Monthly Archives: September 2002

The Coleman-Wellstone race is heating

The Coleman-Wellstone race is heating up. Coleman has been under intense pressure to be more aggressive and has hired a new ad agency. I assume this is the result. The Minneapolis Star Tribune’s account is naturally favorable to Wellstone; I haven’t seen the ads and can’t comment on their likely effect. The basic question is, if the campaign stays aggressive and both candidates’ negative perceptions are driven up, who benefits? »

Our friends at the invaluable

Our friends at the invaluable RealClearPolitics site have posted a terrific column by a Houston Chronicle columnist I had not heard of before, a gentleman evocatively named Cragg Hines. In his column today on the German election, “We’ve done it before, could do it again,” Mr. Hines eloquenty expresses his righteous indignation at those whom he calls “our good friends” in Germany. »

It is extremely gratifying to

It is extremely gratifying to read a published assessment of Al Gore’s recent speech that does some kind of justice to Gore and to the speech. The Seattle Times headlines Michael Kelly’s column today “A despicable speech from a contemptible man,” allowing even me to figure out what the subject of the column is. Wonderful! The Boston Herald’s editorial on Gore’s speech, “Al Gore mouths off unhelpfully on Iraq,” makes »

This isn’t a parody. Really.

This isn’t a parody. Really. »

Several days ago, I noted

Several days ago, I noted that Maryland gubernatorial candidate Kathleen Kennedy Townsend had been forced to fire a consultant who vowed to portray her Republican opponent Bob Ehrlich as a “Nazi” to black voters. I predicted that, while the consultant would go, the tactic would stay. It turns out that I may have been wrong on the first count. If the consultant is to be believed (a big “if” to »

Fareed Zakaria expands on one

Fareed Zakaria expands on one of the points made by Charles Krauthammer in an article I posted a few days ago, namely that “France and Russia have turned the United Nations into a stage from which to pursue naked self-interest.” However, my quarrel with France and Russia is not that they view the United Nations this way. Any rational nation will treat the U.N. as a means to pursue its »

In New Hampshire, the most

In New Hampshire, the most recent poll data show Rep. Sununu with a surprising (to me, anyway) nine-point lead over Governor Shaheen. »

In one of this year’s

In one of this year’s most closely watched Senate campaigns, Norm Coleman has opened up a six-point lead over Paul Wellstone, according to the latest MSNBC/Zogby poll. This is despite being badly outspent, so far, and despite a media campaign that nearly everyone considers lackluster. I was initially pessimistic about this race, and still am to some extent. But the race is mostly about Wellstone, not Coleman. If these latest »

For those interested in more

For those interested in more on Gore, here is Andrew Sullivan’s harsh but entirely fair assessment. He also relates Gore’s speech to the David Brooks column we linked to a day or two ago. »

Here is a link to

Here is a link to the complete dossier on Saddam Hussein that Tony Blair released this morning. »

The ongoing debate over Iraq

The ongoing debate over Iraq has highlighted serious questions about the legitimacy of the United Nations as an institution. I have wondered why so few conservatives have sought to revisit underlying issues regarding the UN including the most basic one, the political theory of world government. The UN is the product of a kind of utopian liberal internationalism that seeks to transcend the nation and to produce the homogenous universal »

The article by David Brooks

The article by David Brooks that Rocket Man posted earlier today is well worth reading. I was particularly taken with Brooks’ observation that President Bush’s liberal critics are “playing culture war” and not really “arguing about Iraq.” Ever since Trunk posted articles by Mark Helprin and Angelo Codevilla denouncing Bush’s efforts against terrorism as a “failure” and a “phony,” I have been thinking that some conservatives too are having trouble »

Rocket Man, discrimination against whites

Rocket Man, discrimination against whites males is indeed illegal. Taylor’s brief discussion of the limited circumstances under which an employer can defend such discrimination based on an alleged need to assist minorities is accurate. Based on Taylor’s article and an article that I posted a few weeks ago by Terry Eastland, it sounds like this lawsuit has a good chance of succeeding. If the case is as strong as it »

Bret Stephens, a brilliant columnist

Bret Stephens, a brilliant columnist who writes for the Jerusalem Post, assesses the position of Germany and Gerhard Schroeder following the election. He notes that Schroeder was endorsed by the Al-Iqtisadi newspaper in Baghdad and by neo-Nazi Franz Schoenhuber–not “exactly the endorsements…Schroeder was looking for.” More fundamentally, Schroeder and his government are in the deep freeze as far as America and its more reliable allies, like Italy, are concerned. Worst »

On a wholly different topic,

On a wholly different topic, Stuart Taylor writes about a class action suit filed by Dennis Worth against HUD and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of white men, alleging race and sex discrimination. It is an interesting story, and the statistics are mind-boggling: 42 out of 43 people hired or promoted in Worth’s division were either African-American or women. I find the claim of discrimination highly plausible–all of »

Thanks, Trunk. If anyone is

Thanks, Trunk. If anyone is hungry for more, VodkaPundit offers a less tolerant assessment of Gore’s speech. »

Rocket Man has said everything

Rocket Man has said everything important that needs to be said about Gore’s speech, including Gore’s obliviousness to any consideration but politics in saying what he said. But I find the political calculation here unfathomable. First, as Rocket Man has noted, the Democrats lose ground so long as Iraq remains the focus of public discussion. Second, Gore made himself a viable national candidate by voting in favor of the 1991 »