Nothing To Hold Up The Hair

(link) "The Washington Post has a good piece about John Edwards' plans to combat poverty. Edwards has made his program to "end poverty in 30 years" in this country his signature domestic issue. The Post story, by Alec MacGillis, provides insight into both Edwards and the issue.

The centerpiece of the Edwards plan is to do away with public housing projects and replace them with one million rental vouchers through which to disperse the poor into better neighborhoods, closer to good schools and jobs. However, as the Post explains, a major federal experiment started during the Clinton administration shows that dispersing poor families in this fashion does not improve earnings or school performance. When this inconvenient truth was brought to Edwards' attention during his November 2005 symposium on poverty, he apparently had no answer."

Fred's "Firemen"

"Sometimes, you read or hear something, and an image forms in your mind that just won’t go away. For me, one of those images comes from the 2002 news stories about religious police in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, who beat young girls trying to escape a burning school. Because they weren’t wearing headscarves and black robes, 15 innocent girls were locked in a blazing building to burn while firemen watched helplessly. [ Unfortunately, he may be a bit off here. If they were firemen worth the name they would have saved them regardless. I suspect they're more like Ray Bradbury's "Firemen" in the final analysis. How I wish someone would prove me wrong. -ed. ]

Not all Saudis support this sort of extremism, but many Muslim radicals reject the premise that women should have even the most basic rights. These include the right to vote, to work, to drive, to choose one’s own husband, to charge a man with abuse or simply to move about without male escort." [ But of course my criticism is small potatoes. RTWT. And I don't see any other candidate of either party being this (properly) agressive. Oh, I forgot. He isn't a candidate. Yet. -ed. ]

Why Fred's Coming...

"But the key to Thompson's hesitation may lie elsewhere: It's what presidential candidates have traditionally had to do to get elected. You go hat in hand and you beg money from people who have had enough success in life to give them a sense of entitlement. If you've had the ability to make millions selling plumbing fixtures, shouldn't you have some input on the next Secretary of State?

It is this sort of system that produces a George Bush as a presidential candidate. I had a conversation with a rich young man, more thoughtful than most, who has had some success in politics. He had been in one of those rooms with Bush, everyone there just like him, just like Bush. He wondered if Bush ever met anyone other than the people just like him—wealthy, confident and privileged. Is this a system that produces a president that has any idea how most of the people in America live?

The worst time running for president is in the early months, going door to door like a condo salesman, asking the guys with check books to invest in your campaign. Mitt Romney is great at it. Thompson hates it. His strategy may be to come in in the middle of this campaign, capitalize on the discomfort Republicans have with the field and gamble on good poll numbers to create excitement. If that happens, the money will come.

But what are the odds it can happen? Romney raised $23 million during the first quarter of 2007. But Thompson just announced he was considering a run for president and his poll numbers jumped Romney to put him in third place behind John McCain and Rudy Giuliani—with no announcement, no organization and no campaign.

The internet and the power of average people to raise huge sums for candidates has been demonstrated, by Howard Dean in 2004 and by Barack Obama this last quarter. Thompson may finally be able to see how he can get there with small contributors and build a grassroots organization without the inevitable compromises that big money campaigns dictate. Go to Google and type in “Draft Fred.”

***

The problem with our politics is that the people who can get elected president are the people we wouldn't want as president. If there is anybody who can upset the status quo, create a new dynamic and overcome the process it would be Fred Dalton Thompson." [ Ding ding ding ding ding. He's got a shot at breaking through the essential problem we face as a culture. My traditional formulation has been: Anyone smart enough to be President is smart enough NOT to want to be President. But that last paragraph has another essential element in its first sentence. Lots more on this later... -ed. ]

McCain Gets The War

"What struck me upon my return from Baghdad is the enormous gulf between the harsh but hopeful realities in Iraq, where politics is for many a matter of life and death, and the fanciful and self-interested debates about Iraq that substitute for statesmanship in Washington. In Iraq, American and Iraqi soldiers risk everything to hold the country together, to prevent it from becoming a terrorist sanctuary and the region from descending into the dangerous chaos of a widening war. In Washington, where political calculation seems to trump all other considerations, Democrats in Congress and their leading candidates for President, heedless of the terrible consequences of our failure, unanimously confirmed our new commander, and then insisted he be prevented from taking the action he believes necessary to safeguard our country's interests. In Iraq, hope is a fragile thing, but all the more admirable for the courage and sacrifice necessary to nurture it. In Washington, cynicism appears to be the quality most prized by those who accept defeat but not the responsibility for its consequences.

Before I left for Iraq, I watched with regret as the House of Representatives voted to deny our troops the support necessary to carry out their new mission. Democratic leaders smiled and cheered as the last votes were counted. What were they celebrating? Defeat? Surrender? In Iraq, only our enemies were cheering."

Nice Pigs, Sir

"A joke has spiraling around in military circles for the past few weeks that makes you wonder just how much congressional action against the troop surge is affecting the military’s (or the country’s) approval of the Democrats.

Okay, here’s the joke:

Last Tuesday, as President Bush got off the Marine One helicopter on the White House’s south lawn, he was carrying a piglet under each arm.

The squared-away Marine guard snaps to attention, salutes, and says: “Nice pigs, sir.”

The President replies “These are not pigs. These are authentic Arkansas Razorback Hogs. I got one for Senator Hillary Clinton and I got one for Speaker Nancy Pelosi.”

The squared-away Marine again snaps to attention, salutes, and says,

“Excellent trade, sir.”"

"Gore in 2008!"

The Stink Is Back

"The immediate question should be this: how many other paid consultants are higher-profile politicians who have endorsed Hillary? How many other politicans has Hillary bought in this stage of the primaries? And perhaps the Democratic Party can explain to us once again how they represent clean government and political reform -- because from the grandstands, it looks like Democrats have put themselves up for the highest bidder, and that they're willing to bid rather high themselves." [ And it smells just the same as it did the last time. Only perhaps more so. And we're barely out of the starting gates... -ed. ]

Rudy 1997: No Suspected Political Linkage?

"NEW YORK -- The Palestinian teacher who went on a fatal shooting rampage atop the Empire State Building carried a note blaming the United States for using Israel as "an instrument" against his people. The note found in Ali Hassan Abu Kamal's pocket contains "rambling, angry stuff," and appears to contradict claims by the man's family that the shooting had nothing to do with politics, a high-ranking police source said last night.

At City Hall, Mayor Giuliani attempted to shift the focus toward gun control. He was accompanied by Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., whose husband was killed and son wounded in the 1993 shootings on a Long Island Rail Road commuter train that killed six people and wounded 17." (HT Glenn)