152489933333707353
[Atrios] You'd think in that backslapping love nest known as the US Senate, a Republican or two might tell Sherrod Brown that he doesn't have to rush back from his mother's funeral.

Theocracy watch, part one

http://www.americablog.com/2009/02/news-flash-stimulus-bill-is-anti.html
News flash: The stimulus bill is "anti-Christian" . . .

Theocracy watch, part two

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016873.php
[Steve Benen] Prominent fundamentalist Christian leaders with deep ties to the Republican Party have, over the years, generally rejected the notion of being "politically correct." It's ironic, then, that they've decided "religious right" doesn't sound good, and they'd prefer we stop using it.

Gary Bauer said this week, "There is an ongoing battle for the vocabulary of our debate. It amazes me how often in public discourse really pejorative phrases are used, like the 'American Taliban,' 'fundamentalists,' 'Christian fascists,' and 'extreme Religious Right.'"

A Focus on the Family official added that the "religious right" label might generate negative impressions: "Terms like 'Religious Right' have been traditionally used in a pejorative way to suggest extremism. The phrase 'socially conservative evangelicals' is not very exciting, but that's certainly the way to do it."

This is pretty silly. . . . [read on]

Count your blessings: Michael Steele is head of the GOP

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/02/rnc_chairman_michael_steele_says_republicans_are_untrustworthy.php

Karl Rove: the net tightens

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/another_development_in_the_ongoing.php
[Zachary Roth] House Judiciary chair John Conyers has sent a letter to Rove's lawyer, Robert Luskin, enclosing a subpoena for Rove to appear before the committee February 23. That date had already been agreed to in a prior exchange of letters late last month.

But things are getting slippery again. Rove had originally been scheduled to appear February 2, but the two sides agreed to a delay, in part thanks to a scheduling conflict on Rove's part.

But apparently, Luskin, in the intervening time, had asked for a second delay. In addition, Rove had announced in a recent speech in California that he didn't intend to appear, citing an executive privilege claimed by President Bush.

In today's letter issuing the subpoena, Conyers informs Luskin that he won't agree to the requested second delay. . . . Conyers also writes that he can't accept Luskin's request to have Rove's testimony be limited to the matter of the Don Siegelman case, meaning he would stay mum on the US Attorneys firings. . .

[NB: Why do you ask for a delay due to a scheduling conflict, if you don’t intend to appear in the first place?!]

Read the letter: http://washingtonindependent.com/30295/letter-to-bob-luskin

The DOJ seems to be blowing the prosecution against Ted Stevens (R-AK). Are they really going to manage to lose this open-and-shut case?

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/judge_to_stevens_prosecutors_isnt_the_department_o.php

More signs that Norm Coleman’s going to lose his fight in Minnesota; but that’s clearly not what this is about any more

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/in-new-opinion-minnesota-election-court-seriously-damages-colemans-chances.php
In New Opinion, Minnesota Election Court Seriously Damages Coleman's Chances . . .

More: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/franken-camp-celebrates-big-court-decision-against-colemans-rejected-ballots.php

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/franken-lawyer-grills-election-official-in-gop-leaning-town.php

Bonus item: Sean Hannity abandons the pretense of news, and converts his show into a straight comedy act

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016874.php

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:36 AM

Friday, February 13, 2009

CLEARING THE BATTLEFIELD

Starting to see a pattern? Obama holds out the offer of bipartisanship, Republicans use it to make him look bad. At least Rush is honest about it: their goal is to see him fail, not help him succeed

http://www.wmur.com/politics/18702350/detail.html
Gregg Withdraws Nomination For Commerce Secretary
In a written statement, Gregg said he is withdrawing because of conflicts with the stimulus package and the census. He said he had talked about those issues with President Barack Obama before he was nominated.

"Prior to accepting this post, we had discussed these and other potential differences, but unfortunately, we did not adequately focus on these concerns," Gregg said. "We are functioning from a different set of views on many critical items of policy."

Obama called Gregg's withdrawal "something of a surprise." . . .

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/white-house-blames-judd-gregg.php
White House Blames Judd Gregg -- And He Does, Too
[Eric Kleefeld] White House press secretary Robert Gibbs has just released this statement, putting the blame for Judd Gregg's withdrawal squarely on Gregg -- that Gregg had said at the outset they could work together despite economic policy differences, then didn't follow through:

"Senator Gregg reached out to the President and offered his name for Secretary of Commerce. He was very clear throughout the interviewing process that despite past disagreements about policies, he would support, embrace, and move forward with the President's agenda. Once it became clear after his nomination that Senator Gregg was not going to be supporting some of President Obama's key economic priorities, it became necessary for Senator Gregg and the Obama administration to part ways. We regret that he has had a change of heart."

Late Update: It turns out Judd Gregg blames Judd Gregg, too:

"I couldn't be Judd Gregg and serve in the Cabinet. I should have faced up to the reality of that earlier," Gregg said. "I've been my own person and I began to wonder if I could be an effective team player. The president deserves someone who can block for his policies. As a practical matter I can contribute to his agenda better -- where we agree -- as a senator and I hope to do that. . . .

“The fault lies with me,” Gregg said, refusing to discuss any conversations he has had with Obama himself. Asked if he felt the decision would be an embarrassment for the president, Gregg said, “I may have embarrassed myself but hopefully not him.”

The pressure Gregg was under: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/why-gregg-withdrew.php

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/whos-your-daddy-by-digby-so-judd-greggs.html

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/02/gregg-was-pwned.html
[Andrew Sullivan] It gets clearer. When Judd Gregg approached the Obama administration to see if he could be a part of it, he was assuming that his own party wasn't going to adopt a policy of total warfare against the newly elected president in a time of enormous economic peril. Between that moment and the current all-out ideological assault on Obama, his position became untenable. His recusal on the stimulus package provoked fury at home (check out the comments here) and dyspepsia among the GOP who are intent on responding to an open hand with a clenched fist.

I have to say even I am a little taken aback by the force of the Republican assault. Even in a downturn as swift and alarming as this one, even after an election that clearly favored one approach over another, even after the most conciliatory efforts by an incoming president in memory, these people have gone to war against the president. The president should stay cool. The rest of us should realize what motivates the GOP: the opportunism of selective ideology.

Other reasons? http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/02/12/anyone-wondering-whether-gregg-just-didnt-want-abramoff-scrutiny/

Hmmm . . . . http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2009/02/12/sen-gregg-unlikely-to-seek-re-election-in-2010/
New Hampshire Republican Sen. Judd Gregg dropped two news bombshells today when he told reporters he was unlikely to seek re-election in 2010 . . .

More: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/timing.php

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/02/poor_judds_nomination_is_dead.php

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/uncategorized/bipartisan-follies-judd-gregg-pulls-out/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2009/feb/12/obama-administration-poor-judd-is-dead

Our stupid media

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=11590
[Chris Bowers] Have you heard? Judd Gregg's withdrawal is a "blow" to the Obama administration! That's what Judy Woodruff told me tonight on the News Hour, anyway.

And she's not the only one. The New York Times also thinks that "Mr. Gregg's withdrawal was the latest blow for the White House." The Washington Post writes that this is "a major blow" and the Wall Street Journal claims that Gregg's withdrawal is "another embarrassing blow to the Obama administration." . . .

http://www.americablog.com/2009/02/now-obama-only-has-two-republican.html
[Politico] New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg has abruptly withdrawn as President Barack Obama’s nominee to run the Commerce Department, another blow to an administration trying to build a bipartisan cabinet.

[John Aravosis] Trying? Yes, after Gregg pulls out, Obama "only" has two remaining Republican members of his Cabinet. I believe that would be a historic high for opposition members serving in a presidential cabinet (the usual number is "one"). Does Obama get credit for trying to add a THIRD Republican, putting him at 300% of the usual members of the Cabinet one chooses from the other side? Hardly. . . .

The stimulus package: what’s in it now

A very handy overview: http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=11577

The numbers: http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/02/stimpack_summary.php

Pluses and minuses from previous versions: http://www.propublica.org/special/the-stimulus-deal

Winners and losers: http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/amxiaynvarlg

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/02/12/1791612.aspx

http://d-day.blogspot.com/2009/02/difi-tries-to-hand-corporations.html

Rahm’s role

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/rahms-fingerprints-all-over-package-tactics-2009-02-11.html

http://firedoglake.com/2009/02/12/rahm-steps-up-to-take-credit-for-stimulus-bill-let-the-revisionist-history-begin/

Next up: the bank bailout

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2009/feb/12/barackobama-useconomy
The stimulus package is a major political win for Obama, but the treasury secretary's proposals are even more important . . .

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/02/maybe_geithner_knows_what_hes_doing.php
Maybe Geithner Knows What He’s Doing . . .

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/gaining_steam.php
The Times has a piece in tomorrow's paper coalescing the growing number of experts who believe that many of the big banks are insolvent and that -- whatever you want to call it -- the government is going to have to step in and really resolve the crisis, through some process of seizing the failed banks, cleaning them up and selling them back into private hands. . . .

The Republicans: running on failure

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/2/12/134424/585
[Todd Beeton] Opposing the economic stimulus package in the name of fiscal responsibility is, for Republicans who presided over the Bush era economy, absurd but it is all they have. . . .

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016863.php
[Steve Benen] A few weeks ago, when the House approved the economic stimulus bill without any Republican votes, David Weigel noted that he literally couldn't remember "a time when the entire Republican conference in either house voted against tax cuts."

That's true, but let's go a little further. The compromise plan announced last night includes $282 billion in tax cuts over two years. With that in mind, Steven Waldman argues, persuasively, that when the vast majority of congressional Republicans oppose the package, they'll be voting against the biggest tax cut "in history." . . .

Who will vote for it now? http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016867.php

Get used to it, boys

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/02/12/gop_conference/index.html
[Alex Koppelman] Wednesday afternoon, after news of some agreement on the stimulus had broken, Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), who chairs the conservative Republican Study Committee, filmed a video in front of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office, in which he pointed out that a deal had happened before the public conference on the bill had occurred. "[T]here are more shady deals going on behind closed doors -- without the public, without Republicans in attendance," Price said, encouraging anyone who's "sick of that kind of politics" to visit his Web site.

Another leader in the House GOP, Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), made similar comments to the conservative magazine Human Events. "I think the American people deserve to know that legislation that would comprise an amount equal to the entire discretionary budget of the United States of America is being crafted without a single House Republican in the room.” . . . [read on]

Oh, boy: a “fiscal responsibility summit”

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/whos-psyched-for-that-fiscal-responsibility-summit.php

“Entitlement reform” – don’t think for an instant that progressives will stay on the sidelines

http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=5D876B1F-18FE-70B2-A8D7E6CD29DF7FFF

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016861.php

Stunning, if true

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/11/binyam-mohamed-release-torture-letter
US defence officials are preventing Barack Obama from seeing evidence that a former British resident held in Guantánamo Bay has been tortured, the prisoner's lawyer said last night, as campaigners and the Foreign Office prepared for the man's release in as little as a week.

Clive Stafford Smith, the director of the legal charity Reprieve, which represents Ethiopian-born Binyam Mohamed, sent Obama evidence of what he called "truly mediaeval" abuse but substantial parts were blanked out so the president could not read it. . . .

The wheels of justice

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/domenici_subpoenaed_in_us_attorneys_probe.php
[Zachary Roth] Last week, TPMmuckraker reported that the investigation by prosecutor Nora Dannehy into the US Attorney firings was focusing on Pete Domenici.

And today, the Washington Post reports that Dannehy has issued a subpoena to the former New Mexico Republican senator.

The Post adds that Dannehy will interview Scott Jennings, who was a top White House deputy to Karl Rove, as early as today. Jennings' lawyer told the paper he will "cooperate to the best of his ability" and is not a target in the case. . . .

Paging Karl Rove: http://christyhardinsmith.firedoglake.com/2009/02/12/oh-karl-you-might-want-to-keep-luskin-on-retainer/

The people WANT an investigation of Bush era crimes

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/12/114527/413/78/696585

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/probes-of-bush-administration/gregory-craigs-big-decision-poll-finds-two-thirds-want-probes-of-bush/

What is the Wall Street Journal trying to pull here?

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/02/12/wsj/index.html
The President was running down a list of reporters preselected to ask questions. The White House had decided in advance who would be allowed to question the President and who was left out. . . .

We doubt that President Bush, who was notorious for being parsimonious with follow-ups, would have gotten away with prescreening his interlocutors. . . . [read on]

[NB: Are you KIDDING ME?]

Am I a thief?

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/political-media/abcs-charlie-gibson-news-aggregators-rip-off-our-work/
[Charlie Gibson] “I think we’ve made a terrible mistake giving our stuff away,” Gibson said. “Why should someone pay 30 bucks a month for the New York Times when they can get it for free on the Internet? Why can’t we stop the aggregators who rip off our work and distribute it for nothing?”

[NB: Don’t worry, Charlie. Except for your interview with Sarah Palin I NEVER link to you.]

Theocracy watch

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/02/12/just_39_believe_in_evolution.html
A new Gallup Poll shows that only 39% of Americans say they "believe in the theory of evolution," while 25% say they do not believe in the theory, and another 36% don't have an opinion either way.

Key finding: "These attitudes are strongly related to education . . .”

[NB: Well, DUH!]

Bonus item: When was this written?

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/the-long-long-partisan-era.php
No conclusion of any kind regarding the tariff bill was reached, although the Republicans said they hoped to be able to report the bill to the full committee on Monday. ... [T]he Democrats would not agree to fix a date, saying they wanted a reasonable time to consider the bill, and there would be no undue delay. The Democrats were not shown a copy of the bill, nor did they receive any information regarding its character.

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:42 AM

Thursday, February 12, 2009

WINNERS AND LOSERS

We’re still waiting for the fine print, but the outline of the stimulus agreement looks like this: overall a smaller bill, but mainly achieved through reducing tax cuts from about 40% of the total to about a third of the total, and adding back in some social spending

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/2/11/132620/833
The smaller cost of the bill seems to be the price for some concessions to the President, namely the restoration of at least some of the funding to states . . .

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/11/payback-dems-strip-busine_n_166186.html
Democrats rewarded the GOP for its near unanimous opposition Wednesday by ripping business tax cuts out of the final package, members of Congress said after a closed-door meeting to discuss the stimulus agreement reached with the Senate.

The Chamber of Commerce and other major business organizations lobbied for passage of the stimulus, but couldn't persuade a single House Republican or more than three Senate Republicans.

A tax break that allowed businesses to write off losses dating back several years was reduced and a measure providing a $15,000 tax credit to homebuyers was pulled. Both actions shaved a combined $50 billion off the package's price tag - about $13 billion of it carved from the business cuts. Around $75 billion of tax cuts in total were stripped from the package.

Some of the money to fill gaping state budgets and for school construction was returned to the package in place of the tax cuts. Aid to states was boosted from $40 billion to $54 billion, said Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.). . . .

A simple fact

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/a_win_is_a_win.php
[Longtime reader] Like everyone else, I'm waiting for the details. But from what I've heard so far, this seems to be a remarkable triumph for the new president.

A month ago, Obama economists Romer and Bernstein released job-creation projections that "assumed a package just slightly over the $775 billion currently under discussion." Lo and behold, the final bill comes in at $789 billion. It reportedly includes Obama's proposed tax cuts, comprising almost exactly the same proportion of the overall package. For the past month, media attention has focused on all the changes to the package, and on the controversies it has engendered. Obama has been criticized for failing to forge a bipartisan consensus, for not safeguarding his priorities, and for not taking a sufficiently aggressive role in the negotiations on the Hill. So it's worth stepping back to take note of the fact that the final package looks remarkably like what Obama has wanted all along. In fact, it's closer to that original proposal than to either the House or Senate versions of the bill. Remarkable.

