The 3 year old scandal involving Jane Harman’s alleged trading of influence with suspected foreign agents gets new legs. According to Congressional Quaterly, NSA surveillance provided the evidence against Harman in 2006. Oh, and Goss at the time was in a ‘all signs are go!’ mood.
Other than that we’re not entirely sure what exactly is new. A congressional promise to look into a matter with a caveat that not much can be done? Pretty normal. A few calls and then nothing happens? Same. Politics determining congressional committee assignments? Gasp. Perhaps the real story being clarifying the agenda of those making ‘new’ leaks? Par for the course. How perfect that the alleged foreign agent is an American citizen responsible for creating the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
Anon says
The GOP would have been wiser to have Freeman Dyson at the hearing – Ultimately Dyson’s objections would end up being folded into the seeming economic benefits of new economy and a new grid – But he would give some face saving to the gop getting rolled on this – Since he is so brilliant – We love his idea of car eating termites and can only imagine a good SciFi movie of a car eating termite that becomes a monster truck to end all monster trucks:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/magazine/29Dyson-t.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
Anon says
We missed most of Newt – but allow us to compare him a bit to Justice John Paul Stevens.
Stevens – as admitted Oxfordian on the so-called authorship question re Bard noted, quite correctly, that his side took a body blow when the first revisionist history asserting the theory of the Earl of Oxford being the author of “Shakespeare” was written by a man unfortunately named “Looney”
This relates back to our conv about name jokes and making fun of names – Sometimes it is irresistable. But in an academic enviro – Shakespeare denial is just a few notches below Holocaust denial. Stevens and Scalia would probably not be able to get away with being Oxfordians if they did not have tenure – if they were teaching lit at a college. Maybe that’s a stretch – but not much.
But we are annoyed that some people who know better do not explain away some of the riddles about Shakespeare – We tend to believe – and want to believe – that Shakespeare was Shakespeare and so would like people to risk giving street cred enough to Stevens and others and resolve it a bit – instead of dropping the L-bomb (looney).
Newt should think twice about “green coal” – “clean coal” is a fantastic lobbyist created phrase in that many people, if not most, think it actually exists now. While it may exist one day – that is a long way off.
Green Coal is far more silly sounding — Looney sounding.
Anon says
Watching Gibbs presser almost all questions are trivia tinted – in a Tweety sense – Endless questions about Obama’s safety about an incident that was basically routine and without meaning and already resolved.
Then Jake Tapper – speaking for the beltway establishment fears — pursues worries about ‘looking back’ at war crimes etc etc
The predominance of the Tweety-ish lens in the media is still ascendent. It’s part of the culture.
Oddly Les Consolving asked one of the few semi-meaningful questions about Castro’s response to Obama etc
Anon says
Newt – we have to watch him later – but we saw his latest gimmic – He used the phrase “green coal” – Obviously seeing the clean coal meme being sillified.
We think Newt will not gain much traction = In fact, we think our phrase “M-bomb” (comparing to Madoff) has a better shot of gaining traction.
Also – Newt was not credible when he claimed to read the bill up to page 236 (amended to 233)
Obviously a staffer saw the anecdote about jacuzzzi that he thought Newt could use.
If we were on the panel – we’d be asking Newt about everything between 1-233.
Anon says
We like option number 2:
http://www.anonymousliberal.com/2009/04/good-question.html
But we see from Newt and others – They are trying to re-brand Argentina as a threat to the US and Mom, apple pie, and high fructose corn syrup.
Anon says
Gore dropped the M-bomb today (anon patent pending) – comparing (we think Lee Raymond, from context – but unnamed) the people a NY Times article that said energy execs suppressed climate science 14 years ago and set up an alternative truth scheme.
The M-bomb is comparing someone to Madoff – We think it will be a common thing to do.
Dr Leo Strauss says
Trotsky’s ashes stolen and baked into cookies . . .
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/04/427707.html
Cold. LOL.
