Salon.com > Angus King

Drones aren’t “humane weapons”!

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 15:52:00 +0000

In my years reporting on the intentional narrowing of political vernacular to guarantee specific outcomes, I have encountered no better example of Orwellian newspeak than that which now dominates the conversation about America's drone war. Given that, it's worth reviewing the situation because it is so illustrative of how militarist propaganda operates in the 21st century.

As you know if you've paid attention to recent news, drone war proponents are currently facing inconvenient truths. This month, for instance, they are facing a new United Nations report showing that President Obama's escalation of the Afghanistan War -- which is defined, in part, by an escalation in drone airstrikes -- is killing hundreds of children “due notably to reported lack of precautionary measures and indiscriminate use of force.” They are also facing news that the rise in drone strikes is accompanying a rise in al-Qaida recruits, proving that, in predictable "blowback" fashion, the attacks may be creating more terrorists than they are neutralizing.

Drone-war cheerleaders will no doubt find this news difficult to explain away on the merits. And so many are trying to change the linguistic foundation of the discourse from one rooted in fact to one rooted in a sophistry that narrows the public's perception of available choices.

How do you explain drone killings? With post-Orwellian “Newspeak”

Sat, 09 Feb 2013 17:00:00 +0000

John Brennan’s confirmation hearing on Thursday before the Senate Intelligence Committee struck many observers as a small but significant step in the direction of openness, a chink in the armor of secrecy that the last two presidential administrations have erected around the “war on terror.” Maybe that will turn out to be correct, and the incoming CIA director – the principal architect of President Obama’s drone war, and until recently a defender of rendition and “enhanced interrogation” – will launch a new era of transparency in Langley. While we wait for that, would you like to see this bridge I’ve got for sale in Brooklyn?

Indeed, watching the Brennan hearing, and then struggling through the troubling Justice Department “white paper” spelling out the legal justification for the drone killings of American citizens (which was recently acquired and released by NBC News), left me with quite a different feeling. In large part, this was the feeling that our government’s imperial creep continues uninterrupted, that most people simply don’t care (irrespective of their supposed political views) and that almost everyone involved in this charade, especially those of us in the media who are supposed to serve as the watchdogs, has agreed to ignore the most obvious and glaring questions.

Control of Senate could come down to Maine’s King

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 13:34:00 +0000

WASHINGTON (AP) — Add this to your set of Election Day unknowns: Control of the United States Senate could conceivably come down to an independent candidate from Maine who has resolutely refused to say which party he'd side with if voters send him to Washington.

While it's commonly accepted that Angus King, a former Democrat who supports President Barack Obama, would align with Democrats, he has refused to say. That's generated suspense and, in theory, could translate to power for King if the Senate ends up close to a 50/50 split. If one party wins a decisive majority, King could find himself with less leverage than he hoped.

"It looks like the Democrats may hold the control of the Senate — I'm not ready to concede that, but they may — in which case there ain't going to be no negotiating," said former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss. "He'll go to the Democratic side and take what they give him."

Who wields power after Tuesday's election is all about the math, but the answers may not be immediately clear.

If President Barack Obama wins re-election, he needs 50 Democrats or Democratic-aligned independents to keep control of the Senate. And similarly, Mitt Romney would need 50 Republicans or independents who lean that way if he wins.

Super PACs in sheep’s clothing

Tue, 11 Sep 2012 15:06:00 +0000

One of the oldest dirty tricks in politics is running candidates in your opponent's primary to distract them from the general or even potentially knock them out entirely. The FBI is reportedly investigating Rep. David Rivera for backing a fake Democrat with envelopes stuffed with cash, and Republicans in Wisconsin openly supported “fake Democrats” there in order to give Gov. Scott Walker an edge in the election's timing.

But the rise of super PACs has opened up a new venue for this tactic, allowing operatives to anonymously deploy hundreds of thousands of dollars of ads while deceitfully pretending to be partisans of the other side. In Maine, where liberal-leaning independent former Gov. Angus King is the clear front-runner for an open U.S. Senate seat, a Republican-tied group with the innocuous name Maine Freedom has spent $250,000. But instead of promoting Republican Charlie Summers or using all the money to attack King, the group is boosting Democrat Cynthia Dill. The ads portray Dill positively, calling her “a Democrat you can feel good about.”

Maine’s Angus King still doesn’t want to caucus with anyone

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 18:50:00 +0000

Angus King, the independent candidate for Olympia Snowe's soon-to-be vacated U.S. Senate seat, is not backing off his pledge to not caucus with anyone should Mainers decide to send him to the world's most deliberative body. Here (again via David Nir) is a laudatory editorial from Seacoast Online praising King's independence:

However the election shakes out this fall, it's clear that the majority margin will be razor thin. Into this situation, any party candidate, no matter how reasonable, automatically comes with baggage. "We could send down a combination of Pericles and Thomas Jefferson, and if that person's reporting to (Senate Majority Leader) Harry Reid or (Senate Minority Leader) Mitch McConnell, he's going to be ineffective. Every vote is a test vote. Every vote is party loyalty. We're sunk if it keeps up this way," King said.

He believes, if he heads to Washington truly as an independent and beholden to no one, he may have a chance to break the logjam. Certainly, if five or six senators like him were elected to Washington — which could just happen in 2014 if politicians around the country see that King has been effective — it could end the damaging political impasse.

Maine’s probable next senator doesn’t quite get how “caucusing” works

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 21:55:00 +0000

You know what, Maine? If you're not going to take this "electing U.S. senators" thing seriously, maybe we'll stop letting you have senators. (Ha ha, just kidding, all the states get to have two senators, no matter what, even if they have a population a quarter the size of California's second-largest city, or if they insist on making one of those senators Chuck Schumer.)

Olympia Snowe, the moderate Republican, is leaving the Senate, because the Republicans were probably going to primary her. Former Maine Gov. Angus King has decided to run, which led his friend Chellie Pingree, a Democratic member of Congress, to decide not to run. King is an independent, and a three-way race could've given the seat to a Republican, because in addition to insisting that every state get two senators, most of the United States also refuses to do ranked or instant-runoff voting.

But if King is elected, who will he caucus with? The Democrats, because he endorsed Barack Obama and supports renewable energy? Or the Republicans, because he is an old white guy with a mustache? King says neither. He's just that independent.