Buck Naked Politics

Greenwald Takes Olbermann's Defense of the new FISA Bill into a Back Room; Only Greenwald Comes Out

by Damozel | My colleague Deb Cupples has recently commented trenchantly on Olbermann's reversal of his position on FISA to match Obama's.  Now Glenn Greenwald has administered a swift and deadly kick to Olbermann's credibility on the issue and to any lingering hope that Olbermann might recover sufficient detachment to be considered a reliable commenter on any issue relating to his Hero, Barack Obama.

Now that Obama has made his position on FISA crystal clear, Olbermann has apparently decided how he is going to spin the issue:  by being as disingenuous as Obama man.  When W was fighting for FISA, Olbermann called it '"an ex post facto law, which would clear the phone giants from responsibility for their systematic, aggressive and blatant collaboration with [Bush's] illegal and unjustified spying on Americans under this flimsy guise of looking for any terrorists who are stupid enough to make a collect call or send a mass email."' (Salon; emphasis added)

Muslim Women Barred by Obama Campaign from Photograph

by Damozel | While it's true that a certain segment of the population is hysterical about Muslims, that segment of the population isn't likely to vote for the Democrat in the next campaign and probably ought to be ignored. Anyway,  this is not the right way to handle it.  At least the campaign immediately apologized.

[B]oth [women were] Obama supporters who said they felt betrayed by their treatment at the rally. 

“This is of course not the policy of the campaign. It is offensive and counter to Obama’s commitment to bring Americans together and simply not the kind of campaign we run,” said Obama spokesman Bill Burton. “We sincerely apologize for the behavior of these volunteers.” (The Politico)

Recipe-gate Part 2: A Teapot in a Tempest

by Damozel | But of course:  it's always the mid-Twentieth Century for a certain segment of the American public. Family Circle is sponsoring a bake-off between potential First Spouses.  Which one is the best role model for the homemakers of America?  As The New York Daily News says, '[T]he stakes are not small. The wives of the winners of the last four presidential elections have also won this competition.'   

So...by failing to win this competition, Michelle or Cindy may cause their husbands to lose the election.  Furthermore, they'll reveal themselves to be unfit to be a presidential spouse.  A presidential spouse needs to be a good role model, even if the spouse is Bill Clinton.  Bill submitted a recipe for oatmeal cookies.

It's worth noting that none of the spouses claims that the recipe was her --- or his --- own invention.  It's not Top Chef.   So the whole thing is kind of a farce. 

More on the Indiana Voter ID Case and the Probable Long-Term Effects of the Supremes' Decision

Posted by Damozel | Now that SCOTUS has held that Indiana can require voters to produce government-issued identification (BN-Politics), expect more states to pass similar legislation, says The New York Times.  Oh, and expect more litigation over the limits of the states' ability to require it.

“The court’s opinion is likely to perform the same function for the photo ID debate as the Pennsylvania primary did for the Democratic presidential nomination — hardening positions while doing little if anything to illuminate a path to resolving the conflict,” said Doug Chapin, director of the Pew Center on the States Web site, electionline.org....

The Bush Administration: A 'Constitutional Dictatorship' Primed to Lead Us Even Further Up the Creek?

Posted by Damozel | Did you know that George W. Bush is still president?  While you were busy throwing stones across the barricades at your fellow Dems, he and Cheney were busy beating the war drums.  If you can't hear them over the screaming, stop for a minute.  Listen.

Let's begin with a quote of a quote of a quote.  Right: at Balkinization, Sandy Levinson quotes this excerpt from a Dan Froomkin round-up.

"On his radio show this morning, Bill Bennett told the Weekly Standard's Bill Kristol -- who had a personal meeting with President Bush yesterday -- that a 'conclusion' he drew was that the hearing was 'less an argument for getting out of Iraq than going into Iran.' After suggesting that Iran may 'have to pay some price at some point on their own soil,' Kristol said that President Bush authorizing an attack of some kind before he leaves office is not 'out of the question.'

"Why Does Al Gore Hate the Press?"

 Posted by Damozel | The question is plangently posed, and apparently with a straight face, by The Silicon Valley Insider.

Al Gore is speaking at the RSA security conference in San Francisco this afternoon. But good luck finding out what he says: Reporters are banned from the event.

We don't know what's more disheartening: The fact that the former veep is trying to keep a trade show talk private -- or that this isn't the first time he's been oddly press-shy.

