I'm pretty sure I'll hate whoever gets elected. Rudy might be funny just to see the ACLU get all misty and nostalgic about the current administration, but that probably won't make up for having to wear uniforms and go to bed at 10 o'clock every night.I've yet to decide whether or not she's one of those "interesting because we disagree bloggers" or just "so so so wrong." But with zingers like this...
Eric Kleefeld:
Well, it looks like despite Larry Craig's best efforts, he's going to have to resign today because of this bathroom business. He just can't keep stalling forever.You know you love it.
Remember how Google's motto is "Don't be evil" but they allowed Chinese censors to block out "harmful" stuff like the history of the Tiananmen Square massacres of 1989? Well, they're at it again.
Boing Boing links to a report that Google's new property YouTube has cut a deal similar to Google's in China in which the site will be unblocked on the condition it agrees to work with the government to take down videos "deemed offensive to Thai people or those that violate Thai law." Read: dissident postings that speak negatively of the Thai Monarchy like those that originally caused the site to be blocked.
Field organizing in the Democratic Party for the last 20 years has been built around a marketing model in which the candidate is a product to be sold. First you collect information on a voter by finding out what magazines they subscribe to, what organizations they are a part of, who they've voted for in the past. Then you solicit them for their support with a piece of mail, a knock on the door or a phone call in which your candidate just happens to care most about whatever random issue that person is most likely to care about. If the consumer sounds like they want to buy, they go in the database. Approaching election day, you call (and now email) them to remind them to vote, offer a ride to the polls, and emphasize that your candidate cares about what you believe they care about based on the data you've collected.
It's a charming process that has the three-part effect of losing elections, deadening our civic culture and forcing the progressive movement to rebuild itself from a list of names and preferences every two or four years. And it's got to end.
Luckily, there's a contingent of Democratic operatives and activists (of which I consider myself a semi-absent member) at war with the traditional model. Instead of treating voters like consumers, we believe they should be treated like citizens. It's a radical idea, but it just might work.
A perfect example of why I will be reading local blogs for primary coverage, Iowa political sage David Yepsen explains why the International Association of Fire Fighters union endorsement will help Dodd:
In a precinct caucus fight, support from a local fire fighter can prove pivotal. The neighborhood fire fighter is usually a respected person who is trained to act quickly in a crisis. In the hectic commotion of a Democratic caucus, having that leadership take charge and rally your people can attract others to your preference group. Just ask Kerry.Seems kind of obvious when you read it. But I would have otherwise thought of the endorsement as a nice media event, a cool picture, a flexing of political strength. But if Dean's failure in Iowa teaches us anything, it's that the caucuses are about very intimate local settings, in which people judge each other as people. With that in mind, a local firefighter is obviously a good ally.
Update: Karen Tumulty should read local blogs.
With parliamentary elections due next year, Iran's center-left coalition might be the latest victims of the YouTube effect. The would-be reformers are crying foul over the above video, which has been posted on a number of conservative Web sites and allegedly shows former President Mohammed Khatami shaking hands with a female supporter on a recent trip to Italy.Somehow the new media gotcha is not quite as satisfying when used by fundamentalists, but democracy's a bitch that way. The video is after the break.
Kevin Drum and Henry Farrel are batting around the possibility that Alberto Gonzales took the relatively unique opportunity of a vacationing Jon Stewart to announce his resignation. As sound a guess as any, I think.
And that's why close readers of TPMCafe will know that you heard it here first, in a comment by Miesjhel. I can only assume this will be the beginning of my awareness that much of the political blogosphere's insights come from TPMCafe threads.
As a part of the soon-to-come relaunch of TPMCafe's design, I'm going to revive this House Brew blog to be a place for management news, my reactions to the variety of content floating around these parts, and other more random ramblings.
The relaunch of this site won't be happening for another week or two, but between now and then I'm going to try to get back into this whole "regular blogging" thing so that once folks actually start to read me, I won't be taking my first crickety steps back into the light. Here goes nothin'.
Fredo has finally gone fishing. The "why?" is fairly obvious. The "why now?" is frankly baffling to me. One of my colleagues compared it to Rumsfeld's departure, saying "after they'd completely lost credibility and all hope of regaining it... only then does the person in question go."
So what do you think? Why now?
Bonus open thread question: What is your favorite Gonzales moment? There are so many. To get things started, mine:
"I recall making the decision... I don't recall when the decision was made."
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