Even if I'm rendered powerless, Cannonfire will feature guest posts uploaded by someone outside the impact area. So stay tuned!
Added note: The magnificent ship built for the under-appreciated Brando version of Mutiny on the Bounty is moored off of North Carolina. Alas, the ship has been taking on water, and 17 crewman have been rescued by the Coast Guard. Let's hope the HMS Bounty survives. (The original -- a smaller vessel -- met a fiery end many years ago.)
Update: The ship sunk, and two crew members are missing. Horrible news.
Right now, I still have power. And insomnia. So here are a few random observations about politics:
Added note: The magnificent ship built for the under-appreciated Brando version of Mutiny on the Bounty is moored off of North Carolina. Alas, the ship has been taking on water, and 17 crewman have been rescued by the Coast Guard. Let's hope the HMS Bounty survives. (The original -- a smaller vessel -- met a fiery end many years ago.)
Update: The ship sunk, and two crew members are missing. Horrible news.
Right now, I still have power. And insomnia. So here are a few random observations about politics:
Barack Obama, a Human Devil: The Hurricane Sandy Conspiracy Theory is coming along nicely. This stuff is hilarious.
Romney hates FEMA: Mitt Romney said during the primary debates that he would shut down FEMA and shift it to the states. Of course, that move would force the states to raise sales taxes, which will hit working class people hardest. Romney also endorsed the Ryan budget, which would have destroyed FEMA. In this YouTube video, from a time when Mitt was trying to out-reactionary his rivals, he went so far as to say that disaster relief was immoral.
Would Obama be within his rights to plaster that piece of video all over the nation's airwaves during the final days of this election? Yes. The president's team would be foolish not to use Romney's words against him.
Unions: Did you know that unions are making a comeback in Canada? Did you know that Canada has weathered the worldwide recession better than we have? Did you know that a Canadian worker on the floor in a big-box store like Home Depot lives better than does a similar worker in the U.S.?
Will Sandy insure a loss of Virginia? As you know, I'm watching VA more closely than I'm watching OH. Politico argues that the hurricane could damage Obama's much-vaunted ground game:
Will the right get worse if Obama wins? So says Frank Rich. But I don't agree. Our reactionaries were never more obnoxious than they were after George W. Bush's initial victory. Right-wingers are ignoble winners.
Remember "We're an empire now"? Remember "We are history's actors"? Remember Ann Coulter's claim that liberal critics of the war were in the pay of Saddam Hussein? Remember the people who -- on a daily basis -- accused you of "hating the troops" if you didn't support the invasion of Iraq? Remember Dick Cheney saying "Reagan proved that deficits don't matter"? Remember the calls to "physically intimidate" liberals?
Romney surged forward when he became Moderate Mitt in the first debate. After a Republican victory, there will be no need for a mask of moderation.
That Stoller piece: As many of you know, Matt Stoller published a piece in Salon arguing that a Mitt Romney victory would be better for progressives. Stoller is giving us the latest variant of an old argument that a certain type of prog has spewed since (at least) the 1970s: "The worst things get, the better things get...for The Cause. So root for the most vile right-wingers, because their victory will force the people to rebel."
Well, the country's been going further and further to the right for more than 40 years, and the only revolution I see a-brewin' is a fascist/libertarian one.
Scott Lemieux offers a good corrective to Stoller:
You aren't going to get President Keynesian-of-Your-Dreams if there is no popular base for such a candidate. First comes the movement, then comes the man. Or, better, woman.
Romney hates FEMA: Mitt Romney said during the primary debates that he would shut down FEMA and shift it to the states. Of course, that move would force the states to raise sales taxes, which will hit working class people hardest. Romney also endorsed the Ryan budget, which would have destroyed FEMA. In this YouTube video, from a time when Mitt was trying to out-reactionary his rivals, he went so far as to say that disaster relief was immoral.
Would Obama be within his rights to plaster that piece of video all over the nation's airwaves during the final days of this election? Yes. The president's team would be foolish not to use Romney's words against him.
Unions: Did you know that unions are making a comeback in Canada? Did you know that Canada has weathered the worldwide recession better than we have? Did you know that a Canadian worker on the floor in a big-box store like Home Depot lives better than does a similar worker in the U.S.?
Will Sandy insure a loss of Virginia? As you know, I'm watching VA more closely than I'm watching OH. Politico argues that the hurricane could damage Obama's much-vaunted ground game:
If transportation and power are out in Virginia’s northern suburbs and coastal cities for more than a week, Obama could have a turnout problem on his hands — but his team would also have a week to adjust.Maybe. But transpo is a serious issue, especially for seniors.
Will the right get worse if Obama wins? So says Frank Rich. But I don't agree. Our reactionaries were never more obnoxious than they were after George W. Bush's initial victory. Right-wingers are ignoble winners.
Remember "We're an empire now"? Remember "We are history's actors"? Remember Ann Coulter's claim that liberal critics of the war were in the pay of Saddam Hussein? Remember the people who -- on a daily basis -- accused you of "hating the troops" if you didn't support the invasion of Iraq? Remember Dick Cheney saying "Reagan proved that deficits don't matter"? Remember the calls to "physically intimidate" liberals?
Romney surged forward when he became Moderate Mitt in the first debate. After a Republican victory, there will be no need for a mask of moderation.
That Stoller piece: As many of you know, Matt Stoller published a piece in Salon arguing that a Mitt Romney victory would be better for progressives. Stoller is giving us the latest variant of an old argument that a certain type of prog has spewed since (at least) the 1970s: "The worst things get, the better things get...for The Cause. So root for the most vile right-wingers, because their victory will force the people to rebel."
Well, the country's been going further and further to the right for more than 40 years, and the only revolution I see a-brewin' is a fascist/libertarian one.
Scott Lemieux offers a good corrective to Stoller:
To its credit, the occasional inexplicable book-plugging interview aside Salon no longer promotes Camille Paglia. Alas, it is now fairly regularly publishing Matt Stoller, who is sort of Paglia but 1)with fewer references to Madonna and uses of the word “Dionysian,” and 2)less coherent.
…and, yes, the idea that throwing the election to Romney would be a good idea because opposition to awful policies is a worthwhile end in itself is insane. By the same logic, we should have wanted Bush’s Social Security privatization plan to succeed, because that would have created even more opposition.Mahablog takes this further:
I have always thought of Paglia as the Thomas Kinkade of philosophy, and I don’t think Stoller rises to that level. He’s possibly attempting to be the Glenn Beck of firebaggers, but he’s not flamboyant enough to pull that off.In fairness to Stoller, I do think that it is important not to blind oneself to Obama's many failings. (Nobody can accuse me of such blindness.) But I also think that voting for the lesser or two evils is virtuous, especially if the "eviller" of the evils is really, really, really evil. The proper solution is to mount an truly progressive movement which will hector Obama from the left -- a task best left for the day after the election returns him to office.
You aren't going to get President Keynesian-of-Your-Dreams if there is no popular base for such a candidate. First comes the movement, then comes the man. Or, better, woman.
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