Month: November 2009

Norm Geras counters Yglesias:

The opposition Matt sets up here between war and crime – between 'a socially sanctioned form of activity, generally held to be a legally and morally acceptable framework in which to kill people', on the one hand, and murder or mass murder, on the other – is too sharp. War may (sometimes) be legally and morally acceptable, but that doesn't mean there is no criminality within war. There is – as defined by the laws of war. One is not therefore bound to choose between treating individuals as participating in a war and treating them as criminals, if that is what they are.

Razib Khan:

When it comes to evolution, liberals and Democrats who are not college educated are divided, as are liberals without college degrees on  abortion on demand. When it comes to evolution, college educated Republicans and conservatives are divided! This to me explains why there is no controversy about evolution in the Democratic party, the Democratic elite is totally unified, and can ignore the masses. By contrast, the Republican masses are unified against evolution, while the elites are split.

(Photo: Ida, the most complete fossil primate ever found by Mario Tama/Getty)

Andrew Gelman tries to answer:

Being a moderate is worth about 2% of the vote in a congressional election: it ain’t nuthin, but it certainly is not a paramount concern for most representatives….Incumbent congressmembers almost always win reelection.  And, when they don’t, they’re often losing as part of a national swing (as in the 1994 Republican sweep or the 2006/2008 Democratic shift).  And when an incumbent does lose unexpectedly, it can be for something unrelated to their votes (remember the “check kiting scandal” of 1992?).

Larison doesn’t think she has much of a chance at the GOP nomination:

If Palin is in so many ways a less serious candidate than Dan Quayle, it is worth remembering that Dan Quayle’s extremely brief flirtation with presidential politics in 1999 ended because he could not find enough people interested in backing him financially.

When there was already more or less an establishment candidate in Bush, no national political figure other than McCain attempted to oppose him, and McCain’s insurgency that year collapsed quickly enough. It seems to me that Romney is shaping up to be the prohibitive favorite and heir-apparent, just as McCain effectively was going in to the primary contests. Aside from his own money, Romney is an effective fundraiser, and he has the experience and the connections from the last presidential run to make it more difficult for any other contenders to gets funds and endorsements. Republican primary voting does not reward insurgent candidates. Barring some unforeseen implosion, Romney will begin as the frontrunner and likely remain in that position. Any contest between Romney, the competent, wonkish technocrat, and Palin, who is the opposite of all these things, would result in a win for Romney.

"The campaign against NIAC should be seen for what it is — an attempt to delegitimize any Iranian-American voices that are insufficiently hawkish for the neocons’ liking. Hawks in Washington and Jerusalem are faced with the inconvenient fact that few Iranians, even those harshly critical of the regime, desire to see their country get bombed or invaded, or for Iran’s most vulnerable citizens to die under the weight of sanctions that do nothing to help the cause of the Green Movement. Hence the attempt to portray any Iranian who opposes sanctions or war as a stooge of the regime — and the hawks’ recent turn against the Iranian opposition itself, for refusing to play Chalabi and tell them what they want to hear. As the battle over Iran continues in Washington, it is likely that the attacks on NIAC and other dovish voices in the Iranian-American community are only going to get worse rather than better," – Daniel Luban.

Bruce Schneier describes the difference:

Unfortunately for politicians, the security measures that work are largely invisible. Such measures include enhancing the intelligence-gathering abilities of the secret services, hiring cultural experts and Arabic translators, building bridges with Islamic communities both nationally and internationally, funding police capabilities — both investigative arms to prevent terrorist attacks, and emergency communications systems for after attacks occur — and arresting terrorist plotters without media fanfare. They do not include expansive new police or spying laws. Our police don't need any new laws to deal with terrorism; rather, they need apolitical funding. These security measures don't make good television, and they don't help, come re-election time. But they work, addressing the reality of security instead of the feeling.

Paul Cruickshank thinks that if Osama is ever captured we should put him on trial:

It would be nothing short of a watershed moment, doing much to restore the public's confidence in American institutions and the rule of law after years of being told that they were too quaint for the challenges of a new era. And it would go a long way, too, in restoring the moral high ground for the United States in the court of global opinion.

Today on the Dish we followed Palin on the beginning of her publicity tour. Andrew live-blogged her Oprah interview, Max Blumenthal profiled her ghost-writer, Hitchens hacked away at her other hagiography, and Ambinder tackled her view of creationism. Andrew prodded Levi to fight back and pressed the networks to release raw footage from Palin's interviews. Some readers shook their heads at the Dish's coverage, but others cheered it on. Another examined Palin's post-modern poison. We tallied another "odd lie."

Another story the Dish started tracking is Eli Lake's expose on NIAC's Trita Parsi. Andrew addressed the controversy at length and Larison put in two cents. Andrew also reaffirmed his support of Israel and examined in two parts Johann Hari's piece on reformed Jihadists.

In other assorted coverage, Fallows featured Obama's China trip, Friedersdorf tackled jingoistic bloggers, Ezra and others talked cost controls, Douthat returned to blogging, and Cartman performed "Poker Face."

— C.B.