Month: January 2012

Rupert Read wants us [pdf] to reform our political institutions to take into account people not yet born:

Burke, in a famous passage…clearly forgotten by some conservatives in UK and (especially) the USA for the last couple of generations, says that society is a contract between the dead, the living and those unborn (with no limit specified on the generations ahead). This report proposes an updating and extension of Burke's intergenerational compact. It proposes taking seriously Burke’s thought that society is "a partnership not only between those who are living, but between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born". Taking seriously this thought would mean that we would find a way of bringing the voices of those beings presently without a voice– most strikingly, future generations – into the political and juridical structures of our society, of our state, of our world.

Daveed Gartenstein-Ross runs down the five biggest global problems for Americans in the next 10 years. The debt is #1:

The debt limits our ability to project power and deal with challenges in multiple parts of the world. It presents challenges at a global, national, and local level. When the national debt is viewed in light of technological changes that can facilitate unrest, a feedback loop could emerge. Government cutbacks may drive up unemployment and force scaled back social services, which can drive unrest (making people feel they have less to lose by rioting, for example) — and in turn, these cutbacks mean that the state has less capacity to undertake policing measures against increasingly organized forces of unrest, and less capacity to repair damages thereafter.

Super PAC spending has now surpassed the $30 million mark (full breakdown from the Center for Responsive Politics here). Paul Blumenthal explains the shift depicted in the above chart: 

[S]uper PACs supporting the remaining four Republican candidates have spent $7.1 million in South Carolina. Nearly all of that money comes from [Gingrich's PAC] Winning Our Future and the pro-Romney Restore Our Future, which have spent $2.93 million and $2.84 million, respectively, to launch attacks against each other's candidate. That's a dramatic departure from the terms of battle in Iowa, where Gingrich had promised to run a positive campaign, only to watch his campaign and super PAC being woefully outspent by the Romney machine. After going down in flames at the hands of Restore Our Future, Gingrich pledged to turn his campaign to the dark side and, voila, negative ads were unleashed by the pro-Gingrich super PAC.

Newt's dramatic final argument, playing up a timely attack on the liberal media:

Earlier this week Amy Davidson reflected on Newt's bizarre Andrew Jackson moment, which also figures prominently in the ad: 

Gingrich referred to "legal mumbo jumbo" getting in the way of going after bad guys. He also said, with the look of smug contempt that he has mastered, "Andrew Jackson had a pretty clear-cut idea about America’s enemies: Kill them." There was applause for that; Frank Luntz, the pollster, called it "the best line of the entire evening." And yet Jackson’s career is a cautionary tale when it comes to the questions about national security and civil rights: Who defines who is an "enemy"? Can one put whole groups of people in that category? How should the military’s power be used within our borders? What is the responsibility of the Supreme Court? And where are we led when we abandon the rule of law? One answer, in Jackson’s case, is down the Trail of Tears, on which thousands of Native Americans lost their lives.

Here is Romney's final pitch in South Carolina, highlighting his support from Nikki Haley and John McCain: 

We missed this Pro-Paul PAC spot a few days ago, which is currently running in South Carolina:

Meanwhile, the RNC commemorates January 20, 2009:

Lastly, the Democratic group American Bridge ran a full-page ad today in the South Carolina newspaper The State, accusing Romney of being "pro-anything when it comes to profit." 

By John Moore/Getty Images

Friday on the Dish, Andrew chronicled more ad-h0minem propaganda from Fox (still no invite), aired reader reax to our mocking logo change, took on some more reasonable right-wing criticism from Hot Air, predicted "only drama" in the GOP fight, and vigorously defended the idea thast capitalism was an engine for gay equality both broadly and in the specific marriage equality fight in Washington. Readers pushed back against Andrew's dismissal of the "open-marriage story," National Review defended Newt's infidelity as "American," his epic chins won the debate, the most recent polling/projections put him ahead in SC (though we learned not to rely on such things claiming to foretell November.) Pundits debated the implications of a Gingrich win, his racism, the impact of the sleazeball allegations, the relative merits of Newt and Romney, the latter's embrace of the Paul Ryan plan, Mitt telling an opponent to go to China, the possible consequences of his victory, and what to do about Obama's civil liberties record. Colbert was good for an laugh.

