Campaigning ~ Armchair Generals vs. Consultants

Matt Stoller is pictured to the left. He's quoted in Jonathan Weisman and Michael D. Shear's No Vacation From McCain's Attacks: GOP Campaign Launches Three Ads as Obama Heads for a Week in Hawaii in today's WaPo. Matt's Open Left effort ought to have been on my sidebar and I'll remedy that oversight as soon as this post posts.

The first sentence of the WaPo piece contains "... the senator from Arizona would use the void to continue pummeling the character of his rival for the White House." Later there's "... an issue-based counterattack to McCain's character assault is not enough" where Matt comes along. I'll pass over his free advice and turn to the response of Team Obama's David Plouffe where he claims:

"John McCain can now become an emblem for what's wrong with Washington," Plouffe said, noting that McCain cannot win the White House without Ohio. "By November 4 in the Cincinnati and Dayton media markets, this will be something known by every voter." ...

"We have a game plan and a strategy, and we're going to continue to execute it. We're not going to be terribly worried about people playing armchair quarterback," Plouffe said. "By November 4, there are character dimensions to John McCain that are going to be clear."

I've been in a campaign, actually as more of a work horse than a strategic planner, yet I've certainly had to explain the method to the madness to dedicated volunteers. Some of these passionate volunteers were frustrated about how we "professionals" were asking them to canvass or call. They worried about our message in literature to scripts to ... My responses varied yet I hope most were built around a combination of why we were engaged in that particular effort, likely talking of the story we were trying to tell I expect, and a "trust me" type of plea. I was the volunteer coordinator and had some street cred among many of those working.

At times I'd ask a volunteer to be my surrogate in reeling a few difficult souls in as I needed pretty much every worker. I doubted I'd lose a vote if I sent that worker packing and knew some might cost me a few, or drive us all to drinking, yet knew we needed boots on the ground, data entry people, envelope stuffers, ...

I don't know Mr. Plouffe, although this Newsweek coverage from May is revealing, and I agree he's the pro and I'm not. Still ... is he really dismissing, almost contemptuously it seems, the advice of those that worry about the direction of Senator Obama's campaign? How did that 2004 effort for Dick Gephardt work out? I certainly don't think Gephardt was a total dud yet I certainly think he was one of the leaders that didn't always lead in the right direction. And his 2004 campaign was a disaster as best as I recall. Under Plouffe's guidance, Democrats added merely two seats in Congress in the 2000 election?

I do note that David and wife Olivia Morgan seem to be doing rather well. Washington Life (apparently covers the D.C. Swells) tells us that their former crib sold for $1.2 million and they upgraded to a $1.4 million six bedroom home. I noticed Olivia works/worked at Dewey Square Group. They boast, "Our political pedigree is difficult to match." Their grasstop efforts are apparently how the professional set gets things done.

I can accept David Pouffe's strategy and talent, more so after reading this LA Times coverage from Peter Nicholas. Then again, this WSJ effort from Jackie Calmes calms me as well. I would point out that the early successes that are such a part of both pieces tended to fade in the later days when Hillary made her comeback. Organization, knowledge, consistency, frugality, steadiness, ... are indeed important. The following YouTube is solid in that he's making an ask on critical cash. He seems a bit tired and I can only imagine the pressure he's under.

About halfway through Plouffe says the following:

"... We can't count on anybody else. We can not wait for a cavalry out there. A cavalry doesn't exist. We are responsible for defending ourselves against ..."

I'm not comfortable with his military analogy but I'll pass for now. Team Obama is indeed responsible and yes you can't count on anyone else! You know you'll be attacked. You surely know Atwater/Rove tactics by now. They do the same thing every time. So make your own "cavalry" or "War Room" (Hint to Katie Couric, and I pray not to the Obamites although I fear it might be given this piece from across the pond, this isn't one.) or ... and when McCain, the RNC, 527 groups, .... attack Senator Obama's character you must hit back and ideally make them pay.

Plouffe: We will play 'offense' from the Boston Globe started with Plouffe saying "We ask you to reorient your thinking." And that unfortunately troubles me. Emotions, narratives, and the like actually might matter more than "thinking". I've posted on Drew Westen just recently. And I expect some readers know the Adlai Stevenson example of needing a majority rather than the votes of "thinking people" that comes to mind.

I'm an armchair historian as well. However, I know for certain that both Al Gore and John Kerry were not well served by the consultant class. David claimed, "By November 4, there are character dimensions to John McCain that are going to be clear." Surely you know that now rather than then is when you can make the best hay Hoss? If you don't do it immediately then it will be too late. Clinton's triangulation and focus-grouping (such as done by that grimy, toe sucking Dick Morris) is likewise a fact. I also know the party of fakes run campaigns that consistently kick Progressive butts.

David Plouffe may be right yet he might as well accept that Progressives will be watching and questioning every move. I hope he's not dismissing outright the concerns of those like yours truly that fear repeats of past mistakes. Our nation and world may not be able to weather another loss. John Gunn

How time flies ~ Cowboy Junkies' Trinity Revisited

I can't tell you the number of times the Cowboy Junkies The Trinity Session was spun in my young adulthood. To have Natalie Merchant collaborating on this latest effort is all the better. John Gunn

UPDATE ~ Local White Bread, with Auburn roots no less, was another of my favorites yet only dates back a little over a decade. Here's a sample site.

If I had an Idiom of the Day feature ...

Earlier today I had a beagle wearing rose-colored glasses in posting on the Mobile Press-Register's coverage of seemingly favorable news of Alabama schools meeting Adequate Yearly Progress under Bu$hCo's No Data-Obsessed Bureaucrat Left Behind. Yet they deserve a tip of the tam for their Judges' pay not the issue from today. Although the talented and tireless mooncat got here first, as she often does, and has indeed long advocated for reform, I can go back a whole two years. Like dog years, that's ancient history in the blogosphere. The Alabama State Bar has been on the case for even longer. Raising qualifications and implementing something like the Missouri Plan for judicial appointments with retention elections seems like common sense yet those leading Alabama up on Goat Hill will likely remain unable or unwilling to move forward. John Gunn

Let's focus on policy rather than hanky panky

Up front I'll share some sadness and frustration over news of the John Edwards-Rielle Hunter affair. Although he was my preferred candidate among those running, given this, I suppose it is good that he failed. I'm reading and have heard that many in his campaign staff are very unhappy with both John and Elizabeth and if I'd have been working with them I'd likely feel the same way. That John Edwards put us at risk of handing the White House to the other team via an October Surprise is inexcusable. However, similar to the troubles of The Clenis, this is mostly a private matter. I have left his campaign bumper stickers on my little CRV yet I guess today is as good as day as any for them to come off. His placing so much at peril by not being able to keep it in his pants is disappointing yet I wish all involved well.

Given the many lies from the current administration on matters of great substance that have either been passed by or minimally covered I expect I'll be frustrated these next few days. Especially in the slow news days of August, I expect the Corporate Media will likely continue their focus on personalities and politics rather than policy. Unfortunately, it goes beyond "sex sells". Free Press can better explain what all is wrong than I.

