Torture Prosecutions

It’s stunning to me the extent to which the issue is being universally misreported. First — Obama did not DECIDE to release the Office of Legal Counsel memos, he was legally compelled to do so under a FOIA lawsuit.  The idea behind FOIA is that government documents are presumably public unless an exception applies.  What Obama determined was that no exception applied — this was really more of a legal judgment than a political or moral judgment, though it’s not reported that way.  Obama’s statement about it was misleading — he postured as if he sits as an imperial President, deciding what the public gets to know or not know.  Frankly — and I haven’t double-checked this – but it probably wasn’t Obama himself anyway who made the legal judgment about whether a FOIA exception applied to the OLC memos.  That likely would have been a white house legal counsel, or maybe even the justice department … maybe if it were reported more accurately I’d know.

Second, it is NOT Obama’s decision whether to prosecute anyone.  That he’s out there making statements about it should be questioned by every reporter — “Mr. President, is that even your decision?”

It’s the Justice Department that makes that call, and it’s supposed to make it independently of White House opinion.

I know it seems quaint to some, but this issue really is supposed to play out according to the rule of law — not politics.  This isn’t about what Obama thinks is politically wise or expedient.  He didn’t have a choice about the OLC memos.  And he doesn’t have a choice about prosecutions.  That everyone thinks he does (and that he and his office talk as if he does) is evidence of universal cynicism about the corruption of our system.  This isn’t the President’s call, and he’s making a mistake by posturing as if it is.  And if it’s more than posturing — if he really calls up Holder and tells him what to do — than he’s no different than Bush ordering around Gonzalez. 

Stick a turkey in a funnel and call it done

I think Palin is reaching Spearsean levels of tragedy/irony.  And I don’t mean Shakespearean — I mean Britney Spearsean.

 In some sort of superfluous, camera-hungry, wannabe-presidential press stunt, the lady pardons a turkey, then sort of mocks the idea of pardoning a turkey, all the while standing in front of a guy who’s sticking other turkeys in a funnel to lop off their heads, blood everywhere, while chuckling “yeah, I’ll probably get criticized for this too!”

 To a leftcoast liberal, granola-eating, pet-loving, wannabe vegetarian such as myself (who can’t even watch this video uncensored), this is just baffling.  This woman and I are not from the same planet.  She’s going to put SNL out of business, because they don’t even need to spoof the scenes, just run the tape.

Clinton as SOS: still betting against it

According to this report at Huffington Post, there are a few wrinkles.  I still can’t see it happening.  I feel like I can often back my way into Obama’s reasoning, even if it’s not immediately apparent.  Like with Biden — the more I thought about it, the more it made sense.  And his other appointments (or leaked likely appointments) all have a certain logic.  But Clinton as SOS I just don’t get.  Why would he want the liability of the Clinton’s baggage, drama, angling, agendas, etc.?  They do things totally different than he does.  They’re undisciplined.  They leak.  Does ANYONE think Bill will give up his current activities and drop to the background for eight years?  Maybe those things would be manageable downsides, if she were far and away the clear choice for the job.  And while I think she’s eminently competent to do just about any job — I don’t think she’s the only clear choice for State. (more…)

Does Accountability matter?

Our government, especially democrats, appear to think not.  Instead, they like to congratulate themselves for looking forward.  I think this is the needling issue that’s been bugging me since the election.  Sure, there’s Lieberman, but that’s just symptomatic of a broader trend. (more…)

What they wrought

I’m generally wary of the excesses and brutalities of unbridled capitalism.  Add to that a governing class that does not just fail to regulate, but actually propagates policies and regulations that enable and encourage short-sided greed — and it’s a pretty lethal mix.  Which is why, I think, my basic reaction to the collapse of the financial sector, and now the American auto industry, is to let them collapse. (more…)

Not a fan of “moderation”

Regarding the comments to my post on the democrats stepping up:  yes, I agree on almost all points, and almost wrote a caveat that Obama ran on the promise to tackle issues on which there is broad agreement, like energy, jobs and health care, and ending the Iraq war, and so we shouldn’t be expecting big partisan overtures.  Not true with a lot of Congress, but bracket that for now.

And I agree — I’m all for pragmatism.  But what does “moderation” even mean?  What are you thinking of when you use that term?  In our political lexicon that term has become a bludgeon wielded by the right (and the “independent” right) to smack the left — a left which keeps winning.  Does the left keep winning, despite being immoderate? (more…)

psst: we won

I’m afraid the democrats are a word that begins with “P” — and it aint Powerful.

 What happens if you give a party a mandate, but they still act like they lost?  The country has handed the democrats two sweeping victories in a row, in 2006 and 2008, and from what I’m seeing so far, they’re afraid to state forcefully when asked that they’ve been delivered a mandate.  They still think it makes them sound reasonable and authoritative to talk about governing from the center and “getting things done” — which is the new code for abandoning the philosophy voters voted for, and cowtowing to what they imagine the “center-right” country will approve of.  That kind of talk is an insult to the voters who ushered them in, and should be met with skepticism, not approval.

And take Liebermann.  Dodd and Reid today are basically saying “can’t we all just get along?”  Puhlease.  Liebermann is in NO position to be leveling ultimatums!  So Reid today says that Liebermann is among the most progressive senators we have, and votes with him on more issues than a lot of other democrats.  So freakin what.  This is the man who spoke at the Republican convention and tried to jeopardize the entire democratic agenda.  Call his bluff.  What’s he going to do — sell out his progressive ideals because he doesn’t get his way?  Would be very revealing if he did.

The republicans know that elections have consequences.  That’s why their doing their best to blunt the consequences of this one.  It’s one thing to elect a bunch of democrats.  It may be a whole other thing entirely to get them to govern from the agenda they ran on. 

It’s done

All we need is California and Washington State.  I’m sure my family teams in CA and WA came through.

It’s over.

One sentence that puts it all in perspective

From 538, via Andy Sullivan:

Obama is more likely to win Arizona than McCain the Keystone State.

Reminder not to let the MSM dictate how we perceive things.

Kristol’s Self-loathing

So, do you think he hates himself, or his friends?

On the Daily Show this week, he whole-heartedly dissed the New York Times, you know, the paper he writes for.  This morning, he predicted that Alaskans would snub the DC elites — you know, people like himself – who convicted Ted Stevens, and stand by their man by re-electing him.

Is Kristol’s conviction that “real Americans” look down on New Yorkers and DC elites his way of dismissing himself, his friends, or both?  What a tool.

Indeed

I’m breaking character and actually believing Vshawnt’s observations here, and feeling the optimism.  I just got a little heart flutter from a Politico headlinestating that it’s a “Dead Heat in Two Swing States.”  Then I read the lede — they’re talking about North Carolina and Missouri!  Both red states, and certainly not must-wins for Obama.  Besides, the second sentence confesses that Obama is way outpacing McCain in crucial counties.  Sheesh.  I’m sure we’re going to get plenty of headlines like that between now and Tuesday.  MSNBC is obsessing over the undecideds right now.  Suddenly the undecideds are endlessly fascinating … “voted for Reagan,” “essentially conservative” … blah blah blah.  Pundits last graps on believing we live in an essentially “right-center” nation is to project onto the undecideds this conservative soul they long to see.  Whatever.  It’s all just blather.  (more…)

They’re making me crazy!!!

Every candidate or cause I’ve tossed a shekel to in the past year is now blitzing me with panicked fundraising emails … 5 more days!  Our last chance! Let’s close strong!

Plus the canvassing coordinator I worked for before just called, asking for help with that final push, and I babbled about doing Voter Protection Tuesday and volunteering at a pet adoption event Saturday and said no.  Now I feel guilty and am ready to call her back! 

They’re freakin me out!

Sometimes, the reality is that negative

These stories about how “negative” coverage of a particular candidate has been are really annoying.  They have the purpose and effect of calling out the media on bias.  And it tends to work; the spineless media often overreact to such statistics.

But what about the possibility that negative coverage reflects a crappy campaign or a crappy candidate?  Besides, all media coverage should tilt toward the negative toward all candidates, because the point is to expose them.  That the whole negative/positive thing is taken so seriously by the MSM, with the goal toward some sort of useless equilibrium.  They really are the great equalizers.

More nervous

Sorry if I’ve become chicken little.  But five things worry me:

 1.  The polls this morning appear finally to be tightening.  ok.  deep breath.  the problem is, the Gallup poll is now O-50%, M-43%.  I’d feel a lot better about tightening if Obama weren’t dropping to the 50% mark.  Hopefully Dillon can explain otherwise, but to me that means his support is waivering (even if ever-so-slightly).

 2.  the “spread the wealth” and “welfare” meme.  I always have been worried that it was too good to be true that the country was believing Obama on taxes.  This seems very precarious to me.  I’m afraid the notion that Obama and the democrats want to take your hard earned paycheck and give it to people who don’t work strikes a cord with people who are used to believing republicans on taxes. (more…)

Feelin’ it today…

the panic.  the ominous sense that everything could go wrong.

Funny, I have had a sort of calm for the past week or so.  Nothing’s changed; Obama seems to be hovering 8-10 points ahead nationally, and a good 4-10 points ahead in a lot of swing states, and dead even in some red-leaning states. 

 Not that I have ever thought we had it in the bag.  But I’m starting to get actively worried … that in the end people won’t turn out, that McCain and Palin’s desperate, “underdog” closing will go over like Clinton’s “I’m a fighter” closing, and pull them up in a few states to push them over.

I really hope we pull it off this time.

Unmistakable

In the last week, John McCain has taken to labeling Obama’s tax plan as “welfare” and the financial crisis as a “drive by shooting” by Wall Street and Washington.  Can there be any doubt at all what he is trying to do? 

One week to go — some reflections

Just for kicks, I watched Obama’s Iowa speech last night.  That January 3, 2008, speech was the moment I really plugged into Obama’s candidacy. I was, as the cliche goes, electrified.

