Disqus - Latest Comments for Tom Maguire

Re: Hillary, The Geraldo Of National Politics

Tom Maguire — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 22:10:44 -0000

Good job, Captain.

This old Free Republic post about Ron brown's death includes a Reuters account of her trip.

And here are some photos from a soldier who was there.

Tom Maguire

No mention of hazards.

Re: Doing What They Do Best

Tom Maguire — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 11:41:31 -0000

The NY Times editors certainly got the memo (assuming, perhaps erroneously, they were not at the meeting itself). Their lead editorial today (Don’t Tie the Next President’s Hands) is all about preventing Bush from making any promises Barack will have to keep.

Re: Slimes At The Times

Tom Maguire — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 17:58:28 -0000

An interesting sidebar - Timesman Stephen Labaton got a couple of frontpagers about the McCain-Paxson-FCC letters story in Jan 2000; the "scandal" fizzled out back then after a McCain document dump in which he released all his letters to regulatory agencies on behalf of anyone and everyone.

But he is back, fired up, and ready to go.

Re: Is This Helpful?

Tom Maguire — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 10:58:25 -0000

Well, Barack has been outed as "Renegade" for a while - the WaPo had a story about this last June. Bush, FWIW, is "Tumbler" back from when he was a lad of 34 and Dad was VP.

From the WaPo:

<i.Still, according to a Secret Service spokesman, all code names are chosen by military officials, suggesting that they should not be examined too closely for deeper meaning. The Obama and Clinton campaigns declined to comment on the security procedure (they are the only two candidates so far to receive official protection, and Clinton's is a result of her status as a former first lady).

These days, though, the code names have little to do with actual safety; instead they play a more ceremonial and logistical role, letting agents bark easily understood directions into their sleeves as a protectee is moving from location to location. "There's really no secrecy to it," said security expert William H. Pickle, who was the special agent in charge of Gore's detail. According to Pickle, the names were useful when radio and phone communications were unsecured and easily picked up by outsiders; now the military and Secret Service can communicate over highly secured lines, making a code name irrelevant. Still, habit lives on.

"It started out years ago as a security function, and it had a real security aspect. Communications were limited, and it caused enough confusion to allow you to have a movement without people understanding," Pickle said. "Anymore, though? It's really just for convenience -- and tradition."

Hillary is "Evergreen" - I smell a Streisand song coming on...

Re: McCain And Solzhenitsyn's "Cross in the Dirt" Story

Tom Maguire — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 22:01:27 -0000

consider the fact that he claimed that he became a fan of ABBA's Dancing Queen before his capture (Dancing Queen came out two years after his release)

Kidding? What he said was ""A lot of taste in music stopped about the time I inpacked a surface to air missile with my own airplane and never caught up again".

That *could* be read to mean that he missed the whole transition from "I Want To Hold Your Hand" to Sgt. Pepper's and the White Album, and never got in that groove, remaining stuck on pop nonsense like Dancing Queen.

Or he could be lying. In which case he has two ABBA songs on his Top Ten in order to remind himself of his days in solitary in Vietnam before ABBA came out? Tough call.

Re: A leak to protect the Chief? | The Cosmic Tap

Tom Maguire — Sat, 08 Oct 2005 10:49:44 -0000

I agree.

Re: Matt Langer

Tom Maguire — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 09:02:16 -0000

If you actually read the Globe story that started this you pick up on this detail:

"Under Millard's strategy, the pension agency was directed to invest 55 percent of its funds in stocks and real estate. That included 20 percent in US stocks, 19 percent in foreign stocks, 6 percent in what the agency's records term "emerging market" stocks, 5 percent in private real estate and 5 percent in private equity firms."

Focus on 20% US stocks. At the time, the fund had about 30% of its assets in stocks, almost all of them US.

So about the time Bush wanted "to keep the fires burning on Wall Street", the PGBC was planning to *sell* US stocks to buy foreign stocks.

Presumably this was an attempt to bail out Bush's foreign cronies, or something.

If you are really interested, you will learn that the PGBC *approved* the switch but never got around to *implementing* the switch. They got hung up in approvals, procedures and hiring money managers, then the market fell apart.

Great reporting by Josh, though, who really nailed it.

Re: Giuliani Blasts Obama On Ayers Connection

Tom Maguire — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 09:47:16 -0000

Per the transcript, their guess is "Sherry Reese (sp)".

"Sherry" could be Sharon" or Shari, I suppose. Or "My Sharona". Maybe not.

"Reese" could be "Reece".

Good luck.

Re: SERE Suckers (Cont’d): Send Lawyers, Waterboards and Money

Tom Maguire — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 10:24:29 -0000

Speaking of cynical, how do you square your volumijnous research above with Soufan's assertion in the Times that

"Along with another F.B.I. agent, and with several C.I.A. officers present, I questioned him from March to June 2002, before the harsh techniques were introduced later in August. Under traditional interrogation methods, he provided us with important actionable intelligence. "

The DoJ Inspector General report, NY Times reporting, and your version above all indicate that the harsh stuff began right away (and was eventually followed by harsher stuff).

And the FBI was recalled becasue of the harsh tactics, even prior to August.

How does that square with what Soufan is saying today?

Re: FBI Agent Who Interrogated Abu Zubaydah: The Torture Advocates Are Lying to You

Tom Maguire — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 10:30:11 -0000

The torture advocates are lying? Maybe Soufan is lying, too. He writes:

"It is inaccurate, however, to say that Abu Zubaydah had been uncooperative. Along with another F.B.I. agent, and with several C.I.A. officers present, I questioned him from March to June 2002, before the harsh techniques were introduced later in August. Under traditional interrogation methods, he provided us with important actionable intelligence. "

However, the Dept of Justice Inspector general report explains that the CIA was in charge of the interrogation essentially from the outset, that they adopted harsh (but redacted) tactics right away, and the FBI agents were recalled in May and June rather than be involved with those interrogations. Per the DoJ IG, one of the two FBI agents described the CIA approach as "borderline torture", and this was before he left the scene in May or June.

NY Times reporting tells a similar story.

I wonder what the truth is, and whether Soufan misrepresented the facts to thr DoJ IG, or now.

Re: Investigative Reporter Byron York Exposes Black Support for Democratic President

Tom Maguire — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 16:24:53 -0000

"That’s not a criticism you often hear of, say, white evangelical voters vis-a-vis Republicans."

Interesting point for which some illustrative date would be helpful.

if we actually had data, I would wonder whether evangelicals supported a Republican even on issues that lack any clear religious connection.

I would also note that we hear about Republicans being in the pocket of and pandering to the Religious Right about every ten minutes. How often do we hear of Obama and the Democrats pandering to blacks?

If Republicans *are* pandering, the evangelical support makes sense, yes?