Quote of the day,

Jennifer Granholm, former governor of Michigan...

"If you want to have a strong country, you have to make things."

Yep.

Chart of the day.

Juan Cole got it here...


Feel any safer?

I support President Obama…

…because of some things and in spite of some others. Among the latter is the continued exploitation of American insecurity for a distressing assault on civil liberties and basic standards of Constitutional justice. While there are no death panels in the health care act, there apparently are death panels within the folds of the National Security Council.

We're a long way down a path that's been traveled before. Jason Kuznicki finds uncomfortable analogies to the present in the history of tyranny, but offers a glimmer of hope...

We already have our Bastille and our Inquisition. This is our Star Chamber. So they’re all quite small, you say? Almost inconsequential? Great. All the easier to get rid of them. Perhaps in our case it won’t take a revolution.

Perhaps.

It won't be easy though. The fact, I'm afraid, is that most people will trade most of their liberty, and all of yours, for a mere pittance of (mostly false) security, which means that a genuine commitment to liberty and justice for all is an almost certain electoral loser at this moment in American history. Neither party gives a damn about liberty. Hell, the Libertarians don't really give a damn about liberty.

They won't, either, until we recognize that the price of fear is too high.

Not what digby said, exactly…

…but what David Atkins said over at digby's place...

Republicans are absolutely, 100% terrible on national security. Terrorist attacks happen on Republican watch. Wars are lost on Republican watch. The wrong countries get invaded for no reason on Republican watch. International terrorists run free on Republican watch.

Exactly.

And no small part of the reason that...

Good question…

…from Glenn Greenwald.

Does anyone doubt that once a society ceases to be able to afford schools, public transit, paved roads, libraries and street lights -- or once it chooses not to be able to afford those things in pursuit of imperial priorities and the maintenance of a vast Surveillance and National Security State -- that a very serious problem has arisen, that things have gone seriously awry, that imperial collapse, by definition, is an imminent inevitability?

Of course, I've never been all that fond of the empire thing, anyway. Don't think I'd miss it, but some of the potential replacements are pretty scary. Some, on the other hand, seem somewhat idyllic.

As always, vigilance and hard work seem to be in order.

Hat tip to Gordon.

It's time for...

Next week we'll wrap up 52 weeks of advice from the legendary Democrat, Adlai Stevenson. Who's next? I've got some ideas, but once again, I'd like to hear who you'd like to hear from. It has to be someone who is or was identifiably a Democrat who wrote or spoke memorably enough for a pretty high volume of preserved quotations. Wit counts, as does thematic timelessness. Who ya' got in mind?

Worth repeating...

...far and wide, over and over. Jed Lewison sets the bottom line...

...Richard Shelby -- a top Senate Republican -- is preparing to shut down the United States Senate to award a key military contract to a foreign company.

"Buy American" can be hard advice to follow when you're shopping for inexpensive clothing or consumer electronics. It should easy and obvious, though, when our national security is at stake.

From the "Me too" file.

Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge...

“Yeah, I disagree with Dick Cheney.”

Yeah, me too.

Quote of the day.

Joe Lieberman, via Think Progress...

No, we’re not less safe.

Somehow, though, knowing that Joe feels OK doesn't make me feel any better.

From the "Yes, but…" file.

NYT headline...

Banned Techniques Yielded 'High Value Information,' Memo Says

Yes, but...

"The information gained from these techniques was valuable in some instances, but there is no way of knowing whether the same information could have been obtained through other means," Admiral Blair said in a written statement issued last night. "The bottom line is these techniques have hurt our image around the world, the damage they have done to our interests far outweighed whatever benefit they gave us and they are not essential to our national security."

More of this, please.

CQ Politics...

Some of the first steps Obama has taken as president, along with several of his early appointments, suggest that he actually is rejecting some of Bush’s most expansive executive power claims, experts say, particularly on national security and secrecy.

Have I mentioned lately…

…how much I hate what they've done to my Army? Via VetVoice...

Army substance abuse counselors are swamped. Domestic violence among military families is a concern. Suicides are up. Entrance standards have been lowered considerably. And, as of a year ago, 58 percent of the West Point class of 2002 had already left the Army…

It's broken.

Damn.

Sarah speaks.

Like any good thrill ride, part of the fun is that it's downright scary. An annotated overview of some early AP reporting...

In other words, no…

McCain has defended her qualifications, citing her command of the Alaska National Guard and Alaska's proximity to Russia. Asked whether those were sufficient credentials, Palin said: "It is about reform of government and it's about putting government back on the side of the people, and that has much to do with foreign policy and national security issues."

Or they may not...

She also said she had never met a head of state and added: "If you go back in history and if you ask that question of many vice presidents, they may have the same answer that I just gave you."

Indisputably…

"There have been mistakes made."

Clarity. Sort of...

Asked to clarify that she'd support going to war over Georgia, she said: "Perhaps so."

Eyes wired open…

…you have to be wired in a way of being so committed to the mission, the mission that we're on, reform of this country and victory in the war, you can't blink. So I didn't blink then even when asked to run as his running mate."

As you can see, the requisite scariness is in abundant supply.

He is so fired...

...when she gets home.

[Maj. Gen. Craig Campbell, adjutant general of the Alaska National Guard] said he and Palin play no role in national defense activities, even when they involve the Alaska National Guard. The entire operation is under federal control, and the governor is not briefed on situations.

The truth about McCain?

Wes Clark nails it...

“The truth is that, in national security terms, he’s largely untested and untried.”

Thank you, General.

One of the frustrations of this campaign has been the willingness of too many on our side to concede that John McCain has, primarily because of his personal history, some special understanding of national security and military issues. In fact, his military career was remarkable primarily for a lack of success or distinction.

A legacy admit to the Naval Academy, he finished near the last of his class. His time as a Naval aviator ended in catastrophic failure. Most of his remaining career was spent as a Navy lobbyist with their Senate Liaison Office (explaining, perhaps, his apparent affinity for the Gucci Gulch crowd to this day), trading his on his post-imprisonment celebrity in political circles for friendly budget consideration from some who would soon enough be his colleagues.

Nothing about that career suggests special insight into broader issues of military readiness or geo-political conflict. He has never held a combat command, or planned a battle, or coordinated forces. There is nothing in his dated military experience that is any more relevant to serving as the commander in chief of a super power in the 21st century than there is in, say, mine, or millions of other ex-soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines who have served honorably, sometimes courageously.

McCain? Untested and untried. That's the truth.

On sleep deprivation.

Chris Bowers...

I mean, if you are arguing that you are better at answering the red phone at 3 a.m., it seems like a really good idea to claim that you misspoke about national security experience because you were too tired. It really instills a lot of confidence in the 3 a.m. claim.

Heh™.

McCain, neither.

Obama adviser Greg Craig...

"As far as the record shows, Senator Clinton never answered the phone either to make a decision on any pressing national security issue -- not at 3 AM or at any other time of day."

Hat tip to AMERICAblog.

BZZZZT!

Sorry, but thanks for playing. Senator Obama, right here on my TV…

My number one job, if I am elected president, will be to keep the American people safe.

Actually, I don't want to personalize it too much. Just because I haven't heard Clinton enunciate this particular bit of eerily Bushian presidential philosophy doesn't mean she hasn't said it, or wouldn't agree. In fact, a lot of America was probably nodding along with Barack.

But it's not true. It should not be true. It must not be true.

The number one job of the President of the United States is to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States - that is, to keep the American people free.

Safety is elusive, perhaps impossible, but the attempt to insure it is invariably at the expense of liberty, and the price of liberty is too dear to spend freely.