In his latest in a long string of classy moves, Tom Coburn has placed a hold on Dana Perino’s nomination to the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which runs the Voice of America. That’s the same Dana Perino who was GWB’s last press secretary. If she’s qualified to do anything, she’s certainly qualified to supervise America’s propaganda operation.
Every political system has its strange rituals. Unfortunately, one of ours is Senatorial privilege, and it’s gone from a minor eccentricity to a major obstacle to getting anything done.
If you watched the BBC election coverage last night, you probably saw David Cameron’s appearance at one of the UK’s little rituals — the local election board proceedings. Cameron had to share the stage with a half-dozen nutcases, including one dressed like Jesus, who were running in minor parties. The first hand he shook belonged to some strange ranger from the Monster Raving Loony party.
Cameron was gracious and humble through the whole thing. It was clearly an act, but he pulled it off well. I wonder about the last time Tom Coburn had to be that gracious and humble. Judging from his recent behavior, it was a hell of a long time ago. I suggest we trade our little ritual of letting Senators indulge their every whim with the UK’s ritual of having every candidate stand around and exude humility and good grace in front of their opponents on election day. I doubt it would make a real difference in someone like Tom Coburn, but it would be a hell of a lot more fun to watch than endless discussions of the goddam filibuster.
(via MattY)
beltane
Tom Coburn always exudes humility and grace in the company of crazy people. Crazy people are his power base. It is only in the company of the sane that his petulance becomes apparent.
dmsilev
I’m going to guess that that’s one blocked appointment that won’t get a recess-appointment end-run around Senatorial nonsense.
dms
Violet
I love this ritual. It’s fantastic that they all stand there together, in front of their various supporters. In some of the constituencies, you even heard boos when some candidates’ totals were announced! Really quite amazing.
It puts all of the candidates on an equal footing, which, given our track record of sending most incumbents back to Washington, might have the effect of showing that they aren’t invincible, and in fact there are any number of other people who could take their place should voters choose.
Brian J
I remember reading, to this day, that Coburn and Obama were friends. It wasn’t that they agreed on much of anything, just that they could actually work together in an adult manner. If that’s the case, why hasn’t Obama called him up and said, “Hey, Tommy boy, what the fuck, man? What’s your fucking problem? Do you need to have a little visit from Rahm in the locker room showers?”
4tehlulz
You have to admire his commitment to obstructing the administration; most Republicans would have been too busy fawning over a Bushtard to bother.
cleek
the Senate is an ass.
Comrade Mary
Oh — I saw that! The whole thing is available here.
MattF
Obama should just withdraw Perino’s nomination. And then, as a bonus, he can claim to be bipartisan.
Morbo
Blackadder, huh. Well, there’s still this one.
dmsilev
OT: The economy is actually adding a nontrivial number of jobs:
Still a long way to go before we’re anywhere near “healthy”, but at least things are starting to move in the right direction.
dms
Ash Can
OK, let me get this straight. Dem administration appoints airheaded Bushie bimbo to government post and Coburn…blocks it.
Good grief. There isn’t enough coffee in the world to get me through that.
pseudonymous in nc
Definitely force the candidates to share a stage: I have no patience with the American practice of having them hold their own private “victory” parties as the results come in remotely.
If you want to stand against David Cameron and get on the telly dressed as Jesus on election night, it’ll cost you £500 (around $750): that’s a ‘deposit’ which you can get back if you receive over 5% of the vote. In contrast, $750 won’t even get you into a rubber chicken fundraiser for one of the grand poobahs of the Senate.
Litlebritdifrnt
Watching the coverage last night reminded me how much I miss British elections, they are so, well British. The wonderful little ritual that you describe really does put everyone in the same boat, including the Prime Minister, who has to run and appear like everyone else. I was surprised to see that good ole David Dimbleby was still alive though, he must be ancient.
slippy
@Ash Can: It sure piles onto the “Republicans Obstruct Everything Just ‘Cause” theme, doesn’t it?