Anon says
Fascinating TV – watching VP Gore and Senator Warner testify to the Markey committe — All sorts of great TV momenst – Massive frustration on hard right members in articulating their objections – lots of flustering and anger. Newt will speak next – after being anti Climate science, he switched to pro Gore for a while, and now is trying to carve out a boutique niche of being anti cap/trade while retaining msm plausibiliy – We won’t be able to watch him live, but will pick up his boneheaded attempts to get youtube-able clips later.
IMO cap/trade does have potential to make money over time – but it’s hard to explain to many people.
Gore is now starting to laugh/sigh as some Congresswoman Blackburn tries to imply Gore is in it totally for the money – Gore replies that he is sending all profits to his non-profit. Blackburn is pretty flumoxed.
There is here – the visable cleavage that Winston Churchill lll found out – with an alternative universe of rightist objection that has disappeared from the mainstream debate – No doubt Blackburn heard on the radio about this mysterious Kleiner-Perkins LINK.
Blackburn had never heard of Kleiner-Perkins before – Earlier Gore was accused of being linked to Goldman Sachs
Anon says
If you brought up the Biblical analogy with La Noonan – her cognitive dissonance would also kick in because she would have put Bush and Cheney in the role of Jesus and the captured people – some totally innocent – in the role of the Roman soldiers – and Pelosi in he role of Pontius Pilot etc etc
She would automatically reverse the power equation – like Richard Cohen assigning power to the comic and helplessness to the role of the powerful Bush.
This kind of demented inversal was regnant thru-out the Warlord Epoch –
Recall Operation Wolvering early in the Iraq insurgency – when the eventually to be replaced General used that movie Red Dawn for inspiration – as odd as it seems – But then reversed the invader/invadee equation – with the Sunni inhabitants playing the role of Sov invader and the heavy Army divisions playing the role of Pat Swayzee and the townies that resisted the invasion.
The whole era was weird.
Anon says
La Noonan would probably take umbrage at the comparison – but it’s ironic, in a way, that she would not have checked herself and seen herself making such a comparison – Perhaps, in a different incarnation – say as a Roman Censor, she would have couseled a redacting of portions of the Bible that contain things that should have been left mysterious and not explicit.
It also probably never occured to her to see Obama’s earlier political efforts to tape interrogations in Chicago to prevent tortured self confessions as being connected in a way – Afterall, torture was illegal – but it occured under the pressure to find culprits quickly in a high crime area – Even with the law seeming to apply, the human factor led to innocent people – actually innocent people – to be put on death row.
But false confessions – under Bush/Cheney – were not just a lamentable accidentm, but a political imperative.
srv says
@Dr Leo Strauss
Peggy on The Passion:
“He is brutally put to death by non-Jewish Roman soldiers, who are portrayed as sadistic in a businesslike way, on the acquiescence of a tired, non-Jewish cynic who then sought to wash his hands of culpability. It is a film that leaves the viewer indicting not Jews and not Romans and not cynical bureaucrats. It leaves you indicting yourself: it leaves you wondering about what your part in that agonizing drama would have been back then, and what your part is today.”
We know what Peggy would do today…
As poor an example of a moral Catholic as you will ever find.
Anon says
Doc – recall the slip we all thought we saw when the Chief Justice unconsciously recited the three branches of gov as: President, Congress, and Judiciary – And we noted that he was very order-minded when he constantly refered to SCOTUS as “the third branch” – so as to imply a modest role.
We think there might be some insights into Scalia in the above article about Oxfordian – Scalia is an Oxfordian – He does not think Shakespeare is Shakespeare any more than Pat’s Mexican friends think the Mexican war really meant anything about Mexico (atzlan?) real borders.
Scalia – in his interview with Leslie Stahl – became very animated when discussing Shakespeare and his young role in the plays in school – So it matters to him — Scalia also revealed in a priest/teacher who admonished a recalcitrant student – a punk in Scalia’s mind – that he was not to put Shakespeare on trial, but that Shakespeare puts the student on trial.
