Friday Open Thread 9.6.13

Friday Open Thread 9.6.13

The Obama Administration has finally gone on record to say while the President believes he has the authority to attack Syria with or without Congressional approval, he does not intend to launch such an attack without the backing of lawmakers:
President Barack Obama isn't likely to launch a military strike on Syria if Congress votes against doing so, a top national security official said Friday. During an interview on NPR's "Morning Edition," Tony Blinken, Obama's deputy national security adviser, said "the president of course has the authority" to take limited military action in Syria with or without the approval of lawmakers, but "it's neither his desire nor intention to use that authority absent Congress backing him."
I would prefer a Shermanesque "He won't," but this is better than nothing. So Congress, vote this thing down and let's all get on with our lives. And if the vote were held today in the House, it would fail.
Thursday Open Thread 9.5.13

Thursday Open Thread 9.5.13

"In a world in which threats are more diffuse and missions more complex, America cannot act alone. America alone cannot secure the peace." -- President Obama, in his Nobel Peace Prize speech in 2009. In all this Syria discussion, we kinda forgot that the end of the world is imminent in mid-October. Yeah, remember about the budget deadline (October 1) and debt ceiling deadline (October 15). Republicans all summer were saying that they would shut down the government and default on the debt if President Obama did not repeal Obamacare. For the last two weeks, they have kinda shut up about that, maybe because of a point First Read makes:
"Would a Congress that authorizes military action in Syria shut down the U.S. government and default just a few weeks later?"
Wednesday Open Thread 9.4.13

Wednesday Open Thread 9.4.13

Jonathan Chait takes a look at the Syria Congressional Authorization situation from an aspect that I had not considered:
Imagine that Congress votes not to authorize Obama’s plan. Then further imagine that Bashar al-Assad, emboldened, carries out another chemical attack. The media coverage would be far more intense. And members of Congress who voted no will have to answer for the carnage that will appear on television screens across the world. If the first vote lost by a relatively narrow margin, Obama would probably then call for a second vote and stand a good chance of winning. The prospect of that happening may itself deter Assad. And when Republicans complain that Obama’s gambit of asking for a congressional vote is a way of shifting responsibility onto Congress, they are, in a sense, correct. Obama will own the consequences of action with or without Congress’s approval. But if it disapproves, Congress will own the consequences of inaction. And those might ultimately prove higher than it is willing to bear.
Interesting. If you think Assad cannot be stupid enough to use them again, you ignore the fact that he was stupid enough to use them the first time.

Tuesday Open Thread 9.3.13

I would like to thank President Obama for taking my advice on Friday. Obviously my admonition caused the President to go for a long walk with his Chief of Staff to rethink his strategy. Here is what I said:
80% of Americans believe President Obama should receive congressional approval before using force in Syria. 80% of Americans cannot agree on anything, Mr. President. They agree on this. This is a no-fucking-brainer, Mr. President. You want a way out of that fucking corner you painted yourself into, this is it. Seek Congressional Authorization. If you don’t get it, your hands have been tied by Congress just as David Cameron’s were.
I wonder if my free form use of expletives was the thing that convinced him. Who knows. Now, to the vote in Congress, from Roll Call:
"At some point Boehner will have to make a decision and presumably rally his troops. Whether they will follow is an open question. Already, there is tension between the House Republican and Democratic camps over who will shoulder the burden of providing the votes to avoid a historic defeat for the president. GOP aides suggested Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who has strongly backed the president, will have to provide the bulk of the votes. But a Democratic leadership aide put the onus back on Boehner."
I think the Resolution will pass the Senate easily, with more than 60 votes. I think some liberals and libertarians and whatever it is Ted Cruz is will vote against. In the House, it is a much dicier proposition. I honestly do not expect it to pass. With both parties already fighting over who has to do the Whip operation, it means that both parties already know they don't have the votes.
Labor Day Open Thread [9.2.13]

Labor Day Open Thread [9.2.13]

Happy Labor Day! Hope that you and yours are enjoying this holiday meant to celebrate the achievements and contributions of the American worker. Unfortunately, too many of us no longer remember what this holiday is meant to commemorate and a disturbing number of us are specifically disdainful of many of our fellow workers, even as we might be a slightly better off version of labor. This holiday was created by Labor Unions and today, Labor Unions are not only at an ebb (as employers have been able to buy their own government influence and the unions themselves succumbed to various unhealthy tendencies), but are disdained by people who have specifically benefited from their work. Paul Krugman provides the Must Read piece of the day....
TGIF Open Thread [8.30.13]

TGIF Open Thread [8.30.13]

