Campaign Blog: News & Updates

The "liberal" media apparently strikes again, with the New York Times hiring Bill Kristol as columnist. Ben Wasserstein at the New Republic offers this helpful reminder of a sentiment I can't help but find all too common.

As Isaac points out below, Bill Kristol has apparently been hired as the Times's newest columnist. Jonathan Chait wrote a "TRB" about Kristol back in August. It begins:

It's hard to believe that, not so long ago, neoconservative foreign policy thinking overflowed with ideas and idealism. The descent has been steep, and nowhere is it more apparent than in the pages of The Weekly Standard-- particularly in William Kristol's editorials, which have come to consist of stubborn denials of any bad news, diatribes about internal enemies, and harangues against the cowardice of Republican dissenters. ...

Sounds like a certain local blogger we all know and laugh at.

I was all set to bemoan the lack of time in the day to blog. So I kinda had my heart set on YouTubing some leftover Christmas cheer. First things first, here's that ...

Billy Squier: Christmas Is The Time To Say I Love You

The Waitresses: Christmas Wrapping

Of the few items I can work into a blog thought or two, here's that ...

» Chron: Judge seals Harris DA's revealing e-mails (Brian Rogers)
It strikes me as downright comical how "vigilant" the rightwing bloggers were when Borris Miles was defending his property, going to far as to call for the DA to investigate the matter. Now that the DA himself seems to have some skeletons in his closet ... silence. Maybe if the story were more hyperlocal? Or could it be that their pretense of objectivity is just a worn-out lie? Whatever the case, Rosenthal's campaign against Bradford just got a lot more interesting ... and it was already promising to be entertaining enough to begin with.

» NYT: Bhutto Assassinated in Attack on Rally (Salman Masood, Graham Bowley)
Just not good.

Seriously now ... Iowa caucuses in a week. I've got to find some time to dwell on that for at least a short while.

Paul Burka once more demonstrates how "right about Texas politics" he really is. Ah well, at least he's man enough to say he got some things wrong. Barrett's November re-election is an even tougher row to hoe, but his win this week certainly changes the narrative on what really constitutes a "Republican district."

Back in the illegal DeLay redistricting insanity, this lil blog was crawling with Republican apologists who suggested that districts represented by Jim Turner, Charlie Stenholm, Chet Edwards and Ralph Hall were drawn to be "Democratic districts." Nevermind the absence of other Democrats winnning so much as a plurality in their jurisdictions. Funny how silent that vacuous argument is these days. By the same logic, one would have to believe that the lege drew the current 17th & 22nd CD to be a Democratic district. Which would be ironic since the guy who used to represent the 22nd is the one who controlled how the maps were drawn.

New issue of Democracy Journal now out. Here's what's on my immediate reading list from it:

» Wiki-Government (Beth Simone Noveck)
Noveck covers some examples (some in practice, some still hypothetical) of how the "wisdom of crowds" might benefit government decision-making. The aspect that she writes about from her own experience is relatively objective - patent review. I think there's room to take this approach to even some subjectively-based parts of government. For instance, the State Department essentially operates with this approach from their internal community of analysts. Conceivable, an external approach should be workable. Beyond that, I think the approach should be viewed for use by local and state governments as well. The challenge there will be in creating a working universe of collaborators. The smaller you get, the less effective you get. That doesn't rule it out for city government, but it is one more hurdle to clear in making it work.

» The Word War (Andrei Cherny)
Is the phrase, "Global War on Terror" a bumper sticker? Apparently, the Chaiman of the Joint Chiefs thinks so. Does that make him shrill? Andrei Cherny explores what that means, drawing more of a Cold War parallel to the current endeavor. As is pretty much always the case, I tend to agree with Andrei.

» Keeping the Faith (Mary Jo Bane)
Just another one of those lengthy, nerdy book reviews that I read with rapt attention. Bane is reviewing John DiIulio's latest book, "Godly Republic." In it, DiIulio tries to recover the promise that he sees as unfulfilled by the Bush adminstration's Faith Based Initiative. What's interesting to me in both this review and DiIulio's views is that I'm probably one of those targets to be persuaded. Specifically, Bane offers that progressives should be more open-minded toward what DiIulio strives to accomplish.

