Month: September 2012

Booman recently asked…after the Bill Clinton 2nd night…How Was the Convention Tonight?

I started to write a reply and it grew. So…here’s my long-form answer.

How was the convention?

Very good.

Very professionally produced.

Very, very well received by the mainstream media, all of the members of which are also professional “producers” of media content. Of course…the fix is still in, but even if it wasn’t in they would have reacted positively to this kind of production.

Content?

In the speeches? The usual Dem line, mostly done with real flair. Unca Bill? The pro’s pro. What a salesman!!!

But the real content…the real message…was in the images.

Read on for more.

The RatPub convention’s images were almost all of older, white, middle class-and-above people looking kinda…tired. Like the dinosaurs must’ve looked as they dragged their weary, overweight carcasses to the tarpits. Every time they trotted out someone of color to prove that they are not racists the poor cameramen had to hunt down the approximately 1% of the audience that were not as pale as Romney and do a closeup so’s the media wouldn’t be accused of some sort of anti-RatPub “bias.” Nice.

The DemRats, however? The average age of the delegates looked to be one or two generations younger than that of the Rats, and if you mixed all of the shades of color and ages in the audience in the proportions that were present you’d get…

Well, you’d get almost precisely this:

Barack Obama when he’s not been able to get out in the sun much.

Maybe a tad lighter and a few years younger.

A fairly accurate picture of the America in which I live. Urban America. Traveling America. Multi-racial America. Young America. Working America.

I got yer “message.” Right here!!!

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the Dems think they can win with a multi-racial, trans-generational, multi-sexual, multi-class effort over the Republicans’ racist, sexist, anti-youth, anti-non-mainstream sexual persuasion, anti-worker campaign. And I think that they are right, provided another vote fraud or two or twenty doesn’t get in the way. The RatPub Super Pac millionaire/billionaire money and its airtime buying power? If the message in those ads is aimed the way their lame convention was aimed, they may as well just pack it in now and invest alla that cash in some offshore scams. Preaching to the choir…especially if the choir is overweight, tired and really can’t sing worth a lick…is a fairly useless and almost always totally unrewarding occupation.

A truly great NYC musician…Victor Paz, a Panamanian trumpet player who was one of the first people to break the color line in the NYC freelance studio world and was also an amazing latin and jazz musician, someone who taught all of us what it meant to burn with control…once leaned over to a young white player in his trumpet section at a square wedding full of the kinds of people who populated that Republican convention and said “Don’ watch the white people dance. It will ruin your time.” (“Time” meaning “rhythm.” Style. Idiom. Burn.) There was no racism implied in that statement, because in any real dance scene the great dancers are entirely multi-racial. Just a fact of American life. Squares can’t dance and the Republican Party is the party of squares.

So…in honor of Vitin:

“Don’ watch the Republicans do their campaign dance. It will ruin your day.”

That fact alone will produce a Dem win. Add to that the ass-whipping that Romney is going to receive in the debates?

Hoo boy!!!

Watch.

It could even be a landslide.

Watch.

Later…

AG

P.S. Of course…all of the above is about politics, not morality. The Dems are simply running a better game. A much better game. After the victory parties the U.S. will still be a militarily-enforced, economic imperialist power even if some of the bosses know better. Why? They’re stuck with it. Back off the feed trough too quickly and the entire economic and social structure of the country would collapse. Bet on it. And then there would be hell to pay. For real. Bet on that as well. This whole surveillance state/police state thing? It’s not about “foreign terrorists,” it’s about what would happen if this system collapsed internally.

The real “fire next time.”

Let us pray.

Most conservative columnists at the Washington Post have one foot in the fever swamp of right-wing media culture and one foot in the reality of Washington DC and how the town and the federal government actually work. In other words, they are in on their own game. They use the right-wing media to promote their own celebrity, to maintain their influence, and to sell the occasional book, but they know that world is bullshit. I’d put even hyperpartisans like Charles Krauthammer and Michael Gerson in this group. But J-Rube is apparently in another category. She actually believes the crap she reads at World Net Daily and Fox New Nation. Take this paragraph she wrote in today’s column about Clinton’s speech:

At times his defense of President Obama strained credulity: Obama, he said, is bipartisan because he hired Republicans in government jobs and he is willing to work “cooperatively.” The Obama record is so obviously at odds with that sentiment (unilateral action on immigration and on welfare and the refusal to make a deal entitlements (sic) or address the fiscal cliff) that Clinton’s argument seemed unserious.

I should probably ask Professor Bill Clinton to deconstruct that nonsense since he is quite good at that type of thing. President Obama didn’t merely hire a couple of Republicans for “government jobs.” He kept President Bush’s Defense Secretary and hired Republicans to run the army and the Department of Transportation. Then we get three examples (immigration, welfare, and the fiscal cliff) where the president is accused of acting unilaterally.

