TPMDC Saturday Roundup
Hugo Chávez gives President Obama a gift: A leftist book on American intervention in Latin America. That and other political news in today's TPMDC Saturday Roundup.
--Eric Kleefeld
Cost Conscious
With the apparent desire of some Texans to secede from the United States, one cost conscious eBayer has taken it upon themselves to place the state on the auction block and sell it off to the highest bidder as a way of defraying the cost of the bank bailout and possibly some portion of the national debt.
The minimum bid for Texas was set at $100,000. But it's already been bid up to over $65 million.
--Josh Marshall
The Dark Tale
A lot of information in three short grafs, from the Times ...
The first use of waterboarding and other rough treatment against a prisoner from Al Qaeda was ordered by senior Central Intelligence Agency officials despite the belief of interrogators that the prisoner had already told them all he knew, according to former intelligence officials and a footnote in a newly released legal memorandum.The escalation to especially brutal interrogation tactics against the prisoner, Abu Zubaydah, including confining him in boxes and slamming him against the wall, was ordered by officials at C.I.A. headquarters based on a highly inflated assessment of his importance, interviews and a review of newly released documents show.
Abu Zubaydah had provided much valuable information under less severe treatment, and the harsher handling produced no breakthroughs, according to one former intelligence official with direct knowledge of the case. Instead, watching his torment caused great distress to his captors, the official said.
--Josh Marshall
Nutball Arcana
We asked some experts about Tom DeLay's double-bank shot plan to get Texas done seceded out of the USA.
--Josh Marshall
Hitting the Bottle?
French President Sarkozy's dismissive remarks about President Obama got picked up in the right-wing press in the US. But actually, in a free-ranging (and one imagines perhaps also well-lubricated) chat with reporters, Sarkozy dumped on the record with pretty much every head of government in Europe.
It's not every head of state who gets to divorce his wife, have a nervous breakdown and marry a super-model during his first few months in office.
--Josh Marshall
Just Happy About This One In General
I was still out of the country when Eric Kleefeld reported this: but, hey, Chris Chocola, old TPM parody-nemesis, is taking over as the head of the Club for Growth, the right-wing pressure group that specializes in killing off moderate GOPers with hard-right anti-tax Republicans who can't get elected to anything.
Chocola is taking over because former Rep. Pat Toomey (R-PA) is resigning to try to primary Arlen Specter (R-PA) out of the senate for the second time.
The Club was founded by Stephen Moore back in 1999. But since Toomey took over a few years ago, there's something telling about the fact that the outfit is run by politicians -- specifically, former members of Congress -- who have proven unable themselves to actually continue getting elected.
In any case, I'm excited to have Chocola back on the scene.
--Josh Marshall
Blood Bench
Who wrote the torture memos? And where are they know?
(Hint: One of them is a federal circuit court judge.)
--Josh Marshall
"Surprised and Saddened."
James Horne is a leading sleep research expert. He was a bit bummed to learn that his research was cited in the torture memos to justify keeping detainees awake for as long as 11 days. Zack Roth just spoke to him over at TPMmuckraker.
--Josh Marshall
Brutal Coda
Remember the Scott Beauchamp story? He was the Army private who wrote a piece for the New Republic describing out of control US soldiers in Iraq. He got a few facts wrong -- though, at least to me, it was always pretty fuzzy whether there was any reason to believe there was any bad faith involved -- and on the basis of that the Pentagon and pretty much all the right-wing media crucified the guy. Now it turns out that one of the soldiers who The Weekly Standard relied on as a sort of anti-character witness against Beauchamp was just convicted of executing four handcuffed and blindfolded Iraqi men. Remember that great journalism by Michael Goldfarb? Brian Beutler has the details.
--Josh Marshall
Handwriting on the Wall
This is pretty amazing. Steve Schmidt, a Karl Rove protege and respected, hardball GOP operative who was brought in last year to run John McCain's campaign is going to tell the GOP they need to just get it over with an get behind the movement to grant full marriage equality to same sex couples.
Former top McCain adviser Steve Schmidt is planning to use a Friday speech to the Log Cabin Republicans to urge the GOP to drop its opposition to same-sex marriage."I'm confident American public opinion will continue to move on the question toward majority support, and sooner or later the Republican Party will catch up to it," Schmidt plans to say according to excerpts provided to ABC News.
Schmidt's push for Republicans to endorse same-sex marriage comes as his party is grappling with a string of gay rights victories in Iowa, Vermont, and Washington, D.C.
To be clear, in the speech, ABC reports that Schmidt will also make the argument for marriage equality on the merits. He's not simply saying it's necessary politically.
