It's not nice to mock the blogosphere ...

That's the way the cocoon crumbles. Better now than on Election Day. 4:27 A.M.

Thursday, September 2, 2004

Fresh Zell--It's a World War II thang:

In 1940, Wendell Wilkie was the Republican nominee. And there is no better example of someone repealing their "private plans" than this good man.

He gave Roosevelt the critical support he needed for a peacetime draft, an unpopular idea at the time. 

MILLER: And he made it clear that he would rather lose the election than make national security a partisan campaign issue.

[snip] ...

Where are such statesmen today? Where is the bipartisanship in this country when we need it most?

Today, at the same time young Americans are dying in the sands of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan, our nation is being torn apart and made weaker because of the Democrats' manic obsession to bring down our commander in chief.

I like Zell Miller, and even more I like the idea of Zell Miller. But are baby-boomers who lived through Vietnam likely to find this principle appealing--that Presidents can commit our troops to a war and then attack any criticism as unpatriotic national weakening? When do the people get to weigh in? ... I do think Democrats have engaged in gratuitous morale-weakening partisanship-- Hillary's smarmy, sneering, talking-pointed visit to Iraq, for one. But surely an election is the time when it's most appropriate to criticize a war. ... In other words, Miller's appeal was generationally as well as ideologically limited, and I suspect gave off more heat than bounce. ... Update: My colleague Will Saletan has a similar, if more heated, reaction to Miller's speech. ... 2:52 P.M.

Yikes: The previously unbounceable robots are jumping like fleas! ... Note to Democrats: Do not--repeat, not--panic. Everything is under control! We have them right where we want them. It's Kerry's contest to lose, remember! ... Update: Josh Marshall argues that at a time when Democratic electoral hopes are dying in the swamps of Florida and the hills of Pennsylvania, our party is being torn apart and made weaker because of unnamed Democratic insiders manic obsession to bring down Kerry's campaign team! Like Zell Miller, he counsels "shut up." ...12:15 P.M.

The emergency Kerry 'We're-Not-in-A-Crisis' crisis meeting for the press was a bit of a bust, I'm told.* Lots of Kerry cooks--including Lockhart, Cahill, Devine, Mellman, Cutter, Sosnik. No clear leader. Everyone had to get their say--illustrative of the problem, according to some reporters in attendance. Most of the presentation concerned horse-race spin, not the much-rumored Shakeup, which may or may not be a mirage. [Update: Here's the only slightly skeptical Cox account.]

*kausfiles was not allowed in. Illustrative of Kerry's stodgy and troubling ignorance of new media! (Hey, isn't that allegedly what got him into trouble with the Swiftys in the first place?**)

**From WaPo:

[O]ne aide said Kerry privately conceded that he, like most of his top staff, miscalculated the impact of the attacks by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and the influence of 24-hour cable news in shaping public opinion, and thought the controversy would blow over. One Kerry friend said the candidate focuses on more traditional news outlets and lacks a sophisticated understanding of modern media. "You would think he would have recognized this five years ago," the friend said.