Thursday, February 17, 2005

GOP caught on tape!

(No, not with Guckert's Gannon!)

'House Republicans supporting President Bush's privatization plan can run, but they can't hide from their pledges to not cut benefits or privatize Social Security. Click below to see the GOP "Caught on Tape"'

Brit Hume must resign

Oliver has the details.

Surprise Surprise

I'm going to do something I've never done before: compliment Alan Colmes.

This report comes courtesy of News Hounds ("We watch FOX so you don't have to"):

Hannity will do anything to make Howard Dean look bad and since people aren't buying the far left and unstable tag anymore,Hannity is forced to create material for his nightly Dean smears. Tonight there were two segments devoted to destroying Dean and both were ridiculous. 2/16/05

The first attack concerned a comment Dean made while speaking to the Congressional Black Caucus. Hannity and Michael Steel claimed that Dean's comment was racially insensitive despite the fact that Dean recieved a standing ovation at the end of his speech.

Tony Coelho refused to fall into Hannity's trap and started talking about the budget cuts that would radically affect the Black community. Hannity immediatly interjected, "I don't have a lot of time here." Colmes cornered Steele with a direct question, "Are you calling Dean a racist?" Steele backed down.The big scandal quickly turned into a meaningless non issue and it was finished.

The recent attacks on Dean are pretty much standard operating procedure for the Republican party. The attacks are by implication than by direct assertion. A Republican hate group doesn't say Dean sympathizes with suicide bombers. But they place a quote from him above a picture of men with bombs strapped to their chest. The head of the NY state Republican party doesn't say that Dean is in league with terrorists, but he lists Dean with a lawyer who was recently convicted of aiding her terrorist client. And Hannity and Steel don't directly call Dean a racist, but they feign outrage over a joke Dean made about black Republicans.

Alan Colmes, to his credit, goes right to the heart of the matter by asking Steel to make his accusation direct instead of just implying it. Steel, of course, can't comply, so he has to back down.

Good job Mr. Colmes! Have a biscuit.

Pelosi: I want money. Dean: I want help

Before I get into this I want to make something clear: I am a fan of Nancy Pelosi and I am grateful that she is applauding the ascendancy of Howard Dean to Chairman of the Democratic Party.

Having said that, though, I would like to use a recent email solicitation from her for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to illustrate an important point. First of all, here is the text of the email (I can't find a hard link for it):

Dear Chris,

On Saturday we elected a great Democrat as the chairman of our Party -- Howard Dean. Governor Dean has used the power of technology, the force of his personality, and the depth of his ideals to energize the grassroots, and bring more people into the political process.

I have seen Howard Dean's campaign strengths firsthand as he traveled across the country for House Democrats -- organizing voters and raising money. I have seen people who have stood in driving rain for hours to hear his message. We all thank Governor Dean for his enthusiasm and support for our candidates.

This is a critical time for our Party.

https://secure.dccc.org/default.aspx?id=welcome

Governor Dean joins the DCCC's new Chairman Rahm Emanuel as a pair of visionaries who are already working quickly to reform our party and refine our message.

Our new Chairmen need you on board. The 2006 elections have already begun. We need the support of loyal Democrats like you to continue in our fight.

Please renew your support in the DCCC today.

https://secure.dccc.org/default.aspx?id=welcome

Democrats are shaking up the status quo, reaching outside the Beltway for ideas and direction, and striving to strengthen the bonds with the great citizens of this country. We will restore a government that protects the interests of the people against the massive special interests that would use government to gouge them - rather than the other way around. You want real reform, and we will bring it to you. But we can only do it with your help.

https://secure.dccc.org/default.aspx?id=welcome

We will fight together, and together we will prevail!

Sincerely,

Nancy Pelosi
House Democratic Leader

Now, compare this with the recent "Message from Gov. Howard Dean". You can read the whole message here.

Notice that both messages are interspersed with hyperlinks. However, while the links in Pelosi's message lead to a contribution form for the DCCC, the links in Dean's message lead to page describing his plan for the DNC and asks for our help in making the plan work. Pelosi's message is a solicitation for money. Dean's message is a solicitation for help. Which message sends the message that the Democratic party wants its supporters to become more involved?

