Uh-oh — I think this is going to be great TV and horrid testimony for Eric Holder: “Senate Republicans have invited the son of a man killed in a 1975 Puerto Rican nationalist bombing as well as a former FBI agent who investigated two violent groups supporting Puerto Rican independence to appear at Eric Holder’s confirmation hearings.” But really, what excuse other than currying favor with the Clintons was there for Holder to have overridden the pardon attorney’s recommendation and urged clemency for domestic terrorists who expressed no remorse?
President-elect Obama has a full blown press report on his meeting with the Mexican President. NAFTA is not getting ripped up –just “upgraded” now. Hmm. I don’t have the foggiest idea what that means either or why the Mexicans would go along with wage or environmental standards (i.e. protection for Big Labor) if that is what the President-elect has in mind. But what happened to “one president at a time”?
Isn’t a deficit of 8.3% of GDP enough stimulus?
It is not just Massachusetts where government health care reform has flopped. Hawaii dumped its plan and it was too expensive even for California Democrats (for whom nothing is ever too much). But I’m sure it will be totally different at the federal level because big, unwieldy and expensive projects subject to the whims of over 500 legislators and untold lobbyists always work out well in the end. On second thought, perhaps they can focus on small, vague items like “eliminating paperwork to save costs.”
It seems GM is having problems with the UAW and bondholders. Now Rick Wagoner is the one hinting at bankruptcy. Hmm, it seems a lot of folks were explaining that without a bankruptcy proceeding there would be no mechanism to restructure GM’s labor obligations and debt. But no, they first had to give away $17B plus $6B more in taxpayer money. Way to go, fellas.
Condi Rice talks nonsense on North Korea: “On North Korea, Rice made the case that the Bush administration has made unappreciated strides in eliminating that country’s nuclear weapon programs. When President Bush took office, North Korea’s plutonium-based nuclear facility was already frozen, with 8,000 spent fuel rods under international supervision. After a dispute with the Bush administration, North Korea restarted its facility and processed the fuel rods into nuclear weapons material, even testing a nuclear device in 2006. But Rice argued that events turned out for the best. ‘Yes, it’s unfortunate that they reprocessed in that period of time, creating some stockpile of plutonium, but, frankly, given the attention now on their program . . . I think it is a very good development’ because, she said, nations in the region now have joined together in a diplomatic process to persuade Pyongyang to give up the weapons it built.” It is a good thing America has been made to look foolish, let North Korea off the terrorist-sponsor list and seen the restart of the North Korean nuclear facility? One suspects the Obama administration simply can’t be as incoherent as this.
If you thought all that federal spending was doing anything to pull us out of a recession, think again: “So the Treasury has a good deal. The Fed pumps money into the economy by buying Treasurys with checks written on thin air. The Treasury quickly spends those dollars on the huge ongoing expenses of a government running a trillion-dollar deficit. Recipients of its spending put the money into bank accounts and, presto, the money comes right back to the Treasury to finance yet more government spending. The government is thus the main beneficiary of the phenomenal rise in the monetary base.” There just aren’t enough willing and qualified borrowers, so much of that money sitting in banks gets parked back in Treasury notes. This is indeed that “pushing on a string” phenomenon we learned about in Econ 101.
There’s now reason to read the NPR opinion page: Matt Continetti. He reminds us that Blago seems like a crook and other politicians may be unpopular, but impeachment and recall aren’t the easiest or most desirable means of booting out bad actors: “We elect officials to defined terms and hold regular elections for a reason: Elections are the ultimate check on governance and the standard of democratic legitimacy. What we sometimes forget is that both voters and politicians are bound to their choices. They may make the wrong choices — to err is human, after all. But that does not mean they ought to be tossed aside irregularly by politicians. To do so blurs the putative difference in our system between the rulers, the people, and the ruled—the people’s elected representatives.” Come to think of it, didn’t voters pretty much know Blago was a crook when they re-elected him?
Hillary Clinton sounds the clarion call of continuity on Iran. (Perhaps a bit more robust-sounding even than the Bush version, but no different in practice really.)
I’m not surprised at all that the Republicans went easy on Hillary. She didn’t say anything with which they terribly disagreed and she was at her super-competent best. Everything in politics is relative and conservatives could have done far worse.
And what’s not to like here? “‘On Israel, you cannot negotiate with Hamas until it renounces violence, recognizes Israel and agrees to abide by past agreements. That is just for me an absolute,’ Mrs Clinton told a Senate confirmation hearing. ‘That is the United States government’s position. That is the president-elect’s position,” she said after a senator suggested it is ‘naive and illogical’ to pursue diplomacy with governments opposed to Israel.” I can just feel the “change” pouring out, can’t you?
For the “Huh?”file: “CPAC’s [Conservative Political Action Conference] straw poll in 2005 was won by then Sen. George Allen… probably because he was a Virginian. So it’s not terribly predictive…. but it is noticed, and meaningful.” If it’s not predictive (in the least) why is it meaningful? Perhaps because pundits who know it’s not predictive write about it as if it were.
Perhaps all that continuity in fashion with the Obama team has gotten to the Republicans as well. Current chairman Mike Duncan is widening his lead in publicly pledged votes. “We like the GOP just fine,” may not be message that wins over new adherents, however.
Bobby Jindal has a better one: “Repent!” (Well that’s the columnist’s version but it fits nicely.)
President Obama can’t control those wild Israelis. Well, that’s what Marty Peretz suggests we should tell Iran.
I’m not sure why it is a “joke” for the Washington Post to praise the Minnesota Canvassing Board but not raise voter I.D. or question the integrity of the original vote. Norm Coleman isn’t even doing that. Was the recount properly considered and were the valid absentee ballots counted? If the answer to both is “yes,” Al Franken wins. He is a joke, but the election is valid.
Politico’s Roger Simon asks: “How come Roland Burris has had such an easy time getting to the U.S. Senate while Caroline Kennedy has had such a hard time?” He’s kidding, right? No this is not women getting trumped again; it’s Blago trumping Harry Reid and the President-elect. (And, frankly, from everything we’ve seen Roland Burris’s political skills are much better than Caroline’s.)
Not all the Democrats in Congress are willing to accept whatever “mumbo jumbo” the Obama appointees throw out. Incumbents are a wary bunch these days — they know the voters are not pleased with the mumbo jumbo either.
Camile Paglia isn’t fond of Harry Reid: “How in the world did that whiny, sniveling incompetent end up as Senate majority leader? Give him the hook!” To be honest, when the Democrats needed a snarling pit bull to oppose George Bush he fit the bill. Not so much anymore.
But Harry got off easy. On Katie Couric: “And let me take this opportunity to say that of all the innumerable print and broadcast journalists who have interviewed me in the U.S. and abroad since I arrived on the scene nearly 20 years ago, Katie Couric was definitively the stupidest. As a guest on NBC’s ‘Today’ show during my 1992 book tour, I was astounded by Couric’s small, humorless, agenda-ridden mind, still registered in that pinched, tinny monotone that makes me rush across the room to change stations whenever her banal mini-editorials blare out at 5 p.m. on the CBS radio network. And of course I would never spoil my dinner by tuning into Couric’s TV evening news show. That sallow, wizened, drum-tight, cosmetic mummification look is not an appetite enhancer outside of Manhattan or L.A. There’s many a moose in Alaska with greater charm and pizazz.” If they gave Oscars for insults, Paglia would have a closet full.
