Mike's Blog Roundup
Old People's News: US residents in military brigs. Your governmnet says 'it's war.'
Gristmill: The USDA cravenly stops measuring the poisons used in US farming. Meanwhile, Germany has banned chemicals linked to honeybee devastation.
Corrente: Hillary's RFK/assassination gaffe inspired more of the molehills to mountains
reaction we've come to expect from the press - and many blogs. This seem appropriate.
Halfway There: Lots of first black presidents
Kids Prefer Cheese: Things to do in Denver when you're dead.
The Opinion Mill's Sunday Bookchat: For Memorial Day -- a book about America's finest hour, and a gauge of how badly America's moral standing has been soiled by the Bush administration. The man who prosecuted Charles Manson would like to do the same for King George II. And a new book argues that the problem with conservative foreign policy isn' the "foreign policy" part -- it's the "conservative" part.
anybody could write a novel with all those topics,
sort of horror story spanning eights years of Republican terror, criminality and incompetence.
"Corrente: Hillary’s RFK/assassination gaffe inspired more of the molehills to mountains
reaction we’ve come to expect from the press - and many blogs. This seem appropriate."
MAYBE Hillary Clinton's remark was innocent, but there has been so much concern about Senator's Obama's safety, I think it is very dangerous for someone receiving national press coverage to plany that idea in some lunatic's head. For example, perhaps there was not some vast conspiracy to assasinate JFK or Martin Luther King, but their enemies by creating a psychological atmosphere where such an act was more probable may have been able to contribute to their demises without any direct action. For example, the atmosphere in Dallas was so incendiary that what happened was almost a self fulfilling prophecy. I don't believe someone in Senator Clinton's position should ever put those kind of ideas out there in the mainstream press. Now, Hillary may have blown her chance to be Obama's running mate. See this related article on that issue http://jviz.blogspot.com/2008/05/obama-running-mate.html
This Memorial Day Americans should hang their heads in sorry over having a man like McCain with his henchmen Lindsey and Joe voting AGAINST a Bill to support our Vets.
Our Dead young men must be rolling over in their yet to be seen thousands of coffins.
$8 million dollars saved or 2.7c per head per year and the only time we will get warnings of pesticide poisoning will be accidental reports and causalities.
Acute will make the headlines, chronic casualties will happily be a long time down the road and somebody elses problem.
♠Bangkok-Bob♠ @ 2:
McCain and the other insanes plan to bring back the troops, 1500 body bags a year over 100 years.
ferrofluid @ 4:
Why do Republicans hate American citizens so much, somebody please explain this to me.
ferrofluid @ 5:
Have you read "Great American Hypocrites" by Glenn Greenwald yet.
He lists all that clearly.
Her campaign made a gaffe? Wowzers! Miracles seem to never end from this "entitled" Democratic Party Leader in waiting. No fears. I'm sure Bill will come out somewhere campaigning in front of 10's of peoples, and somehow put his foot further in his mouth than she ever could.
Oooh goody! Granmpa on the grill again! I love McCain, he's a so cuddly that I could vote for him!
This is eerily similar to when the corporate media fell for that "cowboy" in 2000.
"Hillary’s RFK/assassination gaffe" ...
yea... quite the gaffe, huh...
haven't started reading yet, but indulging in my usual sunday morning tv routine (that starts with cbs sunday morning for the culture and then a short bout of politics with schieffer and moves to the office with abc/george in the background, which is now...)
but the general consensus seems to be "yea she fooked up... it was unfortunate... let's move on."
ok... movin' on... she finally said outloud what we all knew anyway - she's waiting for something, anything, however horrible it could be, to happen to her opponant so that she could take over the "lead"...
ok... know we know... ... not forgotten, and for causing such turmoil, not forgiven...
sorry hil...
You missed this one.
Kanjorski says Dems were insincere about ending war
Republicans reacted Friday by calling for Kanjorski to apologize.
“For Paul Kanjorski to admit that Democrats campaigned in ’06 on a fraudulent agenda to end the war not only exposes his own calculated efforts to fool the voters of his district, but it also raises the question of whether this was a coordinated effort by the Democratic Party as a whole,” said a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, Ken Spain. “Paul Kanjorski should be ashamed of himself for using our troops in harm’s way as political pawns for his own partisan agenda.”
eh.. I should spend my time more productively then arguing on the internets.. but I think that bringing up the spectre of famous politicians being killed in the month of June to justify why it is a good idea to stay in the race is more than a gaffe. ESPECIALLY in this kind of environment, when the first black individual is on the precipice of winning the nomination...
So you think you can be Obama's dance partner?
http://news.sympatico.msn.ctv.ca/abc/home/contentposting.aspx?isfa=1&fee...
They rate "potential" VP candidates from a Canadian perspective.
ferrofluid @ 5:
well since you asked...
