Benen: NEPOTISM REIGNS....Last week’s genius Gitmo quip belonged to Glenn Greenwald who observed “Actually, the only person to even make an escape attempt from a SuperMax is Green Arrow, who hasn’t succeeded despite the help of Joker and Lex Luthor.” That said, Adam Serwer correctly observed that this isn’t quite right:
Greenwald clearly doesn’t remember the Magneto incident of 2003, in which the mutant supervillain escaped from his glass prison facility after Mystique increased the iron content in his guard’s blood, which Magneto extracted using his ferrokinetic powers and then used to destroy his cell. Obviously, we need to discover if Gitmo inmates do have mutant abilities, which will undoubtedly require more waterboarding, and this has to be done before the administration gets a dime to close Guantanamo. In fact, I’m pretty sure Nancy Pelosi was briefed on the subject in 2002.
Indeed, the 1996 non-canon DC Universe miniseries “Kingdom Come” by Mark Waid and Alex Ross is largely consumed with the difficult question of super-villain incarceration. As a fictional problem, this shouldn’t be overstated. Note also that the Powers series, which I like a lot, has to rely on the pretty odd deus ex machina of the “powers drainer” to make its “realistic” superhero noir work.
Mid-day yesterday, I noticed that Mark Halperin had a headline that read, "Round 2: Liz Cheney vs Axe." Round 1, apparently, was President Obama and former Vice President Cheney, and Round 2's "Axe" refers to David Axelrod, Senior White House Advisor to the president.Halperin added, "The two surrogates weigh in on the Cheney vs. Obama debate shortly after their speeches in MSNBC interviews. Must-see video...."
Notice the problem? Liz Cheney was brought on to offer analysis of her own father's speech, and parrot her dad's criticism of the president. (What a surprise -- she found her dad's argument very persuasive.)
What's more, as part of a full-throated defense of her dad's torture policies, Liz Cheney has been all over the television news. I asked my friends at Media Matters to check on just how many interviews Cheney has done lately. They came up with this list that spans the last 10 days (and today isn't over yet):
* On the May 22 edition of ABC's "Good Morning America"
* On the May 22 edition of MSNBC's "Morning Joe"
* On the May 22 edition of CNN's "American Morning"
* On the May 21 edition of CNN's "AC360"
* On the May 21 edition of Fox News' "Hannity"
* On the May 21 edition of "MSNBC News Live"
* On the May 20 edition of Fox News' "Your World"
* On the May 17 edition of ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos"
* On the May 16 edition of Fox News' "Fox & Friends Saturday"
* On the May 15 edition of Fox News' "On the Record"
* On the May 12 edition of Fox News' "Live Desk"
* On the May 12 edition of MSNBC's "Morning Joe"
That's 12 appearances, in nine and a half days, spanning four networks. (On today's "Morning Joe," Liz Cheney was on for an entire hour -- effectively becoming a co-host of the program.) And this is just television, and doesn't include Liz Cheney's interviews on radio or with print media.
There's no modern precedent for such a ridiculous arrangement. Dick Cheney launches a crusade against the White House, and major outlets look for analysis from Cheney's daughter? Who everyone already realizes agrees with everything he says about torture?
This is just crazy.
Sudbay: Colin Powell is going to fire back at Cheney, LImbaugh
There may be some fireworks on this Memorial Day weekend -- intra-GOP fireworks.
Colin Powell may have been a successful military leader, but he's fighting a futile battle here. Cheney and Limbaugh are the leaders of the GOP now. And, those two are who the dwindling number of Republicans actually want to lead them:Radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh and former vice president Richard B. Cheney have attacked Powell in recent days as a traitor to his party.Sounds like the leaders of the GOP have already made a decision about Powell's party affiliation. They've kicked him out of their exclusive, right-wing club.
"What Colin Powell needs to do is close the loop and become a Democrat, instead of claiming to be a Republican interested in reforming the Republican Party," Limbaugh told listeners. And Cheney dryly commented: "I didn't know he was still a Republican."
Powell's turn will come this weekend. He is scheduled to appear on CBS's "Face the Nation" tomorrow and has told associates that he plans to answer his critics. Whether he will make an announcement about his party affiliation is unclear.
C&L: Wilkerson: If I Were Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Jim Haynes...I Wouldn't Travel
Run for the hills May 22: Remember the 1964 Daisy political ad, which ended with a nuclear mushroom cloud? Republicans are tapping into the fear of that famous ad to promote some fear of their own - against Obama's plan to close Guantanamo Bay. Is that right? Rachel Maddow is joined by Princeton University political science professor Melissa Harris-Lacewell.Heather Saturday May 23, 2009 10:00am
Lawrence Wilkerson tells CNN's Rick Sanchez just who he thinks was running the show in the Bush administration, why the Cheney family is out in full force defending torture and suggests that a number of members of the Bush administration should avoid travelling.
