Monthly Archives: October 2010

October 18, 2010 — Paul Mirengoff

Obama’s good judgment on foreclosures

The editors of the Washington Post give President Obama credit for resisting, so far at least, calls to order a national moratorium on foreclosures in response to problems with the paperwork involved in the foreclosure process. The Post’s editors are right to commend Obama. To be sure, Obama has a political interest in eschewing a moratorium; in fact he has a double interest in doing so. First, a lengthy halt »
October 18, 2010 — Paul Mirengoff

How to respond to a thumpin’

There’s plenty of speculation these days about whether, assuming the Democrats suffer big losses on election night, President Obama will respond as Bill Clinton did – by “triangulating,” which I think means moderating. Obama may be forced to moderate a bit, but I doubt he is capable of doing so as artfully as Clinton did. Any moderation on Obama’s part is likely to be visibly grudging, and thus unlikely to »
October 18, 2010 — Scott Johnson

It’s hard out here for a messiah

Yesterday I got around to reading Peter Baker’s New York Times Magazine article “The education of a president” in hard copy. One comes away from the article with the uncomfortable feeling that Obama thinks he’s just too damned good for us. Baker’s article made news in the middle of last week as a result of Obama’s acknowledgment that he didn’t know “shovel-ready” from a hole in the ground (to borrow »
October 18, 2010 — Scott Johnson

A word from Peter Rice

I found this message from reader Peter Rice of interest, and not just for the compliment it contains for our coverage of the political scene. I thought you might find this message of interest as well. Our reader writes regarding his recent trip with his wife: We returned a few days ago from being away for three weeks, mainly on a cruise from England to Florida via the northern North »
October 18, 2010 — Scott Johnson

Barney the UnReady

What a year this is turning out to be. Even Barney Frank is sweating out his race against Republican challenger Sean Bielat. Or at least the circumstantial evidence points in that direction. At Breitbart TV, we find this report via Fleming and Hayes: Upon exiting the most recent debate with Barney Frank, located at WGBH studios in Boston, MA, Republican Congressional candidate, Sean Bielat, gets heckled by a Barney Frank »
October 17, 2010 — Paul Mirengoff

The most dramatic baseball game ever played, Part Four — Mantle’s moxie

Hal Smith’s three-run homer had barely landed before Casey Stengel headed to the mound to pull Jim Coates and bring in Ralph Terry. Among Stengel’s many questionable decision during this Series was his preference for Coates over Terry (assuming he wasn’t going to use Luis Arroyo) when he pulled Bobby Shantz earlier in the eighth inning. Terry was better than Coates during the regular season and pitched well as a »
October 17, 2010 — Scott Johnson

Almost heaven?

The latest Rasmussen Reports poll of the West Virginia Senate race puts Republican John Raese slightly ahead of popular Democratic Governor Joe Manchin, 49-46 percent. Rasmussen calls the race a toss-up. “Many pundits are perplexed as to why Governor Joe Manchin is not clobbering his opponent,” writes Erik Root. “The explanation can be placed in two categories: Manchin’s actions before Obama’s numbers turned south, and his explanations since said numbers »
October 17, 2010 — John Hinderaker

Is It Rage, Or Principle?

President Obama and his fellow Democrats tell us that they are about to suffer a historic electoral defeat because Americans are enraged, confused, or fearful. The problem isn’t with them, it is with us. As Paul noted last night, insulting the electorate doesn’t seem like a very effective strategy. But the Democrats are up against a more fundamental problem than irrationally enraged voters. Today’s Rasmussen Reports illuminates some basic American »
October 17, 2010 — Scott Johnson

A look at Minnesota’s First District race

Minnesota’s congressional delegations is split between five Democrats and three Republicans. Minnesota’s First Congressional District is represented by Democrat Tim Walz, a phony centrist. The Mayo Clinic sits in Minnesota’s First Congressional District and the district naturally leans conservative/slightly Republican. Randy Demmer is the Republican candidate challenging Walz. It has been hard to get a feel for the status of the race in the First District; it hasn’t received much »
October 17, 2010 — Scott Johnson

MCLU v. TiZA, cont’d

We’ve written a lot about the Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy K-8 public charter school in suburban St. Paul. It appears to be is an Islamic school operating illegally at taxpayer expense. Among other things, the school’s principal is an imam and almost all of its students are Muslim. It is housed in a building that was owned originally by the Muslim American Society of Minnesota. The study of Arabic is »
October 16, 2010 — Paul Mirengoff

Our psycho-babbler-in-chief

President Obama is blaming his political woes, and those of his Party, on the inability of Americans to “think clearly.” But Obama declined to come down too hard on Americans for being so obtuse. It’s not that we’re always stupid; rather the bad economy has clouded our reason: Part of the reason that our politics seems so tough right now and facts and science and argument does [sic] not seem »
October 16, 2010 — John Hinderaker

Desperately Seeking A Message

On Tuesday, we linked to a New York Times story captioned “Obama Message In Flux As Election Day Nears.” The Times criticized President Obama for trying out one ineffectual campaign theme after another. Near the end of the article, the Times quoted Democratic strategists James Carville and Stanley Greenberg, who wrote a “polling memo” to the effect that Obama should switch to a more effective message: Mr. Carville and the »
October 16, 2010 — John Hinderaker

Whatever Happened to Miss Teen South Carolina?

Maybe she got a job at the New York Times. A cloud of unknowing obscures the geography of exotic places like Iowa and North Dakota. From yesterday’s Corrections section: An article on Sunday about the length of the men’s college hockey season misidentified the university that was the runner-up to last season’s N.C.A.A. champion, Boston College. It is Wisconsin, not Miami of Ohio. The article also misidentified a city in »
October 16, 2010 — Paul Mirengoff

Miller and Murkowski are “even”

Rasmussen’s latest poll of the Alaska Senate race shows a virtual deadlock between Republican nominee Joe Miller and incumbent Lisa Murkowski, a write-in candidate. The results of this survey are Miller 35, Murkowski 34, Scott McAdams (the Democrat) 28. These numbers don’t mean that the race is actually even. Murkowski’s supporters must write her name on the ballot, after remembering to fill in a “bubble” indicating that they wish to »
October 16, 2010 — Paul Mirengoff

O’Donnell makes up ground

A new Rasmussen poll has Christine O’Donnell trailing Chris Coons by a 51-40 margin. This represents a significant improvement over polls that, prior to the O’Donnell-Coons debates, had O’Donnell behind by 16 to 21 points. However, Rasmussen’s previous poll, taken three weeks ago, showed O’Donnell behind by 9 points. The apparent improvement in O’Donnell’s position from a week or so ago probably stems from this week’s debates. O’Donnell was clearly »
October 16, 2010 — Scott Johnson

From black helicopters to pink helmets

Republican challenger Sharron Angle is reputedly the wack job in the race for the seat held by the Senate Majority Leader, but she acquitted herself well in her debate with Harry Reid this week. The Las Vegas Sun has now posted a transcript of the debate between Angle and Senator Reid. Here is the Senate Majority Leader of the United States on the subject of health insurance coverage mandates — »
October 16, 2010 — Scott Johnson

Who will rescue us from Obamacare?

Robert Goldberg is the vice president of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest. He has forwarded a column with his thoughts on “what the Chilean miners can teach us about Obamacare.” in his message forwarding the piece, Goldberg provides a kind of executive summary: “Private-sector innovators from around the world contributed their expertise to the rescue effort in Chile, and the result was nothing short of miraculous. Yet »