The Daily Top Five: March 9, 2007

1. Is Hilary Clinton a candidate of the past as asserted by William Greider:

Considering the formidable advantages Hillary Clinton has assembled for 2008, why should anyone feel sorry for her? Because the Senator is in a trap, and many of her assets have swiftly turned into liabilities. This predicament is largely of her own making but also of changed circumstances she did not foresee. Front-runners have often fared poorly in Democratic nominating contests during the last thirty years, especially when establishment insiders promoted an aura of inevitability for them. Hillary is a candidate for the same fate.

[snip]

Clinton's great vulnerability was captured brilliantly by Barack Obama in a single sentence, without a mention of her name. "It's time to turn the page..." People are looking forward, not back, he declares. People long for a promising new generation in politics. Let's not turn back to old fights, the acrimony of decades past.

The same thing could also be said of the John McCain/Rudy Giuliani race. I hold out the hope that a "new generation" of political leaders, those who blur the traditional lines will take the debate out of the wedge politics era and into ideas. But Greider is right, Hillary may be a candidate whose time was about four years ago.

2. There is lots of talk about the D.C. Circuit's ruling in a 2nd Amendment case, a ruling that is about 29 years over due. I have had little time to review the decision, but the brain trust at the Volokh Conspiracy has lots of stuff, including this post by Eugene Volokh with links to other posts at the site.

3. Paul Sherman at the Center for Competitive Politics calls attention the desperation of the campaign finance reform community. In the recent ruling by the FEC allowing presidential candidates to raise money for the general election while preserving the option to accept public funding, reformers had objected to allowing such a practice. However, now they are calling on all candidates to accept the Obama/McCain pledge to take public funds. As Sherman writes:

So why the change of heart? Why are reform groups now inviting candidates to submit to the "rigors of soliciting private contributions" and the "deleterious influence of large contributions?"

The answer is simple: "Reformers" are desperately trying to keep the taxpayer funded system relevant at a time when no one, not even the reformers themselves, seriously believes that it makes politicians less corrupt.

Prior to the FEC's ruling they had done this through doom-and-gloom pronouncements of the system's impending death. "For the first time since Watergate," each op-ed and press release bemoaned, every serious presidential candidate was going to opt out of the taxpayer funded system. As a result, we needed reform and we needed it now.

If the reform community abandons the public financing scheme in the same manner as the general public, their "credibility" would be shattered.


4. "Lawfare" in the process of war on terror. It has long been known that Osama bin Laden said that terrorists will use their laws against us, and they are. But the author notes other examples.

Finally, and significantly, it's quite plain that the terrorists themselves are engaged in lawfare. We know this because we seized their playbook.

Currently, in Spain, several Madrid train bombing suspects are on trial. Reportedly, they possessed a manual similar to those recovered in Al Qaeda hide-outs, instructing operatives in how to act if captured:

"Deny all facts, state that you are innocent and follow the strategy of concealment. You must convince your interrogators that all the information they possess is wrong. Insist that you do not have anything to do with this group or that person." Other versions of the Al Qaeda manual describe how inmates should make false torture allegations.

5. Now for something totally geeky. I am huge, huge fan of the show Battlestar Galactica and have seen every episode. The writing, story lines and acting are first rate and if this show were on regular network TV rather than Sci-Fi channel, it would be winning Emmy awards like mad. Ah, well, it is still highly regarded. But this post at Garfield Ridge has me jealous beyond belief, about a two day visit to teh set of Battlestar Galactica. Hat Tip: Bryan at Hot Air.