You have got to be kidding me.
Bush has nominated John "Honduran Death Squad" Negroponte to the post of US Intelligence Czar.
Was it just last night that the Confidence Man was musing about American Death Camps in the Southland?
February 17, 2005
February 16, 2005
Speaking the Unspoken
The Confidence Man has been avidly following the ruckus over the Gannon/Guckert non-credentialed-White-House-"correspondent"-cum-gay-military-escort story.
To wit, this Gannon/Guckert fellow -- who is, it turns out, basically a gay male prostitute and e-entrepreneur -- with the apparent cooperation and assistance of the White House, secured regular admittance to WH pressers to lob softballs at HBush's Press Sec'y.
The Confidence Man understands why the MSM won't touch this one.
but we don't understand why no one is willing to say two names out loud anywhere near this story:
Ken Mehlman.
Karl Rove.
... and, hell, for that matter, Andrew Sullivan. Little Roy has been suspiciously silent on the Gannon/Guckert contretemps -- and, coincidentally, announced his short-lived "retirement" from blogging shortly before the Gannon/Guckert fracas burst into the open.
Libel, schmibel. Follow the monkey.
To wit, this Gannon/Guckert fellow -- who is, it turns out, basically a gay male prostitute and e-entrepreneur -- with the apparent cooperation and assistance of the White House, secured regular admittance to WH pressers to lob softballs at HBush's Press Sec'y.
The Confidence Man understands why the MSM won't touch this one.
but we don't understand why no one is willing to say two names out loud anywhere near this story:
Ken Mehlman.
Karl Rove.
... and, hell, for that matter, Andrew Sullivan. Little Roy has been suspiciously silent on the Gannon/Guckert contretemps -- and, coincidentally, announced his short-lived "retirement" from blogging shortly before the Gannon/Guckert fracas burst into the open.
Libel, schmibel. Follow the monkey.
Arithmetic Progression
1 + 1 = ?
The Confidence Man notes some extremely vague paranoia-mongering and head-scratching amid Left Blogistan a while back regarding the GOP's bizarre "murder-at-will" proviso in the expansion of the Homeland Security dept.
Namely, the loopholes that, beyond declaring the Sec'y of Homeland Security to be beyond the laws of the USA, would designate vast swaths of the US-Mexico border to be legal grey areas.
Now, the Confidence Man is not sure what the problem here should be in figuring this out: the US has, since 9/11, been performing "extraordinary rendition" on swarthy individuals to terrorific states such as Egypt and Thailand, as well as setting up extralegal encampments for the internment of swarthy individuals in Guantanamo and Afghanistan.
By opening up grey areas -- legal black holes -- within the "Homeland," it renders the incarceration and interrogation all the simpler.
The Confidence Man notes some extremely vague paranoia-mongering and head-scratching amid Left Blogistan a while back regarding the GOP's bizarre "murder-at-will" proviso in the expansion of the Homeland Security dept.
Namely, the loopholes that, beyond declaring the Sec'y of Homeland Security to be beyond the laws of the USA, would designate vast swaths of the US-Mexico border to be legal grey areas.
Now, the Confidence Man is not sure what the problem here should be in figuring this out: the US has, since 9/11, been performing "extraordinary rendition" on swarthy individuals to terrorific states such as Egypt and Thailand, as well as setting up extralegal encampments for the internment of swarthy individuals in Guantanamo and Afghanistan.
By opening up grey areas -- legal black holes -- within the "Homeland," it renders the incarceration and interrogation all the simpler.
Spineless and Starstruck
God bless Carla Marinucci of the SF Chron.
The Confidence Man has had mixed opinions of Marinucci's local political coverage in the past, but this piece -- skewering the Cali media's collective sucking (up) to Schwarzenegger -- is very nicely done.
As for the other scribes at the Chron, the Confidence Man still reveres Tim Goodman above all others -- though Aidin Vaziri is coming up on the outside track.
The Confidence Man has had mixed opinions of Marinucci's local political coverage in the past, but this piece -- skewering the Cali media's collective sucking (up) to Schwarzenegger -- is very nicely done.
