Monthly Archives: August 2010

August 25, 2010 — Scott Johnson

What he did on his summer recess

Writer Ned Rice and Heritage for America envision the deliberations over a hypothetical Democratic congressman’s story regarding the congressman’s avoidance of a town hall meeting with his constituents during this long, hot summer. Starring Ron Howard’s younger brother Clint Howard and a talented ensemble cast, the video scene is stolen by “the new guy” who blurts out the truth. Comment on the video here. »
August 24, 2010 — John Hinderaker

Thoughts on Afghanistan

We started out as warbloggers, largely, and over the years we’ve no doubt written more about the war against Islamic terrorism than anything else. So it’s a little disorienting to see the war in Iraq winding down, and the war in Afghanistan ramping up, without having a great deal to say about either conflict. Will the war in Iraq be judged a success? Ask me in 20 years. While Doug »
August 24, 2010 — Scott Johnson

A Sunday Kind of Love

Harptones lead singer Willie Winfield turns 81 today. His birthday is an event calling for celebration. As lead vocalist for the doo-wop group, Winfield laid down the moving lead vocal on “A Sunday Kind of Love” (video below, dating from 1994). There’s nothing quite like Winfield’s glorious declaration: “I want a Sunday kind of love…” What kind of love is that? “A love to last past Saturday night…” And you »
August 24, 2010 — John Hinderaker

Trouble to the South

Rampant violence plagues Mexico and on occasion spills over the border. Mexico has had, for some time, a higher murder rate than Iraq, if nowhere near as high as Venezuela. In that context, this story has a happy ending: an 18 year old girl was kidnapped in the U.S., taken across the border into Mexico and held for ransom. When it turned out that her family couldn’t pay, the criminals »
August 24, 2010 — Scott Johnson

A question too far…

…for Obama’s counterrorism adviser John Brennan, who has declared jihad a legitimate tenet of Islam. Pressed on the issue by Washington Times editorial writer James Robbins — author of the terrific forthcoming book This Time We Win: Revisiting the Tet Offensive, from whom we hope to be hearing in due course regarding the book — Brennan takes a hike. Here is the transcript: TWT: You mentioned jihad, for example, and »
August 24, 2010 — Paul Mirengoff

Good news from Florida

On the day of the Florida primary comes word of a new PPP poll that shows Marco Rubio 8 percentage points ahead of Charlie Crist in a three-way race also involving Kendrick Meek, who expected to secure the Democratic nomination. Crist has been leading in most polls I’ve seen, including the previous one by PPP, which had him up by 6 points. The 14 point swing is due, not surprisingly, »
August 24, 2010 — John Hinderaker

Consider Me Skeptical…

…of this story in the Daily Caller: “True stories of bloggers who secretly feed on partisan cash.” “It’s standard operating procedure” to pay bloggers for favorable coverage, says one Republican campaign operative. A GOP blogger-for-hire estimates that “at least half the bloggers that are out there” on the Republican side “are getting remuneration in some way beyond ad sales.” … Ad purchases at above market rates are a common means »
August 24, 2010 — Scott Johnson

Uncommon Knowledge with Thomas Sowell

Last week we posted Peter Robinson’s interview with Thomas Sowell. Given our format, the interview rotated off the site after a few days. We’ll have another installment of Uncommon Knowledge next week. In the meantime, here is the interview with Thomas Sowell, once more once, after a brief introduction. Hoover Institution fellow Thomas Sowell is a remarkable man who has produced a distinguished body of work over a long career. »
August 23, 2010 — Paul Mirengoff

Is America Islamophobic?

Following up on Time Magazine’s article arguing that American may be Islamophobic, the Washington Post takes its stab at pressing the indictment. Post writer Annie Gowen focuses mostly on opposition to a proposed sprawling Islamic center in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The Post claims that opposition is intense, but it presents no data on where overall public opinion in the area stands. Thus, the Post apparently has no idea whether the headline »
August 23, 2010 — John Hinderaker

Miss Universe Recap

Miss Mexico, Jimena Navarrete, won the Miss Universe contest tonight in Las Vegas. No surprise there, but there were upsets along the way. Miss USA didn’t make the top 15, which is somewhat unusual for the home country’s candidate. That eliminated any suspense over whether she would fall down during the evening gown competition. Indonesia, Brazil, Venezuela and Haiti didn’t make the top 15, either. Some would say that the »
August 23, 2010 — John Hinderaker

The US Reports to the UN on Human Rights

The Obama administration, in a reversal of policy, joined the United Nations’ Human Rights Council. This obligates the U.S. to submit an annual self-evaluation called the Universal Periodic Review. The State Department submitted the first such review on Friday, and the document became public today. You can read it here. So, is it another Obama apology to the world? No, actually. In fact, some liberals likely would consider it a »
August 23, 2010 — John Hinderaker

Thanks For All the Help, Barack

Many Democrats are fuming over President Obama’s lack of political skill, as seen most recently in his bungled intervention in the Ground Zero Mosque debate. One consequence of Obama’s mis-step is that an astonishing 85 percent of voters are now following the controversy over the Islamic center, with 58 percent saying they are following the story “very closely.” That’s trouble for the Democrats, as the number who oppose construction of »
August 23, 2010 — Paul Mirengoff

Iman Rauf and Ron Paul — bedfellows

Pamela Geller has uncovered an interview in which imam Feisal Rauf, the man behind the Ground Zero mosque, argues that “the United States has more Muslim blood on its hands than al Qaeda has on its hands of innocent non-Muslims.” Notice that in this quotation, Rauf uses the word “innocent” only in the part about non-Muslim blood. But I doubt he would have drawn the comparison unless he believed that »
August 23, 2010 — Paul Mirengoff

The next chapter in Alaska’s family feud

Tomorrow is primary day in Alaska. The most watched contest is between Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Republican challenger Joe Miller, who has been endorsed by Sarah Palin and the Tea Party Express. I previewed that race in two posts, the second of which observed that, notwithstanding Palin’s endorsement, Miller did not seem to be catching fire. That still is probably the case. The Tea Party Express says its internal polling »
August 23, 2010 — Paul Mirengoff

Running uphill, Harry Reid fails to break away

In June, following the nomination of Sharron Angle by Nevada Republicans as their Senate candidate, Harry Reid launched a series of attack ads that portrayed Angle as too extreme for Nevada. Reid had been hoping Angle would be nominated, and wasted no time in attempting to blow her our of the race. At first, this tactic seemed to be working. A Mason-Dixon poll gave Angle with a 3 percentage point »
August 22, 2010 — Paul Mirengoff

The direct talks — for what purpose?

Late last week, Hillary Clinton announced that direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians will resume in early September. I continue to believe (1) that such talks are unlikely to result in an agreement and (2) that it would be a mistake for Israel to enter into agreement with Abbas, who presides over a crumbling political appartus and faces deadly opposition from Hamas. Neither members of the deadly opposition nor »
August 22, 2010 — Paul Mirengoff

The geezer vote — are the Democrats barking up the wrong tree?

Last week, the Washington Post reported that the Democrats, in their desperation to avoid a crushing defeat in November, are making a new run at the votes of senior citizens. I doubt that this portion of the electorate holds much promise for the Dems in this cycle. Seniors are at least as appalled as the electorate as a whole by the failure of the economy to stage a decent recovery »