President Bush tried and failed to convince the Republican Party to take up immigration reform. His effort was spearheaded by Teddy Kennedy and John McCain. That’s a bipartisan effort, but it had no success. Barack Obama was less ambitious. He merely wanted to pass the DREAM Act so kids who grew up in the United States and stayed out of trouble and are pursuing an education will not have to live in constant fear of deportation. He asked for Republican support for this, but he received none.

Then there is the welfare issue. On May 19, 2005, Mitt Romney co-signed a letter with 27 other Republican governors requesting that then-Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist pass a bill to grant them waiver authority to meet the welfare work requirements. Specifically, the letter said, ““Increased waiver authority, allowable work activities, availability of partial work credit and the ability to coordinate state programs are all important aspects of moving recipients from welfare to work.”

So, here is an example of all the Republican governors (including Romney) asking the Republican-led senate to do something that they now deem “weakening the welfare work requirement.” I’ll let Bill Clinton tell you what really happened with Obama’s welfare edict.

“Here’s what happened. When some Republican governors asked to try new ways to put people on welfare back to work, the Obama Administration said they would only do it if they had a credible plan to increase employment by 20%. You hear that? More work. So the claim that President Obama weakened welfare reform’s work requirement is just not true. But they keep running ads on it. As their campaign pollster said “we’re not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact checkers.” Now that is true. I couldn’t have said it better myself – I just hope you remember that every time you see the ad.”

And, here’s the thing. Whether or not you think the waiver authority will weaken the work provision of welfare, it is a policy change the Republicans had been seeking for seven years. The breathtaking hypocrisy of their criticism is only exceeded by J-Rube’s assertion that giving the GOP their wish is an example of unilateralist partisanship. How does she not get struck by lightning when she writes that?

Finally, there’s the fiscal cliff and entitlements, and Obama’s alleged refusal to make a deal. All along, the president has had one bottom line demand. He wants at least some new revenues to help us start to balance the budget and pay down the debt. The Republicans have refused at every step along the way. The Bowles-Simpson committee never issued a report because Paul Ryan led the charge against any new revenues. We almost defaulted on our debt because Eric Cantor rebelled against Speaker Boehner over new revenues. The whole fiscal cliff was created because the Republicans would not move an inch on new revenues.

The nature of a bipartisan agreement is that both sides give up something they value in order to get something they value. A bipartisan agreement is not created by one side dropping all their demands. Two years ago, the president extended the Bush tax cuts for two years in exchange for an extension of unemployment insurance, the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and the ratification of the New START Treaty. That’s a bipartisan agreement. Capitulating to the House Republicans’ budget in return for nothing is not a bipartisan agreement. When a party controls the White House and the Senate, they do not adopt the policies of the House. They negotiate with the House. The House Republicans refuse to compromise on anything. That’s why we’re facing the fiscal cliff and have no agreement on entitlement reform.

The rest of J-Rube’s column is, if anything, even more disingenuous. It’s so counter-factual that its publication ought to be a scandal among the Washington Post staff.

I watched my New York Football Giants do what I least like to watch them do, which is lose to the Dallas Cowboys. I probably should have watched the convention instead, since I hear that Bill Clinton killed it. That doesn’t surprise me. What were your impressions of the night?

If this is true, someone broke into a PricewaterhouseCoopers office in Tennessee and stole records of Mitt Romney’s tax returns. And they are asking for a million bitcoins to either release the records or to destroy them. Apparently, they have already sent flash drives containing encrypted copies of the returns to both the local party offices. If Romney doesn’t come up with a million bucks before September 28th, they’ll tell people how to de-encrypt the flash drives. If someone other than Romney pays a million bucks to them, they will release the records earlier than September 28th.

I do not know if this is a hoax or not.

Netanyahu adjourns Iran security meeting over leak

(JPost) – In a rare and dramatic move, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Wednesday adjourned, because of leaks to the press, the second part of a security cabinet meeting that began Tuesday and dealt with Iran.

Netanyahu, according to a statement issued by his office, said at the outset of the meeting that “something grave happened shortly after the conclusion of the meeting yesterday: leaks from the security cabinet meeting.”

Netanyahu convened the security cabinet on Tuesday for an annual meeting on the country’s intelligence assessments, a meeting that dealt in depth with the Iranian issue.

Netanyahu said the security of the country rests on the ability of the security cabinet to hold classified and in-depth discussions where all the “facts, opinions and ramifications” are presented.

Netanyahu’s ire was apparently aroused by the lead headline in Wednesday’s Yediot Aharonot, which read: “Disagreement about Iran among the intelligence agencies.”

Report: US to supply bunker busters and refueling jets to Israel in exchange for holding off Iran strike until after elections

(Israel Matzav) – A report in Tuesday’s Maariv claims that the United States is going to give Israel bunker busters and refueling aircraft in exchange for Israel holding off a strike against Iran until after the US Presidential elections.

The United States may supply Israel with advanced Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bunker-buster bombs that can penetrate through up to 60 feet (almost 20 meters) of reinforced concrete, Maariv reports. This is part of a deal being worked out between the countries, which also includes the supply of refueling jets.

