Now:

Then Palin met with former secretary of state Henry Kissinger at his consulting firm’s offices for what was perhaps her most substantive meeting of the day. Palin talked for more than an hour with Kissinger, who tutored President Bush during his first White House campaign and has kept in close contact with him through his presidency.

And then:

Document 3: Kissinger and General Alexander M. Haig, Jr., 9 December 1970, 8:50 p.m.
Source: Nixon Presidential Materials Project, Henry A. Kissinger Telephone Conversations Transcripts, Home File, Box 29, File 2, 106-10

A few minutes later after receiving Nixon’s call on Cambodia, Kissinger telephoned his military assistant Alexander Haig about the orders from “our friend.” After he described Nixon’s instructions for a “massive bombing campaign” involving “anything that flys [or] anything that moves”, the notetaker apparently heard Haig “laughing.” Both Haig and Kissinger knew that what Nixon had ordered was logistically and politically impossible so they translated it into a plan for massive bombing in a particular district (not identifiable because the text is incomplete). These two phone calls illustrate an important feature of the Nixon-Kissinger relationship: while Nixon would, from time to time, make preposterous suggestions (no doubt depending on his mood), Kissinger would later decide whether there was a rational kernel in what Nixon had said and whether or how to follow up on it.

After all, we’re only ordinary men:

Thirty-three years ago the US Air Force began a secret B-52 bombardment of Cambodia. In 1973, Congress imposed a halt on the campaign. But nearly half of its 540,000 tons of bombs fell in the last six months. The Secretary of the Air Force later said that President Richard Nixon “wanted to send a hundred more B-52’s. This was appalling. You couldn’t even figure out where you were going to put them all…”

The civilian toll was massive. In l970 a US aerial and tank attack in Kompong Cham province took 200 lives. In 1971, the town of Angkor Borei was heavily bombed, burnt and levelled by B-52’s and T-28’s. Whole families were trapped in trenches they had dug underneath their homes.100 people were killed, and 200 houses destroyed.

US intelligence soon discovered that many “training camps” on which its Cambodian allies, the Lon Nol regime, had requested air strikes “were in fact merely political indoctrination sessions held in village halls and pagodas.” Cambodian intelligence noted that “aerial bombardments against the villagers have caused civilian loss on a large scale,” and that the peasant survivors of the US bombing were turning to Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge communists for support.

—snip—

In March l973, the US carpet bombardment spread across the whole country. Around Phnom Penh alone, 3,000 civilians were killed in three weeks. UPI reported: “Refugees swarming into the capital from target areas report dozens of villages… have been destroyed and as much as half their population killed or maimed in the current bombing raids.”

This will further enrage the already hysterical wingnuts, but The Columbian has managed to recognize skill, competence and results in the race for governor and endorse Chris Gregoire:

Gov. Gregoire has served well, particularly in matters affecting Clark County, and The Columbian today endorses her for reelection. Such was not our recommendation four years ago when we endorsed Rossi in a battle of two candidates who were seasoned politicians, but first-time applicants for the governor’s chair. Now, though, Gregoire is armed with a dossier that shows significant progress.

Rossi and other critics assail Gregoire most often in an area — the economy — where she actually shows strength and versatility. She helped turn an inherited $2.2 billion deficit into a balanced budget. And as the national economy erodes, Gregoire has hunkered down in the face of the state’s projected $3.2 billion deficit. In June, according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, she halted a three-building project at the capital after costs increased from $260 million to $370 million. A new data center, space for the Department of Information Services and State Patrol offices will have to wait.

Newspaper endorsements in tight races are always controversial, and you can bet this will lead to much wailing and gnashing of teeth amongst the local Orthogonians. It’s a Clark County election tradition to increase the volume of Nixonian anti-intellectualism to eleven.

Nothing is quite as poignant as the class resentments of the burghers, you know. All over the county this morning you can hear the echoes of “EM ESS EM” bouncing off the walls of gated communities. Furious threats to cancel already canceled advertising accounts will be issued first thing Monday morning. You can almost hear it– “Really, I was going to advertise just as soon as liquidity returns to the markets, but now I’m not.”

