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Thursday, September 30, 2004
The debate
The debate went very well for Kerry, I think. He was forceful and kept Bush on the defensive, repeatedly challenging
his record. Bush kept mouthing the same sound bites. He looked very uncomfortable and several times was at a loss for words for a few seconds. Josh Marshall's reaction:
Two things stand out to me about the debate.
First, for most of the 90 minutes Kerry kept the initiative and kept the president on the defensive. The president was
able to parry many of those challenges, at least in a way that would be convincing to his supporters or those inclined to
support his policies. But I was surprised how few times President Bush brought the debate to Kerry or got him on the
defensive. The standard bludgeon lines the president and his surrogates have been using against Kerry for months only barely
got into play. When they did, Kerry came back quickly.
My point isn't that Kerry clobbered the president or anything. But for most of the 90 minutes I thought Kerry held the
initiative, keeping the energy of the debate on questions about the president's record.
It's the second point however that is, I think, the really big deal about this debate.
If you look at the dynamics of this race and the small but durable lead President Bush has built up over the last month,
it comes less from people becoming more enamored of President Bush or his policies as it has from a steep decline in confidence
in Sen. Kerry.
To put it bluntly, the Bush campaign has created an image of Kerry as a weak and indecisive man, someone that -- whatever
you think of President Bush -- just can't be trusted to keep the country safe in these dangerous times.
Often they've made him into an object of contempt.
Whatever else you can say about this debate, though, whatever you think of his policies, I don't think that's how Kerry
came off. I think he came off as forceful and direct. And I suspect that most people who were at all genuinely undecided came
away from the 90 minutes with that impression.
If President Bush's current lead is built not upon confidence in him or his policies but in a simple belief that Kerry
isn't solid enough to be president, then I think this performance could help Kerry a good deal.
The networks' polls that I've seen show a consensus that Kerry won. ABC News reports:
Among a random sample of 531 registered voters who watched the debate, 45 percent called Kerry the winner, 36 percent said
it was Bush, and 17 percent called it a tie. It was a clean win for Kerry: Independents by a 20-point margin said he prevailed.
Moreover, while 70 percent of Bush's supporters said Bush was the winner, considerably more Kerry supporters — 89 percent
— said their man won.
Here's CBS:
A poll of 200 uncommitted voters conducted immediately after the debate by CBS News and Knowledge Networks gave the edge
to John Kerry. Forty-four percent of those polled said Kerry won, 26 percent said the president won and 30 percent called
the debate a tie.
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10:38 pm cdt
Wednesday, September 29, 2004
Another pinko for Kerry
Former Ambassador John Eisenhower. (link via Atrios) Someone pointed out that that makes Bush 0-2 among biological sons of iconic former Republican presidents (unfortunately,
the "biological" qualifier is necessary to include Ron Reagan, Jr. but exclude Michael Reagan).
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10:25 pm cdt
Scalia speaks
Hmm. It seems from his speech to an audience at Harvard last night that Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia shares some views with Illinois
Republican senatorial candidate Alan Keyes:
In one of the more bizarre moments of the evening, Scalia mentioned—in passing—that he thought the 17th Amendment was "a
bad idea."
The 17th Amendment provides for the direct election of senators.
And others with former Illinois Republican senatorial candidate Jack Ryan:
"I even take the position that sexual orgies eliminate social tensions and ought to be encouraged," Scalia said.
Somehow that is not a statement I expected to hear from Scalia. Clarence Thomas, maybe, but not Scalia.
(link via Atrios) But Senor Burt, commenting on Atrios' post, explained it:
It makes sense. Scalia did screw hundreds of millions of Americans at the same time.
Indeed.
