DEMS GETTING GORED AGAIN

Before the 2000 Presidential election, Al Gore was treated very poorly by the mainstream media (See The Daily Howler for many examples) and this year Norm Ornstein points out that the Democratic senate candidates are getting the same poor treatment:

A Nexis search shows that the Post has had four references to Ernst and Agenda 21—all by Greg Sargent on his blog from the left, The Plum Line, and none on the news pages of the paper. But there have been dozens of references to Braley’s spat over the neighbor’s chickens, including a front-page story. The New York Times had zero references to Ernst and Agenda 21, but seven, including in a Gail Collins column, to Braley and chickens. The Post did have a fact-check column by Glenn Kessler devoted to the Cotton claims on Mexican drug lords and ISIS terrorists—Cotton did not fare well—but no news stories. The Times did not mention it at all.

This time, the public isn't being informed of the many wacko positions held by many of the GOP Senate candidates.

HEGEL WAS A ENLIGHTENMENT CONSERVATIVE

G.W.F. Hegel echoed Mandeville and anticipated Herbert Spencer, the Social Darwinists and modern neo-liberalism in his views on the poor in The Philosophy of Right (p. 189, section 245):

In England, and especially in Scotland, the most direct remedy against poverty and against laziness and extravagance, which are the cause of poverty, has been proved by practical experience to be to leave the poor to their fate, and direct them to public begging. This, too, has been found to be the best means for preserving that sense of shame and honour, which is the subjective basis of society.

UPDATE: Maybe I should have claimed Hegel was part of the Counter-Enlightenment.

IT WASN'T AN INSULT, IT WAS JUST VERY FRANK

Conservatives are making a stink about an unnamed American official calling Benjamin Netnayahu "chickenshit" but they shouldn't because the context makes that statement very sensible:

The other day I was talking to a senior Obama administration official about the foreign leader who seems to frustrate the White House and the State Department the most. “The thing about Bibi is, he’s a chickenshit,” this official said, referring to the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, by his nickname.

[...]

 Over the years, Obama administration officials have described Netanyahu to me as recalcitrant, myopic, reactionary, obtuse, blustering, pompous, and “Aspergery.” (These are verbatim descriptions; I keep a running list.)  But I had not previously heard Netanyahu described as a “chickenshit.” I thought I appreciated the implication of this description, but it turns out I didn’t have a full understanding. From time to time, current and former administration officials have described Netanyahu as a national leader who acts as though he is mayor of Jerusalem, which is to say, a no-vision small-timer who worries mainly about pleasing the hardest core of his political constituency. (President Obama, in interviews with me, has alluded to Netanyahu’s lack of political courage.)

“The good thing about Netanyahu is that he’s scared to launch wars,” the official said, expanding the definition of what a chickenshit Israeli prime minister looks like. “The bad thing about him is that he won’t do anything to reach an accommodation with the Palestinians or with the Sunni Arab states. The only thing he’s interested in is protecting himself from political defeat. He’s not [Yitzhak] Rabin, he’s not [Ariel] Sharon, he’s certainly no [Menachem] Begin. He’s got no guts.”

What makes this story a little more interesting is Netanyahu's admission of one of the charges:

Netanyahu addressed the reported name-calling directly during remarks in parliament saying his main focus was the security and unity of Jerusalem.

"Our supreme interests, chiefly the security and unity of Jerusalem, are not the main concern of those anonymous officials who attack us and me personally, as the assault on me comes only because I defend the State of Israel," he said.

THE WORLD BANK AGREES WITH THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION

The Heritage Foundation has regularly rated Hong Kong's economy as the freest in the world and that points out that democracy and free markets don't really have that much in common. 