And yet, there are issues I have with the concept on it's merits while still being torn over any conclusive view on the matter. For one, DiIulio notes that much of what currently is in place among churches engaged in social work does so at the margins: either very minimalist involvement in those programs which require extensive commitments and only more polite forms of engagement (weekend volunteering at a soup kitchen, for instance) at the other end. And that's just among those who do get out and do some work. Bane notes that DiIulio believes churches should do more. And presumably, if more federal bucks flowed through to churches engaged in doing so, maybe they would.

But from the opposite side of the traditional church-state concern - that of one who would prefer his church be unencumbered by governmental meddling - I'm a bit averse to the concept of the state incentivising church actions. Instead, I take my cue here from Pastor Joel Hunter (or, as I call him, my other Pastor Joel) - that churches ought to be so far ahead of the state in social work that they're beating down our doors asking questions. Granted, the number of areas where that's the case is fairly small. And that's truly the shame of it all.

But at the risk of letting idealism be the enemy of progress, it's worth considering the dilemma of how modern American ideologies fail to fit within a Christian ethic. At it's worst, liberalism induces a number of federal programs which put social work out of sight for most of us. We pay our taxes, chalk it up to curing some problem or another out in the world, and fail to see the need to engage with the world. On the other side, conservatism tends to lead to an individualistic nature of man - favoring and rewarding those who endeavor over and above others, even if at their expense. That also guts the central claim of Christianity to "go out in the world" and join in community. It's no accident that several pastors throughout history have been labelled socialist for taking Jesus' teachings to heart.

I'd certainly point out that there are lessons policymakers should take from the best faith-based charities. I'm less convinced that they should be joined at the hip, but I'm also inclined to favor removing any barriers to the successful charities of the world facing. Muddying the waters even more, I'm not convinced that DiIulio's prescription seems politically feasible - that faith-based charities erect barriers to proselytizing as well as that they accept non-discrimination clauses for employment. On the surface, those policies seem to not be all that palatable. Whether that's just a noisy few or the prevailing sentiment, I don't know. But listening to the likes of Don Wildmon railing against Bush-41's signing of the ADA laws or listening to Rick Scarbarough rail against ENDA, I'm left with the conclusion that - much as I strenuously disagree with a single merit of their opinion on those two laws - I really don't care to see churches made into yet another special interest group relying on the strength of their lobbying power over the strength of the results they evidence by their actions.

» Loads of other good stuff still on my plate: Matthew Dalleck on DHS/FEMA; Rick Pearlstein on McGovern's lessons (and lack thereof) for todays liberal; Jim Sleeper with an education take that has my interest; and Tom Schaller on regulating "public bads." Among several others that may or may not interest you otherwise.

No Child Left Behind, supposedly an antidote to the "soft bigotry of low expectations," has instead spawned lowered standards. The law will eventually be reauthorized because doubling down on losing bets is what Washington does. But because NCLB contains incentives for perverse behavior, reauthorization should include legislation empowering states to ignore it.

That's George Will's take on NCLB and it's also likely going to be the sad legacy of the endeavor, also. Funny, just a handful of years ago, this blog was crawling with Republican bloggers making the case for the legislation. Give 'em enough time and maybe they'll go back to wanting to dismantle the Department of Education. Such is the schizophrenia on the right these days.

Dan Bartlett outs the talking points meme. Read on as he builds up to a classic crescendo in this excerpt ...

What about the blogs?

We had to set up a whole new apparatus to deal with the challenges they pose. Are they real journalists? The Washington Post, for example, has journalists who are now bloggers. Do you treat them as bloggers? Do they get credentials?

Let's think of it as a practical matter. If one of those journalists-turned-bloggers, Chris Cillizza, e-mails you to say he needs an interview, and at the same time one of the Post's print reporters--say, Dan Balz--e-mails you and says he needs an interview, and you can do only one . . .

Balz.

Because the print edition of the Post has more of an impact?