EPI's A Plan to Revive the American Economy is brand new so I've not had time to dive into the specifics. Their Agenda for Shared Prosperity is a good start for reading and seeing that which they suggest. The Center for American Progress likewise has plenty to share. America's Middle Class Still Losing Ground is a recent example.

With an Obama win I hope their talent will be able to find a chance to put their policies into practice. Especially since Huggy will essentially keep the same types running the asylum I'd like to think the American public ought to be told of these policy proposals. John Gunn

UPDATE ~ If and when womanizing questions start coming for Barack Obama I'll hope they'll not forget Vicki Iseman's lobbying of St. John McCain. If it gets too partisan at least the lefty set has Newt Gingrich as an easy target.

UPDATE #2 ~ And while we're on the subject of lying why does John McCain continue lying? His latest "he'll raise taxes on regular folks" effort is just the tip of the iceberg.

UPDATE #3 ~ You'd think with Russia and Georgia locking horns (is Newsweek's Owen Matthews a farm boy like yours truly?) that might merit a little coverage in the Corporate Media. Thank goodness for PBS and Jim Lehrer! Context like this is what is often missing in nearly all of the mainstream sources.

The Mobile Press-Register's rose-colored glasses

My apologies to this beagle. And Voltaire. The P-R's Alabama schools continue to improve isn't a total dud yet I hope somebody down there has at least heard of Education Sector's The Pangloss Index: How States Game the No Child Left Behind Act by Kevin Carey. Alabama Policy Institute's Gary Palmer had even cited it in the past as per a LTE I dropped in my hometown Randolph Leader (that was edited!) in response to one of his rare efforts that I initially found some sympathy toward.

I've posted often on the many, many flaws in Bu$hCo's NCLB. And I've also admitted that Ted Kennedy and others on the left are due a good share of the blame. Some of the liberals that went along with the plan were I think tricked by promises of funds flowing to address the root causes of some of the problems facing public education. I also accept that the movement toward "accountability" started way back in the days of Reagan.

One of my favorite posts sent you to Daily Kos via Bu$hCo's No Child Left Behind applied to football. There's also Bu$hCo's DOE Makes NCLB Even Worse where I look at Alabama's supposedly wonderful Reading First program. I tackled much in that last post and I still would like to have had some feedback that I never received. I did a parenthetical stream of consciousness type post with George Will's Right is Wrongerest. Also, profiteers milking NCLB have received some attention. The Big Mules in testing that often make errors in, or merely deliver late, the precious data have also been scolded.

But my main beef is the whole model of NCLB. Good teachers, not bureaucrats, are celebrated! works for a jumping off point. No Child Left Behind - Four Years and Doubting is another.

Like the WaPo did here, the P-R simply accepts NCLB's measures of success without question. Maybe they can lure Jim "the Tool" Wooten away from the AJC? They have shown sympathy toward privatization in the past so Jim might fit right in.

Let's travel across the state for some additional reporting on this latest round of numbers from some of the smaller papers ... Kerry Whipple Bean of the Brewton Standard provided some context for reporting on numbers in the Brewton/Escambia County system. In that same neck of the woods Adrienne McKenzie on the Atmore Advance reports Nine out of 11 schools make AYP where she interviewed some of the local bureaucrats, None were bold enough to attack the flawed legislation. Guy Rhodes of The Tuskegee News reported All Macon schools make the AYP grade and likewise local and state officials took the safe route in their replies. I can't help but think of Upton Sinclair's "It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it."

County school system achieves AYP from Peggy Blackburn of the Wetumpka Herald likewise didn't offer any criticisms of NCLB. School report card should please all of us from the editor(s) of Dekalb County's Times-Journal rightly pointed out that funding promised when NCLB was passed didn't follow but claimed that was "typical for Washington, D.C."

Kelly Tabor of the Dothan Eagle/Enterprise Ledger reports Enterprise High misses mark in special education reading and supplies some limited criticisms of NCLB. Leada Gore of The Hartselle Enquirer began her reporting with "Imagine getting all A’s on your report card before the school year even started. That’s what’s happening for Hartselle City Schools, as school leaders celebrate perfect scores on the state’s annual yearly progress report." yet did she attempt to explain the mysteries of NCLB??

Justin Schuver of the Andalusia Star-News gets some snaps for including the following quote from Andalusia City Schools' superintendent Dr. Beverly McAnulty:

"I think there's some good that has come out of NCLB, because it has required us to look at standards and help us to understand whether or not all kids are really achieving," she said. "But at the same time, I don't think the test measures everything that we do in the school, so there are other success factors that I think are important if you're deciding whether or not it is a quality school."

Most if not all snaps are taken back by the title Schools meet U.S. standards since in fact there are no U.S. standards.

The Sand Mountain Reporter included the following in their review:

These standards are set up in the federally mandated “No Child Left Behind Act,” and there are serious flaws in this system. Still, it is encouraging to know all our local schools are either at the standard or making progress towards reaching it.

I'd have welcomed their expaining the serious flaws yet admitting they are there is appreciated. Most papers, especially the smaller ones, seemed to just parrot what they are told from the state and the locals. They could do better.

Given all the above I surely appreciate the following wisdom from John Ehinger of the Huntsville Times. He closed an editorial looking at these generally positive numbers with:

... no one should conclude that the AYP results alone automatically guarantee that schools are educating children to prepare them for the world they will encounter in only a few years.

The annual AYP evaluation is only one among many, many measurements, but it's proving useful nonetheless. Education is a lifetime activity, and public education is a work in progress. Everyone has a stake in ensuring that it does the job society needs.

Amen! The Huntsville Times also shared Behind the ratings as a clear, concise summary of how these figures get figured. I also note that the P-R's Rena Havner supplied How does the state rate its schools? - Answers to frequently asked questions but it is more stenographic than I'd have preferred.

Finally, the P-R's piece should be contrasted with the way the Montgomery Advertiser opined on the generally positive news. Their State's academic progress is real pointed out how in the past the Post Office's "on-time rate was up mostly because of the new definition" of "on time". However, the Advertiser also didn't question the foundational flaw of NCLB that measurement of academic progress is best determined by how well a child does on a high stakes test that measures only a limited facet of learning. I loathe Jim "The Tool" Wooten yet his "ash and trash" analogy is at least somewhat correct as even he accepts many variables influence how a child learns that are clearly out of the hands of the schools/teachers.

I'll close with what I wrote back on April Fool's Day in 2007. John Gunn

Standardized testing is fine for some limited purposes and in some subjects yet NCLB, thus most every public school, especially those serving the truly challenging students, essentially forces teachers to focus on those simple matters that can be measured. And this results in some things that are really important being ignored or at least minimized to the point of no positive result. Taking time to think takes away from the "canned and scanned" we get from "accountablity". The global, knowledge-based economy is going to require thinkers not test takers! Winners in the 21st century are going to need to be able to work with fluid, often copious amounts of information, rather than being able to recall one damn fact after the other. Isn't this rather certain? Tell me where I'm wrong please if you think I'm wrong.

