Author: TL

John McCain Seems Ready to Blow

Posted on by TL

Watching Sen. John McCain on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos, I’m struck by his attempt to convey a controlled, soft-spoken, and soft-spoken he tries to be. His began the interview sounding measured and reflective, almost pensive. Soon, however, he was apologizing for barely raising his voice above a whisper. His exaggerated efforts at restraint are evident.

But that famous McCain temper is evident just below the surface.

“I apologize for firing back at you like that,” he said after he barely raised his voice in response to a question by Stephanopoulos.

Apologize? For what? Answering a question? Disagreeing?

McCain spent a good portion of the interview trying to convince the American people that he’s everybody’s favorite grandfater, and Gen. David Petraeus is simply misunderstood, and, gosh, really a great guy.

McCain will boil over soon. As his numbers drop, he’ll explode.

Fred Thompson Changes His Mind Again

Posted on by TL

Fresh into the race for the office of President of the United States, Fred Thompson is revealing a sneaky mean streak as he begins his campaign. The issue is homosexuality, or “deviancy” as one Iowa voter put it this week. Thompson did not correct the white-haired gent who uttered the “D” word, but took advantage of the opportunity to demonstrate his deadly position on human rights, reversing his previous position against a Constitutional amendment against gay marriage. And let’s not forget his not-so-subtle appeal to “States Rights,” the old rallying cry of the southern racists who wanted to preserve slavery.

From Salon.com’s War Room:

It’s not every day that a presidential candidate gets asked point-blank what to do about “deviancy.” But there was Fred Thompson in Sioux City Friday morning, taking this question from a voter: “My question is what society’s position should be on deviancy, including homosexuality?” asked an older, white-haired man.

And the reply:

Thompson answered the deviancy question with a considerable lack of specificity. “Well, society’s position and the government position, and what the government ought to do to exercise the power of the federal government, is not necessarily the same thing,” he said. Then he said that the government should treat everyone the same way, and that “we should not set aside categories to give special set-aside treatments” to specific groups. This is the language, more or less, of the religious right, which argues that laws that protect gays and lesbians from discrimination amount to unjustified special legal privileges.

Then Thompson took further opportunity for gay bashing when Steven Carlson, a director of the Iowa Christian Alliance, raised his hand and asked whether Thompson would support a Constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, the dance began:

In the past, Thompson has opposed a federal amendment to ban gay marriage on federalist grounds. Like Arizona Sen. John McCain and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, he has said that he does not believe the federal government should be involved in an issue that should be left to the states.

But on Friday, he said he would support a different type of amendment to the Constitution. “I would support a constitutional amendment which says some off-the-wall court decision in one state that recognizes the marriage in one state, like Massachusetts, just to pick a state, cannot go to another state and have it recognized in that state. You are not bound by what another state does.” He was not done. “The second part of my amendment would also state that judges could not impose this [gay marriage], on the federal or state level, unless a state legislature signed off on it.”

This second part of his amendment is novel, if a bit ponderous. He has said before that he is against the federal government inserting itself into state matters like marriage. But he supports the federal government inserting itself into state courthouses, when they take up the issue of marriage. He did not immediately explain this conflict.

So keep the federal government out of state matters like marriage, but permit the federal government to assert itself into state courthouses should they take on the issue of marriage.

I just had to restate that for myself so I could try and wrap my mind around it, and I can’t.

DA Arthur Branch would probably have a problem with that one as well.

Jobs Lost In August

Posted on by TL

The nation lost 4,000 jobs in August, the first time employment has shrunk since August 2003. Economists target several factors, but chief among them is the worsening housing market.

According to the Washington Post:

“We did not expect a report as awful as this,” said Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist with the High Frequency Economics consulting firm.

Stock prices fell nearly 2 percent today, as investors concluded that the risks of a serious economic downturn have been heightened. At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was off 249.97 points, or about 1.9 percent, to 13,133.38. The S&P 500 was down 25 points, about 1.7 percent, to 1,453.55, and the Nasdaq was off 48.62, or about 1.9 percent, to 2,565.7.

The article goes on to say that, “employers became more cautious about hiring before any impact of the breakdown of many credit markets in August could be felt.”

The number of construction jobs fell by 22,000. The manufacturing sector lost 46,000 jobs.

Once again, there was little acknowledgment of reality from the White House:

In response to today’s report, the White House noted that the economy had still produced 1.6 million jobs during the past 12 months and that the unemployment rate remained low.

“It’s not the kind of number I’d like to see,” Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson told Bloomberg Television. “Data does not always move in a straight line, so occasionally you will find some surprises. The economy will continue to grow in the second half of the year.”

How to interpret this? “Just sit tight. We’re doing fine, and you should too, eventually, we believe, because, you know, we have faith.”

But there were calls for more:

Others called on the Fed to act.

“Too little has been done to quiet the market’s justifiable fears that things are headed downhill,” said Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), chairman of the Joint Economic Committee.

Patriot Act Unravels

Posted on by TL

Some of the most controversial portions of the U.S. Patriot Act have been declared unconstitutional.  Thursday’s ruling by U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero is a setback for the Justice Department, but quite a victory for the ACLU, which filed the lawsuit.

