Listen to Kristol

John McCain really should take Bill Kristol’s advice in his NYT column today and fire his entire campaign. You know, for the good of the country.

It’s time for John McCain to fire his campaign.

He has nothing to lose. His campaign is totally overmatched by Obama’s. The Obama team is well organized, flush with resources, and the candidate and the campaign are in sync. The McCain campaign, once merely problematic, is now close to being out-and-out dysfunctional. Its combination of strategic incoherence and operational incompetence has become toxic. If the race continues over the next three weeks to be a conventional one, McCain is doomed.

He may be anyway. Bush is unpopular. The media is hostile. The financial meltdown has made things tougher. Maybe the situation is hopeless — and if it is, then nothing McCain or his campaign does matters.

Kristol really strikes me as of the same ilk as all those Tom Friedman and Nick Kristof columns, proclaiming the path the Bush administration should take in Iraq. At no point did the Bush administration ever listen to these columnists, but endorsements of particular plans by ostensibly liberal columnists gave the patina of approval to a failed war. Moreover, the columnists who penned articles that decision makers would never, ever listen to would be able to deploy the incompetence dodge when analyzing the war’s failure in hindsight (“We would have won in Iraq if Bush and Rumsfeld had listened to my column,” bemoans the columnist spurned).

That, to me, seems to be the main point of Kristol’s column today. He’s laying down a marker that might look great in hindsight and distance himself from the outcome of McCain’s campaign. But any analysis of whether Kristol was right in his column today from the vantage point of November 5th will be based around a counterfactual. It won’t be available for actually legitimizing Kristol in the ashes of the McCain campaign.

It’s also worth mentioning that one reason Kristol would be wanting to innoculate himself from the downfall of John McCain and the Republican Party is that he played a critical role in the formation of this ticket. According to Scott Horton, Kristol was the key advocate for Sarah Palin’s vice presidential pick and in so doing, he defeated Karl Rove’s push for Mitt Romney. Given that Palin has been a complete flop outside the Republican base, Kristol will be well served to place distance from the terminal McCain campaign.

I say McCain should take Kristol’s advice. It will succeed in doing two things: electing Barack Obama president and putting the nail in the coffin of Bill Kristol’s reputation. It would be impossible for McCain to operate, let alone win, with complete staff turnover today. It would be impossible for them to buy tv time and plan town halls, as Kristol suggests McCain do, with the termination of the entire campaign. But by all means, John McCain should take Kristol’s advice. The country will be far better off if he does.

Nasty Attack, Good Response

I had a conversation on Friday night with a friend who does a lot of work in Minnesota about the nasty attack ads Norm Coleman has been running against Al Franken in the Senate race. Specifically, Coleman used video of Franken telling a heartwarming story about deceased Senator Paul Wellstone and his son to make Franken look angry. I tracked down the ad Franken put up in response and it truly is appalling how Coleman’s campaign twisted this footage for political purposes.

Coleman has since pulled down all negative ads, though he didn’t have the courage to tell Minnesota voters that it was because his campaign smears have failed and he can no longer chance voters responding to his attacks.

The Branchflower Report

Yesterday investigator Steve Branchflower delivered his 263 page report on Troopergate to the Alaska Legislative Council, which voted unanimously to release it to the public. You can download it here (PDF link). Here are key findings:

“For the reasons explained in section IV of this report, I find that Governor Sarah Palin abused her power by violating Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act.” [Branchflower Report to the Alaska Legislative Council, Page 8]

“The Attorney General’s office has failed to substantially comply with my August 6, 2008 written request to Governor Sarah Palin for information about the case in the form of emails.” [Branchflower Report to the Alaska Legislative Council, Page 8]

“I find that, although Walt Monegan’s refusal to fire Trooper Michael Wooten was not the sole reason he was fired by Governor Sarah Palin, it was likely a contributing factor to his termination as commissioner of Public Safety.” [Branchflower Report to the Alaska Legislative Council, Page 8]

“The terms of my contract with the Legislative Council establish the framework within which I have been required to conduct my investigation and make my findings….Todd Palin is not an employee of the executive branch, so his conduct is not a violation of AS 39.52.010 – 39.52.965. Given the terms of the contract, I make no findings as to Mr. Palin’s conduct.” [Branchflower Report to the Alaska Legislative Council, pg. 67-8]

“Compliance with the code of ethics is not optional.” [Branchflower Report to the Alaska Legislative Council, p 65]

“The evidence supports the conclusion that Governor Palin, at the least, engaged in ‘official action’ by her inaction if not her active participation or assistance to her husband in attempting to get Trooper Wooten fired [and there is evidence of her active participation. She knowingly, as that term is defined in the above cited statutes, permitted Todd Palin to use the Governor’s office and the resources of the Governor’s office, including access to state employees, to continue to contact subordinate state employees in an effort to find some way to get Trooper Wooten fired. Her conduct violated AS 39.52.110(a) of the Ethics Act.” [Branchflower Report to the Alaska Legislative Council, p 65-6]

“Governor Palin knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates in order to advance a personal agenda.” [Branchflower Report to the Alaska Legislative Council, p 66]

“In this case, Governor Palin has declined to provide an interview. An interview would have assisted everyone to better understand her motives and perhaps help explain why she was so apparently intent upon Trooper Wooten fired in spite of the fact she knew he had been disciplined following the Administrative Investigation.” [Branchflower Report to the Alaska Legislative Council, p 66]

Alaska Democratic Party chair Patti Higgins response frames the pushback the McCain-Palin campaign should receive for politicizing the investigation, obstructing the investigation, and smearing the public servants who took their job seriously enough to conduct themselves professionally:

“The finding of the Legislative Council’s investigator that Governor Sarah Palin abused her power by violating Alaska’s ethics act is deeply troubling. Governor Palin has violated Alaskans’ trust. I hope that in light of this finding Governor Palin will stop playing partisan politics to the detriment of Alaska’s future.

