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triozyg commented on the blog post The People Rule: Activists Hold the Capitol Building in Madison
yeah, just yeah!!!
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triozyg commented on the blog post Egyptian Military Will Not Fire on Civilians
Hosnoi is thinking — hmmm… Saddam or Pinochet — how do I want to go out? hmm… after a little temper tantrum I think we know which one he will choose (hopefully).
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triozyg commented on the blog post What’s Happening in Tunisia?
From the PEN post by fatster:
“We are deeply concerned by reports that at least twelve journalists and bloggers have been arrested for covering the protests and were particularly alarmed to learn of the disappearances of Nizar Ben Hassan, a blogger and journalist for Radio Kalima, and Hamma Hammami, the editor of the banned newspaper Albadil. Hassan and Hammami were abducted by the Special Unit of the Presidential Security and their whereabouts remain unknown.”
Will the US condemn this sort of behavior? I do and I hope my government will.
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triozyg commented on the blog post What’s Happening in Tunisia?
Thanks for posting this David.
It helps to keep US politics in perspective
Every little tweet from puffed up US pundits just aren’t that important compared to the living situation of 10 million people in Tunisia.
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triozyg commented on the diary post Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in March Interview With MSNBC re Palin’s Targeting by Jim White.
Thanks so much for positing this.
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triozyg commented on the blog post McConnell’s Cold Logic vs. Obama’s Bipartisan Pipe Dream
a simple one-shot two-by-two game about a bill:
——————————————————Obama
—————————————sign the bill——-veto the bill
—————obstruct Obama,
—————filibuster
—————every bill————-Rep bill————no bill passes
—————except ones——–becomes law
—————Reps prefer
McConnell
—————compromise,——–Obama bill——–no bill passes
—————pass a bill———–becomes law
—————Obama prefersJon is arguing that for McConnell obstruct Obama is always a better strategy than compromise. And in a one-shot game, that is true as long as McConnell prefers a Rep bill to no bill (and why wouldn’t he?).
Knowing this, then Obama makes his decision based on whether or not he prefers a Rep bill to no bill. In the case of repeal of healthcare, Obama has said he prefers no bill over a bill repealing healthcare. On free-trade and other issues, this may not be the case.
The real question, though, is how do you get McConnell to change his strategy.
Clinton was able to do in the budget show down in 1995-6 because he kept playing the “veto” strategy over and over again. By shutting down the government and winning the spin war so that people blamed Gingrich, rather than Clinton for the lack of gov’t services he made the cost of Gingrich choosing the obstruct strategy so high that Gingrich eventually played the compromise strategy. In other words Clinton was able to make the cost to McConnell of “no bill” higher than the cost of “Rep bill”.
This is not 11-dimensional chess.
It require that the president commit to his strategy and not waver. Rather than bobbing and weaving the president has to be seen as 1-dimensional. The President must say, credibly, “if you give me a bad bill I will veto it and the people will suffer because Congress is failing the people.” Repeat again and again.
This exact game is going to come up on the budget and any number of “must pass” pieces of legislation. Obama can win these by playing the 1-dimensional strategy — my way or the highway and winning the spin war — or he can cave. Every time Obama caves McConnell will be more and more certain that he will never face the 1-dimensional threat which could beat him.
