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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
EJ
Published Letters: 486 Editor's Choice: 1
Noonan in today's WSJ:
I'm bumping into a lot of critics who do not buy the legitimacy of small town mayorship (Palin had two terms in Wasilla, Alaska, population 9,000 or so) and executive as opposed to legislative experience. But executives, even of small towns, run something. There are 262 cities in this country with a population of 100,000 or more. But there are close to a hundred thousand small towns with ten thousand people or less. "You do the math," the conservative pollster Kellyanne Conway told me. "We are a nation of Wasillas, not Chicagos."
http://online.wsj.com/article/declarations.html
Noonan caught on tape:
The most qualified? No! I think they went for this -- excuse me-- political bullshit about narratives --
In a WSJ article yesterday (link at sig), Rahm Emanuel cited Clinton's "gays in the military" and the Republicans' Terry Schiavo episodes and said,
"the lesson is to do what you got elected to do. Do what you talked about on the campaign. If you got elected, that's what people expect. Don't go off on tangents where part of your party is demanding an ideological litmus test. Neither of those things was part of the campaign."
"Barack Obama can stand up to them," said Emanuel. The "them" are Democrats with left-wing agendas, such as Barney Frank, who wants deep cuts to defense spending.
"Let me say this as to my colleagues," he began. "Although committed to their philosophy, they are incredibly pragmatic. They have lived through an experience in the minority. And they know how they got to be in the minority. And they know one very important political principle. They know that if President-elect Obama succeeds, all of us succeed. And if he doesn't succeed, his failures won't be limited to him."
and
...the best way for Democrats to avoid overreach in the next two years is by thinking "less ideologically and more in terms of future versus past."
Where will correcting the old government's damage fall on the new government's scale? Thank goodness for Glenn and people like him who put it where it belongs and damn the Orin Kerrs who don't.
I did not make that up.
An Obama administration could very well be planning to govern from the center. But there's still the reality of the Democratic congressional leadership, which is brimming with left-wing barons who have their own agenda.
Barney Frank wants to slash Defense spending by 25%. Charles Rangel wants to bring back the draft. John Conyers, who has called for slavery reparations, is also sympathetic to Europeans who want to indict Bush administration officials for war crimes. And Henry Waxman is angling for steep energy taxes to combat global warming.
The question is whether these veteran lawmakers will simply steam roll the new White House occupant, the way previous liberal majorities in Congress had their way with Presidents Carter and Clinton.
"Barack Obama can stand up to them," countered Mr. Emanuel.
I left out the part you quoted because they're part of what
Obama campaigned on. I'm concerned with what he didn't
campaign on.
mcjoan has a post up on Daily Kos - an open letter to Reid and
Pelosi. It includes a list of priorities, including "dismantling
the unitary executive" and revising FISA. This is from one of the
post's comments and I've seen similar comments when it comes to
Obama dealing with these issues over the months: "I hate FISA, but
without a strong working middle class, discussing FISA is equal to
intellectual masturbation and verbal diarrhea."
Hysterical? Moi? Not yet.
Just an FYI - SAMs are one of the many "Actions for Restoring America" that the ACLU wants Obama to correct:
'Special Administrative Measures' [SAMs] for prisoners
The April 2007 rules violate the attorney-client privilege and the right to counsel guaranteed by the Constitution. These SAM regulations allow the attorney general unlimited and unreviewable discretion to strip any person in federal custody of the right to communicate confidentially with an attorney....
Recommendations1. The Justice Department should repeal the regulation that directs the Bureau of Prisons to facilitate the monitoring or review of communications between detainees and attorneys. Repeal the Special Administrative Measures (SAMs) that restrict communications by certain Bureau of Prisons detainees and prisoners, and end the ability of wardens and the attorney general to issue SAMs. ...
2. Because of the extreme social isolation allowable under the SAMs, the BOP should conduct a mental health screening of all individuals currently subject to the SAM rules. ...
http://www.aclu.org/transition
"...a military spokeswoman said that Guantanamo does not have solitary confinement, only 'single-occupancy cells.'" NY Times via ACLU Blog: http://tinyurl.com/67yusb
(I'm sure the ACLU used that term to save space - that list is very, very long. When it comes time to bring it directly to Obama's attention, they'll probably describe it more the way you did.)
The transcript you're looking for is here and at my sig:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0404/19/ip.00.html
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
219 Democrats and one Republican join in favor of the legislation, which passed by a narrow margin
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Salon headlines in your mailbox
