Monthly Archives: April 2007

April 23, 2007 — John Hinderaker

Mission Accomplished!

At our AOL site, I comment on Harry Reid’s surprising agreement, in a speech this morning, with the “mission accomplished” banner for which President Bush has taken so much abuse, while Paul has fun with John Edwards’ $400 haircut. UPDATE: This graphic is via Leibowitz’s Canticle: To comment on this post, go here. »
April 23, 2007 — John Hinderaker

Al Qaeda Plans Reported

Reading British newspapers can be refreshing, in part because of the intelligence-related leaks that they report. Here in the U.S., there is only one kind of leak from the CIA and other intelligence organizations: those intended to damage the Bush administration. It seems that British spies have a different agenda, as their leaks are more often designed to alert the British public to the severity of the threat posed by »
April 23, 2007 — John Hinderaker

Immigration Issue Starting to Bite Democrats

In my view, a key but under-appreciated ingredient in President Bush’s fall from grace was dissatisfaction among conservatives with his position on immigration. The President has taken a great deal of heat on the issue, and I don’t think there is any doubt that among politicians, Bush has suffered the most for his support of legalization of illegals and a guest worker program. This is somewhat ironic, in that the »
April 23, 2007 — Scott Johnson

Now playing at the Heritage Foundation

Last week the Heritage Foundation hosted a screening of Steve Hayward’s response to Al Gore, “An Inconvenient Truth or Convenient Fiction?” We’ve posted the video over at Power Line Video. The Heritage Foundation has posted a video of the evening with Steve Hayward including the screening of his film here. Steve is introduced by Pacific Research Institute president Sally Pipes. Steve introduces the film with his characteristic good humor and »
April 23, 2007 — Scott Johnson

Bibi’s blog

The Jerusalem Post publishes the blog post of former Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu on the occasion of Yom Hazikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day for the Fallen and the Victims of Terror. In the post Netanyahu remembers his Army colleague Haim ben Yonah. The abbreviation “z’l” following his name means “of blessed memory.” »
April 23, 2007 — Scott Johnson

Condi speaks

Secretary Rice sat down for an interview with Tom Bevan of RealClearPolitics. The focus is on Iraq. It’s an interesting interview. Surprising quote: “I have read RealClearPolitics for a long time.” Tom’s focus on Iraq is correct and productive. If the interview extended beyond Iraq I would have appreciated hearing from Secretary Rice about the Jerusalem Post report that we are looking for ways “to deliver more non-American funding to »
April 23, 2007 — Scott Johnson

A look back, a look ahead

Pajamas Media guru Roger L. Simon caught up with John Hinderaker at Dartmouth over the weekend for an interview on our experience with Power Line as we approach our fifth anniversary. Baker Library provides the backdrop; John provides the reflections. The interview is accessible here. »
April 22, 2007 — Paul Mirengoff

Super Sarko

Nicholas Sarkozy finished first in today’s French presidential election. Sarkozy gained 31 percent of the vote, meaning that, as expected, he will have to win a run-off against the second place candidate, Segolene Royal, who captured 26 percent. We’ve written about Sarkozy many times, mostly with approval, over the past three years. He’s the candidate of the ruling party, but is generally pro-American and has been at odds with Jacques »
April 22, 2007 — John Hinderaker

Beauty Queen Collars Crooks

Readers sometimes think my appreciation of beauty pageants is not entirely serious. But this story suggests that pageantry can indeed build character: Miss America 1944 has a talent that likely has never appeared on a beauty pageant stage: She fired a handgun to shoot out a vehicle’s tires and stop an intruder. Venus Ramey, 82, confronted a man on her farm in south-central Kentucky last week after she saw her »
April 22, 2007 — Scott Johnson

The selling of the president 2008

Michiko Kakutani writes an essay with an excellent idea beind it in today’s New York Times. The essay is “The politics of prose.” In the essay Kakutani reflects on the books of each of the presidential candidates. Although Kakutani’s essay is relegated to the Arts & Leisure section of the Times, it is the only article in the paper today that is of serious literary or political interest. Kakutani’s essay »
April 22, 2007 — Scott Johnson

Drawl down the memory hole

In “A bridge too far” I took a look at Hillary Clinton serving up some plastic Dixie chicken for her audience in Selma last month as she recited the words of a James Cleveland gospel song (video above). This week Senator Clinton and other Democatic candidates paid homage to Al Sharpton, one of the the most vile men in American public life. Yesterday Michelle Malkin posted a YouTube video that »
April 22, 2007 — Scott Johnson

CIA vs. MPG

Over at Contentions Gabriel Schoenfeld takes a look at one area in which the CIA is claiming bragging rights: According to a series of unclassified CIA reports, the spy agency has managed to enhance significantly the fuel efficiency of the vehicles used by its operatives. It has been avidly working to decrease the amount of gasoline the agency »
April 22, 2007 — Scott Johnson

The claims of reality

Mark Steyn devotes his weekly Sun-Times column to the political and cultural infantilization of American society manifested in events related to the Virginia Tech massacre. He urges us to get “realistic about reality.” He doens’t miss the unreal contribution of Barack Obama last week. He notes that at Yale, the students cannot even pretend to be realistic about reality: [A]t Yale, the dean of student affairs, Betty Trachtenberg, reacted to »
April 22, 2007 — John Hinderaker

Is the Iraq War “Lost”?

Harry Reid has taken a lot of flak for saying that the United States has lost in Iraq: This war is lost, and this surge is not accomplishing anything, as is shown by the extreme violence in Iraq this week. Taken literally, this is an odd thing to say. The Iraq war is obviously not “lost” in any conventional military sense. Our troops haven’t been defeated in battle, and won’t »
April 21, 2007 — Scott Johnson

Remembering Admiral Stockdale

The disgrace of the British sailors and marines in Iranian captivity caused many to recall the heroics of Admiral James Stockdale. The photo above depicts Admiral Stockdale’s reunion with his family in 1973 after President Nixon secured his release. An unsigned editorial paragraph that runs in the current issue of National Review concisely sketches Admiral Stockdale’s almost unbelievable heroism: The recent episode of the British hostages in Iran brought to »
April 21, 2007 — Scott Johnson

Rachel Paulose and Lori Swanson: A double standard?

Mark Cohen is the editor of the weekly Minnesota Lawyer, where he also publishes a weekly column. His two columns on United States Attorney Rachel Paulose — here (April 2) and here (April 16) — have provided the most intelligent discussion of the coverage of my friend Rachel, who has recently been the subject of a hatchet job or three. At the new Minnesota Lawyer Blog Mark Cohen now notes »
April 21, 2007 — Scott Johnson

A book for Jews and Gentiles

Last year we noted the passing of the prominent Jewish intellectual Milton Himmelfarb and subsequently published the conclusion of the loving eulogy given by his son Edward Himmelbarb. I had the great good fortune of meeting Milton Himmelfarb when he spoke at our temple in St. Paul in 1975. After his talk he agreed to chat with me for the better part of a beautiful fall afternoon at our rabbi’s »