Greg Mitchell's Blog, page 196

Nothing Secedes Like Success

The great Garry Wills (until recently quite the moderate) with eye-opener at NYRB comparing certain aspects of today's revolting GOP to what happened before the Civil War.  Basically, a form of secession already taking place.

The presiding spirit of this neo-secessionism is a resistance to majority rule. We see this in the Senate, where a Democratic majority is resisted at every turn by automatic recourses to the filibuster. We see it in the attempt to repeal the seventeenth amendment, which allows a majority of voters to choose a state’s senators. The repealers want that choice to go back to the state legislatures, where they rule thanks to anti-majority gerrymandering.

The Old South went from virtual to actual secession only when the addition of non-slave Western states threatened their disproportionate hold on the Congress and the Court (which had been Southern in makeup when ruling on Dred Scott). It is difficult to conjecture what will happen if the modern virtual seceders do not get their way. Their anti-government rhetoric is reaching new intensity. Some would clearly rather ruin than be ruled by a “foreign-born Muslim.” What will the Republicans who are not fanatics, only cowards, do in that case?

Pundits on Notice

Update: My new piece at The Nation: "New Pundit Fact Promises More Truth--And False Equivalence?"

We've had issues with PolitiFact over the years but fact-checking news stories is certainly a worthy endeavor.  Now those folks, and their related Poynter Institute, just announced they will soon launch PunditFact, covering columnists and TV hosts and guests--one of the all-time challenges, especially since most of them claim they are just offering opinions so can play fast and very loose with the facts.  Seems they may have to launch a FoxWatch just for that species.

"Pundits on TV and radio, as well as bloggers and columnists, are prominent voices in our political discourse, yet sometimes they blur the lines between opinion and fact," said Neil Brown, editor and vice president of the Times. "Now we will hold them accountable, much as we’ve done with politicians."

"Creating broad and nuanced media coverage of complex social issues is all the more difficult when the facts are often disregarded or ignored," said Jonathan Barzilay, director of the Freedom of Expression Unit at the Ford Foundation. "PunditFact is poised to play a critical part in reaffirming the role of facts in our civic dialogue."

New Poll Dooms GOP on Shutdown?

Amazing numbers just out tonight from NBC/Wall St. Journal poll on the shutdown. Opinion against the GOP has been moving, slowly but steadily, but now it's landslide or mudslide.  Dig this:

By a 22-point margin (53 percent to 31 percent), the public blames the Republican Party more for the shutdown than President Barack Obama – a wider margin of blame for the GOP than the party received during the poll during the last shutdown in 1995-96.

Just 24 percent of respondents have a favorable opinion about the GOP, and only 21 percent have a favorable view of the Tea Party, which are both at all-time lows in the history of poll.  And one year until next fall’s midterm elections, American voters prefer a Democratic-controlled Congress to a Republican-controlled one by eight percentage points (47 percent to 39 percent), up from the Democrats’ three-point advantage last month (46 percent to 43 percent).

Also, Obamacare getting more popular.

The health-care law has become more popular since the shutdown began. Thirty-eight percent see the Affordable Care Act (or “Obamacare”) as a good idea, versus 43 percent who see it as a bad idea – up from 31 percent good idea, 44 percent bad idea last month.

Get Loaded and Call Your Congressman

That's the "loaded" concept behind new site DrunkDialCongress which suggests you have a few stiff drinks--they even provide the recipes--and then call your congressional rep and complain about the shutdown.  This follows reports of GOPers drinking heavily on the Hill to keep their spirits up, so to speak.  They also provide talking points, such as "Grandma Can't Get Her Cancer Treatment," "You had one job to do and you didn't do it" and "I can't watch the panda."  And you can allegedly put in your zip code and dial directly, though it didn't work for me.

One of These Is Real

Group that opposes "Redskins" and "Indians" team names

Another Nobel Canadian

All hail Alice Munro but as I've written before, they should have picked another Canadian for the Nobel:  Mr. Leonard Cohen, novelist, poet, songwriter.

Shep and the News Deck

Great "Daily Show' segment last night on the new set at the Fox which looks like an Apple store that just had an orgasm.


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Troops Shut Down

Old pal and IAVA leader Paul Rieckhoff with Maddow last night on the shutdown and the military.


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GOP Passing Gas?

Yet another "Daily Show" segment on the shutdown last night, this time probing why the GOP planned it, wants to brag about it yet also blames it on the Dems.   Or a dog.


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Marvelous Night for a Van Dance

As I noted a few months back, a 5 CD package for Van Morrison's classic Moondance album coming in a few days.  Van has said he is not pleased.   Anyway, MOJO has posted a preview of one track left off the old album and now on the new one, "I Shall Sing," which has been covered by several others.  It's fine but Calypso fluff, and fine with me that it was omitted from the original.