Links are from sites with varying viewpoints. Opinions expressed do not necessarily express the views of TMV or its co-bloggers.
Is George Bush Morphing Into LBJ? Bull Moose makes the case that he is. Here’s part of what he says:
America is in a funk. The war appears to becoming a quagmire. The economy is not bad, but unsteady. And perhaps most important, the country’s morale is suffering.
As a nation, we were united, resolved and determined after 9-11. Now, we are deflated, demoralized and divided. Our leaders are not telling us the truth. We suffer from a mild combination of LBJ-like distrust and Carter-like malaise. While the President was always ineffective in public diplomacy with a foreign audience, now he is having trouble promoting his cause at home.
W. has clearly lost his mojo. Rove completely misinterpreted the results of the election to believe that the country was aching to move to the hard right on social issues and social security. Now, W. desperately needs an “order” issue that will enable the GOP to play to its usual national security advantage.
However, the Republican strength in the “order” area is rapidly becoming a central liability for the party. The country’s funk is best explained both by to find WMD in Iraq and the subsequent chaotic and costly occupation. The military, the traditional bastion of conservative strength, is in crisis.
Indeed, there could be some still unforseen domestic or foreign events that could shift it back in the President’s favor…but Bush’s support will likely never be what it was again right after 911. No matter what.. The reason: is credibility. The Schiavo autospsy is one more pin pricking the credibility balloon. Many loyal GOPers won’t be bothered by the report, but there will be many who will ask themselves: “How can we believe what these guys say anymore?” This drip-drip-drip of things that turn out not to be true adds up and takes a toll.
—AN INTERESTING BLOG: Minstrelboy. Focuses on the clamor to provide troops with protective armor and all other aspects of troop protection. Written by a parent who lost his son in military service.
France and the EU Constitution: Did THIS have something to do with the debacle?
BATMAN is out. TMV will see it probably later today. MaroonBlog’s review HERE (not p.r. but a thoughtful piece) makes TMV want to see it ASAP (and he WILL post a review).
–AN INTERESTING SITE PART II: Check out Faith And Justice. It bills itself as a site where the “religious left” speaks up:
Faithandjustice.org is a challenge to conservatism’s hold on religious and moral values in American political discourse. We believe that progressive
religious ideas need a stronger voice in politics. We hope to broaden the current political discussion and to make real the values and ideals of the religiousleft in American politics and policy.Our new website is a forum to explore and clarify the shared values of the left, improve communication of those values and provide opportunities for action andactivism within the progressive religious community.
What’s fascinating is that it goes against the grain of a common perception, which some people have been arguing for years: that there is the religious right but there is also a religious left. Indeed, if you go back to the 60s, during the civil rights battles and the anti-war movement, in those days people complained about all those leftist priests and pastors.
Is it possible that in coming years we’ll see the religious right and religious left be out in front, not only battling for their agendas but each other? PS: This site is well-done with tons of provocative articles (in real estate it’s location location location; on websites its content content content…unless it’s THIS website..)
“Hillary In Deanland” is the title of this post drawing comparisons between Hillary Clinton’s rhetoric and Howard Dean’s on one of the most enjoyable conservative weblogs A Little More To The Right. (This is a blog that has a great sense of humor which it often displays, tossing traditional blogspeak posts to the winds to put something on that LITERALLY can make you laugh out loud, even if you don’t agree with it).
A Cure To Activist Judges is offered by Swamppundit (who predicts neither the Democrats or Republicans would accept it).
But What About Chief Justice Rehnquiest. Greg Prince at Coorelated looks at the whole issue in a MUST READ post. A small quote:
Someone like Rehnquist being replaced by a relatively similar-minded conservative isn’t going to tip the balance of the court. The retirement of Kennedy (which is unlikely) would be worse, and Stevens or O’Connor would be catastrophic.
One thing to ponder is how the landscape changes politically if he waits a year to retire. Bush may be weaker in 2006 than now, and the Democrats may be in a stronger position to influence the selection process. At the same time, that places the spectacle right in the middle of the 2006 mid-term elections.
It’s Time To Move On (pardon the expression…) From Terri Schiavo writes GOP blogger Matt Margolis in a post titled Vindication For Michael Schiavo. Read it all but here’s a small taste 4 U:
As I suspected, this vindicates Michael Schiavo, who had been accused of so many terrible things. Michael Schiavo had been so vilified by groups and people who supported keeping Terri Schiavo alive it was disturbing. Here we are now, and it is clear that allegations that Michael abused Terri Schiavo and that he had feared she’d one day wake up and report him… all of that was bogus.
Also interesting is this information that Terri Schiavo was blind. I don’t know when this blindness would have occured, but it certainly calls into question the parents claims of Terri’s responsiveness to visual stimuli. We all saw those videos of her following a balloon… So were they moving the balloon to follow Terri’s movements? Maybe so.
AND:
I expect accusations of falsification, distortion, or suppression of information will be made… which would be unfortunate. The two sides of this case have largely fallen on partisan lines, and it’s isappointing to see my conservatives acting like liberals who lose elections, making ridiculous accusations of conspiracies amongst other things. It’ time to let this case go.
We run this (as in the case of the link to Faith and Justice) to underscore the FACT that broad-brush generalizations about any party or group are often deeply flawed.
There are many REPUBLICANS who were unhappy with Congress’ and the White House’s stance on Schiavo. And this, in fact, could pose a problem for the GOP powers that be as time goes on. Except then you have Howard Dean out there saying most Republicans never worked a day of their lives and are just angry, white Christian males (so THAT explains Ann Coulter…)
Isn’t Freedom Of Speech On The Internet just outrageous?
TORTURE UNDER SADAAM: The whole issue of torture has obviously become a powder-keg issue and rhetoric is piping hot on both sides. Some suggest the U.S. is no better than Sadaam. But The Jawa Report offers VERY GRAPHIC documentation (you are warned) here that there is indeed a difference in degree. Of course, then some (like us here) would argue that whatever Sadaam did does not excuse excesses that anyone does — and that includes Americans. Colin Powell has noted that torture is in fact counterproductive. BUT: the Jawa Report post is, in fact, an important one because it is not accurate to equate any alleged or proven U.S. excesses with the kinds of unspeakable horrors of the Sadaam regime.
How To Throw Out Political Red Meat And Activate Your Base Department: The issue of flag burning is being revived again God forbid issues politicos choose to pursue aren’t issues that try to define “us” versus “them.” PS: TMV is AGAINST rpt AGAINST flag burning as much as he is AGAINST politicians trying to use it as a wedge issue for blatantly political purposes. Do we now see our TV screens filled with burning flags? NO. It’s being pressed for a reason.
An Interesting Blog Part III: The Daily Belch says it’s a moderate blog that’s anti-liberal and anti-conservative. We always welcome another moderate blog (but they better get ready to get the question “How can you call yourself a moderate?” as soon as they take a stand from the left and from the right…)
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.