Oh geez, Bill Weld gives one little press conference down in New York hinting at new ambitions and not forty eight hour later Scot Lehigh is practically pissing himself with raw happiness. Oh yes, Scot can't wait for his hero the slovenly drunken bizarrely detached Bill Weld to bust a move in New York.
It is to be expected, William Weld has always had a strange mesmeric hold over Boston Columnists...the mere mention of his name causes everyone from Lehigh to Howie Carr to fall into a strange sentimental trance.
It is not hard to see why, with his mixture of liberal social views, leavened with a fetish for low taxes, Weld is the perfect embodiment of the columnist ideology. Truly Weld is the perfect candidate for a generation of op-ed hacks who crave both personal license and fiscal puritanism.
I of course, am having second thoughts about the whole mishaugas. I'm wondering if Weld is really serious about running for Governor/Senator in the Empire State? He has no money and few real props with New York voters...he is literally one moderate too many in a state GOP divided between George Pataki and Rudy Guiliani. I think Big Bill is biding himself up for some appointive federal sinecure, maybe that ambassadorship that eluded him in 1997.
Think about it, the current congress is a complete White House thrall-dom in every way, but their term potentially runs out in January 2007. So now is the time to make a pre-emptive move in New York Politics in order to induce Guiliani/Pataki to call in a favor from La Famiglia Arbusto and get Weld the Embassy in Jamaica or Trinidad-Tobago- really any place where the rum is cheap and his ex-wife is far away.
That is what I suspect is going on here, Bill wants a cushy Federal gig and is willing to make ambitious noises to get it.
Friday, April 29, 2005
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
Injustice Sunday or Fristian Moral Life...
There are those out there assert the Senate Majority Leader's current assault on the Senate's admittedly retrograde filibuster rules to be a form of appalling religious fanaticism. If the democrats jawbone Cotton Matherish judicial nominees it must come of a party-wide disdain for religious feeling and therefore the filibuster must go in order to safeguard the people of God.
Or so Senator Frist's logic runs.
Indeed the Majority Leader rants on and on and leaves us all with the impression that next to Satan himself, the filibuster looms large as a 200 year old obstacle to religious life in America.
However, you have to admit, Frist and his minions would just as soon use the filibuster to block "leftist" nominees if the tables where turned such is the depth of their commitment to craven opportunistic practices.
So clearly, whatever the current controversy is about, religion isn't a part of it.
Why then would a grown adult man carry in such a brazenly hypocritical fashion?
I think Frist is under some pressure from the White House to get these yaps confirmed by fair means or foul. Being a man of Presidential ambitions himself and knowing the scope and power of Bush's fiat, Senator Frist has seized upon the christian motif as a cover for this blatant usurpation of power.
So this is all an exercise in low royalism from out the Bush White House I say. Remember,the way you achieve power ever after affects the way one uses power. Look at Richard III, he offed his own nephews in order to seize power and shortly became a tyrant in extremis, the blood of his own instantly corrupting Richard's kingly prospects. Bush have seized power via judicial decree in 2000 has since then come to rely on a certain obnoxious pushiness to get what he wants whenever the going gets tough.
Look at the way GWB's trusted courtiers on the Hill imitate him...Tom Delay packs the Ethics Committee with lackey and fundraising vassals, Senator Cornyn drones through threats at the judiciary and Bill Frist screams for the power to suppress the Senate's minority party once and for all.
All very medieval and brutal and all coming from the top down.
These are ruthless corrupt men in every way, like the Dukes and Earls who clustered around the Duke of Gloucester or the lackeys who once coddled Kaiser Wilhelm.
They have known no rebuke these last five years and can be relied upon to do even worse in the months and years to go. Naught but power in the old fashioned James Monroe-Federalist Papers sense of the term will constrain them.
Sick
Demented
Typical
Or so Senator Frist's logic runs.
Indeed the Majority Leader rants on and on and leaves us all with the impression that next to Satan himself, the filibuster looms large as a 200 year old obstacle to religious life in America.
However, you have to admit, Frist and his minions would just as soon use the filibuster to block "leftist" nominees if the tables where turned such is the depth of their commitment to craven opportunistic practices.
So clearly, whatever the current controversy is about, religion isn't a part of it.
Why then would a grown adult man carry in such a brazenly hypocritical fashion?
I think Frist is under some pressure from the White House to get these yaps confirmed by fair means or foul. Being a man of Presidential ambitions himself and knowing the scope and power of Bush's fiat, Senator Frist has seized upon the christian motif as a cover for this blatant usurpation of power.
