Author Archives: Josh Eidelson

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Timothy Noah argues that Howard Dean has nothing to apologize for. She’s right. Well, there’s plenty for him to apologize for – but getting worked up isn’t it. Was yelling in the way he did a poor tactical move in that it was inevitable to be interpreted by some not as a rallying cry he learned from the Farmworkers but as a the cry of blood-thirsty banshee? Sure. But the odds that you’ll turn on TV news and see Howard Dean yelling as supposed to the odds that the 30-second clip will be, say, George Bush flirting in the State of the Union with writing bigotry into the US Constitution are disgraceful. As Garance Franke-Rutka observes:

I — and others — could scarcely hear what Dean was saying on the stage from the press section in the back of the room because several thousand Deaniacs were making so much noise (Dean wasn’t the only one screaming) and the acoustics in the room weren’t very good. From inside the room, it seemed that he was feeding off the energy of a crowd that was cheering him on, and that they got louder and louder in concert with each other.

There’s a great deal going on in this country about which we should be hollering bloody murder right now, and the more time spent fixating on whether getting worked up is “presidential,” the farther we are from doing something about it. As Russ Baker writes:

Basically, at a pep rally, he yelled like a football coach. This is described as being “unpresidential.” But says who? Besides, what’s the definition of ‘presidential?’ Isn’t giving insulting nicknames to world leaders unpresidential? Isn’t sending hundreds of American soldiers to die for uncertain and misrepresented ends in Iraq unpresidential – or worth considering as such? Isn’t having an incredibly poor grasp of essential world facts and an aversion to detail and active decision-making unpresidential?

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David Corn on last night’s debate:

Several hours before the debate, I ran into a Clark adviser at a Manchester restaurant. What’s the General’s goal for tonight? I asked. “To do okay,” the Clark lieutenant deadpanned. “Seriously,” I replied. He countered, “I am being serious.”

It was as if all the candidates were aiming for the same bar: okayness.

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Ariel Sharon apparently doesn’t see any reason why an indictment for bribery, should it be on its way, would be a reason to step aside from his post as Prime Minister. It’ll be interesting to see whether his supporters agree. Although, it could always be worse for him.

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I’m with Abe Foxman on this one:

Mr. Foxman said that at the Winter Park screening audience members were asked to sign an agreement that, according to a copy he read to a reporter over the telephone, required them to keep confidential their “exposure, knowledge and opinions of the film” and of a question-and-answer session with Mr. Gibson. But the agreement, as read by Mr. Foxman, added that “pastors and church leaders are free to speak out in support of the movie and your opinions resulting from today’s exposure to this project and its producer.”

Mr. Foxman said he did not sign the agreement. He said he had initially felt bad about sneaking into the showing, but later changed his mind. “I decided yesterday, `Why am I uncomfortable? Let him be uncomfortable,’ ” he said, referring to Mr. Gibson. “For him to say, `You can only see it if you love it?’ I felt it was my moral duty to see it.”

And how often do I get to say that?

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This is ugly:

Republican staff members of the US Senate Judiciary Commitee infiltrated opposition computer files for a year, monitoring secret strategy memos and periodically passing on copies to the media, Senate officials told The Globe.

From the spring of 2002 until at least April 2003, members of the GOP committee staff exploited a computer glitch that allowed them to access restricted Democratic communications without a password. Trolling through hundreds of memos, they were able to read talking points and accounts of private meetings discussing which judicial nominees Democrats would fight — and with what tactics.

The office of Senate Sergeant-at-Arms William Pickle has already launched an investigation into how excerpts from 15 Democratic memos showed up in the pages of the conservative-leaning newspapers and were posted to a website last November.

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Dennis Kucinich offers his take on the state of the union:

Our nation is in a perilous condition due to fear, war, tax cuts to wealthy Americans, and trade policies leading to widespread unemployment in manufacturing and high tech industries. The rising costs of health care threaten the financial stability of all Americans. The retirement security of tens of millions of Americans is in doubt. Social Security is under attack with another privatization scheme…

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Nathan Newman takes down the “Savings Accounts” Bush tried to sell last night:

If they operate like Roth IRAs, and can be inherited by children, they will create a whole feudal class of rich people existing tax-free, even as workers income will inevitably have to be taxed more to make up the difference.