Month: July 2008

Kevin Drum notes an interesting demographic nugget:

Among cell-phone-only users (i.e., people who don’t have landlines at all and use cell phones exclusively), Obama beat McCain by a whopping 29 points, 61-32.

"Bush said it like a man who, with a cautious optimism and a deep yearning, ultimately looks forward not simply to more time in Crawford, but after that, to the full revelation of those mysteries come his Judgment day. The president’s words demonstrate an awareness of his place — even as the leader of the free world — in Creation," – Kathryn-Jean Lopez, National Review.

Nicholas Carr responds to criticism of his article on the Internet destroying the ability to concentrate:

Shirky is nothing if not an optimist. He believes that, somehow, we will find a way to “secur[e] for ourselves an ability to concentrate amidst our garden of ethereal delights.” But here he’s stating a desire that he criticizes in others: a desire to turn the clock back. He simply assumes that the “ability to concentrate” will return even as the Net changes so much else about who we are and how we think. It’s telling that Shirky uses gauzily religious terms to describe the Net…as what he’s expressing here is not reason but faith. I hope he’s right, but I think that skepticism is always the proper response to techno-utopianism.

Megan is skeptical about marriage:

Surely, a great deal of our raising involves society tricking you into doing things that are not in your immediate self-interest. Similarly, I assume that contrary to the popular stereotype, men actually must do much better out of marriage than women do, because society expends so much energy on telling women that they cannot be happy unless they marry, and trying to make sure they can’t be happy by stigmatizing women who don’t. If women genuinely got more benefits out of marriage, we wouldn’t have so many social institutions that punish them for failing to enter that happy state.

I think Megan is almost certainly right about men getting more out of marriage than women (even though they often feel in their hornier moments that they have the raw end of the deal). I’m almost a year into marriage and I’m honestly surprised by how much happier I am. Aaron and I joke about how we’ve almost turned into lesbians, going to bed early, worshiping the dogs ... Megan is writing about kids of course. But even without them, and even after writing a lot about the positive effects of marriage as an institution, I’m shocked by my own evolution. I’m sure we’ll have rough patches, as every married couple does. But so far, it’s been a revelation and confirmation of an intuition: in some ways, gay men may benefit from marriage more than any other group.

Oklahoma Commissioner Brent Rinehart’s reelection campaign cartoons. Money quote:

Keith Gaddie, a University of Oklahoma political science professor, called the book "one of the strangest things" he’d ever seen. "I’ve never seen a comic book with the phrase ‘anal sodomy’ in it before. That was a new one for me."

A reader writes:

You quoted Steve Clemons in criticizing Obama for not going to Brussels. Amongst other things he wrote:

"But Brussels is the capital of Europe. It is the promise of what Europe is struggling to become that makes Brussels a vital stopover point. Obama is visiting some of the key, strategic nodes that give Europe some of its legs — but the trip looks like an "Old Europe" trip, not a new one."

As a native European I can only say – You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!?

Brussels is as much the "capital" of "Europe" as the UN building in New York is the capital of the world. Any visit to Brussels will be as politically meaningful to the European public as a visit to the UN in New York will be to the peoples of the world. Brussels is the home of some important European Union institutions, but as many voters, in many countries of Europe, have made perfectly clear many times, the European Union is looked upon with great scepticism by many Europeans.

Even those who support further economic and political integration. Brussels is widely seen as the heart of degenerated bureaucracy, far removed from the interest of the peoples of Europe, not as "the promise of what Europe is struggling to become". Get this Steve Clemons: Europe is a continent. Europe, the political entity, is comprised of individual nation states, spanning many different languages, religions and cultures, some of them with over thousand years of continuous political existence.

The European Union is a multilateral umbrella organisation perched on top of the nation states of Europe. But it doesn’t make Europe a single political entity. While much integration between the members has been made in trade and economic issues, everything else is still a matter for the individual nation states. All important decisions are made in talks between the governments of Europe, not the European Parliament that is not worthy of the name. Look at where the real powers in Europe are, the power to tax and the monopoly on violence. It is safely tucked away in the nation states, in their own constitutions and own political institutions. Just where we like it to be!

Time gets the honor:

"The sheer breadth of fluff in this story is something to be marveled at," New York Times Washington bureau chief Dean Baquet said. "It’s all here. Favorite books, movies, meals, and seasons of the year ranked one through four. Sure, we asked Obama what his favorite ice cream was, but Time did us one better and asked, ‘What’s your favorite ice cream, really?’"

A new field poll finds a majority of Californians now opposed to amending their constitution to deny gay couples the right to marry:

The new poll, released today, is the first independent statewide measure of public opinion on the proposed constitutional ban since gay men and lesbians began marrying legally in California on June 16. It was also the first time Field Research has polled voters on the official ballot description of Proposition 8. A narrow majority of 51 percent of 672 likely voters said they would vote against a ban, while 42 percent said they would vote for it.

The anti-gay vote can be under-represented in the polls – but it’s very rare for a proposition to come from ten points behind to win. Only 7 percent said they were undecided.

First William Burns, now this euphemism for a timetable:

In the area of security cooperation, the President and the Prime Minister agreed that improving conditions should allow for the agreements now under negotiation to include a general time horizon for meeting aspirational goals — such as the resumption of Iraqi security control in their cities and provinces and the further reduction of U.S. combat forces from Iraq. The President and Prime Minister agreed that the goals would be based on continued improving conditions on the ground and not an arbitrary date for withdrawal.

A prediction: the McCain and Obama positions on Iraq will be as minimal as McCain can make them by November.

In another twist in the changing politics of the Middle East, Juan Cole cheers Bush:

The decision by the Administration to send William Burns, the State Department’s third ranking official and a career diplomat, to participate in the five power talks with Iran over its nuclear activities, certainly invites speculation as to how far the Administration has changed its policies regarding Iran…

The decision to send Burns certainly was made by President Bush, who certainly is well aware of the controversy it will arouse domestically from his own partisans and is also well aware of the thus-far successful North Korean model. He also would know that his decision undercuts John McCain’s position on Iran and his claim to superior experience, and validates Barack Obama’s judgment favoring the negotiating track. The President must also know that the multilateral process will take time to unfold and any useful results might not be realized until after his term in office. So, for a change, cheers for George Bush.

I have a feeling that historians will look at the Bush administration in three periods: pre-9/11, 2002 – 2006, and 2006 – 2009. The finish is looking stronger, as Gates and Rice and Petraeus And Hill consolidate the new array of forces the first term created.