Recently in Political Potpourri Category

I completely geeked out when I saw this movie trailer last Friday night.

Sidney Blumenthal picks apart former Bush pollster Matthew Dowd's story about becoming disillusioned from the current White House's policies.

As the pollster who helped bring Bush to power and sustained him there, Dowd is expert in framing stories, and he has framed his own as a classic conversion narrative. But the political consultant cleanses his story of politics, so it is hardly surprising that there are gaps in the telling and characters missing. Dowd does not offer any explanation of why Bush has changed, only how he, Dowd, perceives the changes. Bush has become remote and untouchable, but he is not the hidden God, Deus Absconditus. Who has seduced Bush into his seclusion? Who has absconded with him? His Satanic Majesty, almost always present in conversion stories, is absent here. Dowd says nothing about Karl Rove, for to bring Rove into the narrative would alter it. Dowd attempts to blot out the politics with the personal, his soul-searching obscuring his poll taking. Yet he provided the diagrams for Rove's machinations, the bright signs for Rove's dark wonders.

And this is why more explanation is necessary if we are to accept Dowd's story. As Blumenthal explains, Dowd is at the center of this presidency. He is one of the main reasons why a man who promised to govern as "a uniter, not a divider" because one of the most polarizing presidents in our history. Dowd was in on the selling of the Iraq War, and in the attacks on gay people during the 2004 campaign.

As Blumenthal notes, Dowd's conversion so far lacks a confession. Given what is at stake, the confession is actually an important part of this process. Not just for Dowd, but for the nation.

John Dean participated in a FireDogLake book salon about his latest book today. In the middle of the discussion about the book, Dean dropped the following observations about Keith Olbermann and Donald Rumsfeld, his former Nixon White House colleague.

Keith Olberman is the most intelligent anchor in America, and he actually uses his God given talents to inform Americans. (Jon Stewart also plays in this league, even though he does comedy.) Slowly, steadily, people are discovering Olberman’s not only smart and savvy, but he can have fun as well. He knows what to take serious, however, and he was the first news person to recognize the seriousness of Rumsfeld’s insidious comments.

Rumsfeld came to the Nixon White House in 1970 some five months after I arrived. At the time, I asked White House chief of staff Bob Haldeman what Rummy was going to be doing. “Nothing,” Haldeman told me, explaining that they were placing him on the White House staff (giving him a sinecure) to bolster his chances to win a Senate race in IL.

In time, Haldeman — not to mention — Nixon came to distrust Rumsfeld. Many thought Nixon appointed him Ambassador to NATO as a promotion. In fact, they wanted to get him out of the White House. Haldeman called Rumsfeld “slimmy” [later corrected to slimy] in his contemporaneous diaries, and Nixon is heard on his tapes discussing Rumsfeld in less than flattering terms.

Most ironic, given Rumsfeld’s current position on Iraq, Rumsfeld argued that Nixon should get the hell out of Vietnam. Rummy was a cut and run guy back then.

Keith Olberman should be given a Pulitzer for his commentary on Rumsfeld’s remarkable behavior. It is because Keith is such an intelligent and stand-up person that I enjoy doing his show.

Brad DeLong answers his 16-year-old's question about who he would say are the worst government officials to have held office in our nation's history. As you might imagine, the current administration is well (not-so-well?) represented. Although a commenter asks whether the current Secretary of State has done enough to surpass Henry Kissinger...

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay sure knows how to craft quite the conspiracy woe-is-me theory.

Frankly, Mr. Majority Leader, the only reason people like me care politically about you at all is because you are one of the most powerful men in the nation. Alas, you use your power in dastardly ways. I do not like that. Not even a little.

But hey. Your quote indicates that you are suffering more than a little distress over all the attention your misdeeds have brought you. So, I am willing to cut you a break.

If you resign, I promise not to care a bit about you. Okay?

[Hat tip: Julie Saltman, who also notes that liberals have many other things about which they care]

You know, a media that had a liberal slant -- or was just nonpartisan -- might take an interest in with which groups some Republican leaders hang out, and what they say when addressing them. Salon's Michelle Goldberg was willing to see for herself:

It's a good thing I went to the Conservative Political Action Conference this year. Otherwise I never would have known that, despite the findings of the authoritative David Kay report and every reputable media outlet on earth, the United States actually discovered weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, vindicating all of George W. Bush's pre-war predictions. The revelation came not from some crank at Free Republic or hustler from Talon News, but from a congressman surrounded by men from the highest echelons of American government. No wonder the attendees all seemed to believe him.

