Monthly Archives: October 2012

Romney more likely to break gridlock, poll finds

Featured image Although preference polls portray the presidential race as essentially deadlocked, polling on fundamental issues continues to favor Mitt Romney. The latest such poll comes from AP. It finds that 47 percent of likely voters believe Romney would be better than President Obama at ending the “logjam” in Washington, while only 37 percent say Obama would be better than Romney in this respect. The same poll finds Romney leading Obama by »

The Chris Christie-Barack Obama love fest, an October surprise

Featured image Am I the only Republican who is shaking his head over the effusive praise Chris Christie is showering on President Obama in connection with the federal response to Hurricane Sandy? As Politico reports, Obama and Christie “cemented their new-found mutual admiration society on Wednesday, as the men gushed with praise for one another while touring damage from Hurricane Sandy on the devastated Jersey Shore.” According to Politico, in the course »

You Can’t Go Home Again

Featured image Tom Friedman ventured into the wilds this week, to his home state of Minnesota: I was debating whether to go to the Turkish-Syrian border this week or to visit my old high school in Minnesota. I decided to make the exotic foreign trip and go to Minnesota. I thought it might be useful to look at this election through the window of my hometown of St. Louis Park. I wish »

The facts about Benghazi are known; the only thing that remains is to disclose them

Featured image In an interview with Fox News, which you can see below, former Attorney General Michael Mukasey lays out with great clarity the case that the Obama administration has been incompetent and dishonest when it comes to the Benghazi attack. This is true, he says, of the lead-up to the events of September 11 (when protection was denied the consulate in spite of previous attacks against the Brits and the Red »

A look at the early vote, nationally and in Nevada

Featured image A Pew Research Poll finds that Mitt Romney leads President Obama among those who have already voted by a margin of 50-43. One-fifth of likely voters have already cast their ballots, according to Pew. However, Pew deems Romney’s margin with this group statistically insignificant due to the small sample size. Overall, Pew found Romney and Obama tied nationally at 47 percent each. To the extent that Romney is doing better »

The Facebook spike

Featured image As John notes in the adjacent post, a group of former special operators have set up a Facebook page called SOS: Special Operations Speaks. SOS posted the graphic below on their Facebook page: Facebook took the graphic down twice on the ground that it violated their terms of service, but it is now back up on the SOS site. The Washington Post’s Erik Wemple casts a gimlet eye on Facebook’s »

Is Word of the Benghazi Scandal Leaking Out?

Featured image As we have written more than once, the news media’s collaboration in the Obama administration’s coverup of the Benghazi scandal is a scandal in itself. There are, of course, a few exceptions, most notably Fox News. But in general, Benghazi has not received anywhere near the attention it deserves from journalists. I think most voters are generally aware that the administration provided inadequate security prior to the terrorist attack on »

Losing it

Featured image Steve Hayward, showing his characteristic good judgment, posted Lena Dunham’s “First Time” ad for President Obama without comment. The ad spoke for itself. All that we, as males well outside the target audience, could do was present the evidence and shake our heads. However, Emily Esfahani Smith at Ricochet falls well within the demographic group to which Dunham hopes to appeal. Moreover, she has praised Dunham’s hit show, “Girls,” for »

Roanoke College poll has Romney up by 5 in Virginia

Featured image Mitt Romney leads President Obama by 5 points in Virginia, 49 to 44, in a poll conducted by Roanoke College between Oct.23-26. The sample consisted of 638 likely voters. The margin of error is 4 points. Using a more selective screen for identifying likely voters, Roanoke College’s poll found Romney ahead by a commanding 54-41 margin. Thus, if these results are accurate, Obama will need a strong turnout just to »

Uncommon Knowledge with Antonin Scalia

Featured image Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia visits Uncommon Knowledge for a wide ranging interview including “the living Constitution,” Roe v. Wade, the constitutionality of the death penalty, the proper reading of the Second Amendment, and the true meaning of stare decisis. The occasion of Justice Scalia’s appearance is the publication of his new book, written with Bryan Garner: Reading Law: The Interpretation of Legal Texts. At one point in the conversation, »

The Merseyside Derby: A Digression

Featured image Last Sunday’s clash between neighbors Everton and Liverpool produced a highly contentious Derby, even by Merseyside standards. The match was played with feverish intensity but, sadly, will be best remembered for an awful refereeing decision that disallowed a Liverpool goal and preserved a 2-2 draw. All four goals were scored in the frantic first half. When Liverpool netted the first two, I (and doubtless many other Evertonians) feared a rout. »

The Hinderaker-Ward Experience, Episode 35: Halloween Edition

Featured image Brian Ward and I recorded Episode 35 of the Hinderaker-Ward Experience tonight. This is how Brian described the show: It’s a special all Hallow’s Eve Eve edition of the Hinderaker-Ward Experience. John Hinderaker and Brian Ward together again and caught up in the fear and excitement of the election season with one week to go before the big day. We discuss the recent polls showing the building Romney momentum, our »

Miss Universe: A Digression

Featured image Last August, I was doing a radio show with Brian Ward and watching a news feed on my iPad as we were broadcasting. I was stunned to see, coming over the wire, the news that the Miss World contest had just finished up in Inner Mongolia, and Miss China had won. The result was considered a dubious, home town decision. But what astonished me was that the pageant had gotten »

Labor Department likely to issue jobs report on Friday

Featured image Despite initial suggestions to the contrary, it now appears that the U.S. government’s jobs report for October will issue on Friday, as scheduled. Earlier, it was thought that the disruption likely to be caused by Hurricane Sandy in the Washington, D.C. area might well prevent the timely preparation of the report, and there was even speculation no report would be released until after the election. Hurricane Sandy did disrupt the »

Why Cronyism Isn’t Capitalism

Featured image Our friend Justin Folk collaborated with Andrew Klavan on this excellent video, which explains the 2008 financial collapse in entertaining, understandable and accurate fashion. It is called, “Picking Losers, Why Cronyism Isn’t Capitalism.” »

Media Alert

Featured image For early risers, I will be on the Bill Bennett radio show tomorrow morning at 6:30 central time, 7:30 eastern, talking about the election and more. You can listen at the link if you don’t have a local station that carries the show. »

Romney Launches Final Week Blitz

Featured image The Romney and Obama campaigns followed opposite strategies this year. Obama, knowing that he couldn’t defend his record, launched a massive pre-emptive strike against Romney over the summer. The Obama campaign spent more money smearing Romney than has ever been devoted to negative advertising in the history of politics. The plan was to destroy Romney by demonizing him before he had an opportunity to introduce himself to voters. The Romney »