February 28, 2008 archive

Cross-posted on [Kos]

Here is what Obama said with respect to public financing:

If I am the Democratic nominee, I will aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election.

Here is what the “liberal” New York Times said he said:

If he won the nomination, he would limit himself to spending only the $85 million available in public financing between the convention and Election Day as long as his Republican opponent did the same.

The Times article does not quote Obama’s actual statement, nor does it link to it. Instead, it continually mischaracterizes it.

The authors are David Kirkpatrick and Jeff Zeleny.  Kirkpatrick, you may remember, “covered” conservatives for the Times for several years.  

The slant of the article is pure McCain spin, for example, stating that Obama’s statement constituted a “pledge” to spend only the $85 million public financing if his opponent would do the same. This is not what Obama said.  Saying that he would “aggressively pursue a publicly financed general election” clearly can encompass, for example, limits on Section 527 Swift Boat type groups.  But instead, the Times characterizes these as “new conditions,” which Obama is now adding to his initial “pledge.”

On the other hand, the article whitewashes McCain’s clear violations (e.g, using the pledge as collateral for a loan) as “technicalities.”  The impression is therefore created that Obama is the one with the real problem of “reneging” on a “pledge” to support public financing.

Kirkpatrick & Zeleny absurdly state that:

The issue may be more sensitive for Mr. Obama, though, because has run in part on his record as an advocate of stricter government integrity rules, including the public financing system.

I guess they haven’t heard that one of McCain’s raisons d’etre for being the straight-talkin’ “maverick” is his supposed commitment to public financing.

Finally, the Times rolls out the usual “reform” suspects, who have not been troubled by McCain’s blatant shenanigans, but are deeply concerned about Obama: The very serious Fred Werthheimer states:

This whole idea started with Senator Obama, and we think he and whoever the Republican nominee is ought to follow through, said Fred Wertheimer, founder of the advocacy group Democracy 21.

Yes, Fred.  The “whole idea” is to have real public financing that would not permit Ari Fleischer’s quarter billion dollar smear group to relentlessly go after Obama.

Either now, or shortly after he gets the nomination, Obama should consider laying out his entire conditions for true public financing (which would include muzzling Ari’s 2008 version of the Swift Boat liars).    

Muse in the Morning

The muses are ancient.  The inspirations for our stories were said to be born from them.  Muses of song and dance, or poetry and prose, of comedy and tragedy, of the inward and the outward.  In one version they are Calliope, Euterpe and Terpsichore, Erato and Clio, Thalia and Melpomene, Polyhymnia and Urania.

It has also been traditional to name a tenth muse.  Plato declared Sappho to be the tenth muse, the muse of women poets.  Others have been suggested throughout the centuries.  I don’t have a name for one, but I do think there should be a muse for the graphical arts.  And maybe there should be many more.

Please join us inside to celebrate our various muses…

I’m not cynical enough to think that the United States invaded Iraq so we could gain a customer for our weapons, but…

In a move that could be the most enduring imprint of U.S. influence in the Arab world, American military officials in Baghdad have begun a crash program to outfit the entire Iraqi army with M-16 rifles.

The initiative marks a sharp break for a culture steeped in the traditions of the Soviet-era AK-47 Kalashnikov assault rifle, a symbol of revolutionary zeal and third-world simplicity that is ubiquitous among the militaries of the Middle East.

…

So far, the U.S. military has helped the Iraqi army purchase 43,000 rifles – a mix of full-stock M-16A2s and compact M-4 carbines. Another 50,000 rifles are currently on order, and the objective is to outfit the entire Iraqi army with 165,000 American rifles in a one-for-one replacement of the AK-47.

This is not really intended to foster a lot of discussion, although it’s great if it does.  I’m just depositing a little rudimentary social science research here for safe-keeping.  The dream of many social scientists is to be there taking notes right at the beginning of when a phenomenon begins.  I was reading some reports on the debate last night and the recent McCain stooge’s rally introduction, and suddenly it struck me that sooner or later people were going to hit on this phrase.  It turned out to be sooner — I’m about a month late to have spotted the start of the bud — but I still think this is worth noting here before the meme blossoms any further.

That meme is reference to this name: “Jesus Hussein Christ.”

I’m not even sure what it evokes, or what is intended to mean, and a review of the sources I cite below suggests that it can be positive, negative, or neutral to Obama, to Muslims, and maybe to Christians as well, and that has occurred to people with evident good senses of humor and those without.  But as of today it has occurred only 25 times, discounting repetitive entries, according to the Google, and if you look at the date stamps you can see it is going to be taking off, especially if Obama is nominated and even more so if he is then elected.

If it were purely absurdity, I’d find it merely witty.  But, of course, if you read the sources below — and I don’t recommend it, except for the funny bits from http://kinetic.seattle.wa.us, which is pretty good — you’ll see that this is also going to be used as a weapon against Obama.  I’m not sure what forearming this forewarning might offer, whether there’s a way to blunt the racism that some people appear to see and delight in it, but at least it’s here for our consideration.

The American people overwhelmingly think invading Iraq was a mistake, want the war and occupation to end and our troops to come home, the polls say.

The Democratic presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, say they want to do that — not as quickly as we would like, but at least their goal is to get out.



John McCain, the Republican nominee, says it’s fine with him if US troops stay in Iraq for another 100 years, or, as he said once,10,000 years.

Yet people say they think McCain would be better than the Democrats in handling Iraq policy, according to a new Bloomberg-LA Times poll today.  The LA Times reports:

The findings underscore the difficulties ahead for Democrats as they hope to retake the White House during a time of war, with voters giving McCain far higher marks when it comes to experience, fighting terrorism and dealing with the situation in Iraq.

Both Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton have made ending America’s involvement in the war a centerpiece of their campaigns. And even though a clear majority of those polled said the war was not worth waging, about half of registered voters said McCain — a Vietnam vet who has supported the Bush administration’s military strategy — was better able to deal with Iraq.

What dimension are we living in, anyway?  Bizarro World.