Ex-neighbors of the Army psychiatrist reported to have shot 13 people to death at Fort Hood, Texas recall him as a nice and giving person.
** CALIFORNIA 2010: THE DEMOCRATIC FIELD HAS BEEN CLEARED.
Lloyd: What do you think the chances are of a guy like you and a girl like me… ending up together?
Mary: Well, Lloyd, that’s difficult to say. I mean, we don’t really…
Lloyd: Hit me with it! Just give it to me straight! I came a long way just to see you, Mary. The least you can do is level with me. What are my chances?
Mary: Not good.
Lloyd: You mean, not good like one out of a hundred?
Mary: I’d say more like one out of a million.
Lloyd: So you’re telling me there’s a chance … YEAH!
From Dumb and Dumber.
Former Governor-turned-Attorney General Jerry Brown has cleared the Democratic field for governor of California in 2010. Without so much as announcing his candidacy.
How that occurred is a story for another time. But for now, we’ll deal with non-serious reports of other challengers purportedly emerging.
They stem from consultants who won’t be hired by Brown — which is a very long list, actually, as Brown is the absolute antithesis of the consultant-driven candidate, since he knows politics far better than all but a few consultants and has a strong network of advisors, which the press has not yet gathered — and a few journos/bloggers who are either resentful, anxious for copy, or ideologically driven for some sort of ultra-left candidate who would have no more chance of becoming the next governor of California than do you.
Which does not include our old friend Willie Brown, the legendary former California Assembly Speaker and San Francisco Mayor, who keeps coming up with fanciful scenarios. Not that he is not really a supporter of the other Brown, mind you. He simply likes to mix things up.
Willie likes to keep things interesting, and focused on himself. So he has, for the past few months, floated a number of alleged challengers to the other Brown. Notably not mentioning Senator Dianne Feinstein, now chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, a post she’s worked toward for years, one of the key geopolitical offices on Planet Earth, and which is not, let me tell you, having worked with a senior member of that committee, granted to someone who runs off to run for some other office once it’s achieved. Feinstein, not incidentally, officiated at Jerry and Anne Brown’s lovely wedding ceremony.
Anyway, Willie Brown. He has recently floated Steve Westly, ex-eBay honcho, former state Controller, and current mega-Obama backer and greentech venture capitalist. And LA Congresswoman Jane Harman. And California First Lady Maria Shriver.
As it happens, I am in regular contact with Westly, often talking Beatles and Bond. Which is not true of Willie Brown. I know what he’s doing, and he’s not running against Brown. Quite the contrary. Shriver? Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger finds this amusing. She’s not running against Brown, either, which Willie would know, had he asked his pal Arnold. Harman? She’s not running for governor. She’s in a rather difficult Democratic primary re-election campaign. She couldn’t beat Brown if she tried for a hundred years.
Which brings us to a singularly non-serious report in Wednesday’s San Francisco Chronicle by reporter Carla Marinucci. Carla, who I have known for many years, has long been a regular conduit for lobbyist/political consultant Garry South. She also was the reporter recorded, unfortunately without notice, by Brown’s now ex-spokesman, in an effort to improve her reporting. Garry, who I’ve known since he moved to California in the early ’90s, was the chief strategist for a campaign which had no strategy — other than throwing right-leaning, anti-Brown spitballs — that of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. Which was, needless to say, not how to do that campaign, to the extent that it existed.
Marinucci has produced numerous pieces reflecting Garry’s anti-Brown agenda, an agenda which may also be a front for Republican interests. Her latest report purported to reveal that there is a big anti-Jerry Brown move in the Democratic Party. It is, let’s be charitable, non-serious.
Carla’s hook is that former Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg is emerging as a primary challenger to Brown. This is, to put it charitably, non-serious.
Hertzberg, who finished third in a race for LA mayor in 2005, was one of our volunteers in the Gary Hart for President campaign. Shortly after he became speaker, we met in what had been Willie Brown’s Capitol office, and he showed me the little heart-shaped pin I’d given him as a Hart campaign insider.
Bob is not running for governor, which I knew without asking. He’s focused on his group, California Forward’s, big governmental reform agenda. Nevertheless, thanks to Carla’s reportage, we talked yesterday, and here is his comment: “Oh, God no, I’m not running for governor!”
Marinucci in her San Francisco Chronicle report had elicited much the same quote, albeit not as pithy. Which, in her interpretation, meant that he was strongly considering running against Brown.
