Entries in Politics (5)
Things That Look, Walk, and Sound Like Ducks Department
We now know the following:
- Knowingly or not, Senators Conrad and Dodd were both beneficiaries of the "Friends of Angelo" loans from Countrywide.
- Senator Conrad added a “reserve fund” to the Dodd-Shelby bill which would prevent it from later being subjected to a “Budget Act point of order.” This means that funding for the bill can be increased with no question. (A strange action for such a self-proclaimed "budget hawk" as Senator Conrad.)
- Countrywide would be one of the largest beneficiaries of the Dodd-Shelby bill.
Given those facts, it would be the height of folly and arrogance to pass the Dodd-Shelby bill until there has been an independent investigation to determine beyond a reasonable shadow of a doubt that there has not been a quid-pro-quo with the "Friends of Angelo" loans and the Dodd-Shelby bill.
(I know: Folly and arrogance by members of the U.S. Senate? What am I thinking?)
Right now, this looks, walks, and sounds like a duck. Offended denials will not do it; Senators Conrad and Dodd must prove their case.
Missing The Analogy Department
Some have said that Iraq is another Vietnam. Rich Lowry of National Review agrees, and disagrees.
Iraq is another Vietnam. Not for the U.S. For al-Qaeda.
When the United States lost Vietnam, it lost credibility and saw an emboldened Marxist-Leninist offensive around the third world. Al-Qaeda is a global insurgency and not a nation-state — and thus its circumstances are radically different from ours 40 years ago — but it has suffered a similar reputational loss.
The Iraq war had been a powerful recruiting tool for al-Qaeda when it was winning. No more. Osama bin Laden rendered what is called the “bandwagon effect” in international relations — the tendency of states to go along with the dominant power — in his homespun Arabic analogy of people liking the strong horse over the weak horse. In Iraq, al-Qaeda’s proverbial horse is a broken-down nag.
Whine and Cheese Department
Does the fundamental difference between liberals and conservatives boil down to this, that liberals whine more?
A wide body of research shows that modern liberals are much more likely to complain about things in their lives. Conservatives are more content with their lives. When asked “How satisfied are you with life these days? Sixty-six percent of conservatives said “very satisfied” compared with only 46 percent of liberals. Conservatives are more likely to say they love their jobs (53 percent vs. 41 percent) and even enjoy their hobbies more (63 percent vs. 51 percent). When asked by the Social Capital Survey whether they were satisfied with their income, liberals were more than three times as likely to say “not at all satisfied” — even when they earned the same as conservatives.
Quit your moaning.
Roy M. Jacobsen
in Modern Life, Worldviews, Politics
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Covered In Something Other Than Glory Department
So Hillary Clinton is bashing Barack Obama for being cozy with the unrepentant domestic terrorist, Bill Ayers, and Obama is firing back by calling attention to Bill Clinton granting clemency to a couple other domestic terrorists.
I'm amazed at this whole episode. Have the (putative) best and brightest of American politics really sunk so low as to engaging in this kind of tu quoque? These are the front-runners?
Joining the Chorus Department
I know my voice isn't all that loud, but I'm joining the chorus and signing the pledge:
If the United States Senate passes a resolution, non-binding or otherwise, that criticizes the commitment of additional troops to Iraq that General Petraeus has asked for and that the president has pledged, and if the Senate does so after the testimony of General Petraeus on January 23 that such a resolution will be an encouragement to the enemy, I will not contribute to any Republican senator who voted for the resolution. Further, if any Republican senator who votes for such a resolution is a candidate for re-election in 2008, I will not contribute to the National Republican Senatorial Committee unless the Chairman of that Committee, Senator Ensign, commits in writing that none of the funds of the NRSC will go to support the re-election of any senator supporting the non-binding resolution.
If you'd like to sign, go here.