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Not Exactly Matewan

post from Talking Points Memo on 03 July 2009 01:39:00 PM. © Talking Points Memo

Some sort of brouhaha at a health care roundtable organized by Sen. Mike Johanns (R-NE) at a hospital in Omaha this morning. SEIU claims Johanns' staff called the police on the union even though the union was invited to participate. We talked to Johanns'[...]

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ewan.php

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Why (Some) Liberals Hate Sarah Palin

post from FiveThirtyEight: Politics Done Right on 03 July 2009 01:36:00 PM. © FiveThirtyEight: Politics Done Right

Hot Air's Allahpundit:

Jim Geraghty [theorizes] why it is that the left despises [Palin] so. He?s certainly got part of the answer ? happy, successful pro-life conservative women are a grievous offense to leftist feminism ? but I think he misses the element of sheer contempt they have for her intellect. To the left, I think, she embodies a sort of comfort with ignorance that they think characterizes most/all conservatives. Why they?ve come to see her that way is complicated (part of it?s probably educational pedigree, part of it?s her affinity for rural pastimes like hunting, part of it?s the Katie Couric interview and the canned answers she gave at the debate with Biden), but I think it?s a mistake to assume that their antipathy is rooted in nothing but fear and defensiveness. That?s not true of the right vis-a-vis The One, after all. Is it?

Emphasis mine. And I 100 percent agree with the bolded statement. It's much simpler than other versions of this theory, relying less on creepy psychosexual dynamics, and ultimately I think more prescient. And the nice thing about it is that it sort of cuts both ways. If liberals are right that Palin really is ignorant, and moreover, completely comfortable with that ignorance, and moreover still, thought she ought to be Vice President of the United States, they have perhaps ample reason to dislike her. On the other hand, if they dismiss Palin because she looks pretty or talks funny or doesn't read the same newspapers they do, that goes to their being snobs.

But I think there is an even simpler version of this argument: George W. Bush.

Palin is the most Bushlike of all the Republicans who have emerged as contenders for the national ticket: the smirkiness, the smugness, the regional accent (although Palin's, I assume, is not feigned), the malapropisms, the contempt for media (both the people who cover it and their mediums), the express deference to religious faith, the occasionally undeniably likable moments of joviality and regular guy/gal-ness, the tendency toward self-dealing, the bulldog/barracuda mentality, the comfort in one's own skin (Palin was crippled when she lost hers late in the campaign), the (apparent) preference for isolation in [Wasilla, Crawford], and last but not least, the no-holds-barred, no-apologies conservatism.

And sure, some of this is complicated by the fact that Palin is a woman, and a very attractive woman. Would Palin be resented to the same degree by (some) liberals if she looked like Susan Boyle? Well ... maybe not. But would she have been picked for the national ticket? Well ... maybe not. But this has less to do with Palin herself and more to do with the manner in which she was elevated to the national stage. Liberals believe very deeply in the idea that life ought to be meritocratic. Palin didn't seem to have earned it, especially in comparison to John McCain and Barack Obama and even Joe Biden who had such compelling life stories. To a lot of people (not exclusively liberals; Kay Bailey Hutchison's contempt for Palin was obvious), it felt like another case of the pretty girl getting the promotion. If Palin wins the nomination on her own in 2012, this case will fade, and in turn so should some of the resentment.

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At Texas Tea Party, Joe The Plumber Recommends
Forced Deportation of Immigrants

post from Firedoglake on 03 July 2009 01:30:06 PM. © Firedoglake

Joe went Teabagging in Conroe, Texas yesterday, and he didn't disappoint.[...]

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New Document: It Was Cheney at the Wheel of Plame
Media Strategy

post from Crooks and Liars on 03 July 2009 01:17:08 PM. © Crooks and Liars

Another controversy where the Obama administration is walking in the footsteps of BushCo!

