Monthly Archives: June 2004

June 21, 2004 — Scott Johnson

The perils of Air America

The Wall Street Journal has an interesting page-one story by Julia Angwin and Sarah McBride on Air America: “Inside Air America’s troubles: Optimism and shaky finances.” The story has several interesting angles. Corporate misconduct of the traditional variety abounds. Comic potential lurks in the scene of Al Franken looking for evidence that his $1 million salary is being paid: As the network’s star, Mr. Franken had negotiated a pay package »
June 21, 2004 — Scott Johnson

The connection to page A9

This morning’s Washington Times features 9/11 Commission member John Lehman’s disclosure on Meet the Cuomo Aide yesterday that a senior officer in Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s security services was a member of the terrorist group that committed the September 11 attacks: “Iraqi officer in al Qaeda, papers show.” Lehman did not identify the officer by name, but faithful readers of Power Line know that he is Ahmed Shakir, as discussed »
June 21, 2004 — Scott Johnson

The lemmings in Harvard Square

The weekend before last Mrs. Trunk attended the Harvard graduation ceremony in connection with our nephew’s graduation from the college. Kofi Annan gave the commencement address and Mrs. Trunk found that it caused pain in excess of her pain threshold; she walked out on it. Alan Bromley, however, suffered through it on behalf of his daughter and writes about it for OpinionJournal this morning. Now I wish I had attended »
June 20, 2004 — Scott Johnson

When I’m 62

We misssed Paul McCartney’s birthday this past Friday when he turned 62. Today Brian Wilson turns 62 as well. Below are the brief notices we posted in their honor last year. As an addled teenager, I studied political philosophy at the feet of John Lennon. But the team of Lennon/McCartney — as singers, songwriters, and instinctive harmonists — was the organic entity that made the Beatles. We celebrate Paul McCartney’s »
June 20, 2004 — Scott Johnson

My lie

Mark Steyn meditates hilariously on the publication of Clinton’s memoirs: “Clinton has ‘heat’ — but it’s the Democrats who are getting burnt.” »
June 20, 2004 — John Hinderaker

The Post Says the Glass Is Completely Empty

The Washington Post’s current contribution to the Kerry campaign is a mega-series on the occupation of Iraq. The first installment, titled “Mistakes Loom Large as Handover Nears,” appeared this morning. Despite its great length, today’s article manages the astonishing feat of reviewing the postwar occupation of Iraq without mentioning a single positive development. Not one. Based entirely on anonymous sources, the article chronicles an unrelieved series of misjudgments, errors and »
June 20, 2004 — Scott Johnson

Hallelujah: A sestina

A sestina is a thirty-nine line poem in seven stanzas. The first six stanzas must be six lines long followed by a seventh three-line stanza. The end words of the six lines of the first stanza must be repeated in a prescribed order at the end of each line of the six succeeding stanzas. The difficulty of the form explains why there are not many sestinas in the body of »
June 19, 2004 — John Hinderaker

Not All Democrats Have Gone Crazy

Almost, but not quite all. This speech by Joe Lieberman on Iraq and the war against Islamofascism is excellent. President Bush isn’t going to drop Dick Cheney from the ticket, nor should he, in my opinion. But it occurs to me that a Bush-Lieberman ticket would make a great deal more sense than a Kerry-McCain ticket. Courtesy of InstaPundit. »
June 19, 2004 — John Hinderaker

This Is Good

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is likely the most dangerous terrorist in the world today. Which explains why the U.S. launched an early-morning attack on a hideout in Fallujah that, according to Gen. Mark Kimmitt, was believed to house “a significant number of people in the Zarqawi network.” Let’s hope they killed as many as possible. So far there is no suggestion that Zarqawi himself might be among the dead, but the »
June 19, 2004 — Scott Johnson

Two footnotes on the connection

Laurie Mylroie has alerted us via her Iraq Newsletter to two items of interest regarding this week’s 9/11 Commission report. Given the tendentious nature of the report, I’ve been interested in the identity of the staffer(s) responsible for the report. Mylroie has circulated Frank Gaffney’s column on the report. Gaffney notes: [T]he staff member who reported to 9/11 Commission members yesterday that there was no »
June 19, 2004 — Paul Mirengoff

Love it and leave it

Some of our older readers may remember the feminist Germaine Greer (for readers who don’t know about her, it’s not worth trying to explain, although Rocket Man is invited to find some pictures). Anyway, Tim Blair has a nice post on Greer’s latest lament about her beloved but “tormented” Australia. »
June 19, 2004 — Paul Mirengoff

There’s only one Wayne Rooney

Rocket Man’s reference below to soccer is all the invitation I need to talk about the European Championship tournament being played in Portugal. My team is England, and supporting England is a little like supporting my club side, Everton. Actually it’s not that bad. England often gives a good account of itself. Nonetheless, the last time England won a major competition was in 1966 when it won the World Cup »
June 19, 2004 — Paul Mirengoff

A major moment

Bill Kristol believes that John Kerry’s reaction to the 9/11 commission’s report (or, more precisely, the media characterization of the report) represents a major moment in the presidential campaign. Says Kristol, “until last week, [Kerry had] been running a disciplined general election campaign, carefully suppressing his left-leaning foreign policy instincts, soberly emphasizing his commitment to fighting the war on terror and to seeing through the effort in Iraq. Then he »
June 19, 2004 — Scott Johnson

Bummer at the office?

The AP reports that Phil Jackson won’t be returning to coach the Los Angeles Lakers next season: “Phil Jackson finished as Lakers coach.” Jackson’s phenomenal coaching record of nine NBA championships ties that of Red Auerbach; he missed the chance to surpass Auerbach when the Pistons stomped the Lakers in the championship series that concluded earlier this week. Jackson seems to have been fired by the Lakers owner, Dr. Jerry »
June 19, 2004 — John Hinderaker

Another Disgrace at the New York Times

This morning’s lead editorial in the New York Times is another vicious attack on the Bush administration, titled “Show Us the Proof.” The theme of the editorial is that President Bush and Vice-President Cheney are lying when they insist that there were ties between Saddam Hussein’s government and al Qaeda. The editorial begins: When the commission studying the 9/11 terrorist attacks refuted the Bush administration’s claims of a connection between »
June 19, 2004 — Scott Johnson

The connection…to the Kerry campaign

In the cover story of the Weekly Standard out today Stephen Hayes responds to this week’s 9/11 Commission report and scrupulously restates the evidence supporting the existence of a connection between al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein: “There they go again.” Hayes does not offer any information regarding Commission staff or how the Commission and its staff have made themselves an arm of the campaign against President Bush. »
June 19, 2004 — John Hinderaker

Harris Poll Shows Bush Up By Ten

Real Clear Politics linked to this Harris Poll that came out yesterday. For some reason, it hasn’t gotten much attention. But, based on telephone interviews conducted between June 8 and June 15, the Harris poll shows President Bush with a ten-point lead over John Kerry among likely voters. The poll may be an outlier, and it may reflect a bounce from President Reagan’s funeral. It also has a modest-sized sample »