UPDATE ~ Does Dothan High being "under the gun" relate to this story on their failing to meet AYP for at least three different reasons or this story where it is reported, "The first day of classes turned sour at Dothan High School as some students were sent home and two parents were arrested, including a mother who was shot with a Taser as police on campus detained her son on a burglary warrant."?

Did rebelman's rant help make Shay Farley's point?

The Montgomery Advertiser shares ALABAMA VOICES: Reflect our values from Alabama Appleseed's Shay M. Farley today and I was thoroughly pumped reading the same. After all, I all too often find the Alabama Policy Insitute's Gary Palmer occupying that same space. The Alabama Appleseed Center for Law & Justice has been known to me yet I had failed to add them to my sidebar. This oversight is corrected.

My favorite portion of Shay Farley's writing follows:

A community that is open to dialogue -- to discuss rationally and respectfully concerns and concrete facts -- can expose unknown realities and dampen the hurtful banter that typically entrenches discussions of immigration.

At the end of the piece I found the name "rebelman". I knew him from the following response to the Gary Palmer post linked to above:

Amen! The socialists and communists in the DemoRAT party enjoy the benefits of a great capitalist society of ours when they are sucking up the tax money they steal from it in the good times. Bad times, well these same low-life scumbags still want their share by blaming capitalism for a downturn in the economy thus giving them incentive to force new laws and restrictions on our capitalistic society saying it is good for us to have big government directing our every need! We need to make the sure the same outcome takes place with these socialists DemoRATS in November as the companies should have that they bailed out for decades and that outcome is FAILURE! FAILURE is the keystone of a free market capitalist society. Without there is no progress, just what the socialists want!

Apparently the talent rebelman brings to the discussion is that he knows how to use the shift key. As for this top drawer piece from Shay Farley, rebelman wrote:

You might as well be whistling "DIXIE" because you will not get any help from the leftwing DemoRATS in the State of Alabama legislature! These DemoRATS do not care how much tax money is spent on illegals, they will simply take more from you to pay the bills. The DemoRATS are allowing State agencies to look the other way and not ask for ID or SSN numbers when these illegals apply for welfare benefits. This is a crime against the taxpayers! These DemoRATS do not care how many innocent people get killed on the highways by these illegals because they cannot read road signs and mostly do not care how they drive! The DemoRATS control the State legislature and only the Governor can veto bad legislation until he is overridden so blame the DemoRATS on this issue.

I also want to ask rebelman for names of left wing politicians which occupy ANY elected office up on Goat Hill? I'd also like some concrete facts. But let's let him sit in the corner first.

I first titled this post "Did Shay M. Farley cast pearls before swine? However, by the end of my writing I'd decided this reaction from a reactionary goober like rebelman might in fact bolster Appleseed's effort. Keeping up work like this, perhaps especially here in Alabama, can be a long, hard slog. I like to think that for every nutjob like rebelman we have at least a thousand decent and smart souls. Hope springs eternal? John Gunn

MoJo's Slammed: The Coming Prison Meltdown

I ran across MoJo's Slammed: The Coming Prison Meltdown via Probation Profiteers. And I can't help but reflect on my own role in this racket. As a Municipal Judge and Persecutor I sent my share into essentially the same arrangement as what faces those in Americus, Georgia. I'm hardly sure yet I hope somebody I love in Alabama is trying to make happen the kind of work that is occurring in Kansas. John Gunn

The roll out of Thomas Frank's new book

I mentioned Thomas Frank's new book The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Rule in a recent post yet he and his publisher are going all out in promoting it. And that's a bonus for us. I find his own writing in Salon titled How conservative greed and corruption destroyed American politics: Abramoff, DeLay, Norquist, oh my! The spectacular misrule of the GOP was not an accident. Rick Perlstein also interviews him via Salon in a piece titled Thomas Frank on the Bush administration: Sabotage by design.

Let's start with Mr. Perlstein. He writes:

Here, for example, is a splendid bit Frank pulled from the Journal of Commerce from 1928 about why it's best for business to wreck the state: "The best public servant is the worst one. A thoroughly first-rate man in public service is corrosive. He eats holes in our liberties. The better he is and the longer he stays the greater the danger. If he is an enthusiast -- a bright-eyed madman who is frantic to make this the finest government in the world -- the black plague is a house pet by comparison."

The guy who wrote that was a military contractor and former head of the national Chamber of Commerce. The genius of today's conservative movement, however, is that it doesn't need barons of commerce to say these things anymore. Conservatives have won over a species of the bright-eyed madmen -- kids writing for college newspapers, who can call themselves "principled" conservative "idealists," fighting the "battle of ideas" while carrying the water of corporate America.

Wow! There's plenty more yet let's shift over to Frank's own writing. He shares:

Its leaders laugh off the idea of the public interest as airy-fairy nonsense; they caution against bringing top-notch talent into government service; they declare war on public workers. They have made a cult of outsourcing and privatizing, they have wrecked established federal operations because they disagree with them, and they have deliberately piled up an Everest of debt in order to force the government into crisis. The ruination they have wrought has been thorough; it has been a professional job. Repairing it will require years of political action. ...

But this is only the beginning of the story. As we make our rounds of conservative Washington, we glimpse something much greater than single acts of incompetence or obstruction. We see a vast machinery built for our protection reengineered into a device for our exploitation. We behold the majestic workings of the free market itself, boring ever deeper into the tissues of the state. Ultimately, we gaze upon one of the true marvels of history: democracy buried beneath an avalanche of money.

I love the idea of his contrasting older books and sources with today's ideologues and approaches to governing. I can't wait to actually read the book. John Gunn

I hope Gadsden gal Nikki Tinker loses in TN-09

I've been reading some criticisms of Nikki Tinker yet her recent attacks on true Progressive Steve Cohen are outrageous. I'll let Kos do the heavy lifting. "Trojan horse" does seem an applicable description. She has a truly compelling story yet Steve Cohen was a serious upgrade from Harold Ford Jr. He needs to continue holding this office and a message needs to be sent to those forces that back candidates like Ms. Tinker. Maryland's Al Wynn was a sell out that was kicked out yet it is a whole lot easier to just never send them to DC. John Gunn

UPDATE ~ 20:38 PST on the 7th - And it wasn't even close!

Pornstar Stormy Daniels shows GOP family values

EagleEye at Kos really does have the Eagle Eye with his/her McCain and His Wife at Motorcycle Sex-O-Rama. That St. John offers up his wealthy wife as "Miss Buffalo Chip" is just the tip of the iceberg on how the Corporate Media attacks our left leaning politicians while seemingly giving a pass to those on the right. "Given the track record of the corporate media in covering McCain and Obama, there is no doubt that if the Democratic nominee had been present at such an event, his bid for the White House would be finished." Amen! John Gunn

Today's reporting ~ __ charges X & Bu$hCo denies

Marty Kaplan's HuffPo's piece Why Americans Hate Journalism, Part 62 is an instant classic. Chuck Todd and Mike Allen appear to be political nerds who've climbed up to positions within the establishment.