There’s no question that Gregoire has done a fine job as governor, and as the national economy tanks, we need a steady hand at the helm. I can’t honestly say that The Columbian endorsement helps Gregoire; it might or it might not. Most likely a wash overall. If you’ve heard the term “low information voter” well, Clark County is a “low information county.” Ironically, this is largely because of our unique media situation, as Oregon media dominates the area.

But we do know that lots of people registered to vote here in the last week.

Maybe many of them were intensely motivated by the thought of electing Dino Rossi governor? It’s his wink, isn’t it?

Two days ago:

Palin countered with a smile, “Say it ain’t so, Joe. There you go again, pointing backwards again. You prefaced your whole comment with the Bush administration,” She argued that Americans now need to “look forward.”

Today:

Stepping up the Republican ticket’s attacks on Senator Barack Obama, Gov. Sarah Palin on Saturday seized on a report about Mr. Obama’s relationship with a former 1960s radical to accuse him of “palling around with terrorists.”

Because you need to smile.

Rep. Steven C. LaTourette, R-Ohio, angrily denouncing the Drunken Sailor Bailout Act of 2008 (my words, not his) by mentioning, among other things, that the bill provides a rum tax payment to Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands in the amount of about $192 million over ten years:

At least we have the pirate vote.

So that would not be an “aye” I’m guessing.

He lost Ohio in 1864.

This commentary at McClatchy by Prof. Michael D. MacDonald of Williams College sums up rather neatly how Neoliberalism went essentially unchallenged for nearly three decades and proclaims it to be now dead.

The bipartisan Neoliberal Era in America, from 1981 until last week, was devoted to economic growth, finance capital and the creative use of debt. The gray, dreary, and boring politics of economics was enlivened by a circus of sex scandals and culture wars.

I’m not so sure Neoliberalism is fully dead, as the Wall Street and D.C. vampires popping up on CNBC are starting to exhibit remarkably zombie-like behavior, but it’s certainly on life support. The U.S. House will take a vote on it tomorrow, to what ultimate effect we know not.

How quickly we forget that much of our history has involved mighty struggles between ordinary people and those with too much power. If we are indeed entering a new epoch, it is one fraught with the perils of authoritarianism, racial and other types of hatred, and outright quackery. The Great Depression analogies have been flowing fast and furious lately, so it’s worth a moment to contemplate that people like Father Charles Coughlin had huge followings in the 1930’s.

It’s a good thing our AM airwaves today aren’t filled with the demagogic ramblings of charlatans, racists and buffoons or I’d be really worried for the Republic.

My crystal ball is at the pawn shop, but I bet the Dow goes up eleventy billion points in one minute tomorrow morning. That will prove that “ANY PLAN OH MY GOD JUST PASS SOMETHING” is worth it because the very serious bidness people are in a very fragile state right now. They’re perfectly willing to make sure you suffer as well if they don’t get what they want.

There were lots of practical ways to ensure liquidity, but the Emotional Rescue Way was to lard things up with pork and pretend it will all work. It might work, but it might not, and the only thing standing between this lipstick pig and passage is the People’s House of Deputies.

Awesome.

“My calls are still running 10 to 1 against the bailout, which sounds like a lot and is a lot,” said Representative Jason Altmire, Democrat of Pennsylvania, who voted no on Monday. “But before the vote, it was 30 to 1. After the vote, especially that afternoon as the market fell, our calls were about 50-50.”

Good to know CNBC has such um, leverage. You really don’t want delegates Congress-critters listening to their citizens, that’s dangerous and, at least in my lifetime, simply not something that is done.

Conventional notions of party affiliation and outdated “left versus right” archetypes are vaporizing before our eyes. You’re either with the people or you’re with the kleptocracy, it’s that simple.

Meanwhile, in an alternate universe, MILFs.

Rock on, America!

