An occasional feature on items that have not been in the news -- which is, in itself, newsworthy.
1. It's possible that some late reports could come in, but it's pretty clear that February had one of the lowest numbers of Americans killed in Iraq and Afghanistan combined since the war in Iraq began. Three Americans died in Iraq in February (along with six in January, both months winding up higher than recent trends), while 17 Americans died in Afghanistan. The low was in December 2008, when 14 died in Iraq and 3 in Afghanistan. A few important caveats...deaths in Afghanistan are strongly seasonal, with winter always a comparatively better time; also, February is February, being shorter and all. However, coalition deaths year-to-year deaths in Afghanistan are now flat over the last eight months, and are down sharply (over 20%) for January and February 2011 vs. 2010.
2. Haven't heard anything about Park51/Cordoba House/Ground Zero Mosque lately.
3. Guess I have to include this one: conservative revolt against the (relatively) clean two-week CR extension, contrary to my speculation. Only six Republicans dissented. Jordan Ragusa had an interesting take on this a few days ago; in his view, John Boehner was making a strong play by using the open rule to load the CR (that is, HR 1, funding the remainder of the fiscal year) with lots of stuff that he could then bargain down. My concern was basically that Boehner wouldn't be able to deliver the votes once he did that. I'd say Tuesday's vote was a point in Ragusa's favor...but we'll see what happens in the next round.
4. The old standby, Fairness Doctrine. Also, gun control.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
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Park 51: the dogs are quiet because there's no election coming up. That was easy.
ReplyDeleteGrand unified theory of conservative agenda-setting:
1. Issues that are popular among the base, but unpopular in the rest of the country: deal with just after an election. The base will remember and be grateful; everyone else will forget. Ignore the rest of the cycle.
2. Wedge issues: deal with right before an election.
3. Other issues: what other issues?
Basilisc: The election is still far off, and Congress got more done right after the election during the lame duck. That's when the members really weren't worried about running again.
ReplyDeleteRight now they are positioning themselves for the next election. The House is always worried about reelection.
On gun control; it is harder to argue for more restrictions after the attack on Rep. Giffords. If the GOP can't win it, there is no reason for them to bring it up.
After Obama's SOTU, the ball is in Republican's court, and it will be up to them to either drop it or hit it back.
No, in the lame duck the GOP wasn't setting the agenda. Once they actually took power in January, they moved immediately on symbolic things where they have little support in the population but want to say they "delivered" to the base: abortion, family planning, and seemingly draconian (but in actual deficit-reducing terms, trivial) spending cuts. You'll hear less and less about these issues as 2012 approaches, and nothing about them (if Boehner and McConnell can help it) in 2012 itself.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, thinking back to the lame duck session, the Democrats did an excellent job (for once) in forcing Republicans to take a stand on issues, such as DADT and START, where the GOP base and the general population are at odds. And the tax cut deal took away something that might have served as a wedge issue against Dems later on (and may still do so in 2012).
ReplyDeleteHow about national taxes on sugary or fatty foods? I don't think there's been much noise on it for a while, and IMO it's more plausible than the Fairness Doctrine and therefore more interesting.. the Fairness Doctrine not being implemented is only slightly more surprising than Obama not making concentration camps for whites after all
ReplyDeleteObviously you did not obsessively follow the recent CPAC event, which featured an entire panel on the Ground Zero Mosque -- with overflowing crowd, I was told by an attendee.
ReplyDeleteYeah...I actually did a quick google check before including it, and there's been a few things real recently -- but none of them have busted back out into the mainstream, AFAIK.
ReplyDelete