Tag Archive for 'jasonzengerle'

Senator Kerry last night

Published
by
Jake
on August 28, 2008
in Politics
. 0 Comments

For my money, last night Senator Kerry made the best speech of the convention so far. He absolutely nailed it. My favorite part was this:

I have known and been friends with John McCain for almost 22 years, but every day now I learn something new about Candidate McCain,” Kerry said. “To those who still believe in the myth of a ‘maverick,’ instead of the reality of a politician, I say, let’s compare Senator McCain to Candidate McCain. Candidate McCain now supports the very war-time tax cuts that Senator McCain once called ‘irresponsible.’ Candidate McCain criticizes Senator McCain’s own climate change bill. Candidate McCain says he would vote against the immigration bill that Senator McCain wrote. Are you kidding me, folks? Talk about being for it before you were against it. Let me tell you, before he ever debates Barack Obama, John McCain should finish the debate with himself.

If Senator Obama’s campaign is smart that juxtaposition of Candidate McCain and Senator McCain will be a frequent refrain all the way through election day.

Two of the better pieces of commentary on why Senator Kerry was so good, first Jason Zengerle:

So you have to believe that the last four years have been difficult ones for Kerry. Watching the horrors of Katrina on TV, he had to think, If only I were president. Attending the funeral of Massachusetts soldiers and marines killed in Iraq, he had to think, If only I were president. And when you consider that, four years ago, Kerry (according to some friends and advisers) evidently convinced himself that, by making McCain his running mate, he would be forming an unbeatable political ticket, you have to imagine that, in some way, he blames McCain for his defeat–and, as is the fate of all defeated presidential candidates, that he therefore blames McCain for all the problems of the world that he believes his presidency would have prevented or solved. If that isn’t enough to help someone find his voice, I don’t know what is.

Now Matt Yglesias:

One thing I don’t think people always understand about Kerry is that he was talked about as a likely presidential contender as far back as the early 1970s. Consequently, his entire political career in Massachusetts was understood as a precursor to a presidential run. This, in turn, led to a tendency among other Massachusetts Democrats to unfairly assume that each and every case of Kerry doing something they weren’t thrilled with reflected his opportunistic drive for the White House. For the past two years or so has been the first time in decades when it’s been clear that Kerry won’t ever be president, so his action can be — and be seen as — merely the actions of a United States Senator with a safe seat and a passionate concern for certain issues and causes. As with Al Gore’s somewhat similar liberation from Presidential ambitions, I think in part it’s about letting him find his own voice but also in large part about his voice finally being heard as his own rather than read through the lens of devious ambition.

Perhaps even more impressive? Reports are that Senator Kerry wrote the speech himself, no speechwriter necessary. Whats depressing is that if Senator Kerry had given speeches like this in 2004 he’d be running for reelection right now.

I really wish Lieberman would go away

Published
by
Jake
on April 15, 2008
in Politics
. 0 Comments

Its hard for me think of anyone I loath more in politics right now then Sen. Lieberman (outside of Cheney of course). Here’s good ole’ Joe on Fox News yesterday:

NAPOLITANO: Hey Sen. Lieberman, you know Barack Obama, is he a Marxist as Bill Kristol says might be the case in today’s New York Times? Is he an elitist like your colleague Hillary Clinton says he is?

LIEBERMAN: Well, you know, I must say that’s a good question. I know him now for a little more than three years since he came into the Senate and he’s obviously very smart and he’s a good guy. I will tell ya that during this campaign, I’ve learned some things about him, about the kind of environment from which he came ideologically. And I wouldn’t…I’d hesitate to say he’s a Marxist, but he’s got some positions that are far to the left of me and I think mainstream America.

It’s a “good question”? Is it reeeeaaly Joe? I mean really really? Yglesias takes this apart:

I assume Lieberman is referring to Obama’s overwhelmingly majoritarian position on Iraq. After all, it’s been the key conceit of “centrists” like McCain and Lieberman ever since 2002 that to be for war in Iraq but somewhat aloof from the Bush administration is the centrist position. After all, it’s the view adhered to be John McCain and Joe Lieberman and McCain and Lieberman are well known moderates so their views must be moderate ones and mainstream and anyone to their left is “far left.”

That’s the central conceit of McCainism and Liebermanism alike, and it’s important to both of them to just keep repeating over and over again. After all, if they stop saying it someone might notice that whether or not either or both of them hold centrist views on some issues, they’re the two most extreme hawks in the Senate at a time when 60+ percent of the population agrees with the orthodox liberal view that we need to lay down a marker for leaving Iraq.

