“We’ve now got this huge fight over a sideshow,” Graham said during a meeting with Washington Post reporters and editors. “It’s always been a sideshow, but we sold it as the main event.” To the White House’s consternation, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) argues for sidelining Dubya’s private accounts in favor of a Social Security compromise. Well, let’s make sure they’re well off the table before we talk.
Category: Politics (2005-2006)
The Most Dangerous Game.
John McCain, to many the face of campaign finance reform in Washington, struggles to avoid the appearance of impropriety regarding recent donations by Cablevision to the Reform Institute, an independent group with ambiguous ties to the Senator. After his awful performance prostrating himself before Dubya in 2004, I’ve run sour on the mythical maverick — to paraphrase Progressive era Senator George Norris (R-NB) speaking of his colleague William Borah (R-ID), McCain “shoots until he sees the whites of their eyes.” But, still, he’s campaign finance reform’s biggest blue chip, and he should know better than to endanger the cause with this type of shadiness…particularly with anti-reform forces gunning for him. What would be plausible deniability for anyone else seems rather implausible coming from McCain, given his place at the head of the movement.
Open War.
With the Social Security fight looming on the horizon, Dems and the GOP clash over ethics in the House and both abortion and the minimum wage in the Senate. (Salon‘s Tim Grieve exposed the fraudulence of the Santorum “alternative” minimum wage plan yesterday.) Speaking of Social Security, several prominent Dems — including James Carville, Stan Greenberg, and Harold Ickes — advise our side to produce an alternative reform plan to Dubya’s private accounts, and soon.
Bolton’s got a screw loose.
“There’s no such thing as the United Nations…if the UN secretary building in New York lost 10 stories, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference.” So Dubya has picked John Bolton as our new UN ambassador and, guess what? Yep, he’s a right-wing freakshow. Said avowed UN enemy and former Sen. Jesse Helms (no, not yet) of Bolton: He’s “the kind of man with whom I would want to stand at Armageddon.” Brilliant. (CLW link via BookNotes & Digby) Update: Slate‘s Fred Kaplan has more.
Time to Face the Music.
“‘The large deficits and apparent inability of Republicans to constrain spending has made it impossible for sensible folks to advocate’ big tax cuts, said Kevin A. Hassett of the conservative American Enterprise Institute. ‘Sooner or later. government has to pay for everything.'” In the face of rampant Dubya deficits, the GOP strains toward a moment of clarity and takes further tax cuts off the table for the time being. (Indeed, to the dismay of Grover Norquist, some Republican Senators, including Lindsey Graham (R-SC), are even considering raising taxes.) Reality bites, doesn’t it?
Say it ain’t so, Joe.
“Some lawmakers and senior party aides say that Mr. Lieberman remains in good standing. But they say that could change if he broke ranks and gave Mr. Bush a prominent Democratic ally on Social Security.” As feared and as usual, Senator Joe Lieberman seems to be the weak link in Democratic unity against the Dubya Social Security plan (although, to his credit, he has at least renounced private savings accounts.) Remember, Joe, once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny. Just look what happened to the Zell-out.
Take your flunky and dangle.
After undoubtedly being read the Rove riot act for his earlier apostasy, a chastened Catkiller Frist changes his tune on Social Security reform and now says it has to happen this year. But, even with Dubya spinning otherwise, it’s starting to look ever clearer that the GOP privatization plan is going down.
If Blogs are Outlawed, only Outlaws will have blogs.
By way of Uncorked/Medley, a Federal Election Commissioner warns that political blogging may have to be regulated under the McCain-Feingold bill. Hmm. Well, obviously that wouldn’t work. But, I get the sense that Bradley Smith, a GOP anti-campaign-finance ringer, knows this, and is raising the black flag of Internet Regulation just to get the blogosphere up in arms over McCain-Feingold in particular and campaign finance regulation in general. Well, I’m not biting. Sure, the FEC needs a new direction when it comes to addressing the Internet, but I highly doubt Agent Smith here is the guy to provide it. Better someone who at least recognizes the utility of and need for comprehensive campaign finance reform.
The Executioner’s Song.
“Fighting over the ‘evolving standards of decency’ underlying the Eighth Amendment’s ban on ‘cruel and unusual punishment,’ the 5-to-4 opinions reflect an all-out war between the proponents of a living (or at least medium-rare) Constitution and those who want to see it dead (or perhaps well-done, with a nice pinot).” Slate‘s inimitable Dahlia Lithwick explains the Kennedy-Scalia sniping undergirding the Supreme Court’s very welcome 5-4 decision to ban juvenile executions. To keep things in perspective, the only other nations besides us that have put juveniles to death since 2000 are China, Iran, Pakistan, and the Congo…not exactly what you’d call the Axis of Freedom.
A crack in the lines.
Third rail redux…As the White House pushes for a renewed GOP advance on Dubya’s privatization scheme, the big Congressional names — Frist and DeLay — have started hedging their bets. Hmmm…if the Republican leaders are already acting this shaky, the ground troops must be contemplating a full-on rout. In fact, to pursue the military metaphor, Harry Reid and the Dems should take this moment of weakness as the perfect opportunity to unleash some heavy-duty Harry and Louise-type firepower. Remember ’93? It’s payback time.