So this is all an exercise in low royalism from out the Bush White House I say. Remember,the way you achieve power ever after affects the way one uses power. Look at Richard III, he offed his own nephews in order to seize power and shortly became a tyrant in extremis, the blood of his own instantly corrupting Richard's kingly prospects. Bush have seized power via judicial decree in 2000 has since then come to rely on a certain obnoxious pushiness to get what he wants whenever the going gets tough.
Look at the way GWB's trusted courtiers on the Hill imitate him...Tom Delay packs the Ethics Committee with lackey and fundraising vassals, Senator Cornyn drones through threats at the judiciary and Bill Frist screams for the power to suppress the Senate's minority party once and for all.
All very medieval and brutal and all coming from the top down.
These are ruthless corrupt men in every way, like the Dukes and Earls who clustered around the Duke of Gloucester or the lackeys who once coddled Kaiser Wilhelm.
They have known no rebuke these last five years and can be relied upon to do even worse in the months and years to go. Naught but power in the old fashioned James Monroe-Federalist Papers sense of the term will constrain them.
Sick
Demented
Typical
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
Senator Kennedy...
that axiom of local and national politics now has his own website. I'm linking to it out of loyalty to the man and his cause, forget the standard CaM rules of reciprocity.
Welcome Julie Teer
Mitt Romney's new press secretary, a veteran of the Bush N.H. Primary campaign and yet another veiled indicator that Decaf is goin' over the hump next year.
Point08 has a different view seeing her as shi-ite GOP operative hired to sow discontent in the democratic gubernatorial field.
Well...maybe. You have to admit, politically she is two-fer, an experienced mouthpiece and someone who knows the fastest way to the Town Hall in Barnstead Parade.
I have a different view, Julie Teer may be an expert in wreaking havoc in the democratic primary, but it sure didn't affect the ultimate outcome in N.H. did it?
John Kerry carried the state, hell the local dems woke up and elected themselves a governor in the process.
We ought to be on the lookout for her knavish tricks, and lets have a few of our own this time, but never forget she couldn't deliver the goods when the bell rang.
Point08 has a different view seeing her as shi-ite GOP operative hired to sow discontent in the democratic gubernatorial field.
Well...maybe. You have to admit, politically she is two-fer, an experienced mouthpiece and someone who knows the fastest way to the Town Hall in Barnstead Parade.
I have a different view, Julie Teer may be an expert in wreaking havoc in the democratic primary, but it sure didn't affect the ultimate outcome in N.H. did it?
John Kerry carried the state, hell the local dems woke up and elected themselves a governor in the process.
We ought to be on the lookout for her knavish tricks, and lets have a few of our own this time, but never forget she couldn't deliver the goods when the bell rang.
Monday, April 25, 2005
Dear President Truman:
How is the weather up there in Heaven? I hope you aren't teasing JFK and LBJ too much, they done their damnedest in their own particular ways I guess. For that fact, lay off MacArthur too...he had his virtues, it IS paradise after all, time to let go old animosities.
Oh Harry, it is safe to come out now I think, every feckless inconstant bastard in the nation loves you. Remember when you left office in January 1953 with a thirty percent approval rating? Remember when McCarthy called you a commie dupe and the GOP muttered about impeachment when you fired MacArthur? What about All those god-awful things H.L. Mencken and Westbrook Pegler said about you?
All fogiven and forgotten now.
Quite a change I'll say.
The neocons all love you...the Anne Coulters etc...you are the surreal-right's favorite metaphor for a lost species of democratic ballsiness. That come from behind victory in 1948 helps burnish that scrappy bantam fighter image that the Jeff Jacoby's of this improvident age love to abuse.
Alas that hard fought campaign has become an appalling cliche' in our imperial era, if a democrat loses nationally it is automatically for want of a Truman-style bare-knuckled aggressiveness...when the GOP loses its always because of some temporarily ideological excess.
Frankly Harry I'd stay in heaven if I were you, the columnists and alleged thinkers these days are dumber, more naive' and more corruptible than the newsaurians of your Presidency. Hell westbrook Pegler is pretty much an abashed schoolboy next to the likes of David Horowitz.
Its not a pretty picture I assure you...all these rightical chic yaps who profess to love you so mch are the biggest ass-holes imaginable (Pardon my French Captain its been a long war)if they were around in 1948 they'd be bribing the veterans of your artillery company to slander your name in public. Thats the sort of scum we are dealing with here.
The great game of politics has become a squalid battle between image consultants, lobbyists and professional ward-heelers...sad undemocratc and ultimately boring.
