We're two opinionated guys. Our social views trend strongly left, and we consider ourselves fiscal moderates. That said, I'm sure we'll be inconsistent at times.
Everyone has some sort of take on the debate last night.Click through to hear them, although most of the people I link to are progressive bloggers that all say pretty similar things.Despite the fact that Sarah Palin didn’t hurl her feces at the moderator – which is what some folks seemed to have been expecting – Biden, in immediate polls, seems to be the winner.Did substance really just beat style?I like the way Ezra puts it:
“The debates, in a sense, are exposing the bedrock facts of the election. The Democratic case is winning.”
Ezra thinks that Biden earned his nomination last night.
Andrew gives an award to a truthful conservative and sees that the “ready to lead” gap is striking for the veep candidates.
Matt thinks the outcomes of the election will only reinforce the macroeconomic zeitgeist.
Also, he talks about Palin as the ultimate, post-irony metacandidate.
Speaking of meta, I unfortunately didn’t post this yesterday, but Ezra’s take on the metaphysics of debate expectations was genius.
Nate does a good analysis of the big Michiganpullout, which will soon be developed into a Detroit based action-porn.
Conventional Sarah Palin analysis: The Couric interviews were a disaster; last night's debate was an unmitigated success.
But the same Sarah Palin was on display-- evading tough questions, sticking to her talking points. Only difference? Couric forced her to respond to questions with specifics; Biden and Ifill did not.
Asked about Israel, Ms. Palin reeled off her support for “a two-state solution, building our embassy also in Jerusalem, those things that we look forward to being able to accomplish with this peace-seeking nation.” Asked about the possible use of nuclear weapons, she declared “nuclear weaponry, of course, would be the be-all, end-all of just too many people and too many parts of our planet.” On Iraq, all she had to offer was the false accusation that Barack Obama wants to surrender.
A domestic policy example may be found in this exchange:
BIDEN: With regard to bankruptcy now, Gwen, what we should be doing now -- and Barack Obama and I support it -- we should be allowing bankruptcy courts to be able to re-adjust not just the interest rate you're paying on your mortgage to be able to stay in your home, but be able to adjust the principal that you owe, the principal that you owe.
That would keep people in their homes, actually help banks by keeping it from going under. But John McCain, as I understand it -- I'm not sure of this, but I believe John McCain and the governor don't support that. There are ways to help people now. And there -- ways that we're offering are not being supported by -- by the Bush administration nor do I believe by John McCain and Governor Palin.
IFILL: Governor Palin, is that so?
PALIN: That is not so, but because that's just a quick answer, I want to talk about, again, my record on energy versus your ticket's energy ticket, also.
But this is not a usual election. A 72 year old seeks the Presidency with a running-mate who appears to have never before thought about national or international issues. Tonight is the prime opportunity for the American people to discover just how frightening a proposition that is.
"What if Bill Clinton’s apparent hostility to Barack Obama in recent weeks and months has actually been a ploy to draw greater-than-normal attention to his fall campaign events ..."
Matt thinks this has more to do with the fact that Clinton is "two or three orders of magnitude better than anyone else in politics at explaining to the public why it is that the financial rescue package serves the interests of ordinary citizen." So, I agree, Clinton is definitely more in his sweet spot as a campaigner.
I think Beutler has a point though. Here’s a thought experiment: think about the time when you made the most politically (lowercase "p") calculated decision of your life. Even folks without political saavy have done it once or twice, and at the time you’re sort of like “Wow, that was really tricky of me,” and you’re sort of proud of yourself in a weird way for being so strategic and sneaky.
Now, imagine you’re one of the best politicians EVER. In the world. How much more unreal would your quotidian political calculations be?Yeah, that’s what Bill Clinton’s life is like EVERY … FREAKING … DAY.
I know today is veep debate day, and I know that the senate voted on the bailout last night, but I think the big news today has to be that McCain is pulling out of Michigan.
I was going to write my argument for why this debate won’t be nearly as bad for Palin as everybody seems to think, but Anonymous Liberal beat me to it.
Matt debunks the insane idea that McCain predicted the current crisis.Now with video!
Another Rolling Stone piece on our great war hero.
Palin’s awesome pre-debate strategy is to direct the conversation toward an area – foreign policy – where there is the greatest competence gap for her.Why are we surprised about this?Isn’t Rovian politics all about turning an opponent’s greatest strength into his/her weakness?
TPM has Obama getting emotional on the economy.This stuff even chokes me up.
Ezra adds more to the earlier earmarks discussion.
Ben helps set expectations for tonight’s debate, and reminds us that Biden is actually really good at debating. Oh wait. We're not supposed to say that! He's a loose cannon!