The internet – especially Reddit - killed SOPA, we lived in the era of insta-ads, and Fox employed a chutzpah-riffic doctor. Syrians were on their own, a think tank was smeared on Israel, China's rise was overblown,  and new democracies were fragile. The GOP had reason to oppose the drug war, Obama's green jobs record got fact-checked, the House kept up the debate on health care, and capital gains taxes weren't obviously a bad thing. Readers discussed the publishing industry, television got hammered, and everybody was nostalgic.

Cool Ad here, Creepy Ad here, MHB here, VFYW here, Face of the Day here, Email of the Day here, Reality Check here, Ad War update here, AAA here, Chart of the Day here, and Quote for the Day here.

St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, 1.31 pm

Thursday on the Dish, Andrew liveblogged that crazy (Newt!) GOP debate (reax here), followed Perry's withdrawal and endorsement of Newt, marvelled at Newt's surge to the top of the SC polls,  decided Gingrich's open marriage was a non-story, and hammered home his conviction that Romney could still lose. Andrew also offered the Newsweek article as an antidote to Romney's lies, chatted with Tina Brown about the piece, examined his debate with a Romney strategist on Anderson Cooper, kept the heat up on the epistemic closure machine called Fox News, fit the Keystone XL decision into his broader theory of Obama, got angry at Bibi's media antics, and wouldn't give a spot of credibility to advocates for Iran war.

Bloggers wondered if Gingrich's ex would kill his campaign, reexamined their SC predictions, found poor evangelical strategy in the state, wrote postmortems for Perry's campaign, thought the Bain issue would haunt Romney, guessed at whether President Romney would repeal Obamacare, clashed over Ron Paul's foreign policy, and were astonished by the candidates' many debate fails. Obama opened up to Fareed Zakaria, drug wars varied, defense overspending threatened US security, SOPA Day changed the political landscape on the terrible bill, the economy looked up, and people (bizarrely) loved corporations. Tumbleweeds came from Eurasia, building stuff made us like it more, dumpster diving was tough, and the Christian right got old (or not?)

Ad War Update here, VFYW here, AAA here, Von Hoffman here, Tweet of the Day here, Hathos Alert here, MHB here, and Face of the Day here.

 By Virendra Singh Gosain/Hindustan Times via Getty Images.

Wednesday on the Dish, Andrew refused to let Megyn Kelly off the hook – taking on her cowardice and Fox's here, here, and here. He also defended his treatment of Obama's civil liberties record in the Newsweek essay, explained why the downturn Bush inherited wasn't the same as the Great Recession, aired reader dissents here and here, thanked Althouse for a civil reply, reiterated his view that Romney could still lose the primary, and ushered in a new era for the GOP on the back of Paul's poll numbers. We noticed Mitt had problems with taxes, consistency on SuperPACs, avoiding financial crises, debates, McCain's oppo research resurfacing, and all-around weakness. Gingrich surged (?) despite the possibility his ads were backfiring, Sarah got a spot in his (very hypothetical) administration and embodied chutzpah, and Kristol dared Paul to go all third party on Romney. Romney's whiteness was contested, Gingrich's race-baiting was still nasty, the Hispanic vote mattered, and SuperPACs shifted the landscape.

Today was also the Internet's day of protest against SOPA/PIPA: we explained why Wikipedia, among others, blacked out to protest the bills and found the opposition to the bills to be driven by companies scared of real innovation. An intervention in Syria looked to be counterproductive, Egyptian popular culture evolved strangely after the revolution, Iran couldn't destroy America, and the Chinese government might have started growing itself to death. Obama nixed the Keystone XL pipeline, recessions changed the nature of unemployment, tuitions kept skyrocketed, doctors died with dignity, a reader succeeded at self-publishing, and another reader couldn't stand yesterday's post on Sheri Lewis and Lamb Chop.

