Archive for November, 2006
An interesting thing to realize in this day and age is that America has become somewhat desensitized to war. This isn’t to say Americans no longer view war as a big deal, or that wars don’t dominate news coverage, but a bad war doesn’t get the same type of outrage today as it would have say, in 1968. Those with friends and family who died or served in Iraq take it more seriously, but there are large pockets in the country with no direct connection to the men and women presently serving.
Unfortunately, war hasn’t become any less devastating. 500 thousand Iraqis are dead as a result of our invasion. Anti-American terrorist factions have fed off the ill-will this war has engendered, replenished their ranks, and are now stronger than ever. And the war has worked better than any drain-the-budget conservative tax cut ever could: hundreds of billions of dollars that could have gone toward education, sustainable energy, and plenty of other worthy causes are now gone.
To be fair to the American public, there have been protests, and the war overall is unpopular. This creates a real opportunity for Dems to force the issue and set a quick date for withdrawal. Ending the war in Iraq would be one hell of an accomplishment for Pelosi’s Congress.
November 29th, 2006
What’s with this notion that every article updating a previous story should also be required to serve as a stand alone piece? It’s like journalists are told to write everything as if their reader is picking up a paper for the first time in months. That kind of shit is fine for the USA Todays and Newsweeks, but it is not necessary in the daily papers of major cities, especially at a time when the printed word is trying so hard to prove it is not irrelevant.
Blogs easily avoid this fuckvoid by providing a link to a summary of prior events, and then fearlessly blasting away with new details. They can also cure world hunger and psoriasis.
November 19th, 2006
Most commercials are nothing special. But every once in a while you will find a little 30 second spot of joy. Like the “We’re KFC and we’re healthy ads”. Or the shocking truthout commercials where I learned that cigarettes are bad. And now this:
How do we know that you spend more time behind the wheel than you want?
And that often what really needs refueling is you
How do we know that you like fast better than slow?
And that a friendly place to stop along the way can make a big difference in your life
How do we know?
It’s really very simple simple.
The human touch, and a thousand other things you need.
We’re Exxon. We’re Mobil! We’re drivers too.
(tear)
November 16th, 2006
As some of you may have noticed, Fit To Print hasn’t been fit to print for quite some time. We are adding a guest poster who is going to pop in every now and again to revitalize this dying beast. His name is Captain Obvious.
I will now execute the smooth hand-off without ever leaving the first person.
Who’s familiar with James Carville? He’s the “Ragin’ Cajun” who ran Bill Clinton’s 92 campaign, along with George Stephanopoulos and Paul Begala. All three have since become sell-out shills, but in 92 they revitalized the Democratic Party like I’m revitalizing this cur of a blog. He blames Dean for the 10 or so close races Democrats lost in the House this year.
Howard Dean is the reason we are talking about pickups of this magnitude in the first place. The real fault lies with party bigwigs like Rahm Emanuel, who refused to believe in the viablity of netroots and progressive candidates and denied them the funding that could have pushed them over the top in many of these narrow defeats.
The internet is creating amazing opportunities for de-centralized organization that will only become better utilized in upcoming elections. The sooner the blogosphere is accepted, the sooner its potential can be realized. The key is educating people who think of it merely as a group of fringe fanatics, and getting them to acknowledge the power of the medium, even if they are wary of some of its current manifestations.
When folks talk about the battle for the soul of the Democratic party, this is one of the biggies. Grassroots progressives vs. Establishment Dems. The internet is becoming the great equalizer in this fight. Excellent article about it here.
In other news, Frank Thomas is thinking of signing with the Toronto Blue Jays. Hey Frank, everyone in Chicago thought you were a whiny baby, but you are hailed as a king at the Coliseum. Do you think the magic ingredient is you or Oakland? Here’s a hint, ask Milton Bradley, who frequently talks about how much the team loves him here, even though he is reviled everywhere else in the contiguous United States. Think a bigger contract is worth leaving?
Mo money, mo problems.
November 16th, 2006
Today, we got our first piece of bad news since the election. Russ Feingold has announced he will not run for President in 2008. My feelings were summed up pretty well in this Chris Bowers post, but I thought I would give a go at summing them up pretty unwell. First, here is yet another take on Russ’s decision not to run from Glenn Greenwald and a rundown of all the potential candidates by Joe Trippi (Dean’s campaign manager in 04). This post is also designed to replace the last one I wrote.
Trippi and Greenwald make two key points about Russ. One, he’s the most authentic candidate. Authenticity is something Democrats desperately crave. Being from the Northeast helps Russ out here. Coastal Democrats have a hard time fighting the liberal elitist label, regardless of their actual positions. There is a salt of the earth factor the Northeast gifts its candidates that is really hard to get anywhere else but the South. And Southern Dems seem quick to turn this potential authenticity into a slick, folksy, pandering package of false principles (read: John Edwards and Harold Ford Jr.)
