Autumn Path wallpaper . That is a statue at the end of the path, not a person.
This is handy link to some other links about the general mood of Democrats and some mistaken perceptions – Events, New Realities, and the Right Attitude
Apparently there’s been some hand-wringing about Josh Marshall’s piece published last night entitled “Events Create New Realities.” Is he giving up on the midterms? Well, no, but Josh has a crucial point to make:
How well will Democrats stand up to the headline that says Republicans win 50 House seats?
And remember, it won’t be “Republicans win 50 House Seats.”
The headline will read “Angry Country Repudiates Obama Agenda, Embraces Small Government Conservative Values.” And that will be the Times. Believe me, it won’t be pretty.
In any case, a lot of folks are thinking, well, sure the Republicans take the House and maybe they even take the Senate. But Obama’s got the veto pen and the big legislation has already been pushed through. And if they come after Social Security, c’mon, let them try: Obama can veto whatever they pass. And they’ll kill themselves for 2012.
But all of this is based on the premise that the Democrats — congressional leaders and the White House — are going to be something like the same people on November 3rd as they were on November 1st. And a lot of painful history, the post-Scott Brown victory period being only the most recent example, says that’s a very bad assumption.
It is a mistake to feel defeatist and then console oneself about that self-induced defeatism with the hollow consolation that Obama still has the veto. Government will not shut down if Democrats lose both Houses. Republicans will run down the clock to 2012 with witch hunt based hearings and with the help of conservative Democrats may be able to override some vetoes. What is the electorate upset about? There are specifics on the periphery, but the problem that accounts for the most points in polls is jobs:
Political scientist Jonathan Bernstein, in one of those necessary takedowns of Matt Bai, said it the best:
It’s not complicated at all: Obama’s approval ratings have fallen because the economy stinks. End of story. Anything else is on the margins…and it’s certainly possible that everything else is pushing his ratings up, not down.
President Obama is clearly not a progressive’s dream president, but he is progress. He might not be as much progress as many would like, but that is the nature of moving forward in politics. What we’ve gotten so far (90 Accomplishments of Pres. Obama Which The Media Fails to Report, Voters’ anxiety clouds Obama’s historic successes) is not bad considering the Republican minority – with the help of Senate rules – has managed to block so much. President Obama is civil to a fault and I will have to wait for the autobiography in 7 or 8 years to really understand his obsession with reaching out to conservatives when “They talk about me like a dog”. One thing that is frequently over looked is Obama’s presidency and the Supreme Court. If Little John and Sarah were running the joint we’d have two more right-wing extremists on the court. In 2012 if my choice is the less than perfect Obama versus what will certainly be a rabid right-wing conservative opponent I’ll vote for Obama because the SCOTUS has such a far reaching effect on how the Constitution is interpreted. Jobs are an important issue on the front burner and a tragedy a whole generation will pay for, but the SCOTUS is about having a country worth living in. According to polls which says many Americans – regardless of party – cannot even name a SCOTUS justice, this may seem like an esoteric issue, but its a damn good reason to at least vote for a Democratic senator in 2010 and the Democratic presidential nominee in 2012. Obama’s poll numbers and jobs are important in the short term. In the long term as the Supreme Court goes so goes the nation. If we get a couple more moderates like Sotomeyer and Kagan on the court than it would certainly help with all those issues which spike Glenn Greenwald’s blood pressure – Obama wins the right to invoke “State Secrets” to protect Bush crimes. If there is a SCOTUS dominated by moderate justices neither Obama or any other president will be able to cloak paranoia and political considerations in supposed national security concerns.
The National Review On-lines Andrew McCarthy has had another public bed wetting episode – Late Night: The Unbearable Wetness of Andy
Andy McCarthy thinks sensible people are “enraged” at him just because they say “what the fuck are you talking about?” His perception of this response is inaccurate. Sensible people merely tend to become irritated at nonsense.
This is because the idea that “in terms of doctrine there is no such thing as ‘moderate Islam’” is gibberish. It is, indeed, precisely the kind of charge that could be leveled at any doctrine or ideology. I could just as easily prove that “defining yourself as a Conservative leads inexorably to a tendency to make an ass of yourself on the Internet,” for instance. Probably it’d be even easier.
If there are no moderate Muslims shouldn’t we be nuking about a dozen countries right now. Estimates vary but the US has about 3 to 6 million adherents of Islam. More than enough to have a 9-11 every week if they are all truly all murderous radicals. McBedWetter’s arguments are not about logic or facts. They are, as they have been for nine years, about eliminationism. Chip away at the veneer of any conservative stance on any issue from university education to women’s rights to the Constitution’s equal protection clause and you always get that defining eliminationism. If Islam suddenly disappeared tomorrow, conservatives wouldn’t miss a beat in creating the next boogeyman to soil their Depends over.
CHART OF THE DAY: A Huge Chunk Of The Old Stimulus Hasn’t Even Hit The Economy Yet
The Long Goodbye 