Marty writes:

And so, in less time than it takes to say "Dick Cheney," the subject is changed from what would be one of the most outrageous violations of the Constitution in the history of the Republic to a left/right issue. Instead of taking a breath to consider the merits and consequences of Suskind's charges, MSNBC's It's-Always-Super-Tuesday-Over-Here reframing machine instantly transforms a shocking allegation about the abuse of power into a piece of political football, a tactic, an occasion for the players in the grand political theater that cable news says Washington really is to assume their designated roles, like a Punch and Judy show.

Only it's not that funny, is it? I don't imagine that the families of the tens of thousands of American soldiers killed and wounded in Iraq think that wanting to hold the president and vice president accountable for breaking the law means you're part of "the anti-war crowd" (meaning, the un-kewl kids). If the White House asked the CIA to cook up this disinformation aimed at the American people, why shouldn't the righty blogosphere, too, be up in arms? Why doesn't every American, regardless of political party, have a stake in the truth and the rule of law?

Ouch! Amen! John Gunn

The gift of Garrison Keillor & Drew Westen

I recall first hearing Garrison Keillor while living with a sister and her husband, the couple who inspired a post I still think perhaps one of my favorites. That I also frequently ran across Phyllis Schlafly down there is a less pleasant memory. I also learned of James Dobson then. It was before he became a total nut job tool of the right wing and I frankly had an affinity for Dr. D but those daya are long gone. Garrison Keillor made in onto my bookshelves. I certainly never bought any of Schlafly's twenty books. I've make a practice of dropping all the James Dobson books my family so frequently bought me at my hometown Baptist church.

Today I found a Garrison Keillor piece via Salon titled It's an amazing country: Where else could an Arizona multimillionaire attack a Chicago South Sider as an elitist and hope to make it stick? that is a fine read. Gosh that man can write, speak, ... His prose is so amazing that it is hard to pick a perfect portion so I'll just pass.

Mr. Keillor's point is well taken yet Drew Westen, a talent I've mentioned before, turns up on HuffPo with Why Voters Say they Don't Really Know Barack Obama (and Why They Don't Really Know Much about John McCain, Either) and it is a must read. Here's the gem:

No one has ever won an election by saying what a great guy he is, letting his opponent pummel away at his character, and refusing to define his opponent or derail the glorious narrative his opponent is telling about himself.

Amen! Professor Westen is delivering this advice for free? John Gunn

Bu$hCo's PDB of August 6, 2001 at Crawford, TX

Over to the left you'll see Harriet Miers going over something, perhaps one of her infamous notes, with Dubyah. My understanding is the image is from exactly seven years ago. Then again she might be helping him blow off the Presidential Daily Brief (PDB) given to him that very day. More mainstream coverage of the PDB comes via Time's now dinged Matt Cooper and Viveca Novak joined by Elaine Shannon. That he continued holed up at "the ranch" for almost another month is yet one more reason he and his will rate as among the very worst administrations. Heck of a job Bu$hie. John Gunn

McSame $~ What was Harry Sargeant thinking?

To the left you'll see Florida's Governor and top Veep possibility Charlie Crist meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah II in June of 2007. In the middle you have Harry Sargeant III. He's Crist's fraternity brother and is allegedly in business with (and facing a civil suit from) the King's brother-in-law. Mr. Sargeant's businesses include providing fuel to our military in Iraq. A tip of the tam is due the St. Pete Times' Steve Bousquet for the above information.

I mentioned oddities in some of regular folks donating some big chunks of money to Huggy and the RNC just yesterday. It's not just Hess Oil pulling these stunts as it surely seems that "straw donors" are being used by Harry Sargeant III in his bundling.

Harry first bet on Rudy G, then on Hillary, yet he's saddling up with St. John. The way he's clearly trying to buy access is perhaps just smart business given his line of work yet worthy of a post on that issue alone.

Another issue worth exploring is that Harry got the contract with DOD only due to his being the only potential contractor that had permission from Jordan to cross their borders. Oh wait, California's Henry Waxman is on the case.

Money driven politics is all too common yet surely frustrating. I appreciate the many resources on the internets that make it somewhat manageable to do the research to run down the money but how much time do citizens, or cash strapped news organizations for that matter, to do the running. I applaud the many reporters that did just that in both the Hess and Sargeant matters.

I do wonder what Joe and Jill Sixpack would think if they knew of the money flowing into the coffers of the party of family values, America First, wean us away from Middle Eastern Dictators, support the troops, work hard, reduce regualtion, ... John Gunn

UPDATE ~ Evening of August 7, 2008 - It appears Huggy is returning a good chunk of these donations.

Bob Riley has some 'splaining to do on Arthur case

I used this same image back in January when I named him Outlander of the Day. I pointed out that Bob and his caller (that he requires one instead of doing it himself is bad enough) lacked at least net face covers and gloves. Toms I've hunted surely would likely spot these two from well beyond the Governor's effective shooting range.

I'd previously noted that ordering DNA testing on the Tommy Arthur evidence seemed like an easy decision. In that post I quoted the B'ham News as follows:

A test that raises questions about Arthur's guilt will indeed open a whole new can of worms - but it's a can that should be opened before Arthur is put to death for a crime he insists he did not commit.

Riley is called on to make many difficult decisions as governor. But this isn't a difficult one. Riley should order DNA testing for any Death Row inmate who disputes his guilt and whose case involved evidence that could be screened.

I'd noted in a later post that the B'ham News opined, "In the case of Death Row inmate Thomas Arthur, for instance, Riley has seemed to run through a series of excuses not to order DNA testing - none of which hold up to close scrutiny." When I later called Bob Riley a stubborn ass I figured it might be that he was "seemingly more interested in showing he is a manly man than a compassionate and cautious soul."

Although I'd briefly mentioned allegations of missing evidence when a stay was recently granted due to new evidence, in the form of an admission of guilt from another inmate that apparently doesn't have any contact with Arthur, Bob Martin of The Montgomery Independent has much more to offer on this development. Finding this piece in my hometown Randolph Leader is pleasing yet I hate that I've seen much of anything like that around the rest of Alabama's media options. The Google helped me find this Times-Daily's piece which contained:

Clay Crenshaw, head of the attorney general's capital litigation section, said he asked the Muscle Shoals Police Department, the Colbert County district attorney's office and the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences for the rape kit that was done on Judy Wicker, but was told they didn't have it.

(Arthur's defense attorney, Suhana) Han said she does not think Crenshaw's explanation is sufficient. "Why is the state only inquiring about it the last six months when we have been litigating (for it) since 2002? The state needs to explain what happened to Judy Wicker's rape kit," Han said.

