MORE FOR CHUCK TO CHEW ON. Earlier this week, I noted in a post that Chuck Schumer had benefited from Democratic post-primary unity in New York in 1998 when his defeated opponents rallied to his side, and he went on to beat Al D�Amato. The idea is that now, as head of the DSCC, Schumer should learn from his own example and that the party ought to rally around the primary winner in, to pick a random state, Connecticut, let�s say.
The lead headline of the Washington Post this morning was "Mexico Vote Tally Gives Free-Trader a Narrow Victory." Wrong! Felipe Calderon, the candidate who is now ahead in the vote tally to be Mexico's next president is not a free-trader. He has supported increasing copyright and patent protection and shown no special interest in removing protectionist barriers that obstruct free trade in the services of highly paid professionals (e.g. doctors, lawyers, accountants).
The Washington Post does not own the term "free-trade." If they want to identify Calderon by his trade position, they can call him pro-NAFTA. It is more accurate and saves 2 letters.
Remember the good old days when newspapers didn't just unquestioning print what the powerful tell them? (Okay, maybe they never existed.) Anyhow, a Timesarticle this morning reports that Petrobras, the Brazilian energy company, has invested $50 billion in Bolivia.
BEING THERE.Matt's dig at Michael Ledeen reminded me that I wanted to highlight this Ross Douthat item from a few weeks back about how Ledeen has never actually been to Iran, the country on which he claims unparalleled expertise:
I don't want to resurrect my ancient feud with Michael Ledeen or anything, but I was a little gobsmacked by this comment he just made:
REAL RAGE. Far be it from me -- very far be it from me, Moons Of Freaking Neptune be it from me -- to be perceived as defending NewsMax, but I think Ezra's a little glib in dismissing the story about John McCain's temper. It is a very real, and very startling, and very important part of his personality and, unless the campaign press corps spends more time in the tank than Shamu, it's going to be an ongoing story in the 2008 campaign. In 1998, I wrote a long profile on the senator for Esquire, and his volatility was very much an issue ever then, particularly with people back in Arizona.
JUST POSTED ON TAP ONLINE: THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GROVER. On June 23, Grover Norquist met with a bunch of liberals for a Prospect-sponsored breakfast here in Washington. Grover expounded on the structure of the two major political coalitions in America; the politics of Iraq, gay marriage, and immigration; the philosophical link between the inheritance tax and Jim Crow; anti-Mormonism and Big Love; the complete innocence of Grover Norquist and Americans for Tax Reform in this whole Abramoff-Indian tribes brouhaha; and much more. Here he is handicapping the Democratic presidential contenders for 2008:
MCCAIN'S TEMPER. For an interesting preview of the coming smear job on John McCain, check out Newsmax's article questioning whether McCain has the temperament to be President. It warns that, "to insiders who know him, McCain has an irrational, explosive side that make many of them question whether he is fit to serve as president and be commander in chief." Ooh -- scandal!
ON ITS FACE! Remember two weeks ago? Those were the days. The Boston Globe offers a recap of Jason Zengerle versus the blogs (without mentioning, though, the hilarious "blogofascism" interlude) in which Zengerle observes, "I mean, what do they call us, 'The Joe Lieberman Weekly,' stuff like that. That is kind of ridiculous on its face." On its face, I would say people call them that because they ran an unsigned editorial arguing that . . . Joe Lieberman should be President of the United States and put it on the cover of the magazine.
THERE SHE GOES AGAIN. My eagle eyes are always scouring the Web for mentions of unlikely reformer Queen Nour, absolute monarch of Jordan, who seems to be in Aspen:
Secretary Albright was to discuss "The Changing Middle East" with the Jordanian, Egyptian, and Israeli ambassadors to the United States, with Queen Noor sitting beside the Jordanian ambassador. Dov Zakheim, the former CFO and Under Secretary of Defense, moderated.
