Jesus is pissed
ArchPundit
Warner broke his hand.
December 2002
CCADL: Circus Clown Anti-Defamation League
Is a fine column by Joe Conason:
How should the Senator have replied? He could have noted how odd it is for Mr. Limbaugh, who avoided the Vietnam draft, to question the patriotism of an Air Force veteran like himself. Or he could have adopted the strategy of Senator John McCain, another frequent target of the radio demagogue?s bombast.
After comparing Mr. Limbaugh to a "circus clown," the Arizona Republican apologized. "I regret that statement," he told an interviewer on Fox News the other night, "because my office has been flooded with angry phone calls from circus clowns all over America. They resent that comparison, and so I would like to extend my apologies to Bozo, Chuckles and Krusty."
Back to Free Trade
Before the unexpected break over the holiday, William Burton made a comment that the Bush’s efforts really stuck it to the developing world because it limited itself to manufactured goods. Brad DeLong’s post today on the effect of NAFTA on agriculture in Mexico.
By and large, I’m for prying open markets throughout the world. In agriculture this has to happen slowly for developing countries to survive and this is an example of why. Opening up world agricultural markets quickly, as the administration is trying to do with manufactured goods, would hurt developing countries’ populations. The United States, save sugar, is a very efficent producer of agricultural products and would overrun many of the developing economies. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t open up such markets, just that it will take longer.
Opening manufactured goods up would be a huge boon for developing nations especially given textiles are included. The United States is at a comparative disadvantage for manufactured goods that are relatively low skill. Are workers cannot afford to work for the low wages that provide modest incomes in other countries and so they do much, much better through free trade. Worse, in the long term, developing too protected of an industry means that industry becomes irrelevant when barriers do fall.
Who does poorly is Europe and Europe is also the chief barrier to the further opening of agricultural markets. This is a second reason the administration is pursuing the right policy. Bundling all three markets together means certain death. Taking them separately means a good chance for a deal.
So, yes, I’d like to see the administration decrease trade restrictions in those areas as well, but this agreement will benefit many developing countries if it is successful.
Seven Degrees of Separation
The great thing about conspiracy theories is that they don’t need any actual evidence (Salon Premium sorry). The usual pattern of conspiracy theories is that they rely on various relationships that make the ‘theory’ sound plausible.
The strange reaction to Oklahoma City to me is that people find it so hard to accept humans of any nationality are capable of great cruelty. It always seems that these arguments are based on some assumption that an American couldn’t act alone in such cases. Americans, unfortunately, are not immune from lunacy anymore than Arabs. They just happen to live in a country that funnels most people towards prosperity, freedom and opportunity.
Rainesian Screeds
I wonder if Howell Raines even bothered to read this story.
If one were to read Sullivan or Kaus one would have to imagine Howell Raines as the sole writer and editor at a the paper. Was this a sloppy piece, yes. Was it evidence of Howell Raines being the antichrist. Ummm…no.
Atrocious Behavior
I can’t believe the Nicarico murder case just became more of a farce.
Pissing on Legs
It is hard to tell who Steve Neal dislikes more: Durbin or Fitzgerald. But for the next two years, Fitzgerald will face his wrath because he will be up for election and Neal starts the barrage today.
Fitzgerald has made a Senate career out of going it alone. He has abused his office to prevent a federal endorsement of the expansion of O’Hare Airport. His folly could have cost this region more than 100,000 jobs and an annual loss of more than $10 billion. He is unique among U.S. senators in working against the economic interests of his home state.
To the astonishment of colleagues in the Illinois delegation, Fitzgerald last year declined to sign a letter with other delegation members seeking President Bush’s help for Illinois projects. He wrote a silly letter back that "the mere fact that a project is located somewhere in Illinois does not mean that it is inherently meritorious and necessarily worthy of support."
Fitzgerald has sought to undercut House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Yorkville). He recklessly accused Hastert of moral and ethical misconduct because Hastert outmaneuvered Fitzgerald in protecting funds for the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library.
It is fine to piss on people’s legs, but don’t expect them not to do it back to you. What is amazing about the letter is that he didn’t write a letter that specified specific issues he had a problem with and then supported the portions of the package he supported.
Maybe Pete has fashioned himself as a Paul Tsongas type of character. "I’m not Santa Claus," was one of Tsongas’ themes in 1992. He isn’t President either. Pete won’t be Senator in 2005 either.
Chicago School Reform
Pate Philip is thinking of tanking some school legislation that would increase the number of charter schools in Chicago. First, there is no reason not to allow 100 charter schools in Chicago as long as an accountability body is created that can handle that many.
More importantly, he is thinking of tanking it because of union provisions. Just as the Trib was skeptical of repealling the union limitations, I was also. However, the specific deal reached may actually be a progressive way to bring about teacher input while allowing reform to continue.
Or as the paraphrased cliche goes, if you pass one bill this veto session don’t miss this one.
