(I wrote this in October 2008 and for some reason I didn’t publish it.)

The biggest reason for John McCain’s defeat is John McCain. In 2000, John McCain ran as a moderate. Once he lost, he was determined to run for the White House again. He did not want anyone to outflank him to his right. Therefore, he embraced Bush and all of his ridiculous policies. He argued against tax cuts before he decided he was for them. He argued against torture before he voted for it. He embraced the Iraqi war so hard that we could accurately rename it “McCain’s War.”

McCain did not recognize that the Internet has played a huge role in this year’s campaign. Sites like the DailyKos, Huffington Post, Crooks and Liars and FireDogLake have really prevented the media from going over the top. Whenever they would swoon over something that John McCain said, these websites pointed out that he had said something exactly the opposite two weeks ago or two months ago. Keith Olbermann, The View and The Daily Show also helped to keep the media honest. So, the game changed right under John McCain’s feet. John McCain has spent the last 26 years courting the media. As a matter of fact, it could be argued that the media gave John McCain the Republican nomination. (I’ll save that for another post.)

Finally, John McCain’s own erratic campaign behavior has left him looking unsure of himself and unsure of his message. Whether it was his leadership or his campaign staff’s ineptitude, it doesn’t matter. He is wrong on Iraq. He was right on immigration until he changed his position and now he’s wrong. He’s been wrong on the economy multiple different times. Even Colin Powell pointed out on national TV that the McCain campaign has been all over the place on the economy. Sarah Palin is simply the latest evidence of John McCain’s shoot (from the hip) first and asked questions, investigate and vet your partner second.

By the way, John McCain’s lukewarm performance in all of the debates didn’t help him either.

Tags: Election 2008 by ecthompson md
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I’m not sure how many of you are old enough to remember that movie, Which Way Is Up? starring Richard Pryor. It was not one of Richard Pryor’s funniest movies. He played Leroy Jones,a confused and naïve character who was pulled in many different directions. When I look at President Barack Obama, I see some similarities. It’s not every month or every week, but it is every single day that the Obama administration is putting out a new fire and trying to lay the groundwork to make sure that fire does not happen again. From Iraq to Afghanistan, from Wall Street to Detroit, from toxic assets to Guantánamo Bay, Barack Obama has been pushing his agenda.

This brings me to an article I saw on the Washington Post website over the weekend entitled, “Detainees Harsh Treatment Foiled No Plots.” Do you remember Abu Zubaydah? He was the first big “high-value target” that the Bush administration captured. April 9, 2002, President Bush said, “The other day we hauled in a guy named at Abu Zubaydah. He’s one of the top operatives plotting and planning death and destruction on the United States. He’s not plotting and planning anymore. He’s where he belongs.”

This Washington Post article points out the problems that the Bush administration has left for President Barack Obama. Abu Zubaydah was once characterized by President Bush as the “chief of operations” for all of Al Qaeda. Unfortunately for us, that wasn’t true. As a matter of fact, it is now believed that he really wasn’t an Al Qaeda member at all, but an associate. According to Ron Suskind’s book, “The 1% Doctrine,” Zubaydah was a guy who suffered a head injury at a relatively young age. He kept a diary, which was found by the CIA. The diary clearly shows that the “Al Qaeda operative” was insane. He truly had a split personality. His diary was written in two, if not three, distinct voices. It is now believed that Al Qaeda used him as a kind of travel agent because he was clearly expendable.

Think back to 2002 and 2003 Remember the terror alert that Al Qaeda was going to attack the malls? This information came as a result of the torture of Abu Zubaydah. After a little bit more wate-rboarding, we learned that Al Qaeda was going to attack banks in the financial district. The terror level went up yet again. We did not get one bit of actionable intelligence from Abu Zubaydah. It could be argued that we got some information about how Al Qaeda worked but no information on active plans.

So what do you do with an Al Qaeda operative (who isn’t really an Al Qaeda operative) who has been tortured? This is the conundrum that the Obama administration faces. Abu Zubaydah has been in American custody for over seven years. He was born in Saudi Arabia. His father was a Palestinian. He was captured in Pakistan. Do you send him overseas? To whom?

What is fair? How do you keep America safe? What do you do with the other approximately 245 detainees? My head is spinning and this is just one of Barack Obama’s thousand or so problems. Do you know which way is up?

