Across the Great Divide

Disturbing Conversations

On the same day that Bush made this speech [arguing for "an alternative set of procedures" for interrogation], Lt. Gen. John F. Kimmons, the Army's deputy chief of staff for intelligence, presented the Army's new field manual on interrogation, which pointedly encoded the Geneva Conventions. Kimmons went out of his way to say, "No good intelligence is going to come from abusive interrogation practices."

– Sidney Blumenthal, "Where Torture Got Him," Salon.com

You stand around with drinks in your hands long enough, and eventually you might talk about real life. He and I share an interest in golf. But this night we were eating artichoke dip and talking about torture.

Today, he is a top real estate/environmental law attorney, but once he served in the Navy, in the Judge Advocate General's office, during Vietnam. He and his peers dealt with atrocity cases involving U.S. troops. The My Lai massacre and the prosecution of Lt. Calley was the marquee case of the times, but he said the JAG lawyers handled many, many more cases.

But they were never made public. He did not say men went unpunished. He said their crimes were kept secret.

He is appalled by the Bush Administration's move toward subversion of the military code, because he believes it worked. He is not alone.

Service in Vietnam was coveted by lawyers who planned a military career, so the assignments were not easy to come by. Presumably, many of those who served there did move upward, and today, they would be in the top ranks of the military's legal corps. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is a former JAG  and opponent of Bush’s moves to subvert the Geneva Conventions. The JAG, the FBI and former military leaders all the way to Colin Powell also reject, in Blumenthal's words, "unstated premise that the more sadism, the more intelligence" — and the more protection for higher ups who condone mistreatment of captives, the safer the country.

When retired generals and senior officers beyond the career-limiting reach of a bad fitness report speak out against the President's policies, the country should listen. So said the man who has worked the ugly cases and found some men lacking, but the military still honorable.

*****
 Another, shorter conversation. He is a true believer, a former Washington staffer who now raises money. I won't need to tell you for whom. We toss good-natured barbs across the divide.

Tonight, the subject is Keith Ellison, 5th Congressional District candidate and Republican boogeyman.

"Are you doing work for your man Ellison?" he asks. He is always doing work for his men.

"Not for his campaign, no. But I'm for him."

"He's a bad actor," he says and begins repeating some of the lowest of the low slime about Ellison. "He's not who he seems."

"Careful," I say. "We both know how one of your boys has a huge issue. It just hasn't landed him in court."

In fact, we've discussed it. But if that officeholder walked into the room right now, my friend would be right next to him. I get the sense if Ellison showed up, he would encircle his nice wife and sweet child and bundle them off to the safety of Wayzata. 

But neither politician is here, only the fog that surrounds them. There's just two men trying to talk to each other about things we can't see and don't want to hear.

Finding a Honeypot?

I was playing golf with a TV ad production production guy and a criminal defense attorney who's also been a prosecutor and FBI agent. I thought I'd ask the video guy if he'd heard about the Mark Kennedy ad flap.

He hadn't, so I summarized.

"I'm more into music than politics, and I don't see that much difference between the candidates. But Kennedy's ads — that attack stuff — turn me off," he said.

He does a lot of work for a company you would recognize. I asked him how he secured his client files that were shared on the Web. His procedures were much like my own firm's. "It's not rocket science to make them secure," he said.

In fact, it's not even science, at least what we'd have to do to set up secure ftp sites for our clients.

The guy who knew the ad business but nothing about the politics and the defense attorney who knew a bit about the case and a lot about crime had the same, unprompted reaction: "These guys aren't stupid. I wonder if they wanted the files to be found?"

Nothing Happening Here, Folks, So move Along.

One of my faithful, longtime readers — a politically attuned PhD from Michigan — writes:

Charlie,

I don't understand the Mark B. stuff.

Too localized.

Can you add an appendix to fill us in if we are not cognoscenti?

Thanks,

Jim

Actually, I think very few of my friends — those who don't come to Drinking Liberally or obsessively read blogs — understand the Mark Kennedy/Michael Brodkorb stuff, and not simply because it is micro-localized. A signal for me to move on to larger themes, I guess.

Readers are free to add an appendix of links in the Comments, though.

I Did Not Have Blogging Relations With That Man, Michael Brodkorb.

In order to live with integrity, we must stop fragmenting and compartmentalizing our lives. Telling lies at work and expecting great truths in meditation is nonsensical. Using our sexual energy in a way that harms ourselves or others, and then expecting to know transcendent love in another arena, is mindless. Every aspect of our lives is connected to every other aspect of our lives. This truth is the basis for an awakened life.

