Posts Tagged ‘history’

The article you might miss if you don’t look

Posted: July 5, 2009 by datechguy in war
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Glenn links to an article in the Times of London suggesting the Saudis have given an ok for an Israel overflight to take out Iranian Nukes.

It is important and Ambassador Bolton must be pleased but if you don’t look at the entire page you might miss something significant.

The Times’ archive has been scanned and there is a link to a story concerning Khomeini from 1981. It is worth a read to see what a British reporter had to say about the man who would fuel Islamic Terror for decades.

A perceptive on what people actually thought and said at the time is invaluable. The Times has their archive available back to 1785. It is an amateur historians dream, and the price ranges from $9 for a day to $130 a year. Do a search for example for “Guerriere” during the period of war of 1812 and you’ll get the idea.

Palin using the LBJ strategy?

Posted: July 4, 2009 by datechguy in opinion/news
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Back in the late 30’s early 40 a young congressman named Lyndon Johnson used Texas oil money to get elected decided to expand it’s use to the entire democratic congressional campaign.

In bits and pieces he produced the funds that saved and/or elected many a democrat congressman. These people remembered who they owed their election to.

Over the next 15 months there are going to be many congressional candidates all over the country who will be looking for exposure and funds. Imagine if these candidates held A fund-raising dinner featuring the most famous former vice presidential candidate there has ever been. Picture the local/national media coverage, the large crowds and the money raised.

Let’s say that scenario is repeated in 100-150 districts all over the country coupled with short interviews with local media, unfiltered by the national press. Picture building an organizational base in each district from the crowds. Imagine the DNC having to spend money to play defense in all of those districts. Finally picture congressmen and woman from different states and their political allies farther down the ticket in your political debt by the start of 2011.

If Sarah Palin is picturing that then our democratic friends will have a lot of worrying to do.

How things change but stay the same

Posted: June 27, 2009 by datechguy in opinion/news
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One more oddity concerning the rather bad vote yesterday.

Did you note this from Redstate?

His office STILL wouldn’t say which way he was voting on it, so I called them on it, and said that he’s just waiting to see if there are enough votes so he can oppose the bill for political purposes.

This is Rep. Thomas Perriello of Va.

One of the thing that Sam Rayburn used to always say is “A congressman’s first duty is to get re-elected.” There are and were times when a vote that an administration would want or demand might be against the interests of a particular congressman. Rayburn being Rayburn could command a certain amount of votes and loyalty but he never forgot the first duty of a congressman. So he would line up extra votes on controversial measures so he could if necessary release members of his caucus that a particular vote would hurt.

The purpose of those 8 republicans who voted for that bill wasn’t to make it a “bi-partisan” measure. It was to give a large enough margin for Pelosi and company to let a few of their people vote the other way.

Cap and Trade and the Hell’s Canyon Dam

Posted: June 26, 2009 by datechguy in opinion/news
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In 1957 Senator Lyndon Johnson had a problem. He wanted to be elected president but it was apparent that no southern candidate could win the democratic nomination without being made pure on Civil rights. Due to the use of the filibuster (these were they days before 60 vote cloture) the southern democrats were able to block any kind of vote so it was necessary to craft a bill weak enough to keep the democrats from filibustering while not gutting the bill to the point where supporters of civil rights would consider it a scam. Johnson managed in one of the most amazing balancing acts in political history managed to shepherd the Civil Rights act of 1957 through the Senate.

One of the pieces of that puzzle was a vote on the Hell’s Canyon Dam. A freshman Senator Frank Church and other senators from the northwest had been fighting for that dam for years to no effect. Johnson managed to make a deal with those senators that in exchange for the votes needed to remove parts of the Civil Rights Bill (section III) unacceptable to the south, southern senators would provide the votes to get the Hell’s Canyon bill through the senate.

What those senators didn’t realize but Johnson did was the House of Representatives would reject the dam. It would be another 7 years (under President Lyndon Johnson) before the dam would be approved and a full decade before it opened.

Something similar is going on right now with Cap & Trade. President Obama and the House Democratic leadership are looking for a win for political reasons and house democrats leaders are making deals to get the votes they need for passage. Like LBJ of old democrat leaders know they are selling a pig in a poke to their members for their own political benefit on a bill that will not actually help those who it purports to help.

The question remains will the undecided members see through it? Time will tell.

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