Democrats
mikethemadbiologist | January 5, 2009Democrats won the election handily. Why are we rolling ourselves? I thought Obama would be smarter than the usual Democrat and not negotiate against his own position on behalf of the Republicans. Apparently, I was wrong, since that seems to be the impetus behind making 40% of the 'stimulus' tax cuts:
Obama strategists say he wants to get 80 or more votes in the 100-member Senate, and the emphasis on tax cuts is a way to defuse conservative criticism and enlist Republican support.
Why 80? He needs 60 votes to get cloture in the Senate. As Krugman noted, this is nothing more than a sign of…
mikethemadbiologist | December 15, 2008...never mind believe in. Obama can do much better than former Clinton official and current corporate lobbyist David Hayes for Secretary of Interior. As a lobbyist for Ford, Hayes chose to side with Ford over a poor Native American community:
Trying to stick the cost of the clean-up of a toxic waste dump on a rural, economically disadvantaged American Indian community is not the kind of behavior one would want to see from a potential Secretary of the Interior. The Ringwood superfund site is a little-known American tragedy and David J. Hayes, as recently as 2007, was trying to get the…
mikethemadbiologist | November 17, 2008Apparently, Al-Queda is quite...concerned about having Democrats in power. By way of maha, I found this David Ignatius op-ed, who quotes Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradhawi (italics mine):
Before the election, the radical Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradhawi even issued a fatwa supporting John McCain: "Personally, I would prefer for the Republican candidate, McCain, to be elected. This is because I prefer the obvious enemy who does not hypocritically [conceal] his hostility toward you . . . to the enemy who wears a mask [of friendliness]."
Obama makes the jihadists nervous because he is an appealing new face whose…
mikethemadbiologist | November 10, 2008While the talk about symbolism is important, a president actually has to do stuff. I've been hoping that somewhere there are a bunch of smart people figuring how to unfuck all the stuff that Little Lord Pontchartrain has fucked up using the power of the Executive Branch (here's one example)--hell, just coming up with a list of said fuckups would be a challenge. So I'm delighted to read this in the Washington Post:
Transition advisers to President-elect Barack Obama have compiled a list of about 200 Bush administration actions and executive orders that could be swiftly undone to reverse…
mikethemadbiologist | November 8, 2008...Janet Napolitano seems like a good choice for Attorney General:
Janet Napolitano has tackled massive business fraud cases as Arizona AG, including the Arizona Baptist Foundation case, at the time one of the largest mass fraud cases in US history, which she personally shepherded through initial investigation and criminal prosecution. Napolitano has the guile, skill and determination to take on any entity and see that justice is administered, something to keep in mind in light of the economic collapse caused by financial and energy concerns.
Terrorism experience? Janet Napolitano has that…
mikethemadbiologist | November 7, 2008I agree with ScienceBloglings Orac and Mike Dunford: Robert Kennedy Jr. shouldn't be in an Obama cabinet.
As far I'm concerned, Kennedy's bullshit about thimerisol is every bit as ridiculous as creationism, except that it's far more murderous. While I don't think that would be an issue that he would deal with at Interior (but might be at EPA), irrationalism has no place in a Democratic administration. Could we wait a few months before we cede the intellectual highground? Related to this, Mike has a good suggestion:
If we want to effectively oppose this nomination, we need to bring in the…
mikethemadbiologist | October 28, 2008...I would be feeling like an idiot right about now. A while ago, I endorsed Sonia Chang-Diaz over Dianne Wilkerson for MA State Senate because I thought Wilkerson had some ethics problems. I didn't know the half of it (italics mine):
State Senator Dianne Wilkerson was arrested this morning after an 18-month undercover investigation by Boston Police and the FBI in which she allegedly accepted eight bribes worth $23,500.
The 15-year Democratic lawmaker allegedly accepted cash payoffs that ranged from $500 to $10,000 to help a nightclub secure a liquor license and to assist a private…
mikethemadbiologist | September 25, 2008It's not great, and I would like to see more things in it that can be negotiated away, but it still hits most of the points I raised. Outsourced to Ian Welsh:
So yeah, the Dodd plan. Good plan. Buying up mortgages for 15% less than the current market value of the house, then reissuing a clean mortgage to homeowners helps the banks while still giving them a slight haircut (but only slight, odds are home prices will drop more than 15% before the slide is over.) It helps homeowners stay in their houses. It sets a market price so that banks know what mortgages are worth and thus what the…
mikethemadbiologist | September 25, 2008First, the last name of "Kaptur" is awesome. Also, she has an accent that is nearly as ridiculous as Palin's, so Kaptur must be a 'real' American:
There's really no reason to get stampeded into this.
mikethemadbiologist | September 19, 2008If you ever needed evidence for the idea that voters are not rational but rationalizing, this NY Times story about the role abortion might play in Pennsylvania is a clear example (italics mine):
One parishioner ruled out voting for Mr. Obama explicitly because he is black. "Are they going to make it the Black House?" Ray McCormick asked, to embarrassed hushing from a half dozen others gathered around the rectory kitchen. (Five of the six, all lifelong Democrats who supported Mrs. Clinton in the primary, said they now lean toward Mr. McCain.)
