Stress Fractures on the Right

John Terbush writes at TPM that three Republican governors — Wisconsin’s Scott Walker, Ohio’s John Kasich, and Michigan’s Rick Snyder — have seen their approval ratings drop significantly after pursuing aggressively anti-union policies.

However, Evan McMorris-Santoro writes at TPM that the union busters of the Right are not taking a hint. They’re attacking Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana for not being anti-union enough. Daniels is as anti-union as they come, but his presidential ambitions may not be willing to fall on a sword for the cause, so to speak.

Unrelated great snark: This Just In: FOX News Discovers War Cost Money

The Abiding Strength of Wingnutism

I wrote yesterday that the most basic appeal of wingnutism is that you never have to admit failure. You also don’t have to admit to success, when credit might go to someone you don’t like. For example, Michael Tomasky writes,

David Brooks writes an odd sentence today (the second one):

…today, as an impeccably crafted multilateral force intervenes in Libya, certain old feelings are coming back to the surface. These feelings have been buried since the 1990s, when multilateral efforts failed in Kosovo, Rwanda and Iraq.

Hmmm. What failed in Iraq in 1991? The mission was to get Saddam out of Kuwait, and the mission was accomplished. In Kosovo, the mission to stop violence and restore autonomy to Kosovo. Those things (pretty much) happened. Rwanda was a failure all right, but wasn’t that because the West’s slowness and non-intervention contributed to the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of people?

Tomasky goes on to say that there is plenty to criticize about Kosovo and the Gulf War, as well as Rwanda, but how can you say the military intervention in Kosovo and the Gulf War failed?

And the answer is, of course, that this is wired into the wingnut internal narrative about war — it’s all about the glory and the swagger. Objectives? We don’t need no steenking objectives …

And we all also know that if it were a Republican president doing exactly what President Obama is doing, whatever that is, every right-wing bobblehead on the planet would be praising him for his resolve and leadership, and anyone with any quibbles about his not notifying Congress is aiding the enemy.

Hypocrisy snark aside, as Tomasky says, the plan is supposed to be that after this initial bombing phase, the U.S. will hand off the ball to France and step aside, which is fine by me.

Howler of the Week

Ross Douthat:

This is an intervention straight from Bill Clinton’s 1990s playbook, in other words, and a stark departure from the Bush administration’s more unilateralist methods. There are no “coalitions of the willing” here, no dismissive references to “Old Europe,” no “you are with us or you are with the terrorists.” Instead, the Obama White House has shown exquisite deference to the very international institutions and foreign governments that the Bush administration either steamrolled or ignored.

…there are major problems with this approach to war….

Because liberal wars depend on constant consensus-building within the (so-called) international community, they tend to be fought by committee, at a glacial pace, and with a caution that shades into tactical incompetence. And because their connection to the national interest is often tangential at best, they’re often fought with one hand behind our back and an eye on the exits, rather than with the full commitment that victory can require.

First, somebody explain “total war” to Douthat. I think the last war the U.S. fought without some self-imposed restraint was World War II.

However, Douthat shows us the most basic appeal of wingnutism — namely, you never have to admit failure. I infer from this that Douthat believes George Bush’s military escapade in Iraq was a rousing success and a textbook example of “full commitment” of military strength bringing about the swift and efficient attainment of all goals.

Some things snark themselves.

Libya Is Not Iraq

Although I wouldn’t go so far as saying I’m endorsing the military action in Libya, do read Juan Cole (emphasis in the original):

United Nations allies France, Britain and the United States took the lead Saturday evening in imposing a no-fly zone on Libya. French and British fighter jets flew dangerous missions, given that the anti-aircraft batteries of the pro-Qaddafi forces had not yet been knocked out. Then the United States launched a barrage of 110 Tomahawk cruise missiles, targeting Qaddafi’s anti-aircraft installations. Apparently this role of taking out Qaddafi’s air defenses is the primary one envisaged for the US, after which it will fade into the background and allow other UN allies to take the lead. In Paris, the Qatari foreign minister announced that Qatari jets would join the mission, but did not say when. …

… Ironically, actual anti-colonial movements such as Algeria’s FLN or National Liberation Front back in the late 1950s and early 1960s often attempted to elicit the intervention of the United Nations. In that regard, the elation of the Benghazi crowds at the UNSC resolution authorizing a no-fly zone stands in a long tradition of seeking succor from oppression from the international community.

