The Women of Neoconservatism

A follow up to the previous post.

Midge Decter

Gertrude Himmelfarb (Wife of Irving Kristol)

The Origins of Neoconservatism

An historical aside: You know, you can trace the entire history of neoconservatism to the time when the then-still liberal Norman Podhoretz was having lunch with George McGovern about three decades ago, and they were picking a table to eat at and McGovern said something unkind about the looks of a woman at one table spoiling his appetite that I fear even included a canine reference. The woman turned out to be Decter, Podhoretz's wife, and the rest is history. The story originally appeared in Sid Blumenthal's book, "The Rise of the Counter-Establishment," and was repeated in a Washington Post's review of it. With a perfect talent for making an already ugly situation even uglier, Podhoretz wrote in a letter demanding a retraction, thereby calling attention to what must have been a horrifying situation for Decter, only to have McGovern confirm the story for everybody. And yes, this does explain a lot about John P. "Normanson" Podhoretz too, but let's leave that for another day.

From the Historty News Network

Brooks' Latest

From today's column:

I concede that government should be limited, prudent and conservative, but only when there is something decent to conserve. Saddam sent Iraqi society spinning off so violently, prudence became imprudent. The Middle East could not continue down its former course....

But ours is the one revolution that worked, and it did precisely because our founders were epistemologically modest too, and didn't pretend to know what is the good life, only that people should be free to figure it out for themselves.

Because of that legacy, we stink at social engineering. Our government couldn't even come up with a plan for postwar Iraq — thank goodness, too, because any "plan" hatched by technocrats in Washington would have been unfit for Iraqi reality.

Shorter David Brooks:
Trying to remodel the entire Middle East by invading Iraq was a sensible down to earth approach to our problems, but actually making any plans for the occupation or reconstruction of Iraq would be the hieght of arrogance.

Note to Bill Keller: FIRE THIS HACK NOW! And get someone who isn't drinking the Administration's Kool Aid

What I Am Up To

Because of the Holidays and the urgent need to make headway on some work, I haven't been blogging that much. Instead, I have been messing around with my masters thesis on neoconservatism. Coincidently, the Corner (Jonah Goldberg in particular) has been discussing that same subject lately. Now, I usually don't endorse the National Review's blog, but it is pretty interesting and informative if you take it all with a sizeable grain of salt, so check it out (you might have to scroll down to find their posts on neoconservatism).

Or to save time you can look at my picks:

Conservatives and Neoconservatives
By Adam Wolfson
A Public Interest article recommended by Goldberg.

Ramesh Ponnuru's Post Criticizing Wolfson's Article

Merry Christmas

Enjoy the holidays, loyal readers, posters and proxy warriors.

Bashing Brooks Part XXXVI

David Book's latest column is once again, nonsense packed. He criticizes the Democratic establishment for not crushing the Dean insurgency like the Republican party elite did to John McCain in 2000. Needless to say, there are a few problems with Brook's argument. In the fist place, Brooks completely ignores how utterly dishonorable the conservative war on McCain was, most likely because his party's race baiting and naked appeals to bigotry reflect rather poorly on George W. Bush, the man these ugly tactics benefited. Brooks also fails to recognize the practical and idealogical reasons why the Democratic establishment would have with snuffing the Dean campaign. Firstly, there are too many "establishment" candidates (Lieberman, Clark, Kerry, Gephardt, ect.) and the power of establishment, to the extent that there is an establishment, is diffused. Since many in the press are so fond of comparing Dean to McGovern, it might be important to note that one of the reasons why McGovern failed was because of the Party Bosses' hostility towards him, so perhaps the Democratic heavies of today want to avoid that same mistake (though clearly Mr. Brooks would like nothing more than for that to happen). Finally, the Democratic establishment might be hesitant to go nuclear against Dean on principle, because this is after all the "Democratic" party and they might be the teensiest bit uncomfortable with an influential minority smashing a grassroots movement, I'm not saying this is the best reason, just that it is possible. Either way, the last thing I would want the Democrats to do is emulate the Republican's horrible 2000 South Carolina presidential primary, it is things like that to make me pround that I'm not a conservative.

Perfect Timing

First Suspected U.S. Mad Cow Case Found
The same year I totally renounce vegetarianism this happens, I just can't win.

Don't Mention the Personal When You Are Political

I bet it is a real temptation for writers (especailly ones that get paid to pump out those words) to write about their personal lives in order to fill space. This isn't so bad when you are a humorist or have a lame column for the "lifestyles" (or as it use to be called, "Women's") section of the newspaper, but when you are a pundit, it is a really good idea not to give into that temptation. Your partisan foes will jump all over you and make you seem like a child abuser/stepford wife, I'm not joking. Just look when TBogg has done to Meghan Cox Gurdon from the National Review in this post, where he accuses Mrs. Gurdon of being an inattentive mother and a prescription drug abuser and speculates that her husband is having an affair, her daughter secretly has incestous desires and her son will grow up to be a homosexual with a foot fetish.

