David Broder, the so-called dean of the Washington punditocracy, is widely known to be a process man.  His goal is to translate insider Washington’s voice to the masses.  Petty substantive concerns like the war in Iraq, criminality in the executive branch or even growing economic inequality in America just aren’t his cup of tea.

No, what gets Broder’s blood pumping is anything that besmirches the aesthetics of insider Washington: he seems much more upset, for example, by what he regards as ugly partisan bickering over the senseless killing in Bush’s war in Iraq, then he does over the senseless killing itself. 

But then, Broder, after all, is also the guy who found Bill Clinton’s blow job a much more unforgivable crime than Bush’s actions in disingenuously leading the nation into a disastrous war. “He came in here and he trashed the place,” Broder said of Clinton, “and it’s not his place.”  Whereas, after all, all Bush did was to get a lot of people needlessly killed, waste hundreds of billions of dollars, increase the risk of terrorism to the nation and reduce America’s standing in the world to an historic low (and that’s just talking about Iraq; Bush’s crimes, of course, go far beyond that).

But to Broder it’s no contest: sullying the “honor” of insider Washington was by far the greater crime.     

So it’s perhaps not surprising that we should find our man Broder absolutely giddy over the thought of a so-called fusion candidacy, in which people of differing political parties join together as presidential and vice presidential candidates in an independent run for the White House.  In his most recent column, for example, Broder is all a-titter about the possibility of a Michael Bloomberg/Chuck Hagel run.

As a number of bloggers have noted, Broder appears remarkably disinterested in what policy positions Bloomberg and Hagel hold, let alone the fact that the two men disagree broadly on almost all political issues.  None of this matters: what’s important is that civility, as Broder defines it, return to the process; under this worldview, partisan political struggles aren’t battles over ideas, but unseemly childlike squabbles that make inside the Beltway cocktail parties uncomfortable.

The problem with this viewpoint, of course, is that it ignores the fact that America faces many very real and very ominous problems: and that many of them will only be solved by breaking a few eggs.  Yes, it would be nice if some of the more extreme rhetoric in our political process were toned down (although Broder and his ilk seem often to overlook that most of it comes from the right and not the left).  But at the end of the day, what matters is doing the people’s business well (and, yes, breaking those eggs to do it), not the level of decorum maintained among the Washington elite.

And if ruining a few Beltway cocktail parties is the price we must pay for progress on ending the war, protecting the environment and building a just economy — well, call me crass, but that’s a price I’ll be more than happy to pay. 

The songbirds are growing silent.  And when they’re gone, they’ll be gone forever.

It’s gut-wrenching if you let yourself think about it too deeply.  One doesn’t have to be an Eastern philosopher, or even a full-scale “tree hugger,” to understand that we occupy this beautiful blue and white planet in trust for the generations yet to come.  Many of the decisions we make today will bind them irrevocably and our selfishness condemns them to live diminished lives.

Who could blame them if they curse our graves?

(Christian Science Monitor) Bird by bird, the avian population is shrinking

Earlier this summer, the National Audubon Society released a definitive study of population trends of North American birds, a monumental effort based on decades of Christmas bird counts and breeding bird surveys. The study confirms what my grandfather feared and what most of us now know. Birds that I used to see routinely growing up in New England – evening grosbeaks, eastern meadowlarks, northern bobwhites – are in free fall. The losses are mind-boggling. Since my grandfather introduced me to birds just half a lifetime ago, once-common species have declined by as much as 80 percent due to the usual suspects: habitat loss, pesticides, introduced species, and climate change. The songs of tens of millions of birds have been silenced. It feels as if the lights are dimming.

 

I sure am glad the Great Surge is going so well.  Think of how awful things would be if it had been a bust.

(AP) Iraq body count running at double pace

This year’s U.S. troop buildup has succeeded in bringing violence in Baghdad down from peak levels, but the death toll from sectarian attacks around the country is running nearly double the pace from a year ago.

Some of the recent bloodshed appears the result of militant fighters drifting into parts of northern Iraq, where they have fled after U.S.-led offensives. Baghdad, however, still accounts for slightly more than half of all war-related killings — the same percentage as a year ago, according to figures compiled by The Associated Press.

