Matthew Yglesias » John McCain Obstructing Qualified Interior Department Nominee Because He Hurt Ronald Reagan’s Feelings

Mar 13th, 2009 at 10:57 am

John McCain Obstructing Qualified Interior Department Nominee Because He Hurt Ronald Reagan’s Feelings

There have been a lot of vaguely-worded complaints in the past two days about the dysfunctional nature of the appointments process and the Obama administration’s slow pace of staffing. Well, now we can put a face to Senatorial grandstanding—the face of John McCain, who’s threatening to hold up David Hayes’ nomination to be Deputy Secretary in the Interior Department over the fact that Hayes once wrote something mean about Ronald Reagan’s environmental policy. That’s right, a member of one political party has, in the past, said something disparaging about a prominent member of the other party. This is McCain’s objection. Seriously. How on earth would you staff an administration of people who pass that test?

Comments
19

Filed under: David Hayes, John McCain, Political Reform

19 Responses to “John McCain Obstructing Qualified Interior Department Nominee Because He Hurt Ronald Reagan’s Feelings”

spot check billy Says:
March 13th, 2009 at 11:01 am
It’s like they’re proud of being ignorant.
Why oh why Says:
March 13th, 2009 at 11:10 am
Where does it say McCain is really “obstructing”? He seems to merely threaten to vote against the nomination, and be grumpy. Then again, McCain is always grumpy these days!
wiley Says:
March 13th, 2009 at 11:22 am
Hayes wrote that “the conservative political agenda in the West is grounded in hoary stereotypes about the region and its people” and that “out of this conservative world view emerges the stereotypical Western man (and it is unquestionably a ‘he’)—a rugged, gun-toting individualist who fiercely guards every man’s right to drill, mine, log, or do whatever he damn well pleases on the land” and that “Like Ronald Reagan before him, President Bush has embraced the Western stereotype to the point of adopting some of its affectations—the boots, brush-clearing, and get-the-government-off-our-backs bravado.”

Touche.
Myles SG Says:
March 13th, 2009 at 11:41 am
I do note that libeling Reagan is a bit more serious than libeling any politician; he was on a much higher plane.
kali Says:
March 13th, 2009 at 11:46 am
and this idiot wanted to be President?? PLEASE.. he’s more like a pathetic cry-baby who throws a tantrum every time someone disagrees with him… I really do hope this is his last term in the Senate….
wiley Says:
March 13th, 2009 at 11:50 am
So being sclerotic is being on a much higher plane?

Remember when he joked that the bombs will start dropping in five minutes, and the Soviet Union went on alert. Was he high then?
tovitim Says:
March 13th, 2009 at 11:59 am
My favorite thing about this is that Ronald and Nancy hated McCain after the divorce/marriage to Cindy and hired wife #1 to work at the White House. They thought he was scummy, so it’s always fun when McCain defends his honor, etc.
SteveIL Says:
March 13th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
Well, now we can put a face to Senatorial grandstanding—the face of John McCain, who’s threatening to hold up David Hayes’ nomination to be Deputy Secretary in the Interior Department over the fact that Hayes once wrote something mean about Ronald Reagan’s environmental policy.

David Hayes didn’t once write something mean about Ronald Reagan’s environmental policy. Hayes attacked Reagan as a person. That’s what McCain was commenting on, not anything related to policy.

But it’s easier to attack McCain if the truth about what McCain was doing is twisted to fit the “progressive” agenda.
Njorl Says:
March 13th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
I do note that libeling Reagan is a bit more serious than libeling any politician; he was on a much higher plane.

What libel?

To the extent that his allegations are provable, they are true. Where they are not provable, they are opinion not subject to libel laws.

I suppose you could try the defaming-the-dead angle, but that is easily countered by the public interest defense; political strategy is inherently a matter of public interest.

And what do you mean, “higher plane”?
Njorl Says:
March 13th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
David Hayes didn’t once write something mean about Ronald Reagan’s environmental policy. Hayes attacked Reagan as a person. That’s what McCain was commenting on, not anything related to policy.

