Hey folks, I wanted to share my latest column with everyone here at OpenLeft -- a review of Bernard Goldberg's latest book, "A Slobbering Love Affair: The True (And Pathetic) Story of the Torrid Romance Between Barack Obama and the Mainstream Media".
-K
That certainly didn't take long. Just shy of a week after Barack Obama took the oath of office, becoming America's 44th president, the nation's foremost right-wing publishing house has released a new tome by Bernard Goldberg that seeks to trash the supposedly liberal "mainstream media" for being in the tank for Obama.
The three-ringed circus of liberal media bias cryptozoology is nothing new for Goldberg. He's been part of this factually challenged freak show for years. This isn't even his first book on the subject -- he wrote 2001's creatively titled, Bias.
One of the most inaccurate narratives out there in our elite press corps is how John McCain 'changed' since his honorable campaign in 2000, and that his campaign right now, with its racism, dishonesty, and sheer lunatic anger, is a McCain who has let Republican operatives take over. There have been attempts to debunk this myth, including Rolling Stone's Make Believe Maverick and the Phoenix Times Postmodern John McCain: the presidential candidate some Arizonans know - and loathe.
I have a friend who worked for McCain in 2000, and we used to talk about McCain's style of campaigning against Bush. He would note that all the hallmarks you see now - the racism, the random flashes of anger, the melodramatic pledges to stop doing something he's doing, the conservatism, the vicious rumors - it was all there. It's just that the elite press chose not to care until this year, and so, to cover up their egos, they invented this pretense that McCain 'changed'. But he didn't. He's always been a Republican.
Here's my IM interview with my friend (cleaned up slightly so you can read it).
Matt Stoller: So you worked for McCain in 2000?
McCain 2000 staffer: I did. I worked press advance in several states during the primaries.
This is John McCain rolling his eyes when Obama brings up Columbian union leaders being killed.
This debate didn't matter in the scheme of things, it was a calm and collected centrist debating a mean and sarcastic old man.
Update (Chris): I agree with Matt and, unfortunately, David Gergen (I've become everything I've ever hated!). McCain started well, but Obama closed well. In the end, I bet it won't matter. Wait for the polls--I bet we are seeing a draw. And yes, Obama wasn't very appealing to porgressives tonight.
Update 2--Obama Wins Huge (Chris): Obama scores his biggest victory yet in the debate, according to the CBS uncommitted voter group. 53%--22%! A total blowout. Huge Obama victory. Not even close.
Update 3--Obama Wins Even Huger (Chris): CNN poll shows Obama winning 58%--31%. Obama's favorables go up to 66%, and McCain's drop to 49%. With both Democratic and Republicans being oversampled (Inds are way down), can't be blamed on partisan ID. Obama has won huge huge huge. And the pundits on CNN are clearly now changing their views with the poll. Pundits are afraid to disagree with polls--kind of funny.
Question: Why are the US so bad at the readings and the maths?
Obama: This has to do with our economic future and national security, and we've got to get our education system right. We need more money and we need reform. Early childhood education, for instance. We need to recruit an army of new teachers, higher standards, accountability, college affordability, lots of college debt. He also wants more service, military, peace corps, etc. It's not just schools, parents have to show more responsibility, turn off TV set and video games, etc.
McCain: It's the civil rights issue of the 21st century. Why send a poor child to a failed school? Choice and competition is the key, it's been proved in places like New York and New Orleans. Give parents the same choice the Obama and McCain families have. Teach for America, troops to teachers, etc. We must improve education in this country, college education loans should be available, etc.
The problem with policy discussions is that McCain is just lying about his priorities. He's voted against a lot of these priorities.
McCain would turn the schools over to Joe the plumber, who will fix everything and is apparently the center of the universe. Now he's bringing up Sarah Palin's knowledge of autism.
... Obama brings up DC's new school commissioner, Michelle Rhee.
My girlfriend brings up a good point. McCain is just kind of a sarcastic dick.
Obama wants to expand health care access and lower costs. He wants to eliminate bureaucracy through IT spending, make families healthy and save money in the long-run.
... McCain: We need more community health centers, physical fitness programs, wellness and fitness, and a $5000 tax credit for health care. Joe the plumber is back.
... Obama says that the cost of the $5000 tax credit is that McCain will tax your health benefits, which are currently untaxed. And insurance companies will throw sick people off their insurance rolls.
... McCain is taking Joe the plumber's side, saying that Joe will have to buy health insurance that Obama mandates. 95% of people will receive more money, except for those people who want gold plated cadillac insurance plans for things like transplants. WTF?