The Mini-Deli At the Train Station

Man, I don't mean to turn this into a god-forsaken on-line diary, but the mini-deli at my train station is really taking a dive. Sure the mini-deli employs people like Crazy Uncle Jack, but its coffee policy is outrageous. For the first three of the four years I have been regularly riding the train, the coffee was a dollar and came in a large paper cup. Then the coffee came in a smaller styrophome cup, but still cost a dollar. Now it is still being served in the small cup, but costs $1.25. Ah, geeze, it went from being a deal to being a steal (as in they are stealing from me). They most have gotten the idea from those jerks at Dobbs Ferry station, who have been overcharging for as long as I can remember.

The Corner Analyzes Krugman

From the Corner:

He [Krugman] used to write some pretty reasonable stuff in the mid-1990s. He got paid boatloads for speeches, to sit on boards etc. He was up to his beard in academic-media-business incestuousness. Then he got his NYT column and he was forced to sever all such relationships. This freed him up to denounce everyone else even while claiming his pwn purity, even when it was revealed that he'd taken big dollars from Enron himself. Rightly exposed as a hypocrite -- and quite often a hack -- he did what is natural to most humans. He dug deeper into denial. He became more strident. More angry. he protested too much over and over again to prove he was the exception to the very rule he has asserted but not proved. He probably also became addicted to his fan mail (and convinced himself is biggest fans are wise and perceptive), a real danger in the internet age.

Of course, our friend and regular Corner poster Jonah Goldberg conviently ignores the important fact that Krugman disclosed the money he got from Enron when he wrote about it before and after the scandals and when the misdeeds of Enron were exposed returned the money (I believe). Ah yes, what a hypocrite! How dare a journalist uphold the professional standards of journalism so flagrantly, he ought to be flogged untill his back is a patch work quilt of bloody lash marks! Speaking of becoming addicted to fan mail, Mr. Goldberg regularly reposts fan mail on the Corner, for example this one he got in response to his psychoanalysis of Krugman.

Jonah wraps up his sad, factually challenged post with this piece of whining:

My only complaint is that I wish we, as conservative cronies of corporate America, could get paid a fraction of what this shining paladin of the proletariat makes (working for the War Room of corporate media, I might add).

Ah, poor poor Jonah Goldberg, he doesn't know how to make any money as a conservative hack, maybe he should go talk to Richard Perle.

"Conservatism Jumps the Shark"

National Review writer Jennifer Nicholson Graham embraces social darwinism in this article, because she once met some actual poor people and they weren't all that nice.

Thanks to Mathew Yglesias

Howard Dean and the Right Wing Slander Machine

Frequently, left-leaning bloggers and print media pundits try and argue that Dean is just as electable as any other candidate. They often point on that the GOP will run the same sort of attacks against Wesley Clark, Joseph Lieberman or who ever else teh Democrats nominate, that our party will always be smeared for being soft on defense, anti-religion and for raising enormous tax hikes. This a legitimate issue to raise, but the Dean supporters miss the point. It is true that the Republicans will go after the Democratic nomineed for being "too far left" no matter what, but their broadsides will damage some Democrats more than others. For example, the Republicans will be a lot less believable if they tried to question the patriotism or national security experience of Wesley Clark than the Governor of a small liberal state. Most of the other major candidates want to keep the portions of the Bush tax cuts which benefit middle class Americans in place, but Dean falls right into the Republican party's trap by proposing rolling back the tax cuts completely. For this reason, Dean can be more plausibly (if unfairly) attacked as a tax-and-spend liberal than the other candidates. These just a few instances where Republican attacks would be more believable in the case Governor Dean, but there are many more and I remain deeply skeptical about his chances for success.

Bush Panders to Bigots

Interview: Bush supports gay marriage ban
Remember the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment, the idiotic measure which would essentially bar gay marriage or civil unions from the United Sates forever (and which was so thoroughly skewered by our own BRILLIANT Tom X)? Bush came out in favor of a constituinal amdendment to prevent gay marriage (sounds a lot like the FMA to me) in a recent interview with Daine Sawyer on ABC. After the Massachuesetes ruling, I gave him some credit for not going overboard with the anti-gay marraige nonsense, unlike Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (who also supports the FMA), but now he deserves nothing. Bush support of a constitutional amdendment against gay marriage isn't that suprising (he needs to do something to win the votes of the religious right), but it is still disgusting.

Sometimes I Don't Like TNR

In general, I am a pretty big fan of The New Republic, there are times when it just pisses me off. This is one of those times. In the latest issue, the Editors cheer the capture of Saddam, which is understandable, but then out of nowhere attack Howard Dean. Even worse, TNR place Dean's reaction right after a few paragraphs that were critical of the reaction to Saddam's arrest in Muslim capitols (where people were quoted saying things like Saddam "is still a member of the family", thereby implying some pretty nasty things. Read this excerpt and tell me that this couldn't have been written by a huh-huhing hack at the Wall Street Journal:

And then there was the lukewarmness of the Democratic front-runner. About the capture of Saddam Hussein, Howard Dean was churlish and puny. He did not include a joyful adjective or an excited adverb in his response to the event. "The capture of Saddam is a good thing, which I hope very much will keep our soldiers ... safer," he told the Pacific Council in Los Angeles. "But the capture of Saddam has not made America safer." A good thing? TiVo is a good thing. The incarceration of Saddam Hussein is a great thing. If Dean does not believe that America is safer if Saddam is no longer at large, then he has a highly unimaginative notion of American safety. His concern for the security of American soldiers is very affecting, but it is not a national security policy. Dean insisted that Saddam's capture will not "move us toward defeating enemies who pose an even greater danger: Al Qaeda and its terrorist allies." Well, maybe it won't. But neither will it move us toward campaign finance reform. Dean's remarks reflect not only his historical incompetence, but also his resentment that the president caught a lucky break. If George W. Bush were to discover a cure for cancer, Howard Dean would demand to know what he is doing about aids.

