Monday’s Mini-Report

October 30, 2006

Today’s edition of quick hits.

* Watch The Decider become The Delegator. It’s nearly four years and the president never thought about applying the code of military conduct to hired guns? Please, watch the clip.

* The reaction to “heated” the Wolf Blitzer/Lynne Cheney interview from the weekend continues to reverberate a bit. Blitzer gave an on-air response today, while Dick Cheney seems quite pleased with his wife’s performance. “We refer to it around the house as the slapdown,” the VP told Fox News today.

* It’s a clean sweep — there are 22 daily newspapers in Florida, and all 22 endorsed Sen. Bill Nelson (D) over challenger Katherine Harris (R) this year.

* Jim Webb’s (D) novel that Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) is so worked about? It’s listed on the Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps Official Reading List. As far as Allen’s concerned, is the whole Corps a bunch of perverts?

* Speaking of Allen, interest in his arrest records continues to linger.

* I’ve received several inquisitive emails about the president and a “martial law” provision in legislation recently passed by Congress. Professor Michael Froomkin tackles the issue in a terrific post today.

* Michael J. Fox gave a pretty classy response to Rush Limbaugh. I have to give Fox a lot of credit; it would have been easy to deliver a far angrier, more personal, response.

* In 2004, many of you may recall that Bob Poulsen created an incredibly helpful online resource with presidential polling data. Thankfully, Bob has restarted the project this year in a site called 2.006k.com.

* What’s the latest with the Mark Foley scandal? On yesterday’s edition of The Chris Matthews Show, NBC Congressional Correspondent Chip Reid offered an interesting response during Matthew’s “Tell Me Something I Don’t Know” segment. “I’m going to be a little cryptic here,” Reid began, then added, “”the Mark Foley scandal investigation is going to widen a little bit.” Hmm.

* By way of reader J.W., the district attorney’s office in Orange County, Calif., has charged 11 people with fraudulent voter registration stemming from a Republican registration drive this year that resulted in dozens of Democrats unwittingly being signed up as Republicans. Shameless.

* Nevada gubernatorial hopeful Jim Gibbons (R) has a new defense for allegedly costing a woman in a Las Vegas parking lot — surveillance tapes, which didn’t exist last week, have surfaced and “prove that Jim Gibbons was never in that garage.” It’s an odd defense, since Gibbons and the cocktail waitress in question both agree that they were both in the garage together at the same time. (What a tangled web….)

* Slate created a new game: “Match the porn with the politician who wrote it.” Fun for the whole family.

* Finally, a reason for conservatives to be paranoid about electronic voting machines.

* In Iraq, the verdict in Saddam’s trial may be delay just a little bit — until after the midterm elections.

* I liked this paragraph from Andrew Sullivan: “American freedom and Bush-Rove Republicanism are increasingly at odds. Don’t let them intimidate you. If you’re a conservative who actually values the constitutional freedoms these people are stripping away, vote Democrat or abstain. If today’s GOP wins, they will take it as vindication for their authoritarian streak. And the path we have already embarked upon will only get darker.”

* More than one third of Americans (35%) say they check the Internet for political updates about campaigns and candidates, a number that grows to 43% if you limit the field to likely voters. What about blogs? The AP poll found that “only one in 10 of those who browse online for politics participate in the blogs — though more than twice that many check them out.”

If none of these particular items are of interest, consider this an end-of-the-day open thread.

“We refer to it around the house as the slapdown,”

This from the bastard who insists things in Iraq are going well? I think one of his stents has worked its way into his brain.

Unless of course he’s talking about what Blizter did to his wife.

  • Are the Cheneys really that crazy? They just lost Wolf Blitzer by giving the exact opposite treatment as they’re supposed to. They’re supposed to bomb the anti-Bush position in such a way that people who want to be seen as moderate will quickly grab the opposite position. And for god’s sake, they’re not supposed to actually put the moderate on the opposite side and attack them. Even if they can get the moderate to denounce that position, they still won’t be happy with it.