I will say here that I'm no more optimistic that Hillary Clinton's response would have been any different. The nature of power is such that one can always find a strong enough argument for retaining it "just in case" once it's been exercised. But then again, Clinton wasn't the one who sold herself to us on the basis of a new transparent era, either:

A document filed in federal court this week by the Justice Department offers new evidence that former vice president Richard B. Cheney helped steer the Bush administration's public response to the disclosure of Valerie Plame Wilson's employment by the CIA and that he was at the center of many related administration deliberations.
The administration's discussion of Wilson's link to the CIA was meant to undermine criticism by her husband of administration allegations that Iraq attempted to acquire uranium, a matter that her husband had probed for the CIA, according to testimony presented in a 2007 trial.
A list of at least seven related conversations involving Cheney appears in a new court filing approved by Obama appointees at the Justice Department. In the filing, the officials argue that the substance of what Cheney told special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald in 2004 must remain secret.
No such agreement was reached between Fitzgerald and Cheney at the time of their chat, according to a 2008 Fitzgerald letter to lawmakers. But the Bush administration rejected requests by Congress and a nonprofit group for access to two FBI accounts of the conversation, saying the material was exempt from disclosure under subpoena or the Freedom of Information Act.
The Obama administration has since agreed that the material should not be disclosed. A Justice Department lawyer at one point last month argued that vice presidents and other White House officials will decline to be interviewed in the future if they know their remarks might "get on 'The Daily Show' " or be used as fodder for political enemies.
U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan expressed doubt about that argument. To counter Sullivan's skepticism, Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer said in a supporting affidavit to the new court filing that the department needs the ability to interview White House officials informally in future law enforcement investigations, and that if the Cheney interview summaries are made public, "there is an increased likelihood that such officials could feel reluctant to participate." Breuer served as special counsel to President Bill Clinton during the Whitewater probe.
The nonprofit group pushing for disclosure, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, responded yesterday with a statement that the Justice Department has subpoenaed such officials without difficulty in the past. "It is astonishing that a top Department of Justice political appointee is suggesting other high-level appointees are unlikely to cooperate with legitimate law enforcement investigations. What is wrong with this picture?" said Melanie Sloan, head of the group.

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The Malicious Smear Campaign of Aaron Proctor,
featuring the Pasadena Star News, part 1

post from Pasadena New Progressive on 03 July 2009 01:09:00 PM. © Pasadena New Progressive

- - - - - - - -

From: Inside Track
Date: July 1, 2009 12:06:39 PM PDT
To: Virginia Hoge

"It sounds like you are turning a political adversity into a malicious smear campaign."

-- Inside Track, Pasadena Star News insider, Pasadena New Progressive, July 1, 2009

- - - - - - - -

Joseph Campbell quote:

The tyrant is proud, and therein resides his doom. He is proud because he thinks of his strength as his own; thus he is in the clown role, as a mistaker of shadow for substance; it is his destiny to be tricked.

-- Joseph Campbell (1904 - 1987)

-

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ron.html

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#01 - The Malicious Smear Campaign of Aaron
Proctor, featuring the Pasadena Star News, part 1

post from Pasadena New Progressive on 03 July 2009 01:09:00 PM. © Pasadena New Progressive

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Gee, wouldn't a coup overthrowing Obama be swell

post from Docudharma - Front Page on 03 July 2009 01:04:26 PM. © Docudharma - Front Page

Crossposted at Daily Kos Apparently, Rush Limbaugh just could not let Michael Sheuer win the worst person of the week award. " If we had any good luck, Honduras would send some people here and help us get our government back.[...]

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Weekly Tracking Poll: GOP Takes A Hit--Party of
No, or Party of Sanford

post from Daily Kos on 03 July 2009 01:00:06 PM. © Daily Kos

Research 2000 for Daily Kos. 6/29-7/02/2009. All adults. MoE 2% (6/22-25/2009 results):

FAVORABLEUNFAVORABLENET CHANGEPRESIDENT OBAMA63 (62)32 (32)+1PELOSI:34 (33)56 (57)+2REID:32 (32)54 (55)+1McCONNELL:23 (24)60 (59)-2BOEHNER:16 (17)61 (60)-2CONGRESSIONAL DEMS:44 (43)49 (49)+1CONGRESSIONAL GOPS:13 (14)71 (71)-1 DEMOCRATIC PARTY:50 (49)43 (43)+1REPUBLICAN PARTY:23 (25)71 (70)-3

Full crosstabs here. This poll is updated every Friday morning, and you can see trendline graphs here.