At his blog Politics Is a Blood Sport, Aneurin notices an idea put forth by locally well known Camas investor David Nierenberg, whose investing skills are frequently covered by Motley Fool, which last month referred to him as a “master small cap investor.” Aneurin excerpts comments Nierenberg made to The Oregonian in a Sept. 23 article:

David Nierenberg, a Camas, Wash., investor, went further, calling for “clawbacks” that would allow the government to recover compensation paid to former executives and directors who were in charge when companies moved into subprime mortgages and other high-risk securities that put them in harm’s way.

“It’s harsh, it’s blunt, it’s bloody,” Nierenberg said. “But that’s the way it should be.”

Nierenberg also urged the government to take equity positions in the companies receiving federal aid, as it did when it bailed out Chrysler in 1979. The government ended up making money on its investment in Chrysler.

“If the government is going to put all this money of ours at risk, it should get equity, warrants and options to get repaid first,” he said.

Aneurin goes on to write:

The notion of “clawbacks”, where CEO’s give up their golden parachutes, is exactly what’s needed to sway detractors of the bailout plan. No one wants to hear about CEOs making $20 million for 17 days worth of work. In order to sell this thing politically, taxpayers need to know that they’re not the only ones taking it in the shorts.

What doesn’t seem to be happening with the bailout is serious consultation with business and economic realists. While Nierenberg was a supporter of Mitt Romney and now John McCain, and once worked for Romney, Nierenberg is quite the heavy hitter in state political circles, contributing large sums to candidates and committees of both parties. He also serves on the Governor’s Economic Council and the Washington State Investment Board.

So if a tough-as-nails, realistic capitalist like Nierenberg thinks “clawbacks” are a good idea, then why isn’t that part of the discussion? The people know they’re getting ripped off big-time, and there’s no reason that executives who ran companies aground should escape with millions of golden parachute dollars.

Full Disclosure: I volunteered on a campaign committee headed by Nierenberg called Evergreen Citizens for Schools from about 1998 or to about 2001, so I know him. I haven’t had the pleasure of speaking with him for about a year, so the point is he’s not pushing his “clawback” idea with me. I just thought it was an interesting idea.

Politico’s Daniel W. Reilly, in an article speculating about which twelve Congress-critters might be persuaded to change their minds and vote for the Wall Street bailout, mentions a member from Washington state:

Rep. Doc Hastings(R-Wash.)

A moderate Republican, Hastings told the Yakima Herald that he was undecided until Sunday night. In the end, he said he voted no because there were still “too many concepts” and not enough details about taxpayer exposure.

Why, Hastings is not only moderate, I’d say he’s downright mavericky. From a quick interest group ratings search at Project Vote Smart:

2007 Representative Hastings supported the interests of the Business-Industry Political Action Committee 92 percent in 2007.

2007 Representative Hastings supported the interests of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce 74 percent in 2007.

2006 Representative Hastings supported the interests of the Business-Industry Political Action Committee 100 percent in 2006.

2006 Representative Hastings supported the interests of the Consumer Action 0 percent in 2006.

2006 Representative Hastings supported the interests of the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association 100 percent in 2006.

2006 Representative Hastings supported the interests of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce 100 percent in 2006.

2005-2006 Representative Hastings supported the interests of the American Forest and Paper Association 100 percent in 2005-2006.

2005-2006 Representative Hastings supported the interests of the Associated General Contractors of America 90 percent in 2005-2006.

2005-2006 Representative Hastings supported the interests of the International Warehouse Logistics Association 100 percent in 2005-2006.

2005-2006 Representative Hastings supported the interests of the National Association of Manufacturers 100 percent in 2005-2006. The following ratings indicate the degree that each elected official supported the interests of the organization in that year.

2005-2006 Representative Hastings supported the interests of the National Electrical Contractors Association 88 percent in 2005-2006.

Yep, that’s pretty darn moderate. If he gets any more moderate he’ll be duty bound to support mandatory $18 million golden parachutes for all executives of failed companies. The New Bi-Partisan American Capitalist-Communism has its own internal imperatives, after all.

Essential truthiness requires that “moderate” Republicans be identified to get this thing passed (NOW!!!!) on behalf of our “moderate” masters on Wall Street, at NAM and the Chamber, et al. Any delay will result in the threat of unreceived paychecks and the inability to satisfy consumer lust for luxury automobiles through 72-month loans. The latter is a prospect so terrifying that the only proper course is to curl into a fetal ball and start screaming “9-11” at the top of one’s lungs.

