McCain may well be on the edge of achieving that.
Category: Politics Page 45 of 73
Here are a few that may turn out a little differently than its proponents had hoped for:
Scott Cleland over at the PrecursorBlog has an interesting analysis of what the FCC’s recent Report & Order regarding Comcast’s hidden traffic management activities means to the future of Net Neutrality. While NN proponent Larry Lessig seems to think it a big success, Scott Cleland sees the order as having “reined in the net neutrality movement much more than it advanced their agenda.” I haven’t had a chance to full parse the R&O, but I suspect that Scott is right.
~
Heard this NPR story on the radio about the Bush Administration’s latest attempt to shoehorn more government regulation into private lives. This time, it wants to use the power of the government to give special rights to certain minorities bar private employers from taking any disciplinary action against an employee who claims that he doesn’t want to perform his duties because of his religious beliefs. Can we safely presume, now, that Republicans will be consistent and recognize that it’s legitimate to balance some public interest concerns against the private freedom of contract? Yes? No?
Heh.
~
There appear to be a number of people (including lots of Democrats) who support a return of the Fairness Doctrine. The short description of the Fairness Doctrine is that when a controversial subject of public importance is discussed on broadcast television, a balanced presentation is made. Now, try and clearly nail down a definition of every word in that last sentence after “when”. Kinda tough, eh? So who does it? Why, the FCC, of course! Do you see the problem? Well, lots of Dems don’t – which sort of boggles me, considering the lesson in ideological manipulation of the levers of government we’ve gotten in the past 8 years. Why would you want the government to get involved in even more censorship than it does already?
The original argument was that since they were using the public airwaves, there was a public interest obligation that justified this intervention.  Now, as a legal theory, I find that acceptable (in fact, it’s a theory that underlies a lot of regulation). But as a practical matter, it’s a really bad idea. And, apparently, it’s an idea that almost 30% of people in a recent poll would like to see extended to the Internet (and blogs, in general). Think about that.
~
Update: I figure that this is as good a place as any to put myself on the careful what you ask for hook, wrt the Obama VP selection. My own worst to first: Clinton (for many many reasons, none of which involve the question of her ability to be President). Bayh would be an awful choice (primarily for the reason noted here). Kaine doesn’t inspire me, but would be acceptable (and a good campaigner). I am surprised to find myself coming around on Biden (but still shudder at the thought of him actually being President). But I’d still like to see Brian Schweitzer (Governor of Montana) top the list.
*I know, I left off Sebelius, but I still haven’t managed to form an opinion of her.
It strikes me that I should have started a series with this post – Key to Electoral Success: Hide Being Smart and Like Giving Black Eyes – back in May. There’s been a resurgence, this cycle, of tortured attempts by Democrats elevate the violent hillbilly model of social interaction into an acceptable political strategy. Here’s the latest entry in that contest. I’ll give it credit for being slightly smarter than most.
h/t to Raising Kaine, where the irony of pushing this line almost doubles over on itself
Last we left the 8th Congressional District campaign, the Mark Ellmore campaign had just sent out a flier making false statements the weekend before the GOP primary. Well, it paid off and Ellmore won the primary. So now that Ellmore campaign is facing Democratic incumbent Jim Moran in the general, it looks like they’re reworking their political flyer strategy:
So, the other day Mark Ellmore came to my house. [ . . . ] He was kind of shifty-eyed and sniffly, and of course my first thought was “drug addict,†but no, it turns out “congressional hopeful†was the right answer.
Anyway, he handed me this big blue flyer and asked if I had any issues I wanted brought up on a national level. I said no, and went inside to study his paper. Sneaky #1 – it’s a big blue flyer, so of course I read it instead of sticking it straight in the trash. It was really confusing, though – I kept saying, “but I don’t agree with that! That’s a terrible idea! What kind of policy is that?†and it took me FOUR reads before I found the wee little 8-point “Republican Candidate†in the corner. (Sneaky #2!)
Hmm. Sounds like they need a little more work.
The piece below was written by a friend with deep knowledge of and interest in Pakistan’s politics. I’m reprinting it here, as I think it’s a good background piece for anyone who is under the impression that the coalition that ousted Musharraf can be relied upon to govern Pakistan in a transparent and democratic way. 
Some may object to the relatively generous treatment afforded Musharraf, but I think it’s an honest view. It’s been slightly edited (and, of course, if you’re reading this from the Pakistani Embassy and I’ve just applied for a visa, I totally didn’t write this).
With Musharraf Gone, Will the “Democratic†Leaders Deliver?