Now, the World Bank has done an analysis of the best countries for business and Hong Kong is near the top.  Here's the entire list, courtesy of the WSJ:

Country	2015	2014	Change since prior year
Singapore	1	1	0
New Zealand	2	2	0
Hong Kong SAR, China	3	3	0
Denmark	4	4	0
Korea, Rep	5	5	0
Norway	6	6	0
United States	7	7	0
United Kingdom	8	9	1
Finland	9	8	-1
Australia	10	10	0
Sweden	11	12	1
Iceland	12	11	-1
Ireland	13	17	4
Germany	14	13	-1
Georgia	15	14	-1
Canada	16	15	-1
Estonia	17	16	-1
Malaysia	18	20	2
Taiwan, China	19	18	-1
Switzerland	20	22	2
Austria	21	19	-2
United Arab Emirates	22	25	3
Latvia	23	21	-2
Lithuania	24	24	0
Portugal	25	23	-2
Thailand	26	28	2
Netherlands	27	26	-1
Mauritius	28	29	1
Japan	29	27	-2
Macedonia, FYR	30	31	1
France	31	33	2
Poland	32	30	-2
Spain	33	32	-1
Colombia	34	53	19
Peru	35	34	-1
Montenegro	36	42	6
Slovak Republic	37	35	-2
Bulgaria	38	36	-2
Mexico	39	43	4
Israel	40	38	-2
Chile	41	39	-2
Belgium	42	40	-2
South Africa	43	37	-6
Czech Republic	44	47	3
Armenia	45	49	4
Rwanda	46	48	2
Puerto Rico (U.S.)	47	41	-6
Romania	48	50	2
Saudi Arabia	49	44	-5
Qatar	50	45	-5
Slovenia	51	46	-5
Panama	52	55	3
Bahrain	53	53	0
Hungary	54	58	4
Turkey	55	51	-4
Italy	56	52	-4
Belarus	57	57	0
Jamaica	58	85	27
Luxembourg	59	59	0
Tunisia	60	56	-4
Greece	61	65	4
Russian Federation	62	64	2
Moldova	63	82	19
Cyprus	64	62	-2
Croatia	65	67	2
Oman	66	60	-6
Samoa	67	61	-6
Albania	68	108	40
Tonga	69	63	-6
Ghana	70	69	-1
Morocco	71	68	-3
Mongolia	72	70	-2
Guatemala	73	71	-2
Botswana	74	66	-8
Kosovo	75	81	6
Vanuatu	76	75	-1
Kazakhstan	77	76	-1
Vietnam	78	72	-6
Trinidad and Tobago	79	91	12
Azerbaijan	80	88	8
Fiji	81	73	-8
Uruguay	82	74	-8
Costa Rica	83	78	-5
Dominican Republic	84	84	0
Seychelles	85	87	2
Kuwait	86	79	-7
Solomon Islands	87	97	10
Namibia	88	80	-8
Antigua and Barbuda	89	83	-6
China	90	93	3
Serbia	91	77	-14
Paraguay	92	92	0
San Marino	93	89	-4
Malta	94	90	-4
Philippines	95	86	-9
Ukraine	96	112	16
Dominica	97	94	-3
Bahamas, The	97	96	-1
Sri Lanka	99	105	6
St. Lucia	100	95	-5
Brunei Darussalam	101	98	-3
Kyrgyz Republic	102	99	-3
St. Vincent and the Grenadines	103	101	-2
Honduras	104	100	-4
Lebanon	104	102	-2
Barbados	106	103	-3
Bosnia and Herzegovina	107	104	-3
Nepal	108	109	1
El Salvador	109	106	-3
Swaziland	110	111	1
Zambia	111	107	-4
Egypt, Arab Rep	112	113	1
Palau	113	110	-3
Indonesia	114	117	3
Ecuador	115	115	0
Maldives	116	114	-2
Jordan	117	116	-1
Belize	118	119	1
Nicaragua	119	126	7
Brazil	120	123	3
St. Kitts and Nevis	121	120	-1
Cabo Verde	122	118	-4
Guyana	123	121	-2
Argentina	124	124	0
Bhutan	125	122	-3
Grenada	126	125	-1
Mozambique	127	142	15
Pakistan	128	127	-1
Lesotho	128	128	0
Iran, Islamic Rep	130	132	2
Tanzania	131	130	-1
Ethiopia	132	129	-3
Papua New Guinea	133	131	-2
Kiribati	134	133	-1
Cambodia	135	134	-1
Kenya	136	137	1
Yemen, Rep	137	135	-2
Gambia, The	138	144	6
Marshall Islands	139	136	-3
Sierra Leone	140	140	0
Uzbekistan	141	149	8
India	142	140	-2
West Bank and Gaza	143	139	-4
Gabon	144	138	-6
Micronesia, Fed. Sts	145	145	0
Mali	146	143	-3
Côte d'Ivoire	147	158	11
Lao PDR	148	155	7
Togo	149	164	15
Uganda	150	152	2
Benin	151	167	16
Burundi	152	150	-2
São Tomé and Príncipe	153	160	7
Algeria	154	147	-7
Djibouti	155	154	-1
Iraq	156	146	-10
Bolivia	157	151	-6
Cameroon	158	148	-10
Comoros	159	156	-3
Sudan	160	153	-7
Senegal	161	171	10
Suriname	162	159	-3
Madagascar	163	157	-6
Malawi	164	163	-1
Equatorial Guinea	165	162	-3
Tajikistan	166	177	11
Burkina Faso	167	161	-6
Niger	168	165	-3
Guinea	169	169	0
Nigeria	170	175	5
Zimbabwe	171	172	1
Timor-Leste	172	174	2
Bangladesh	173	170	-3
Liberia	174	168	-6
Syrian Arab Republic	175	165	-10
Mauritania	176	173	-3
Myanmar	177	178	1
Congo, Rep	178	179	1
Guinea-Bissau	179	176	-3
Haiti	180	181	1
Angola	181	180	-1
Venezuela, RB	182	183	1
Afghanistan	183	182	-1
Congo, Dem. Rep	184	184	0
Chad	185	185	0
South Sudan	186	187	1
Central African Republic	187	186	-1
Libya	188	188	0
Eritrea	189	189	0

