Shot In The Dark - Politics and Current Events in Minnesota and Beyond

Friday, March 12, 2004

Ou Est Le Boeuf? - Kerry won't cough up the names of his alleged foreign supporters:
Sen. John Kerry refuses to provide any information to support his assertion earlier this week that he has met with foreign leaders who beseeched him to prevail over President Bush in November's election.
The Massachusetts Democrat has made no official foreign trips since the start of last year, according to Senate records and his own published schedules. And an extensive review of Mr. Kerry's travel schedule domestically revealed only one opportunity for the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee to meet with foreign leaders here.
On Monday, Mr. Kerry told reporters in Florida that he'd met with foreign leaders who privately endorsed him.
"I've met with foreign leaders who can't go out and say this publicly," he said. "But, boy, they look at you and say: 'You've got to win this. You've got to beat this guy. We need a new policy.' Things like that."
Aides and supporters of Mr. Kerry have said providing names of the leaders or their countries would injure those nations' ongoing relations with the current Bush administration.
Aaaah. That explains it.

Kerry supporters; please use the comment section of this post to explain why you back this...words fail me. Moron? Hamster?

Fop?
posted by Mitch Berg 3/12/2004 08:16:35 AM

Not Over - Was it the Basque separatist group ETA? It seems out of character:
"If the attack was carried out by ETA, it could signal a radical and lethal change of strategy for the group that has largely targeted police and politicians in its decades-long fight for a separate Basque homeland."
On the other hand, it looks as if ETA had been changing its MO anyway:
The government said ETA had tried a similar attack on Christmas Eve, placing bombs on two trains bound for a Madrid station that was not hit Thursday.

"ETA had been looking for a massacre," said Acebes, the interior minister. "Unfortunately, today it achieved its goal."

The Interior Ministry said tests showed the explosives used in the attacks were a kind of dynamite normally used by ETA.

The bombers used titadine, a kind of compressed dynamite also found in a bomb-laden van intercepted last month as it headed for Madrid, a source at Aznar's office said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Officials blamed ETA then, too.
Was it Al Quaeda? The splinter group claiming responsibility is sorta the Cliff Clavin of terrorist groups:
The United States believes Al-Masri [an Islamist splinter group that claimed responsibility for the Madrid massacre] sometimes falsely claims to be acting on behalf of al-Qaida. The group took credit for blackouts in the United States and London last year.
Two bigger questions: How will Europe (and John Kerry, our first European candidate) treat this? If it does turn out to be ETA, will they do their best to compartmentalize this attack into a "Not Al-Quaeda" box? Or will they draw the conclusion that ETA has been emboldened by having seen what terrorists can accomplish - perhaps with their help (Carlos the Jackal reportedly dealt with ETA, and Al Quaeda's presence in Spain has played a key part in the 9/11 investigation).

And how will Spain and Europe react? Like one of their members has been attacked?

Any bets?

I'm digging for something to say about Spain and the Spaniards. They are such an admirable nation in so many ways: while many nations had bloodthirsty tinhorn dictators, Spain's stepped down and turned his nation over to a constitutional monarchy. Franco was that most misunderstood of characters - the idealistic authoritarian. Popular history lumps him in with Hitler - who supported him in his destruction of the Communists in the Spanish Civil War - and Franco the pragmatist made nice with the Germans during the war - but Franco detested Hitler, according to Paul Johnson. Franco sought the preservation of Spain, and disdained Hitler's neo-Leninist rantings about radically transforming society. Toward the goal of preserving Spain, Franco ruthlessly suppressed the leftists who he saw as the main threat to Spain - but Spain accepted tens of thousands of Jewish refugees from the rest of Europe. Franco ruled Spain with an iron fist - and, alone among dictators, guided Spain toward a date with a promise of freedom that, in the end, he kept.

And the Spaniards took the ball and ran with it. They joined NATO in the early eighties - not because they feared Communist neighbors, but because they believed contrbuting to the common defense of their neighbors was the right thing to do (yeah, yeah - to get US aid, too). They have taken their place in NATO operations, and the first Gulf war, and now Iraqi Freedom. Their Navy (one of the biggest left in Europe) was one of the most active in supporting ours in the run-up to Iraqi Freedom, helping enforce the blockade of Iraq.

When at a loss for what to say, I often turn to Lileks:
It makes me admire the Spanish more than ever, I’ll tell you that: after 9/11 the media – the American overclass – was all about pain and sympathy and vigils and candles; vengeance and retribution were not invited. Stand up and strike back was not a theme of those awful hours after 9/11. Partly because we didn't know who to hit. Partly because we realized eventually that we would be striking back, hard, soon. The national character best expressed itself by a brief period of introspective mourning, not brutish demands to level half the planet. Bush did not call for massive demonstrations to approve his desire to defeat terrorism. In American terms, that would have been unseemly. Grief first. Then war.

Spain doesn’t have the luxury of 200 years of Constitutional rule. Young adults sitting around the dinner table look at parents who grew up under Franco; they might value freedom more than we do. We cannot possibly imagine losing it. They have heard stories of how quickly it can be lost.
It'd be trite to say "My thoughts are with Spain" today. The thoughts of every person with a living soul are with the Spaniards.
posted by Mitch Berg 3/12/2004 06:53:54 AM

Steyn Nails It - As usual:
In other words, the "coalition of the willing" has effected more positive change in the last 10 months than the multilateral establishment has in the last 10 years.