Chart of the Day here, Ad War Update here, Quote For The Day here, MHB here, Hathos Alert here, AAA here, and VFYW here.

Tuesday on the Dish, Andrew called out Fox News for making him persona non grata – which potentially produced an on-air debate over the blockbuster Newsweek piece with Megyn Kelly – and defended his Obama defense here, here, and here. He also live-chatted about the article with readers, found Palin's shrill denunciation of it telling, acknowledged that Europe might derail Obama's 2012 hopes, and noted some unsurprising vagueness from Mitt about budget cuts. On the campaign trail, the shrinking field bolstered Romney's already-dominant position, South Carolina inched his way, he might have broken far enough ahead to win every primary, and the base got (hypothetically) sold on Mormonism. Last night's debate had some fallout too – Gingrich got slammed for his horrific remarks on race and Perry got hammered for calling the leaders of a NATO ally "Islamic terrorists."

We envisioned a global democratic future, developed solutions to Egypt's specific trouble on that front, had hope for Iraq, worried about Iran's oil-powered clout, and charted the limits of European solidarity. The President wasn't a private equity CEO, The Dark Knight was a cautionary tale about violence and state power, and the universe was a mystery. A man opened up about being raped by a woman, facials in porn started as a semi-empowering safety measure, nicotine patches proved mostly unhelpful, your digital activity created history, "Lamb Chop" ventriloquist Shari Lewis went under the microscope, and readers kept going on fracking and conservatism.

Quote for the Day here, Hathos (Red) Alert here, VFYW here, VFYW contest winner here, Ad War update here, AAA here, Face of the Day here, and MHB here.

Monday on the Dish, Andrew surveyed the right's reaction to his big defense of Obama (Chris Matthews outtake here), thought out loud about the role of race in shaping perceptions of the
President, and explained why 2012 matters so damn much. On that note, he also live-blogged that GOP debate (reax here), eulogized Huntsman's sane conservatism, noted Romney's national surge, and couldn't stand Jennifer Rubin sliming the administration on corpse desecration in Afghanistan. We compiled reax to the Huntsman withdrawal, put Romney's chances at over 90%, wondered whether Bain attacks would play in South Carolina, thought Mitt's rejection of his Mexican heritage in favor of unbearable whiteness poor strategy, noticed he was the rich man's candidate, and guessed at what would happen if he had won in 08.

We learned - morally speaking – to treat foreigners just like conationals, discovered Truman's prudent Iran policy, and vicariously went on holiday to Iraq. The recovery might have been prematurely announced, racial inequality in the economy was still a problem on this MLK day, but both slowing growth and Robin Hooding it were questionable solutions. Discrimination against smokers was debated, tuitions kept skyrocketing, and assessing how productive Americans are was hard but important. Livestrong sorta bilked people, police and tasers were a dangerous combo, football was risky for kids, eye-controlled computers were profiled, evolutionary biology accounted for chins, running on lava was surprisingly possible, and readers discussed the fine points of Jews (not) eating pork.

Faces of the Day here, Chart of the Day here, VFYW here, AAA here, Creepy Ad here, and MHB here.

– Z.B.

Earlier this week, Governor Chris Christie proposed a saner drug policy for New Jersey:

From the transcript:

[L]et us reclaim the lives of those drug offenders who have not committed a violent crime. By investing time and money in drug treatment – in an in-house, secure facility – rather than putting them in prison. Experience has shown that treating non-violent drug offenders is two-thirds less expensive than housing them in prison. And more importantly – as long as they have not violently victimized society – everyone deserves a second chance, because no life is disposable. I am not satisfied to have this as merely a pilot project; I am calling for a transformation of the way we deal with drug abuse and incarceration in every corner of New Jersey.

Reihan applauds:

Christie evidently doesn’t believe that taking this stand will limit his political future. He is demonstrating that his brand of conservatism can form the foundation of a coalition that captures centrist voters even in a heavily urban, diverse northeastern state. This is part of why I understand and accept why Christie chose not to run for president this cycle: he had much more to do in New Jersey, and building a solid foundation there could be a great help if he does indeed pursue a national career.