80% of Americans believe President Obama should receive congressional approval before using force in Syria. 80% of Americans cannot agree on anything, Mr. President. They agree on this. This is a no-fucking-brainer, Mr. President. You want a way out of that fucking corner you painted yourself into, this is it. Seek Congressional Authorization. If you don't get it, your hands have been tied by Congress just as David Cameron's were.
Tuesday Open Thread 8.27.13

Tuesday Open Thread 8.27.13

Eugene Robinson:
History says don’t do it. Most Americans say don’t do it. But President Obama has to punish Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s homicidal regime with a military strike — and hope that history and the people are wrong. If it is true that the regime killed hundreds of civilians with nerve gas in a Damascus suburb last week — and Secretary of State John F. Kerry said Monday that the use of chemical weapons is “undeniable” — then Obama has no choice. Such use cannot be tolerated, and any government or group that employs chemical weapons must be made to suffer real consequences. Obama should uphold this principle by destroying some of Assad’s military assets with cruise missiles. I say this despite my belief that Obama has been right to keep the United States out of the Syrian civil war. It is not easy to watch such suffering and destruction — more than 100,000 people killed, millions displaced, cities pounded into rubble — and do nothing. Now I believe we are obliged to hit Assad. But then what?
Obama should have never drawn a red line. By doing so, he boxed himself in to using military force if the line was crossed.

Sunday Open Thread [8.25.13]

Yesterday was one of the biggest Democratic events of the year -- the Democratic Jamboree at Cape Henlopen State Park. It sounds like the most interesting comments of the event came from Matt Denn:
Gov. Jack Markell was off on vacation and could not attend. Lt. Gov. Matt Denn gave a speech that was particularly critical of the Delaware Republican Party. He noted for the crowd that Republicans hold just one statewide office – Tom Wagner is the elected state auditor – and are in the minority in both houses of the General Assembly. He blamed that partly on policies that he said alienated minority communities and opposition to gay marriage. “The Republican Party seems to be doing its part to make it easy for us to win elections,” Denn said. “I feel guilty being here,” Denn joked. “I’m a proud Democrat. But I’m also a straight white guy. I’m pretty much all the Republicans have left.”
Burn!
Friday Open Thread [8.23.13]

Friday Open Thread [8.23.13]

The Around the Horn will be published tomorrow. I had my physical this morning so I did not have time to go through everything. Bruce Bartlett:
Just as Democrats had depended on the South to maintain their congressional control for generations, Republicans now depend on that region to maintain theirs. This has made the GOP ever more sensitive to issues that especially resonate with Southerners—abortion, gun control, low taxes and a hard line on immigration. In the process, the liberal wing of the Republican Party completely ceased to exist. Just as all conservative Democrats became Republicans, all liberal Republicans became Democrats. Thus for the first time in American history, our two major parties are ideologically uniform—all the conservatives are in one party and all the liberals are in the other. Since the GOP is now vitally dependent on maintaining its position in the South, I believe that the South now controls the Republican Party to a much greater extent than it controls the South. This makes it very hard for a Republican presidential nominee to reach out for moderate and swing voters in the North and West. In effect, the price Republicans pay for holding Congress, by way of the South, is that its presidential nominees become unelectable. Republicans don’t yet believe this, but when they lose again in 2016, at least some will be forced to accept it.

Wednesday Open Thread 8.21.13

Rep. Kerry Bentivolio (R-MI) said he's consulted with lawyers about impeaching President Obama. From BuzzFeed:
"If I could write that bill and submit it, it would be a dream come true. I stood 12 feet away from the guy and listened to him. I couldn't stand being there, but because he is president I have to respect the office. That's my job, as a congressman, I respect the office." Bentivolio said that after the encounter with Obama he returned to his office and summoned lawyers to discuss the impeachment process.
Hopefully those lawyers told him that first, you have to have an action on Obama's part that in some realm of plausible legal theory constitutes a high crime or misdemeanor. In 1998-99, the GOP pursued impeachment BECAUSE they had plausible crimes on President Clinton's part... perjury and obstruction of justice. Regarding Obama, they have nothing. There is no action that the President has taken that can be considered a high crime or misdemeanor. Impeachment is not a tool available to the opposition party when they do not like the President or are not in favor of his policies. It is for when the President commits a high crime or misdemeanor. And Mr. Bentivolio should know that if he writes up a bill, while there is a question of whether it passes the House, there is no doubt it fails in the Senate. So he is talking about using a nuclear weapon that is guaranteed to blow up in his face. So, please proceed Congressman.

Late Night Video — We’re Building a Domestic Army

The man in this video clip says he is a retired Marine Corps Colonel and he is speaking at Concord, NH city council meeting where he Council is considering a request from the Concord PD for armored vehicles. He draws some parallels with the time he spent in Iraq (without equipment like this) and starts to show how Homeland Security standardization of gear makes it easier for PDs to look indistinguishable from an occupying army. This is almost 4 minutes long: