MARC AMBINDER: Are Democrats in for an August Slaughter? “Democrats know the rulebook. The tactics being used against them by Republican and conservative groups were perfected by the party when it set out to defeat President Bush’s Social Security privatization proposals. They also know that it’s easier to gin up noise against a major legislative initiative than it is to sell an initiative that isn’t fully formed yet.” Especially when their own Congressional leaders admit they haven’t read it, and don’t intend to . . . .
Archive for 2009
August 4, 2009
DOUG FEITH AND ABRAM SHULSKY: Why revive the Cold War? “Why should U.S. officials act as if only a Cold War-style treaty can save the United States and Russia from a destabilizing nuclear arms race? Despite President Barack Obama’s strange, pre-Moscow summit remark last month in a New York Times interview that the U.S. and Russia are continuing to “grow” their nuclear stockpiles, both countries have in fact reduced their stockpiles drastically since the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991. Those reductions resulted from unilateral decisions, not from arms-control bargaining.”
BARBARA OAKLEY AT PSYCHOLOGY TODAY: Why Most Journalists Are Democrats.
WATCH OUT FOR Angry Voter Syndrome. “Two groups hit hard by unemployment — unionized labor and college students — were also among Obama’s strongest supporters in his presidential campaign.”
August 3, 2009
BLOGGINGHEADS: Why is Susan Rice afraid to take questions from the press?
THE ST. LOUIS TEA PARTY FOLKS will be paying a visit to Russ Carnahan tomorrow.
WE DON’T NEED SOAP: We have each other!
FELICITATIONS to the newlywed Ann Althouse and Laurence Meade.
HAIR O’ THE DOG: Stephen Green on Economic Recovery…Until They Tax & Spend Us to Death.
HOW TO PREPARE YOUR HOME for any disaster.
MARKDOWNS on textbooks.
MORE VIDEO: Doggin’ Doggett.
UPDATE: Doggett calls protesters a “mob.” Remember when Obama told the bankers that he was the only thing standing between them and the pitchforks? Well, Lloyd, he can’t help you here . . . .
ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Wendy Cook emails:
I think that “mob” quote is a preview of how these protests are going to be characterized, maybe by the media and certainly by politicians like Doggett. I live in Dallas and the Doggett video led yesterday’s 6pm local ABC affiliate news. The title of the story was something like “Hollerin’ About Healthcare” and Doggett made his allegations about Libertarian and Republican involvement on-camera. No camera time for anyone else to refute that claim. And no real explanation of the protestors’ positions — just a lots of “hollerin’!”
It stood out to me because a few hours earlier I heard a Rush Limbaugh caller claim that these townhall protests are actually coordinated by insurance companies who plant people and script their questions. This must be the two new lines of defense for people like Doggett — these are “mobs” and/or insurance company stooges. So depressing. And somewhat reminiscent of the Clinton-Carville “nuts and sluts” and right-wing conspiracy talk whenever there was a sex scandal.
When ACORN protested several Dallas banks back in May, the local paper hardly characterized them as “hollerin’.” And no one from the banks accused ACORN of being part of a larger, orchestrated effort. (Well, no one from the banks evidently was asked for a comment.)
Yes, absurdly orchestrated events on the left are treated as flowerings of genuine grassroots sentiment, even when media outnumber the protesters.
MORE: Alinsky in August?
MOE LANE: Stopping the spin, or being shaken awake from deficit shock. “They might have been asleep for the last 8 years, but when you triple the national debt in 6 months with political handouts, calling it stimulus, it tends to wake people up.” Technically, they tripled the deficit, not the debt, but the point holds.
THE ELITE LEFT vs. the Populist Left.
WHITE-ELEPHANT auto plants.
MICKEY KAUS: How Health Care Reform Commits Suicide. “If you don’t want people to think that subsidized, voluntary end-of-of-life counseling sessions are the camel’s nose of an attempt to cut costs by limiting end-of-life care, then don’t put them in a bill the overarching, stated purpose of which is to cut health care costs! … I mean, did that provision have to be in the bill? If it really had nothing to do with cutting costs (which I don’t believe for a minute) did it even belong in the bill?” I’m pretty sure that if this bill commits assisted suicide, it’ll save us money . . . .
TEN AUGUST RECESS QUESTIONS for your member of Congress.
A FOOD ELITIST strikes back.
GETTING READY TO ROLL OUT Snow Leopard, the new Mac Operating System. I have to say I found the last Mac OS upgrade a step down in reliability. Maybe this one will be better.
THINGS AREN’T THAT GOOD THERE: Michael Yon reports from Afghanistan.
JOYNER, JAMES JOYNER: How James Bond Ruined The Martini.