If President Bush loses in November because he can't provide sufficient witnesses to prove where he was on certain weekends in 1972, he'll still have an impressive legacy: He has toppled two dictatorships, neutered a third and put the squeeze on several more. Yes, Americans are still being killed by Islamists in Iraq. But they're not being killed by Islamists in New York offices, or Washington government buildings, or U.S. Embassies and ships.

Assume for the purposes of argument the media are right — that John Kerry's four months in Vietnam are so impressive they outweigh two decades of zero accomplishment in Washington, save for a series of votes remarkable for being wrong on every major issue, from Ronald Reagan's raid on Libya to the Gulf war to every new weapons systems for the U.S. military. What will President Kerry do?

This is how he characterized the war on terror to Tom Brokaw: "I think there has been an exaggeration," he said. "They are really misleading all of America, Tom, in a profound way. ... It's primarily an intelligence and law-enforcement operation."
The very idea that someone would consider any of Kerry's arguments persuasive - at all, ever, for any reason - is profoundly depressing.
posted by Mitch Berg 3/12/2004 05:15:53 AM

Blame Ashcroft - You know somebody will when this sort of thing happens:
Two Dutch political parties called Wednesday for laws prohibiting sex with animals after a man suspected of having sex with a pony was set free.

Wearing nothing but a T-shirt, the man was arrested by police in Utrecht Monday after the pony's owner caught him by surprise in his stable.

"He was caught in the stable, busy with the pony, and was arrested for animal mistreatment," Mary Hallebeek, a prosecution spokeswoman said.

The prosecutor set him free because there was no evidence of a crime. Dutch law does not prohibit bestiality.
I figure since we're in the midst of the Passion of Howard Stern, nobody else might cover this...
posted by Mitch Berg 3/12/2004 04:30:16 AM

The Voter's Choice - Sullivan notes the real "two Americas":
Yes, there are two different countries within a country right now. But it's not red and blue exactly. It's not even secular and religious. Or north and south. More accurately, as blogger FrozenNorth explains, it is between those who believe we are at war and those who believe we aren't.
He also notes his own conundrum:
I may be unable to support a president who would defile the constitution. But equally, no one should support a candidate who cannot be trusted to take the war to the foes of this country. Before they take the war to us - again.
So there's your question: Which is more important to you? The budget/gay marriage/abortion, or our survival as a free, safe nation? That presumes, falsely, that it's a clear choice - that John Kerry woulc be any better on the budget, for example.

That it's a choice at all for so many people is profoundly disquieting.

That Sullivan has been trying to stir that choice up so hard for the past few weeks is worse.
posted by Mitch Berg 3/12/2004 04:00:18 AM

Thursday, March 11, 2004

FrankenNet Unleashed! - The new Liberal Talk Net has announced its lineup:
Air America Radio, a progressive talk radio network, announced today it will hit the airwaves on March 31st. "Air America Radio is launching in the top U.S. markets with leading talent that will provide compelling and entertaining programming on the radio, on satellite feeds, and on the web," said Mark Walsh, Chief Executive Officer of Air America Radio. "We aim to build an important new media franchise that delivers results."
And those results?

So far, not too promising:
The network's on-air personalities represent today's top political and popular satirists, commentators and activists. Comedian, and best selling author Al Franken, who was recently taken to court when Bill O'Reilly and Fox News were seeking an injunction to halt distribution of "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right," and is known for fact-based, drug-free satire, will host a weekday show on the network called "The O'Franken Factor."
Fact-based? We'll see, I have my doubts, and they'll be played out right in this space (assuming they ever air here).

Let's see - so far, this network's marketing is based entirely on
Fox's lawsuit
Limbaugh's former drug habit,
Hatred of George Bush and all he represents.
Seems like a thin concept.
"I'm so happy that Air America Radio will be on in three battleground states, New York, Illinois and California - no wait - those aren't battleground states. What the hell are we doing?" said Franken.
I don't believe in Karma - but I think what goes around comes around. If Captain Ed is right, Franken may eat those words.

Let's check out the lineup:
Monday-Friday
Uprising: 6:00-9:00am

This is a fast paced morning show that will entertain and engage audiences with wit and political satire. It will feature the latest news, offering up to-the-minute interviews with newsmakers, analysis and strong opinions.

Host: Marc Maron
Co-host: Sue Ellicott
Co-host: Mark Riley
Marc Maron? Former host of Comedy Central's "Short Attention Span Theatre"? He was lame even within that weak concept. Dull, dull comic. Sue Ellicott - a regular on "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me", the often-entertaining but doggedly-lefty MPR quiz show. Ellicott is funny, and a babe (sixth from the left in the picture below)...:

...but she brings that "NPR" attitude to the proceedings.

But she's not the last one to do that.

Standup comic count: 2.
NPR Retread count: 1 - We'll get back to this.
Unfiltered: 9:00am- 12:00pm
Air America's midmorning program is a showcase for conversation about the political and cultural state of the union. Unfiltered introduces listeners to fresh new voices not available in mainstream media today.

Co-host: Lizz Winstead
Co-host: Chuck D
Co-host: Laura Flanders
Sound like an MPR concept? Emphasis on "concept?"

