Monthly Archives: February 2007

Nick of Time

In the second hour of our radio show last Saturday, we continued to rip the Democrats’ “slow bleed” strategy for defeat in Iraq. We took a number of calls, and had to defend the Democrats against listeners whose opinion of them is lower than ours. We finished the hour by awarding our Gatekeeper of the Week prize to a gatekeeper in training who was fortunate enough to report on his »

He’s good

You have to admire the way Rudy Giuliani handles himself. The latest evidence is this interview with Hugh Hewitt. It’s all there — the willingness to laugh at himself, the eagerness to share credit and throw in the kind word, the recognition of human imperfection, the respect for the views of others, and the ability (enhanced by all of the above) to talk up his accomplishments and leadership skills without »

Towards greater understanding of Islamic purification

The Muslim Council of Britain has published an “information and guidance” document called Towards Greater Understanding — Meeting the Needs of Muslim Pupils in State Schools. As Diana West explains, “at the crux of the Muslim council’s document is a call for special treatment of Britain’s Muslim students that is so special as to reorient the entire British system according to Islamic law.” Here are a few highlights: Muslim children »

Tune In to the Northern Alliance

Tomorrow I’ll be on the air with Brian and Chad from 11 to 1 central time, as usual. Go here to listen on the web. At noon central, we’ll be talking to Stephen Hunter, film critic for the Washington Post, about the Oscars. As usual, I haven’t seen a single film that is nominated in any category. Fortunately, Brian and Chad are more up to speed on popular culture than »

Halloween Comes Early

The Democrats’ recent conclave in Nevada made news on a number of fronts, but, if you’re like me, you probably saw little or none of it. The good news is that filmmaker Andrew Marcus has put together a highlight video that spares us hours of painful viewing. The bad news is that it’s scary enough to make you get out the checkbook and look up the address of the Republican »

“Tinny” conservatism

The editors of National Review argue that “conservatives should hope Romney »

And the winner is. . .

the rest of the field, according to E.J. Dionne, in his analysis of the Clinton-Obama spat. As ever, though, Dionne’s real concern is that the spat may help the Republicans. Dionne is closest to the mark when he takes a shot at the Clinton and Obama staffs. The candidates’ spat will have no impact on the race — think of it as the first inning of an exhibition baseball game. »

Cheney Spells It Out

A few days ago, Dick Cheney challenged Nancy Pelosi on Iraq, saying that pulling out, as she advocates, would play into the hands of the terrorists. Pelosi resorted to the old “How dare he question my patriotism” dodge, and complained to President Bush’s Chief of Staff, Josh Bolten. Now, Cheney says he isn’t backing down: During Friday’s interview in Sydney with ABC News, Cheney said, “I’m not sure what part »

Minneapolis Taxi Update

We’re a bit late on this one, but Daniel Pipes has the latest, here; scroll down for more. As you probably remember, most Minneapolis taxi drivers are now Somali immigrants, and a group of them have started claiming that it violates Muslim law for them to carry passengers who are in possession of alcohol. This group has begun refusing service to people at the Twin Cities airport, and demanding that »

Pattern recognition

At one point in The Enemy At Home, Dinesh D »

Senate Dems Float Another Trial Balloon

Senate Democrats, still seeking ways to dramatize their opposition to the Iraq war–without, of course, actually ending it–have leaked a new idea, apparently to see what sort of reaction it draws: While these officials said the precise wording of the measure remains unsettled, one draft would restrict American troops in Iraq to combating al-Qaida, training Iraqi army and police forces, maintaining Iraq’s territorial integrity and otherwise proceeding with the withdrawal »

Back from the dead

The University of Maryland men’s basketball team has had a great ride under coach Gary Williams. However, the ride became bumpy the last two years as the Terps narrowly missed out on the NCAA tournament for the first (then the second) time in years. Things didn’t look too good this year either. Missing three starters from last year’s team (I’m counting Chris McCray who was kicked out of school in »

A Cage Match, But Without the Ethics

Yesterday I commented on the Democratic Party cage match between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, which seems to have turned surprisingly bitter at this early point in the campaign. Today there was a sequel, involving the two campaigns’ efforts to bid for the support of an influential legislator in South Carolina. The story features a set of emails that apparently were leaked by one campaign to embarrass the other. Read »

Today in Arafatistan

On Tuesday Israeli authorities averted mass murder as a result of their apprehension of an Islamic Jihad terrorist seeking to deliver what a cynic might call a CAIR package in Tel Aviv. On Wednesday the Israelis assassinated the Islamic Jihad leader who was the mastermind of the operation. Haaretz reports the interesting details of the story. For those who can’t tell the players without a scorecard, Islamic Jihad is not »

D’Souza goes native

The New Criterion (subscribe here) is one of my favorite magazines. I have been a charter subscriber since it opened up for business 25 years ago and saluted it as it kicked off the festivities marking its twenty-fifth anniversary here. I wrote about Dinesh D’Souza’s The Enemy At Home briefly in “A wretched stew,” but was especially honored when editor Roger Kimball and managing editor James Panero subsequently invited me »

Fair warning

Joe Lieberman tells The Politico that he has no desire to switch parties and caucus with the Republicans, but he suggests that if the Democrats attempt to cut off funding for the war in Iraq, he may switch. »

Introducing Power Line AOL

We are pleased to announce a new relationship between Power Line and AOL. As part of its effort to develop more unique, cutting-edge content, AOL, beginning this afternoon, is hosting five bloggers on its news pages. Posts by all of those individuals or groups are aggregated on the Newsbloggers page. It’s an interesting group; two of the five focus more on culture than politics; there is a liberal group blog »