Monthly Archives: May 2005

Media alert

I will be on MSNBC’s “Connected” program to discuss the not so great “compromise.” The show starts at noon eastern daylight time. I’ll probably be on at around 12:20 (Eastern). »

For Once, I Agree With Them

An excerpt from the statement on last night’s “compromise” by Ralph Neas, head of the far-left People for the American Way: The explicit language of the agreement reached tonight by a group of senators rejects the nuclear option, preserves the filibuster and ensures that both political parties will have a say in who is appointed to our highest courts. The agreement embodies the very principle of consultation and consensus that »

My favorite Democrat, part 18

Former Georgia Governor and Senator Zell Miller is my favorite Democrat. I reiterated my case for Senator Miller in part 17 of this long-running series. Now comes Lance McMurray of Red State Rant with the first part (of two) of a multi-blog interview of Senator Miller. Here is Senator Miller on the question of the moment: Beth at My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy: What is your stance on the Democrats’ »

And your Byrd can sing

I doubt that our readers need much commentary on the deal announced last night, and in any event John and Paul have provided everything I need. Last night I kept thinking of the titles of a few Aretha Franklin songs (and one Beatles song) as saying everything I had to say; I trust that you’ll fill out the points and transitions for me. “Break It To Me Gently.” “Don’t Play »

Draw your own conclusion

Check out NRO’s Bench Memos for great coverage of the Deal. From my perspective, here are the two essential facts: (1) as virtually every Republican involved stressed, thr Deal makes sense for the Republicans only if the seven Democrats they worked with can be trusted to act in good faith on President Bush’s current and future nominees and (2)Robert Byrd is the leader of the seven Dems. »

Your Tax Dollars at Work

A headline in today’s Washington Post: “States May Deny Sex Offenders Funds for Viagra.” They must be kidding, you say? Read on: A federal agency began notifying states Monday that they do not have to pay for Viagra for convicted rapists and other high-risk sex offenders. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services acted one day after the New York comptroller’s office said audits from 2000 through March found that »

A Startling Admission

Daniel Okrent is stepping down as “public editor” of the New York Times. He seems like a pretty good guy; after all, he apparently invented rotisserie league fantasy baseball. (My team has tailed off after a red-hot start.) In his farewell column, he itemizes “13 Things I Meant to Write About but Never Did”. The most interesting is number two: Op-Ed columnist Paul Krugman has the disturbing habit of shaping, »

Some deal

Hugh Hewitt wonders whether the deal ending the fight over filibusters is terrible deal, a bad deal, or a very, very marginally ok deal. I vote for “very bad.” The problem lies in the commitment not to support the rule change in this Congress. It probably ensures that the Democrats will continue to block most of the president’s conservative appeals court nominees. President Bush should respond with aggressive recess appointees. »

Disappointing, I’m Afraid

It’s been confirmed that some kind of compromise has been reached which will avoid a vote on the Dems’ filibuster tomorrow. I suppose we should wait to hear the terms before criticizing the deal. But the Dems wouldn’t have compromised if they’d had the votes. What could the Republicans have gained that would make a deal worthwhile? Beats me. It won’t be any easier next time. And, rest assured, there »

The trouble with Cinderella

The legendary jazz clarinetist Artie Shaw died at age 94 this past December 29. Today would have been his ninety-fifth birthday. I didn’t know Shaw’s Swing Era big-band music well enough to say anything intelligent about him on his passing, though I was familiar with The Trouble With Cinderella: An Outline of Identity, his thoughtful, somewhat evasive autobiography. (Which is not to say he didn’t nail the trouble with Cinderella »

Regular service will be resumed momentarily

Mike Moran of MSNBC has a good round-up of how the Newsweek-Koran story and its fall-out are playing in the MSM and the blogosphere. He identifies the following themes: The MSM is wringing hands anew over its squandered credibility; That same MSM sees a »

The Battle Is Joined

It appears that the cloture vote on Justice Priscilla Owen will be held tomorrow. Bill Frist has scheduled an all-night session tonight, presumably to recreate some of the flavor of filibusters of old. Beds have been brought into the Strom Thurmond Room–aptly enough–of the Capitol building: Here is the speech that Frist delivered earlier today: Mr. President, over the last three days, for more than 25 hours, the Senate has »

Meet Shiri Maimon

Rick Richman of Jewish Current Issues writes: Since you guys have been doing stellar work covering beautiful women in international competition, I thought you might be interested in Israel’s better-than-expected showing Sunday in the 40-nation Eurovision Song Contest (and the picture of Israel’s contestant). Rick’s post is “Israel at the Eurovision song contest.” Rick adds that his interest is limited to the portrayal of Israel as a vibrant society that »

Gorgeous George Loses Cage Match

Don’t miss Deacon’s Weekly Standard piece, “Gorgeous George: How a Stalin-admiring Saddam Hussein loyalist wowed the media and won the hearts of the adolescent American left.” Deacon uses his encyclopedic knowledge of 60s-era professional wrestling villains to place the appalling Mr. Galloway in the proper cultural context, and exposes the woeful ignorance of the American liberals who flocked to Galloway’s banner after his appearance before the Subcommittee on Investigations. DEACON »

12 players, 12 fans

At the end of 2004, when I posted my mid-year all-EPL soccer team, the dozen or so readers who follow English soccer responded en masse. Therefore, I’m presenting my end-of-the-end team: Peter Cech-Chelsea John Terry-Chelsea Matthew Upson-Birmingham Ledley King-Tottenham Frank Lampard-Chelsea Steven Gerard-Liverpool Tim Cahill-Everton Stewart Downing-Middlebrough Shaun Wright-Phillips-Manchester City Andrew Johnson-Crystal Palace Thierry Henry-Arsenal Those who prefer a less all-out attacking team should substitute Arsenal’s Ashley Cole for Wright-Phillips. »

Yankee go home

Several readers have asked for my views about the purchase of Manchester United by American Malcolm Glazer and, in particular, on the furor it’s caused in Manchester. I’ve been reluctant to comment because, while I regard the furor as irrational, much of the joy of supporting an English soccer team is the freedom to be irrational. I certainly would not want to defend in rational terms my affection for Duncan »

Newsweek erred, let’s attack the bloggers

Journalism professor Chris Hanson begins his piece in the Washington Post by taking Newsweek to task for its handling of the Koran-gate story. However, he quickly shifts his criticism to conservative blogs, and then implies that Drudge (which he calls a blog of sorts) is the real cause of Newsweek’s error. Hanson’s attempt to portray bloggers’ handling of the Dan Rather and Eason Jordan stories as particularly noteworthy instances of »