--Josh Marshall
TPMDC Morning Roundup
Sen. Chris Dodd received just five campaign contributions from Connecticut residents in the last quarter. That and the day's other news in the TPMDC Morning Roundup.
--David Kurtz
Deep Thought
Conservatives are so incensed by warnings about the threat of right wing radicalism that they're considering overthrowing the federal government.
--Josh Marshall
Why Didn't Norm Think of That?
The latest out of NY-20 ...
20th Congressional District candidate Republican Jim Tedisco submitted a petition to the Dutchess County Supreme Court Thursday asking the judge to declare him the winner of the extremely close special election race, despite the numbers currently being in favor of his opponent, Democrat Scott Murphy.
It's late. And Kleefeld's our resident expert on this one. So I'm going to leave open the possibility that this is just a non-controversial procedural move that sounds more ridiculous than it really is. Or, maybe he's just decided to go all out and ask the judge to declare him the winner even though he got fewer votes.
Thanks to TPM Reader BP for flagging this one for us.
--Josh Marshall
Bigger Deal Than You Might Think
I saw this only out of the corner of my eye today. And not reading the details, I missed the significance. But this, I suspect, will turn out to be a big deal. Speaker Pelosi on Wednesday called for a new commission modeled on the 30s-era Pecora Commission.
--Josh Marshall
Pesky Details
There's been lots of talk about the relationship between AIG and Goldman Sachs and the fact that Goldman ended up getting almost $13 billion of the money the federal government 'loaned' 
AIG to stave off its well-earned collapse. And we've long known that prior to signing on as CEO to manage the wind down of AIG, Edward Liddy served on Goldman's board. What we didn't know until now is that Liddy still owns roughly $3 million in Goldman stock.
I never like to jump to conclusions about whether people took specific actions because of their own narrow economic self-interest. And I think there's much more involved here -- whatever happened -- than Liddy's own personal asset management. But this is pretty elementary in terms of a conflict of interest. Liddy was managing the government's money. And it turns out he had a huge financial stake in the continuing health of Goldman Sachs.
AIG spokesperson Christina Pretto rather unconvincingly suggests to the Times that the decision over whether to write the $12 billion check to Goldman would not have risen to the level of a decision that would need the CEO's sign off. I bet. A somewhat stronger argument, if in a rather Pyrrhic kind of way, is her suggestion that $3 million is such "a small percentage of [Liddy's] total net worth" that it's unlikely it could have biased his dealings with Goldman.
--Josh Marshall
So What's Sarah Palin Been Up To?
We review recent events from the Palin alternative universe.
--Josh Marshall
Don't Believe Everything You Read
So did GE and NBC brass lean on the folks at CNBC to lay off Obama? Our source says no.
--Josh Marshall
DeLay Offers New Theory of Texas Secession
I thought earlier that Tom DeLay had conceded that in fact Texas isn't allowed to secede from the federal union. And he does say that at one point in his talk with Chris Matthews that Texas can't secede. But then he has a reading of the 1845 annexation of Texas in which he claims that Texas can essentially force Congress to kick them out of the Union, thus amounting to a sort grand secessionist bank-shot.
Here's the quote ...
Texas as a Republic joined the Union by treaty. There's a process in the Treaty by which Texas could divide into five states. If we invoke that, the gov ... the United States Senate would kick us out and nullify the Treaty. They're not going to allow ten new Texas senators into the Senate. That's how you secede ...
A few seconds later DeLay seemed to say Texas couldn't secede but then went back to the Treaty double-bank shot idea. I guess you could say he's conflicted.
You can see the video here.
--Josh Marshall
Perry: No Secession, At Least for Now!
We've just gotten comment from Gov. Perry's press spokesman on the governor's apparent interest in seceding from the union. It's pretty vague but basically it seems like he's saying no need to secede for now. But in the future, who knows. Basically it was vague blah, blah sort walking back the controversy but not actually denying or walking back from anything. We'll have the details shortly.
Late Update: Chris Matthews has Tom DeLay on Hardball and they're going back and forth on Perry's flirtation with taking Texas out of the United States. DeLay did admit that secession is against the law and can't happen. But after saying that he actually seems pretty into the idea. And now they have a clip for Rush getting on the bandwagon too. From it seems like the Republicans, now centered heavily in the South, have found their issue to come back into power in the US -- building up a head of steam to leave the country altogether.
--Josh Marshall
Pretty Exciting
High-speed rail won't solve all of our transportation problems or free us from our dependence on oil, foreign or domestic, but it's an important element in a broader revitalization of America's infrastructure.
