Monthly Archives: October 2005

Defending the Solomon Amendment

Yesterday, as Washington waited breathlessly for Patrick Fitzgerald’s news conference, I attended the monthly luncheon of the Washington Chapter of the Federalist Society. The speaker was Daniel Polsby, Dean of George Mason Law School. Dean Polsby, as entertaining a speaker as you’ll ever hear, is one of the authors of an amicus brief in a Supreme Court case that will test the constitutionality of the Solomon Amendment. The Solomon Amendment »

Fact-Checking the New York Times

Barak writes to note that »

I Couldn’t Help Wondering

Having now read fifteen or twenty news stories about what a devastating blow the Lewis Libby indictment was to the administration, about how President Bush is “reeling” and the administration is “in turmoil,” even “in crisis,” and how Libby was a key and irreplaceable figure in the administration, whose departure is a serious blow because he played such a vital role, I couldn’t help wondering: does anyone remember who Al »

A chump at Yad Vashem

Peter Schramm of No Left Turns directs us to this Steyn-like Haaretz column on the visit of the French Foreign Minister to Yad Vashem last month: “In defense of the doc.” Michael Fox relates the story here with great touch. (Peter credits Oxblog with the catch.) »

Terror Attacks In India

Multiple explosions in New Delhi have killed at least 33 people. Indian authorities say that the group responsible has not yet been identified, but the bombings are presumed to be the work of Islamic terrorists. Liberals often argue that the Islamists’ hatred of Christians is explained by policies of the American government, and, likewise, their hatred of Jews has its origins in Israel’s purported misdeeds. It is always worth remembering »

Rebels without a clue

Thanks to our friends at the Claremont Institute and the Claremont Review of Books for affording us the privilege of rolling out a few of my favorite pieces from the new Fall issue. Subscriptions to the CRB are only $14.95 a year; subscribe here. We’ve enjoyed William Voegeli’s essays in the CRB on the Democratic Party’s inability to define itself (“The endless party”) and on Social Security’s failure (“False security”). »

Ceding the debate

The new issue of the Weekly Standard makes the Libby case its cover story and the article by Stephen Hayes its centerpiece: “A spooked White House.” Key paragraph: [I]n one very important sense, the critics are right to assert a connection between the case for war in Iraq and the Fitzgerald inquiry. It is this: For the better part of two years, as the case grew from a routine Justice »

What the Times left out

Major E.’s message below reminds me. Don’t miss Michelle Malkin’s devastating indictment: “Cpl. Jeffrey B. Starr: What the NYTimes left out.” »

A word from Major E.

Major E. has been our faithful correspondent from Camp Victory in Baghdad. This month Major E. commenced serving stateside after serving in theater from January through September; he expects to return to Iraq in the next few months. Earlier this week Major E. commented on the bombing of the Palestine Hotel in a message he headed “Bombs in Baghdad–Spectacularly ineffective.” This morning he follows up on “Bombs in Baghdad” with »

The H word

E.J. Dionne looks at the Miers near-fiasco and discerns, you guessed it, “hypocrisy.” But, for once, Dionne is not completely wide of the mark. In some respects, though, he fires blanks. For example, he recycles the hypocrisy charge in connection with the Bush v. Gore decision in 2000, stating that “conservatives who had long insisted on deference to states’ rights put those commitments aside when doing so would advance the »

From what I’m hearing,

top conservative lawyers here in Washington are optimistic that President Bush will nominate a solid conservative judge with a track record, and accept the fight this will bring. The name I hear most is Samuel Alito of the Third Circuit. If Bush wants to pick a solid conservative whose confirmation fight will be less bloody, along the lines of John Roberts, his options are quite limited. Ted Olson’s name is »

Indictment Paints Grim Picture, But Only for Libby

As has been rumored, prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald and his grand jury have indicted Scooter Libby for perjury, making false statements to an FBI investigator, and obstruction of justice. You can read the indictment here. As to Libby, the indictment is devastating. If the facts alleged are true–and they are evidently based on the testimony of a considerable number of witnesses–they can’t be chalked up to inadvertence, misstatement or differing recollections. »

The indictment

looks strong on its face, and the offenses alleged are serious ones. However, Libby is innocent until Fitzgerald proves otherwise, and we have not yet heard Libby’s side of the story. The impression one gets from reading the indictment is that there was massive cooperation on the part of administration employees and officials. This looks like the anti-Watergate — a president ordering everyone to cooperate and the absence of any »

The latest from Virginia

Yesterday, I noted that the race for Governor of Virginia has been a statistical dead-heat for several months, but with Republican Jerry Kilgore consistently a few points “ahead” of Democrat Tim Kaine in the polls. However, the latest Rasmussen poll shows Kaine two points up on Kilgore, still within the margin of error. The breakdown is Kaine 46 percent, Kilgore 44 percent, Potts 4 percent. Potts is a break-away Republican. »

Wrapping Up the Miers Nomination

John Podhoretz has an excellent post mortem on the Harriet Miers nomination, and recounts how it fell apart over the course of the week. I disagree only with respect to Podhoretz’s statement that Miers was unqualified for the Court; I think she was qualified, by historical standards, but lacked the overwhelming stature and qualifications of someone like John Roberts. But that’s behind us now. Pod’s post mortem is a good »

More Good Economic News

The economy surged in the third quarter, growing at a 3.8% rate, better than economists had predicted: Growth in the third quarter was broad-based, reflecting brisk spending by consumers, businesses and government. The expansion in gross domestic product in the July-to-September quarter, the strongest since the beginning of the year, also exceeded many analysts’ expectations. Before the report was released, they were forecasting the economy to clock in at a »

Vote Early, Vote Often

Charmaine Yoest is running a poll on who should be the next Supreme Court nominee. My personal favorite is Judge Michael McConnell, but Charmaine’s choices are all excellent (although I don’t know much about Alice Batchelder). My only fear is that the answer will turn out to be “None of the above.” »