Tags: Al Qaeda, Legal, Torture, War on Terror by ecthompson md
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• Barack Obama had some surprisingly harsh (no that’s not right, how about firm) words for the auto industry. Chrysler and GM need to get their acts together. GM CEO Rick Wagoner was asked to step down. Chrysler was asked to form a merger with Fiat. On one hand, I’m a little disappointed that the auto industry gets treated differently than the financial industry. On the other hand, though, it does appear that Barack Obama is looking after our money, which is a good thing.
• It has been recently discovered that the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation decided to switch a lot of their money from the relatively safe industry of bonds to the relatively risky industry of stocks just before the market collapsed. Remember, these are supposed to be the super smart guys who are entrusted with our money.
• August 1, 1966, Charles Whitman took a high-powered rifle to the top of the University of Texas at Austin’s administrative building. From the 28th-floor observation deck, he used a high-powered rifle to kill 10 people and wound 32 others (he killed three people on the way to the top of the tower). For reasons that are unclear, the Texas State legislature is considering a measure that will allow guns on college campuses. Seriously, why?
• It appears that there’s a trend that banks are walking away from foreclosed properties. With property values decreasing, the cost of legal fees and the maintenance of the property, some banks are simply walking away.
• Over the last six to 12 months, I’ve read a lot of Paul Krugman‘s writing. Krugman, a Nobel prize-winning economist, has the ability to simplify complex issues. In today’s New York Times column, he calls out European countries, saying that one of the problems that made the Great Depression so protracted was that the world’s largest economies did not work together to fix the problem. Today, we are more connected than ever. The United States has stepped up and poured trillions of dollars not only into our economy but also into the world economy. European countries have not stepped up to the plate. The G-20 summit is coming up. This puts Barack Obama in the odd position of trying to coax European leaders into doing the “right thing.” As I recall, a recent president tried to coax European leaders and that did not work out so well. I hope that Barack Obama can do a better job.

• Now we’re being asked to avoid pistachios. Because of concerns about salmonella contamination, Sutton Farms, the nation’s second-largest pistachio processor, is voluntarily recalling over 1,000,000 pounds of nuts. I would desperately love for my government to work. I would like to be able to go to the grocery store and buy something that is not going to kill me. Is it possible that we can obtain this lofty goal?
• Representative Paul Ryan (Republican from Wisconsin) admitted today that the Republican alternative budget would increase the deficit by as much as $1.8 trillion. So, it would increase the deficit and have almost no long-term benefit… sign me up for that.
• The Center for American Progress has produced a White Paper entitled “Sustainable Security in Afghanistan.” This is clearly worth the read.
• Glenn Greenwald has a series of logical statements that he calls Mysteries of Logical Reasoning. For example, anyone who advocates habeas corpus for accused terrorists or who opposes torture harbors sympathy for Islamic extremism and for indiscriminate violence against civilians. (Glenn is getting an award independent journalism… Congratulations Glenn!!)
• If you like basketball (and I love it), this weekend was basketball heaven. Go Tar Heels!

Tags: Budget, Economy by ecthompson md
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Five strokes back on Sunday. Five! You know many of my golf friends have said that Tiger just doesn’t do it in the clutch, that he’s no Arnold Palmer or Jack Nicholas. Well, they are right. Tiger Woods isn’t anyone but Tiger. Sean O’Hair did shoot a 73, but no one else caught Tiger either.

Tags: Sports by ecthompson md
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UConn (University of Connecticut) versus Missouri. This was a great game, well played on both sides of the ball. Walker was outstanding for UConn, who just seemed to have more. Missouri guards were quick and moved the ball extremely well. They created 17 turnovers. On the side of the ball, UConn dominated rebounds and shooting percentage both from the floor and from the line. (Psst… Missouri Tigers, you can’t shoot 50% from the free throw line and expect to win a basketball game that was this close.)

Here are highlights of the game. Watch:

Watch CBS Videos Online

Tags: Sports by ecthompson md
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From Steve Benen:

* President Obama’s new policy for Afghanistan and Pakistan has been generally well received.

* Best wishes to everyone in Fargo, North Dakota, and the surrounding areas, where the Red River has swelled to 40 feet, threatening the dikes fortifying the city.

* Consumer spending went up in February?

* UPS is dropping its sponsorship of Bill O’Reilly. I’m inclined to reward good behavior.

* Sometimes, we get lucky and suicide bombers accidentally blow themselves up without hurting any innocent people.

* The DNC is milking the House Republicans’ “budget” for all it’s worth. I can’t say I blame them.

* And speaking of the House Republicans’ “budget,” meet Ian Dobbin.

* A new threat to the lives of U.S. troops is … poorly installed electrical wiring by Halliburton? [Read more →]

Tags: Domestic Issues, Obama administration by ecthompson md
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I have had Amanda Terkel on my radio show a couple of times. She is very thoughtful and knowledgeable. Because she doesn’t agree with Bill O’Reilly, she was hunted down on her vacation. What was Amanda’s terrible offense that warranted being hunted down like a criminal? She pointed out that O’Reilly had made statements that suggested that women who drink too much perhaps deserved to be raped (more later).

She was on Countdown with Keith Olbermann last night. Watch this great video:

Tags: Blogging issues, Countdown by ecthompson md
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10 years ago, Senator Bryon Dorgan of North Dakota was arguing that we didn’t need to free up the banks.  This was a mistake. It turned out to be a HUGE mistake.

Watch the video:

From C&L:

Good question Senator. From the article a reminder on just who was right and who was wrong back in 1999:

“I think we will look back in 10 years’ time and say we should not have done this but we did because we forgot the lessons of the past, and that that which is true in the 1930′s is true in 2010,” said Senator Byron L. Dorgan, Democrat of North Dakota. “I wasn’t around during the 1930′s or the debate over Glass-Steagall. But I was here in the early 1980′s when it was decided to allow the expansion of savings and loans. We have now decided in the name of modernization to forget the lessons of the past, of safety and of soundness.”

Senator Paul Wellstone, Democrat of Minnesota, said that Congress had “seemed determined to unlearn the lessons from our past mistakes.”

“Scores of banks failed in the Great Depression as a result of unsound banking practices, and their failure only deepened the crisis,” Mr. Wellstone said. ”Glass-Steagall was intended to protect our financial system by insulating commercial banking from other forms of risk. It was one of several stabilizers designed to keep a similar tragedy from recurring. Now Congress is about to repeal that economic stabilizer without putting any comparable safeguard in its place.” (more… )

Tags: Economy, Rachel Maddow Show by ecthompson md
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So on the sixth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, we need to reflect. What did we really do and why? This has been America’s worst mistake during my lifetime.

More later.

Watch Rachel Maddow review the lies that were/are being told:

Tags: Al Qaeda, Bin Laden, Bush Administration, Iraq, Rachel Maddow Show by ecthompson md
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I thought Barack Obama had an excellent come-back to Ed Henry’s worthless question. but maybe I was wrong. Ed Henry went on Anderson Cooper 360 and turned a bland question into something that was hard-hitting.

I’m working this weekend but I’m off next week. I would like to have a kilo of whatever Henry is smoking.

Tags: Obama administration by ecthompson md
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So, what are the goals of health care reform? Some believe that the goals are just to rearrange the deck chairs. In my mind, we’re sailing on the Titanic; therefore, rearranging the deck chairs is not going to fix the problem. Instead, I think we need to take this opportunity to perform a comprehensive overhaul of our health care system. We must remember that our system developed over the last 100 years. It has developed mostly as a hodgepodge. There hasn’t been one person or one group of people who sat down and thought about how health care will be delivered.

Let’s guarantee health care for all. In my mind, universal coverage is the only way to get this done. This does not mean that everybody deserves or should be covered for everything. Instead, I do believe that office visits and hospitalizations need to be covered. Preventive medicine needs to be covered along with mental health care. Physical therapy and occupational therapy, prescriptions and dental care all need to be covered.

There has to be some mechanism to control costs. We’ve seen over the years that without cost controls medical costs skyrocket. Does every hospital need the latest CT scanner ?

Americans should be able to choose their own physician and their own hospital. Also, Americans need better data on what they are choosing. How good is that hospital, really? That data should be readily available. If you’re going to a surgeon for a hernia repair, what is his/her rate of recurrence?

We need to fix the problem concerning access to health care. Many patients complain about being unable to see a physician. When most doctors offices are open from nine in the morning until four in the afternoon and most people work from 8:30 in the morning until 5:30 in the afternoon, no wonder there’s an access problem. We need clinics to be open earlier and stay open later. We need clinics open on the weekends.

Health care reform must include high-quality, coordinated health care. We have to have a mechanism to control medical errors. How do we decrease or eliminate hospital-acquired infections? How do we guarantee that we are not paying for procedures that have not been proven to be of benefit? These things need to be worked out in order to control costs. A patient who is in a car crash in northern Pennsylvania is currently without his medical records. His physicians are flying blind, as it were. We should be able to put a system in place where his physicians have timely access to his records even if he’s from southern Florida.

We have to do something about malpractice. There’s not a day that goes by that physicians don’t worry about malpractice. Many physicians practice defensive medicine, driving costs up and doesn’t necessarily add to the quality of medicine that they are delivering. We need to develop a malpractice system were patient grievances are compensated adequately and quickly. On the other hand, frivolous lawsuits also need to be handled with minimal costs to physicians, hospitals and insurance companies.

Finally, we have to fund the system in such a way that is fair to all Americans. Everyone should have to pay their fair share.