Adding insult to injury, Jason Zengerle points out that Senator Obama actually endorsed Lieberman over Ned Lamont in 2006 and this is how Joe pays the man back. I suppose thats bad karma on Senator Obama’s part but still. Here’s hoping for 60 Dems in the Senate so we don’t even have to bother with Joe anymore.

A bit over the top

Published
by
Jake
on March 22, 2008
in Politics
. 0 Comments

James Carville on Gov. Richardson’s endorsement of Senator Obama (via Atrios):

The reaction of some of Mr. Clinton’s allies suggests that might have been a wise decision. “An act of betrayal,” said James Carville, an adviser to Mrs. Clinton and a friend of Mr. Clinton.

“Mr. Richardson’s endorsement came right around the anniversary of the day when Judas sold out for 30 pieces of silver, so I think the timing is appropriate, if ironic,” Mr. Carville said, referring to Holy Week.

Its this sense of entitlement that probably helped push Richardson to Obama in the first place. Jason Zengerle reminds of a conversation between Mike Crowley and Terry McAuliffe:

The preternaturally jolly McAuliffe is a good man to have spinning for you in a pinch. But his good cheer dimmed when I asked him about Bill Richardson, who appears to have made an 11th-hour deal to throw his supporters to Obama. “How many times did [Clinton] appoint him?” McAuliffe marveled. “Two? U.N. Ambassador and Energy Secretary?” He looked at me, half-glaring, awaiting confirmation. “I don’t know,” I joked, “but who’s counting?” “I am,” McAuliffe said firmly.

The arrogance is pretty impressive.

Shuster’s suspension

Published
by
Jake
on February 11, 2008
in Media
. 1 Comment

MSNBC’s David Shuster got suspended last Friday for saying something stupid about Chelsea Clinton. Specifically he said “doesn’t it seem like Chelsea’s sort of being pimped out in some weird sort of way?”. This, obviously, was a pretty dumbass thing to say and his suspension is justified. I actually like Shuster, he’s one of the better talking heads since he mostly does straight reporting. Having said that, I would like to second what Atrios says:

While the “pimped out” comment was bad, in and of itself it’s the kind of thing I could give a pass on based on the fact that sometimes stupid shit comes out of your mouth on live TV. It wasn’t something he should have said, obviously, but there probably wasn’t real animosity behind it. Just dumb.

But what I find worse is that it’s part of a general pattern of taking perfectly normal political activities - in this case a family member helping out with a campaign - and talking about them as if they’re unseemly, or corrupt, or inappropriate, or seedy, or sleazy, etc… The press has a long history of doing this with the Clintons, holding them to a weird standard that no one else is held to.

As Ezra Klein points out, John McCain’s daughter has a campaign blog, Mitt Romney’s sons campaign for him, the Bush twins were on the trail in 2004. There’s nothing unusual about family members campaigning for candidates, its standard fare.

Let me also endorse Josh Marshall’s take:

Unlike pretty much everyone else on the chat shows he’s a reporter who consistently does pretty solid investigative pieces. But regardless of that, who can name me the last political chat show host or reporter who was suspended over anything? To say that he’s being held to a different standard than TV chatters normally are is probably a farcical statement in itself since I’m not clear that there are any standards.

Does anyone watch Fox News?

On the other hand, many have rightly criticized Chris Matthews for his repeatedly degrading, often sexist and consistently clownish comments about Hillary Clinton. The most logical way for me to understand this development is that MSNBC is under a lot of fire for Matthews — but Matthews is untouchable — and Shuster’s easier to can or suspend.

Yup, pretty much. Shuster certainly seems like the fall guy for Matthews’ sins (not to say Shuster shouldn’t have been suspended, he should have). Sen. Clinton wants Shuster’s suspension to be a little longer then “temporary”. From a letter the Senator sent to NBC News chief Steve Capus:

Nothing justifies the kind of debasing language that David Shuster used and no temporary suspension or half-hearted apology is sufficient.

I would urge you to look at the pattern of behavior on your network that seems to repeatedly lead to this sort of degrading language.

Translation: Fire Shuster and start getting your shit together MSNBC. If I ruled the world, or MSNBC for that matter, it would be Matthews that got the boot before Shuster but, as noted above, it seems much more likely that Shuster is going to take the fall, and hard, for MSNBC’s crap.

Some more tidbits:

This email exchange between Shuster and the Clinton campaign in which he tries to defend his remarks doesn’t make Shuster look any better.

Jason Zengerle provides interesting insight into the language Shuster used and the Clinton’s reaction to the media’s treatment of their daughter.

Bill Press was the guy David Shuster was talking to when he made his comment and Press writes about it here.

Keith Olbermann apologies for Shuster (via HuffPost).

After the jump, some video.

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