Six Little Words

July 31, 2008

An idea that could revolutionize workers' rights in the country: from Tom Geoghegan via David Sirota:

eoghegan reminded me that data show the more union members in an economy, the better workers' pay. The problem, he said, is that weakened labor laws are allowing companies to bully and fire union-sympathetic workers, thus driving down union membership and wages. Enter Geoghegan's six words. If the Civil Rights Act was amended to prevent discrimination "on the basis of union membership," it would curtail corporations' anti-labor assault by making the right to join a union an official civil right. "Hang on," I interrupted. "Joining a union isn't a civil right?" Correct. Under current law, if you are fired for union activity, you can only take your grievance to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) - a byzantine agency deliberately made more Kafkaesque by right-wing appointees and budget cuts. Today, the NLRB takes years to rule on labor law violations, often granting victims only their back pay - a tiny cost of doing business. Union leaders are now focused on reforming the NLRB - an admirable goal - but Geoghegan's plan implies that workers are harmed by being legally leashed to Washington in the first place. His proposal says rather than being forced to rely on an unreliable bureaucracy for protection, workers should be empowered to defend themselves. The six words would do just that. Regardless of whether the NLRB is strengthened or further weakened, persecuted workers would be able to haul union-busting thugs into court. There - unlike at the NLRB - plaintiffs can subpoena company records and win costly punitive damages.

Damned If You Do

July 31, 2008

This is really great. Remember how the McCain campaign hit Obama for not visiting the wounded troops? Turns out:

What the McCain campaign doesn't want people to know, according to one GOP strategist I spoke with over the weekend, is that they had an ad script ready to go if Obama had visited the wounded troops saying that Obama was...wait for it...using wounded troops as campaign props. So, no matter which way Obama turned, McCain had an Obama bashing ad ready to launch. I guess that's political hardball. But another word for it is the one word that most politicians are loathe to use about their opponents--a lie.

All campaigns are a little dishonest, but McCain campaign is really outdoing itself.

What Does Democracy Look Like?

July 31, 2008

Here's my latest post over at (TPM Cafe) as part of the ongoing discussion of MoveOn. (Unfortunately, right now it's a whole bunch of white dudes. This is largely my fault, but hoping some new voices come in.)

John Stauber raises a number of criticisms of MoveOn that he raised in my interviews with him, and before responding directly to them, I'm curious to see what Eli or Ben or others within or associated with MoveOn have to say.

That said, I want to just stress a few points:

TNR's Kirchick Problem...And Ours

July 31, 2008

There's a whole lot of New Republic bashing in the center-left blogosphere, some of which is perfectly justified, some of which seems a bit excessive and baby-and-the-bathwater-esque. But for a little while now they've seen fit to employ and publish a writer named Jamie Kirchick, who is essentially a concern troll, a neo-con performance artist of the written word who lives off of baiting other writers into feuds by mis-characterizing their work and accusing them of being appeasers or anti-semites. My colleague Eric Alterman had to correct the record recently in response to Kirchick smearing him over his views on Israel.

There's really no point in wasting any time arguing with the guy. There's nothing there to interact with. But Kirchick's not really the issue, as Ezra rightly points out here. There'll always be a market for dishonesty and viciousness in print. Some of it's even entertaining in a grim kind of way. The question is why the The New Republic chooses to continue to associate themselves with it.

Rich, Out of Touch Elitist

July 30, 2008

Ben Smith says I'm "yawning" at McCain's $520 loafers. I can see why he said that. My post on the topic was excessively arch.

So let me take off my irony hat and say this earnestly:

John McCain is an insanely rich individual. He is insanely rich because he married a woman who was insanely rich, who in turn inherited that insane wealth from her parents. They own more houses than I have pairs of shoes. Seriously. They have a super fancy credit cards that they carry a $225,000 balance on. He wears expensive shoes. I'm sure his suits and ties cost a lot, too. Whatever. That is what it is.