Chuck D should do a show by himself, without the worthless Winstead and the dreary, NPR-ish Flanders; while I'd disagree, it'd probably be interesting.

Standup Comic Count: 3.
NPR Count: 2
The O'Franken Factor: 12:00-3:00pm
Relentless, pure satire, delivered by the leading political humorist of this generation. With his partner, longtime radio host Katherine Lanpher, this will be three hours of fearless barbs, sketches, and interviews with newsmakers and characters who have lived, up until now, only in Al's fertile imagination. He's no policy wonk, but this best-selling author and veteran of Saturday Night Live, is devoting his energy to fighting back against rightwing propaganda with hard evidence and facts.

Host: Al Franken
Co-host: Katherine Lanpher
Producer: Billy Kimball
Well, start fighting against me, Al!

Calling it the "O'Franken Factor" is too cute by half; funny maybe the first time, wears out fast.

Standup Comic count: 4 - Franken sorta still counts.
NPR Count: 3
The Randi Rhodes Show: 3:00-7:00pm

Randi Rhodes has spent the last 20 years burning up the airwaves in southern Florida with her pointed and provocative brand of talk radio. Combining live interview, call-in and commentary, Randi engages her audience with a passionate presentation.

Host: Randi Rhodes
Rhodes is Molly Ivins without the "wit", quotes included.

Standup Comic count holds at 4
NPR Count holds at 3.
Talk radio has-beens: 1.
So What Else Is News? : 7:00-8:00pm
Based in Los Angeles, this is a one-hour program showcasing the intersection of politics, media and popular culture. This program will feature analysis and reports from the presidential campaign, as well as a daily reporters' roundtable on how the news of the day is affected and reflected by the media. Marty will also cover the spinning of the news with a regular segment called "The Corrections.?" This is also the place to hear the political voice of Hollywood, with celebrity guest interviews from the entertainment industries.
Host: Marty Kaplan
This sounds...not just dull, but "Desperately Dull". Combine talking heads with a "Marketplace" host, and you have grounds for class-action suits on behalf of people driving off the road in their sleep.

And "Political Voice of Hollywood?" Yeah, Hollywood's political voice has been pretty brutally stifled of late.

Has anyone on the left thought this through yet?

Standup Comic count: 4
NPR count: 4
Talk-radio has-beens: 1
The Majority Report: 8:00pm-11:00pm

This program will introduce new, younger voices and opinions, with live guests from the world of politics, the arts and entertainment. Host: Janeane Garofalo
Co-host: Sam Seder

All of Al Franken's snide sneering. None of his folksy charm.

Standup comic count: 6 (Seder counts as half).

So the final count:

Standup Comics: 6
NPR Retreads: 4
Talk radio has-beens: 1

Let's not forget the weekend:
Additional programming will include Best-of Air America Radio and Best-of-O?Franken Factor as well as other original programming to be announced soon.
Might I suggest a group of liberal bloggers? Oh, wait...

I love this quote:
?We are excited about the diverse and important voices Air America Radio is bringing to the airwaves, both on our own WLIB signal and others,? said Pierre Sutton, Chairman of ICBC.
Diverse? I guess - if "diverse" means "Has-been standup comics" and "a few people were weren't quite moldy and dull enough for NPR".

I think the emphasis on using comics and NPR retreads like Lanpher and Kaplan is important; comics are inevitably angry, bitter people with gargantuan egoes. They are used to dominating stages with the force of their personalities. I admire this on one front; a good comic's stage presence is amazing. On the other hand, comics almost inevitably talk down to people; they' usually ooze contempt for their audiences. NPR is similar - public radio personalities give you the sense that they are something you'd better absorb for your own good - without any actual entertainment value.

And always, always, the Hollywood connection. Look at how much of the show is based on inteviews with guests - "live guests from the world of politics, the arts and entertainment", as Garofalo's blurb puts it. Liberal radio talks down to the audience.

Conservative talk radio succeeds because it's like Extreme Barroom Conversation. You can imagine yourself talking politics with people like you hear on conservative talk, whether it's that maddenlingly erudite Medved guy in the front booth, that blowhard O'Reilly by the jukebox, those Northern Alliance schlemiels around the pool table, or that Limbaugh guy in the back room.

Comics? Their job is to get the bar to shut up. And if you try to talk with them directly, they'll give you a too-cool-for-the-room cutdown and try to hit on your girlfriend.

And the NPR guys? They're over at the Dunn Brothers listening to Peruvian techno.

Will it fly? You can help me figure that out, with...

The Liberal Radio Dead Pool - That's right. Let's predict the demise of Frankennet. If you're feeling really cnfident, let's do the same for the individual shows.

Winner of the dead pool wins a "What Would Reagan Do?" bumper sticker from "Shop In The Dark".

My predictions are as follows:
"Uprising": Comics are as stable as show poodles. I say the show has burned through both of its co-hosts in the first six months, and is "re-worked" by September 31.
"Unfiltered": Lilywhite Winstead is a snide, hip, too-cool-for-school comic. Chuck D is a hard-edged polemicist. Separately, neither invites conversation. Together, I see the show being as much fun as a MacAlester teach-in. I predict Chuck bails within six months.
"O'Franken" - For starters; basing your show's identity on a slap against your rival merely plays his game, and shows the...well, stupidity of FrankenNet's executive suite. Second: I'm trying to figure out Al Franken's reaction when he realizes his sidekick is Katherine Lanpher, the overrated dim-bulb of MPR fame. I say Lanpher's out by March 21, 2005, and the show grinds to a halt by September 30, 2006.
Randi Rhodes: Gone by March 31, 2005.
"Majority Report": Garofalo is an acquired taste when you're watching her do comedy in a room; much of her appeal (and I'll admit right here - she has appeal) is physical; her face is half of her act. Note to FrankenNet's brain trust; on radio, nobody can see your face! I give it six months: By 9/30/04, Garofalo will be gone.
Finally - FrankenNet will get a major re-tooling by September 31, 2004. Most of its original lineup will be gone as noted above. Its first major affiliate will switch formats by 3/31/05, and the network will be officially dead by 3/31/06.

Count on it.
posted by Mitch Berg 3/11/2004 06:17:12 AM

Teachers - SCSU Scholars points us to a wonderful piece by Michael Tinker on why standards may not be as important as the teachers who teach the material.

To which I reply "Alleluiah".

Tinker says:
So the so-called "greatest generation" didn't do well on standardized history tests? Hmmm. I was thinking about my own history career before college. I went to a really good high school in Chattanooga, TN and had:

*7th grade - American History - junior school football coach
*9th grade - "government" - not bad, though the teacher was reputedly a charity hire; he was certainly odd, without being crazy enough to be vivid or fun
*10th grade - European history - the chainsmoking registrar, the only class he taught. Misery. I read the textbook to pass the time, and when I finished that started snaffling books off his shelf. Guess that's why I did well on the AP.
*11th grade - American history from a man who was a historian. Bob Bailey, r.i.p, was a fine teacher and a fine historian. If he did anything outside the classroom for the school (and it was the kind of place where every teacher did something) I don't remember it. We were his priority. Little as I have grown up to enjoy the kind of historian who wears costumes which reflect his favorite period this man could make us think that history was interesting and that writing the history term paper was a mild imposition.

I have no problem believing that most people learned little from their history teachers, given how little I, who seemed to be destined for the subject, learned from 3 out of 4 in high school.

Was your experience different?
Oh, good lord, no.
Seventh grade History and eighth grade Geography were both taught by the Girls Basketball coach. He was a real guy, which served its own purpose - most of my male classmates had never had a male teacher, and they certainly needed one. He really didn't know much about history beyond what was in the textbook, and certainly had no idea how to make it compelling to students who weren't already fascinated by it.
Seventh grade English was taught by a girl's Track coach. I think English had been her minor (she'd majored in Phy Ed), and only because she liked books.
Eighth grade English teacher - a guy who'd gotten back from Vietnam a few years earlier, and was visibly bored teaching junior high English - he left the profession a few years later to open an electronics shop.
Ninth grade civics was taught by a guy who was quite visibly punching the clock 'til retirement. He'd been in WWII, and rumor had it that he'd been the only survivor of a platoon that had been ambushed in Italy. Occasionally, when a car backfired or a malicious student popped a paper bag behind him, he'd still flatten himself on the floor, automatically. Knew very little about the subject.
Ninth grade English; a pleasant woman who was very clearly bored with teaching, after about two years in the field. I think she left teaching to be a housewife a few years later. I loved the literature semester, and got straight "A"s. The grammar part? Well, this was the third time I'd had it in three years, to say nothing
Tenth grade social studies ("Africa", "Ancient Rome" and "Western Civ") were team-taught by two people - a confirmed bachelor who quite visibly hated teenagers, and a woman we'll return to shortly.
Tenth grade English was another team project; Literature was taught by an older fella who seemed to wish he was teaching college; he was visibly fascinated by his material, but was completely unable to convey that fascination to anyone, including me. I got straight "B"s. The Grammar teacher was a grossly-overweight recently-divorced woman who, in hindsight, resembled the demon spawn of Roseanne Barr and Al Franken. On this, my fourth or sixth pass through the rules of Grammar, I was so bored I ended up spending most of the semester dreaming about surfing and designing the army I'd have when I founded my own country. I got C's and D's, and she told me I had no aptitude in English.
The varsity football coach taught eleventh grade history. He wasn't the typical football coach - a genial, agreeable guy, really - and he freely admitted I knew more about history than he did. "Talk is cheap", you say - but he also let me teach the World War II unit.
I had my dad for eleventh-grade English, and a great Creative Writing teacher my senior year. Finally.
Senior year "Government" class was taught by a guy who was very obviously counting the hours until retirement. How completely had he given up? He'd assign ten-page papers. A well-researched eight-page paper would get a "C". Ten pages of dirty jokes wrapped with a beginning and end-page that looked like thesis and conclusion pages would get an "A+". His wife - the aforementioned tenth-grade social studies teacher - was the same thing, only her hair was curlier. He counted the pages, rather than reading them. This was one of the few classes where summer school was a plum merit assignment; kids competed to get into the summer class, working hard for the limited number of seats; it was great practice for medical and law school (although I got into it...).
I got a BA in English, with a minor in History (and one in German, but for some reason Language teachers seem to want to teach languages; I never met a coach that taught languages).

Point being, if you want people to learn social studies, it might be a good idea to put a premium on finding people who care about teaching the subject.
posted by Mitch Berg 3/11/2004 06:01:55 AM

Fear - Steve Gigl pointed me to this piece from "A Small Victory". On one level, it talks about the election, and her own personal journey from voting for Nader to supporting Bush.

