Political Theatre category archive

You’ve heard of Teapot Dome? (That was a Republican thing, by the way.)

Now comes Teapot Tempest.

Afterthought:

This is why I have no interest in twitting.

Dick Polman looks at Republicans’ genuflection to Sheldon Adelson this past weekend and sums up today’s political process (emphasis added):

It’s a good thing that what happens in Vegas doesn’t stay in Vegas, because this weekend we learned anew how mogul-driven politics really works: The more money you have, the more speech you can buy – and the more speech you can buy, the more candidates will fly thousands of miles just to kiss your ring.

Driftglass has his own take on this.

Shaun Mullen tries to figure out who was less competent as Secretary of Defense: Robert McNamara or Donald Rumsfeld. Click to find out who wins.

The resident curmudgeon at my local rag is fed up.

(Then, again, she’s usually fed up, as her SOP is that “other persons don’t deserve nice things.” This time, though, she gets one right.)

Steven M. thinks that Chris Christie may have closed crossed a bridge too far.

I don’t get what Chris Christie is doing. I guess it’s not surprising that he’d try to cook up a report that casts his scandals in the best possible light, because pols in trouble regularly try to get a narrative into the mix that’s an alternative to what the press and political opponents are cooking up — but by doing what amounts to a book tour for the report (a news conference with the Trenton press corps, a softball interview with Megyn Kelly on Fox News, and, as Dave Weigel notes, another interview with ABC’s Diane Sawyer), he just comes off as desperate.

Read the rest, where he expands on his point.

In other news, the Rude One sums up the conclusions of the report in three words.

Dick Polman suspects that history is repeating itself once more all over again.

When I heard yesterday that a law firm hired by Chris Christie had released a bridge scandal report absolving Chris Christie, I couldn’t help but recall Richard Nixon’s similar ruse in the spring of 1974.

Just as Christie’s hired guns (hired for $1 million at taxpayers’ expense) falsely claim to have written a “comprehensive and exhaustive” report, Nixon falsely claimed in a nationally televised address that his release of Oval Office transcripts contained “all the relevant portions” of his conversations about Watergate. Just as Christie’s legal eagles are touting their report as the final word on Bridgegate – Christie knew nothing! He was screwed by a few scheming aides! – Nixon insisted that his release of 2,400 transcript pages (but not the actual tapes) would absolve him and put his scandal to rest.

In both cases, not.

More history at the link.

Chris Honore struggles to understand Republican reasoning. A snippet.

When I listen to conservatives insisting on a particular policy that seems so outrageous that it borders on the surreal, well, I’m more than baffled. As if the proponents of, say, shutting the government down should all be wearing tin foil hats.

How to explain why conservatives, champions of the work ethic, would vote against women earning equal pay for equal work?

He is assuming that reasoning is somehow involved.

Read the rest.

Dick Polman flips off Mitt the Flip:

Bad habits are hard to break. Sixteen months after the electorate told him to take a hike, Mitt Romney is still lying.

(snip)

It’s barely worth speculating whether the former one-term governor is jonesing for a third (failed) presidential bid, or whether he’s trying to outflank the McCain-Graham neocon tag team, or whether he’s stricken by Loser’s Syndrome (as in, “I’m better than the guy who beat me”), or whether he’s simply bored with his car elevator and his life of one-percent leisure. Forget all that. It’s sufficient just to slap down Mitt for being Mitt.

Do please read the rest. It has something Mitt doesn’t: Facts.

Your Customs Service at work. From the write-up:

A Vietnam vet and former prison guard, Larry Kirschenman thought he had the right to ask what probable cause U.S. border agents had to search his vehicle. Larry wound up in the hospital with serious injuries.

It’s opening day in the Bushie Leagues.

Do not stop the presses. Former Gov. Jeb Bush is most certainly running for president. And here’s a stunner. So is Hillary Clinton. Really. You may go back to sleep now.

How do we know Jeb has visions of Air Force One dancing in his dreams?

Would you slink into Las Vegas to schmooze gambling mogul Sheldon Adelson, who regards GOP presidential nominees as if they were trophy heads mounted in his den, if you had no interest in the White House?

Bush is not going to Vegas to catch Meat Loaf’s act at Planet Hollywood. There are many mysteries in life. But Bush’s political ambition is not one of them.

Really, another Bush in the White House? Please. No.

That family has already damaged the polity enough.

Via Bob Cesca’s Awesome Blog.

. . . damned if you do.

President Barack Obama pulled off a master stroke last week. He deployed U.S. military force in support of an infant democracy that desperately needs our help. The result was a resounding success, a vivid illustration of how the United States can put its unchallenged power to positive ends.

He did it, once again, by sending in the SEALs, the U.S. Navy’s famous special forces. But this time they weren’t double-tapping a terrorist. Instead they seized a mysterious tanker that had skipped out of Libya with a shipment of oil that one of the country’s rogue militias was trying to sell on the open market. . . .

The reaction in Washington: a giant yawn. The reaction in Washington: a giant yawn. Deafening silence from Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham, who are always quick to demand U.S. military action in situations where it will usually make things worse. Fox News barely noticed.

That’s news inside the Beltway: If John McCain doesn’t mention it, it didn’t happen.

When the Virginia Republican Party’s governing body meets today in Richmond, many members for the first time could hear some unsettling news: Party finances are distressed.

No doubt some plutocrat will step in.

Listen all the way through. It starts slow, but it’s worth it.

Warning: Language.

Lawyers have a job to do. They fight for their clients. Good lawyers fight honestly and comply with their code of ethics.

Politicians have a job to do. It is to govern wisely, but too often they believe that it is to pander basely to the basest of their base.

You can decide whether this was governing or pandering. I vote for the latter.

Aside:

No, I don’t think that Mumia was unfairly prosecuted, nor do I think he is innocent of the crime with which he was convicted. I have noticed that the farther away from the facts and from Philadelphia one gets, the stronger the “Free Mumia” movement.

But to smear an honest lawyer (yes, there are such persons; in fact, I’ve known a few) for acting like an honest lawyer is despicable. And precedented.

Noz thinks Putin might be partly putting on a misdirection play.

At the least, he’s taking advantage of a true “look over there” moment.