Monthly Archives: May 2006

Jack Kennedy was a friend of his

The memorial service for former Senator Lloyd Bentsen was held yesterday. Among the more than 60 honorary pallbearers were former presidents Clinton and Bush; three former secretaries of state — Henry Kissinger, James Baker, and Madeleine Albright; former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan; Michael Dukakis; and Lady Bird Johnson. Bentsen is well remembered for the line he delivered at Dan Quayle’s expense during the 1988 vice presidential debate — “I »

Our Friends the Palesthinians

The graphic below appeared in the May 25th issue of Al-Risala, a Hamas weekly newspaper: Israel National News reports: The Statue of Liberty, also known as Lady Liberty, is an internationally-recognized American symbol of freedom and democracy. Such ideas are an anathema to the PA; at a rally in March 2006, the newspaper Al-Hayat Al Jadida accused the West of “trying to penetrate Islamic youth with dubious things such as »

The Carter/bin Laden Connection

There is considerable buzz surrounding the revelation that the bin Laden Group donated $1 million to the Jimmy Carter Library. It is ironic, obviously, that after Michael Moore made the false claim that President Bush was somehow too cozy with the bin Ladens in his movie Fahrenheit 911, Moore attended the Democratic National Convention in company with Carter, against whom his accusation could have been made with far more justice. »

Entering the Home Stretch

Around 3,500 votes have now been cast in our Best American Novel poll. It’s striking how little change there has been since close to the beginning. The top four or five haven’t changed; Huckleberry Finn, not surprisingly, enjoys a comfortable lead. Based on our email traffic, I suspect that the only way Huck could have been challenged is if we had included Atlas Shrugged. We’ll probably shut off voting before »

What do you mean “we”?

Robert Samuelson has an excellent column about the MSM’s failure to report on the impact of the Senate’s immigration reform bill on legal immigration. One job of journalism is to inform the public what our political leaders are doing. In this case, we failed. The Senate bill’s sponsors didn’t publicize its full impact on legal immigration, and we didn’t fill the void. It’s safe to say that few Americans know »

Gaza Rocket Video

Power Line Video has footage of the aftermath of a Palestinian rocket attack earlier today, that came close to hitting the home of Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz. The video, which you can see here, also includes footage, shot in Gaza, of Islamic Jihad terrorists setting off one of their new rockets. »

How Bad Is Iraq?

The conventional wisdom is that Iraq is a quagmire at best and a disaster at worst. The claim that we have already lost the war is commonly made these days, and I think it’s safe to say that most Democrats, and many other Americans, believe that we should get out of Iraq as soon as possible because our effort there has been a failure. Polls show that most Americans now »

Understanding our feathered friends

Read Tony Blankley’s column on the raid on Rep. William Jefferson’s office: “Ruffled Republican feathers.” You get not only Blankley’s characteristically knowing take on Dennis Hastert’s response to the raid, but also some literary criticism (H.G. Wells on Henry James) thrown in as well. »

Wherever green is worn

Joe Malchow notes that the editor of Dartmouth’s liberal student publication, the Free Press, and the editor of its conservative publication, the Dartmouth Review, take issue with the Alumni Governance Task Force’s proposed constitution in a jointly authored column published in today’s Dartmouth Daily: “United against the Constitution.” The Dartmouth Daily appears to have dropped Dan Linsalata’s name from the online version of the byline. Thanks to Joe, if I »

A word from Katie Carroll

Attorney Kathleen Carroll writes in response to “Every man did his whole duty”: I have lived in Gettysburg for 8 years and run on the battlefield very often. As a Civil War reenactor, I know the story of the 1st Minnesota well and I think of those valiant soldiers every time I pass the 1st Minnesota monument, giving proof to the saying “gone but not forgotten.” I salute them every »

A word from Sergeant Thul

One thing we have learned from the response to our poll on the Great American Novel is that Power Line readers are passionate about books. We therefore struck a nerve when we posted the request from Sergeant Dave Thul, serving in the Minnesota National Guard in Iraq, to help him out with conservative reading material for his unit. Under the heading “Book Avalanche,” Sergeant Thul writes: Wow. Really, I’m at »

“It’s a damn good list”

Well, we earned a passing grade. Professor David Allan White’s critique of our list of great American novels is up at Radioblogger. Professor White largely approves of our list, though he finds that we should have added two books and subtracted another. And John will be pleased to note that Professor White only grudgingly approves of our inclusion of Henry James on the list. Professor White finds that we erred »

Minuteman Border Video

Congressman Jack Kingston is one of the most new-media savvy politicians in Washington. He’s also solidly pro-enforcement on illegal immigration, and has applauded the Minutemen for their effort to patrol the southern border. His staff (specifically Parks Bennett, I think) put together a nice video that includes footage shot at the border by the Minutemen and a conversation between Congressman Kingston and the Minutemen’s spokeswoman. It’s good, and Kingston staffer »

Professor White passes judgment

Our friend Hugh Hewitt apparently interviewed Professor David Allen White of the United States Naval Academy regarding our great American novel list. Professor White will be accompanying Hugh on Hugh Cruise III when Hugh lights out for the territory this coming August. I have no idea how Professor White graded us, but Hugh notes that the transcript of the interview will be posted later on Radioblogger. All I can say »

The Balloting So Far

We continue to receive lots of critiques of our list of 21 best American novels. Christopher Cornell writes: I cannot BELIEVE you have omitted John Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces–winner of the Pulitzer prize for fiction back when that meant something, funnier and more important than just about everything on your list, especially the vastly overrated Fitzgerald and Hemingway. Historian John Steele Gordon writes: Uncle Tom’s Cabin may be »

Thoughts on the Dowd memorandum

Matthew Dowd, a Republican strategist with an excellent track record, has produced a memorandum in which he argues, based on polling data, that Americans support a “comprehensive solution” to the problem of illegal immigration that includes reform on three fronts: strengthening enforcement at the border, creating a temporary worker program, and providing a way for illegals who are here now to obtain legal status. Dowd concludes that “Republican candidates succeed »

Of Loons and Gatekeepers

During the first hour of Saturday’s radio show, we discussed the issues of the day and handed out our weekly Loon of the Week and The Week in Gatekeeping awards. ABC won the prized gatekeeper award with its Dennis Hastert “scoop.” I don’t want to give away the identity of the Loon, but we played the trailer for a certain horror movie. We also interviewed Michele Bachmann, the dynamic Republican »