The Washington Post reports:

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero in New York said the FBI’s use of secret “national security letters” to demand such data violates the First Amendment and constitutional provisions on the separation of powers, because the FBI can impose indefinite gag orders on the companies and the courts have little opportunity to review the letters.

The secrecy provisions are “the legislative equivalent of breaking and entering, with an ominous free pass to the hijacking of constitutional values,” Marrero wrote. His strongly worded 103-page opinion amounted to a rebuke of both the administration and Congress, which had revised the act in 2005 to take into account an earlier ruling by the judge on the same topic.

The ACLU should be commended on this one.  The slippery slope to from freedom to tyranny chosen by the Bush Administration is not worth the price.

The Justice Department declined to comment on the ruling. “We are reviewing the decision and considering our options,” said spokesman Dean Boyd.

But Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the lawsuit in the case, said the ruling “is yet another setback in the Bush administration’s strategy in the war on terror and demonstrates the far-reaching efforts of this administration to use powers that are clearly unconstitutional.”

Let’s hope it’s not the last setback for the Bush Administration.  The rest of us have suffered far too many.

Opus Banned

Posted on by TL

OPUSAnother of Berkely Breathed’s Opus comic strips has been banned from many newspapers across the United States. This one features a character who is flirting with Islam preparing to go to the beach. Many Muslim women dress very modestly, including at the beach.

Banning the comic strip, however, seems rather disingenuous. Breathed has been wildly more offensive — and hilarious — on many other issues before, including religion. That’s what he does.

Censorship of editorials or cartoons that may have editorial content does not advance First Amendment rights for anyone. None of us, regardless of our faith background or any other background, can afford to see the Constitution further eroded.

These newspapers dropping Opus will have difficulty convincing readers they really care when they dare to opine on anything controversial in the future.

Amen Salon.com: Rally the Dems!

Posted on by TL

Alex Koppelman writing for Salon.com throws a shot at the Democrats: Run against Bush — and toughen up — or lose in ’08.

Koppelman interviews psychologist Drew Westen, who “says Democrats could lose yet again if they don’t learn how to stand up for themselves and connect with voters emotionally.”

His emphasis? The Democrats should run against Bush:

I think the most important thing they could do is to make sure that they tie every Republican incumbent and whoever becomes the Republican nominee for president in with George Bush, because the reality is the Republicans are all going to run from George Bush as best they can in this next election. Elections are won and lost on associations, and right now, unless there’s another terrorist attack on our soil in the next 18 months, the connection to George Bush is going to be a tremendous liability for any candidate …

If the Democrats run against anyone other than Bush and the Republican Party, Bush and the Republican Congress, Bush and the Republican presidential nominee, I think they’ll probably lose, because I think the Republicans are adept enough at getting out of those associations unless the Democrats start making them now.

I would find every picture these guys ever took down at Crawford with “W” and put them on billboards, in major newspapers, on YouTube.

And don’t forget Giuliani in drag:

The Dems’ “Alberto Moment”

Posted on by TL

So what happens to this guy now?  Alberto Gonzales is finally out as Attorney General, and we’re all wondering who will replace him.  But what happens to Alberto now?  Does he get a free ride?  Is the president so sure that he’s safer now?

Ruth Marcus at The Washington Post muses on what finally convinced AG it was time to flee:

Did Gonzales finally decide he preferred to leave, or was it decided for him? Based on Gonzales’s previous insistence on staying, I’d guess he was pushed, in one of those Washington, no-fingerprints ways.

We’ll never know for certain.   But Marcus nails the most convincing reason for Gonzales’ departure:

During the attorney general’s last, disastrous appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee a month ago, Wisconsin Democrat Herb Kohl asked the question that was on the mind of anyone watching, and wincing, at Gonzales’s pummeling: “What keeps you in the job, Mr. Attorney General?”

“Ultimately I have to decide whether or not it’s better for me to leave or just stay and try to fix the problems,” Gonzales replied. “I’ve decided to stay and fix the problems.”

This captured precisely why Gonzales needed to go. The notion that Gonzales could “fix the problems” ignored the fact that these were problems of his own creation — in many ways, he was the problem. Gonzales tended to talk about himself as if he were having an out-of-body experience, saying, for example, about the firing of U.S. attorneys: “I am not aware that it certainly was in my mind a problem or basis to accept the recommendation that they be asked to leave.”

Gonzales was the problem, and two major problems remain in Bush and Cheney.   Which brings me to a theme I’ve explored before on Turning Left: Where are the Democrats?  Are they having a collective “Alberto Moment” and forgetting what they were elected to do?  Where is their leadership?

Everyone is so concerned about being in on stage right now.  Seems like half the party is running for president.  Some of our best leaders right now are too concerned about image, too concerned about polls, too concerned about fund raising, too concerned about Iowa, that they’re forgetting to lead.  Some of our best leaders are focusing on the center, trying to be everybody’s lover, everybody’s buddy.

I’ve said this before: We need the Democrats now.  NOW.