Ed Whelan, the man who revealed the identity of publius, is the President of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, as many have pointed out. It should be noted that Jeff Rosen’s wife works at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.
Expunged from history
In a lot of ways, the height of the Bush dynasty, from 2002-2006, never happened as far as the chattering classes are concerned:
For moderate voters clinging to some faith in government, the question over the past two decades of mostly two-party rule was: Can’t Washington do anything?
Now, with one party pretty much in control, the question has become both more hopeful and more anxious: Will Washington do anything responsibly?
Is Hiatt actually claiming that a 3.5 trillion dollar war was responsible? That running up hundreds of billions of deficits during a time of economic expansion was responsible? That Democrats had any say in government from 2002-2006?
The period between 9/11 and Katrina was a truly embarrassing time for our government and for our press corps. So why not just pretend it didn’t happen? Pretend this never happened:
I think we were very deferential, because in the East Room press conference, it’s live. It’s very intense. It’s frightening to stand up there… You are standing up on prime time live television, asking the president of the United States a question when the country is about to go to war.
Pretend this never happened:
In this autumn of anger, even a liberal can find his thoughts turning to … torture. OK, not cattle prods or rubber hoses, at least not here in the United States, but something to jump-start the stalled investigation of the greatest crime in American history. Right now, four key hijacking suspects aren’t talking at all.
And it isn’t just the media of course: it still amazes me that Hillary Clinton never addressed her Iraq war vote during the 2008 campaign. And that her failure to address it is rarely cited as a reason why she lost.
This needs context
There have been a number of articles recently about how cagey and even “Machiavellian” Obama is to pick Republicans like John McHugh for his cabinet. Here’s the Times for example:
“This Machiavellian strategy is pure Rahm,” said John Feehery, a Republican strategist and former top House aide. “It is brilliant and it is painful for Republicans.”
The choice of Mr. McHugh, which was quickly followed by the selection of former Representative Jim Leach of Iowa, another Republican, as head of the National Endowment for the Humanities, is instructive.
Sensing an opportunity to get a strong candidate for one of the toughest Pentagon jobs while simultaneously sowing confusion among Republicans, the White House pursued Mr. McHugh, 60, the senior Republican on the Armed Services Committee whose district includes Fort Drum.
First of all, it’s not brilliant, it’s obvious. I have to believe that lots of presidents would have selected veteran lawmakers from the other side of the aisle if they could get these lawmakers to accept.
And that’s the point here — of course, sane Republicans are going to think hard about fleeing the party purges and ritual apologies to Rush. And, not to get all David Broder about this, but I believe that some of these guys really do want to serve the public interest and realize that putting out Pelosi Galore videos may not be the best way to do this.
In McHugh’s case, it’s worth noting that since 2004, every single respected member of the New York State delegation has left Congress (I’m speaking of Boehlert, Houghton, Reynolds, Walsh, and now McHugh). I doubt that it’s a coincidence.
More liberal bias at MSNBC
Stories like this are almost too perfect:
Speaking this morning on Morning Joe, Scarborough didn’t mention having represented Griffin. Rather, he said he was asked by Griffin’s family, who knew his own family, to find a lawyer for Griffin. (“The family hired me and they wanted me to find him a lawyer, to make sure he didn’t use the Bible as his self-defense in court,” he said) He implied that a number of people expressed interest in taking on the case in order because of its political implications (“for all the wrong reasons”) and that he was wary of such people. Eventually, he said, he found a “progressive, pro-choice” lawyer who nonetheless understood that everyone has the right to counsel. Scarborough went on to talk about the need to return to civility in American politics.
But when the Village Voice dug into the episode for a cover story on Scarborough last year, it found evidence suggesting Scarborough had sought to play a large role in the case.
[….]Of course, Scarborough would go on to win the House seat the following year, with crucial backing from anti-abortion activists. His biggest single donor, according to the Voice, was the National Right to Life Committee, which gave him $15,210, and his second was the Eagle Forum, founded by anti-abortion hardliner Phyllis Schlafly.
But it makes us wonder: Did Scarborough, planning a run for Congress from a deeply socially conservative Florida panhandle district, sought to get involved in the Griffin case as a way to associate himself with, and build support among, the anti-abortion movement? In other words, was Scarborough’s political career launched in part by exploiting the dangerous strain of right-wing extremism that views the defense of an accused killer of an abortion provider as a cause celebre?
Joe Scar is DC royalty now, of course:
Washington kept “Morning Joe’s” Joe Scarborough up past his bedtime last night, as The Week magazine’s Margaret Carlson hosted a book party in her Georgetown home for the MSNBC host and his new book, “The Last Best Hope.”
Attendees included: Alan Greenspan, Andrea Mitchell, Dana Milbank, Chris Licht, Betsy Fischer, Tammy Haddad, Chris Matthews, Adam Verdugo, James Bennet, Ana Marie Cox, Norah O’Donnell, Steve McMahon, Frank Foer, Juleanna Glover, Jayne Sandman, Evan Thomas, Michael Isikoff, Gordon Peterson, Sally Quinn, Luke Russert, Rick Klein, Marc Adelman, Bill Press, Jonathan Capehart, Karen Finney, John Coale, Mark Whittaker, Ashley Parker, Frank Coleman and Mark Ein.
Good Lord, the Beltway media-industrial complex is a swamp.
Open Thread
Another beautiful day here, but I spent the day working inside.
One funny thing- several people emailed me reminding me to get poop bags for walking the dog, and that made me laugh, because those really don’t get used. I don’t know if they even sell pooper scoopers in West Virginia. We have grass and trees, ya’ know, which work pretty well. I guess I will check the pet store and see if they have them in case I am ever in a city.
Mom and dad send along this picture of Ginny sulking in the bushes. Apparently she gets really moody when they put the harness on her, and will run off and pout:
Jack Russells are just so damned willful.
*** Update ***
I forgot, but an emailer reminded me- the doe came and picked up her fawn.
The First Law Of Journodynamics
Whither Regulation
Interesting read about the future of financial regulation at the Epicurean Dealmaker:
Meanwhile, the cleverboots in the banking industry have already picked themselves up and dusted themselves off from the 50-car pile-up they drove the economy into. They are sending an army of lobbyists and campaign contributors into the halls of power to make sure any new rules imposed on them are both toothless and rigged in their favor. Congressmen and women, most of whom couldn’t balance a checkbook if you gave them a fucking jeweler’s scale, are no match for smooth-talking operators purring about the need to preserve “innovation” and “efficiency” in the market. This is not even to mention the inevitability of regulatory capture, when underpaid government bureaucrats try to supervise their former and future private sector employers who make, on average, about fifty gazillion times more money than they do.
So I am with Bob Teitelman, who worries that all this CNBC advertising budget-driven drivel about “green shoots” in the economy is letting a once-in-a-generation opportunity to craft a robust, long-lasting regulatory regime for the new financial reality slip away, and against those who urge slowness and caution. These latter argue that we should not rush into anything, since we are likely to make mistakes in forming a new regulatory system in haste, and generate all sorts of unintended consequences.
I say fuck it. Kill ’em all and let God sort ’em out. Wipe the slate clean and start over with some broad principles and some smart, well-paid technocrats and ex-investment bankers who can figure it out on the fly. Let them hire killers and mercenaries who are smart enough not only to enforce existing rules, but also anticipate those areas and practices that will require regulation in the future. How do you think the financial sector itself manages its own business?
Any new regulatory structure that does not address the role of the ratings agencies in this mess is pointless, IMHO. At any rate, is he/she right? Are we missing the window of opportunity to place some sensible and enforceable regulations the market?