If They Can't Indict, It's Alright

An investigative reporter has rented the house next to Sarah Palin.  Ms Palin takes umbrage.  The increasingly implausible Dave Weigel explains that if this were tasteless or rude it would be illegal; since it isn't, Ms. Palin should pipe down.

But assuming he's rented the house near the Palins for some period of time, assuming the Palins know he's there and that he's writing a book, then what, exactly, is wrong with this?

If you have to ask, you've probably never had neighbors.

And this is from the next dimension:

Politicians don't have veto power over who gets to write about them, or how they research their stories, as long as they're within the bounds of the law. It's incredibly irresponsible for them to sic their fans on journalists they don't like.

Hmm - I seem to recall Obama siccing his fans on Fox News and Rush Limbaugh.  I'll have to check the Weigel archives to see his bitter denunciations of that.  Or maybe I shouldn't bother, since the rules are no doubt different for right-wing opinion-mongers who aren't journalists.

Comments

[Clarice]

DoT, How much fiddling did CBS pollsters engage in to get those figures?

[Melinda Romanoff]

Ok, so I'm NOT missing anything.

[Clarice]

Soylent, My best to you. I hope I can see you before you see the elephant, but if not my best wishes go with you.

[MarkO]

Doesn't Palin have friends who would like to visit her neighbor? In your face works both ways and, as you know, your president wants us to get up in their faces.

The wheels are coming off. Stand clear.

[Captain Hate]

Appalled, did Brooks Weigel link to any glowing testimonials by people that aren't paid to represent McGinnis?

[boris]

Since ObamaCare is such a pain in the A$$ it would just be fair for them to provide free Preperation Hussain for everybody's Obamorrhoids.

[Ignatz]

Short article by the useful Diana Olick, citing lumber price declines as a leading indicator.
I note lumber is down substantially again today despite the new home sales data.
30% decline since April.

[Ignatz]

Are lefties so tone deaf that they don't understand what it sounds like to the average person when they describe adding Obama's name to something as a perjorative?

[Clarice]

Today's episode of MO's leave no fat ass behind.
http://newsbird.wordpress.com/2010/05/26/michelle-encourages-running-obama-does-not/>LNFAB

[Soylent Obamacare]

Obamorrhoids

Now, see, that's just taking it too far. There are some things that Obama's name can't be attached to, and this is one of them.

Because, as everyone knows, he's a perfect asshole.

[Clarice]

Exactly, Soylent. Someone here has to enforce standards.

[Captain Hate]

Are lefties so tone deaf that they don't understand what it sounds like to the average person when they describe adding Obama's name to something as a perjorative?

You don't think re-education camps just spring up for no good reason, do you?

[Porchlight]

I say it's Obamacare, and I say the hell with it.

LOL.

Great suggestions all. I think the Obama- prefix has fabulous potential.

[Appalled]

Appalled, did Weigel link to any glowing testimonials by people that aren't paid to represent McGinnis? -- the Captain

No, Cap't, he didn't. But if Weigel had chosen to read his link, he would have spotted a clue that McG was a bit of a jerk, and that Palin had reason to be wary of him.

[joey]

Weigel is calling you "a birther and a fool" on Twitter.

http://twitter.com/daveweigel/status/14768563307

[Rob Crawford]

Weigel is calling you "a birther and a fool" on Twitter.

OMG!!!!

A 'tard is saying mean things about someone on Twitter! OMG! OMG! OMG!

Crawl back to study hall in shame, child.

[Ranger]

Weigel is calling you "a birther and a fool" on Twitter.

http://twitter.com/daveweigel/status/14768563307

Posted by: joey | May 26, 2010 at 12:20 PM

Well, I guess this will test the "any publicity is good publicity" school of thought.

[Pofarmer]

Egads. The "confidence intervals" on those new home sales numbers are HUGE.

[Rick Ballard]

Mel,

I'd never say you're missing anything but absolutely no one is covering the '40 acres and a 3BR 2BA' reparations aspect of the explosion in FHA 3.5% down lending. The April median price of $198,000 implies a down payment of $6,930 (at 3.5%) which is effectively monetized by HUD:

HUD is now allowing "monetization" of the tax credit. What does that mean?
It means that HUD allows buyers using FHA-insured mortgages to apply their anticipated tax credit toward their home purchase immediately rather than waiting until they file their 2009 or 2010 income taxes to receive a refund. These funds may be used for certain downpayment and closing cost expenses.

Under HUD’s guidelines, non-profits and FHA-approved lenders are allowed to give home buyers short-term loans of up to $8,000. The guidelines also allow government agencies, such as state housing finance agencies, to facilitate home sales by providing longer term loans secured by second mortgages.