She gets some criticism, it seems, from those who think basing her vote on the Terrorism issue is irrational:
"This is not irrational. It's real. Was this a fake event acted out on a sound stage? No, it was real. How can you say that the fear that comes with something like that is not real? Contrary to what you may believe, Bush did not instill that fear in me. A bunch of radical religious nuts on a jihad did that. Are you so naive to think that they don't want to do it again?
All very true - and it touches on a larger point that was made in a smaller way, over the past decade here in Minnesota.

During our concealed carry debate, one of common attacks on supporters of the reforms went like this, delivered in full self-righteous indignant fury:
I choose not to be afraid! I choose not to live in fear!
The irrationality of this statement drove me crazy: So Do I!

I supported shall-issue specifically because fear doesn't mix with life well. I want the people - the rational, law-abiding people - of our society to have less to fear.

Ditto voting for Bush. Confronting ones fears is not the same as caving in to them.

Michelle continues:

How is that I'm selfish if I vote with my own family in mind, but you aren't selfish if you vote with your own agenda in mind? When you go to the polls, you aren't going to be thinking of me or what I want. Maybe the economy or gay rights is number one on your agenda but, as much as those things are important to me, they are not number one on mine. How dare you have the nerve for calling me selfish when I decide to cast my vote according to what I feel should be the priorities of this nation.
Isn't that the way of the left? They do it at a national level (Iraq is "fearmongering" while Haiti and Liberia are worth intervention) and the personal level (defending against robbers and bangers and rapists is "fearmongering", while Rush Limbaugh or personal faith or homeschooling are "Scary").

RTWT, of course.
posted by Mitch Berg 3/11/2004 05:00:05 AM

Wednesday, March 10, 2004

Deserve Victory - Powerline posts posts a challenge from Professor Charles Kesler
Perhaps, then, what the voters really wonder is whether this is war or only a new kind of protracted, indecisive police action, better fought now by airport screeners and international organizations than by the military. In that case, Americans may be tempted to elect a candidate who will declare victory?or stalemate?and bring our troops home. After decades of intoning the lessons of Vietnam, John Kerry's moment may have arrived, just when we need a war president who will insist on nothing short of victory.
Then, they (in this case, Big Trunk) asks:
Which brings us back to the question I raised this morning: Does the American public understand that we are still at war and in need of a war leader? Will they understand it come the election this November?
Two answers.

I think that in the Red states - where people are much more likely to have family members and friends in the military and the National Guard - the answer is "usually".

And, for the sake of this country, we have to hope so. If our memory is that short, I hate to say it, but perhaps this nation deserves what happens.
posted by Mitch Berg 3/10/2004 06:36:38 AM

Lies, Damned Lies, and Kaplan - There's working hard, and then there's working smart.

When you are trying to paint John Kerry as responsible on foreign policy and defense, working hard is not enough.

Problem is, either is working smart. You have to work fictional.

Last week, a fair chunk of the blogging left jumped on a piece by Fred Kaplan in Slate Magazine that purported to show that Kerry was actually no worse than the GOP - or parts of it - on defense voting.

Kaplan starts out cutesy, with a mystery quote:
After completing 20 planes for which we have begun procurement, we will shut down further production of the B-2 bomber. We will cancel the small ICBM program. We will cease production of new warheads for our sea-based ballistic missiles. We will stop all new production of the Peacekeeper [MX] missile. And we will not purchase any more advanced cruise missiles. ? The reductions I have approved will save us an additional $50 billion over the next five years. By 1997 we will have cut defense by 30 percent since I took office.
Needless to say, the quote was by George H.W. Bush, in the 1992 State Of The Union address.

That's right. 1992. The dust from the fall of the Berlin Wall had barely settled. Some where hypothesizing that history had ended. Congress was already busy figuring out how to spend the peace dividend. In this world - which seemed so safe and peaceful at the time - John Kerry voted along with so many legislators from both sides of the aisle.

But it's not even close to the whole story. Will Collier at Vodkapundit responds:
That'd be a nice argument, Fred, except that you didn't bother to fact-check your own statements against the rest of the public record. Like, say, this 1984 Kerry memo, which Kerry's campaign has admitted is genuine. It lays out, in Kerry's own name, plans to "cancel" all of the above programs, plus several others.

In other words, Fred, you're either completely misinformed, or you're lying. Based on your previous "work" regarding defense issues, I might have given you the benefit of the doubt. You clearly don't know a damn thing about how weapons systems are designed, tested, used, or bought (repeatedly quoting a fraud like John "I'm not an engineer, but I play one on TV" Pike doesn't help your credibility), but since Mark Steyn has had that memo linked for the better part of a month, I'm inclined to think that you're just ignoring it.

In other words, lying.
And voting against these weapons in 1984 was a very different thing than it was seven years later - votes that Kaplan glosses over at the very least.

