Author Archives: Michael Froomkin

Fighting Back

Posted on October 29, 2006 by Michael Froomkin

It’s been pretty depressing to see the slime tactics proliferating in this campaign. And while there’s no question that both sides are going negative, there’s one side that’s going ugly, and making stuff up. And that is our desperate GOP, the party that sees its monopoly on power possibly slipping from its grasp. In Tennessee, in Virginia, in Missouri, in many other places, it’s not at all pretty right now.

On the brink of what could be a power-shifting election, it is kitchen-sink time: Desperate candidates are throwing everything. While negative campaigning is a tradition in American politics, this year’s version in many races has an eccentric shade, filled with allegations of moral bankruptcy and sexual perversion.

At the same time, the growth of “independent expenditures” by national parties and other groups has allowed candidates to distance themselves from distasteful attacks on their opponents, while blogs and YouTube have provided free distribution networks for eye-catching hatchet jobs.

…

The result has been a carnival of ugly, especially on the GOP side, where operatives are trying to counter what polls show is a hostile political environment by casting opponents as fatally flawed characters. The National Republican Campaign Committee is spending more than 90 percent of its advertising budget on negative ads, according to GOP operatives, and the rest of the party seems to be following suit.

At least in Virginia, Jim Webb is fighting back against George Allen’s smears.

And Michael J. Fox responds to Limbaugh’s attack on Fox’s McCaskill commercial.

Overall, though, I think Democrats still haven’t fully adapted to the new realities of smear and jeer politics.

Race to the bottom? Or is there some way to struggle to the top?

Posted in Politics: US: 2006 Election | 1 Comment

David Letterman, Patriot

Posted on October 28, 2006 by Michael Froomkin

By his own defiant admission, David Letterman is not one of our nation’s intellectuals, nor is he going to be on anyone’s top-10 list of foreign policy thinkers.

Usually he’s just out to crack some jokes and give us a slightly goofy and sardonic good time. But darn it if the man’s not a patriot. It’s clear that the war in Iraq bothers him, casualties for no discernible purpose, and he’s willing to use his pulpit to show that angst.

Witness this clip of an eleven-minute (that’s long by TV standards) set-to with Bill O’Reilly, the serial fabricator from Fox, and poster child for Republican family values.

I’m not a great Letterman fan, but I think Letterman does himself, and the rest of us, proud here. It’s a long download, but worth it.

Incidentally, I was impressed to discover that Letterman is not just talk when it comes to worrying about the way our leaders treat the US military: according to the Wikipedia,

Letterman, along with bandleader Paul Shaffer and Late Show stage manager Biff Henderson, celebrated Christmas 2002 in Afghanistan with United States and international military forces stationed there. The three visited Iraq around Christmas in 2003 and 2004 as well.

Posted in Iraq | 6 Comments

Wes Clark Steps Up in the Invisible Primary

Posted on October 28, 2006 by Michael Froomkin

There are two elections going on simultaneously in the Connecticut Senate race. There’s Lamont v. Lieberman of course, but there’s also the first round in the invisible primary for the 2008 presidential election. The invisible primary is the one where would-be candidates compete for the love, energy and money of party activists who they hope will propel their candidacy forward before the rest of the world really starts to notice.

Wes Clark took a big step forward in that primary today by making this effective ad for Lamont:

Few of the other possible candidates have done much beyond a token appearance, and almost none have done any Lieberman-bashing, even though he refused to respect the result of the party primary. Wes Clark shows here not only that he’s tough, but that he’s a party player. The activists will like that.

Posted in Politics: US: 2006 Election, Politics: US: 2008 Elections | 1 Comment

Britons and Their Speed Cameras

Posted on October 27, 2006 by Michael Froomkin

I'm interested in surveillance and in privacy in public places. Here's an article about how Britons feel about one sort of public surveillance: they hate it. In addition to actually destroying a number of speed cameras, Britons are also trying to undermine them,

Cameras Catch Speeding Britons and Lots of Grief: Technology has moved on considerably since the 1990s, when the first speed cameras were installed in Britain. Now, in addition to the standard cameras that photograph the speeding cars’ license plates, there are cameras that can accurately photograph drivers’ faces — so that they cannot claim someone else was driving at the time — and cameras that work in teams, calculating average speeds along a stretch of road.

Of course, for every ingenious new camera, there is an ingenious new camera-thwarting device. These include constantly-updating G.P.S. equipment that alerts drivers to camera locations and a special material that, when sprayed on a license plate, is said to make it impervious to flash photographs.

There are also the low-tech methods of covering a license plate with mud or altering its letters with black electrical tape

Posted in Law: Privacy, UK | 1 Comment

Still in the Dark

Posted on October 27, 2006 by Michael Froomkin

Having read this New York Times article, Tennessee Controversy Shaped by Spin Expert, twice, I’m still in the dark as to the identity of the mystery man in charge of the GOP’s racist ad campaign.

This follow-up piece identifies the author of the commercials as one Scott Howell, a man described as having a “history of bare-knuckled tactics and close relationship with Karl Rove.”

But is the producer the head honcho? This we are not told, only the following,

Yet if angry voters are looking for a place to direct their anger, they may have a hard time.

Mr. Howell did not produce the spot for Mr. Corker, who has disavowed it. He produced it for a quasi-independent organization that is financed by the Republican National Committee but operates wholly out of the committee’s control or direction.

Does Mr. Howell run that body? Does it even have a name? We are not told.

Maybe the head guy is “Terry Nelson, another consultant affiliated with the spot”? He’s now working for Saint McCain, so it couldn’t possibly be him, could it?

Mr. Nelson’s firm, the Crosslink Strategy Group, employs as a consultant Chris LaCivita, who worked with the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the group that produced negative advertisements about Senator John Kerry in the 2004 presidential campaign, according to the firm’s Web site.

Is there no level to which McCain won’t stoop? We’re not told that either, although here we can guess.

Posted in The Media | 1 Comment

Repeal the Torture Bill

Posted on October 27, 2006 by Michael Froomkin

This is good.

Dodd regrets not filibustering:

Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd says he regrets being talked out of filibustering tough new tribunal legislation signed by President Bush today . The Democrat says he plans to seek new legislation to overturn portions of the bill. Dodd denounced the measure, which civil liberty groups have said endangers many freedoms.

The bill sets up military tribunals to try terror suspects and allows the introduction of evidence obtained through tough interrogation procedures. Dodd says the measure would do little to aid in the hunt for terrorists because information obtained through intimidation is rarely accurate. Dodd says he initially intended to filibuster the bill, but was talked out of it by other Democrats who said there wouldn’t be enough votes to support the filibuster. The senator is campaigning in Iowa as he considers a bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.

The part about Dodd running for President? Less good. But the part about starting a move to repeal the torture bill after the election — that is a great idea. Pity it’s only “portions” though. What does Dodd want to keep?

Of course, even with a perfect (and unlikely) result in the election, there’s not much of a prayer of passing such a bill over a veto, but it’s still worth doing to keep the issue alive.

Posted in Torture | Comments Off on Repeal the Torture Bill