Talking Points Memo

Josh Marshall has discovered a distaste for Sarah Palin's alleged "unapologetic appeal to resentment and victimology."   This must be a recent development.  He seemed to think John Edwards' "Two Americas" victimology was a great political tactic ("Yes, he explains it all exactly right, in a way that would cut right into the president’s deepest political vulnerabilities").   What's more, Marshall has decided recently that any references to Obama's less savory associations are "smears", which also appears to be a well-timed epiphany. 

A more cynical fellow would just assume that Marshall finds a way to rationalize whatever he already wanted to believe.  Hey, cognitive bias happens to all of us.  But the smart analysts - those who maintain some level of credibility - generally manage to avoid such overt displays of it.

Josh Marshall's Talking Points Memo and the TPM sites are valuable, often producing high-quality reporting and analysis.   But there's a line between good ideological/partsan reporting...and, say, WorldNetDaily, BuzzFlash or BartCop. 

Talking Points Memo is one of the most important sources of news and framing in American politics today. I simply don't feel like I know what is going on in American politics if I don't read it. You also learn how the left is thinking.

Over the last several years, TPM has been engaged in a highly successful attack on the Bush Administration attempts to enforce election laws that limit the universe of voters to registered voters. I am perfectly willing to believe that the Bush administration exceeded its authority in places, but you get the sense that TPM's goal was only secondarily to expose lawbreaking on the part of the Bush adminsitration.

They are engaged in a very smart attempt to delegitimize our election laws that protect the integrity of the ballot. You can see this in an absolutely astonishing post below. It seems that they have no interest in the law even being followed. Nearly every sentence contains a framing that acts to legitmize the crimes of voter and registration fraud. The piece is itself titled "Nevada GOP cracking down on urban voters". Normally TPM has credible journalism. Sometimes they go off the intellectual rails so far to push their agenda that it is hard to figure out what they are any more.

Read on for details.

Yesterday, Talking Points Memo posted this exclusive regarding MoveOn.org:

MoveOn, the advocacy group supporting Barack Obama, has decided to permanently shutter its 527 operation, partly in response to the Illinois Senator's insistence that such groups should not spend on his behalf during the general election, I've learned from the group's spokesperson.

MoveOn's decision, which will dramatically impact the way it raises money on Obama's behalf, is yet another sign of how rapidly Obama is taking control of the apparatus that's gearing up on his behalf.

By shuttering its 527, MoveOn is effectively killing its ability to raise money in huge chunks from labor unions, foundations, and big donors who would give over $5,000. The decision doesn't mean MoveOn will stop spending on Obama's behalf. Instead it will raise money exclusively with its political action committee, whose average donation is below $50 and will even be raising money with things like bake sales starting this weekend.

To put this in perspective, MoveOn's 527 raised $20 million for the general election in 2004 -- and at least half of that came from donations over $5,000.

"This is an affirmation that we, like Senator Obama, believe that this election can be won by ordinary Americans giving small donations," MoveOn spokesperson Ilyse Hogue told me.

MoveOn's 527 has been dormant since 2005, but the group had held open the option of starting it up it for the 2008 election -- until Obama's success with small donors showed that huge sums could be raised without it.

The move could also make it tougher politically for John McCain and the GOP to benefit from 527s, which can raise money in unlimited sums, on his side. While he has generally disapproved of such activity, he recently said that he couldn't control negative ads by such groups.

"The hope is that Republicans will match this, so that the voices of ordinary Americans can drive this election," Hogue said.

Late Update: It should be noted that the group has not traditionally been driven by large donations during non-presidential race times. It has raised $122 million since it opened in 1998 -- and only 10% came in donations of over $5000. But during the 2004 race, of course, it was another story.

In a post published on Real Clear Politics today titled How to Hit Obama, Robert Novak wrote

Leaders of Sen. John McCain's campaign are looking toward "527s" as their principal means of attacking Sen. Barack Obama because they have been given a green light by McCain.

Are things about to get interesting?  Now if only we could add that voters for John McCain could look forward to drilling for oil in ANWR because they have been given a green light by McCain...

From the states. -Patrick

Colorado is the site of one of the nation's most hotly contested U.S. Senate races. Republican Bob Schaffer, a strong conservative, faces a Democratic Congressman familiarly known to Coloradans as "Boulder liberal Mark Udall."

Two months ago a Denver Post reporter - apparently seeking some sort of investigative journalism award - penned a series of three front-page stories about Schaffer. The stories, based on sketchy sources, sought to implicate a trip Schaffer made as Congressman to the Marianas Islands with Jack Abramoff, forced labor, and sex slavery.