Posts by Ali Frick

Ali Frick is a Research Associate for The Progress Report and ThinkProgress.org at the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

Republican Lawmaker Slams McCain: "I Don't Know That McCain Is That Influential" in the GOP
Posted by Ali Frick, Think Progress on June 25, 2009 at 5:07 AM.

Ever since Iran’s disputed presidential elections this month, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has been a ubiquitous presence on TV, slamming President Obama’s response to the crisis and trying to pump up his own profile. This morning on C-Span’s Washington Journal, a caller asked Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) why anyone should listen to McCain. Akin suggested that the GOP has already tuned him out:

CALLER: Why is [McCain] considered a leader? … Why is his point of view so important, and why should Obama listen to him? [...]

AKIN: I don’t know that McCain is that influential within the Republican Party per se.

Watch it:

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Michael Steele Says Health Care's Easy ... and Adds Some Silly Fearmongering
Posted by Ali Frick, Think Progress on June 19, 2009 at 2:07 PM.

While hosting Bill Bennett’s radio show this morning, RNC Chairman Michael Steele fearmongered about a government-run “health police” that would force Americans to get their annual physicals. The way to solve the health care crisis, Steele said in another portion of the show, is “not that complicated”: All we have to do is “figure out who” doesn’t have access to health care, “and give them access!”

STEELE: So if it’s a cost problem, it’s easy: Get the people in a room who have the most and the most direct impact on cost, and do the deal. Do the deal. It’s not that complicated.

If it’s an access question, people don’t have access to health care, then figure out who they are, and give them access! Hello?! Am I missing something here? If my friend Trevor has access to health care, and I don’t, why do I need to overhaul the entire system so I can get access he already has? why don’t you just focus on me and get me access?

Listen to it:

Who knew that, despite the years of delay and debate, all the president has to do is “do the deal” and “give [everyone] access!” Steele’s right — it’s not complicated! Steele should be supporting a public plan, which is the best path to ensuring increase access to health care for all.

Media Pretend That Latest Polls Show Obama's Policies Are Unpopular
Posted by Ali Frick, Think Progress on June 18, 2009 at 12:33 PM.

Today, two new national polls were released, one by the New York Times and CBS, the other by the Wall Street Journal and NBC. News headlines quickly settled on a theme: The polls showed that President Obama’s policies were suddenly unpopular:

“Sticker Shock — Obama still popular; his policies, not so much” [ABC's The Note]

“Polls find rising concern with Obama on key issues” [Reuters]

“Polls Show Declining Support For Obama Decisions” [U.S. News & World Report's Political Bulletin]

“Obama’s popularity: Problems testing it” [Chicago Tribune's The Swamp]

“Is ‘Smooth Sailing’ Over for Obama?” [Washington Post]

The headlines have little to no relation to the actual data in the polls, both of which found broad approval for Obama’s foreign policy and economic agendas. From the New York Times/CBS poll:

5. Do you approve or disapprove of the way Barack Obama is handling the economy? 57% approve, 35% disapprove

8. Do you approve or disapprove of the way Barack Obama is handling the threat of terrorism? 57% approve, 27% disapprove

16. So far, do you think Barack Obama’s policies have made the economy better, made the economy worse or haven’t his policies had any effect on the economy yet? 32% say better, 15% say worse

And from the Wall Street Journal/NBC poll:

4b. Do you generally approve or disapprove of the job that Barack Obama is doing in handling the economy? 51% approve, 38% disapprove

4c. Do you generally approve or disapprove of the job that Barack Obama is doing in handling foreign policy? 54% approve , 36% disapprove

9. Which ONE of the following statements best describes your feelings toward Barack Obama?

Like personally and approve most policies…………… 48%

Like personally but disapprove of many policies ……27%

12. And how confident are you that Barack Obama has the right set of goals and policies to improve the economy––extremely confident, quite confident, only somewhat confident, or not at all confident?

Extremely confident………………………. 20%

Quite confident …………………………. 26%

Only somewhat confident ………………….. 24%

Not at all confident …………………….. 29%

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Iran Soccer Stars Show Their Support for Protests on Televised Game
Posted by Ali Frick, Think Progress on June 17, 2009 at 10:23 AM.

The stars of Iran’s soccer team wore green wristbands in support of the anti-government protesters, during a game broadcast live on Iranian state TV yesterday. “State television, which has been broadcasting Mr Ahmadi-Nejad’s competing rallies, has steered clear of images of Mr Moussavi’s protests,” the Financial Times notes. “But given the popularity of football in Iran, keeping the match off the air would not have been an option.” Twitter user mehdi115 posted this photo:

After half-time, only one player kept his green wristband on. Iranian bloggers speculated that “Ali Abadi, chairman of the Iranian Football Federation (FFI), who is close to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, had telephoned Seoul during half time and instructed the players to remove the green wristbands immediately.”

