Month: September 2009

Dave Weigel moderates the controversy around the size of this weekend's protests:

This dispute won’t end soon, as any veterans of anti-war protests could tell conservatives; it’s tough to get accurate crowd counts and tough to believe that something that felt massive was not, in fact, historically large. This was the largest march on Washington by conservatives in anyone’s memory. But Washington was home to one of the largest public gatherings of the decade just nine months ago, when 1.8 million people filled the mall from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial for President Obama’s inauguration, and that has given future protesters a barometer for their success. The reports of “2 million people” on the mall this weekend were always ludicrous.

Nate Silver also weighs in.

Ackerman isn't impressed by the new bin Laden tape:

Here’s the funny bit. bin Laden says that Obama is “powerless” to win the Afghanistan war. Well, perhaps. But this is his 9/11 anniversary message, the one everyone expects at this time every year, and it drops days after the actual anniversary. And al-Qaeda is reportedly having difficulty convincing anyone of its relevance outside Waziristan, after snatching defeat from the jaws of victory in Iraq and showing itself unable to recruit new fanatics. Its last several major attack attempts have been foiled and it doesn’t look like it has another mastermind like Khalid Shaikh Mohammed still in its ranks.

In short, bin Laden is like the music industry. His major successes are now on the mixtape circuit, but he can’t figure out, in this new environment, how to translate that into wider success. No one’s interested in buying it anymore.

Obama has taught us that allowing your enemies to defeat themselves can sometimes be the right strategy in the long run. But I still dream of the US tracking down bin Laden, and bringing that aristo-fundie to justice.

Well, I gave it my best shot.

The Atlantic has done me the honor of putting my open letter to George W. Bush on torture on the cover. Commercially, this is not exactly an easy call (although the magazine did alternate a few newsstand editions with a more sellable cover of Jon Stewart). But the magazine believes the case I'm making – that someone at some point needs to take full responsibility for the torture and abuse era of 2002 – 2009 – is worth putting front and center. It's a slightly different tack than I have taken in the past – because all the other options in front of us are so deeply divisive.

The MSM has largely moved on from this issue. The Atlantic hasn't, because it's one of the few magazines left that makes major editorial decisions that may not make sense commercially. In this economic climate, especially with old media in crisis, a decision like that is understandably making some general interest magazines an endangered species.

You can read the essay online here for free, of course. But what I'd ask – and no one at the Atlantic has put me up to this – is something else. If you appreciate the magazine's decision to sail into the commercial winds on this subject, and to use the word "torture" to describe what was done on its cover, one way you can show that appreciation is by subscribing or picking up a copy at the newsstands. That helps remind editors in the fast-shrinking world of magazines that ballsy, public interested decisions need not be commercially disastrous.

So please, if you haven't already, subscribe. It's only $14.95 for a year – ten issues for the price of eight.

The current issue has a roster of classic Atlantic writers: Mark Bowden on the politicization of journalism, Bob Kaplan on why he loves al-Jazeera, Ron Brownstein on California's innovative energy policy, James Parker on Ricky Gervais, Ben Schwarz on the middle class and recessions, Megan McArdle on Goldman, Jim Fallows on Americans in China, and your monthly dose of Hitchens – this time attacking The Daily Show as unfunny. Jeffrey Goldberg also tackles the critical question of what to do when your dad is buying pot from your friends.

I love this magazine, and its editorial integrity, and want it to continue to flourish in an increasingly beleaguered industry. If you do too, please subscribe.

Kanye apologizes in all caps. And this is why I love the Intertubes:

If you ‘re a little confused about this whole gay fish thing, it’s all explained after the jump:

Gallup has a new poll on the public mood one year after the Lehman collapse. Chris Good sums it up:

Note that a year ago, people were spending tons of money and thinking the economy was getting worse…and then it did: consumer spending saw sharp drops before Obama was inaugurated, then continued to decline. Now, people are more optimistic about the economy than they were on the first day of its collapse.

Sarah Palin will give an allegedly six-figure talk to an Asian business group. No press will be allowed to record or ask uncontrolled questions. Just like the last campaign.

Watch Tom DeLay dance, if you dare.

Brad DeLong calls the tariff the Obama administration slapped on Chinese tires "really stupid." Soren Dayton doesn't pull punches:

[W]here was the logic in this? He helps his allies, with one hand, but hurts them with the other. He hurts the economy. He hurts the government run companies. And he opens a trade war just in time for the G-20…

Mish piles on:

Not a single job will return to the US as a result of these tariffs. Imports from China will drop but imports from elsewhere will rise. Thus, the unfortunate tragedy in this mess is that Obama's kowtowing to the unions is going to cost union jobs. The ultimate irony is misguided unions are cheering every step of the way.

Ugh.