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9:59 pm cdt
Fafblog on PA
Fafnir offers his unique analysis of the key swing state of Pennsylvania. E.g.:
Georgia Mason is a retired Vietnam Veteran NASCAR driver an security mom who as a single parent must juggle raisin her
family with her career as captain of a pirate ship. She has voted for Ronald Reagan an Bill Clinton an George Bush an a genetic
chimera of Ross Perot an Ralph Nader. But although she calls herself a lifelong Republican she may vote for John Kerry this
year! "I don't trust John Kerry on the war," she says. "But I'm worried about my job in this economy. How can I feed a family
looting, raping, and pillaging if everyone I try to loot, rape, and pillage is unemployed?" But she also has her doubts about
John Kerry. "John Kerry's a flip-flopper," she says. "What if he decides to flip-flop on terror and have American troops fighting
alongside Osama bin Laden in a bloody jihad against the west just because it's popular in the polls?" Georgia is one of many
voters who says she may wait up until the last few days, or preferably the last few seconds, of the election to decide. "I
just don't know enough about this president and his policies after only four years of his presidency and his policies," she
points out. Convincin urban professional gay Hispanic Jews like her may be the key to carryin the population centers.
Meanwhile, Giblets is outraged at Congressional Republicans' plans to outsource torture, and urges you to write your Congressman today
to say that you want those torture jobs to stay right here in the U.S. of A.! (link via Atrios)
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9:40 pm cdt
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Rose-colored glasses
Matt Yglesias has a good piece in The American Prospect about Bush's delusional "optimism" about Iraq. (link via Atrios)
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4:39 pm cdt
Crawford paper endorses Kerry, trashes Bush
The Lone Star Iconoclast, Dubya's hometown newspaper, which endorsed him in 2000, has endorsed Kerry in an editorial scathingly critical of Bush. Among other choice bits, the paper states:
We don't need a part-time President who does not show up for duty as Commander-In-Chief until he is forced to, and who
is in a constant state of blameless denial when things don't get done.
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4:29 pm cdt
Headline of the day
JERUSALEM -- Greek Orthodox and Franciscan priests got into a fistfight Monday at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Christianity's
holiest shrine, after arguing over whether a door in the basilica should be closed during a procession.
Dozens of people, including several Israeli police officers, were slightly hurt in the brawl at the shrine, built over
the spot where tradition says Jesus was crucified and buried.
Four priests were detained, police said.
Custody of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is shared by several denominations that jealously guard territory and responsibilities
under a fragile deal hammered out over the last centuries. Any perceived encroachment on one group's turf can lead to vicious
feuds, sometimes lasting hundreds of years.
Monday's fight broke out during a procession of hundreds of Greek Orthodox worshippers commemorating the 4th century pilgrimage
by Helena, mother of Emperor Constantine, to Jerusalem. Tradition says that during the trip, Helena found the cross on which
Jesus had been crucified.
Church officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that at one point, the procession passed a Roman Catholic chapel,
and priests from both sides started arguing over whether the door to the chapel should be open or closed.
Club-wielding Israeli police broke up the fight, witnesses said. Afterward, the procession continued.
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3:22 pm cdt
Monday, September 27, 2004
Weirder and weirder
Just when you thought the Alan Keyes story couldn't get any stranger . . . . As you may recall, Keyes caused quite a
firestorm at the Republican National Convention when he said that Mary Cheney, as a lesbian, was "by definition" a "selfish
hedonist." Bizarrely enough, chillinois has discovered that Keyes' own daughter Maya, who is campaigning with him, is apparently an out lesbian. Chillinois has lots of documentation
(photographs, entries from Maya's own blog, etc.). Check it out. (link via Daily Kos, who notes, "If this is a hoax, and it very well could be, it's a pretty good one.") If this is legit, it provides another
lovely example of Republican "family values" -- trashing people, including by implication one's own daughter, for
their sexuality.
UPDATE: It occurs to me that this means that Dick Cheney and Alan Keyes, two of the leading Republican
candidates (at least here in Illinois), both want a constitutional amendment barring their own daughters from getting
married. Kind of gives new meaning to "family values" and "compassionate conservatism," doesn't it?
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3:56 am cdt
Top 10 conservative idiots
Entertaining, as always. Incidentally, DU links to an article noting that the latest Chicago Tribune poll shows Barack Obama annihilating Alan Keyes 68% to 17%. It had hitherto
been thought pretty much impossible for a major-party Senate candidate to get less than 30% in Illinois, but Keyes is
boldly going where no man has gone before. You gotta hand it to the rocket scientists in the Illinois GOP who came up with
this guy. I'll bet sex-club enthusiast Jack Ryan (whom the GOP forced out to make way for Keyes) is chuckling to himself.