Here's a map of the corridors that are in the running for the new federal funds the Obama administration announced today it is making available for high-speed rail (click for larger version):
There's more on this particular initiative posted here.
--David Kurtz
Go Rick!
MSNBC is now picking up on the story of Gov. Perry of Texas hinting that the Stimulus Bill may be such a blow to the constitution that Texas may have to secede from the Union. But according to MSNBC, while Perry was making the comments, the crowd started chanting, "Secede, secede, secede ..." We're going to try to find out more. But from what we can tell, Perry didn't seem to have a problem with that. We're also trying to get comment from Perry's office on his current position on possibly taking his state out of the Union.
--Josh Marshall
Can't Keep a Good Lie Down
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-DSM-IV) accuses fellow Minnesota congressman, and practicing Muslim, Rep. Keith Ellison (D), of cavorting with scary "flying Imams."
--Josh Marshall
Suckas ....
TPM Reader AN wonders who's interests are being served ...
As I am sure you've seen, there have been a lot of recent reports of TARP funds recipients basically just itching to return the funds so they could get the federal government off their backs. Goldman Sachs is the most recent example and it appears their new brilliant plan is to raise half the funds they would need to repay the TARP funds by raising new capital. Former Treasury Secretary, Paul O'Neill, had an excellent response to this: "If banks now claim they want to return the money because they don't need it, why do they have to raise new capital to replace the money from we the people in order to repay the government?" There is one aspect of this that I haven't really heard people talkabout but think is really important and that's the moral hazard issue that's floating around in the background. It seems that the banks' big problem with the conditions placed on TARP fund recipients has a lot (although not exclusively) to do with the limits on executive compensation. Now, at some level I can understand these CEOs being annoyed about having their and their subordinates' compensation significantly limited--especially in the cases of those that came in to clean up messes they inherited (although I really don't think any of them really have clean hands in all this). But the problem is they have a specific fiduciary duty to act not in their own best interest but in the best interest of their company's shareholders. And when looked at through that prism its hard not to conclude that these CEOs are putting their own self-interest ahead of their company's shareholders. Even if Wachovia and Goldman Sachs can afford to pay back the TARP funds right now, what's to say economic conditions won't worsen to the point where that money would have come in handy in navigating difficult times? Shouldn't these companies be holding onto this money until the economic environment improves enough for them to be confident that they can repay the funds and still have enough money left over to meet their company's needs? This is where much of the root problem lays. I get the sense that a lot of these guys came of age at a time when the big investment banks were privately owned and hence a time where senior executives' interests were closely aligned to their company's interest. But now they have a bunch of sucker stockholders they can dump a lot of the risk onto (all while keeping windfall profits in the form of bonuses and golden parachutes). I am frankly surprised that a lot of the larger institutional investors that own bank stocks haven't stepped forward to demand that these CEOs focus less on their compensation and more on their bank's overall health.
--Josh Marshall
Truer Words Never Spoken
Fox anchor Megyn Kelly: "Fox News covered these Tea Parties, and we were one of the only organizations to give it any publicity or p.r. ..."
--David Kurtz
Looking Good For Dems in NY-20
Democrat Scott Murphy, who's now leading in the super-tight NY-20 race, ought to at least buy dinner for whoever oversaw his campaign's absentee ballot operation because Murphy actually lost narrowly on Election Day, but he's making up for it with a strong showing among absentee voters.
--David Kurtz
Amazon Takes First Steps to Destroy Kindle
I've been saying on the site how much I hooked on my Amazon Kindle. But from the beginning my big worry has been the market power -- arbitrary power -- this gives Amazon over your entire book collection. Here's a story about a guy who bought a Kindle, liked it, used it, etc. But then Amazon decided he'd returned too many real world items. So they turned off his Amazon account, thus making his $300-plus Kindle into a mostly useless piece of plastic. He had to spend a lot of time begging and pleading with Amazon customer service to be allowed to use his Kindle again.
--Josh Marshall
What's Up With This?
Homeland Security Director Janet Napolitano agreed to go on MSNBC this morning on the condition that she be asked only one question -- and no follow-ups -- about the threat assessment DHS issued on right-wing extremist groups?
That's what the Morning Joe crew said:
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I don't get why Napolitano is being so defensive about this (or, for that matter, why MSNBC would agree to such a restrictive condition). This was a standard-issue report, and as we reported yesterday it was produced under the auspices of a holdover from the Bush Administration. On top of that, DHS issued a similar threat assessment recently on left-wing extremism.