An interesting article from today’s NYT appeared here. One thing clearly missing from the discussions of Musharraf unpopularity in Pakistan, is a discussion of his ethnicity. The international media has completely ignored this factor.
In the past the three military dictators that have come and gone from the Pakistani political scene have belonged to Punjab and/or the North West Frontier Province. Except for Zia who was killed in a plane bombing, the others were given safe abodes within Pakistan. While what Mr. Musharraf did to the judiciary and the rule of law in Pakistan was wrong, three military dictators in the past and several democratically elected regimes in the past have done worse than him.
Waldo Jaquith just wrote the definitive analysis of what it means for Virginia if Obama taps Kaine for VP.
Robert Arena, following a rundown of a negative polling trend for Obama, notes:
Not all is lost folks, Obama has time and money to make a shift. But if you thought that somehow this year was going to be different – something would change and somehow the American electorate would look completely different this year than any other year, the numbers today just don’t show that. This isn’t a transformative election, it’s another hardscrabble, claw out each and every vote, election. To win that kind of election, you need to fight for every vote and fight hard. That’s why you hear the concern you hear from Josh Marshall, John, Joe, etc. And it’s backed up by years of experience watching the Republicans make Democrats look weak – Carter, Mondale, Dukakis, Gore, and Kerry. That line of attack works when not countered and we were defeated. None of us want that in 2008.
Hope alone will not win this election. Obama – and his supporters – need to daily illustrate that John McCain is a man without principles, who will do and say anything to win. And that should he win, it will be to the great detriment of this country.
I don’t spend any time watching cable (or network, for that matter) television for political commentary, but I am still happy to see that Rachel Maddow has picked up her own time slot on MSNBC. And I’m not just pleased to see a real live liberal show up on television, but to see a smart, measured, and thoughtful voice added to mass media.
More like this.
Passing this along:
Friends of Mark Warner, the Arlington County Joint Democratic
Campaign, and the Democratic Latino Organization of Virginia…INVITE YOU…
To a reception with Governor Mark Warner this coming Friday, August
22, 2008, at My Bakery Café, 3839 Mt. Vernon Avenue, Alexandria VA,
from 6 PM to 9 PM.*This will be the last event Governor Warner does before he goes to
Denver to deliver the Keynote Address at the Democratic National
Convention. Please join us to give him a rousing Virginia send off!!
*
While donations are welcome – *this event is FREE to the public.
If you go, be sure to stop in at MOM’s – My Organic Market, which is right next door to the venue. Excellent shopping, especially for vegetarians. I’m ashamed to say that I just discovered it this year, and regret not having checked the place out sooner.
Every once in a while, in communities of which I consider myself a part, I come across something that makes me wonder whether I was ever a part of the community in the first place. This post over at Boing Boing directed me to a debate over at io9.com, on whether or not “Young Adult” sci-fi was . . . well, I’m not sure what the debate is over. As best I can tell, one side thinks that YA sci-fi is a good introduction to the larger sci-fi genre, and the other thinks that it is threatening to all but hollow sci-fi out from the inside and collapse it. Now, I’m sure anyone involved in that argument who reads my summary would be appalled. They’d probably say that I’m oversimplying the sides, misunderstanding the participants, and lack appreciation for the ultimate importance of the problem. And to an extent, they’d be right. But mostly I’d just say that I don’t really care, and that I enjoyed Heinlein’s The Moon is a Harsh Mistress in 6th grade and Scott Westerfeld’s So Yesterday just a couple of years ago. Good sci-fi is good sci-fi to me, and it’s something I’ve enjoyed all of my reading life. Thus these epic arguments over what appears to be a lot of nothing just seem a little silly. Sure, it matters quite a bit to those engaged in the argument, but in the bigger scheme? Not so much, I think. It’s easier to see that when you’re not all that involved with the community.
What’s my point? Well, it’s not just the sci-fi lit community that can waste a lot of energy navel gazing. It’s a point that I think a number of us who spend a lot of time talking and acting on and worrying about political races would do well to remember, too. We tease meaning out of every movement, angle, and word. And while each of those movements, angles, and words may actually have been intended to impart some meaning, the vast majority of the people out there will miss it. And even if you point it out? They won’t care. Obama to Hawaii? Don’t care. McCain’s cross in the dirt? Don’t care. Former-Abramhoff-business-partner-and-failed-candidate-Ralph-Reed-was-going-to-attend-a fundraiser-for-former-Abramhoff-investigating-committee-chair-McCain? Don’t care. We can spend our time spinning over the details. And perhaps that’s even useful, from time to time. But we’d do well to remember that it’s the big picture that matters to most. If it even matters to them at all. Try not to lose sight of that.