Monthly Archives: October 2010

Annals of honor

The two Presidents Bush, father and son, took the field for the first pitch of Game 4 of the World Series this evening. Nolan Ryan met them on the infield and took the first pitch from W. What a moving study in dignity and class. What a great example. Miss me yet? I miss them both. President Bush the elder turned 86 this past June, and he’s showing his age. »

More fun with numbers

The three latest generic polls of the battle for control of the House all point strongly in favor of the Republicans, with two of them suggesting that the Republican gains could be of historic proportion. A CNN poll has the Republicans holding a 10 point generic lead. A Fox News poll has the Republicans up by 13 points. Finally a Washington Post/ABC News poll puts the Republican lead at 4 »

Plot still thickening in Alaska, cont’d

Having left a message for Joe Miller’s campaign spokesman, an assignment editor from the CBS affiliate in Alaska had one of those equipment malfunctions that has contributed so much to the entertainment value of this election season. While his phone remained connected to voicemail, he joined his colleagues in a conversation that is suggestive of skullduggery against Miller: FEMALE REPORTER: That’s up to you because you’re the expert, but that’s »

Plot still thickening in Alaska, but not as much as ABC news claims

ABC News claims that Republican party leaders have given up on Joe Miller in Alaska and are now banking on Lisa Murkowski as the best bet for Republicans to keep the Alaska Senate seat. As evidence, it cites a “high level” Republican source and the fact that the National Republican Senatorial Committee in its latest ad spent 25 seconds attacking Democrat Scott McAdams and less than five seconds mentioning Joe »

Ratification

I’ve learned a lot from Richard Brookhiser’s short books on the founding fathers, so I especially enjoyed his review of Pauline Maier’s new book on the (incredible) history of the ratification of the Constitution. Brookhiser summarizes the history on offer in Maeier’s book and concludes: Maier does not lard her conclusion with Big Thoughts, so let me rush in. The ratification process was a tribute to what Nathan Dane of »

As vacuous as Obama and much less fresh

This evening on C-SPAN, I caught Jon Stewart’s closing, “serious” remarks from today’s rally. They appear to have been lifted from Barack Obama’s speech to the 2004 Democratic National Convention, with a few throw-away jokes tossed in. In place of the Red State guy who has gay friends was a Mormon Jay-Z-fan. In place of the Red State guy who coaches little league was an atheist obstetrician. Stewart’s speech was »

Islam sings

Pop singer/songwriter Cat Stevens got off the peace train when he converted to the religion of peace back in the ’70’s and changed his name to Yusuf…Islam. In 1989 Mr. Islam was one of the prominent Muslims who supported the murder of Salman Rushdie. Mr. Islam has since denied it, but judge for yourself. In the early 1990’s Mr. Islam was reportedly one of the Islamists who attended Sudan’s Popular »

Obama to protesters: Heckle the other side

The Drudge Report is flagging the video (below) of Obama speaking in Connecticut on behalf of Richard Blumenthal while being heckled by left-wing protesters seeking more global AIDS funding. I have no idea who they are, but Obama addressed them as “young people” who have been showing up “at every rally” and interrupting him. They appear to have a bone to pick with him. Obama took a break from his »

More from Alaska

Another poll from Alaska has Lisa Murkowski leading Joe Miller and Democrat Scott McAdams. The poll, conducted by an outfit called Dittman Research and Communications, has Murkowski at 37 percent, Miller at 27 percent, and McAdams at 23 percent. Thirteen percent were still undecided. The results were released Friday afternoon. Murkowski presumably is pleased with these and similar results, but Politico reports that she’s not putting great stock in this »

Whirl from the north country

I usually think I have a bead on the feelings of my fellow Minnesotans, but this year I have no feel at all for what is happening. We seem to be exempt from the wave that is about to wash up on the Obama shore, with the Democrats’ extraordinarily weird gubernatorial candidate having held a lead of questionable size over Republican contender Tom Emmer since the race took shape this »

Can a philsophical pragmatist be a left-wing ideologue?

In response to a post I wrote called “Barack Obama: philosophical pragmatist or left-wing ideologue?” Stanley Kurtz, whose terrific book Radical-in-Chief helped me address the question, argues that it’s entirely possible to say “both.” Jonah Goldberg adds that “it is not only entirely possible, it is quite common, even consistent” to be a Marxist and a pragmatist. I agree, up to a point. Stan points out that Cornel West was »

The young and the festive

I milled around for about an hour this afternoon with the crowd at Jon Stewart’s rally here in Washington. It was enormous. I can’t really compare it to the size of the crowd at Glenn Beck’s rally because the venue was different, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they were comparable in terms of attendance. They weren’t comparable in any other apparent respect. This was a predominantly young crowd, and »

Dude city

Barack Obama made himself a laughingstock at a few points points during his appearance on Jon Stewart’s Daily Show this week. Video of Obama’s appearance on the Daily Show is here; a transcript of Obama’s appearance is here. Obama became a laughingstock as Stewart played on the distance between the fantasy of Obama’s messianic campaign rhetoric and the reality of Obama in power. This could be potent stuff if you »

Simplicity itself

The Washington Post ran an article today about Newt Gingrich called “Out of the Wilderness and into the Mix for 2012.” The writer, Karen Tumulty, seems confident that Gingrich is interested in running for president, and I have no reason to doubt that he is. I also agree with Tumulty’s suggestion that if Sarah Palin decides not to run, Gingrich’s prospects for gaining the Republican nomination might be pretty good. »

Which way in Michigan?

In early August, I ended a post about four Michigan congressional races (MI-1, MI-5, MI-7, and MI-9) by speculating that “in a pretty good Republican year, the party picks up two Michigan seats. In a ‘wave’ election, it picks up three; and in a blowout of historical portions, four.” With election day almost upon us, let’s take another look at these races, plus one that wasn’t on my radar in »

Game, set, and match to the comedian

I plan to check out the Jon Stewart rally tomorrow in Washington. I’ll stay long enough to get a sense of the crowd size and a feel for the event. I also look forward to meeting some of the “million” “moderates” the Huffington Post will be busing in. Stewart seems like an interesting case. I’ve seen him “debate” a few times and there is a pattern. He will argue until »

Another look at the Alaska race

An outfit called Alaskans Standing Together has released a poll taken by an outfit called Hellenthal and Associates. It purports to show Lisa Murkowski leading Joe Miller by 43.5 to 29. Democrat Scott McAdams trails with 23 percent. As I said yesterday, I don’t believe the Hays poll that had Murkowski 11 points up on Miller. Similarly, I don’t believe the Hellenthal poll that has Murkowski up by more than »