For those interested, I have a new piece up at Hudson New York, called "Progressives."  It's here.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 20,  2009

BULLETIN AT 11:18 P.M. ET:  From NBC: 

WASHINGTON - Four men have been arrested in a plot to attack several targets in the New York City area, including synagogues, federal and local authorities told NBC News Wednesday.

Authorities said the four men have long been under investigation and there was little danger they could actually have carried out their plan, NBC's Pete Williams reported.

Investigators say the four, described as Black Muslims from the Bronx, had planned to place bombs at various targets. But New York city police and federal agents got wind of the plot and kept the men under careful surveillance.

COMMENT:  Repeat after me:  The danger from terrorism is exaggerated. 

Apparently, according to another report, the leader of the group has ties to a terrorist group in Pakistan.

Obviously, these are just misunderstood people with legitimate grievances against American 1) imperialism, 2) racism, 3) colonialism, 4) Zionism, 5) rheumatism, and 6) failure to honor Buick warranties.  We do understand.

May 20, 2009   Permalink

FAMILY AND POLITICAL NEWS - AT 7:40 P.M. ET:  As we learned in the 1960 election, the Kennedy family has political connections in Illinois, so much so that still one more Kennedy wants to, gosh darn, help the people of the state in any way he can.  Andrew Malcolm, at Top of the Ticket (L.A. Times), explains the delicious irony:

In their master plan to have a family member elected to federal office from every state in the Union, another Kennedy is considering a run for the U.S. Senate.

Word out of Chicago today that Chris Kennedy, son of Robert Kennedy, once of New York, nephew to Ted Kennedy currently of Massachusetts, cousin to Caroline Kennedy, also of New York, is seriously pondering a run at the Illinois Barack Obama Senate seat in next year's election.

And no one, absolutely no one, is suggesting that the fix is in:

Mayor Richard M. Daley, whose father Mayor Richard J. Daley was not a Kennedy either but loved them and did provide the 8,000 or so votes from somewhere that gave John F. Kennedy his narrow White House electoral win over Richard M. Nixon in 1960, has already said Chris Kennedy is a big name.

So that signal has gone out.

We're sure he just meant to be helpful, maybe to inform school children that this young Kennedy is a member of a famous family.  That's all.  The Daleys always look for opportunities to teach various lessons.

Young Kennedy, son of Robert, runs the huge Merchandise Mart in Chicago, once run by Sargent Shriver, husband to President Kennedy's sister, Eunice, and father to Maria.

A sensitive point:  The Kennedys identify with the civil-rights movement, when useful.  The man holding the seat Kennedy covets is Roland Burris, an African-American appointed by disgraced former Governor Blago after the elected senator, Barack Obama, acquired another job.  This will have to be handled with, as they say, sensitivity.  As Andrew Malcolm puts it:

So if he's smart -- and there's no guarantee of that once you spend time in D.C. -- he'll step out of the way next year and let the next generation of Illinois Democrats march in. And he'll get put in some lucrative commission job or reap a pile of state legal business to shut up about it.

Senator Burris, beware of any phone call from Mayor Daley, or, indeed, President Obama, that begins with, "Roland, let's talk about your great future..."

May 20, 2009   Permalink

QUOTE OF THE DAY - AT 2:55 P.M. ET:  From Michael Gerson, in the Washington Post:

To stanch the CIA's bleeding morale, Democrats have tried reassurance. President Obama, speaking at CIA headquarters, took the Fred Rogers approach: "Don't be discouraged that we have to acknowledge potentially we've made some mistakes. That's how we learn." Yes, children, hypocritical congressional investigations and foreign kangaroo courts are really our friends. House intelligence committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes sent a sympathy note to Langley: "In recent days, as the public debate regarding CIA's interrogation practices has raged, you have been very much in my thoughts." There should be a section at Hallmark for intelligence operatives unfairly accused of war crimes.

COMMENT:  That says it.  So far, the president has done a poor job of controlling the hard leftists in his party, but I suspect he knows the damage they can do him.  We await the next chapter.

May 20, 2009   Permalink

AND THE ANSWER FROM THE MULLAHS - AT 12:23 P.M. ET: 

TEHRAN (Reuters) - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday Iran had tested a missile that could hit Israel and U.S. bases in the Gulf, in a move likely to add to Western concern about Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

Ahmadinejad announced the test on the same day campaigning for the June 12 presidential election officially started. A U.S. defense official also confirmed the launch.

One Western expert saw the missile test as Iran's response to the Israeli prime minister's U.S. visit this week.

Coming a day after Iran's supreme leader accused the United States of promoting terrorism, the test may further disappoint U.S. President Barack Obama's administration, which is seeking rapprochement with Iran after three decades of mutual mistrust.

COMMENT:  When will we ever learn?  The mullah regime is not going to do a thing for us.  Oh sure, they may bend a bit and make some noises to keep negotiations going, and stall for time, and that will give the trendies an excuse to demand more talks.  But if anyone thinks the mullahs built all those nuclear installations, just to give them away in a negotiation, that person is delusional.

Tough times coming with Iran.  Given the way we really stood up to North Korea over its recent missile test, don't expect much flash from Washington.

May 20, 2009   Permalink

DANGEROUS, REALLY DANGEROUS - AT 12:14 P.M. ET:  Talk about dangerous proposals, get this one, as reported in The Hill:

High-ranking House Democrats are urging the Treasury Department to prop up minority-owned broadcasters suffering from a lack of capital and lost advertising revenue amid the economic slump.

House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) is leading an effort to convince Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to take “decisive action” by extending credit to this sector of the broadcasting industry.

Clyburn and other senior members, including House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), argue that minority-owned broadcasters are sound businesses, but that the recession could undermine the government’s efforts to diversify the airwaves.

COMMENT:  No matter how noble the intent, and I'm not so sure it's noble, the idea of propping up companies with news divisions on the basis of ethnicity is volatile and dangerous.  Who's a minority?  Asians?  Hispanics?  East European immigrants? 

Minority broadcasters beam their programs to a particular audience, as do other broadcasters, and should rise or fall, based on their ability and the popularity of their product. 

May 20, 2009   Permalink

MUST PELOSI DEPART? - AT 11:06 A.M. ET:  Organ music up.  A theme of lament.  Will she go?  After all these years of working toward becoming America's first female speaker of the House, will Nancy Pelosi have to step down over her fight with the CIA?  (music stronger)  Is the end near for the woman they affectionately call San Fran Nan?  (fade to commercial).

Dick Morris says yes.  Nan must take one for the team.  From RealClearPolitics:

It's obvious that either Leon Panetta, Obama's head of the CIA, or Nancy Pelosi, his party's Speaker of the House, has to go. No administration can tolerate a permanent, public civil war between two such high-ranking officials.

Especially when their disagreement stems not from issues of policy but from matters of veracity and credibility, the battle must end in one of their resignations. You cannot have the head of the nation's first line of defense against terrorism calling the Speaker of the House a liar and being attacked by her in turn.

The key point:

Obviously, Obama cannot fire Panetta. First of all, he just appointed him. And second, to cave in to Pelosi (D-Calif.) would earn him the massive disrespect and disapproval of the very operatives on whom he must depend to keep the nation safe.

COMMENT:  Morris makes sense, as he usually does.  But I doubt if either will go, unless Panetta decides to resign in disgust, which is unlikely.  He's a beltway gut fighter with great political instincts.  Pelosi won't quit unless a release of documents completely convicts her in the court of public opinion, but even then I suspect she'd hang on.  Her court consists of flaming liberals for whom lying about the CIA is fine sport.  It's hard to imagine her being forced out by House Democrats unless there are major losses for the party in the 2010 midterms.