The tallies and trends offer a sobering snapshot after an additional 30,000 U.S. troops began campaigns in February to regain control of the Baghdad area. It also highlights one of the major themes expected in next month’s Iraq progress report to Congress: some military headway, but extremist factions are far from broken.

In street-level terms, it means life for average Iraqis appears to be even more perilous and unpredictable.

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The New York Times has a good piece out on the dog and pony show the Pentagon is putting on for members of Congress who visit Iraq: they fly into the Green Zone where they’re spoon-fed asparagus soup, lobster tortellini and an upbeat appraisal of the status of the Great Surge.  Then back to Washington they go to wax poetic on the tremendous insight this highly choreographed show has given them. 

And the junkets seem to be scoring some political pay dirt for Bush’s war goals.

Hear a General, Hug a Sheik: Congress Does the Iraq Circuit

The trips have clearly set the story line for the September debate, cementing the perception that the military is making progress, even if Mr. Maliki is not. For the White House, which sold the troop buildup as a way to create “political breathing space” for the Iraqis to form a unity government, it’s a glass-half-empty, half-full situation.

Ms. Schakowsky, for example, came away from the Petraeus lunch convinced more than ever that “the surge is a failure.” Representative Jack Kingston, a Georgia Republican who also attended, took the opposite view; he’s now “leaning in the direction” of giving the buildup more time.

James P. Moran, a Virginia Democrat and senior member of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, also said he was impressed with the commander’s presentation. “Based on the outline,” Mr. Moran said in Baghdad, “I just don’t see Congress pulling up stakes.”

The Pentagon is pleased and a senior White House official called the trips “a net plus.” And at least one Democrat, Representative Brian Baird of Washington, an early opponent of the war, has changed his mind.

How many times do these people have to be scammed before they learn that any “information” on the war coming out of the Bush Administration is suspect?  If members of Congress want to don flak jackets and collect Iraqi photo ops for their next campaign fine.  Who knows, maybe a little truth will seep in around the edges.  But for God’s sake, can they please cut the “I’ve been to Iraq so I know what’s going on there” crap.

They haven’t been there — not to the real Iraq, the one ordinary Iraqis and our troops know.  And for them to pretend otherwise isn’t just ridiculous: to the extent they try to formulate policy on the basis of these “observations,” it’s downright dangerous.     

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If you want to solve the mess in Iraq, don’t get rid of Maliki; get rid of Bush.

Link 

Update: Short version – E.J. Dionne Jr.: Come 2008, voters will understand the above.

Link

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What Crooks and Liars says:

In perhaps the most brilliant segment on “The Daily Show” I’ve ever seen, last night Jon ran through the last three decades of United States intervention in the Middle East to show how incoherent, ass-backwards and counter-productive it has been.

Go there: watch the video.

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Even as we pout (correctly and honorably) over the weakness of the congressional Democratic leadership, it’s good to remind ourselves once in a while why, at the end of the day, most of us (correctly and honorably) will still vote Democratic: and we will do so even if the nominee ends up being someone we’re not in love with.

(NY Times) Rule to Expand Mountaintop Coal Mining

WASHINGTON, Aug. 22 — The Bush administration is set to issue a regulation on Friday that would enshrine the coal mining practice of mountaintop removal. The technique involves blasting off the tops of mountains and dumping the rubble into valleys and streams.

 *  *  *

Environmental activists say the rule change will lead to accelerated pillage of vast tracts and the obliteration of hundreds of miles of streams in central Appalachia.

“This is a parting gift to the coal industry from this administration,” said Joe Lovett, executive director of the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment in Lewisburg, W.Va. “What is at stake is the future of Appalachia. This is an attempt to make legal what has long been illegal.”

It really does make a huge difference which party holds the White House.

This is the first installment of what will be an ongoing series.

Dear Winston,

Why are you always so down on the major news media?  Surely, they can’t be doing that bad a job. 