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12:38 am cdt
Sunday, September 26, 2004
Get Out of Iraq
Check out a tremendous song and music video by Simple Fears, "Get Out of Iraq," here or here (scroll down to see the video). If you like it, consider sending them a few bucks.
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1:09 pm cdt
Hersh interview
Salon has a good, but too short, interview with Seymour Hersh, probably America's greatest journalist. (link via The Sideshow)
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11:55 am cdt
Sane Republicans
Instead of partisan ideology - which increasingly has led moderates to leave the party - what’s needed is a speedy return
to the pragmatic, problem-solving mainstream. Here’s how the President and Republican-majority Congress can send that clear
signal to the nation:
Stop weakening environmental law - and once again protect our air, water and public lands as Teddy Roosevelt and other
great Republican leaders intended;
Restore fiscal responsibility - with "pay-as-you-go" budget discipline to end record deficits that jeopardize
economic growth;
Put the health of millions first - and clear the way for embryonic stem cell research;
Appoint mainstream federal judges - and respect the Constitution;
Make America safer - and protect cities and towns, still vulnerable three years after 9/11, by securing chemical
and nuclear plants and shipping containers;
Rebuild our alliances - with real partnerships and restore America’s standing in the world.
By returning to the mainstream in these ways, our party can regain the trust of a divided nation and earn a vote of confidence
in November.
Hard to argue with those principles -- but none of that is going to happen under this president. These look like good
sites. Recommend them to your Republican friends who aren't too far gone.
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2:41 am cdt
Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair has an absolute must-read article about the different ways BushCo stole the 2000
election, and the prospect for similar shenanigans this year (pretty damned good). Vanity Fair has no website,
but graciously gave Tom Goldstein of SCOTUSblog permission to post the article. Here, as PDF files, are Part 1 and Part 2. (via SCOTUSblog, via Political Wire, via The Sideshow)
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1:29 am cdt
Saturday, September 25, 2004
Capitalism booming in Iraq
10:43 pm cdt
Why we will win
COLUMBUS, Ohio - A sweeping voter registration campaign in heavily Democratic areas has added tens of thousands of new
voters to the rolls in the swing states of Ohio and Florida, a surge that has far exceeded the efforts of Republicans in both
states, a review of registration data shows.
The analysis by The New York Times of county-by-county data shows that in Democratic areas of Ohio - primarily low-income
and minority neighborhoods - new registrations since January have risen 250 percent over the same period in 2000. In comparison,
new registrations have increased just 25 percent in Republican areas. A similar pattern is apparent in Florida: in the strongest
Democratic areas, the pace of new registration is 60 percent higher than in 2000, while it has risen just 12 percent in the
heaviest Republican areas.
While comparable data could not be obtained for other swing states, similar registration drives have been mounted in them
as well, and party officials on both sides say record numbers of new voters are being registered nationwide. This largely
hidden but deadly earnest battle is widely believed by campaign professionals and political scientists to be potentially decisive
in the presidential election.
. . . .
The precise impact of the swell in registration is difficult to predict, as there is no reliable gauge of how many of these
new voters will actually vote. Some experts, though, say that the spike has not been accurately captured by political polls
and could confound prognostications in closely contested states.
What is clear is that each side has deployed huge numbers of workers and devoted millions of dollars to the effort. Much
of it is being directed by civil rights and community groups, as well as soft-money organizations allied with the Democrats.
One such Democratic umbrella group, America Votes, says its constituents - labor unions, trial lawyers, environmental groups,
community organizations - will spend $300 million on registration and turnout in swing states, a sum that dwarfs the $150
million in public financing the two candidates together will receive for the entire fall campaign.
The registration drives are just the first step in a campaign by each side to get more Americans to vote by using personal
contact. As registration winds down, with early October cutoffs in many states, efforts will shift to staying in touch through
Election Day with repeated phone calls and visits, and, on Nov. 2, ferrying people to the polls.
In Ohio - no Republican presidential candidate has ever been elected without carrying the state - the campaign has been
especially exhaustive. Canvassers ride public transportation, visit coin laundries, and trudge the sidewalks and parking lots
at the job centers, housing agencies and community colleges.