Damn it, why did they do this? You know, even the President cautioned us against excess enthusiasm in the wake of Saddam's capture. This editorial is nothing but a cheap and transparently politically motivated pot shot at Dean and it pisses me off to that the New Republic prints this kind of nonsense.

The Party of Ideas

Republicans...are basically libertarians who just don't like gay people (previously seen as libertarians who are willing to ally with white supremacists and before that as libertarians with an unhealthy aversion to alcohol).
- Matt Yglesias

If only they added an "E"

Democrats Rap GOP Over Jobless Benefits
It isn't really a suprise that the Republicans haven't extended unemployment benefits, because its you know, a good policy and they just aren't into that sort of thing.

No News to Report? Should we puff up the SARS threat? Or do some trendspotting? Trendspotting!

Every damn election year, the press feels the need to identify the new key voting block. Apparently soccer moms, office park dads and playground pedophiles are out, the new "it" voters are single women, the group of people least likely to to vote and most dissatisfied with the direction of the country. It is strange how a new group of voters gets discovered every two years, like single women (or married women, bus drivers and sushi-eaters) never existed (or at least never voted) before. Lame, indeed.

Oh Dear.

Remeber how a few months ago Michael Savage was "hoofed in the junk" by MSNBC for telling a caller to "get AIDS and die"? Well, recently another conservative talk show on MSNBC has totally outdone Savage (formerly named Weiner, back when he was Jewish and not an anti-semite). In November, Joe Scarborough , host of "Scarborough Country" had some interesting guests with opinion outside of the mainstream to discuss pressing issues frequently ignored by the elite press corps, by which I mean, bigots that hate and fear people with dark skin beating each other off about how America is being destroyed by the brown menace. Their views can be summed in by this one quote from founder of the racist American American Rennaisance Magazine, Jared Taylor:

TAYLOR: Immigration from Mexico is a particular threat to the nature of the United States, for several reasons.

Mexicans are linguistically different. They are racially different. And many arrive with an explicit reconquista mentality. They wish to reconquer parts of the United States and take it back and make it Mexican. If that is not a direct threat to nature of the United States, I don’t know what is.

Guests that attacked the notion that America is a White Country were dismissed by Pat Buchanan as anti-American. What jerks, these psuedo-intellectual racists can't even come up with clever justifications for their prejudice. They have been using the Rising Tide of Color argument for more than a hundred years, but it was never plausible and is now just really stale in stupid. Not only are these people vigorously anti-brown people, they are also stupid and pendantic pieces of trash.

Yep, good ol' MSNBC, making racism respectable again.


Via Ornicus

Perle Stung By BlogStar Josh Marshall

Richard Perle, the neocon kingpin who sits on the Pentagon's Defense Advisory Board, bristled with irritation when mentioning Talking Points Memo, the blog of liberal Washington journalist Joshua Micah Marshall.

Via Salon.

Whenever a public official feels the need to respond to web site, they reall ought just keep their comments to themselves. There is nothing in the world more pathetic than having to do battle with nerdpundits if you actually have a real political posistion of any importance.

Tell Nader Off

Here is the feedback form for Nader's Presidential exploratory committee. You know what to do (don't be a loser and fill out the form like I did, just send him a package full of alligators).

Bloggers Vs. Conservanerd

It took me awhile to notice this amusing dynamic, but I have finally realized its full dimensions. A coterie of left leaning bloggers have been harrassing Ben Shapiro. Shapiro is a pretty young guy (he's two years older than me), but already he's become a part of the right wing propaganda machine. He is the pround proprietar of a web site and more impressively a newspaper column (or at least a column that appear regularly at Townhall.com). It seems that Shapiro really rubs the left blogosphere the wrong way, because he's reguarly been the butt of jokes and the subject or scorn at Rittenhouse Review and Tbogg. The amount of abuse heaped on him is way out proportion to his relative importance in American politics (somewhere above the B of P, but bellow Westchester Parent Magazine). This leads me to conclude that Mr. Shapiro is the victim of bullying. Not only is he being unfairly picked on by mean leftists, but his attackers are (probably) significantly older than him and better versed in the fine art of rhetorical warfare. I'm, not criticizing the liberal bloggers that have their fun at Shapiro's offense, though. Just look at the guy:

Man, if this guy went to my high school, he'd have had to get use to getting stuffed in a locker...a locker full of hunger, man eating rats.