What's weird here is that Pelosi's crowd in the House is trying to continue her feud with the CIA.  Maybe they just know their constituency, but Obama should, as the dad in "Love Story" said, "make a couple of calls." 

May 20, 2009    Permalink

STAGGERING - AT 6:45 A.M. ET:  Remember when Japan was poised to take over the international economy?  Remember when American executives were encouraged to learn Japanese?  My, how the mighty have fallen - on their swords.  Japan is suffering staggering economic losses, with substantial implications for the United States.  Japan is a major trading partner, and holds some of our debt.  London's Telegraph tells the sad story:

Japan's economy has suffered its worst quarterly performance since records began more than five decades ago as it continues to struggle with the economic crisis.

The world's second largest economy experienced a quarterly 4 per cent shrink in its gross domestic product (GDP) reflecting the continued impact of the recession on the export-dependent nation.

Hit hard by a global plunge in demand for cars and technology, Japan's economy shrank 15.2 per cent in the first quarter compared to last year, according to Cabinet Office figures.

The contraction eclipses that of other industrialised nations: the nation's GDP slide was more than double the 1.6 per cent recorded in the US and significantly higher than Europe's record 2.5 per cent.

COMMENT:  Economic success is round.  It rolls from one nation to another.  We're now being told by economic "experts" that China will leave us in the dust.  When you hear that, remember Japan.  The last hot item to come out of Japan was the Sony Walkman, the iPod of the last generation.

May 20, 2009   Permalink 

OH, HE DIDN'T SAY IT, DID HE? - AT 6:43 A.M. ET:  We give the Pompous Fool Award periodically at the Angel's Corner to a writer or politician who has distinguished himself or herself in pomposity and foolishness.  Maybe we should add a Poor Taste Award.  The first recipient would have to be the terminally obnoxious Joe Klein, a man whose limitations are legendary.  Klein is quoted in an otherwise fair-minded piece about the brilliant Charles Krauthammer, who has emerged as one of the most important conservative voices in our time.

Klein has to get his two cents in.  He actually said this about Krauthammer:

"He became Ground Zero among the neo-cons, but he's vastly smarter than most of them," said Time's Joe Klein, an admirer and critic who praised Krauthammer's "writing skills and polemical skills" as "so far above almost anybody writing columns today."

"There's something tragic about him too," Klein said, referring to Krauthammer's confinement to a wheelchair, the result of a diving accident during his first year of medical school. "His work would have a lot more nuance if he were able to see the situations he's writing about."

Krauthammer appropriately replied, "My writing speaks for itself."

COMMENT:  If Rush had said that about anyone, the skies would have fallen, and smelling salts would have been delivered to the entire White House press corps.  But since the very liberal Joe Klein said it, I suspect it will go ignored among the pundit classes.

May 20, 2009   Permalink

US ARMS IN WRONG HANDS - AT 6:41 A.M. ET:  We chided The New York Times in the story below, so now let us have praise.  A well-reported Times story tells a troubling picture of what is emerging as America's main battlefront, Afghanistan/Pakistan:

KABUL — Insurgents in Afghanistan, fighting from some of the poorest and most remote regions on earth, have managed for years to maintain an intensive guerrilla war against materially superior American and Afghan forces.

Arms and ordnance collected from dead insurgents hint at one possible reason: Of 30 rifle magazines recently taken from insurgents’ corpses, at least 17 contained cartridges, or rounds, identical to ammunition the United States had provided to Afghan government forces, according to an examination of ammunition markings by The New York Times and interviews with American officers and arms dealers.

The presence of this ammunition among the dead in the Korangal Valley, an area of often fierce fighting near Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan, strongly suggests that munitions procured by the Pentagon have leaked from Afghan forces for use against American troops.

COMMENT:  If true, it's obviously a grim and chaotic situation.  Just as bad, stories like this, which must be reported, provide ammunition to the cut-and-run crowd, which has now transferred its passion from Iraq to Afghanistan.  Whenever America is involved in a conflict, this bunch has exactly the same policy advice - cut our losses and get out.  They had plenty of practice in Vietnam, and have used it well.

