It turns out that there was action on the line item veto this Congress, only it was during the time when I was still taking a break from it all. I missed that the President gave his support to a “Legislative Line Item Veto” in which the President is given a temporary ability to suspend appropriations, long enough to give him time to send a message to the Congress, which then triggers special House and Senate rules requiring the bodies to take up, automatically, bills to rescind those portions of the budget.
I’m guessing it should be Constitutional because it’s almost entirely implemented within the rules of the Senate or the House. The cost of this, of course, is that there is no two-thirds requirement to override the ‘veto.’ But the idea looks like a good start.
It has Congressional support, too. Last year Rep. Hensarling made the case at Red State. In the Senate this year, Sen. Gregg proposed it in S. Amdt. 101 and got 29 co-sponsors for the effort.
So, while the Constitutional Amendment seems to be going nowhere right now, the good fight is being fought.
I’m trying to find the text of a proposed Line Item Veto Constitutional amendment, and I ran into this tiny fact while reading Sen. Coleman’s website:
This amendment was introduced by Senators Jim Talent (R-Mo) and George Allen (R-Va).
Have any other Senators picked up the cause since the last Congress? They’d better, because we might need it more than ever.
Haystack brought our attention to an article which suggested that the Republicans cannot afford to have a hard-fought primary because next year is supposed to be a Democratic Year™. Implicit in this claim is that a contested primary is a hindrance to a candidate for President, and being a curious type, I think we should see if that’s actually the case.
In 1960 the Republicans nominated Richard Nixon with little trouble, as Nelson Rockefeller decided not to challenge the Vice-President, and Barry Goldwater proved his heistation correct by gathering a whopping 10 delegates. The Democrats however had two separate fights: John Kennedy defeated Hubert Humphrey in the primaries, and then had to take on Lyndon Johnson and Adlai Stevenson at the convention.
Result: The battler Kennedy defeats the benefit of the coronation, Nixon. Score: 1-0 in favor of the contested races.
In 1964 President Johnson had no difficulty winning the primaries, but had to deal with a fracture in his convention over civil rights. On the other side, the Republicans had a wide open fight eventually won by Barry Goldwater over Nelson Rockefeller, Henry Cabot Lodge, and William Scranton who all took shots at stopping the conservative.
Result: Johnson in a landslide over the primary-tested Goldwater. Score: 1-1.
In 1968 both parties formally had wide open contests, though Richard Nixon easily drove off in turn Ronald Reagan and the anti-war candidates Nelson Rockefeller and the “brainwashed” George Romney. The Democrats meanwhile suffered the assassination of Robert Kennedy, the rise of the radical left and their candidates Eugene McCarthy and George McGovern, and finally riots in Chicago before nominating Hubert Humphrey. Meanwhile a whole wing of the Democrats left to go nominate George Wallace.
Result: Nixon in a landslide over the split Democrats Wallace and Humphrey. Score 2-1 for the primary cakewalk candidates.
In 1972 half of America’s Democrats ran to challenge Richard Nixon, with 19 candidates getting votes at the DNC. Party unity was helped by the shooting of George Wallace, but once again the early frontrunner went down as Ted Kennedy’s behavior at Chappaquiddick was exposed. So the acid-roots fought the establishment, and George McGovern beat Ed Muskie. Meanwhile Nixon dusted off some pacifists and took all but one delegate at the RNC.
Result: Nixon again. Score 3-1 against contested primaries.
In 1976 President Gerald Ford faced the voters nationally for the first time, and Ronald Reagan made him fight the whole way down the line, attacking the President for failing to do more to aid South Vietnam, for being soft on the Soviet Union, and for trying to give away the Panama Canal. 1976 was another mess for the Democrats, but Jimmy Carter battled through the primaries and caucuses, just eventually siphoning off enough delegates to take control before perceived liberals like Jerry Brown could knock off the perceived conservative Georgian.
Result: Carter came out of the multiway race to squeak by Ford who only had one real challenger. Score: 3-2.
In 1980 Governor Ronald Reagan was the frontrunner and ran like one, which left an opening for former CIA Director George H. W. Bush to get his hands dirty and gain the “Big Mo” by winning the Iowa Straw Poll and Caucuses. But Ronald Reagan had little trouble after sweeping the South. Meanwhile on the Democratic side, Ted Kennedy took a shot at the President and appeared to be the frontrunner, but his candidacy fell apart after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and others took Americans hostage in Iran, and Carter won the DNC balloting with a 2-1 delegate advantage.
Result: Both candidates had about equal opposition, so I’ll score this one a tie. Score 3-2-1 in favor of the uncontested primaries.
In 1984 Ronald Reagan had no real opposition, and the Democrats had a big fight over who would get clobbered, with Walter Mondale eventualy beating Gary Hart and Jesse “Hymietown” Jackson.
Result: Reagan won again, not having made use of his opponent’s youth and inexperience. Score 4-2-1 in favor of uncontested primaries.
