Obama Spoils System Champ
A USA Today report that "Nearly a year after he was elected on a pledge to change business-as-usual in Washington, Obama also has taken a cue from his predecessors and appointed fundraisers to coveted ambassadorships" and in fact has done so at "a rate higher than any president in more than four decades" combined with story in The Hill that ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on October 30, 2009 08:52
Afghanistan Run-off Ordered
Well, the UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission has said that a third of the counted votes in the Afghanistan election were fraudulent and ordered a run-off between Hamid Karzai and second place finisher Abdullah Abdullah. Karzai looks unlikely to comply and nobody really wants a run-off, anyway. So, as I write in my New Atlanticist essay, "Afghanistan Election: Now What?" we're left ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on October 19, 2009 16:21
Conservative Media Scoops Mainstream Media
A series of scandals uncovered by conservative outlets and ignored by the mainstream press are starting to raise some uncomfortable questions. The right-wing media’s single-minded focus on a handful of targets over the past months and its success in pushing those stories into the mainstream have underscored the sharp divide between traditional news organizations and the bloggers and talk show hosts ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on September 16, 2009 08:30
Fire Chief Shot in Court Over Tickets
Yes, that headline is not an exaggeration. The Chief of the Jericho Fire Department went to court and was shot by the police for disputing two tickets requiring two trips to the court house. JERICHO, Ark. – It was just too much, having to return to court twice on the same day to contest yet another traffic ticket, and Fire ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on September 4, 2009 14:11
Different Rules for Different Classes of Citizens
Here is a good example of how being an “LEO” (Law Enforcement Officer for those of you not in the know) means getting treated differently than the rest of us. If one of the non-LEO readers here were to have allegations of sexual assault leveled against him by two separate women he’d likely be arrested. He might get ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on June 2, 2009 13:32
Chrysler Conspiracy: Dealership Closings Politically Motivated
There's been a meme circulating the Internets the last couple of days that the 789 Chrysler dealerships that were suddenly closed were (1) hand selected by Barack Obama's "car czar" and (2) overwhelmingly owned by Republican donors. Doug Ross, who dubs it "dealergate," seems to have been the chief initiator of the argument. He cites a Reuters report that "A lawyer ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 28, 2009 11:44
Palin: Begich Should Resign
Alaska Governor Sarah Palin thinks Senator Mark Begich, who narrowly defeated incumbent Ted Stevens last November shortly after the latter was convicted on corruption charges, should step down and agree to a rematch now that the Justice Department has decided to drop the case against Stevens. Palin’s call came after a reporter at the Fairbanks News Miner emailed her a copy ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on April 3, 2009 07:00
Ted Stevens Conviction Voided
Attorney General Eric Holder has dropped the case against Ted Stevens, NPR's Nina Totenberg reports. A jury convicted Stevens last fall of seven counts of lying on his Senate disclosure form in order to conceal $250,000 in gifts from an oil industry executive and other friends. Stevens was the longest-serving Republican in the Senate, however, he lost his bid for ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on April 1, 2009 06:42
Chicago: Corruption IS the System
Dave Schuler laments yesterday's conviction of a Chicago city official on federal mail fraud charges. Said official was bewildered, saying, "I just did my job the way I was supposed to do it. I guess it’s a federal crime." As Dave notes, the man has a point: "Corruption isn’t a perversion of the system here. It is the system." That doesn't ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on March 24, 2009 08:37
Fun With Timothy Geithner
Timothy Geithner may be our new Treasury Secretary but that doesn't mean bloggers can't still make fun of him. Pejman Yousefzadeh, writing at something called The New Ledger, toasts "The Indispensable Mr. Geithner." In urging Geithner’s confirmation, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid offered his entirely nonpartisan opinion that “This powerful economic storm demands strong, decisive and wise leadership,” and that “No one ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on January 27, 2009 16:30
Pulling Out: Debating Middle East Disengagement (Rebuttal)
Dave Schuler's arguments and his responses to my cross-examination questions highlight three critical failings in his argument. These flaws are his preference for inertia over strategic assessment, overweighing ambiguous evidence that marginally supports his case while ignoring compelling evidence that refutes it, and a failure to account for what might be called "conditions on the ground." I will address each ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on December 22, 2008 10:50
Most Corrupt States
Monkey Cagers John Sides and Lee Sigelman rank the states on corruption and, as expected, Louisiana is at the top. Surprisingly, Illinois is a relative piker, coming in 6th place but only 61 percent as much corruptitude: Matt Yglesias is convinced. The problems, however, with the rankings are manifold. The measure being used is "the total number of public corruption convictions from ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on December 17, 2008 14:37
Rahm Emanuel Refuse to Answer Questions
Questions regarding the Blagojevich scandal. President-elect Barack Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, refused to take questions from reporters this morning about whether he was the Obama “advisor” named in the criminal complaint against Gov. Rod Blagojevich. The complaint states Blagojevich wanted a promise of a high-level appointment or some other reward for Blagojevich in exchange for Blagojevich naming Obama’s friend Valerie ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on December 15, 2008 13:19
Pulling Out: Debating Middle East Disengagement (Affirmative)
On January 23, 1980 President Jimmy Carter enunciated what became known as the Carter Doctrine. He stated, "An attempt by any outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf region will be regarded as an assault on the vital interests of the United States of America, and such an assault will be repelled by any means necessary, including ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on December 15, 2008 12:52
Rostenkowski Defends Chicago Politics
Dan Rostenkowski, the Chicago politician forced out as Ways and Means chairman after a corruption scandal, says that we shouldn't tar a whole city because Rod Blagojevich is a crook. I'm particularly amused by this paragraph: As a politician who more than a decade ago was disciplined for breaking the rules, I’m still uncomfortable writing about it. It continues ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on December 13, 2008 07:53
