Tomorrow, McCain-Feingold finally gets its day in court. For the plaintiffs (aiming to kill the legislation for Big Money), our old friend Ken Starr. For the government (nominally committed to the bill), Ted Olsen. For the reforms, former Clinton Solicitor General Seth Waxman. All in all, it should be a doozy..if I had my druthers, of course, the Court will not only uphold McCain-Feingold but revisit the “money = protected speech” formulation drawn in Buckley v. Valeo. In terms of constitutional principle, it’s one person, one vote…dollars shouldn’t enter the equation.
Category: Politics (2002-2004)
Heavy Draft.
With Dubya looking more vulnerable than ever, the calls for Clark’s candidacy continue among the media. “If Clark sustains momentum, he drives out candidates quicker than Iowa or New Hampshire will…He has the ability to make it a three-man race: Dean, Clark and Gephardt, who isn’t going anywhere with all those union endorsements.” Meanwhile, the rest of the Dem field release their ads and ponder when to unleash on Dean.
Incoherent Preemption.
“As Paul Wolfowitz has all but admitted, the ‘bureaucratic’ reason for war — weapons of mass destruction — was not the main one. The real reason was to rebuild the pillars of American influence in the Middle East. Americans may have figured this out for themselves, but it was certainly not what they were told. Nor were they told that building this new pillar might take years and years. What they were told — misleadingly and simplistically — was that force was justified to fight ‘terrorism’ and to destroy arsenals of mass destruction targeted at America and at Israel.” In a wide-ranging article for the NYT Magazine, Michael Ignatieff offers an historical critique of our currently muddled intervention policy, and outlines his own best-case-scenario proposal for US-led UN reform. “Putting the United States at the head of a revitalized United Nations is a huge task. For the United States is as disillusioned with the United Nations as the world is disillusioned with the United States. Yet…Pax Americana must be multilateral, as Franklin Roosevelt realized, or it will not survive.“
Less Money, Mo. Problems.
Dubya ventures to the Midwest to hype the jobless recovery in Kansas City, site of 10,000 recent telecom layoffs. Perhaps he’d do better to sell his tax writeoff plan for the wealthy to a swing state it’s actually helped…that is, if he can find one. (In almost completely unrelated news, Doglover Dubya, via High Industrial.)
Pretty Please with Sugar on Top?
Trapped in a quagmire of their own making, the Bushies beg the UN to help out in Iraq. Well, although he may not admit it now, I guess Sec. Powell deserves some cred for seeing the writing on the wall and trying to end a failed policy. But, let’s be serious — do we really expect the international community to snap to and take over the body count after the White House tried so hard to demean them and to undermine the UN as an institution along the road to war? Sheah. Although the GOP probably never expected it’d come to this, I’m afraid we will now reap the bitter rewards of Dubya’s amateurish diplomacy.
Surveying the Terrain.
As the Democratic field aim to eat into Dean’s lead at the New Mexico debate tonight, Gen. Clark draws closer to throwing his own hat in the ring. As I said earlier, I’d think having a (not-so-)dark horse like Clark siphon off media coverage and funding would mean campaign death for many of the second-tier candidates…and, at this point, winnowing the field is in most everyone’s interest.
Reinvention Time.
With Howard Dean’s place currently secure as a top-tier candidate (despite perhaps needing to burnish his foreign policy creds for the stretch run), a number of other Dems try to take advantage of the Labor Day rush to gain some traction before Wesley Clark becomes the soup du jour. As such, a Military Kerry officially announces in SC, an experienced Gephardt unveils new ads, and a newly compassionate Lieberman offers a “MediKids” plan. Well, the jury may still be out in Iowa, but I think I can safely say there’s very little chance of my voting Gephart and absolutely none of my voting Lieberman. Kerry still has a shot, though, depending how the campaign goes over the fall.
Moment of Decision.
Rick Perlstein, author of Before the Storm, profiles historian George Chauncey for U. Chicago Magazine, and underlines the central role he and other scholars played in the Lawrence v. Texas decision.
Werewolves of Baghdad.
Slate correspondent Daniel Benjamin pokes holes in Condi and Rummy’s recent spurious comparisons between postwar Iraq and Germany. Yep, it’s more revisionist history emanating from Team Dubya. In related news, Jack Beatty laments Dubya’s lack of postwar vision, which now seems ever more constrained to lining the coffers of Halliburton.
Here Comes the Judge.
As McCain-Feingold nears its day in court, advocates and opponents of reform look to Chief Justice Rehnquist as a major swing vote (along with Justice O’Connor). Hmmm…I have to say I don’t have much faith in Rehnquist’s jurisprudence at this point, but perhaps he’ll surprise me.