Feingold’s principles and authenticity have allowed him to achieve some amazing things. Enter: key point number two. Many times he has stood for an unpopular idea and helped to make it popular. When you are doing your weekly perusal of old Senate floor votes, look for all the 99-1s. Like the initial Patriot Act vote, or the 1 vote to dismiss impeachment charges against Clinton without conducting a trial, or that pesky censure proposal against the current President that no other Senator would introduce. All of these votes were heavily criticized and very unpopular among voters… at the time he made them. There is much stronger popular sentiment for his choices, now.
Sticking with your conscience, and bringing voters around to your way of thinking. How statesmanly. How presidential. Russ Feingold is the Senator who keeps “Democratic leadership” from being an oxymoron.
In Congressional elections, when voters aren’t too familiar with the candidates, they vote on the issues (which quite often translates into voting by party). In statewide and national elections, they vote on the candidates, so long as divisive and misleading wedge issues don’t steal the spotlight. This is the reason for so many of the Senatorial upsets we saw on November 7. What political pundits almost universally attributed to a desire for middle of the road candidates was anything but. It was a desire for principled candidates. Regardless of whether voters agreed with Jim Webb and Jon Tester on everything, they didn’t doubt for a minute that they really stood for something. It’s some of that Russ Feingold mojo, that authenticity stuff.
In the majority of races where a sitting Senator was defeated, we saw a similar pattern. That Senator did something to lose the public’s trust, and voters then found a more trustworthy alternative. Conrad Burns played “catcher” for Jack Abramoff so much his ass is still throbbing. George Allen proved he didn’t like blacks or Jews, or you know, all those non-Aryan folks. Rick Santorum went the way of Tom Cruise. You can only hide the crazy for long. Sooner or later it is going to come out.
And when these things happened, Jon Tester was ready with his admirable opposition to the Iraq war and his two dollar buzz cut (talk about someone who isn’t afraid of what other people think). Jim Webb was there with his uncanny ability to cut away the bullshit premises of loaded interview questions. And Bob Casey was there with his… well, with his unaddled brain.
Voters are more concerned with character, principle and honesty than they are with any single campaign issue not named Iraq. Today, Dems lost a 2008 hopeful who transcended petty partisan politics and represented ideals the people really care about. Let’s hope we learn from this election and go out and find another such candidate, instead of rounding up the usual suspects.
Epilogue: I find some of my posts more entertaining if I imagine they are being read to me by Brandt from Big Lebowski. Also, I noticed that all Southern Republicans thanked God at the beginning of their concession speeches. This was funny to me, because here I was, thanking God at the exact same time.
November 12th, 2006
Fit To Print’s empire seems to be expanding. Observe our Nov 4 comments on Katherine Harris: “The two people most responsible for Bush’s election and reelection are going down in flames.”
Now take a look at frighteningly similar remarks from mydd’s Chris Bowers, a full 48 hours later: “Neslon (D) 58.4%–34.4% Harris (R). At least one high profile member of the evil empire is destined to go down in flames this year.” Here’s the link.
Coincidence? You tell me. You. Tell. Me.
Also, tonight on The Jim Lehrer News Hour, they were talking about how a Democratic House and the President would have a better shot at creating good immigration legislation than a Republican House. Because it is one of the few issues on which Bush is more of a moderate. It appears the whole world is starting to read Fit To Print. And they’re better off for it.
November 6th, 2006
When asked, most talking heads said that John Kerry’s botched joke might hurt his presidential chances, but will not change anything this Tuesday. Regarding Saddam’s sentencing, they say it is a bright spot amongst otherwise depressing Iraqi headlines, but it will not be a factor on Tuesday. 0 for 2. Kerry’s comments have been a rallying cry for conservatives for several news cycles and if any pundit thinks it is entirely unrelated to the tightening in the polls, he should be sacked. If any pundit thinks that positive news from Iraq won’t help GW rubber stampers, he should be sacked again.
Republicans have once again sold the public on “Hey, we’ve screwed up, but do you think our country is safe with Kerry and friends? Grit your teeth and vote Republican.” Kerry’s joke and handling of it were dumb, but even more shameful were Democrats who distanced themselves from him as quickly as possible. Is there a single Democrat who thinks Kerry is stupid enough to publicly insult our troops one week before an election? A decorated veteran has just been left for dead on the battlefield by spineless Democratic Senators. By the way, Kerry is the only high-profile Senator to follow through on his promise to actively campaign for Ned Lamont. Everyone else saw Ned’s sinking poll numbers and decided to make nice with Joe. So it looks like the only person who would have been willing to stand by Kerry suffers the unfortunate inconvenience of being Kerry himself.
The Democrats may have squandered the chance of a generation. Playing it safe and running out the clock don’t work when the political tide changes by the hour. Eventually you have to stand for something. I’m worried I’m going to be one sad little kid on November 7.
November 6th, 2006
First, a disclaimer. There is a big gap between the things I know, and the things I can explain. This gap is widened by the limitations of this medium, especially it’s reliance on brevity. Also, I have a tendency to try and get at all aspects of an issue, instead of focusing in on a few points and driving them home.
There are three main benefits to a Democratic takeover. A better ability to shape the debate in Congress and in the press for the two years leading up to the presidential election, an important repudiation of corrupt political practices and campaign strategies and lastly, the power to stop the conservative movement and enact bills to help the salt of the earth. The first two benefits are the most naunced and hard to define to the non-believer, so I’ll focus on the third.