It was a classic conservative parochial view of education as a trial of sorts – a pain to get past – a test of mettle – discipline – order – etc – AUTHORITY –
But Scalia may be at odds with himself – Or he may think holding up the myth of stratfordianism (his opinion) is a safe myth for the demi-bourgeoise.
Anon says
Leo – Imagine William Lind and Pat Buchanan debating the historical roots of this decadent German ad:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ge6teiQdeQ&feature=player_embedded
Anon says
FYI Stevens on Shakespeare:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2009/04/the-verdict-is-in-justice-stevens-on-shakespeare.html
FWIW we have been intrigued by this since high school when we actually saw Stevens speak on this very topic. It seemed incredible and amazing.
We have not hopped on the Oxford bandwagon – It just seems to bizarre and too impossible. We are prepared to admit some colloaboration on a variety of the plays.
But it’s interesting and fun.
Anon says
Portor Goss outraged at memo release – calls Stephen Hayes (arguably published more secret memos to sell an illegal war, but whatever)
http://www.memeorandum.com/
Goss seems foolish – He must not have a long memory if he thinks this memo release was large in the scheme of things. Btw – shouldn’t he just stfu for all the errors, embarassment, and non action that happened on his watch.
He’s also an arrogant sob and flippant – we recall his “show me a dress” comment
Anon says
re Tweety – we think this guy misses the whole issue with Tweety –
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephen-kaus/has-chris-matthews-learne_b_190375.html
Tweety , for the most part, shares La Noonan’s occasional belief in secrecy as end – for the mystique of Power and to not cause Scandal among the Faithful – er, ah the citizens.
Also – Tip was not a God – just a pol, so who really knows what he’d say, but we are pretty sure (we cannot prove it) that Tweety leaked against Tip and Boland
during the whole contra era.
So it’s complicated because it’s all about Beltway status and Tweety trying to reconcile his various guilt about avoiding war and hating war – mini-skirts and pleasing Jack Welch –
Twenty – two honoray degrees – Huh?
Anon says
So John Paul Stevens is an Oxfordian – from a wsj from last week. Hmm.
Anon says
LGF’s Johnson is still to sweaty to be paling around with la noonan et al, but he trying to get that Geller off his shoe:
http://washingtonindependent.com/39629/civil-war-raging-in-right-wing-blogosphere
Anon says
Some great quotes in here from Wall St. Our favorite is the “no offense” (always said before an offense) comment – re Sysco truck.
To borrow from Nixon – if the American people knew what these people really said, they’d wanna boil them in oil:
http://nymag.com/news/businessfinance/56151/index1.html
Anon says
Leo, any thoughts on Jeffrey Goldberg? Here’s a pretty good summation:
http://www.ips.org/blog/jimlobe/?p=244
We long thought Goldberg was an insufferable doofus, on the hand – who wrote over-ly self involved books as a prophylactic or sorts – so he could pursue a malicious pro war agenda – a pseudo lib, a poseur – with a marginal self-congratulating sense of humor.
On the other hand – he’s a pretty effective, if shifty, polemicist – No doubt he has been someone that matters –
Following the Iraq fiasco – he would occassionally lift his pseudo-lib figleaf off as if to say “F— you” to the losers who misread him in the New Yorker and take him seriously on npr (‘we had no idea Dubya would do it like that ….’)
We think of the time he hung out with Lupus Maximus at the New School – The whole thing was an insult.
We very much doubt that he ever believed much of what he wrote about Iraq-Qaeda in the New Yorker – Since much of it was proven wrong as it was written.
oh well
Anon says
Flipping around HuffPo we see some stupid story about Hannity wanting to be waterboarded.
Richard Cohen would never think himself to be anything like Hannity – But he was – oh he was.
Hannity is sort of hilarious in a way that he is sort of an incarnation of what most left leaning people we’ve known (esp women) think of as a typical Republican.
