Political
obama the cowboy
Originally uploaded by Mr. Wright
Next up: Texas & Ohio.
My favorite political writer today is Matthew Yglesias. He had been writing three separate blogs, one on TPM Cafe, one on TAPPED, and a personal one. He just moved to a single, relaunched www.matthewyglesias.com. You can subscribe here: feedburner.com/matthewyglesias This post is a public callout and request for Matt to please, please bring back the full-text RSS feed.
TalkingPointsMemo has a funny political theater gotcha I’d like to share.
This guy who is running for Duke Cunningham’s congressional spot in California put up this picture of “Bhagdad” from his recent trip there as a way of illustrating that the media is over-selling the negatives like, say, civil war and not talking about all the groovy good stuff that is going on over there. He offers this picture -> as evidence.
Except that isn’t Bhagdad. It is a suburb of Istanbul, Turkey called Bakirkoy. TPM’s got a picture of the same intersection from a different angle with arrows and everything.
My...
Today’s blogger conspiracy theory:
The administration purposefully made Medicare D a terrible program to “prove” that government run healthcare is a bad idea in general.
"A new poll shows that 66 percent of Americans think President Bush is doing a poor job of handling the war in Iraq. And the remaining 34 percent think Adam and Eve rode dinosaurs to church."
-Tina Fey on SNL (that I just watched in Tivo)
The WP and NYT both mention Texas's release of thousands of Harriet Miers-related documents mostly during her time as chair of the Lottery Commission under then Gov. Bush. […] The NYT, meanwhile, notices a number of correspondences like this: "You are the best governor ever—deserving of great respect," Miers wrote in a b-day card to her boss. "I appreciate your friendship and candor," responded the president, "never hold back your sage advice."
[via Slate Today's Papers]
I’ve also heard that Harriet claims that Bush is the smartest man she has ever met, ever. It is a good thing she is also the best...
If you take the Iraq war down to the core, you will find a deadly simple rational.
We were attacked on 9/11, the White House needed to strike back, show significant force. Afghanistan was too easy a victory. It didn’t do enough to strike enough fear. I won’t spend time caveating this Iraq war statement with endless words on the long term benefits of democracy in the middle east, regime changes, etc. I believe those all to be simply supplementary justifications of a core emotion. There is enough nuance in this argument to keep people talking forever, but check this...
I just got nauseous (or is it nauseated?) thinking about the long-term damage GWB is about to do with his replacement suggestions for new supremes.
O'Connor to resign from Supreme Court
Terror from the Inside:
"If you don't like that, I'm sorry." Jon Bolton, Bush nominee for Ambassador to the UN, discusses the United Nations with humility and patriotic aplomb. [via MetaFilter]
Classy piece of video Mr. Bolton.
Every morning starts out with Slate’s Today’s Papers. The seventh paragraph:
The Post, alone, fronts about 60 Iraqis killed in mostly terrorist attacks around the country. (The other papers reefer the bombings.) Ten Iraqis were killed and roughly 100 wounded by the bombing of a popular falafel restaurant in Baghdad. Another 20 to 30 people were killed by two car bombs outside a Shiite community center near Mosul. Late last night another car bomb outside a Shiite mosque south of Baghdad killed 10. Also, a top Iraqi national security official was assassinated. And the military announced that five American soldiers...
The other day I read this Tom Friedman editorial, dramatically subtitled “How will future historians explain why President George W. Bush decided to ignore the energy crisis staring us in the face?” It continues on about his “geo-greening” philosophy. Basically he is strongly advocating green technologies to wean our country off oil which he sees as a big part of the middle east problem — that we send so much money there which props up corrupt regimes and prevents real progress from being made in that area. He advocates a gas tax which would fix gas prices near $4 a gallon....
It is pretty clear Bush and fellow social security privatizers just want to do away with the whole program, not save it, but regardless it is fun to poke holes in the argument.
One of the best ones I’ve seen is this gem of an NYT Op-Ed from Paul Krugman.
