Monthly Archives: July 2007

Al Qaeda. . .in Iraq

Yesterday, in his talk to group assembled by the American Spectator, Newt Gingrich said that President Bush should basically stop talking about Iraq and turn the task over to General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker. I agree that the more we see and hear Petraeus and Crocker, the better. I also believe that much of the nation has tuned out President Bush when it comes to Iraq, so that his words »

Quick, Someone Get Me A Pulitzer!

We wrote in Staunch Republicans for Ted Kennedy about a news report in the Chicago Sun-Times by columnist Jennifer Hunter which was headlined, “GOP Lawyer Sold On Dems.” The article described a lunch held by a plaintiffs’ lawyers convention in Chicago, at which the five leading Democratic Presidential candidates appeared. The article led with quotes from “staunch Republican” Jim Ronca, who, despite his staunchness, was so deeply impressed with the »

Reform the reform, Senator McCain’s take

John McCain held another blogger conference call today. Ed Morrissey has a good account of it. As Ed notes, I asked Senator McCain about reforming Sarbanes-Oxley, a topic I wrote about here. It was good to hear McCain say he made a mistake in voting for the original legislation in 2002, and that it needs to be redrafted from scratch. I asked specifically about Senator DeMint’s amendment which would have »

The Republican “short-list” for the Supreme Court

At the SCOTUSblog, my law partner Tom Goldstein, having previously provided a “short-list” of potential Democratic Supreme Court nominees, now does the same thing on the Republican side. Here are the 30 lawyers and jurists that make Tom’s latest list. Tom goes so far as to predict the first two Republican Supreme Court nominees. He assumes that the first selection will be a female, an Hispanic, or both. He also »

The CIA speaks, with forked tongue

We’ve previously noted the new book Sabotage by Rowan Scarborough. Scarborough’s book explores the CIA’s efforts to undermine the Bush administration. It is a subject that we have written about here frequently over the past several years. John explored the subject in the Standard column “Leaking at all costs,” as I did in “Three years of the Condor.” Scarborough states his thesis clearly in the introduction of the book, begining »

Franklin Foer talks again

Today’s New York Times updates us on Franklin Foer’s quest to verify the New Republic’s “Shock troops” article. The article is by the pseudonymous Scott Thomas, described by TNR as “a freelance writer and soldier currently serving in Baghdad.” The Times reports that Foer’s quest has brought him to near-certainty that Thomas is indeed a soldier: The magazine granted anonymity to the writer to keep him from being punished by »

William Katz remembers: Hollywood, hurray for? The sequel

William Katz has had a long and varied career, as an assistant to a U.S. senator; an officer in the CIA; an assistant to Herman Kahn, the nuclear war theorist; an editor at The New York Times Magazine; and a talent coordinator at The Tonight Show. He is the author of ten books, translated into 15 languages. He admits to degrees from The University of Chicago and Columbia. When I »

Reform the reform

Five years ago, in response to scandals such as the Enron matter, Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX). Today, at a luncheon sponsored by the National Review Institute, Larry Kudlow led a panel discussion about SOX. Most panelists believe, as I do, that SOX was a massive over-reaction to the scandals of the day, and is badly in need of reform. The pre-existing law was sufficient to convict the culprits »

Running less and enjoying it more

This morning, Newt Gingrich addressed a breakfast meeting hosted by The American Spectator. The most newsworthy, though not the most interesting, part of the talk was Gingrich’s response to a question from Bill Sammon about whether he intends to run for president (I’ll try to post on other aspects of the talk tomorrow). Gingrich’s short answer was that if by mid-October a conservative candidate has emerged who can run a »

Tough stuff, Part Two

I noted here how limp the responses of leading Democratic presidential contenders were to a query by The Israel Project about Iran. Hillary Clinton said “we must not allow” Iran to develop nuclear weapons and promote terrorism, but she apparently failed to answer the question Sean Connery posed to Kevin Costner in “The Untouchables” — “What are you prepared to do?” Barack Obama and John Edwards indicated they are prepared »

Live-Blog the Democrats’ Debate

The Democrats are having their long-awaited “YouTube Debate” tonight, beginning at 7 p.m. eastern. There is considerable potential for humor, I think. If you want to participate in a group live-blog of the debate, go here. It’s a fun way to watch the debate in the company (virtual company, anyway) of fellow conservatives, and exchange thoughts about it. Or, if you don’t want to watch the debate but do want »

Harry Reid’s Culture of Corruption

Robert Novak writes in the Washington Post: When Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid picked up his ball and went home after his staged all-night session last week, he saved from possible embarrassment one of the least regular members of his Democratic caucus: Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska. Reform Republican Tom Coburn had ready an amendment to the defense authorization bill removing Nelson’s earmark funding a Nebraska-based company whose officials include »

The Right to Pray in a Meat Packing Plant

The Omaha World-Herald reports on the latest controversy involving Muslims at work: Tension came to a head at a Grand Island meatpacking plant in June, when Jama Mohamed said his desire for 10 minutes to pray at sunset was met with shouting. After he left the production line and began praying, Mohamed said, supervisors took his prayer mat, pulled him up by his collar and sent him crying to a »

The hip-hop syndrome

Myron Magnet is the author of The Dream and the Nightmare: The Sixties’ Legacy to the Underclass. City Journal has now published and posted Magnet’s biggest essay since The Dream and the Nightmare, updating the argument of that book to address rap and hip hop culture. Magnet’s essay is “In the heart of freedom, in chains.” Magnet indicts gangsta rap for its role in perpetuating a destructive underclass culture. Toward »

Cheney: A word from Stephen Hayes

Stephen Hayes is the Weekly Standard senior writer whose whork we have frequently highlighted here. Steve’s new book is the biogaphy Cheney: The Untold Story of America’s Most Powerful and Controversial Vice President. Tomorrow the book is officially published. We invited Steve to write a message to Power Line readers about the book and Steve has graciously responded: Thanks for the opportunity to share a few thoughts with your readers »

Rebellion In the Ranks

The London Times reports on defections among Iraqi al Qaeda members in Baghdad: Fed up with being part of a group that cuts off a person »

Top down or bottom up?

Iraq isn’t Vietnam, and even if it were that would not counsel in favor of undertaking the sort of negotiations Henry Kissinger used to extricate us from that conflict. So argues Max Boot. According to Boot, Kissinger’s Vietnam negotiations (honestly evaluated) confirm that “skilled diplomacy can consolidate the results of military success but can seldom make up for its lack.” That is why the “surge” is so central, not only »