Mr. Madonna, the political scientist, said of the…
mikethemadbiologist | September 16, 2008Enough about the Straight Bullshit Express: here's an election I can believe in. In Massachusetts' Second Suffolk District, the Democratic primary for State Senate features Sonia Chang-Diaz and Dianne Wilkerson. For the very little that it's worth, the Mad Biologist endorses Sonia Chang-Diaz.
On many issues, there isn't much difference between Chang-Diaz and Wilkerson--were Wilkerson to win, it certainly wouldn't be a disaster; Wilkerson's record is pretty good. But here's why I plan to vote for Chang-Diaz:
Chang-Diaz supports publicly funded campaigns; Wilkerson is against them.…
mikethemadbiologist | September 8, 2008Conservative writer David Frum has an article in the NY Times magazine where he attempts to understand why wealthy areas like Fairfax County, Virginia, and Beacon Hill, MA are trending Democratic, or even becoming Democratic strongholds. The article would be informative, were it based in any way, shape, or form on what actually happened in Virginia (we'll get to Boston later). Since Frum is describing a change that I lived through, I thought I would offer my reasons why Northern Virginia has changed.
First, Frum omits the most obvious change: the (slowly) decaying influence of racism. I…
mikethemadbiologist | September 6, 2008In the midst of the swooning over Palin (talk about the bigotry of low expectations...), Democratic VP nominee Joe Biden is giving some great speeches. Here's one:
Give 'em the truth, Joe!
mikethemadbiologist | September 3, 2008In the midst of all of the hoopla surrounding Republican VP nominee and full-blown bugshit insane lunatic, Sarah Palin, I think it's worth noting that Obama's candidacy is also historic for another reason:
He is the first recipient of food stamps to run for president:
McCain, who has portrayed Obama as an elitist, is the son and grandson of admirals. The Associated Press estimates his wife, a beer heiress, is worth $100 million. Obama was raised by a single mother who relied at times on food stamps, and went to top schools on scholarships and loans.
Quite conceivably, we could have a…
mikethemadbiologist | September 1, 2008I don't think Democrats should let the Palin fiasco overshadow a great convention: there were some great speeches, one of them by John Kerry. While Kerry did an awful job of responding to the swiftboating, that episode really does mask some of his strengths: he's a terrific debater, and a very good speaker, in the RFK style (a bit old school, but still damn good). And note to James Carville: shut up already--if this wasn't a double-fisted attack against McCain, I don't know what is. Here's Kerry's convention speech:
(the 2:45 and the 4:05 marks are very good)
(The YouTube version is…
mikethemadbiologist | August 22, 2008...about Obama. Bowers (italics mine):
When John Kerry goes on a Sunday show and says that he's 'in awe' of John McCain's service, but feels free to undermine Wes Clark's, and the Obama campaign thinks of Kerry as their top surrogate, it's shameful. When John McCain's economic advisor calls America a nation of whiners, and we don't hear anything more about that in ads or anywhere else, it's shameful. When the Iraqi PM endorses Obama's call for withdrawal, and McCain still leads on the issue of Iraq by double-digits, it's shameful.
We all know that winning this election is not enough. It's…
mikethemadbiologist | August 15, 2008From FDR's grandson, here's a video that puts Social Security--and its current politics--in proper context:
"A disgrace"? Hopefully, Democrats will run that in every ad.
mikethemadbiologist | June 29, 2008Outsourced to The Sideshow:
I think I have to disagree with Digby here when she assures me that Obama is lots better than McCain. I mean, yes, I think Obama is lots better than McCain, if only because it's hard to imagine he'd be worse, but: I'm tired of having to make that assumption. I'm tired of just hearing it from his supporters or other Dems who want me to vote for him. Most of all, I'm tired of having to keep saying it to my readers when he keeps doing things that tell me I can't rely on his judgment. He had to be told that voting for Roberts was a bad idea? He actually says out…
mikethemadbiologist | June 25, 2008Too bad he's one of the few senators actually worth a damn, because he wouldn't be a bad VP. Dodd on telecom immunity during his announcement that he would filibuster FISA:
But, we are deceiving ourselves when we talk about the U.S. attorneys issue, the habeas issue, the torture issue, the rendition issue, or the secrecy issue as if each were an isolated case! As if each one were an accident! When we speak of them as isolated, we are keeping our politics cripplingly small; and as long as we keep this small, the rule of men is winning.
There is only one issue here. Only one: the law issue.…
mikethemadbiologist | June 22, 2008I expect Republicans to eviscerate the Constitution, but, once again, the Democrats failed to hold the line, and, instead, granted the telecoms immunity in the House legislation. I'll get back to why I emphasized granted, but if you want to know what this is all about, Hilzoy gives the best description I've read so far (although Greenwald is pretty good too; so is Lindsay):
Our President and his advisors believe three things which are wrong individually, but disastrous when combined. These are:
(1) The President can do whatever he wants during wartime, whether or not it violates the laws.
(2…