Monthly Archives: July 2004

Say goodnight, Howard

At the 1960 Republican convention, Barry Goldwater gave a rousing conservative oration that launched his successful campaign for the 1964 nomination. Ronald Reagan repeated this feat in 1976 when Gerald Ford, who had narrowly defeated Reagan for the nomination, called him to the stage to say a few words. Tonight was Howard Dean’s opportunity to play the bloodied but unbowed ideological hero. The stage was set when he received a »

Curb your hatred

Our friend Bruce Sanborn reminds us that a few months ago, when Bush’s military record was hot news, Larry David, a Democrat-friend-of-Bill, gave a speech praising Bush for doing as he, David, did — avoid Vietnam and enjoy the Army Reserves. Bruce notes that Clinton’s speech last night echoed David’s theme, distinguishing Kerry’s willingness to enlist from Clinton’s own behavior, as well, of course, as that of Bush and Cheney. »

The man who would be king-maker

Back when Rocket Man and I were debating for Dartmouth, the debate coach at rival Boston College was none other than Robert Shrum. Shrum, who had been a superstar debater at Georetown, was an outstanding coach and seemed like a pretty good guy, although I didn’t know him well. I still recall hearing, during early 1971, that Shrum was leaving BC to write speeches for John Lindsay, the worst New »

Arrogance Plus Stupidity=NYT

R.W. (“Johnny”) Apple, Jr., Associate Editor of the New York Times, is arrogant, dull-witted and hard-left even by the lofty standards of the Times. Consider this Q and A exchange between Apple and a Times reader: Q. Why hasn’t any Democrat reiterated F.D.R.’s “nothing to fear but fear” quote to neutralize the Republicans’ apparently successful strategy of fear-mongering? The president has said over and over that his first priority is »

Close Encounters of the Lefty Kind

I just returned from driving my brother and his sons to the airport. When we dropped them off, we parked behind a car that had three bumper stickers across the back: “Howard Dean,” “Wellstone!” and “What Would Wellstone Do?” (Actually, I think that is sort of a useful question. Any time you can figure out what Paul Wellstone would have done, it’s safe to assume you should do the exact »

Beyond registered voters

I’m of course happy to see in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll that President Bush seems to have reversed John Kerry’s momentum during a period in which Kerry should have been padding his lead: “High stakes convention.” I’m not particularly keen on this kind of horse-race poll so far in advance of the election. However, I haven’t seen anyone point out this poll’s methodology: This ABC News/Washington Post poll »

USA Today lies about yesterday

USA Today’s print edition headline proclaims, “Democrats focus on future.” But during the two plus hours of the convention I watched last night, including all three major speeches, there was precious little said about the future. Gore focused on 2000. Carter focused on the period immediately following 9/11. Clinton covered his years in office, the post 9/11 “fall from grace,” and the timeless philosophical differences between the two parties. All »

Three questions

Over at NRO our friend Steve Hayward writes that Jimmy Carter left one question unanswered last night: “What does Amy think about the war on terrorism?” And over at No Left Turns Steve wonders: “[D]id he forget to take all the marbles out of his mouth?” NRO’s Kerry Spot quotes Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman on last night’s festivities asking a question some variation of which an enterprising reporter might want »

Shoving back

The editorial page editor of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review is the gentleman who had the honor of receiving Teresa Heinz Kerry’s personal instruction in civility yesterday. Today NRO has posted an interview with him: “She’s got ‘the look.'” »

Governator, “Girlie Men” Agree on Budget

Governor Schwarzenegger and Democratic legislators announced agreement on a new budget last night. The Governator put a positive face on the deal, saying: “I’m a very happy governor today because we just have agreed on a budget. It’s a budget that California needs and that the people of California deserve.” In fact, though, it appears from this report that Schwarzenegger ultimately gave in on all of the issues that remained »

Report Clears Army of Prisoner Abuse

We’re a few days late with this one, but Dafydd ab Hugh’s analysis of the U.S. Army’s report on prisoner abuse that was released last week is worth passing on: The Army has released the findings of its report on all confirmed or alleged cases of prisoner abuse in Iraq, Afghanistan, and in the war on terror in general. The “shock” headline (for the mathematically challenged) is “U.S. Reports 94 »

Meanwhile, Back at the Economy…

Consumer confidence rose for the fourth straight month in July, beyond the expectations of most economists. A couple of years ago, the conventional wisdom was that numbers like these would guarantee President Bush’s re-election. The Democrats were telling everyone that the economy would be the decisive issue. But that was before Iraq, and Iraq changed everything. Now consumer confidence is a footnote. More about that later. »

The spike

FrontPage has posted Ann Coulter’s spiked USA Today column that previewed the Democratic convention festivities: “Put the speakers in a cage.” Coincidentally, the Standard Online has posted Jonathan Last’s report on last night’s events, and it seems to bear out some of Coulter’s more outrageous observations: “Carnival of losers.” Last reports that after slobbering his way through his speech last night, Jimmy Carter took a seat next to Michael Moore. »

Illegal alien angel band

The invaluable Michelle Malkin first reported the almost unbelievable fact that 13 of the 14 Syrian musicians questioned by federal authorities off of Annie Jacobsen’s terror flight were traveling on expired visas. Now the Washington Times confirms it an extremely disturbing story: “Syrians flew with expired visas.” UPDATE: See also Heather Wilhelm’s “Mother of a martyr.” (Courtesy of Michelle Malkin’s “The Syrian band playlist.”) »

More from Boston

After Carter’s speech, I took a much needed break. I missed what apparently was a stirring testimonial from one of Kerry’s Vietnam comrades, an African-American preacher. No worry, though, I still have our first African-American president and his preachy first lady to look forward to. 10:25 Bill Richardson introduces Hillary as a strong voice for our military. And she is, for a Democrat. 10:28 Hillary has lots of presence, but »

Live from Boston (sort of)

Live blogging seems to be beyond my technical capability, but here’s some fake live blogging of the Democratic convention: 8:10 Gore is introduced to the tune of the Tennessee Waltz. We’re going to hear a lot about Florida, but the song reminds us that Gore couldn’t carry his home state. 8:11 The first words out of Gore’s mouth refer to his failed candidacy. 8:14 More sour grapes. Gore doesn’t want »

More mush from the wimp

I’m listening to Jimmy Carter excoriate George Bush at the Democratic convention in the same terms he excoriated Gerald Ford in the 1976 campaign. But for the fact that Carter is slurring his speech and slobbering like he’s a stroke victim, I’m feeling 30 years younger. What are Carter’s credentials to render judgment on the foreign policy of the Bush administration? Those of us who lived as adults through the »