In Praise of the Best Page of the Universe

Recently, the B of P urged its readers (all 5 of them) to visit a feature on The Best Page in the Universe called "I am better than your kids". If you haven't seen it yet, see it now, if you have, see it again. The Best Page in the Universe is hilarious, edgy and almost always spot on, but most of all, this guy understands what we are all about here: HATE. The Pirate behind the Best Page in the Universe has deep understanding of how lame, stupid and hateful thing are HATES them with the heat of a thousands sons. That is the true source of his greatness, that is why I have wasted several hours a night at that site and that is why I'm wasting even more time praising it now.

Hey, look

FEC Fines Ashcroft's Senate Bid For Breach
Nothing to see her, the Attorney General broke the law, now move along.

Losing the Farm

Kerry Mortgages Home to Keep Campaign Afloat
I hope he knows where to find a good flop house.

The Stealth Tax Cut

GAO Finds Increase in Tax Evasion
Since the 1990's, when Congress provided a classic example of demogogic grandstanding, decided it was time to reign in the eveeeeeel IRS (its so eveeeel in fact, that it allows the federal government to do anything at all), the number of property confiscations for tax evasion and other forms of enforcement have fallen steadily. It is no suprise then, that the amount of tax evasion going on has increased as of late. I think one of the candidates running for President ought to bring up tax fraud. While it is true that cracking down on tax evasion and crooked accounting would not make a significant dent in the budget deficit, it would still bring in billions of dollars of revenue, not an insubstantial of money by any means. It is also a nice symbolic issue, Candidate X wants to protect hardworking, law abiding American tax payers from scheming millionaires that illegally dodge the income tax and put the burden on ordinary Americans, while Candidate Y is a staunch supporter of the Rich's right to screw you side ways. I mean, people get so angry about nonexistent "welfare queens", perhaps they could get riled up about tax cheats as well.

William Saletan Sucks

I know I am a big late in getting on the bandwagon of people (the center-left blogosphere has already jumped down his throat a couple dozen times) who hate Slate.com's chief political correspondent, William Saletan, but his latest article really is a piece of trash. The main problem with Saletan is that he is a obstensibly liberal pundit willing to be so evenhanded, he ends up being much harsher on Democrats than on Republicans. Not only that, but his criticisms are all baseless half-bright attacks rather than anything of substance. For example, his opening paragraph could have been written by Andrew Sullivan one of huh-huh conservatism's leading lights:

In 1988, Michael Dukakis' Texan running mate, Lloyd Bentsen, went around the South telling people, "Michael Dukakis will not take your gun away!" This week, in a speech aimed at proving he's no Dukakis, Howard Dean promises not to take your Army's guns away.

In short, Saletan just blows.

Thanks to MetroActive

Message to Ralph

Ralph Nader, in an interview on CNN's Inside Politics, remained coy about whether he would run for president in 2004. Says Nader: "We're testing the waters."

All right, you might not understand this you vain tool, but the American political system makes it so that any third party candidate will hurt the major candidate closest to ideologically. You also don't seem to realize that there is a HUGE difference between the two political parties. Ralph, I know you think the Democrats are "corporate sellouts" or whatever the hell you want to call them, but what are the odds that a Democrat would have decieved the public in order to get the country into a war it was unprepared to win and endager the health of the American economy and stability of the welfare state with tax cuts for the wealthy? The answer, dick, is not at all. Oh yeah, one last point: let's assume that Al Gore and George W. Bush had died when their campaign busses collided head on and you were elected after a tough race against the American Nazi party and the Black panthers. If this bizzare scenario had happened and you became president, your administration would have been a disaster. All your life you have been nothing but an anlke biting pest (albeit sometimes pestering the right people, like back when you sued corporations for making dangerous products rather than helping turn back progress in this country by 20 years) and are totally unqualified to be president. Your foreign policy views are all screwed up and your anti-business radicalism would have led to a horrific stock market crash upon your inaguration. You do not belong anywhere near the White House, a county dogcatcher has more experience than you. Now do the world a favor and take a bath in a vat of boiling water filled with heat resistant pirhannas. Or don't run for president, whichever is easier.

Red Scare

China Must Prepare to 'Crush' Taiwan Independence Moves

BEIJING (Reuters) - China turned up the heat on Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian on Wednesday, labeling him "immoral" for gambling with the island's future by pushing for independence.

Beijing also said it must prepare to crush independence attempts in Taiwan, one of its strongest statements in weeks against the island it regards as a breakaway province that has to be brought back into the fold, by force if necessary.

Ah, so Chen is immoral for wanting his people to control to break away from the Worker's Paradise of China and you know, control their own future through "democracy", but threatening to "crush" another country without provokation is fine and dandy though.

"The difference in social systems between the two sides of the straits cannot be used as an excuse to split the motherland," [Li Weiyi, spokesman for the Beijing government's cabinet's policy-making Taiwan Affairs Office] Li said.

Yes, it would be a shame if China were to be torn a part over hairsplitting about "tyranny" and "liberty".

Remember a few weeks ago when Bush gave that nice speech on promoting democracy abroad? Remember last week when he took China's side against Taiwan? Exactly. I'm getting really tired of the President's bait and switch routine, it gets really old after the dozenth time.