Whether or not it's the right package is a whole separate topic. But as a legislative achievement, coming so early in the term, this is astonishing.

Ugh

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/12/us/politics/12stimulus.html
To win Republican votes, the final stimulus package is considerably leaner than what many economists say is now needed to jolt the economy, given its grave condition.

But it is unclear if Mr. Obama will be able to claim credit for bringing change to Washington by winning bipartisan support for his first major piece of legislation. . . .

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/12/us/politics/12assess.html
In cobbling together a plan that could get through both the House and the Senate, Mr. Obama prevailed, but not in the way he had hoped. His inability to win over more than a handful of Republicans amounted to a loss of innocence, a reminder that his high-minded calls for change in the practice of governance had been ground up in a matter of weeks by entrenched forces of partisanship and deep, principled differences between left and right.

In the end, Congress did not come together to address what Mr. Obama has regularly suggested is a crisis that could rival the Great Depression. What consensus has been forged so far is likely to be tested in the months to come as he faces scrutiny over the effectiveness of the stimulus package and the likelihood that he will have to ask Congress for substantially more money to heal the fractures in the financial system.

So this was hardly a moment for cigars. . . .

Why isn’t Judd Gregg (R-NH) voting on the bill?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/11/judd-greggs-refusal-to-vo_n_166174.html

Senate GOP: why won’t Obama listen to us?

http://oxdown.firedoglake.com/diary/3587

What will the House GOP do now?

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/stimulus-package/with-stim-deal-reached-whither-the-house-republicans/

Irrelevant and out of touch

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016844.php

TARP I (the Bush version, $350 billion already spent) accomplished. . . . what?

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/jp_morgan_ceo_ok_we_didnt_use_bailout_money_for_le.php
Rep. Gary Ackerman gets JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon to admit that the $25 billion his firm got from the bailout did not trigger any new lending. . . .

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/how-dare-you-hand-me-25-billion-dollars.html

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/capuano_to_ceos_america_doesnt_trust_you.php

Truth Commission coming?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/10/exclusive-leahy-talks-to_n_165774.html

Sarah Palin’s no genius, but she’s not an idiot either. This is a good time to keep your distance from the death spiral of far-right Republican true believers

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2009/feb/11/sarah-palin-conservative-political-action-conference

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/02/behing_the_palin_pull_out.php

Eric Cantor (R-VA), the young Cassius of the GOP, makes a BIG goof

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/current_state_of_the_gop.php
This isn’t going to make the big unions very happy. GOP House leader Eric Cantor’s office has come up with an intriguing response to the AFSCME ad bllitz targeting GOP leaders: Sending over a video that portrays AFSCME union members as 1970s-era goons. . . .

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/11/111050/624/526/696137

Newt Gingrich coins a new phrase: the Bush-Obama axis (stop laughing!)

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016849.php

The kind of people they are

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/evil-eye-by-digby-speaking-of-hate.html

Stay away from Twitter!

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/virginia-gop-chairmans-blog-outreach-massive-fail.php

Yesterday we had the story that Fox News cribbed one of its segments straight from a GOP press release, typos and all. Later they apologized – for the typos

http://mediamatters.org/countyfair/200902110016

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016852.php

Bonus item: Barack Obama, American pragmatist (thanks to AG for the link)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-feldman/the-voice-of-american-pra_b_165631.html

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:53 AM

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

DOGS IN THE MANGER

No, the Republicans don’t want a stimulus package, they don’t want to be bipartisan, and they certainly don’t want any of their members compromising with Obama

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/02/10/gop-group-gets-tough-against-republicans-who-support-stimulus/
An influential conservative political action committee is pledging to support primary challengers to any Republican senator who supports President Obama's stimulus package . . .

"The American people don’t want this trillion dollar political payoff that will just line the pockets of non-governmental organizations who supported [President] Obama in the election,” said Scott Wheeler, the executive director of The National Republican Trust PAC, an organization that calls for less government spending and lower taxes. . . .

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/club-for-growth-specters-stimulus-support-treason.php
Specter just barely survived a conservative primary challenge 51%-49% in 2004, when the Club For Growth threw its weight behind then-Congressman Pat Toomey.

I spoke today with Nachama Soloveichik, the Club's communications director, and she confirmed that they're hearing a lot of anger over the compromise. "Grassroots Republicans are infuriated. They're fed up. They've had it," Soloveichik said, even going so far as to add that for many, "this is the ultimate act of treason." . . .

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/1/26/20140/7835
[CatM] According to republicans, Obama is proposing a bad stimulus plan doomed to failure in order to secure democrats' hold on political power in this country.

The absurdity of this position is stunning, but I suppose it works on diehard republican constituents who trust the likes of Limbaugh to do their thinking for them. I cannot see the logic in this, however. The only way Obama's stimulus plan leads to a long-term positive for democrats is if it WORKS. It is impossible for Obama to deliberately craft a stimulus plan with the intent of keeping democrats in power without also intending for the plan to succeed.

And that's what scares Republicans. They are not afraid the plan will fail; they are afraid it will succeed. . . .

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/why-they-did-it-by-digby-ive-wondered.html

The pressure might be working

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/02/10/centrists/index.html
Once the Senate holds an official up-or-down vote on the stimulus Tuesday, the bill will go to conference, where differences between the versions passed by the two chambers of Congress will be ironed out. That could mean funding that was cut as part of the Senate deal will end up in the final legislation.

Already, both Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), the architect of the compromise, and Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), one of three Republicans whose support was crucial on Monday, have come out to say they won't accept a bill that's much different from the one they voted for. . . .

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016833.php

What will happen in the Senate/House conference?

http://www.propublica.org/article/the-stimulus-bills-house-vs.-senate-090210#8013
So how do the two versions stack up? We’ve put together a chart so you can easily spot the differences. . . .

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/02/conferce.php
[Marc Ambinder] A conference could be a meeting of House and Senate Democratic staff, after which a bill is presented to members and a vote is quickly scheduled. Or it could be a fully fledged back-room negotiating session with lawmakers from both parties. Most likely, though, the stimulus conference will be a closed process and focused on reconciling the three Republican Senators who voted in favor of their bill with the desire of Speaker Pelosi and chairman Dave Obey to restore cuts in state and education aid. The White House will preside, as presidents can do -- and I think the House will conclude, in the end, that some of what's been cut from their first go-round can be funded through later appropriations. The pressure from the White House to get Obama a bill will warp political spacetime more than the density pressure of Democrats in the House.

More: http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/02/10/stimulus_negotiations_begin.html

Rope-a-dope?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016838.php

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/president_ninja.php

Treasury Sect’y Tim Geithner offers up his bank bailout plan. The verdict is almost unanimous

Overview: http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/02/bailout_20.html

Simon Johnson: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/ex-imfer_on_geithners_speech_this_is_not_a_plan.php
"This Is Not A Plan" . . .

Robert Reich: http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/robert_reich/2009/02/what-geithner-needs-to-do.php
The tab may be close to $2 trillion. But what, exactly is the plan? We still don't know. . . .

Paul Krugman: http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/10/the-rorschach-plan-wonkish-or-at-least-hard-to-read/
It’s really not clear what the plan means; there’s an interpretation that makes it not too bad, but it’s not clear if that’s the right interpretation. . . .

Naked Capitalism: http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2009/02/geithner-bank-bailout-plan-fiasco.html
“Fiasco”

NYT: http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/02/10/geithner_axelrod/index.html

Joseph Stiglitz: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/tpmtv_stiglitz_on_the_bailout.php

More: http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/ezraklein_archive?month=02&year=2009&base_name=tarp_2_son_of_tarp

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/02/more_bailout.html

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/02/krugman_wonders_what_geithner_means.php

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/geithner-backs-elites-by-dday-im-hardly.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2009/feb/10/obama-administration-liberals-centrists

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/wolfs_thumbs_down.php

http://www.propublica.org/article/details-scarce-on-new-bailout-plan-090210#8040

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/02/10/is-geithner-planning-on-a-public-private-partnership-with-the-sovereign-wealth-funds/

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=11505

The banks sure don’t make it easy to support them

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/cry_me_a_mfin_river.php

Is the US military leaking stories to undermine Obama?

http://firedoglake.com/2009/02/10/general-petraeus-springs-a-leak/

Bush holdover US Attorney goes after Jack Murtha

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/02/10/mary-beth-buchanans-going-away-present-jack-murtha/
In December, US Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan wrote a letter declaring that she would not resign at the end of the Bush Administration. . . . [read on]

The buddy system

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/09/AR2009020902519.html
Fred F. Fielding, Emmet T. Flood, William A. Burck and Daniel M. Price worked together at the White House under George W. Bush. Less than two weeks before leaving office, Bush made sure the senior aides shared a new assignment, naming them to an obscure World Bank agency called the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes. . . .

The appointments are for six years and are potentially lucrative, paying up to $3,000 a day plus travel and other expenses if an appointee is chosen to hear a case. Bush also named two other prominent Republican lawyers to the agency, which attempts to broker international finance disagreements.

Bush made more than 100 such end-of-term appointments to a constellation of presidential boards and panels, such as the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports and the U.S.-Russia Polar Bear Commission. Like other presidents, he often turned to close aides and top political supporters to fill the last-minute postings, many of which will outlast President Obama's current term.

Nearly half of Bush's appointments after Election Day were filled by donors who gave a total of nearly $1.9 million to Republicans since 2003, according to an analysis of the postings. At least 20 of the positions were filled by former Bush aides, plus others filled by old hands from the administrations of Richard M. Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. . . .

Al Franken: gaining votes in the court review of uncounted ballots. But. . . .

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/franken-lawyer-were-still-working-for-those-votes.php

Hmmmm . . . . http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/coleman-lawyer-were-finding-more-votes.php
[Eric Kleefeld] Coleman lawyer/spin-man Ben Ginsberg made a stunning announcement at this evening's press conference: Stearns County now reports that they've found seven new ballots. . . .

This comes after two other pro-Coleman counties, Washington and Anoka, were finding similarly small numbers of missing ballots late last week, events that the Coleman campaign cheered. (Stearns voted 46%-34% for Coleman.)

These ballots could all indeed be legitimately lost and now found. Unfortunately, there's always room for human error in a recount involving 2.9 million ballots. But think for a second about what the spin would be on Fox News if the roles were reversed -- if Franken's team was currently behind, and boasting about newly-found votes coming in dribs and drabs. . . .

Remember our old friend Troopergate? It stank then, it still stinks now

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/ak_lawmaker_on_trooper-gate_ags_resignation_the_ch.php
We just talked to an Alaska state legislator to get a handle on the news that Attorney General Talis Colberg, a key Sarah Palin ally during Trooper-Gate is resigning. . . .

The lawmaker said that Colberg's decision, during Trooper-Gate, to sue to quash subpoenas issued by the legislature to key Palin administration witnesses was now widely viewed as "a bad call." That move helped delay the witnesses' testimony, and limit its scope, meaning that the legislature's report on Trooper-Gate, released just before the election, remained incomplete.

"The advice he gave to members of the Palin administration not to appear was very bad advice," said the lawmaker. "He's gotten a lot of bad press over that, and so has the governor."

"You can't ignore a legislative subpoena," the lawmaker went on. "By doing so they had some short term gain ... now, the elections over and the chickens have come home to roost on that issue." . . .

More: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/palins_ag_a_key_trooper-gate_ally_resigns.php

Fox News has no shame

http://mediamatters.org/items/200902100019
During the February 10 edition of Fox News' Happening Now, co-host Jon Scott claimed that "the Senate is expected to pass the $838 billion stimulus plan -- its version of it, anyway. We thought we'd take a look back at the bill, how it was born, and how it grew, and grew, and grew." In tracking how and when the bill purportedly "grew," Scott referenced seven dates, as on-screen graphics cited various news sources from those time periods. However, all of the sources and cost figures Scott cited, as well as the accompanying on-screen text, were also contained in a February 10 press release issued by the Senate Republican Communications Center. One on-screen graphic during the segment even repeated a typo from the GOP document, further confirming that Scott was simply reading from a Republican press release. . . .

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016835.php
[Steve Benen] It's one thing to take the party line on every issue, but when a news outlet starts running GOP press releases -- without even bothering to correct the party's typos -- you know the network has given up entirely on being taken seriously.

It's worth noting, of course, that this is not only ridiculously partisan, it's also unethical -- Fox News led viewers to believe the Republican talking points were actually the result of network research. If Fox News is going to pull a stunt like this, it should at least have the honesty to disclose the source. Sure, viewers should assume that if Fox News is running it, the content came from the Republican Party, but if they're going to at least pretend to have standards, the least the network can do is make an effort to keep up the charade.

For that matter, notice the on-air personality's choice of words: "We thought we'd take a look back at...." In this case, the viewer was led to believe "we" referred to the Fox News team. In reality, thought, Jon Scott accidentally told the truth -- "we" referred to the Republican Party and its cable news network.

The AP, veering right

http://firedoglake.com/2009/02/10/jennifer-loven-ap-reporter-who-asked-obama-have-you-stopped-beating-your-wife-question-strikes-again/

Bonus item: "Dick Cheney Remembers. Excerpts from the former Vice President's forthcoming memoir"

http://www.slate.com/id/2210927

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:33 AM

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

THE REVIEWS ARE IN

On Obama’s first press conference

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/torture/obamas-first-presser-hits-critics-of-new-deal-blasts-gop-for-rebuffing-outreach/
[Greg Sargent] First, he made his biggest effort yet to underscore his underlying philosophical and ideological differences with Republicans, mocking the claim by some in the GOP leadership that big public expenditures can’t save our nose-diving economy. Obama singled out the claim of some GOPers that the New Deal failed, and pointed out that some “philosophically believe that government has no place” in rescuing the economy.

“They’re fighting battles that I thought were resolved a long time ago,” Obama said.

Second, Obama made his most overt case yet that he’d reached out to Republicans, only to see his efforts rebuffed, a case that previously had been left to his aides, apparently because it stepped on his earlier “post-partisan” message.

Asked, inexplicably, by CBS News’ Chip Reid whether the GOP’s failure to sign on to the stim package was a sign that Obama was moving away from bipartisanship, Obama argued that he had “made a series of overtures.” He said that he had put “three Republicans in my cabinet, something which is unprecedented.” . . . [read on]

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=11490
[David Sirota] Best Moment(s): When Obama repeatedly reminded the braindead Washington press corps and the lobotomized Republican Party that it was the GOP that created the national debt with its irresponsible tax cuts and wars, and that therefore, their fake outrage at the stimulus's deficit spending is absurd. Also, it was great that Obama ridiculed conservatives who are insisting on claiming FDR created the Great Depression. Good on ya, Barack. . . .

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/nicely-done-mr-president.php
[Matt Cooper] Barack Obama handled himself with great aplomb, using his opening statement to lay out the problem and what his answers are. And with each question--and none of the questions were total boners, so score one for the press--the president managed to show a command of the issues and an analytic mind. Wisely, he kept coming back to the point that doing nothing is not really an answer and that tax cuts alone are not enough. Of course, the contrast with George W. Bush couldn't have been more striking. . . .

http://www.slate.com/id/2210839/
The president ran his prime-time press conference like a grad-school class. . . .

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/02/09/press_conference/index.html
[Alex Koppelman] But good God, it was boring. . . .

