Rabbit Valley Road

Damon Linker:

Reaganite conservatism axiomatically disdains government, and that creates a perverse incentive for conservative politicians to run government badly (or at least not to run it well), since the failure of government confirms conservative prejudices and (in theory) provides the movement with additional evidence in favor of its ideology. We just saw a particularly vivid example of this pathologically self-destructive dynamic at work in Bobby Jindal’s otherwise inexplicable attempt to turn the Bush administration’s utter ineptitude after Hurricane Katrina into a GOP talking point.

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If you don’t follow the far-far-right, the basic context is that they (of course) want Barack Obama impeached after 45 days in office, or they want to secede from the Union, or something equally feckless. Andrew Sullivan addresses the first Hannity-flavored option:

Obama’s predecessor secretly invoked the power to suspend the First and Fourth Amendments for seven years, authorized the seizure and torture of American citizens, launched two decade-long wars of attrition, doubled the national debt, presided over the worst financial bubble since the 1930s, provided the weakest level of economic growth in decades, and left the US in the grip of the steepest depression since the 1930s. But after five weeks, it’s Obama who should be impeached? Ooookaaaay.

In related news, I have zero interest in the whole Rush/CPAC debate other than to say that his speech was impressive in its delivery and positioning. I still have no idea how conservatives square Limbaugh’s “I want President Obama to fail” charade with their (and possibly his) position of two years ago: “Criticizing the President during wartime is unpatriotic.”

I guess we’re only patriotic when our guy is in charge? Daily Kos responds, Yes, We Can.

Having recently moved to District 1 last August (and not District 2 as I originally thought), I haven’t been as active in the North Chattanooga community as I would like. As it happens though, both my wife and I work in District 1, and we spend a good chunk of our leisure time there as well.

The past few days, I’ve spent some time learning about the 3 candidates for District 1, and plan to cast a vote for incumbent councilwoman, Linda Bennett, in the March 3rd municipal election. While I think that North Chattanooga still faces many challenges in the next 4 years, I believe on balance that Ms. Bennett has served the area well. In addition to her commitment to my neighborhood, she has worked hard to tackle some of the challenges facing Mountain Creek and Lookout Valley as well. Since I am happy with the direction that North Chattanooga has taken during the last four years, I plan to cast a vote for four more. I encourage my friends and neighbors to follow suit.

In the near future, I plan to play a more active role in my community, and I look forward to working with Ms. Bennett and District 2 councilwoman, Sally Robinson, to continue to make North Chattanooga and the City of Chattanooga an excellent place to live and work.

As for the mayor’s race between Ron Littlefield and Rob Healy, I have no preference, and in all likelihood, will vote for neither. And you can read my editorial on the state of the current, mayoral race at Chattarati.

The Old Stone Cross:

A statesman is an easy man,
He tells his lies by rote;
A journalist makes up his lies
And takes you by the throat;
So stay at home’ and drink your beer
And let the neighbours’ vote

The Meaning of Sarah Palin — Yuval Levin discusses why Sarah Palin was so reviled by the Left and so adored by the Right, and what her candidacy tells us about the cultural and economic divides in America:

The Republican party has been the party of cultural populism and economic elitism, and the Democrats have been the party of cultural elitism and economic populism. Republicans tend to identify with the traditional values, unabashedly patriotic, anti-cosmopolitan, non-nuanced Joe Sixpack, even as they pursue an economic policy that aims at elite investor-driven growth. Democrats identify with the mistreated, underpaid, overworked, crushed-by-the-corporation “people against the powerful,” but tend to look down on those people’s religion, education, and way of life.

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The Man Who Made Obama:

It was Plouffe (rhymes with bluff) who gathered the president’s unprecedented thirteen-million-name contact list, which has grown into a fulsome pulsing beast, and it is Plouffe who now owns it and keeps it under lock and key. Plouffe sent those thirteen million people an e-mail in mid-November and they replied, Yes, I still want to be involved, and yes, David Plouffe, I’ll have house parties when you tell me to. Here is who I am socioeconomically and socially. I am boxers; my next-door neighbor is briefs. Now the president has instructed him to make that list a new lever of government.

#TCOT aficionado’s take note. The email address still lies at the core of a user’s online identity. And control of such a massive email list allows the organizer to work across multiple platforms with continuity — even if those tools haven’t been developed, yet.

Mostly, I’ll miss seeing a politician in those glasses. Very bold.

It took no time at all for certain media outlets to declare ‘We have no President’ after Chief Justice Roberts accidentally re-arranged the wording of the Presidential oath during yesterday’s inauguration. The San Francisco Chronicle writes that President Obama should re-take the oath in private, and that there is historical precedent for doing so:

But because the procedure is so explicitly prescribed in the Constitution, Beermann said if he were Obama’s lawyer, he would recommend retaking it, just as two previous presidents, Calvin Coolidge and Chester Arthur, did under similar circumstances.

