Monthly Archives: July 2004

New York, New York

I’ll be attending the Republican convention next month on behalf of Power Line. The party selected twenty bloggers, I believe, to receive press credentials. Defying the law of averages, two of the twenty–Captain Ed and I–are not only from the same state, but are on the same radio show. I’m looking forward to the convention, and will try hard to come up with some original reporting. Some have complained that »

The flubber bounce

Drudge has flagged the Newsweek report of a widening Kerry lead over Bush — “a four point bounce” — during the last two nights of the convention. Like the ABC News/Washington Post poll we took note of earlier this week in “Beyond registered voters,” however, the Newsweek poll surveys “1,010 adults aged 18 and older July 29 and July 30 by telephone. The margin of error is plus or minus »

Bounce? What Bounce?

The Rasmussen Presidential Tracking Poll has suggested a modest convention bounce for John Kerry. The candidates have been more or less tied for a long time, with the lead going back and forth within three points either way. For the last three days, Rasmussen has shown Kerry with a three-point lead, which could be considered a slight bounce, since the candidates were tied going in. On the other hand, you »

An “old ad man” looks at the convention

My conservative cousin from New York used to be the marketing manager for a major corporation. He has also watched every national political convention since 1952. Here what he wrote me about last week’s show: “If the pollsters are to be believed this election will be decided by a handful of people with at best marginal interests in current events residing in a few states. Given that dynamic here’s an »

The Stream–It Works!

With some trepidation, I tuned in to the Patriot’s internet stream to see whether it’s really working. It is! I’m listening to David Strom’s “Taxpayers’ League Live” show; it’s coming through great. Tune in to our Northern Alliance show from 12 to 3 today, Central time. The link on the left will take you straight to the media player for the show. Give it a minute to load. Caution: it »

International Bill

Our friends at RealClearPolitics have performed the service of collecting links to all the major speeches given at the Democratic convention just concluded in Boston. Exceeding my usual threshold for pain by a substantial margin, I have reread the texts of the speeches of Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Teresa Heinz Kerry, John Edward and John Kerry. Reading these speeches in tandem one can observe the thematic unity imposed »

The Wrong War

Amir Taheri has an excellent dissection of John Kerry’s acceptance speech, as it relates to the current war, in today’s New York Post. An excerpt: One of the things the Americans need to do in the war against terrorism is to unlearn the lessons of Vietnam. Kerry’s speech was dominated by one powerful image: that of himself in “that gunboat in the Mekong delta.” But that was the image of »

A few good men

The New York Post reports that the Kedwards “Believe in America” tour debuted inauspiciously at Wendy’s in Scranton yesterday: “Dems’ marine misfire.” The Post reports: John Kerry’s heavily hyped cross-country bus tour stumbled out of the blocks yesterday, as a group of Marines publicly dissed the Vietnam War hero in the middle of a crowded restaurant. Kerry was treating running mate Sen. John Edwards and his wife, Elizabeth, to a »

A promise Kerry will probably keep, unfortunately

One of Kerry’s key campaign promises is to obtain increased foreign support for our efforts in Iraq. The first reaction of most Republicans is to assume that this is just another example of over-promising. After all, we remember that before the war President Bush tried for months to enlist the French and Germans and made a number of concessions towards that end. Since the war he has actually made inroads »

More Moore Lies

The many lies contained in Michael Moore’s contemptible Fahrenheit 9/11 have been well documented. Here’s another one: The [Bloomington, Ill.] Pantagraph newspaper in central Illinois has sent a letter to[Michael] Moore and his production company, Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., asking Moore to apologize for using what the newspaper says was a doctored front page in the film, the paper reported Friday. It also is seeking compensatory damages of $1. A »

What’s Going On?

In what must have been a surreal moment, Jay Leno got Michael Moore to stand up and lead the audience in singing “America the Beautiful:” We know what Michael Moore, the intellectual leader of the Democratic Party, thinks about America. It isn’t beautiful. But when Leno asked him to sing the song, Moore stood up and pretended to be a patriot. What Moore really thinks is better exemplified by this »

Hugh plugs the stream

On his show a few moments ago our radio hero Hugh Hewitt promoted the advent of live streaming of our Northern Alliance Radio Network show tomorrow at noon CDT. You should be able to link to the live stream by clicking on the Northern Alliance logo to the left. Please give us your reaction to the show if you are able to listen to it online tomorrow. »

The Titanic sails at dawn

In “Desolation Row,” Bob Dylan sings: The circus is in town Here comes the blind commissioner They’ve got him in a trance One hand is tied to the tight-rope walker The other is in his pants And the riot squad they’re restless They need somewhere to go As Lady and I look out tonight From Desolation Row. And how’s this for a description of the reinvention convention? Yes, I know »

Bush’s stump speech

Having watched much of the Democratic convention (my sense of obligation to our readers is boundless), it’s pretty clear what that party’s message is — on the domestic side, we’ll take from the well-to-do and give to everyone else; on the foreign side, we’ll be just as tough as Bush but smarter and more honest, with more allies; on values, see the domestic message. For those wondering what the Republican »

In a small victory for homeland security

the U.S. government has denied entry to Everton soccer legend (Drunken) Duncan Ferguson. Years ago, when he was playing in Scotland, Ferguson seriously injured an opposing player in an on-the-field clash. The government decided to prosecute Big Dunc and he served several months in a Glasgow prison. At about that time, Everton purchased him. Evertonians started corresponding with him in jail. In the words of his coach, he was an »

Kerry versus Kerry

Kate O’Beirne’s midnight take on John Kerry’s speech seems to me to capture the essence of it: For a guy teeming with integrity, that was one dishonest speech. After accusing George Bush of “misleading” us into a war because he wanted to fight a war, that he fought “on the cheap,” and of presiding over venal, lawless officials, and kicking kids out of after school programs to give Enron another »

A case study

Rocket Man is doing a helluva job live blogging John Kerry’s acceptance speech, but even he can’t keep up with Kerry’s rapid-fire demagogy tonight. I just heard Kerry peddle in passing a version of the the bake sales for body armor canard that Al Gore shouted out in his rant before MoveOn.org. This is one canard that Little Trunk debunked earlier this month: “Where’s the yeast?” John Edwards must have »