Kerry voted, among many other things:
to halve the size of the Tomahawk missile program - which allowed us to attack targets from Libya through Afghanistan and Iraq without risking our pilots to do it.
To cancel building enough M1 Abrams tanks to re-equip our entire armored force, as well as the upgrading of the M1 to the current A1 standard (with a bigger cannon and thicker armor). Had Kerry had his way, a large part of the US tank force would have remained in the 1950's M60 tank. There's an Israeli joke that goes "What's the difference between an M60 and a Zippo lighter? The M60 lights up on the first try every time". In two wars, no Amerian tanker has been killed by a through-the-armor hit in an M1 Abrams.
The AH64 Apache, which has been so essential to depriving the enemy of the ability to maneuver on the battlefield in two wars
The F14A and D, the F15, the AV8 Harrier - most of the planes that are the mainstays of our air power
Worse, he voted against them not only after the Cold War, as Kaplan noted - but during the height of it. His contempt for the military at that time was unforgiveable - and shouldn't be forgiven.

posted by Mitch Berg 3/10/2004 05:06:39 AM

Second Black President - If a Republican candidate for office had stuck his feet in his mouth the way John Kerry has this last few days - i.e., to the knees - the media would be crucifying him.

First, his asinine comparison of the black and gay struggles for civil rights last week - crushingly stupid and illogical:
This was followed by a flashback to the most groan-moment in recent American history, if you have a sense of communal shame; John Kerry trying to latch on to the stupidest statement ever made about Bill Clinton, the "first black president".

This was a statement that made me cringe for Clinton when I first heard it in 1992. I waited for the avalanche of calumny from the Afro-American left.

And waited.

And am still waiting.

Leave aside for the moment that Bill Clinton was a descendant of the redneck peckerwoods that, if stereotypes are what we are talking about (and we are), made life miserable for Afro-Americans ever since reconstruction. Ask this: What made Bill Clinton "black"? Because he was born poor and had a no-count father? Is that something Afro-American society wants to identify with? Is that part of the society's identity? Because he was born poor and southern?

Is that all it takes to be taken in by African-American society?

Now, at least somebody is riffing on Kerry for his stupid statement. Is it the NY Times? The WaPo?

No, Yahoo News, natch.
posted by Mitch Berg 3/10/2004 05:02:21 AM

Second Black President, Redux - In yet another case of John Kerry trying to have his cake and eat it and cut carbs too, we trip across this story about John Kerry's background as a supporter of affirmative action and an opponent of, ironically, affirmative action:
Mary Frances Berry's assessment is supported by the facts. While Kerry claims he seeks to "mend, not end" affirmative action and that he rejects quotas, he's done neither. In the 12 years since the Yale speech, Kerry's had numerous opportunities to vote against quotas and "mend" affirmative action, yet in every case he's stuck with the status quo, i.e., in favor of quotas and set asides. For example, he could've supported the 1995 Dole-Canady bill that would've eliminated federal preferences, or the Gramm-Franks amendment that would've discontinued minority set-asides in government contracting, or he could've signed onto an amicus brief opposing the University of Michigan admissions system found unlawful by the Supreme Court. But in the end his actions didn't match his rhetoric.

So, if he's always voted for quotas and set asides, why do preference supporters view Kerry with suspicion? Because affirmative action orthodoxy is inviolate. Expressing reservations about affirmative action's merits (even if you don't really mean it) is apostasy.

In the end, preference supporters will probably line up behind Kerry — but not with the level of enthusiasm displayed toward the first black president.
Y'know, lots of people have documented (and documented, and documented...) Kerry's flip-flips on issues. Someone needs to tackle Kerry's just-plain-stupid statements.

Any volunteers?

I'm afraid it would take more time than I have free...
posted by Mitch Berg 3/10/2004 05:01:03 AM

Mojo Setting - Via Ken Layne and Steve Gigl, I see that Mojo Nixon is retiring from music.

He says:
"'I have nothing more to say,' says Nixon. 'Not only am I empty, but obviously nobody gives a rat's ass about the things I have been saying for twenty years. The masses are just as blinded by the light of stupidity, prudery and the shiny objects of hate.' "
Ah, Mojo. I do give precisely a rat's ass. In fact, I often turn to your lyrics in my times of pain and joy.

When I'm feeling pensive or agog witn wonder at the beauty of this world, I recall the words of his "Wash No Dishes No More":
Ain't gonna go to no lawyers no more
Ain't gonna go to no lawyers no more,
It's just like Shakespeare said,
all them peckerheads oughtta be dead,
Ain't gonna go to no lawyers no more.

Ain't gonna carry no ID no more,
Ain't gonna carry no ID no more.
Can't you suckers see,
that it's me, me, me,
Ain't gonna carry no ID no more.

Ain't gonna go to school no more,
Ain't gonna go to school no more.
They don't want you to do your best,
they just want you to take a test,
Ain't gonna go to school no more.
And so on. I get kinda choked up.

He'll be missed - for the roughly three months this "retirement" lasts.
posted by Mitch Berg 3/10/2004 05:00:56 AM

Funniest Ad I've Heard Lately - Perhaps the funniest political ad I can remember lately, if not ever:
"Massachusetts Senator John Kerry. Hairstyle by Christophe's $75. Designer shirts: $250. Forty-two foot luxury yacht: $1 million. Four lavish mansions and beachfront estate: Over $30 million."

"Another rich, liberal elitist from Massachusetts who claims he's a man of the people. Priceless."
Via Vodkapundit
posted by Mitch Berg 3/10/2004 05:00:26 AM

Tuesday, March 09, 2004

Short Day of Blogging - Not feeling particularly well. Besides, what am I going to say? "Kerry's still a mealy-mouthed hack?" "The Strib's columnists are biased?" "Ruby is a vacuous little troll?"