It ain’t pretty, but Obama’s winning on the stimulus fight. Winning big

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/feb/09/barack-obama-us-economy

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/stimulus_/2009/02/bipartisan_like_a_fox.php

The polls: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/poll-obama-way-ahead-of-gop-on-stimulus.php

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/another-poll-shows-public-approving-obama-disapproving-gop-on-stimulus.php

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/9/8658/77842/526/695120

Mind the gap

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/stimulus-package/obama-aides-rip-cable-news-dc-media-and-political-elite/
[Greg Sargent] Here’s an interesting dynamic: The yawning gap between what the pundits say about who’s winning the stimulus war and what the polls say the public thinks has created an opening for the Obama team to reclaim Obama’s campaign outsider mantle, which had slipped away during the transition to governing. . . . [read on]

A real smoothie

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0209/18569.html
With Arlen Specter, the president was “crisp” and “professional” and threw in some talk about judges.

With Olympia Snowe, he was more casual, warming up with memories of the late Paul Simon, a mutual friend.

With Ben Nelson — a conservative Democrat and stimulus skeptic — the president connected on a personal level by talking first about families.

Facing an unexpectedly uphill fight on his economic recovery bill, the new commander in chief has deployed one of the highest-profile assets at his disposal — one-on-one meetings in the Oval Office with senators whose votes he desperately needed.

The tactic seems to be working.

As the Senate prepares to vote on the plan Monday and Tuesday, the four fence-sitting senators who met privately with President Barack Obama last week — Specter, Snowe, Nelson and Maine Republican Susan Collins — all say they intend to vote yes.

The four senators described their separate sessions with Obama as a “soft sell” — there was no horse trading, no twisting of arms, no LBJ-style browbeating. And there was no one else present — just the president and a senator, alone together in the Oval Office.

“It was amazing,” Collins said of her private half-hour meeting with Obama. . . .

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/08/AR2009020801717.html
[E.J. Dionne] It took less than three weeks for the real Barack Obama to come into view. He turns out to be both a conciliator and a fighter. . . .

And the GOP?

http://firedoglake.com/2009/02/09/republicans-excitedly-congratulate-themselves-on-the-heck-of-a-job-theyre-doing/
Republicans Excitedly Congratulate Themselves on the Heck of a Job They’re Doing . . .

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/02/09/gop_stimulus/index.html
GOP may be counting its chickens too soon . . .

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/08/AR2009020802344.html

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016806.php
[Steve Benen] President Obama has been in office for 20 days. He's signed the Lily Ledbetter measure into law over Republican objections. He's signed S-CHIP expansion into law over Republican objections. He's signed several executive orders on key national and internal policies over Republican objections, and he's secured agreement from both the House and Senate on an ambitious stimulus package over Republican objections.

But the congressional GOP has its head held high because they've come up with a reckless and irresponsible economic worldview, and convinced the party to rally around it. They're thrilled because, in the midst of a genuine economic crisis, the party, with near unanimity, has agreed not to have any constructive policy role whatsoever.

"We're so far ahead of where we thought we'd be at this time." I take that to mean GOP leaders feared that some contingents of the Republican caucuses would acknowledge reality and recognize the significance of an electoral mandate. The goal was to convince rank-and-file Republicans to take a firm stand against the advice of economists, governors, the business community, and the party that just won national elections, but there were widespread fears the GOP wouldn't go along.

I guess the right had nothing to worry about.

The GOP formula for success?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/08/AR2009020802344_2.html
The party, these Republicans say, need only hold true to its small-government principles for a center-right electorate to gravitate back. That means rejecting the stimulus package and offering in its place an alternative package centered mostly on tax cuts, as House Republicans did last week.

It also means focusing the stimulus critique on relatively small slivers of the package that echo old culture wars, such as spending for contraceptives and for the National Endowment for the Arts. And it means rallying to Rush Limbaugh, who has put himself forward as a de facto party leader . . .

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-rush8-2009feb08,0,3472238.story
Rush Limbaugh has his grip on the GOP microphone . . .

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=14&entry_id=35424
GOP's new consultant: Joe the Plumber. Really

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/elections/2008/08/29/sarah-palin-seen-as-gop-rising-star/
Sarah Palin Seen as GOP Rising Star . . .

[NB: Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, and Joe the Plumber. The new GOP brain trust]

Oh, yeah, and Michael Steele, new head of the GOP. Only the best

http://abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek/Story?id=6830708&page=3
STEPHANOPOULOS: He suggests that you and Republican Party leaders here in Washington are on the wrong side of the biggest issue, jobs.

STEELE: Well, no -- you know, with all due respect to the governor, I understand where he's coming from. Having been a state official, I know what it means to get those dollars when you're in tight times.

But you've got to look at the entire package. You've got to look at what's going to create sustainable jobs.

What this administration is talking about is making work. It is creating work.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But that's a job.

STEELE: No, it's not a job. A job is something that -- that a business owner creates. It's going to be long term. What he's creating...

STEPHANOPOULOS: So a job doesn't count if it's a government job?

(CROSSTALK)

STEELE: Hold on. No, let me -- let me -- let me finish. That is a contract. It ends at a certain point, George. You know that. These road projects that we're talking about have an end point. . . .

STEPHANOPOULOS: I guess I don't really understand that distinction.

STEELE: Well, the difference -- the distinction is this. If a government -- if you've got a government contract that is a fixed period of time, it goes away. The work may go away. That's -- there's no guarantee that that -- that there's going to be more work when you're done in that job.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Yes, but we've seen millions and millions of jobs going away in the private sector just in the last year.

STEELE: But they come -- yes, they -- and they come back, though, George. That's the point. When they go -- they've gone away before, and they come back. . . .

http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/0209/Steele_calls_for_Bling_Blingfree_stimulus.html
Just ran into new RNC Chairman Michael Steele who watched President Obama's town hall in Indiana and wasn't impressed.

The Obama-backed stimulus, he said, "is just a wish list from a lot of people who have been on the sidelines for years.. to get a little bling, bling." . . .

In trouble: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/steele_trap_taking_stock_of_the_claims_against_the.php
[Zachary Roth] So what to make of the allegation against newly elected GOP chairman Michael Steele, that his 2006 Senate campaign made payments to a company run by his sister, for work that was never performed?

It's not yet clear. . . . [read on]

Heh

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/stimulus_/2009/02/true_bipartisanship_on_the_stimulus.php
[Jonathan Zasloff] All those Senators who think that the stimulus is too expensive should not receive federal aid for their states.

If you really are a fiscal conservative, then this should be great for you. You can say that you voted to cut spending! Besides, as we know from all of you, state budgets are "bloated," and it's important not to spend too much, you understand. . . .

Cuts to education spending: why?

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/stimulus-compromise-restricts-stabilization-funds-to-education.php

Pat Leahy (D-VT) joins the growing call for a Truth Commission on Bush era war crimes

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/feature/2009/02/09/leahy_torture/index.html

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/02/09/pat-leahy-calls-for-truth-commission/

More: http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=10834

Obama backs Bush position on state secrets

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/02/09/obama-continues-bush-policy-on-state-secrets/

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/02/obama_doj_asserts_state_secrets_aclu_blasts_obama.php

http://washingtonindependent.com/29586/a-quick-primer-on-the-state-secrets-privilege
A Quick Primer on the State Secrets Privilege . . .

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016821.php

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/02/state_secrets.html

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/depressing-by-digby-this-is-really.html

Norm Coleman seems to have found his new gig: permanently blocking Al Franken from ever serving in the Senate

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/coleman-not-ruling-out-appeals.php
In an interview with Minnesota Public Radio on Friday, Norm Coleman was asked what his next step would be if the election trial ends with him still behind. And he didn't rule out an appeals process, which could hold up the certification of a Franken victory even longer. . . .

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/franken-team-tries-to-force-coleman-to-speed-it-up----judges-say-no.php
Franken Team Tries To Force Coleman To Speed It Up -- Judges Say No . . .

http://blog.lib.umn.edu/cspg/smartpolitics/2009/02/coleman_says_god_wants_me_to_s.php
Coleman Says 'God Wants Me to Serve' . . .

Bonus item: A turning point?

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=11493
[Adam Green] The clouds didn't open. A choir didn't start singing. A ray of sunlight didn't come shining down.

But I'm pretty sure I said, "HALLELUJAH!" when Barack Obama uttered those four divine words tonight, "Sam Stein. Huffington Post." . . . [read on]

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:25 AM

Monday, February 09, 2009

THE 90% SOLUTION

The posting below is typical of a lot of hand-wringing in the progressive blogosphere: Americans United for Change, a labor/liberal group, comes out in favor of the stimulus compromise. Lefty bloggers consider them turncoats. But you have to turn it around. If groups with the greatest interest in being impacted by the bill see in it an overall victory, why turn it into a defeat, simply because it doesn’t include EVERYTHING one wants? I think that on balance Obama’s (and the Senate Dems') concession to part of what the GOP wants will prove smart – not because bipartisanship is an end in itself, but because it puts even more pressure on the Repubs not to be blamed for the demise of the bill. Yes, it entails putting execrable proposals into the bill, but that’s the ugly fact of nearly every bill that comes out of Washington. Meanwhile, a win is a win

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=11459

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/backing-into-shock-therapy-by-digby.html

Why support to the states belongs in the stimulus bill

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016797.php

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/07/what-the-centrists-have-wrought/

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/02/senator_ensign_thinks_states_can_cut_back_without_cutting_anything_back.php

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/place-in-hell-by-digby-just-in-case.html

Now, the Senate and House stimulus bills are 90% the same. In ordinary life, getting 90% of what you want is doing pretty well. And there’s a good chance that the House will get some of their priorities (like support for states) back into the bill in conference. But a lot of the current bill ALREADY includes GOP programs

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/02/08/the-grassley-isakson-coburn-collins-bad-nelson-bill/
[Emptywheel] I explained yesterday how the people who crafted the crappy Senate compromise bill were, to a significant degree, Republicans. Republicans who won't even vote for the bill. . . .

Back in January, Chuck Grassley got the Obama Administration to agree to move the Alternative Minimum Tax patch into stimulus, for a cost of $69 billion.The AMT patch, because it basically goes to upper middle class taxpayers, will likely have minimal stimulutive value. And it would be passed later this year, in any case. But unlike other measures that weren't really stimulus and which should be passed in normal budgeting process, this remains in the bill. Chuck Grassley is not going to vote for this stimulus bill.

During the amendment process, former realtor Johnny Isakson--along with amendment co-sponsor Sanctimonious Joe--offered up an amendment that does little else than put money in realtor's pockets, all for $30 billion more than Isakson and Sanctimonious Joe promised. Even worse, this amendment basically encourages the kind of speculative, price-inflating home sales that got us into this mess. And a bunch of cowardly Senators passed it on a voice vote. Johnny Isakson is not going to vote for this stimulus bill (though Sanctimonious Joe will).

Then, in comes Tom Coburn, one of the Senate's most reactionary members. He proposed an amendment that basically prohibits stimulus funds from being used to do anything pretty: parks, museums, highway beautification. That amendment passed with big Democratic support, and the amendment remains in the bill. Tom Coburn is not going to vote for this stimulus bill.

Republicans step up their rhetoric against the bipartisan stimulus bill

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/08/congress.economy/index.html
Leading Republicans warned Sunday that the Obama administration's $800 billion-plus economic stimulus effort will lead to what one called a "financial disaster."

"Everybody on the street in America understands that," said Sen. Richard Shelby, the ranking Republican on the Senate Banking Committee. "This is not the right road to go. We'll pay dearly." . . .

"We need to spend money on infrastructure and on other programs that will immediately put people to work. But this is not it," said Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, last year's GOP presidential nominee.

Senators reached a tentative agreement Friday on a compromise bill largely negotiated by a handful of moderate Republicans whose votes are needed to prevent a filibuster. But McCain told CBS' "Face the Nation" that the package should have been about half the size of the one now before senators, and should be balanced between tax cuts and spending.

"We're going to amass the largest debt in the history of this country, by any measurement, and we're going to ask our kids and grandkids to pay for it," he said. . . .

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/02/generational_theft.php
"Generational Theft" That's what House minority leader John Boehner is now calling the House-Senate stimulus proposals. . . .

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/2/9/04355/50977
[South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford] "We're moving precipitously close to what I would call a savior-based economy. A savior-based economy sort of is definitional of what you see in Russia or Venezuela or Zimbabwe or places like that where it matters not how good your product is to the consumer but what your political connection is to those in power.

And if you think about the power that's been granted to the Fed of the Treasury, it has savior-like qualities. Everybody knows that we're in an economic slowdown. But the consideration now is, if I can just get my word, if I can be the plaintiff to the right person in Washington D.C., I can get these things fixed.

That is quite different than a market-based economy where some rise and some fall but there's a consequence to making a stupid decision."

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/02/michael_steeles_bad_math.php
[RNC head Michael Steele] When families keep the money, they spend it, save it, or invest it. And the private sector economy benefits when families and businesses buy consumer goods or invest it for the future. But when Washington spends the money, some of it may flow into the economy, but all too often, much gets wasted.

Democrats in Congress want a one-trillion dollar spending bill. You’ve heard about the pork-barrel programs they want to fund… 45 million dollars for ATV trails and removal of fish passage barriers is one that caught my eye. Exactly what is a fish passage barrier and why does it cost 45 million dollars to stimulate the economy with it? . . . [read on]

Ahem: http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/02/michael_steele_was_for_fish_passage_barrier_removal_before_he_was_against_it.php
[B]ack when Steele was Lieutenant Governor of Maryland serving under Republican Governor Bob Ehrlich, the Steele-Ehrlich administration touted removal of fish passage barriers as an important policy priority. . . .

Simply put

http://oxdown.firedoglake.com/diary/3533
“They really seem to be more interested in making sure this process fails.”
Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Shultz describes the House Democratic leadership's efforts to include their GOP colleagues in the process of crafting a stimulus bill, and how that effort was rejected. She also schools John King on the Constitutional system requiring a conference between the House and Senate. . . .

Don’t blame us!

http://www.americablog.com/2009/02/john-mccain-gop-troll.html
[AP] Republican Sen. John McCain says that Democratic lawmakers putting together an economic stimulus plan are no more open to input from the opposing party than the GOP was during the Bush administration.

The Arizona Republican says that he thought there was going to be a change in the tone of partisanship in Washington when the Obama administration took over, but he adds that he's not seeing it.

[John Aravosis] Yeah, McCain thought there was going to be a change in tone, then McCain and his GOP cronies attacked Obama in a partisan manner, so now there's no change in tone and it's Obama's fault. Again, Joe and I have written for years about how the Republicans always, always, always accused US of doing what THEY are ACTUALLY doing. It's their oldest trick in the book, and it still works.

http://firedoglake.com/2009/02/08/michael-steele-nations-economic-collapse-is-all-the-democrats-fault/
[Blue Texan] Michael Steele's first appearance on "This Week" as RNC Chair took historical revisionism to new, truly virtuosic heights.

GEORGE: Well you heard Larry Summers right there on the stimulus package. He says that after the last 8 years, your party has no credibility on the economy.

STEELE: Well, I think that's laughable. I mean you act like we have spent the last 8 years in the mess that we're currently in. This is about 18 months old. . . .

The reality of it is, Bush inherited a recession. He got us through that recession. The spending was out of whack...but the economy did grow, close to 6 million jobs we're created. Now we're on the downside of that. . . .

Remember in 2003, George Bush sent a bill to the Congress asking them to deal with the Freddie-Fannie crisis at that time. And the committee said no. So the reality is, all of this stuff we're now dealing with, could've been dealt with along the way...

The Republicans seem to have settled on their new strategy for returning to power

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/republican-national-committee/rnc-quietly-scraps-plans-for-big-renewal-think-tank/
[Greg Sargent] The Republican National Committee, under new chairman Michael Steele, has quietly killed an ambitious plan to create the Center for Republican Renewal, a big in-house RNC think tank intended to develop new policies and ideas in order to take the party in a new direction, a Republican official who was directly informed of the decision by RNC staff tells me.