Sanchez: You know the idea...I was struck by that because I heard the term "lawyer up" and I was trying to figure out what she meant, because it seems there's an implication with the quote lawyer up implying that these suspects shouldn't be allowed any kind of representation. And it makes me as an American then wonder, given the legal system that I know that we have in this country, if they don't have lawyers and there aren't any courts, then who decides that they're guilty or innocent? Did anybody ever ask that question?
Wilkerson: This is absolutely Orwellian. His speech yesterday was Orwellian too and George Orwell when he was with the BBC talked about this a lot--when lying drives out truth telling. And Mark Twain of course said a lie will make it around the world before the truth can pull its socks up. That's what they're involved in. That's what Karl Rove taught them. That's what they've been involved in for some time. And her bona fides scream at me that what in the world is America's media doing listening to this woman? This woman has absolutely no bona fides to talk about this.
Sanchez: She has made eleven appearances in nine days, so she certainly has been getting...um...a lot of us....
Wilkerson: They're scared. I think they're frightened. And I don't blame them for being frightened.
Sanchez: Why? Why would Dick Cheney be frightened?
Wilkerson: Well we've got the possibility, I realize the political will doesn't exist, but we've got the possibility of domestic problems for him, and we've certainly got the possibility of international problems. Judge Baltasar Garzon in Spain has started a case and if I were Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Jim Haynes and a host of other lawyers in the administration, I wouldn't travel. I wouldn't travel anywhere.
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Benen: TASTELESSNESS GALORE....
Remember this week, when the RNC chairman vowed to attack Democrats with "class" and "dignity"? It was a vow that didn't even last a day.Benen: RIGHT MOVIE, WRONG LESSON....She's the 69-year-old speaker of the House of Representatives, second in the line of succession and the most powerful woman in U.S. history.
But when you see Nancy Pelosi, the Republican National Committee wants you to think "Pussy Galore."
At least that's the takeaway from a video released by the committee this week -- a video that puts Pelosi side-by-side with the aforementioned villainess from the 1964 James Bond film "Goldfinger."
The RNC video, which begins with the speaker's head in the iconic spy-series gun sight, implies that Pelosi has used her feminine wiles to dodge the truth about whether or not she was briefed by the CIA on the use of waterboarding in 2002. While the P-word is never mentioned directly, in one section the speaker appears in a split screen alongside the Bond nemesis -- and the video's tagline is "Democrats Galore."
The wisdom of equating the first woman speaker of the House with a character whose first name also happens to be among the most vulgar terms for a part of the female anatomy might be debated -- if the RNC were willing to do so, which it was not. An RNC spokesperson refused repeated requests by POLITICO to explain the point of the video, or the intended connection between Pelosi and Galore.
These tactics are not, however, limited to the RNC. Right-wing talk-show host Jim Quinn has taken to calling the Speaker of the House "this bitch." Former comedian Dennis Miller was on Fox News calling Pelosi a "shrieking harridan magpie." Neal Boortz called her a "hag." Media Matters had a report on Monday noting the attacks from various far-right media personalities -- including Limbaugh, Michael Savage, and CNN's Alex Castellanos -- all of whom attacked the House Speaker, not over her remarks about the CIA, but because of their dissatisfaction with her appearance.
The Politico's report noted that these tactics are "bad politics." Ann Lewis said, "It's an attempt to demean your opponent, rather than debate them. If they're serious that this is an issue of national security, then you'd think that one would want to debate it on the merits. It's almost as if they can't help themselves."
I think it's true that, politically, the right's misogynistic attacks against Pelosi are insane. Conservatives think they have the Speaker on the run -- why overreach and begin making sexist attacks?
Ultimately, though, political strategy isn't nearly as important as basic human decency here. It's a quality the right is lacking, and this recent pathetic display against Pelosi says far more about them than it does about the Speaker.
Over the years, the debate over U.S. interrogation policies has featured quite a few references to fictional works, most commonly with the right referencing Jack Bauer and "24." Yesterday, we heard a twist, with the introduction of Col. Jessup and "A Few Good Men."MSNBC's Joe Scarborough sees a parallel, with President Obama as Kaffee, and Dick Cheney as Jessup. Ryan Powers reported on Scarborough's on-air comments, in which the former Republican lawmaker described the two national-security speeches from Thursday:
"This scene yesterday...I'm serious here, this comes straight out of 'A Few Good Men.' The reason why the closing scene with Jack Nicholson on the stand worked so well, is, of course, we were all rooting for the young attractive Tom Cruise, just like more Americans are probably rooting for President Obama. But at the same time, what was said on that stand by Nicholson...I was struck by that contrast."
The comparison is not, on its face, absurd. If you've seen the movie, you know that Jessup believed the ends justified the means, and that a security-at-all-costs attitude was used to rationalize illegal conduct. It's a belief that sounds rather familiar.