Obama clearly won the health care part of the debate.
... Now on to Roe v Wade, could either of you nominate a SCOTUS justice who takes the other side of Roe v Wade? McCain says no on litmus tests. Now he's bragging about the Gang of 14. McCain voted for Breyer and Ginsburg, because he doesn't take ideology into account when voting. Then he throws 'strict Constitution' and 'legislating from the bench'.
... Obama won't impose a litmus test but he thinks Roe v Wade was rightly decided. Abortion is a moral issue. He looks for judges who know what ordinary people are going through, brings up Lily Ledbetter and equal pay.
Incidentally, the plumber's union was the first union to endorse Obama.
... McCain says that Obama voted against a ban on late term abortion, voted 'present' 139 times, aligned himself with the pro-abortion movement in America.
The last two minutes are the parts of the debate that will be repeated on the cable news shows. It was a tense moment where McCain decided to get the Ayers stuff 'out there'. It's truly a hail mary shot.
... Obama is now discussing Biden's credentials and how he's a middle class guy just like most Americans, he's also an expert.
... McCain on foreign oil, eliminate Middle Eastern and Venezuelan oil by the end of ten years, with nuclear power, wind, tide, solar, etc. Obama isn't doing that well in the CNN focus groups, says Chris in quick hits.
... Obama says in ten years we can make it so that we no longer have to import oil from Venezuela or the Middle East. Now he's saying that trade agreements need to have enforceable labor and environmental standards.
... McCain calls Obama out on saying 'look at' drilling offshore instead of doing it. "I am a free trader."
... Obama wants loan guarantees to the automakers but wants them to produce highly efficient cars of the future. It'll be one of Obama's highest priorities, retooling plants to make efficient vehicles, wind turbines and solar panels.
... McCain says Obama doesn't want a free trade agreement with our best ally in the region but wants to sit down with our enemies with no preconditions. The dial test focus group goes straight down. Now McCain brings up Herbert Hoover raising taxes when the stock market crashed in 1929, and compares Obama to Hoover.
Blaring across the front page of the Seattle Times today are two stories - one is about Palin and troopergate, but the other, in the fabled top left quadrant, is on McCain's comments about Obama being a decent man. The headline blared across the top is McCain Defends Obama. Already five people to me today have expressed wonderment that McCain is doing this. Finally. He's returning to the man he was before this campaign.
Here's a bunch of Republicans at a Palin rally saying Obama's a terrorist.
And here's McCain's new web ad calling Obama a terrorist.
One of the most idiotic parts of our political dialogue is this pretense that the Republican Party leaders are disconnected from their base, a conceit held not only by journalists but also by high level Democratic elites. While most of us get that we're playing in a partisan system, and the other side thinks our leaders are terrorists, a lot of people are 'surprised' and 'disappointed' in how John McCain has behaved. And that's the point; Republican leaders agree with their base, a large and competently organized reactionary group of global warming denying nativists. These people exist, they wear normal clothes, they shop at supermarkets, they use email to forward messages about how Democrats are terrorists, and they have cute kids. And Republican leaders are doing what politicians do; they are representing this group.
I'm at a spontaneous rally at Bowling Green park in Wall Street called by Naomi Klein, with a variety of protesters holding signs and generally causing a ruckus. There's not a lot of strategy around this direct action, nor expertise in how to do this to generate consequences. But it's a good start, and we have to relearn our citizen muscles, one small step at a time. Some well-placed financial experts are noting that the next step of this crisis is to refuse to allow Americans to buy foreign currency or transfer money overseas, and it's a short leap from there to travel restrictions. The pieces are in place.
How is this intersecting with Presidential politics? Well, leaving all the debate controversy aside, which is an insider fight (though the Palin stuff is not), the Gallup poll is now tied. That said, Obama is doing well right now, riding high on this economic crisis and Palin's abysmal showing. But there is a danger here for Obama, and that is this bailout is generating a real sense of anger in the public at large, and it's not going to work out well for anyone who supports it. Now, Obama and McCain may both support it, which is the gambit. Hey, American people, you can't punish either of us, nyah nyah.
Two of the themes that John McCain hit on in his acceptance speech were his willingness--nay eagerness to "fight" for the American people, and to work across the aisles. He used the word "fight" 25 times in his speech.
In one section he sought to personalize his speech:
Completing the process of completely reversing the entire premise of the McCain campaign, we are now told that Sarah Palin has proved herself ready, because she gave a speech that excited her base, just like Barack Obama.
Never mind that her base is shrinking, much less that what Obama did from his first day on the national stage was reach out beyond his base.