“I believe there are three key points that Alaskans will appreciate. First, this investigation began with a unanimous vote of a bi-partisan committee. Second, the investigation was conducted in a professional and confidential manner. Third, the unanimous vote of Democrats and Republicans to release this report after it was read demonstrates that this is not a partisan process as alleged by Senator McCain and Governor Palin,” Higgins said.

Higgins statement doesn’t suggest a legislative response. At minimum, I hope the Alaska legislature brings up the report before the full body and considers what consequences should be handed out to Gov. Palin and those individuals who avoided subpoenas. A lot of people in Alaska, from both sides of aisle, are furious about how the McCain-Palin campaign has treated the state since she was picked as his VP. If she loses the election, she will not be returning to a friendly legislature. I don’t know if they will pursue impeachment (at this point I’d be surprised), but she is going to have a difficult time getting her agenda done. My guess is a coalition of Democrats and anti-Palin Republicans will be able to render the Republican majority moot on many of Palin’s pet issues.

Hopefully the Obama campaign can take the Branchflower findings and remind American voters that Palin is a vindictive power abuser who is completely unprepared to be anywhere near the Oval Office.

Things Mike Johanns Quit

Check out Things Mike Johanns Quit…, a hilarious new site on the Republican Nebraska Senate candidate who has a nasty reputation of quitting on the job. Here’s one example:

The Unfinished Death Star

That’s right. A little known fact about Mike Johanns was that as Secretary of Agriculture for the Bush Administration is that he was charged with construction of the a weapon so powerful even Dick Cheney trembled at its sight.

However, with only months left until the project was completed, Mike Johanns vacated his post to run for United States Senator leaving an opening for the Rebel Alliance to destroy the unfinished Death Star and defeat the Empire once and for all.

Hopefully, Mike Johanns will have failed us for the last time.

I’ve also heard that Mike Johanns quit moving the Dodgers back to Brooklyn, quit mending that fence over there, and gave up solving the Jack the Ripper murders.

Happy Branchflower Report Day!

Independent investigator Steve Branchflower is due to turn in his report on Sarah Palin’s suspected abuse of powers in Troopergate today. After he delivers the report to the Alaska state legislature, the body will vote on whether or not to release it to the public. Progressive bloggers in Alaska have been campaigning for weeks to get the legislature to release the report. The whole affair, particularly post-Palin’s pick as McCain’s running mate, has rankled legislators on both sides of the aisle in Juneau. The McCain-Palin campaign has sent lawyers up to Alaska to stonewall, trying for most of September to kill the investigation and simultaneously paint it as a partisan witchhunt. Which of course it’s not; the bipartisan Legislative Council voted unanimously to start the investigation early this summer.

This is probably the single funniest headline and lede I’ve read this year. From Matt Apuzzo of the AP:

Palin pre-empts state report, clears self in probe

By MATT APUZZO – 8 hours ago

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Trying to head off a potentially embarrassing state ethics report on GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, campaign officials released their own report Thursday that clears her of any wrongdoing.

It’s good to see that the writers at The Onion now have opportunities to ply their work in McCain’s campaign.

Marcy Wheeler points out that the McCain campaign’s preemptive “report” magically proclaiming Sarah Palin totally innocent of all charges (I was surprised that the report didn’t demand Branchflower and Hollis French pay $1,000,000,000 in restitution) also goes so far as to argue that John McCain actually isn’t qualified to be President:

But did you know they rationalized their concern by describing Mike Wooten’s–Sarah’s former bro-in-law–“long history of unstable and erratic behavior”?

Although the report describes Wooten as a separate issue, the McCain campaign goes into great detail about the “rogue” trooper and his “long history of unstable and erratic behavior.”

So in case you’re wondering, the McCain camp agrees that the guy with the long history of unstable and erratic behavior is a menace to society.

In the pursuit of the presidency and vice presidency, John McCain and Sarah Palin have demonstrated a willingness to say and do whatever it takes, regardless of principles or facts. Evidently their ambition goes so far as to not be internally logical, but I don’t think this surprises anyone.

Palin’s Radical Pals

David Neiwert and Max Blumenthal have an intense investigative piece on Salon about who Sarah Palin has been pallin’ around with: radical right wingers and separatists. It goes far deeper into both the secessionists she has worked closely with for the last fifteen years or so and what their relationships have looked like.

This isn’t the only issue floating towards home plate at batting practice speed that could further derail McCain-Palin (Troopergate & Palin’s unpaid taxes are out their too), but it is certainly made more important by the McCain-Palin campaign’s decision to turn their events into Tour de Hate ’08, which has (un)hinged on attacks on Ayers and Wright.

SFT Olympics Actions

Students for a Free Tibet has put together a great video of their nonviolent direct actions protesting the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Awesome recap of a tremendous global campaign – give it a look:

In the lead up to and during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Students for a Free Tibet (SFT) carried out several creative, powerful, and ambitious actions at strategic locations in Beijing and around the world to show China’s current and future leaders that Tibet is an issue of global significance that must be resolved before China will truly be accepted and respected as a leader on the world stage. 

My action in Hong Kong is about 7:10 into the video.