He has face that is almost totally vacuous (Bush looks like a cross between yeats and andre malraux by comparison). The only content in Hannity’s brow is a sense of confusion mixed with a generalized anger and stupification. yet – he is super wealthy and has some
how managed to become the WFB of the 21st cent.
We once heard him get into this vicious on-air fight with Dershowitz – It was hilarious. Dershowitz must have wondered, at some point, how he found himself arguing with someone like hannity – much less be made an on-air punching bag.
Dersh is not always a class act – but he has that academic pedigree – So it was an interesting match of egos and ids.
Anon says
We were always very annoyed – and somewhat amused – by the treatment we saw directed against our old pal Gus (recently died). Gus was always a few months away from being homeless – with an ill wife. Poor and had to use legal aid to prevent greedy landlords from kicking him out of his rent stabilized building.
The clown and fraud that called him an elitist probably spends more money in a typical day – all earned as a parasite on the economy, of sorts – than Gus earned all year –
yet – this mook with cash saw nothing weird about this – He thought it made sense – patriotic – Bush, for all his flaws, knew all about this type of person that loved him and he had nothing but contempt for them. You saw some of that with his Scooter skip.
Anon says
There was a trick Bush had – that is really something to think about – of seeming weak and unpowerful and beseiged and unelite.
Richard Cohen’s blow-up was a reducto ad absurdum that serves to illuminate, but we have personally witnessed people say – with a serious straightface – that criticism of the Andover-Yale-TeeHan by way of Connecticut millionaire bailout beneficiary – was criticism.
In fact – one time we saw this when a woman we know – who was nursery school teacher in inner city Miami – was on the receiving end of this weird very strange inversal – from a hedge fund trader no less. The trader (very well off) sincerely verbally “push-backed” against the teacher (19k sal. tops) as elitist for mocking Bush.
Another time — we saw a a wealthy mookish customer at a Greek dinner in nyc – call a Greek diner waiter (age 73, parents killed by Nazi bombardment, korean war vet, poor, gout with bad health, sometime actor who rarely got work since the 70s) – an elitist. He was an elitist – according to the wealthy (bond trader) customer – because
he made fun of Bush’s speaking skills and monkey face.
Gus had never attended school – taught himself English in the NY public library – was homeless following ww2 and the Greek civil war – Poor and old – But smart in a self educated way – Suddenly he mocks this President and a wealthy customer calls him elitist.
This Korean-style brainwashing was widespread
among Bush’s defenders.
It was so weird and so common – it is rarely discussed or analyzed – but it was a societal thing.
Anon says
We are always amused by Mike Pence – the simpleton. He furrowns his brow when he is asking a question he regards as deep and serious and meaningfull. Invariably, he asks
something silly, trivial, or stupid.
HRC had trouble containing her amusement when he questioned her about Obama’s ghastly nightmarish pow-wow
with Hugo Chavez (“He called Bush a demon”)
Hillary – of course – has been called far worse than the diabla or devil – by Pence’s base. Much HRC hatred was sick and twisted and loaded with all sorts of weird
complexes – some of which Blumenthal noted.
Pence is totally unable to grok that – So HRC, like a schoolmarm – amused and a bit condescending – explains to him that previous Presidents have yucked it up much more with serious tyrants and enemies of the US like the sovs and the PRC.
Pence struggles to look serious (“let’s take a knee, America”) and take it all in.
But HRC to Pence is somewhat like the Broadbank to 9600 baud modem link up you discussed with Condi
Anon says
Bill Frist thought bubble
(‘why do all these freaks hate me? don’t they know about my well publicized visits to hell holes to do some heart work? what’s up with these losers? morons – why do they seem to hate me? These idiots.’)
Anon says
re Cohen’s defense of the powerful Bush against comedian without power –
It was jarring because it was spontaneous and angry heartfelt and absolutely insane-
and it came from a man who regards himself as liberal and suddenly seemed to wake up – rip van winklish – and find himself as part of the establishment.
