August 28, 2007 by Alpha.

So there’s more coming down the pike on Senator Larry Craig’s current situation.

1. Congressional Quarterly reports that Senate GOP leadership will ask the Senate Ethics Committee to open a file on Senator Craig. While I wouldn’t expect any serious repercussions, this is certainly going to keep the story circulating. It also indicates that the Republican Party has no plans to rally around Craig - it looks very much like they’re cutting him off and hoping the stink won’t spread.

2. Speaking of smelly things, Craig has resigned his post as Senate co-chair for former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney’s Presidential race. This could be an issue going forward for Romney, as he was no doubt banking on southern Idaho’s heavy Mormon population for long-term support. Will he be able to get the backing of another major conservative leader in the west?

3. Michelle Malkin’s readers (not usually me, I swear) think Craig should get gone. Malkin herself called Craig “a supremely arrogant lying crapweasel” which may actually enter my personal lexicon. Thanks Michelle, you “supremely arrogant lying crapweasel!” Awesome.

4. Conservatives are jumping all over themselves to give Craig the hairy eyeball, from Malkin (above) to Ari Fleischer to Sam Brownback. And to think that just yesterday I was worried that Dems would look bad for piling on. Since when do Republicans do Democratic dirty work?

5. Finally, Craig on Craig: it’s the Statesman’s fault. That’s right, Senator, blame that notorious left-wing media for all of its, you know, investigative journalism.

In other news, Rep. Brian Baird threw a town hall last night. Brian’s a pretty charismatic guy, alright, but what anti-war Democrat holds a town hall the night after announcing that President Bush’s surge might be helping? Jon Soltz, of VoteVets, showed up and called Baird out on his support for a clearly failing policy.

My question is what Rep. Baird thinks he’s doing here. I’v met the man and most of his staff, and he doesn’t seem to put up with a lot of foolishness. So where’s the percentage here? He took heat for voting against the Iraq war, he took heat in the ‘06 cycle for not being anti-war enough for his more liberal constiuants, and now he’s taking heat for saying we need to give the surge another 6-12 months.

Brian, please. Pick a stance, and stay with it. And if you’re going to pick the least popular of all possible stances, do it with some finesse!

Posted in Idaho, Elections, Washington, Iraq, Campaigns | 1 Comment »

August 27, 2007 by Alpha.

Gonzo is out the door. I hope that I will, one day soon, have the pleasure of posting a mashup of “Hail to the Chief” and “Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead.”

Like the salacious icing on corrupt ineptitude cake, Roll Call is reporting today that, way back in June, Sen. Larry “The Pride of Idaho” Craig was arrested at the Minneapolis airport for “lewd behavior.” Apparently he came on to a (male) plainclothes police sergeant. In an airport bathroom. I couldn’t make this up!

Craig paid a fine, and a 10-day jail sentence was stayed. He is presently serving a year of probation. Apparently Sen. Craig made something of a fuss, presenting the arresting officer with a business card (you know, those sweet looking official Senate business cards that you and I pay for) and asking “What do you think about that?” For some reason I doubt Sen. Craig was attempting to inflate the sergeant’s ego…

Now, I’m reporting on this for three reasons.

Right out of the gate, Senator Craig hasn’t been particularly progressive about gay rights or sexual freedom, so I find the precise circumstances of his “lewd behavior” particularly hypocritical and therefore noteworthy. Nobody gets away with attempting to play “Is that a veto in your pocket?” in an airport bathroom while telling me a little sodomy between friends is wrong. Two words: Bull; Twinkies.

Second, this is just bad politics. Sen. Craig is up for re-election (we presume) in ‘08. Big Gay Dem activist and all-around shenaniganologist Mike Rogers has been sniffing around for a while, and finally declared Craig “outed” last October. Now, those kind of accusations aren’t generally all that sticky (eww!). Craig, and his staff, vociferously refused to acknowledge the accusations, which almost certainly would have eventually evaporated. But when you have a cloud like those accusations hanging over your head, you probably want to take the high road when it comes to public man-on-man canoodling (or “manoodling”, if you will). This smacks of a certain lack of professionalism, no?