As for the other scribes at the Chron, the Confidence Man still reveres Tim Goodman above all others -- though Aidin Vaziri is coming up on the outside track.
Oh, So THAT'S What They Were Doing ...
"Report: FBI agent says he warned baseball of steroid use 10 years ago."
Well, thank god for that. Wouldn't have wanted the Feeb chasing down any potential Islamic suicide bombers ...
Seriously. God help us if this jarhead worked out of the Phoenix or Minneapolis offices.
Well, thank god for that. Wouldn't have wanted the Feeb chasing down any potential Islamic suicide bombers ...
Seriously. God help us if this jarhead worked out of the Phoenix or Minneapolis offices.
100,000,000 Democratic Voters Can't Be Wrong
The Confidence Man has spent some time herein discussing the Dems' need to cultivate some starpower to help swell their electoral ranks.
What, however, is required -- more so even than the whispering-in-the-ear of lefty celebs -- is the development of a strategic plan to "grow" celebs into viable candidates.
The Confidence Man is speaking here not of the "intensive political seminar" sort of thing (Ken Khachigian and his cronies tried that with Reagan in the '60s; it didn't work then, and it won't now).
No, we're thinking of a power-rail-to-office (or, if you prefer the aquatic metaphor, springboard-to-power): not necessarily the barely legal machinations of Schwarzenegger in Gullyvornya via the Recall, but a similar fast-track to legitimacy in a statewide forum to serve as a base for a plausible national executive candidacy.
Specifically, the Dems need to get a celeb elected governor of a large state (ideally, a Red or swing state, but in any event, not California or New York).
The obvious answer, given the Confidence Man's previous speculations, would be Oprah in Illinois. On deeper reflection, however, Oprah probably presents as many problems as she does solutions; she's also, shall we say, a bit more headstrong than one would wish for the ideal candidate to be (Oprah as a candidate would probably be more like Ross Perot than anyone else).
No, what is needed is a slightly more malleable individual, but who still has the requisite star quality, soccer-mom appeal, understated machismo, blue-collar ethos, and ability to do sincere line readings.
Our thoughts turn to New Jersey -- and we note that there is a gubernatorial race upcoming.
(First things first, we need to convince Sen. Jon Corzine to drop his candidacy. As much as we do admire Corzine, he's (a) not the future of the Party, (b) far more "Senatorial" than "Parsdinchal," and (c) is actually a fine Senator and rainmaker and would do more good in that role.)
So we think now of Native Sons of NJ -- no, not the first person who (ahem) "springs" to mind, but the second.
Yes, ladies and gentleman, we're talking about Mr. Jon Bon Jovi -- your next Democratic Governor of the Great State of New Jersey.
And, thenceforth, the leading candidate for the Dem Presidential nom in '08.
And, yes, we're quite serious about this.
What, however, is required -- more so even than the whispering-in-the-ear of lefty celebs -- is the development of a strategic plan to "grow" celebs into viable candidates.
The Confidence Man is speaking here not of the "intensive political seminar" sort of thing (Ken Khachigian and his cronies tried that with Reagan in the '60s; it didn't work then, and it won't now).
No, we're thinking of a power-rail-to-office (or, if you prefer the aquatic metaphor, springboard-to-power): not necessarily the barely legal machinations of Schwarzenegger in Gullyvornya via the Recall, but a similar fast-track to legitimacy in a statewide forum to serve as a base for a plausible national executive candidacy.
Specifically, the Dems need to get a celeb elected governor of a large state (ideally, a Red or swing state, but in any event, not California or New York).
The obvious answer, given the Confidence Man's previous speculations, would be Oprah in Illinois. On deeper reflection, however, Oprah probably presents as many problems as she does solutions; she's also, shall we say, a bit more headstrong than one would wish for the ideal candidate to be (Oprah as a candidate would probably be more like Ross Perot than anyone else).
