Democrats

The Lakers and the Candidates

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Professor Bainbridge doesn’t like the Lakers:

The Lakers personify our People/ET celebrity culture in which superficiality reigns supreme. They aren’t a team – they’re the sports world equivalent of VH1 Divas – four prima donnas plus entourages.

Which leads the Libertarian Jackass to wonder whether the Professor’s future action will be consistent with his words:

I hope the good professor votes against Bush and Kerry for similar reasons.

But I don’t think that the Professor puts bushco in this category:

As far as the elites are concerned, Middle America and the Republican Party are synonmous.
….
Here we see the modern Democratic party – secular elites at the top using the levers of government to effect wealth transfers from Middle America to reliable Democrat constituencies and special interests.

Now I do not disagree with his evaluation of what a Democratic government will do. The wealth transfer, using the power of government, is the whole game.
A simple variation of Bainbridge’s last sentence describes the current state of affairs: Here we see the modern Republican party – religious elites at the top using the levers of government to effect wealth transfers from Middle America to reliable Republican constituencies and special interests.

Update: Kevin Drum and Steve Verdon have related posts.

Air America

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Andrew Cline has a yawn for Air America:

I have questioned the concept of liberal talk radio before…… I don’t think it will draw much of an audience; it’s not a good business concept.

He has quite a bit to say about this and sums up with:

What sells in electronic media is ideological validation. The right has perfected its talking points and its media personalities to such an extent that they present an entertaining product for people who wish to bask in the glory of their own ideology. I do not believe this basking is a good thing for the continued health of a democratic republic. And I do not think liberals should stoop to imitating it. It’s a lot like admitting ideological defeat.

This seems about right. When I listen to the right wing talk folks I generally hear a lot of this basking and stroking and generally code words (liberal, hilory, bush hater, etc) substituting for thoughtful analysis. If this becomes all Air America offers then why bother.
But, I’ill withhold judgement until I’ve had a chance to listen for a few months.

Where Does the Buck Stop Now?

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Apparently it still stops in the Lincoln and other White House bedrooms:

Bush’s criticism of the Clinton fund-raising scandal is one of the reasons the White House identifies guests. In a debate with Vice President Al Gore in October 2000, Bush said: “I believe they’ve moved that sign, ‘The buck stops here,’ from the Oval Office desk to ‘The buck stops here’ on the Lincoln Bedroom. And that’s not good for the country.”
Bush’s overnight guest roster is virtually free of the famous � pro golfer Ben Crenshaw is the biggest name � but not of campaign supporters.
At least nine of Bush’s biggest fund-raisers appear on the latest list of White House overnight guests, covering June 2002 through December 2003, and-or on the Camp David list, which covers last year. They include:

Yes this bit of hypocrisy should be pointed out but no one should be surprised that bedsheets are traded for friendship or money.
First, you can pretty much count on the bush team either having done, doing or planning to do something they hammer the opposition about.
Second, and more important, the US government transfers huge amounts of money from the losers to the winners and the latter’s stripes change only modestly from administration to administration. Until we the people put a stop to the massive transfers we can expect politicians to seek favours votes and donations and reward those who give them with both bedsheets and favorable laws and regulations.
Via Calpundit who picked it up from It’s a Crock. The Apostropher also comments.
Update: John Cole and Mark Kleiman both argue that a Bush – Clinton comparison is off the mark and I acknowledge both their points which are different enough that you should go read their posts.
I will, though, stick to what I say in the two paragraphs above the ‘Via’ statement.

Move Over Democrats and Republicans

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Though his campaign billboards could not be as attention grabbing as this perhaps Nader could form a US version of this new Australian political party for his current political run.
In a brief discussion of the new party’s founder The Curmdugeonly Clerk offers us a learning moment:

this is not the first time that Ms. Moore has stood for office. No doubt, portions of her film oeuvre are available online; however, I will leave finding such material as an exercise for the reader.

Via Dylan at The Slitherly D.

Let’s Balance the Budget

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Dwight Meredith takes a shot at balancing the budget for w and the punch line is:

Okay, we have cut all of the fat. Waste, fraud and abuse have been eliminated. Perhaps we nicked a little muscle along the way. The problem is that we have cut only $385 billion out of a deficit of $521 billion.
The other problem is that the only discretionary spending left in the budget is for Defense and Homeland Security.
I am not kidding. We have eliminated all federal government discretionary functions except Defense and Homeland Security and the budget remains more than $130 billion in the hole.

Of course, w has no interest in balancing the budget and could hit his target of reducing the deficit by 50% by making some of the cuts Dwight enumerates but there does not appear to be any such proposal in this years budget.
The federal budget situation is a mess and there is no meaningful excuse that the current administration and its republocrat accomplices in congress can offer up to cleanse themselves.