Latest at TFT

What is the point of this second stimulus?

Fire up Four Mile Canyon

I hope everyone in the area is ok and that firefighters get this contained soon. We are packing up for an afternoon in Boulder, I guess we'll be staying put for a while longer.

Labor and Libertarians

Jonathan Bernstein poses a question to his libertarian readers,

Let's see if I have anyone who will bite on this...my question is: how do you, as libertarians, understand the half-century of labor agitation preceding the New Deal? 

Good discussion ensues in the comments. 

"1st Amendment Fundamentalists"

Marty Peretz,

In my view, the really modest struggle against the mosque is probably the closest thing we’ve had to a genuinely grass roots effort against the casual and elitist First Amendment fundamentalists.

The mind reels. My mind that is, Marty has clearly lost his.

The Looming Republican Governance Trainwreck

DougJ, 

I’ve come around to thinking that it, while it may be difficult for Republicans to impeach Obama, there is an excellent chance that they will shut down the government again if they get control of either branch of Congress. 

Actually I don't think it will be difficult at all for the Republican House to impeach Obama. I fully expect it to happen. Getting a conviction (and thus removal from office) out of the Senate won't happen but he'll be impeached.

What for? Who fucking knows with these clowns.

And I don't have the desire to dig into the issue of a government shut down right, it's too nice outside.

What Would You Do if You Were Dan Maes?

Pols asks the question, 

As the last ditch efforts to replace Republican Gubernatorial nominee Dan Maes continue, we've been trying to look at this from Maes' perspective -- since we all know what the GOP power brokers want -- and thinking about what he might be thinking about as he weighs calls for him to step down.
Again, keep in mind this is how we could see the decision from Maes' perspective only. Looking at this from his view, it's really hard to see why Maes would withdraw from the race...

It's obvious why the GOP wants to get rid of Maes, but it's much less clear as to why Maes would accept any potential offer to withdraw. We should soon find out either way, but what would you do, fellow Polsters, if you were Dan Maes? 

I'm with Pols, I have no idea why Maes would drop out. First and foremost, he could actually win this race - especially if Tancredo exits. It's not likely that he would win but it is certainly possible.

Secondly, what does Dick Wadhams, Hank Brown, or the Republican Governor's Association have to offer Maes in exchange for dropping out? Maes, to paraphrase the former Governor of Illinois, has something valuable and he's not just going to give it away. If they want him out so badly then they need to come to the table with a significant offer.  What is their leverage?

They can withhold funds and support but he's made it this far without any money, any staff and any establishment support. Why not just ride it out for another 60 some days and see what happens?

Palin, Vanity Fair and Journalism

I haven't read the Vanity Fair piece on Sarah Palin that has the blogosphere all abuzz but this post from Dave Weigel pisses me off,

Ben Smith has been flooding the zone on the problems with Michael Gross's dishy profile of Sarah Palin in Vanity Fair. I've talked to some Alaskan sources of mine and Gross's who are deeply unhappy with how the story turned out. Shannyn Moore, a radio and TV host in Anchorage, gave me permission to quote the e-mail she sent to Gross complaining about how he handled the material and sources. (In the story, Moore is portrayed rather cartoonishly, smoking and talking on her cell phone while driving, but there are people portrayed far more harshly.)

Follow the link and read the email that Weigel posted. You'll see that the entirety of Shannyn Moore's complaint consists of aesthethics and questions of anonymity. There is not one substantive argument in the entire email. Not once does Ms. Moore say that the Michael Gross misquoted her or anyone else. She does not point to a single factual inaccuracy. She's offended in how she was portrayed (the oldest aggrieved source complaint in journalism) and she cites someone who thought they had anonymity and didn't (the second oldest complaint).

If Gross double-crossed a source regarding anonymity then shame on him but unless Ms. Moore has a substantive complaint she should really just STFU. Same for Dave Weigel, he published Moore's email as if it were a devastating indictment of the validity of the article - it is nothing of the sort.

Weigel does link to a more substantive critique by Ben Smith of Politico but we're still in the land of he-said/she-said. Smith should do some reporting of his own and try to independently confirm what his sources are telling him. You know, the same thing he is chiding Michael Gross for. 

Just How Craven and Cynical Is the GOP?

Craven and cynical enough to oppose policies they know will rescue the economy? Maybe not quite that cyncial. Jon Chait, 

Wessell goes on to record the total lack of any econom ic program from the house GOP. The intellectual basis for this position is supplied by paul Ryan, who says, "We are not Keynesians. We don't believe in demand-side stimulus. We're going to stop the spending spree." This is worth highlighting. Ryan is expressing a genuine strand of right-wing thought, albeit one held by a small minority of even right-wing economists, that has come to the fore during the current recession. It holds that efforts to stimulate demand durign a liquidity crisis are totally futile.

It's a fairly fringe view, and one that has had little purchase in the GOP before 2009, and had essentially no support during the 2001 recession. But it's also worth noting that this view totally comports with the party's political interests. The largest factor in the party's political success in 2010 and 2012, by far, is the economy. republicans have no incentive to support policies that would stimulate growth. Now, they probably don't want to walk around thinking that their role is to deepen the recession. That's where the newly vogue anti-Keynesian policies come in. It provides a handy intellectual framework to justify self-serving behavior.

Again, I don't think this is a conscious decision to cynically embrace a doctrine for pure political expediency. My usual read of these things is that people allow themselves to genuinely believe whatever idea that dovetails with their self-interest.