Hertzberg is not going to run against Attorney General Jerry Brown. Quite the contrary.
Buttressing, as it were, her reporting, Marinucci cited two blog reports which she presented as evidence of a mounting challenge to Brown.
The reports, actually, are quite the opposite, as a reasonable read of them reveals.
Then she cited a poll that she said showed big opposition within the party.
This poll, a term I use advisedly, is an Internet poll on the site of the California Majority Report. Which Marinucci reported is the web site for the state Democratic Party.
Which is, to put it simply, quite wrong.
The CMR is run by three Sacramento consultants, all of whom I know well. It is not the state party web site. Not by a long shot, as we all know well.
When I sent Carla an e-mail on this, she changed her report on the Chronicle web site. Naturally, I have a screenshot copy of her original report.
Here is what she wrote originally: “Indeed, a poll currently being taken by the California Majority Report — the state’s Democratic Party website — suggests that there’s a hunger among Democrats for other candidates.”
And here is what she changed it to after I told her she was dead wrong: “Indeed, a poll currently being taken by the California Majority Report — a state Democratic Party website — suggests that there’s a hunger among Democrats for other candidates.”
In both cases, she wrote: “The website poll shows 34 percent of the Democratic party respondents support Brown for the 2010 gubernatorial nomination — but 42 percent are “hoping someone else runs” and another 10 percent say they’re undecided and want additional candidates. (San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom had about 12 percent of that vote before he dropped out last week.)”
The irony is that her little change still makes her report dead wrong. The California Majority Report is still, in no way, shape, or form, a state Democratic Party web site.
In fact, there’s hardly any action there at all, as it goes days absent any posts from its principals or other writers.
In fact, the last two comments there are from me. And the first of those was posted in … September.
And the numbers in the poll have been the same for weeks now.
It doesn’t require actual reporting to know this.
** HUCKABEE IS THE LEADING GOP PICK FOR 2012. A new Gallup Poll shows that former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee to be the strongest Republican choice to run against President Barack Obama in 2012.
Looking ahead to the 2012 presidential election, 71% of Republicans say they would seriously consider voting for Mike Huckabee. This gives Huckabee a slight edge over Mitt Romney (65%) and Sarah Palin (65%) in this early test of the strength of several potential Republican contenders. A majority of Republicans also say they would seriously consider voting for Newt Gingrich, but far fewer say they are currently ready to support the lesser-known Tim Pawlenty or Haley Barbour. …
The poll suggests that the appeal of these potential challengers to Barack Obama in 2012 at this point is primarily limited to the Republican faithful. Among all Americans, Huckabee and Romney perform better than the other Republicans tested, but only about 4 in 10 Americans say they would consider voting for either. …
In addition to gauging potential support for each candidate, the poll also asked Americans to say whether they think each is qualified to be president. Huckabee and Romney are the leaders in this respect, with about half of the public saying each is qualified. …
Thus, more Americans believe Huckabee (50%) and Romney (49%) are qualified to be president than say they would seriously consider voting for them (40% and 39%, respectively). The same is true for Gingrich, although there is a wider gap between the percentage who believe he is qualified (44%) and the percentage who would seriously consider supporting him (29%).
That is not the case for Palin, however. Thirty-three percent of Americans would seriously consider voting for her, but about the same number — 31% — believe she is qualified to be president. In fact, Republicans are more likely to say they would seriously consider voting for Palin for president (65%) than to say she is qualified for the job (58%). …
I like Huckabee. He is, however, like Palin, a creationist. And America in the 21st century will not elect a creationist as its president.
Gingrich is the author of alternative history novels. Which I have read, incidentally. He’s now being dinged by the right as being too “liberal.” Romney made his fortune as a corporate takeover artist, back when he was working with Meg Whitman, who hopes to be California’s next governor …
** ARNOLD’S BEST PICK FOR LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR? ABEL MALDONADO. Who is Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger going to pick as California’s new lieutenant governor, now that the old one is in Congress? That’s a good question.
Here’s who he should pick: State Senator Abel Maldonado.
Why?
That’s easy.
Maldonado is a Republican. Schwarzenegger gets nothing picking a Democrat. Former Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg is already out of the picture.
More to the point, Maldonado is a moderate Republican. If Schwarzenegger is to leave a legacy of more sensible politics in an era of frequently silly hyperpartisanship, he needs to bring greater moderation to an increasingly far right California Republican Party.
