Who Is This?

I thought at first she might be that actress from CSI. All the NYT tells us is she wrote a book called If They Only Listened To Us: What Women Voters Want Politicians to Hear.

Now, it so happens I frequent book stores a lot. A lot. Sometimes I buy. Sometimes I just browse. And I've never, never seen or heard of this book or her.

So why is this person being granted a valuable NYT op-ed spot to vent about Democrats and abortion, especially since her argument seems strangely so pre-2006. For that matter, it seems so strangely pre-2003. Does she know about Iraq? And ya know, the Democrats actually won the last election. But for Henneberger, the sky is still falling for Democrats, and apparently abortion is the problem.

Sigh. It also appears she spends too much time listening to Rush Limbaugh, or watching Hardball, because she somehow thinks it's the Republicans and Real American "pro-life" voters who are famously nuanced about this abortion business.

Very strange column, very strange timing, very strange argument. But whoever she is, it sounds like she'd be a perfect Fox "News" faux-Democrat.

Fool Me Once, Shame on Me, Shame Me Twice, Fool on...

Is anybody else besides me less than riveted by the increasing tendency on the part of the administration and the media to label any and all insurgents in Iraq, or people with guns, or anyone who just happens to look suspicious, as being full-fledged members of Al-Qaeda (either the Iraq franchise or the global one), who by the very label, must be committed to endless, suicidal war with the U.S. and who will no doubt jump on airplanes and fly over here to kill us all should we ever withdraw our military from Mesopotamia?

Is anybody buying this at all?

Update: Glenn Greenwald and other bloggers have noticed it, too.

Get Thee to Amazon.com

And pre-order Glenn Greenwald's new book. It'll help Glenn and you'll get a bargain rate.

Bob Kerrey Back to the Senate?

I was surprised to read that former 9/11 Commission member and former Senator of Nebraska, Bob Kerrey is being recruited for, and is apparently highly interested in, another Senatorial run. I didn't think he even still lived in Nebraska. I suppose this should be counted as good news, although I wonder about his prospects. And even though he's a bit of a gadfly for progressives, having an extra vote for majority leader wouldn't be bad.

They Get Radio Station Gigs

In this op-ed by guest-columnist Timothy Egan, we learn what the infamous, blowhard, got-his-ass-bounced-outta-Congress-last-fall, non-white-immigrant-hatin', former House Rep, J.D. Hayworth is doing with his time to pay the rent--hosting a conservative talk radio show. Gee, what a surprise. Guess conservative hate radio is never so saturated that another pretentious, has-been rageaholic can't get a spot. "Whateva it takes" I suppose.

Keeping the Lights Off

Although I agree with Glenn Greenwald here, I think there's something besides a general media-government camradarie that explains the ambivalence about, if not outright objection to, the trial and conviction of Scooter Libby among media people, like the "liberal" Wash Post columnist, Richard Cohen.

Mainly, as Cohen alludes to, the positive vibe towards Libby by even "liberal" media people stems from Fitzpatrick's jailing, and threats to jail, their fellow media buddies:

The special counsel used the immense power of the government to jail Judith Miller and to compel other journalists, including Time's Matt Cooper, to suspend their various and sacred vows of silence just so they could, understandably, avoid jail.

This is the gut of the whole thing: Fitzpatrick didn't play by the rules when he ignored the media's "sacred vows of silence" in dealing with sources, like special, high-up government people. And this Fitzpatrick fellow, runaway train driver, put one of their own in jail and threatened another fellow journalist with jail. This is the crux of the matter, why "journalists" like Cohen are giving Libby a pass and in doing so, demonstrate their hostility for Fitzpatrick.

But let's continue:

For some odd reason, the same people who were so appalled about government snooping, the USA Patriot Act and other such threats to civil liberties cheered as the special prosecutor weed-whacked the press, jailed a reporter and now will send a previously obscure government official to prison for 30 months.

And finally:

Accountability is one thing. By all means, let Congress investigate and conduct oversight hearings with relish and abandon. But a prosecution is a different matter. It entails the government at its most coercive -- a power so immense and sometimes so secretive that it poses much more of a threat to civil liberties, including freedom of the press, than anything in the interstices of the scary Patriot Act. The mere arrival of a form letter from the IRS will give any sane person a touch of angina.

So there you have it. Maybe this helps answer Digby's question.