The gist of the article is this: Bush & Co are arguing that the stock market will net better returns that the current government managed fund. Paul calculates that in order for the stock market to outperform today’s fund over the next 75 years, stocks will either be ridiculously overpriced (more...
I am tempted to quote the entire thing since it is so right on. Michael Kinsley: My contention: Social Security privatization is not just unlikely to succeed, for various reasons that are subject to discussion. It is mathematically certain to fail. Discussion is pointless. [read the rest on tpm] Since you are interested, and I know you are. Paul Krugman took time out from his NYTimes sabbatical to write these two editorials on the subject. Very good intro to the subject. 12/6: Contrary to what the privatizers are saying, we don't have to destroy Social Security in order to fix it. 12/9:...
Slate's Halo 2 writeup:
"When the game begins, you're playing the same "good" guy from the original Halo, a super-enhanced human charged with laying a world of pain on an alien army called the Covenant." ... "While Halo 2 often plays like a bigger, badder version of its predecessor, there is an unexpected new twist about two hours into the game. Look down and—whoa!—you've got an alien claw instead of a hand. By your side are the lizardlike dudes you were just shelling. For the rest of the game, you flip back and forth between playing as a human and...
From Low Culture: Getting the Most From Their Advertising Dollar: It's common to place ads in articles or TV shows to reach a target demographic, but this in-line advertisement which is embedded in a story in the Washington Times about a Georgia man who killed himself at the site of the World Trade Center might be a little too targeted:The President is probably assured of a filibuster-proof Senate after the next mid-term elections if all the Democrats kill themselves, move to Canada, or secede.
As Rajul Mahajan says “This is a time to wallow in the defeat. Let’s not shrug it off too quickly. Let’s acknowledge what it means in a world that is in the process of being torn apart by a new crusade. When we move on to try to find hope, let’s start with a rational core, not one built out of wishful thinking, fantasies about how the world works, and self-congratulation.” I am enjoying this phase of the political experience far more than I did the run up to the election. Before the election the commentary was tactical, all about how...
Sen. John Kerry calls President Bush to concede presidential election, CNN has learned. Details soon.
Four more years?
How can we make sure this doesn't happen again?
What do we do now?
(Laughter.) The senator now says we'd have to pass some international truth standard. The truth is we should never turn America's national security decisions over to international bodies or leaders of other countries. (Applause.) -DubyaIn an article about this Bush quote William Saletan in Slate closes with this paragraph: I know I've been hard on the president lately. I'd like to say something nice about him. I'd like to be "fair and balanced." But my first responsibility as a reporter is to the truth. When one candidate tells half the truth, and the other says the truth doesn't matter, it becomes...
From Mike Doughty's* new blog. Pollster John Zogby, in this week's New Yorker:"Before the election in 2000, I called my call center in Utica and said, 'Put this in the poll: You live in the land of Oz, and the candidates are the Tin Man, who's all brains and no heart, and the Scarecrow, who's all heart and no brains. Who would you vote for?' The next day, I called Utica said, 'Whaddaya got?' They said, 'Well, we've got Gore--,' I said, 'I don't care about Gore. What's Oz?' It was 46.2 for the Tin Man and 46.2 for the...
At some point or another I signed up for the official Kerry email newsletter. Today I get one simply titled "Iraq". I start reading and it is pretty well written and clear. Then I realize the scroll bar thinger is awfully small. Print preview reveals it is nine printed pages long!I couldn't find the text online, so I posted it here: http://www.coreyh.com/blog/articles/802.aspx
Most of you probably heard about how Bush's new CIA appointee Porter Goss was interviewed by Micheal Moore during the filming of Fahrenheit 9/11 and basically laid out the case for why he's not even qualified to *be* in the CIA, much less run it. I didn't realize the video is available online here. [quicktime link]
I can't believe it! The rumors I commented on earlier about Bush pushing Pakistan to come up with al Qaida bigwigs during the convention are true! CNN: Pakistan captures high-level al Qaeda operative They have no shame. Tonight just happens to be the biggest single moment in Kerry's campaign. From Coreyh.com on May 11th: I have long suspected that Karl Rove has been dreaming about engineering a high profile arrest close to the election. Even if they captured somebody now they'd probably just come up with some bogus reason to hold him in secret until the political climate is more...