Maldonado is also, clearly, a Latino. And Latinos are the future in California politics. Yet they have been absent in the top ranks of statewide elected leadership in this state supposedly focused on the future.
And Maldonado has been an Arnold ally. One he did not do much for when he ran for state controller in 2006.
That led to a bitter break between the two. More lately, however, Maldonado has made some tough votes for Arnold on the budget and other matters.
The rap on Arnold is that he is not loyal to his friends. Actually, he is. But frequently not in politics, oddly enough.
Making Maldonado California’s new lieutenant governor deals with all these issues.
Can he be confirmed? Sure.
President Barack Obama, closing yesterday’s tribal nations conference, shared his shock and sympathy with the victims of the Fort Hood shootings.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington today.
Obama has received his intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
At 8 AM Pacific, Obama signs the Worker, Homeownership and Business Assistance Act of 2009 in the Oval Office.
At 11:35 AM Pacific, Obama visits Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
This was the previous duty station of the alleged Fort Hood shooter, an Army psychiatrist.
At 1:25 PM Pacific, Obama meets with Congressman-Elect Bill Owens of New York in the Oval Office.
Owens won a Congressional seat held by the GOP since the Civil War. How did he do it?
By being a reasonable person, and by not being caught in the middle of the GOP civil war between moderates and the far right.
He also supported national health care, with the public option, winning 49% of the vote in a seat held by Republicans since the Civil War.
Federal authorities last night searched the Killeen, Texas apartment of Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the man believed to be responsible for the worst mass killing on a U.S. military base.
At 2:10 PM Pacific, Obama meets with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Oval Office.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the House of Representatives will pass national health care on Saturday.
Obama is monitoring geopolitical crises in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq.
Iran seemed, after a typical stalling tactic, to accept the nuclear deal it negotiated the week before last in Vienna, albeit with big caveats, and then said no to it. Now it says it wants to negotiate “details.”
Israel regards this as typical Iranian stall ball.
Talking with Sky News earlier today, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, a former ambassador to the US and senior aide to Ariel Sharon, said that Israel is seriously considering air strikes to take out Iran’s nascent nuclear capacity.
This was an unusually frank, on-the-record comment by a top Israeli official with regard to an attack on Iran.
Obama continues deliberations on his latest strategy for Afghanistan, where President Hamid Karzai is officially re-elected with the weekend election now canceled due to his challenger’s complaint of ongoing massive electoral fraud.
The UN is moving most of its foreign staff out of Afghanistan. This comes in the wake of last week’s deadly Taliban attack on UN staffers in Kabul.
In more good news, Iraq is talking about delaying its national elections now set for two months from now.
Obama is also prepping for his big Asia trip, which begins next week.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles today.
He signs the first pieces of the big California water package, those dealing with groundwater management.
At 10 AM, Schwarzenegger signs two bills at the Tujunga Wellfield Groundwater Recovery Project in Los Angeles, SBX7 6 and SBX7 8, by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento).
The event will be webcast live on www.gov.ca.gov.
Tonight Schwarzenegger celebrates First Lady Maria Shriver’s 53rd birthday.
** OBAMA’S OFF TO A VERY GOOD START. One year ago, Barack Obama was elected president of the United States. Is his presidency delivering on the promise of his candidacy? Yes. I think he’s off to a very good start. But I’m not doing handstands.
I keep Obama’s book containing his campaign program, Change We Can Believe In, on my desk. Is Obama doing what he said he would do? Yes, mostly.
It’s important to be clear about something. Obama is not a left-wing politician; he’s a center/left politician. That’s clear when you examine what he ran on last year. He ran on a center/left platform, not a left-wing platform.
Many on the left and the right, either through misunderstanding or pursuit of their own agendas, get this wrong. Each wing imagines (or pretends to imagine) that Obama is a lefty, and alternately prods and assails him on that false basis.
But let’s not clear space on Mount Rushmore just yet. …
** IT’S NOVEMBER 22, 1963 ON MAD MEN. “Everything’s going to be okay.” — Don Draper
No, Don. It won’t. It really won’t. …
** AFGHANISTAN, AGAIN: THE THICKET OBAMA’S NOT GETTING OUT OF. … From my October 29th column.
** MAD MEN REVIEW: “THE GYPSY AND THE HOBO.” … From my October 26th review.
** CHINATOWN’S 35TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION AND THE POLANSKI SCANDAL. … From my October 23rd essay.