Since none of the movement this week is terribly pronounced, there is a temptation to call this something of a status quo week. However, it is WHERE the movement took place that leads us to a few conclusions.

Without exception, every Democrat saw better numbers than last week, even if it was just incrementally.

Without exception, every Republican saw WORSE numbers than last week, even if it was just incrementally.

This is especially notable since the Republicans in the poll had spent most of the last month rebounding from the basement-level numbers they were staring at the end of the month of May.

To what do we attribute the reversal of fortune this week? The easy, and most tempting, target is Mark Sanford. The Sanford imbroglio broke in the middle of the week last week, and therefore last week's tracker would not have been able to gauge the full effect of public disgust with another tale of a conservative Republican gone wrong. Sanford, this week, managed to keep the story alive with his own mouth, as well as the escalating calls for his resignation.

That said, it is not for certain that this is simply a Sanford reaction, or revulsion. There is at least some evidence that this might have as much to do with the Clean Energy bill as it does the not-so-clean Sanford adventure.

For the Democrats, the bulk of the increase (indeed, virtually all of it) can be attributed to a marked increase in support from Democratic voters. This is strongest in the case of Nancy Pelosi, as you can see below:

Change in Net Postive/Negative Favorability from 6/25/09 to 7/02/09, Democratic Voters ONLY

Barack Obama +2 (from +80 last week to +82 this week)
Nancy Pelosi +4 (from +52 last week to +56 this week)
Harry Reid +2 (from +38 last week to +40 this week)
Congressional Democrats +2 (from +64 last week to +66 this week)
The Democratic Party +1 (from +71 last week to +72 this week)

If there has been a substantial complaint from Democrats about the early performance of this Congress and this President, it has been that they have been craving more action than they have been receiving. House passage of a major bill like the Clean Energy bill is the kind of action those voters have been waiting for, and they seem to have rewarded Democrats (and Pelosi, in particular) with better numbers.

The Republicans, on the other hand, see their slide register across the board, and just from one demographic band. With the Republican Party's sliding numbers this week (down three from the previous week), their slide was slightly more pronounced among Independents and nonvoters. This could well be a Sanford response, but it could also be continued frustration that the GOP has apparently gone all-in on being obstructionists, with their almost universal lack of support for the energy measure and their continued public position of opposing anything coming out of the Obama administration.

On this week's generic ballot test, the numbers are almost identical to last week's, and similar to where they have been all month:

Would you like to see more Republicans or Democrats elected to Congress in 2010? (6/18 in parentheses)

Democrats 42 (43)
Republicans 29 (29)
Not Sure 29 (28)

Counterintuitively, what little change we find in the 2010 Congressional ballot test moves in the REPUBLICAN direction, albeit by a single point. The Democrats still enjoy a double-digit lead on that question, as they have since we started asking that question a little more than a month ago.

UPDATE: Yeah, yeah, the newbie tried to do graphics. Is that what you young whippersnappers call an "epic fail"? It's been nuked. Lo siento mucho....

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http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/_kCy1KN594c/-Weekly-Tracking-Poll:
-GOP-Takes-A-HitParty-of-No,-or-Party-of-Sanford

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Oil Price Plummets Nearly 4% on Job Cut Report

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/jutiagroup/~3/1dXszWylxrE/

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Couldn't Have Said It Better

Quote of the day, from Levi Johnston: "That was ridiculous," Levi says of the RNC. "I was just like, `Uhhh.' " I had the same reaction. Tags: Sarah Palin (all tags) [...]

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mydd/~3/OIMHw6r-vaQ/1793

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