Because Balz is on multiple platforms. He's booked more easily on television. He's read by more people. He influences people a bit more. Now, the question might not be as much Chris versus Dan as maybe, "Is it Dan Balz or one of the guys at [the conservative blog] Power Line?"

Yeah, or what if [conservative blogger] Hugh Hewitt called?

That's when you start going, "Hmm . . ." Because they do reach people who are influential.

Well, they reach the president's base.

That's what I mean by influential. I mean, talk about a direct IV into the vein of your support. It's a very efficient way to communicate. They regurgitate exactly and put up on their blogs what you said to them. It is something that we've cultivated and have really tried to put quite a bit of focus on.

I couldn't have said it any better. It's funny to watch some folks hide behind a self-imagined veneer of objectivity when the partisans they're making apologies for view them as nothing more than a stooge. Meh ... everyone needs a laugh I suppose. And Lord knows Bartlett just provided my best one for the day ;-)

» I pretty much lost all respect for Morgan Spurlock in the opening minutes of Supersize Me - where he couldn't even down a full Quarter Pounder meal without feigning sickness. But I've got to admit, this is pretty tempting: Osama Bin Laden on camera. I'll stand by in a cautious state of skepticism for now. The movie hits Sundance in a year. Is that standard operating procedure if you know OBL's whereabouts?

» Maggard sits down with Pardee. Blogger digs through old clothes to find my Klingler jersey. I can't say I'm 100% gung-ho (which is totally different from being as giddy as a schoolgirl, mind you) about it. If Klingler's good enough to be an OC and/or QB coach for Pardee, then he should be good enough for just about any other coach in at least a QB coach capacity. If Pardee's the one, then I sincerely hope his next season in scarlet red is better than any of the other coaches in their first seasons elsewhere. Still, it's a crapshoot no matter which way you turn. Remember this: Dana Dimel came to UH with a pretty good Head Coaching track record at Wyoming. Lotta good that did him ... or us.

» The JHV pulls a Peter Brown and endorses both JoJo and Joe. And just to one-up Brown, they pull a dual endorsement for the District D seat as well. Without a doubt, the easiest calls for our side are on the parts of town that are well outside my hood: Annette Dwyer and Carol Galloway are far and away the better choices for any right-thinking Dem. Or left for that matter. The rest, I leave you to your own devices to sort out. I don't live in D, either. So I'll punt. And for AL5, I'll just say that I'm going to go with one of Pedro's picks.

The incriminating text:

Between the airport and the committee's office, we (my escorts and I) passed by the sprawling Hezbollah tent city -- some 200-plus heavily armed Hezbollah militiamen -- positioned between the parliament and the Serail, basically the headquarters of the prime minister, his deputies, and all the cabinet members.

The correction:

Did I physically see and count 200 men carrying weapons? No. If I mistakenly conveyed that impression to my readers, I apologize.

If?

Mistakenly?

On some level, I suppose you just have to admire the chutzpah to write such a qualified correction ... IF I said what I said gave YOU the impression that what I SAID was true, which was the point of writing exactly what I wrote ... THEN I apologize.

On the other hand, I seriously cannot make up a line like this::

This is a case where I should have caveated the reporting by saying that I only witnessed a fraction of what happened (from a moving car) ...

In other words: I should have said up front how I was just making stuff up. Amazing how folks like Instapundit, Powerline and Whited (and just about any other Republican blogger you can name) have been so silent on the issue despite their "genuine" grieving over TNR's Beauchamp incident.

Interesting video from last week ...

Welcome to Webb County politics. Cuellar's brother (along with a small gaggle of others) is running against Sheriff Flores, so consider that when viewing. Oh, and Glen Beck's never even been to the border ... not once. Consider that also. Mark McKinnon - one of those rightwing political hacks that somehow manage to find themselves in the Op-Ed pages of the so-called liberal Houston Chronicle - has another view on the topic.

The other aspect of this that's interesting to me is that Cuellar has been playing much better with his fellow Dems on several issues of late. Note his line of argument here as one small example. S-CHIP being another.