My earlier analysis – GBU-57A/B MOP bunker busters can be delivered only by the B-52 and B-2a stealth bombers

More below the fold …

Liberman praises Obama, talks tough on Iran

(JPost) – Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman issued praise for the policies of United States President Barack Obama’s administration Tuesday at a pre-Rosh Hashana toast for activists of his Yisrael Beytenu party at Jerusalem’s Shalom Hotel.

Liberman’s comments come at a time when Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has been issuing veiled public criticism of Obama’s Iran policies. While the foreign minister did not mention the US president by name, his comments could aid Democratic efforts to market Obama as pro-Israel.

“The US increased funding for Iron Dome. Even if we disagree sometimes and even if there is commentary that suggests otherwise, we must say we that have no better friend than the US.”

Liberman hinted at support for a possible Israeli strike on Iran when he said that Yisrael Beytenu’s presence in the coalition makes the government “more serious and determined to defend the interests of Israel.”

Israeli war drums muted on Iran

(Guardian) – The odds against an Israeli military strike on Iran in the next few months appear to be lengthening, and perhaps the strongest evidence comes from none other than Binyamin Netanyahu, the man who has beaten the war drums loudest over the past few months.

By calling for clear international (read US) ‘red lines’ containing Iran’s nuclear programme, the Israeli prime minister has put the focus back on diplomacy, and given himself a ladder to climb down from his earlier rhetoric.

Meanwhile, Ehud Barak, the defence minister who had claimed that Iran was approaching a ‘zone of immunity‘ beyond which it could not be stopped, is now reported to be against an Israeli attack (£) before the coming US presidential elections.

A Step Too Far

Columnists like Ofer Shelach from Yediot Achronot suggested that Netanyahu is actually pulling back from the brink.

“Netanyahu realizes that he’s gone too far,” Shelach wrote. “The rhetoric that linked the possibility of an attack to the U.S. election date, on the grounds that if Obama were elected this would tie Israel’s hands, lacked intrinsic logic and also crossed a line in meddling in the U.S. election campaign.”

• Former CIA Director Michael Hayden says no need to attack Iran now
• Erdogan: Israel strike on Iran – ‘apocalypse’

Someone threw a Hulk-tie in my intertubes.

If Elizabeth Warren wins her campaign for Teddy Kennedy’s senate seat, I expect she will be the senior senator from Massachusetts within days. Why? Because John Kerry is going to replace Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State. He wants the job, but more importantly, Obama owes him the job. If Kerry had not tapped Obama to give the 2004 Keynote Address at the Democratic National Convention, Obama would not be president today. Kerry also endorsed Obama over Hillary.

Kerry was probably quite disappointed not to be offered a position in Obama’s cabinet, but he able to console himself with the gavel of the Foreign Relations Committee. Next term, he will not be denied.

I think he is capable of being a very competent Secretary of State, although I doubt he will be half as formidable and effective as Hillary Clinton has been.

Who do you think has the inside track to get Deval Patrick’s nod to replace Kerry?

How about Barney Frank?

Barney Frank pointed out that when the economy began to collapse in September 2008, the Democrats were willing to help President Bush, but that the Republicans refused to offer any help to President Obama once he took office. That’s true, but let’s ask a different question. Which was a bigger national disaster? The 2008 economic collapse or 9/11?

Because, the Democrats were very deferential to President Bush in the aftermath of 9/11. They certainly did not adopt a strategy of defeating Bush in 2004 at all costs. Most of us fault the Democrats for being too deferential, but they at least recognized that we had suffered a disaster and that we only have one administration at a time. Plus, you couldn’t blame the Democrats for 9/11 in the same way that you could justifiably blame the Republicans for the Great Recession. The Democrats didn’t offer their help to Bush out of guilt, but out of a combination of patriotism and cowardice. The Republicans denied their help to Obama out of pure political calculation.

The four most talented politicians in the country, in order:

1. Michelle Obama
2. Barack Obama
3. Bill Clinton
4. Hillary Clinton

What are the chances that they would come from just two families?

I think that is just insane. If Michelle Obama wants to be president, she will be president. If she doesn’t, Hillary will.

Just sayin’…

I knew his daddy. Pat Patrick. A fine jazz musician. He played for many years with perhaps the outest jazz group that ever existed, the Sun Ra Orchestra. The fact that a son of someone who played with the Emperor of Outness (You could look it up.) could stand on the dais of a national political convention and lay down the truth of the situation in no uncertain terms, that he could ascend to the governorship of the most Puritan-based state in America after growing up around the craziness and push to the edge of NYC in the Lower East Side of NYC in the ’60s and ’70s…I dunno what to say except:

VAYA, bro’!!!

Tell it like it is!!!

AG

P.S. Compared to the just-ended speech from Julian Castro…heavily-hyped even before it went down and already the receiver of a great deal of support due to his Hispanic heritage and the practicalities of political competition in the U.S…Patrick’s was red meat to the max.

Talk about experiments with the truth!!!

Grow up listening to John Coltrane?

Step to the mainstream without losing the truth?

There’s hope for America yet.

Vaya, Deval.

Vaya!!!