Updated: Obama on Iran: Given U.S.-Iranian Relations, We Shouldn't Be Seen as Meddling
Posted by Ali Frick, Think Progress on June 16, 2009 at 2:32 PM.

UPDATE: Here are some more recent remarks by Obama on the Iran election and protests, from an interview with CNBC's John Harwood. (via Huffington Post):

Well, I think first of all, it's important to understand that although there is amazing ferment taking place in Iran, that the difference between Ahmadinejad and Mousavi in terms of their actual policies may not be as great as has been advertised. Either way, we were going to be dealing with an Iranian regime that has historically been hostile to the United States, that has caused some problems in the neighborhood and is pursuing nuclear weapons. And so we've got long-term interests in having them not weaponize nuclear power and stop funding organizations like Hezbollah and Hamas. And that would be true whoever came out on top in this election.

The second thing that I think's important to recognize is that the easiest way for reactionary forces inside Iran to crush reformers is to say it's the US that is encouraging those reformers. So what I've said is, `Look, it's up to the Iranian people to make a decision. We are not meddling.' And, you know, ultimately the question that the leadership in Iran has to answer is their own credibility in the eyes of the Iranian people. And when you've got 100,000 people who are out on the streets peacefully protesting, and they're having to be scattered through violence and gunshots, what that tells me is the Iranian people are not convinced of the legitimacy of the election. And my hope is that the regime responds not with violence, but with a recognition that the universal principles of peaceful expression and democracy are ones that should be affirmed. Am I optimistic that that will happen? You know, I take a wait-and-see approach. Either way, it's important for the United States to engage in the tough diplomacy around those permanent security concerns that we have--nuclear weapons, funding of terrorism. That's not going to go away, and I think it's important for us to make sure that we've reached out.

***

Since yesterday’s mass demonstrations in Iran over the disputed presidential elections, conservatives like Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) have urged President Obama to “act” and make forceful statements against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s purported reelection. During a press conference today, Obama reemphasized his “deep concerns” about the election — but pointed out that, “given the history of U.S.-Iranian relations,” he wanted to make sure he did not appear to be “meddling” in Iranian affairs:

OBAMA: It’s not productive, given the history of U.S.-Iranian relations, to be seen as meddling, the U.S. president meddling in Iranian elections. … I do believe that something has happened in Iran where there is, there is a questioning of the kinds of antagonistic postures towards the international community that have taken place in the past, and that there are people that want to see greater openness and greater debate and want to see greater democracy.

Watch it:

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Bill O'Reilly Defends Gay Penguins: 'God Made the Penguin That Way'
Posted by Ali Frick, Think Progress on June 11, 2009 at 3:15 PM.

Last night, Bill O’Reilly discussed the “gay penguins” at a zoo in Germany with guest Dennis Miller. O’Reilly shocked Miller by being eminently tolerant of the penguins, saying the zoo should “leave the penguin alone” because “God made the penguin that way”:

O’REILLY: Number one, if the penguin’s gay, leave the penguin alone. God made the penguin that way and I agree — I mean, I’m not one of these guys who thinks you should be converting anybody to anything. If you’re that way, and you’re not hurting anybody, I think you and I agree, we’re libertarians. So who cares? … If they’re happy, they’re happy. That’s my philosophy.

Watch it:

If only O’Reilly were as tolerant of gay humans; alas, his record shows quite a different picture:

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Republican Governor Says the GOP Should Be 'Just Like Eminem'
Posted by Ali Frick, Think Progress on June 8, 2009 at 9:58 AM.

On Friday night, Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN) gave the keynote address at the College Republicans National Convention. Perhaps seeking cache with his young audience, he referred to a stunt at the recent MTV Movie Awards, and suggested that the Republican Party should be “just like” the rapper Eminem:

Opening his remarks with a reference to NBC’s “Inside the Obama White House” special, Pawlenty told the gathering of about 200 students, “I haven’t seen something that staged since that half-naked Austrian fell onto the face of Eminem at the MTV music awards.”

“Eminem was mad,” he continued, to laughter and applause. “And so, just like Eminem getting dumped on, we’ve got to kind of regroup. We’ve got to continue to fight. And we’ve got some things worth fighting for.”

Considering Eminem has been criticized for sexism and homophobia, perhaps he is already serving as a model for the modern conservative movement.