More later.
posted by Mitch Berg 3/9/2004 07:33:35 AM

Separated at birth - KFA Blog, DPRK News? - Yeah, yeah - it's a Kerry blog.

That doesn't mean I can't make fun of it:
When Teresa Heinz-Kerry arrived, she handed me a pin that read in the center: “Asses of Evil” with “Bush”, “Cheney”, “Rumsfeld” and “Ashcroft” surrounding it. She met, greeted and talked to a jam-packed room of Kerry supporters and others who came for the MoveOn documentary. Many were curious, others undecided, or belonging to other candidate camps.

She gave us a bit of what she does best, connecting us as a community with her heart, compassion, and willingness to fight throughout all her life for the good of all of us. As her husband, John Kerry has throughout his life.
Apropos nothing.
posted by Mitch Berg 3/9/2004 05:00:57 AM

Which Priorities Do We Have, Anyway? - How many times can we repeat it - John Kerry is not a serious candidate when it comes to foreign policy. We - and by "we", I mean "the blogging right" as well as "every right-wing pundit that matters" - have been repeating this ad infinitum since the beginning of the campaign. We'll need to keep hammering on it, so that every American that can be reached on this issue, is.

Jay Reding doesn't have the first summation of Kerry's ineptitude in this area. His won't be the last, not by far. But his latest is an excellent one, and very much worth a read.

Money quote:
In essence, Kerry would have been willing to buck the international system in order to prop up a dictator but wouldn't be willing to do so to remove a tyrant who presented a clear threat to the region. Such a position is completely untenable and reflects a simpleminded opposition to Bush Administration policy rather than a coherent foreign policy.Such a position would put US troops in support of a crumbling and illegitimate regime, and ensure that the violence in Haiti would only escalate. The international community did the right thing by removing Aristide and beginning to work to ease the suffering of the Haitian people and help them restore a truly democractic system. Yet Kerry is now on the record as opposing that position in a mindlessly partisan repudiation of Bush Administration policy.
Haiti stands out as the first new, breaking foreign policy crisis since the presidential campaign got serious. Kerry's reaction to the crisis, essentially? "I'd do the opposite of whatever the President says..." - and not much else. There is no there there.

Reding sees this:
His foreign policy is a simplistic negation of the Bush Administration's policy, his positions lack coherence, and he barely mentions the most important issue of this election. The fact that Kerry very rarely mentions foreign policy on the stump, except to use it as a hammer against Bush is equally telling. John Kerry may have been a war hero in Vietnam, but he is not Commander in Chief material, and a Kerry presidency would return the US to the rudderless foreign policy of the Clinton Administration - a foreign policy that directly lead to the deaths of thousands of Americans at the Khobar Towers, our embassies in Africa, the USS Cole, the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the fields of Shanksburg, Pennsylvania.
I think - no, I hope and pray - that the average American this coming November realizes this simple fact: John Kerry's war heroism (let's take it at face value) is not, in and of itself, a qualification for office.
posted by Mitch Berg 3/9/2004 05:00:19 AM

Monday, March 08, 2004

The Stewart Verdict - The Today show is interviewing four of the Stewart jurors - a hindu woman, a black guy, an older, very brahminish-sounding woman...

...and a blond woman - Dana D'Alessandro - that sounds like she should play the Marisa Tomei role in the stage production of "My Cousin Vinnie".

I'd be more afraid to tangle with her than with John Gotti...

Now, they're talking with Naomi Wolf and Tina Brown are talking about whether "Martha Stewart was targeted because she's a powerful woman".

Wolf: "It's almost Greek - a woman flying too close to the sun...there's almost a tribal taboo against women having too many resources...we're just not ready...look at Hillary, her hairstyle, people wanted to burn her at the stake over that...".

Brown: "It was if Martha had broken down and cried...it's a reflection of the schadenfreude people feel...people wanted to see her bleed...the whole culture of the corner office male executive doesn't carry the freight of having to admit that I did this".

None of them actually questioned the verdict, though, which brings us to the question: what does her gender have to do with it? People didn't attack the personalities of the principals of the Enron flap - because there is no "Ken Lay Living" show on TV.
posted by Mitch Berg 3/8/2004 07:13:01 AM

Huh? - Spike Moss commenting on the TV about Minneapolis' latest gangland shooting:
"I think it's a tragedy that a kid can spend five of six years looking for a scholarship, but can find a gun in fifteen minutes in our community"
The problem, of course, is that it takes less than that to find a buyer for the drugs that the kids that aren't looking for scholarships are selling.

Perhaps if the dominant urban culture glorified the search for scholarships as much as they glorify guns, Benzos and hos, the kids might spend less time searching for those eeevul guns.

Just a thought.
posted by Mitch Berg 3/8/2004 06:40:29 AM

Finally Saw the Bush Ad - I counted two seconds of coverage of September 11 in a thirty-second spot.

Given that the events and fallout from September 11 have dominated over 3/4 of the time of his administration, I thought it should have been given more play in the commercials.