Housing finance agencies and other government entities may also issue tax credit loans, which home buyers may use to satisfy the FHA 3.5 percent downpayment requirement. In addition, approved FHA lenders can purchase a home buyer’s anticipated tax credit to pay closing costs and downpayment costs above the 3.5 percent downpayment that is required for FHA-insured homes.

Gosh, I thought zero down lending was a bad thing. Ya learn something new every day in Obaworld.

[Sue]

Tom Maguire's a birther and a fool. There is no Obama comparison to Palin telling her fans that McGinniss is a stalker pervert.

Wow. He (Weigel) doesn't care what Carville says but he damn sure got excited over what dear leader said. Woot. Woot. Go Tom go!

[Porchlight]

Here's the full tweet:

@southsalem Tom Maguire's a birther and a fool. There is no Obama comparison to Palin telling her fans that McGinniss is a stalker pervert. about 1 hour ago via TweetDeck in reply to southsalem

daveweigel

If Dave Weigel says so, it must be true.

[Pofarmer]

Oh, and if what I've heard locally is any indication, The numbers including April and May are gonna be a little more sobering.

[Sue]

I didn't know Tom was a birther. How the hell did I miss that?

[hit and run]

Chimpy McHitlerBritishPetrobamaleum.

[Porchlight]

southsalem's riposte is pretty sweet:

@daveweigel I agree no comparison w/Obama most powerful person in the world taking aim at #Rush a private citizen to chill dissent. about 1 hour ago via TweetDeck

[Rob Crawford]

There is no Obama comparison to Palin telling her fans that McGinniss is a stalker pervert.

"Tell Rush he can play with himself".

(A paraphrase, in all likelihood, but it undoubtedly came from the Bammer's administration.)

[Ranger]

There is no Obama comparison to Palin telling her fans that McGinniss is a stalker pervert.

Hmmmm... I think we may have just uncovered bunkerbuster's true identity.

[Captain Hate]

Hi Dave {wave}

Please don't call Appalled a "birther" or a "fool" for criticizing you; ordinarily he's our contrarian but your inability to link things that fully support your POV was too much for him. But thanks for giving him the opportunity to prove that he's an honest contrarian and not a troll. Nor a douche.

Btw Dave, we're laughing at you, not with you. Keep the unintentional humor flowing please.

[Thomas Collins]

I wonder when the progs are going to figure out that Palin has a savvy sense of humor, and she structures her Facebook posts to send them up a wall and get into their heads. It's a never ending source of amusement to me that the pseudo-elites of our sclerotic prog oligarchy constantly downgrade Palin's intelligence while acting like Pavlov's dogs in reaction to her posts.

[hit and run]

Comparison with Palin is fun and all,but let's have a comparison with Obama the candidate and Obama the president.

From Obama the president,we have the Rush,Santelli,Cramer,et al standard. Someone speaks out against your policies? Grrrr...Sic'em!

From Obama the candidate,we (Obamunexpectedly) have http://www.barackobama.com/2007/10/02/remarks_of_senator_barack_obam_27.php>another standard:

But these last few years we've seen an unacceptable abuse of power at home. We get .. shameful smearing of people who speak out against the President's policies.

Obamypocrisy.

[Clarice]

AKA very think skin, hit..

another neat comparison would be Bush's manly words and deeds compared to those of this prissy boy.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Rick-

Nationalized the Ninja loan, huh?

Didn't see that one coming.

Could you e-mail me the link for that gem, if you'd be so kind? I think we need to drop that in the lap of a reasonably well known, Italian-American, South side of Chicago raised, news reporter. Who knows, might even merit a rant...

[centralcal]

So Weigel is an Obamaweenie?

[Clarice]

**ThiCk skin***

[Danube of Thought]

How much fiddling did CBS pollsters engage in to get those figures?

They weighted the numbers to get 30.7% Dem and 25.8% Repub.

Ed Morrissey lays it all out here.

[Appalled]

CH:

I guess what I dislike is that the media thinks it is OK to cover Sara Palin like she is Brittany Spears.

Palin's misfortune is that, unlike Kennedy, Spears or Limbaugh, she, until recently, did not have the vast fortune to buy acres of land so that nobody unauthorized can get near her. Unfortunately, media culture being what it is, the only defense against a media that thinks a public figure's private life belongs to them is a whole lot of money

While I would not make Tom's comparison to Obama vs. Rush, I do wonder why Weigel thinks that celeberity reporters who are in the business of pushing the envelope should be given a pass for (i) trying to buy into an interview with Ms. Palin, and then (ii) moving in next door. Mr Weigel -- why wouldn't a reasonable person be creeped out by that behavior?