Marc is looking to 2012 Republican challengers already … I wouldn’t bet on him being the only one doing this calculus.
He also looks at the McCain as angry narrative, which certainly wasn’t helped by his brusqueness with Obama last night.
Matt wonders if McCain would veto the bill he just voted for, since there are earmarks attached.This just illustrates the danger of demagogic campaign positions like being against earmarks.
McCain repeats a lot of stories that are factually inaccurate.Have we learned NOTHING about campaigning in the internet age?
If you want to watch the adult version of a nerd fight in math class, it doesn’t get much better than Nate’s smackdown of RCP today.
Tonight, Biden will likely not take on Palin. As Robert Shrum notes, "[Biden] has two strategic objectives: defend and advance Obama, and go after McCain. . . . Palin may blow herself up, but Biden can't spend his time trying to light the fuse."
Palin, on the other hand, will continue her pattern of evading nearly all questions (tough(?)- like what lessons she's learned from Iraq and easy- like what news sources she reads). With Biden not challenging her, it will be up to moderator Gwen Ifill to ensure that Palin doesn't evade answering questions by challenging her with follow-ups.
If Ifill fills this role- then great. But if not, it doesn't seem like a good idea for Biden to lay off Palin. Sure, the conventional wisdom is that a VP nominee doesn't affect Americans' votes. Such wisdom dictates a strategy of Biden advancing Obama and attacking McCain.
But this is not a usual election. A 72 year old seeks the Presidency with a running-mate who appears to have never before thought about national or international issues. Tonight is the prime opportunity for the American people to discover just how frightening a proposition that is.
I think Ta-Nehisi has it exactly right about Palin's fundamental contempt for government. Frankly, selecting her as a running mate reveals the same level of contempt in McCain.
"But Palin's entire participation in this process has been an exercise in disrespect for government and the presidency. Some would argue that is, at the end of the day, what conservatism is--that if you hate government, you'll be bad at talking about it."
In general, Ta-Nehisi has been great on pointing out the insane incoherence of most McCain-Palin strategies.
Bill Clinton is like an annoying ex-girlfriend who’s really good in bed.Some days you can never remember why the hell you liked him in the first place, and then he comes through like this and you’re all, “Oh, yeah.”
In our continuing coverage of campaign eating habits, Ben has a funny exchange between the two camps’ economic advisors.Also, I have it on good authority that Obama likes bananas and green tea. (Hat tip: SJ)
If you’re a Palin look alike, and you have lax morals, there’s a place for you in the new economy.
Andrew plays witness to the Republicans weeding out the heretics.
Nate has a really good point on the Ifill issue … uncertainty favors the Democrat.Today’s 538 coverage of polls also push things further into the blue.
Ezra thinks that we should be wary of trying to let McCain off the hook for his campaign.
TPM does us all a favor and compiles Sarah Palin’s greatest hits.They also have the latest CNN polls, which look great for Obama.
Education Dude's favorite education thinker Eduwonk has a new monthly column over at US News, which is HUGE for him, but more importantly, for readers of US News, because he's always terribly insightful. Make sure to check out the maiden voyage, which this month focuses on the "Cabelas vote," and how new land access and environmental issues offer inroads for Democrats to votes that Republicans traditionally have dominated:
"Senator Obama is wisely not pretending to be an outdoorsman ... Instead, Obama is trying to make sure hunters and anglers know that he understands their concerns and cares about the environmental and land access issues that are vital to their sports. He is supporting expanded hunter education programs and provisions of the recent farm bill intended to put more land in conservation use."
This is just one example of ways in which we could be seeing a major electoral realignment that alters the underlying structual issues in American politics for a long time. But, I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's just win this election!
Watch as the Pollster average for Obama creeps toward 50% … on to the clips …
Quinnipiac has Obama ascendant in three MAJOR battlegrounds.Politico looks at why.
Ben offers some rare coverage of Obama’s sub rosa radio campaign.
Palin is cramming to be Veep.Let me pose a couple of hypotheticals: would you be comfortable if the person about to perform brain surgery on you son or daughter was cramming the night before?What about the pilot on an intercontinental flight?Can s/he cram?
Marc finds that some of McCain’s decline is due to Palin.The economy also figures, but not as prominently.Still, he says, there is a case to be made that she’s been helpful, politically.
Matt has a former ambassador to Pakistan dressing down McCain on the “failed state” issue.
Ezra makes a good point about the sort of Catch-22 involved in Palin’s “all of them” answer from last night. Admitting she reads actual news sources would undercut the McCain campaign’s attempt to de-legitimize them.
