The Chris Moeller Archives

Mr. Sulzberger, tear down that wall

The self-proclaimed "paper of record," The New York Times, fearing increasing irrelevance in the news market, has once again removed the membership firewall that allowed only paid subscribers access to the newspaper's op-ed page, columnists, and extensive archives. I enjoy reading Maureen Dowd and Frank Rich, but not for the monthly price of a three-movie-at-a-time Netflix membership. There are a lot of great writers and news analysts online. It wasn't difficult to fill the void.

---

Since last we left our spineless Democratic representatives in Washington, 22 in the Senate "swift-boated" their own supporters by voting with Republicans to denounce a controversial NY Times advertisement placed by Moveon.org. The paid ad asked the question "General Petraeus or General Betray-us?" after the architect of the Iraqi war escalation boondoggled Congress in his testimony earlier this month. It's the deepest of betrayals for cowards like Dianne Feinstein, Evan Bayh, and Patrick Leahy. Everytime they pull these stunts, they allow the media to cast the anti-war left as extremist and anti-military.

It was like putting it on a tee for President Bush on Thursday, who promptly took his whack: "I thought the ad was disgusting. I felt like the ad was an attack, not only on Gen. Petraeus but on the U.S. military. And I was disappointed that not more leaders in the Democrat Party spoke out strongly against that kind of ad. That leads me to come to this conclusion: that most Democrats are afraid of irritating a left-wing group like MoveOn.org -- are more afraid of irritating them than they are of irritating the United States military."

Senate Democrats were also almost unanimously silent about the killing spree of Iraqis by the private mercenaries of Blackwater USA who killed 20 and wounded 35 more in an attack this month. The supposedly sovereign nation of Iraq then took action to revoke Blackwater's license to operate in their country, but with not one iota of public support from America's Congress.

I can't understand why so many so-called "anti-war" Democrats in Congress refuse to stand up for their own principles when they face attacks on their own beliefs and patriotism unless they truly do believe that the policy positions they hold can justifiably be called anti-military. Bush and Cheney are draft-dodging butchers, yet they ride for free.

---

In announcing her new health care plan last week, Hillary Clinton said she was willing to do battle once again with insurance companies, who she says "spend tens of billions of dollars a year figuring out how not to cover people." Clinton's plan is doubly-brilliant. First, she stuffs her campaign coffers with their political contributions, then she brings them to their knees after taking control of the White House. This will be a neat trick.

---

The baseball media is always too busy cheerleading the commissioner this time of year to notice, but in this annual report, it's once again important to point out what the Wild Card playoff system has actually wrought. In 2007, like in 2006, not one team in either league can claim that its pennant hopes were kept alive longer by the Wild Card system, except for the two teams that actually wind up taking the "best of the worst" trophy in each circuit. In the National League, the top three teams in the Wild Card standings are all within 4 games of first place in their division anyway so they'd be in the thick of the pennant race in either case. And in the American League, the destruction is acute.

The Yankees are runaway leaders for the crown of the Junior Circuit's finest 2nd place team, so no increased drama there, but conversely, the Wild Card system has robbed fans and big media of another classic showdown between the Red Sox and Yankees, who are separated this morning by only 2 games, with 6 each left to play. I laughed last week when I saw an ESPN.com headline that likened the potential collapse of the Red Sox in '07 to the classic pennant race and Yankees overtaking of 1978. Not hardly. There was drama in the Boston/New York matchup of '78 because the loser had to go home. There can't be another so-called "Boston Massacre" if the hemorrhaging results in only the loss of a home playoff game.

posted by CM @ 5:06 PM