Category: The Dish

"I respect Hillary supporters because they haven’t had the chance to get to know her like I have. She does not have the political skills of her husband. Or Barack. You need somebody who can bring people together. She criticized my health care bill because it wouldn’t achieve universal coverage until 1998. Well, today we’d be celebrating the 10th anniversary of having every American with insurance," – congressman Jim Cooper, of Tennessee.

An architectural proposal in Glasgow.

George Bush’s real legacy. No need for panic calls to Ramesh, Jonah. It’s right in front of your nose.

Republican operatives can’t let go of old politics. Boehner and Cantor just flat out lie about Obama’s interview about Israel. Yes: flat out lie.

Or: the death of a squirrel.

A reporter in Rangoon, Burma examines the situation:

The Burmese Minister for Planning and Development read out a speech in which he said the government was in control of the situation, that aid relief and money from abroad were welcome but that it would only be distributed by the military.

So nothing had changed after all. That doesn’t surprise the Burmese lawyer whose flat at the edge of the city has turned into Rangoon’s true news center. Burmese journalists and regime critics meet here, as do a few Western journalists. They had already come here five months ago when thousands of monks demonstrated in Rangoon. The lawyer shows us photos from corpses in the delta taken by Burmese photographers. He’s forbidden to publish them.

He says the cyclone chose a good time to strike Burma. Now the world is looking at Burma, and not just Tibet. We have a chance too now, he says — what the Olympic Games are doing for Tibet, the failure of the junta after Nargis is doing for Burma, cynical though that may sound. We just have to seize the opportunity, he says. We ask him how. He shrugs his shoulders, and looks as exhausted as he did last October, shortly after the junta stopped the monks’ protests.

McCain’s new ad on climate change:

Ace Of Spades:

Boy, I am glad I live in NY and don’t have to feel bad about not voting for the guy, even against Obama.

Allahpundit:

Why on earth is he campaigning on this issue in the first place? His ad budget’s going to be tighter than Obama’s, needless to say, and this isn’t something voters care enough about vis-a-vis the economy and Iraq to warrant the expense. If anything, it’s going to lose him votes by alienating the base.

Kudlow:

Oh my gosh.

A reader writes:

At what point does the wingnut Republican base become so politically undesirable that the Republicans will do something about it?

 

When does the GOP make the deal that says, OK we’ll give you common sense drug laws, Civil Unions, non-hate-based immigration rhetoric, separation of Church and state, acknowledge climate change, show reasonable efforts at gun control, and make our case to America on limited government, balanced budgets and the Powell Doctrine?  Send the Falwell/militia wing packing to form their own party, and let the grownups try to suss out the real problems

 

How much of the "base" would desert?  Would social moderation and basic common sense turn enough independents to make it worthwhile for them? 

It will happen. But it may take a couple of election cycles.

I posted at length on the good news, especially the progress against Islamism. So it behooves me to link to this depressing tale as well.

Dave Weigel covers the announcement:

The press corps wanted to know two things: Could Barr be stumped on any policy questions? Did he explicitly want to spoil the election for McCain? The answers were no and no, although Barr’s "spoiler" answer wasn’t entirely credible. "The thought has never crossed my mind," he said. Well, sure it has. After the conference, Barr’s political adviser Russ Verney told me that Barr had tested the waters with an exploratory committee because he didn’t want to run if he couldn’t win. "There are substantial risks," Verney said. "We’re talking about alienating life-long friends. We’re talking about putting your credibility on the line." The main thing that would cause Barr to lose friends would be, of course, if he Nadered McCain.