You know the drill by now. Duck and curl, as it were.

Don’t worry about the voters, most races for the House of People’s Deputies Congress are not truly competitive anyhow. Despite economic uncertainty please note the price of Victory Gin has remained unchanged for two weeks, and credit cards charging as little as 21% APR are now accepted at liquor control outlets.

Long live the Glorious People’s Bank of the Republic, where our friendly but oddly familiar-sounding motto is “You pay, we decide.”

While the country’s attention is understandably focused on the financial sector bailout, the Justice Department has released a report (300 plus page PDF) on the politically motivated firings of nine U.S. attorneys, including John McKay, who was the USA for Western Washington. From the AP via The Seattle Times:

Attorney General Michael Mukasey appointed a prosecutor Monday to pursue possible criminal charges against Republicans who were involved in the controversial firings of U.S. attorneys.

His move follows the leading recommendation of a Justice Department investigation that harshly criticized Bush administration officials, members of Congress and their aides for the ousters, which were seen by many as politically motivated.

Results of the investigation were made public Monday. The report singled out the removal of U.S. Attorney David Iglesias of New Mexico – among 9 prosecutors who were fired – as the most troubling.

Republican political figures in New Mexico, including Sen. Pete Domenici and Rep. Heather Wilson, had complained about Iglesias’ handling of voter fraud and public corruption cases, and that led to his firing, the report said.

That initial AP article doesn’t mention McKay, so a quick look at the report itself is in order. The voluminous report examines the McKay firing in extensive detail, including the demands made by a certain “association” and “an outside group,” in Washington state about the 2004 gubernatorial recount, doubtless referring to the BIAW and the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, who were very public in their demands for McKay’s scalp.

Bottom line is that the key administration officials involved (Rove, Miers, Goodling, et al.) have managed to thwart the investigation to this point. From page 267 of today’s DOJ report: (bold added)

In sum, we could not determine whether complaints to the White House about McKay’s handling of the voter fraud allegations stemming from the 2004 Washington State gubernatorial election contributed to his placement on the removal list, particularly without interviews of relevant White House officials.

The report castigates the administration in other conclusions regarding McKay’s firing. On page 268 it concludes that alleged concerns about sentencing statistics were not convincing:

In sum, this purported reason appears to be another after-the-fact rationalization for why McKay was included on the removal list. We believe that raising this claim in the briefing to Congress was misleading and cast further doubt on the Department’s credibility in providing the real reasons for the removals of the U.S. Attorneys.

And finally, the section about McKay’s firing reads like a finely-tuned legal document when it comes to whether McKay’s concerns about an information sharing system called LInX played a role. From page 269:

In sum, we believe the evidence suggests that Sampson placed McKay on the list for removal because of his actions in the LInX matter. However, the Department’s various descriptions of why McKay was removed severely undermined its credibility when it tried to explain its actions.

This thing isn’t over from what I can tell.

Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo notes a Times of London article speculating that we Yanks could be treated to the ultimate hail-mary pass by the McCain campaign, in the form of televised nuptials between Sarah Palin’s daughter and her fiance.

Marshall is correct in warning us to take the British press with a grain of salt, but the televised wedding idea somehow seems so, well, Republican. In other words, cheap, cynical and designed to distract. From the Times of London:

In an election campaign notable for its surprises, Sarah Palin, the Republican vice- presidential candidate, may be about to spring a new one — the wedding of her pregnant teenage daughter to her ice-hockey-playing fiancé before the November 4 election.

Inside John McCain’s campaign the expectation is growing that there will be a popularity boosting pre-election wedding in Alaska between Bristol Palin, 17, and Levi Johnston, 18, her schoolmate and father of her baby. “It would be fantastic,” said a McCain insider. “You would have every TV camera there. The entire country would be watching. It would shut down the race for a week.”

If nothing else, such a stunt would seem to be the penultimate test of what might be called the Maher Axiom, a reference to comedian Bill Maher, who has repeatedly expressed his fear that Americans are too stupid to be governed.