I mean, if they can’t approve of GWB’s press secretary, who can they approve of? It’s ONLY because she’s an Obama nominee now, and Obama cannot be allowed to succeed if they can possibly stop it.
This is the end of any claim that Republicans are interested in governing anything. Obviously they’re just interested in shooting spitballs at the Administration.
Bill In OH
Yet another data point for the hypothesis that the only overriding Rep principle is to be against whatever a Democrat is for.
Edit: And apparently Slippy and I are on the same wavelength.
stuckinred
Ya’ll are spending way too much energy trying to analyze this moron. Check out our local moron who is also an MD
yellowdog
In the last election Blair shared the stage with a lobster, or maybe it was just someone dressed as a lobster. Can lobsters vote in the UK?
Linda Featheringill
@cleek: The senate is a ass.
Fixed.
[Dickens]
4tehlulz
@dmsilev: This is good news! Obviously this is the best time to downgrade Portugal’s debt.
Robert Sneddon
David Cameron may be leader of the Conservative Party but he is first and foremost a constituency MP in much the same way any Senator or Congressman is in the US. The same is true for Gordon Brown who was not directly elected to be Prime Minister — indeed he only became PM after Blair resigned and the Labour Party chose him to be their new leader.
If Cameron becomes PM he will still be a constituency MP and will still need to carry out the work that entails as well as running the British Government.
Bill E Pilgrim
@yellowdog: I don’t know, but I’d put our Monster Raving Loony Party up against anyone’s.
Ours don’t need lobster costumes, they’ve got Boehner.
JohnR
You may laugh at the Monster Raving Loony Party, but I tell you the late, lamented Screaming Lord Such was worth ten US Senators (pick ten at random). Even dead, he would still easily be a better Senator than Joe Lieberman. I feel very strongly that only the open British parliamentary election system has kept the UK from taking the same path to perdition that the carefully-designed US government has followed. I’d be delighted to have our own MRLP here in the US. I’d even settle for one of the ‘Popular People’s Front of Judea’-style splinter parties of the MRLP. They wouldn’t be any crazier than Ron Paul.
Linda Featheringill
@dmsilev: Yes! All good news gratefully accepted.
Tattoosydney
@Litlebritdifrnt:
And occasionally gets booted out of his own seat…
(Sorry, I just like to remind myself that that happened and chuckle cruelly every now and then).
r€nato
Monster Raving Loony Party, that’s a good name for the GOP these days, dontcha think?
balconesfault
The incredible lightness of being Dana Perino? Blocked by Coburn? This is clearly good news for McCain…
frankdawg
In the olden days it was considered declasse to suggest that you should be President. Candidates had to get other people to run around saying you should get the job & you demurred humbly. You didn’t go to the convention since wanting it was a sign you were not worthy of it. It was, of course, a charade and I think dropping it was a very good thing. On the other hand we have gone way too far the other way now.
Of all the things I admire about politics in the UK the apparent civility and humility is one of the tops.
dmsilev
This suggests an opportunity. Obama should nominate Sarah Palin for something. Make up a position that’s well-paid but doesn’t actually have any power or involve any responsibility, and she’d probably go for it. Then watch the Senate GOP struggle with the block vs. not-block dilemma…
dms
mk3872
The GOP strategy is to make government look incompetent and then run against the party in power: Dems.
Of course, what happens when they regain power is that people once again realize that Repubs ARE actually truly incompetent.
It’s the great fun we have with the American 2-party political system dance.
Poopyman
@Brian J:
Oh, you got the header tag that says “I showered with Rahm and all I got was this shitty blog” too?
Lurking Canadian
It really is time for Obama to make a forceful public statement in favour of not drinking drain cleaner. Let’s take this new Republican reflex out for a spin and see what it can do!
chopper
“I took over from the previous electorate when he very sadly accidentally brutally cut his head off while combing his hair”
chopper
oops, wrong thread. dang, a blackadder quip and everything.
chopper
strike that. jesus, i need more coffee.
…and the baby’s up. uch.
burnspbesq
I believe this is what is meant by “poetic justice.”