I dont really think its just republicans, (I'm a liberal but not democrat)
...let me go ahead and say what I always do (In one way or another)
97% of republicans suck and 86% of democrats....suck too!
...democrats...
Patriot act?...ok mr Bush!
weapons of mass destruction?...if you say so George!
Guantanomo bay? no due process? ...Hold on!...and on...and on...
NSA wiretapping...no prob.
Invade Iraq w/no declaration of war?...no prob.
Katrina? ...do better nextime Mr. Mcflightsuit!
Patriot act #2 ...no prob.
more money for KBR? ...no problem.
Obama=change I can't wait for, anymore...(Anthrax or not!)
♠Bangkok-Bob♠ @ 6:
worth reading
Re: Old People's News
The Al-Marri case seems to prove that Bush's top priority is not fighting terrorism but is rather dismantling the Constitution. Even with the best legal team imaginable and unlimited resources to wage a defense, it would have been an easy slam-dunk trial by jury conviction in any court in the land. Conviction would have brought a life sentence. The evidence appears overwhelming, assuming it hasn't been entirely fabricated. But it would never do the Bush regime to have a system of law that works.
Instead he's in a military brig, stripped of all rights. And Bush's lawyers are arguing that the prezninint has unlimited power to have the military arrest and detain any citizen indefinitely without rights, because...gosh golly... it war! The case is being argued now in the Federal Appeals Court in Virginia, a venue chosen because it is infamous for supporting anti-Constitutional thinking. Hopefully, Premier Bush's arguments will be too much for even that court to swallow.
Obama needs to make it his highest priority to restore the Constitution when he's president.
Paul @ 15:
In order to (restore the constitution) Obama would have to repeal the patriot act.
I guess you dont know it, but he (Obama) voted for it.(patriot act)
http://obama.senate.gov/podcast/051216-the_patriot_act/index.php
I agree that there has been an 'over the top' reaction to Hillary Clinton's remarks. However, I think that it showed a profound lack of judgment to use an assassination as an example of 'things happen in June,' when the context was why she was staying in the race.
For the first time, I am also extremely disappointed in 'Crooks and Liars.' A link to a snarky post on a Clinton partisan website is the first time that you have 'covered' her remarks and their reaction.
There's been nothing about her comments, her apology, Olbermann's special comment (that you usually post minutes after they're made), etc.
This site is usually one of the first places I go, when I turn my Computer on in the morning. Because I get far better coverage of the News here, than on the MSM.
Of course, you have a right to whatever opinion you have.. but, I would have had far more respect for your reaction, if HRC's comments and apology had been posted, or if you had said "making mountains out of molehills" when posting the Special Comment.
I would want you to do the same, if Sen. Obama said something that showed an equal lack of judgment. Your 'silence' on this subject is very disturbing. I'm used to Fox News ignoring stories that they don't like.. but, for Crooks and Liars to do the same is far below your usual standards.
A lot of blogs and pundits, even Obama, keep telling us "move on, nothing to see here, get over it"
Well, I'm not getting over it. I'm not inclined to make a molehill out of a mountanously horrible statement.
How some people can't see that the subtext, IN CONTEXT, of her statement was that she was waiting around in case something bad befalls Obama is beyond me. Especially considering this is the EXACT FEAR of many, many people.
She has no clear rationale for staying in the race.
Except...
"We all remember Robert Kennedy was assassinated in June".
MarcInDalyCity @ 17:
There's a link to the pearl-clutching over Obama's "bitter" remarks in this item, too. I considered the seismic reaction to both that incident, and HC's unfortunate remarks equally inane. IMHO, this kind of microscopic parsing for deep meaning debases public discourse. It doesn't necessarily reflect the opinion of C&L as an whole. If you're going to stop respecting anyone, stop respecting me, not everyone on the site.
sunny @ 18:
I think it is very patriotic (for Hillary) to "remain in contention" until the upcoming and (always deadly) ..."month of june" is over.
...Obama however, should remain ever vigilant, ...until the fourth of july (at least)
(I myself) wont really be able to relax until August though...maybe longer!
Mickey Finn @ 19:
"If you're going to stop respecting anyone, stop respecting me, not everyone on the site."
Mickey, I haven't lost respect for you or for the site. You can link to whoever ya like. I'm glad that you at least posted SOMETHING about the comments.. the point I was trying to make was that normally Crooks and Liars is 'ahead of the curve' on political commentary. For the first time that I've noticed, this site has been 'silent' on a subject. So has ThinkProgress, and a couple of other sites that I really like.
I totally agree with you about the parsing. I don't like the 'pearl clutching' from either Clinton or Obama supporters.. and some of the extreme comments i've seen on other blogs have been ugly beyond belief: People seriously thinking that Sen. Clinton wants Sen. Obama 'whacked.'