On the upside to all of this, the more belligerent China gets, the more likely KMT (the Nationalists) will get beaten by Chen Shui-bian. After all, the refrendum legislation that got all this rolling was a KMT proposal. If even watered down half measures written by the anti-independence party manage to enrage the Red Menace, the public will probably realize that there is no placating China and go whole hog for the Democratic Progressive Party. After all, it was China's idiotic missile tests that helped Chen win the first time.

Mail from the Bush-Cheney Campaign

Liberal billionaire George Soros, who has compared President Bush to the Nazis and said that defeating him is "the central focus" of his life, will now spend $25 million in special interest money attacking him!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A24179-2003Nov10

Well, thank goodness the conservative movement in this country isn't getting bank rolled by oddball billionaires. You know, like a guy who thinks he's the messiah or someone that paid witnesses in a deranged attempt to take down a popularly elected President.

Playing The Race Card, Because I have nothing else to say.

The central question that emerges . . . is whether the White community in the South is entitled to take such measures as are necessary to prevail, politically and culturally, in areas in which it does not prevail numerically? The sobering answer is Yes–the White community is so entitled because, for the time being, it is the advanced race. It is not easy, and it is unpleasant, to adduce statistics evidencing the cultural superiority of White over Negro: but it is a fact that obtrudes, one that cannot be hidden by ever-so-busy egalitarians and anthropologists.

National Review believes that the South’s premises are correct. . . . It is more important for the community, anywhere in the world, to affirm and live by civilized standards, than to bow to the demands of the numerical majority.
-National Review Unsigned Editorial, 1957

Some Last points:

-Heritage, not hate.
-More Republican Senators voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 than Democratic Senators.
-Huh, huh.

Shorter David Brooks

Dean is such a realist he is an idealist, Bush on the other is such an idealist he is a realist.

David "Watch me turn myself into a pretzel" Brooks

A Conservatvie Has An Attack Of Conscience

Texas GOP Redistricting Expert Switches Sides

The expert in question is Rice University political science professor, John Alford. He is a Republican and wants to see Texas see more Rebublicans as part of the Texas congressional delegation, but has reversed his posistion on his party's redistricting plan because he thought it was unfair to Democrats and minorities. It is rather refreshing to see a conservative with some principle, unfortunately there aren't very many of them these days.

Anti-Anti-Anti-Deanism.

Recently, an anti-Dean ad from Americans for Jobs, Health Care and Progressive Values" has appeared that has really riled a lot of Center-Left Bloggers.

The ad shows a magazine with Bin Laden on the cover. As the camera zooms in, a narrator says:

“We live in a very dangerous world. And there are those who wake up every morning determined to destroy western civilization. Americans want a President who can face the dangers ahead. But Howard Dean has no military or foreign policy experience. And Howard Dean just cannot compete with George Bush on foreign policy. It’s time for Democrats to think about that… and think about it now.”

This questioning of Dean's foreign affairs and national security credibility has set off a hurricane of hand wringing among Deaniacs and even anti-Dean democrats. However, I think the Poor Man is just about right when he comments that:

1) Osama bin Laden's a real person. I know that you know that, but let's put this fact front and center - they didn't bring up Hitler or Skeletor here…. Claiming that invoking the name or graven image of Osama bin Laden in an ad about national security is somehow not kosher demonstrates a profound lack of seriousness about national security.

2) I also checked Dean's resume, and it turns out that he doesn't have any military or foreign policy experience

The foreign policy will be central in the next election and more importantly, the next Presidential administration and we ought to nominate a candidate with more experience with it. We can’t pretend like foreign affairs don’t matter. The Democrats, especially any Democrat that wants to be president, needs to offer more than opposition to the President’s policies, they must have plans of their own. I’m not ruling out Dean as a serious candidate on foreign policy, but it is best for the Country and the Democratic Party if we know for sure before we send him against Bush, rather than after.

Top Notch

Check out the "I am better than your kids" section of the Best Web Page in the Universe.

Good comic, Doood.

Thanks to Tom.

Best Template EVER

Yep, I've been playing around with html again and have added a new feature to the blog. Now, readers of the B of P can search this site's archives for any word or phrase. This new addition should be very useful for people out to embarrass us my pulling out some moronic post from a few months ago. Indeed, the google search feature could become the bane of our existence, if were the kind of people that got things wrong, but fortunately we're not.

"Ladies and gentleman, we got him."

No deep analysis here, I'm just glad that Saddam has been captured (rather than killed) and will probably be able to stand some sort of trial. On balance I'd have to say this was much better done than the take down of his sons. Rather than becoming a martyr, he'll now suffer the humiliation of full criminal proceedings, which may also serve to give our counter-insurgency efforts some more legitimacy in Iraq and internationally.

Recommended.

I strongly encourage everyone to read a new article in the Washington Monthly by Josh Marshall, "The Washington Monthly's Who's Who", covers the rampant cronyism, political patronage and partisanships which are damaging our efforts to rebuild Iraq. Jon Kerry was right, I never expected them to fuck up like this. If nothing else, self-interest should make them realize that they can't let Iraq turn into a horrible disgrace, but maybe they are confident enough the GOP propganda machine's ability to make even the most embarrasing screw up seem like a victory and their supercredulous base to buy whatever nonsense they are selling.

