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Election 2008 Giuliani Politics

A thoughtful hit piece

The New Republic‘s John B. Judis published a thoughtful hit piece on Giuliani today, examining the role Giuliani’s Catholic upbringing and particular family background have had on this thought. Judis carefully identifies Giuliani’s Catholicism as a more traditional strain formed pre-Vatican II. (I initially was a bit wary to see The New Republic taking on Giuliani’s Catholicism, but Judis handled it well.) He puts into context Giuliani’s quote from a 1994 press conference about freedom and authority that has been making the rounds on the internet :

“Freedom is about authority. Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do.” Asked in the question period to explain what he meant, Giuliani said, “Authority protects freedom. Freedom can become anarchy.”

Judis explains the context in a sympathetic but critical way:

…individuals have to be encouraged to use their liberty well; and that is where authority comes into play. Authority, embodied by law and the state, encourages–at times, forces–free individuals to contribute to the common good. Or, to put it in Aristotelian terms:Authority–by creating a just order–encourages liberty over license.

Judis overall judges Giuliani’s first term as mayor as a success but excoriates him for overreaching in his second term:

Giuliani’s seemingly insatiable appetite for authority was evident, first and foremost, in the way he ran his administration. Obsessed, as always, with loyalty, he demanded that power be centralized in his hands and that he receive credit for any of the administration’s achievements. Even the Department of Environmental Protection’s daily reports on the water level in the reservoir had to be cleared through Giuliani’s press office before being released.

And then of course, there was Rudy trying mightily to hang onto power after 9/11, pushing for an extension of his term and a repeal of the term limits. It seems to me that most everyone who is paying attention has dismissed Giuliani. The exceptions are those who believe the price of safety is eternal vigilance, and that freedom is just another word for government omnipresence.

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Humor Life

The Cuddle Mattress

Some xkcd wonderfulness.

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Humor

“I don’t want you to be the guy in the PG-13 movie everyone’s really rooting for…”

A classic for a Saturday night…Peace.

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Humor

Making everything better: 99 Luftballoons

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Baseball

“Tessie”

I am not, and have never been, a Red Sox fan. If I were offered a deal at some point that if I became a Red Sox fan, I would become a billionaire or president of the United States of America, I would probably take it. I love the Mets. But I think I would give them up for that because I don’t love them that much. Especially after the spectacular collapse this season.

I would not give up such things as my beliefs, my religion, or any significant relationships in order to become a billionaire or president though. I don’t think I would give up baseball either. And I certainly wouldn’t fake being a Red Sox fan, or a fan of any other team, in order to get these things. I would change my team allegiance. The Red Sox are a very attractive organization with one of the best histories in sports.

I wanted to get that out of the way.

Superstitions

What I really wanted to point out though is the great story of the song “Tessie” and the role this song and the Dropkick Murphys have played in the 2004 Red Sox and in this year’s Sox domination. “Tessie”was apparently one of the Red Sox theme songs from 1903 until 1918 when they won a slew of championships. But after 1918, the song fell out of use. That is until 2004 when the Dropkick Murphys decided to re-do the song, and then of course, the Sox won the World Series for the first time in 86 years. It certainly seems like magic to me.

The superstition embedded in baseball is evident when such stats as this are taken seriously:

During the ’04 season, the Murphys were invited to sing “Tessie” live at Fenway Park. Incredibly, the Red Sox are 5-0 with four final at-bat wins when the band appears.

Don’t think the Red Sox brass isn’t aware of the Dropkick Murphys’ magic. With the Red Sox seeking their second American League pennant in three years this season, they invited the band to perform their famous song prior to Game 7 of the AL Championship Series. (Source.)

And of course, the Sox are already trying to get the Murphys back to Boston in case of a Game 7 in the World Series. Here’s the song:

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Election 2008 Obama Politics

“Throwing a few elbows…”

CNN has an article by a political analyst describing what Obama needs to do in order to gain ground on Clinton.  He needs to “get tough” and “show some fight.”  Or as Obama has described it, to “throw a few elbows”.  Obama’s political team certainly is ready to fight and fight back; and Obama himself has said he knows he needs to, and that he’s willing to.  I do not quite buy the premise that many in the media seem to have that Obama has not wanted to “get tough”. I still maintain my position that this is part of the Obama campaign’s strategy to wait, and then begin, late in October or early November to make his move.  This seems to be precisely what he is doing, hitting Clinton harder on Iraq and Iran, calling her out by name, and by suggestion.  The press will need a story to write about in the next two months until the election.  The “coronation” story will get boring, and with a quick succession of primaries and most voters still undecided, momentum could be everything.  Only a ruthless political machine and a lot of money could stop the momentum an Obama win in Iowa would generate.  And of course, this is precisely what Hillary brings to the table.  If Obama wins Iowa, and currently, he is not leading, the question will come down to this: can Obama’s campaign fight dirty enough to take out Hillary’s machine and sink her candidacy.