I believe that these are the correct goals for reforming our health care system. What are your thoughts?

Tags: Economy, Healthcare by ecthompson md
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So, the other day, I was in the doctor’s lounge and the TV was turned to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. Villanova was playing UCLA. UCLA has a storied program. They have a history and tradition of winning basketball. The program has been revitalized over the last couple of years. They were playing deep into the Sweet 16 or beyond.

I’m not sure how UCLA got to March Madness, as I have not been following men’s basketball this year, but I sat down to watch this game. UCLA was down by 13 at halftime. It was the start of the second half. Almost immediately, it was clear who was going to win this game. One team played like a group of people who understood the offense. They passed, they moved, the ball went to the open man; the open man shot the ball or drove to the basket then dished to one of his teammates who was crashing the boards. This was beautiful to watch. The other team would grab a rebound and hit the outlet man. The outlet man would sprint to the three-point line and jack a three-point attempt. None of his team were under the basket for rebound, but it didn’t seem to matter. The other offensive play was instead of jacking a three-point shot, they would drive the lane and shoot some off-balance sideways fadeaway, again with no one from their team under the boards. This was very ugly to watch.

I’m not sure if UCLA had any offensive plays. The way they were playing, it sure didn’t look like it. When they called a timeout, I’m not sure what the coach could have said. It was one of the worst displays of college basketball I’ve seen in a long, long time. (UCLA lost, but only by 20. I was surprised it wasn’t by more.) I began to get nauseated looking at such a terrible display of basketball and halfway through the period I had to leave. It was sad… very sad.

The following video is a summary of the teams left in the tournament. The Sweet 16.

Tags: Sports by ecthompson md
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This roundup is brought to you by Steve Benen (friend and master blogger) of Washington Monthly.

* The major indexes on Wall Street were expected to soar in light of the new Geithner plan on toxic assets. And soar they did.

* On a related note, it probably helped that there was an unexpected boost in existing home sales.

* Bloodshed in Baghdad: “At least 25 people were killed and 45 were injured when a man walked into a tent of mourners and detonated himself in a town north of Baghdad on Monday evening. The death toll was expected to rise, hospital officials said.”

* An encouraging move: “A federal court today ordered the Food and Drug Administration to reconsider the agency’s controversial decision limiting non-prescription access to the morning-after pill Plan B to women age 18 and older.”

* Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) is on a quixotic crusade against U.S. Ambassador-designate to Iraq Christopher Hill.

[Read more →]

Tags: Blogging issues, Economy, Iraq, Pakistan by ecthompson md
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Paul Krugman, Nobel prize-winning economist, doesn’t like what he hears. Over the weekend, many news outlets have leaked portions of the “new” bank plan. Here are Krugman’s thoughts.

Over the weekend The Times and other newspapers reported leaked details about the Obama administration’s bank rescue plan, which is to be officially released this week. If the reports are correct, Tim Geithner, the Treasury secretary, has persuaded President Obama to recycle Bush administration policy — specifically, the “cash for trash” plan proposed, then abandoned, six months ago by then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

This is more than disappointing. In fact, it fills me with a sense of despair.

After all, we’ve just been through the firestorm over the A.I.G. bonuses, during which administration officials claimed that they knew nothing, couldn’t do anything, and anyway it was someone else’s fault. Meanwhile, the administration has failed to quell the public’s doubts about what banks are doing with taxpayer money.

And now Mr. Obama has apparently settled on a financial plan that, in essence, assumes that banks are fundamentally sound and that bankers know what they’re doing.

It’s as if the president were determined to confirm the growing perception that he and his economic team are out of touch, that their economic vision is clouded by excessively close ties to Wall Street. And by the time Mr. Obama realizes that he needs to change course, his political capital may be gone.

Let’s talk for a moment about the economics of the situation.

Right now, our economy is being dragged down by our dysfunctional financial system, which has been crippled by huge losses on mortgage-backed securities and other assets.

As economic historians can tell you, this is an old story, not that different from dozens of similar crises over the centuries. And there’s a time-honored procedure for dealing with the aftermath of widespread financial failure. It goes like this: the government secures confidence in the system by guaranteeing many (though not necessarily all) bank debts. At the same time, it takes temporary control of truly insolvent banks, in order to clean up their books.

That’s what Sweden did in the early 1990s. It’s also what we ourselves did after the savings and loan debacle of the Reagan years. And there’s no reason we can’t do the same thing now. (more… )

I think that I’m going to have to agree with Mr. Krugman. I think the fact that Wall Street is happy can’t be good for the rest of us. How does shoveling money at Wall Street help us? We have to the “right” thing with regard to the banks. I’m not sure what that is, but I know it shouldn’t be throwing my money at the problem. Some of these banks may need to go under.