The crowd at CPAC's Thursday night banquet, held at D.C.'s Ronald Reagan Building, was full of right-wing stars. Among those seated at the long presidential table at the head of the room were Henry Hyde, chairman of the House International Relations Committee, Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman, Dore Gold, foreign policy advisor to former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and NRA president Kayne Robinson. Vice President Dick Cheney, a regular CPAC speaker, gave the keynote address. California Rep. Chris Cox had the honor of introducing him, and he took the opportunity to mock the Democrats whose hatred of America led them to get Iraq so horribly wrong.

"America's Operation Iraqi Freedom is still producing shock and awe, this time among the blame-America-first crowd," he crowed. Then he said, "We continue to discover biological and chemical weapons and facilities to make them inside Iraq." Apparently, most of the hundreds of people in attendance already knew about these remarkable, hitherto-unreported discoveries, because no one gasped at this startling revelation.

Unless, of course, such claims were never intended for mainstream consumption. After all, when the facts are a problem, it is so much easier just make up a whole new set of them when one is alone with the true believers.

The Bull Moose writes that it is time for progressives to redefine the culture of life debate in this country, and expose the pro-life phonies.

Via Saucy Intruder, an interesting book is listed on Wal*Mart's web site.

One I doubt the mega-store will end up stocking...

Update (12/29): That didn't take long. Wal*Mart has already removed the book from their web site. But you can still see it by following this link from Amazon.com.

I share Keith Olbermann's shock and concern over the fact that there are numerous people who operate under the misguided conclusion that fascism is a left-wing doctrine. As Olbermann writes:

This one fellow�s email contained a reference to Fascism being a leftist doctrine. I actually had to write him back to make sure he was serious. �Hitler was a left-winger. Case closed, dumbass.�

For anybody else just joining us here in the real world, here�s the story so far: the Fascists started in Italy, with Benito Mussolini. They� and the Germans that followed them - were an ultra-conservative political party that opposed (and later jailed and killed) leftists. The German ones even went to war against a Communist state, suggesting that the use of the term �Socialism� in their official party name was almost ironic in intention. American Fascists have sought to outlaw Jews, Catholics, minorities, and Republicans. Also, the sun rises in the east, and two and two still makes - even if somebody from a Blue State tells you this� four.

Howard Dean gave excellent speech at George Washington University today, outlining steps the Democratic Party should take going forward.

It is well worth reading. Dean outlines a destination that Democrats should be willing to work to reach. Near the beginning of the speech, Dean outlines an important point that should be lost on no Democrat:

We cannot be a Party that seeks the presidency by running an 18-state campaign. We cannot be a party that cedes a single state, a single District, a single precinct, nor should we cede a single voter.

Why? Because Democrats have much to offer.

There is a Party of fiscal responsibility... economic responsibility.... social responsibility... civic responsibility... personal responsibility... and moral responsibility.

It's the Democratic Party.

We need to be able to say strongly, firmly, and proudly what we believe.

Because we are what we believe.

Basking in the glow of their 51 percent victory in the presidential election, ultra right-wingers are taking off the gloves and going public with their revolutionary plans.

Can you guess who would say something such as this?

"When the courts make unconstitutional decisions, we should not enforce them. Federal courts have no army or navy... The court can opine, decide, talk about, sing, whatever it wants to do. We're not saying they can't do that. At the end of the day, we're saying the court can't enforce its opinions."

Actually, the person who said is a Member of the United States Congress, a certain Rep. John Hostettler.

Apparently some won't rest until this nation resembles a theocracy. And these people dare call themselves conservatives...

(Hat tip: It Affects You)

Are some of your family members conservative? Worried about getting in a heated political conversation with them this Thanksgiving or over the holidays?

Then check out George Lakoff's handy article with his advice on responding to conservatives, an excerpt from his latest book "Don't Think of an Elephant!: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate".

The Modulator points out that Dave Silfry has started compiling a list showing "...where blogging had a significant effect on political events...".

Fred Clark has written one of the best posts I have read about the selective reading of the Bible that some Christians engage in to justify their anti-homosexual bias.

I strongly encourage you to go read it.

(Thanks to Body and Soul for the link.)

No, Ann Coulter has no shame.

As Nathan Newman reports, she is still smearing former Senator Max Cleland, a Vietnam veteran who left three limbs in that country.

It was bad enough when her ilk questioned Cleland's patriotism in order to defeat him in a Senate race in 2002. It is unconscionable for Coulter and her friends to continue their slurs today.