Monthly Archives: March 2010

March 14, 2010 — Scott Johnson

One flew over the Daily Ditch

In “Andrew Sullivan revises history (again),” Atlantic national correspondent Jeffrey Goldberg sagely observed that “Andrew Sullivan should be thankful that The Atlantic’s fact-checking department has no purview over the magazine’s website.” Goldberg subsequently appended this clarification: “”When I implied above that a magazine with standards would not allow Andrew to misinterpret history, I should have stated that the Atlantic’s website has no fact-checking standards, and not that it has no »
March 14, 2010 — Paul Mirengoff

Ding dong the wicked witch is dead. . .they wish

Leftist law professor David Cole got the Washington Post to publish a piece with the juvenile title (in the print edition): “We don’t have to listen to Dick Cheney ever again (Thanks, Liz!).” Consider this a wish fulfillment dream. No one ever had to listen to Dick Cheney, an ex-vice president with an approval rating that seemed to be approaching single figures. But the public does listen to him because »
March 14, 2010 — Paul Mirengoff

Pale Ebenezer and Roaring Bill

My friend Ray Hartwell, a frequent flier, has been talking with fellow passengers to discover what they think about airline security issues in the aftermath of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s Christmas Day attempt to blow up Northwest Flight 253. His findings, contained in a Washington Times op-ed, suggest that the American flier views these matters more sensibly than the likes of John Brennan and Janet Napolitano. As Ray concedes, this isn’t »
March 14, 2010 — John Hinderaker

Karl Rove, the Podcast

On Friday, I interviewed Karl Rove. We talked about his new book, Courage and Consequence, and his years in the Bush White House. We also touched on the small role that our site played in some of the events about which he writes. Yesterday we broadcast the interview on our radio show. It’s a fun interview, I think, and the book is excellent. It is a serious contribution to the »
March 14, 2010 — John Hinderaker

Green Zone Bombs

In Does Hollywood Make You Stupid? I noted, among other things, the imminent release of Green Zone, the latest in Hollywood’s long string of anti-Iraq-war movies. Green Zone, starring Matt Damon and directed by Paul Greengrass, tries to rewrite the history of the war, claiming that the CIA, the Bush administration and the Army knew all along that Saddam lacked stockpiles of WMDs, and that Sunni insurgents were admirable patriots »
March 14, 2010 — Paul Mirengoff

Is the Gitmo bar pro-Islamist? Andy McCarthy replies

Andy McCarthy has replied to my post called “Is the Gitmo Bar Pro-Islamist?” and to a post on the same issue by Jonah Goldberg. Among Andy’s points is that the Gitmo bar is not a monolith and that, indeed, there are important differences among that bar’s former members at DOJ. I agree with this. And, though I still haven’t seen evidence that would justify calling any of these lawyers pro-al »
March 14, 2010 — John Hinderaker

Christians Under Attack, Part II

I asked the question here why Christians don’t seem to care about their fellow Christians who are subject to persecution abroad, including numerous instances of mass murder. Here is another such instance, which took place over the weekend in Egypt: Muslims attacked a community center and burned several homes belonging to Coptic Christians in northwestern Egypt over the weekend, injuring 23 people, in a rampage that a local bishop said »
March 14, 2010 — Scott Johnson

Condemn this

The United States has condemned Israel for announcing the approval of housing construction for Jews in Jerusalem while Vice President Biden was visiting. That’s strong language and a striking development. The Obama administration has also publicly announced the lengthy scolding of Prime Minister Netanyahu by Secretary Clinton in the past day. President Obama is reportedly “livid” with Israel. Secretary Clinton wanted it known that she had dressed down Netanyahu, saying »
March 14, 2010 — John Hinderaker

Greedy Executives Loot Failing Company

The failing business would be the New York Times Company, which, like most newspapers, has fallen on hard times and laid off many employees. The greedy executives include Chairman Pinch Sulzberger: Top executives at the beleaguered New York Times Company reaped hefty rewards last year, with Chairman Arthur “Pinch” Sulzberger more than doubling his total compensation to $6 million. CEO Janet Robinson got even more, reaping $6.3 million, a 31.9 »
March 13, 2010 — Paul Mirengoff

Obama’s latest pretext for attacking Israel

The Obama administration, via Hillary Clinton, has harshly rebuked Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu for Israel’s announcement, during a trip there by Joe Biden, that it will build 1,600 housing units in East Jerusalem. The Washington Post reports that State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley described the nearly 45-minute phone conversation between Clinton and Netanyahu in “unusually undiplomatic terms.” In fact, a 45 minute phone conversation between parties at this level is »
March 13, 2010 — John Hinderaker

The Democrats Must Be Stopped

There are several reasons why some people still don’t understand the fiscal disaster that Barack Obama and the Democratic Party are visiting on our nation. The first is the sheer enormity of the numbers involved. It is hard for anyone really to comprehend the difference between “billion” and “trillion.” The second is that we have been hearing about spending increases, deficits, and so on for so long that it isn’t »
March 13, 2010 — John Hinderaker

Kill the Bill!

The Minneapolis Star Tribune headlines tonight: Thousands rally at State Capitol to kill health care bill. The crowd, gathered on short notice on a cold March day, was impressive: Rally organizers said 4,000 people attended, but Capitol police estimated the crowd at 2,000 or fewer. I’m no expert, but the photos certainly seem to indicate a crowd in the thousands. David Strom posted this one: Ed Morrissey posted this one »
March 13, 2010 — Paul Mirengoff

Is the Gitmo bar pro-Islamist? A response to Andy McCarthy

At the Corner, Jonah Goldberg took issue with the suggestion that the so-called al Qaeda Seven, i.e., current Justice Department lawyers who in the past defended terrorists and terrorist suspects, are pro al Qaeda. He wrote: I don’t think these lawyers are traitorous or anything like that (which is not to say that it’s impossible). I think they subscribe to a coherent ideological view about the war on terror and »
March 13, 2010 — Scott Johnson

White House insiders say…

Iowahawk compiles recent media reports conveying the deep thoughts of “White House insiders.” He even rounds up one or two that you might have missed, such as the Highlights for Children scoop that “Joe Biden is Barack Obama’s BFF!” and Iowahawk’s more deeply sourced report suggesting that a reclusive Iowa blogger is the key to an Obama comeback. I hate to contradict Iowahawk, but my own sources tell me me »
March 13, 2010 — Scott Johnson

The Sestak stonewall

Earlier this week Rep. Darrell Issa (the top Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee) asserted that the Obama administration may have broken the law by offering Rep. Joe Sestak a job in order to persuade him not to mount a primary challenge against Sen. Arlen Specter. Issa has addressed a good set of questions (quoted in the linked Politico article) to White House general counsel Robert Bauer. »
March 13, 2010 — John Hinderaker

Kill the Bill

If you live in or near Minnesota, there will be a big rally against the Democrats’ health care power grab at the State Capitol in St. Paul at noon today. More information here. Speakers will include John Kline, Michele Bachmann and our pal Ed Morrissey. I’ll be on the radio from 11 to 1 central with my radio partner Brian Ward. If you are in the Twin Cities you can »
March 13, 2010 — John Hinderaker

Suicide Pact?

The news out of Washington is agonizing, as the Dems slowly try to reach the number of votes they need in the House to take over the health care industries. Reports indicate that they are something like four or five votes short; the conventional wisdom is that they will get there, somehow. God only knows what they are promising (or threatening) to get those last votes. The Cornhusker Kickback will »