Farhad Manjoo explains the increasingly influential role of Reddit, the popular crowd-sourcing site: 

In many ways, Reddit is a more accessible, less vulgar version of 4Chan, the meme-spewing online redoubt of the Web’s most vicious trolls. The two sites differ, though, in that Redditors aren’t just in it for the lulz. While 4Chan is for nihilists, Reddit users get wrapped up in the political fights of the day. In 2008, the site became the Web’s most pro-Obama destination that wasn’t funded by the campaign itself. But Redditors’ political awareness has peaked in the last couple of months with Occupy Wall Street and the Stop Online Piracy Act.

That the Occupy movement and SOPA got Redditors riled up isn’t surprising. OWS’ simple, us-vs.-them message jibed with Redditors’ underdog sympathies, while the piracy bills confirmed the site’s suspicion that nobody in government nobody in government understands the Internet. During OWS, Reddit became the source of the movement’s enduring memes, including the Casually Pepper Spray Everything Cop. It was an online counterpart to Zuccotti Park—a place where people who had no real-life connection to the movement could add their virtual support.

The ad below came out within hours of last night's debate:

Joshua Tucker wonders how effective these types of ads are:

It seems to me that there are a number of good papers waiting to be written on these sort of rapid response ads. Most basically, I wonder how many people see them? More generally, though, I wonder how much potential they have to drive media coverage of the event, and to frame the take away point from the debate.

Like Lynch, Issandr El Amrani is against American intervention in Syria:

[W]e must be realistic about Syria: the conflict is likely to perdure and will probably draw in its neighbors – Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Israel. In other words, it is likely to internationalize. These countries (and in the case of Lebanon and Iraq, others working through them) may want to back a particular faction, or quarantine the conflict (which will have an impact on the belligerents, of course). What's more, fighters from those countries may very well want to join one side or the other (there have already been rumors of Iranians joining in on the regime side). In other words, foreign intervention will be a reality sooner or later. I'd rather it'd be done by Syria's neighbors then the West, even if that means it will be bloodier or even if it leads to Assad staying in power. Quite simply, it's none of our business.

A Pakistani stockbroker talks over the phone as he watches the latest share prices on a monitor during a trading session at the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) in Karachi on January 20, 2012. The benchmark KSE-100 index closed at 11774.68, with increase of 259.09 points. By Asif Hassan/AFP/Getty Images.

"Fox News Medical A-Team" Dr. Keith Ablow analyzes Newt's marital history: 

[H]ere’s what one interested in making America stronger can reasonably conclude—psychologically—from Mr. Gingrich’s behavior during his three marriages: 1) Three women have met Mr. Gingrich and been so moved by his emotional energy and intellect that they decided they wanted to spend the rest of their lives with him. 2) Two of these women felt this way even though Mr. Gingrich was already married. 3 ) One of them felt this way even though Mr. Gingrich was already married for the second time, was not exactly her equal in the looks department and had a wife (Marianne) who wanted to make his life without her as painful as possible.  Conclusion: When three women want to sign on for life with a man who is now running for president, I worry more about whether we’ll be clamoring for a third Gingrich term, not whether we’ll want to let him go after one.

4) Two women—Mr. Gingrich’s first two wives—have sat down with him while he delivered to them incredibly painful truths: that he no longer loved them as he did before, that he had fallen in love with other women and that he needed to follow his heart, despite the great price he would pay financially and the risk he would be taking with his reputation. Conclusion: I can only hope Mr. Gingrich will be as direct and unsparing with the Congress, the American people and our allies. If this nation must now move with conviction in the direction of its heart, Newt Gingrich is obviously no stranger to that journey.

 Dreher adds:

At some point, you have to wonder when shamelessness crosses the line from character defect to psychopathology. If only Dr. Leo Spaceman were a Republican, he could have a lucrative career on Fox.