Beinart on Feingold


Peter Beinert, the New Republic's new editor at large, picks through the detritus of Russ Feingold's censure resolution for all of us mugwumps. At first I was fired up about Feingold's chutzpah in the well of the Senate, after all, the man is 100 percent right. Bush broke the law, and not just any law, but the one that keeps foreign intelligence spooks out of our lives. So why not call him on it?

Feingold's detractors say that the resolution is a gift to Republicans, who have used the attack on Dear Leader as a welcome distraction from GOP corruption and a bungled war effort. They have a point.

But Beinart takes a longer view, and sees in Feingold not only a principled leader, but an important agent of change. More importantly, Feingold is moving criticism of the FISA scandal scandal from left wing blogs to mainstream media. If the junior senator dares to attack the scandal that dare not speak its name, then surely it must be OK to launch a credible investigation of Bush's wiretap abuses. Before Feingold, the very idea of investingating the President was considered too extreme. Now it's a reasonable compromise.

Bravo, Russ!
3.4.06 15:03


Tom Delay calls it quits, prepares for life as prison bitch
4.4.06 19:07


Graft: The gift that keeps on giving


Say some crook paid you hundreds of thousands of dollars, then got caught. What do you do? If you're the California Republican Party, you use the money to attack your Democratic opponent for taking money from crooks!
"Francine Busby is making ethics a centerpiece of her campaign while taking campaign contributions from corrupt ex-members of Congress, she's a hypocrite and voters have a right to know that," said Jonathan Coleggio, press secretary for the Republican committee.
The first crook in question is Duke Cunningham, the disgraced San Diego Republican who sold himself to defense contractors in exchange for doling out contracts. His seat is up for grabs in an upcoming special election, and Democrat Francine Busby seems to have a shot at winning. So California Republicans are reminding voters that Busby once took a $500 contribution from Sen. Dennis DeConcini, an Arizona Democrat caught up in the Keating five nonsense about 15 years ago.

Shhh! Don't tell anyone that Duke Cunningham has been sending boatloads of cash to those same California Republicans.

h/t Josh
6.4.06 21:18


Rush on Mexicans


This is the sound of Rove's Republican coalition coming apart:
I mean if - if you had a - a - a renegade, potential criminal element that was poor and unwilling to work, and you had a chance to get rid of 500,000 every year, would you do it?
The GOP is headed for a cliff on the immigration issue. It's about time.

h/t Orcinus
6.4.06 23:25


Weekend in Detroit


I had some misgiving about taking my 10-year-old autistic son to a funeral. Would he understand? Was I inflicting needless anxiety? Or would he rise to the occasion and make me proud, like he's done so many times before?

It was too late for reservations when I arrived at the funeral home Friday evening for visitation. The casket with my Aunt Maggie was open, but at the far end of a room, with rows of folding chairs between. Chris didn't notice the casket, and was trying to make sense of where his dad had dragged him. At one point he pointed at a woman sitting on a couch nearby, and said "Is that Aunt Maggie?"

No, I said, Aunt Maggie is over there, and I pointed to the other end of the room. The casket was bathed in soft light, with Aunt Maggie's white face just protruding over the top edge of the casket, her folded hands a counterpoint. Chris turned and looked, and I'm not sure what I saw on his face. Maybe a little mischief, maybe some mystery. I didn't see fear, or anxiety though. It took him a minute to decide his next move, when he asked me if he could see Aunt Maggie up close.

I took my time, and first introduced him around to some cousins. We walked to a room in the basement of the funeral home, where my cousin Ann from New York was camped out with her five year old. Ann's husband, Steve, teaches young adult autistics, ages 13 to 22 he told me. We chatted a bit about Chris, and Steve's work. Then we all
headed upstairs to see Aunt Maggie.

I told Chris it was important to be respectful, and to stay by my side. I told him how much Aunt Maggie meant to me, and how sad I was that she was gone. I tried not to use the words dead, or death. Maggie was gone, I said.

Chris had questions. Is she OK? Where is she now? Is she in heaven? I told Chris that the last time I saw my Aunt Maggie, I held her hand, and then I hugged her. I remember holding her close, and how our cheeks touched and I knew that would be the last time I would see her alive. As I told the story, I reached out and held Aunt Maggie's folded hands, and brushed her cheek. Chris asked if he could touch Aunt Maggie too. I said that would be fine. He reached for her hands, but then pulled back, like she was a hot stove. I told Chris not to do that, that it was disrespectful. He made a few more attempts, coming closer each time. I looked around, hoping no one was noticing. We were alone. Finally, he reached out and made contact. "Wow, she's so soft," he said. "She was much warmer when she was alive," I said.

I pulled Chris away from the casket, and we joined the small knot of relatives at the other end of the room. I tried to keep Chris under control, but he kept pulling away. When I next looked for him, he was back at the casket, holding Aunt Maggie's hand, and touching her hair. "This is fast turning into necromancy," I told my sister, and I pulled Chris back to the life force that animated the opposite side of the room. That happened several more times - Chris leaving my side, me pulling him away from the casket. I thought I had grown use to his unusual stims over the years: traffic signs, corporate logos, street lights. But now this?

The funeral was Saturday morning, and Chris was on his best behavior. The minister's eulogy was moving, and I learned a great deal about my Aunt Maggie. She contracted polio at age 18, the first summer out of high school. She had been at summer camp, Camp Westminster. During the bus ride home, she developed flu like symptoms. By the time the bus arrived in Detroit, she had to be carried off the bus. Life is full of those defining moments, the minister said. Maggie walked on to a bus, and had to be carried off. A bud opens, and becomes a flower. Life goes on.

I felt like Chris had his own defining moment this weekend, fortunately not as tragic as Aunt Maggie's bus ride, but a memorable one none the less. It will be interesting to see what he has to say about his brush with mortality in the next few weeks.
10.4.06 17:41


Immigration rallies


Publius at Legal Fiction sees a sea change in the immigration rallies that are rocking US cities:
Most importantly, I think Americans are just tired of politics based solely on fear, alleged persecution, endless wars, demonization of gays, and appeals to our darker nature. The march today was a positive one in that it was, above all, for something. The GOP and right-wing Christian groups have stopped being for anything ? they are only against things. They are against liberals, against gays, against Hollywood, against abortion, against this, against that. Theirs is vision of perpetual assault and persecution. They have lost their power to inspire ? and progressive visions are hopefully going to start filling that void.
What I see first is a huge rift in the Republican coaltion, that unholy alliance of angry white guys, corporatists, and evangelicals. The angry white guys want to build a 700 mile wall to keep the Mexicans outs. The corporatists have built their business plans around the cheap labor that immigrants provide. The evangelicals themselves are split on the issue, with some seeing in the immigration issue a chance to spread the gospel of Christ, while others see a threat to Christian America.

The trick for progressives now is not to overplay their hand, promising more government programs for illegals, thus alienating voters that the Democrats need to win over in the next election. But I think Publius is right, that the immigration issue is one that plays to progressives' strengths, while exposing the corruption and racism that is at the heart of the modern day Republican Party.
11.4.06 15:18


I guess "corrupt douchebags" was already taken


Grover Norquist recently took his nose out of President Bush's butt long enough to trademark the phrase "K Street Project". The royalty-free clause has gained popularity in recent years, in such sentences as "K Street Project Republicans are subverting democracy", or "more indictments are expected arising from the Republican K Street project".

Norquist once famously said he doesn't want to eliminate government, he just wants to downsize it to the point where he can drown it in the bathtub. Except for the patent office, which will cling to the sides of the tub like soap scum.
12.4.06 14:34


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