Dean understands something that Pelosi and others need to learn: in the Democratic party, money from the grassroots comes as a result of a feeling of involvement. Dean raised so much money in 2003 because he made people feel like they had an important part to play in his campaign. They became invested personally in that campaign. As such, when it came time ask for money, the bucks flowed in like manna from heaven.

Pelosi needs to learn to trust that we will come through for the Democrats when the money is needed. Until then, she needs to solicit our involvement first before she starts passing around the hat.

Update:

A beautiful metaphor from commenter bink over on dKos, "Pelosi's letter is a "hunter-gatherer" attempt. Forage where you remember you were last able to find food. Dean has reached the "agriculture" stage. Plant a field. Watch it grow. Reap a harvest."

Guckert an OSI operative?

Frank Rich has an excellent takedown (as does Maureen Dowd) of both the White House and the media on the whole matter of Guckert's Gannon. I highly recommend it.

I would like to highlight one passage because it brings up something I've been thinking about with respect to all these outings of Bush administration shills:

A Pentagon Office of Strategic Influence, intended to provide propagandistic news items, some of them possibly false, to foreign news media was shut down in 2002 when it became an embarrassing political liability. But much more quietly, another Pentagon propaganda arm, the Pentagon Channel, has recently been added as a free channel for American viewers of the Dish Network. Can a Social Security Channel be far behind?

I've had this sneaking suspicion for several weeks that OSI never really went away. Sure, they did away with the name. But does that mean they did away with the program?

Guckert is, after all, a former marine.

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

Blowback already?

daveweigel has a diary that links to an article by Forward (the same magazine mentioned previously) that addresses the Republican hate groups' attack on Democrats.

Some choice comments:

The National Jewish Democratic Council called the Republicans' anti-Dean ad a "vicious smear campaign." It said the ad campaign "dangerously politicizes support for Israel, threatening the crucial legacy of bipartisan support for Israel."

The Democratic council's executive director, Ira Forman, predicted the Republican ad would backfire. "It helps us when you go over the top and put a picture like that," he said.

...

The anti-Dean advertisement drew criticism from some Jewish community leaders considered sympathetic to the Bush administration's anti-terrorism policies. Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, called the ad inaccurate and "ill advised."

"To make it accurate, it should say 'said,' because [Dean] doesn't say it now," Foxman told the Forward. He went on to question why the Jewish Republican group did not simply highlight the recent efforts of President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to promote the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

The article also puts the ad campaign into the wider context of past Republican efforts to paint Democrats as sympathetic to terrorists.

Speaking uncomfortable truths

Check out this post by Kevin Drum.

The short of it: Dean makes a joke about there not being many blacks at Republican events. Some Republicans are outraged over it and claim it is another example of Democratic racism. And who comes to Dean's defense? A nonwhite Republican!

Give me a break. Dean is saying, hyperbolically, that there aren't many blacks or other nonwhites in the Republican party. He's right. I've been to many, many Republican dinners where most nonwhites present have been serving the food. (Or giving the keynote.) If Republicans are bothered when people make that observation, they should try to make it less true.

I know some Democrats cringe when they hear these stories about Dean. But really, what is there to cringe about? As even this Republican admits, Dean's comment was spot on. Why do I get this picture of Howard Dean standing in a shallow pond, waving to a bunch of shivering Democrats on the shore and shouting out, "Come on in! The water's fine!"

If Democrats were to simply stifle their squeamishness anytime another member of their party speaks an uncomfortable truth then maybe those truths would stop being so uncomfortable to speak.

More on hate group attack on Democrats

Following up on the previous post...

Here are the three quotes that accompany this hate filled advertisement:

"Howard Dean's statements break a 50-year record in which presidents, Republican and Democrats, members of Congress of both parties have supported our relationship with Israel based on shared values." -- Senator Joseph Lieberman, A.P., 9/10/03

"It is unacceptable for the U.S. to be 'evenhanded' on these fundamental issues" -- Letter to Howard Dean from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and more than two dozen Democratic members of Congress. A.P., 9/10/03

With Dean as chairman "a lot of mainstream, middle-of-the-road, centrist Jewish Democrats would be very turned off and concerned and would be left wondering whether they have a home in the Democratic Party" -- Jay Footlik, John Kerry's campaign liaison to the Jewish community. Forward, 1/28/05

The links on Lieberman and Pelosi will take you to their official home pages. Use them to send requests to them that they condemn this ad. Lieberman and Pelosi's comments are old hat and really had more to do with Dean's inadvertent use of a hot button phrase in Middle East diplomacy more than any accusation that Dean was sympathetic to suicide bombers. I would hope that they both would be outraged that this hate group would choose to use their comments out of context to paint Democrats as being just that.

