Monthly Archives: July 2010

Get your hand out of my shower

Before the advent of the modern environmental movement, Bill Buckley used to assert with a glint in his eye that a liberal is someone who wants to reach into your shower and adjust the temperature of the water. Man, oh, man, was he right. The liberals’ environmental agenda has brought Buckley’s satirical thrust uncomfortably close to reality. See, for example, the Wall Street Journal article “A water fight over luxury »

The shafting of Shirley Sherrod

Andrew Breitbart shouldn’t have posted the video excerpts of Shirley Sherrod’s speech with the comment that “the NAACP awards racism.” It was a mistake to do so. He was had. Others including ourselves should not have followed suit. It was a mistake to do so. We extended our apologies to Ms. Sherrod as soon as the unedited video of the speech was made available. The NAACP condemned Ms. Sherrod’s speech. »

Race: It’s Everywhere

Why is it that suddenly, we are awash in stories about race? This story is farce rather than tragedy, but still, a sign of the times: A legislative candidate from Wisconsin can’t use a profane, racially charged phrase to describe herself on the ballot, an election oversight board decided Wednesday. Ieshuh Griffin, an independent running for a downtown Milwaukee seat in the state Assembly, wants to use the phrase, “NOT »

Does Al Gore Have A Thing For Massage Therapists?

The National Enquirer has another scoop: two more massage therapists have accused him of scandalous behavior. The first incident allegedly took place at a Beverly Hills luxury hotel when Gore, 62, was in Hollywood to attend the Oscars in 2007. The second reportedly occurred a year later at a hotel in Tokyo. A Beverly Hills hotel source told The ENQUIRER: “The therapist claimed that when they were alone, Gore shrugged »

The “Elitism gap,” Part Two

Here, via the Daily Caller, are some reflections from the deep-thinking lefty journalists on Journolist following the 2008 election: Nov. 7 LAURA ROZEN: People we no longer have to listen to: would it be unwise to start a thread of people we are grateful we no longer have to listen to? If not, I’ll start off: Michael Rubin. MICHAEL COHEN, NEW AMERICA FOUNDATION: Mark Penn and Bob Shrum. Anyone who »

The New Black Panther Party case — a reply to Hans von Spakovsky

At Pajamas Media, Hans von Spakovsky, whose work I have long admired, has written a “dissent” to my post about the dismissal of portions of the New Black Panther Party (NBPP) case. Before addressing his piece, I want to thank Hans for the respectful tenor of his dissent. Hans has forgotten more about voting rights law than I ever knew. He also knows vastly more than I do about the »

The Senator from the Washington Post

It’s no secret that Lindsey Graham is the Washington Post’s favorite Republican Senator, a fact I alluded to yesterday. Thus, it comes as no surprise that Dana Milbank has written an over-the-top piece praising Graham’s vote in favor of ultra-liberal Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan. Among other absurdities, Milbank pretends to find something “fresh” in Graham’s stock argument in favor of his vote. In fact, though, it’s the same line »

The 2010 World Cup — the bureaucrats got it wrong but the players got it right

Soccer is a pretty basic game. You need a ball and a field. Unfortunately, the bureaucrats who run soccer couldn’t get either element right for soccer’s showcase event. The ball used at the World Cup had an unnatural swerve that confounded the game’s best goal-keepers. Consequently, the number of world class saves I saw was the lowest I can recall at a World Cup. The ball also had an unnatural »

The “elitism gap”

I love Roger Simon’s take on the Journolist, the group of left-wing journalists whose juvenile (and at times borderline psychotic) musings have come to light, thanks to the Daily Caller. Roger writes: These quotes from a private list of soi-disant liberal journalists read like outtakes from some notebook stolen from a proto-Trotskyite home for the aged — and not one of them is faintly clever. . . . But forget »

Dayton’s millions

Elected in November 2000, Mark Dayton served as Minnesota’s United States Senator from 2001-2007. While in office he distinguished himself with erratic behavior including the closure of his Senate office in October 2004. Having been named by Time as one of the five worst Senators, Dayton did not seek reelection to the Senate when his term expired. Dayton is now seeking the Democratic nomination to run for Minnesota governor, and »

Shirley Sherrod pays for the sins of the NAACP

The NAACP can’t get out its own way on the story of Shirley Sherrod, the Department of Agriculture official who was sacked following comments she made to the “civil rights” group about a white farmer. The Obama administration isn’t exactly covering itself in glory either. Meanwhile, most folks seem to be missing the basic point of the story, at least from the perspective of Andrew Breitbart, the man who drove »

The Tea Party: What’s Its Role?

The Tea Party movement is one of the most positive developments in American politics in a long time. Entirely grass-roots, it is loosely (if at all) organized, consists largely of people who are new to political activism, and favors a return to fiscal sanity and constitutional principles. What’s not to like? Perhaps this: some Tea Party activists may put too much emphasis on amateur status. This is a corollary of »

The Vast Left-Wing Journalists’ Conspiracy

Did you ever wonder why the Rev. Jeremiah Wright disappeared from the news once it appeared that Barack Obama’s relationship with him posed a serious problem for his campaign? We now know at least part of the answer, courtesy of Journolist: a cabal of left-wing journalists urged one another to suppress the story. This has been all over the news today, but we would be remiss if we didn’t note »

The Real Reason

Michael Ramirez explains the real reason why it makes sense to extend unemployment benefits yet again. I have to admit, he has a point. Click to enlarge: »

Matt Bai responds

We posted Steve Robbins’s message to New York Times reporter Matt Bai as “An open letter to Matt Bai.” Steve communicated directly with Bai by email and has forwarded Bai’s gracious response: Thanks for writing, Steve. After thinking this through, I do intend to issue a clarification in the paper, because I was too casual in my language. It was an honest oversight, of which we’re all guilty from time »

Obama mentor fixes to challenge Gaza blockade

Rashid Khalidi, Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies at Columbia University, reportedly has signed an appeal for funds to outfit a ship–to be named The Audacity of Hope–that will challenge the Israeli blockade of Gaza in September or October. Khalidi and his wife (who also signed the appeal) became friends and occasional dinner companions of Barack Obama when Khalidi was on the faculty of the University of Chicago. Khalidi also »

Lindsey Graham — Arlen Specter with a sense of humor

The Senate Judiciary Committee, by a vote of 13 to 6, has sent Elena Kagan’s nomination to the full Senate for a vote by that body. Naturally, every Democrat on the Committee voted “yes,” and naturally Republican Lindsey Graham voted “yes” as well. Graham explained that Kagan is “funny” which “goes a long way in my book.” President Obama praised the vote, calling Kagan “one of this country’s leading legal »