The Center’s goal was to help the GOP reclaim the mantle of the “party of ideas,” as RNC officials glowingly announced in December, and the decision to scrap it has some Republicans, including allies of former RNC chair Mike Duncan, its creator, wondering how precisely the RNC intends to generate the new ideas necessary to change course and renew itself.

The decision to kill the Center leaves the RNC with “no policy office,” at least for the foreseeable future . . .

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/02/well_since_he_fired_some.php
[Marc Ambinder] More evidence that Michael Steele wants a clean slate at the Republican National Committee: on Friday, he axed the entire strategy division, including employees who've worked on data for more than 18 years. These guys have the institutional knowledge that, depending upon your opinion, have either brought the party to its glory days, or kept it from expanding beyond a base of whites.

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/2/7/22208/02844
[DesMoinesDem] Republicans don't need "new ideas"--just Democratic failure . . .

The death of intellectual conservatism: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/what-is-appeal-of-conservatism-by.html

Obama’s conservative instincts

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=11439

We’re all consumed with domestic issues at the moment, but Obama is encountering some difficult realities overseas as well

http://www.juancole.com/2009/02/obama-may-postpone-afghan-surge-severe.html
Obama May Postpone Afghan Surge;
Severe Problems in Supply Routes Afflict Afghanistan War Effort . . .

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/2/8/203638/6053
[London Times] President Barack Obama has demanded that American defence chiefs review their strategy in Afghanistan before going ahead with a troop surge.

There is concern among senior Democrats that the military is preparing to send up to 30,000 extra troops without a coherent plan or exit strategy.

The Pentagon was set to announce the deployment of 17,000 extra soldiers and marines last week but Robert Gates, the defence secretary, postponed the decision after questions from Obama.

The president was concerned by a lack of strategy at his first meeting with Gates and the US joint chiefs of staff last month in "the tank", the secure conference room in the Pentagon. He asked: "What's the endgame?" and did not receive a convincing answer. . . [read on]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090207/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_iraq
The White House is considering at least two troop withdrawal options as it weighs a new Iraq strategy — one that would preserve President Barack Obama's campaign pledge to get all combat brigades out within 16 months and a second that would stretch it to 23 months . . .

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29083534/page/4/
MR. GREGORY: And we're back and joined by Tom Ricks for his first interview on his new book "The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006 through 2008." . . . You write in the book that Obama will be torn between what his supporters expect and what his generals advise.

MR. RICKS: I think that's right, and I think we may see a confrontation between Obama and the generals by the end of this year. American voters, many of them, think we're going to be out of Iraq in 16 months; when he talks about having combat troops out of Iraq, that somehow no more Americans troops will die. Well, the news flash for Obama here is there are not such thing as noncombat troops. We don't have a pacifist wing of the U.S. military. All our troops are ready for combat. We're going to have American troops fighting and dying there for many years to come. What General Odierno says in the book is he would like to see 35,000 American troops there in 2015.

MR. GREGORY: In 2015.

MR. RICKS: Yeah. So, which means that Obama's war in Iraq may be longer than Bush's war in Iraq. So bottom line here, I think Iraq is going to change Obama more than Obama changes Iraq.

MR. GREGORY: Where are troop levels now?

MR. RICKS: We're about 155,000.

MR. GREGORY: And when do we get to that bottom-out level of 30, 35,000 that Odierno's talking about?

MR. RICKS: Well, that's going to be the fight all year long. When do you come down? How fast do you come down? Do you come down a brigade a month, as Obama indicated on the campaign trail? Or do you plateau it out this year and then bring it down early 2010? No matter when you do it, though, you're going to come to a point where the generals are going to say, "You know, this is not something I really want to do here. This is dangerous. We're taking troops out of a place where things are going to start breaking loose." . . .

Nobody there really--nobody Americans, that I see, really expect this place to be a stable democracy anytime soon.

MR. GREGORY: And yet this was the major rationale for this war. After weapons of mass destruction, which were not found.

MR. RICKS: But don't forget that what happened when Petraeus and the people around him were put in, essentially the dissidents were put in charge of the war. Ambassador Crocker reveals in this book that he was essentially opposed to the American invasion of Iraq. A lot of the people who have been running the war for the last two years really thought this was a bad idea or had been badly executed. . . .

We have a bunch of Iraqi generals out there who are not in any way people who subscribe to our values. The fewer American troops we have there, the more they can behave the way they want to. And what you're going to see is a lot of little new little Saddams. The difference is there are Saddams. You're going to see situations, probably, where Iraqi forces don't like a village, and so they just shoot artillery into it. These are not things the American military does. But if you don't have American military around to stop it, that's going to happen. . . .

MR. GREGORY: You talk about that relationship with the military, and this is going to be important. When--it was back in July of '08 when Senator Obama went with a couple of other senators for his first meeting with General Petraeus in Iraq. And here he is, he's getting off the helicopter and first seeing him. This was a rather contentious exchange, wasn't it?

MR. RICKS: It is. And it is one of my favorite moments in the book. Here you have Petraeus and Obama, who are in many ways similar guys; lean, smart, tough and vicious, more reserved than a lot of their peers. And they actually agree on a lot of where Iraq should be, of lowering our, our sights there and, and our goals. But the meeting in Baghdad was surprisingly contentious. It goes on for about 90 minutes, and essentially the general lectures Obama. And this feeling was, "I've been to your hearings. You guys have beat up on me. You kept on asking me questions and didn't give me time to answer. Now you're on my turf." And what should have been really a general with a candidate conversation became a 90 minute lecture by Petraeus: "Let me tell you about Iraq, fellow." . . .

MR. GREGORY: So what are the biggest challenges he faces now in Afghanistan?

MR. RICKS: Well, I think the first thing is to recognize that it's not really a war in Afghanistan, it's a war in Afghanistan and Pakistan. As a friend of mine said, it's hard to win a war in Afghanistan when the enemy wants to fight it in the next country over, Pakistan.

MR. GREGORY: Right. And that's the Taliban fighting and winning battles in Pakistan. This is where we went to war to take them out of power.

MR. RICKS: And that's very scary. And our supply lines through Pakistan are being challenged. Bridges are being blown up, American convoys are being attacked. So I think the first thing that Obama will do is begin to look at it as an Afghan-Pakistan war, in which Pakistan is really the more important factor. We could lose in Afghanistan. It would be unhappy, but not, you know, terrible for us. If you lose Pakistan, you end up having the mujahideen, Islamic extremists, with nuclear weapons. And that was a major al-Qaeda goal that we really do not want to see happen. I don't think that Newsweek got it quite right the other day when they referred to Afghanistan as potentially Obama's Vietnam. I think potentially Obama's Vietnam is Pakistan.

MR. GREGORY: And what should he consider doing about that?

MR. RICKS: I think it's the problem from hell. It is a nightmare, and I have no idea how you actually solve it. I think what you might try to do for several years is contain it, manage it to the--in the sense...

MR. GREGORY: With U.S. troops in the border areas going into Pakistan at times, if necessary?

MR. RICKS: U.S. troops on Pakistani ground is a really difficult problem. We've had some people go in and out quietly. But large, no, you don't want to, you don't want to do that. You've got to wind up using the Pakistani military in some way to solve this problem. But the Pakistani military, in many cases, is the problem. You have a lot of al-Qaeda and Taliban sympathizers wearing Pakistani military uniforms. . . .

MR. GREGORY: One of the things that was done reasonably successfully in Iraq under General Petraeus was actually negotiating with some insurgents in western Iraq. Should the U.S. consider talking, having some contact with the Taliban?

MR. RICKS: It's funny you should mention that, because I think what people in this country don't recognize is Petraeus basically put the Sunni insurgency on the American payroll. And I think it's a great idea. If you can pay somebody not to kill you, fine. Baghdad government didn't much like it, because they felt we were basically arriving at a separate peace with their enemies. So yeah, I think you'll see Petraeus trying to talk to the Taliban to find more reconcilable, more moderate elements, and also to empower tribes against the extremists; to go to sheiks and say, "Look, you know, these extremists are going after you, too. Isn't there some way we could find of living together?" The other think I think you'll see is less emphasis on Karzai . . . and the Kabul government, and more emphasis on the promises--tribes and so on.

More: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/29084123#29084123

Bonus item: The kind of book review Ann Coulter deserves

http://lafiga.firedoglake.com/2009/02/08/ann-coulter-under-investigation-for-voter-fraud/
[Helen Philpot] Reading Ann Coulter’s book is like chewing aspirin without water. I just finished another chapter and I am sitting here wondering if anyone has actually seen Ann using complex tools like a ball point pen or say… I don’t know… a toaster?...

According to Coulter, some Republicans are idiots because they write books calling other Republicans idiots. Now Margaret, help me out here. Ann is calling some Republicans idiots for writing books where they say nasty things about other Republicans, but in this chapter alone Ann trashes about a dozen Republicans for doing this. So doesn’t that make Ann an idiot a dozen times over? I hope you can follow that because I read the whole chapter and I am still confused. . . . [read on]

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:18 AM

Sunday, February 08, 2009

VILLAGE IDIOTS

What happened?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/taking_stock_1.php
[Josh Marshall] So Senate Republicans invoked the threat of a filibuster. And the 'centrist' group has leveraged that threat to add more tax cuts that won't accomplish anything and cut out a lot of spending that would.

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/02/centrist_senators_change_stimulus_by_redistributing_wealth_upwards.php
[Matt Yglesias] If my understanding of what’s happening in the Senate is correct, a bipartisan group of “centrists” is going to modify the stimulus proposal by making it somewhat less generous to poor people and somewhat more generous to prosperous homebuyers. Paris was worth a mass, and a recovery package is worth a dumb homebuyers’ tax credit. But people shouldn’t be under any delusions as to what Nelson, Collins, and co. are doing—they’re slimming the bill down by going after weak claimants, not by slicing out the weakest claims.

I never like the use of the expression “We mustn’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.” It’s true enough, but in political contexts it always sounds like a rationalization of disappointment

Reid: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2009/02/reid_statement_on_bipartisan_senate_deal_on_econom.php
“We should not let the perfect be the enemy of the good”

Obama: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/obama-address-we-cant-afford-to-make-perfect-the-enemy-of-the-absolutely-necessary.php
"We Can't Afford To Make Perfect The Enemy Of The Absolutely Necessary"

What was cut from the stimulus package

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/7/21448/79390/963/694659

http://firedoglake.com/2009/02/07/senate-moderates-cut-1-14-million-job-from-stimulus-bill/
1 ¼ million jobs . . .

What was added: three big tax cuts

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/lowdown-by-dday-i-am-well-aware-that.html

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/7/41022/66606/239/694390
[LithiumCola] Haley Edwards at the Columbia Journalism Review points out a big part of why the Senate version of stimulus bill was more expensive than the House version and so "needed" to be cut back by scrapping projects to build schools and so on. The House version didn't include the standard annual modification of the Alternative Minimum Tax, and the Senate version does. . . [read on]

Too little?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016796.php

Too slow?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016794.php
[Matt Yglesias] When you see conservative complaining that the stimulus bill is too expensive and won't be fast-acting enough, keep in mind that had they not blocked stimulus last year on the grounds that it was too slow and expensive, we probably wouldn't be in a position today where we need such a large fiscal expansion. . . . [read on]

As California goes . . .

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/minority-veto-by-digby-california-is-in.html
[Digby] California is in deep trouble. The state's bond rating is now the worst of all 50 states. They are furloughing workers. The place is coming apart at the seams.

And why? Because the anti-tax zealots have achieved their goal -- a government that is held hostage to conservatives whether in the minority or the majority ---conservatives who will ensure that the government can never function in a way that gives the citizens confidence that it can actually work.

It's useful to think a little bit about that as we see the federal government likewise rigged, and increasingly dysfunctional. Conservatives masquerading as centrists having veto power when the government needs to raise revenue or spend it on anything that might make government seem like a useful institution . . .

Next steps

http://www.congressmatters.com/storyonly/2009/2/7/113440/4417/439/580
[David Waldman] Majority Leader Harry Reid filed for cloture on the amendment, and by unanimous consent the vote on cloture has been scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on Monday, with post-cloture debate time to end at noon on Tuesday. At that point, we'll be clear for a vote on passage of the bill and a motion to go to conference with the House.

The bill will be subject to a point of order due to its deficit spending, but the point of order can be waived by a 3/5 vote of the Senate. So that means passage would ultimately have required 60 votes whether Republicans filibustered or not.

Assuming passage on Tuesday, the House will then have the option to accept the Senate package as is, to make still more amendments and send it back to the Senate, or to agree to the Senate's request for a formal conference to resolve their differences. It is the Senate's announced intention (also included in the unanimous consent agreements from last night) to insist on its version of the bill in conference. If the House acts immediately either to pass the bill or to go to conference, they would have an opportunity to do so Tuesday afternoon. The self-imposed deadline for clearing the bill for the White House falls prior to the scheduled adjournment for the President's Day recess at the end of next week. That doesn't leave a lot of time, and increases the pressure on the House and the likelihood that they'll be forced either to accept the Senate bill, or make only minor changes.

Alternatively, of course, they could opt not to adjourn for President's Day. But that's not likely, and from here on in the White House battle plan will doubtless be about the urgency of acting immediately, so further delays won't be very comfortable politically for either house. You also might very well see the Senate adjourn defensively, leaving the House with the choice to either pass what the Senate gave it, or if it declines and instead insists on changes, "be responsible" for delaying the measure another week by sending it back to a Senate in adjournment.

If the differences are settled in conference, a conference report goes back to both houses for them to pass. The reports are not subject to amendment, and in the Senate, motions to proceed to consideration of conference reports are not debatable, and therefore not subject to filibuster, though the report itself can be. But because conference reports are also not amendable, any filibuster would have to be a straight-up talkathon, as opposed to the less obvious filibuster by endless amendment (which you saw in miniature this week as the Senate worked its way through the stimulus package). That's one reason you rarely see conference reports filibustered. The first house to act also has the right to recommit the report to conference if it just won't accept the result. But once one house has adopted the report, the conference committee is considered dissolved, and the report can't be recommitted (because there's no one to recommit it to).

Just as the bill was subject to a budget point of order in the Senate, so will the conference report be. So the Senate will need 60 votes, filibuster or no, to pass any conference report. That, too, will increase pressure on the House to defer to the Senate position. Senate conferees will no doubt insist that nothing but their Perfect and All-Wise version of the bill could ever muster the necessary 60 votes, and House conferees will have to measure any changes they propose against the likelihood that the Senate's claims are true.

Will the House cave?

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/06/pelosi-calls-cuts-to-stimulus-bill-very-damaging/
The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, refused to give any ground today, despite the fact that the Senate was preparing to reduce the size of the stimulus package by billions of dollars that she probably will not be able to recoup during the conference sessions next week.

Ms. Pelosi, Democrat of California, said she had spoken with the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, earlier today, wryly adding that both Mr. Reid and the Obama administration were well aware of her views and concerns about cutting billions of dollars in proposed aid for education, for example.

Asked about reported cuts in education spending and other matters like technology that may emerge from the Senate stimulus package as early as tonight, Ms. Pelosi said that those types of cuts were “very damaging” and that she was “very much opposed to them.” She pointed to the views of the governors who appeared before about 200 House Democrats gathered here, who had advocated such spending to maintain teaching levels and to build schools.

Asserting that the House had carefully considered the balance to help states maintain jobs and create jobs, Ms. Pelosi said: “We have put ourselves on the line to say the choices that are made will do the job to turn the economy around, and it will give confidence to consumers to families trying to send their children to school, to investors, to the markets….”

Ms. Pelosi and the House majority leader, Steny H. Hoyer, Democrat of Maryland, would not offer up possible items they would be willing to sacrifice when negotiators tried to reconcile the differences between the House and Senate bills.