He was so sincere in his umbrage and outrage – the absurdity of his comment had not occured to him – A man that probably did a fair share of naval gazing and self-reflection (or so he thinks) thru his years.
We all have moments like this – when we find ourselves so out of step – so clueless – just when we throught ourselves wise.
Cohen would be a good person to use as a model for a novel character because he was so typical of a certain kind of beltway establishment liberal – totally manipulated by the numbskull from Texas and totally
unable to grok the situation.
Cohen is the typical Grown-up Serious Center-Left pundit – (‘Isn’t McCain great – a straight shooter. While he is wrong about the need for the Vietnam war, he …’)
is tryiing to figure out the netroots and nutroots
and suddenly seems to find himself being alligned
with all the kooks he once loathed.
Anon says
Yeah – reclaim a team – you’re right – We often get frustrated with La Noonan’s columns because we know some people who think like her and when we find her writing something we find appalling we can easily imagine some people we admire nodding along to her in agreement – So we know she is not malice-centered and she means well and she’s, at heart, a good egg. But we lament the trickle down of memes seen in action in her columns.
We know she is struggling with her personal liking of the President vs. her security blanket ideology that says she must dislike him because he is integrated with his propgram.
we’ve read defenses of the latin mass when it was in the news a few years ago that were pretty much the same as La Noonan’s defense of keeping torture secret – The overall theme of secrecy and mystery.
Dr Leo Strauss says
La Noonan by all accounts is not fairing well professionally of late. She is no longer accepted by the Wing Nut base because she broke with the Warlord at the end. Late treason is the cruelest cut of all in their eyes. And anyone who is not part of her Catholic old boy/old gal network no longer has the patience for her vapidity.
Perhaps we are overly cynical in her case, but we saw the performance as a clumsy effort on her part to reclaim a team and at least a seat on the junior varsity squad. The whole mysterious claptrap is perfect for her Politico-Catholicism emotional mumbo jumbo. Our friends who are her friends swear she really is a good person. Perhaps. But reap as ye shall sow is another slogan she should be familiar with.
Dr Leo Strauss says
Poor Bill Frist – his crime was craven pandering to those people. He at least knew he was a cheap, amoral opportunist diagnosing videos on the Senate Floor. Same for some of those at Fox now fabricating ‘organic’ this and thats.
You’re right, though. The cultural contamination of defending the powerful against the weak and voiceless reached its apotheosis with Cohen. It’s still around in Wing Nut-verse. Some might be done in the hopes of becoming ‘Made’ by the Movement. But alot is just weird Stockholm stuff.
Anon says
Priceless La Noonan quotes, Doc – “mysterious” – just like her St Pat’s musings – In reality – secrecy = mysticism = authoritarianism .
La Noonan wants a Daddy
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/21/feingold-unloads-on-peggy_n_189473.html
Anon says
We thinks this O’Donnell exchange is interesting because we have had similar exchanges with some friends in recent past – It’s all gonna fade away at some point, but it was a frustrating time to be around so many people who seemed kidnapped by zombies and said this crazy stuff like the guy talking to O’Donnell.
It’s sort of like when Richard Cohen complain of Colbert being a bully to the President or the numerous times we have personally heard people get really upset at some verbal cheap-shot we supposedly made about Dick Cheney (a man who does not care a whiff about them).
It was truly a weird time.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/22/republican-strategist-say_n_190141.html
Anon says
Wow – this “apology to Rush” thing seemed like a gimmic with a short shelf life – But these heartlander gopers keep falling into the whole shebeen
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/21/rep-todd-tiahrt-rush-limb_n_188281.html
Anon says
Flashback – Some of your Condi brain stem responses here in your reply to AUGMENTED speculation – are very funny stuff:
http://www.stiftungleostrauss.com/bunker.php?itemid=385
Dr Leo Strauss says
(@) Anon –
Thanks for the reminder of the fun we had at STSOZ 1.0. Forgot about that thread and even that meme/exchange between Rice and Boxer.
