This is the first in a series of diaries I'm hoping will turn into a discussion of reform of the presidential nomination process.
But I'll post the series anyway, even if the discussion does not ensue.
The starting point for any serious discussion about the nomination process has to begin with the understanding that the elements that are currently in place are all there for a reason. I go into those reasons in detail at a blog post here.
You may not like some of the provisions, and you may not like some of the reasons for their existence. But they all reflect reality, and reform has to respect reality.
In this diary I'll just enumerate what I see as the
objectives of the selection process.
The idea that digby appearing for a few seconds in a great commercial designed to drive our most promising block of non-voters, single women, to the polls, somehow makes her responsible for whatever mistakes were made by WVWV is infuriating. If you are one of the people littering her site or her email with trash, please stop.
But I want to talk about something digby has been saying for a while. I'm gonna paraphrase, and not link, because I wanna say it in my words.
We may be looking at tsunami in 08, and it's time to start working to make that happen. And if you don't want to make that happen, then SYFPH.
In the September, 2006 issue of the Atlantic, James Fallows wrote what one is tempted to call a prescient article, entitled "Declaring Victory." It's been trapped, until recently, behind a subscription wall. It deserves wider distribution.
I say "one is tempted" to call it prescient because it's 18 months later, and there have been no attacks. But it wasn't particularly prescient; it was clear to anybody paying attention that the actions taken by then had stifled the small, weak terrorist organizations. Deprived of access to the resources of a state, al qaeda posed no serious threat to the US.
There was no event for my Congresswoman, Carolyn Maloney, so I created one. We'll be seeing her local staff at 10am on Thursday, at 3rd Avenue between 92nd and 93rd. We're expected. So Kossacks from her district, sign up. Email me with questions jayATackroyd.org. And if you aren't in her district, and nobody has set up an event yet....
Last week, Bush was pandering to Catholics by pretending to have some kind of close relationship to the Pontiff, as Jay Carney(!) pointed out, referring to CNN teevee coverage:
Aan unnamed White House official explaining why no one could be sure how long the closed-door session between Bush and Benedict would last: "When you're meeting with the Holy Father, a schedule is just a suggestion."
NPR is reporting (podcast) that al Zawahiri, the Egyptian strategist from al qaeda has released a new recording, claiming victory in Iraq. Five years have passed, the recording, still unsubstantiated by US intelligence, says, and the US is still bogged down. He mocks Bush as a failure, remaining in Iraq only because he does not want to be the one who has to withdraw.
Now you may recall that one of the reasons we are given by president, and now John McCain, is that if the US withdraws, it will be tremendous propaganda victory for al qaeda. It looks like remaining in an indefinite quagmire is also a tremendous propaganda victory for al qaeda.
What President Bush and the NSC Principals have done is far, far more unAmerican, far, far more destructive of American values than any thing Reverend Wright, or, for that matter, Reverend Hagee have said or done.
McCain should repudiate the President, demand the Secretary of State's resignation. Rice cannot possibly represent this country in international affairs. And it may become literally impossible for her to leave the country if she is charged with war crimes in Europe.
In a column, Petraeus Meets His Match, in the real, 3.4 million reader TIME, Joe Klein writes about Obama's questions on Tuesday.
The first bit of good news is that he noticed. Obama did a remarkable job of pinning down the Petraeus and Crocker on the elephant in the room--that there is no end state that would have the US withdrawing forces from Iraq that is the least bit plausible in the next five to ten years.
Hillary Clinton rested her chin on her right hand, and wore her glasses to read the poster board graphs. Barack Obama reclined in his chair with a studied look. John McCain exuded optimism.
Clinton and Obama are passive. But John McCain is actively exuding stuff even when he is just sitting in his chair. Or as Swampland commenter Paul-no not that one put it
Physical description, physical description, fan boy take.
My Jimbo Hoyer persona sat down with mcjoan the week before last to talk about the politics in the Pacific Northwest and the Mountain West and about FISA. In this excerpt, we take a brief detour into the Responsible Challengers plan. Listen to the podcast (mp3 file) if you want to hear the whole discussion.
Last night, in my Jimbo Hoyer persona, I interviewed Greg Mitchell of Editor & Publisher at Virtually Speaking. You can find a podcast of the interview at the VS link.
For me, reading this was like reading an epistolary version of Anna Karenina. It's a collection of columns about the media coverage of the invasion and occupation of Iraq, arranged chronologically. The reader knows the train wreck that is going to happen, but can't stop turning the page.
I've seen speculation that Obama would pick Hagel as his Secretary of Defense.
This is a terrible, terrible idea.
It made sense, in the environment WJC was in to put a moderate New England Republican, Bill Cohen, (OK, I'm from Maine, and I'd met the guy a coupla times) in the position.
But it makes no sense now. It doesn't even make sense as a run to the center campaign ploy. There are plenty of other candidates, including HRC.
Back in the day, early 2006, when the liberal netroots were trying to get themselves organized, there were some actions organized by different blogs. One of my favorites was the Republican Rubberstamp action, where an enterprising FireDogLaker set up an account at a rubber stamp manufacturer, commissioning a stamp that said "Rubberstamp Republican Congress."
This was great symbology. In fact, it's become a permanent part of the lexicon, as witness today, when House Intelligence Committee Chairman Reyes called out Crazy US Rep Michelle Bachman for lying about the House version of the FISA legislation in Minneapolis Star-Tribune:
The congresswoman suggests that Democrats should simply pass the bill the Senate approved. But the people have elected us not simply to rubber-stamp the actions of the Senate, but to exercise our judgment and pass bills that are in the best interests of the American people.
Debbie Wasserman-Schulz got it. She gave a great, very funny speech about the stamps, including my favorite bit (after the break):
The main reason, inspired by Swampland commenter James of LA, I went to the trouble of augmenting his list of McCain Sedona Barbecue attendees is that they'll keep writing stories. While the list (which includes links to the fawning stories that most of the attendees wrote) is amusing and instructive, it's worth remembering who are the private sector members of the McCain publicity team.
This week, Michael Cooper (McC BBQ) of the NYTimes wrote a storyabout McCain's campaign finance plans that was incomplete in a pretty important way. It left out his FEC troubles
Well, I'm a little late to the party here. Emptywheel got there before me, with the first appearance of the McCainette video. dday and Glenn also got there before me.
So what's my excuse?
Well I spent a little time figuring out who was there. I thought it might be helpful, as you're reading our fearless journalists writing about St. John, to know which ones were feted at his Sedona "cabin," and what they reported about the day.
Via James Fallows at Atlantic, Brian Schweitzer on an NPR Podcast that every elected official should listen to.
In an extremely straightforward fashion, he dismissed both the Real ID program, and any need for his state to comply with it.
The Real ID is a particularly ridiculous piece of security theatre that will nonetheless be part of a growing state security apparatus directed at American citizens.
Our next installment of the Virtually Speaking interview series takes place tonight at 6pm Pacific.
Ned Lamont will join us tonight where we will talk about his run for the Senate, the impact it had on the netroots and the prospects for Democrats picking up seats in the 2008 cycle.
The Virtually Speaking studio has a Second Life URL (SLURL). You must be a registered user of Second Life to attend the interview. Registration is free. An archive of podcasts and videos from previous interview can be found at Inworld Studios. The most recent podcast is from last week with George Lakoff, Glenn Smith and Eric Haas of the Rockridge Institute
Before the interview, we'll enjoy a live piano performance featuring TomoFumi Mayako.
