Monthly Archives: December 2009

December 23, 2009 — Scott Johnson

Reconsidering the Suez campaign

Our friends at the Jerusalem Post report that their traffic was slow last month as they encountered hardware glitches while working on their new site (coming January 2010). This week I want to point out some items that warrant a visit to the Post’s site. Last week Caroline Glick devoted her weekly column to reconsidering the Suez campaign of 1956 in the context of the challenge Israel — Israel preeminently, »
December 23, 2009 — Scott Johnson

The Louisiana-Nebraska Act of 2009?

Michael Barone compares the machinations employed to seek passage of Obamacare by Harry Reid in the Senate to those used by Stephen Douglas to secure the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. The Kansas-Nebraska Act repealed the Missouri Compromise limiting the spread of slavery in favor of Douglas’s scheme of “popular sovereignty.” Douglas professed indifference to the prospect of slavery being voted up or down in the territories. Who »
December 23, 2009 — John Hinderaker

Compare and Contrast

The Minneapolis Star Tribune has been campaigning against Congresswoman Michele Bachmann since she first entered public life, so it pains the paper to report that her re-election chances are looking bright: Fifty-three percent of Bachmann’s constituents approve of the job she is doing and 41 percent disapprove. Against DFL challengers, Bachmann leads Maureen Reed 53 to 37 and Tarryl Clark 55 to 37. To add insult to injury, this poll »
December 22, 2009 — Scott Johnson

The Dems’ political payoff

I think that a lot of congressional Democrats are going to pay the price of Obamacare, but Andrew McCarthy highlights a key point: The best thing about Mark Steyn’s guest-host stint on Hannity last night — other than Jonah’s joining him on the panel — was that Mark asked some pointed questions of two brilliant political strategists, Dick Morris and Karl Rove, that seemed rooted in Mark’s theory that, on »
December 22, 2009 — Scott Johnson

Keith’s carol

Keith Ellison represents Minnesota’s Fifth District (Minneapolis and inner-ring suburbs). He achieved fame as the first Muslim to win a congressional seat when he was elected to office in 2006. I sought to document Ellison’s unsavory beliefs and associations in “Louis Farrakhan’s first congressman” and the companion post “Keith Ellison for dummies.” Suffice it to say that Ellison holds one of the most reliably Democratic seats in Congress. The Star »
December 22, 2009 — John Hinderaker

No Political Payoff So Far

The Democrats were determined to enact some kind of health care “reform” bill, regardless of its actual contents, because they thought the alternative was politically untenable. Perhaps, but so far voters certainly aren’t responding favorably to the Democrats’ power grab. Rasmussen finds that President Obama’s approval index has plunged to an all-time low, an ice-cold -21. Meanwhile, Republicans have taken an eight-point lead over Democrats in the generic Congressional preference »
December 22, 2009 — Paul Mirengoff

A switch in time

Rep. Parker Griffith, an Alabama Democrat, is switching parties. Griffith is a medical doctor, so Obamacare provides him with a good explanation — beyond mere opportunism — for why he’s switching now. The conversion of an Alabama politician to the Republican party may not seem terribly significant and standing alone it isn’t. However, it’s worth noting that Griffith’s district (in Northern Alabama, TVA country) is a solidly Democratic one. Indeed, »
December 22, 2009 — Scott Johnson

Reflections on Keillor’s Christmas curse

The cuckoo clock struck thirteen in Garrison Keillor’s Christmas column last week. When the cuckoo emerged at the appointed hour, he chirped: [A]ll those lousy holiday songs by Jewish guys that trash up the malls every year, Rudolph and the chestnuts and the rest of that dreck. Did one of our guys write “Grab your loafers, come along if you wanna, and we’ll blow that shofar for Rosh Hashanah”? No, »
December 21, 2009 — John Hinderaker

The True St. Nicholas

So, who was St. Nicholas, anyway? Bill Bennett’s new book , The True St. Nicholas tells you all you need to know about a pervasive, but oddly little-known figure. Bennett starts with what is known about the real St. Nicholas, an important and formidable leader of the early Christian church. He goes on to an examination of St. Nick, in his various guises, as a figure of legend, and concludes »
December 21, 2009 — Paul Mirengoff

Obama’s foreign policy bears its criminal fruit

President Obama’s kowtowing to anti-American dictators was a source of embarrassment throughout the first year of his presidency. Now, as his second year approaches, Obama’s Carteresque tendencies are producing real-world consequences that border on the criminal. Exhibit A is Lebanon. The freedom agenda of President Bush’s first administration helped produce the Cedar Revolution. After Syria sponsored the assassination of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, the Syrians, under pressure from a newly »
December 21, 2009 — Scott Johnson

Breitbart takes the pledge

The inspired Hollywood celebrities who take “the presidential pledge” in the video below have provoked Andrew Breitbart into taking his own pledge. Breitbart pledges to ridicule Hollywood celebrities who refuse to recognize we are at war with people who want to kill them, too. One of the Hollywood celebrities who inspired Andrew to take his pledge vows to reduce her use of plastic by foreswearing bottled water. Personally, I was »
December 21, 2009 — Scott Johnson

Where’s the mystery hospital? part 4

The New York Times provides a glimpse of the cornucopia of corruption buried in the Obamacare bill pending in the Senate. Toward the end it seeks to identify the mystery hospital that qualifies for a $100 million payoff: Senators and their aides said on Sunday that they were not sure who would qualify for this money or who had requested it. Dr. Atul Grover, the chief lobbyist for the Association »
December 21, 2009 — Scott Johnson

Where’s the mystery hospital? part 3

Senator Dodd thinks it’s Connecticut, and he undoubtedly has good reason to believe it. He inserted the provision authorizing the expenditure of $100 million to support a health care facility answering to a description having nothing to do with the merits of the facility, or with “health care reform.” What a complete and utter farce. We shouldn’t feel bad about hazarding other guesses. According to ABC, based on the criteria »
December 20, 2009 — Paul Mirengoff

In France, an unnecessary debate begins to feel necessary

Last month, the French government announced the beginning of what it called a “great debate on national identity.” I discussed aspects of that debate here. Debates about momentous issues pertaining to race, ethnicity, and/or national identity may sound worthwhile. However, when the government initiates and sponsors them, they generally have little value other than demonstrating who has the power to dictate and control the terms of the discussion. Recall President »
December 20, 2009 — John Hinderaker

Hamas Behind Livni Arrest Warrant

Paul noted here that a British judge had issued an arrest warrant for Tzipi Livni, Israel’s former Foreign Minister. The warrant charges that Livni was guilty of “war crimes” in the course of Israel’s effort to defend itself against missiles launched from Gaza by Islamic terrorists. The London Times now reports that Hamas was behind the warrant: The Islamist group Hamas is masterminding efforts to have senior Israeli leaders arrested »
December 20, 2009 — Scott Johnson

Webb declares

Jim Webb has finally released a statement declaring his position on the Obamacare bill pending in the Senate. Webb turns out to be about as big a mealy-mouthed disappointment as I feared: Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) announced Sunday evening he will support Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) $871 billion health care reform package but warned that he could withhold his backing for the final bill as negotiated in the »
December 20, 2009 — John Hinderaker

Who’s Meaner, Insurance Bureaucrats or Government Bureaucrats?

I’ve never understood why liberals think that entrusting their health care to government employees will result in more generous or compassionate treatment. Insurance companies have to compete, after all, while there is only one federal government. Now, the Independent Institute cites data from the American Medical Association’s National Health Insurer Report Card that indicate Medicare denies claims at twice the rate of private insurance companies: According to the American Medical »