Monthly Archives: October 2007

October 25, 2007 — Paul Mirengoff

The Thomas spot

A group of Clarence Thomas’ friends have launched a web-site to serve as a resource for those interested in the Justice’s new book, My Grandfather’s Son. It seems that lots of folks are interested in the book — it is number one on the New York Times bestseller list. The web site, MyGrandfathersSon.com, provides links to articles, interviews, videos, and blog posts about Justice Thomas and his book. »
October 25, 2007 — Paul Mirengoff

McCain’s blogger call and reflections on 2000

John McCain held another blogger call today. He began by discussing the two major votes in the Senate yesterday — the confirmation of Judge Southwick and the failure of the Democrats to force a vote on the Dream Act. McCain returned to Washington to help get Southwick confirmed, but left for Iowa before the Dream Act vote, in order to attend an event at which he gave what he described »
October 25, 2007 — Scott Johnson

It’s the coverup that kills you, part 5

Yesterday the Drudge Report posted key documents in the matter of the New Republic’s Baghdad Diarist Scott Beauchamp. Among the key documents was the transcript of Scott Beauchamp’s September 6 telephone call with New Republic executive editor Peter Scoblic and editor Franklin Foer. The transcript exhibits the desperation of “the editors” to corroborate Beauchamp’s deleted “Shock troops” column, Beauchamp’s refusal to engage the issues, the editors’ pleading and threats, the »
October 24, 2007 — John Hinderaker

Ouch!

13-1 Boston. Yikes. Paul wrote about this year’s World Series earlier tonight, forecasting a Red Sox win, but this is ridiculous. Here is a word of hope, though, for Rockies fans: the first game of the World Series is generally won by the team with Series experience, and says little about the eventual outcome. I can’t offhand prove that this is true, but Paul, who took a college statistics course »
October 24, 2007 — John Hinderaker

Code Crazy

This video of Code Pink protesters accosting Secretary of State Rice is actually a little scary. These people are nuts, of course, but what I don’t understand is how they get into a Congressional hearing room. Don’t we have enough experience to conclude that women wearing pink shirts with wacky slogans, and carrying signs–or, in this case, with “blood” painted on her hands–are not just likely but certain to disrupt »
October 24, 2007 — John Hinderaker

Headline of the Day

Strippers deemed inappropriate for school. When I was growing up in South Dakota, I don’t think that would have been considered a close question. »
October 24, 2007 — Paul Mirengoff

Better late than never

As we enjoy the final days of October, the World Series is finally about to begin. The Colorado Rockies roared through the NL playoffs with seven straight wins. The Boston Red Sox had to come back from a 3-1 deficit in games. The decision by manager Terry Francona not to start staff ace Josh Beckett three times (which I had second-guessed) was vindicated. Beginning in game 4 when the decision »
October 24, 2007 — John Hinderaker

Is the Investigation Over Now?

The Drudge Report has obtained documents that appear to show conclusively that Scott Beauchamp fabricated the stories that he wrote for the New Republic. These documents include a transcript of New Republic editor Frank Foer’s telephone interview of Beauchamp, in which Beauchamp declines to vouch for, or answer questions about, his own stories–which causes Foer to say that “we just can’t, in good conscience, continue to defend the piece.” Drudge »
October 24, 2007 — Scott Johnson

It’s the coverup that kills you, part 4

Somebody has slipped the relevant documents in the Beauchamp scandal over the transom to the Drudge Report: a telephone transcript of the September 7 call between Beauchamp and TNR editors Franklin Foer and Peter Scoblic, Beuachamp’s apparent admission to”gross exaggerations and inaccurate allegations” in his TNR Baghdad diarist “Shock troops” column (smartly sent down the memory hole by “the editors”), and the Army’s official report on Beauchamp’s allegations. It’s too »
October 24, 2007 — Paul Mirengoff

Dream on

Supporters of the Dream Act have failed to muster the votes required to invoke cloture, thus effectively killing the legislation for now. The vote was 52-44. Sixty votes were needed to call up the Act. About an hour before the vote, the White House issued a statement opposing the Dream Act. It said: By creating a special path to citizenship that is unavailable to other prospective immigrants »
October 24, 2007 — Paul Mirengoff

Southwick confirmed

The Senate has confirmed Leslie Southwick to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Southwick was the subject of vicious and unfair attacks by left-wing interest groups, but his nomination made it to the Senate floor when Diane Feinstein broke ranks with her fellow Democrats on the Judiciary Committee. Today, the Senate voted 62-35 voted to limit debate on the nomination and then, cloture having been invoked, confirmed »
October 24, 2007 — Paul Mirengoff

Do you remember the Jena 6 story?

If this report by a journalist from Jena, Louisiana is accurate, then much of what you probably remember is not true. Via Jonah Goldberg. »
October 24, 2007 — Paul Mirengoff

Dream or Nightmare? Part Two

Here is the link to the estimates by the Center for Immigration Studies regarding the number of illegal immigrants who would receive amnesty under the Dream Act currently under consideration by the Senate. As I noted yesterday, an estimated 2.1 million illegal immigrants would receive amnesty under the Dream Act, and an additional 1.4 million (estimated) parents and siblings might end up with de facto amnesty. Moreover, these estimates do »
October 24, 2007 — Scott Johnson

Mugged by reality in Iraq?

This morning we post the last of the three items from the Fall issue of the Claremont Review of Books (subscribe here). The review/essay by CRB editor Charles R. Kesler addresses three new books on the war. As our situation and strategy in Iraq change, Professor Kesler asks, “Will we have learned anything?” Continuing his series on the intellectual assumptions behind the war, Professor Kesler examines three important new works »
October 23, 2007 — John Hinderaker

Paragraph of the Day

This paragraph is from a discussion of the upcoming battle over President Bush’s anticipated veto of a bloated spending bill that the Democratic Congress is in the process of enacting: Bush is intent on issuing vetoes and has so far rebuffed Democratic pleas for negotiations. But Democrats and some Republicans hope that once he gets a few vetoes out of his system, the White House will signal a willingness to »
October 23, 2007 — Paul Mirengoff

The pork dishonor role

This editorial in The Examiner describes two interesting and somewhat distressing pork-related votes in the Senate. Sen. Jim DeMint proposed an amendment to kill a provision in an appropriations bill directing $2 million to three construction projects for a college in Harlem, all to be named after Rep. Charles Rangel. Two Democrats — Russ Feingold and Evan Bayh — broke ranks with their party to vote in favor of DeMint’s »
October 23, 2007 — John Hinderaker

Iraqi Deaths Continuing to Drop

The Associated Press reports: October is on course to record the second consecutive decline in U.S. military and Iraqi civilian deaths and Americans commanders say they know why: the U.S. troop increase and an Iraqi groundswell against al-Qaida and Shiite militia extremists. As of Tuesday, the Pentagon reported 28 U.S. military deaths in October. That’s an average of about 1.2 deaths a day. The toll on U.S troops hasn’t been »