We still rank the riffing off Joe Wilson in all his manifestations might be the most fun we recall. FWIW, readers who prefer to lurk have mentioned to the Stiftung at various D.C. fora how much they enjoyed it all.
Anon says
Scan back in your archives Doc and we think we predicted this aipac case will wither on the vine and may not go forward – We see in WaPO today that there seems to be a movement in that direction in DOJ – They claim (plausibly, imo) that it’s not due to heat, but to
the adverse court decisions.
Sitting back and observing – and reading the indictment a ways back – we were somewhat puzzled by the implications of the case being inversely proportional to a bare seeming indictment.
It seemed to us that the Bureau had been watching X do Y for a while and decided to do some station identification ( to use a newly fashionable catchphrase) and create ABC for X to go after as something more court friendly and to kind of throw X against the boards, to mix in a hockey metaphor.
So then X responded by going into pro wrestling mode when Franklin was sent away and all sorts of fictional scenarios were created – This was backed up by the legal strategy of playing chicken with greymail and Condi testimony etc.
Anon says
Leo, do you have an insight/idea into the true fury that McCain seems to have about Christopher Hill becoming Ambassador to Iraq?
Yesterday we saw McCain flesh out some plausible objections to Hill – many of these objections seemed
reasonable and made sense – We can’t say if they were really wrong or right.
But McCain seemed formulaic and unconcerned – Until he started talking about Hill’s alleged comments to Sanger of the NY Times criticing Bush people.
Suddenly McCain was truly upset – steaming fury – as he relayed these rather minor stylistic objections Hill made about the Bush people – Mostly obvious objections that 99 percent of all diplomats would agree too.
McCain is not liked by the Bush people — So it did not seem to make sense for him to get in high dudgeon over slghts made against him.
Is this just McCain being erratic, or is there something else going on?
Anon says
Mixing up food chains on the right wing – JPod has been an example of someone who is both low on the food chain and high – Both rabble rouser and intellectual grandee – supposedly.
Marc Thiessen – former Dubya speechwriter continues this tradition – We saw him on c-span this morning doing a mostly self defeating job defending Bush’s torture regime and program.
But then we see he is now a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution – supposedly a weighty intellectual place.
Thiessen mostly offer shop worn tired cliches of a gleeful UBL in a cave gleeing at released OLC memos.
But he made the same error has the hapless Mike Allen – containing refutations of his arguments inside of his arguments –
Thiessen was highly defensive and nervous in manner – until he found his groove and got some high fives from right wing callers – Then he brightened up as if he won a prize.
But we think he stumble when he rolled out a Cheney favorite – Imagining a terror attack on Obamas watch – Cheney often seems to wish this would happen and Thiessen kind of keep holding out this highly speculative nasty possibility.
Sure Obama would be responsible, in a sense – But this is an accidental concession on Thiessen’s part that Dubya was responsible for 9-11.
Lots of conservatives are not psychologically prepared to admit this – esp in their defensive crouch.
We recall how much Rush was opposed to the creation on the 9-11 commission (until he got a Gorelick crutch to carry him thru) – mostly because it would reveal (did reveal) a hapless Dubya ignoring all sorts of warnings and intelligence (obtained torture free) and pretty much did nothing to stop what could have been stopped – leading to an understandable, if lamentable, outbreak of conspiracy theories that fail to take into account laziness and error.
But we think Thiessen erred in citing Hitchens to defend waterboarding and misquoted the Hitch – Hitch is pretty clear that waterboarding did to him on purpose was torture and that people who did it should be forgiven though under the circumstances (as Obama said).
But Thiessen misquotes or better – just says it wasn’t torture.
He could have been wiser than naming Hitchens – who will eventually say otherwise
Anon says
Obama opens up at Langley – Drums/Space then Box of rain
http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/spytalk/2009/04/obama-at-cia-spooks-swoon-like.html#more
Anon says
Had Allen fully quoted the former Bush guy and included the likely nasty stuff, It would have obviously reflected poorly on the Bush guy and the Bush guy would have PO’d Allen and Allen would have to switch sides and be closer to Obama in order to make a living.