    And now with Dick descibing it as a “slapdown”, Blitzer will most surely be upset. As will insider-types who side with Blitzer. And the only people to be persuaded by Lynne’s performance would be the diehards who would vote Repub anyway. Frankly, I can’t figure out how these boobs did so well for so long before, because they really seem to have lost it now.

  • On the front page of CNN.com:

    “But many Arab officials also question whether the Democrat Party has better answers to the region’s problems.”

    Your “liberal” media, folks

  • Re the Foley scandal widening. Does this make any one else think of a certain portly member of the House? Or am I just foolishly clinging to my desire to see Dennys Hastert collapse into a puddle of suet?

  • Crying Wolf? Ha. I’m hesitant to take sides in the Wolf/Cheney debacle. Until now, Wolf’s been a part of the softball media tickling this administration; questioning them when the approval polls hit 30% does not a journalist make.

  • We refer to it around the house as the slapdown,

    Is it just me or is this kind of stupid gloating more infuriating than even the big evils that they do? Makes me want to yell at them…violently!

  • The thing that concerns me about Gibbons Nevada surveiilance tapes is that the one guy who is in the garage has a Vote for Nixon button on and there’s snow on the ground outside. Coincidence I guess.

    Feeling snarky today.

    Hey, Mazzerro is hot looking!

  • ****Does this make any one else think of a certain portly member of the House?***
    —————————————The answer is orange

    “Portly,” tAiO? The man is a Barrage Balloon with feet, for crying out loud!

    And yes—I’d also like to see him collapse into a puddle of suet. Toss in some corn, and we can feed him to the crows….

  • Michael J. Fox gave a pretty classy response to Rush Limbaugh.

    Did he rebut Limbaugh’s latest accusation — that Fox endorsed the MO amendment without reading it? Actually, what I’d like someone to explain is where Limbaugh gets off calling it, as he did today, a “pro-cloning amendment” when, from what I can tell, it specifically bans human cloning.

  • Grumpy @11,

    The amendment does indeed ban human cloning as you or I or any reasonable person would recognize it. The anti-stem cell folks have resorted to saying the wording is “vague,” thus creating a loophole that would allow cloning and all kinds of other scientific atrocities. This is where they get the “pro-cloning amendment” language.

    I think it also goes to the old pro-life argument of when life begins, and whether life can morally be created in the lab. I’m not especially up on my pro-life arguements. But to the pro-life, cloning embroynic stem cells is human cloning.

    The only way these people were going to beat the amendment is if they really confused the bejeezus out of the issue.

  • * It’s a clean sweep — there are 22 daily newspapers in Florida, and all 22 endorsed Sen. Bill Nelson (D) over challenger Katherine Harris (R) this year.

    At this time, I would like to formally apologize to the Daily Okeechobee News. (See Saturday’s post on Harris.)

  • I suspect that Saddam may not get the death penalty. I think that there is some legitimate concern about sectarian violence and retaliation. Since anything short of death makes Bush look like a limp dick to his base, the verdict got pushed back.

    I could be wrong, but I do believe that Iraqi autonomy in the matter is pure BS.

    -jjf

  • * In 2004, many of you may recall that Bob Poulsen created an incredibly helpful online resource with presidential polling data. Thankfully, Bob has restarted the project this year in a site called 2.006k.com. — CB

    He has Tim Kaine as Gov, with re-election in ’09. Trouble is… VA does not permit its Govs to be re-elected consecutively (I believe it’s the only state that has that ban). If Poulsen is *that wet* on one issue, how trustworthy is he on others?

    I want some place I can trust on the nail-biting night of Nov 7th…

    “Hey, Mazzarro is hot looking!” — Dale. @9

    Sure is. And I’m a “straight” female…

  • CB,

    Thanks for the link to the YouTube video of Bush dodging and weaving on the issue of the legal status of contractors in Iraq.