Taking the Sleazy Way Out

It seems that in the face of a fast approaching deadline, David Brooks let Karl Rove write his lastest op-ed, where he praises the Defense Department's decision to give Old Europe (huh-huh) a slap in the face by barring their companies from Iraqi reconstruction contracts at the same time that we are pleading with them to forgive Iraq's old debts. Even the (neo)conservative William Kristol realizes the utter idiocy of this move, but not Mr. Brooks, the White House's loyal foot soldier and mole at the New York Times. Speaking of which, the Times should fire Brooks post-haste (and probably Safire as well). If they can't find a conservative columinst with a shred deceny and intellectual honesty, then they shouldn't have any conservative columinsts at all. The Times is a liberal paper with a liberal readership and should stop wasting ink and providing a platform for the likes of these clowns. No respectable newspaper should devote any resources to printing nonsense that can be demolished in minutes by a teenage blogger with his brain tied behind his back.

Dean Believes In Magic

Howard Dean has come out in favor of "Star Wars" missile defense (link here). This seems to be a an attempt to make Dean seem more moderate, especially with regards to foreign affairs and national security. However, missile defense is a really bad idea, as the brilliant Tom Taxter argued in one of his equally brilliant posts and it bothers me that Dean has come out in favor of it. Instead of say, supporting a useful policy, Dean has backed something utterly ridiculous and is either being foolish (because he doesn't understand why Star Wars is ridiculous, mainly that it will cost billions and won't work) or cynical. Dean's move is similar to when a certain high school student, with a left leaning, hippyish reputation takes an absurd posisition simply to prove what a free thinker he is.


That's right, "Buh, how can a book be racist?"

Some People Are Sick

Thousands of copies of this flier were printed and delivered to homes in Texas. Apparently, there was some mischief at the Printer's and someone put in the anti-semetic message while the adman was away from his desk and no one caught the error.

Via Snopes

More "Compassion"

GOP to Reach Out to Blacks on Urban Radio
Every so often, the Republicans begin a new campaign to appeal blacks and everytime it fails miserabley. It couldn't be because the Republicans have done nothing in the last 30 years and plan to do nothing to improve the lives of minorities in meaningful way. In addition to not having any programs or policies that would be beneficial to minorities, the Republican party also favors a lot of things that would clearly be damaging to the African American community. White liberals are frequently accused of a paternalistic approach to minorities in this country, but can you think of anything more condescending than thinking that you can win the votes of a group of people even though your posistions are almost diametrically opposed to their interests simply because you have a few spokesman who have the same skin color as them?

The AP Blows It

A recent Associated Press wire story titled "Bush plan would halve deficit in 5 years" is another case of bad headlining. The headline makes it seem that Bush's plans would actually cut the deficit in five years, but when in reality the AP is just taking the boasts of an administration official as a matter of fact. Deeper into the story, it's reported that:

In an interview, Joel Kaplan, deputy director of the White House budget office, provided few specifics about how the deficit would be cut in half.

Kaplan said Bush would achieve it ``by pursuing very aggressively his pro-growth economic policies, and by leading the Congress toward overall policies of fiscal restraint. And if the Congress adheres to those two programs, we'll be successful in halving the deficit from its '04 peak within that time period.''

The fact that no specifics are provided casts a lot of doubt on the claim that President's plan will actually do anything to bring the budget deficit under control, but unfortunately, the associated press bought the White House's hype and helped mislead its many readers.

The Dean is a Liar meme is born! More Deep Thoughts From the Press Corps

Remember how last year, starting in the primaries, the Press began to consider vice president Gore to be a serial liar? Remember how that nasty and unfair dynamic almost certianly damaged his chances of success? Well, it seems that we might see a repeat of that with Howard Dean. The other day on Slate, the always fair and balanced William Saletan (who called Gore's endorsement anti-democratic), wrote:

Memo to Dean: Clean up your accuracy, or you'll go the way of the guy who just endorsed you.

If Dean becomes the nominee, I'm pretty sure we'll see nonsense like this again.

Oh yeah and Clark is "wooden": He talks like a Clutch Cargo character: Nothing moves but his mouth. His head locks in one position, his gaze fixes in the distance, his eyebrows never rise, and he seldom blinks. He goes on and on without smiling. His arms move mechanically, like a marionette's.

Sully Strikes Again (more huh-huh conservatism)

From Andrew Sullivan's daily dish:

Gephardt seems to me to have improved a lot in his demeanor, his ability to speak candidly, and his focus on the usual Democratic policies of taxing people more so that the government can take better care of them. I don't buy the argument - none of the candidates said a single word about wealth-creation - but, hey, I'm not a Democrat.

Yeah, George W. Bush is doing a bang up job with wealth creation, you know with his millions of lost jobs, declining real incomes and rising poverty rates. Damn demcorats, why don't they stop this class warfare nonsense and just adopt the Republican screw the poor program with its sterling record of unrivaveld economic performance. Ah, Andrew, did you submit to the lobotomization volunitarily like a good party member or did they have to hold you down?

Kristof today.