Signed,

Wondering in Wellington

*  *  *

Dear Wondering,

Your question reminds me of a story I heard Alistair Cooke (I think) tell about Winston Churchill once, a thousand years ago.  It went something like this:

Churchill was in a tavern with his friend and scientific advisor, Professor Lindemann: he asked him, “Prof, if you were to take all of the beer, wine and other spirits I’ve consumed in my life and pour them into this room, how much of it do you think would be filled?”

Lindemann set to work immediately on the relevant mathematical equations, concluding at last, “Winston, according to my calculations, if you were to pour all of the alcoholic beverages you’ve consumed in your life into this tavern, you’d fill it all the way up to the tip of your nose.”

At which point, Churchill, looking up at the high ceiling above him, answered,

“So little time.  So much yet to be done.” 

Frankly, my friend, your question about the major media puts me into something of the same state of mind: there’s simply no way, without filling an entire book, I could even begin to adequately explain why so much of what the major media has been doing in recent years appalls me.  So, instead, I’m going to settle for giving you one example.

As you know, the approval rating for Congress now stands at a staggeringly low level: when last tallied, only 18 percent of Americans approved of the job Congress is doing.  As Glenn Greenwald and other boggers have noted, there’s no mystery in this.  Disapproval of the Democratic Congress is unusually high because, unlike the usual situation where members of the majority’s own party drive congressional popularity ratings up at least a little, in this case, rank and file Democrats are as down on Congress as Republicans.

There’s also no doubt as to why that’s true: Democrats (and many independents) are furious at congressional Democrats for repeatedly caving into Bush’s demands, particularly on the subjects of civil liberties and the war in Iraq.

(more…)

Yes, of course, this is an unspeakable outrage, though, sadly, not a particularly surprising one.  The Bush Administration, we learn, has for some time been thwarting efforts to crack down on lead painted toys from China: the reason, it seems, is that maintaining a “manufacturer-friendly approach” to regulation is more important to them than protecting our kids.

A disgrace, yes, but also an opportunity to, quite literally, save lives.  We can do this by using this travesty to effectively frame and thereby discredit the right wing’s hostility toward effective consumer protection.  It’s time to show conservatism’s anti-regulation mania for what it is — a philosophy that makes corporate profits a higher priority than the safety of our kids.

But first to the outrage itself:

(McClatchy) Efforts to crack down on lead paint thwarted by China, Bush Administration

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration and China have both undermined efforts to tighten rules designed to ensure that lead paint isn’t used in toys, bibs, jewelry and other children’s products.

Both have fought efforts to better police imported toys from China.

*  *  *

The Bush administration has hindered regulation on two fronts, consumer advocates say. It stalled efforts to press for greater inspections of imported children’s products, and it altered the focus of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), moving it from aggressive protection of consumers to a more manufacturer-friendly approach.

“The overall philosophy is regulations are bad and they are too large a cost for industry, and the market will take care of it,” said Rick Melberth, director of regulatory policy at OMBWatch, a government watchdog group formed in 1983. “That’s been the philosophy of the Bush administration.”

If Democrats can’t frame this in a way that fatally discredits the right’s approach to government, they’re in the wrong line of work: Thomas the Tank Engine with lead paint?  Dora the Explorer posing potentially deadly safety threats?  Jesus, conservatism couldn’t look more heartless if Bush were to personally slap the Gerber baby in the face.

But there’s a lot more at issue here than just Bush: no, this is about what’s wrong with the whole “greed is good” dogma that constitutes the principal governing philosophy of the Republican Party: a governing philosophy that consistently puts corporate profits ahead of the health and safety of the American people.  That is, after all, what government regulation is supposed to be all about — keeping our people, and especially our children, safe. 

For over 25 years, the political right has been waging war against government (while at the same time sucking it dry through crony payoffs).  And for far too long, no one, not even Democrats (can anyone say “The era of big government is over?”), has fought back.  Now we’re paying the piper, with the excesses of largely unregulated capitalism crashing down all around us — everything from the crisis in unregulated lending, to lax mine safety measures, to lead paint in the toys our children play with.

The time to tell that story, bluntly and without apology, is now