May 30, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
When President Obama nominated Eric Holder for Attorney General, the Republican establishment was not displeased. As I wrote at the time, “most members of that establishment feel more comfortable with their fellow Washington insider than they do with taking their chances on an Obama nominee to be named later.” At Power Line, though, we had major concerns about Holder. Prominent among them was his lack of honesty. For one thing,
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May 29, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Next month, the U.S Supreme Court, in it wisdom, may pass judgment on the age-old definition of marriage. Until very recently, marriage has universally been deemed to require an opposite sex component, but the Court may overturn this definition. The fact that the Supreme Court is even considering such a change represents, for me, the reductio ad absurdum of American constitutional law jurisprudence. The fact that, until very recently, marriage
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May 29, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
The other day, Nancy Pelosi was defending the Obama administration’s alleged ignorance of the IRS’s mistreatment of conservative organizations. Noting the involvement of the Cincinnati IRS office, Pelosi asked, rhetorically, whether John Boehner, whose district isn’t far from that office, should have known about the misconduct. It’s a fair point, but why stop with Boehner? Marvin Lewis coaches the Cincinnati Bengals. Can he be expected to know what’s going on
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May 29, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
To my knowledge, Karl Rove was the first commentator to focus attention on a massive problem from which even Eric (“Nine Lives”) Holder may not be able to escape. Two weeks ago, testifying under oath before the House Judiciary Committee, Holder was asked whether the Justice Department could prosecute reporters under the Espionage Act of 1917. His response (emphasis added) was: In regard to potential prosecution of the press for
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May 29, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
For some reason, the MSM wants to create suspense over the fate of the Schumer-Rubio amnesty bill in the Senate. Much was made, for example, of Sen. Menendez’s statement on Univision that supporters didn’t yet have the 60 votes. But Harry Reid knows that the votes are there. “I think we have 60 votes,” the Majority Leader says. “Remember, we start out at 55 Democrats. I think the most I’ll
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May 28, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Early this year, the U.S. economy went over half of a fiscal cliff or more — a supposedly draconian sequester plus some tax increases, albeit not the across-the-board hike that formed the full cliff. From all that appears, the U.S. economy has lived to tell about it. Neil Irwin and Ylan Q. Mui of the Washington Post rehearse some of the good news: Housing prices rose faster over the past
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May 28, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
We wrote here about the Obamacare “navigators” — a cadre of community organizer types whose task will be to steer the uninsured into the insurance market. Young, healthy people represent a key group in need of being steered, inasmuch as Obamacare is predicated on inducing such folks into the insurance market to subsidize older, not-so-healthy people. But purchasing insurance may not be the best cost-benefit option for the young and
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May 28, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Byron York reports that Marco Rubio’s support for “comprehensive immigration reform” is seriously harming his standing with Iowa Republicans. Byron bases this conclusion on responses he received from leading Iowa Republicans to an email that asked a few general questions about the GOP field, without mentioning immigration. The responses were “all about immigration, and nearly all negative.” GOP State Central Committee member Jamie Johnson said: Over the last three months,
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May 28, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
In his chronically disingenuous media appearances on behalf of amnesty, Marco Rubio always insists that he wants to improve the Schumer-Rubio bill. Rubio has to say this to retain credibility among conservatives who doubt the government’s ability and willingness to enforce all but the most airtight border security measures — a doubt that Rubio purports to share. Thus, Rubio pledges that he is open to, and even desirous of, sensible
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May 27, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
In a post called “The Inevitable Decline of Great Britain (Con’t)”, John wrote that “in Great Britain, the authorities have no idea what to do about the real problem, an endless series of murders and attempted murders by fanatics yelling ‘Allahu Akbar!’” And John is right. However, the British public has at least a clue. A survey taken for the Daily Mail shows that almost two-thirds of voters in the
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May 27, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Which side should the U.S. wish to see prevail in the Syrian civil war? For me, the correct answer has seemed to be: neither side, just as it was during the war between Iran and Iraq. A victory by the butcher Assad has never looked like a good outcome, and it looks worse than ever now that Hezbollah and Iran are backing him so strongly. But a victory by the
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May 26, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
It’s a slow scandal weekend, so why don’t we name our Power Line EPL all-stars for the just completed season? We’ll name three teams, like last year. And, as always, you should assume that the players you believe were criminally omitted would have made Power Line’s fourth team. First Team Petr Cech — Chelsea Pablo Zabaleta — Manchester City Leighton Baines — Everton Jan Vertonghen — Tottenham Hotspur Rio Ferdinand
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May 26, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Washington Post reporters Karen DeYoung and Scott Wilson (prompted, undoubtedly, by Team Obama) find that David Petraeus is to blame for the trouble in which the administration finds itself over the Benghazi talking points. It’s not exactly a case of “blame the dead guy” — more like blame the unfaithful guy, even if he is an American hero. In the Post’s telling, Petraeus drafted talking points that exceeded the scope
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May 25, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
The Daily Caller reports that Marco Rubio has a history of opposing enforcement of immigration laws. As Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, Rubio blocked efforts to deal with illegal immigration at the state or local Miami level. According to the Daily Caller, the record shows that Rubio used his power as Speaker to block legislation to tighten enforcement even after such legislation had sailed through committee. He even
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May 24, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
In a post below, I noted that during his appearance tonight on Sean Hannity’s program, Marco Rubio failed to defend his immigration bill, even though the format of the show was highly favorable to the Senator from Florida. Here is what happened. Hannity asked a central question that has become even more pressing in view of recent Obama administration scandals, particularly the one involving the IRS. That question, in essence,
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May 24, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Tonight, Sean Hannity had Marco Rubio on his show for an hour to advocate the Schumer-Rubio amnesty bill. The program was an embarrassment at two levels. First, as I feared, the format was heavily skewed in favor of Rubio and his position. Second, even with this skewing, Rubio’s main arguments were pathetic. As to the format, Rubio spent roughly the first half of the program answering questions from Hannity. Some
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May 24, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
On May 24, 1963, the first place San Francisco Giants took on the second place Los Angeles Dodgers at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. It had taken a dramatic playoff series (won by the Giants) to separate the two teams in 1962, and well into the 1963 season, they were separated by only one game. To add to the drama, the pitching matchup featured Sandy Koufax for the visitors and
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