Nicholas D. Kristof uses his valuable NY Times column to tell us for the hundreth time that he has A CHINESE WIFE! Did you know that China will become the dominant power in Asia? Nicholas D. Kristof knows, because he has a CHINESE WIFE! Also, the US should eliminate new barriers to trade with China, because it would be bad for poor Chinese families, like the one his CHINESE WIFE! came from.

Bush Caves.

George W. Bush came in to office a strong supporter of Taiwan, but now he has flip-flopped. On Tuesday, the President criticized Taiwan for holding a referendum which would "provoke" China. Taiwanese "provocative" referendum would demand that Beijing halt its missile buildup and not use military force against Taiwan. I can understand why such requests might antagonize an aggressive, expanionist power like China.

Brian Chen

Brian Chen is an 11th grader in my Precalc class. Recently, Brian went and shaved his head. Now, Brian no longer looks like a catfish, but rather Chaing Kai-Shek. I wonder if this is resemblance meant to proclaim his support of the KMT party or is unintentional.

Reminds me of someone I know

Stick Shift Bragged About
NEW YORK—Sources say Gary Baumgarten, an accountant in the bursar's office at Barnard College, introduced his stick shift into the conversation again Monday. "Traffic was murder over the Verrazano Bridge this morning," Baumgarten said. "Especially driving that five-speed. But a stick is the only way to go. Of course." Later that day, Baumgarten touted his stick shift during conversations about San Francisco, taxi drivers, and the drive-thru at Taco Bell.

from the Onion

The Dead Hand of Bushism is Losing Its Hold!

In an earlier post I speculated that George W. Bush and the Republicans are no longer able to "buy their gross" and that their ability to make up for their policy failures and right wing extermism through clever tactics is fading. A few weeks of good economic news and Bush's thanksgiving trip have failed to help him in the polls. Hopefully, this represents a long term trend: that the Public (or at least large segements of it) have become disenchanted with the man and ideas he represents. In that case, a Democratic challenger will have a far easier time taking Bush on and with liberal groups like Move On reving up their fundraising operations, might be able to bridge the fundraising gap.

Blast.

The stars seem to been in alignment for Mr. Dean. Just look at these headlines!:
Gore To Endorse Dean

Dean Expanding New Hampshire Lead

Oh yes and Rep. Dick Gephardt says that "Howard's strategy is to knock me out in Iowa and knock Kerry out in New Hampshire. If that happens, it's over."

Well, it looks like Kerry is going to get blown away by Dean in NH and Gephardt does look like he lose Iowa...

But I still think Dean is vincible. I refuse to believe the "inevitablity" nonsense floating around the blogsphere and professional political press. Out of all the serious candidates for the nomination, Dean is one of the least likely to beat Bush and I'm going to continue to hope that he loses at the last possible second, at which point I will blow like the shifting wins of fortune and whore myself out to him, his ticket and his platform. Hmmm, that came out wrong, but no matter.

Best Fetish Ever

This is the most bizzare perversion I've heard of do date. We all know about cannibals, who have an intense desire to kill and eat their own kind. Well now it appears there are so folks that really wanted to be killed and eaten. Oh geeze.

The New New Thing

Once again I have changed the template. I think I'll stick with this one for awhile, its simple and practical. I also manged to keep all the important links, comments sections and features which I added to the old one, so this is definetly a step up for the B of P, though I would like a rich mahogany backround to match the quality and seriousness of the writers for this here site.

Snow Uber Alles!

A Message from the Count:

Look upon its great white might and despair, mortals. All your works are in vain and all your hopes will be dashed. The roads will be impassable, the airports will be closed and trains will get stranded on the tracks. The Weak will drop like flies from the bitter cold and fatal shoveling induced heart attacks. Bow your heads in shame. Odin is a wrathful God.

High Quality Policy, Doood

Howard Dean has started talking about fighting media consolidation. I'm very pleased that at least one candidate has picked up the issue and since Dean, the frontrunner has done it (rather than some loser also-ran like Dennis Kuccinich or Al Sharpton), its likely that whoever is nomiated will as well. Media reform is in many ways more important than campaign finance reform, because campaign advertising can only do so much, while media dynamics essentially define the race.

Irving Kristol, A Great Conservative Thinker

Irving Kristol, the Godfather of Neoconservatism has written some pretty profound things in his life, but all of them pale in comparison to a master work of political thought he penned in 2000 titled "The Two Welfare States". Indeed, it might the most important political science treatise since some strange old Greek took a break from fooling around with young men and earned his place in the pantheon.

The source of this pieces excellence? Its Kristol's brilliant revolutionary thesis which he supports with scrupulously collected facts. You see, according to this conservative sage, there are two kinds of welfare states, Maternal and Paternal, as he says:

Fathers want their children to grow up to be self-reliant, self-supporting, and able to cope with a recalcitrant world. Mothers want their children to be as completely protected as possible from such a world and to be gratefully attached to them as long as they live; the avoidance of risk gets a very high priority. The original welfare state, from 1900 to 1945, was largely paternalistic in conception, since the trade unions (overwhelmingly male) played such a crucial role in bringing it into being.