But no. If you're a Democrat, the President should pretend it all never happened. Right?
posted by Mitch Berg 3/8/2004 06:35:02 AM

The Tabby In Winter - Dan Barreiro writes about his resignation from the Strib today. Thinking back, it may have been the third Barreiro column I've read in 17 years. I couldn't tell you what the other two were.
If you grew up reading Chicago newspaper legend Mike Royko, and you wanted to become a writer, you knew two things. The first was that you'd never come remotely close to carrying Royko's jock. The second was that you should write what your gut tells you, and care not what feathers you ruffle...You also learn that when the commentary is more biting than poignant (once upon a time in newspapers, the former was valued every bit as much as the latter), the readers' blood may boil. You hope that whether they agreed with you or not, they understood that all you tried to do was write what you saw.
I'll leave it to the Fraters to do the real fisking here. I have only one thing to say.

DAN! You're a sports writer. You exposed no corruption. You brought no comfortable middle-Americans to worlds they'd never seen, agog with wonder or nauseous with righteous revulsion. You never made a reader feel the thump of incoming mortar fire or smell the blood on the street after the gangland shooting.

No, Dan. You wrote about milliionaire athletes playing kids' games. I've known sports writers. When you get to the big leagues, it's just about the poshest life one can imagine.

But as we all know (because newspaper columnists that matter have told us so), big incomes combined with easy, diverting work aren't always enough to keep one satisfied:
That some folks cared even a little is something that this hardened cynic will always treasure.
That a grownup can become a "hardened cynic" over sports is something that will make this guy who has no time for sports shake his head and wonder about other peoples' priorties.

Sorry, Dan. Didn't care.
posted by Mitch Berg 3/8/2004 06:15:13 AM

Moderate Humor - I'm trying to imagine the furor if a conservative commentator were to write something like this:
Senator and authoritarian martinette Hillary Clinton (R - Hell) is in the hospital for pancreatitis brought on by a gallstone. She is expected to make a full recovery, which ruins my day. No, I'm just kidding, but if she were to die of a sudden illness...oh, I should stop teasing myself.

Get well soon, Senator Clinton. Feeling compassion for the likes of you makes my skin crawl.
So how is this piece any better?

The point - that the central message of the left is of stomach-churning, fevered hatred, and this hatred has infected even normally-rational schlemiels like Jeff Fecke.

"But the right hated Bill Clinton" will be the obvious response.

No. Not like this. There were those on the right that hated Bill Clinton because of what he and his wife did, and why they skated for it. Had he been a bit less feckless in his personal habits, and were his wife less of a closet Peron, he'd have probably been one of the Democrats that Republicans could have admired, like Truman or Kennedy.

But the left hates Bush and everything about him because:
He won an election that they regarded as their sinecure,
With that shaky mandate, he achieved a lot.
Most importantly, he's just not like them. He and his administration "Don't act like us".
For the left, the ends don't justify the means. Unless it's their ends.

UPDATE: Jeff has reconsidered. Very good.
posted by Mitch Berg 3/8/2004 05:00:42 AM

Seven Words You Can't Say On Radio - ...apparently turn up with great regularity on the John Kerry website.
posted by Mitch Berg 3/8/2004 05:00:40 AM

Falling Off A Log - There's something about being in a radio station that's unlike any other place on earth. The stacks of electronic equipment give off a faint odor of ozone that reminds you of how the air feels after an electrical storm. You get a sense of urgent tension in most radio stations; standing there, you feel like there's stuff that needs doing, and NOW!

And that's just walking in the door.

Being on the air is another level of the same feeling; when you open the mike, you sense that what you say is going to go out there to the rest of the world right now - there are no mulligans. The immediacy buzzes back at you through the headphones.

And that's just introducing a record.

Doing a talk show? It's yet another level altogether. Let's be honest; it takes a certain amount of ego to think your opinion - on politics, sports, cooking, whatever - has anything to offer to other people. And armed with that ego and (hopefully) a lot of show-prep, you sit down in front of that microphone, smell the ozone, feel the tension, and see that clock - and realize that it's two minutes after the hour, the opening theme is starting, and you have to keep some kind of talk going on for the next fifteen minutes. And then take a four-minute break, and repeat the process eleven more times. And if at any point you run out of things to talk about, you and your ego are going to sound really stupid.

Call it "Extreme Barroom Conversation". When it works, there's nothing like it.

So the Northern Alliance Radio Network debuted Saturday on AM1280 The Patriot. The show went wonderfully; better than most of the guys expected, I think, although about like I'd figured it would; there was too much talent involved for the thing to tank completely, and not so much talent that embarassing failure was guaranteed. With so many people involved, the big worry with this sort of show - not having any callers - doesn't mean much. We could have probably talked among the nine of us for the whole three hours without taking any calls - but that wouldn't have been nearly as much fun.

How'd it go? Well, so many people blogged about it, I can't add much; Brainstorming had a great review, and the American Thinker sounded off as well. Powerline did a great wrapup, and of course Captain Ed liveblogged the whole thing.

A few other notes: It was a pleasure to work with producer Joe Hanson again. We used to work together at another station, many years ago. He's the best in the business.

And the after-show party at Rocket Man's place was a wonderful time. Mrs. Hindrocket made the best roast beef I've had in twenty years - yes, I kept track! - and a "Martha Stewart's Macaroni and Cheese" that should be considered a mitigating factor in any upcoming sentencing. We got to meet the great Yale Diva as well.

Good show, good company, good time. We'll have to do it again sometime.

Tune in next week!
posted by Mitch Berg 3/8/2004 05:00:00 AM