Monthly Archives: January 2003

To expand on my point

To expand on my point below, I am not suggesting that the Democrats are balking over regime change in Iraq because they are thinking like lawyers. Rather, I believe they are talking like lawyers because it is the only way they can defend their unprincipled relunctance to support regime change. We know that this reluctance on the part of politicians like Tom Daschle is unprincipled because (a) they took a »

To reinforce Rocket Man’s analysis

To reinforce Rocket Man’s analysis as to why Colin Powell need not do an “Adlai Stevenson” in order to make the case for dealing with Iraq, here is George Will on the subject. There is something quite disturbing about the way the Democrats are analyzing this issue. I’m not sure I can articulate my concern, but it is as if the Dems want to impose common law style restraints on »

Having fluffed one campus civil

Having fluffed one campus civil rights issue — race-based preferences in admissions — President Bush now faces what I would have thought is a more politically difficult one — “gender-equity” in college athletics, as called for by Title IX. Bush established an advisory commission to consider whether colleges should get some relief from the quota system that the Clinton Department of Education sought to enforce, under which a school’s male-female »

Ann Coulter goes after the

Ann Coulter goes after the “War-Torn Democrats.” She quotes John Kerry’s position on the war: “(I)f you have a breach that, by everybody’s standard, at least in the United States, those of us in the House and Senate, and the president, join together and make a judgment, this is indeed a material breach, and then others — some of them can’t be persuaded — if we have evidence, sufficient to »

I am reporting live from

I am reporting live from the thirtieth annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington which I am attending with Little Trunk. This morning before the conference formally convened we had the pleasure of meeting the proprietors of the invaluabe Web site RealClearPolitics, Tom Bevan and John McIntyre. They couldn’t have been nicer. The conference kicked off in glorious style with a keynote speech by Vice President Cheney. The vice president »

The Daily News claims to

The Daily News claims to have obtained a classified document indicating that Iraqi operatives from Canada were involved in the recent anti-war demonstrations in Washington and New York. The same document suggests that Islamofascists in Zimbabwe who linked to al Qaeda are planning attacks on American interests in the event of war with Iraq. While I wouldn’t doubt some Iraqi presence in the recent anti-war demonstrations, I would think they »

And on a happier note,

And on a happier note, don’t miss “Europe and America Must Stand United”, by the leaders of Great Britain, Spain, Denmark, Portugal, Italy, Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland: “We in Europe have a relationship with the United States which has stood the test of time. Thanks in large part to American bravery, generosity and far-sightedness, Europe was set free from the two forms of tyranny that devastated our continent in »

Check out “The French: Why

Check out “The French: Why do they hate us?” by Chris Suellentrop in Slate. Suellentrop reminds us that the French have been contrary on Iraq for a while, quoting Clinton State Department spokesman James Rubin in 1999: “We do find it puzzling and passing strange that France would spend so much energy and focus so much attention on the danger to them of a strong United States rather than the »

It was reported a couple

It was reported a couple of weeks ago that Norm Coleman was one of a group of eleven Democratic and Republican Senators (Olympia Snowe, the Missing Linc, et al.) who were meeting to develop a tax cut plan that would be an alternative to the Bush proposal. This “moderate” proposal would not have included dividend tax relief. This article is from a California newspaper, but the same report appeared in »

Get your Axis of

Get your Axis of Weasels merchandise here. Shirts, coffee mugs, lunch boxes, picture frames and–no kidding–thong panties. (Via Tim Blair.) »

Oregon, like many states faced

Oregon, like many states faced with budget deficits, took a novel approach when its legislature was unable to decide whether to raise taxes or cut spending: it left the choice to the voters, via a referendum. The alternatives in the referendum were a three-year tax increases and pre-identified spending cuts. The spending cuts were apparently selected to discourage people from voting for them: “halting medical benefits to 12,000 elderly or »

The Washington Times colllects poll

The Washington Times colllects poll data on the State of the Union speech in this article, “Bush’s speech resonates with public, polls show.” We had most but not quite all of these data in Power Line yesterday. Most interesting to me is that the audience for the President’s speech is estimated at 62 million, up, surprisingly, from 52 million last year. »

Rocket Man, you are largely

Rocket Man, you are largely correct that the American media have failed to acknowledge the extent of European support for our policy on Iraq. Here is an exception, though — a column in the Washington Post by Anne Applebaum. She lists the same countries cited by the Daily Telegraph as supporting President Bush. She also notes that these are all countries that have undergone, or are undergoing, economic liberalization, privatization, »

I don’t know, maybe I

I don’t know, maybe I missed it, but I don’t think the American media have acknowledged the extent to which European countries support the U.S. on Iraq, as reported by the Daily Telegraph:”Europe split as leaders back US on Iraq.” The Telegraph says: “The split in Europe over America’s readiness to go to war against Iraq deepened last night when leaders of seven European nations joined Tony Blair in calling »

The Administration has pointed out

The Administration has pointed out that Iraq is in line to take over as Chairman of the United Nations Conference on Disarmament in May. Someone please remind me why we need permission from these people to defend ourselves. »

The Associated Press headlines “U.S.

The Associated Press headlines “U.S. Fails to Sway Allies on Iraq” , referring to today’s 11 to 4 vote in the U.N. Security Council to allow more time for weapons inspections in Iraq. The AP notes that “neither the largely negative reports from weapons inspectors this week nor Bush’s address altered the positions of some of America’s key allies, including France.” Putting aside for the moment the absurd claim that »

Here, from National Review Online,

Here, from National Review Online, is an analysis by Meyrav Wurmser of why Israel’s left suffered such a crushing defeat in Tuesday’s elections. The rival Likud party was rocked by financial scandals and had presided over a weak economy while experiencing only mixed success in combatting terrorism. Nonetheless, Labor suffered a defeat so resounding that, for now at least, it is difficult to view Israeli politics as a two-party system. »