YET ANOTHER REASON NOT TO VOTE FOR A REPUBLICAN

Glenn Beck's favorite psychiatrist goes far over the top:

Values

It’s time for an “American jihad”

By Dr. Keith Ablow
Published October 28, 2014
FoxNews.com

I REALLY LIKE THIS IMAGE

The link to it was posted on this comment thread and I feel like sharing:

AT LEAST ERIC CANTOR LOST IN THE PRIMARY

(h/t Atrios)

This a-hole John Kasich is still in contention, with a little help from the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

In case the video at the link gets pulled, here's another link.

RON BARBER IS A TARGET

I haven't been listening to much of the local conservative radio stations so I imagine there are a lot of ads against Ron Barber that I've missed. Today I heard one from the National Right to Life (for blastocytes) that accused Barber of all sorts of horrible intentions towards the unborn.

MICHAEL HIRSH == NATIONAL POLITICAL HACK AT POLITICO

Hirsh has a 4 page article on POLITICO that's basically comes straight from conservative talk radio, "Team of Bumblers?".   Hirsh writes as if there really was a "Benghazi scandal":

[Susan] Rice is rarely heard in public except when she very occasionally appears on the Sunday talk shows—and then more times than not, it seems, in a bumbling way. (Most recently, by saying Turkey would supply bases for strikes against ISIL, only to be undercut by Ankara’s denial hours later; that followed a much-criticized performance describing former Taliban captive Bowe Bergdahl’s Army service as “honorable” despite the murky circumstances of his disappearance and capture; and her now-infamous explanation of the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, after which she was blasted by Republicans for appearing to play down terrorism links.)

THOMAS FRANK IS JUST ONE OF MANY EXAMPLES

I hate it when some conservative starts talking or writing about "all liberals" because they don't have a clue,  When someone like Thomas Frank does it, I'm disappointed instead because it just creates a false impression of the real, underlying issue, if there is one and in the case of Frank's new article, I don't think there is one.

ERIC HOLDER HAD THE CORRECT ADJECTIVAL PHRASE

I'm starting think that America really is a nation of cowards because of the hysteria over Ebola and the hysteria over ISIS.  The latter had led too many Americans to forget how bad conservatives are at foreign policy, see here and here.

RADIO TIDBIT

Two callers to Billy Cunningham's Sunday radio show very favorably compared Billy to the MON-FRI gasbags, Limbaugh, Hannity & Levin, one by explicitly mentioning those names. This might be another indication of the decline of "The Big Voice on the Right" (self-description of Limbaugh, the realization that Hannity is really stupid and a growing distaste for the "Angry Man" schtick of Mark Levin.