May 20, 2009   Permalink

THE SMATTERING SPEAKS - AT 6:39 A.M. ET:  California made news yesterday, but The New York Times want to convince you that, well, it really didn't amount to much.  I mean, who voted?  Get this for a slant:

LOS ANGELES — A smattering of California voters on Tuesday soundly rejected five ballot measures designed to keep the state solvent through the rest of the year.

The results dealt a severe setback to the state’s fragile fiscal structure and to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state legislators who cobbled together the measures as part of a last-minute budget deal passed in February.

The measures, which would have prolonged tax increases, capped state spending, earmarked money for education and involved the state in a complex borrowing scheme against its lottery, were rejected by roughly 60 percent of those who voted. The failure of the measures, combined with falling revenues since the state passed its budget, leaves California with a $21 billion new hole to fill, while foreclosure rates and unemployment remain vexing problems here.

COMMENT:  All polls showed these measures would fail.  But if they had passed, do you think The Times would have attributed the great victory to a smattering?  I suspect the lead would have read:

Californians stormed to the polls yesterday to approve a wide range of finely crafted measures that will save their state from bankruptcy.

It's so outrageous when these smatterings are allowed to vote.

May 20, 2009   Permalink

TUESDAY,  MAY 19,  2009

EXPLANATION - AT 11:58 P.M. ET:  You may have noticed that we were not posting for some of the afternoon and most of the evening.  We were at West Point tonight for the annual graduation concert of the glee club.   We go every year.

What a terrific bunch of young men and women.  If you have a chance to visit the United States Military Academy at West Point, you should.  If you get a chance to hear the glee club live, you must.  There are fine young people in America, and those at the service academies are among the best. 

Graduation is in a few days.  Then these new second lieutenants will be off to active service.  The concert tonight was dedicated to a member of the class of 2007 who lost his life in combat.  That is the reality.

May 19, 2009   Permalink

WHOOPS, AND WHOOPS AGAIN - AT 11:49 P.M. ET:  It is time for the Democratic leaders in Congress to take a refresher course in mouth shutting, a fine art occasionally practiced in Washington.  The Associated Press, not known as conservative-friendly, is to be commended for a very straightforward report on the latest tripping and stalling:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid became the latest Democrat to stray into rhetorical trouble Tuesday, botching statements on three subjects in one news conference -- including the fragile health of the chamber's most senior members.

The Nevada Democrat reported that one of them, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., was absent because he was receiving a new round of treatment for his brain cancer. Asked if the cancer was in remission, Reid replied, ''As far as I know, it is, yes.''

Kennedy's office refused to confirm Reid's comments or make any statement in response, the public silence a classic Washington disavowal.

COMMENT:  The rest of the story is a gem.  Mistake after mistake.  Reid is in trouble politically in his home state of Nevada, and maybe for good reason.  I wouldn't want this man tutoring any kids for their College Boards.

May 19, 2009   Permalink

SUICIDAL - AT 3:58 P.M. ET:  There is a particular, if subdued, pleasure in watching the political left engage in repeated attempts at suicide, generally unsuccessful because of incompetence alone.  Now they seem more serious about it.  Not content with taking on the CIA and seeing the negative public reaction, they want to escalate:

House Democrats on Tuesday challenged the accuracy of CIA records showing who was briefed on enhanced interrogation techniques, with Rep. David R. Obey, House Appropriations Committee chairman, saying they have discovered an inaccuracy in the records.

The dispute over the accuracy of the records sparked fierce partisan bickering after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, said last week the CIA lied when it said its records showed she was briefed personally on harsh interrogation tactics as far back as 2002.

In a letter to CIA Director Leon Panetta, Mr. Obey, Wisconsin Democrat, said that in light of the controversy, he wants the record corrected on the 2006 briefing.