Roll Call misses the mark
When journalists decide to do a piece on local politics they inevitably miss the nuances of the race. In the case of today’s article in Roll Call, they miss the point. Social conservatives aren’t mad at Fitzgerald. In fact, they consider him their boy in the state party apparatus. Of the major mouthpieces for the social conservatives, Byrne at the Trib, Roesser at the Sun-Times, Pat O’Malley, Steve Rauschenberger, and the whole wing-nut collection at the Illinois Leader, Pete can do almost no wrong. They might complain mildly on his positions that he has moderated including gun control and ANWR, but he is their boy and they sell him as the Messiah of the Illinois Circular Firing Squad Team.
The McKenna challenge should be considered either a moderate Republican challenge or a Combine challenge. Combine, in the parlance of Illinois politics, is defined as the deal-maker portions of both political parties in Illinois. Members of their respective parties, these folks are the mysterious THEY referred to by conspiracy theorists everywhere. They are not dark conspiratorial forces, though. They simply practice Ubi Est Mea (mandatory Royko reference) or ‘Where’s Mine?’ and they do it inside or outside the confines of the parties. The Combine isn’t some vast conspiracy as the Illinois Leader or John Kass on a bad day try to portray it. It is a group of people who put pork over policy.
The Daleys are the most prominent members to those outside the state, but Big Jim Thompson is probably the consumate Combine guy. G-Ry was also a Combine guy. Lee Daniels and his successor Tom Cross are Combine guys. Pate Philip and his tollway authority chief brother are Combine players. LaHood is sort of a Combine guy, but not as much. Dan Hynes is a Combine guy and Blago is a Combine guy. Da Speaker, AKA Madigan, is majorly a Combine guy.
If you are true believer, Combine guys are the enemy. They dole out money to their friends and many don’t give two hoots about policy. They don’t push the ideological issues and look to big money when unsure of what to do. They also have their advantages. They get things done. Compare Misery’s roads to Illinois and you learn a lot about the advantages of pork.
What does the Combine think of Pete? Primarily, they think he is weird. Why such deep analysis of him? He doesn’t play ball and he makes things harder than they have to be. Leaders like Pate Philip in the Illinois Senate where Pete was before he became US Senator understand that conservatives have views that are inconvenient and are happy to resolve those problems when they come up and they don’t cost the party too much. It is an inconvenient fact of doing business that when an ideologue comes along and actually cares about policy you have to bargain with them. Pete doesn’t believe in bargaining. Unlike Rauschenberger and some other conservatives, Pete took a liking to pissing on Pate’s leg just to piss on it. Pate didn’t understand this and sure as hell didn’t like it.
This seemingly irrational behavior in an organization designed around the concept of Ubi Est Mea, was not without its audience. The nativist, wingnut ICFST party faction had long been angry that these moderate deal makers had run their party and wanted it back. Pete’s routine attracted them just as Pat O’Malley did in the gubernatorial primary. He won the primary on the back of those wingnuts over Loleta Didrickson, a moderate GOP woman.
Slowly the social conservatives had been organizing. Jack Roesser ran against Edgar in 1994 and was handily beaten. Some argue Rich Williamson’s run in 1990 was the first volley, but that is misreading of Williamson and forgets that he was supposed to be a sacrifice to Alan Dixon for his vote on Clarence Thomas. Al Salvi won the nomination for Senator in 1996 and was handily beaten in the general by Durbin. Finally, in 1998 a perfect storm arose. Carol Mosely Braun was a black woman and a member of the Combine. She was none too bright and was caught in a series of ethical problems that made her position worse. The conservatives were pissed at years of being the crazy aunt in the attic and out organized the machine in the primary. Pete’s habit of pissing on people’s legs appealed to them. In the general election, their boy Pete, avoided saying anything causing a whole lot of airtime being spent on Mosely Braun’s ethics. Scratch that–Mosely Braun’s lack of ethics. Pete rode that to a win.
Now the Combine is just annoyed. Pete is holding up the single most important vote for Illinois in O’Hare expansion. Previously quiet and unassertive in state politics, Hastert has actively worked within the Combine to thwart Pete. Pete won’t play ball on other issues and he gets in the way of important projects in other ways and he has pissed on the leg of the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Some of these efforts are admirable. Appointing Patrick Fitzgerald and Miquelon as US Attorneys was a great feat and should be applauded. The Combine didn’t like it because it means their friends will undergo long-needed scrutiny. In another case, he took on the Governor regarding pork barrel excess on the Lincoln Library.
In other cases, his opposition is silly and petty. He will most likely win the nomination for 2004. The wingnuts simply have a better ground operation than does the party apparatus. When he wins the nomination, barring Mosely Braun as the Democratic candidate, perfunctory talk of party unity will be heard, while the Combine Republicans knife him in the back and get a Democrat elected. The Daley family has done it for years to Democrats who didn’t play ball and the Republicans are fully capable of doing the same.