No, he attacked Reagan’s political manipulation. That is a perfectly reasonable topic for critique. What he did is no different than Republicans making fun of Hilary Clinton’s recurring temporary southern accent.
wiley Says:
March 13th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
A true understanding of the Western “wilderness” requires one to recognize that it was not even “wilderness” when the Europeans moved in—it was very much populated, and often, even woodlands that looked completely natural to the white man’s eye, were cultivated. Hayes is pointing out some of the harmful effects of a domineering American myth. The fact that Reagan and Bush exploited that image and the environment is material in his argument. It’s no an insult coming from left field—it’s an illustration.
Adam Villani Says:
March 13th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
I do note that libeling Reagan is a bit more serious than libeling any politician; he was on a much higher plane.

And yet conservatives complain about liberals deifying Obama. So we can libel other politicians all we want, but we face the mummy’s curse if we speak ill of St. Ronald? Get real.
Eric H Says:
March 13th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
Myles, my good man, Aloysius is calling. Do be a dear and attend to his needs.
SteveIL Says:
March 13th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
No, he attacked Reagan’s political manipulation. That is a perfectly reasonable topic for critique.

What does that have to do with what Yglesias said:

…the fact that Hayes once wrote something mean about Ronald Reagan’s environmental policy.

There was nothing in the WSJ piece about Reagan’s environmental policy. Besides, what Hayes wrote (the link provided in the WSJ piece) was an attempt to tell “progressives” how people are in the West, and how “progressives” can lie and manipulate Western people into electing them, while at the same time putting real Westerners down. That wasn’t any kind of reasonable topic.

What he did is no different than Republicans making fun of Hilary Clinton’s recurring temporary southern accent.

No it isn’t. She lived in Arkansas. I’ve been to Arkansas. The accent people in Arkansas use is more akin to people’s accents in Texas and Oklahoma. She tried to sound like she was from Georgia. And very badly too.
anon Says:
March 13th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
It’s worth noting that Hayes didn’t actually hurt Reagan’s feelings. This piece was published 2 years after Reagan died.

I remain genuinely puzzled by the obsessive Republican focus on people’s feelings. They’re always whining about how Democrats are going to cost us the war because we might make people feel like we’re not winning it, and they’re perpetually whining about how much they’d love to support policies that would help the American people but goshdarnit, the Democrats were rude once, and somebody’s got to put priorities first. Hell, Glenn Beck suggested the yesterday that the sheer impoliteness of calling people racist turns them into mass murderers.

I mean, enough about feelings and kumbayah and who cut who in line for lunch at the Capitol. Let’s get some WORK done.
SteveIL Says:
March 13th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
It’s worth noting that Hayes didn’t actually hurt Reagan’s feelings.

I realize it’s nearly impossible for the left to understand this, but it has to do with respect.

I mean, enough about feelings and kumbayah and who cut who in line for lunch at the Capitol. Let’s get some WORK done.

That’s what we’re waiting for Obama to do, get some work done. Like fixing the banking mess.
Campesino Says:
March 13th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
Talk about making a mountain out of a molehill. There isn’t anything in the article about McCain “holding up” anything. He just said he didn’t know if he could support Hayes’ nomination, which means he *might* vote against him. He’s sure to be confirmed

As for the little tit for tat – I’m sure nothing like that has ever happened before in a Senate confirmation hearing

But hey, anything is worth using to try to take the heat off Obama’s failures to get a team in place
SLC Says:
March 13th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
What’s not clear here is whether Senator McCain has placed a hold on the nomination. If he hasn’t, the fact that he doesn’t like the nominee is irrelevant. Who the fuck cares.

More serious is the hold that has been placed on the nominated Science Adviser and the nominated head of NOAA. See attached link.

ttp://scienceblogs.com/authority/2009/03/holdren_and_lubchenco_confirma_1.php

Re SteveL

That’s what we’re waiting for Obama to do, get some work done. Like fixing the banking mess.

Gee, President Osama hasn’t fixed the banking mess in 6 weeks that took the fucktards in the Bush Administration 8 years to create.

Re Campasino

But hey, anything is worth using to try to take the heat off Obama’s failures to get a team in place

Gee, maybe President Osama doesn’t want any Monica Goodlings or Michael “heck of a job Brownie” Browns amongst his appointees.

Update, apparently the holds on Holdren and Lubchenco have been released and they will be confirmed shortly.