COMMENT:  We have tracked David Obey here before.  He entered Congress in 1969, 40 years ago.  His first actions in Congress were attempts to destroy the American action in Vietnam.  Just last week he boasted that he now wants to do to Iraq and Afghanistan what he did to Vietnam.

And he's the point man for the Dems on this CIA matter.  Trust him?

Having David Obey as a committee chairman today is somewhat akin to having those old segregationists as committee chairmen during the civil rights era. 

And people criticize the Republicans for being extreme.  Unbelievable.

May 19, 2009   Permalink

OBAMA RATINGS UP - AT 10:28 A.M. ET:  Rasmussen has recently been reporting improved approval ratings for President Obama.  It varies from day to day, of course, and all polls have a margin of error, but the trend - and that's what we look for - has definitely been upward.  For example, Ras's poll out this morning shows 58% approving of the president's performance, with 41% disapproving, a margin of 17%.  It was down to 9% as recently as May 2nd.

What could be causing this?  It's too early to tell, and of course the trend can reverse.  But, as we discussed in our 7:12 a.m. post today, there's a lot of buzz as to whether Obama is moving to the center, and certainly some of the national-security decisions he's made recently hint at that.  Is it possible that he's strengthening his support in the middle of the political spectrum?  We'll watch the trend.

May 19, 2009   Permalink

THE BRITS' PELOSI IN HOT WATER - AT 7:26 A.M. ET:  I like the way the British handle a political scandal - much more direct and blunt than our own ways.  And it happens that there's a whopper under way in the mother country.  It deals with reimbursement for politicians' expenses.  It seems some of the honorable ladies and gentlemen were putting in for some mighty amounts.  And among those swept up is the British Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House of Commons.  Now, this is the way you handle a scandal, from The Times of London:

Michael Martin is to resign today as Speaker of the House of Commons as the controversy over MPs' expenses claims its biggest scalp.

Westminster sources said this morning that the veteran Labour MP for Glasgow North East had decided he should go in the face of yesterday's unprecedented attacks on his authority on the floor of the House and after losing the trust of the Prime Minister.

One Labour MP who directly called on him to go during in the Commons yesterday – David Winnick – welcomed the move. "That is the right and honourable course to take," he said. "His resignation will be the first step in the House recovering its reputation."

Mr Martin is to inform MPs of his decision at the start of Commons business at 2.30pm. He is expected to leave before the summer recess, rather than trying to stay on in the post until the next election.

COMMENT:  Ah, Nancy, you have a role model.  Now our own sweet speaker has made grave charges against our intelligence services, refuses to back them up, tells a variety of versions of the same fibs...and still has her job.  She should look to the Crown for guidance.  Even the Republican attacks on her have been mild, with the exception of the assaults launched by Newt.

Madam Speaker, if you cannot straighten out your stories, and prove your case, then you should join your honorable British equivalent in the wilderness.

May 19, 2009   Permalink   

OBAMA, CENTRIST? - AT 7:12 A.M. ET:  The Associated Press, in a fair analysis, asks the question being asked more and more in Washington:  Is President Obama moving toward the center, even at the risk of infuriating his vocal leftist supporters?  We're cautious on this.  We haven't seen enough proof.  But the question is intriguing, with vast implications for next year's congressional elections:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- On both economic and national-security fronts, President Barack Obama is giving ground and crossing swords with political allies.

Caught in the worst economic downturn in generations, Obama has had to temper his stance on trade and lower his expectations for trimming charitable tax breaks for the wealthy and for taxing greenhouse-gas polluters.

He's not the first president to be pulled toward the political center after being elected. But the recession and two wars abroad put him in a particularly tough spot -- with smaller margins for error.

With the deficit mushrooming, lawmakers in both parties are worrying more and more about rivers of government red ink. Yet, Obama's efforts to try to modestly pare back funds for some pet Democratic projects in the name of fiscal discipline have drawn sharp criticism from some of his otherwise staunch liberal allies.