My two cents.

Tags: Economy by ecthompson md
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Something went terribly wrong in Oakland. Four police officers and one suspect are dead. 

From SF Gate:

The Oakland parolee who took the lives of four Oakland police officers knew he was a wanted man and deliberately skipped out on a meeting as part of a feud he was having with his parole agent, his family said today.

Lovelle Mixon’s shocked family, gathering at an East Oakland home where the parolee had been living until recently, apologized to the officers’ families and to the public, and said they don’t understand what might have triggered his burst of violence.

“He’s not a monster,” said his sister, 24-year-old Enjoli Mixon, whose apartment on 74th Avenue was where Mixon was slain in a gun battle with police that left two Oakland SWAT officers dead. “I don’t want people to think he’s a monster. He’s just not. He’s just not.”

“We’re crushed that this happened,” said his grandmother, Mary Mixon. “Our hearts and prayers go out to the officers’ families….This shouldn’t have happened.” (more… )

Tags: Domestic Issues by ecthompson md
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Tags: Education, Healthcare, Rep. Susan Fisher, State and Local Politics by ecthompson md
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A very sad end to the very strange and surprising life of reality TV star Jade Goody. I guess the thing that is most disturbing to me is that no one in a modern, rich nation like England should die of cervical cancer. The disease is completely treatable if it is caught early.

From CNN:

British reality TV celebrity Jade Goody died early Sunday morning following a public battle with cervical cancer, her publicist has announced.

Goody, 27, died in her sleep at home in Essex, east of London, just before 4 a.m. (midnight Eastern Daylight Time), a spokeswoman for Max Clifford Associates said.

Goody’s husband, Jack Tweed, who she married last month in a lavish wedding ceremony, was at her bedside when she died, Clifford said. (More…) (even more… )

Tags: Television by ecthompson md
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We live in the year 2009. People are not supposed to die at a rally. We have seen this all before. Angola. Tens of thousands line up and wait for hours (does this sound like Cincinnati in 1979?) The doors open and there is no assigned seating. Everyone rushes in. There is chaos. Two girls are dead.  Eight others are wounded. This is so preventable…  so preventable. It’s so sad. There is no excuse for the lack of planning and foresight.

From NYT: Pope Benedict, on a visit to Angola marred by a deadly stampede, on Saturday urged Angolan Catholics to shun witchcraft and woo back those who have left the Catholic church to join other religious groups.

Two teenage girls were killed and at least eight injured in the stampede to enter a stadium in downtown Luanda where Pope Benedict later presided at a youth rally, an official said.

Maria das Dores Celina, a nurse at Josina Machel Hospital, told Reuters the incident happened as thousands of people rushed to enter the venue before the Pope arrived. The two girls arrived dead at the hospital, she added.

Tags: Foreign Affairs, Religion by ecthompson md
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Miles Davis plays one of his great tunes off of his legendary album, Kind of Blue. This is the 50th anniversary of Kind of Blue. I have more on the importance of this album here.

Artists: Miles Davis – trumpet, Wayne Shorter – tenor sax, Herbie Hancock – piano, Ron Carter – bass, Tony Williams – drums
Tune:  All Blues

Tags: Music by ecthompson md
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I have posted below President Barack Obama’s complete interview with the Tonight Show host, Jay Leno. Now some people have written that Barack Obama is struggling as a “communicator.” Others talked as if Barack Obama laid a big gaffe-filled egg. Really? I didn’t see either. Just look at Barack Obama for this 24-minute interview. The president sits there and explains, in detail, what happened with our financial meltdown. He explains about AIG and the hedge fund that they developed. He talks about the relationships between this hedge fund and the rest of the financial network. He’s giving an extraordinary amount of detail and shows that he has an incredible amount of knowledge about this subject. Basically he’s explaining to us, the American people, that he understands what is going on. This is an amazing performance.

Let’s think about this. We have an American president sitting on the Tonight Show trading jokes with Jay Leno. He is relaxed. He is confident. He is comfortable. He is able to mix jokes with issues of substance. Watch carefully how he takes responsibility for the AIG bonuses and then pivots towards where we need to go as a country. We need to regulate the financial industry so that something like this does not happen again. It is hard to stress how important this interview and this performance are. Barack Obama is bypassing the traditional media and talking straight to the American people. He’s coming in our living rooms and sitting down and having a conversation. This is truly an amazing interview to watch.(I need to give a high five to Leno for being a good host and asking good questions.)

Tags: Economy, Obama administration by ecthompson md
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