** OBAMA IN THE THICKET OF “AFGHANIRANISTAN.” … From my October 21st column.
** MAD MEN REVIEW: “THE COLOR BLUE.” … From my October 19th review.
** MAD MEN REVIEW: “WEE SMALL HOURS.” … From my October 12th review.
** WHY OBAMA DOESN’T DESERVE THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE, OR THE OLYMPICS RAP. … From my October 9th column.
** ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, JERRY BROWN, BILL CLINTON AND THAT CRAZY CALIFORNIA GOVERNORSHIP. … From my October 8th essay.
** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th Huffington Post column.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in two wars in the region, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** SCHWARZENEGGER’S CALIFORNIA. Here is my series of five columns on the governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger for the Los Angeles Times in debate last fall, prior to the global economic meltdown, with Pulitzer Prize-winning former Times reporter/editor Bill Boyarsky, whose columns are also included. Among them is what I’m sure is the first piece examining Schwarzenegger’s legacy as governor of California. Since he will actually be governor of California until 2011. No technology known to be disruptive to the space/time continuum was used in its preparation. You can listen to my recent video webchat with Schwarzenegger here.
** TRACK GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Having crashed over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, 2008, crude oil is trading around $77 per barrel.
This is up about $43 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
Read 
| Comments (81) |
The Abel possibility has set our town in a frenzy of speculation. Sam Blakeslee, current Republican Assembly Leader, has over $300,000 in the bank for his run at the seat. The Dems, of course, want that seat because it has Dem numbers. Most say, give Abel what he wants, which is a statewide office that requires him to do nothing and allows him the time to raise money for all his ambitions (Governor, President, Strongman of a Banana Republic).
Who know what will happen. The Gov does not like Sam (and Sam does not like Abel) so the Gov may want to do this just to hurt Sam’s ambition. But that would require the Dems to actually field a good candidate, not something they’ve been able to do here since Jack O’Connell.
You have absolutely nailed to the wall the San Francisco Comical and its “star” political reporter.
What a ridiculous, lying piece of shit it’s become. Kudos!
He’s an Islamic extremist who turned into a suicide bomber type. How hard is that to figure out?
Wilbur says:
November 6, 2009 at 3:36 pm
The doc was about to be deployed. If he was an asset he would have been a much more valuable asset once behind lines in the theatre of war.
Dude just lost it.
That he cried “Allahu Akhbar” when he thought he was about to meet his maker just establishes that he’s Muslim. That prayer isn’t trademarked by the terrorists, it’s just that Western media have trained us to equate the two.
All my text is in bold, but I’m on a Mac and Firefox. Your typeface my vary…
Another glitch, here, perhaps, which only took 20 mins to deal with.
Sigh.
Probably correct. And a new and more difficult problem for America.
> Truth Teller says:
November 6, 2009 at 5:34 pm (Edit)
He’s an Islamic extremist who turned into a suicide bomber type. How hard is that to figure out?
Thanks.
They are very resistant, dealing with their “editors,” as they go down the drain.
> Truth Teller says:
November 6, 2009 at 5:30 pm (Edit)
You have absolutely nailed to the wall the San Francisco Comical and its “star” political reporter.
What a ridiculous, lying piece of shit it’s become. Kudos!
Adam, my old friend, if you want to be a state senator, I would tell you that the time is now.
Not that I know anything, naturally.
> Adam says:
November 6, 2009 at 5:14 pm (Edit)
The Abel possibility has set our town in a frenzy of speculation. Sam Blakeslee, current Republican Assembly Leader, has over $300,000 in the bank for his run at the seat. The Dems, of course, want that seat because it has Dem numbers. Most say, give Abel what he wants, which is a statewide office that requires him to do nothing and allows him the time to raise money for all his ambitions (Governor, President, Strongman of a Banana Republic).
Who know what will happen. The Gov does not like Sam (and Sam does not like Abel) so the Gov may want to do this just to hurt Sam’s ambition. But that would require the Dems to actually field a good candidate, not something they’ve been able to do here since Jack O’Connell.
It was a glitch. This site can be a total pain in the ass …
> Brasky says:
November 6, 2009 at 4:58 pm (Edit)
Why is everything in bold?
Nothing we’re saying here is THAT important…
Dealing with Carla and the Chron is like shooting fish in a barrel.
The only decision is whether to fire …
> Capitol Boy says:
November 6, 2009 at 4:06 pm (Edit)
I love it!!!!