As far as the criticisms that have arisen over the fact that Republican support for the legislation has been hard to attract, despite President Obama’s calls for bipartisanship, Ms. Pelosi said, “Washington seems consumed in this process argument about bipartisanship when the rest of the country says they need this bill.” . . .

Taking a deep breath

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/02/mindless_cuts.html
[Kevin Drum] The nickel version of what's happened to the stimulus bill so far is that it started out at around $800 billion, a bunch of stuff got added that increased the tab to $900 billion, and then a centrist group of senators took out a machete and pared it back to around $800 billion. Assuming it passes the Senate on Tuesday, it will then go to conference, where there will probably be some more horsetrading before it reaches its final form.

In other words, this is lawmaking as usual, and I can't say that I'm especially outraged by it. Yes, the cuts were fairly random, but then, the original bill was a pretty scattershot collection of programs too. That's inevitable in legislation this size. Besides, some of this stuff will probably get a second life later in the year . . .

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29062698/
[Chuck Todd] By this time next week, the White House will have quite an accomplishment topping their list of early victories — passage of a massive economic stimulus package in less than a month. . . .

But more importantly, passing it will give them a chance at a fresh start. And it will teach them some important lessons about how to move forward when they present even tougher asks to Congress and the American people.

A couple of things have struck me while watching this White House attempt to pass this first big bill.

First, they seemed to stop using the tools that got them to the White House in the first place. President Obama gave very few direct speeches to the American people and made few attempts to go local with supporters. It’s been a top down approach to governing in these first few weeks.

Second, the Obama White House forgot a few things about what it’s like to have nothing left to lose – the exact position the Republicans found themselves in.

It not hard to find something wrong with a bill as large as this stimulus package. Republicans (with the help Matt Drudge) did a great job at finding what I call the bumper-sticker negatives, be it contraceptives or STD treatment or sod for the National Mall. . . .

Obama never should have allowed his first major piece of legislation to be written largely by a man elected to Congress when the president was only 8 years old. I’m referring to House Appropriations Chair David Obey.

I’ve noted many times here and in “First Read” the stunning lack of change inside the leadership of the House Democratic caucus. The roster of current committee chairs is not exactly a profile of change Obama outlined during the campaign. . . .

My guess is the White House will be much more involved in crafting future legislation facing this much press and scrutiny. . . .

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=11444
How Can We Do Better Next Time? . . .

You can’t find a better example than this of the Village’s mindless celebration of all things “bipartisan.” Forget the content of the bill: if it’s bipartisan it must be good

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/02/wapost_bipartisanship_is_good_nevermind_the_consequences.php
[WP] The gang of 20 or so moderate Democrats and Republicans, led by Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), heeded the president’s call for bipartisanship and hunkered down to produce the bill announced Friday night. Though the details of the package still need to be examined, the senators’ effort was an admirable one . . .

But it’s never bipartisan ENOUGH

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016790.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016789.php

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/02/07/bipartisan/

On “The Village”

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/blogosphere/on-the-origins-and-meaning-of-the-term-the-villagers/
[Greg Sargent] “The Village” and “The Villagers” are terms frequently used in the liberal blogosphere as a derisive epithet for the Beltway media and political elite. The term “Village” appears to be a reference to a famous 1998 article written for The Washington Post by D.C. society hostess and WaPo writer Sally Quinn, in which she explained the Beltway establishment’s outrage over Bill Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

Quinn wrote, without irony, that Establishment Washington — which she described as “the high-level members of Congress, policymakers, lawyers, military brass, diplomats and journalists who have a proprietary interest in Washington and identify with it” — is “not unlike any other small community in the country.”

“They call the capital city their `town,’” Quinn wrote. Thanks to the Lewinsky mess, she added, “their town has been turned upside down.”

From this description of the Beltway the term “Village” was born. It is believed to have first been used in this fashion by Digby, though I have not yet confirmed this. It was popularized, and is still frequently used, by the blogger Duncan Black, a.k.a. Atrios, as well as other bloggers such as Jane Hamsher, Markos Moulitsas, Glenn Greenwald, and many others.

To these bloggers, Quinn’s description of Washington as a “town” gripped with prudish outrage over the behavior of the rude and common impostor Bill Clinton seemed to capture a larger truth about the Beltway. Thus, to the bloggers, the term “Villagers” refers to the Beltway elite and the kind of small-town insularity, prudishness, clubbiness, status anxiety and addiction to catty gossip that D.C.’s elites are prone to on occasion.

In political terms, the term “Villagers” denotes a kind of small-minded refusal to think outside an “acceptable” center-right consensus, and a refusal to acknowledge it when a majority of the American people take a view on a particular issue that is not in line with that center-right consensus. Thus, the “Villagers” include, in part, Democratic elected officials and consultants who insist that their party can’t succeed unless they ally their party with that center-right consensus; think-tankers who churn out position papers designed to prop up this elite consensus view; and elite pundits who insist that mainstream liberal views are radically leftist and insist on “bipartisanship” for its own sake, damn the consequences.

This elite consensus, in the view of the bloggers, represents this particular Village’s hidebound small-town values, which must be maintained at all costs to protect this elite’s status and interests.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0209/Inside_the_village.html
[Ben Smith] Greg Sargent, formerly of TPM and now a Washington Post Co. employee, writes a post titled "On the origins and meaning of the term, 'The Villagers.'"

In it, at the behest of his editor and others, he explains that the term refers to a segment of Washington Society defined in fairly large part by...the Washington Post.

The disparity of Republican and Democratic guests on the talk shows: one explanation

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/02/explaining_the_cable_tv_booking.php
[Mark Ambinder] One reason why Republicans have taken control of the debate about the stimulus bill is that they're managed to muscle their way onto political television, which influences how other reporters cover the debate. Why do Republican lawmakers outnumber Democratic lawmakers by a ratio of 2 to 1 on the cable news chat shows? There's a very simple reason.

The bookers of the shows look to the White House, not to House Democrats, for the Democratic perspective. If no White House aide can be booked, then they'll quote from the Gibbs briefing. And since the White House's perspective on the stimulus is different, since it's institutional interest is different, they're not going to match the Republican partisan response.

In this way, the presidential megaphone becomes a mild disadvantage. Now -- the White House has started to own the bill. They're putting out more surrogates. Obama's traveling to Florida and Indiana to sell it. The language is getting more aggressive.

[NB: This doesn’t explain why the Republicans also dominated the airwaves when BUSH was in the White House.]

A better explanation, c/o my wife, for why our “liberal” media has given the GOP a free ride in misrepresenting and filibustering the stimulus package

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2581
Croteau's survey asked journalists about their own political orientation. While most placed themselves in the "center" on both social and economic issues, significant minorities identified themselves as "left" on social issues and "right" on economic issues. . . .

Croteau: http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2447

More: http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2005/07/b873695.html

http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/004008.php

http://media.eriposte.com/

“Casual contempt”

http://mediamatters.org/countyfair/200902070002?show=1
[Eric Boehlert] The casual contempt for Obama--an unheard of phenomenon for the press eight years ago when Bush arrived in the Beltway--has already become impossible for many within the media industry to hide. . . . [read on!]

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/its-like-totally-boring-by-digby-its.html

Sunday talk show line-ups

http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlDC/television/sunday_show_preview_108050.asp
NBC's Meet the Press: Sen. John Ensign (R-NV), Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO), and Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), and WashPost's Tom Ricks, author of "The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008"

ABC's This Week: National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers, Republican National Committee Chair Michael Steele and a roundtable of Former GOP Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich and ABC's Claire Shipman and George Will

CBS' Face the Nation: Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND) and Council of Economic Advisors Christina Romer

CNN's State of the Union: Transportation Secretary Ray Lahood, Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC)

Why Roland Burris (with a big assist from Harry Reid) is responsible for Al Franken not sitting and voting in the Senate today

http://firedoglake.com/2009/02/07/the-burris-trap/

Bonus item: Too late

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-02-07-palin_N.htm?csp=34
The Alaska Senate on Friday found Gov. Sarah Palin's husband and nine state employees, including some of her top aides, in contempt for ignoring subpoenas to testify in the Legislature's Troopergate investigation. . . .

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:51 AM

Saturday, February 07, 2009

MAKING SAUSAGE

The only good thing that can be said about the Senate deal on the stimulus package (assuming there aren’t further betrayals to come) is that it gets the process into a conference committee to reconcile the Senate and House versions. Presumably some things can be added back into the bill – like funding for the states – that are absolutely essential for its success. Then we’ll go through another round of this nonsense and posturing. The GOP moderates will say the bill got too big again, we’ll have to go through another round of whining from McConnell, Graham, McCain, Boehner, and all those bad-faith Republicans who say they were closed out of the negotiations, when their only negotiating position has been “pass a Republican bill, or we will oppose it.”

And we see, step by step, the emergence of the New Republican Party – adamantly opposed to bipartisanship, blocking every possible Obama success, and at war with its own moderate wing. Rush will be very pleased. . .

A deal, of sorts

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/06/AR2009020602097.html
Against a backdrop of rising unemployment, Senate Democrats struck a hard-won deal yesterday with a handful of Republican moderates to scale back spending in a massive economic stimulus bill, virtually guaranteeing Senate passage of the legislation but also ensuring arduous final negotiations with the House. . . .

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/07/us/politics/07stimulus.html
Mr. Obama called Ms. Collins and Mr. Specter, as well as Senator Olympia J. Snowe of Maine, another Republican expected to support the deal, to acknowledge they were acting against pressure from their party and, one official said, to thank them for their patriotism in helping advance the bill at a critical time. . . .

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/sns-ap-congress-stimulus,0,3913143.story
Architects of the compromise included Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Ben Nelson, D-Neb., who represented a broader group of moderates unhappy that so much money went into programs they thought wouldn't create jobs. Eventually, every Republican except Collins and Arlen Specter, R-Pa., left the talks, which finally produced a deal with the White House late Friday afternoon. . . .

In addition to Collins and Specter, Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine pledged to vote for the legislation. . . .

What was dropped from the Senate bill

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/stimulus-package/latest-cuts-to-the-stim-package-head-start-child-nutrition-food-stamps-public-transit/

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/6/194044/2319/363/694258

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/big-bipartisan-on-campus-by-dday-couple.html
[Dday] I'm sorry, but anyone who proposes cutting funding to state and local governments at this point is a complete moron. . . . [read on]

What will happen when the Senate and House bills go to conference?

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=11422

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/6/18520/65362/396/694233

It’s always good for Republicans

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/win-win-by-digby-hardball-is-reporting.html
[Digby] Hardball is reporting that the new bill is 42% tax cuts now and 58% spending, which is considered a big win for Republicans.

And they are still fighting it.

And when it finally comes to the floor, they won't vote for it anyway.

That's how a truly ruthless opposition party works. They ruin the legislation, are lauded as winners for ruining the legislation and then vote against the legislation that they ruined. Awesome. . . .

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/06/opinion/06krugman.html
[Paul Krugman] A not-so-funny thing happened on the way to economic recovery. Over the last two weeks, what should have been a deadly serious debate about how to save an economy in desperate straits turned, instead, into hackneyed political theater, with Republicans spouting all the old clichés about wasteful government spending and the wonders of tax cuts.

It’s as if the dismal economic failure of the last eight years never happened — yet Democrats have, incredibly, been on the defensive. . . .

Even if a major stimulus bill does pass the Senate, there’s a real risk that important parts of the original plan, especially aid to state and local governments, will have been emasculated. . . .

More on “bipartisanship”

http://www.balloon-juice.com/?p=16770
[John Cole] I really don’t understand how bipartisanship is ever going to work when one of the parties is insane. Imagine trying to negotiate an agreement on dinner plans with your date, and you suggest Italian and she states her preference would be a meal of tire rims and anthrax. If you can figure out a way to split the difference there and find a meal you will both enjoy, you can probably figure out how bipartisanship is going to work the next few years.

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/02/bipartisan_folly_ii_follyball.php
[Brian Beutler] I was just privileged to hear John McCain lecture the Senate on the importance of bipartisanship. Two or three Republican senators, he argued, doesn’t make the bill bipartisan. And you know, he’s right. It isn’t. Also, you know what else isn’t bipartisan? His stimulus amendment . . .

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/6/203940/6766/344/694277
[BarbinMD] Republicans are sad ... except John McCain, because he's angry ... but mostly they're sad because there was no bipartisanship, and there could have been, had the damn Democrats just compromised even more than they did. Because we all know how Republicans define bipartisanship. . . .

Now from all reports, this compromise bill stinks. But it's galling to listen to the crap that McCain, Graham, Coburn and company have been spewing tonight. We've had Graham attacking President Obama for making a partisan speech at a Democratic retreat, Coburn calling it a "generational theft bill," and McCain whining about "people saying 'we won the election so we'll write the bill.'"

http://www.americablog.com/2009/02/top-gop-strategist-is-for-wussy.html
Top GOP Strategist: Saving the economy through bipartisanship is for "wussy Republicans"

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/02/06/newt/index.html
This morning, on NBC's "Today Show," Gingrich echoed a new Republican criticism of Obama, and claimed the president isn't being bipartisan enough in his handling of the stimulus debate. Gingrich's whole four and a half minute interview with host Matt Lauer (video below) is something of a marvel to watch. . . .

[NB: You know we’ve reached some kind of neck-snapping spin reversal when NEWT GINGRICH is complaining that the opposition isn’t bipartisan enough.]

CNN headlines this with “Obama gets bad early review”

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/02/06/romney-obama-off-to-a-rocky-start/
Mitt Romney says it’s “been a good year” since he dropped out of the GOP nomination fight, but, he says, “I wish I would have won the nomination, and won the presidency.”

In an interview with TIME magazine, Romney said the man who won the presidency, Barack Obama, “is off to a rocky start.” . . .

[NB: Stop the presses! The man who wishes he’d been elected President instead of Obama thinks he isn’t off to such a great start. This is deep, significant journalism.]

The stars of the GOP

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/02/limbaugh_at_cpac.php
The latest schedule for the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C. late February: Possible presidential candidates include Rep. Paul Ryan (WI), speaking Thursday, Rep. Mike Pence (IN), speaking Thursday -- he's invited, not confirmed -- Gov. Mike Huckabee, on Thursday, Gov. Sarah Palin, on Thursday -- invited, not confirmed, and Rep. John Shadegg (AZ). On Friday, Sen. John Cornyn speaks in the early morning; Newt Gingrich hosts a screening of a movie about Ronald Reagan. Ron Paul and Mitt Romney speak in the afternoon. On Saturday, Rick Santorum begins the day and Gov. Tim Palwenty is an invites speaker. The lovely Ann Coulter speaks at noon. And Rush Limbaugh finishes the conference.

Republicans still dominate the air waves

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/02/06/senate-cable-stimulus-debate/

Paying the price of the Bush years

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090206/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/bailout_oversight
[AP] The Bush administration overpaid tens of billions of dollars for stocks and other assets in its massive bailout last year of Wall Street banks and financial institutions, a new study by a government watchdog says.

The Congressional Oversight Panel, in a report released Friday, said last year's overpayments amounted to a taxpayer-financed $78 billion subsidy of the firms. . . .

CIA officers safe. But what about their enablers in the DOJ?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2009/02/panetta_no_prosecution_for_cia_interrogators.php
The Obama administration will not prosecute CIA officers who participated in harsh interrogations that critics say crossed the line into torture, CIA Director-nominee Leon Panetta said Friday. . . .

It was the clearest statement yet on what Panetta and other Democratic officials had only strongly suggested: CIA officers who acted on legal orders from the Bush administration would not be held responsible for those policies. . . .

"It was my opinion we just can't operate if people feel even if they are following the legal opinions of the Justice Department" they could be in danger of prosecution, he said.