TPM has the transcript of Palin’s interview with Hewitt.Apparently she thinks the liberal media hates her average-ness.Yes, Governor, you might be average for a citizen, but you are WAY below average for a Veep candidate.Don’t kid yourself.
Ben and Andrew have heard about Palin’s newest gaffe.Unreal.
Ben and Thrush’s piece on the politics of the bailout primes an interesting scenario … what if Obama swooped in now and actually did secure the votes?McCain leads, nothing happens.Obama leads, progress.It would obviously be risky, but at this point, it’s hard to imagine the next version of the bill NOT happening.
Andrew thinks the race broke open.I think that’s a little premature.
Marc covers the Atlantic’s changing electoral map, thinks McCain has a failure to communicate, and calls McCain on the carpet on “gotcha journalism.”
Matt and Ezra want to see the progressive response bill, pronto.
Ezra wonders about the toxic mixture of poisoned politics and poisoned economics … sounds like the kind of world in which McCain’s stopped watch is certainly not right, not even twice a day.
Nate sees only bad news for the Republican and thinks there’s no way the bailout failure looks good either.
Also, in another bit of awesome Liberal Dudes prognostication, Nate has the data that the overwhelming dissent for the bailout came from – wait for it – folks in close elections.
This criticism is ludicrous. The bailout package did not pass because of a lack of Republican support. 140 Democrats supported the bill, compared to only 65 Republicans.
Had McCain forcefully advocated for the bailout provisions, there would have been enough votes for passage. Yet, incredibly, McCain's camp, criticizes Obama for "refus[ing] to even say if he supported the final bill."
Assuming McCain believes that this legislation is needed to prevent a financial catastrophe, one of two things just happened. 1) McCain failed to effectively rally his party behind this legislation, likely because he was afraid to spend political capital on an unpopular bill; or 2) House GOP members voted against the bill with the plan that McCain would offer a slightly more palatable version, allowing him to be portrayed as a bipartisan savior.
In neither scenario is McCain putting country first. Hello, hypocrisy.
Buried below the latest on the bailout plan debacle, the NY Times reports that Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey appointed a special prosecutor to investigate whether criminal charges should be brought against former Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and other officials in connection with the firings of nine of United States attorneys in 2006.
Make no mistake, Gonzales’ politicization of the Justice Department was one of the worst missteps by any Bush Administration official.Criminal prosecutions can ruin lives, and the decision about whether to bring one must be completely divorced from politics.
Mukasey should be credited for taking the step toward holding Gonzales accountable for his incompetence.And most importantly, Mukasey should be credited for the steps he’s taken to reverse the politicization that took place under Gonzales’ watch.
Until August, I would have been confident that no matter who is the next President, truly incompetent officials would not be allowed hold high office.To McCain’s credit, up until he started his run for office, McCain has spoken against his own party to denounce ineffective members of the administration, like Rumsfeld and yes, Gonzales.His recent and ill-advised calling to have the SEC Chairman fired was likely meant to conjure up the image of this earlier McCain.
But McCain has lost my confidence that he would never appoint another Gonzales with the nomination of Sarah Palin.By now it’s become abundantly clear, even to the most conservative publications, that Palin lacks a basic understanding of national and foreign policy issues to be an effective President.If McCain is willing to make his VP pick based on an impulsive political decision without regard to qualifications, I fear his pick for the “lesser” office of Attorney General may be more of the same.
Marc thinks that there are a lot of people who saw Obama for the first time on Friday and thought to themselves, “Wait a minute … where’s the terrorist fist-jabbing, flag-hating, Black Panther cum corrupt Chicago politico?”
While Tavis Smiley interviews Dr. West in the background ...
According to Nate, Obama is stronger now than he’s ever been, and there’s far less time and leeway for McCain to make up the difference.
Matt things ignorance IS dishonesty when you assert the opposite of truth.
Frank Rich has some uncharacteristically nice things to say about McCain … No, I’m just kidding, he thinks he’s a selfish asshole.
Andrew shows us that earmarks won’t cut it when it comes to reining in spending.
A Kos diarist finds an honest – and disheartened – conservative.
And in something completely unrelated, The Onion covers a strange group of phantom-entrapping gentlemen suspected of defying key provisions of the Environmental Protection Act. “Well, that’s what I heard!”
Until the election, we're going to include that Pollster.com graph on the top right. The graph tracks all valid, national polls and creates an aggregate trend line. It's interactive, so you can click on an individual data point and see the trend as discovered by each particular poller included. I think it's awesome. As always, be wary of national polling and be sure to check Pollster and FiveThirtyEight for good state level data.
We are Education Dude and Law Dude. We also have various dude and dudette friends. Finally, arugula is our favorite food.
Contact us at liberaldudes@gmail.com