Has the AG's office really known for six months of the problem? Reckon Prince Troy let Bob Riley know of this MIA evidence? His "series of excuses" surely seems understandable now. Outrageous! How's that Christianity working out for you Governor? I'd like to think reporters and journalists and ... would be asking some hardball questions to the Governor and Prince Troy. If they don't, then who will? If these two leaders dodge the questions once asked will the corporate media in Alabama report the same?

Even the B'ham News' Editorial Board wrote after the stay was granted the following:

Although other biological evidence was collected and should be DNA-tested - assuming the state can find it - it's beyond troubling to think the state was prepared to execute Arthur when what could be crucial evidence is nowhere to be found.

"Beyond troubling" is all too kind. John Gunn

Across the pond for a look at the American South

How Barack Obama can win over poor whites provides a taste into how a Brit views the American South's poorest of the poor as relates to our odd politics. With the reporter relying on help from Joe Bageant, author of Deer Hunting with Jesus: Dispatches from America's Class War and native of Winchester, Virgina, an entertaining and yet depressing piece is delivered. There's a nice photo essay as well from Nina Berman provided with the article. A new book goes on the Amazon Wish List! I really, really want this one. John Gunn

Obama ~ The wingnuts take pride in being ignorant

Amen! Make them pay Senator! John Gunn

What were John McCain and Hess thinking?

McClatchy's Greg Gordon reports Did Queens couple really give $61,600 to McCain, GOP? "Despite what appears to be a middle-class lifestyle, the couple has written $61,600 in checks to John McCain's presidential campaign and the Republican National Committee, most of it within days of McCain's decision to endorse offshore oil drilling." Thanks Hess and Huggy for this big fat one over the plate. John Gunn

Thank goodness for Alabama women!

I'm sharing art from Andia Attia of Montgomery courtesy of the Alabama Department of History and Archives. Rasmussen has just released Alabama Presidential Election: McCain Up by Eighteen and it's not pretty. "Among unaffiliated voters, McCain has a 62% to 21% edge." It was a rather small sample so perhaps that explains those numbers. As to women, at least Senator Obama is even. A 47% approval rating for Bu$h is revealing as well. John Gunn

UPDATE ~ Perhaps five minutes later ... I meant to share the following from yesterday's post of Christopher Dickey's Southern Discomfort. Perhaps foolishness like this across the river explains Alabama's numbers. Here goes:

Walking down to The Point one morning, a 12-year-old "private" in this particular Confederate unit told me what he'd heard tell in school about the elections. Next to nothing about McCain. But Obama? "There are too many chances we would take if he became president, you know what I mean?" I said I wasn't sure I did. "I don't know if it's a myth or it's true," said the boy, "but they say that they caught him trying to sneak Iraqi soldiers into the United States."

Would Gary Palmer shill for sustenance?

In response to Gary Palmer's ALABAMA VOICES: Don't blame system a reader on the Montgomery Advertiser's site listed as LHess wrote, "Having someone such as Gary Palmer talking about morals and ethics is akin to hearing a prostitute talk about virtue." At least Gary will always have RebelMan on his side.

I often don't know where to begin with Gary Palmer of the Alabama Policy Institute. This latest effort rivals Jim "The Tool" Wooten on an effort to win Simultaneous Shilling gold. With the Olympics here I suppose Gary would have to be a favorite. If it were a pair event then he's got a partner down the hall I bet given API's Michael Ciamarra simultaneous shilling of "lawsuit abuse" while defending Bu$hCo past effort.

Then again, maybe this is another illustration of the "blame game"? Gary just recently saw rising gas prices and huge profits for Big Oil as a chance to attack the "socialistic environmental agenda" of politicians who have "sold out to radical environmentalists and liberal social engineers" for instance. In a similar effort, dreadful understanding of civics by our young people was due to insufficient patriotism being taught in favor of "an emphasis on politically correct indoctrination that produces misinformed activists instead of educated citizens."

In his latest rant earning his Wingnut Welfare Gary writes:

We are witnessing the consequences of the loss of values that were the substance of our culture, not the failure of capitalism.

Values? Gary, you really need to read a f'ing book every so often. Or just watch some high end TV. Gary goes on to write:

Capitalism is an economic system that depends on the virtues of the people engaged in the system ... As with any system, capitalism is subject to human fallibility, or what Christians would refer to as fallen human nature.

Huh? "Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under Communism, it's just the opposite." was what John Kenneth Galbraith claimed. I'd stack his brainpower up any day against poor Gary's. Gary next writes:

Therefore, in order for a capitalist -- or free market -- economic system to function properly, the culture must place a high value on personal virtue and undergird it with reasonable laws and regulations that provide additional restraints and protections against inevitable human failings.

Of course Gary has been eager to argue that reasonable laws and regulations that might reduce the number of cancer deaths among our citizenry must be based on only what must be proved. Stoking fears of lost jobs and making the obligatory ""class warfare" attack, Gary is all about dismissing "restraints and protections" as based on "false fears". He has no shame!

Gary then writes:

In a less progressive time, there were certain expectations within American society that were based on our commonly held ideas of what was right and wrong as derived from a Judeo-Christian worldview. In those times, there were social restraints that constrained individuals in what they did and said and how they conducted their public and private lives.

Gary, would going back to those good old days before such a progressive time include times of slavery? When women couldn't vote? The Jim Crow South? Gary continues:

But the progressives saw these social restraints, especially religion, as shackles and thought it would improve society to free it from the old suffocating religious and moral constraints. As it turns out, liberation from the old morals has not brought us more freedom; it has brought more constraint and more uncertainty which has undermined trust in practically all of our nation's institutions.

Huh? So would the "old morals" or the "new morals" apply to the "unfair and immoral death tax"? The estate tax, a Progressive reform in fact, is so immoral that Alabama's own Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III found it necessary after Katrina to look for a victim for an illustration of its evil. I'm sure Gary's smart enough to show us how the Crash of 1929, segregation, and Nixon's Watergate can be blamed on "liberation from the old morals".

Gary suggests:

What is missing today are the presuppositions, or accepted standards of morality and ethics, that are valued individually and in our communities and that establish a solid foundation for functioning in our society. Laws are not enough.

A foundation of moral law? Haven't I read something about such an effort? Gary then writes:

As we are witnessing with the current crisis in our financial institutions, the threat of punishment is often not enough to stop wrongdoing. All too often, punishment consists only of fines that can be viewed as just another cost of doing business. Unfortunately, many decisions are based on a "risk vs. reward" formula that is based solely on self-interests, with little regard for others.

So is Gary deviating from API's stand on "tort reform"? We are learning these white collar prosecutions are surely difficult. And with Alabama's Supreme Court in place they'll just cut the civil verdicts here in Bama won't they Hoss. Corporations Gone Wild? Gary goes on to claim:

In many respects, the breakdown of many of our financial institutions clearly reveals the consequences of rejecting what were once commonly held traditional values. As the "old" traditional values and virtues have been pushed out, they have been replaced with politically correct secular values.

