Ezra Klein on midterm elections in the first term of a Presidency:

The pattern here is obvious: Losses, and big ones. Except for FDR's first midterm and George W. Bush's post-9/11 victory, there've been no gains at all.

(Emphasis supplied.) A commenter responds:

But the relevant comparison is FDR.

This isn't just a "slump." And he had a *massive* mandate to address it, huge majorities, huge public trust. 70 million voted for hope and change. Millions of us are having our hearts broken or watching those we love have their hearts broken by this economy. If we had any reason to think it would be much better in 5 years, maybe you'd have a point. But we don't.

Yep.

Speaking for me only

Greg Sargent wrote:

I totally agree that the political impact [of the "Ground Zero Mosque" debate] is overstated -- which is why Dems should stop running away from the project. But it's not impossible that this controversy could have a substantive effect: It could end up forcing the center to move. [. . .] What's more, this is about insisting that Dems show spine at politically difficult moments. It's an important story on many levels.

(Emphasis supplied.) That's simply not true. The "debate" can not force a move of the Cordoba Center. Does anyone believe in the Constitution anymore? As for Dems showing spine, I am for Dems showing spine on issues they have INFLUENCE over - like the health bill, Don't Ask Don't Tell, gay rights, immigration, and, oh yes, THE ECONOMY.

No politician has any effect on the right of the Corodoba Center to be built. Nothing any pol has said, or any person has said, effects that. That was sort of the point of what President Obama said last Friday. Which is why he did not need to say it.

Speaking for me only

Reuters:

New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly climbed to a nine-month high last week, yet another setback to the frail economic recovery. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 500,000 in the week ended August 14, the highest since mid-November, the Labor Department said on Thursday.

Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast claims slipping to 476,000 from the previously reported 484,000 the prior week, which was revised up to 488,000 in Thursday's report.

How are you liking Recovery Summer?

Speaking for me only

I've spent a week saying this, but Josh Marshall seems to finally get it:

The Washington Post has an editorial today opposing the retrial of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. It labels the verdict an "extraordinary rebuke" to the Government:

With moral thunder in December 2008, the aggressive prosecutor declared that the state's chief executive was nabbed "in the middle of what we can only describe as a public corruption crime spree." Mr. Fitzgerald added, "The conduct would make Lincoln roll over in his grave." Yet on Tuesday, 20 months later, a federal jury was unmoved. In an extraordinary rebuke, Mr. Blagojevich was convicted on only one of 24 counts against him.

It ends:

Mr. Fitzgerald is entitled under the law to drag the ex-governor back into court. He has the resources to do so and the motivation: The Blagojevich brand of politics is repugnant, beyond any doubt. It perverts democracy and puts moneyed interests over the common good. But the prosecutor took his shot and lost. He should stand down before crossing another fine line -- the one that separates prosecution from persecution.

[More...]

Open Thread.

Delicious new Fox News controversy:

Confronted with the Port Authority's verdict, Father Mark Arey, of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, said it's the first he's heard that. "Negotiations did break off last year. We were expecting to hear from their lawyers -- we never did. We're still expecting to hear from them," he told Fox News. "We're disappointed. ... 130 Liberty Street was promised to us."

[. . . ] The Port Authority and the church announced a deal in July 2008 under which the Port Authority would grant land and up to $20 million to help rebuild the church -- in addition, the authority was willing to pay up to $40 million to construct a bomb-proof platform underneath. Within a year, the deal fell through and talks ended -- apparently for good, according to the Port Authority.

[. . .] The Port Authority has previously claimed the church was making additional demands -- like wanting the $20 million up front and wanting to review plans for the surrounding area. They say the church can still proceed on its own if it wishes. [. . .] "The church continues to have the right to rebuild at their original site, and we will pay fair market value for the underground space beneath that building," a spokesperson with the Port Authority told Fox News.

See? They let them build a mosque but not a Christian church! Sharia Law! The Terrorists Win! Except for the fact that the Cordoba Center is not asking for any money from anyone and wants to build on the site they own. And that the Christian Church can do exactly the same thing. More . .

I'm on a short break from court, but I just saw that a Peruvian court of appeals has ordered Lori Berenson back to prison. I'll check the details later but my initial reaction is how awful and wrong-headed.

Open thread.

Farhad Manjoo:

After watching several of these hashtags from start to finish and talking to a few researchers who've studied trends on Twitter, I've got some potential answers to these questions. Black people—specifically, young black people—do seem to use Twitter differently from everyone else on the service. They form tighter clusters on the network—they follow one another more readily, they retweet each other more often, and more of their posts are @-replies—posts directed at other users. It's this behavior, intentional or not, that gives black people—and in particular, black teenagers—the means to dominate the conversation on Twitter.

[More...}

Harold Meyerson writes:

Not to be difficult, mind you, but what is it that the Democrats see themselves running on in the next 75 days -- or, for that matter, the next two years? Health-care reform? Since many of its benefits don't kick in until 2014, it exists in the minds of millions of Americans chiefly as a nebulous threat.

Jacob Hacker writes:

Sen. Tom Harkin put the point well when he described the health bill as a "starter home." What Harkin neglected to mention is that the home isn't built yet, and the construction zone is in the path of a hurricane -- the fast-approaching storm of runaway health costs and hard-core conservative opposition. In the face of these challenges, reformers have three great priorities: implementing the law, protecting and defending it from the already-mounting attacks, and renovating and improving Harkin's "starter home" to make it a sustainable structure. The next health-care battle will require organization, narrative, and strategy at least as much as the last did. And this time, reformers will need to call plainly for a greater government role -- armed, if they take their three big tests seriously, with concrete examples of government getting things right.

Atrios comments:

In an attempt to score political points, James Taranto asks "Is Harry Reid Un-American" because Reid issued a statement in which he stated that the yet to be built Cordoba Center ("Ground Zero Mosque" to Republicans) should be moved to another site. Taranto mocks Greg Sargent's coverage of the spectacle (I've criticized Greg myself, but because of his fixation on pols' reactions to the Cordoba Center "issue.")

Underpinning this discussion is the notion that the United States has always been a tolerant country, welcoming to all. This myth is exemplified by the Statue of Liberty, with Emma Lazarus' famous words - "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

The reality of the American attitude to "The Other" has of course been quite different. From the Original Sin of slavery to the periodic bouts of nativism, xenophobia, bigotry and overt hatred ("No Irish Allowed," Jim Crow, AZ SB 1070),the American attitude towards the Other has been largely intolerant. But the United States is in no way unique in this (see, e.g., European history and present, Islamist extremism, and basically, the history of man.) [ More...]