--David Kurtz
A Bit Suspicious
Clearly, there's a lot of violence in Mexico tied to the Mexican government's attempted crackdown on its drug cartels. And the Mexicans are quite legitimately pressuring us to limit the number of guns being smuggled from the US into Mexico, which are fueling the fire. And if Mexico degenerates to the level of Colombia where for many years the key cartels have operated as rivals to the government -- clearly beyond the legitimate government's ability to bring them to heel -- then that's a big problem for us, given our proximity and long border, etc. But I keep hearing these stories about violence spilling over into the US, questions from whether we may need to deploy the US army to our own border, vague stories about death squads in the US. I'm not saying there's nothing to it. But a lot of this has the feel to me of one of those stories ginned up by politicians and restless news outlets where there ends up being much much less there than meets the eye. Part of me wonders whether it's a recrudescence of the illegal immigration hysteria of last two years.
--Josh Marshall
Obama Laying Down the Law
According to reports out of Israel, Rahm is telling top Jewish organizations Obama doesn't care who the Israeli PM is. He wants two states in his first term. End of story. MJ Rosenberg has more.
--Josh Marshall
TPMDC Morning Roundup
President Obama will be speaking this morning about building a high-speed rail network. That and the day's other political news in the TPMDC Morning Roundup.
--David Kurtz
Okay, Maybe a Little Genius ...
TPM Reader MH on Franken ...
I think you can't say that Franken's only genius in the recount was being ahead. Almost equally as passive, Obama-like even, was the genius of his staying out of the way while the Minnisota election process worked. I've watched the coverage fairly closely and my impression has been that Franken did a remarkable job of appearing humble and patient in the midst of maddening conditions. While Coleman pushed and struggled and insulted the system, Franken seemed to let it run its course. I do think he deserves credit for that.
No Drama Franken?
--Josh Marshall
Reality, What a (Problematic) Concept
Now that even most of the Republicans without a cash interest in seeing him stay in the race are telling Norm Coleman it's time to pack it in, we're seeing the first round of rationalization and ass-covering over what went wrong. And the winning argument seems to be that Coleman didn't spin hard enough.
As one GOP operative told The Hill, "They allowed the legal proceedings to define the media environment."
In many ways, that statement might serve as a fitting coda for the Bush Era: insufficient bamboozlement allowed reality to hold the day.
But, as Eric Kleefeld points out, this rationale for Coleman's loss manages to be fatuous and superficial even on the customarily fatuous and superficial terms of political discussion. I'm not so naive as to believe that working the refs, i.e., framing the media environment, cannot play a big role in deciding political outcomes -- even ones notionally decided by legal processes. But for the first month or so after the November election hardly anyone gave Franken any hope of winning. And all the all-knowing editorial commentary was pushing for him to get out. But Coleman's boffo media environment started to buckle as the recount started to show that he'd probably lost. Admittedly, a hard set of facts for a well manicured media environment, such as Coleman's, to overcome.
For all my affection for Al and my respect for the smarts and hard work of his legal team, Franken's only genius in this whole post-election saga was too get a few hundred more votes than Coleman.
--Josh Marshall
Another Disconcerting Moment
One of the nice perks of running a successful publication is that people are constantly sending you free books or, as they're called, 'review copies'. For my own personal reading I'm usually not that interested in political books. But when I came back into work today I'd received a copy -- not sure why precisely -- of Adrian Goldsworthy's How Rome Fell. It's the kind of book I'd like to read. And especially now because I just came off reading The Ruin of the Roman Empire by James J. O'Donnell, which I found a touch weirdly written and a bit under-edited but also engrossing, with a reasonably persuasive argument about Justinian's key and under-appreciated role in triggering the collapse of the Roman world through a combination of religious persecution and foreign policy adventurism.
But all that aside, I've got this great book in front of me -- who knows about the content but great in terms of all the cool aesthetics of a fine clothbound book.
But, honestly, I'd rather download it on my Kindle.
I'm hooked. Ruined.
Late Update: Foiled! It's not available on Kindle. WTF ...
--Josh Marshall
Hmmm ...
Does the lack of any actual tax increases undercut this anti-tax rebellion?
--Josh Marshall
Live Baggin'
TPM Reader JC checks in ...
Here at City Hall Teabaggin'! Lovin' it!Astroturf or not, I respect the turnout. I went to 2 Wall Street protests, and they were weak...
Some guy from PA just showed up, said he hated government, and then they asked him where he works. It turns out he works at the Dept. of Transportation. "Civil servant", he says. I wonder if he realizes everyone in the crowd hates him and want to end his job.
Some other speaker just claimed that this crowd loves America so much, that "there probably won't be any trash on the ground after this is over."