In Columbus, Akume Green has haunted the Franklin County Courthouse for months, working the sidewalk between the entrance
and the nearby bus stop. Ms. Green says she has signed up more than 700 voters since March here and elsewhere in the city.
But it is getting harder to do so, she said. On a recent day, the first 12 people she asked said they had already registered.
"I get about 30 new voters or changes of address in six hours," said Ms. Green, who was hired by Project Vote, the nonpartisan
arm of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or Acorn. "I used to get 16 in 45 minutes, but now everyone's
registered."
Studies have shown that calling voters and showing up at their houses before and on Election Day substantially increases
turnout - and is cheaper per vote than buying a television advertisement. Republicans used the strategy with great success
in the 2002 elections.
. . . .
Steve Rosenthal, the chief executive of Americans Coming Together, or ACT, a soft-money group that is trying to register
Democrats, said he believed [newly registered voters] would [turn out]. "I think what's happening on the streets, below the
radar, is what's going to make the big difference on Election Day," said Mr. Rosenthal, who said his organization and the
other groups would register two and a half million new Democratic voters nationwide.
. . . .
Ms. Green is typical of the army of registrars who have been working the streets here, some of them since last September.
Their persistence has produced results. Franklin County had 650,000 registered voters in the 2000 election. "Now we're over
800,000," said Matt Damschroder, the director of the Board of Elections. "If you look at the pure census numbers, you'd think
we are close to registering the entire voting-age population."
Project Vote says it has registered 147,000 new voters in Ohio. Americans Coming Together said that, together with allied
groups that are part of America Votes, it had registered 300,000 new voters. America Votes and ACT are openly Democratic,
although they cannot legally coordinate with the party or the Kerry campaign.
. . . .
[A]n examination of county registration records shows that the groups have added thousands of new Democrats to the rolls
and have far outnumbered new registrations in Republican areas. In a 300-square-block area east of the courthouse in downtown
Columbus that voted nine to one against Mr. Bush in 2000, for instance, 3,000 new voters have registered this year. That is
three times as many as in each of the last two presidential election years. The number of registered voters in the area is
up 18 percent since January.
By comparison, in a prosperous area north of downtown with a similar number of voters who are overwhelmingly Republican,
just 1,100 new voters have been added this year, increasing registration rolls by 7 percent.
These numbers are similar across Ohio. The Times examined registration from Jan. 1 to July 31 in a sample of counties that
included seven of the state's nine largest, along with some smaller rural and suburban counties. Voters do not give a party
affiliation when they register in Ohio, but The Times looked at the voting history of ZIP codes to gauge the political inclinations
of the new voters.
In rock-ribbed Republican areas - 103 ZIP codes, many of them rural and suburban areas, that voted by two to one or better
for George W. Bush in 2000 - 35,000 new voters have registered, a substantial increase over the 28,000 that registered in those areas in the
first seven months of 2000. . . . .
. . . .
But in heavily Democratic areas - 60 ZIP codes mostly in the core of big cities like Cleveland, Dayton, Columbus and Youngstown
that voted two to one or better against Mr. Bush - new registrations have more than tripled over 2000, to 63,000 from 17,000.
In Florida, where The Times was able to analyze data from 60 of the state's 67 counties, new registrations this year also
are running far ahead of the 2000 pace, with Republican areas trailing Democratic ones. In the 150 ZIP codes that voted most
heavily for Mr. Bush, 96,000 new voters have registered this year, up from 86,000 in 2000, an increase of about 12 percent.
But in the heaviest of Democratic areas, 110 ZIP codes that gave two-thirds or more of their votes to Al Gore, new registrations
have increased to 125, 000 from 77,000, a jump of more than 60 percent.
In Duval County, where a confusing ballot design in 2000 helped disqualify thousands of ballots in black precincts, new
registrations by black voters are up 150 percent over the pace of 2000.
. . . .
The groups are building nationwide databases of voters and have committed millions of dollars for continued contact with
them before and on Election Day.
"If every Democrat showed up at the polls, you'd win, no question," said James Koehler, a precinct organizer in Columbus
working for MoveOn.org, another soft-money group. Mr. Koehler said MoveOn hoped to have a volunteer in every precinct to call
neighbors on Nov. 2.
. . . .
Even before Election Day, the new voters may be having an impact on the campaign, because they may not be accurately reflected
in the political polls.
"The people who are new voters are disengaged; they're less likely to respond to a poll question," said Philip Klinkner,
a government professor at Hamilton College. (link via Daily Kos)
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6:00 pm cdt
If the Democrats win . . .
the "Sex and the City" actresses will all become lesbians. It's already started. (scroll up to see full post)
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4:47 pm cdt
Unabashed liars
The Republican National Committee admits sending mailings to voters in West Virginia and Arkansas telling them that the Bible will be banned if they don't
vote:
The Republican Party acknowledged yesterday sending mass mailings to residents of two states warning that "liberals"
seek to ban the Bible. It said the mailings were part of its effort to mobilize religious voters for President Bush.
The mailings include images of the Bible labeled "banned" and of a gay marriage proposal labeled "allowed." A mailing to
Arkansas residents warns: "This will be Arkansas if you don't vote." A similar mailing was sent to West Virginians.
. . . .
In an e-mail message, Christine Iverson, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, confirmed that the party
had sent the mailings.
"When the Massachusetts Supreme Court sanctioned same-sex marriage and people in other states realized they could be compelled
to recognize those laws, same-sex marriage became an issue,'' Ms. Iverson said. "These same activist judges also want to remove
the words 'under God' from the Pledge of Allegiance." (link via Wonkette)
And who are these liberals trying to ban the Bible, Ms. Iverson? They don't exist. Atrios has a picture of the
mailing to Arkansans, complete with Republican National Committee return address, here.
God, these people are despicable, lying bastards. One wonders if the media will get as exercised over the RNC's
lies as they did over Dan Rather's unknowing use of forged (albeit substantively accurate) documents. Somehow I doubt it.
On a related note, Publius of Legal Fiction gets shrill over the Rethuglicans' sleazy claims that terrorists are rooting for Kerry. Have I mentioned that I hate these bastards?
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3:30 pm cdt
Islamic terrorism stronger than ever
RABAT, Morocco — Authorities have made little progress worldwide in defeating Islamic extremists affiliated with Al Qaeda
despite thwarting attacks and arresting high-profile figures, according to interviews with intelligence and law enforcement
officials and outside experts.
On the contrary, officials warn that the Bush administration's upbeat assessment of
its successes is overly optimistic and masks its strategic failure to understand and combat Al Qaeda's evolution.
Even before the Sept. 11 attacks, Al Qaeda was a loosely organized network, but core leaders exercised considerable
control over its operations. Since the loss of its base in Afghanistan and many of those leaders, the organization has dispersed
its operatives and reemerged as a lethal ideological movement. Osama bin Laden might now serve more as an inspirational
figure than a CEO, and the war in Iraq is helping focus militants' anger, according to dozens of interviews in recent weeks
on several continents. European and moderate Islamic countries have become targets. And instead of undergoing lengthy training
at camps in Afghanistan, recruits have been quickly indoctrinated at home and deployed on attacks. The United States
remains a target, but counter-terrorism officials and experts are alarmed by Al Qaeda's switch from spectacular attacks that
require years of planning to smaller, more numerous strikes on softer targets that can be carried out swiftly with little
money or outside help. The impact of these smaller attacks can be enormous. Bombings in Casablanca in May 2003 shook
Morocco's budding democracy, leading to mass arrests and claims of abuse. The bombing of four commuter trains in Madrid in
March contributed to the ouster of Spain's government and the withdrawal of its troops from Iraq. Officials say the
terrorist movement has benefited from the rapid spread of radical Islam's message among potential recruits worldwide who are
motivated by Al Qaeda's anti-Western doctrine, the continuing Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the insurgency in Iraq. The
Iraq war, which President Bush says is necessary to build a safer world, has emerged as a new front in the battle against
terrorism and a rallying point for a seemingly endless supply of young extremists willing to die wherever they wage jihad,
or holy war. (link via Legal Fiction)
Meanwhile, retired Air Force Col. Mike Turner, who served on the U.S. Central Command planning staffs for operations
Desert Shield and Desert Storm, writes of the war in Iraq:
Two thirds of America's combat brigades are now tied down in this war which, under present conditions,
is categorically unwinnable. Having alienated virtually every major ally who might help, our troops are simply targets. If
Bush is re-elected, there are only two possible outcomes in Iraq:
- Four years from now, America will have 5,000 dead servicemen and women and an untold number of dead
Iraqis at a cost of about $1 trillion, yet still be no closer to success than we are right now, or
- The U.S. will be gone, and we will witness the birth of a violent breeding ground for Shiite terrorists
posing a far greater threat to Americans than a contained Saddam.
To discern the truth about Iraq, Americans must simply look beyond the spin. This war is not some noble
endeavor, some great struggle of good against evil as the Bush administration would have us believe. We in the military have
heard these grand pronouncements many times before by men who have neither served nor sacrificed. This war is an exercise
in colossal stupidity and hubris which has now cost more than 1,000 American military lives, which has empowered Al Qaeda
beyond anything those butchers might have engineered on their own and which has diverted America's attention and precious
resources from the real threat at the worst possible time. And now, in a supreme act of truly breathtaking gall, this administration
insists the only way to fix Iraq is to leave in power the very ones who created the nightmare.
Absent an unequivocal plan from Kerry, the Bush administration's "stay the course" strategy has become
the de facto solution. Yet this is a recipe for even greater tragedy, setting the stage for far more crippling attacks on
Americans. It means adhering to a plan that may very soon make it impossible for the U.S. to respond to significant threats
from elsewhere against its vital strategic interests. The administration's policies are tearing down America's military readiness
worldwide, while ignoring the real war on terror. (link via Dohiyi Mir)
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2:59 pm cdt
NYT on blogging
Matthew Klam has a great article in the Sunday New York Times Magazine about bloggers at the Republican and Democratic National Conventions. It's the
best article about blogging I've ever read, with long profiles of Markos "Daily Kos" Moulitsas, Josh "Talking Points Memo" Marshall, and Ana Marie "Wonkette" Cox. (link via Daily Kos) Go read it already.
UPDATE: Steve Gilliard has written an annotated version. (His permalink for this post doesn't seem to work; it's the one on September 25, 2004 at 6:10:54 p.m.)
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2:03 pm cdt
Friday, September 24, 2004
Quote of the day
Henry Farrell of Crooked Timber has designated the quote below from The Poor Man the quote of the day. I must agree:
Relying on Free Republic losers to "fact-check" the media is like relying on the proverbial roomful of typing monkeys,
except with somewhat more feral howling and feces-flinging.
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11:20 am cdt
Brooks parody
Non-fans of NYT columnist David Brooks (a category that should include any sentient being who's read one or
more of his columns) will appreciate David Brooks Also Eats Cereal:
In today's breakfast-cereal age, there are two types of people in the world, those who like to look into their bowl at
a sea of desiccated marshmallows, and those who prefer an unsweetened alternative made from whole-grain oats. I call them
the Lucky Charmers and the Cheerioians.
This link via Crooked Timber, which notes Brooksie's latest dichotomy: the Iraqis you can win over, and those you kill. Lovely.
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10:53 am cdt
Mahablog
Barbara O'Brien collects the latest commentating on the Bush regime by Bob Herbert, Paul Krugman, and Dana Milbank. Her cat is cute, too.
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9:46 am cdt
Thursday, September 23, 2004
The hell of Iraq
Phillip Robertson, writing from Iraq for Salon, has an article entitled simply "Hell." (If you're not a member, watch an ad to get a free day pass.) His conclusion:
The war, illegal and founded on a vast lie, has produced two tragedies of equal magnitude: an embryonic civil war in the
world's oldest country, and a triumph for those in the Bush administration who, without a trace of shame, act as if the truth
does not matter. Lying until the lie became true, the administration pursued a course of action that guaranteed large sections
of Iraq would become havens for jihadis and radical Islamists. That is the logic promoted by people who take for themselves
divine infallibility -- a righteousness that blinds and destroys. Like credulous Weimar Germans who were so delighted by rigged
wrestling matches, millions of Americans have accepted Bush's assertions that the war in Iraq has made the United States and
the rest of the world a safer place to live. Of course, this is false.