Lastly, this story is funny. I won’t lie. This story reminds me of the hilarious revelation that Strom Thurmond, who filibustered the Civil Rights Act of 1957 (solo, for over 24 hours!), had a daughter with a black woman. It suggests to me that, at least in America, those who claim to wish to restrict the equality of rights generally do so either through misguided obsession or through cynical public claims.

In all seriousness, I have no doubt that the last several months have been hard on Senator Craig, and that the foreseeable future is no brighter. The Senator has three options: 1. Accept that the people who elected him before aren’t going to elect him again, resign, and let Republican Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter appoint a successor who might be able to win in ‘08; 2. Accept that the people who elected him before aren’t going to elect him again, come to Jesus, and try to get a segment on 60 Minutes explaining why one of America’s biggest gaybashers is, well, a little gay; 3. Refuse to acknowledge that anything happened, blame it all on a Big Gay Conspiracy, remind Idaho’s voters that Nancy Pelosi is from San Francisco (gasp!) and pray that the suckers who’ve elected him to the Senate three times before will do it again.

Of course, deep down in the cockles of my partisan heart, I hope that Senator Craig will run all over the board with this crisis, paralyzing Idaho’s Republican machine and landing a Democrat in an Idaho Senator’s seat. What’s your best guess?

UPDATE: CQ has more, including some comment from Senator Craig’s office. Looks like he’s running with the classic “this is all just a big misunderstanding” opening. I wonder if anyone’s going to come back with the old “just which part aren’t we understanding?” gambit. We shall see.

Posted in 2008, Idaho, Elections | 1 Comment »

August 24, 2007 by Alpha.

Dear President Bush,

You and I don’t agree on much, these days. You say potato, I say quagmire. We both like baseball, though! What are your thoughts on designated hitters?

I digress. You and I would probably agree, more or less, on the short list of major threats facing the United States today. You and I would definitely both put al-Qaeda. As international criminal organizations go, you might have to skim James Bond novels to find anything better. They are thought responsible for significant attacks in 15 countries in the last 20 years, beginning with the Afghan insurgency against the Soviet Union in the late 1980’s.

I would like, as a member of the 9-11 Generation, to offer you some advice on the remainder of your term in office. Consider the terrorist, from the suicide bomber in Tanzania to Osama bin Laden in Waziristan. What is it that he seeks? What, in his mind, justifies his sins?

The stated mission of al-Qaeda, as put forth by Mr. bin Laden, is the establishment of a new Muslim caliphate. To that end, he requires the elimination of foreign forces from Muslim lands. In pursuit of this goal he has made a double-edged campaign, on the one hand working to galvanize the people of the Middle East to cast out the blasphemers (that’s us, Sir) and on the other hand using that same religious fervor to whip up a violent global effort to make our continued presence in the region as expensive and untenable as possible. These two efforts reinforce one another, as one hand washes the other.

Any thinking person would see that this delicate relationship is the lynchpin in Mr. bin Laden’s plan. If we refuse to kowtow to his demands or if we refuse to play the evil interloper in the holiest places in the most popular religion in the world, perhaps we can eliminate this particular danger.

You have, however not done these things, Sir. You have encouraged the American people to be afraid of Mr. bin Laden, when they are more likely to die by being struck by lightning or by choking on a toothpick than they are to be killed in an act of terrorism. Even more stupefying, Sir, is the nearly quixotic fervor with which you have delivered Mr. bin Ladin and al-Qaeda ammunition with which to besmirch and defame whatever good name we may have had in the Middle East. Perhaps worst of all, you appear to have attempted to best our foes at their own game by directly attacking the civil rights of American citizens and wilfully ignoring your responsibility to the Constitution.

Here is my advice to you, Mr. President: do, with what time remains everything that you have not done in the first six-and-a-half years of your presidency. Open your eyes, and open your mind. As Machiavelli wrote, while it is better to be feared, it is never to your benefit to be hated.

If you cannot do good Sir, I beg you to do better.

Posted in National, Rants | 2 Comments »

August 23, 2007 by Stuck In Spokane.

