Policy and Politics
tfk | October 13, 2008On Saturday, Rep. John Lewis responded to the wave of violent rhetoric sweeping through McCain/Palin rallies:
"As one who was a victim of violence and hate during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, I am deeply disturbed by the negative tone of the McCain-Palin campaign. What I am seeing today reminds me too much of another destructive period in American history. Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are sowing the seeds of hatred and division, and there is no need for this hostility in our political discourse.
"During another period, in the not too distant past, there was a governor of the state…
tfk | October 13, 2008Due to Sb issues, this post has been sitting unpublished for hours.
Paul Krugman, the New York Times columnist, Princeton economist, and author of textbooks, academic treatises and popularizations of economics, was given this years Nobel Prize in Economics.
Because of his outspoken opposition to the Bush presidency, this decision will inevitably be treated as political, but that is grossly unfair. While he has indeed criticized the Bush administration, first narrowly criticizing candidate Bush's economic proposals, then broadening his attacks, his work as an economist is impressive. His…
tfk | October 10, 2008Shorter John McCain:
Barack Obama is the "biggest celebrity in the world, but I don't know "who is the real Barack Obama."
John McCain is dishonest and dishonorable, and he is now crossing into truly dangerous territory.
In response to McCain's own incitement, his audiences are crossing further and further into violent and eliminationist rhetoric. In response to McCain's leading and dishonest question "Who is the real Barack Obama?," an audience member shouted out "a terrorist." At a Palin rally, the audience responded to Obama's name by calling out "treason," and later called out "Kill…
tfk | October 8, 2008Transcript of second McCain, Obama debate (10/7/2008):
McCain: I'll get Osama bin Laden, my friends. I'll get him. I know how to get him.
Charlie Gibson interviews John McCain (9/3/2008):
MCCAIN: Well, look, President Clinton [had] opportunities to get Osama bin Laden. President Bush had opportunities to get Osama bin Laden. I know how to do it and I'll do it. And I understand and I have the knowledge and the background and the experience to make the right judgments.
Wolf Blitzer interviews John McCain (7/27/2008):
BLITZER: You're president of the United States; you've vowed that you will…
tfk | October 8, 2008So what's up with "that one"?
I know John McCain is a little old and nutty, but it was such an odd moment.
Another odd moment happened in the discussion of Pakistan. Obama takes the reasonable view that we will pursue al Qaeda into Pakistan, with Pakistani assistance if possible and without it if necessary. John McCain considers that willingness to track down the perpetrators of 9/11 "remarkable," because, he explains, "You know, if you are a country and you're trying to gain the support of another country, then you want to do everything you can that they would act in a cooperative…
tfk | October 7, 2008So John McCain has jumped the shark. Consider these words from the typically right-wing-friendly Joe Klein:
I'm of two minds about how to deal with the McCain campaign's further descent into ugliness. Their strategy is simple: you throw crap against a wall and then giggle as the media try to analyze the putresence in a way that conveys a sense of balance: "Well, it is bull-pucky, but the splatter pattern is interesting..." which, of course, only serves to get your perverse message out. I really don't want to be a part of that. But...every so often, we journalists have a duty to remind…
tfk | October 6, 2008
As ThinkProgress points out, John McCain tried to stop the government from prosecuting domestic terrorists:
McCain's terrorism problem dates back to the early 1990s, when he sided with right-wing domestic terrorists and voted against tough new legislation cracking down on a wave of anti-choice domestic terrorism targeting women who visited abortion clinics, their doctors, and clinic staff.
In both 1993 and 1994, McCain voted against the anti-terrorism measure. On each occasion, McCain was one of thirty radical anti-choice Senators to oppose the bill Fortunately, despite McCain's opposition…
tfk | October 6, 2008I didn't get to see Bill Maher's Religulous, but apparently a lot of people did. It was on 502 theaters, and earned $3,500,000. For those keeping track, Ben Stein's Expelled earned $2,970,848 on its opening weekend, and was showing on 1,052 theaters. In other words, it earned less money despite showing on more screens.
Its reviews are kinda mixed, but it should be worth seeing.
tfk | October 2, 2008As I sort of expected, Sarah Palin and Joe Biden both did kinda OK tonight. Biden had some good moments but was a bit too stodgy and senatorial. Palin was overly scripted, managed to avoid making too much of a word salad, and seemed to be trying too hard to be folksy. I don't feel like too many people really say "doggone it" in a setting like this, even in Alaska. I looked over some of a gubernatorial debate from the CSPAN archives, and don't recall her trying so hard to be folksy there.
She seemed to have trouble engaging with the actual questions being raised, and it was obvious that…
tfk | October 2, 2008John McCain is in trouble. Public polling has shifted toward Obama, and Obama's larger donor base allowing him to outspend McCain in traditional Republican strongholds like Indiana. With Colorado and New Mexico in play out west, and a good chance that Obama will take Nevada, too, traditional battlegrounds like Ohio and Florida are less critical than in 2000 and 2004.
Indeed, there are several plausible scenarios in which Obama wins the Electoral College without Ohio or Florida. With Iowa, Virginia, and the western states in play, the struggle is much broader than it has been in several…
tfk | October 2, 2008Nancy Boyda debated Lynn Jenkins. Boyda is the first-term Congresswoman who beat Jim Ryun last year. Jenkins is the Kansas state treasurer, and a former state legislator:
One of their sharpest exchanges occurred when answering a question about the federal minimum wage. Last year, Congress approved increasing the wage from $5.15 an hour to $7.25 an hour by next year. …
Boyda noted that she had supported the increase in the minimum wage and told Jenkins, "There was no clear answer on what you felt about the minimum wage."
The congresswoman then suggested that Jenkins had been "backed into…
tfk | September 30, 2008Noted without comment:
COURIC: And when it comes to establishing your world view, I was curious, what newspapers and magazines did you regularly read before you were tapped for this -- to stay informed and to understand the world?
PALIN: I've read most of them again with a great appreciation for the press, for the media --
COURIC: But what ones specifically? I'm curious.
PALIN: Um, all of them, any of them that have been in front of me over all these years.
COURIC: Can you name any of them?
PALIN: I have a vast variety of sources where we get our news…
tfk | September 29, 2008Obama's big bet on Nevada:
a secret weapon for the Democrats may be the legions of Bay Area liberals who have been making weekend migrations to Reno to canvass for Obama. Although the Obama campaign was cagey about the numbers, Alise Moss, 53, a healthcare consultant from Sparks, Nev., who has hosted several groups of California volunteers at her house, claimed that on a recent weekend the campaign had 400 volunteers show up. "We love those crazy Californians," said Moss with a laugh. "California's navy blue, and they don't mind coming over here and knocking on doors, and all those rejections…
tfk | September 29, 2008Jonathan Martin's Blog: In reintroduction, Palin to do more interviews and "tell her story" - Politico.com:
Of concern to McCain's campaign, however, is a remaining and still-undisclosed clip from Palin's interview with Couric last week that has the political world buzzing.
The [anonymous] Palin aide … revealed that it came in response to a question about Supreme Court decisions.
After noting Roe vs. Wade, Palin was apparently unable to discuss any major court cases. There was no verbal fumbling with this particular question as there was with some others, the aide said, but rather…
tfk | September 29, 2008With a majority of Democrats in favor of it and a majority of Republicans against it, the financial bailout plan negotiated over the weekend failed in the House.
Not being an economist, I can't say that the plan was good or bad, but the consensus of smart people I'm reading seems to be that it was good enough. Allowing it to fail was foolish not just because it created the largest drop in the Dow – bigger than that following the 9/11 attacks – but because the best excuse the Republicans could come up with for voting against it was that Nancy Pelosi hurt their feelings. There are plenty of…
tfk | September 25, 2008Max Blumenthal visits Palin's church, and discusses her endorsement by a latter-day Cotton Mather:
Muthee gained fame within Pentecostal circles by claiming that he defeated a local witch, Mama Jane, in a great spiritual battle, thus liberating his town from sin and opening its people to the spirit of Jesus. Muthee’s mounting stardom took him to Wasilla Assembly of God in May, 2005, where he prayed over Palin and called upon Jesus to propel her into the governor’s mansion — and beyond. Muthee also implored Jesus to protect Palin from “the spirit of witchcraft.” The video archive of that…
tfk | September 25, 2008Sarah Palin was interviewed by Katie Couric:
Couric: Would you support a moratorium on foreclosures to help average Americans keep their homes?
Palin: That's something that John McCain and I have both been discussing - whether that (pause) is part of the solution or not. You know, it's going to be a multi-faceted solution that has to be found here.
Couric: So you haven't decided whether you'll support it or not?
Palin: I have not.
Couric: What are the pros and cons of it do you think?
Palin: Oh, well, some decisions that have been made poorly should not be rewarded, of course.…
tfk | September 23, 2008In a move that would shock anyone asleep for the past 7 years, the EPA won't limit rocket fuel in U.S. drinking water:
The Environmental Protection Agency has decided there's no need to rid drinking water of a toxic rocket fuel ingredient that has fouled public water supplies around the country.
EPA reached the conclusion in a draft regulatory document not yet made public but reviewed Monday by The Associated Press.
The ingredient, perchlorate, has been found in at least 395 sites in 35 states at levels high enough to interfere with thyroid function and pose developmental health risks,…
tfk | September 23, 2008A poll on the national economy found literally no one who thinks that the national economy is getting better. 0%
Of course, they didn't poll John McCain, who is so out of it that he thinks the economy is pretty strong.
Bear in mind here that 25% of Americans think the sun orbits the earth.
tfk | September 21, 2008A friend cc:ed me on a letter to his Congressman, and I think he's basically right about the Wall Street bailout. He writes Congress:
Please say NO. The Bush Administration's proposed bailout plan is overly broad, vastly too expensive, and lacks oversight and control that is absolutely necessary. The plan should be rejected unless it is significantly modified.
Under terms of the plan the Secretary of the Treasury can do anything he wishes with $700-Billion. Anything. No restrictions, no oversight by Congress, no review by the courts. As dangerous as our financial situation is, giving…