[Jane]

Soylent,

It's great to see you. When do you leave (or is that top secret?)

[Rick Ballard]

Mel,

It's from the FHA site, question 20. No secret - just completely ignored. Sorta like the fact that the 'homes for sale' inventory number thoughtfully provided by the National Realtors Association doesn't include much in the way of 'for sale by owners' units. My lying eyes seem to indicate a rather strong increase in the number of FSBO signs in comparison to realtors' signs but I'm sure that's just me.

[Captain Hate]

Appalled, I think we're in almost 100% agreement. The excess creepiness is indeed the factor that dumbbells like Weigel willfully ignore when applied to people that they don't like. I'd be creeped out if that was being done to anybody; I mean who has the time to make an irritating pest out of themself and why would any normal person buy anything that emerged from it?

Weigel seems to be incapable of asking himself how he'd like it if somebody did that to him. If he would reply that it wouldn't bother him then he's either a liar or seriously twisted.

[Melinda Romanoff]

sweet.

I'm running with it. We see some FSBO's but the foreclosures by me are just vacant listings, which is not surprising since they would more than likely be jumbos.

Thanks for the link.

[glasater]

Housing finance agencies and other government entities may also issue tax credit loans, which home buyers may use to satisfy the FHA 3.5 percent downpayment requirement.

Rick-
Some enterprising folks around here figured that one out on the first go-round tax credit for housing.

[Thomas Collins]

Looks as if Palin has her Secretary of the Navy when she assumes the POTUS office in January of 2013. See LUN.

[mojo]

"Relax. I'm a professional."
-- Hunter S. Thompson

[Rick Ballard]

I don't see why the Palins wouldn't head up to the lake for the summer once school is out. McGinnis could rent the house next door to Weigel until they return in the fall.

[daddy]

"Weigel is calling you "a birther and a fool" on Twitter."

That's a bunch of Obama.

[Pofarmer]

number thoughtfully provided by the National Realtors Association doesn't include much in the way of 'for sale by owners' units.

Doesn't include units that have been pulled off the market and either rented out or simply sitting vacant until the market improves, either. Any market improvement will see another housing dump.

[Rick Ballard]

"and either rented out"

Pofarmer,

That's another "untold story". The BEA Personal Income Numbers show a $237 billion drop in 'Personal income receipts on assets' (line 13) partially offset by a $112 billion increase in "Rental income of persons with capital consumption adjustment" (line 12). It appears that quite a number of people have chosen? to become landlords as a means seeking refuge. The "capital consumption adjustment" is depreciation and it's taking an additional toll on Treasury tax receipts.

[Topsecretk9]

Appalled

Recall the left freaked out that Washington Post hired conservative Ben Domenech to blog and they dictated a comment jihad and dug up old movie reviews he plagiarized in college to get him fired?

Hilarious, the WAPO now has leftist Dave Weigel out to defend plagiarist Joe McGinniss!

[Janet]

Just to keep some momentum on patriotism this summer...
Glenn Beck is having an event 8-28 on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Guest will be Sarah Palin, Marcus Luttrell, Jo Dee Messina

[Cecil Turner]

Keep the unintentional humor flowing please.

And the fallacies. ("Birther and a fool" is a classic ad hominem.) I'm beginning to suspect this is how lefties argue, because it's how they think.

On a related note, this is priceless. John Kerry Says Voter Anger at Washington Is Hypocritical:

"I think there's a comprehension gap," said Kerry. His point: While people may not be feeling the benefits of the bailouts and healthcare reform yet, Congress has been working with Obama to right the economic ship. Still, he sounded sympathetic to those kicked around by the economy. "There's a sense of some things unraveling" to them, said Kerry.

Yeah, perhaps our political betters can explain how many jobs that stimulus saved. Or how much that Obamacare cost. There's a comprehension gap all right . . . between John's ears.

[Rick Ballard]

The President will undoubtedly mention the CBO model analysis of ARRA's possible impact tomorrow. He will also undoubted fail to quote the most pertinent passage in the analysis:

Data on actual output and employment during the period since ARRA’s enactment are not as helpful in determining ARRA’s economic effects as might be supposed, because isolating those effects would require knowing what path the economy would have taken in the absence of the law. Because that path cannot be observed, there is no way to be certain about how the economy would have performed if the legislation had not been enacted, and data on its actual performance add only limited information about ARRA’s impact.

As someone living in reality rather than a CBO model, I can only note that the CBO bucket would make a wonderful colander.