So speaking of debates, the Dino Rossi gubernatorial campaign (Prefers People Not Know He’s a Republican Party) has apparently ditched a scheduled Oct. 13 debate in Vancouver because of a measly half-hour scheduling conflict. Reporter Kathie Durbin writes at The Columbian’s succinctly named Politics Blog:

Gregoire’s campaign said the governor adjusted her schedule twice to accommodate Rossi, finally agreeing to an 11 a.m. -to-noon televised debate on the 13th. The Rossi campaign initially agreed, but then changed its mind, notifying organizers that Rossi had to be finished by 11:30 a.m. so he could make it to a noon fundraising lunch.

Rossi accused the governor of trying to back out of debating at the last minute.

Of course, since Gov. Chris Gregoire, a Democrat, says she will be ready to debate anyway, Rossi is rather bizarrely “pulling a McCain” on this one by being a drama queen about a half hour difference.

Nothing like emulating the erratic and ridiculous behavior of a fellow Republican to ensure Republican loyalty among the Republican faithful. It’s a sure way to get nominated for Miss Congeniality of The Republican Party. Because Republicans are nothing if not congenial.

As usual, a Republican is playing dumb games trying to squeeze any tiny competitive advantage out of a situation. According to a news release sent yesterday by the Gregoire campaign, the time period Rossi (the Republican) seems to be trying to avoid is the noon news cycle.

You know, the noon news, when regular people might be watching during a child’s nap or a quick lunch break from work. Otherwise the only people who will see the debate in real time will be those folks who can go downtown or work downtown during the workday. For instance, this would include developers and firms that cater to them, which apart from the thriving criminal justice system seems to be the main type of business in downtown Vancouver. (Note to nitpicky types in the Comments Cesspool: even if the debate is at a hotel over by the mall, the same principle applies. Most regular folks can’t go hang out at the Heathman at 10:30 AM on a Monday.)

And let’s face it, most normal people just don’t watch government access channels, so while replays could certainly be made available, that’s kind of like sitting down to watch Oregon State manhandle USC when you already know it’s over.

Despite Gregoire agreeing to an 11 AM time, the Rossi campaign has seemingly concluded things could potentially spill over into the noon hour, carrying the risk a reporter might say the dreaded words, “Dino Rossi, Republican.”

Things are so bad for them that even in Clark County, which the Republican Party has steadfastly claimed as a bastion despite real-world evidence (such as election results) to the contrary, they can’t risk people turning on the tee-vee only to hear and see Dino Rossi described for what he is, a Republican. The unique media blackout we live in down here, in this instance, works in favor of Republican Dino Rossi.

I happened to be in Seattle during last weekend’s debate up there, and while I only caught the tail end of it on television from a hotel room, I can’t say I really blame the Rossi campaign. I’d try to hide him too.

Of course, I could be wrong, and Dino Rossi could prove me wrong by showing up for a live televised debate in Clark County on Oct. 13. I’m sure the wait staff at his fundraiser can keep his developer pals well plied with food and beverage for an extra half hour.

Where is Rossi’s fundraiser? According to the Clark County Republicans, it’s at the Red Lion at the Quay, right in downtown Vancouver. If the debate organizers were able to secure the Vancouver Hilton, that would be about a two minute drive for Rossi. Even if the debate were held over by the mall, it would likely be a fifteen minute drive mid-morning.

And what is Rossi doing in this oh-so-crucial half hour between 11:30 AM and noon that he couldn’t possibly debate Gregoire? He’s having photos taken with supporters.

At $500 per person.

So Goldy’s post about having his video commentaries removed from YouTube, presumably at the request of the Association of Washington Business, reminded me that their president, Don Brunell, puts out a column that is faithfully carried every week by The Columbian. Usually I ignore it, but this week’s version is particularly entertaining given the wider economic situation. I’m not sure how many other outlets print it, so now and then it’s worth examining, if for no other reason that to enjoy Brunell’s sheer chutzpah.

Brunell’s column is headlined “Brunell: EU businesses find southern comfort,” and he gazes wistfully at at all the automotive plants being built in the south.

