Monthly Archives: February 2011

February 22, 2011 — John Hinderaker

Fleebaggers, Come Home!

Sometimes politics makes you laugh out loud. Hot Air has a roundup of the latest from Wisconsin, of which the greatest is this: the Republicans have adopted a rule that Senators have to collect their paychecks in person, on the Senate floor. Hilarious! Can the Democratic Party survive the shame of this debacle? I suppose so, but no amount of ridicule is too much. »
February 22, 2011 — John Hinderaker

Who Are the Demons Here?

It is tempting to wonder whether at some point in the last few months, the Left held a meeting and decided to try to demonize Charles and David Koch, their company, Koch Enterprises, and the non-profit organizations that they support. Almost overnight, Koch Enterprises went from being one of the most successful and respected companies in America to the focus of a concentrated campaign of hate, the likes of which »
February 22, 2011 — John Hinderaker

Obama, Democrats Sliding in Polls

I’m not sure whether it is his involvement with the Democrats’ PR debacle in Wisconsin, or his detachment from events in the Middle East, or the continuing weak economy, but President Obama is sliding in the polls. In Scott Rasmussen’s Approval Index, he has plummeted to -20, one of his worst showings ever: Obama’s overall approval rating with likely voters is also deeply in the red, at 44/55. In the »
February 22, 2011 — John Hinderaker

Chris Matthews: “Completely Uninformed,” Once Again

Does MSNBC employ staff to carry out functions like research and fact-checking, or do the network’s on-air personalities just repeat anything they see on goofy left-wing web sites? I think the latter. Here is another case in point, where Chris Matthews tries out a canard about Wisconsin’s Governor Scott Walker. Republican legislator Glen Grothman sets him straight: »
February 22, 2011 — John Hinderaker

Democratic Meltdown Spreads to Indiana

Emulating Wisconsin’s Democrats, Democratic members of Indiana’s House of Representatives have fled the state, effectively shutting down Indiana’s legislature. Like their Wisconsin counterparts, the Indiana legislators are in hiding and refuse to disclose their whereabouts. One would hope that this pathetic performance will further discredit the Democratic Party. »
February 22, 2011 — John Hinderaker

Thune Is Out

John Thune announced this morning that he will not run for President in 2012. I’m a little disappointed, as Thune is one of my favorite politicians. But he could become the number two Republican in the Senate upon Jon Kyl’s retirement, and it is hard to argue with his rationale for staying out of the 2012 race: Along the way, we have been reminded of the importance of being in »
February 22, 2011 — Scott Johnson

The raspberry statement, part 2

When Columbia students like James Simon Kunen acted up in 1968, Columbia President Grayson Kirk commented: “Whether students vote ‘yes’ or ‘no’ on an issue is like telling me they like strawberries.” Kunen played off Kirk’s comment in the title of his book on the events of 1968, but Kirk’s comment made a good deal of sense then on the issues in question. Indeed, it still makes sense now on »
February 22, 2011 — Steven Hayward

This Is a Joke, Right?

When I stumbled across the news item yesterday of the founding of the Civil Discourse Institute being founded in Arizona, I was sure that I was reading one of Iowahawk’s brilliant satires. It has all the elements of a sendup, including honorary co-chairs Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush. What, is Bush going to refrain from his worst epithet of the 1992 campaign–calling Al Gore “ozone man”? That was some »
February 22, 2011 — Scott Johnson

The raspberry statement

John wrote about the story of the Columbia undergraduate and Army veteran who was jeered at the town hall meeting held to discuss the possible return of ROTC to campus. The student is Anthonhy Maschek, a 28-year-old freshman with three combat tours to his credit. I want to add a few notes to the story. Maschek was grievously injured in the course of his service. He was jeered and laughed »
February 22, 2011 — Scott Johnson

Remembering the indispensable man

Today is the anniversary of the birth of George Washington. Of all the great men of the revolutionary era to whom we owe our freedom, Washington’s greatness was the rarest and the most needed. At this remove in time, it is also the hardest to comprehend. Take, for example, Washington’s contribution to the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Washington’s mere presence lent the undertaking and its handiwork the legitimacy that resulted »
February 21, 2011 — John Hinderaker

Sharia: Coming Soon, To A Venue Near You

This is the kind of appalling news story that we associate with places where Islam holds sway: Four men launched a horrific attack on a teacher in which they slashed his face and left him with a fractured skull because they did not approve of him teaching religion to Muslim girls. Akmol Hussein, 26, Sheikh Rashid, 27, Azad Hussain, 25, and Simon Alam, 19, attacked [the teacher] with a Stanley »
February 21, 2011 — John Hinderaker

Think Stupidity

We generally follow Ronald Reagan’s injunction to “always fight up, never fight down.” Consequently, we critique liberal politicians and leading Democratic Party newspapers like the New York Times and the Washington Post, and rarely pay attention to the left-wing web sites that blight the landscape. I will deviate from that practice for a moment, however, and comment on a web site called Think Progress. Think Progress is a creature of »
February 21, 2011 — John Hinderaker

A Laboratory Experiment

Events in Libya appear to be spinning out of control. Rebels have taken control of Bengazi; the revolt has spread to other cities, including Tripoli; Gaddafi is rumored to have fled the capital; unconfirmed reports have military aircraft attacking protesters. This is one of many videos showing the chaos that increasingly reigns: While events are murky at best, it seems unlikely that Gaddafi’s regime can survive. What will follow it »
February 21, 2011 — John Hinderaker

If You Really Want to Know the Details…

…of the assault on Lara Logan in Cairo, the Post has a sickening account. Among other things, she apparently was stripped and beaten with flag poles. »
February 21, 2011 — John Hinderaker

(Most) Voters Stand With Scott

These poll data from Rasmussen Reports are the first I have seen on the fiscal crisis in Wisconsin. Rasmussen sampled 1,000 likely voters around the country, and found that 48 percent support Governor Walker and the Republicans, while 38 percent side with the public employee unions. The results are largely partisan, as you would expect, but among unaffiliated voters, 56 percent support Governor Walker’s position. I still haven’t seen any »
February 21, 2011 — John Hinderaker

The Catastrophic Failure of European Multiculturalism

Europe’s leaders have realized, and are acknowledging one after another, that that continent’s multiculturalist policy–the idea that geographic areas could be ceded to immigrants from Islamic countries who would treat them as Islamic enclaves, rather than being encouraged to assimilate–has been a disastrous failure. CBN has a good report on the current status of multiculturalism in Europe. It begins: France has some 751 “No Go” zones. The French government has »
February 21, 2011 — John Hinderaker

Unconscious Homage to Kenny Chesney

Cartoonist Phil Hands of the Wisconsin State Journal is a dyed-in-the-wool liberal, yet he is onto the Wisconsin public sector unions and the Democratic Senators who don’t want to show up for work. Here, he skewers the absentee Senators. Click to enlarge: One may hope that if the Democrats have lost Wisconsin’s editorial cartoonists, they have lost Wisconsin. »