[Rick Ballard]

The President will undoubtedly mention the CBO model analysis of ARRA's possible impact tomorrow. He will also undoubted fail to quote the most pertinent passage in the analysis:

Data on actual output and employment during the period since ARRA’s enactment are not as helpful in determining ARRA’s economic effects as might be supposed, because isolating those effects would require knowing what path the economy would have taken in the absence of the law. Because that path cannot be observed, there is no way to be certain about how the economy would have performed if the legislation had not been enacted, and data on its actual performance add only limited information about ARRA’s impact.

As someone living in reality rather than a CBO model, I can only note that the CBO bucket would make a wonderful colander.

[Rick Ballard]

Useful factoid:

When the Democrats took control of Congress in January 2007, the BLS counted 137 million employed Americans. Two years later, when Barry Dunham was inaugurated the number had already dropped by 3.5 million to 133.5. After 16 months of continuing ineptitude the latest number is 130.2 million for a total loss of 6.8 million jobs during the Democrats tenure in "control".

Let's see if Typhus doubles this one as well.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Rick-

Here's Twenty-Five Questions to ask around.

[Captain Hate]

There's a comprehension gap all right . . . between John's ears.

Is there a more pompous, less-intelligent and unlikeable gasbag than Reporting for Doody? Is he in any danger of losing to another Scott Brown whenever his seat is up for election?

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vjnjagvet]

Interesting numbers, RIck. IIRC, the public sector is now responsible for a greater proportion of jobs than was the case in January 2007. Accordingly, the picture regarding private employment is even worse now than for total employment.

Or am I missing something?

[Clarice]

Hey there, who knows hypocritical better than John F Kerry?

[daddy]

Melinda,

Your link above: 25 Questions To Ask Anyone Who Is Delusional Enough To Believe That This Economic Recovery Is Real

Obviously you and this guy were not at a particular Union Meeting I happened to attend yesterday. Stuff is booming everywhere, money is rolling in in wheelbarrows, and any statement to the contrary by anyone is simply management misinformation in order to get concessions next contract negotiating time. C'mon, get real:)

[matt]

I just drove home from Costco through a section with a number of office parks and furniture type stores. I was amazed how many had closed since my last trip 3-4 weeks ago. What is scary is that I am seeing this all over Southern California now.

Solyndra, the factory Obama visited today, could not be a more apt symbol of the Emperor's new clothes. They have not built a production module yet; they got $540 Million in Stimulus "green loans", and Price Waterhouse, their auditors, published a report last week stating that even with the loan, there is a strong possibility the company will fail.

When the President mentioned 3,000 construction workers, I had to laugh as well. This isn't the Empire State Building, it's concrete slab and steel frame work. Pretty basic.

The whole high technology green jobs trope is a laugher as well. Most of it will be $10-20/hr labor. The lies with this propagandist moron just go on and on...

[Melinda Romanoff]

matt-

Go ask Spain how that worked for them.

[Pofarmer]

That's what I was gonna say, Mel.

Thing is, for the whole "green jobs" thing to hold water, it means that there are going to be more workers needed, to produce roughly the same amount of power that we were producing before, which means that costs for said power are going to rise. I simply don't see a way around that unfortunate little fact.

[Ignatz]

--Thing is, for the whole "green jobs" thing to hold water, it means that there are going to be more workers needed, to produce roughly the same amount of power that we were producing before, which means that costs for said power are going to rise.--

Yeah but the neat thing is not only does the power we get cost more coming out, we get to pay for it going in with tax credits and other "stimuli".

[Pofarmer]

Yeah but the neat thing is not only does the power we get cost more coming out, we get to pay for it going in with tax credits and other "stimuli".

This is an endless string of "crisis" with an endless string of Villains. First it's "we need renewable power." Then it's "Holy cow, have you SEEN how bad those big bad power companies are gouging. Think of the Children!" Then it's "But, the lights won't stay On!"

Hopefully before then the torches and pitchforks will have come out.

[Rick Ballard]

"Or am I missing something?"

Jim,

No, you're not missing anything. It's going to change again very soon because government layoffs at the state and city level are going to start hitting hard by July 1.

We'll be seeing lots of happy clappy news on the Q1 GDP and the CBO model showing tons of jobs being "saved or created" but tax deposits, adjusted for the now defunct "tax cut" that was a deferral of payment, are very close to flat.

As I noted yesterday, BOzo and the Clown Posse have successfully amputated the right leg of the 'V' recovery above the knee.

[matt]

the whole green industry is driven off of the government teat. I did an article on the big solar conference in Shanghai, and the Euros and the Americans and all God's chillun are lobbying their various bureaucrats and political whores to raise the cost of every other type of energy so green can be competitive.