Watching it again — 10 months later, after taking in at least 100 or more Obama speeches and Obama moments with rapt attention, literally everyday — I thought, huh, it’s just an Obama speech.  I see what moved me at the time — the cadence of his voice, the lines that struck me (”we are the United States of America, and in this moment, in this election, we are ready believe again!”).  I was ready to believe again!  Now it’s like, yeah, that’s Obama’s “inspiration” speech (which, by the way, he sort of traded in a while ago for the “meat-and-potatoes” serious stump speech, but which he seems to be brushing off and bringing back out again now, for the closing). (more…)

My Wish List - what’s yours?

So, thanks, Sebastian, for offering a 2008 election night wish list teaser.  I do think it would be fun for our Back Alley community to throw out all our high hopes for Nov. 4, and see how they play out, so here goes.  

I’m not imbedding all the candidate photos, like Sebastian’s fancy list, but most can be found at Orange to Blue.  You’ll also notice I tend to root for champions of animal welfare.  It’s an unpopular cause that’s important to me, and one which candidates get no real credit for.  So I try to throw my support towards those who take a stand, even if they’re republican, so long as there aren’t any other disqualifiers in their record. 

So, without further ado: (more…)

What if Palin were ugly?

She wouldn’t be the republican vice-presidential candidate right now.  Period.  I know it seems like a strange thing to harp on – but it’s also the elephant in the room.  Two columns today drive the point.  In one case, Kathleen Parker — a National Review conservative — muses that, like Cleopatra or Helen of Troy, Palin literally wooed McCain with her feminine wiles.  Parker’s explanation is that Palin’s charms simply rendered him defenseless, overwhelmed his reason.  Remember, after all, this is the man who spotted a beauty queen at a cocktail party and decided to dump his wife and marry her. (more…)

Entitlement

I know the comparisons are so easy, one doesn’t know where to start.  But imagine if this were the Obama family.  Palin’s oldest son is a high-school drop out; her oldest daughter is pregnant, with uneven high-school attendance and apparently has no plans of college.  She’s about to marry a high-school drop-out.  And Palin herself attended several colleges over several years. And this is the lifestyle Palin celebrates and romanticizes. (more…)

The insight is breathtaking

Remind me not to read David Brooks again.  What happens is I exhaust all other material for the day, so in my last lap or two of web surfing, I click on stuff I passed over the first time.

So, Brooks is obviously still so pleased with himself for coining the phrase “bourgeois bohemian” that he’s parading more stupid tropes, this time, “patio man.” Patio man evidently wears khakis and a blackberry and lives in a new subdivision and liked shopping at Sharper Image, before it went bankrupt.  Brooks thinks patio man is so predictable that he — Brooks — can peg his whole mindset and character.  See, patio man likes order (get it, he lives in one of those subdivisions — he loves order!).  Patio man is so boring and simple that he is happy, Brooks tells us, with the new street-scape shopping mall where he can walk with his family before a movie (patio man doesn’t think big thoughts like Brooks!  Brooks knows this, because to him, people who live in subdivisions and visit malls for fun aren’t thinkers — they’re subjects for smart New York intellectuals like Brooks to interpret and explain to the rest of us, and to patio man himself.  Because patio man surely can’t explain himself). (more…)

The Rays did win, and Kristol is as big an idiot as ever

Well, Sebastian’s prediction did not in fact come to pass — lucky for Kristol, because the Rays actually won (I mean, heaven forbid he end up looking like an ass).

The side-by-side Krugman and Kristol articles are quite a study in contrasts.  Krugman basically dismantles the myth of “Joe the plumber” at the same time that his NYT fellow columnist hails his wisdom.  Really, who does Kristol think he’s talking to anymore? (more…)

Sarah Palin’s SNL humiliation

On the surface, a non-event.  No transcendent moments for Palin for the media to reloop over and over.  All the good stuff was performed by other people — Fey’s legendary impersonation, Poehler’s hilarious rap, Alec Baldwin’s cameo.

But, I have to say, if you deconstruct the appearance, it was pure, self-subjected humiliation for Palin.  (more…)

The surprising Powell endorsement

Surprising not because it occurred — we already knew by this weekend that it would.  And not even because it was full-throated, instead of “implied” as some “insider” suggested that it would be.

What surprised me were the points he hit.  Sure, he hit Obama’s readiness, intellectual rigor, etc., and he noted the obvious about the troubling Palin selection and what it says about McCain’s judgment.  But his endorsement went wider that it needed to.  Powell also powerfully defended Muslims, emphasizing that label should never be used as an epitath.  He said “not just small town Americans have values.”  He lamented the republican party’s shift to the right, and its descent in to trivialities during this campaign.  He said that McCain’s campaign has become increasingly narrow, while Obama’s increasingly inclusive. (more…)

Fey does Palin Part II

Awesome.  What’s funny, is it’s hard to tell whether they just used the actual script of the interview — they didn’t really need to spoof it, it spoofs itself. (more…)