Immigration initiatives can be passed that give illegal immigrants a path to citizenship, border security can be strengthened without ridiculous notions of building expensive and useless walls, and no efforts will be made to further criminalize border jumping, which turns desperate people into unecessary villains. This is one of the few areas where the President has shown actual thoughtfulness (although perphaps in part as an appeal to moderate voters), he is much more sympathetic on this issue than Republican leadership in Congress, for instance. So a sensible bill, passed by both Houses, might actually garner his John Hancock.
Democrats are trying to propose a bill that would let the Medicare program negotiate with pharmaceutical companies for much lower prices on prescription drugs. Lots of seniors out there stand to gain from this.
More campaign finance legislation is needed, as well as better oversight and more transparency for government and lobbyist interaction. Dems already have passed a law requiring the government to manage a public web site detailing all budget expenditures, and could go further in this area.
Pelosi and co. have also stated they want to repeal recent tax breaks for big oil, and pursue alternative energy sources.
Dems also want to raise the minimum wage, which, when adjusted for inflation, is the lowest it’s been in 50 years.
Democratic majorities in state bodies can help provide better voting equipment and more oversight of the election process, taking steps against vote suppression and disenfranchisement when needed.
If both Houses change parties I will be writing more about the specifics of some of these issues.
November 6th, 2006
House predictions:
The Democrats need a 15 seat shift to take back the House. We’re predicting a net gain of about 30 for them. A few of these seats are in red districts where a corrupt Republican resigned or is still running but bound to lose. These look like two-year pickups that will be lost again in 2008.
More promising are the Democratic areas where moderate Republicans are in danger, like a few of the races in New York and Pennsylvania. These are where more longterm changes could take place. If Democrats win a lot of those races and take forty or so seats back, it will have a lasting impact on the makeup of the House. Forty is a very real target. Most estimates predict between low twenties and high thirties.
Senate predictions (predicted winning party in parentheses):
AZ (R) - Pederson comes up just short.
CT (I) - Ned’s otherwise great campaign had a couple late missteps, and Joltin Joe will probably win, but it will be closer than polls indicate. If Ned loses, look out for a Lieberman defection. Again.
MD (D) - Steele ran a good campaign, but there are too many Dems in this state. Cardin wins.
MO (D) - Talent is the only other adept GOP candidate in the battleground states. Too bad McCaskill still beats him by a percent or two.
MT (D) - Tester by a hair. Or a buzz cut, if you will.
NJ (D) - Menendez fights off charges of corruption to win his first full term.
OH (D) - Sherrod is a good populist. DeWine is toast.
PA (D) - Santorum has no hope.
RI (D) - Chafee is a moderate saying don’t call me George. If he’s that hurt, he can become a Dem and try and recapture his seat in six years. He’s losing on Tuesday, albeit by a narrow margin.
TN (D) - Early voting surge and energized black base hand Ford the upset of the election. Conventional wisdom be damned.
VA (D) - George Allen stumbled, and when he did, Webb was there to provide voters with a good alternative. Yet another close victory for the Dems.
This would leave the Senate with a 52-48 Democratic majority, as both independents have promised to caucus with them. It could easily go 50-50, too. While the overall Democratic surge was stronger a couple weeks ago, there are a few Senate races Dems have evened up in that time (and some where they’ve lost ground but are still projected to win). Specifically, it seems MO and VA were won in the last weeks, while TN and MT may have been lost.
November 5th, 2006
While the results of many races this year remain in doubt, a couple fitting outcomes are almost assured. The two people most responsible for Bush’s election and reelection are going down in flames. Congresswoman Katherine Harris is way behind Bill Nelson in the Florida Senate race. Harris, you’ll remember, is the ugly hooker who refused to accept recount tallies in 2000. Here’s the kicker, she wrote a book about it, with the subtitle, “Practicing Principled Leadership in Times of Crisis”. With 17 Congressmen under indictment, it takes someone truly special to stay on the cutting edge of corruption and hypocrisy. Katherine, we salute you.
What Katherine Harris was to Florida in 2000, Ken Blackwell was to Ohio in 2004. Quite literally - he was also Sec of State, and a big fan of voter suppression. Sadly, while Mr. Blackwell has been a trailblazing Yes Man in the African American community, his gubernatorial aspirations are crumbling like the oreo cookie he is. Polls consistently show his opponent with a double digit lead.
Boris and Natasha don’t seem to be the only ones the karma gods are after. Corrupt Congressmen everywhere are having to fight unusually hard for their political lives. Negative ads have saturated the airwaves and are just now petering out into the mandatory feel-good finish campaigns always aim for. Democrats are pointing to record numbers of early voters in battleground states and saying that a tide of change is coming. To some (and by some I mean me), this sounds awfully similar to 2004. So I wouldn’t bet the bank that scandal and modest outrage will win against disillusionment and apathy in the 80 or so districts that haven’t been gerrymandered beyond any hope of competition.
Later this weekend I will be posting my predictions, along with some reflections on the campaign that I’m sure will be wonderful and illuminating and the missing piece to your day.
November 4th, 2006
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