No, what is needed is a slightly more malleable individual, but who still has the requisite star quality, soccer-mom appeal, understated machismo, blue-collar ethos, and ability to do sincere line readings.
Our thoughts turn to New Jersey -- and we note that there is a gubernatorial race upcoming.
(First things first, we need to convince Sen. Jon Corzine to drop his candidacy. As much as we do admire Corzine, he's (a) not the future of the Party, (b) far more "Senatorial" than "Parsdinchal," and (c) is actually a fine Senator and rainmaker and would do more good in that role.)
So we think now of Native Sons of NJ -- no, not the first person who (ahem) "springs" to mind, but the second.
Yes, ladies and gentleman, we're talking about Mr. Jon Bon Jovi -- your next Democratic Governor of the Great State of New Jersey.
And, thenceforth, the leading candidate for the Dem Presidential nom in '08.
And, yes, we're quite serious about this.
Simile simili gaudet
http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/02/16/elizabeth.smart.ap/index.html
But like attracts like, as they say--hence this equally perverse phrase: "An excommunicated Mormon, Mitchell once wrote a rambling manifesto espousing the virtues of polygamy."
Drifter accused of kidnapping sings in court
Man charged in Elizabeth Smart case removed from competency hearing
Wednesday, February 16, 2005 Posted: 1:40 PM EST (1840 GMT)
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (AP) -- The drifter and self-proclaimed prophet accused of kidnapping Elizabeth Smart was removed from his competency hearing Wednesday for singing a religious song -- the third time he has done that in court in recent months.
[...]
Prosecutors say Mitchell took Elizabeth into the foothills near her home, sexually assaulted her and kept her as his second wife.
But like attracts like, as they say--hence this equally perverse phrase: "An excommunicated Mormon, Mitchell once wrote a rambling manifesto espousing the virtues of polygamy."
February 05, 2005
To Create a Mockingbird
http://www.cnn.com/2005/EDUCATION/02/04/accent.class.ap/index.html
Jibbenainosay hopes that CNN doesn't continue to cover stories like these--or at least, that it does so with the same kind of misleading headline as this one bears. This stuff is top secret. This program of course replaces previous JW Theatre efforts involving painting black children white and teaching the girls to dress and act like boys to "broaden their performance opportunities and improve overall marketability." The Kentucky plot to take over the world proceeds apace: you will never know when we're there, watching you, imitating you, replacing you....
Class seeks to rid kids of Appalachian accents
Friday, February 4, 2005 Posted: 9:20 AM EST (1420 GMT)
PIKEVILLE, Kentucky (AP) -- A new class that seeks to teach youngsters how to lose their Appalachian accents has set off an age-old phonetic debate: Should mountain natives drop the drawl or hold tightly to their twang?
Jibbenainosay hopes that CNN doesn't continue to cover stories like these--or at least, that it does so with the same kind of misleading headline as this one bears. This stuff is top secret. This program of course replaces previous JW Theatre efforts involving painting black children white and teaching the girls to dress and act like boys to "broaden their performance opportunities and improve overall marketability." The Kentucky plot to take over the world proceeds apace: you will never know when we're there, watching you, imitating you, replacing you....
February 02, 2005
Finding Churchill
http://www.cnn.com/2005/EDUCATION/02/02/speaker.protest.ap/index.html
Normally, Jibbenainosay wouldn't intervene in such a fine hoopla as this, but he feels the urge to point something out. Nowhere in the three CNN front-page articles about Ward Churchill's controversial statements respecting 9/11 and consequent resignation from his chairship is it mentioned that Churchill is one of the leading scholars of Native America. Where do these looney ideas about "U.S. Imperial Arrogance and Criminality" that, according to Governor Bill Owens, defy the facts of history, come from, CNN readers are wondering? How did somebody writing books about U.S. imperialism end up as chair of an Ethnic Studies department?
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0872863239/qid=1107382180/sr=1-5/ref=sr_1_5/102-0314228-8697758?v=glance&s=books
University faculty defends controversial professor
Wednesday, February 2, 2005 Posted: 11:52 AM EST (1652
GMT)
BOULDER, Colorado (AP) -- As pressure mounts on a University of Colorado professor who ignited a furor by comparing the World Trade Center victims to Nazis, colleagues have come to his defense -- on free speech grounds.
Normally, Jibbenainosay wouldn't intervene in such a fine hoopla as this, but he feels the urge to point something out. Nowhere in the three CNN front-page articles about Ward Churchill's controversial statements respecting 9/11 and consequent resignation from his chairship is it mentioned that Churchill is one of the leading scholars of Native America. Where do these looney ideas about "U.S. Imperial Arrogance and Criminality" that, according to Governor Bill Owens, defy the facts of history, come from, CNN readers are wondering? How did somebody writing books about U.S. imperialism end up as chair of an Ethnic Studies department?
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0872863239/qid=1107382180/sr=1-5/ref=sr_1_5/102-0314228-8697758?v=glance&s=books
December 02, 2004
Lady Mondegreen of the Fens
Via TAPPED, the Confidence Man reads of yet another case of forged Iraqi documents. Somehow, we missed it last year when the CS Monitor retracted their story on the documents "proving" that Labor MP James Galloway had been receiving PR funds from Saddam Hussein.
Now, what catches our eye in this story is the fact that the editor of the CS Monitor is one Paul Van Slambrouck.
Recall our hypothesis earlier this year that the infamous George Tenet "slam dunk case" quote to Bush on the question of Iraq's WMDs. Our guess that "slam dunk case" was a mondegreen was on the wrong track: Tenet didn't actually say that the claims for Iraq's possession of WMDs was "Islam bunk, ace"; rather, he said, apropos of the CS Monitor's retracted story, that the Iraqi WMD story was "a Slambrouck case"!
Now, what catches our eye in this story is the fact that the editor of the CS Monitor is one Paul Van Slambrouck.
Recall our hypothesis earlier this year that the infamous George Tenet "slam dunk case" quote to Bush on the question of Iraq's WMDs. Our guess that "slam dunk case" was a mondegreen was on the wrong track: Tenet didn't actually say that the claims for Iraq's possession of WMDs was "Islam bunk, ace"; rather, he said, apropos of the CS Monitor's retracted story, that the Iraqi WMD story was "a Slambrouck case"!
November 22, 2004
Restoring Honor and Dignity to Professional Sports Attendance
Jibbenainosay, you may have a point regarding the umpirical umplications of the NBA fight-night film review.
However, the Confidence Man scries greater things in this aspect.
To wit, this presents a golden opportunity for the Dems.
As many have opined (among them Nick Confessore and Ezra Klein), the Democrats need to be exercising targeted, effective, and opportunistic message discipline as the Loyal Opposition.
Now, we all recall how, during Clinton's terms in office, the Gingrich machine was constantly a-roil over how Clinton's Bad '60s Juju (otherwise memorably named by Gen. J.C. Christian as the Clenis [tm]) was instilling a trickle-down economics of amorality and perversion across the land. And, of course, how Bush ran in 2000 on a promise to "restore honor and dignity to the White House."
(Tangentially, the Confidence Man has been thinking lately that Bush's phrasing there was indeed intended to evoke Clinton, but also served as Fundtalk to his base in the Federalist Society. More on that anon. Also, please note our portmanteau neologism "Fundtalk," or "Fundtalker," consisting of "Fundie" -- for fundamentalist -- plus "Windtalker" -- the WWII Navajo code-speakers.)
Well, what's good for the Gingrich is good for the gander.
The Confidence Man strongly believes that responsibility for the recent NBA fracas -- as well as the spectacular chair-tossing in Oakland during an Athletics game this summer -- should be plavced squarely on the shoulders of President Bush.
Bush has enshrined violence as a first resort to solving problems. Bush values gut reactions over contemplation. Bush prioritizes an insecure cowboy machismo over rational discourse. Bush embodies the principle that mnight makes right, and that no one should be accountable for his actions.
And that sort of example has real consequences in this world. People look up to the President -- no matter who holds the office -- as a moral exemplar.
And when the President does the things that this President has done, good people across the land lose their moral compass and start to do things like this.
(Of course, we've expounded on this before; but the Dems now have a clear opportunity to really exploit the situation.)
However, the Confidence Man scries greater things in this aspect.
To wit, this presents a golden opportunity for the Dems.
As many have opined (among them Nick Confessore and Ezra Klein), the Democrats need to be exercising targeted, effective, and opportunistic message discipline as the Loyal Opposition.
Now, we all recall how, during Clinton's terms in office, the Gingrich machine was constantly a-roil over how Clinton's Bad '60s Juju (otherwise memorably named by Gen. J.C. Christian as the Clenis [tm]) was instilling a trickle-down economics of amorality and perversion across the land. And, of course, how Bush ran in 2000 on a promise to "restore honor and dignity to the White House."
(Tangentially, the Confidence Man has been thinking lately that Bush's phrasing there was indeed intended to evoke Clinton, but also served as Fundtalk to his base in the Federalist Society. More on that anon. Also, please note our portmanteau neologism "Fundtalk," or "Fundtalker," consisting of "Fundie" -- for fundamentalist -- plus "Windtalker" -- the WWII Navajo code-speakers.)
Well, what's good for the Gingrich is good for the gander.
The Confidence Man strongly believes that responsibility for the recent NBA fracas -- as well as the spectacular chair-tossing in Oakland during an Athletics game this summer -- should be plavced squarely on the shoulders of President Bush.
Bush has enshrined violence as a first resort to solving problems. Bush values gut reactions over contemplation. Bush prioritizes an insecure cowboy machismo over rational discourse. Bush embodies the principle that mnight makes right, and that no one should be accountable for his actions.
And that sort of example has real consequences in this world. People look up to the President -- no matter who holds the office -- as a moral exemplar.
And when the President does the things that this President has done, good people across the land lose their moral compass and start to do things like this.
(Of course, we've expounded on this before; but the Dems now have a clear opportunity to really exploit the situation.)
The Dems Get Serious
According to Ezra Klein at Pandagon, Tom Vilsack is out of contention to head the DNC -- but more importantly, "There's talk of splitting the post, with a chairman/spokesperson and an operational director sharing the helm."
We here at Croatan like to think we may have had somewhat of a hand in this development.
But then, we have Gone to Croatan, so we can't be trusted.
By way of chairman/spokesman candidates, the Confidence Man still likes John Edwards; Dean just might do, though. The DNC best have its shit together.
We here at Croatan like to think we may have had somewhat of a hand in this development.
But then, we have Gone to Croatan, so we can't be trusted.
By way of chairman/spokesman candidates, the Confidence Man still likes John Edwards; Dean just might do, though. The DNC best have its shit together.
Umpiricism
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/basketball/nba/11/22/charges.ap/index.html?cnn=yes
I can only suppose that this will be used to support the argument for instant replay umpiring in baseball.
Fight fallout:
Players, fans, personnel face
charges after Pacers-Pistons fight
Posted: Monday November 22, 2004 1:06PM; Updated: Monday November 22, 2004 7:18PM
... Police were also reviewing videotapes and interviewing
witnesses from Friday night's melee, when Indiana forward Ron
Artest charged into the stands after a fan threw a cup at him.
I can only suppose that this will be used to support the argument for instant replay umpiring in baseball.
November 15, 2004
The Baby and the Ba'athwater
Apropos of our previous post regarding Iraq as the model for Bush's domestic Antistate, we should add that the "de-Ba'athification" of Iraq was also a clear model for the current and anticipated purges.
The Baby and the Bathwater
Matt Yglesias updates everyone on some less-noticed shakeout details following Powell's resignation at State.
Rumor has it that Danielle Pletka, one of the prime mover gasbag/nutjobs in the foreign policy division at AEI, may soon be taking over the Bureau of Near East Affairs. And performing her own version of the Goss Putsch in the State Department.
This is all part and parcel of the Norquistian "drown it in the bathtub" school of government "reform." Purging the CIA, purging State -- and watch for coming purges of the domestic agencies in the next year -- the folks being lost are not Clinton-era deadwood. They're career civil servants, who vow allegiance to the Constitution, not a particular president or party.
The morons and ideologues and glad-handing scam artists who rush in to fill the vacuum will "run" their department operations the same way that the Heritage Foundation interns "ran" their desks in "post-war" Iraq.
Straight into the ground.
As we have pointed out before, Iraq was a test run for Bush's vision of the Antistate:
Rumor has it that Danielle Pletka, one of the prime mover gasbag/nutjobs in the foreign policy division at AEI, may soon be taking over the Bureau of Near East Affairs. And performing her own version of the Goss Putsch in the State Department.
This is all part and parcel of the Norquistian "drown it in the bathtub" school of government "reform." Purging the CIA, purging State -- and watch for coming purges of the domestic agencies in the next year -- the folks being lost are not Clinton-era deadwood. They're career civil servants, who vow allegiance to the Constitution, not a particular president or party.
The morons and ideologues and glad-handing scam artists who rush in to fill the vacuum will "run" their department operations the same way that the Heritage Foundation interns "ran" their desks in "post-war" Iraq.
Straight into the ground.
As we have pointed out before, Iraq was a test run for Bush's vision of the Antistate:
- The beta version is being rolled out right now in the CIA and anon in the State Department.
- Antistate 2.0 comes with the putsch of mid-level career staffers in the domestic policy agencies.
- Antistate 3.0 arrives in 2007 or '08, when Bush has appointed Federalist Society brownshirts to over half of the positions in the federal judiciary, and the post-Teddy-Roosevelt regulatory regime is demolished.
Spooks Going to Croatan?
The Confidence Man has been avidly following this story about Porter Goss purging the CIA of all disloyal "liberal" anti-Bush elements.
As always on such matters, Josh Marshall has the best precis and facts-behind-the-spin take: essentially, Bush via Goss is purging the CIA of anyone who will stand in his way, including the analysts who correctly told Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Rice that they were full of shit when it came to anything having to do with the Middle East.
This is, of course, a genuine national tragedy, and is bound to cost us in the short and long runs.
But the Confidence Man, as always, has his eyes on the tangents.
First of all, if Goss is indeed purging the CIA -- where are all of these disaffected spooks going to go to work? This is a big and fascinating (albeit tangential) question. One would certainly hope that all of the centrist and left-leaning DC think tanks would provide soft, comforting shoulders for the victims of the Goss Putsch.
Second, all of the lefty commentators who scoff at Bush's perception of Langley as a "hotbed of liberals" are grossly mistaken. The CIA has always been a "hotbed of liberalism" -- of Classic Liberalism, that is. The OSS and CIA were "Eastern Establishment," Ivy League, tweed-and-pipesmoke institutions from their inception down to the present day. This is why Nixon hated 'em, and doubly so why Bush hates 'em. No, they're not Rove-Atwater-caricatured Nader-voting, tree-hugging, Walmart-disparaging small-l liberals.
As always on such matters, Josh Marshall has the best precis and facts-behind-the-spin take: essentially, Bush via Goss is purging the CIA of anyone who will stand in his way, including the analysts who correctly told Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Rice that they were full of shit when it came to anything having to do with the Middle East.
This is, of course, a genuine national tragedy, and is bound to cost us in the short and long runs.
But the Confidence Man, as always, has his eyes on the tangents.
First of all, if Goss is indeed purging the CIA -- where are all of these disaffected spooks going to go to work? This is a big and fascinating (albeit tangential) question. One would certainly hope that all of the centrist and left-leaning DC think tanks would provide soft, comforting shoulders for the victims of the Goss Putsch.
