Monthly Archives: August 2010

A fool for Mark Dayton

In The Blueprint: How the Democrats Won Colorado (and Why Republicans Everywhere Should Care), Rob Witwer and Adam Schrager report on the Democratic takeover of Colorado. One key to the takeover is the cash deployed by a handful of extraordinarily wealthy donors to fund left-wing front groups performing specialized dirty work. The Colorado model has been franchised and extended to Minnesota as well as several other states. The election of »

The role of information in American “Islamophobia”

One theme in the recent MSM hand-wringing about America’s alleged “Islamophobia” is the notion that Americans are giving Muslims a more difficult time now than they did in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. The Washington Post conceded that public opinion surveys don’t show a meaningful change, but it quoted unnamed “religious scholars and other experts” who find the change in tone “striking.” And it quoted a Muslim in Tennessee who »

Putting South Africa behind us

The English Premier League season is three weeks old, and the traditional Big Three – Chelsea, Manchester United, and Arsenal – are all off and running. Between them, they have seven wins and two draws. The scores include Chelsea over West Brom 6-0, Chelsea over Wigan 6-0, Man U over Newcastle 3-0, Man U over West Ham 3-0, and Arsenal over Blackpool 6-0. Three of the brightest stars so far »

Farewell to the Fair

If 300,000 people attended Glenn Beck’s rally in Washington today, as NBC News estimated, the crowd was a little larger than the one at the Minnesota State Fair. At the Fairgrounds, entertainment rather than redemption was the order of the day. This was the only radio broadcast that Brian Ward and I will do from the Fair this year, as we will both be out of town next weekend. So »

Back at the Lincoln Memorial, 47 years on

47 years to the day after participating in the great civil rights march on Washington, I returned to the same space for Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally. In 1963, a crowd of roughly 200,000 filled the “reflecting pool” area below the Lincoln Memorial. Today’s crowd packed that area as well as adjacent areas on all three sides. In fact, the throng extended most of the way to the Washington Monument, »

Is Hamas a terrorist organization?

Prominent Islamic leaders, like the imam fronting the Ground Zero Mosque, have a difficult time answering straightforward questions such as: Is Hamas a terrorist organization? Even if they can deal with that not very difficult question, they tend to stumble over this one: Does Israel have a right to exist? As a Jewish state? Andrew McCarthy explains why these questions tend to stump Islamic leaders when speaking to Western journalists. »

From Leo Strauss central

Three modern books on politics made indelible impressions on me as a student interested in the great wide world. Two are by Leo Strauss, Natural Right and History and On Tyranny. The third is Crisis of the House Divided: An Interpretation of the Issues in the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, by Strauss’s student Harry Jaffa. These books also led me to Persecution and the Art of Writing, in which Strauss rediscovered the »

Live From the Minnesota State Fair

It’s that time of year again, the end of summer, and AM 1280 the Patriot is broadcasting live from the Minnesota State Fair. Tomorrow Brian Ward and I will be on the air from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. central time. You can listen on the Patriot’s web site. It will be a guest-filled two hours. At 11:15 we will be joined by John Keenan, owner of Ye Old Mill »

No Surprise Here

The Center for Responsive Politics has analyzed the political contributions of those who identified themselves as employees of CBS, NBC and ABC in 2008. The result: 88 percent of those contributions went to Democrats. The Presidential contest was even more lopsided: network employees made 710 contributions, worth a total of $461,898, to Barack Obama, and 39 contributions, totaling $26,926, to John McCain. If you’re counting, that’s 94 percent for Obama. »

How Out Of Touch Is He?

As the economy teeters on the brink of another recession and surly voters look forward to next year’s massive tax increases, President Obama projects a certain inappropriate insouciance. The dominant images people are getting of Obama are of golf and vacations. This doesn’t strike me as a good idea, from his perspective. Michael Ramirez has another take on the golf theme; click to enlarge: Actually, I think Obama probably realizes »

Minnesota’s Future

Minnesota’s Future is a group that is trying to keep Minnesota’s governorship out of the hands of Mark ultra-liberal Mark Dayton. They produced this highly effective ad highlighting some of the basics of Dayton’s record: Dayton is an awful candidate, but hey: we’re the state that elected Jesse Ventura and Al Franken. If you want to help restore sanity to Minnesota, go here donate to the campaign of Tom Emmer, »

Playing into the Democrats’ hands

One of the year’s most closely watched congressional races is taking place in Michigan’s First District, which Bart Stupak currently represents. Stupak is retiring. The Republicans nominated surgeon Dan Benishek, winner of the primary by only 15 votes. The Democratic candidate is Gary McDowell. In the only poll I have seen on this race (by a group called WeAskAmerica, in early August) Benishek led McDowell by a 45-29 margin. However, »

The Delaware conundrum, Part Three

I’ve written before about the Republican primary contest between Rep. Mike Castle and Christine O’Donnell. The winner will face popular county executive Chris Coons in November. Today, the Tea Party Express announced that it is supporting O’Donnell. It’s reasoning comes down to the view that Castle is “one of the most vile RINO’s you will meet.” The press release doesn’t explain why Castle is “vile” and I’m pretty sure the »

The Green Swindle

If you’ve had a hard time keeping up with events related to the exposure of the global warming hoax over the past year, tune in to tonight’s special edition of Hannity on Fox News at 9:00 p.m. (Eastern). The show is devoted in its entirety to the rise and, we hope, the fall of the hoax. It should make for a valuable contribution to an issue that, unfortunately, remains of »

Is voting for Pelosi right for South Dakota?

Chris Cillizza draws attention to South Dakota Democratic Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin’s new advertisement supporting her reelection campaign. Sandlin is encouraging the people of South Dakota to disconnect her from Barack Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the national Democratic Party: In [the ad], Sandlin seeks — as so many targeted Democrats are doing this cycle — to distance herself from the goings-on in Washington (and even »

Christie in context

The BusinessWeek profile of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie supplies the political context of the several videos we have posted in our “What price Christie?” series. Will Governor Christie prevail in the Battle of New Jersey? He himself leaves it an open question, as he did in his interview with Paul Gigot earlier this summer. The BusinessWeek profile broadly outlines the challenges involved in Christie’s struggle to reduce New Jersey’s »

Eat, Pray, Favre

In the Wall Street Journal, Jason Gay manages to turn the Brett Favre saga into a source of humor. Here, for example, Gay seeks to overcome his resentment of the drama involved in the current rerun of Favre’s return from retirement: [N]o one has been hurt here. This [is] not an arrest or a positive test. Mr. Favre’s faux retirements are less an affront than a musty punch line, like »