When we live with integrity, we further enhance intimacy with ourselves by being able to rejoice, taking active delight in our actions.

– Buddhist teacher Sharon Salzberg, quoted in Mother Tongue Annoyances

Bill Clinton famously compartmentalized his relationship with Monica Lewinski, convincing himself his relations with her were neither sexual nor related to his performance as president. He did not convince much of country.

Compartmentalization is a useful coping mechanism for politicians. It allows an individual to focus despite a welter of conflicting demands, anxieties, behaviors and  beliefs that might otherwise be distracting, if not disabling.

Discussing troop deployment in Bosnia with a Congressman as an intern goes to work under the Oval Office desk, for example. Or taking a "no new taxes pledge," then shifting taxes to local governments and raising fees. Or proclaiming your independence from the President while voting with him.

You don't have to disagree to be "independent," after all. A fee isn't a "tax." And just because someone does a job for you, it doesn't have to involve "relations."

We have ample evidence that compartmentalization is a bi-partisan skill, applied to matters large and small, and not restricted to one party or another. Or to politics.

In a book about successful, stable, upper-middle-class men, Robert Weiss has this to say: "All the men report stress and irritability, and half have trouble sleeping . . . . To cope with daily tension, they engage in ‘compartmentalization,’ a process by which problems, anxiety and pain are tucked away in the further recesses of the psyche, to be retrieved when necessary, without cluttering up everyday life. They have few close friends, since emotional closeness threatens compartmentalization (several rarely confide in their wives), and over half of the men have had an affair." It appears that there is a price to be paid for being so "well-adjusted."

[...]

Most of the new jobs being created today are service, jobs where people are paid to cater to the customer, jobs like customer service rep or airline attendant. These folks are called upon to do emotional labor, says sociologist Arlie Hochschild. She observes that an increasing number of jobs require a set of rules for feelings, and these jobs make authenticity hard to come by. This is the "social production of alienation," she says, and when people go numb, there’s a whole industry to de-alienate us. "Don’t misunderstand me," she says, "I’m all for therapy. I just want to live in a society that doesn’t take my feelings away from me and doesn’t require a whole industry to help me get them back."

– Unitarian minister, Dr. Marilyn Sewell, "The Conspiracy Against Feeling"

Trying to analyze what I thought was compartmentalization by the mono-talented but multi-employed Michael Brodkorb, I recently skimmed several months of his posts. (This is akin to self-waterboarding, and I do not recommend the practice to anyone who himself is not able to compartmentalize.)

I now believe my first impression — that his claims of blogger independence were evidence of Clintonian dissociation — was mistaken. Yes, he fiercely defends his ethics, but that is more a bully's bluster than a sign of true compartmentalizing. He is profoundly consistent in quite unappealing way. How his partisan makeup colors his life is transparent to everyone — fans and critics alike — except those who depend on the mainstream media for their views of his handiwork.

But the issue is not whether Brodkorb blogs for Mark Kennedy in his spare time or on Kennedy's dime.

It's not whether Kennedy's campaign director Pat  Shortridge, who once staffed for Dick Armey and lobbied for Enron, is willing to call a press conference to say preposterous things about Amy Klobuchar.

It's not whether Scott "Hack-a-Max" Howell makes a living knee-capping Democrats.

Nor that this whole crew sings harmony with hyperbolic party chair Ron "Viewing the fruits" Carey.

Of all people, the "money is free speech" Republicans should understand who we're really hearing on all channels.

His name is Mark Kennedy, and he approved these messengers.

Brad Miller Pays for Sex

North Carolina Republican House candidate Vernon Robinson attacks Democratic Rep. Brad Miller in this television ad. FactCheck.org has the analysis and the video.

Is this what we have to look forward to in Minnesota? (I think I hear loons in the background of the soundtrack.)

Announcer: What kind of Congressman would try to deny our soldiers the body armor they need to save their lives?
(On Screen: Soldiers alongside a flag-draped coffin.)
Announcer: Well the answer is, your Congressman, Brad Miller. That's right, Brad Miller did not vote for the appropriation to pay for improved body armor for our troops. But Brad Miller has no trouble spending your money, he, he would just rather spend it on sex.
(On Screen: A Picture of Rep. Brad Miller with "XXX" printed over it.)
(Sound FX: Animal noises.)
Announcer: That's right, instead of spending money on sickle-cell research Brad Miller voted to spend your money to study the sex lives of Vietnamese prostitutes in San Francisco.  Instead of spending money on cancer research, Brad Miller spent your money to study the masturbation habits of old men. Brad Miller spent your tax dollars to study something called the Bisexual Transgendered and Two-Spirited Aleutian Eskimos, whoever they are. Brad Miller even spent your tax dollars to pay teenage girls to watch pornographic movies with probes connected to their genitalia. Brad Miller pays for sex, but not for body armor for our troops. If Miller had better priorities, you wouldn't be having to hear this.
(On Screen: Images of soldiers in combat.)
Robinson: "I'm Vernon Robinson and I approved this message because Brad Miller is out of touch and soon, he'll be out of Congress."

