Monthly Archives: July 2004

Live-Blogging Kerry’s Speech

Deacon hasn’t appeared yet, so I’m stepping into the breach with a little live-blogging. 9:19 — He will never “mislead us into a war,” and he will appoint an Attorney General who will respect the Constitution. The crowd went even wilder on the Attorney General. 9:21 — What is with that tie?? And those hand motions? He isn’t quite as soporific as he sometimes is, but the gestures make him »

He’s no Al Gore

In my discussion of John Edwards’ speech, I forgot to commend him for declining to mention the tragic death of his son some years back. This piece of good taste goes against the modern grain. We all remember Al Gore’s reference at the 1992 convention to his son’s near-fatal accident, and at the 1996 convention to his sister’s death from lung cancer. In the latter case, Gore claimed that he »

The nagging doubts of a Bush hater

PoliPundit calls our attention to this piece in Esquire by Bush-hater Tom Junod, who asks “what if Bush is right?” Indeed, in his heart Junod seems to know that Bush is right, for he states: “The people who dislike George W. Bush have convinced themselves that opposition to his presidency is the most compelling moral issue of the day. Well, it’s not. The most compelling moral issue of the day »

The Northern Alliance Streams, At Last

Most regular readers know that the Northern Alliance, a loose affiliation of bloggers located in Minnesota, has its own radio show on AM 1280 the Patriot. Until now, our show has been available only in the Twin Cities, every Saturday from 12 to 3 (CST). We are happy to announce that the station’s long-awaited internet stream is now operational, so that future Northern Alliance broadcasts will be available world-wide on »

Inspired by the Edwards speech…

I have a few questions of my own to ask. Where did he pick up that style of speaking? From Andy Rooney? Isn’t it ineffective to make statements over and over again in the form of rhetorical questions? Don’t you run the risk of giving your audience the impression that you think they’re stupid? That they really need your help to understand the depth of your wisdom? Do you think »

The Only Thing They Fear

We don’t link to James Lileks as often as we might, mostly because everyone knows about him and he’s just about always worth reading. Today’s bleat, however, makes a point that is worth repeating in its entirety: I don »

Meanwhile…

…back in the world at large, extremists claiming to represent al Qaeda have declared “a bloody war” on Europe, saying that their first objective will be to topple Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. So now I guess we’ll find out whether the Italian voters are more courageous and steadfast than their Spanish counterparts. Both Saudi Arabia and Pakistan appear to be moving in the direction of creating an all-Muslim military »

Going off the cliff

Last night John Edwards asked his audience a question that I believe he intended to be rhetorical. (Click here for the text of the speech.) Here’s the question: John Kerry and I believe that we shouldn’t have two different economies in this country: one for people who are set for life, they know their kids and their grandkids are going to be just fine, and then one for most Americans, »

John Edwards live

via tape delay: 10:10 Edwards’ wife is speaking. She’s a poor speaker, but her father did serve in the Navy. 10:20 Edwards is speaking. He looks nervous (who can blame him) and not presidential. 10:26 Edwards is speaking about John Kerry’s last good foreign policy decision — turning his river boat around and chasing the Viet Cong. 10:28 Edwards predicts that the Republicans will have the audacity to criticize the »

A Small Part of What’s At Stake

We’ve often referred to the liberal tactic of using the federal judiciary to impose left-wing social and economic policy that could never pass Congress or earn the approval of the American electorate. In that vein, Hugh Hewitt has posted the transcript of his great interview with Kate Michelman, now chairman of the DNC’s “Save the Courts” campaign. It’s fascinating to watch Hugh try to get a straight answer out of »

Some Things, You Just Can’t Resist

Courtesy of Allah Is In the House. »

And on the northern border…

We first wrote about the arrest of Ali Mohamed Almosaleh at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport in “The Mohamed profile.” Almosaleh’s trip had originated in Syria and took him to Amsterdam and Minneapolis via KLM. Almosaleh was arrested in Minneapolis on an immigration violation and found with “disturbing items” in his posssession — a suicide note indicating a specific time and place of attack, CD/DVDs with anti-American materials, and something »

Two Stories and an Anthem

Michelle Malkin noted two important stories today, on each of which I have some additional observations. First, a Muslim convert named Michael Wagner was arrested on Interstate 80 near Council Bluffs, Iowa. In his car, police found “a gun, three bulletproof vests, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, a flight simulator and a bag of flight manuals dating to 2001.” In addition, Wagner had a five-foot telescope attached to camera equipment, »

Meet the new populism,

same as the old class warfare. But not to hear Harold Meyerson tell it. Meyerson claims that the 2004 Democrats have invented a new kind of populism — “populism without heavies.” In this rendition, the Republicans grant tax breaks to the rich, but the rich aren’t bad people because, inspired by the example of Bill Clinton, they don’t want the breaks. So the only heavies are Republican politicians. Meyerson doesn’t »

A question for conservatives

Dean Esmay poses this question to conservatives: If Kerry is elected, will they try to support him if he does the right thing, or will they degenerate into partisan backbiting as Democrats did after 2000? My answer is “both.” We will support him if he does the right thing but attack him in ways that will seem partisan if (when) he does not. For example, if Kerry stays the course »

A bipartisan flake

In the waning moments of last night’s session of the convention, Teresa Heinz Kerry addressed the hall. Kate O’Beirne wonders how her speech went over with the “previously unattentive”: “They would no doubt think that she looks great for 65, but rich people are always better looking than the rest of us. (Well okay, not Teddy.) My guess is that someone might conclude she’s oddly unexpressive and a little strange »

Holy Chaitred

Students of the radical left may remember Robert Borosage. Borosage was at one time the Director of the Institute for Policy Studies, a New Left think tank that seemed faithfully to promote the Soviet Union’s propaganda line on the foreign policy issues of the moment. Rael Jean Isaac and Erich Isaac have a good account of IPS and its offshoots in their 1983 book The Coercive Utopians. IPS came into »