Monday, June 02, 2003

Rafe Colburn says he’s not using the phrase Weapons of Mass Destruction anymore because it’s a scam. He’s got a point that goes beyond the butt-covering of Safire et al.   “The initial bait for getting people to discuss going to war with Iraq was nuclear weapons. The fear was that Iraq would go nuclear, supply nuclear material to terrorists, and the next thing you know, we'd have a smoking hole where a US city once was. As it became obvious that Iraq's nuclear capabilities weren't what they were purported to be, suddenly chemical and biological weapons came into the picture, and all three types of weapon were lumped together in the "weapons of mass destruction" category. Scam.”   I wish Ari Fleischer would just give us the truth as a goodbye present: “It is the belief of this President that the United States can’t abide states that support terrorists, and by invading Iraq we removed a possible state sponsor of Islamicist terror that’s been a thorn in our side anyway, while sending a message of whack-upside-the-head clarity to other possible state sponsors, and parking an army next door to Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Syria in the process just in case they somehow missed the point. Sorry we oversold the WMD thing. And we know the Coalition was really just us and the Brits, and we’re OK with it.” 5:12:27 PM    comment []

The California Senate has approved a resolution calling on Howard Coble to resign as chairman of a House subcommittee on Homeland Security. The California Legislature previously approved the same resolution.   Coble isn’t budging. California can’t make him. Clearly this story isn’t going to rekindle into a Trent Lott-like inferno. So is there any value to these resolutions? Maybe.   Shielded though he is by a highly partisan staff, Coble has to be paying some attention to these resolutions and maybe even recognizing some of his responsibilities as a politician with a national forum. The letters to the editor here at home were dominated by Coble loyalists who kept repeating non sequiters about the ferocious Japanese military, so it is important that he also hear from people who heard his comments very differently.   And this issue can’t be doing the GOP any good with Asian-American voters, so maybe he’ll feel a little pressure from some of his fellow congressmen, too. The key is to make sure he and future chairmen of Homeland Security committees understand the history and politics of civilian internment in this country, or at least grasp the political consequences of misspeaking about it.    * * *   Simon Dumenco navigates some shortcuts through popular culture via TiVo and weblogs.   * * *   Big doings at Oliver Willis dot com. Very big. “Willis denied that he would be purchasing Apple, but refused to comment when asked about AOL/Time Warner or News Corp.” 4:08:00 PM    comment []

Monkey Media has a good North Carolina-based take on the Eric Rudolph story…   Mark Tosczak notices a stringer byline at the NY Times...   Dave Winer says “pheh” to warbloggers…   Josh Marshall says this may be a bad news day for Texas gov Rick Perry. 9:58:19 AM    comment []