These are special people.
BIG QUESTION: Why do these people desecrate the Gadsden Flag? They're flying it everywhere. I'm gonna need to look up the history of the flag again to see why it's a symbol of their Obama hatred. I thought it was about unity.
OK, Gingrich is up next with the opening of Hannity...
Can't wait... Ugh...
--Josh Marshall
Anti-Tax Porn
Scenes from across the nation at today's anti-tax tea-bagging protest events.
--Josh Marshall
File Under Banks Behaving Badly
It does at least show they're up on the social networking culture.
One of JPMorgan Chase's collection agencies resorted to trying to get a guy who was late on his car payment to pay up by writing threatening messages on his daughter's MySpace page.
--Josh Marshall
Menagerie
Bob Reich's Short Citizen's Guide to Kooks, Demagogues, and Right-Wingers On Tax Day.
--Josh Marshall
Enter Ron Paul
Man, this is just getting better and better. Ron Paul is now suggesting what he, I guess, thinks is a libertarian solution to the growing piracy problem. Have Congress get into the idea of issuing "letters of marque and reprisal," which as Paul notes is actually a power expressly granted in the US constitution. On MSNBC, they just had The Politico's Erika Lovley on talking about Paul's support. But she didn't seem to have a really clear idea of what privateering actually was.
In any case, it's sort of an intentionally ambiguous subject. But privateering was essentially government licensed piracy. Say, we're at war with the French. Congress gives me a letter of marque and then I have the US government's permission to go out and capture French ships on the high seas. I then bring the French ship back to a 'prize court' and if everything's in order, it's mine and I get to sell it.
It's a classic stage of under-developed state power, in which we may not have the capacity to have a fully built out Navy but we can subcontract the harassment and capture of enemy shipping and commerce by setting up privateers to do the job for them.
Now, there are a few problems with this. But here's the big one. Are you going to fit out a a group of small armed warships in order to vie for the chance of bringing in and being able to sell off some inflatable motor boats piloted by a few Somali 'pirates'? Maybe you could even sell one of their outboard motors on Craiglist?
Actually, Paul manages to say something even stupider -- which is that rather than having a powerful Navy, which keeps the oceans safe and provides a vast support to global commerce, we should leave it to the individual companies and ship owners to keep their shipping safe.
Late Update: Interestingly, this is not Paul's first go at this. He came up with a similar proposal just after 9/11, albeit one that made slightly more sense. In the case, the government could deputize you as a private terrorist hunter. And if you tracked down a terrorist bad guy and captured him you could then take possession of his cash assets or perhaps his training camp.
--Josh Marshall
Obama Uber Alles Macht Frei
Wow, first video from the Chicago tea bagging event suggests the folks didn't get the cheat sheet from Freedom Works. The first guy interviewed on CNN just said Obama was a fascist and now seems to be saying that they're standing up for the legacy of Abraham Lincoln, who you may recall put in place what was arguably the largest increase in federal power and spending in all of American history.
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Late Update: TPM Reader JEM checks in on the Chicago event ...
I work at the Federal Building in Chicago, right across the street from the tea bagging extravaganza going on as I type this. I walked outside to take in the scene and there were some incredible signs, ranging from "I am Jon Galt" to signs misquoting the 10th Amendment, to one being held up by a small child asking that her Daddy be allowed to keep his money. It's just a mess--it doesn't surprise me at all that the first person interviewed by CNN said Obama was a fascist...literally half of all the signs had some mention of Obama and spending or fascism or socialism or some other country-being-destroyed theme. What disturbed me the most were the number of small kids. I counted at least a few dozen, accompanied by their parents, holding up signs.
--Josh Marshall
Two Quick Thoughts on Piracy
1. Piracy in the eastern Mediterranean, spreading to the whole Mediterranean, in the first century BC -- largely ascribed to the fact that Rome had destroyed the Hellenistic Successor states that had controlled region without as yet asserting a policing authority of their own in the same era. See, bang-up mopping up operation by Pompey.
2. Piracy in the Caribbean and Spanish America generally from the 16th through the late 17th century. The reasons, broadly speaking, overextended and deteriorating Spanish naval power and indulged rival powers England, Dutch and French until the English decided that it was no longer in their long term interests.
Neither historical example is precisely on point. But piracy is usually about failed states, or failing or over-extended imperial powers.
--Josh Marshall
Don't Let That Teabag Smack You in The Face!
As Brian Beutler has reported, the right-wing group FreedomWorks has been heavily involved in orchestrating the astroturfy 'tea party' events around the country. And now the front page of the FW site has a post by FW blogger Ross Kaminsky providing a special geek cheat sheet enabling tea bag rebels to ward off left wing agents provocateurs at their rallies.