Furthermore, Lieberman was a rival of Dean's for the nomination and Pelosi was a supporter of Gephardt's bid at the time of these quotes.

Jay Footlik is a different case. I've never heard of the guy before. Perhaps he is more well known within the Jewish community. The link above will take you to his bio page at the Harry Walker Agency (a lecture circuit booker). Here's a Google search for "Jay Footlik". If anyone has contact information for him please let me know.

Footlik's comment is of a much more recent vintage. The Forward article the quote comes from is here. However, that link requires a subscription. Fortunately, I found that a copy of the article through the Google cache here (not sure how long it will last). The focus of the article is the worry among some Jewish Democrats that Dean's ascendancy would hurt the party with Israel backers. Here's the relevant paragraph:

Once again, Dean's critics tend to come from the centrist, Bill Clinton wing of the Democratic Party, many boasting ties to Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman. Once again, those critics are trying to torpedo Dean's candidacy by highlighting some comments that Dean made during the primaries about Israel and national security � such as a statement about how "we ought not to take sides" in Middle East peace negotiations � that Dean spent much time and money repudiating. Once again, the critics are warning darkly that if Dean were to succeed, "a lot of mainstream, middle of the road, centrist Jewish Democrats would be very turned off and concerned and would be left wondering whether they have a home in the Democratic Party," in the words of Jay Footlik, who served as Lieberman's and then John Kerry's campaign liaison to the Jewish community.

The article also quotes a supporter of Simon Rosenberg's bid saying, "The prospect of Howard Dean's chairmanship must have folks at the Republican Jewish Coalition licking their chops ..."  It looks like he was right.

The question is whether Democrats who opposed Dean's bid, such as Footlik, will allow their opposition to be used to paint all Democrats as being sympathetic to suicide bombers. Will they unite behind their party's chairman in the face of an attack that is against all Democrats or will they undermine their own party for the opportunity to sit back and say, "I told you so"?

BTW, I think Dean should take this situation as an opportunity to do some outreach with these Jewish Democrats who are "left wondering whether they have a home in the Democratic Party". As long as they are willing to meet him halfway and condemn this ad.

Republican hate group equates Howard Dean with suicide bombers

This comes courtesy of Ari Berman of The Nation:

As RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman praised the election of his new counterpart Howard Dean, influential Republican front groups were already planning a mendacious offensive against the new DNC chair.

The first attack came courtesy of the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC), a big money pro-Israel lobby group linking Jewish-American neoconservatives to the Christian Right and Israel's Likud government. On Monday the RJC began running full-page ads in major Jewish newspapers across the country featuring a large photo of militants strapped with explosives coddling a young Palestinian boy. Above that arresting image is a quote by Dean: "It's not our place to take sides." Below the photo are quotes by Democrats critical of Dean. The ad effectively equates Dean's election with the appeasement of suicide bombers.

Time for the Rapid Responders to swing into action! Howard Dean has already shown the way with his own rapid response to the smear from the head of the New York Republican Party. We need to do the same in response to this outrage!

It is long past time that we demand that Republicans stop coddling hate mongers for their own political benefit.

Tuesday, February 15, 2005

A message from Howard Dean

Howard Dean has been Chairman of the Democratic Party (gee I like the sound of that) for only three days and I already like what I am seeing. For example, I just received a message from him the encourages Democrats to endorse his plan for reforming the party and to work to make it happen. Click the link below to see the full message yourself.

Dear Chris,

The following is my favorite part:

The Republicans' biggest victory has been to convince many Democrats that we can only win by abandoning our values and doing what they say.

It's one of their favorite tactics -- just watch how right-wing pundits talk endlessly about the internal politics of our party. They try to divide Democrats by ideology just as they divide all Americans by race or gender or faith.

But there is no crisis of ideology in the Democratic Party, only a crisis of confidence. Bill Clinton once described the Democratic Party's problems in the era of George W. Bush, saying that in uncertain times people would rather have a leader who is strong and wrong than weak and right.