Never mind that she's mired in more scandals than we can count, and addressed none of them.
Never mind that she blatantly lied, again, about opposing the "bridge to nowhere."
Never mind that she is the corruption she rails against. She gave a speech that excited her base, ergo, she's VP material.
If you didn't already know them, you've seen the reasons why Evan Bayh would be a bad choice for VP. Now you can registiter your opposition. The Facebook group "100,000 Strong Against Evan Bayh for VP" is less than a day old, and growing quickly. The following message was recently sent out to its members:
Subject: 1,000 down, 99,000 to go
It's been 17 hours or so since the birth of this group and we're off to an amazing start. We outnumber every one of Bayh's groups on Facebook and are growing at the rate of about 8 people per minute right now.
I would love to say that if everyone invited 10 of their friends we would hit our goal, but unfortunately I set the bar very high last night when I, quite unslept, put that extra zero on the group name. Hence, that has to happen TWICE.
So please - If you have time, take a moment to click the "Invite People to Join" button on the right hand side of the group page, perhaps with a note to your friends with a short explanation why you personally think that Evan Bayh is not our guy.
Barack Obama has made history in this campaign by using new communication tools to build a better and stronger base. It is in the very spirit of this campaign that we are using these tools to help him build a better and stronger ticket.
Thank you all for being a part of this!
That was a couple of hours ago. It's now up to 1366. Facebook members join here.
(The latest post in our mutual guest-blogging series, from rikyrah from Jack and Jill Politics. Thanks once again to all our guest-bloggers! - promoted by JonPincus)
Michelle Obama - The Latest Racial Rorschach Test I have believed from the moment Barack Obama announced his candidacy that his very running would be a test for America. I stated over a year ago, when Michelle Obama was first put out there by the campaign:
The entire Obama candidacy is about what I call a Racial Rorschach Test. The first phase were those idiotic articles about whether Obama was ' Black enough' for Black folks, which was insane, and off the point. Once that dog didn't hunt, we finally got around to whom the 'Black enough' test was really about, and that was White folk. While they're still mulling around this question and deciding whether to deal with it or not, we've got a new angle to this test- Michelle Obama.
I'm back to report as to how I see the Racial Rorschach Test is going, specifically as it concerns Michelle Obama.
The attacks have been coming fast and furious against Michelle Obama, with a depth of viciousness that is unwarranted, but deserves study.
WHY?
What is it about this woman that evokes this vehemence against her?
[NOTE: Bugs in Soapblox have prevented me from publishing this in its original form earlier this morning. Now with JPEGs in place of HTML tables.... ]
Surprise! Surprise! The conventional wisdom around BOTH Democratic candidates is wrong.
Following up on Chris's post earlier this week, "New General Election Maps From Survey USA", here are a couple of maps visually displaying his breakdown into tiers, (and another pair of maps with furhter analysis in Part 2), with accompanying tables. The big winner is.... Tom Schaller (see Whistling Past Dixie).
Schaller's non-Southern Strategy of isolating the GOP as an extremist regional party of the South is significantly furthered by Barack Obama, despite Obama's Kumbayah rhetoric to the contrary. And this analysis will show just how much stronger this approach is than trying to win back the South as our top priority.
This is the one thing that's immediately evident--much more than with the simple who-wins-where maps. It's not just that Obama's strengths alone reflect Tom Shaller's Non-Southern strategy. It's a comparative thing: Clinton probably won't lose Oregon and Washington--those only lean McCain--but she'll have to fight for them, even as Obama continues the process of putting them away, while giving us a good shot at Nevada and beginning the process of solidifying New Mexico and Colorado. Obama is going with the natural flow that Schaller has laid out. In this sense, his strength is not that he's exceptional, but that his exceptional appeal is channelled in the normal direction for the Democratic Party to grow.
Clinton vs. McCain
Obama vs. McCain
OTOH, Clinton is clearly stronger in the South, winning two states to Obama's one, while putting Tennessee in play, just as he does North Carolina. Most tellingly, however, is how many Southern states are solid for McCain vs. Obama--TEN!--as opposed for McCain vs. Clinton--just one!
This result is particularly ironic, given (a) Obama's earlier claim that he could win Southern states that Clinton couldn't by increasing Southern black turnout and (b) the CW that Southern man are particularly hostile to Hillary Clinton, so she's death to the party in the South.
On the flip, tables to go with these maps. AND, making the case even strong, maps and tables showing a comparison of Dem gains--and losses from 2004, which makes the pattern even stronger.
STATE BLOGS
