Monthly Archives: March 2010

March 19, 2010 — Paul Mirengoff

The Arlen Specter of the South Strikes Again

Andy McCarthy directs our attention to this report in the Wall Street Journal that Sen. Lindsey Graham and the White House are close to a deal that would close Guantanamo Bay in exchange for what McCarthy aptly describes as “some amorphous concessions on the legal proceedings to which terrorist detainees will be subjected.” The deal is a win-win for Graham, who wants both the closing of Gitmo and the amorphous »
March 19, 2010 — Scott Johnson

Warning: Reading may cause nausea

Ben Nelson has proven himself an embarrassment to the decent people of the state of Nebraska. They remain unbought and unamused by the special Medicaid payments he secured for Nebraska that instantly came to be known as the Cornhusker Kickback. All things considered, the people of Nebraska let it be known that they preferred not to sell their birthright for a mess of pottage such as Obamacare. If the Obamacare »
March 19, 2010 — John Hinderaker

Health Care Debacle Spurs Candidate Recruitment

The Democrats’ push to ram government medicine down our throats has led to one of the best Republican candidate recruitment years ever. Byron York reports “As Dems struggle, GOP candidates line up to run.” House GOP leaders believe [this] is the best class of new candidates in many years. “So far, our successful recruitment efforts have helped produce over 95 top GOP recruits,” says Rep. Kevin McCarthy, who is leading »
March 19, 2010 — Scott Johnson

A future that doesn’t work

There is no more important public policy issue facing the United States than the imminent nationalization of the health care system by the Obamacare legislation. it is an oppressive nightmare from every relevant perspective. Despite the pitiful coverage afforded the substance of the legislation by the mainstream media, the American people have somehow gotten the picture. Even as the Democrats are forcing it through Congress by hook and by crook, »
March 19, 2010 — Scott Johnson

Is Eric Holder a coward?

I thought I was being harsh in suggesting that Eric Holder might be a dope. Reviewing the same testimony that evoked my suggestion, Andrew McCarthy begins by observing: “There is dishonest, and there is asinine. Combine them and you have Attorney General Eric Holder’s congressional testimony on Tuesday.” McCarthy concludes: Holder clearly believes — as he argued in the amicus brief he withheld from the Senate before his confirmation hearings »
March 18, 2010 — Paul Mirengoff

These are the good old days, Part Three

My conservative cousin from New York finds support for my “these are the good old days” theme in Great Britian: Your post on Obamacare was really on point. Once the federal government becomes so deeply involved in allocating health care, it will come to be a dominant focus of political discourse. Over the years watching on C-Span the British Prime Minister’s Question Time, I’ve observed that a large portion of »
March 18, 2010 — Scott Johnson

By the time I get to Phoenix (health care edition)

Video of Bret Baier’s 18-minute interview of President Obama in the White House yesterday is below; a transcript of the interview is here. The interview was broadcast on the the Fox News Special Report with Bret Baier. Having previously declared Fox News an illegitimate organization, Obama’s strategists must have arrived at a health care reconciliation package of their own. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Most of the interview is »
March 17, 2010 — Paul Mirengoff

These are the good old days, Part Two

A friend and occasional Power Line contributor writes: If [Obamacare] passes, the Dems will own every doctor complaint out there. Moreover, the complaints will multiply, and not just because care will deteriorate as demand increases and supply decreases. They are going to multiply because the care-seeking population is about to become the Baby Boomers — i.e., the most indulged, demanding and complaining generation in a hundred years, or maybe ever. »
March 17, 2010 — John Hinderaker

We’re Gonna Win, Twins

Spring can’t come too soon to the Upper Midwest. That’s always true, of course, but especially this year, as the Minnesota Twins open their 2010 pennant drive in brand-new Target Field. Baseball fans here are giddy with excitement. The team will be good, despite losing closer Joe Nathan for the season to elbow surgery. And despite not having signed superstar catcher Joe Mauer to the anticipated ten-year deal; not yet, »
March 17, 2010 — Paul Mirengoff

Are our allies guilty by association?

We’ve written before about President Obama’s willingness to follow only the second half of the Godfather’s adage, “keep your friends close and your enemies closer.” Abe Greenwald has described the phenomenon this way: “If you’re an enemy we’re sorry; if you’re a friend you’re sorry.” In the aftermath of the latest manifestation of this phenomenon — the fit Obama has thrown against Israel — Robert Kagan compiles the case histories. »
March 17, 2010 — Paul Mirengoff

Reality takes an unreal shape

In a post called »
March 17, 2010 — John Hinderaker

The Current Tally

Byron York’s sources say their best estimate is that there are now 204 votes for the government health care takeover bill, 209 votes against it, and 18 undecided. The good news, one could infer, is that the Republicans only have to carry seven of the 18 to block the bill, while the Democrats have to convince 12 of the 18 to vote Yes in order to pass it. The bad »
March 17, 2010 — Scott Johnson

Is Eric Holder a dope?

Attorney General Eric Holder testified yesterday before the House Judiciary Committee. As you mght expect, members took the opportunity to press Holder on his views regarding terrorists’ rights. And Holder appears to have given the subject some thought! Fox News reports: Republicans pressed Holder over recent decisions to prosecute terrorism suspects in civilian courts, and they suggested he intends to treat terrorism suspects as “common criminals.” Holder said such suggestions »
March 17, 2010 — Paul Mirengoff

These are the good old days

As they got older, my parents noticed to their dismay that their friends talked more and more about their doctors. According to my parents, nearly all of their friends liked their doctors. However, there was always something to complain about — a personality quirk, a failure to return a call, a long stint in the waiting room, a grouchy billing administrator. Grievances like these tended to dominate the conversations that »
March 17, 2010 — Scott Johnson

Is breathing room anything like Lebensraum?

The AEI Irantracker’s most recent news roundup provides excerpts from remarks by Iran’s Presdient Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addressing a seminar on job creation: * “The Islamic revolution of Iran is a humane revolution reaching beyond the geographic boundaries of Iran…” * “Our second duty is an efficient presence in the international arena…” * “How can we work outside the international relations? International relations impact all nations…” * “The Iranian nation will »
March 17, 2010 — Scott Johnson

Civility for thee…

We’ve followed the speeches given by Obama administration NEH chairman Jim Leach here (commenting on Leach’s “The tension between speaking and listening”) and here (commenting on Leach’s “Bridging cultures: NEH and the Muslim world”). One finds in both speeches Leach’s praise of Lawrence Durrell’s highly literary Alexandria Quartet. Would someone who has actually read all four novels of the Alexandria Quartet really say, as Leach did in his “tension” speech, »
March 17, 2010 — Scott Johnson

Cool Cole

Today is the anniversary of the birth of the great Nat “King” Cole. Cole was born on St. Patricks’s Day, though until Daniel Mark Epstein did the research for his biography of Cole, we weren’t entirely sure that the year was 1919. He was born in Montgomery, Alabama and grew up in Chicago after his father moved the family there in 1923 to pursue a career in the ministry. Cole »