In 1988 the Democrats again had a frontrunner fall flat on his face, as Gary “Monkey Business” Hart rose and fell. William Jefferson Clinton backed out at the last minute, so that left the race between Joseph “Kinnock” Biden, “Iron” Michael Dukakis, Richard Gephardt, Albert Gore, and Jesse Jackson. Super Tuesday was split almost evenly between Dukakis, Gore, and Jackson, but Dukakis eventually pulled away and only Jackson didn’t drop out. Republicans had a much easier time, as the “kinder, gentler” George H. W. Bush rode President Reagan’s popularity over Robert Dole and Pat Robertson to win Super Tuesday and the nomination.
Result: Reagan won for a third time. 5-2-1 uncontested primaries.
In 1992 Patrick Buchanan tried to beat President George “Read My Lips” Bush, but that attempt fizzled after New Hampshire. And for once the Democrats didn’t have a frontrunner fall apart on them, but instead a rising star in Bill “Gennifer Flowers” Clinton come back from early losses to win the thing. Jerry Brown again tried a late push for his party’s nomination, and again failed.
Result: Ross Perot fouls everything up, and Clinton wins with 43% of the popular vote. Score: 5-3-1.
In 1996, the Republicans had their turn with a mess of a primary season, though Robert Dole got into gear to win out over Pat Buchanan and Steve Forbes after some early losses. The Democrats were content to sit back and let their adulterer stay in office, shockingly favoring President Clinton over Lyndon LaRouche.
Result: Bob Dole being Bob Dole couldn’t do enough, so President Clinton gets re-elected. Score: 6-3-1.
In 2000 the races for both parties shaped up much like the 1980 races, with George W. Bush holding off John McCain, and Vice President Albert “Love Story” Gore wiping out “Dollar” Bill Bradley. McCain was more successful than Bradley, however, running strong all the way to South Carolina, and even winning some states after that, while Gore beat Bradley in all fifty states.
Result: Bush had to beat up on McCain before squeaking by Gore. Score: 6-4-1.
In 2004 Wartime President Bush was unopposed, while the Democrats reverted to form and had frontrunner Howard “Yeeeeeeargh!” Dean fall flat on his face after New Hampshire, leaving John Kerry to win with that performance seared into his memory.
Result: Bush wins the first popular vote majority since 1988. Score: 7-4-1
So there we have it. In a first superficial check of the results, having strong primary competition is bad for a party. However I believe we all can see that in some cases there is a common root cause behind both a candidate’s lack of primary competition and his lack of difficulty in winning the Presidency. Lyndon Johnson literally had the ghost of John Kennedy behind him in some campaign materials, while Ronald Reagan was widely popular in leading our country’s charge out of stagflation and against Communism. I believe it silly to blame their wins on their opponents having contested primaries.
So in conclusion, I don’t think it matters how long it takes for a party to get together. As long as the party isn’t split on election day in November (see the Democrats in 1968), victory or defeat depends on the candidates, the issues, and the mood of the country more than what happened at the Iowa Caucuses.
My source for all these races is Wikipedia, unfortunately. Pointers to better sources are most welcome.
In: Fire Joe Morgan. They need to watch their language, but they’re the most enjoyable sports read I’ve ever found.
Up: Red State. Fortunately I never committed myself to being an active writer on The Minority Report, because Red State gives me a bigger audience. I’m not quitting TMR, but RS gets the first crack at more of my stuff. Because hey: how can I pass up posting on the same front page that Newt Gingrich gets on sometimes?
Out: National Review Online and James Taranto’s Best of the Web Today. I just don’t read them much anymore; not NRO because they’ve just taken a few bad turns, and not Taranto because his RSS feed makes it too hard.
Posterize (v): In sports, the act of making a spectacular play good enough to be immortalized on a poster, and in so doing embarassing the victim of your play with the indignity of being on your poster for all time. See Michael Jordan pushing off of Bryon Russell to make his game winning shot in the NBA Finals, or Vince Carter dunking on the Australian center in the Olympics.
For many years, professional sports leagues depended on the press for survival. Before television, the newspaper was the only way to know how your teams did, and certainly how your team stood versus the rest of the league. Before the Internet grew in popularity, it was still the only way to get in-depth information about your team’s present and future. So the leagues not only tolerated reporters but welcomed them, coddled them, and required players to do the same. Even now, leagues will fine players and coaches who show open hostility to the press.
And yet, the time of the newspapers has passed. Their circulations are dwindling, as are their staffing and utility. Many newspapers failed to cover major events in the NHL’s Stanley Cup playoffs, just as many California newspapers fail to cover events in Sacramento. So I’ve been wondering for a while how long it would be before sports leagues pushed back against the press when they show their biases.
As it turns out, I began wondering at just the ideal time.
The mainstream press operates with its own agenda with every major story, including those in the sports world. There are media-declared heroes and villians who either never get a fair shake, or never get the criticism they deserve. If your name is David Eckstein, Jason Kidd, or Paul Tagliabue, that’s great. If your name is Alex Rodriguez, Kobe Bryant, or Bud Selig, that’s a problem.
But now the biases have become so pronounced, that the entire NBA has become under attack as a league. Fights in the NHL are laughed off as jokes. Masses of arrests or positive steroids tests in the NFL are swept under the rug. But everything that ever happens in the NBA is, yes, spun in the worst possible way for that league, and Commissioner David Stern is sick of it.
