Horse Latitudes

Vanity Fair's piece on Sarah Palin produced the predictable fallout among Republican operatives with fans like Billy Kristol attacking McCain campaign staffers. Meanwhile Sister Sarah appeared in Runner's World, which is actually a shrewd move. Republican surveys in the recent weeks place her as a favorite for 2012, something I don't disagree with considering the far-right tendency among the base. As I've argued so many times before, you can't live in the Beltway and understand her appeal. You also can't believe there is a political solution to our current problems and understand why people are enthusiastic about her. Virtually all the recent attacks on her from people steeped in policy and governance can only redound to her favor. Her followers simply do not believe a word uttered by the nomenklatura--about anything.

Governor Sanford has provided vast entertainment this week as Republicans scramble to cover up more lapses from the family values wing of the party. His press appearances have been truly horrifying because you never know what's going to come out of his mouth. Yesterday's confession that he sort of went over the line with several other women but not really gives the man a very spooky demeanor.

Landslide Al Franken finally won the last of the races from the world's longest election season of 2008. For what it's worth, the recount process in Minneapolis was as transparent and open as I've seen and there are a number of heroes in this process. One of which is the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, whose daily coverage of the whole process really deserves a Pulitzer. There were also bloggers who produced some riveting reads. Despite a frustrating lag, the Minnesota Supreme Court came through in the end with a unanimous opinion. My conservative friends would like to say that Franken's victory was illegitimate based on some theory of vote-rigging and mischief by ACORN people. The Wall Street Journal and Fox News appear to buy into this for obvious ideological reasons. The big problem here is the nature of the democratic institutions in Minnesota, which historically play it straighter than anyone else in the country. They didn't disappoint this time either. Sometimes, it is as close as it was in this year's Senate race.

Does Franken as the 60th Democratic Senator mean much? With Ted Kennedy absent because of his illness and Byrd because of his age, probably not so much. But what it does is render the filibuster threat by Republicans moot. I never felt the filibuster threat had any teeth in it from the get-go because of the likes of Republican Senators Snowe and Collins. The samurai warlord mentality of the Senate remains the largest problem in pushing forward any significant legislation such as Cap and Trade and Health Care Reform. These are people largely oblivious and immune to the economic collapse of the country and the death spiral of joblessness, home foreclosures and bankruptcy because of health debts. If anything, the U.S. Senate's function is self-preservation as an exclusive club for the rich--with the exception of relatively middle-class Tom Harkin. With lobbyists pouring $1.5 million a day into fighting health reform, it should be no wonder that Max Baucus, chairing a key committee on the subject, goes for a holiday with the lobbyists or Joe Lieberman, after promising a public option in his 2006 campaign, rejects it since he is the number 4 recipient of contributions from the health care industry. What's great about the wealthy is that they seem to be more for sale than anyone else.

President Obama was next door today for his Healthcare Townhall. I still insist that he isn't saying what his own plan for health care looks like and his explanations, while impressive in detail and flow, tend to confuse you if you're looking for precision. He really should be selling healthcare reform as if he was asking permission to wage war. So far, there doesn't seem to be any risk to congresscritters who might oppose his program. Targeted ads by various interest groups against Blue Dog Democrats appear to be working but that might because the targets themselves know that the leaders in the Senate have already killed the public option.

House Republicans are now launching new attacks on President Obama's economic programs calling them Bush-Obama policies. It's fascinating that they are outlining talking points these days that Bush strayed off the conservative path and that's why we have the economic crisis we have today. Interesting point but one that seems to be missed by the Republican candidate for governor in Virginia. He made a whopper of a speak this week praising Bush's economic policies and stating he wants to emulate them while in office. Of course, this means we will all get tax cuts-- because as we all know tax cuts are the only incentive the private sector has of doing its job.

Meanwhile, California is sending out IOUs to vendors. The vast majority of states have not passed their budgets--although Arizona did pass a law you can carry guns into a resturant. Even Indiana, which has run surpluses in past years, looks like it will have to shut down services and close facilities. What I wonder is how does the modern federalist look on the collapse of our state governments? If you are the new small government Republican, which extolls the Tenth Amendment as your protection against Barack Obama's massive federal instrusion, then will you raise revenues at the state level to enforce your federalism? I expect the answer is no because the ersatz federalists don't believe in it or in government in general.