Monthly Archives: September 2002

Unlike me, Mark Steyn has

Unlike me, Mark Steyn has not lost his sense of humor watching the Democratic party’s leading political pygmies play the angles in the “debate” over Iraq. In his Chicago Sun-Times column this morning, “Dems Irrelevant on Iraq,” he reviews the musings of each of the party’s leading lights and sums up: “The sight of the Democratic Party wrestling with its conscience is like some old-time carnie freak show: It’s strangely »

Tom Harkin is another politician

Tom Harkin is another politician who “takes full responsibity” for an incident that he would prefer to get out of the news so that we can all “move on” to discuss “the issues.” Rob Borsellino of the Des Moines Register says “Harkin waited too long to talk.” Harkin, the Torch, and Bill Luther all appear to be running the same play out of the Clinton playbook. »

Rocket Man, excellent blog about

Rocket Man, excellent blog about South Dakota politics and the Daschle meltdown. I’d been meaning to ask you what’s going on in your old state, and why it keeps sending people like McGovern, Daschle, and Senator “Arab-League” (or whatever his name was) to Washington. The question is important because it is the upper Midwest that keeps the Republicans from a commanding position in the Senate. When the parties are equal »

Today’s NY Times has a

Today’s NY Times has a story on the memo released yesterday summarizing the federal prosecutors’ evidence against Senator Robert Torricelli, “Support found for claims by Torricelli donor.” The NY Daily News has a reaction piece that does not summarize the memo. Maybe it’s elsewhere in the paper, but I can’t find it. I love the headline: “Ethics flap gettin’ old, saysTorch.” The NY Post’s story is “Torricelli still lying, says »

Bernard Lewis is the dean

Bernard Lewis is the dean of scholars of the Middle East, perhaps the finest ever. His piece on Iraq from Friday’s Wall Street Journal, “Time for Toppling,” is also on OpinionJournal this morning (registration required). »

I don

I don »

Nice history lesson, Deacon. I

Nice history lesson, Deacon. I think you’re right; I’m sure Rocket Prof will let us know if he dissents. Here is the latest on our friend John Kline’s Congressional race. You may remember that the race includes a “dirty tricks” angle–the campaign manager for John’s opponent, incumbent Bill Luther, recruited a long-time DFL activist to file under the banner of the nonexistent “No New Taxes” party in order to siphon »

Al Gore’s speech, and the

Al Gore’s speech, and the excellent critiques thereof by Rocket Man, Michael Kelly, and Charles Krauthammer, got me thinking about whether Gore is merely one of the most slippery politicians of this era or whether, along with Bill Clinton, he surpasses all past generations of American politicians in this regard. There certainly have been many politicians more corrupt than Gore and there have been bigger overall scoundrels (e.g., Aaron Burr). »

I grew up in South

I grew up in South Dakota when George McGovern was in the Senate. I doubt that more than a small minority of South Dakotans had any idea that their Senator was regarded as the most liberal politician in America, the darling of leftists from Hollywood to Manhattan. When he was in South Dakota, all McGovern ever talked about was farm policy. Times have changed, and it is not so easy »

The Harkin plot thickens. This

The Harkin plot thickens. This race was once thought to be competitive, but had turned out not to be. This could put it back into play. »

I have combed the Web

I have combed the Web for a summary of the information contained in the evidentiary memorandum, released today, that Senator Robert Torricelli had sought to suppress, at least until after the election. The only report I can find at this time is from the Bergen Record, but it’s a good one. Is it possible that New Jersey voters would knowingly return this disgusting crook to office? The guy should be »

Today’s NY Times has an

Today’s NY Times has an interesting story by Adam (“big-time”) Clymer on the two competitive races, in Minnesota and Maryland, that we have noted today. It also has good photographs of John Kline and Bill Luther prospecting for votes at a parade in New Prague, Minnesota. »

I live in one of

I live in one of the few congressional districts where there is a competitive race. We are represented by Republican Connie Morella, who lives in my neighborhood. Connie is no John Kline. If she were, she would never have been elected to Congress in our district, where Democrats outnumber Republicans by something like 2-1 and liberals outnumber conservatives by an even larger ratio. Connie nearly always votes with the Democrats »

Last weekend I posted the

Last weekend I posted the story of the Scottish yeshiva student who was murdered in the Tel Aviv suicide bus bombing and whose family donated his kidney to save the life of a six-year-old Palestinian Arab girl. We said that this incident was symbolic of the fact that the war against Israel, like the war against the United States, is a war of barbarism against civilization. Someone here other than »

For a lucid explanation of

For a lucid explanation of why so few congressional districts have competitive races, check out Steve Sailer’s interview with Daniel Polsby. As Polsby points out, the art of the gerrymander is another instance with respect to which the constitutional order has been turned on its head. »

Here is Byron York’s take

Here is Byron York’s take on the Senate Democrats’ ambush of Miguel Estrada, President Bush’s conservative nominee for the federal court of appeals in Washington D.C. As I reported last night, the Dems hit Estrada with allegations that he blocked liberal candidates for judicial clerkships. They did this after first getting Estrada to deny having done so. York expresses the same fear I tried to articulate — that this will »

One of the few competitive

One of the few competitive congressional races in the country is the race of our friend, former Marine Col. John Kline, against incumbent Democrat Bill Luther in Minnesota’s redistricted sixth district. As part of his Marine service John carried the nuclear football for President Reagan and is a great American. The district leans Republican, and Luther therefore resorted to the almost unbelievble tactic of recruiting a bogus “no new taxes” »