Category Archives: Current Events

Fred Kaplan (Hi, Fred!) really likes Barack Obama's pick for a national security adviser.

"Matthew Alexander" is the pseudonym for an Air Force counterintelligence agent who was assigned to a Special Operations task force in Iraq in 2006. There, he led an interrogation team that refused to engage in the torture techniques that other U.S. squads were utilizing. He found that by not torturing The Enemy, he got more and better information out of them and also concluded, "Our policy of torture was directly and swiftly recruiting fighters for al-Qaeda in Iraq." In other words, torture ain't effective and it only makes things worse.

Obama is going to stop all that, he says, but there's some question of whether this country will repudiate the insidious policies to the point where we undo some of the damage and make a start at reclaiming some moral high ground. More likely, those who broke the law to torture will walk away with pardons and Medals of Freedom, courtesy of that guy who's only got fifty more days to screw things up further.

My friend Roger, who's still angry 'n' outraged over John McCain's defeat, is comforting himself by becoming very positive that Sarah Palin will not only be the G.O.P. nominee in 2012 but that she's already as good as elected. I don't think you can predict anything about 2012 except that it will probably have twelve months in it…but it would sure surprise me if Ms. Palin was even a contender. "She energized the base," Roger keeps saying. Yeah, but she also energized more folks who wanted to see the Republican ticket defeated.

Roger is selling his own party short, acting like they have such a paucity of good candidates that in four years, they won't be able to find one who can energize the base and who doesn't have all the negatives Governor Palin brings to the game. We should also remember that the only reason Republicans speak of a vice-presidential candidate "energizing the base" is because they nominated a presidential candidate who didn't. Democrats may love the notion that the G.O.P. will nominate Palin but they shouldn't count on that. Republicans can do a lot better…and will.

Fred Kaplan thinks retaining Robert Gates as Defense Secretary is a darned good idea.

Donald Rumsfeld (you remember him) had an op-ed in the New York Times the other day which seems to bear little resemblance to reality. And now along comes my man Fred Kaplan to remind us of the reality.

Candace Gingrich, sister of Newt, spanks her brother for his opposition to Gay Marriage.

The subtext of this piece is rather interesting. I've always had the impression that many politicos who inveigh against Same Sex Wedlock really don't care about it but do see it as an issue that can fire up "the base." And of course, once you fire up "the base" and get its support, you get a certain empowerment that you can redirect into the issues that you do care about…usually tax cuts and goverment handouts to your friends. Newt Gingrich always struck me as one such politician. And his sister, without saying that, seems to be arguing her cause with that in mind. She's not so much telling him not that he's on the wrong side from a moral standpoint — which he is — but that he's on the wrong side because that trick won't work much longer for him.

David Sirota has been tracking a talking point which is turning up increasingly in the news, courtesy of Conservative pundits. It's the one that insists that this country — which just elected a more Democratic House of Representatives, a more Democratic Senate and a new president who these same pundits called a radical socialist — is "still" a "center-right" nation. In fact, some even argue that this trend in voting proves that Americans want governance to skew rightward.

While I'm near the topic, I'd like to restate my opinion as to why "Liberal Talk Radio" isn't a big hit in this country. Two or three times since Election Day, I've tuned in Air America and each time, what I heard was Randi Rhodes whining and telling us how awful things are. From the tone of her voice, you'd think voters had swept McCain-Palin and every G.O.P. candidate into office in a landslide. By contrast, the one time I let my dial drift over to Rush recently, he was talking about how this election was the best thing that could possibly happen to the Conservative movement because it'll force the Republicans to purge their ranks of the Liberal Republicans-in-Name-Only who cost them the election…and meanwhile, Democrats will take all the blame for The Obama Recession. Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

Limbaugh is actually somewhat entertaining because nothing fazes the guy. All news is good news for his side. Ms. Rhodes, by contrast, had me wondering: If she isn't happy now, when might that ever occur? I don't agree with everything she says but even when I do, it's too damn depressing to hear her say it. Rachel Maddow, who follows her on KTLK here in L.A., is a lot better but she still doesn't cheerlead for her side the way right-wing Talk Radio does for its team. Which is why, I think, she doesn't have as many listeners.

Lastly in this area, we need to change things on Los Angeles radio. Limbaugh is on KFI, which is 640. That's all the way on the left of the radio dial. Air America is on KTLK, which is 1150, all the way over on the right. These broadcasts need to change places. It's just got to be too confusing for anyone whose I.Q. is low enough to listen regularly to either.

Fred Kaplan thinks that there's hopeful news in the list of folks who comprise Obama's transition team. It's not a covey of "yes men," which is a nice break from the previous tradition.

Matt Taibbi on how John McCain lost and what it means to the two political parties.

Fred Kaplan went straight home from our meeting and wrote an article about negotiating with the leaders of the Taliban. Hmm.

The Los Angeles Times claims that this is the best way to cook a turkey.

Woody Allen writes another piece for The New Yorker.

Fred Kaplan with some hopeful signs that things may get better with Obama in the White House.

Dan Kois thinks The Daily Show with Jon Stewart might not survive the Obama presidency because, after all, it's hard to make jokes about Obama…and Stewart's staff may not even be that eager to try. I think this is a ridiculous thesis. It's hard to make jokes about any president when he's new and untested. It was some time into the Bush presidency before he became enough of a caricature that cartoonists could draw him and impressionists could mimic him. Besides, does anyone think the Obama administration won't have mistakes and shortcomings and screw-ups?

And even that isn't as significant as this: Mocking the mistakes of our elected officials is Job Two at The Daily Show. The program is only incidentally about that. Its higher purpose is to ridicule the dumb and disingenuous things said in our public discourse, primarily by the media and pundits. No matter what kind of job Obama does, there will never be a shortage of inane news reports, pompous columnists, party hacks of all stripes uttering drivel, etc. Most of what The Daily Show attacks is not what people do but what they say. And even when things are going well, there's always someone out there saying something really, really stupid. Mr. Stewart will be fine.

Albert Brooks on our presidents having a sense of humor.

Bill Maher made a good point last night on his show. One downside to the election of Barack Obama is that for the next four years, we're going to have the Sean Hannitys of the world trying to gin up scandals and outrage over every possible bit of bad or arguable judgment. If Obama eats a piece of cheese, we're going to have Cheesegate. If he says he doesn't like The Wizard of Oz, there will be demands he apologize to Munchkins everywhere right after he resigns his office. The onslaught will probably work about as well as all those cries of "Socialist" worked to get John McCain elected…but we're still going to have to listen to it.