Monthly Archives: November 2006

James Webb renews his “too hard-core to respect the president” act

The Washington Post reports that at a recent White House reception for freshmen members of Congress, Senator-elect James Webb tried to avoid President Bush. He declined to stand in a presidential receiving line or to have his picture taken with the president. Eventually, however, Bush found him and asked him how his son, a Marine, was doing. Webb responded, “I’d like to get them out of Iraq, Mr. President.” Bush »

With pen in hand

With pen in hand, Iran’s kidnapper-in-chief has reached out to communicate with the American people. Inspired by the election, he is picking up Democratic talking points and reading the returns: In Iraq, about one hundred and fifty thousand American soldiers, separated from their families and loved ones, are operating under the command of the current US administration. A substantial number of them have been killed or wounded and their presence »

Downward Spiral at the L.A. Times

Hugh Hewitt and others have pointed out that the Los Angeles Times has seen one of the sharpest circulation declines of any newspaper. Now, the Los Angeles Business Journal (available by subscription only) reports that advertisers have taken note: Several major advertisers want rate cuts on display advertising in the Los Angeles Times due to a drop in the newspaper’s readership. Buyers for Macy’s, one of the newspaper’s largest advertisers, »

No-go?

Hot Line is reporting that Sen. Frist has decided not to run for president. »

Journalism as usual

Former Washington reporter Ethan Wallison has written an interesting RCP column on Nancy Pelosi: “The Nancy I knew.” Based on his own observations, Wallison’s column depicts Pelosi as conniving, ambitious, bullying, vain, vindictive and ethically challenged. It’s not a pretty picture. I think that the traits observed by Wallison could probably be found upon close inspection on a bipartisan basis to one degree or another among those filling congressional leadership »

When sadist met masochist

I meant to get to this New York Daily News story a couple of days ago: “Wild sex 101.” At Columbia University, it’s a little difficult for speakers of certain persuasions to speak without interruption. See, for example, Stanley Kurtz’s update at NRO’s Corner on Columbia’s apparent nonfeasance in following up on the disruption of Jim Gilchrist’s appearance on campus earlier this fall. The Daily News story reveals that at »

The gathering swarm

The New York Sun’s Eli Lake has another important story on the deep thoughts of the Baker-Hamilton commission: “Baker panel aide expects Israel will be pressed.” Say what you will about the unrealistic “realism” of these folks, they are remarkably consistent. The confidential memorandum that supports Lake’s story provides: “To have any realistic chance of success, I believe that the process would have to start with the announcement of a »

Meet John Daniszewski

Last night John noted the email message from AP International Editor John Daniszewski responding to the charge that the story of the six burning Sunnis is false. Reader Bill Maron alerts us to two CAMERA items on Daniszewski: “Thumbs down to John Daniszewski” (April 2000, regarding Daniszewski’s work for the Los Angeles Times) and “Daniszewski works to polish Syrian image” (March 2003, also regarding Daniszewski’s work for the Los Angeles »

The coming crises in citizenship?

Our friends at the Ashbrook Center and at No Left Turns have just posted a thoughtful column by Travis Smith on the Intercollegiate Studies Institute’s study on citizenship: “Education and citizenship.” The Ashbrook Center’s estimable Peter Schramm writes that “Travis is a good guy, even though Canadian.” I would add that we have more than one crisis in citizenship on our hands and that Smith’s column has prompted me to »

The Associated Press Doubles Down

Yesterday, we noted the strange case of the six burned-alive Sunnis, as reported by the Associated Press. Strange because neither the Iraqi government nor the U.S. Army could find any evidence that the outrage occurred, and the AP’s principal source, described as a “police captain,” was said by the Iraqi government to be no such thing. So it looked bad for the AP. But today, the AP struck back, pushing »

The Dems’ deep bench

Current law prohibits employers from taking on and retaining illegal immigrants, and it provides for sanctions against employers who do not obey. Employers are required to obtain proof of the citizenship of employees, which they typically do through the applicant’s social security card. A major purpose of this law is to limit the number of job opportunities available to illegals, and thus to reduce the number of illegals who will »

Why not victories?

President Bush said today that he “will not pull troops off the battlefield [in Iraq] before the mission is complete.” Speaking in Latvia where he’ll attend a NATO meeting, Bush added that “we can accept nothing less than victory for our children and our grandchildren.” These are reassuring words to those of us concerned about the mounting pressure on the administration to accept a defeat, whether “managed” for us by »

Is Iraq In a Civil War?

There is a lot of controversy at the moment over whether the conflict in Iraq should be classified as a civil war. NBC News garnered headlines with this rather pretentious announcement that it was rejecting the White House’s position, and from now on will refer to Iraq as being in a state of civil war: This is, I think, a judgment call on which opinions can differ, but my own »

Al-cee-ya

It looks like Nancy Pelosi has made the sound decision not to have Rep. Alcee Hastings chair the House intelligence committee. Hastings, of course, was impeached and then removed from a federal judgeship in 1989 based on allegations that he had solicited bribes, so Pelosi’s decision should have been a no-brainer. Pelosi reportedly is still resolved to deny the chair to her adversary Rep. Jane Harman, who was in line »

George Allen says “macaca” and suddenly Chuck Schumer is a genius

Sen. Schumer purports in his all-knowing way to explain the political lay-of-the-land to Ben Smith of the New York Daily News. His diagnosis is that the Democrats are in better shape than the Republicans because the latter party hasn’t yet figured out that “Reaganomics is dead” and that the view “‘Government is bad, it’s out of touch, chop off its hands as soon as it moves.’ — is over.” Schumer »

False Alarm

Scott noted yesterday the discovery of what was described as “the makings of a bomb” in a rental car at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport. The item left in the car, while certainly suspicious-looking, apparently turns out to be innocent: A suspicious item found in a rental car at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport was a scientific instrument used to record water temperature, airport officials said Monday. This reminds me of a »

A Marvellous Email From A Good Sport

Not infrequently, our posts have sequels. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote, tongue in cheek, about a near-encounter with Garrison Keillor, Minnesota’s unfunny humorist. An excerpt: Tired from a long day, I couldn’t work much after the first half hour of the flight, and cast about for something to do. I noticed that a book had been jammed into a pocket on the wall next to my seat–2D–and, curious, »