A harsher critique of Clinton, highlighting her current hawkishness and her Bush-like views on executive privilege, continuing to harp on her divisiveness; a Gore endorsement; one or two more Clinton mistakes; a few strong sound bites that get play; and a bit of luck.  With these on his side, Obama takes Iowa and sets up the real contest: where Hillary and Obama slug it out and all sorts of stories about Obama are leaked to Drudge, The New York Post and Fox News.  How Obama would respond to this hypothetical onslaught – that undoubtedly would become real in the event he wins Iowa or New Hampshire – will determine if he becomes president.  I believe this will be the real test.  If Obama’s “politics of hope” can survive and not be tarnished by “throwing a few elbows”, and if he is able to thwart Clinton in this, he will have proven he has the stuff to win the general election.

He will have proven that he is a candidate the Democrats can accept, as the piece in CNN said:

Democrats are tired of being bullied. They want a candidate who will punch bullies in the nose.

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Humor Life

Socrates on the Train

Socrates on the LIRR

On the way home today, I sat next to this man who I dubbed “Socrates on the LIRR”.  He got off in Merrick – a thoroughly unphilosophical place.  He was also carrying a cell phone – which seems to undermine any reflection in my experience.  But he held it in his hands constantly instead of putting it in a pocket, which contributed to his other-ness.  But the book he was carrying had no title, gold lining, and was ancient looking.  He was constantly rubbing his beard in thought.

That’s the story of my ride home on the train.

Categories
Election 2008 Iraq Politics Roundup The War on Terrorism

Worth Mulling Over

  • Noam Scheiber over at TNR on how the media controls politics, specifically Huckabee’s campaign.
    His cynical theory which strikes me as highly plausible:

    1.) The beginning of what should have been a Huckabee boomlet in August happened way out in Ames, Iowa, while the beginning of the actual Huckabee boomlet this past weekend took place in Washington, DC, making it a lot easier for journalists, pundits, and bloggers to cover–and, er, create. (Though, in fairness, a lot of journalists trekked to Ames.)

    2.) Perhaps more importantly, the results of Ames weren’t announced until fairly late in the evening–8 o’clock or so if I recall–which was well after most MSM reporters had written their stories for the following day. (Many simply went back and inserted a few lines or a paragraph about Huckabee into stories that trumpeted Romney’s first-place victory, which was easily foreseen.) On the other hand, Huckabee’s speech last Saturday at the Values Voters summit happened around 11, and the result of the event’s straw poll were announced just after 3, leaving reporters with plenty of time to write about the reaction to Huckabee’s speech and his performance in the balloting.

    3.) Finally, because the first event was in Ames, which most reporters promptly departed, and the second was in Washington, where many reporters, pundits, and bloggers either live, work, or both, the media was able to soak in the afterglow of Huckabee’s performance this weekend, to chat about it with others who had witnessed it, and to therefore magnify it in their coverage in subsequent days. That wasn’t the case with the straw poll in August.

  • Andrew Sullivan pointed us to this relevant quote from 1866:

    “The Constitution of the United States is a law for rulers and people, equally in war and in peace, and covers with the shield of its protection all classes of men, at all times and under all circumstances. No doctrine, involving more pernicious consequences, was ever invented by the wit of man than that any of its provisions can be suspended during any of the exigencies of government. Such a doctrine leads directly to anarchy or despotism …” – The Supreme Court, Ex Parte Milligan, 1866.

  • Andrew Sullivan also wrote this great post describing how the decision to torture leads to the decision to invade Iraq, and how people who aren’t evil can end up committing great evils.

    Until they are both gone from office, we are in grave danger – the kind of danger that only torturers and fantasists and a security strategy based on coerced evidence can conjure up. And since they have utter contempt for the role of the Congress in declaring war, we and the world are helpless to stop them. Every day we get through with them in power, I say a silent prayer of thanks that the worst hasn’t happened. Yet. Because we sure know they’re looking in all the wrong places.

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Baseball Election 2008 Giuliani

The Politician’s Achilles Heel: Baseball and Presidential Candidates

It may be trivial, but on the theory that character is an important factor in determining the best president, and that baseball fandom is indicative of character, here’s a round-up of the four candidates who have made news in baseball with excessive flip-flopping and pandering on this very serious subject. I’m expecting a George Will column shortly.

Rudy, the Sox, and the Yankees

According to the Daily News:

Last July, The Providence Journal asked the former mayor this fateful question: If the Devil said you can be President if you become a Red Sox fan, would you do it?

“I’m a Yankee fan,” Giuliani replied then. “I always believe it’s a sign of my being straight with people, about not wanting to fool them, that I was one of the first mayors to be willing to say I was a Yankee fan.”

