Author Archives: Michael Froomkin

Alcee Hastings Picks a Presidential Candidate: Lieberman

I didn't see this one coming. Lieberman to pick up endorsement of Florida Rep. Hastings

I have no idea how much of this is tactical, and how much is something else like personal friendship. Alcee Hastings is running for Senate in Florida. In a crowded field he'd have a shot at the nomination, but how endorsing Lieberman helps him get that nomination I fail to see. Peter Deutsch will probably get most of the Jewish vote. And the odds of anyone being fooled into thinking Rep. Hastings is a conservative Democrat are pretty low, although he's less predictable and more interesting than most Representatives. I suppose there's some reason to think Lieberman will run strong in Florida, if his campaign has any juice left by the time we have our primary.

It could well be that Hastings just likes Lieberman for some reason. But it's hard to see what that reason could be other than something personal. Lieberman is my least favorite of the major Democratic candiates because of his disgraceful reaction to the courageous decision by Illinois Governor George Ryan to commute the sentences of 167 death row prisoners

“Governor Ryan's action was shockingly wrong,” Mr. Lieberman said … “It did terrible damage to the credibility of our system of justice, and particularly for the victims. It was obviously not a case-by-case review, and that's what our system is all about.”

Sorry, that decision of Governor Ryan's was shockingly right.

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Posted in Florida | 1 Comment

Update on Digby Jones Quote

I’ve had an emailed reply from the efficient, and no doubt quite busy, CBI press office to my query asking for confirmation that Director General Digby Jones had said what the Evening Standard quoted. In my query I asked for the text of Digby Jones’s speech. Here’s the reply:

There is no speech this came from an interview with the Evening Standard – Digby Jones is speaking today though, at 12.30

The speech and press release will be on the website later.

And it is, but it's about the EU.

Posted in Econ & Money | Comments Off on Update on Digby Jones Quote

Second Data Point on Theft of Democratic Memos

Last week it seems that Republicans managed to purloin a Democratic memo relating to the Senate Intelligence committee — either from a computer or a trash can. At the same time, someone was stealing Democratic memos relating to the Senate Judiciary committee: Apparent Theft Of Democratic Memos Probed (washingtonpost.com).

Republican hacker at large?

Posted in Politics: US | Comments Off on Second Data Point on Theft of Democratic Memos

Are They That Stupid? Someone Is, And It’s Bad News

Brad DeLong expresses doubt as to whether (as I noted earlier that the Evening Standard had reported) even the Bush administration could be quite dumb enough to be strong-arming US defense firms in hopes of getting them to close up shop abroad and bring jobs to the US:

I do not believe this. I cannot believe this. Incompetent, short-sighted, ungrateful, and mendacious as we all know the George W. Bush administration to be, even they wouldn't do something as stupid and counterproductive as this.

Would they?

I understand Brad's reluctance. Like him, I don't want to think that our leaders can be that dumb. And the Evening Standard is not the gold standard for reporting.

Trouble is, it's not that easy to figure out exactly whether the Director-General of the Confederation of British Industry Mr. Digby Jones actually said what was reported in the Evening Standard. The text of the speech doesn't seem to be online. I've e-mailed the Confederation of British Industry in the hopes they will send it to me.

In the mean time, we have to make do with the newspapers. The usually reliable Financial Times more or less echoes the Evening Standard. A Scottish paper suggests this isn't about private strong-arming so much as the “Buy America” campaign. And the Daily Telegraph says that the pressure came from Congresspeople — some of whom unquestionably are this stupid — and not from the White House. And, indeed, if you look at what the FT and ES actually say, they don't finger the Bush administration as such — just give the strong impression the Administration is the source of the pressure from the context, which is about Bush's visit.

But even if the pressure came from Bush's allies in Congress, instead of directly from the administration, this isn't good.

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Posted in Econ & Money | Comments Off on Are They That Stupid? Someone Is, And It’s Bad News

Robert Kagan Explains Why Dean Is No McGovern

No George McGovern (washingtonpost.com). Robert Kagan can read, and he's no prisoner of anyone's dogma but his own. So he doesn't accept the Republican spin points about Howard Dean.

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Posted in Politics: US | 1 Comment

British Political In-Jokes About Bush Visit

If, like me, you pay some attention to British politics you will probably find this spoof memo about Bush's state visit to the UK to be pretty funny: Telegraph | Opinion | Palace-speak for the Bush men

If the name “John Prescott” means nothing to you, it's still funny, but you'll probably miss some of the best jokes.

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