May 20, 2013 — Scott Johnson

What about the video?

Featured image What is the provenance of the Muhammad video in the Benghazi talking points? Our inability to answer the question is in itself a clue. Steve Hayes follows the paper trail and reconstructs what his reporting has revealed to date in the Weekly Standard article “What about the video?” Steve characterizes the attribution of causal effect to the video a “quadruple bank shot,” but leaves open the question of who was »
May 19, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff

No tears for Piers

Featured imageIn early March, I wrote a post called “Tears for Piers” about the meltdown of Piers Morgan on Fox Soccer Channel as he watched Arsenal, the soccer team he supports, lose to Tottenham Hotspur, the club’s North London rival. In a tirade the sophistication of which failed to meet the standards of a 3:00 a.m. sports call-in show, Morgan castigated Arsenal’s long-time, hugely-successful manager, Arsene Wenger. He concluded by advising »
May 19, 2013 — John Hinderaker

Electrifying California

Featured imageOver a period of decades, Edison Electric Company documented the electrification of southern California in approximately 70,000 photographs. Recently Edison donated or loaned these images to the Huntington Museum, which has now put some of them online. They are historically interesting and, in many instances, aesthetically beautiful. They remind us of the romance of southern California in the 30s, 40s and 50s. Click to enlarge: I like the sign at »
May 19, 2013 — John Hinderaker

How Much Are Obama’s Scandals Hurting Him?

Featured imageIs Obama being hurt by the scandals that have engulfed his administration? That sounds like a silly question: of course the scandals have damaged his image, thrown his administration off message, weakened his ability to get anything through Congress. Haven’t they? If you believe the Gallup Poll, the scandals might be a boon to Obama. Currently he sits at 51%/42%, as measured from May 15 through May 17. This represents »
May 19, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff

Obama denies role in government

Featured imageAndy Borowitz of the The New Yorker provides this somewhat fictitious account of our president’s reaction to the current series of scandals: President Obama used his weekly radio address on Saturday to reassure the American people that he has “played no role whatsoever” in the U.S. government over the past four years. “Right now, many of you are angry at the government, and no one is angrier than I am,” »
May 19, 2013 — Scott Johnson

A durable libel

Featured imageCharles Enderlin is the France 2 Jerusalem correspondent who broadcast the incendiary account of the death of 12-year-old Muhammad al-Dura at the hands of Israeli troops operating in the Gaza Strip in September 2000. Based on film footage provided by a Palestinian cameraman, Enderlin’s report has become infamous among students of Arab propaganda both for its destructive effects and for its probable falsity. The al-Dura affair bids to join the »
May 19, 2013 — Scott Johnson

Analyze this

Featured imageWhat did President Obama do on the evening of 9/11/12 when our men were under attack in Benghazi? The invaluable Andrew McCarthy reminds us that Obama and Secretary Clinton had a 10:00 p.m. phone call of which many (including, I think, Chris Wallace) have lost sight. This morning when Wallace asked Obama aide Dan Pfeiffer what Obama was up to that evening, Pfeiffer declared the line of inquiry “offensive.” Translation: »
May 19, 2013 — Steven Hayward

How the IRS Scandal Could Backfire

Featured imageCBS News reported yesterday that senior officials in the Treasury Department knew of the IRS targeting of conservative groups during the 2012 campaign.  While this doesn’t yet place the matter inside the West Wing, it assures another leg to the scandal at least.  To paraphrase an old Watergate-era slogan, “Follow the money-grubbers.” (CBS News) WASHINGTON – There were new questions Saturday night concerning if anyone in the White House was »
May 18, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff

Five dollars worth of “adorable”

Featured imageOrganizing for America, the Democratic Party’s successor organization to Barack Obama’s 2012 presidential campaign, is asking folks to “forward” Joe Biden’s response to a letter from a seven year-old boy on the theory that it is “adorable,” and to “chip in” a $5 dollar contribution, as well. I’m not sure whom Organizing for America finds adorable — Biden or the boy. Both, I guess, since it says the exchange is »
May 18, 2013 — Steven Hayward

The Week in Pictures, Umbrellagate Update

Featured imageIf the old weekly Life magazine had managed to hang on until the Internet arrived, it might have survived as an online summary, but fortunately they left the space open to Power Line.  And things are happening so fast we almost need to go daily with this feature. I’m guessing that the fury of Marines on seeing Obama’s appalling breach of Marine protocol will be lost on the media, but »
May 18, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff

As IRS scandal deepens, Obama fetes anti-democracy pal

Featured imageI don’t contend that President Obama was involved in the decision to target conservative groups for harassment by the IRS. So far, there is no evidence that would support that contention. I do contend, however, that Obama has little appreciation for the democratic process, including the right to dissent from his agenda without suffering for it. In my view, he regards democracy and dissent as hindrances to the march of »
May 19, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff

What would you expect Romney to say?

Featured imageMitt Romney says that the Benghazi talking points had no bearing on the outcome of the 2012 presidential election. He made this remark in response to a question by an inquisitive Jay Leno. Romney added that he doesn’t spend a lot of time reflecting on what could have been done differently during his campaign. “I don’t go back and look at: ‘Gee, if this would have happened differently, could I »
May 19, 2013 — Scott Johnson

On first looking into Chapman’s Nixon

Featured imageOur friends at RealClearPolitics have posted Steve Chapman’s Chicago Tribune column “The false Nixon equivalence.” It addresses the subject I took up in “Nixon’s IRS” and, more broadly, in “A Watergate footnote.” Chapman makes the case that comparisons of Obama with Nixon in the matter of the current IRS scandal are misguided. I think the comparison is useful. The outrages committed by the IRS under Obama in the past few »
May 18, 2013 — John Hinderaker

North America’s Strangest Mayor

Featured imageRob Ford, the Mayor of Toronto, has been in the news lately because someone allegedly has a video of him smoking crack. I have no idea whether the video is genuine or not, but Ford is a distinctly odd character. He makes Rahm Emanuel look like a normal human being; in some respects, anyway. New York Magazine compiled a list of 20 things you should know about Rob Ford. Not »
May 18, 2013 — John Hinderaker

Three Cheers for Tesla [Updated]

Featured imageI have always been skeptical of electric vehicles, mostly because of my perception that electric car makers are more interested in subsisting on government subsidies than in competing on a level playing field for my business. So I was intrigued when I got an email this morning from Jeff Evanson, Tesla Motors’ Vice-President of investor relations. Evanson, a long-time Power Line reader, pointed out that the company raised over $1 »
May 18, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff

Obama adminstration talking points scrubbed jihadists from Cairo as well as Benghazi

Featured imageIn the days after the Benhazi attack, the State Department scurried to cover up its failure to heed warnings of such attacks while the White House scurried to cover up the fact that that attacks were the work of al Qaeda-linked terrorists of the sort President Obama supposedly had largely vanquished. The final Benghazi “talking points” and Susan Rice’s talk show appearances represent the product of this scurrying. To help »
May 18, 2013 — Steven Hayward

The Power Line 100: Jonathan Adler

Featured imageIt’s about time we start turning our attention to law professors who belong on the Power Line 100 list, and we’ve got a long list of them.  As with the rest of the field of finalists, there is no particular order, so we’ll start with Jonathan Adler, the well-known interior designer whose baubles you can find at Bed, Bath & Beyond—no, wait, not that Jonathan Adler!  We mean the Jonathan »