But Scarborough seems to have forgotten the ending. Jessup lied under the oath, orchestrated a conspiracy to cover up his crimes, ordered the torture (and accidental death) of a United States Marine, and was eventually arrested to face criminal charges. In other words, the audience wasn't just "rooting for the young attractive Tom Cruise"; the audience was supposed to realize that Col. Jessup was the villain in this story.
Indeed, it worries me a bit that Scarborough would watch "A Few Good Men" and think, "You know, maybe Kaffee really did 'weaken a country' with his efforts."
It's like watching "Bob Roberts" and thinking you'd like to vote for the protagonist.
Cheney/Gingrich 2012 May 22: The two most visible Republicans right now are Dick Cheney and Newt Gingrich - really! Is their ever-growing presence hurting the Republican Party? Rachel Maddow is joined by Salon.com's Joan Walsh.
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Liberty bull May 22: Liberty University, a Christian college founded by the late Rev. Jerry Falwell, shut down the campus Democratic Party club. Rachel Maddow is joined by Brian Diaz, the club's president.
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Sullivan: The Moral Minority
The news that Liberty University shut down the school's College Democrats club probably isn't as surprising as the news that Liberty University had a College Democrats club in the first place. After all, the Lynchburg, VA-based school was founded by the late Jerry Falwell and isn't exactly known for its political diversity.
Still, Liberty College Democrats president Brian Diaz says that when the group first got approved by the administration last fall, its first meeting drew more than 50 students. "I was shocked when the university accepted our application," he says. "But when all those people showed up to our inaugural meeting, I was excited beyond belief." The club spent last fall organizing for Obama, has been involved with Terry McAuliffe's gubernatorial campaign, and has co-sponsored events with College Republicans, including a town hall on Darfur.
Last Friday, however, Diaz received an email from Mark Hine, the school's vice president of student affairs, informing him that the College Democrats were being shut down because “we are unable to lend support to a club whose parent organization stands against the moral principles held by” Liberty. Diaz and his fellow Democrats may no longer use the university's name, advertise events, or meet on campus.
Again, none of this is shocking--although according to Diaz the decision came without warning. And the private school is within its rights to withdraw support for a student group. But the cat's already out of the bag. Last spring I met a young woman from Liberty who made her mother drive her to Charlottesville to hear me speak because she had read an op-ed I wrote about being an evangelical and a liberal. She was an Obama supporter and a Democrat, but until she read that piece, she had worried that there was something wrong with her faith, that she wasn't a good Christian.
It's harder to feel that way when there's a critical mass of other people just like you. So even if the College Democrats have been shut down, the idea that theologically conservative Christians must be Republicans has already been challenged. Diaz says that when the College Democrats set up a table at a recruiting fair last fall, "people were a little confrontational, asking us how we could call ourselves Christians and be Democrats." But when they did the same thing this past semester, the response was different. "Now it's more like, 'That's interesting--let me talk to you and hear why you're a Democrat.'" That new openness to political diversity will be harder to shut down.
It's Friday. You know what that means -- Michael Steele is guest-hosting Bill Bennett's radio show again. Will he say something ridiculous? Of course he will.Apparently unable to learn from egregious mistakes from the recent past, RNC Chairman Michael Steele once again took to the radio airwaves today as a guest host for Bill Bennett. Earlier this week, Steele declared "an end to the era of Republicans looking backward." This morning, however, Steele revisited the 2008 election to insist that President Obama had never been "vetted" because the press "fell in love with the black man":
"The problem that we have with this president is that we don't know [Obama]. He was not vetted, folks. ... He was not vetted, because the press fell in love with the black man running for the office. 'Oh gee, wouldn't it be neat to do that? Gee, wouldn't it make all of our liberal guilt just go away? We can continue to ride around in our limousines and feel so lucky to live in an America with a black president.'"
Specifically, Steele wanted to see more "dissecting" during the campaign of Jeremiah Wright's relationship with the president.
It's hard to even know where to start with such an absurd remark. How offensive is all of this? Let us count the ways: 1) if Wright drew any more media attention last year, people might have begun thinking he was the candidate; 2) Steele just said Republicans have to stop looking backwards; 3) Obama was a candidate for nearly two full years and couldn't have been vetted any more thoroughly; 4) Steele has personally had to fight against the idea that he got ahead based on his race, so this is uniquely insulting coming from him; 5) if the RNC is still obsessed with Jeremiah Wright, it's in bigger trouble than I thought; 6) I've never heard of campaign reporters who get to ride around in limousines.
But Adam Serwer gets at the point that must not go overlooked: "Michael Steele tells black people different things than he tells white people."
When Steele has a black audience, Obama's victory is "a testament to struggle, perseverance, and opportunity." When Steele has a white audience, he thinks Obama is a "magic negro" who just won because of liberal white guilt.
It's practically the definition of a sell-out.
Post Script: And to keep harping on my Dean comparison, will political reporters now ask Republican leaders on the Hill whether they agree with their party's chairman that President Obama only succeeded because of the color of his skin? Or do they think the RNC chairman should apologize?
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