Monthly Archives: July 2007

July 21, 2007 — Scott Johnson

The Normblog profile at 200

Professor Norman Geras is the estimable proprietor of Normblog. The Normblog blogger profile has been a regular feature of Norm’s site. I appeared in Profile 57, Paul in Profile 92. Yesterday Norm wrote Paul and me: Just thought I’d point you towards a landmark — the Normblog profile, which you’ve both done, reached its 200th instalment today. I figured I’d mark this by picking a blogger different in a certain »
July 21, 2007 — Scott Johnson

Where have all the grown-ups gone?

Diana West is the Washington Times columnist to whom we frequently turn for insight into the culture war as well as the shooting war, as we did most recently in “Strangers on a train.” I took off from one of Diana’s columns addressing cultural issues in “Merry Christmas, baby.” Diana has now written a new book that combines the themes of our culture and the war. She has kindly responded »
July 20, 2007 — Paul Mirengoff

Strangers on a train

Washington Times columnist Diana West found herself sitting across the aisle from Senator Arlen Specter on a train from Washington to Philadelphia last week. The two exchanged views on Iraq and Iran, as Diana recounts here. Give Specter credit, he engaged Diana’s arguments. Moreover, his concern over the civilian casualties in Iraq and Iran that might flow from the actions Diana recommends is humane. And his doubts about our willingness »
July 20, 2007 — John Hinderaker

Gen. Petraeus on Hugh Hewitt

We’re a little late on this, but it’s well worth catching up on if, like me, you missed it the first time around. On Wednesday, Hugh Hewitt tracked down General David Petraeus in Baghdad for an extended conversation. It is an extraordinary interview, in part because Hugh has the good sense–or the skill of a good lawyer–to ask a crisp question and then get out of the way. So, instead »
July 20, 2007 — Paul Mirengoff

The new Nixon, Part Two

In responding to Michael Gerson’s comparison of Rudy Giuliani to Richard Nixon, I basically accepted Gerson’s description of Nixon as “a talented man without an ideological compass,” but found this description largely inapplicable to Giuliani. My conservative cousin from New York, a longtime student of all things Nixon, views Nixon more charitably. He writes: Nixon was not totally an opportunist. He strongly supported an internationalist foreign policies that actively opposed »
July 20, 2007 — John Hinderaker

Hour Two

The second hour of our radio show on Saturday began with a phone call from Lt. Pete Hegseth, talking about his visit to Washington with Vets For Freedom. We continued talking about the war in Iraq, the pro-defeat movement in Congress, took some calls, discussed the media coverage of the recent benchmark report and President Bush’s press conference on the report, and awarded our This Week in Gatekeeping prize. It’s »
July 20, 2007 — Scott Johnson

The New Republic responds

At The New Republic blog The Plank Franklin Foer has posted “A note to readers.” Foer writes: Several conservative blogs have raised questions about the Diarist “Shock Troops,” written by a soldier in Iraq using the pseudonym Scott Thomas. Whenever anybody levels serious accusations against a piece published in our magazine, we take those charges seriously. Indeed, we’re in the process of investigating them. I’ve spoken extensively with the author »
July 20, 2007 — Paul Mirengoff

The straight talk express

The McCain campaign continues to be second-to-none (at least on the Republican side) when it comes to blogger outreach. For example, McCain continues regularly to schedule and conduct teleconferences with bloggers, a practice he began during brighter days for his campaign. I’m not a huge fan of blogger conference calls, and I’m not a McCain supporter. Nonetheless, I feel privileged to participate in his calls because I sense I’m witnessing »
July 20, 2007 — Scott Johnson

Lt. H. and Major E. go to the White House

Power Line friends Pete Hegseth of Vets for Freedom and Eric Egland (“Major E.”) of The Troops Need You, America! were part of a group of veterans and military families who met with President Bush this morning. They met to urge support for our armed forces and the successful completion of their mission in Iraq. Afterward President Bush made a brief statement in the Rose Garden with Pete, Eric and »
July 20, 2007 — Scott Johnson

Tehran calling

The plight of the Americans seized and held by the government of Iran is another one of the stories that is mysteriously underreported in the MSM. Amir Taheri devotes an excellent column to two of the Americn hostages held by Iran in his New York Post column “The conspiracy that wasn’t.” It’s an excellent column, not easily excerpted except for its conclusion: First, no dialogue is possible with a regime »
July 20, 2007 — Scott Johnson

Wait wait, don’t tell me

Robet Feder reports in today’s Chicago Sun-Times: Patrick Fitzgerald, the no-nonsense U.S. attorney, will show off his rarely seen (or heard) lighter side when he appears this weekend on “Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me,” the current events quiz show produced by Chicago Public Radio for NPR. Fitzgerald will try his hand at the “Not My Job” segment, in which famous people answer questions on topics completely outside their areas of expertise. »
July 20, 2007 — Scott Johnson

Doubting Thomas

Has New Republic editor Franklin Foer stepped forward to explain how the magazine verified the disgraceful incidents recounted in the article “Shock troops” by the pseudonymous “Scott Thomas” prior to publication in the magazine’s current issue? I can find no evidence that he has. Grounds to doubt each of the three incidents recounted in the article surfaced immediately after Michael Goldfarb put the question “Fact or fiction?” before the blogosphere. »
July 19, 2007 — John Hinderaker

A Correction? Not on Your Life!

We wrote here about a story in the Chicago Sun-Times by columnist Jennifer Hunter, reporting on a plaintiffs’ lawyers convention in Chicago. The five principal Democratic presidential candidates addressed the convention, and Hunter’s story was on the lawyers’ reaction. Her article was headlined “GOP Lawyer Sold on Dems;” it featured Jim Ronca, a well-known plaintiffs’ lawyer from Pennsylvania, who told Hunter that he was a Republican. Hunter breathlessly reported that »
July 19, 2007 — John Hinderaker

Democrats Nix John Doe Law

Democrats on the House/Senate conference committee have dropped from the Homeland Security bill the provision that would protect “John Doe” citizens from lawsuits when they report suspicious behavior to the authorities. This is a good example of how Congress really works. The “John Doe” measure passed the House on a 304-121 vote, which means that many Democrats didn’t want to go on record as opposing the measure. Instead, they killed »
July 19, 2007 — Paul Mirengoff

Plame tossed out of court

Valerie Plame’s lawsuit against Vice President Cheney, Karl Rove, and Scooter Libby has been dismissed by a federal district court in Washington, D.C. on jurisdictional grounds. To comment on this post, go here. »
July 19, 2007 — Scott Johnson

Fact or fiction? An update

Last night we noted the New Republic’s “Shock troops” article by the pseudonymous “Scott Thomas” portraying the disgraceful behavior of American troops in Baghdad. Michael Goldbarb has called for help from readers who can shed light on the veracity of the New Republic article. Goldfarb has already updated his post to include messages that tend to undermine the New Republic article. One is from Stuart Koehl, who addresses the story »
July 19, 2007 — Scott Johnson

A proficient writer responds to his Dartmouth critics

If I were one of the four accomplished Dartmouth trustees who ran successfully as alumni petition candidates — T.J. Rodgers, Peter Robinson, Todd Zywicki, and Stephen Smith — I’d begin to take the Dartmouth trustees’ pending threat to abolish trustee elections a little personally. In the case of the fourth of these candidates, University of Virginia Law School Professor Smith, it would be hard not to. According to the charges »