He's kidding isn't he? If a piece begins with "LIKE THE EXHORTATIONS OF JEREMIAH TO THE NATION OF Israel before the first temple's destruction, the warnings of economist Nouriel Roubini fell on deaf ears." would that suit Gary's call for traditional values and virtues? We can only hope this brilliant seeker of truth and decency will seek out such wisdom. Gary continues with:

Consequently, living in a society that has rejected traditional values means that we live in a constant state of uncertainty -- leaving the government to try to impose honesty and integrity through increasingly more stringent laws and regulations.

The predictable result of the abandonment of traditional values, particularly by the boomer generation, is a public and private sector increasingly marked by lies, deception, fraud and malfeasance.

He's loony. Maybe the Taliban would take Gary? He closes with:

... we are now spending millions of dollars trying to instill ethics in current and future leaders whose entire education, from kindergarten through college, has been based on the moral relativism that taught them there are no absolute truths, there are no eternal standards. ...

In that regard, our culture has been stripped of the absolute values that are essential to a healthy free market economy, a trustworthy government and a healthy society.

With so many of our nation's leaders in both the public and private sector disconnected from absolute truths, it should not surprise anyone that our economic and governing systems are floundering and that our laws have done little to prevent it.

As I pointed out earlier, those who claim capitalism has failed are mistaken. What we are witnessing is not the failure of capitalism, but the consequences of moral relativism.

What exactly this rascal is suggesting once again remains a mystery to me. Has anyone of any substance truly claimed capitalism has failed Gary? Many are simply saying that the de-regulation push led by those on the right has consequences. From Enron to this mess, pretty much everybody accepts the fact. And I'd argue the bailout suggest some capitalist want to pocket the profits but socialize the risks. Plenty are figuring crony capitalism has failed us but that's not what Gary has attacked. What would Uncle Milton have to say?

That API's Gary Palmer manages to make his argument based on some type of lament for paradise lost and values vanquished by the Godless Progressives is really precious. John Gunn

UPDATE ~ Morning of August 5, 2008 - I've been thinking of Gary's latest effort all morning. I was reflecting back on a prior post I titled Mobile Press-Register~ Just let the lawyers decide where the P-R wrote an Editorial accepting the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and their Institute for Legal Reform's flawed study to suggest we need to listen more to corporate counsel in formulating public policy. The Failure of Corporate Law: Fundamental Flaws and Progressive Possibilities by Kent Greenfield was also noted in that post. The book's description, and I'll close here, at least for now, contained the following:

Anyone can purchase shares of stock, but public corporations themselves are uninhibited by a sense of societal obligation or strict public oversight. In fact, managers of most large firms are prohibited by law from taking into account the interests of the public in decision making, if doing so hurts shareholders. But this has not always been the case, as until the beginning of the twentieth century, public corporations were deemed to have important civic responsibilities.

Christopher Dickey's Southern Discomfort

I've posted on Christopher Dickey's work before. In Digby Does Dickey - Paper tigers without morality both of these fine writers were exploring the many troubles with Bu$hCo's foreign policy misadventures. In "Heck of a job Bushie" I provided a portion of his take on Arab reactions to Bu$hCo's SOTU speech from early 2006. A "caricature" was perhaps too kind. I mentioned earlier today the WaPo's potential Pulitzer for their polling of poor people yet Dickey's Southern Discomfort in Newsweek is equally impressive. Dickey's writing stands alone yet combined with slick videos and photos is simply phenomenal. More to come perhaps once I dig into his work but I wanted to go ahead and share the resource. Enjoy! John Gunn

Post provides powerful political poll of poor people

Hardest Hit: Hurt and Hope Among Low-Wage Workers from the WaPo may very well win a Pulitzer if it turns out as solid as it looks. I'll need to drill down into the thing to see if there's as much substance as style. Up front, however, I'll suggest the Democratic Party would be running away with support numbers if the centrist weenie, corporatist set weren't so often running the show at the DNC, Congress, many states ... Those that so often make Republican Lite the strategy have sold us/them out. John Gunn

It's not just economics that Huggy is weak on!

The full text of St. John's recent talk before The Urban Institute may be found via Huggy Bear's own site. I saw this "live" and was immediately put off by "if there's one thing he always delivers it's a great speech" reference to Senator Obama's future appearance. He adds, "his ideas are not always as impressive as his rhetoric."

How Huggy's handlers try to co-opt poor parents with kids in bad schools into supporting "reforms" is frustrating. The right wingers have gotten Reverend Al and ... at least partially on their side and it looks like the battle is being joined between those allegedly on the left portion of the spectrum. It's rather like counter-insurgency strategy (sort of like that which was finally given a chance by Bu$hCo in Iraq) where you co-opt the locals.

The Maverick mentions educational reforms from Louisiana's Bobby Jindal (he scored big didn't he Heritage Foundation) yet leaves off the "let's also teach creationism" effort from that same state. Huggy gets in obligatory licks against teachers unions and education's allegedly "entrenched bureaucracy".

I nearly threw something at the TV (and I was in the chow hall) when I saw the following:

We should also offer more choices to those who wish to become teachers. Many thousands of highly qualified men and women have great knowledge, wisdom, and experience to offer public school students. But a monopoly on teacher certification prevents them from getting that chance. You can be a Nobel Laureate and not qualify to teach in most public schools today because they don't have all the proper credits in educational "theory" or "methodology." All they have is learning and the desire and ability to share it. If we're putting the interests of students first, then those qualifications should be enough.

That he used the little finger parenthetical trick on "theory" and "methodology" was frankly insulting. Surely fast track options can work yet I'd bet on the average Nobel Laureate being eaten alive if St. John had his druthers. Knowledge of a subject is fine yet the pesky pedagogy and some basic classroom management is surely part of the equation. Once again, a pandering politician is perfectly prepared to tell professionals how to do their job.

St. John also says:

And no longer will we measure teacher achievement by conformity to process. We will measure it by the success of their students.

Once again, can you measure if a child was taught to think? We'll measure if Sally and Sam learned one damn fact after another when the jobs of the future requiring thinkers rather than the tested. Some great "reforms" there Huggy. I've frequently posted on the many flaws behind school "reforms" studies.

"Conformity to process" might mean merely following generally accepted best practices I'd think. I know Huggy and his right wingers think the markets and all that will solve pretty much every problem yet professional educators know better. The right wingers sniping or even throwing bombs at educators should be ashamed.

St. John also shares:

Moreover, the funds for these bonuses will not be controlled by faraway officials -- in Washington, in a state capital, or even in a district office. Under my reforms, we will put the money and the responsibilities where they belong -- in the office of the school principal. One reason charter schools are so successful, and so sought after by parents, is that principals have spending discretion. And I intend to give that same discretion to public school principals. No longer will money be spent on rigid and often meaningless formulas. Relying on the good judgment and first-hand knowledge of school principals, education money will be spent in service to public school students.

That's great Senator. Reckon some teacher would be as willing to pose tough questions to their principal when they also control their bonus? It can currently be a long, hard slog when teaching under a "rigid" soul but when they control your reward money that's simply draconian. And would removing those "rigid and often meaningless formulas" hinder the objectivity of the person handling out the dough? And wasn't part of the problem the "entrenched bureaucracy" and surely the principal counts there don't they?

