Monthly Archives: May 2010

May 18, 2010 — Paul Mirengoff

Arlen Specter — Profile in entitlement

I should probably save this report from Michael Rubin for tonight, after Sen. Arlen Specter goes down to defeat. But just in case he doesn’t, I’ll put it up now: If [Specter] were to lose today, nowhere would the cheers be louder than the State Department. Specter loved to travel and, like many Senators, he liked to treat U.S. diplomats as his valets. But he went further than most senators: »
May 18, 2010 — Scott Johnson

Bloomin’ liar

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is the kind of politician who uses the powers of his office primarily as a steppingstone to something better. Today, however, he appears to be something worse than a bully. Politico’s Alexander Burns provides a handy summary of the latest development in Blumenthal’s quest to replace Christopher Dodd: Democratic state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal’s Senate campaign starts the day in a state of five-alarm crisis, »
May 18, 2010 — Scott Johnson

A word from Senator Kyl

Andrew Wilder writes from the office of Senator Jon Kyl to draw our attention to a letter that Senators Kyl and McCain sent today to Assistant Secretary of State Michael Posner regarding his inexcusable comments to the Chinese government about Arizona’s new immigration law. Mr. Wilder writes: “Because of your attention to the matter, I wanted you to be one of the first to see the letter….I thought that your »
May 18, 2010 — Scott Johnson

An unnecessary secret

Gabriel Schoenfeld’s Necessary Secrets: National Security, the Media and the Rule of Law will be published on May 24. I read Schoenfeld’s book in galley proof. It is an important and (to borrow an adjective) necessary book. At our invitation, Schoenfeld has prepared a post for Power Line readers adapted from the book’s preface. Look for it here on May 24. Schoenfeld’s book does something that, to my knowledge, hasn’t »
May 17, 2010 — John Hinderaker

Me On O’Reilly

Here is the video of the first segment of the O’Reilly Factor tonight. I enter the video after a few minutes. It all has to do with the Obama administration’s attempt to convince China that we are as bad as they are, or worse, when it comes to human rights–because some of us, at least, would like to have control over our borders. If, as yesterday’s Rasmussen Report found, 55 »
May 17, 2010 — Paul Mirengoff

Affirmative action on the campaign trail?

Chris Cillizza argues that Sarah Palin is “building a pack of ‘mama grizzlies’ in the 2010 elections that could send a powerful political message if she decides to run for president in 2012.” In this context, the “mama grizzlies” are female Republican candidates. As evidence that Palin is consciously trying to help women get elected this year, Cillizza cites her recent endorsement of Carly Fiorina (California Senate race), Nikki Haley »
May 17, 2010 — Paul Mirengoff

A technocrat’s fantasy

Dartmouth’s president Jim Kim wants “a whole new cadre of people committed to applying their expertise to the challenge of health-care delivery.” The cadre would consist of ” experts in management, systems thinking and engineering, sociology, anthropology, environmental science, economics, medicine, health policy and other fields.” They would “join together to apply a laser focus to fixing the delivery system.” Let’s hope they also have an editor on hand. Writing »
May 17, 2010 — John Hinderaker

Adjudicating A Controversy

I don’t normally get involved in beauty pageant controversies until the last stage of the competition–either Miss World or Miss Universe. It’s the international flavor that I enjoy more than anything. But occasionally a controversy erupts at a preliminary stage about which readers and commentators want to know our opinion. That happened last night when Miss Michigan, Rima Fakih, a quasi-Muslim from Dearborn, was crowned Miss USA. The first stories »
May 17, 2010 — Paul Mirengoff

The Democrats in 2010 — “ideologically diverse” or running scared?

Not long ago, E.J. Dionne was proclaiming that the new era of progressivism in America had arrived. After years of stagnation, the country was finally ready for a major political transformation. It turns out, however, that America is still a center-center, if not a center-right, country. That’s why, as Dionne reports today, even “progressive” candidates — e.g., Joe Sestak, Bill Halter, and Mark Critz — are working overtime to disavow »
May 17, 2010 — John Hinderaker

Rubio Back in the Lead

Polls that came out just after Charlie Crist left the Republican Party to run for the Senate as an independent suggested that Crist was in the lead in that three-way race. That seemed improbable, and Rasmussen Reports now finds that Marco Rubio has surged into the lead, with 39 percent of the vote. Crist is at 31 percent and Democrat Kendrick Meek has the support of only 18 percent of »
May 17, 2010 — John Hinderaker

Media Alert

Bill O’Reilly plans to lead off his show tonight with the Obama administration’s apology to China for Arizona’s new immigration law and other supposed American “human rights violations.” I will be on the show at the top of the first hour, at around 8:00 Eastern time. UPDATE: Even as the State Department trashes Arizona to other countries, Rasmussen reports that 55 percent of voters favor a law like Arizona’s for »
May 17, 2010 — Scott Johnson

Did Elena Kagan bear Trig Palin?

Andrew Sullivan is obsessed with homosexuality, both his own and that of others. He now demands to know whether Elena Kagan is a lesbian. I may be wrong, but my guess is that it is about as likely Ms. Kagan is a lesbian as it is that Sarah Palin is the mother of Trig, another deep question that Sullivan continues to ride into what should be his well deserved oblivion. »
May 16, 2010 — Paul Mirengoff

When Harvard matters

Christopher Edley, dean of Berkeley’s law school and a former Harvard law school professor, defends the fact that, if Elena Kagan is confirmed, the entire U.S. Supreme Court will consist of graduates of Harvard and Yale law schools. He argues that the Supreme Court should contain the cream of the legal crop and that top law schools will produce much, though certainly not all, of that cream. I found Edley’s »
May 16, 2010 — Paul Mirengoff

“Necessary Secrets” — the Washington Post’s take

Today’s Washington Post contains a review of Necessary Secrets, Gabriel Schoenfeld’s new book about (to borrow from its subtitle) national security, the media, and the rule of law. Schoenfeld argues for holding journalists accountable when they violate the law to the detriment of our national security. I’m happy that the Post elected to review, rather than ignore, this important book. The review is by Leonard Downie, Jr., who was the »
May 16, 2010 — John Hinderaker

One Out of Three Isn’t Bad

It is often said that baseball is a game of failure, but that is a half-truth at most. Sure, even the best batters make outs most of the time. But conversely, even mediocre pitchers retire most batters they face, and good teams win more games than they lose. So, when one team–the Minnesota Twins–can’t beat another–the New York Yankees–over a period of years, it isn’t the norm, it is weird. »
May 16, 2010 — John Hinderaker

Apologizing For Arizona

This is unfreakingbelievable, even for the Obama administration: The United States and China reported no major breakthroughs Friday after only their second round of talks about human rights since 2002. The Obama administration wants to push Beijing to treat its citizens better, but it also needs Chinese support on Iranian and North Korean nuclear standoffs, climate change and other difficult issues. … [Assistant Secretary of State Michael] Posner said in »
May 16, 2010 — Scott Johnson

Time for Plan B, cont’d

The Times of London reports: “Essex home raided over Iran dirty bomb threat.” According to the report, Iran acquired potentially lethal chemicals, including cobalt, last summer. The chemicals would apparently work nicely with Iran’s nuclear program to create a dirty bomb. It’s well past the time for Plan B, if only we had a Plan B. »