There is a virtual bidding war between southern states for modern vehicle manufacturing. Foreign-based companies now operate 13 assembly plants in the U.S., most of which are in the South.

The Associated Press reports Alabama offered $385 million to VW for the same plant, while Mississippi gave Toyota $294 million in 2007 to build at Blue Springs, and Kia received $400 million worth of incentives from Georgia.

A senior executive at Fiat, the Italian industrial conglomerate, told the Financial Times, “With the amount of money U.S. states are willing to throw at you, you would be stupid to turn them down at the moment. It is one of the low-cost locations to be in at the moment.”

Apparently nothing turns on a free-marketeer like government handouts.

But the most interesting bit is when Brunell sets forth on what is likely his true motivation, attacking unions in Washington state. I’ll only quote a couple of paragraphs, although I’m not clear on whether the AWB can sue people for quoting their corporate socialism agit-prop when they give it away free to traditional media outlets. (Bold added.)

The most attractive states are “right-to-work” states in which individual workers can decline union membership. Washington is a compulsory union state, so if people want to work at Boeing as a machinist, they have to join the union. When the union votes to strike, as the Boeing machinists did, they cannot cross the picket line even if their family is hurting for money.

Incentives and right-to-work laws are part of the decision matrix. A pool of trained and willing workers is important as well. Companies need people who know what they are doing when the factory powers up, and many states are spending millions to train workers for new factories and growing businesses.

Hmmm…so the government needs to educate the population, provide cash and other incentives to global corporations and also pass laws making unionization impossible? Is there a little box in Brunell’s “decision matrix” that reads “destroy the unions?” ‘Cause that seems to be what he’s getting at.

Such a vision reminds me of a certain large country in Asia that vacuumed up an Olympic-size portion of our jobs and currency. In the midst of a huge public backlash against conservative hypocrisy on economic issues, here’s good old Don Brunell admiring statism.

So if we peel away all the ridiculous rhetoric about markets over the last twenty-eight years, what Brunell and progressives might agree upon is this: government plays a key role in the economy. As Atrios observed yesterday about some of the commentary on CNBC:

People who prattle on about “the free market” are usually too stupid to have a clue how complicated and pervasive the “rules” had to be to to get a well-functioning modern market system: sophisticated concepts of contracts and enforcement, property rights, legal entities, proper accounting, bankruptcy, limited liability, etc… etc…, did not descend from the heavens but were, in fact, created.

To be fair to Brunell, he doesn’t seem very free-market oriented in his column at all, so I don’t think the “stupid” part applies. Atrios’s larger point is a great one, though, because societies create markets over time, and the best way to do that is through the expression of popular will, with respect to minority rights, through a truly democratic system. It’s not magical and mystical.

But many Republican candidates, lacking any other message, continue to “prattle” about the evils of government and taxes.

The real argument, as Brunell’s column reveals, is over who benefits from state actions. Brunell seems to like laws that make unionization impossible, meaning he would deny workers the right to collective bargaining, virtually the only means of allowing workers to negotiate on a somewhat even footing with multi-national corporations. In other words, he wants the playing field stacked in favor of business.

Unfortunately for Brunell and the anti-union management at The Columbian, they don’t get to wish away rights earned by our ancestors. For now this is an allegedly free country, and as the people come to understand the economic crimes that have been committed against them in the name of “freedom,” they will likely begin to grow more impatient with those who would tread on them.

Free market!

Goldman Sachs, which Washington Mutual has hired, started the process several days ago, these people said. Among the potential bidders that Goldman has talked to are Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase and HSBC. But no buyers may materialize. That could force the government to place Washington Mutual into conservatorship, like IndyMac, or find a bridge-bank solution, which was extended to thrifts in the new housing regulations.

All Citizens will not panic and will maintain order and respectfulness to the proper authorities. A special commemorative bottle edition of Victory Gin honoring our glorious banking regulatory framework will be distributed with new accounts. Large investors depositing over €300,000.00 qualify for a spot on the DNC platform committee.

Face the telescreen and smile. Please to return to your duties immediately.