Monthly Archives: June 2004

June 24, 2004 — John Hinderaker

If Anyone Still Cares…

Now that it has been conclusively established in the American press that Saddam Hussein’s government never had anything to do with al Qaeda, the New York Times grudgingly takes note of evidence to the contrary, as reflected in a recently-uncovered Iraqi intelligence document: Contacts between Iraqi intelligence agents and Osama bin Laden when he was in Sudan in the mid-1990’s were part of a broad effort by Baghdad to work »
June 24, 2004 — Scott Johnson

A close reading of the rant

Reader Dafydd ab Hugh writes: Two things leapt out at me immediately in Al Gore’s rant: First, he repeatedly brings up the danger of the chief executive seizing legislative power from Congress; he pointedly notes that while the president is Commander In Chief, only Congress has the power to declare war; then he accuses Bush of waging illegal warfare against Iraq… but not once does Gore bother mentioning that Congress »
June 24, 2004 — Scott Johnson

A cynical mantra

Here’s the Reuters report on Al Gore’s Georgetown University Law Center speech this afternoon: “Gore says Bush lied about Iraq to push for war.” Gore thundered: Beginning very soon after the attacks of 9/11, President Bush made a decision to start mentioning Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein in the same breath in a cynical mantra designed to fuse them together as one in the public’s mind. I’m not sure »
June 24, 2004 — Scott Johnson

Kerry-oke

The Republican National Committee has its creative juices flowing in anticipation of Barbra Streisand’s fundraising concert tonight for John Kerry. It has unveiled “Kerry-oke,” asking voters to sing along with new lyrics sung to the tune of “The Way We Were,” rewritten as “The Flips We Flopped”: Flip-Flops, Said along the campaign trail, Different stands John Kerry’s spoken of, They’re the flips he flopped. Scattered issues, At John Kerry photo-ops, »
June 24, 2004 — Scott Johnson

If It’s Not Close: A sneak preview

In his capacity as managing editor of the Claremont Review of Books, our friend Ben Boychuk received an advance copy of Hugh Hewitt’s important new book If It’s Not Close, They Can’t Cheat: Crushing the Democrats in Every Election and Why Your Life Depends on It . In his capacity as a contributor to the Infinite Monkeys blog, Ben has reacted adversely to Hugh’s comments on the blog in the »
June 24, 2004 — Scott Johnson

All in the family?

In today’s New York Sun Laurie Mylroie offers far-reaching speculation on the connection between al Qaeda and Iraq under Saddam Hussein: “All in the family?” UPDATE: Reader Daniel Aronstein writes: Can you guys at Power Line ask Mylroie if DNA tests on the perps of the two WTC attacks and KSM et al. might confirm if they are in fact a family? That would clear this up. Wouldn’t it? Shouldn’t »
June 24, 2004 — Scott Johnson

Beyond race: The tribal imperative

Liberal proponents of “affirmative action” incessantly invoke the need for race conscious remedies to advance the goal of a society in which race doesn’t count. In the Orwellian construction of Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun writing in the Bakke case 25 years ago, “In order to get beyond racism, we must first take race into account.” Blackmun’s tone suggests that this is the higher wisdom of the matter, as it »
June 23, 2004 — John Hinderaker

England Goes Mad

Maybe there’s something to this soccer thing after all. The Sun’s entire news section appears to be devoted to the English national soccer team, their upcoming match against Portugal, and their new superstar, Everton’s own Wayne Rooney. “For England and St. George,” says the Sun’s main headline. Here is the flag the Sun unfurled in Lisbon’s main square: But the madness is only beginning. Another article is titled “Rooney’s ‘just »
June 23, 2004 — John Hinderaker

A PR Coup For the Ages

The amount of publicity being given to the opening of Michael Moore’s movie, Fahrenheit 9/11–still two days off–is simply unbelievable. Today the New York Times reviewed Moore’s magnum opus, calling the fat filmmaker “a credit to the republic.” Still, a moment of reality did intrude: His case is synthetic rather than comprehensive, and it is not always internally consistent. He dwells on the connections between the Bush family and the »
June 23, 2004 — Scott Johnson

Vote for Kerry or I’ll kill you

The AP reports that a Democratic group crucial to John Kerry’s presidential campaign has paid felons convicted of sex offenses, assault and burglary to conduct door-to-door voter registration drives in at least three election swing states: “Felons paid in voter registration drive.” Not all state authorities are impressed: Citing security concerns for the public and for the felons, the Missouri Department of Corrections in April banished ACT from its pool »
June 23, 2004 — John Hinderaker

JFK’s JFK Complex

The Associated Press released this photo of John Kerry catching a baseball on a runway just before boarding his airplane in Washington. Well, sure, that’s just what I always do when I’m hurrying to catch a plane–have a quick game of catch on the tarmac. What is it with Kerry and sports? His campaign is always talking about his snowboarding, sailing, biking, whatever. Maybe they’re trying to pre-empt some bad »
June 23, 2004 — John Hinderaker

The Morning’s News

A few interesting items from this morning’s news roundup: This is almost unbellievable: Congressional testimony by the president of the Association of Flight Attendants says that flight attendants on commercial airlines are still not being trained to resist hijackers. The Washington Times follows up on Vladimir Putin’s statement that the Russians warned the U.S. about terrorist attacks on America by Saddam’s Iraq, and finds that the story has been virtually »
June 23, 2004 — Scott Johnson

Lost patriots of Hollywood

Michelle Malkin mourns “The lost patriots of Hollywood.” On her blog Michelle invites readers to leave comments on a trial basis about their favorite WWII flicks and scenes. Mine: Sam Fuller’s autobiographical “The Big Red One,” starring Lee Marvin. Michelle’s: the hanging scene at the school in “Back to Bataan” — “watched the movie when I was 8. Still get choked up thinking about the principal’s body and the American »
June 23, 2004 — Scott Johnson

Kofi works Safire

William Safire’s column advances the UN oil-for-food scandal story and provides an intriguing preview of coming attractions: “The great cash cow.” (Courtesy of RealClearPolitics.) Kofi unsuccessfully seeks to close Safire’s yap by advising Safire that “some are jumping to conclusions without facts, without evidence. It is a bit like a lynching, actually.” What next — chin music? »
June 23, 2004 — Scott Johnson

A death in Buhriz

The Washington Post’s Edward Cody has a powerful account of the death of Army Pfc. Jason N. Lynch, and of the Army’s pacification efforts in Baathist strongholds outside Baghdad: “On a hot and dusty road, a young soldier’s last battle.” »
June 23, 2004 — Scott Johnson

The madness of King Sid

OpinionJournal has posted a notable column by Bret Stephens that renders a striking diagnosis regarding the mental health of Sidney Blumenthal, Al Gore, and Paul Krugman: “Just like Stalingrad.” Stephens notes that Blumenthal has recently compared the American siege of Fallujah to the battle of Stalingrad, and the American detention of enemy combatants to the Soviet Gulag. He also notes the anti-Bush diatribes (frequently discussed here) that Gore and Krugman »
June 22, 2004 — Paul Mirengoff

E.J. Dionne swings and misses

E.J. Dionne’s latest column starts with a misrepresentation and goes downhill. That misrepresentation is contained in the question with which Dionne begins his piece: “Why have the Bush administration and some of the staunchest supporters of the Iraq war gone nuts over the Sept. 11 commission’s staff report debunking the idea that there were close ties between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda?” In reality, of course, the administration went “nuts” »