John McCain's approach to education appears on his campaign website. It's Excellence, Choice, and Competition in American Education. That's it? Surely you've got more? Is Jim "The Tool" Wooten his education advisor? Contrast Huggy's "tired rhetoric" with Senator Obama's comprehensive approach to education. I'm hardly certain that Obama will do all that ought to be done yet compared to Huggy's simplistic solutions he's a gem. John Gunn

So how are things looking eight years later?

Think Progress takes us back eight years when George W. Bu$h pledged "to uphold the honor and dignity of the office" at the GOP convention. The reference to "the lessons of Vietnam" and the image with St. John makes this post clearly worthy of attention. The whole speech is available for anyone strong enough to try to stomach it. I made it just a little ways before getting a spell of the vapors. I did note the line, "We will write, not footnotes, but chapters in the American story." The fact is that he and his have written tragedy. John Gunn

Mobile Press-Register ~ Publisher heal thyself

J.D. Crowe's work is pictured for two reasons. First, he provides some balance to the P-R's leanings. His recent Troy King's Office of Inflatables was priceless. Also, his take on Don Siegelman being released from prison is relevant. I'm still waiting on the P-R to eat their crow after The Don's release yet they are apparently intent on nothing of the sort.

The P-R is often the most right leaning paper of the clearly Conservative Newhouse triad. Their reporter Eddie Curran was in the lead in revealing questionable (note I didn't use illegal) behaviors by then Governor Siegelman that eventually resulted in his prosecution. I believe strongly in "comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable" so to a large extent I'll avoid piling on Mr. Curran. In a prior post from February I note the P-R bragged, "The former governor was prosecuted by career federal prosecutors who were spurred on by stories in the Press-Register."

A couple of weeks ago I posted Mobile Press-Register engages in Big Lies on their parroting right wing talking points urging drill, drill, drill. They did the same thing with a recent Editorial shilling the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's flawed and biased "study". (Here's a good chance to mention one hundred of their employees running up a $8,204 bar tab at merely one sitting.) The person or persons writing their Editorial pages are seemingly in the tank.

However, today's Rove-style justice? is a classic. It ranks up there with February's Sleight of Hand where the P-R's reporter Barry Lyman claimed Siegelman being shackled immediately was standard treatment only to have the body of the reporting hardly support such a claim. I hope the P-R's editors selected the title of Mr. Lyman's work or otherwise I'd need to point out his interesting surname. Then again, the B'ham News' Mary Orndorff did perhaps even worse when she claimed Karl Rove has submitted a "written statement to Congress". They were answered by his lawyer, hardly under oath, and from and to a wing nut GOP Congressman Miss Mary.

While I'm pleased that today's P-R Editorial mentioned Alaska's Senior Senator Ted Stevens being charged, this was likely long overdue. "A Bridge Too Far" applies yet I'll leave off a link for those willing to use The Google via Senator Steven's "tubes". Even flaming lefty sites have given Bu$hCo some snaps for isolating The Hulk (also known as Mr. Crankypants) in some matters at DOJ.

The P-R noted the falls of Ohio's Bob Ney and California's Randy "Duke" Cunningham plus the charges facing Arizona's Rick Renzi. I recall posting Bama GOP thinks we need more convicted leaders recently where I go over a list of the many, many on that side of the aisle currently facing charges. That Rick Renzi was being investigated by the Feds way back in 2006, only to have that process slow down for the election that fall followed by U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton, the fellow leading that effort, being one of eight Prosecutors canned, was left out.

Ney and Cunningham were of course caught up in the Abramoff scandals yet no mention was made of the missing e-mails from Karl Rove and others in Bu$hCo related to this investigation. Neither did the P-R comment on the faulty logs on Black Jack's many visits to the White House. "Fruit" was flowing. Any reference to Susan B. Ralston, a top aide to Karl Rove who had to resign for her ties to Abramoff, was also omitted.

Of course there was no reference to the related guilty plea by Michael Scanlon, likely especially certain given his past work with Alabama Governor Bob Riley. The whole of the Tom Delay money mess remains ripe for inquiry which surely the P-R knows. Former Bu$hCo FDA head Lester Crawford, a native son of Demopolis no less, who pled guilty to some white collar stock shenanigans didn't make the cut.

The P-R would likely dismiss allegations by former Reagan and Daddy Bu$h Attorney General Dick Thornburgh that the prosecution of Cyril Wecht is driven by politics. Also, I've already wondered how Al.com would cover Wisconsin's Georgia Thompson.

The P-R also failed to note allegations that DOJ stalled an investigation into the New Hampshire phone jamming by GOP operatives. I'm almost done ... Karl Rove's increasingly clear involvement with the outing of the CIA's Valerie Plame is also avoided.

With all of the above just as a lead, the most revealing portion of the P-R's Editorial follows:

Democrats were so busy trying to haul the former presidential adviser before Congress to testify about alleged Republican efforts to politicize the Justice Department that they probably missed the news about the latest victim of Rove justice: Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens.

Did the P-R miss the news of Internal Justice Dept. Report Cites Illegal Hiring Practices? Monica Goodling, Kyle Sampson, ... are noted by name and yet I surely think they are fall gals/guys, as was perhaps GSA's Lurita Doan. I also recall last week's reporting that For White House, Hiring Is Political revealing what we've all known about how this administration operates. What about Miers and Bolten ordered to answer congressional subpoenas which of course will help bolster efforts to haul Karl Rove before Congress? Did the P-R miss this coverage? The P-R also missed sister publication B'ham News claiming in February in their "precious little reason to believe ..." dodge that "it's certainly not as if Rove is above playing dirty."

Before the Mobile Press-Register starts pointing fingers about anyone "missing the news" perhaps they ought to take a look in the mirror. They continue to show a downright stubborn and perhaps even pathological approach to Don Siegelman's case. John Gunn

UPDATE ~ August 25, 2008 - I'll be out of pocket on the 31st of August so unable to celebrate the anniversary of Karl Rove leaving the Bu$hCo payroll in 2007. How the Mobile P-R references Rove's DOJ might be correct given those he left in place and the culture of corruption he so represented.

Oh, moon of Alabama ~ Is Billmon back?

Billmon recently posted at Daily Kos with The Great White Hope and here's the money portion:

But McCain and his new team of Rovian handlers now realize they won't have a prayer in November unless they can motivate the conservative base and (to use Lee Atwater's charming phrase) "strip the bark" off Obama. And they have to do it NOW, so McCain can pivot back to a softer, more upbeat message in September.

So that's exactly what McCain is doing – instantly, unapologetically, without shame or embarrassment. His enormous cynicism about the political process and his contempt for the voters – not to mention his vast sense of self-entitlement - have led McCain to take exactly the same low road as the Bush family and its various henchmen (Atwater, Rove): Whatever works; whatever it takes.

