Category: politics

If Bush Loses the Wall Street Journal…

Ashley Bischoff5 Comments

USA Today has an article describing what I had suspected for some time — if Bush loses the Wall Street Journal, he loses a strong base of Republican support. Ever since the PATRIOT Act, I’ve not had a good feeling about Bush and I had suspected that others may have felt the same.

This week, there were signs that some of President Bush’s biggest boosters in the media are becoming disillusioned with his handling of Iraq. The Wall Street Journal, the country’s second-largest-circulation newspaper, took these two swipes at Bush:

  • On Monday, a long, critical story followed this Page 1 headline: “Early U.S. Decisions on Iraq Now Haunt American Efforts.”

  • On Tuesday, a WSJ editorial chided Bush’s June 30 Iraq transition plans with this subhead: “The U.S. drops the Iraqis who've been with us from the start.”

To paraphrase LBJ, if Bush loses the WSJ, he will not necessarily lose Middle America, but he might lose “Upperville.” The ultraconservative Wall Street Journal is a bible for upscale or rich, rock-ribbed Republicans. […]

Though I’m not sure I’d say that the WSJ is Republican “bible” — its main content isn’t usually political — I will concede that its editorial pages lean to the right a good portion of the time. In any case, I hope to see more coverage about this topic (from USA Today or elsewhere) as I’d find it fascinating if the WSJ were an accurate barometer of mainstream Republican support.

“Cultural Fire Exits”

Ashley BischoffLeave a comment

There’s all kinds of goofy stuff said on IRC, much of it hilarious — and that's where Bash.org comes in. They collect humorous quotes from IRC. This one from their latest quotes section amused me in particular:

<zoweee> i’m holding out til the next election. if it goes against us, i’ll seriously begin looking for my cultural fire exits.

“There are exits at the front and the rear of american democracy. Please take this opportunity to familiarize yourself with the nearest exit. In the event of a theocratic american hegemony, lights will appear on either end of the aisle, marking the way to your exit for you.

“in the unlikely event of the repeal of Ammendments 1-5, your seat cushion may be used to purchase carriage across one of our more porous borders.

“should there be a depressurization of america’s historical tolerance for diversity, bibles will drop from the overhead compartment. please read your own copy before assisting small children.

“please do not read pirated versions of the bible, as this may give aid and comfort to terrorist organizations. […]”

Bush Admin. Wants Parallel Legal System for Terror Suspects

Ashley Bischoff2 Comments

As reported in the Washington Post (via Politech), the Bush administration wants a parallel legal system for terror suspects:

The Bush administration is developing a parallel legal system in which terrorism suspects — U.S. citizens and noncitizens alike — may be investigated, jailed, interrogated, tried and punished without legal protections guaranteed by the ordinary system, lawyers inside and outside the government say.

The elements of this new system are already familiar from President Bush’s orders and his aides’ policy statements and legal briefs: indefinite military detention for those designated "enemy combatants," liberal use of “material witness” warrants, counterintelligence-style wiretaps and searches led by law enforcement officials and, for noncitizens, trial by military commissions or deportation after strictly closed hearings. [&hellip]

Ooh, that’s not good. With shenanigans like these, I’m especially glad that I didn’t vote for the fellow (I voted for Harry Brown instead).

And, Ashcroft is turning into more of a disaster than I would have realized. At the time of his nomination procedings, he seemed harmless enough, but I’ll have give more trust to whichever groups opposed him at the time (can anyone jog my memory and name some of those?).

Spinsanity

Ashley BischoffLeave a comment

I’ve recently discovered Spinsanity, a political-commentary website with the tagline “Countering rhetoric with reason”. It’s fairly interesting, and covers subjects from Rush Limbaugh to Michael Moore’s Bowling for Columbine.

The distortions begin with the film’s title. Lyons reports that, contrary to the title of the film, the two boys who committed the massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., did not bowl the morning before the shooting. Although early news reports did state that they had attended a bowling class in the morning, police told Lyons it's simply not true. […]

Random Traffic Stops in Michigan

Ashley BischoffLeave a comment

From the Politech mailing list, random traffic stops begin in Michigan:

Federal agents will begin randomly stopping traffic today, looking for illegal immigrants, terrorists and drug or weapon smugglers.

Cars will be stopped at unannounced, rotating checkpoints within Michigan, including metro Detroit. U.S. Border Patrol agents at the checkpoints will ask passengers their citizenship and will have leeway to ask a host of follow-up questions. […]

Whoah, remind me not to visit Michigan.