Category Archives: Politics

McCain Is Not a Centrist

Politics, ,

Among the nonsense that’s sure to be bandied about in the election ahead is the absurd notion that John McCain is some sort of centrist. I’ve blogged about the emptiness of this claim before, but I wanted to highlight Paul Krugman’s take on the subject.

There are ways to assess politicians’ position on the left-right scale. Ignore the National Journal, which has a somewhat subjective method, and always manages to find that the current Democratic candidate is an ultra-liberal. Instead, we can turn to the Poole-Rosenthal-McCarty analysis, which is based on a systematic, no fiddling technique using rollcall votes.

And they tell us that, based on his voting record, McCain is the eighth most conservative member of the current Senate. That’s right: he’s been voting on the right wing of the Republican party.

But has he just moved right to curry favor with the GOP base? No: he was the second most conservative member of the previous Senate.

Add: Barack Obama, by contrast, while more liberal than the average Democrat, is considerably closer to the center than McCain.

AP: McCain More Conservative Than His Image

Politics, , ,

In discussing the November 2008 Presidential election, I’ve had a number of people who lean liberal but are uncertain about either Obama or Clinton (generally the latter) tell me that they would be ok with a McCain victory because he’s “not like other Republicans.”

I always disagree, arguing that a McCain victory would effectively be an extension of the Bush administration. As it turns out, the Associated Press agrees with me in a new article, “McCain: More Conservative Than His Image,” where they state:

The likely Republican presidential nominee is much more conservative than voters appear to realize. McCain leans to the right on issue after issue, not just on the Iraq war but also on abortion, gay rights, gun control and other issues that matter to his party’s social conservatives.

The article offers a detailed examination of McCain’s positions on abortion, gay rights and gun control, leaving aside his support for the status quo in Iraq, regressive economic policies and belligerent talk toward Iran.

It’s a mistake to think of him as a moderate. His centrist positions are typically abandoned or reversed, a move that would be “flip-flopping” if a Democrat were doing it. Unfortunately, McCain seems to be held to a different standard.

Baby Daley Needs a Nap

Politics, ,

Those who don’t live in Chicago may have a hard time appreciating how unhinged Mayor Daley really is. A recent local controversy over moving the Chicago Children’s Museum helps to illustrate the point perfectly.

The Museum, a private, non-profit institution, is currently at Navy Pier, but it’s looking to change sites (some believe this is because Daley wants to build a casino on the site). The Museum’s Board President (and connected megamillionaire), Gigi Pritker, wants to move the Museum to Grant Park, right on the lakeshore. She has the mayor’s support on this move.

Continue reading Baby Daley Needs a Nap →

The Past Remains Present

Humor, Politics, , , , ,

Sports Illustrated has a timely article in the April 7 issue about Lee Elder, the first African-American man to play in the Master’s golf tournament. When did this groundbreaking event occur? It took place in 1975, fourteen years before the PGA’s “Caucasian clause” came off the books and fifteen years before Augusta National, the course that hosts the tournament, accepted its first black member.

Continue reading The Past Remains Present →

Abu Ghraib’s Fog Machine

Politics, , ,

Philip Gourevitch and Errol Morris have an in-depth article in the March 24, 2008 issue of the New Yorker, “Exposure,” exploring the circumstances behind the Abu Ghraib photos. It features extensive interviews with Sabrina Harman and Javal Davis, two of the soldiers who took the fall for following the protocol handed down to them. Among the revelations: the man in the infamous hooded photo was later found to be innocent, and the corpse photographed with the shocking”thumbs-up” poses didn’t die of a heart attack, as alleged. Instead, he was beaten to death by a CIA interrogator.

As Harman says of the latter:

“I just started taking photos of everything I saw that was wrong, every little bruise and cut,” Harman said. “His knees were bruised, his thighs were bruised by his genitals. He had restraint marks on his wrists. You had to look close. I mean, they did a really good job cleaning him up.” She said, “The gauze on his eye was put there after he died to make it look like he had medical treatment, because he didn’t when he came into the prison.” She said, “There were so many things around the bandage, like the blood coming out of his nose and his ears. And his tooth was chipped—I didn’t know if that happened there or before—his lip was split open, and it looked like somebody had either butt-stocked him or really got him good or hit him against the wall. It was a pretty good-sized gash. I took a photo of that as well.” She said, “I just wanted to document everything I saw. That was the reason I took photos.” She said, “It was to prove to pretty much anybody who looked at this guy, Hey, I was just lied to. This guy did not die of a heart attack. Look at all these other existing injuries that they tried to cover up.”