Where Does the New Army Secretary Stand on Don't Ask, Don't Tell?
Posted by Ali Frick, Think Progress on June 2, 2009 at 11:30 AM.

Today, President Obama named Rep. John McHugh (R-NY) his Secretary of the Army. McHugh is the ranking member on the House Armed Services Committee, and represents a district that includes the Ft. Drum Army Base. He “brings patriotism and a pragmatism that has won him respect on both sides of the aisle,” Obama said of McHugh.

Notably, neither Obama nor McHugh mentioned the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy, an issue McHugh will surely have to address. His congressional record provides few clues as to his position. McHugh has not signed on to co-sponsor to a House bill that would repeal the ban on gays serving in the military, and last year earned only a 15 percent rating from the Human Rights Campaign.

However, in opening and closing remarks during a hearing last year on the DADT, McHugh seemed open to changing the ban on gay servicemembers, asking for further hearings on the issue and chastising the military for having “refused to step forward” and testify on the matter:

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Ignorance: Michael Steele Says Obama Won the Presidency Because of His Race
Posted by Ali Frick, Think Progress on May 22, 2009 at 10:40 AM.

Apparently unable to learn from egregious mistakes from the recent past, RNC Chairman Michael Steele once again took to the radio airwaves today as a guest host for Bill Bennett. Earlier this week, Steele declared “an end to the era of Republicans looking backward.” This morning, however, Steele revisited the 2008 election to insist that President Obama had never been “vetted” because the press “fell in love with the black man”:

STEELE: The problem that we have with this president is that we don’t know [Obama]. He was not vetted, folks. … He was not vetted, because the press fell in love with the black man running for the office. “Oh gee, wouldn’t it be neat to do that? Gee, wouldn’t it make all of our liberal guilt just go away? We can continue to ride around in our limousines and feel so lucky to live in an America with a black president.” Okay that’s wonderful, great scenario, nice backdrop. But what does he stand for? What does he believe? … So we don’t know. We just don’t know.

Steele lamented the “missed opportunity” in “dissecting” Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s influence on Obama, and “the lessons [Obama] learned at his [Wright's] knee.” Listen to it:

That Steele would suggest Obama won the presidency because of his race is striking considering that Steele himself has had to face — and bat down — similar allegations. In 2006, when Steele ran for lieutenant governor in Maryland, a Baltimore Sun editorial said that he brought “little to the team but the color of his skin.” Steele slammed the implication as “pure ignorance”:

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Rumsfeld's Pentagon Published Bible Verses on Top-Secret Intel Reports
Posted by Ali Frick, Think Progress on May 18, 2009 at 10:23 AM.

In a lengthy article on Donald Rumsfeld’s rocky tenure as Defense Secretary, GQ published never-before-seen cover sheets from top-secret intelligence briefings produced by Rumsfeld’s Pentagon. Starting in the days surrounding the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the cover sheets featured inspirational Bible verses printed over military images, “and were delivered by Rumsfeld himself to the White House” to the president, “who referred to America’s war on terror as a ‘crusade,’” GQ writes. Below are some examples of the Bible quotes (view the images here):

“Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” [The quote appears over an image of a tank at sunrise]

“Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.” [The quote appears over an image of a soldier in Baghdad]

“It is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.” [The quote appears over an image of Saddam Hussein]

“Open the gates that the righteous nation may enter, The nation that keeps faith.” [The quote appears over an image of tanks entering an Iraqi city]

GQ’s Robert Draper writes that when colleagues complained to the Pentagon official who came up with the cover sheets, he replied, “‘my seniors’ — JCS chairman Richard Myers, Rumsfeld, and the commander in chief himself – appreciated the cover pages.”

Obama Administration Flip-Flops, Won't Release Detainee Abuse Photos
Posted by Ali Frick, Think Progress on May 13, 2009 at 12:38 PM.

Last month, the Pentagon agreed to comply with a court order and release dozens of photos showing abuse of detainees by American captors. Now the White House has reversed course, and will object to the court order:

The president “believes their release would endanger our troops,” a White House official says, adding that the president “believes that the national security implications of such a release have not been fully presented to the court.”

Yesterday, conservatives were outraged about the potential release, claiming that the photos would incite future terrorists. Of course, at the very same time, they ardently defended the actual tactics depicted in the photos.

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Conservatives Outraged Over Release of Torture Photos, but Not Over Actual Torture
Posted by Ali Frick, Think Progress on May 13, 2009 at 7:23 AM.