Of course, what happened next was entirely predictable. Trying to gain an advantage in New Hampshire, the first Republican primary, and in no relation to the rest of this story adjacent to Massachusetts and part of the obnoxiously named “Red Sox Nation”, Giuliani suddenly begins root for the Yankees nemesis. His pitiful excuse: he’s rooting for the American League.

Quite simply: bullshit. Pandering at its most pathetic. Unfortunately, if a pedophile priest, angry New York firefighters attacking his record on 9/11, his own daughter’s endorsement of Barack Obama, his wife (the third one’s) history of killing puppies in order to sell medical supplies, phone calls during televised speeches, his scary team of foreign policy advisers, his liberal positions on social issues such as gay marriage, abortion, and illegal immigration, his apparent total lack of knowledge of foreign policy and islamist terrorism, his scandalous personal history, his disregard for his family, his championing of Bernard Kerik as police commissioner, as a partner in his firm, and as Secretary of Homeland Security, who just plead guilty to corruption charges, and of course this doozy of a quote resurrected from his time as mayor: “Freedom is about authority.”

So, switching from a Yankees fan to a Yankees fan who also also roots for the #1 Enemy of the Yankees – small potatoes in this litany. One of these days, hopefully something will catch up to this “little man in search of a balcony.” (Quote from Jimmy Breslin.)

Hillary, the Yankees and the Cubs

A Chicago native, Hillary had remarked she had been a lifelong Cubs fan before her Senate run. While running for the Senate in New York, she mentioned she had also been a lifelong Yankees fan. Riiiiiight.

Tim Russert in one of the dozens of Democratic debates quizzed her on a number of issues which ducked until:

…Russert threw her a curveball, asking if she would back the Yankees or Chicago Cubs, her childhood home team, if they met in the World Series. So she waffled.

“Well, I would probably have to alternate sides,” she said.

After both teams are eliminated, Hillary says she is relieved she no longer has to “straddle the bleachers.” I could list the many other issues on which Hillary has opportunistically switched positions on. But I’m exhausted from writing Giuliani’s list. Suffice it to say, that the only candidate likely to match Giuliani in the sheer number of scandals and in the blatancy pf opportunistic pandering, it’s probably Hillary. To be fair though, Hillary seems to pander less and “shift” more.

It is interesting to note that a large part of the strength of both Clinton and Giuliani comes from their stubbornness in sticking with unpopular positions in the face of widespread belief that it would drown their candidacies. Clinton on the Iraq war especially, and Giuliani on abortion. After a long period of ostentatiously sticking to their guns, each has since “shifted” their current position while refusing to acknowledge any change in opinion.

Barack Obama and the White Sox

In a boring addition to this list, Barack Obama has remained steadfastly a White Sox fan, even this year with the Sox out of contention and his other hometown team the Cubs in the playoffs. The reason he’s made some news however is because he has called out Hillary on her shifty position.

Richardson, the Yankees, and the Sox

Governor Bill Richardson made news because of the sheer stupidity of his response. He did not look insincere because he said one thing to one audience and another some years later to a different one. His implosion occurred in a single fateful sitting before an audience of one while discussing his favorite baseball team on Meet the Press:

GOV. RICHARDSON: I, my favorite team has always been the Red Sox.
MR. RUSSERT: You’re a Red Sox fan.
GOV. RICHARDSON: I’m a Red Sox fan.
MR. RUSSERT: End of subject.
GOV. RICHARDSON: End of subject.
MR. RUSSERT: You better get rid of this book.
GOV. RICHARDSON: Oh, no! I’m also a Yankee fan. I also like…
MR. RUSSERT: Oh, now, wait a minute!
GOV. RICHARDSON: You can—Tim…
MR. RUSSERT: I guarantee…
GOV. RICHARDSON: No, I know, I got in trouble…
MR. RUSSERT: …if you go—if you go to Yankee Stadium or Fenway, you cannot be both.
…
MR. RUSSERT: Yankee fans and Red Sox fans?
GOV. RICHARDSON: Yes.
MR. RUSSERT: Not a chance.
GOV. RICHARDSON: Well, I bet you I can.

I remember watching it on that Sunday morning. It was truly painful.

Conclusions

Politicians seem to like the Yankees. Probably because they win a lot. They also seem loath to alienate anyone, even over something so trivial. I ran for office a few times (college-wide office). I understand the temptation, and I am sure I sometimes succumbed to it. But I think as often, I stated what I thought, even when it was less than politic. Perhaps, that’s why I lost.

My overall conclusion: if baseball monogamy indicates some positive presidential characteristic, vote Obama.

I looked for other items for the other candidates, but this is all I have found so far. Send me more info, or post in comments if you know of anything.

Categories
Election 2008 Foreign Policy Iraq Obama Politics The War on Terrorism

Barack Obama on Iraq

Just impressive. I missed this as I didn’t catch the Petraeus testimony in September, only picking up highlights on the news.