COMMENT:  This may well turn out to be the political story of the year.  Who really is Barack Obama?  Are these "centrist" moves a change of thinking, or cynical political maneuvers reflecting public rejection of Obama's policies? 

But before we scream "centrist" too loudly, recall that this is the man who's expanding the government at the greatest rate in recent memory, and who began his foreign policy by insulting the prime minister of our closest ally, Great Britain.

In early June the president will speak to the Muslim world from Egypt.  I prefer to wait for that speech to see if he departs from his early groveling and apologizing, and speaks strongly and forthrightly as an American president.  If he does, we might begin to think that there's some hope.  No earlier.

May 19, 2009   Permalink

MORE CIA WORRIES - AT 7:09 A.M. ET:  Related to the story just below is the fear of many in the CIA that their work will be compromised by restrictions and public scrutiny.  No doubt they recall that, in the 1970s, liberals in Congress went off on one of their morality campaigns and decimated the CIA, leaving it unprepared to deal with the problems of the next three decades.  From
The Washington Post:

Battered by recriminations over waterboarding and other harsh techniques sanctioned by the Bush administration, the CIA is girding itself for more public scrutiny and is questioning whether agency personnel can conduct interrogations effectively under rules set out for the U.S. military, according to senior intelligence officials.

Harsh interrogations were only one part of its clandestine activities against al-Qaeda and other enemies, and agency members are worried that other operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan will come under review, the officials said.

And...

The agency's defensiveness in part reflects a conviction that it is being forced to take the blame for actions approved by elected officials that have since fallen into disfavor. Former CIA director Michael V. Hayden said in an interview that CIA managers and operations officers have again been put "in a horrible position." Hayden recalled an officer asking, "Will I be in trouble five years from now for what I agree to do today?"

And...

Another intelligence official, who also asked not to be identified, said waterboarding and other harsh techniques "were meant to get hardened terrorists to a point where they were willing to answer questions." That capability, the official said, "is now gone."

COMMENT:  Great way to conduct national security, ay?  Imagine if we'd fought World War II under current conditions.

What we must finally realize is that there's an element in the Democratic Party that either doesn't care if we win or lose the war on terror, or would prefer that we lost.  It'll teach us a lesson, these people reason.  It's all our fault.  In some cases there are members of Congress, like David Obey of Wisconsin, who were in Congress during Vietnam and revel in doing the same damage now that they did then.  But the press simply will not confront this reality.  It's like the British press of the 1930s, more wary of those, like Winston Churchill, who were trying to save Britain than those who were selling her out.

May 19, 2009   Permalink 

EXTRAORDINARY - AT 7:02 A.M. ET:  CIA Director Leon Panetta is emerging as one of the most fascinating figures in this administration, and a real stand-up guy.  His willingness to take on his own party is extraordinary.  Maybe that's because, in his work, he sees what reality is each day:

CIA Director Leon Panetta warned Monday against making his agency a pawn in the nation’s partisan political battles, even as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s claim that she was lied to by the CIA continues to reverberate in Washington.

“If they start to use these issues as political clubs to beat each other up with, that’s when we not only pay a price but this country pays a price,” Panetta said during a question-and-answer session following a lunchtime speech in Los Angeles. “One of the things that I really want to do as director of the CIA is to improve the relationship with the Congress…I realize that we’ve been through a rough period.”

Rough may be an understatement. Last week, Pelosi accused the CIA of lying to her during a 2002 briefing about interrogation techniques. On Friday, Panetta issued an unusual written statement to agency employees rebutting Pelosi’s claim, and Pelosi later backpedaled, saying it was the Bush administration that misled Congress.

COMMENT:  How long do you think it will be before Cindy Sheehan camps out on the steps of the CIA building in Langley, chanting "Panetta lied, thousands died"?

May 19, 2009   Permalink