    If you recall, that was my nomination for the still wildly anticipated Mendacity Madness contest. But, I couldn’t find the video of it. Until now.

    I made the suggestion that it was either blatant lying on Bush’s part — since he signed an Executive Order that in essence removed contractors in Iraq from any kind of legal authority. (Frontline did a great piece on this before this Bush appearance) — or evidence that Bush was just completely unaware of what was going on around him.

    After watching this again, I’d have to say my bet is on the latter.

  • “Hey, Mazzarro is hot looking!” — Dale. @9
    Sure is. And I’m a “straight” female…

    Comment by libra

    Yeah. 🙂

    Hopefully she’s got a face that lanches 1000 governorships. Or at least one Dem one.

  • Regarding CB’s first post: The Delegator.

    If the next question was mine after that smirking, shirking, shitfaced answer from Bush…. I’d have said outloud for all to hear:

    “Mr. President, after that… I have no question.
    Just a statement:
    You embarrass me.
    You embarrass your office.
    You embarrass your country.
    You embarass this world.
    I am out of here…
    I simply can’t bear to be in the same room with you.”

  • “Michael J. Fox gave a pretty classy response to Rush Limbaugh.”

    Even after years of living in America, he still doesn’t know how to respond with hyperbole, angry rhetoric, and personal attacks.

    Jeesh, what IS it with you Canadians?

  • Of course the Foley scandal is going much wider. I mean, sheesh, if there was anything even remotely exculpatory about the evidence presented, then it would already have been leaked- report or no report!

    The only purpose to delaying a report until after the election is that it is going to make some Republicans look really bad.

  • “Actually, what I’d like someone to explain is where Limbaugh gets off calling [the MO stem cell amendment], as he did today, a “pro-cloning amendment” when, from what I can tell, it specifically bans human cloning.” – grumpy

    That’s easy, they are confusing the two terms. Cloning to create a whole new person just like (genetically) yourself is specifically forbidden. Cloning to create stem cells that won’t be rejected by your body is specifically allowed. Both sides are playing loose and fast with their terminology rather than being honest with the causal listener.

    But basically, there are two moral issues here. One, should you be allowed to take your own genetic information and use it along with a woman’s donated egg to create a whole new person rather than relying on nature to create people in through genetic recombination?
    Two, should you be allowed to take your own genetic information and create stem cells which therapists can then turn into the types of cells (nerve, marrow, pancreas) that you may have lost through cancer or treatments or whatever.

    People get confused about what stem cell research is going to do. Eventually, it will develop techniques to make any kind of human cell from an embroyonic stem cell (or maybe from an adut stem cell), but once they have the ability to tailor the cells, there will be a demand for perfect tissue matching, which means people will want to clone their own cells and create the missing cell types through this process.

    No one is going to want to use cells created on a bed of mouse tissue. That’s where Boy George II got it wrong.

    And eventually, researchers will learn to create simple tissues (if a tissue can be called simple) in a vat from your own cells. 90% of your skin burned off in a forest fire. No problem. We’ll just vat grow you a new skin from your own cells. No problem with tissue rejection and no sun damage to boot.

    So, when will people start just replacing their skin for cosmetic reasons?

  • It’s interesting, if not pathethic, how Blitzer felt compelled to give a delayed reaction, on-air response to Lynne Cheney’s Friday attacks – because she certainly had him back on his heels during the original interview. The minute Blitzer opened the door to topics other than her latest book, she came barreling through in a manner reminiscent of the way presidential candiate GHW Bush flew into Dan Rather when Rather mentioned Iran-Contra. Bush’s attack was later revealed as a planned, preemptive strike to disarm Rather; Lynne Cheney’s remarks had earmarks of the same. I can understand Blitzer being surprised, but for an experienced interviewer who knew her past to do such a poor job of defending himself, the network, and the truth is inexcusable. Myself, I’d have to disagree a bit with the big Dick on his assessment, though. It wasn’t so much a slapdown as a series of sucker punches — and certainly not something to be proud of.