ChockFullO'Nuts
One does not know whether to laugh, or to laugh hysterically until the tears come and snot runs out of the nose.
Carly Fucking Fiorina, whose claim to fame is ….
She and Palin totally deserve each other.
burnspbesq
@Lurking Canadian:
Ummm … any electorate that can’t get its act sufficiently together to get rid of Stephen Harper shouldn’t be running around casting aspersions on other countries. Glass house, meet stone.
Poopyman
@chopper:
Speaking of strike that Jesus….
El Cid
The Voice of America, controlled by the IBB, has far better and objective journalism standards than most of the U.S. private media, and not just Fox News.
The difference is that the VOA has to actually gain an audience of listeners in the 3rd world, who would simply immediately turn of their radios or change to the BBC or Radio France etc. if the VOA attempted to broadcast the same nationalist propaganda that U.S. citizens are bombarded by.
Fox News & CNN were a much more influential conduit of pro-war propaganda for Bush Jr. than the VOA.
J
@r€nato: You beat me to it, but perhaps the addition of ‘vicious’ or another term like it would make it perfect. ‘The vicious monster raving loony party’. After all I think the real monster raving loonies are a harmless cranks who would be a giant improvement over our GOP.
Lurking Canadian
@burnspbesq: Wait. I’m not allowed to say nasty things about Republicans because a plurality of my countrymen voted for the wrong guy? Since when?
I surely don’t mind you saying whatever you like about Harper. I’ll even help.
Morbo
“265 votes, a very respectable result for the Monster Raving Loony Party.”
And they do have sensible proposals after all:
‘Traffic cops “too stupid” for normal police work to be retrained as vicars.’
‘The introduction of a 99p coin to “save on change”‘
EFroh
This is the first time I’ve agreed with Coburn on anything. Dana Perino is simply awful. I assume Obama nominated her to get her to shut up, but god, what a stinker of a candidate.
Fern
@Lurking Canadian: Americans have exclusive rights to criticize their government.
AhabTRuler
@Fern:
…and all the other ones, too! :-)
Comrade Sock Puppet of the Great Satan
“I was surprised to see that good ole David Dimbleby was still alive though, he must be ancient. ”
Do you remember Dimbleby in a “Goodies” parody about an election where the coverage was so exciting everyone forgot to vote? Loved it as a kid.
Meg
Coburn might have just gotten it right for this once.
Someone like Dana Perino, who proudly claimed that there was no terror attack under Bush’s watch should not be running Voice of America. She is really nasty.
Fern
@AhabTRuler: Apparently.
ChockFullO'Nuts
@Meg:
She’s just a paid liar. Paid liars will tell whatever lies they are paid to tell. I don’t see how that disqualifies her from VOA. VOA is in the lying business.
scav
Actually, I think there are maybe two local manifestations: The Raving Loonies (e.g. La Palinista) and the Raving Monsters (e.g. les Cheneys). Unstable coalition at the moment.
El Cid
I don’t think the VOA is simply “paid liars”. Have we seen this coverage recently on NPR?
Nope. Not on NPR. Well, there is this story about arms smuggling by Hamas.
What about the New York Times? Nope, not there either, though there is this story from 2 days ago on a fire set to a mosque.
Why would “paid liars” of VOA air stories like this? Because unlike the rest of U.S. media, they have to get voluntary listeners throughout the world, and no one else in the world would listen to the pro-hawk coverage of Israel which is standard in the U.S.
For world news coverage I’d much rather listen to the VOA than NPR.
Robertdsc-iphone
You know that dumb article about the oil spill threatening the Ibama administration’s rep for competence? We mocked that but nominating Dana Perino for anything certainly calls for some questions.
Anyway, this could be solved in a flash but why it is not is beyond me. /eyeroll
OriGuy
It would be one thing if Coburn only put a hold on Perino, but the hold is on eight nominees to the Board. This is just more logjamming.
Sentient Puddle
All said and done here, I think the most surprising thing is that Obama nominated Perino for something to begin with. I mean WTF.