Is it time for some of the blogospheric left to come around and rethink Cuellar a bit? If the Flores-Cuellar bloodfeud escalates, be careful of what your alternative might be in that district. I've said it once, I'll say it again ... just because a lot of them are poor and brown doesn't mean they're as Democratic as you might think.

A few more items to aggrepost while I stave off work and editing chores ...

» Art Briles out at UH, in at Baylor. I'd love to rip any coach that heads from UH to Baylor, but in this case, I can't. Briles as a huge part of Cougar history. Certainly, that adds to the agony of it all. But at the end of the day, UH is stuck in Conference USA while Baylor is in a real football conference. It's hard to begrudge anyone for wanting to compete against the best ... regardless of whether the paycheck doubles or not. Best of luck Coach Briles. Be sure to schedule UH sometime soon so we can really express our sentiments more thoroughly. (Note to self: Does the MOB rent themselves out to other schools?)

» Henry Hyde passes away. Mike Huckabee's 15 minutes are now ticking. Sad to learn of the first. As difficult as Hyde made it at times (like say, when he tried to overturn the 1996 election), I had a fair amount of respect for him. Though his policies will no doubt engender debate, he at least strived to be consistently pro-life. I caught a bit of the GOP YouTube debate. Still don't care for the format, but I guess it'll only get better. And maybe it's due to having seen Huck work out all those "witty" one-liners in his week-long appearance with Kenneth Copeland, but he still strikes me as a cold fish when he tries to be funny. He's not without his redeeming qualities, but the pandering schtick I'm seeing in him lately is a bridge way too far for my taste to even respect him as a nominee. If my calls to read Greg Boyd's "Myth of a Christian Nation" have gone unheeded, I'm even more strongly recommending Philip Yancey's "The Jesus I Never Knew" - chapter 13 - as a refresher course. Lacking that, go read Phil Cooke's post. It sums up my sentiments rather well.

» Van Halen adds Houston to it's tour (1/28). $80 for a decent seat. The Briles-less Texas Bowl with the Old 97s jamming ... $35 for a decent seat (12/28). Stellar Kart at Reliant for cheap (1/26). Doubtful that all three of those are going to happen, but it's a nice selection to choose from. Also on a musical note, an obscure release out of Missouri has my full attention and esteemed recommendation. New tunage on MySpace. And a somewhat less obscure release comes out this week from the former lead singer of Stryper. Oh, and have I plugged the latest Carrie Underwood CD enough times yet? Tis the season.

» Anyone seen an Amazon Kindle yet? As one who probably qualifies as a target audience for this gadget, I've got to admit to being intrigued. But the test for me can only come from operating it with an actual chapter or two. I'm a bit reluctant to lose the "real book feel" but the prospect of downloading Dostoevsky for a few bucks while lounging in my pajamas, untethered to the PC? ... therein lies the temptation.

» Oh, and Ed Kilgore has a great little post. Just another in a long series that busts the myth of a liberal media. Remember ... if the partisan nature of that headline were reversed, Republicans scream bloody murder. When it happens to us? Meh. Nevermind the complete vacuousness of the "liberal media" belief.

Interesting tidbit for the day, re: local politics. Joe Trevino has been busily collecting endorsements and campaign dough for the runoff (two things that were in short supply for his first round of the race). Lots of Hispanic locals lining up behind him ... no shock there. That's certainly on par with Jolanda Jones getting endorsements from African-American pols.

One things, though: Peter Brown is now listed as an endorsee of both candidates. Trevino's endorsment is sent out via email from their camp. Jolanda's endorsment has been on her website, updated on the 14th of this month.

UPDATE: Matt Stiles does the investigative work and gets to the bottom of things. All I can say is: Wow! I think I'm set for comedy material for the 2009 campaign season now.

Blogging MSM reporters take note: Doonsbury's onto you ;-)

» Tom Tancredo brings his anti-immigration Presidential campaign to a restaurant in Houston. One has to wonder whether he'll check the citizenship of the folks refilling his drink. Personally, I think it'd be hilarious if the entire staff walked out moments before the event.

» More good charter school news today. This time, from the local rag.