After World War II, however, as women entered the labor force as well as educational institutions in large numbers, and as feminist ideas became popular, the welfare state came gradually to be seen less as a helping hand for those in need—a "safety net"—and more as a communal exercise in "compassion" toward an ever-expanding proportion of the population. That was the point of the complaint lodged by many feminists against Margaret Thatcher—she had a "manly" rather than "womanly" conception of social policy.

I never realized that 50 years of economic and social policy could explained with a few lazily thought out gender stereotypes, but thanks to Mr. Kristol, I realize that's the case. He doesn't even need to mention one government program or one actual change in policy to make his point either, his logic is that compelling: Look! Women are working for the Government! That can only mean that the welfare state has become feminized! See, even though Social Security and Medicare are two programs intended to help the elderly, one of them is part of the maternal welfare state because it was made after 1960. I guess that means that AFDC (Aid to Families With Dependent Children or "welfare" as we know it, which was part of the New Deal) is part of the paternal welfare state that aimed to foster self-reliance, because it was made before all those damn broads started getting jobs. Oh, but wait, Kristol the Great has some more insights to impart for the benefit of us not smart enough to have their work subsidized by Conservative think thanks backed by special interests:

Creating this extensive, in some cases massive, maternal welfare state, has been an extraordinary achievement, in view of the fact that it was created, as it were, ex nihilo. It was not a response to any visible popular demand, but was propelled by the thinking and writing of social scientists and journalists—an instance of what Daniel Patrick Moynihan, back in the late 1960s, foresaw as the "professionalization of reform." This version of the welfare state was officially recognized, and inaugurated and financed, by Lyndon Johnson. There is considerable evidence in the memoirs of his White House staff that LBJ had no clear idea of what he was doing. That did not, of course, matter.

Thank God for Irving Kristol, without him I never would have realized the anti-democratic origins of the Great Society (the "Maternal Welfare State" as Big K calls it). Yes, its true that Johnson put foward the idea in an election year, but he was advised by policy experts (imagine that, a President asking other informed people for advise, the absuridity of it all!) instead of Joe Sixpack and so LBJ's reforms are actually dictatorial fiats imposed by a distant elite on hostile populace. Well, this has well reasoned essay completely changed my world view. Death to the Weak!

Its Here! Its Here!

The 2003 Edition of the 20 Most Annoying Conservative List is finally here. Now adopt the party line or suffer the consequences! Actually, the list isn't all that great. Many of the entries are funny take-downs of people in desperate need of being taken down and stained brown, but George W. Bush isn't even on it. Then again, that man goes beyond being a mere annoyance.

Update on St. Reagan's Martyr Brigade

"While I can understand the intentions of those seeking to place my husband's face on the dime, I do not support this proposal and I am certain Ronnie would not," the former first lady said in a statement released Friday.

"When our country chooses to honor a great President such as Franklin Roosevelt by placing his likeness on our currency, it would be wrong to remove him and replace him with another," she said. "It is my hope that the proposed legislation will be withdrawn."

Even The Conservative Nancy Reagan is opposed to the infernal "Ronald Reagan Dime Act" bill that Representative Mark Souder is now pushing.

Honoring The Father, The Son and the Senile One

Conservatives want Reagan to replace FDR on U.S. dimes

Goddamn it. I wish I could say I'm suprised by this new nonsense offense, but this kind of far-right tomfoolery has become very predictable. Replace Franklin Roosevelt with Reagan? The two men aren't even comparable! FDR led the United States through it two greatest crisis in the 20th Century, Ronald Reagan gave some good speeches, completey dropped the ball on domestic policy. Oh yeah, and he also WON THE COLD WAR WITHOUT FIRING A SHOT (and unnecessairly violated international law and human rights in the proccess), or something. The symbolism of replacing the political creator of the social safety net with the father of irresponsible corprate conservatism is truly ghastly. What is even worse is that the Republicans have already made so many taxpayer funded shrines to their partisan hero, already we have the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier and the Reagan Airport. Why don't these folks just stop wasting the money of average Americans (who their beloved leader screwed sideways) and just making pilgrmages to his hous and prostrate themselves before Nancy in the hopes of being granted the honor of giving the former President his daily sponge bath.

Ed Note: Normally, the B of P doesn't make fun of Reagan's terrible mental degeneration in the last few years as a result of alzheimers. That much. But the more the Republicans try to make Ronald Reagan the second coming of Christ, Washington, Lincoln and yes, FDR, the more severe this blog will get.

The Onion

It looks like The Onion has taken a break from its attempt to rebrand itself as a lame piece of trash and put out a decent issue. I strongly urge you to check out this week's edition of the Onion, it has a couple of good stories. This week's Onion in history is also pretty good.

Edwards' New Fundraising Tactic

Edwards Hawks Book For Fundraising

Most of the other candidates have books out, but Edwards is the only one looking to sales of his book Four Trials as source of campaign funds. This might be really clever, but I doubt it. Campaign books are usually intended to introduce the public to the candidate, not to actually support their campaign. I remeber that Al Franken actually did the same thing in his fiction bid for President in his book Why Not Me? The fact that Edwards' new move was first devised by a comedian is not all that promising.

And I am....

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Thanks to Jack.