Kausfiles: A mostly political weblog.

kf Out-Paranoids the Paranoids

Wednesday, April 15, 2009 

Defending Robert Samuelson's attack on Dem health care plan and Obama's "post-material" economy, blogger D.A. argues that it's only "an aspirational preference" for "everyone to be insured." In other words, it's not a preference people would make spending "their own money in the absence of compulsion by the government." ... I think I like aspirational preferences. "All men are created equal" seems like an aspirational preference. Can't buy it at the mall. It seems like it would be hard to achieve any desirable form of equality--equality before the law, equality of opportunity, or social equality--simply by aggregating the choices of individuals spending their own money.  ... 1:08 A.M.

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Did John McTiernan Make the Wrong Self-Serving Paranoid Conspiracy Film? Die Hard director John McTiernan, who pled guilty, withdrew his plea, and is now awaiting potential indictment in the Anthony Pellicano scandal, has apparently made a film blaming Karl Rove for pursuing Pellicano. The theory? According to the NYT, McTiernan sees

the Pellicano prosecution as having stemmed from a pre-emptive strike against a Hillary Rodham Clinton presidential candidacy.

Mrs. Clinton, the film says, was widely reported to have had help from Mr. Pellicano when her husband was accused in 1992 of having had an affair with Gennifer Flowers.

According to an elaborate turn of events asserted in the documentary, the Pellicano prosecution was intended to churn up dirt that was then folded into an anti-Clinton campaign video that was planned for use if she were nominated as the Democratic presidential candidate.

I'd say McTiernan's thinking too small! If I were making a paranoid conspiracy documentary about Rove and Pellicano, I wouldn't focus on Hillary. I'd focus generally on the "thousands of hours of encoded tapes from wiretaps" the FBI supposedly found when they raided Pellicano's office. Who knows who is on those tapes? Lots of Hollywood bigshots, presumably. Whoever has those tapes might, in this conspiracy theory, be able to blackmail half the big showbiz donors to the Democratic party--donors to Hillary and Obama. Of course, the tapes were in the possession of government law enforcement officals--not Bush operatives. But, hey, would that have stopped Richard Nixon or John Mitchell? We're making a crazy film here!  ... I know when I heard about the stash of tapes, I began to drool (figuratively). And I'm not Karl Rove. ... 12:20 A.M

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Headline in WSJ: "Emanuel Now a Backer of Immigration Action" The evidence?

For his part, Mr. [Rahm] Emanuel said his views haven't changed, though people may be viewing him in a new light now. In any case, he said, his job now was to represent the president's views.

"It doesn't matter what Rahm thinks," he said in an interview. "It matters what President Obama thinks." [E.A.]

Yes, sounds like he's had a total change of heart! ... 12:18 A.M.

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"I don't expect much of a fight at all"

Wake Up Call: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid tells the Detroit News that Obama and McCain reached an "agreement" to "move forward" on "comprehensive immigration reform" (i.e.: legalization) early in the next Congress.

Q: Will there be as much of a fight on immigration as last time?

A: We've got McCain and we've got a few others. I don't expect much of a fight at all.

Brian Faughnan has the details, and notes Sen. Menendez urging Senators to swallow the bitter immigration pill early, instead of close to the midterms when voters might remember. (That's because "comprehensive" reform is so popular!). .... 1) This is a stronger statement from Reid than I, for one, had expected; 2) The Senate has passed legalization before. They balked in 2007, but it's not clear that this year the biggest obstacle won't come in the House, where lots of newly-recruited centrist Dems ran tough-on-immigration campaigns. 3) Rahm? Rahm? Don't you maybe want to put a stop to this? 4) There are ample opportunities here for posturing and "make believe"--e.g., scoring points with Hispanic groups by voting for a reform that you don't think will actually pass. Of course, if enough legislators vote for a reform thinking it won't actually pass it might pass; ... P.S.: Note that Reid also pours cold water on hopes of fast Senate action on health care ("[T]hat's going to take a lot more time to do.") .... So voters don't get health care (which Obama made a central issue in the campaign) but do get illegal immigrant semi-amnesty (which was a selling point only on Spanish language radio)? .... 12:27 P.M.

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