But it is a useful fiction because it is a happy one. All we need to know, according to the administration, is that America
is a good country, full of good people and therefore cannot make bloody mistakes when it comes to its own security. The bitter
consequence of succumbing to such happy talk is that the government of the most powerful nation in the world now operates
unchecked and unmoored from reality; leaving us teetering on the brink of another presidential term where abuse of authority
has been recast as virtue.
The logic the administration uses to promote its actions -- preemptive war, indefinite detention, torture of prisoners,
the abandonment of the Geneva Convention abroad and the Bill of Rights at home -- is simple, faith-based and therefore empty
of reason. The worsening war is the creation of the Bush administration, which is simultaneously holding Americans and Iraqis
hostage to a bloody conflict that cannot be won, only stalemated.
Over the last three years, practicing a philosophy of deliberate deception, fear-mongering and abuse of authority, the
Bush administration has done more to undermine the republic of Lincoln and Jefferson than the cells of al-Qaida. It has willfully
ignored our fundamental laws and squandered the nation's wealth in bloody, open-ended pursuits. Corporations like Halliburton,
with close ties to government officials, are profiting greatly from the war while thousands of American soldiers undertake
the dangerous work of patrolling the streets of Iraqi cities. We have arrived at a moment of national crisis.
At home, the United States, under the Bush administration, is rapidly drifting toward a security state whose principal
currency is fear. Abroad, it has used fear to justify the invasion of Iraq -- fear of weapons of mass destruction, of terrorist
attacks, of Iraq itself. The administration, under false premises, invaded a country that it barely understood. We entered
a country in shambles, a population divided against itself. The U.S. invasion was a catalyst of violence and religious hatred,
and the continuing presence of American troops has only made matters worse. Iraq today bears no resemblance to the president's
vision of a fledgling democracy. On its way to national elections in January, Iraq has already slipped into chaos. (link via
Atrios)
Juan Cole looks at what America would be like if it were Iraq. (link via Daily Kos)
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6:01 pm cdt
The insanity continues
WASHINGTON, Sept. 22 - Putting aside efforts to control the federal deficit before the elections, Republican and Democratic
leaders agreed Wednesday to extend $145 billion worth of tax cuts sought by President Bush without trying to pay for them.
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10:00 am cdt
Wednesday, September 22, 2004
Kerry inches ahead in electoral votes
The electoral vote maps were looking pretty grim just a few days ago, with Bush at 320 or 330-something electoral
votes (270 is necessary to win). (See what's happened in September at www.electoral-vote.com here -- it looks like Bush peaked at 331.) The Republican pundits gleefully pronounced Kerry all but dead. Happily, our man has rebounded and now has a narrow lead in most of the electoral vote predictors. (Note that Pandagon gets American Research Group's numbers wrong; ARG has Kerry at 270, Bush at 253, with WI (10) and WV (5) tied.)
By the way, Michael Moore says to put away your hankies -- we're gonna win. (Thanks, Bernice and Shilpa.)
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10:54 pm cdt
Too good to be true
Someone made a map of Florida, colored in to reflect which counties Bush and Gore had won in 2000, then plotted the paths taken
by Hurricanes Charley, Frances, and Ivan through the state. (link via Atrios) Lo and behold, it appeared that the Lord had smited the red counties, and left the blue counties unscathed!
The author's conclusion:
This is no longer an interesting coincidence. It is an unmistakable message from God. I hope everyone is listening.
Alas, Snopes says it isn't so. Although Ivan did whack only the heavily Republican Florida panhandle, it seems that Charley and Frances
were less selective, doing quite a bit of damage to Gore counties.
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10:42 pm cdt
How sad
In light of the ruling (PDF) today by the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, it doesn't look like Nader will be getting on the
ballot in Illinois.
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10:24 pm cdt
Tuesday, September 21, 2004
Anagram of the day
"Compassionate conservative" = "Conspire to save a vast income" or "Come vote, save patrician's
son." (From Anagram Genius)
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8:45 pm cdt
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