» More John Coby blogging to pass on ... this one the word that Amber Moon is looking at taking on HD144. It's still not quite the stereotype I've got in my mind for a candidate in that district, but it's a dramatic step up. I'd blockwalk for her.

» In other candidate news, Richard Morrison (via Kuff) makes it official for his Ft. Bend County Commissioner contest in Precinct One. Ya gotta admire that man's willingness to fight uphill. Best of luck Richard!

» In even more candidate-related news, Kuff has another must-read as it pertains to Saint Dan Patrick's turf in the northwestern part of the county. One part of the post pertains to Trey Fleming, running in HD135 by "put[ting] together a campaign to knock on 8 to 9,000 1-R Republican doors and bring them my way." A better idea is to locate 0-R Republicans - folks who may not really even identify as Republican. My counts show 6000 1/3Rs and 39k+ that didn't vote in any of the last three primaries but did vote in at least one of the last 4 general elections. That's a far richer (and smarter) pool to go fishing in.

Secondly, there's Kuff's take on Danno ...

As for Danno and his full dance card, I'll just say this: For a guy who reportedly has statewide ambitions, he's sure taking a path that will accumulate enemies. I can't think offhand of a State Senator who's been that vocal about State House members and the possibility of primary opponents for them. Lots of folks don't care for this kind of meddling in other people's races - ask Sue Lovell about that. I will say that Patrick has certainly been true to his promise to not be a "business as usual" politician - well, other than taking lobbyist money - and this is consistent with that approach. I just wonder how sustainable it is. Maybe we'll find out the next time Patrick himself is on the ballot.

... to which can only agree with wholeheartedly. But don't let that stop Dan from accumulating his intraparty enemies. If Dan wants to be nothing more than a State Senator, and possibly a Congressman, for life, then his approach won't have many negative side effects. But a rule in politics is that people don't just go away. They have a way of sticking around and remembering stuff. And while the folks with a reason for animus toward Patrick may not go by some fancy elected official title, they'll still be around ... and eventually matter.

» Kurt Campbell pens what should be the most important read of the day. Brooks' column can be seen somewhat as an alternate take. I think the truth is somewhat inbetween the two points. It is possible to have fragmentation and still recognize some binding forces in other cultures whose albums I don't own. I mean, try going to a sporting event when Cotton Eyed Joe breaks out. Tell me you don't see some kid wearing a Ramones t-shirt with the Hot Topic price tag still on it doing a hoe-down ... in Massachusetts!

» Amazon has rolled out their alternate concept for the book. Scads of links out there for the item to break down the pros and cons of the initial product. I'm intrigued enough about it to keep an eye on future development, at least. The price is clearly a hundred or so too steep. I'd definitely want to play around with the thing before plunking down that kind of jack for it. But the $9.99 price point is sweet. Read the Newsweek link's story about one of the publishing honchos being startled to learn that his books are being sold at that price. It's clear that Amazon is giving blades away in order to make money on the razor. So to speak. I'll likely be a target customer for version 2.0 assuming it comes down in price a bit and starts getting a few tweaks.

» Up at my old school, Andy Cargile retires as principal. I'm trying to jog my memory here - and I'm not willing to go through storage to dig up any old yearbooks - but I think Cargile was a counselor during my day. Even less sure, but I think he was in charge of my range in the alphabet for a year or two. Either way, hats off Mr. Cargile! On a football sidenote, it's perhaps no surprise that all of the local reporters are picking a Trinity-Permian showdown after this week's round of playoff fun.
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A few quick notes ...

» The Dynamo have won their second-consecutive MLS Championship. Does anyone really care?

» Decent Chronicle profile of CD22's Nick Lampson. I'm sure many of his votes will give the loyalist base their own bit of grief. But I suspect that a Republican being sworn in in 2009 would be received far worse.

» Annette Dwyer for City Council District E ... that's from District E's very own Democratic activist, John Coby. It'll be interesting to see where other Dem types go in the dual-GOP runoff. Stace, fwiw, has noted his preference for his own local in the hunt, Mike Sullivan. A few more voices in this mix ought to make the conversation even more interesting.

