Saddam Hussein's cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid was executed yesterday. Better known as 'Chemical Ali', he was particularly notorious for his role in the use of poison gas in a pogrom against the Kurds (up to 180,000 people killed by some estimates) back in 1988. Hussein's role in terror killings against civilians (including the related use of WMD and payments to survivors of Palestinian suicide bombers targeting Israeli civilians) was a significant factor in George W. Bush's decision to seek regime change in Iraq.
James Carville Thinks Obama Needs to Bash Bush and the GOP More
The Clinton era rabid Democratic partisan guru wrote a recent Financial Times commentary, arguing that the Coakley Massachusetts Senate loss finger-pointing is misguided, that Obama has been too nice a guy, and the Democrats needs to bash Bush and the GOP in Congress more. Carville is wrong.
Obama has been ubiquitous; he's given over 100 interviews and issued hundreds of statements and other messages to a fawning liberal mass media. It's not a question of whether the opposition GOP could stop it given a near-filibuster proof majority in the Senate. Obama has been bashing Bush, the Congressional Republicans and "special interests" almost nonstop for 3 years running. The motivational "yes, we can" Presidential candidate in the winter of 2007-2008 and bringing Washington together in a new post-partisan era spent the first several weeks of his administrtion talking the economy down to sell a huge so-called stimulus bill. Bush-bashing was a principal strategy used in the unsuccessful Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial campaigns and last week's Coakley loss.
The fact is that Obama, far from bringing America together, has been the most polarizing first-term President ever, according to Gallup. The average job approval by Democrats is 88% vs. 23% for Republicans--a difference of 65. That is 20 points greater than the highest gap by Republican Presidents (Reagan and GW Bush shared the highest, 45). (Clinton scored a 52 point gap.)
As for the Coakley loss for the Massachusetts Senate seat, after an early 31-point lead over Scott Brown, I don't think it was motivated by Coakley's tactical errors; a key difference was a strong showing by independents heavily supporting Brown. I personally believe they liked the fact that Scott Brown was offering a reasoned, problem-solving approach (not ideological) and to a large extent reacting to the high costs and corrupt deal making of the Democratic Party Health Care Bill in the Senate (i.e., the Louisiana Purchase, the Cornhusker kickback, and various union deferments and exclusions). Indeed, a recent CNN poll recently revealed that 70% of Americans feel that the Dems losing their filibuster-proof of 60 seats in the Senate is a good thing.
Political Cartoon
Lisa Benson remind us of the latest, current bubble in the economy: the federal government bubble.
Musical Interlude Segment: Favorite Beatle Remakes
Interestingly, both of my selections (group and solo) feature John Lennon, whom I think still ranks among the finest rock lead vocalists. (In terms of the songwriting collaboration where Lennon and McCartney notoriously shared credit on all their Beatles' songs, I tend to prefer McCartney's genius at melody writing, although Lennon wrote some of my favorites, e.g., "Help!", "A Hard Day's Night" and "In My Life".)
"Twist and Shout"
John Lennon, "Stand By Me"