Now They're Calling Him Gay

July 30, 2008

Honestly, the McCain campaign has become a kind of pathetic caricature of all of the worst elements of Rovian politics. This is their response to Obama's response to their childish "celeb ad". (I won't dignify it with a link here):

This is a typically superfluous response from Barack Obama. Like most celebrities, he reacts to fair criticism with a mix of fussiness and hysteria," says McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds, before trying to link the attack back to offshore drilling."

"Fussiness and hysteria." Roll that one around on your tongue.

Let's Play: If I Were a Right Wing Blogger

July 30, 2008

If I were a right-wing blogger, and I found out that Barack Obama was wearing Ferragamo loafers that cost $520, I would spend about 50% of my waking hours making sure everyone knew this. I would mock him for being an out-of-touch elitist and make jokes like, "If you think that's a lot, you should see how much his purse costs " I would send the link to Drudge and wait for Instapundit to pick it up, and then watch gleefully as Fox News ran segments about how Barack Obama's $500 loafers vitiate his entire economic platform.

But of course, I'm not a right-wing blogger. And the $520 shoes belong to John McCain. And frankly, I don't think how much his shoes cost matters one whit for how he'd govern the country.

Some More Responses to MoveOn

July 29, 2008

Matt Stoller makes some sharp observations over at TPM Cafe.

I thought this was particularly astute:

One other problem with understanding Moveon is that there is no measurement system in politics for success

MoveOn Forum

July 28, 2008

TPM Cafe is hosting a discussion this week of my MoveOn article. There'll be feedback and criticism from some of the sources I quote in the article, and I'll be chiming in myself. I just put up the introductory post, which I'm pasting in below:

I'm grateful to TPM for hosting this discussion, and it seems the timing is fortuitous. As is so often the case, MoveOn is in the news this week, first for co-sponsoring, along with Color of Change and the rapper Nas, a protest of Fox News' coverage. And later, for Bill O'Reilly's deranged comment that, "It is not a stretch to say MoveOn is the new Klan."

Whoa.

Friday Capitol Letter

July 25, 2008

In the House ... The House passed legislation Wednesday that seeks to rescue the housing market, but also grants the Treasury Department authority to protect (read: bail out) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The Post called the bill "the most sweeping federal overhaul of the mortgage finance system since the Great Depression." It will provide $4 billion in block grants for local communities to buy up foreclosed properties, as well as tax credits for struggling first-time homebuyers. (Critics note that incentivizing more home purchases at this point may not be prudent). In order to bail out Fannie and Freddie (and, notably, their shareholders), the bill also raises the ceiling on the national debt to $10.6 trillion. The bill's supporters now seek final approval by the Senate. President Bush rescinded his veto threat, essentially insuring the bill will become law. The House Armed Services Committee reviewed the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy Wednesday. The hearing comes as Rep. Ellen Tauscher introduced a bill that would repeal the policy. A recent Washington Post/ABC News poll found that 75 percent of respondents supported allowing gays to serve openly in the military, up from 62 percent in 2001 and 44 percent in 1993. Democrats failed for the third time Thursday to move a measure forward that would release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Despite picking up 37 votes, and passing 268-157, it failed to pick up the two-thirds majority necessary to clear a procedural hurdle.

In the Senate ... A bill that would have given the government new authority to rein in oil speculators failed a Senate provisional vote 50-43, failing to garner the 60 votes required to overcome a GOP filibuster. Republicans contested that the bill should contain a provision for offshore drilling and oil shale field development in the West. Republican Senator Jim DeMint said Wednesday said he wants propose an amendment to the Housing bill that would prevent mortgage companies from lobbying Congress. He threatened to the stall senate with procedural delays until his bill was brought for a vote. It's currently scheduled to be voted on on Saturday. Attorney General Terry Goddard and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid gave testimony on polygamy related crimes Thursday to the Senate Judiciary Committee. "The lawless conduct of polygamous communities in the United States deserves national attention and federal action," Reid said.

-- Bobby Allyn