Stay up there Harry....keep playing the piano and forget all those old rivalries!
It ain't worth it believe me.
Sincerely
Elias J. Nugator
P.S. say hi to Bess for me.
Written in honor of the sixtieth anniversary of Harry S. Truman's elevation to the Presidency.
Oh Harry, it is safe to come out now I think, every feckless inconstant bastard in the nation loves you. Remember when you left office in January 1953 with a thirty percent approval rating? Remember when McCarthy called you a commie dupe and the GOP muttered about impeachment when you fired MacArthur? What about All those god-awful things H.L. Mencken and Westbrook Pegler said about you?
All fogiven and forgotten now.
Quite a change I'll say.
The neocons all love you...the Anne Coulters etc...you are the surreal-right's favorite metaphor for a lost species of democratic ballsiness. That come from behind victory in 1948 helps burnish that scrappy bantam fighter image that the Jeff Jacoby's of this improvident age love to abuse.
Alas that hard fought campaign has become an appalling cliche' in our imperial era, if a democrat loses nationally it is automatically for want of a Truman-style bare-knuckled aggressiveness...when the GOP loses its always because of some temporarily ideological excess.
Frankly Harry I'd stay in heaven if I were you, the columnists and alleged thinkers these days are dumber, more naive' and more corruptible than the newsaurians of your Presidency. Hell westbrook Pegler is pretty much an abashed schoolboy next to the likes of David Horowitz.
Its not a pretty picture I assure you...all these rightical chic yaps who profess to love you so mch are the biggest ass-holes imaginable (Pardon my French Captain its been a long war)if they were around in 1948 they'd be bribing the veterans of your artillery company to slander your name in public. Thats the sort of scum we are dealing with here.
The great game of politics has become a squalid battle between image consultants, lobbyists and professional ward-heelers...sad undemocratc and ultimately boring.
Stay up there Harry....keep playing the piano and forget all those old rivalries!
It ain't worth it believe me.
Sincerely
Elias J. Nugator
P.S. say hi to Bess for me.
Written in honor of the sixtieth anniversary of Harry S. Truman's elevation to the Presidency.
Sunday, April 24, 2005
Weld for...Whatever...
CNN is all a-twitter because former Massachusetts Governor William Weld has apparently started talks with the NY GOP in regards to running either for the Senate or Governor next year.
Well...that is curious.
When last we heard from Bill Weld he was divorced, living on the upper west side of Manhattan and allegedly working on a whole "drunk-before-noon" vibe. Clearly Weld has cleaned himself up sufficiently to dust off his bona fides and seek out some new political adventure.
I thought being Governor of Massachusetts was Bill's mid life crisis, maybe I'm wrong though.
Alas his notional candidacy for Governor merely reinforces my argument that state gubernatorial politics are undergoing a relentless process of nationalization. Massachusetts imports Mitt, now New York is dragging Bill into their particular political morass. None of this is a good thing IMHO as it breaks down the bonds of localism but the trend can't be stopped.
On the other hand, if Bill runs for the US Senate, he'd be taking on Hilary Clinton, whose husband once nominated him for the Ambassadorship to Mexico. That might complicates thing when it comes time to conciliate the grass-eaters, die hards, and shi-ite wing of the local GOP.
Of course, it just seems weird and desperate that in the vasty reaches of the Empire State no better candidate can be found-or is that just me?
I wonder how Weld's liberal stances on gay rights,abortion, and witch-burning will play in the hinterlands around Buffalo?
And where is Rudy Guiliani's fine Italian hand in all this? Is Weld being groomed to seek whatever office Rudy declines? Is that the plan?
Seems pretty paltry to me...
And if Rudy is in for 2006, how does having two pro gay rights, pro abortion moderates at the top of the ticket play in Peetskill?
Or maybe Bill is the fall guy...Rudy doesn't wanna take a chance on booking a loss prior to the big game in 2004 and Weld is the patsy.
Well...that is curious.
When last we heard from Bill Weld he was divorced, living on the upper west side of Manhattan and allegedly working on a whole "drunk-before-noon" vibe. Clearly Weld has cleaned himself up sufficiently to dust off his bona fides and seek out some new political adventure.
I thought being Governor of Massachusetts was Bill's mid life crisis, maybe I'm wrong though.
Alas his notional candidacy for Governor merely reinforces my argument that state gubernatorial politics are undergoing a relentless process of nationalization. Massachusetts imports Mitt, now New York is dragging Bill into their particular political morass. None of this is a good thing IMHO as it breaks down the bonds of localism but the trend can't be stopped.