And so it’s finally dawning, even on some members of his media "base" (ever the hapless clowns in our political theater of the absurd ) that McCain isn’t quite the straight-talking, straight-shooting military man of honor they thought he was. The White Knight has morphed into the Great White Hope – the GOP machine’s last, desperate chance to avoid the mortal humiliation of being defeated not just by a Democrat, not just by a liberal, but by a liberal Democratic black man.

Some of the suckers are even starting to suspect McCain’s been lying about them, too. Despite the cozy chats on the Straight Talk Express, the Arizona barbeque weekends, the cheerfully misogynist jokes and the teary-eyed moments when John tells one of his patented POW stories – despite, even, the donuts with sprinkles – he isn’t actually their friend at all. In fact it’s pretty obvious he despises them almost as much as he despises a system that forces him to pander both to them and to the voters.

Billmon can tend my bar any day. He was one of the ones that got me going. "Oh, moon of Alabama/We now must say goodbye/We've lost our good old mama/And must have whisky(dollars and girl in some verses)/Oh, you know why." John Gunn

J. C. Christian writes John Godwin

Guarding the AG's manparts is how Jesus General figures John Godwin (TSU Homecoming King/Troy King Executive Assistant) is earning his pay. It's wicked! John Gunn

Eric Egland continues building up right wing creds

Eric Egland is a Major in the Air Force Reserve. He's appearing above on Faux News back in September of 2007. Major Egland was rejected by the GOP in CA's 4th this June yet I'd keep an eye on this handsome, well spoken, confident, sharp ... young man. McCain's current hatchet man and former Darth Cheney advisor Steve Schmidt after all saw something in him way back in 2007. That his wife Ania is a proud patriot (as demonstrated by her response to MoveOn's recent Alex ad) is I suppose a positive as well amongst the right winger set.

Egland, although neither identified as a member of the Reserves or a former GOP Congressional candidate, got into the NYT and many other outlets with his Allies Obama Overlooked yesterday. The Google reveals the piece has spread rapidly. Language like "he (Obama) spoke eloquently", "despite news media caricatures", "Al Qaeda has been unable to attack since 9/11" ... appeared yet the following is my favorite:

Such close collaboration between the United States and France against terrorist cells in Iraq may surprise those accustomed to digesting easy sound bites of “cowboy diplomacy” and “unilateralism.”

That Cofer Black testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s subcommittee on European, the same being found here, allows Major Egland to write:

Had Senator Obama, who now heads that subcommittee, read the transcripts from the meeting, which took place before he came to office, or had he held a similar hearing, he might have known that the partnerships he called for last week already exist.

His tribute to Cofer Black also leaves off Black's current employment with Blackwater. Earning his keep and building his creds, Major Egland has managed to attack the media, Obama, and defend Bu$hCo. A hat trick! Eric, did Senator Obama make a claim that partnerships don't exist?

Going back to his Faux News appearance, I think many with concerns worried about the Bu$h administration writing the report. MoveOn accepts or at least acknowledges their ad was provocative and explains their actions here. "A question of trust" was a common theme.

As for the New York Times op-ed, let's start with some of what he's troubled by. Here's a piece on MSNBC where Senator Obama covers the same ground on the recent swing through Europe. Again, "a question of trust" applies. Here's an earlier speech on the same issue.

If Senator Obama is so lost why aren't many of the same suggestions raised by Rand Europe way back in 2002 equally wrong? Their Treat Europe as a Full Partner, and It Will Be makes tons on sense to me.

I've yet to find anything that suggest Senator Obama isn't aware of the successes of many of the professionals working hard and smart despite "leaders" such as George Bu$h. I applaud Major Egland's service for instance yet I'd suggest he's more than willing to ring his own bell.

That Bu$hCo and the current GOP is distrusted by many in Europe is accepted by anyone with awareness. The failures of this administration to sustain and then build off the goodwill extended to this nation after September 11, 2001 is perhaps one the most significant failures that history will explore for decades to come.

I'd like to think Eric Egland has a reason for his work other than advancement. But I'm just not that certain given the above. And that's a shame as I expect he could do some real good given his talents and traits. John Gunn

In Alabama we surely know negative campaigning

Bob Herbert's NYT piece today titled Running While Black is a gem. Reminding us of the infamous Harold Ford ad from 2006 is appropriate yet admittedly Team McCain's approach is much more subtle. He's right to remind of McCain's early ad of "an American president Americans have been waiting for.” That in 2004 St. John was "sick and tired of re-fighting the Vietnam War" yet the first ad he rolled out in 2008 used the same is also another angle beyond possible racist code.

He's also correct in writing, "Every day that the campaign is about race is a good day for John McCain." Progressivism, even the sorta kind version I fear Obama represents, will trounce the conservative foolishness of the last three decades.

As for the post title, I am thinking mostly of the Wallace-Brewer race in 1970. We've come a long ways from the infamous "Wake up Alabama" flyer that had the little white girl surrounded by several little black boys yet the emotional response that sort of thing generates is still out there for many. Conservatives have been winning elections on emotions rather than issues for decades now.

Professor Dan Carter's The Politics of Rage: George Wallace, the Origins of the New Conservatism, and the Transformation of American Politics is essentially The Bible in understanding George Wallace and also a good chunk of how the GOP is able to convince so many poor folks to vote against their own economic interests.

Finally, as for Obama with a white woman, I think the above image does quite nicely. John Gunn

How might "they" handle Bruce Ivins's suicide?

Google about for a Vince Foster related image and you find a disturbing number are associated with The Freepers. Looking back on the Vince Foster conspiracies, even before "the vast right wing conspiracy" was labeled, is likely not necessary yet the wing nuts continue to make their allegations a decade or more later. World Nut Daily's Joseph Farah and Big Fat Idiot are two prime examples. The reporting that Army scientist Bruce E. Ivins was talking of cutting a deal before taking his own life might add to ideas that he was silenced. Glenn Greenwald is pointing out the many unanswered questions with context rather than conspiracy as the root of his work. The post title refers to "they" which might include the corporate media, especially ABC given their repeated "the bentonite in the anthrax must be from Iraq" reporting, and the right wingers/movement conservatives. Let's hope Congress and the next administration will at least do some digging. John Gunn

UPDATE ~ August 7, 2008 - Simon Owens asks Should ABC News reveal its anonymous sources?

I really needed some inspiration this evening

To the left are some buttons from the Civil Rights Movement period. I thought I'd share them upon discovering History Remixed: The Road to Freedom at Atlanta's High Museum of Art. If I were still teaching in Georgia I'd surely want to get my students up to The ATL to see these photographs. The exhibit ends at The High on October 5th so I fear I'll have to explore re the internets. The effort will then go to The Smithsonian but so far this political junkie hasn't made it to DC. Baby Plaid went this Spring at least. I am frustrated with Uncle Sam right now, and there's always plenty of right wing nut jobs and movement conservatives that keep delivering crony capitalists to power, but visiting these images gives me hope and resolve. You do what you can where you are I guess. A tip of the tam for all involved! John Gunn