Eschaton '08 Challengers

Eschaton '08 Incumbents





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About Me:
Real Name: Duncan Black
Age: 36
Location: Philadelphia

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Saturday, July 05, 2008
 
Saturday Night Thread


 
How Dare They

Dirty fucking hippie Joe Galloway.

Early next week the U.S. Senate will vote on an extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, with a few small amendments intended to immunize telecommunications corporations that assisted our government in the warrantless and illegal wiretapping it has grown to love.

That such a gutting of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution even made it out of committee is yet another stain on the gutless and seemingly powerless Democratic majority in both houses of Congress.

That a majority on both sides of the aisle — not least of them the presumptive nominees for president of both political parties — intend to vote for such a violation of Americans' right to privacy and of the sanctity of their personal communications is a stunning surrender to those who want us to live in fear forever.

 
Afternoon Thread

enjoy

 
A War I Can Support

It's pretty amazing that little tiny measures after decades of car-centric planning can be referred to as a "war."

The District is escalating what some suburban commuters are calling its war against workers who drive into the city.

The city has changed parts of Constitution Avenue NE from a reversible commuter artery back to a quiet side street and is considering removing the reversible lane on 16th Street NW, a key commuting route from Montgomery County.

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's administration also is studying closing the section of the Interstate 395 tunnel that connects with New York Avenue NW, expanding the use of speed cameras and increasing parking fees and enforcement. Fees for encroaching on a crosswalk would increase from $50 to $500 under a pedestrian safety proposal.


 
Surging

Sheryl Gay Stolberg:

The last time Republicans dealt with the passing-of-the-torch question, in 1988, the circumstances were very different. President Ronald Reagan was surging in popularity, and the big fear was that he would overshadow the nominee, the first George Bush, at the convention in New Orleans. So their aides worked out a plan intended to let Mr. Reagan “give oomph to the Bush candidacy,” without stealing the show, said Kenneth W. Duberstein, Mr. Reagan’s chief of staff.


The 1988 GOP convention was held on August 15. Reagan job approval during 1988:



Job Performance Ratings for President Reagan


Start Date: 01/30/1981
End Date: 12/27/1988


Date Organization Approve Disapprove
No
Opinion
Sample
Size
Notes
12/27-29/88 Gallup 63 29 8

11/11-14/88 Gallup 57 35 8

10/21-24/88 Gallup 51 38 11

9/25-10/1/88 Gallup 54 37 9

8/19-22/88 Gallup 53 37 10

7/15-18/88 Gallup 54 36 10

7/1-7/88 Gallup 51 35 14

6/24-27/88 Gallup 48 40 12

6/10-13/88 Gallup 51 39 10

5/13-22/88 Gallup 48 43 9 3021
5/13-15/88 Gallup 50 38 12

4/8-11/88 Gallup 50 39 11

3/8-12/88 Gallup 51 37 12

3/4-7/88 Gallup 50 42 8

1/22-25/88 Gallup 49 40 11 2061
1/8-17/88 Gallup 50 41 9 2109



 
Wanker of the Day

George Packer.

 
Wingnuttery

The incoherent rage-filled non sequiturs always bring a tear to my eye.

 
Defense Solutions

I'm sure nothing he did while he was a member of Congress made the transition to this job easy.

Former congressman Curt Weldon is helping broker deals between Russian and Ukranian weapons suppliers and the Iraqi and Libyan governments as part of his new job with a private American defense consulting firm, Wired.com has learned.

Weldon, who is currently being investigated by the FBI over alleged corruption during his time in office, visited Libya in March to discuss a possible military deal, according to a letter describing the trip from Weldon to Defense Solutions CEO Timothy Ringgold. In May, Weldon, together with Ringgold and another company representative, traveled to Moscow to discuss working with Russia's weapons-export agency on arms sales to the Middle East.


 
Good morning, brothers and sisters!

I'm busy digging around my archives trying to remember what Cynthia McKinney said that was so outrageous that she Must Be Stopped. It appears she thought there should be an investigation of what went wrong on 9/11. The fiend!

Update: Found some.

Signed,
Not Atrios


Friday, July 04, 2008
 
Evening Thread


 
Evening Thread

Enjoy.

 
Media Matters

From Jamison Foser.

 
Thread

Thrilling tales.

Signed,
Not Atrios

 
The Aspen Ideas Festival

Via email, a deep thought from Tom Friedman at the festival.

America has a problem and the world has a problem. America has lost its way in recent years; bad habits have weakened our society’s ability and willingness to take on big challenges. The world also has a problem. It’s becoming hot, flat, and crowded. I am convinced that the best way for America to solve its big problem and the best way for America to gets its groove back is for America to take the lead in solving the world’s problem.
Uh, Tom? SUCK ON THIS.

 
Afternoon Thread

enjoy

 
What Is The Washington Post Op-Ed Page For?

It isn't to inform, so it must serve some other purpose. What exactly is it?

Discuss.