One of the most entertaining warnings is to protestors weary of getting dinged by junior high-type locker room gags ...
DON'T BE DUPED! The term "teabagging" has strong sexual connotations. Be wary of anyone with a camera asking you if you are a "teabagger" or if you enjoy "teabagging" or similar leading questions - they are trying to make a fool of you.
There's also a pointer on preparing special youtube admonishment videos ...
ADMONISH THE OFFENSIVE: If crashers or your fellow rally-goers bring off-message or offensive signs, get yourself on video politely telling them you believe their signs are inappropriate, then post the video to YouTube. Show the public that you don't approve, regardless of what the netroots folks get on video.
--Josh Marshall
Subtle Distinction
NBC's Pete Williams was just interviewed on MSNBC about a new Dept. of Homeland Security report about radical right groups trying to recruit military veterans. And there was a funny moment when Williams and interviewer Contessa Brewer tried to go out of their way to explain that this wasn't the about political radical right, i.e., the freaks we see in Congress calling for Revolution and rebelling from behind enemy lines in Obama's socialist tyranny but violent hate groups. Only, it was a little difficult since the issue agenda of both groups seemed pretty similar. We'll have the video in a minute.
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--Josh Marshall
Tea Bagging!
We've got a TPM photographer down at the DC 'tea party' events this morning and this afternoon -- which if I'm understanding this correctly are going to the barricades because of taxation with representation. Not sure I understand it. But we'll be bringing you the latest.
--Josh Marshall
TPMDC Morning Roundup
Blago has signed up for the NBC reality show I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here. Really. That and the day's other political news in the TPMDC Morning Roundup.
--David Kurtz
Away
For the last four years or so, I've tried to take one week off a year, with my family and away from work -- to take a vacation, which I'm told is a good thing, but also to detox from TPM. Only I've never really been able to do it. More generously, you could say the staff wasn't big enough for me to feel we'd have everything covered; less generously, my obsessiveness just wouldn't let me let go.
One particularly egregious example -- and don't write in to tell me it's egregious, since I know it's egregious -- was back in 2005 on my honeymoon in Mexico. This was right when we were getting TPMCafe off the ground. Only our site design consultant was completely behind schedule getting the site ready for launch. So I found myself sneaking off in odd moments to the computer room at the place we were staying at to get updates on what the hell was happening and to try to apply whatever pressure I could from a couple thousand miles away.
Anyway, this is all a way of getting to the fact that this time I was finally about to do it in spades. I was away for ten days. I didn't look at any work email. And I went days at a time without even looking at the site, which was both weird and deeply liberating. But stepping back from the daily grind of editing the site has allowed me to do what I hoped it would do which is to clarify key points in my mind about the editorial direction of the site.
Nothing earth-shattering, more a matter of focus and clarity and zeroing in on what's critical about what I want us to be doing, which is something that can get fuzzy and imprecise when so much of my time is spent running TPM as a business as much as I'm running it as an editor.
More to come on this front.
Finally, on a personal note, I've got a big backlog of emails that have piled up over the last ten days, most of which I'm only seeing now. I'll try to have them all responded to tomorrow. But please give me at least through tomorrow to get replies off to all of them.
--Josh Marshall
Congress to AIG: Why All the PR Firms?
TPMmuckraker has exclusively obtained a letter from the House Oversight Committee to government-owned AIG demanding that the company cough up information about the four PR firms it has retained.
--David Kurtz
Taking Things A Tad Far?
Eric Kleefeld has been reporting for us on the GOP's aggressive challenge to the validity of absentee ballots in the razor-thin election in the NY-20. The GOP's claims -- untested thus far by a court -- is that the ballots in question were cast by people who actually live in New York City but keep a second home upstate.
But now comes word that the GOP has challenged the absentee ballot cast by Sen. Kristen Gillibrand (D-NY), who held this seat until she was appointed to replace Hillary Clinton.
The grounds for the challenge, which sound specious on their face, was that Gillibrand was in the county on Election Day and therefore should not have been allowed to vote absentee.
--David Kurtz
B.O. v. Bo For Story of the Day
Watching the cable nets, it's pretty obvious that covering Barack Obama's entire 45-minute economic speech this morning was the price they had to pay to get to cover the official unveiling of First Puppy Bo this afternoon. CNN even has a special "Presidential Dog Arrival Soon ..." graphic, along with the Dog Whisperer guy on live for color commentary, as well as a real live Portuguese Water Dog as a stand-in of sorts in the studio.