» Seeking a 'Gold Standard' in D.C. Charter Education (Jay Mathews)

Leading into my project for next week, this is a pretty good indicator of some of what I'm sure to cover. I've been a fan of charter schools for a long while, but there's a good deal of work that needs to happen in order for them to maintain their advantage. Mathews identifies a certification system for the better performing schools. It strikes me as interesting that such a concept has taken hold when it's been - for the past 8 years, at least - a government perogative to certify and label schools. It sure would seem more fitting to allow a third-party independent group with a stake in the outcome to do some of this. Guess some conservatives actually do think that government has some of the answers ;-)

» Mike Huckabee's obviously been making some strides in the polls lately. And not the bogus Ron Paul polls. One aspect of his strategy that hasn't gotten much pub is his outreach to churches. Frank Lockwood notes that Huckabee has taped segments for appearing on Kenneth Copeland's broadcast. Huckbee's also made a stop at Southlake, TX's Gateway Church (6/16/2007). I'm guessing that wasn't his only jaunt to the pulpit set. There's bound to be others. Anyone looked through some Iowa church websites?

In a way, I like Huck. there's an element of fairness in him that's admirable. He's defended the Clinton's marriage as well as Hillary's faith. There's loads of areas where I disagree with him on policy, of course. But at a point in time where everyone seems to mint their own coin of insult, Huckabee warrants a little praise there. On the downside, his sense of humor is lacking and I'd bet that it puts a damper on the ability of people to connect to him. Still, he's in the second-place mix with Thompson and McCain ... ya know, the two guys whose inexorable rise to the top was all-but-certain at various points in the past?

» Speaking of pastors under federal investigation, I made it out to see Joyce Meyer Friday night. Joyce - aka, the second coming of Polly Holiday* - actually wasn't all that bad. My primary draw was the music of Darlene Zschech, which was decidedly and very much my cup of tea.

Oh, and a little extra something to think about this morning here in H-town:

* - If you're a real glutton for punishment, try this link for your Polly Holliday fix!

» DMN: Unequal Justice: What's wrong with Texas?

Great series of stories running in the Dallas Morning News about crimes committed by parolees. What got particular interest this morning was that my own State Rep. got some quotes in there. Interestingly, he's been trying to get something passed that you'd think the so-called "tough on crime GOP" would love. But apparently, it's been an uphill battle:

For several years, state Rep. Scott Hochberg has fought an often lonely battle in the Legislature to ban probation as a sentence for murder. That's what he was working on earlier this year, when Mr. Dutton promised everyone free meals.

Mr. Hochberg's inspiration was the 1998 murder trial of a man who shot a tow-truck driver for trying to remove his vehicle from a reserved parking spot. Harris County jurors convicted the killer but awarded him probation after six of his co-workers - firefighters in uniform - praised him on the witness stand.

But Mr. Hochberg has had difficulty building support. Texas prosecutors and defense lawyers don't want anything to limit their flexibility when making deals.

"They each tenaciously try to hold on to the tools in their tool chest," the Houston Democrat said.

In this year's legislative session, Mr. Hochberg got half of what he wanted. For murders committed after Sept. 1, juries cannot sentence people to probation for murder. But prosecutors still can cut the kind of deals The News found prevalent in its study.

Few expect the new law to change jurors' behavior much. They often have the option to convict a murder defendant on a lesser charge, such as manslaughter, for which probation remains available.

Prosecutors will also gain more power. They can sell probation by telling murder defendants that a plea bargain is the only way to get it.

Right up front, I'll point out that I actually disagree with Scott on this. While I can understand the outrage over the trial in question, I'm typically a fan of letting judges be judges and jurors be jurors. And if you don't like the way they rule, vote out the judge. Still, it's remarkable to me that this is described as a "lonely battle." I'm curious where the state level pressure is to NOT head down the path of the national trend of more restrictive sentencing guidelines. Judges? District Attorneys?

Even more interesting is that you've got the District Attorneys from two supposedly liberal counties saying that they don't offer parole for murder cases. Read through the entire series and you get a few clues on the situation. Good stuff throughout.