Month: November 2010

Greg Scoblete accuses me of being "a bit circuitous":

The basic problem here isn't that the U.S. has a huge stake in who lives where in the West Bank. It doesn't. The problem seems to be that American interests are endangered by Israeli behavior. But America is only implicated in Israel's behavior because of its generous financial, military and diplomatic support for the country. If you insist that this behavior is endangering American interests, and previous efforts to stop that behavior have failed, why not cease subsidizing it?

It's easier (in theory, at least) for the United States to change its own policies than to have the United States try to change another country's policy … I'm not saying I endorse cutting off aid, but just that this seems to be the logical denouement of Sullivan's argument.

I'd cut off aid myself – because they don't need it and we cannot afford it – not as a pressure tactic. But even if you did, the key issue seems to me to be the UN veto. Until the US stops protecting Israel from isolation in the Security Council, the US's foreign policy and Israel's Palestinian policy are inextricable from one another. 

Scott Morgan's two cents:

The bottom line is that this was not a presidential election year. Doing this campaign in a midterm election put us at a significant disadvantage. When the White House is up for grabs, young voters turn out in huge numbers, guaranteeing big points for an issue like marijuana reform. This means we could likely win by running basically the same campaign in 2012. It's really important that we emphasize this fact as much as possible, because we don't want anyone underestimating public support for legalization. Tell your friends: we lost because of timing, not lack of public support.

A reader writes:

I know national politics is your bread and butter, but after weeks of feverish analysis in the industrial-punditry complex over what would happen in the midterms, and now with feverish 24-7 analysis over what the election meant and what will happen next, I'm so. sick. of. politics. A little breather would be wonderful.

Breather above. And it's nearly the weekend.

Mickey plumbs them:

At some point, GOP legislators may realize that it's in their individual interests, if they want to be reelected, to actually accomplish something, even if that means boosting Obama at the expense of whoever gets the GOP presidential nomination. This realization often takes a while to dawn, however. In 1995 and 1996, for example, Republicans initially resisted a reasonable compromise on welfare reform, preferring to have "the issue" to use against President Clinton in the Presidential race. Only at the second-to-last moment in 1996 did Newt Gingrich decide—despite pressure from the Dole campaign—to actually try to enact a piece of legislation. The resulting bill was quite radical, by conventional Washington standards—but even then the constant temptation was to pass a bill so extreme that Clinton would have to veto it (a process recounted in Ron Haskins' insider history, Work over Welfare)

“The real question from Tuesday night’s outcome is how long can the US government issue its own increasingly toxic sovereign debt into the global market at a rate twice as fast as underlying economic growth? The cynic might say: as long as the Fed can continue to monetize 100% of the new debt issue, as it promised in Wednesday’s $100 billion per month quantitative easing 2 (QE2) announcement. But it should be obvious to all except the insouciant boys and girls and robots of Wall Street that the world’s leading central bank is now dispensing pure monetary heroin. And, ironically, that’s likely to kill the patient before the fiscal question is even addressed,” – David Stockman.

A fatal overdose, please. I Heart Chaos reviews an upcoming series:

At some point, we either have to reach the end of shit that can possibly be created for reality TV or we, as a civilization will just chop our own head off with a chainsaw. If a show coming out next year on E! is any indication, it will be the latter. “Bridalplasty” will combine all the fun of OCD bridezillas with the unspeakable horrors of women who think having the entire front part of their skull reconstructed to look like Elizabeth Taylor is a good idea.

One difference, clearer after the Olbermann suspension:

News Corp made multiple undisclosed donations to the Republican Governors Association, totaling at least $1.25 million, in addition to a $1 million contribution to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for its pro-Republican election-year activities. Fox News has helped GOP candidates raise money on the air; Fox News personalities are featured guests at Republican fundraisers; while other Fox News personalities continue to help generate financial support for Republican candidates now, even after the elections.

Jessanne Collins offers an insider explanation:

“We aren’t here to break news, lay out editorial opinion, or investigate the latest controversy,” Demand’s corporate manifesto declares. “Our audience tells us they want incredibly specific information and we deliver exactly that – in a style that the average consumer appreciates and understands.” In a nutshell, what the company does is to take informational demand and create, in virtual-sweatshop fashion, supply. Basically, if you plug it into Google — “Seasonal mating habits of poison dart tree frogs,” say — it’s got a good chance of eventually finding its way, via a proprietary set of content-churning algorithms, into a list of “topics” to be turned into an article or bullet-point list by Demand’s cadre of stay-at-home moms, independently accredited experts in something or other, magical writing elves, and junior high honors students. Just kidding! These people are professional freelancers, who make $15-30 per piece. Then, the next time you’re researching the seasonal mating habits of poison dart tree frogs, or anyone else on Earth is, since Demand’s properties reach 59 million users a month, said article will top out the Google results.

Next: how to take human beings out of the process altogether.