 
Deep Thought

Amazingly, on every single issue there is, both political parties get it wrong but Peter Beinart gets it just right.

 
A Lot Of Semolians

All not well in Europe, either.

July 4 (Bloomberg) -- European banks may need to raise as much as 90 billion euros ($141 billion) to restore their capital after the U.S. subprime mortgage collapse caused credit markets to seize up, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
European banks have already raised $115 billion from investors to replenish capital after reporting $134 billion in writedowns, Goldman analysts led by Christoffer Malmer said in a note to clients today

 
Extra Holiday Thread

Just because.

 
The McCain Campaign Strategy

JMM:

For the McCain campaign to put out a memo to reporters claiming that Obama has adopted McCain's policy only shows that his advisors believe that a sizable percentage of the political press is made up of incorrigible morons. And it's hard to disagree with the judgment.


And it just might work!

 
OK Then...

Ed Koch in a thong!

 
Overnight Thread



Thursday, July 03, 2008
 
Patriotic Post

Celebrate America: picture Trent Lott in a star-spangled Speedo.

 
Evening Thread

Do the patriotic thing and run over a baby seal with your hummer.

 
Oh Well

That didn't happen.

And if you'd been reading me, instead of Mike Allen, you would have known that at the time. Me, in October 2005, a month before Mike Allen told the country that Bush was going to start leaving Iraq:

We are not going to see significant troop withdrawals in '06, '07, or '08 absent a major rebellion by Republicans in Congress, which I can't see happening. Even a Democratic sweep in '06 won't help end this thing.

All the talk of benchmarks, timetables, withdrawal, whatever is somewhat moot. There's nothing which will cause Bush to call for withdrawal. It's his mission, his purpose, his raison d'etre. It's all he's got, and he's not going to let go no matter how many people die.

 
Wanker of the Day

Doug Feith.

 
The Republican Establishment

It's difficult to know precisely how The Villagers decided the rampant presidential lawbreaking was just peachy and started going about defending it in utterly dishonest ways. My only theory is that the Republicans have held the executive for so much of the post 40 years that the Washington Establishment is almost indistinguishable from the Republican Establishment. They're practically one and the same, and its members protect their own. It isn't entirely new, of course, as the Iran-Contra situation was quite similar.

It's difficult to fathom that warrantless wiretapping with no oversight whatsoever is condoned by the leading members of our elite press, and that it's a dirty fucking hippie position to think otherwise, but that's where we are.

 
Good Stuff

All across the internets Darcy Burner has raised $85,000. Of that, about $7000 came from you my dear readers.

 
Holiday Schedule

Over the next couple of days. Go grill some flesh and blow some fireworks up!

 
Doesn't Matter

Let him stick to tee-ball.

Some of President Bush's allies tell the Political Bulletin they are embarrassed and angry that the White House seems to be wasting Bush's time on frivolous events when much of the country is suffering through economic hard times. "Look at the schedule for Monday," says an outside Bush adviser. "A highlight of his day was witnessing a tee ball game. ... He is being reduced to child's play." The adviser says Bush also signed a supplemental appropriations bill for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on Monday, but he adds that it didn't get much coverage and that the tee ball game set the wrong tone. There is growing concern among Bush allies that the Democrats will effectively portray the President and GOP candidate John McCain as out of touch. Some GOP insiders now predict that the Republicans will lose at least five seats in the Senate and 15 to 20 in the House, and it could get worse if gasoline prices continue to soar and the public remains in a disgruntled mood.

 
Stay The Course

That's basically McCain's message on the economy.

Good luck with that.

 
Montana

On one hand, given that Bush won Montana by 20 points in 2004 should make us a wee bit surprised that a poll shows Obama up there. On the other hand, while no one was paying attention, Montana got themselves a Democratic governor and two Democratic senators.

 
Thursday Is New Jobless Day

Ouch. 404K new lucky duckies. That's a lot!

And I forgot about the holiday and therefore forgot to make my monthly payroll bet. I would've gone with the under, and won, as the number of jobs shrunk by 62,000 this month.

 
FISA

Village idiot Joe Klein:

2. There was broad consensus in the Congress that if a suspicious pattern of communications is found and a U.S. person is targeted, there needs to be approval granted by the FISA court. And, as Nancy Pelosi insisted, it needed to be established that the FISA law was the only way to legally wiretap an individual--in other words, under this law the Executive can't just go ahead and do it.


Reality:

WASHINGTON — A federal judge in California said Wednesday that the wiretapping law established by Congress was the “exclusive” means for the president to eavesdrop on Americans, and he rejected the government’s claim that the president’s constitutional authority as commander in chief trumped that law.

...

“Congress appears clearly to have intended to — and did — establish the exclusive means for foreign intelligence activities to be conducted,” the judge wrote. “Whatever power the executive may otherwise have had in this regard, FISA limits the power of the executive branch to conduct such activities and it limits the executive branch’s authority to assert the state secrets privilege in response to challenges to the legality of its foreign intelligence surveillance activities.”