links for 2010-06-28

Weigel claims that at one point he was conservative, and the record suggests that at one point he actually was. In fact, he even went so far at one point as to claim he was a “rabid conservative” who gets “a contact high from attacking silly liberals”. (Rabid, you know, like Sarah Palin.)

But one thing seems to be missing throughout what is a pretty voluminous catalog of blog posts and articles written by Weigel during his “conservative” phase, and that is any significant elaboration on or promotion of conservative policy or principle.

Given that Weigel voted for Ralph Nader in 2000 before voting for Kerry in 2004 and Obama in 2008, might Weigel’s stint as a “rabid conservative” best be explained as a college-era whim, a way to fit-in with the peers he wished to associate with?
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Well, I don't think the New York Times will hire him.

Dave Weigel has a piece up at Big Government about the latest kerfuffle.

I developed a soft spot for Weigel because of his honesty in handling issues revolving around James O’Keefe and Brad Friedman. We know he has contempt for O’Keefe, yet when Brad Friedman dishonestly tried to spin a Weigel piece against O’Keefe, Weigel stood up for the truth.

Yet the Big Government piece leaves the toughest questions unanswered. Like: what about his participation in a list-serv that lefties used to “get their story straight”? Was this why Weigel seemed to focus on the identity of the cameramen in the Etheridge story? Was that the Journolist approved spin?
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I think we know the answers, Patterico and Breitbart has answered them about the Leftist Cabal of Journolist

In the first (and still best) “Austin Powers” film, a United Nations representative makes a faux pas and calls the film’s villain “Mr. Evil.”

“It’s Dr. Evil,” he huffs. “I didn’t spend six years in Evil Medical School to be called ‘mister,’ thank you very much.”

This is how I feel when I’m referred to as a “blogger,” sometimes with a political qualifier like “liberal” or “conservative” attached. I’m a reporter. I’ve been a reporter since high school. Like a lot of other people, I lucked into some reporting jobs that took advantage of the speed of the web — thus, I blogged. And I left the Washington Post because I was intoxicated by this medium by and the privileges of reporting. The leak of my private e-mails wouldn’t have been possible 10 years ago; but then, neither would have my career been possible.
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The Weigel apologia

"The story is not Dave Weigel. The story is Journolist," conservative Internet entrepreneur Andrew Breitbart said Monday in a brief telephone interview, explaining why he published Weigel's account of the career trajectory that led Weigel from libertarian Reason magazine to the Washington Post and now to unemployment.

It was Weigel's sarcastic e-mails to Journolist, the supposedly off-the-record e-mail group run by Ezra Klein, that resulted in his forced resignation Friday from the Post.

Breitbart said Journolist functioned as a "cabal" through which liberal reporters and editors colluded to counteract the influence of alternative media voices like Matt Drudge and Rush Limbaugh.
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Read it all

Former Washington Post writer David Weigel has attempted to explain away his Journolist e-mails attacking conservatives by claiming he was a trash-talking thoughtless jerk. If you think that self-damnation was bad, at least it was much better than admitting something even closer to the truth which would be that he deviously allowed people to think of him as a conservative. In fact, he is still lamely making that conservative claim in his Big Journalism article but first the jerk confession:
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I agree with Dan Riehl – a pretty lame apology.

I guess the guy wants to get another journalism job but he should have thought about that before engaging his keyboard.

As unconfirmed reports of an imminent Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear facilities pick up steam in the Middle Eastern media, a US-based strategic intelligence company has released a chart showing US naval carriers massing near Iranian waters.

The chart, published by Stratfor and obtained by the Zero Hedge financial blog, shows that over the last few weeks a naval carrier — the USS Harry S Truman — has been positioned in the north Indian Ocean, not far from the Strait of Hormuz, which leads into the Persian Gulf. The carrier joins the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, which was already located in the area. The chart is dated June 23, 2010.
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Not really a surprise and this happened before under President Bush. But, will Israel pull the trigger?

Carly Fiorina, the Republican standard-bearer in the effort to unseat Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, held a Latino-themed town hall in Sacramento on Saturday afternoon and unveiled a new Spanish-language websitein her bid to win Latino votes.

The former Hewlett-Packard executive did not, however, take a stance on a path to legalization for the estimated millions of illegal immigrants already in the United States. “First, we have to secure the border,” she stressed. Next, the country needs “a temporary worker program that works,” she added.

“This is a failure of the first order on the federal government’s part,” Fiorina said. And she’s insisted she won’t mutter a word about legalization until it’s fixed. “There is no point in talking about anything else until we get these first things done,” she said.
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Not really. This has been her position. Secure the border first and then talk about the folks who are already here.

One conservative, Charles Fried, a solicitor general in the Reagan administration and a professor at Harvard Law School who worked with Kagan during her tenure as dean there, said he doesn't think Kagan would be an automatic liberal vote on the court.

"On the big things, one can expect a really independent take which will not just repeat all the slogans that we've seen on the left and on the left of the court," Fried said.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, a former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, wasn't as certain. "Deep down, she's going to be a liberal," he said in an interview. "But, I hope he (Fried) is right."

Meese was blunter. "I think, based on what we know about her, she would be a 100 percent reliable liberal vote," he said.
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I do not think there is a compelling argument to exclude her from the court

With Sen. Robert Byrd's (D-WV) passing this morning, his constituents are mourning the loss of their long-time champion. Someone new will soon fill Byrd's seat, but it will be impossible to replace a man who held his seat for 51 years.

WV law gives Gov. Joe Manchin (D) the power to appoint Byrd's replacement. If a vacancy occurs within 2 and a half years of the beginning of the next term, the governor appoints a replacement until that next election. But state law says an election must be called if a vacancy occurs more than 2 and a half years before a term expires. Byrd's term would have had 2 and a half years left as of next week — July 3.

But a special election is unlikely.
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And, the GOP will beat it over the Dems head this November for avoiding an election