It is an completely rigged market and we can expect the results thereof. I have to be careful of what I say because we have skins in the game.

[Pofarmer]

. I have to be careful of what I say because we have skins in the game.

You outta see the brou-ha-ha when I criticize Ethanol on an Ag Blog.

[daddy]

I noticed on some broadcast today Obama lauding China's efforts at building wind Power plants, yet somehow I didn't hear him say China at the same time is building 29 Nuke Power Plants, the Worlds Biggest Hydro-electic dam, a multi Billion dollar gas pipeline with the Russians as well as a Natural gas pipeline with those guys.
Why does he never mention that and why do none of the reporters every quiz him on all that stuff which takes about 2 minutes to find out simply by googling? Dense or too frightened to ask I can never figure out. Very frustrating.

[bunkerbuster]

Daddy: How do you know what reporters don't ask?
Perhaps you haven't thought it through.

[Get some rest.]

So, you thought it through and this silliness is what you come up with?
========

[Cecil Turner]

Weigel has a follow-up mailbag post which starts out explaining why threatening to reciprocate against Weigel's family isn't kosher:

I think this letter-writer misses some important points. First, I am not a public figure. Yes, I write for a mass audience. But I have never been elected to office, have never run for national office, do not host a TV show, and have not co-written an autobiography. We have a pretty good definition of what a public figure is, and Palin fits it. And the anger Palin fans feel toward journalists who want to write about her is mystifying to me. This is a one-way conversation, I suppose, but I want to ask this letter-writer -- does he think Barack Obama was "not vetted" by the mainstream media? Does he think we'd have been better off had some journalists embedded in Hyde Park and Hawaii and gotten the straight story on his church, his ties to Bill Ayers, and all the rest. I'd guess so. So why so much anger at journalists who want to investigate Palin?

Man, this is some twisted analysis.

Let's see:
• he claims not to be a public figure, but then proves it by citing Palin's public figure credentials;
• misstates the issue as "writ[ing] about Sarah Palin" instead of moving next door; and then,
• drags in BO's background and substandard vetting as justification.

I make that two red herrings and a tu quoque. The big one, of course, is that moving next door is not the same as writing about someone. Hence the "public figure" argument doesn't apply at all (though I suspect Weigel is a public figure, if it comes to that). In fact, Palin's status as a "public figure" makes a stalking offense more likely, not less, and the fact that he travelled across state lines to do it makes the federal statute a bit more applicable:

Whoever -
(1) travels in interstate or foreign commerce [. . .] with the intent to [. . .] harass, or place under surveillance with intent to [. . .] harass, or intimidate another person, and in the course of, or as a result of, such travel [. . .] causes substantial emotional distress to that person, a member of the immediate family (as defined in section 115) of that person, or the spouse or intimate partner of that person; [. . .]shall be punished as provided in section 2261(b) of this title.

[cathyf]

It appears that quite a number of people have chosen? to become landlords as a means seeking refuge. The "capital consumption adjustment" is depreciation and it's taking an additional toll on Treasury tax receipts.

Gee, hadn't thought about that one before, but converting depreciated property to rentals is a way to get a tax deduction out of the loss in value that would not be available to the family that just sells the place at a loss.

Just another way that the obamaconomy is hammering tax receipts...

[Rick Ballard]

"Did I miss any recent discussion of the fall of M3 indicator of money supply?"

SBW,

Since it was OT I'll reply here rather than clutter up a thread devoted to Cecil beating a stupid troll's head loose.

There hasn't been any recent discussion re M3 because the Evans-Pritchard bit of hysteria is the only thing I've seen that raises what amounts to the non-issue. It would be relevant if the Fed wasn't bouncing the monetary base around like a ping pong ball but $300 billion "moves" aren't really uncommon at the moment. The Fed made banks adjust their reporting of consumer loan balances (pg 2, line 15) in March and viola an increase of about $300 billion showed up in April. The M3 piece may reflect just such a reporting change.

If you try and follow the footnotes relating to "Maiden Lane LLC, Maiden Lane II LLC, Maiden Lane III LLC, and Commercial Paper Funding Facility LLC, as discussed in the notes to the Board's H.4.1 statistical release" you're going to suffer a severe case of whiplash without gaining much insight.

I'm pretty much reduced to reading the Daily Treasury Statement these days and trying to relate it to where we were at this point last year. We seem to have spent around $1.3 trillion in borrowed money in order to achieve $422 billion increase in GDP while losing 1,381,000 jobs.

Definitely a B+ effort.