But, I will say again.. I'm disturbed that this site and other sites were unusually quiet about Sen. Clinton's remarks and their reaction. Whatever the reason, I don't think that keeping quiet about a story is a good idea. It's too much like censorship.. again, that's what I expect from Fox and the rest of the MSM. Not Crooks and Liars, Thinkprogress, etc.
That said, I'm not going anywhere.. I'll still be showing up to enjoy the links and the commentary.. my first comment was meant to encourage the staff at Crooks and Liars to continue what they've done an excellent job of, so far: Give us the whole story.
MarcInDalyCity @ 21:
Mickey, I haven't lost respect for you or for the site. You can link to whoever ya like. I'm glad that you at least posted SOMETHING about the comments.. the point I was trying to make was that normally Crooks and Liars is 'ahead of the curve' on political commentary.
We are ahead of the curve. If you followed the link on the word 'blogs' in the item you reference, you'de see the scores of sheep-like news orgs and blogs that aren't "ahead of the curve", bleating about something some movie star pol said and what it actually means. The 'Peoplization' of politics in America is rampant. We try to stay out of that crap.
C&L's response to Sen. Clinton's comment seems especially callous and inane given their coverage of Huckabee's remark about Obama being shot awhile back. They should have covered that, btw, and were right to do so, but it's interesting that they will call out a republican for saying nasty, violent stuff but not a dem. As a progressive, I find C&L's lack of comment on this disturbing. You all rightly noted that it was important for blogs to call out the sexist shit against clinton "for the sake of progressivism more generally" and so on. Just so, but isn't it equally important to call out the shit against obama, even when it comes from his rival? Otherwise, it's a pretty disturbing double standard.
Mickey, I did follow the link. I agree with you up to a point, about "staying out of that crap." But, her comment and apology are News. Again, I agree that most of the parsing that followed was 'crap.' As annoying as I found the whole Rev. Wright 'tempest in a teapot' that went on and on and on in the media, I also considered Sen. Obamas comments about it 'news.'
Sen. Clinton also has an Op-ed in 'The Daily News' today. She covers the reaction, as well as making more comments about why she is staying in the race. Again, C+L can cover what they like.. but, I think that's 'newsworthy' too.
On a brighter note: Rocking post higher up on C+L, about Rove being confronted about the Seigelman case today. Hopefully, there's finally some justice headed his way and down the line: even the rest of the administration.
Haha. Thanks.
On Hillary's comment — It really was pretty tasteless, or ill-chosen remarks. I don't think she was talking about assassination, though, even if her analogy about RFK fails for other reasons (the primary season started later then) although with her husband it makes more sense. Bob Somerby talks about the "Cult of the Offhand Comment" or something like that. I agree with him that it's a bad way to run a country and national political coverage, and I generally think people should be able to clarify, apologize if necessary, and move on. The Onion did a similar piece about a month back, 'Things Candidates are Allowed to Say Reduced to Three' or something like that. That said, Hillary Clinton herself ran with the standard of the offhand comment over the "bitter" remarks. So yes, she clarified and apologized, and that's good. I'd just like to see more of the Hillary who hit back at Bush's appeasement BS rather than the Hillary who made hay over the BS over the "bitter" comment, which Obama clarified and apologized for. A campaign over issues would be nice, but despite what Russert said, if it happens, it'll be no thanks to him.
MDC, thanks for mentioning that op-ed. I'll have to check that out.
Oh, and here's the permalink to the link above:
http://vagabondscholar.blogspot.com/2008/05/somehow-this-seemed-appropri...
So why is she staying in the race?
One of the resons, I believe, that so many people were willing to jump on this comment and take the least charitable interpretation is that the least charitable interpretation is actually the most realistic.
Whether she intended to or not, Senator Clinton has given everyone a reminder that her only real path to the nomination is that something catastrophic happen to Senator Obama.
Craven Morehead @ 11:
i'm with you, craven.
i think perhaps the reason i have not had my attitude change by the couple days of chatter on this subject is her response to the whole thing. she honestly does not understand why people are flipped out. it's an emotional reaction, at least on my part and from what i've seen in my internet strolls. if she had a clue (and that she doesn't is the really disappointing part) she would have recognized and addressed immediately people's emotional reaction. instead she responds with "intellectual" argument about why she said what she said. that simply doesn't cut it. she didn't offend me intellectually, she triggered my anxiety, and it pisses me off when people do that. especially people who are trying to make a case that they can run the freaking country.
i don't know what to make of robt kennedy jr., but can only assume that HE thinks enough of the democratic party to try to put a good face on it and keep everyone friends. good on him.
that said, i'm happy the primaries have gone on so long. it's been heartening to see and hear about people in each state getting to vote, and giving the candidates a solid opportunity to fully make themselves known. i think both clinton and obama have done that.
it all bodes well for the actual campaign.
at least for me, this subject is now closed.
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