Monthly Archives: January 2003

January 29, 2003 — John Hinderaker

I ran across this astonishing

I ran across this astonishing story this morning on NewsMax. A south Florida radio personality named Neil Rogers commissioned and repeatedly played a racist song about Condoleezza Rice; sung to the tune of “Mona Lisa,” it calls Rice a “neo-facist black-haired token schwarze dog” and includes lyrics like “Does they like how you shine their shoes, Condoleezza…But then he make you clean all the White House bathrooms. The public sink, »
January 29, 2003 — John Hinderaker

Here are Gallup’s overnight poll

Here are Gallup’s overnight poll data. Eighty-four per cent of viewers had an overall positive reaction to the speech. By a 67% to 30% margin, viewers thought the President made a convincing case for military action against Iraq. Bear in mind that more Republicans than Democrats watched the speech. »
January 29, 2003 — John Hinderaker

CBS News has poll data

CBS News has poll data after last night’s speech. The speech obviously went over well with viewers; the most significant finding is that support for military action against Iraq rose from 67% to 77% among those who watched the speech, compared to only 22% opposing military action. Andrew Sullivan has posted his reaction to the State of the Union address, which he loved. »
January 29, 2003 — Scott Johnson

Terry Eastland has an outstanding

Terry Eastland has an outstanding evaluation of the president’s State of the Union speech: “Next Stop: War.” Eastland elaborates on several of the strands of the speech in a way that only magnifies respect for the might of the president’s words. I myself have little to add to Rocket Man’s and Eastland’s evaluations of the speech except a point about President Bush himself. Over the past 30 years as I »
January 28, 2003 — Paul Mirengoff

Here is the Washington Post’s

Here is »
January 28, 2003 — Paul Mirengoff

Here, courtesy of the Washington

Here, courtesy of the Washington Post and the blog No Left Turns, is President Bush’s speech. In addition, No Left Turns has collected a few of the key quotations including my favorite by a wide margin — “The course of this nation does not depend on the decisions of others.” »
January 28, 2003 — Paul Mirengoff

Rocket Man, I agree completely

Rocket Man, I agree completely with your assessment of President Bush’s speech. I’ve seen nearly all of the State of the Union addresses since John Kennedy’s first (I missed Clinton’s last two because it got to the point that I couldn’t watch the man). I don’t recall any this good. »
January 28, 2003 — John Hinderaker

This may be as good

This may be as good a time as any to announce an exciting development–a new and improved Power Line site. We started this blog on Memorial Day of last year. I’d heard about blogging, read Andrew Sullivan and InstaPundit, and thought it sounded like fun. It took me less than ten minutes to set up the site on Blogger; the biggest hang-up was the site’s name, which a 13-year-old friend »
January 28, 2003 — John Hinderaker

Another phenomenal performance by President

Another phenomenal performance by President Bush tonight. His evident sincerity and resolve shone through once again; he is his own best weapon. His exposition of the Iraq situation was eloquent and compelling, and should shift the terms of the debate from here on. Even the domestic catalog was better than I expected–generally speaking, everything between tax cuts and foreign policy leaves me pretty much cold. But the African AIDS initiative, »
January 28, 2003 — John Hinderaker

Thanks to reader Curt Benson

Thanks to reader Curt Benson for catching the Trunk and me on the radio this morning. Unfortunately, his reaction is not exactly a rave review: “Ouch! Your interview on the radio this morning was awful.” Wait, it gets a little better: “Not your fault–the host, whom I’ve never listened to before, was clueless.” Yes, she was. She also was the Democratic candidate for Governor of New Hampshire a few years »
January 28, 2003 — Paul Mirengoff

James Robbins of National Review

James Robbins of National Review Online on how Hans Blix hopes to parlay his report, which finds violations that under the Security Council resolution require concerted action against Saddam Hussein, into a mandate for something quite different. It seems that Blix thinks the fine work his outfit has done in uncovering violations merits an expanded role in an endless inspections regime. In his mind, and in the minds of his »
January 28, 2003 — Scott Johnson

Today our friends at the

Today our friends at the Claremont Institute have started their own Web log, The Remedy. For its contributors The Remedy boasts a stable of the best political thinkers and analysts in the country, all students (actual or putative) of the great Harry Jaffa, preeminent authority on the thought of Abraham Lincoln. Please take a look and add The Remedy to your list of favorites. »
January 28, 2003 — John Hinderaker

As expected, Likud has won

As expected, Likud has won a big victory in the Israeli election, and Labor is down to 18 out of 120 seats. »
January 28, 2003 — John Hinderaker

Now that Scott Ritter is

Now that Scott Ritter is out of commission, the left has dug up another former U.N. weapons inspector who, while acknowledging that Iraq undoubtedly possesses weapons of mass destructioin and is trying to fool the U.N., accuses the United States of “shocking double standards” in threatening action against Iraq. »
January 28, 2003 — John Hinderaker

The Associated Press is reporting

The Associated Press is reporting what seems to be a change in the Administration’s plans for the State of the Union speech tonight. Citing an anonymous senior Administration official, AP says that President Bush “will use one or two new pieces of recently unclassified intelligence to outline his case against Iraq” in the speech. The President previewed the speech for a group of conservatives yesterday, and I’m guessing he got »
January 28, 2003 — Paul Mirengoff

Real Clear Politics also directed

Real Clear Politics also directed us to this piece by Stuart Taylor on racial preferences at colleges and universities. Taylor claims that because de facto “resegregation” of state colleges and universities is unacceptable to the “body politic,” the real choice on this issue is between Michigan style preferences and “other strategems,” such as the Texas top ten percent plan, designed to preserve racial diversity. Taylor devotes the remainder of his »
January 28, 2003 — Paul Mirengoff

Courtesy of Real Clear Politics

Courtesy of Real Clear Politics and the New York Post, here is Daniel Pipes on “why Europe balks.” Pipes borrows from an essay in the Weekly Standard by Yale professor David Gelernter, who finds that the former Western Europe, forged by World War II, has been replaced by the Old Europe of post-World War I vintage. Pipes agrees with Gelernter that 1920s-style self-hatred is now a dominant force in Europe, »