Second, all of the lefty commentators who scoff at Bush's perception of Langley as a "hotbed of liberals" are grossly mistaken. The CIA has always been a "hotbed of liberalism" -- of Classic Liberalism, that is. The OSS and CIA were "Eastern Establishment," Ivy League, tweed-and-pipesmoke institutions from their inception down to the present day. This is why Nixon hated 'em, and doubly so why Bush hates 'em. No, they're not Rove-Atwater-caricatured Nader-voting, tree-hugging, Walmart-disparaging small-l liberals.
My Big Fat Obnoxious Senate Majority Leader
With the ongoing public humiliation of Arlen Specter by Rove's Rangers (or, as Josh Marshall aptly put it, Specter's "long castration"), we are finally seeing the crossing of the two streams of FOX's programming: right-wing/neocon/fundie jihadism, plus sadistic "reality tv" orchestrated by a petty martinet under patently false premises.
Specter, although apparently an invertebrate, is by all accounts a fairly decent and honorable man, insofar as Senators are concerned. It would not surprise the Confidence Man to see Specter decide to straddle the aisle, along with a coalition of the New England Rockefeller Republicans (Chafee, Snowe, et al). The Dems should really be pushing Jim Jeffords to offer a soft, comforting shoulder to poor widdle Arlen.
Of course, everyone remembers the "unintended consequences" the last time a Northeastern Rockefeller Republican Senator bolted the party ... don't we?
Specter, although apparently an invertebrate, is by all accounts a fairly decent and honorable man, insofar as Senators are concerned. It would not surprise the Confidence Man to see Specter decide to straddle the aisle, along with a coalition of the New England Rockefeller Republicans (Chafee, Snowe, et al). The Dems should really be pushing Jim Jeffords to offer a soft, comforting shoulder to poor widdle Arlen.
Of course, everyone remembers the "unintended consequences" the last time a Northeastern Rockefeller Republican Senator bolted the party ... don't we?
November 09, 2004
The Anti-Business, as Usual, Party
The Confidence Man reads this Dem-strategists-howling-in-their-beers wrapup in the WaPo with some severe misgivings.
First of all, Bob Shrum should either be drummed out of the Democratic political machine -- or he himself should run for President. Shrum's electoral track record makes George W. Bush's private-sector c.v. look like Richard Branson's.
Second, why is James Carville mouthing off in public about what the Dems should or should not do? Jim, either shut your stinkin' trap, or get to work actually changing things. For someone as allegedly as die-hard capital-D as Carville, to have essentially sat out the last four years is unconscionable.
Finally -- though we concede that Carville is on the right track when he insists that the Dems should re-brand as the opposition, anti-Washington, anti-bureaucracy, for-the-little-guy party -- this is an awfully telling and infelicitous bit of phrasing:
One possibility [for the Dems] would be to become ... "[the] anti-business-as-usual party."
Uh-huh. Or, as Karl Rove would instantly re-punctuate that phrase, "the anti-business, as usual, party."
The Confidence Man has some inchoate thoughts on what the Dems need to do in order to establish a private-sector support wing. Those shall come anon.
First of all, Bob Shrum should either be drummed out of the Democratic political machine -- or he himself should run for President. Shrum's electoral track record makes George W. Bush's private-sector c.v. look like Richard Branson's.
Second, why is James Carville mouthing off in public about what the Dems should or should not do? Jim, either shut your stinkin' trap, or get to work actually changing things. For someone as allegedly as die-hard capital-D as Carville, to have essentially sat out the last four years is unconscionable.
Finally -- though we concede that Carville is on the right track when he insists that the Dems should re-brand as the opposition, anti-Washington, anti-bureaucracy, for-the-little-guy party -- this is an awfully telling and infelicitous bit of phrasing:
One possibility [for the Dems] would be to become ... "[the] anti-business-as-usual party."
Uh-huh. Or, as Karl Rove would instantly re-punctuate that phrase, "the anti-business, as usual, party."
The Confidence Man has some inchoate thoughts on what the Dems need to do in order to establish a private-sector support wing. Those shall come anon.
November 08, 2004
The Gulag Archipelago
The map at bottom left on this page makes the Confidence Man think of Solzhenytsin.
Or, um, Edward Tufte.
Or, um, Edward Tufte.
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