Moreover, the impetus for the no-fly zone came from the Arab League, full of what used to be called Third World states. It was tabled at the UNSC by Lebanon and supported by Bosnia, Nigeria, Colombia and South Africa. As for ‘crusades,’ it is not an accusation that can plausibly be launched against the Arab League, full of Muslim states, or, indeed, against Bosnia or the current Lebanese government or religiously plural Nigeria.

Michael Moore can bellyache all he likes, but I think that if the impetus did indeed come from the Arab League, and as it is a UN action more than a US action, the action in Libya really isn’t anything like Iraq. Further, I don’t think the U.S. is in a position to sit out of a military action that so many allies seem determined to pursue.

I read in The Hill that “A hard-core group of liberal House Democrats is questioning the constitutionality of U.S. missile strikes against Libya.” This is something that needs to be questioned. However, I struggle to remember the last war that began in an unquestionably constitutional way. World War II, maybe?

As I understand it, however, the President’s actions in Libya so far are entirely within the current War Powers Act, at least as other recent presidents have interpreted it. I think it would be grand if some future and less wingnut-riddled Congress revisited the War Powers Act and reined it in quite a bit. However, screaming that the President deserves to be impeached, as Dennis Kucinich is doing, for authorizing a military action that laws of Congress (arguably) allow him to authorize is, um, stupid. You can’t impeach a president for doing something that Congress has said president may do. Maybe Congress should impeach itself first.

See also Earl Ofari Hutchison.

A Word on Looting

Apparently there is some looting going on in Japan, after all, contrary to myth. Oh, and contrary to Faux News.

It interests me that the “no looting in Japan” meme has been so embraced by the Right. Over the past few days I’ve also seen a number of comments that claimed there was no looting in Iowa after the 2008 floods (not true); there was no looting in New York City after 9/11 (actually there was, but not by poor people), but New Orleans was a looting riot (exaggerated in news stories) after Hurricane Katrina. And this is explained by racial factors, naturally.

I’ve said before that comparisons between 9/11 and Katrina are absurd, because the natures of the tragedies were entirely different. In Katrina, people were trapped for days without rescue or provisions. On 9/11, the survivors could walk a few blocks and find everything from hot dog vendors to grocery stores to five-star gourmet restaurants open for business.

And also, on the days that followed 9/11, lower Manhattan was closed off and patrolled by NYPD and the National Guard.

The more interesting question is why there wasn’t more looting in New York City during the 2003 blackout, when a similar blackout in 1977 touched off a festival of crime. Interesting article about that at History News Network.

In brief, relative order after a disaster has a lot to do with the degree to which people trust the social contract to look out for them. New Orleans residents, particularly in the areas most impacted by floods, had little reason to trust the system. And the system pretty much proved they were right.

Judge Issues Temporary Block on Union-Busting Law

A Wisconsin judge has delayed implementation of Gov. Walker’s union-busting law by stopping the publication of the law until further order of the court. The law can’t go into effect until it is published.

Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne had filed a suit challenging the law, saying the vote on the bill violated Wisconsin’s open meeting law. He had requested blocking the publication in his suit, so that the case could be heard before it went into effect.

Elsewhere: House Republicans want to turn IRS into abortion gestapo.

Good News, Bad News

Bad news, probably — the UN Security Council just approved a no-fly zone over Libya. If air strikes support the rebels without triggering some other endless military adventure, this might be OK, but I’m skeptical.

This afternoon the House voted to to bar federal funding of National Public Radio. The bill also bars public radio stations from using federal grant money to pay their NPR dues. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) congratulated the House for saving America from Click and Clack.

First rate snark, Congressman. Well done.

Oh, the good news — there’s news there is some reduction in the radiation danger in Japan.

Stuff to Read

Of course the James O’Keefe NPR “sting” video was edited to make Ron Schiller look worse. Finally someone in media explains how dishonest the video really is. When will people learn to ignore O’Keefe and his little scams?

Here’s a beautiful letter from Japan about how people are helping each other cope. And a dog looks out for another dog.

Tomorrow a Wisconsin judge will decide whether to block the union-busting law.

Any other good links out there?