Panetta demurred on saying whether the Obama administration would take legal action against those who authorized or wrote the legal opinions that, for a time, set an extremely high legal bar for an action to constitute torture.

"I'll leave that for others," Panetta said.

More Bush burrowers – this time, at the Pentagon

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/feinstein-wants-pentagon-investigation-of-alleged-gitmo-burrowers.php
[Elana Schor] Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) thinks she's uncovered a similar situation at the Pentagon's Office of Detainee Affairs, where former Bushies are still involved in politically sensitive debates over the Guantanamo Bay prison. Feinstein wrote to Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Wednesday seeking an inquiry into whether two political appointees "have been improperly converted to career positions within the Department of Defense." . . .

How Michael Steele, first African-American head of the GOP, made his career by duping and betraying blacks

http://firedoglake.com/2009/02/06/nerve-of-steele/

Trouble? http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/06/AR2009020604151.html
Michael S. Steele, the newly elected chairman of the Republican National Committee, arranged for his 2006 Senate campaign to pay a defunct company run by his sister for services that were never performed, his finance chairman from that campaign has told federal prosecutors. . . .

Please, make it stop

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/norm_norm_norm.php
[David Kurtz] The Coleman campaign has been nothing if not inconsistent during the three-month post-election saga in Minnesota, but nothing quite beats asking the court to now count ballots that the Coleman campaign itself succeeded in getting thrown out just a few weeks ago.

Late Update: Alas, the Coleman campaign has announced that two previously uncounted ballots were found by an election official in one county. It will never end.

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:45 AM

Friday, February 06, 2009

GETTING SERIOUS

Obama gets serious about the stimulus bill

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/2/5/231628/4426
'The Time for Action is Now'

The Republicans as Nero

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/robert_reich/2009/02/senate-republicans-and-the-sti.php
Senate Republicans and the Stimulus: Playing Politics When the Economy Burns
[Robert Reich] Regardless of your ideological stripe, you've got to see that when consumers and businesses stop spending and investing, there's only entity left to step into the breach. It's government. Major increases in government spending are necessary, and the spending must be on a very large scale. . .

http://www.americablog.com/2009/02/while-republicans-fiddle-american.html
While Republicans fiddle, the American economy is burning down . . .

Unserious

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/a_turning_tide.php
[Josh Marshall] This week, out on the broad wastes of cable news drekdom and the uplands of Beltway journalistic drivel, a simple fact has gone almost entirely unreported: virtually everything congressional Republicans are saying about the Stimulus Bill wouldn't cut it in remedial economics. . . . [read on]

How bad is it?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/tpmtv_4.php
[David Kurtz] In the second part of my interview with economist Dean Baker, we talk about the fact that a significant portion of the banking industry is already insolvent and that a much larger portion will be broke before the end of the year. Any discussion of nationalization -- or any denial that we're nationalizing the banks -- needs to start with the premise that if you're not going to let the banks declare bankruptcy then you're nationalizing them at some level. . . .

The Vote: an update

Early Thursday: http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=11386
[The Hill] Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters Thursday that he has enough votes to pass a more than $900 billion stimulus bill out of the Senate.

Reid said he believes at least two Republicans of "good will" would support the Democratic-crafted package.

"Do we have the votes? We believe we do," said Reid, who expects a final vote on the package will be held on Thursday. . . .

Later: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=6811948&page=1
As the Senate inched toward a final vote on the $900 billion economic stimulus package, tempers flared on the Senate floor: Republicans said bipartisanship had evaporated and they are being railroaded. Democrats accused Republicans of obstruction. . . .

Moderates from both parties have been trying to hammer out a compromise, but sources tell ABC News there is almost zero chance of the Senate reaching a final vote tonight. . . .

The latest: http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/02/05/no_stimulus_tonight/index.html
The Senate has just called it a night.

There's still no deal to move to a final vote on an economic stimulus bill that's now grown to about $900 billion, despite increasing pressure from the Obama administration. But lawmakers seem to think a bipartisan group of moderates can hash something out Friday that will pass the Senate more easily than the Democratic bill that's on the floor.

"We're going to stop legislating tonight and come back tomorrow," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada announced on the floor of the Senate a little before 9 p.m. "The main reason I look forward to tomorrow is because there are a number of Democratic senators working with Republican senators... We all need to take a look at the work done by the negotiators." . . .

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/6/03026/32963/829/693800
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called off any Thursday night vote on the American Recovery and Investment Act - the Jobs Bill colloquially known as the stimulus package - for one good reason: He doesn't yet have the votes.

He hopes to have them Friday. And if that doesn't happen, he'll call for a procedural vote on Sunday. That would require 60 Senators to say "aye." . . .

State spending is a critical part of the stimulus package

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=11387

So is spending for education

http://oxdown.firedoglake.com/diary/3476

Boxer vs Graham. Don’t miss it

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/stimulus_smackdown.php

More: http://firedoglake.com/2009/02/05/harry-reid-says-hes-got-the-votes-for-stimulus-bill-lindsey-graham-throws-hissy-fit/
"This process stinks," Graham told FOX News, before repeating a lot of his criticisms on the Senate floor. "We're making this up as we go and it is a waste of money. It is a broken process, and the president, as far as I'm concerned, has been AWOL on providing leadership on something as important as this." . . .

"Scaring people is not leadership. Writing an editorial that if you don't pass this bad bill we're going to have disaster -- we've had enough presidents trying to scare people to make bad decisions," Graham said. . . .

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/5/141534/1159/1018/693603
[SusanG] This from the guy who for eight years served as the background chorus for the most fear-mongering administration ever ("mushroom clouds!" "dirty bombs!" "WMD's!")

The strange politics of “bipartisanship”

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/whos-he-listening-to-by-digby-greg.html

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/02/bipartisan_folly.php

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/5/17366/60541/922/693699

Karl Rove: making trouble, as usual

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123379742941850311.html
Democrats are betting that Americans now embrace centralized, top-down government and are willing to pay for it. They are wrong and will suffer politically for their misjudgment.

Republicans are right, both substantively and politically, to oppose this monstrosity and smart to offer a bold alternative. The GOP's road back is about to be partly paved by Mr. Obama's embrace of Democratic trickle-down economics. It's terrible policy -- but for Republicans, it provides an opportunity for sharp contrasts that can reset the debate on more favorable terms for the GOP. . . .

Why Panetta will be good for the CIA

http://washingtonindependent.com/29193/cia-v-foia

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016771.php

Republicans block Obama’s Labor Sect’y for being pro-labor

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/02/hilda_solis_1.html

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/02/solis_wont_recuse_herself_from_card_check.php

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/5/144923/7364/996/693617

Post-partisan? http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/enzi-solis-isnt-going-anywhere-for-now.php

Maybe they want to keep Bush’s Labor Sect’y: http://www.americablog.com/2009/02/republicans-dont-want-obamas-labor.html
Mitch McConnell's wife . . .

Labor fights back: http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/02/labor_to_fight_back_on_solis.php

One vote

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/2/5/144132/5045
Today, the Franken campaign asked the Minnesota Supreme Court to certify the election of Franken provisionally until former Senator Coleman's litigation can play out. . .

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/minnesota-supreme-court-hearing-they-can-certify-franken-nowor-wait-months.php
[Eric Kleefeld] The Minnesota Supreme Court just finished hearing arguments in Al Franken's lawsuit to obtain an immediate certificate of election, and it has become clear that the court faces a very tough choice: Issue an election certificate now, which would have a theoretical chance of being undone later by pending litigation, and to do so against the commonly-understood meaning of state statutes -- or have Minnesota go without two seats in the Senate for months. . . .

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/2/5/144132/5045
[Star-Tribune] Franken's lawyer, Marc Elias, urged the state's highest court during arguments today in St. Paul not to leave one of the state's two Senate seats empty while "the nation faces questions of war and peace."

"I see by the newspapers that a stimulus package may be decided by one vote," Elias told the court.

[Todd Beeton] Which brings us to Coleman's ultimate strategy here. He knows the chances of winning this thing are next to nil. At this point, he's just trying to obstruct President Obama's agenda, which, actually one vote in the Senate does make a difference.

A losing Democrat in 2010?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/5/94252/61556/154/693450

A primer on media bias

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/02/05/bias/index.html

Bonus item: GOP compares itself with the Taliban (really!)

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016759.php

http://washingtonindependent.com/29244/now-that-the-gop-is-modeled-on-the-taliban

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:26 AM

Thursday, February 05, 2009

THE UNDEAD

Have you ever seen an outgoing administration actively and directly undermining their successor within days of transferring power?

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/cheney-i-worry-when-washington-cares-more-about-terrorists-rights-than-protecting-america.php
Dick Cheney: The Next Terrorist Attack Will Be Obama's Fault . . .

More: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0209/18390.html
Former Vice President Dick Cheney warned that there is a “high probability” that terrorists will attempt a catastrophic nuclear or biological attack in coming years, and said he fears the Obama administration’s policies will make it more likely the attempt will succeed.

In an interview Tuesday with Politico, Cheney unyieldingly defended the Bush administration’s support for the Guantanamo Bay prison and coercive interrogation of terrorism suspects.

And he asserted that President Obama will either backtrack on his stated intentions to end those policies or put the country at risk in ways more severe than most Americans—and, he charged, many members of Obama’s own team — understand.

“When we get people who are more concerned about reading the rights to an Al Qaeda terrorist than they are with protecting the United States against people who are absolutely committed to do anything they can to kill Americans, then I worry,” Cheney said.

Protecting the country’s security is “a tough, mean, dirty, nasty business,” he said. “These are evil people. . . .”

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/todays_gop_hoping_for_the_worst.php
[David Kurtz] It occurred to me while reading Politico's interview with Dick Cheney, that the GOP's plan to regain political viability in the short term rests on two disaster scenarios: the failure of the financial rescue efforts (stimulus, TARP, and other bailouts) to stave off complete economic collapse and a new mass casualty terrorist attack -- both of which they are positioning themselves to blame Obama for.

Without one of those two, they have to figure it's going to be a long time wandering in the political wilderness. Now think about the curdling effect, the blight on the soul that comes with rooting for such disasters to befall your country. The rot is now eating at the party's very core.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/4/163342/4589/454/693142
[BarbinMD] It's not clear why Politico chose to give this political has-been a platform to spew his venom, unless it was to further burnish their Drudge-lite reputation . . .

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/02/04/various_items/index.html
[Glenn Greenwald] Dick Cheney gave a 90-minute interview to The Politico's John Harris, Mike Allen and Jim Vandhei that provides probably the most explicit expression of the warped mentality that drove the country over the last eight years. The fear-mongering and false claims are far too numerous to chronicle here. . . .

http://washingtonindependent.com/28874/dick-cheney-is-a-liar
[Spencer Ackerman] Barely two weeks out of office and former Vice President Dick Cheney is already mongering fear. Unsurprisingly, it’s about Guantanamo Bay, where he says that generic Democrats — he intimates that he means President Obama, but he’s too much of a coward to say the man’s name — are “more concerned about reading the rights to an Al Qaeda terrorist than they are with protecting the United States against people who are absolutely committed to do anything they can to kill Americans.” Get used to this sort of thing. . . .

http://firedoglake.com/2009/02/04/after-biting-the-heads-off-kittens-for-the-past-eight-years/
[Watertiger] Two weeks out of office, and Dick Cheney is back on the scene, doing what he does best: willing death and destruction upon the people of the United States. . . .

More: http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/02/04/fellatio-for-cheney-from-the-politico/

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/02/04/the-only-picture-on-dicks-wall/

Has Obama made a mistake in promoting bipartisanship with an opposing party that clearly has no intention whatsoever in working with him?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/our_highest_priority.php
[Theda Skocpol] Obama is, sadly, much to blame for giving the Republicans so much leverage. He defined the challenge as biparitsanship not saving the U.S. economy. Right now, he has only one chance to re-set this deteriorating debate: He needs to give a major speech on the economy, explain to Americans what is happening and what must be done. People will, as of now, still listen to him -- and what else is his political capital for?

Speaking as a strong Obama supporter who put my energies and money into it, I am now very disillusioned with him. He spent the last two weeks empowering Republicans -- including negotiating with them to get more into Senate and his administration and giving them virtual veto-power over his agenda . . . [read on]

http://www.americablog.com/2009/02/senate-cant-pass-stimulus-republicans.html
[WP] Republicans have become resolute in their opposition . . .

http://www.americablog.com/2009/02/krugman-on-efforts-to-get.html
[Paul Krugman] “There is no middle ground” [read on]

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/4/143652/7020/520/693084

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/making-argument-by-dday-i-cant-argue-at.html

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016744.php

Simple truths from Atrios: http://www.eschatonblog.com/2009_02_01_archive.html#1868339957236861176

Changing the debate

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/dire_news.php
[Josh Marshall] Behind all the back and forth over the Stimulus Bill is a simple fact: the debate in Washington is rapidly moving away from any recognition that the US economy -- and the global economy, for that matter -- is in free-fall. The range of outcomes stretches from severe recession to something closer to a replay of the Great Depression, though that label is perhaps better seen as a placeholder for 'catastrophic economic collapse' since the underlying place of the US economy in the world economy is very different from what it was in 1929. This reality was palpable in the political debate until as recently as a few weeks ago. But Republicans are using a strategy of conscious denial to push it off the stage. . . .

What you can do: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/shouting-down-wingnuts-by-digby-wingnut.html

The Repubs push a poll result showing the public has grown skeptical about the stimulus bill

http://washingtonindependent.com/28957/house-republicans-are-liking-rasmussen

Don’t believe it: http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/02/04/senate_stimulus/index.html

Don’t count Obama out yet

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/4/115211/5372/609/692979
[Jed L] President Obama's announcement of executive pay caps earlier today wasn't just notable for his new policy on compensation -- it was also the first time since the election that he's given Republicans a dose of what they've been dishing out on a daily basis.

The President's remarks were more of a warning than open political warfare, but he did remind GOPers that the economic theories they are fighting for have been tested over the last eight years, and that they have failed. President Obama reminded Republicans that it wasn't just his opinion that their ideas have failed -- it was also the opinion of the American public, who on November 4th soundly rejected the conservative dogma.

It was the first time that President Obama invoked the results of the election in a public setting, and it was clearly intended as a reminder to Republican obstructionists that when they block progress on economic recovery, they are not only are they playing with the nation's welfare, they are also toying with their own political welfare.

Without saying it in so many words, he made it clear that if Republicans think he's going to roll over and not put up a fight, they are sorely mistaken. . . . [read on]

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/his_real_constituency.php
[A TPM reader] I don't share the sense of panic expressed by some Obama supporters over his approach to the stimulus package. If the campaign taught us anything, it's that Obama is willing to invest in strategies that only yield dividends in the long term. I suspect his careful cultivation of the GOP side of the aisle is closely akin to his caucus strategy; it may require a lot of time and effort before it produces a payoff, but if he can pick off votes and limit rancor, it will be well worth the investment. . . . [read on]

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/better-by-dday-this-is-what-needs-to-be.html

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016752.php

Hardball time? http://www.samefacts.com/archives/stimulus_/2009/02/hardball_time_ditch_the_stimulus.php

The GOP alternative

http://washingtonindependent.com/29076/its-all-part-of-my-stimulus-fantasy
o Permanently repeal the alternative minimum tax once and for all;
o Permanently keep the capital gains and dividends taxes at 15 percent;
o Permanently kill the Death Tax for estates under $5 million, and cut the tax rate to 15 percent for those above;
o Permanently extend the $1,000-per-child tax credit;
o Permanently repeal the marriage tax penalty;
o Permanently simplify itemized deductions to include only home mortgage interest and charitable contributions.
o Lower top marginal income rates from 35 percent to 25 percent.
o Simplify the tax code to include only two other brackets, 15 and 10 percent.
o Lower corporate tax rate as well, from 35 percent to 25 percent.

