Category Archives: Politics: US

Mark Kleiman has assembled what he calls a very partial list of Bush lies. And while it's a good list, it is a very partial list, mixing the deadly and the trivial. The problem is that there are so very many, many lies to choose from. (Other compilations include Bushwatch, Bush-lies, Caught on Film, and Bushlies.net .)

Every so often, I get a feeling of disconnect from the body politic. I recall being stunned to discover in college (during the Iranian hostage crisis) that friends of mine, people I considered basically sensible, had taken a trip down to Washington DC in order to throw rocks at the Iranian Embassy.

I have a similar feeling of disconnect now. How can it be that about half of the voters in this country tell pollsters that they are basically happy with an administration that lies like a rug? This is surely one of the central questions of the day.

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There's been a little bit of headscratching about why why the government would spend $32 million to promote the new $20 bill (noted via Eugene Volokh).

The Slate article notes the ostensible justification, “the campaign … [is] really designed to put everyone on notice that a change in currency is afoot: The new bill has some different color and design elements (to deter counterfeiters), but it's real, so don't freak out,” althought in fact free media do a fine job of that.

Funny thing is, when our city and county governments down here buy lots of ads in the local media we know exactly what's going on: they are throwing money to their friends and encouraging them to stay friendly. Naturally that could never happen at the national level.

Here's a trial balloon that deserves not only to be shot down, but shredded, dispersed, and probably exorcized:Pentagon wants 'mini-nukes' to fight terrorists. Imagine what happens when other nations build these and then they fall into the wrong hands. (Due to the nature of their likely uses, tactical weapons tend to be more dispersed and less well guarded than strategic ones.)

And, oh yes, might there be a moral issue about a national policy of envisioning and thus encouraging (in the sense of failing to maintain our stand against) the casual use of nukes? Or maybe a strategic cost to those of us living in a target-rich environment about undermining the international norm against the use of nuclear weaponry? Hello?

Administration Faces Supoenas From 9/11 Panel.

Key quotes from Co-Chair Max Cleland,

“It's obvious that the White House wants to run out the clock here,” he said in an interview in Washington. “It's Halloween, and we're still in negotiations with some assistant White House counsel about getting these documents — it's disgusting.”

“As each day goes by, we learn that this government knew a whole lot more about these terrorists before Sept. 11 than it has ever admitted.”

Washingtonpost.com: GOP Sees Gephardt as Toughest Rival for Bush. You have to admire the Republican ability to stick to the talking points. There is no way that Gephardt is the candidate they worry about the most in the White House, and yet “nearly two dozen Republican strategists, lawmakers and state chairmen across the country, including several close to the White House,” managed to stay on message in the hope of maybe doing a little damage to the Democrats.

Gephardt is not a fresh face. (Indeed, he violates Jonathan Rauch's rule of 14 [link will stop workig soon], leadinig Rauch to say that he he's past his elect-by date.) Gephardt's anti-free-trade message can be caricatured as unrealistic; indeed, even I — a person deeply suspicious of the small army of devils lurking in the details of recent and proposed trade agreements — can't bring myself to buy into Gephardt's protectionism.

Gephardt's health plan is not something he could get through Congress.

And even the much-vaunted union support is of limited value — the unions are being fairly cautious this year. They want a winner, and are not themselves sure that he's it. And they, like so many Democrats, will turn out for whichever of the major candidates get the nomination.

But of those major Democratic candidates, Gephardt — who they will say is bought and paid for by the unions — is surely the one the Republicans most want to run against, not the one they fear. The very unanimity of this Republican block (is not one of them the least teensy tiny bit worried about Clark or Dean or even Edwards?) demonstrates to me that the fix was in. Admirable party discipline indeed.

As for this “midwest is key to the election” stuff, well, there's some truth to it. But I think I know where the key to election is. Right here in Florida.