I agree with the Chronicle. This is exactly the sort of slip that would drive the anti-Bush movement into a flurry of web rage.

via safeguy

O the President. Conversely, W Not the President. (courtesy of Coptix)

Also, check out whitehouse.gov’s new digs — complete with The First Blog.

Daniel Gross has a story in Newsweek about the outgoing President’s slim options to “replenish the ol’ coffers”:

Several publishers I spoke to believe a Bush memoir wouldn’t command much in the way of foreign-rights payments. And given Bush’s professed lack of interest in reflection, what could he offer to American audiences? “Right now, his presidency is seen as such a cascade of mistakes that it’s hard to know what he could say that would be compelling,” says Geoff Shandler, executive editor at Little, Brown. Bush’s best option may be to cut a deal with a Christian publisher like Thomas Nelson, which pays smaller advances than the New York houses.

Eric Holder during his confirmation hearing:

What’s sad about this exchange is that the subject was ever up for debate.

David Mamet (via John August):

“People have tried for centuries to use drama to change people’s lives, to influence, to comment, to express themselves. It doesn’t work. It might be nice if it worked for those things, but it doesn’t. The only thing the dramatic form is good for is telling a story.”

The Beast 50 Most Loathsome People in America, 2008 spares no one from ridicule: from Barack Obama to Michelle Malkin to Stephanie Meyer. Number 1 is a given. And though it’s lengthy, this one is well worth every minute of your time. via 10,000 Monkeys and a Camera

On Barack Obama:

Beyond a few token acts of bipartisan marketing, Barry’s major duty in the Senate was to avoid legislating, so he could pretend Washington-outsider status and nullify attacks on his non-existent policy positions. That’s the thing about Obama and his candidacy: He was a blank slate, the pinnacle of vapid public relations—onto which the benighted masses may project their sincerest, yet unfounded, hopes in the wake of the worst administration in history.

Unsurprisingly, a lot of Americans are trying to come to terms with the last 8 years — both the good and bad. Here are a couple I’ve stumbled across today.

• My Dinners with Dubya — The frequent, gay dinner guest who accidentally brought weed into the White House on his first visit.
• Six Days, Seven Nights — Jon Stewart lays into the President’s final press conference.

As the first installment in the 2009 George T. Hunter Lecture Series, Team of Rivals author, Doris Kearns Goodwin will give a lecture entitled “Lessons in Leadership from Abraham Lincoln” tomorrow at UTC in the Roland Hayes Concert Hall. I’m supposed to have Coral Castles practice during that time (and damn these lectures/events for always taking place on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s), but I’d really like to attend.

Also, it looks like David Brooks will be here in November, and that will be a must-see for sure.

CreateHere has the details.

Greg Wood:

In the blame game for this financial crisis, George W Bush comes a close second to greedy and unscrupulous Wall Street bankers.

But there are serious flaws in this argument.

Deregulation started long before President Bush came to power, and it was enthusiastically pursued by both Democratic and Republican administrations.

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A Wii in the White House:

[Barack Obama] has gotten in a little practice in bowling lately on the Nintendo Wii his daughters received for Christmas. Mr. Obama, who famously struggled in bowling during last year’s Democratic primaries, said he performs better in the video game.

Apparently, you can make history with a Wii remote.

Joe the Plumber goes to Israel:

Wurzelbacher says he’ll spend 10 days covering the fighting and explaining why Israeli forces are mounting attacks against Hamas.

He tells WNWO-TV in Toledo that he wants “go over there and let their ‘Average Joes’ share their story.”

Jeffrey Goldberg says, “Why the hell not?”

John Hawbaker, Bill Colrus and I have sort of an ongoing discussion about the direction of print media in these uncertain times, and specifically, the shortcomings and resulting fall of traditional newspapers. Yesterday, John pointed us to Michael Hirschorn’s article on the abysmal state of The New York Times Company in this month’s issue of The Atlantic:

The paper’s credit crisis comes against a backdrop of ongoing and accelerating drops in circulation, massive cutbacks in advertising revenue, and the worst economic climate in almost 80 years. As of December, its stock had fallen so far that the entire company could theoretically be had for about $1 billion. The former Times executive editor Abe Rosenthal often said he couldn’t imagine a world without The Times. Perhaps we should start.

A world without the print version of the New York Times seems to be the logical conclusion here. And though the prospect seems taboo, I have to admit that despite reading the Times daily, I only purchase the paper when I’m away from the internet — a few and far between circumstance.

On a somewhat related note, check out this amusing story of Larry Flynt asking Congress for a $5 billion bailout of the porn industry.

I can’t stop watching this clip of Al Franken putting Ann Coulter in her place at The Connecticut Forum in 2007.

Strange that Ann Coulter’s jaw was wired shut during the election, and Al Franken will more than likely be sworn in as a U.S. Senator as a result of that election and subsequent recount, recount, and recount.