A Hillary Supporter Considers Photo-Gate*

Posted by Damozel | *Hey, someone's bound to call it that:  I am just getting the jump on the bandwagon.

I am genuinely baffled by the "outrage" of the media over the dressed-Obama photo and the current dearth of denials.  It's certainly possible that some Hillary supporter, somewhere, circulated it. 

But how on earth could Hillary validly deny it unless she checked with every single person connected to her campaign?  If she denied it, and it later developed that someone in the campaign had circulated the photo, she'd be accused of lying to cover up the campaign's involvement.

The Shooting at Northern Illinois & the Dangerous 'Solution' Proposed by Gun Advocates

by Teh Nutroots |  In "a large lecture hall" at Northern Illinois University, a gunman shot at least people, five of whom are now dead.  Afterwards, he shot himself.  (CNN)  Four died at the scene.  Two more died after being taken to the hospital.  Most were shot in the chest or head. (CNN) 

The gunman stepped out from behind the curtain in a lecture hall at the front of the room and started firing. (CNN)  A student reported: ""He just kicked the door open, just started shooting...All I really heard was just people screaming, yelling 'get out.' ... Close to 30 shots were fired."(CNN)   According to the Chief of Police, the gunman used:  a shotgun, a Glock handgun and a small-caliber handgun.(CNN)  He was still standing at the front of the room when he turned the handgun on himself.(CNN)   

Bush on Darfur & More: The Matt Frei Interview

by Damozel | BBC journalist Matt Frei interviewed George W. Bush, who defends US policy in Darfur and his own "seminal decision"€™ (sic) not to commit troops to Darfur (BBC transcript).  I can'€™t upload the 15 minute video here, but you can see it here or read a summary here. But that didn’t last. Grim as most of the subjects the two of them canvassed were, and are, several of the things he said evoked mocking laughter or incredulous giggling.  But other parts just made me shake my head in disbelief.   Still others made me feel vaguely ill.  Others evoked the usual helpless rage.  The worst part is that I can still see, in a way, why people the people who liked him liked him, and why some might like him still.  It was kind of an emotional roller coaster.

A Great Fall: McCain Votes Against Bill to Ban Waterboarding

Posted by Damozel |  Here's a development that has genuinely saddened me.  I must not be as cynical as I claim.   Today, John McCain voted against a bill that did exactly what he himself has advocated doing in the past:  adopted the Army Field Manual interrogation standards for the US government. Anti-torture advocates, such as the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, supported this crucial  billl.

In a Republican presidential debate on Nov. 28, McCain said that the Army Field Manual should be the gold standard for interrogations:

Jon Stewart Says Good-Bye to Romney in Words of One Syllable

"Who was Mitt Romney?" asks Jon Stewart.  "A cipher...devoid of principle...A salt and pepper man-shaped polymer casing for a spiritual vacuum." Fortunately,  "Mitt Romney loves America so much that he could not and would not subject it to a Mitt Romney presidency."

After listening to him equate an Obama or Clinton win with a surrender to terrorism, Jon says a very special farewell.

Here's Silent Patriot at Crooks and Liars to administer the final much needed kick to Romney's backside:

To Obama Supporters Accusing the Clintons of Blasphemy: A Counterblast

by Teh Nutroots | The LA Times snipes:  Is the Right Right On the Clintons?  I doubt it.  They've never been right about anything else.

Predictably, the piece continues the media's reality show-level coverage of the campaign. Boo hoo hoo:  the Clintons are campaigning aggressively.  They've attacked Obama's record, his public statements, and diverse other factors underlying the phenomenon that he is because they would like to win the nomination.  But apparently Obama is a sacred icon whom the grubby fingers of the rival campaign must never besmirch. 

Fraught Moments from Along the Campaign Trail

by Damozel | First, consider "the "heated exchange" at a Romney press conference held---hilariously---at a Staples Store.  I love Staples, but who ever pictured a Staples store as the scene for a "heated" political exchange between an AP reporter and a candidate for the US presidency?

Romney was in the middle of answering a routine question when he said something that caused Associated Press reporter Glen Johnson to lose his temper.

“I don’t have lobbyists running my campaign,” Romney said. “I don’t have lobbyists that are tied to my … ”

Rove's Bold & Innovative Plan for Beating Top Dems

by Damozel | Why is the GOP listening to a man who master-minded the GOP's failed campaign strategies for 2006 and--more importantly---master-minded the Bush Administration's failed policies?  It's a puzzle. 