But that’s gonna happen eventually anyway .
Anon says
We are sort of amused to see Greenwald and others go after that egregious hack Mike Allen of Politico – Allen is so obvious as a mouthpiece for Bush people that he is ridiculous – all complaints her writes off as left wing wackos – But he sort of jump the shark and revealed his dim mindset when he justified a presumptive annonymity to a former Bush person – But then accidentally admitted that he edited the Bush guy’s email to make it appear less insane and angry and self-interested – but then said the reader (of the edited and cleaned up version) had to judge:
“…figured that readers could decide whether the former Bush official’s comments sounded defensive or vindictive. . . . So at the bottom of the Axelrod story, I tacked on an ellipsized excerpt of the former Bush official’s quotes, removing several ad hominem attacks on Obama. I quoted less than half of the comment and took out the most incendiary parts — a way to hint at the opposing view without giving an anonymous source free rein.” (Mike Allen)
Allen is so soaked up fumes from his sources he reminds us of someone who just graduated from college regaling older people about boring fraternity stories – not knowing the listeners don’t get the inside jokes or care about the various characters and their quirks. But years in the inner world of the frat makes the narrator lose his independent mind.
You see Mike Allen does not even seem to realize he is making a fool of himself in justifying this –
Anon says
Greenwald – with all his subtlety
“So if I understand this correctly — and I’m pretty sure I do — when the U.S. Government eavesdropped for years on American citizens with no warrants and in violation of the law, that was “both legal and necessary” as well as “essential to U.S. national security,” and it was the “despicable” whistle-blowers (such as Thomas Tamm) who disclosed that crime and the newspapers which reported it who should have been criminally investigated, but not the lawbreaking government officials. But when the U.S. Government legally and with warrants eavesdrops on Jane Harman, that is an outrageous invasion of privacy and a violent assault on her rights as an American citizen, and full-scale investigations must be commenced immediately to get to the bottom of this abuse of power. Behold Jane Harman’s overnight transformation from Very Serious Champion of the Lawless Surveillance State to shrill civil liberties extremist.”
Anon says
The Darth Vadar debates heat up – Lucus losing control of his own creation?
http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/04/bush-cheney-and-literary-criticism.php
We’re pretty impressed with the mighty morphin power rangers as a commmericial success, but we don’t know enough about them to figure the political analogues.
Dr Leo Strauss says
Lucas still has the last laugh. Even MY is really just another layer of ironic observation on the essential ‘Clerks’-ian discourse unleashed by Dowd. Oddly, my 10 year old nephew would feel right at home on MY’s blog here, opining over his shoulder while playing ‘Force Unleashed’ that Darth Bane, ancient Sith Lord, was really Barry Goldwater.
The fact that MY slams Lucas is irrelevant to him as long as MY’s childhood was littered with Hasbro-licensed merchandise. It’s all even worse than the John Locke dinner attendees . . .
Anon says
Is Obama a threat to Israel? That’s basically an un-sellable proposition, but that feeling was what underlay the otherwise inexplicable gloom of Foxman et al – Now you have the MI chief of Israel laying his cards on the table:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1079624.html
This is something that has no traction in broad politics – since Obama is regarded by most people as being pro Israel and in the tank, to a certain degree.
But the underlying right-wing ethos has become the default understanding among too many – But it was always sotto vocce, with plausibly deniable leaders like Peres saying nice things etc.
Left unsaid is what constitues Israel and Israel’s security – The official position is still pretty much in line with State Dept scripts. But the expansive definition – of greater Israel – animates all this heavy handed talk.
Properly understood – if Obama proceeds with a fair minded peace – he will be the greatest friend of Israel’s in WH since Jimmy Carter – And he’ll be appreciated about as much.