In the most recent NBA ‘scandal,’ an employee of Madison Square Garden, the corporation that owns the New York Knicks, sued MSG and Knicks Coach/GM Isiah Thomas for sexual harassment. The press coverage of the trial was horrific: it was biased against Thomas from step one, and the reporters routinely failed to understand the difference between civil and criminal court; some headlines at the end of the trial (which was won the plaintiff) read “Thomas found guilty,” even though it was a civil trial and the jury awarded no damages from Thomas personally, but rather only from MSG.
Despite this though, the reporters continued to come after Thomas’s blood. They went to David Stern and asked if the league would punish him, and when Stern refused to make headlines, they even turned around and lied about Stern’s response to the question, judging by this quote from Stern recorded by Steve Aschburner of Sports Illustrated, made at a press conference in London:
Unfortunately, once again the New York Times headline writer said something that didn’t appear in the text of my remarks, and the remarks themselves were badly mangled. Fortunately, I have my own transcript; one has to do that with the New York Times. What I said then was it was still under consideration.
This wasn’t his only attack on the Times, either. When pressed on whether the league would take action on more referees accused of gambling by Tom Donaghy, who has pled guilty to offenses related to his cooperating with the Mafia to influence the scores of games, Aschburner quotes Stern as addressing the questions with this:
“I’ve got a bunch of hard-working, law-abiding referees and because one of their number has confessed to being a felon [Stern emphasized the word] by betting on his own games and by giving information to draw into question the integrity of the other officials … would be like me saying Jayson Blair [fabricating newspaper stories], ‘how can I trust you?’ I deal with officials as human beings.”
The NBA under Stern has made great efforts to reach out directly to its customers, making strong use of the Internet, which is only bound to get better over time. This frees the NBA to challenge the press, no longer its lifeblood, when the truth is mangled or even fabricated by those outlets.
There is a lesson here for the Republican Party and its elected leaders, if anyone looks.
After all these years, Carmen Sandiego is revealed.
Some have suggested that anti-Giuliani Republicans will need to come together and back one of his opponents, not withstanding the rumors about Richard Viguerie and James Dobson going third party.
That gathering may be beginning, as Gary Bauer says he hopes that “pro-family, pro-life Christians will continue to keep an open mind about Senator Thompson.” Bauer has run for President himself, and he seemed a likely choice to be the candidate of a hypothetical third party for life, but if he’s inching toward backing Thompson, then that makes life that much harder on any splitters.
It’s a long race, but I don’t like this downswing:
I hope Thompson’s people can fight back and get a bounce other than his race entry swing.
Chris Matthews: It’s the lightning round, gentlemen. You have thirty seconds each to answer this question: What did you have for breakfast this morning?
Fred Thompson: Nothing. … Well, um, I nearly had a danish, but I like to keep all my options on the table. So I had the cereal out, and um, the pancakes and waffles and those sorts of things.
Chris Matthews: Maybe you should have stuck with the danish.
Fred Thompson: Hush, Christopher.
Ron Paul: I wanted to have breakfast, but I’m living beneath my means now, because I was living beyond my means, so I couldn’t buy anything for breakfast at all thanks to our inflated paper money. The Chinese take our paper money, but the Denny’s wouldn’t. We need sound money.
Chris Matthews: Governor Romney, what is the square root of 25?
Mitt Romney: 5. But anyway, when I was governor of Massachusetts, and it was time for breakfast, I would get my lawyers together, and we would… discuss the legal ramifications, and come to a decision in due course.
Mike Huckabee: I had corn flakes, because I believe it is a vital matter of our national security that we continue to support domestic breakfast independence, and maintain the agricultural efforts necesary to maintain that.
Rudy Giuliani: This is a great country. I love America. And the best hope the world has, is that Americans should have the breakfast of each of our own choosing. I had a New York favorite, a bagel, which I’m sure Hillary Clinton only started eating when she faked her way into the Senate. That’s what she brings to the table, but we’re too great a country for that. God bless America.
John McCain: Come again?
Chris Matthews: Breakfast, Senator. What did you have for breakfast?
John McCain: Oh, right. I went to the IHOP, and the woman asked me what I wanted. So I gave her the straight talk, and asked for the Grand Slam breakfast. I wholeheartedly support having my own breakfast in the morning.
Tom Tancredo: I was going to have orange juice for breakfast this morning, but because we haven’t done anything about the problem of illegal immigrants, they’re the ones who pick all the oranges. Of everyone on this stage, I’m the only one who will do anything about that.
Sam Brownback: You make sure you’re only talking about those oranges, Tom. As for breakfast, I ate with Senator Biden, and we had our breakfast partitioned onto three plates. One for the sausage, one for the toast, and the other for the pancakes. That’s what’s going to happen anyway, so that’s what we did.
Duncan Hunter: I had nothing, because the last time I went to a Chinese place, they cheated me. And when I went to that Dubai-owned restaurant, well, I just don’t trust them. So I looked around all day at the supermarket, looking for American-grown products, and couldn’t find any!