Date Movie: "Paradise Now"

If John Kline and I were going to catch a flick together, I'd take him to "Paradise Now."

How to Beat the Dirty Player.

About half the sports movies ever made feature a stock character, the Dirty Player. Sometimes the Dirty Player is a goon. Other times he is a skilled player who has gone over to the dark side. Or a misguided youth under the influence of the Evil Coach or the Frustrated Father.

The Dirty Player's role is fairly circumscribed. Sometimes he takes out the Home Team's Star Player. In other stories, he distracts the Home Team from playing its Own Game. The Home Team usually has to lose a few times before it Learns Its Lesson.

Soon, it's time for the Big Game. How will the Home Team get revenge on the Dirty Player? Will the Fat Kid pressed into a starting role knock the Dirty Player into the stands? Or will the Home Team resist the Dirty Player's tricks to compete and learn to win As A Team?

Will the Dirty Player be humiliated? Will he end up in tears when he realizes how others have misunderstood his competitive fire?  Will he See the Light and turn out to be a Good Guy after all? Or will Evil Win, forcing the Home Team to learn a different lesson?

You have seen all these movies and have predicted all their plot lines.

Now figure out the real game being played.

*******

Rahelio understands how Michael Brodkorb takes the Home Team out of the game when we respond to his elbows and leg whips. (I wrote this before seeing his updated version of the post that exempts this blog from his indictment.)

We should expose his tactics. We should clarify his connections to the people who really matter — the Team Owners paying him and benefiting from his dirty play. And when he is occasionally right and makes a good play, we should acknowledge it rather than twist ourselves into contortions to avoid facing the truth.

At the same time, we should resist stooping to his tactics. We should not think he is our friend because he shakes hands when the clock has expired. We should not under-estimate that he is very, very good at being a Dirty Player. And we should not confuse the Dirty Player with the Big Game.

Because then he wins. And worse, so does his team.

MDE WRITES POST WITHOUT GOP QUOTES FROM GOP.

My life is one big disclosure.
– Michael Brodkorb, "Attack MDE Day in the Liberal Blogosphere," Minnesota Democrats Exposed

All your cryin don't do no good
Come on up to the house
Come down off the cross
We can use the wood
Come on up to the house
– Tom Waits, "Come on up to the house"

Michael Brodkorb has written an actual personal post at MDE that is all him for a change.

there's nothin in the world
that you can do
you gotta come on up to the house
and you been whipped by the forces
that are inside you
come on up to the house

Is This Some Kind Of Joke?

KENNEDY CAMPAIGN RELEASES NEW AD ABOUT KLOBUCHAR’S BROKEN PROMISES
By Michael B. Brodkorb on Uncategorized

###

This is a reminder that I am a part-time consultant to Mark Kennedy’s U.S. Senate campaign. Minnesota Democrats Exposed is not created, endorsed, sponsored, or authorized by any political party, candidate, or candidate’s committee. It’s all me and always will be and I am very proud of Minnesota Democrats Exposed

MDE's Michael Brodkorb is now issuing headline-only posts about Mark Kennedy's ads. And the Kennedy campaign is releasing an unfinished ad —  supposedly exposed to Minnesota Democrats — thereby getting free media for a rough draft of an ad that would never be run.

Is the Kennedy campaign running out of money? Or just ideas?

Scary Movie.

Mark Kennedy's campaign site has solved its security problems, just in time to launch the attack ad his campaign aired last night.

Amy Klobuchar's campaign has responded (note: not in advance of the ad) to the ad's allegations. Kennedy has not yet released factual support for its claims, though. Perhaps Mr. Brodkorb has fallen behind in his part-time job, given all the energies he's poured into his unaffiliated blog lately. You will be able to see them dissected here by Eric Black and his readers.

Or for a full whiff of desperation in bloom, go directly to source, where you can catch all nine posts on the Kennedy campaign blog, most recently:

            

 September 20th, 2006

Without question, Mark delivered a convincing victory in Tuesday night’s AARP debate with Amy Klobuchar.  As I said last night, the AARP debate showed a clear difference between the candidates in both substance and stature.