--David Kurtz
The GOP's New Inclusiveness?
Virginia GOP blames "Internet prank" for soft-core lesbian porn video on its official YouTube page.
--David Kurtz
Live From St. Paul!
Still hard to believe that this guy got elected to the U.S. Senate.
--David Kurtz
Silent No More
The NRSC finally gets around to reiterating its support for Norm Coleman's dragging the election out for longer than a bad SNL sketch.
--David Kurtz
American Exceptionalism
Lindsay Beyerstein: Enough dead teen pirate porn already.
Late Update: Several examples of the cartoonish media coverage were sprinkled through yesterday's The Day in 100 Seconds.
--David Kurtz
The Silence Is Deafening
Since last night's court victory for Al Franken, there's been no comment from the RNC, the NRSC or the Minnesota GOP.
Time for Norm to go?
--David Kurtz
And The Winner (Still) Is ...
Al Franken's presser from late yesterday evening, after the Minnesota election contest court unanimously ruled in his favor:
--David Kurtz
TPMDC Morning Roundup
The Obama Administration may drop the long-standing stop-nuclear-activities precondition for talks with Iran. That and the day's other political news in the TPMDC Morning Roundup.
--David Kurtz
Franken Wins Again!
The three-judge election contest court has unanimously rejected Norm Coleman's challenge to the validity of the election.
In a news conference just now on the steps of his home (which we live-streamed here thanks to TheUptake.org), Franken pointed out that the election contest court declared that he is entitled to a certificate of election and hoped it would be issued soon.
Our in-house Minnesota election expert, Eric Kleefeld, has more on the Franken presser and on Coleman's declaration that he'll appeal.
--David Kurtz
Droppin' Like Flies
It's a sure bet that the Minnesota Supreme Court will end up having to handle the appeal of the final decision in the Coleman-Franken election contest trial. But as many as four of the seven justices could end up recusing themselves from the case.
--David Kurtz
Baby Steps
Steve Clemons: Easing restrictions on Cuba a good first step -- but there's still a long, long way to go.
--David Kurtz
Flying Under the U.S. Media Radar
Check out our slideshow on the recent civil unrest and political turmoil in Thailand.
--David Kurtz
More on Geography
A lot of interesting reader responses to the "It's About Geography" post earlier, many agreeing wholeheartedly with TPM Reader JH, but some, like regular TPM Reader DC, taking exception:
A quick check of the Statistical Abstract of the United States indicates that in 2006 the top fourteen states in prime contracts per capita (i.e. those states that gained more than their populations might warrant) were, in order: Virginia, Alaska, Connecticut, Mississippi, Maryland, Missouri, Hawaii, Arizona, Alabama, Massachusetts, Vermont, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Texas.Yes, the South is well represented here (if you count Maryland and Virginia as credibly "southern"); but so is New England (Connecticut and Massachusetts have long been among the most defense-dependent states in the country). Six of the above states voted for Obama in 2008. Georgia, BTW, is far down the list. In terms of absolute expenditures, the top three are ... California, Texas, and Virginia.
Your correspondent is basically trotting out the old Kirkpatrick Sale/Bruce Schulman argument that the South systematically milked the blue states to gain federal subsidies. But in fact, throughout most of the post-WWII era, the South actually did *worse* than the rest of the country in terms of prime contracts--and procurement has accounted for at least sixty percent of US defense spending.
TBS, the South does indeed embrace a disproportionate share of active and retired military and dependents, and has since World War II. But what that has to do with issues involving the reshuffling of defense *procurement* is beyond me.
Yes, Chambliss will go to bat for Lockheed Martin--as Chris Dodd will for Electric Boat and Snowe and Collins for the Bath Iron Works (Does your correspondent know they exist? Does he know Fort Dix exists? That it's in the Northeast?). But in the end, the Republican response to the Gates/Obama proposal isn't about geography; it's simply a repeat of the old Republican effort to paint everything Democrats do on defense as "soft."
--David Kurtz
Count Chocola Returns!
An old TPM fave is back. Former Rep. Chris Chocola (R-IN), who lost his re-election bid in 2006, is taking over as head of Club for Growth, replacing Pat Toomey, who is expected to try to unseat Sen. Arlen Specter in the GOP primary in Pennsylvania next year.
--David Kurtz
If You Can't Do the Time ...
A former federal prisoner who is now a consultant advising potential future white collar inmates (Wall Street Prison Consultants!!!) on how to survive prison confirms to TPMmuckaker that a woman claiming to be a relative of Bernie Madoff contacted him for advice, but he's not sure if it was Madoff's niece Shana.