I was an Edwards man before the primary so I'm very pleased with today's announcement. William Saletan in Slate makes the point here that Kerry, who has the credentials for the job, isn't so great about selling himself and that Edwards is a great pick to sell Kerry. It all seems more real now for some reason. Go team!
The NYT mentions inside that the military confirmed that a soldier ordered to play a prisoner at Gitmo was beaten by guards who didn't know he was undercover. Here's an interview with the soldier.
[via Slate Today's Papers]
"Mr. Secretary, thank you for your hospitality, and thank you for your leadership. You are courageously leading our nation in the war against terror. You're doing a superb job. You are a strong Secretary of Defense, and our nation owes you a debt of gratitude." -Bush
Dick Cheney says, "Don Rumsfeld is the best secretary of defense the United States has ever had. . . . People should get off his case and let him do his job." [via Paul Krugman]
Really best ever? Huh. I disagree.
UPDATE: Also read Slate's War Stories - Fred Kaplan
Just in case I haven't offended enough people yet. Average IQ by state and how they voted in 2000
State
Avg. IQ
2000
1
Connecticut
113
Gore
2
Massachusetts
111
Gore
3
New Jersey
111
Gore
4
New York
109
Gore
5
Rhode Island
107
Gore
6
Hawaii
106
Gore
7
Maryland
105
Gore
8
New Hampshire
105
Bush
9
Illinois
104
Gore
10
Delaware
103
Gore
11
Minnesota
102
Gore
12
Vermont
102
Gore
13
Washington
102
Gore
14
California
101
Gore
15
Pennsylvania
101
Gore
16
Maine
100
Gore
17
Virginia
100
Bush
18
Wisconsin
100
Gore
19
Colorado
99
Bush
20
Iowa
99
Gore
21
Michigan
99
Gore
22
Nevada
99
Bush
23
Ohio
99
Bush
24
Oregon
99
Gore
25
Alaska
98
Bush
26
Florida
98
Bush
27
Missouri
98
Bush
28
Kansas
96
Bush
29
Nebraska
95
Bush
30
Arizona
94
Bush
31
Indiana
94
Bush
32
Tennessee
94
Bush
33
North Carolina
93
Bush
34
West Virginia
93
Bush
35
Arkansas
92
Bush
36
Georgia
92
Bush
37
Kentucky
92
Bush
38
New Mexico
92
Gore
39
North Dakota
92
Bush
40
Texas
92
Bush
41
Alabama
90
Bush
42
Louisiana
90
Bush
43
Montana
90
Bush
44
Oklahoma
90
Bush
45
South Dakota
90
Bush
46
South Carolina
89
Bush
47
Wyoming
89
Bush
48
Idaho
87
Bush
49
Utah
87
Bush
50
Mississippi
85
Bush
[Via MetaFilter "Morons for Bush?"]
UPDATE: Great quote from the comments on MetaFilter
It is well known that IQ is not a relevant way to measure "true" intelligence, and that many factors go into determining the political makeup of a stare's electorate, including historic tradition, perceived affinity with the candidate, differences in campaign targetting, media influence, and haha ha hahaha ha ha ha!
Lettin' off a little steam ...
Rush Limbaugh from yesterday ...
This is no different than what happens at the Skull and Bones initiation and we're going to ruin people's lives over it and we're going to hamper our military effort, and then we are going to really hammer them because they had a good time. You know, these people are being fired at every day. I'm talking about people having a good time, these people, you ever heard of emotional release? You of heard of need to blow some steam off?
Should we take a look at the photos again Rush?...