Michael Tomasky's Blog, page 61

Iran's reactor and the US response | Michael Tomasky

There's been a lot of talk around Washington this week involving Iran, Israel and the new nuclear power facility Iran is about to put on line. According to John Bolton, Israel now has, what, three days left to strike the facility, after which it will be too late. Bolton is also no doubt busy writing his speech for the big 9-11 Stop the Islamization of America rally, which will also feature that man of peace Geert Wilders.

At any rate, it seems fairly clear that Israel is not going to bomb...

Palin's losing streak | Michael Tomasky

It seems to me worth noting that Sarah Palin has been on something of a cold streak in terms of her endorsements. The AP's Philip Elliott:

It's been a summer of setbacks for Sarah Palin. Candidate "cubs" endorsed by the Mama Grizzly in Chief have been suffering a recent string of primary election losses.

The Republicans' 2008 vice presidential nominee promised a pack of "mama grizzly" candidates would rise up and defeat Democrats in this November's elections. But office-seekers she supported...

What's wrong with the liberal position on the mosque | Michael Tomasky

First, housekeeping: no quiz this week. Maybe I left that part of my brain at the beach. I promise a good one next Friday.

Okay, now: maybe some of you are getting tired of the mosque controversy, and maybe some of you from outside the US have trouble understanding why it's dragging on so long. It's not only that it's being demagogued by people like Newt Gingrich, although it's mostly that. But the debate strikes very deeply at the most fundamental definitions of Americanism held by liberals a...

Operation Barbour-ossa | Michael Tomasky

I spent most of the day trying to avoid reading Politico's big Haley Barbour puff piece, but I finally succumbed, as I knew I would. He's the most powerful man in GOP politics, they say, because he runs the Republican Governors' Association and has lots of money to dole out to candidates.

And then:

Barbour's clout is also derived from his serious interest in running for president in 2012, a point he is making clear in private conversations. His logic, one adviser told POLITICO, is simple: When...

Obama as Muslim and the new rules of spin | Michael Tomasky

It doesn't surprise me, really, that the number of Americans believing Barack Obama is a Muslim has gone up in 14 months from 11% to 18%, according to a survey out today from Pew (Time magazine got 24% in another poll released today).

Here we have a case where a group of people is quite vocally arguing that he is, while no one is bothering to argue the opposite case, that he isn't. There are two reasons for this. First, it's just self-evident to those of us who believe (know) he's not a...

Some mosque backstory | Michael Tomasky

Now we begin to get some background reporting (finally) on the lower Manhattan mosque. The New York Observer yesterday profiled developer Sharif El-Gamal, and reporter Dana Rubinstein produced these paragraphs:

He began visiting mosques downtown near where he lived and worked, and came away with the realization that there were more mosque-goers than there were mosques to accommodate them. Some mosques had to hold four services a night, and still there were people praying on the streets.

He...

Obama and the Ground Zero mosque | Michael Tomasky

There were a hundred excellent reasons to duck it and stay out of it. But what the hell. He's the president

Yes, I'm leaving for the beach momentarily, and my daughter is in my lap and for the moment not crying, but I felt obliged to write a quick take on Obama and the lower Manhattan mosque.

Good for him for saying what he did. There were a hundred excellent reasons to duck it and stay out of it. But what the hell. He's the president. A president ought to lead sometimes. Say what he actually t...

Obama and the mosque | Michael Tomasky

Yes, I'm leaving for the beach momentarily, and my daughter is in my lap and for the moment not crying, but I felt obliged to write a quick take on Obama and the lower Manhattan mosque.

Good for him for saying what he did. There were a hundred excellent reasons to duck it and stay out of it. But what the hell. He's the president. A president ought to lead sometimes. Say what he actually thinks about something. Hang the consequences.

This is going to be demagogued to death in the next few days. ...

Not the worst songs ever (by and large)

Eric Alterman wrote up a list the other day of the 20 worst songs ever, according to him:

Imagine
Afternoon Delight
The Night Chicago Died
Billy Don't be a Hero
You light up my Life
Mary Queen of Arkansas
The Angel
Wildfire
Playgrounds in my Mind
Seasons in the Sun
Ebony and ivory
My love
Let 'Em In
Sometimes when we touch
Baby I'm a Want You
Theme from "Arthur"
One Tin Soldier
You May Be Right
We Built This City
Kumbaya
Who's Ruling Who?

I'm not going to go through it one by one. I agree about Imagine, as I've

The optimistic Democratic case | Michael Tomasky

Joel Benenson, the White House's pollster, spins the numbers in the new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll. Here's the optimistic Democratic case, via Ben Smith:

Today's NBC/Wall St. Journal poll underscores the fact that with fewer than 90 days until the midterm elections, the Republican Party's standing is at one of its lowest points ever and its competitive position vs. the Democrats looks much as it did in the summers of 1998 and 2002, neither of which were "wave" elections...

...73 percent say...