--David Kurtz
Beware the Google
Responding to the flap over President Obama's visit, Arizona State U. prez says the school doesn't award honorary degrees to elected officials still in office -- except it did in 2002.
--David Kurtz
Those Were The Days
Neil Cavuto claims Fox News is covering teabaggers in same fair and balanced way it covered the Million Man March in 1995 -- except Fox News didn't exist yet in 1995.
--David Kurtz
It's About Geography
TPM Reader JH follows up on the Gates' new Pentagon budget and all the squawking from Republicans:
Keep up the good work! You are doing great work addressing concern about the non-existent DOD budget cuts as well as Republican double talk on the stimulative effect of defense spending.That said, you are missing the elephant in the room that no one wants to address -- namely, the fact that the DoD Appropriations and Authorizations bills are a stimulus bill, for a few, mainly red states, paid for by the rest of the nation.
Given this, it should come as no surprise that Senator Chambliss would notice the concentrated stimulative effects of defense spending as compared to non-defense stimulus spending that is more equitably dispersed throughout the nation.
The industrial infrastructure that ensured success in World War II -- building airplanes at Detroit's Willow Run airport, tanks at Detroit's Warren tank yards as well as ships at the Brooklyn and Philadelphia naval yards has increasingly been moved to the South and West. This was a concious political decision made over decades by the DoD, powerful Southern legislators, and multiple presidential administrations. The effect is that the bulk of our remaining naval yards are found south of the Mason Dixon line, Lockheed Martin has significant facilities in Newt Gingrich's old congressional district, while Texas and California are also home large numbers of defense contractors. ...
Yes, Massachusetts, Maine, and Pennsylvania still have considerable defense industries, but on a per capita and dollar basis the bulk of DOD procurement (CA excepted) is in Southern and to a lesser extent Southwestern -- aka red states. This is the result of decades of policy decisions.
Even more marked is the location of military bases. The Midwest and Northeast have one large Army or Marine installation -- New York's Ft. Drum. Chambliss' Georgia has eight, Texas eight, North Carolina five, Alabama three, and Louisiana one. The parallels are similar for the Navy and Air Force. These factors are due in part to weather (in part) and the end of the cold war (the northern, strategic defense air bases, the first defense against the USSR are no longer needed) -- regardless the result is the same: the bulk of DOD spending on bases goes to Southern states. ...
Now, Senator Chambliss (along with the North Carolina, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Oklahoma and Florida delegations) might provide wholesale support DOD funding if it went disproportionally to Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Minnesota, but that is a hypothetical these Senators need not answer. Instead, they can remain intellectually dishonest advocating for trickle down economics and railing against "wasteful" social spending for the rest of us, while wrapping themselves in the flag and advocating for increased money for our troops that disproportionately benefits their states.
For too long too many have shamelessly used the DoD funding bills to pork-barrel for their home states while railing against any government spending that could make our economy more efficient and productive (not to mention just or equitable). It is long over-due that they were called on their fiscal and intellectual mendacity.
Keep up the good work.
--David Kurtz
Wonders Never Cease
Krugman: Republican hypocrisy on military v. stimulus spending is "wonderful" to watch.
--David Kurtz
TPMtv: Sunday Show Roundup: Approval, Mockery, and Agnosticism
General Ray Odierno approves fully of the Iraq troop withdrawal timeline, Paul Krugman approves mockingly of GOP hypocrisy on government spending, and Senator Evan Bayh can't figure out how he feels about health care reform. All that and more in today's Sunday Show Roundup ...
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--Ben Craw
TPMDC Morning Roundup
Does the rescue of Capt. Phillips' really burnish Obama's national security credentials? The AP seems to think so. That and the day's other political news in the TPMDC Morning Roundup.
Late Update: Spencer Ackerman thinks it does burnish them to a degree -- but takes issue with the meme that says Obama needs his cred burnished to begin with.
--David Kurtz
How Dare We Ask Questions
NYT public editor Clark Hoyt has weighed in on the Madoff op-ed disclosure issue. You know, the issue that editoral page editor Andrew Rosenthal blew off our questions about last week.
--David Kurtz
Doesn't End Well for the Pirates
U.S. merchant marine captain is free and three of the four Somalia pirates holding him hostage are dead.
--David Kurtz
TPMDC Sunday Roundup
Gen. Odierno says he believes "it's a ten" that the U.S. will be out of Iraq by late 2011 -- but also allows for some flexibility in removing combat troops by mid-2010, with the Iraqis having final approval over any changes. That and other political news in today's TPMDC Sunday Roundup.
--Eric Kleefeld
