Flaps Blog Links for April 17, 2009
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates denied permission for the U.S. Northern Command to use the Pentagon’s most powerful sea-based radar to monitor North Korea’s recent missile launch, precluding officials from collecting finely detailed launch data or testing the radar in a real-time crisis, current and former defense officials said. Jamie Graybeal, Northcom public affairs director, confirmed to The Washington Times that Air Force Gen. Gene Renuart, the Northcom commander, requested the radar’s use but referred all other questions to the Pentagon. Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said Mr. Gates’ decision not to use the $900 million radar, known as SBX, was “based on the fact that there were numerous ground- and sea-based radars and sensors in the region to support the operational requirements for this launch.
A former top official in the administration of President George W. Bush called the publication of the memos “unbelievable.†“It’s damaging because these are techniques that work, and by Obama’s action today, we are telling the terrorists what they are,†the official said. “We have laid it all out for our enemies. This is totally unnecessary. … Publicizing the techniques does grave damage to our national security by ensuring they can never be used again — even in a ticking-time- bomb scenario where thousands or even millions of American lives are at stake.” “I don’t believe Obama would intentionally endanger the nation, so it must be that he thinks either 1. the previous administration, including the CIA professionals who have defended this program, is lying about its importance and effectiveness, or 2. he believes we are no longer really at war and no longer face the kind of grave threat to our national security this program has protected against.â€
You are right in reporting that such weapons could not be legally acquired through US gun shops, and they have not been in US service for decades. However, they are still used throughout the world, including South and Central America where many were provided through the US government, again, decades ago. I’m assuming the pictures of the weapons are these. I was going by the news story, and wouldn’t know what I was looking at in any case. It could be, of course, that there are multiple weapons, but regardless, this suggests a new rallying cry for gun-grabbers — “Stop the smuggling of antique firearms to Mexico!”
Nonetheless, he’s playing his part in the administration’s diversionary effort at seeming to respond forcefully to the problems at the Mexican border without actually mentioning illegal immigration. This centers on claims that 90 percent of the guns seized in Mexico are from the United States, and thus stopping that southbound flow of weapons has to be our chief goal. This was reinforced recently by a complete non sequitur of a story about the seizure of a U.S.-made .50 caliber Browning machine gun by Mexican police, which somehow is further justification for a planned ATF enforcement blitz in Texas.
How do urban legends retain their vitality? Ignorant people pass them along as fact. Unfortunately, sometimes that includes the national media, as it does today in the Washington Post. In a report on Barack Obama’s get-tough policy with Mexico, reporter Spencer Hsu repeats the canard that 90% of the guns seized by Mexican authorities come from the US:
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) blasted “tea party” protests yesterday, labeling the activities “despicable” and shameful.” “The ‘tea parties’ being held today by groups of right-wing activists, and fueled by FOX News Channel, are an effort to mislead the public about the Obama economic plan that cuts taxes for 95 percent of Americans and creates 3.5 million jobs,” Schakowsky said in a statement. “It’s despicable that right-wing Republicans would attempt to cheapen a significant, honorable moment of American history with a shameful political stunt,” she added. “Not a single American household or business will be taxed at a higher rate this year. Made to look like a grassroots uprising, this is an Obama bashing party promoted by corporate interests, as well as Republican lobbyists and politicians.â€
+++++++
From Illinois – of course.
It’s a good list, but it appears to have left some events off, which would boost the numbers even higher. I don’t see Macon, Ga., listed, and that was reportedly “almost 600” and “about 500” at Warner-Robins, Ga. Roanoke, Va., is not listed, and the local newspaper article mentions “325 people.” Perhaps most glaringly, Columbus, Ohio doesn’t appear on Silver’s list, which had, according to organizers, 7,000 people. Even if you think the organizers are overestimating the number, it’s more than the zero that are in Silver’s current count. ANOTHER UPDATE: Okay, this is starting to look like a fairly significant undercount. While Silver uses 7,000 for Atlanta, the Georgia Department of Public Safety estimated the crowd at 15,000.
Obama is a very popular President, at the moment, his unpopularity among Republicans notwithstanding, and it’s awfully hard to see the Tea Parties doing much to change that reality in the short run; if anything, they’re far more likely to reconfirm the majority in its opinion that American conservatism is increasingly wacky, echo-chamberish, and out-of-touch. Still, here we are in the sixth year of the Iraq War, and all those anti-war protests, their excesses and stupidities notwithstanding, look a lot more prescient in hindsight than they did (to me, at least) when they were going on. So if you’re inclined to sneer and giggle at the Tea Parties, keep in mind that just because a group of protesters looks ragged, resentful, and naive, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re wrong to be alarmed:
A number of press reports have characterized the tea parties as anti-Obama exercises. The Wall Street Journal carried an online story headlined “Anti-Obama ‘Tea Party’ Protests Mark Tax Day.” CNN introduced a tea-party story by saying, “This is a party for Obama-bashers.” The Los Angeles Times ran a column headlined, “Anti-Obama Taxpayer Tea Parties Steeped in Insanity.” But in Winchester at least, the atmosphere was not so much anti-Obama — organizers posted a note on their website asking that everyone “Please DO NOT personally attack the President or any member of Congress by name” — as it was a classic conservative Republican, limited-government, anti-spending talkfest. Anyone who covered the GOP primary contests in 2007-2008 would have recognized it immediately.
THE top suits and some of the on-air talent at CNBC were recently ordered to a top-secret meeting with General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt and NBC Universal President Jeff Zucker to discuss whether they’ve turned into the President Obama-bashing network, Page Six has learned. “It was an intensive, three-hour dinner at 30 Rock which Zucker himself was behind,” a source familiar with the powwow told us. “There was a long discussion about whether CNBC has become too conservative and is beating up on Obama too much. There’s great concern that CNBC is now the anti-Obama network. The whole meeting was really kind of creepy.”
But if 100-1,000 people show up at a town council, city council, etc. meeting, in most places, that’s an earthquake. It varies widely, but most local government budget meetings are sleepy affairs, and many local lawmakers are used to settling their spending with minimal scrutiny. They’ve never seen anything like several hundred people showing up with the same message of “don’t waste my money.” In other words, if conservatives want to make sure stimulus funds don’t get spent on crap, applying pressure at the local level is a way to leverage the tea party energy into something with real impact on the ground. Who knows? It might even get some conservatives involved in government on a more regular basis.
This is an update and probably the last one. Those of you who are interested in extending the analysis (there are undoubtedly many events missing, although most of the major ones should now be covered) are encouraged to do so at Wikipedia or elsewhere. But, based on news accounts of 306 “Tea Party” protests in different cities across the country yesterday, I get a cumulative attendance of 262,025, with a fair number of (probably mostly smaller) events still unaccounted for.
1. The jury remains out (to say the least) on the Michael Steele era (see especially: nuts and bolts, communications, fundraising).
2. The inordinate actual power that radio and cable hosts have over the actions of Republican elected officials.
3. The media’s fascination with the actual (and exaggerated) power that radio and cable hosts have over the actions of Republican elected officials.
4. The failure of John Boehner and Mitch McConnell to agree on and/or execute a daily, disciplined coordinated message plan.
5. The worst nativist instincts on immigration, that will cripple any chances the party has to survive the here-and-now and impending demographic changes.
6. The weakness of almost all of the potential 2012 candidates.
7. The relative weakness of the conservative 527s, think tanks, and activist groups compared to their counterparts on the left.
8. The Obama White House’s commanding command of the powers of the executive branch.
9. The near impotence of the right’s long-term Big Three issues (national security, taxes, and social issues).
10. Rahm.