Anon says
There’s probably some reason rooted deep in childhood for this, but Newt can’t seem to drop an insult and then let others embellish around it – He has to fraud up his own claims. looks like that catechism isn’t sinking in yet
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/20/gingrich-obama-chavez/
Anon says
We just saw another clip of Cheney being interviewed by the ludicrous sycophant Hannity – It was telling that Cheney’s criticism of Hugo Chavez was centered around aspects of Chavez – his alleged non commitment to democracy – was really the least worrying aspect of Chavez’s rule.
The idea that Cheney – a handmaiden of the egregious Saudi family – gives a flying f— about democracy is just silly.
Cheney is widely viewed as evil – in part because people have a tough time pinning the more likable but dense seeming Bush with all the blame for the vast killing and unneccessary warfare that took place under their regime.
But his persistant dishonesty – even in a favorable interview envr shows his true colors
Anon says
We think if Harmon was blackmailed by Gonz she would have good enough legal sense that those intercepts – troubling but by no means politically deadly (maybe helpfull in our weird world) were not legally admissable evidence that could be used against her in court.
Anon says
More on Jane Harmon:
http://www.anonymousliberal.com/2009/04/harmangonzalesaipac-scandal.html
AL makes a pretty good case to appoint a special prosecutor – We doubt very much Obama (but who knows?) would want that but AG Holder might disagree.
The spectre of blackmail hangs over – But we doubt Gonz was turning the screws – He is not an Cheney type.
Incidentally – just saw Cheney on Fox – the obviously evil and twisted former VP is a pretty good liar – But he lost his mojo and asserted an absurdity – that “we” did not know about qaeda after 9-11 – as if all those prior attacks and trials did not take place.
Then – he threw up a lot of garbage about AQ Kahn and Iran yada yada – to muddle the mind of the Fox audience.
Anon says
We didn’t see Obama apologize – Arguably Clinton apologized for some things – mostly stuff we had nothing to do with – like Crusades etc. Obama mostly acknowlegded some broadly understood things – in a rather oblique way. He offered some veiled criticism at his unnamed and deeply hated predecessor. Then he quickly changed the topic – He was actually directly critical of Chavez, but he spurned the old manliness = personal hostility to foreigners style that Pat and others find odd strength in.
One of the reasons Obama will get so much more of his program that he otherwise would is that he has no opposition – Most of his opponents are offering fake critiques of things he isn’t really doing. Newt and the pirates was a good case study.
Obama is helped by the fact his enemies often embody decay and hypocrisy in their very physical presence – perfect TV foils for the crisp, disciplined, too black/not black enough dazzling urbanite.
Geithner will likely whisk away fake questions from congressmen and hacks today – which is unfortunate because their are real questions that need to asked and answered.
Hunter says
WTF is Pat talking about?
http://www.amconmag.com/blog/2009/04/20/the-apologists
Is he isolationist or should we run other countries? Were many of Bush’s policies horrible errors, or is Ammurikuh Always Right? Or is it just the wars he was involved in that were cool? War of liberation in Nicaragua? Guatemala!? These were morally less problematic than Iraq only to the extent that they were smaller and we were less directly involved. Maybe the Reds really were that much worse than the islamists (or whatever), but however understandable our actions may have been given what we understood of the communist threat, our record in Latin America over the last half century is nothing to be proud of. And what was Obama to do: storm out in a huff because some meanies said some mean (but mostly true) things?
Anon says
Harmon is the kind of pseudo liberal that many in the establisment wish Obama were.
It’s telling that the unsophesticated Gonzales saw her transaction value so clearly.
A good defense attorney for those spies will be able to use this story – Cross examination of Harmon and Gonzales will show a jury the fickle nature of being charged – His clients could be made to seem victims of sorts – unlucky only that Gonz did not see a neat trade for their innocense
Anon says
Yglesias defines the issues
http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/04/harman-aipac-wiretapping.php
The very radioactive nature of this case – is what Harmos is hoping for. It’s a bg story – but with few links on the web. Sort of the opposite of Obamas new puppy stories.