On the other hand, if Bill runs for the US Senate, he'd be taking on Hilary Clinton, whose husband once nominated him for the Ambassadorship to Mexico. That might complicates thing when it comes time to conciliate the grass-eaters, die hards, and shi-ite wing of the local GOP.
Of course, it just seems weird and desperate that in the vasty reaches of the Empire State no better candidate can be found-or is that just me?
I wonder how Weld's liberal stances on gay rights,abortion, and witch-burning will play in the hinterlands around Buffalo?
And where is Rudy Guiliani's fine Italian hand in all this? Is Weld being groomed to seek whatever office Rudy declines? Is that the plan?
Seems pretty paltry to me...
And if Rudy is in for 2006, how does having two pro gay rights, pro abortion moderates at the top of the ticket play in Peetskill?
Or maybe Bill is the fall guy...Rudy doesn't wanna take a chance on booking a loss prior to the big game in 2004 and Weld is the patsy.
Friday, April 22, 2005
The Coulter Affair
"Time" Mangazine listed Ann Coulter in its annual "100 Most Influencial Carbon Based Life Forms" listing with the usual truckling coverage. Everyone thinks this is a new journalistic low for the storied newsweekly. Eric Alterman seems especially incensed...
I don't get it myself, "Time" was always and insufferably haughty little rag that made its bones pimping for Dwight Eisenhower in 1952 and 1956 and was rotten proud of its seedy GOP partisanship under the aegis of then owner-publisher Henry Luce. Advocacy journalism wasn't invented by the late Hunter Thompson it has its origins in Time's perpetually condescending treatment of Harry Truman and Adlai Stevenson. Look up some of the old issues if you don't believe me.
Giving Ann Coulter props seems like SOP at "Time"...she is just the sort of "contrarian" they've been marking out hard for since the days of Wendell Willkie.
Now does interest me is just what Coulter's publicist had to promise Time-Warner-AOL in order to land a spot on said list? At the moment Ann is famously between jobs and makes her money via 30K speaking engagements. Her writing is childish and spiteful and suggestive of a seventh grade slam-book. So she is a tough sell on talent.
Moreover, that cresting wave of perpetual conservative outrage isn't gonna last forever, Ann has to get dug somewhere soon or risk becoming the next Wally George. No doubt her desk is cluttered with writing samples, resumes, sample radio shows done on Ipod, video samplers the whole wretched refuse of political punditry. So this "Time" controversy is a godsend for Coulter, it'll get the phone ringing, and whole knows maybe Fox News will finally come through with a regular gig.
The straight dope on these types of features is that they are bullshit designed to boost circulation and stroke advertisers all at the same time. There is no objective criteria governing inclusion...listings are pimped like new girls from Georgia without a second thought. Ann's inclusion with all her "jokes" about killing Bill Clinton and blowing up the New York Times, is pretty much a setpiece bid for controversy.
And what the hell, it worked.
I don't get it myself, "Time" was always and insufferably haughty little rag that made its bones pimping for Dwight Eisenhower in 1952 and 1956 and was rotten proud of its seedy GOP partisanship under the aegis of then owner-publisher Henry Luce. Advocacy journalism wasn't invented by the late Hunter Thompson it has its origins in Time's perpetually condescending treatment of Harry Truman and Adlai Stevenson. Look up some of the old issues if you don't believe me.
Giving Ann Coulter props seems like SOP at "Time"...she is just the sort of "contrarian" they've been marking out hard for since the days of Wendell Willkie.
Now does interest me is just what Coulter's publicist had to promise Time-Warner-AOL in order to land a spot on said list? At the moment Ann is famously between jobs and makes her money via 30K speaking engagements. Her writing is childish and spiteful and suggestive of a seventh grade slam-book. So she is a tough sell on talent.
Moreover, that cresting wave of perpetual conservative outrage isn't gonna last forever, Ann has to get dug somewhere soon or risk becoming the next Wally George. No doubt her desk is cluttered with writing samples, resumes, sample radio shows done on Ipod, video samplers the whole wretched refuse of political punditry. So this "Time" controversy is a godsend for Coulter, it'll get the phone ringing, and whole knows maybe Fox News will finally come through with a regular gig.
The straight dope on these types of features is that they are bullshit designed to boost circulation and stroke advertisers all at the same time. There is no objective criteria governing inclusion...listings are pimped like new girls from Georgia without a second thought. Ann's inclusion with all her "jokes" about killing Bill Clinton and blowing up the New York Times, is pretty much a setpiece bid for controversy.
And what the hell, it worked.
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