Atrios Blog

Ned Lamont makes it official.


Support his candidacy here.

36% in new CNN/Gallup poll.



41% disapproval among conservatives.

16 point lead for Democrats on generic congressional ballot.

Lord Saletan.

I can't believe Bush is going to give yet another speech on Iraq.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Attacks around Iraq on Monday claimed five lives and wounded at least 31 people, officials said.

General Electric edition:

There are people I know in the hierarchy of NBC, the company, and GE, the company, who do not like to see the current presidential administration criticized at all.

The thing we need to worry about most is that companies like General Electric will skirt campaign finance laws by exploiting the internet "loophole" and putting up blogs.

Ford's former press secretary sure is a wanker.

Funny.

Yeah, yeah, another stupid open thread.

Unlike Jeralyn I think it's perfectly fine to accept an ad and then mock it, but it's nice to see all the pro-torture conservatives on record.

Ezra fleshes it out a bit.

I'm not totally sure I agree with the basic storyline, but mostly because "inevitable" is a bit of a strong word for anything. It's nonetheless interesting because it's a way of looking at the primaries which has been largely absent from the conversation.

The undeniable point is that this dynamic will be there, it will be important, and anyone who wants to beat Clinton will have to figure out how to change it somewhat.

Recent experience makes us think that a primary win in Iowa means it's all over, but let's remember 1992. In order, Clinton lost Iowa, New Hampshire, Maine, South Dakota. On a day with 7 primaries he then won one - Georgia - and lost Colorado, Idaho, Maryland, Minnesota, Utah, and Washington.


He then won North Dakota, lost Arizona, and won South Carolina.



...On the other hand, today's indictment of Hillary Clinton might have a big impact on her political future.

5-25-2004 Bush Seeks to Reassure Nation on Iraq

8/22/05 Bush plans bid to rally Iraq support.

12-1-2005 Bush Presents Plan to Win Iraq War.

Today - Bush again aims to rebuild support for Iraq

No wonder Trent Duffy resigned.

I doubt I'll take too much away from the forthcoming Matt Bai profile of Mark Warner except that Mark Warner participating in the exercise proves that he or his people need better judgment. Any Democratic politician who doesn't realize (or whose people don't realize) that if Matt Bai comes knocking at your door wanting to do a profile, you slam it shut and bolt the door needs to rethink his press strategy.


Since the story says Trippi says the Clinton nomination is inevitable if she runs, I'll provide his reasoning which he shared the other night. Basically his take is that Clinton will get literally all of the African-American vote in the primaries, and therefore the only way to knock her out is to figure out how to get some of that vote.

Armando reminds us just how truly vapid the Contract With America was. The only reason it had much resonance was because the press at the time treated it as if it were chiseled on stone tablets and given to them by Moses. The Democrats are quite capable of typing up an utterly vapid press release themselves, and the press would respond by basically ignoring it or treating it with disdain, as they probably should.

Of course the Dems can improve their messaging, but stories about how they don't have a message just write themselves which is why they'll keep being written.

To be clear, Abramoff tendrils of course reach to Norton but that's not necessarily why she resigned. If she resigned because of that it means more than tendrils, it means the investigation is bumping up against her and she's gotta bail before it makes King George look bad.

From America for Sale: (pdf)

In December 2000, DeLay aides Tony Rudy and Thomas Pyle helped GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff get access to newly-nominated Interior Secretary Gale Norton. Abramoff represented several Indian tribes interested in lobbying the Secretary. This assistance occurred just a few months after Abramoff and his clients donated money to DeLay, gave him use of a skybox, and took him on a lavish golfing trip to Scotland in the summer of 2000. Soon after the email exchanges offering help, Tony Rudy left DeLay's office to work for Abramoff.



Besides using his Congressional contacts, Abramoff and his Indian tribe clients gained access to Interior Secretary Gale Norton by donating a quarter-million dollars to the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy (CREA), an "environmental" group Norton co-founded in the late 1990s with conservative activist Grover Norquist. The group's current president, Italia Federici, who describes Norton as a mentor and worked on Norton's failed Senate run, acted as a go-between for Abramoff and the Department of the Interior, even though CREA's mission does not include Indian affairs advocacy. The result of the lobbying and contributions was that Abramoff and his client, the chairman of the Coushatta tribe, sat with Secretary Norton at a CREA-sponsored fundraising event in September, 2001.



Another avenue for Abramoff to get access to the Interior Department was J. Steven Griles, Deputy Secretary at the Department of the Interior. From 2001 to 2005, Griles used his position as the number-two person in the Department to try and prevent the Jena Band of Choctaw Indians from building their casino. According to Michael Rossetti, former counsel to Secretary Gale Norton, Griles repeatedly tried to get into meetings in which Norton reviewed the Jena proposal, and even tried to show Norton a binder full of materials arguing against the proposal—a binder that, when questioned, Griles admitted came from Abramoff. One of the main channels of communication between Abramoff and Griles was Griles' friend at CREA, Italia Federici. While Federici and Abramoff regularly contacted Griles about the Jena casino and other various Indian matters, Abramoff's clients contributed heavily to CREA. Abramoff even offered Griles a job lobbying at Abramoff's firm of Greenberg Traurig.

Andrew Sullivan.

The comment about Krugman being "too important to have his columns available to non-subscribers" is also ridiculous. Times Select is likely an idiotic business decision but it wasn't as if it was Krugman's decision to do so. In any case, Sullivan has long written for The New Republic which makes much of its content available only to subscribers.

CNN sez Gale Norton is resigning.

...I don't think the universe likes me enough for this to be the result of Abramoff tendrils getting too close to her, but Faiz provides the visual.

Ned Lamont will be on the Randi Rhodes show today. He may be making a little news...

O'Connor warns about Republican attacks on judicial independence.

It strikes me that that Republican attacks on the judiciary are rather similar to their attacks on the press. "Judicial Activism"/"Liberal Bias" are just frames into which you can plug any judgifying/journamalisming you don't like. And wankers like Fred Hiatt are aiding their cause:

Washington, D.C.: I've noticed The Post has embraced blogs in a big way. Most seem to be opinion, not straight news, which I guess is what blogs everywhere tend to be. Some are on the left (Froomkin), some in the middle (the debate), but I haven't seen any that are consistently right-of-center. What do you think of the blogs on the site now (Achenblog, debate, etc.)? Do you read them? And are the any plans to add a conservative blog?

Fred Hiatt: I don't oversee this Web site--but I believe the people who do agree with your point and are in the process of looking for a right-of-center blog. I think it would be a good idea.

I have no idea what Froomkin's politics are, but I also have no doubt that if Kerry had won the election administration his column would pretty much be the same as it is now, and people like me wouldn't be calling for a "pro-Kerry" blogger to balance him out.

I linked to this before but you really have to click through and watch the video.

Religious conservatives would prefer that people die than have sex. That'd be really funny except one of those conservatives is on the CDC's immunization committee.