Monthly Archives: September 2008

September 21, 2008 — John Hinderaker

A Cryptic Report on a Suspect Survey

One of the Democrats’ strategies in this election season is to turn the Presidential campaign into a referendum on the American people: we have to elect Barack Obama President, or else we’re racists. Many pundits, politicians and celebrities have made this claim explicitly; a new AP/Yahoo News poll advances the same theory in a pseudo-scientific way. Here is how the AP reports the results of its survey: Deep-seated racial misgivings »
September 21, 2008 — Scott Johnson

Comedian, satirize thyself

Politico reports that Minnestoa senatorial candidate Al Franken helped craft the opening sketch mocking John McCain that kicked off Saturday Night Live last night. A video of the sketch is available online. Franken is of course a former staff writer for the show. He purports to have put his work as a comedy writer behind him. In his speech accepting the senatorial nomination at the DFL convention in June Franken »
September 20, 2008 — John Hinderaker

You Knew It All Along

Glenn Reynolds reproduces an email from a “reader at a major newsroom:” Off the record, every suspicion you have about MSM being in the tank for O is true. We have a team of 4 people going thru dumpsters in Alaska and 4 in arizona. Not a single one looking into Acorn, Ayers or Freddiemae. Editor refuses to publish anything that would jeopardize election for O, and betting you dollars »
September 20, 2008 — Paul Mirengoff

Livni on the edge

I don’t believe we have commented on the political situation in Israel, where Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni appears to be on the brink of becoming Prime Minister. As David Hazony notes, Livni has “very little experience in government and virtually none in defense.” Nor did she distinguish herself as Foreign Minister. She supported the disgraceful “terrorists for dead hostages” deal with Hizbullah, and then, according to Caroline Glick, attempted to »
September 20, 2008 — Paul Mirengoff

Lilly Ledbetter, living a lie

Lilly Ledbetter, the unsuccessful plaintiff in an equal pay case that went to the Supreme Court, has become ubiquitous this political season. She spoke at the Democratic National Convention, has testified in congressional hearings, and appears in an ad for Barack Obama. Congress is considering legislation that bears her name. The Washington Post, in a piece by Matthew Mosk, reverentially described her as “the Alabama woman whose fight for equal »
September 20, 2008 — Paul Mirengoff

Lilly Ledbetter, living a lie

Lilly Ledbetter, the unsuccessful plaintiff in an equal pay case that went to the Supreme Court, has become ubiquitous this political season. She spoke at the Democratic National Convention, has testified in congressional hearings, and appears in an ad for Barack Obama. Congress is considering legislation that bears her name. The Washington Post, in a piece by Matthew Mosk, reverentially described her as “the Alabama woman whose fight for equal »
September 20, 2008 — Scott Johnson

Playing politics on Iran

Caroline Glick’s column on Iranian progress in development of the nuclear bomb is must reading. Today’s New York Post editorial is an appropriate companion piece: On Monday, a public rally is set for Dag Hammerskjold Plaza, across from the UN, to protest Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s upcoming speech to the General Assembly and unite in opposition to his nuke program and his vow to wipe the US and Israel “off »
September 20, 2008 — Scott Johnson

Depression Monopoly

In “High anxiety,” Lawrence Lindsey invokes the original Depresson-era Monopoly rules to explain the current economic environment. Along the way Lindsey inserts “a digression into economic self-preservation in a game of real-life Depression Monopoly” with advice that should come in handy: First, readers would be well advised to actually sit down and write up a budget if they have any doubts about whether their current income is covering their bills. »
September 20, 2008 — Scott Johnson

The Palin effect

In the new issue of the Weekly Standard, Noemie Emery’s very interesting article on “The Palin effect” takes a stab at interpreting the deranged assault of the Democratic/Media Complex on Sarah Palin: Somehow, every element of her life–the dual offense of being a beauty-queen and hunter; the Down syndrome baby who wasn’t aborted; the teenage daughter about to get married, whose baby also wasn’t aborted; the non-metrosexual husband working the »
September 19, 2008 — John Hinderaker

Tune In Tomorrow

I haven’t plugged the radio show that I do every Saturday with my friends from Fraters Libertas lately, for no particular reason. We’re still going strong, on the air from 11 to 1 central time. If you live in the Twin Cities, we’re on 1280AM the Patriot; if you’re not, you can listen here. Tomorrow, I’ll be hosting the show by myself, as Chad and Beth have just had a »
September 19, 2008 — John Hinderaker

McCain Does Minnesota

Presidential polls have been close here in Minnesota, so John McCain and Sarah Palin made a stop today to encourage the party’s faithful. I think the official estimate is that 10,000 cheering Republicans greeted them at the Anoka/Blaine airport north of Minneapolis. These photos are courtesy of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Here, McCain and Sarah and Todd Palin deplane at the airport: Here, McCain dives into the crowd: Here are »
September 19, 2008 — John Hinderaker

Checking Back In

This year’s election season is like a movie so plot-rich that if you leave for a minute to buy a box of popcorn you no longer no know what’s going on. I’ve been out of commission for a day and a half, making a quick trip to West Palm Beach, and I’ve returned to find another huge day in the market, an apparent undertaking by the federal government to buy »
September 19, 2008 — Scott Johnson

A mighty endeavor

Newt Gingrich contributes the appropriate American historical perspective to Sarah Palin’s prayer and Charles Gibson’s interrogation of Palin about it. Suffice it to say that It’s a perspective that puts Governor Palin in good company and reveals Gibson to be an arrogant fool. To comment on this post, go here. »
September 19, 2008 — Paul Mirengoff

Believe this

A professor at an Ivy League college (neither Dartmouth nor Harvard) told me that when he reports to older alumni on the ideological slant that more than a few of colleagues import to the classrooms, the alums simply don’t believe him. This is understandable; many of these goings-on are unbelievable. Take this report by Jacob Benson, a freshman at Harvard College, about professor Laurel Thatcher Ulrich and her class called »
September 19, 2008 — Paul Mirengoff

A familiar landscape slightly rearranged

Last night, John observed that, although there was a lot of talk earlier this year about “transformational” candidates, “what is notable about the electoral landscape, as we now see it, is how little transformed it is.” That’s an excellent point — the current state of play suggests that this year’s race might well be another close one with, for the most part, the same swing states determining the outcome. I »
September 19, 2008 — Paul Mirengoff

Washington Post Faults McCain For Relying On Washington Post

Byron York has the details. The Post’s news section is taking its role as an appendage to the Obama campaign to new levels on almost a daily basis. To comment on this post, go here. »
September 19, 2008 — Scott Johnson

The Rosenberg File: An update, part 2

In writing yesterday about Morton Sobell’s admission to espionage with the Rosenbergs on behalf of the Soviet Union, I noted Ronald Radosh’s Los Angeles Times column. Also of interest is Radosh’s September 12 New York Sun column on the release of the Rosenberg grandy jury records that seem to have prompted Sobell’s admission. (I believe that the grandy jury records were released in connection with a Freedom of Information Act »