Some of Nothing

Other People's Genius: Rebuttals Edition
Friday, June 20, 2008

The last couple of days have seen a lot of political trash-talking over campaign finance, Osama Bin Forgotten-(Except-During-An-Election-Year), Michelle Obama's "reintroduction", FISA capitulation. Rather than take the time and effort to put forth cohesive/intelligent arguments about these issues myself, this Other People's Genius is dedicated to the arguments put forth by others (some more cohesive/intelligent than others).

* First, the Anonymous Liberal takes on the whole freak-out over the thought of Osama Bin Laden being treated like any other mass-murderer by our justice system:

First, of course Bin Laden would get habeas rights if he were held at Guantanamo. Since when do rights vary based on your name? But more importantly, why should anyone find it troubling that Osama would have such a right? If he sought to petition a court, it would result in the easiest and most predictable judicial decision ever. Habeas corpus just means that you have the opportunity to challenge the lawfulness of your detention. The evidence against Bin Laden is overwhelming. He would have the right to challenge his detention, but he would lose, quickly and decisively...

Personally, I take comfort in the fact that the United States tries to be governed by the rule of law. I used to think that Republicans liked laws too. Apparently, not so.


* Cindy McCain has been out and about trashing Michelle Obama. In what may be considered a tangential rebuttal, here's what one of my favoritest people ever, Ross Perot, has to say about John and Cindy McCain:

After he [John McCain] came home, he walked with a limp, she [Carol McCain, John's first wife] walked with a limp. So he threw her over for a poster girl with big money from Arizona [Cindy McCain, his current wife] and the rest is history...

While I don't generally go in for attacking/making assumptions about people's personal lives, any time Ross Perot talks, I listen. On a personal note, I still count the time I persuaded my mother to vote for Ross Perot instead of George HW Bush as my greatest political accomplishment. Even though I was too young to vote at the time, I knew that Perot was my kind of crazy (in many ways).


* Liz Sodoti at the AP (who I still won't link to) says that Obama "chose winning over his word" when he decided to opt out of public campaign finance after all. Mark Halperin calls Liz Sodoti and the AP "objective". JedReport reminds us of this video of "Objective" Liz presenting McCain with his favorite treat:

Of course, this was at the same event in which the head of the AP called Obama "Osama". Apparently, the word "objective" is a bit subjective. (also, Digby has some harsh words about Liz's claim that this election is an "authenticity contest", which are worth checking out.)



* Finally, I would be remiss in this post if I failed to take the opportunity to rebut a couple of my own statements. First, in yesterday's post, I used Obama's support for pro-wiretap blue dog Georgia Representative John Barrow to claim that "Obama hasn't learned his Lieberman lesson". Digby's a little more generous than I am:

Obama wants to redraw the electoral map and thinks there might be a chance in Georgia. I'm sure that's why he's doing this, even though it's the longest of long shots. I think it's our year, but you can't take anything for granted, so I understand they are single mindedly focused on getting to 270 and have decided they need to make a right turn to do it. It's the predictable (and probably smart) move. I just don't think playing this particular incumbent protection game is worth it unless there's a really good chance of winning in that state. Guys like Barrow are toxic and will pay you back by voting against you when you need them most. It's how they do business.

That's kind of a rebuttal, right? Plus, there's the fact that Obama and McCain are essentially tied in Georgia to help explain the campaign's single-minded focus.

Second, also in yesterday's post, I said that the Democrats' capitulation on FISA "only really proves that there is no cohesive left wing of the Democratic Party". Of course, there are Democrats in both the House (Dennis Kucinich and Robert Wexler) and Senate (Patrick Leahy and Russ Feingold) who oppose the FISA agreement. Plus, there's the whole left blogophere all crowded together around this one issue:
If only any of that actually meant something to the powers in the mainstream teevee news bureaus.


Happy Other People's Genius Friday!

Nothing New byslag at 7:36 AM