On April 23, the Obama administration announced it would release hundreds of photos of detainee interrogation, obeying a court order from a lawsuit filed by the ACLU. Predictably, conservatives furious with the Obama administration’s attempt at greater transparency denounced the move. Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) wrote to President Obama asking him not to release the photos because they could inflame potential terrorists:

The release of these old photographs of past behavior that has now clearly been prohibited will serve no public good, but will empower al-Qaeda propaganda operations, hurt our country’s image, and endanger our men and women in uniform. We know that many terrorists captured in Iraq have told American interrogators that one of the reasons they decided to join the violent jihadist war against America was what they saw on Al-Qaeda videos of abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib,” wrote Graham and Lieberman.

Today, Liz Cheney, daughter of the former Vice President, decried the move as “appalling,” saying in a Fox News interview that the decision was proof Obama was aiming to “side with the terrorists”:

CHENEY: Clearly what they are doing is releasing images that show American military men and women in a very negative light. And I have heard from families of service members, from families of 9/11 victims, this question about, you know, when did it become so fashionable for us to side, really,with the terrorists?

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Why Bush's Torture Program Failed
Posted by Ali Frick, Think Progress on May 11, 2009 at 8:46 AM.

Yesterday, the Washington Post published an article on the Senate Intelligence Committee’s investigation of Bush-era interrogation techniques. Greg Sargent flagged two paragraphs of the story revealing that the White House intends to release a 2004 CIA report that casts serious doubt on the effectiveness of Bush’s torture program:

Government officials familiar with the CIA’s early interrogations say the most powerful evidence of apparent excesses is contained in the “top secret” May 7, 2004, inspector general report, based on more than 100 interviews, a review of the videotapes and 38,000 pages of documents. The full report remains closely held, although White House officials have told political allies that they intend to declassify it for public release when the debate quiets over last month’s release of the Justice Department’s interrogation memos. [...]

Although some useful information was produced, the report concluded that “it is difficult to determine conclusively whether interrogations have provided information critical to interdicting specific imminent attacks,” according to the Justice Department’s declassified summary of it.

Just yesterday, former Vice president Dick Cheney said of Bush’s “enhanced interrogation” methods, “I think it was absolutely the right thing to do. I am convinced, absolutely convinced, that we saved thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of lives.”

The truth of the matter — as this 2004 CIA report purportedly shows — is that “enhanced interrogation” doesn’t work. In fact, it endangers American lives and helps terrorists recruit new foot soldiers.

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Hannity's Two-Week Silence: Is He Ready to Admit Waterboarding Is Torture?
Posted by Ali Frick, Think Progress on May 7, 2009 at 2:23 PM.

On April 22, Fox News’ Sean Hannity volunteered to be waterboarded after ardently defending the practice and excoriating President Obama for ending the technique. “Clearly this president has not done his homework, and it is putting each and every American at risk,” Hannity said about ending torture. Declaring he is “for enhanced interrogation,” Hannity said he would happily consent to being waterboarded as a fundraiser “for the troops’ families.”

However, two weeks later, Hannity has yet to mention the promise again — despite the offer from MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann to help Hannity raise funds by donating $1,000 for every second Hannity is waterboarded.

As Olbermann has explained, the point would not be to watch Hannity suffer. Rather, it would be to prove to him — and perhaps his viewers — that waterboarding is in fact “cruel, inhuman” torture, which an adviser on terrorism to the departments of Homeland Security, Special Operations, and Intelligence called “slow-motion suffocation.”

Indeed, the 2005 torture memo written by Steven Bradbury required the CIA to have a tracheotomy kit on hand to revive a detainee who had effectively drowned:

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Broken Promise? White House Backs Off Obama's Pledge to Repeal Defense Of Marriage Act
Posted by Ali Frick, Think Progress on May 5, 2009 at 9:25 AM.

After ThinkProgress and other outlets noted last week’s changes to the Civil Rights page on whitehouse.gov, watering down language on the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” Tips-Q noted that the website also has completely eliminated the portion objecting to the Defense of Marriage Act. As late as April 28, the website highlighted President Obama’s commitment to “repealing” DOMA, as a cached image shows:

Today, the website states only that Obama supports full “federal rights for LGBT couples”:

He supports full civil unions and federal rights for LGBT couples and opposes a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.

According to ProPublica’s Change Tracker, the changes to the DOMA language were made on April 30. During his campaign, Obama repeatedly pledged to seek to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act, telling The Advocate, “I for a very long time have been interested in repeal of DOMA.” During the primary campaign, he touted his longtime opposition to DOMA, in a strongly-worded “open letter” to the LGBT community:

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