** CALIFORNIA 2010: THE DEMOCRATIC FIELD HAS BEEN CLEARED.
Lloyd: What do you think the chances are of a guy like you and a girl like me… ending up together?
Mary: Well, Lloyd, that’s difficult to say. I mean, we don’t really…
Lloyd: Hit me with it! Just give it to me straight! I came a long way just to see you, Mary. The least you can do is level with me. What are my chances?
Mary: Not good.
Lloyd: You mean, not good like one out of a hundred?
Mary: I’d say more like one out of a million.
Lloyd: So you’re telling me there’s a chance … YEAH!
From Dumb and Dumber.
Perhaps. We need to check everything first.
> Jack Aubrey says:
November 6, 2009 at 4:11 pm (Edit)
Nice try with the race baiting. It’s called homegrown Jihadism. It’s happening here like in England. You’re a smart guy. Don’t be a dope.
I want to see the Inherit The Wind campaign …
I got that movie when he emerged.
> Clutch J says:
November 6, 2009 at 3:37 pm (Edit)
Call me wildly optimistic, but I think Obama could take Huckabee.
He did a lot of damage, perhaps more than in a combat zone.
I’m afraid this is a new phenomenon.
> Wilbur says:
November 6, 2009 at 3:36 pm (Edit)
The doc was about to be deployed. If he was an asset he would have been a much more valuable asset once behind lines in the theatre of war.
Dude just lost it.
That he cried “Allahu Akhbar” when he thought he was about to meet his maker just establishes that he’s Muslim. That prayer isn’t trademarked by the terrorists, it’s just that Western media have trained us to equate the two.
Having read three of his books … YES!
>Dana says:
November 6, 2009 at 2:59 pm
Gingrich too liberal? How surreal..
You have nailed the Governor’s race. Again.
I am very saddened by events in Fort Hood. Religion and its zealotry again gets the best of our humanity, I am afraid.
Still a killer-diller!
The Viet Nam fragging of officers has returned in a totally different guise.
I wish that was at all sensible.
A senior officer killing the enlisted is not fragging.
Jodi, that’s what I meant by “a totally different guise.”
These shootings is a very strange matter.
What new video today?
The prez on Fort Hood and the investigation into the shooter.
Indeed.
> sergei says:
November 7, 2009 at 3:24 am (Edit)
These shootings is a very strange matter.
As a vet of the late Viet/post-Viet era, I don’t see how this is a fragging.
> larry says:
November 6, 2009 at 8:27 pm (Edit)
The Viet Nam fragging of officers has returned in a totally different guise.
Thanks.
> Jodi says:
November 6, 2009 at 8:06 pm (Edit)
Still a killer-diller!
Thanks! And … Oh, well …
> marcus waldron says:
November 6, 2009 at 7:40 pm (Edit)
You have nailed the Governor’s race. Again.
I am very saddened by events in Fort Hood. Religion and its zealotry again gets the best of our humanity, I am afraid.
Correct.
> Jodi says:
November 6, 2009 at 8:35 pm (Edit)
I wish that was at all sensible.
A senior officer killing the enlisted is not fragging.
The first book is pretty poor. The next are pretty good.
They are all co-written.
> Truth Teller says:
November 6, 2009 at 7:14 pm (Edit)
Having read three of his books … YES!
>Dana says:
November 6, 2009 at 2:59 pm
Gingrich too liberal? How surreal..
Newt can write??!!
Carla’s a lying idiot. You totally nailed her.
Bill Bradley says:
November 6, 2009 at 7:07 pm
Dealing with Carla and the Chron is like shooting fish in a barrel.
The only decision is whether to fire …
> Capitol Boy says:
November 6, 2009 at 4:06 pm (Edit)
I love it!!!!
** CALIFORNIA 2010: THE DEMOCRATIC FIELD HAS BEEN CLEARED.
Lloyd: What do you think the chances are of a guy like you and a girl like me… ending up together?
Mary: Well, Lloyd, that’s difficult to say. I mean, we don’t really…
Lloyd: Hit me with it! Just give it to me straight! I came a long way just to see you, Mary. The least you can do is level with me. What are my chances?
Mary: Not good.
Lloyd: You mean, not good like one out of a hundred?
Mary: I’d say more like one out of a million.
Lloyd: So you’re telling me there’s a chance … YEAH!
From Dumb and Dumber.
Why is little Carla still viewed as a reporter?