Coburn loves placing these holds. He pissed off his own party leadership a few years back because he did so many, and forced them into cobbling up some crazy-ass omnibus to ram everything through.
oklahomo
@beltane: Coburn and Inhofe are the Wonder Twins of crazy. I’m surprised the conjunction of their awesome crazy hasn’t spawned a singularity.
Mark
@El Cid – I understand your point about VOA, but why would you expect NPR to cover four people in a foreign country getting arrested for being assholes? We obsess enough about every machination in Israel, we don’t need to do it even more.
Great story: the Israeli public didn’t like CNN International’s coverage of Israel. So they took it off cable systems and replaced it with Fox News (this was when Fox started referring to “Homicide Bombers”). Guess what? Now the Israelis were pissed off because Fox News didn’t cover Israel at all – unlike CNN, which was obsessed with it, for the purpose of getting ratings…
OriGuy
How the Queen comes into play in a hung Parliament.
And Ahhnold jumped the gun and called Cameron to congratulate him.
tim
Please tell me why the fuck Dana Perino is being nominated by Obama for ANYTHING? Tom Coburn is an ass, but anything that pisses off Dana Perino is good by me.
What am I missing here?
toujoursdan
@El Cid:
Absolutely.
Back before the internet, I used to get foreign news from shortwave radio. For some strange reason atmospheric propagation allowed me to get the Voice of America Africa Service in English and French loud and clear in Ottawa Canada throughout the whole day.
The “propaganda” really was more in the exposure to U.S. culture than heavily slanted news. When they’d give the American government’s position on an issue, they would preface it with a disclaimer first. It was a class act. Very different than Radio Moscow’s turgid programming or Fox News.
But most of the programming was Africa-centric with great African pop music and indepth African news delivered by expatriates. I think that was true for most of the regional services. (I was the only one in my high school who knew all the African head of states.)
Willis Conover’s “Time for Jazz” was also one of my favourite shows.
But this was long ago in the waning years of the Carter and early Reagan administration, long before the right-wing took over. I don’t know what it’s like now.
El Cid
@Mark: That was just one example. But still, you miss the point — the point was not just that NPR didn’t cover a certain story. It was that VOA carried stories completely outside the ‘paid liar’ approach of cheerleading U.S. policies.
I’ve listened to both NPR and VOA consistently. Again and again and again VOA has something approaching a BBC-quality coverage of international events, whereas NPR and the rest of the U.S. media toe whatever line the foreign policy establishment prefers.
You can label something like “Radio Marti”, broadcasting TV to Cuba, a white elephant as a paid propagandist for the U.S. foreign policy establishment. But VOA isn’t such a worthless piece of shit, and, again, I’d much rather listen to the VOA on foreign affairs than the go-out-of-their-way-to-please-the-hawks voices on NPR.
superfly
You mean this ritual?
EFroh
@tim:
The only reason I can figure is that it gets her to shut up. But I wish Obama would have picked a less insane GOPper (of course this presupposes there are any left). Maybe Scott McClellan, if it had to be an ex-Bushie, but then I don’t think the Republicans will ever forgive him for his book.
Dr. Squid
Was he dressed like Tarquin-fin-tim-lim-bim-wim-bim-lim-bus-stop-f’tang-f’tang-ole-biscuit-barrel?
chopper
@Dr. Squid:
not a sausage. bugger-all.
EthylEster
@EFroh: This is the first time I’ve agreed with Coburn on anything. Dana Perino is simply awful. I assume Obama nominated her to get her to shut up, but god, what a stinker of a candidate.
i agree whole-heartedly.
Perino = bimbo.
why was she nominated?
this week she was pretending not to conspiracy-monger while engaged in full on conspiracy-mongering.
yes i would prefer Scott McClellan.
and i bet *he* has heard of the cuban missile crises.
Barney
If you really want to see the election speeches put to good use, take a look at the 2005 election, when Reg Keys, the father of a soldier killed in Iraq stood against Blair, and he had to stand there and listen to his speech:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/vote_2005/frontpage/4506283.stm