He's exactly right. And we become both weak and wrong when we abandon our core values for short-term political gain. But when we Democrats talk straight and stand up for ourselves, we have a huge advantage: We are both strong and right.

We will only turn that advantage into victory if we make a concrete plan and work hard to execute it. Declare your support and offer feedback now on the plan to build an organization that will help us win everywhere, and win with pride:

http://www.democrats.org/plan

Monday, February 14, 2005

Swallowing

I want to repeat something I posted a little while back.

Q: How do you eat an elephant?

A: One bite at a time.

I bring this up in light of the latest twists and turns of the Jeff Gannon/James Guckert story. John Arevosis is out with his scoop on Gannon/Guckert's background (WARNING: not a work friendly link) and it looks like he has the goods on everyone's favorite right-wing press plant. I applaud John's diligence in pursuing this story (even if I did express some reservations about the way he hyped it (reservations I still have btw)). But I would urge those who are following this story not to pursue the leads too eagerly. If they do they may find themselves taking a bigger bite than they can swallow.

For example, I just heard a contributor to Raw Story, in an appearance on the Ed Schultz show, pass on the rumor that one member of the White House Press team has a gay past and thus may have had something more than a professional relationship with Guckert.. That's a pretty big bite to swallow in addition to the current bite that Arevoris has given us to chew on. It may be true, but if so then it should be the next bite taken, after the Guckert bite is swallowed down (an unfortunate image given the turn this story has taken).

If I can be allowed to mix my metaphors, I'd also point out that it is bad military strategy to attack deep into enemy territory without first securing the perimeter.

This is one area where a professional news organization has an advantage over bloggers: the good ones have an editor who can reign in over-eager reporters and make sure they dot all the i's before continuing on to the next part of the story. Bloggers behave more like sharks in a feeding frenzy, pursuing the scent of blood even to their own destruction.

Don't let this story bite us in the ass.

Stop it John! [Update with apology]

I may not be popular for saying this but I think John Aravosis of AMERICAblog is being irresponsible with his "I've got a secret" posts.

Let me count the ways...

1. It builds an expectation in his audience that he may not be able to fulfill. At this point, unless the secret leads to the downfall of the house of Bush, a significant number of people are going to be disappointed.

2. It provides a greater opportunity for his enemies to lay the groundwork for refuting his story (he's apparently already clued Gannon/Guckert into the secret). Woodstein didn't inform Mitchel of their story on the CRP slush fund until minutes before the story went to press. By playing it the way he has, John is giving Gannon/Guckert and whoever he is allied with plenty of time to develop a counter-response.

3. It strings along his most loyal fans (again, he's already told Gannon/Guckert, so he's told the enemy something that he isn't willing to tell his friends). Reading the comments to the hint posts I am reminded of a bunch of puppies yipping and leaping at a piece of meat held aloft by their master. Is that really the kind of humiliating position you want your fans to be in John?

4. It diverts the energies of thousands of people in the blogosphere into trying to figure out what Aravosis' secret is instead of trying to figure out what Gannon/Guckert's secret is. Several valuable investigative man hours have been wasted by followers of this story looking up pictures of cartoon bulldogs on google.

5. It artificially inflates his audience in the exact same way as the evening news teasers. Is that the kind of company you want to keep John?

 

John, please, if you have something important to say then say it. If you aren't ready to say it, then just keep quiet about it until you are.

(And yes, I still will feel this way even after the secret is revealed and it turns out to be the thing that leads to the fall of the house of Bush.)

 

UPDATE: I just want to be clear about something here: I am not criticizing John for wanting to hold off on this story until he has it locked down. That is the responsible thing to do. What is irresponsible is the way he is stringing people along with these hint droppings. I am as interested in what John has as is anyone and will analyze it independent of my thinking of how he is handling it now. But regardless of how good the story turns out to be, the way he is handling it now is just plain wrong.

 

UPDATE 2: I own John Aravosis an apology. I should have posted my criticism to him in private first before doing so in public here, on dKOS and in the comments section of his own blog. I should have given him the chance to respond in private before going public.

I still stand by my criticism. But I was wrong in my method. I'm going to leave this post up as is since the damage is already done and as an example of how not to handle things like this.

Sunday, February 13, 2005

The Battle For America

Has Begun

Keep contributing!

The bat to the right comes courtesy of Spare Change For America.

Here's the code I used:

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