Recently, at an evening meeting at David’s Pizza, a new Democratic organization was formed here in Spokane. It was a group of 20 and 30-something Democrats who have all been involved in the political process, whether on campaigns, or as activists. They organized to have a social network of other Democrats of similar experiences and also to discuss how to further Democratic causes in the area.

They have agreed to meet regularly and to host trainings to improve their ability to assist local Democrats. Tonight they are hosting a training for the new Democratic Voter File, so that everyone is prepared for the upcoming election in 2008.

If you are of like mind, age and are looking for a similar group, contact me at info@spokompton.net and I will put you in contact with this group. Spokane needs more active involvement from younger Democrats, so please step forward.

Posted in Democrats | 1 Comment »

August 22, 2007 by Bravo.

The McMorris Rodgers 2008 campaign is out of the gates more than a year early this time. And she’s making full use of our tax dollars to pay for it. McMorris Rodgers visited Walla Walla on Wednesday (August 22) for a town hall meeting.

Of course meeting announcements were printed in full color and mailed on the congressional franking privilege at taxpayer expense. She brought a staff of four to the meeting (at whose expense?). The meeting was held at 1:30 p.m. on a Wednesday afternoon for the convenience of workers in the area. And she took the opportunity to collect names and addresses for her monthly newsletter.

But more than 120 locals skipped work and turned out, most with some bone to pick—from vets and peace activists to medical marijuana users and reproductive rights advocates.

McMorris Rodgers took questions in writing only, so she could pick and choose which to respond to. And to her credit, she has learned to dance lightly around a number of issues with the help of Frank Luntz and his political bromides—working in references to the “death tax” and the “Healthy Forests” initiative.

And she gave us, once again, the “happy Iraq” story, praising benchmarks that have been set and met there and promising no long-term military presence.

One of the toughest questions came from a Planned Parenthood representative who asked why she had voted to cut funding for the organization. McMorris Rodgers responded that she’s pro-life and doesn’t support federal funding for these types of organizations. The questioner persisted asking where the 3,000 people who currently use Planned Parenthood services in the area were supposed to go. McMorris Rodgers just buried her head in the next card.

Posted in 2008, Walla Walla, Campaigns, Fifth CD, Cathy McMorris | 1 Comment »

August 2, 2007 by Alpha.

We Americans, as a civilized breed, are tremendously proud of our common values.

In the land of values, Freedom is King.

In the United States, Freedom is generally interpreted in one of two ways. It is most frequently expressed as either: a condition lacking external constraint, the so-called “negative freedom” of libertarians and many conservatives; or a “positive freedom,” better described as a position in space, from which a multitude of options descend, which image is preferred by most liberal and progressive thinkers.

The obvious fault of the negative freedom theory is that it overlooks situations in which the unconstrained freedom of one person or group actually constrains the freedom of another. On the other hand, the positive freedom theory occasionally constrains everyone’s freedom to offer toothless protections to nearly nonexistent minorities.

These models are both appealing in their own ways, and find markets in many minds, but I don’t feel that either is satisfactory. It is as though we have theories describing trees and forests, but are saying nothing about how it all ought to relate.

Allow me to sketch a brief synthesis, a “Third Way” to discuss the implications of freedom in America.

Freedom is not a commodity. It cannot be bought, sold, or traded for. Freedom for each individual impacts the freedom of all, and to this end, those who are least free among us demand the greatest efforts to remedy that imbalance. There will come occasions where a government must balance the negative freedom of the many against the positive freedom of the few, and vice versa.

The greatest goal of the pursuit of freedom, however, must be the pursuit of options. We need real options, without barriers. We need options that you don’t need a lawyer to understand. We need to bring freedom to people, rather than obfuscating it, because a freedom I can see but cannot achieve is not mine.

A single mother making $1500 a month must be able to choose to change her life. Students in our public schools must have access to the programs that they want, from music to art to metal shop to computing.

Every American must be able to be who they want to, today and tomorrow.
That’s freedom.

What does freedom mean to you? Tell us in the comments!

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »