Monday, August 23, 2004

I heard Richard Burr speak this evening at Temple Emanuel in Greensboro. He's a serious guy, and an improvement to be sure on the candidates the GOP threw our way for years in NC (Helms, East, Faircloth...) He spoke a lot about his unwavering support for "Iz-rul," as he pronounced it in good southern politician style, and his respect for AIPAC, which is, I suppose, what one does when campaigning at a temple and which was, I suppose, red meat to much of the crowd. Burr was willing to say that he did not at this time favor moving the US embassy to Jerusalem, and he spoke sincerely on the need to fix healthcare in this country (oh yeah, this country), although his first step in that process -- changing the rules on liability law -- seems to me a misplaced priority. He drew applause from some in the room by saying that we need to stay in Iraq until we win, but admitted that the focus on Iraq has diverted attention from nuclear worries in Iran and North Korea. As seems to be the practice at the temple's political forums, the candidate answered written questions from the audience, as read by Rabbi Guttman. It was an intelligent talk, well presented, to a large and interested audience. I sat between John Hammer and Brad Krantz, but we all behaved ourselves. Did not find any campaign aides to speak with, but still hope to see someone from the campaign at Saturday's conference. 8:32:58 PM    comment []

Matt Williams is coming to the conference, probably to cover it for the N&R...online news editor Mike Fuchs is coming, too...no press credentials for this shindig, everyone there is free to write what they want, where they want, it's all on the record... ...of course, if you want to take something off the record in a conversation, that's between you and the person(s) with whom you are speaking. 4:03:44 PM    comment []

Let's see the major media ignore this shocking story about George W. Bush, as told by Mr. Sun:  "The spaceship continued to rotate silently overhead -- its underside illuminated by a faint blue light. It was as black and beautiful as the car that Dale, Sr. himself drove before he went to be with Jesus. Governor Bush moved directly underneath the spaceship. A beam of pure white light shone down on him and he was transported in a flash into the bowels of the ship." 2:03:20 PM    comment []

If you have a non-blogging question for this guy at Saturday's conference, please save it for the break room. Turns out John Hood can come, too. I think we may have the most diversity of political ideology yet at any blog conference. 1:48:30 PM    comment []

Ian Joyce in the Triad BizJournal: "Meanwhile, many established journalists look at bloggers in the same amused way that an anthropologist might observe 'less civilized' societies, totally unaware that they are being sized up as a meal." 1:40:33 PM    comment []

A Marine aviator's view of Iraq, from this morning's NYT: "This war is about Des Moines, not Falluja." 8:21:51 AM    comment []

Just when Glenn Reynolds seems ready to rename his blog InstaMalkin and declare himself an operative for the fringier elements of the Bush campaign, he shows some independence with a couple of provocative links: this one, to an article in Foreign Affairs called "What Went Wrong in Iraq," and this one, to a piece in the NY Sun that Glenn summarizes with "Republicans need to come to terms with gay rights." From the summary of Larry Diamond's Foreign Affairs article: "Although the early U.S. blunders in the occupation of Iraq are well known, their consequences are just now becoming clear. The Bush administration was never willing to commit the resources necessary to secure the country and did not make the most of the resources it had. U.S. officials did get a number of things right, but they never understood-or even listened to-the country they were seeking to rebuild. As a result, the democratic future of Iraq now hangs in the balance." Remind me why Bush's pitch is his seriousness on foreign policy? Is John Kerry really expected to do a worse job? 8:11:53 AM    comment []

As Eric Muller warms up for his radio debates with Michelle Malkin (nice get for the local Brad Krantz show, by the way), he looks ready to destroy the essence of Malkin's argument for the military necessity of internment. Muller is citing authority: James C. McNaughton, Command Historian of the U.S. Army, Pacific, in an article that appeared late last year in the journal "Army History: The Professional Bulletin of Army History." McNaughton trashes the work of the man on whom Malkin relies most heavily, David Lowman, who in turn based his arguments on the decrypted cables known as MAGIC. McNaughton: "The hints contained in MAGIC, if decisionmakers paid them any heed at all, were not by themselves sufficient to justify the mass evacuation and incarceration of over 100,000 civilians." Muller: "When the Army's military historian rejects a claim of military necessity, I'd say that claim is in some pretty deep doo-doo." 7:48:50 AM    comment []