Call It A Comeback
Conason allows Russert to respond to reader criticism (subscription friday). I think Conason has got it about right. Russert tries to nail everyone, and while he may slip up, but he pretty much gets under everyone’s skin.
Of course, he hates Hillary Clinton, but I’m not to fond of her myself. He could try to hide the visceral reaction though.
Sullivan writes a decent column on Bellafonte until this: “when liberals denigrate the president as a “boy” or as a “sissy,” to quote Maureen Dowd, homophobia doesn’t lurk far behind.”
It isn’t homophobia in relation to the President, it is his lack of seriousness.
The rest of the column makes a good point, and I don’t understand why anyone would denigrate Rice or Powell with such an epithet. Rice on her policies–yes, but not because she doesn’t think for herself. Secondly, thank God for Colin Powell in this administration. Moderates are a good thing in both parties.
(By the way, for those who don’t know it George Will used the phrase recently and I like it a lot)
Tapped addresses the growing cacophony of calling the sniper a terrorist. He may have been, but I think the question is still open. He held some Anti-American views, but it isn’t clear that is his motivation. Terrorism is violence directed at civilians to further political goals. Maybe he had some political goal he was trying to achieve here, but he certainly didn’t make it known. This should come out in the investigation, but it seems he was on some sort of psychotic trip with his statements about being God.
The danger of using terrorism to describe crimes that aren’t terrorism is it debases the language and the debate. If he wasn’t a terrorist we need to know how to respond to such threats given his motivations. If he was a terrorist–even a demented one with no ties, we need to know that too. Most of the garbage being spewed around the net on the subject uses inuendo instead of evidence and is quite Orwellian in how it uses the language to redefine what terrorism is. As TAPPED points out, Andrew Cunane may have terrorized people, but he wasn’t a terrorist.
The Matt Hale disciple who went on a rampage in Illinois and Indiana that included Ricky Byrdsong was a terrorist, if a demented one who also fits the category of spree killer. The Matt Hale disciple example is especially telling in this case. Hale considers himself a white Christian minister and spews hatred towards those of another race. That was clearly an isolated incident of terrorism by a fruitcake acting on his own tied to a small, cultlike religious group. Strangely enough, Matt Hale makes Farakhan seem kinda normal.
911 changed a lot of things. Foremost it changed our ability to reason and rationally evaluate potential risks. Instead of looking at the facts of a situation, many automatically search for a connection to Islamists no matter how tenuous. I fail to see any lesson to learn or behavior to change that is different than what we should have learned from the Matt Hale disciple case (I like keeping Hale’s name in the forefront so people remember who was behind the guy). Can anyone provide me a different lesson to learn?
More and more the form of argument from the one note wonders in blogland is that people who don’t follow their line of reasoning don’t get it. The problem is they can’t coherently argue what it is in this case. What changes if the sniper has a political point of view?
I’m balling like a baby after reading this,
While I often found (I had to correct find three times) myself to the right (not on the right) of Paul Wellstone, only Bill Bradley and Bob Kerrey matched him in integrity and honesty and guts.
There is going to be a rare public vote for the head of the new accounting oversight board. Oxley felt Biggs wasn’t a moderate. How would Jim Leach think? A hell of a lot different.
Actually the vote was taken and Webster won. I guess this is being a uniter and not a divider?
Madigan up 1. This race will probably go down to the last minute. I would argue the most likely outcome is low Republican turnout and a victory for Madigan. The problem is the Illinois State Rifle Association is starting to campaign actively for Birkett. A problem for Madigan? No, a problem for Birkett. The ISRA isn’t nearly as powerful in the state as it is in other states. Illinois is a strong gun control state and Birkett would be better off with the ISRA staying out of it. Birkett has avoided clearly answering how he feels about concealed carry legislation and that is one issue that can cut hard against him in the general.
Rich Miller is predicting a close race. I don’t necessarily disagree with his assessment of Blago or J-Ry, but I think there are a couple differences. Blago isn’t caught up in the same sort of scandal that G-Ry was. Additionally, the Da Mayor and Da Speaker are going all out–Da Speaker for other reasons. While I don’t predict a 20 point win, a 10-15 point win is likely. Predictions and endorsements this weekend.
The Nation of Islam is considered a cult by most Muslims. The link points to significant doctrinal differences.
Trying to tie them together to any of the more traditional (it is my view orthodox Islam is a poor choice of terms) is a mistake. It could well be that Muhammed went from the NOI to some traditional form, but we have no information indicating that. Beyond that, he appears deeply disturbed with the NY Times reporting that he claimed he was God.
From what we know so far, it seems more likely that the NOI was attractive to him because he was disturbed, and not the cause of the violence as many warbloggers are trying to insinuate. Islam is a diverse religion and NOI is a very small offshoot that is not Islamist nor is it representative of any of the significant sects. NOI has little if any connection to traditional Islam, though Farrakhan has made some overtures in recent years. Islamists consider the NOI heretical and minus any specific connection, this is a weak argument. We don’t tar Christianity with the Aryan Nation fruitcakes, Islam deserves the same respect.
Islamists are a different story. They are tied to traditional Islam and they are a force Islam must come to terms with both politically and from faith. Maybe some tie will be found, but it seems less likely the more that is reported. Hearing the word Islam and going into full scale babble about Islamists sheds a lot of heat, but not much light.
For all the whining about how the press isn’t connecting this to Islamic violence, there is little understanding of these issues. This shouldn’t be surprising since much of the echo chamber is ignorant of the more scholarly works, such as Huntington, that argues for a “Clash of Civilizations.” Hell, a copy of the Autobiography of Malcolm X would do most of them some good.
A more productive critique made by several was the emphasis on the individual being white. It turns out that only 55% of serial killers are white. Apparently being a sick bastard is an equal opportunity issue.
While listening to Diane Rehm (something I try to avoid) Bill Kristol just indicated that Jim Leach was the chair of an important committee. Unfortunately, this is not true. Jim Leach was the head of what is now the Financial Services Committee. The United States is the better for that tenure since he stopped both Phil Gramm and Bill Clinton from jumping off the edge of a cliff over Banking deregulation. Leach forced the continued separation of banking and commerce to avoid the problems Germany and Japan face with relationships between the two sectors being too close.
Who is now the head of Financial Services? Michael Oxley. Term Limits Suck.
Perverse incentives are a problem, but the South Dakota case is not a cabal of conspirators.
Update: Brendan Nyhan covers the story at Spinsanity.
Using dead kids to win the election when neither did a damn thing before. Oh where, oh where, is Paul Vallas. Worse, they are lying about education. My endorsements this weekend will cover this issue.
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