Judd Gregg says thank you to Obama by abstaining on stimulus bill

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016746.php
In this case, not voting is practically the same as voting against. . . .

Thanks for nothing: http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/2/5/43140/86740

No one’s noticing this except the bloggers, but Obama’s Labor Sect’y is being quietly blocked by the Republicans

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/02/solis_lingers_acting_secretary_appointed.php

Leon Panetta’s confirmation hearings as head of the CIA: what to expect

http://washingtonindependent.com/29037/leon-panetta

Federal grand jury investigating Pete Domenici and Bush admin for obstruction of justice in US Attorney firings. Somebody’s in big trouble

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/grand_jury_investigation_of_us_attorney_firings_fo.php

More: http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/02/04/theyre-close-to-domenici-are-they-close-to-bush/

Blasting the SEC for its failures in the Madoff scandal

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/lawmaker_to_sec_lawyer_we_thought_the_enemy_was_mr.php

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/whistleblower_slams_secs_ineptitude_and_financial.php

Executive privilege??!!?? http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=11366

GREAT point

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/3/13118/54490/86/692493
Someone should make the point that the theory on which Daschle did not pay taxes on an extraordinary non-salary benefit provided by his employer (car and driver) is exactly the theory on which Palin did not pay taxes on an extraordinary benefit (free air travel for her children, and 60 dollar per day per diem payments for use of her own house).

Palin never paid back taxes but simply produced a squirrelly letter from her lawyers saying that someone could believe in good faith that taxes were not owed on the travel or per diems she received, so her failure to report those items as income was excusable. . . .

Norm Coleman: forged ballots? Count’ em anyway

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/still_working_that_constituency.php

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/coleman-attorney-alleges-voter-committed-forgery----and-wants-ballot-counted.php

More: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/coleman-lawyer-its-the-dems-fault-that-minnesota-has-one-senator.php
Coleman Lawyer: It's The Dems' Fault That Minnesota Has One Senator . . .

The best and the brightest

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/joe-the-plumber-hits-the-capitol-to-meet-with-gopers.php
Joe The Plumber Summoned To Capitol To Advise GOP On Stimulus . . .

http://firedoglake.com/2009/02/04/joe-the-plumber-unveils-cut-bills-kick-ass-economic-recovery-plan-to-republican-staffers/
Joe The Plumber Unveils “Cut Bills, Kick Ass” Economic Recovery Plan To Republican Staffers . . .

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016747.php

Rush Limbaugh’s 20% is a huge audience in radio terms, and a mere afterthought in political terms -- unless you're a Republican dependent on them

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2009/feb/04/obama-administration-limbaugh-popularity

Bonus item: Separated at birth? Gonzo and Blago

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/gonzales_recession_to_blame_for_me_not_finding_job.php
Gonzales: Recession to Blame for Me Not Finding Job . . .

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/02/04/blago_letterman/index.html

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article5659623.ece
Asked what he planned to do with his time now, the former governor joked: "Well, I'm looking for work. Are you hiring?"

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:49 AM

Wednesday, February 04, 2009

A SENSE OF PERSPECTIVE

Well, Obama has been President for two weeks. Time to call him a failure

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/03/AR2009020304024.html
Senate Lacks Votes to Pass Stimulus . . .

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/03/AR2009020303310.html
Administration Is Described as Being at a Loss . . .

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/03/AR2009020304112.html
Obama Says He Erred in Nominations . . .

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/03/AR2009020303456.html
Is Obama’s Honeymoon Over? . . . .

Tom Daschle out as HHS nominee and Health Care Czar, along with another key Obama appointment. I’m not troubled by people making goofs in their taxes – I have a big problem with their not revealing it during the vetting process

Why he quit: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/why-daschle-quit-and-whos-next.php

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/axelrod-daschle-made-the-decision-to-withdraw-this-morning.php

The NYT: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2009/feb/03/obama-white-house-daschle

More: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2009/02/obama_performance_chief_killefer_out_citing_taxes_1.php
[AP] Nancy Killefer withdrew her candidacy to be the first chief performance officer for the federal government on Tuesday, saying she didn't want her bungling of payroll taxes on her household help to become a distraction for the Obama administration. . . .

Ah, Tom, shoulda kept the Pontiac

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/3/124111/1638/123/692464

The Senate stimulus bill: what’s in it

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/02/the_senates_stimulus_and_the_cbo.php

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=11341

The Republicans have played this pretty shrewdly. Here is their list of “wasteful” programs in the bill. There’s only one problem . . .

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/02/gop.stimulus.worries/index.html

http://oxdown.firedoglake.com/diary/3424
[Scarecrow] But if this list, which only adds up to about 2 percent of the total, is all the Republican are complaining about, then the rest of the stimulus package must be pretty good. . . . [read on]

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016733.php

The GOP thinks you’re stupid

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/painfully_stupid.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016731.php

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/thune_stacking_basis.php

The media helps

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/its_the_stupid_stupid.php
[Josh Marshall] [T]here also shouldn't be much question why Republicans are having such a field day spreading disinformation and simple nonsense about this bill. We've heard virtually nothing over the last couple weeks about the big issue, which is that the economy is in severe free-fall because of a once-in-a-century financial crisis. And because of that, the federal government needs to step in with big short term spending to create jobs to see us through the crisis. Those jobs are needed in the short-term to prevent unemployment from getting out of hand and in the longer term to reshape the economy so that we're not dependent on recurrent bubbles to keep the economy afloat. This is an emergency jobs bill. And it costs a lot of money because we're in a deep crisis. But this basic point has disappeared almost entirely from the public debate.

ThinkProgress has admirably demonstrated that the cable networks continue to tip the scales in favor of Republicans by booking like twice or even three times as many Republicans as Democrats to discuss the Stimulus Bill. But that only tells us what we already know . . . [read on]

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/more_on_mitchs_millions.php
[BD] I don't think there's any question now - the Republicans are building up as intense an offense as they can to permanently damage Obama and the Democrats in Congress. Looking over all the stories - Republicans uniting against the stimulus bill, McCain joining in, the piling on against Daschle, the insistance that "bipartisanship" means Democratic capitulation - it's clear they want to hurt the Dems as critically as possible. . . . [read on]

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/02/is_the_white_house_losing_the_stim_spin_wars.php
Is The White House Losing The Stim Spin Wars? . . .

McCain struggles to remain relevant

http://washingtonindependent.com/28738/mccain-calls-on-supporters-to-oppose-stimulus
President Obama garnered headlines Friday, when he used his massive email list from the campaign to promote his legislative agenda for the first time, in support of the stimulus package working its way through Congress.

Not to be outdone, Obama’s former rival, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) today put his considerably smaller list to work, with an email blast encouraging supporters to sign a petition opposing the stimulus. . . .

More: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/mccain-sends-out-e-mail-petition-against-stimulus-bill.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016732.php
[Steve Benen] It's hard to guess which of John McCain's personas is going to emerge at any given time . . . [read on]

It’s always DEMOCRATIC “partisanship,” not Republican . . .

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/3/114616/9097/155/692432

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/2/3/134619/3862

Against infrastructure

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016734.php
SENATE GOP BLOCKS ADDED INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT.... It got 58 votes, when proponents needed 60. . . . [read on]

Why Obama will win . . .

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/sad-and-beautiful-by-digby-this-is.html
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, Charlie, if you take a look at the bill, the fact is, there are no earmarks in this bill, which, by the way, some of the critics can't claim for legislation they've voted for over the last eight years. There's no earmarks in it. We've made sure that there aren't individual pork projects in there.

The criticisms have generally been around some policy initiatives that were placed in the bill that I think are actually good policy, but some people may say is not going to actually stimulate jobs quickly enough. I think that there's legitimate room for working through those issues over the next several weeks to make sure that we get the best possible bill. But here's the thing that I think we have to understand. The economy is in desperate straits. What I won't do is adopt the same economic theories that helped land us in the worst economy since the Great Depression. What I will do is work with anybody of good faith to make sure that we can come up with the best possible package to not only create jobs and provide support to families, but also to lay the groundwork for long-term economic growth. . . .

A stimulus primer

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/stimulus_/2009/02/a_stimulus_primer.php

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/stimulus_/2009/02/what_marks_stimulus_primer_glosses_over.php

The “cut” in defense spending. We all know how this goes – when it’s your ox being gored, you describe a reduced INCREASE as a “cut”

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/02/03/kagan/index.html

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/3/11407/58150/150/692429

Would you take a job for $500,000 a year?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/04/business/04pay.html
The Obama administration is expected to impose a cap of $500,000 for top executives at companies that receive large amounts of bailout money. . .

Executives would also be prohibited from receiving any bonuses above their base pay, except for normal stock dividends.

The Employee Free Choice Act is all about re-empowering unions in this country. The GOP, having fought for 25 years to kill them, won’t give up this fight easily

http://www.americablog.com/2009/02/big-surprise-corporate-media-isnt.html

Judd Gregg in as Commerce nominee. One little problem . . .

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/02/03/gregg_voted_to_abolish_commerce_department.html
Gregg Voted to Abolish Commerce Department . . .

Is there an organized military push-back against Obama’s Iraq withdrawal plans? And if so, who is doing the organizing?

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/02/03/is-cheney-behind-the-attack-on-obamas-plans-to-withdraw-from-iraq/

Good news

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100147494&sc=emaf
On Monday, the Justice Department undid a small part of the damage that top officials caused in a scandal of politicized hiring and firing during the Bush administration. The department rehired an attorney who was improperly removed from her job because she was rumored to be a lesbian.

NPR first broke the story of Leslie Hagen's dismissal last April. . . .

As NPR reported in April, a top aide to the attorney general had heard a rumor that Hagen was a lesbian. Discrimination based on sexual orientation is against Justice Department rules. But Monica Goodling, senior counsel to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, had Hagen removed from her job anyway. . . .

More: http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/02/03/margaret-chiaras-falsely-accused-lover-re-hired/

Norm Coleman is eventually going to lose his court fight over the Minnesota election, but he’s winning at one thing – keeping Franken and his key Democratic vote out of the Senate for as long as possible. 4500 ballots to be litigated, one by one . . .

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/minnesota-election-court-denies-coleman-motion-to-count-4500-ballots.php
[Eric Kleefeld] The Minnesota election court has just handed down a major ruling, completely denying Norm Coleman's motion for summary judgment that would have opened up and counted a set of roughly 4,500 rejected absentee ballots . . .

The upshot of the two decisions is that Coleman may argue on behalf of these voters, but there is no guarantee that they'll be counted. Instead, he'll need to argue for them one by one. And of course, the Franken campaign will have a full opportunity to cross-examine Coleman's witnesses -- many of whom have demonstrated that they in fact committed clear errors in filling out their ballots -- and to also play this same game down the road. . . .

Although it doesn't guarantee that any votes will or won't be counted, we can safely predict one thing: This is going to take a long time. . . .

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/coleman-lawyer-gets-called-out-on-evidence----by-judge.php
Coleman Lawyer Gets Called Out On Evidence -- By Judge . . .

Bonus item: The photos you never saw

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/devastated-by-digby-ive-been-meaning-to.html

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:29 AM

Tuesday, February 03, 2009

IN THE WILDERNESS

One of the worst hypocrisies of the Bush administration was their posturing, “We do not torture” (not true, anyhow), while outsourcing prisoners to other countries to do their torturing for them – so called “extraordinary rendition.” A weekend story in the Los Angeles Times seemed to suggest that the Obama administration was maintaining the same policy – highly disturbing if true. But, not so fast

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/02/02/renditions/index.html
[Glenn Greenwald] The L.A. Times article is wildly exaggerated and plainly inaccurate. Harper's Scott Horton and The Washington Monthly's Hilzoy have typically thorough explanations as to why that is the case. Anyone with any doubts should read both of their commentaries. Suffice to say, the objections to the Bush "extraordinary rendition" program were that "rendered" individuals were abducted and then either (a) sent to countries where they would likely be tortured and/or (b) disappeared into secret U.S. camps ("black sites") or sent to Guantanamo and accorded no legal process of any kind. There is absolutely nothing to suggest that Obama will continue any of that . . . [read on]

More: http://washingtonindependent.com/28578/did-obama-really-create-a-loophole-for-rendition

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/punkd-part-vii-by-digby-this-time-it.html

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016721.php

On a related topic . . .

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/02/02/conyers-invokes-the-cia-inspector-general-report-on-torture/
[Emptywheel] In a HuffPo column arguing for a Commission to look into Bush era crimes, John Conyers mentions something people on the Hill rarely talk about: the 2004 CIA Inspector General report on torture. . . . [read on]

We finally have an Attorney General

http://www.propublica.org/article/ag-nominee-holder-suggests-secret-memos-may-be-released-090202#7787
[Eric Umansky] Last week, we published the first comprehensive list of the Bush administration's still-secret legal memos on torture, detention and warrantless wiretapping. There are far more secret memos than had been previously understood.

When we asked a Department of Justice spokesperson when or whether the memos will be released, he declined to comment. . . .

But as the Federation of American Scientists' Steven Aftergood noticed earlier today, attorney general nominee Eric Holder said in a written response to questions from Sen. Russ Feingold that change may be coming . . . [read on]

More: http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/02/02/holder-on-state-secrets/

General Petraeus tries to convince Obama to back off his troop withdrawal promise, and fails

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/man-called-petraeus-storms-white-house.html

Counting votes in the Senate for the stimulus package

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=11304

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/2/122258/0397/548/692031

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2009/feb/02/obama-white-house-congress

Filibuster? http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/02/reconciliation.html
[Kevin Drum] If Republicans really did put up a united front and filibuster the legislation, the Democratic leadership would just turn around and consider the bill under budget reconciliation rules, which require only a majority vote to pass. Sure, they've already said they'd prefer not to do that, but if they have to they will. And since the bill is all about short-term spending, it would obviously qualify under reconciliation rules.

So all the public handwringing seems like standard DC negotiating kabuki to me, not a genuine effort to kill the bill. If Republicans filibuster, the public will view them as bitter obstructionists and the bill will pass anyway. It's hard to see what's in it for them to go down this road.

A major debate over the stimulus package is how quickly its spending will have an impact – pretty quickly, it turns out

http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/archive/2009/02/02/how-quickly-will-the-stimulus-kick-in.aspx

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/cbo-report-debunks-gops-stimulus-talking-point.php

The stupid things Republicans say

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/make_a_list.php
[Jim DeMint, R-SC] "Not a Stimulus bill. It's just a spending bill." [read on]

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/straight_outta_hooverville.php
[RNC Chair Michael Steele] "Not in the history of mankind has the government ever created a job." [read on]

This is a big story around these parts: the Bush admin held a competition to decide where to build a state-of-the-art clean coal plant – a big $2 billion project. Going by the Dept of Energy criteria, the choice came down to a spot here in downstate Illinois, and one in Texas. When an independent panel chose the Illinois location, the Bush admin instantly pulled the money (duh). Now that program could be back in the stimulus bill

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/is-the-futuregen-clean-coal-project-back-in-the-stimulus-bill.php

It’s official: Judd Gregg will be replaced by a NH Republican when he takes Sect’y of Commerce – maybe his Chief of Staff

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/gregg-confirms-it-gop-senate-appointment-is-a-condition-for-accepting-cabinet-post.php

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/02/02/obama_picks_gregg_for_commerce.html

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/2/15624/51008/482/692089

The Gregg appointment, and the stimulus package

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/2/3/0331/68429

Why Commerce Sect’y matters

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=11324

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=11314

Another Republican to step down?

