Washington Post Death Spiral Watch

The Washington Post, for no reason anybody can explain to me, gives airtime to James Carville so Carville can explain that he was right to call Bill Richardson a "Judas" because Bill Richardson was obligated not to endorse Barack Obama:

I was a little-known political consultant until Bill Clinton made me. When he came upon hard times, I felt it my duty -- whatever my personal misgivings -- to stick by him. At the very least, I would have stayed silent. And maybe that's my problem with what Bill Richardson did. Silence on his part would have spoken loudly enough...

Bill Richardson served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1983-1997, was U.N. Ambassador from 1997-1998, Secretary of Energy from 1998-2001, and has been governor of New Mexico since 2003.

Why oh why can't we have a better press corps?

Four years, Washington Post, four years.

Comments

[jeff hoffman]

So much for HRC's autonomy in all this; Carville makes her out to be an appendage of her husband (I think he refers to her once in the op-ed). Nice message.

[Stephen]

Of course, the unstated implication is that Carville thinks that all the ex-Clintonites ought to support Hillary with no regard to wether they see her as the best choice or not. He ought to be asked for a ball park figure, how many superdelegates does Hillary lose if more people were asked to choose on merit and not on loyalty?

[ed]

Yeah, what you said, but also, isn't one of the lessons from the Bush Junior Era that blind loyalty is less important than overall competence? Way less important.

[otto]

Richardson's tilt to Obama is easily explainable. As the young Pompey said to Sulla, "More men worship the rising than the setting sun."

[John Emerson]

Carville has a Mafia concept of political organization, loyalty to the Godfather. This is also the Bush Republican concept, and his wife's Godfather is in fact Dick Cheney. Why anyone should trust Mr. Matalin-Cheney is beyond me. He's obviously the weak sister in that menage.

Um, James -- Bill Richardson *ran against* Hillary for the nomination. Really. It wasn't that long ago.

[JFred]

For some Democrats, remembering the vicious Republican campaigns of recent history, Obama is beginning to look vulnerable. Not to Hillary, but to the organization that made the Willie Horton ads and that promised to eliminate "Waste, Fraud, and Abuse".

Republicans have a history of campaigning better than they govern. True, Carville is a Clinton loyalist.

[TiredOfItAll]

Again, why do people keep saying that Billary is running a "good" campaign in light of the constant low-brow manner she has been running that campaign since Super Tuesday?

[anne]

[My correction:]

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/know_your_enemy_1.php

March 28, 2008

Know Your Enemy
By Matthew Yglesias

New York Times: * "Mr. Bush also accused Iran of arming, training and financing the militias fighting against the Iraqi forces." Would it have killed the Times to point out that Iran could as easily be accused of arming, training, and financing the militias fighting alongside the Iraqi forces? After all, the government of Iran has extremely cordial relations with the government of Iraq and our main militia allies in Iraq were literally created in Iran by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. This context certainly seems relevant.

Meanwhile, is there any real precedent for the sort of repeated misstating the identity of the enemy that we've seen from the Bush administration? Recall that it took years for the administration to grudgingly acknowledge the existence of a non-AQI ** Sunni Arab insurgency even though this insurgency had long been the US military's primary adversary. But now we're supposed to believe that everyone we and our Iranian-backed allies fight are Iranian. Sure.

* http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/28/world/middleeast/28iraq.html a,b

** Al-Qaeda in Iraq

[anne]

[The correct link:]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/28/world/middleeast/28iraq.html?hp b

March 28, 2008

Assault by Iraq on Shiite Forces Stalls in Basra
By JAMES GLANZ and STEVEN LEE MYERS

BAGHDAD — American-trained Iraqi security forces failed for a third straight day to oust Shiite militias from the southern city of Basra on Thursday, even as President Bush hailed the operation as a sign of the growing strength of Iraq's federal government.

The fighting in Basra against the Mahdi Army, the armed wing of the political movement led by the radical Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr, set off clashes in cities throughout Iraq. Major demonstrations were staged in a number of Shiite areas of Baghdad, including Sadr City, the huge neighborhood that is Mr. Sadr's base of power.

Although Mr. Bush praised the Iraqi government for leading the fighting, it also appeared that the Iraqi government was pursuing its own agenda, calling the battles a fight against "criminal" elements but seeking to marginalize the Mahdi Army.

The Americans share the Iraqi government's hostility toward what they call rogue elements of the Mahdi Army but will also be faced with the consequences if the battles among Shiite factions erupt into more widespread unrest.

The violence underscored the fragile nature of the security improvements partly credited to the American troop increase that began last year. Officials have acknowledged that a cease-fire called by Mr. Sadr last August has contributed to the improvements. Should the cease-fire collapse entirely, those gains could be in serious jeopardy, making it far more difficult to begin bringing substantial numbers of American troops home.

Although Sadr officials insisted on Thursday that the cease-fire was still in effect, Mr. Sadr has authorized his forces to fight in self-defense, and the battles in Basra appear to be eroding the cease-fire.

During a lengthy speech at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, near Dayton, Ohio, Mr. Bush praised Iraq's government for ordering the assault in Basra and portrayed the battle as evidence that his strategy of increasing troop strength was bearing fruit.

"This offensive builds on the security gains of the surge and demonstrates to the Iraqi people that their government is committed to protecting them," he said.

"There's a strong commitment by the central government of Iraq to say that no one is above the law."

Mr. Bush also accused Iran of arming, training and financing the militias fighting against the Iraqi forces....

[esb]

I suspect (knowing the Clintons as I do) that if the Clintons become Presidents Richardson would be well advised to consider a change of citizenship inasmuch as there will be an "enemies list" and his name could possibly be right at the top.

Life in Billary Clinton's American would not be easy for the New Mexico Gov.

Of course he has made the bet that a Clinton Administration will not come to be,

but keeping quiet would have been far, far safer.

[polo]

You're a knee-jerk press basher messenger-killer, but for once I agree: why does Carville get any time at all?