On FISA, The Media And Poker
Glenn Greenwald catches Time magazine presenting some of its typical bad reporting:
A compromise deal to extend the federal government's domestic spying powers . . . has drawn attacks from both sides of the political spectrum. The right is unhappy at concessions made to protect civil liberties; the left is furious that the Democrats allowed the domestic spying powers to be extended in any form.It must be a decent and reasonable compromise if both the extremes on the Right and Left are angry about it -- except the whole premise is patently false. The Right isn't attacking the bill at all; they're ecstatic about it.
(Emphasis supplied.) Which brings me to John Cole's odd post equating FISA to a poker hand:
It has been a while since your have had a playable hand, and your supporters are antsy. But now you have a low pocket pair- the six of diamonds and the six of hearts. You push the betting pre-flop, and then it happens- the House flops an AK of diamonds and a K of clubs. You did what you could with your hand, but events beyond your control have left you in a really weak spot right now.
You are now out of position, you don’t have many outs, but the crowd is not cutting you any slack. Do you check, and try to limp into the turn to see what the Senate does there and on the river? That would be the smart play- the pot payoff is too low, the stakes are too high, and you need to get to the final table before you are in the money. . . . But who knows, maybe something game changing will happen on the turn (a Feingold filibuster is sustained?).
Or do you, inexplicably, go all in? Just on the principle, and nothing else, because you really have no control over what the other players do and what happens on the turn and the river. That is what the crowd wants. They are catcalling and jeering, telling you to do it.
Choose wisely. Losing the hand will be bad, but knocking yourself out of the game before the final table would be worse, even if the crowd does not understand it.
What in hell is Cole talking about? Obama is at the final table. The stakes for Obama are actually rather low politically. How is he hurt if telecom immunity is NOT stripped from the bill if he fights the best fight he can to stop it? Hell, it's the reverse really. He should fight the best fight he can and if he loses, he gets credit for the fight and no blame from anyone.
But of course this is not a poker game and the "crowd" understands the stakes perfectly. To some of us, the fight is about the issues, not the "team" or the "player." Let's give credit to the Netroots this time. Unlike John Cole, they put their cheerleading megaphones to the side and decided to fight for the issue. Oh BTW, they also know that Obama fighting for the Constitution is likely a good political play, something Cole seems not to understand.
Speaking for me only
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