Monthly Archives: March 2009

March 20, 2009 — Paul Mirengoff

A “fated” but unnecessary clash

“Israeli Coalition Appears Fated to Clash With U.S.” — that’s the headline of a Washington Post story predicting big trouble between the Obama administration and the right-wing coalition government Benjamin Netanyahu is putting together, after failing to bring in centrist or left-wing elements. The Post notes, correctly I think, that Netanyahu himself may well be willing to make concessions on issues such as Israeli settlements and the economic measures taken »

March 20, 2009 — John Hinderaker

Are We A Banana Republic?

I’m stupefied to find that some people are defending the constitutionality of Nancy Pelosi’s discriminatory, confiscatory and retroactive tax on people who receive bonus income from companies that got TARP money. I would have considered it a bright line rule that the government can’t identify a class of unpopular people and impose a special tax on them. What’s next? A 100% income tax on registered Republicans, retroactive to last year? »

March 20, 2009 — John Hinderaker

Obama’s Slippage Continues

President Obama has reached a level of near-parity among likely voters. Strong approvers in the Rasmussen survey outnumber strong disapprovers by only four points, 35 percent to 31. Overall, Obama registers a 55 percent approval rating (against 43 percent disapproval), his lowest total so far and a rather weak showing for a President this early in his term. Which explains, at least in part, Obama’s appearance on the Jay Leno »

March 20, 2009 — John Hinderaker

Red Ink

The Congressional Budget Office says that Obama administration has significantly understated deficits to be expected under its budget plan. The CBO says this year’s budget deficit will be over $1.8 trillion, while next year’s is projected at $1.4 trillion, $200 billion more than the administration’s estimate. Long-run deficit projections are meaningless, but for what it’s worth, the CBO sees trillion-dollar deficits as far as the eye can see under Obama’s »

March 20, 2009 — Scott Johnson

Name that party (Dodd edition)

The New York Times runs a long story on Senator Christopher Dodd’s crashing reputation among Connecticut voters without once mentioning that Dodd is a, well, you know what. The Times does note that Connecticut is a heavily Democratic state. It does mention that Dodd was “once known for championing populist initiatives like the 1993 Family Leave Act” (!). It does identify some of those interviewed for the story as, well, »

March 20, 2009 — Scott Johnson

Meet the IPU

Word in Washington is that Nancy Pelosi is hunting around for members to join her on a delegation to the Inter-Parlilamentary Union, and to take the United States into it. Her reason for this is pretty clear: the IPU is (in a word) a relentless advocate of set-aside seats and other preferential policies for women in national parliaments. But as Ted Bromund points out, the IPU is in reality a »

March 20, 2009 — John Hinderaker

Barack’s Video Valentine

Barack Obama sent Iran’s leaders and people a video on the occasion of the Iranian New Year, Nowruz. The transcript of the video is here. This is the video itself; it also comes with Farsi subtitles: As in his notorious Al Arabiya interview, Obama sought to distance himself from past American policies. This time, however, he was more measured, and, unlike that interview, not overtly critical of preceding administrations. (Here, »

March 20, 2009 — John Hinderaker

Special Olympics?

Obama’s teleprompter denies responsibility. »

March 20, 2009 — Scott Johnson

Spring can really hang you up the most

There are a few torch songs that lament the coming of Spring. This time of year, if you’re tuned to one of the right stations, you may well find yourself listening to Ella Fitzgerald’s unforgettable rendition of “Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most.” The song is a buried treasure on Ella’s 1961 quartet-backed jazz set “Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie!” (I love the Amazon review that rates it »