Category: The Dish

We shouldn’t get too optimistic:

There is a real danger that Maliki will fall prey to his new found (over)confidence and push the Sadrist movement into a corner. A two-pronged plan might be in the works. Part one would be to arrest large numbers of Sadrists in Sadr City instead of doing discriminate raids against extremist cells. Part two would be a renewed effort to preclude Sadrists from the provincial elections unless JAM is completely disbanded, or take other measures to decisively tilt the electoral playing field against the Sadr Trend. If Sadr and his movement are near defeat, these steps might be the nail in their coffin. But they don’t seem near defeat–they seem wounded. And wounded, cornered animals lash out.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 9.20 am.

The entire premise of John McCain’s view of Iraq policy going forward is that the US will be able to position permanent military bases in the heart of the Middle East, on the model of Japan and South Korea. The trouble is: Iraq is part of the holiest territory in Islam and a pact with infidel occupiers simply isn’t going to wash:

Iraq’s most revered Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has strongly objected to a ‘security accord’ between the US and Iraq. The Grand Ayatollah has reiterated that he would not allow Iraq to sign such a deal with "the US occupiers" as long as he was alive, a source close to Ayatollah Sistani said. The source added the Grand Ayatollah had voiced his strong objection to the deal during a meeting with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in the holy city of Najaf on Thursday. The remarks were made amid reports that the Iraqi government might sign a long-term framework agreement with the United States, under which Washington would be allowed to set up permanent military bases in the country and US citizens would be granted immunity from legal prosecution in the country.

Sistani is right, of course. A permanent pesudo-occupation would be dreadful for the US (we need less empire, not more) and for Iraq (no Islamic democracy is going to establish itself under the auspices of the United States military).

Ron Rosenbaum defends liberal guilt:

It’s especially surprising to hear "guilt" being disparaged by conservatives, since they present themselves as moralists; they are quick to decry liberals for seeking to abolish guilt over various practices conservatives deem immoral. But was slavery not immoral? For those conservatives who make a fetish of "values": Was not the century of institutionalized racism and segregation that followed the end of slavery a perpetuation of "flawed values" that the nation should feel an enduring guilt over? For those conservatives who are forever speaking of the way they value history and memory more than liberals: Should we abolish the history and memory of slavery and racism just because they’re no longer legally institutionalized?

A new website.

(hat tip: Matt)

"If Republicans  and conservatives want to finance the government in a less destructive way (as we should!), we are going to have to find substitutes for these harmful, looming, pre-scheduled tax increases. 

We cannot wish away this problem. And I wish Peter Ferrara would use his considerable fiscal ingenuity to try to solve it, rather than closing his eyes and denying it," – David Frum, attempting to bring a little conservative reality into Republican fiscal debates.

They may be the swing vote in this election, alas. From a focus group of non-voters:

For instance, here’s Dorita, opining about Obama: "I’m a little concerned. I don’t know enough about his Muslim background and their beliefs and how he views everything. I’m a little concerned. I need to check his background."

You do that, Dorita.

Here’s Josh on Obama: "He’s representing a minority in more than one case. He is African American and he is Muslim. And in light of that…it does feel like we’re being judged or pounded down on because we want to carry a gun or we want to wear the American flag pin."

Here’s Melinda, clearly the GOP’s dream voter: "I just really feel like he’s…not a people pleaser as in the Americans, but the other people who don’t necessarily need to be pleased, the other, the enemies if you will, I don’t know. I’m just not real positive on that."

I’ve been posting covers and the original, and now a reader sent me this marvelous, long essay describing the song’s remarkable journey through the music world. Money quote:

Jeff Buckley had to reach back to an artist of the 60s to touch the kind of consensus that "Hallelujah" has generated and maintained; nothing escaped the 90s similarly unscathed except Sleater-Kinney and Biggie. When we demand purity of our art, all art is inevitably impure, and possibilities are closed off; when we recognize the beauty of ambiguity, as in "Hallelujah," a universe opens up.

And the amazing thing about music criticism online is that you can listen to linked MP3s as you go along.

All my peers in Britain were like John Cassidy.

My column this week is on the under-rated importance of Obama’s web-based insurgency. It’s Dean 2.0 – with a candidate worthy of a revolutionary movement in fundraising and organization:

Just as Obama’s most famous web videos were never commissioned by the candidate – they were created and disseminated spontaneously online – so his fundraising began to take on a life of its own. The only other candidate who managed to inspire such energy was the maverick Republican Ron Paul. His message was not unlike Obama’s: self-empowered, antiestablishment, next-generation.

There is no question in my mind that this is the future of political organisation and fundraising.

The strongest criticism of Obama is his lack of substantive achievements in public life. He is a freshman senator, and his record is indeed thin in comparison with that of McCain or Clinton. However, if his abilities in government are in any way similar to the skills he has shown in managing – and brilliantly not managing – his campaign, then this is a candidate not to be underestimated. Clinton has been sideswiped. And, privately, most Republicans I know are terrified.

(Photo: Emmanuel Dunand/Getty.)