  • Funny WaPo article on Harris’ “campaign” – can’t wait to read this book

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15490609/

    Campaign gone south
    Katherine Harris continues Fla. Senate race, shedding staff along the way
    BARTOW, Fla. – Katherine Harris, who is trying to become a U.S. senator, says she is writing a tell-all about the many people who have wronged her. This includes, but is not necessarily limited to: the Republican leaders who didn’t want her to run, the press that has covered her troubled campaign, and the many staffers who have quit her employ, whom she accuses of colluding with her opponent.

    She is vague about what, precisely, makes her a victim, but she says she has it all documented.

    “I’ve been writing it all year,” she says in that kittenish voice. She often smiles and cocks her head as if she’s letting you in on a secret. “It’s going to be a great book.”
    ….

    “They can make the polls say whatever they want,” Harris says. She says pollsters sometimes call her house and then hang up ” ’cause we’re not answering them the way they like.”

    The way Harris sees it, a vast left- and right-wing conspiracy, encompassing both the “liberal media” and the Republican “elite,” is attempting to keep her out of the Senate. She says anyone could see the way the panel of questioners coddled Nelson at their debate last week. Her voice gets all high and mocking as she imitates them.

    “Ooooh, Senator Nelson,” she says. “I mean, come on.”
    ….

  • It’s a clean sweep — there are 22 daily newspapers in Florida, and all 22 endorsed Sen. Bill Nelson (D) over challenger Katherine Harris (R) this year.

    So what? Almost every major Ohio newspaper has endorsed DeWine (except maybe the Toledo Blade and a few local papers).

    But regardless, Brown is going to SKUNK DeWine next week.

  • “But regardless, Brown is going to SKUNK DeWine next week.” – Ohioan

    I’d like to believe you. But it is Ohio we’re talking about 😉

  • Lynne Cheney is bats@$%t crazy.

    Anyone remember remember Richard Clarke’s book accounting the immediate response to 9/11? The setting: The VP, Wife and Rice are in the bunker hiding out while Clarke and his team are on the surface in the white house coordinating the response.

    When Clarke’s team tries to provide real times briefings to Cheney and Friends in the safety of the bunker on what is happening above ground, the line keeps going dead.

    Reportedly the open line keeps getting disconnected because its a distraction to Mrs. VP who wants to crank the volume on CNN.

    I guess its a case of priorities.

  • Thanks for the straightforward answers, brainiac and Lance. It would have been easier to say, “Because Rush is an asshole, is how.” Though that figures into it, too.

  • The video of Bush ducking the question on private military contractors is a real doozy. Maybe we should encourage more helplessly giggly co-eds to go straight into TV journalism. Then they can ask all those piercing questions without appearing threatening, and Bush (or whoever is in power) will happily babble on about how pathetic their grasp of reality has become. Tee hee!

  • FYI, this is from a retired military man (my dad) who knows his acronyms:

    The US usually negotiates a Status of Forces Agreement, a SOFA, which governs how military, government civilians and contractors (with US sponsorship) are to be treated with respect to national law of the host country. Many are fairly tangled in a legal sense.

    In essence, the SOFA determines where and when the local jurisdiction is superseded by the invading occupying guest presence, and there is the very real possibility that certain crimes can “fall between the cracks”. He went on to describe some of the intricacies of a SOFA that he is negotiating right now.

    Our people travel on what’s called Invitational Travel Orders, an ITO, issued by the government. This gives them a certain status in country with respect to the provisions of the SOFA that would not be available to contractors living in country and working for an overseas division of a US company not doing government business.

    That is unless the CIA decides you look suspicious.

    I’m betting we don’t wait for ITO’s from the Iraqi government. So, anyway, it’s complicated, and not something Bush could easily discuss in that setting, but the fact that he clearly has no clue whatsoever about how our mercenary forces are regulated is very disturbing.

    • Comments are closed.