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/report-martinez-could-leave-senate-early----could-crist-get-in.php

Circling the wagons to protect Tom Daschle

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/01/us/politics/01daschle.html
President Obama’s choice for health secretary, Tom Daschle, was aware as early as last June that he might have to pay back taxes for the use of a car and driver provided by a private equity firm, but did not inform the Obama transition team until weeks after Mr. Obama named him to the health secretary’s post, senior administration officials said Saturday. . . .

http://www.slate.com/id/2210336
Why Daschle's tax sins are worse than Geithner's. . .

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/dems-circle-the-wagons-for-daschle.php
Dems Circle the Wagons . . .

How the insiders view things

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/02/03/dole/index.html
Bob Dole's perfect description of how Washington works . . . [read on]

I’ll believe it when I see it

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/attorney_rove_will_cooperate_with_doj_probes.php
Attorney: Rove Will Cooperate With DOJ Probes . . . [read on]

More: http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/02/02/grand-jury-getting-closer-to-rove/

The latest ploy from Norm Coleman – you’ll love this one

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/new_coleman_angle.php
[Josh Marshall] Fmr. Sen. Coleman's lawyer appears to be laying the groundwork for arguing that Al Franken's margin of victory is smaller than the inherent margin of error in the election contest itself. Ergo, the margin's so close they need to scrap Al's win and hold a completely new election.

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/2/175428/4025/407/692172

The Party of Palin

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/poll-republicans-want-party-to-be-like-palin.php
A new Rasmussen poll further demonstrates that the GOP could be in for a long stretch in the wilderness . . .

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016714.php

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/2/2/22224/20739

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/2/152625/2446/489/692098

Bonus item: Buy yours now – on black velvet!

http://firedoglake.com/2009/02/02/its-all-downhill-for-civilization-from-this-point/

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/2/201356/8624/357/692222
Fresh off his stint as a war correspondent in Gaza, Joe the Plumber is now doing political strategy with Republicans. . .

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:30 AM

Monday, February 02, 2009

THE WILL OF THE VILLAGERS

Yesterday it looked as if Tom Daschle was going to have to withdraw as nominee for Sect’y of HHS because of his tax problems. I guess I underestimated the good will extended to him as a member of The Club

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/31/AR2009013101891.html
As he ducked into the Capitol late Monday evening, Thomas A. Daschle ran into one of his closest friends, Sen. Tom Harkin (D), the populist from Iowa who had just voted against Timothy F. Geithner's confirmation as Treasury secretary because he could not forgive his failure to pay taxes he owed. . .

Harkin has not spoken about Daschle's tax controversy, but yesterday other friends of the nominee began a campaign to defend him. . . .

Daschle has become a major financial backer of Democratic campaigns. Last year he wrote more than $40,000 worth of personal checks to benefit Senate candidates. He and his wife, Linda Hall Daschle, donated over the past two years to at least 14 senators who will be tasked with voting on his confirmation.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=adZnOpr2wfLA
Thomas A. Daschle, the former U.S. senator picked to be President Barack Obama’s Health and Human Services secretary, will meet privately with the Senate Finance Committee to discuss his belated payment last month of back taxes and interest totaling more than $140,000. . . .

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016701.php

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/2/1/115718/8250

Looks as if Judd Gregg (R-NH) will be appointed Sect’y of Commerce AND a Republican will be appointed to replace him

http://firedoglake.com/2009/02/01/lynch-considering-republican-elizabeth-hager-to-replace-gregg/

Yes, there IS a difference between the parties. Barney Frank (D-MA) reminds us in a classic exchange with Jim DeMint (R-SC)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSw3QqSF_zU

More: http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/2/1/194257/3038

http://firedoglake.com/2009/02/01/on-this-week-jim-demint-gets-his-ass-handed-to-him-by-entire-panel-on-stimulus-bill/

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/loss-of-control-by-digby-village-elder.html

http://firedoglake.com/2009/02/01/newsflash-ronald-reagan-raised-taxes-you-idiots/

Mitch McConnell, minority leader in the Senate, has been pushing the media to adopt the narrative that every bill needs 60 votes to pass. Don’t call it a “filibuster”

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/2/1/141734/6311

The pundits are working very hard to keep the GOP relevant on the economy – while the GOP is working very hard to make itself utterly irrelevant

http://www.americablog.com/2009/02/republicans-have-zero-ideas-on-economy.html

Where does Sarah Palin stand on the stimulus package?

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=11269
[Short answer: “Gimme!”]

Heh: http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/02/01/palin_stiffs_house_republicans.html
[Taegan Goddard] Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) "politely declined" an invitation by House Republicans to give a speech at their annual conference this weekend . . .

When asked about Palin's no-show, House Republican leader John Boehner shrugged, saying, "Whatever."

Another leading Republican in Congress steps down

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/1/112023/7044/918/691661
U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam says he will give up his seat in Congress to become a candidate for state agriculture commissioner. . . .

Michael Steele – gonna be fun

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,486395,00.html
WALLACE: You are one of the co-founders of something called the Republican Leadership Council . . ‘ which supports candidates who favor abortion and gay rights.

STEELE: Yep.

WALLACE: Does the GOP need to do a better job of reaching out to people who hold those views?

STEELE: I think — I think that's an important opportunity for us, absolutely, because within our party we do have those who have that view as well as outside. . . . I'm a pro-life Roman Catholic conservative, always have been.

WALLACE: You also support a constitutional amendment against gay marriage.

STEELE: That's right. And the reality of it is this, because I don't think we should muck around with the Constitution. We can deal with that at the state level, OK? That's my personal view.

[NB: So, does he support a constitutional amendment, or not?]

What is Obama going to do about Afghanistan?

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/villagers-let-their-freak-flag-fly-by.html

Gender discrimination in the workplace? Oh, that’s SO 1970’s

http://firedoglake.com/2009/02/01/shorter-michelle-barnard-women-bring-home-less-moolah-so/

Glenn Beck’s Greatest Hits

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016700.php

Bonus item: Some people should not try to make jokes

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/02/01/lieberman-alfalfa-dinner/
At last night’s black-tie dinner at Washington’s Alfalfa Club, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) couldn’t resist cracking a joke about torture. Politico’s Mike Allen reports:

More from Senator Lieberman: ‘We had hoped Vice President Cheney would be here tonight. I hope it’s not his back injury that’s keeping him away. Apparently, he hurt it moving some things out of his office. Personally, I had no idea that waterboards were so heavy.

Last year, Lieberman, who has voted against banning waterboarding, “reluctantly acknowledged” that he doesn’t believe that waterboarding is torture. “It is not like putting burning coals on people’s bodies. The person is in no real danger. The impact is psychological,” he said.

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/tortured-comedy-by-digby-our-political.html

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:45 AM

Sunday, February 01, 2009

PREPARE FOR THE BEST, HOPE FOR THE WORST

The Republicans keep whistling in the dark

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0109/18238.html
[Patrick O’Connor] For the first time in eight years, Republicans held their annual retreat without a visit from the president.

But that didn’t dampen the mood at The Homestead Resort, where House lawmakers retired for three days to plot their path out of the wilderness. . . .

“Look at these faces,” said California Rep. Kevin O. McCarthy, pointing to a roomful of Republicans and their families during a dinner in one of the resort’s expansive ballrooms. “They’re all smiling. You’d think these people are still in the majority.” . . .

“We’re more unified than I’ve seen in four or five years,” said California Rep. Dan Lungren, who challenged Republican Leader John A. Boehner of Ohio late last year. “It has to do with being surrounded.” . . .

Newly elected Republican National Committee chair Michael Steele addressed the convention on Saturday, and offered a partisan rallying call in praise of the House's unanimous vote last week against the massive economic stimulus plan authored by Democrats:

"I know we’re living in the era of bipartisanship…I thought it was very important to send a signal, and you sent it loudly, very clearly, that this party, the leadership of this caucus, would stand first and foremost with the American people. You made it very clear that in order to grow through this recession that you not redistribute the wealth of the people of this nation."

His remarks were in line with the core message most speakers have offered this weekend: That the party should return to a back-to-basics fiscal conservatism focused on lower taxes and responsible spending—and that House members were right to reject Obama's stimulus plan.

“I know all of you are pumped about the vote the other day,” Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor, the party whip, told lawmakers Friday night, eliciting loud cheers from the roomful of Republicans. “We’ll have more to come.”

While Democrats complain that those votes amount to obstructionism which will haunt the GOP in 2010, Republicans believe the opposite is true, and that the vote will help reinvigorate a party that has lacked energy in recent years. . . .

http://washingtonindependent.com/28417/steele-to-house-gop-stimulus-bill-goose-egg-beautiful
[More from Michael Steele] "Let me start by saying, the goose egg that you laid on the president’s desk was just beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. . . You and I know that in the history of mankind and womankind, government—federal, state or local—has never created one job,” he said. “It’s destroyed a lot of them.”

Hoping for the worst? http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=11260
[Tristero] The rejection of bipartisanship by the Republicans should be perceived in terms of their long term strategy. They know that the depression has just begun. The worse is yet to come. How bad will it be? Far worse than anyone so far has imagined. . . The GOP knows that no feasible stimulus plan, no matter how large or well-crafted, can avert catastrophe. They intend to refuse to go along with anything Obama proposes, wait until disaster hits,and then - counting on the country's short memory span as well as the complicity of the media - blame Obama, Democrats, and liberalism for destroying the economy. . . [read on]

Who’s in charge here?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_01/016687.php
[Steve Benen] The headline from The Hill says congressional Republicans are "losing patience" with President Obama. Seriously. . . . [read on]

It’s always interesting to see what is happening at the state level, where GOP governors can’t afford the partisanship and posturing of their national party

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_01/016694.php
[AP] Most Republican governors have broken with their GOP colleagues in Congress and are pushing for passage of President Barack Obama's economic aid plan that would send billions to states for education, public works and health care. . . .

More: http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/1/31/17545/0292

Two bad-news items on the Obama side

Afghanistan and Pakistan: http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=11266

The return of rendition: http://www.latimes.com/news/la-na-rendition1-2009feb01,0,7548176,full.story

Tom Daschle, HHS nominee, looks finished

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/01/31/daschle_didnt_report_income.html
ABC News has obtained the Senate Finance Committee report on former Sen. Tom Daschle's nomination to be HHS Secretary, "which indicates that Daschle's tax problems were even more substantial than earlier reported." . . .

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_01/016686.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_01/016695.php

Is this the heavy hint from the Obama admin that it’s time for him to step aside?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/31/AR2009013102021.html
Thomas A. Daschle waited nearly a month after being nominated to be secretary of health and human services before informing Barack Obama that he had not paid years of back taxes for the use of a car and driver provided by a wealthy New York investor. . . .

Howard Dean for HHS? (I doubt it)

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/1/31/215949/065/43/691527

Judd Gregg (R-NH) could be appointed Sect’y of Commerce on Monday – will that trigger a series of events that gives the Dems their 60 vote majority?

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=11263

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/1/31/165019/005

Criminal negligence in the peanut salmonella case?

http://www.americablog.com/2009/01/justice-department-to-open-criminal.html
[Chris in Paris] The Bush FDA never had an interest in protecting Americans. Whatever business wanted, business received. Those days of ignoring problems and relying on business to self regulate appear to be over. . . . [read on]

The enduring legacy of the Bush Supreme Court

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/31/washington/31scotus.html
In 1983, a young lawyer in the Reagan White House was hard at work on what he called in a memorandum “the campaign to amend or abolish the exclusionary rule” — the principle that evidence obtained by police misconduct cannot be used against a defendant.

The Reagan administration’s attacks on the exclusionary rule — a barrage of speeches, opinion articles, litigation and proposed legislation — never gained much traction. But now that young lawyer, John G. Roberts Jr., is chief justice of the United States.

This month, Chief Justice Roberts, writing for the majority in Herring v. United States, a 5-to-4 decision, took a big step toward the goal he had discussed a quarter-century before. . . .

Are we seeing the disappearance of the phrase “war on terror”?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_01/016693.php

More signs of change: can you believe that the Bushies are STILL complaining that Obama isn’t running the White House the same way they did?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_01/016690.php

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/barack_obama_/2009/01/priorities.php

Wow. An amazing story (if true): did the US conspire to eliminate possible opponents to their man Ahmed Chalabi, back when the neo-cons were trying to install him as the new leader of postwar Iraq?

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/01/31/taking-out-iraqs-future-leaders/

Is the WH press briefing obsolete?

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/01/scott_mcclellan_the_white_house_press_briefing_is_obsolete.php

Sunday talk show line-ups

http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlDC/on/sunday_show_preview__107408.asp
NBC's Meet the Press: Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) and Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) and a roundtable with CNBC's Erin Burnett, Forbes' Steve Forbes and Moody's Economy.com's Mark Zandi.

CBS' Face the Nation: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and the New York Times' David Brooks.

ABC's This Week: Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), Google CEO Eric Schmidt and FedEx CEO Frederick Smith.

CNN's State of The Union with John King: Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN), Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D-MI), Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Sen. John Ensign (R-NV), former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich and Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist.

Fareed Zakaria, GPS: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Mexican President Felipe Calderon, South Korean Prime Minister Han Seung-soo and South African President Kgalema Motlanthe.

WTF? http://www.eschatonblog.com/2009_01_25_archive.html#5964053127993991216
NBC Meet the Press--The stimulus package; financial bailout; the economy: Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas); Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.); Erin Burnett ("Street Signs," "Squawk on the Street"); Steve Forbes, Forbes magazine; Mark Zandi, Moodys. Moderator: David Gregory.

[Atrios] Mark Zandi, former McCain adviser. Steve Forbes, former Republican candidate for president and basic conservative crazy person. Erin Burnett, of unknown political affiliation (to me) but was last seen fluffing Rush Limbaugh and generally expresses such viewpoints. John Kerry, Democrat. Kay Bailey Hutchison, Republican.

Bonus item: GOP logic

http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2009/1/31/11049/9398
[Mark Steyn] Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, is on TV explaining the (at this point the congregation shall fall to its knees and prostrate itself) "stimulus." "How," asks the lady from CBS, "does $335 million in STD prevention stimulate the economy?"

"I'll tell you how," says Speaker Pelosi. "I'm a big believer in prevention. And we have, er… there is a part of the bill on the House side that is about prevention. It's about it being less expensive to the states to do these measures."

Makes a lot of sense. If we have more STD prevention, it will be safer for loose women to go into bars and pick up feckless men, thus stimulating the critical beer and nuts and jukebox industries. To do this, we need trillion-dollar deficits, which our children and grandchildren will have to pay off, but, with sufficient investment in prevention measures, there won't be any children or grandchildren, so there's that problem solved.

The more interviews Speaker Pelosi gives explaining how vital the STD industry is to restarting the U.S. economy, the more I find myself hearing "syphilis" every time she says "stimulus."

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_01/016688.php
[Glenn Beck] "OK, there's something driving me to the edge of insanity, makes blood shoot right out my eyes, and that is California.

“California today, they voted against offshore drilling. Not on their land, or their shore, no. They also voted last week to raise emissions standards because it's too smoggy there and they care about the trees. Also, uh, in the stimulus, we found out today, it appears as though Hollywood can get a, um, bailout, from you and me, because nobody's going to see their movies. Hmmph! You'd think maybe they should just make better movies, and then we'd all go. But no no, let's bail them all out.

"The Civil War taught us that, apparently, U.S. states can't secede from the Union. I'd like to test that one again maybe sometime. But what I'd like to know is if the Union has the right to kick out states. Because if so, I'd like to take a star right out of our flag, and California is it.

"From eco-warriors running the state and ruining it to Hollywood projecting their family values and politics on the U.S., and illegal immigration driving them into bankruptcy, the Golden State drives me out of my mind, and I don't think I'm alone."

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- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:50 AM

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