Monthly Archives: December 2007

Consider the Source

Today the Concord, New Hampshire, Monitor did something I don’t remember having seen before. In an editorial, rather than endorsing a candidate in the New Hampshire primary, the Monitor singled out one candidate, Mitt Romney, as the one who “surely must be stopped.” The editorial is a mean-spirited attack on Romney, who must wonder what he has done to merit such unusual treatment. Actually, the Monitor’s editorial doesn’t clearly answer »

It’s the Clintons, stupid

One of the things that makes the Clintons such tiresome public figures is the low opinion in which they hold the American people. They know they’re incredibly smart and they think we’re incredibly stupid. The credulity of the press has frequently confirmed the Clintons’ perceptions of the American people. To some extent, however, the spell is wearing off this year, as the Clintons’ calculations have become so transparent. Today’s Los »

Van Morrison: Live at Northrop Auditorium

There are few living artists who have a more direct channel into what Gram Parsons called the Cosmic American Music than Van Morrison. Offhand I can think only of Aretha Franklin and Solomon Burke. Of the three, Morrison is the only one who has a running love-hate relationship with his fans. They (we) love him; he hates them (us), or at least so it seems. He is a brilliant, eccentric, »

They’re everywhere, part 2

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair was received into the Catholic faith at a mass held Friday evening at a Westminster chapel by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O »

They’re everywhere

Yet another conservative politician has provoked charges of blurring the separation of church and state. In the latest example, the politician is openly urging a more active role for religion in public life. Not only is he is stressing his country’s “Christian roots,” but he has gone so far as to say: A person who believes is a person who hopes. The republic has an interest in having many men »

A case of clemency that’s easy to explain

It hasn’t been apparent to me why Mike Huckabee favored the release from prison of Wayne Dumond, a patently dangerous rapist who, once released, committed murder. By contrast, it’s easy to see why Mike Huckabee wanted to help Eugene Fields after he was convicted in 2003 for driving while intoxicated for the fourth time in less than five years. Fields, after all, was a wealthy developer and major donor to »

He’s Making A List, He’s Checking It Twice…

The New York Times reports on a newly-declassified letter from J. Edgar Hoover to President Truman’s “Special Consultant” in July 1950, setting out the FBI’s plan, in the event of emergency, for detaining 12,000 Americans and aliens who were suspected of disloyalty. The letter is here. As of 1950, the FBI had been working for a number of years on a list of citizens of dubious loyalty; one does get »

Department of sartorial intimidation

Roger Kimball responds to the lawsuit filed by a Turkish lawyer taking offense to the “Crusader-style” uniform of the Inter Milan soccer team and offers a suggestion: Muslims have mastered the Western system of litigation and forged a powerful weapon out of it. When will they manage to adopt the Western system of free speech and respect for individual freedom? When will they learn that the luxury [of] being offensive »

Appointment with Big Brother

One of the several fronts on which Bush administration policy is dissolving into absurdity is represented by North Korea. In his Wall Street Journal column on the New York Philharmonic’s pending date with Kim Jong Il, Terry Teachout finds the not-so-hidden hand of the United States Department of State behind the date (and offers the Phil some advice on how it might redeem itself in Pyongyang). For shame! »

Flip-Flopping Vs. Growing In Office

At a time when Mitt Romney is being pounded in the press on the flimsiest possible grounds, the Associated Press takes a look at Barack Obama’s record to judge the extent to which his currently-expressed views are different from those he has espoused in the past. The results are eye-opening, as Obama has shifted ground across a broad range of issues. But the AP is quick to assure us that »

Turn out the lights

Apart from the turnaround in Iraq, the Bush administration has sustained some notable failures this year. One is in its efforts to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, with respect to which the administration appears to be throwing in the towel. When Moscow’s shipment of lightly enriched uranium to fuel the power reactor at Bushehr in Iran was announced this week, President Bush all but celebrated it. “If the Russians »

Man of the Year

The Weekly Standard administers justice, first to Time Magazine, and then to General David Petraeus, designating him Man of the Year. As to Time, Bill Kristol writes: Time ludicrously chose to make Russia’s ex-KGB agent-turned president Vladimir Putin its cover boy. They just couldn’t make Petraeus man–oops–person of the year. Our liberal elites are so invested in a narrative of defeat and disaster in Iraq that to acknowledge the prospect »

Progress In Iraq

Our readers are well aware of the remarkable progress that has been made in Iraq since the “surge” and related tactical changes were implemented by General Petraeus. These charts, courtesy of the Multi-National Forces, show the improvement visually. This one shows the number of weekly attacks by category; click to enlarge: This one charts the number of IED attacks: This one shows deaths of coalition troops, Iraqi security forces and »

All She Needs Are a White Beard, a Red Suit and Some Reindeer

If you haven’t already seen Hillary Clinton’s Christmas ad, here it is. For a short ad, it’s pretty appalling. She not only confirms but embraces the conservative stereotype of the liberal as would-be Santa Claus. I’m not sure how effective it will be. It will probably occur to even the most dim-witted viewer that they would only be Hillary’s presents to us if she were paying for them. UPDATE: A »

Another “out-of-touch elitist” dares to criticize Mike Huckabee

Rush Limbaugh, that anti-main street tool of the Republican “elite,” apparently is ripping Mike Huckabee quite forcefully on today’s program. Via NRO’s Campaign Spot. »

The “scandal” that’s ridiculous

Mitt Romney has been drawing criticism for saying that he “saw” his father march with Martin Luther King, even though he did not witness the event. This strikes me as a non-story. It seems probable to me that Romney did not mean to say that he literally saw George Romney and Dr. King marching together. In that event, Romney likely would have said that he was with his father when »

For Democrats, the Year that Wasn’t

Jennifer Rubin provides an excellent summary of the frustrations Democrats have experienced since taking over the House and Senate at the beginning of the year: As Congress flees Washington for the Christmas break, it is time to issue our end of year report card for the new Democratic leadership. We could be generous and give them an »