"Maybe it's because his name is so short and memorable," suggested my colleague, D Cupples.  She couldn't think of another reason deserving the name.  But hey, his plans worked once before, when everyone was fed up with the Clintons.  Why shouldn't it work again, now that everyone is fed up with Bush?

Well, we'll see.  Here's what's happening:

Is Ron Paul a Racist? Here's Why I Don't Care

Did Ron Paul write the racist newsletters that CNN says went out under his name?   He says not, but did he?  At the end of the day, it doesn't matter to me, and why?  Because, you see, they went out under his name. 

According to CNN, a series of newsletters containing some very ugly sentiments which CNN recently obtained were "published under Ron Paul's name in the 1990s "between his stints as a congressman." (CNN)  How bad were they?  This bad: 

Slate: Legal Fictions Foisted on the Public by the Bush Administration's Crack Team of Legal Scholars (a 2007 round-up)

By Teh Nutroots |  We've already read and enjoyed Juan Cole's top 10 myths for 2007.  Now in Slate, Dahlia Lithwick (Legal Fictions) gives us the Bush Administration's top 10 dumbest legal arguments.  It's a must-read for anyone who has lost count of the Bush Administration's many attempts to extend its reach into the everyday personal affairs of average American citizens....for our own good, of course. 

The Bush administration continues to limit our basic freedoms, conceal its own worst behavior, and insist that it does all this in order to make us more free. In that spirit, it seemed an opportune moment to commemorate the administration's worst legal justifications and arguments of the year.  (Slate)

Krugman on the Impossible Dream

by Damozel | Here's Paul Krugman in The New York Times, still trying to convince me that a presidency which strives to govern to the center and achieve bipartisan goals is the impossible dream:

Yesterday The Times published a highly informative chart laying out the positions of the presidential candidates on major issues. It was, I'd argue, a useful reality check for those who believe that the next president can somehow usher in a new era of bipartisan cooperation.

For what the chart made clear was the extent to which Democrats and Republicans live in separate moral and intellectual universes.(The New York Times)

I've already said what I have to say on this.

Scrooging London's Homeless: No Soup for You!

[by Cockney Robin & Damozel (cross-posted to Versus/Reversus) | Cockney Robin, who is having a jolly holiday in an exotic location,  recently turned me on to Brit blog Blood and Treasure.  He's now sent me this link.   The link came with this note:  "Just in case you think Ebenezer Scrooge ain't alive and well on this side of the Atlantic or that we don't still have a homeless problem."  "Scrooge with a little added pecksniff" remarks Jamie K. in re: a BBC News article called  "Do soup kitchens help the homeless?" 

Jamie K.deadpans, "Here's festive."

As charities launch their annual drive to help the homeless at Christmas, Westminster Council in central London is pursuing plans to ban soup kitchens from its streets. It has won some surprising support....[A]ccording to Westminster City Council, soup kitchens are drawing former rough sleepers out of hostels and back onto the streets.  (BBC)

Torture: A Moral Issue

by Damozel | [Cross-posted at Versus/Reversus & The Marginal Christian] At Slacktivist, Fred Clark wrote a searing response to Mona Charen's distressing recent column on torture.  Thanks, Slacktivist, for doing this---so other blogs don't have to.

And since it's Christmas, I also found via Slacktivist this site:  The National Religious Campaign Against Torture. For some reason, the group limits membership to organizations (i.e., to churches), but you can sign a statement and get other information on opposing as immoral the government's use of torture.   Read NRCAT's statement below and then please go there and sign it.  After all, it's Christmas---the best time to speak Truth to Power (as Marley's Ghost would affirm).

Sister Toldjah: No Figgy Pudding for the Liberals!

by Teh Nutroots | The conservative blog  "Sister Toldjah" has posted a really touching piece today called "The abject failure of liberalism." We love it when conservatives pretend that they're the pragmatic, practical, problem solving, stabilizing wing of the national airplane while it's liberals who keep trying to make the thing do barrel rolls.

During the last seven years, according to Ms. Toldjah, it's been liberalism, not conservatism, that has failed.  And, instead of happily basking in the glow of conservatism's proven success under Bush, she has distilled the last sour drop out of the grapes of her wrath, has got herself well and truly filled with the spirit of rebuke, and has loaded up her sleigh with several tons of environmentally unfriendly coal for all the welfare-cheating whining poor people who won't work and for all their liberal enablers.  She's the Anti-Claus!