Monthly Archives: August 2012

MSNBC “air brushes” Republican Convention to advance its narrative

Featured image In the post below, I discussed the diversity of the deep Republican bench on display at last night’s convention. Unfortunately, MSNBC chose to air brush nearly all of that diversity out of its picture. From what I understand, MSNBC declined to air the speeches of Mia Love, Ted Cruz, and Artur Davis. Showing these speeches and the warm reception they received would, of course, have undercut the network’s ridiculous “dog-whistle »

A deep, young, and diverse bench

Featured image One purpose of last night’s Republican convention was to introduce the public (or that portion of it interested enough to watch) to rising stars of the Party, and to highlight the female members of that vanguard. Mission accomplished. Female speakers from the Republican bench included Mia Love, Sher Valenzuela (both before prime time), Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Kelly Ayotte, Mary Fallin, and Nikki Haley, nearly all of whom were excellent. Note »

Chris Christie Blew the Doors Out

Featured image That’s really all I have to say. I am not watching the TV commentary, but I understand Chris Wallace is dissing Christie. Inexplicable. Rachel Maddow, of course, thought his speech was awful. Enough said. The only question is, how many people were watching. UPDATE: Video here. »

Ann Romney’s speech, Part Two

Featured image Those who saw it will, I think, understand why I spoke so highly of her earlier today. Ann Romney is a political natural — far, far more so than her husband. The first part of her speech was a bit too “female chauvinist” for me. But then, it wasn’t addressed to me. I speculated earlier that Ann Romney’s speech might move the needle. Now that she has delivered it, I »

Artur Davis’s speech

Featured image The most direct, powerful attack on President Obama comes from a man who spoke on his behalf at the 2008 Democratic convention, and from an African-American to boot. Excellent stuff. One of several money lines was this reference to the Dems’s last convention: Maybe we should have known that night in Denver that things that begin with styrofoam Greek columns and artificial smoke typically don’t end well. »

Rick Santorum’s speech

Featured image I’ll say it again: No politician ties conservative positions on social issues to the economy better than Santorum. The connection is indisputable and should not be neglected by Republicans. Santorum earned his place as a prime time speaker, and he used it very well on behalf of his causes and his Party. The speech was light on favorable references to Mitt Romney. In fact, they were basically non-existent until the »

The Really Destructive Hurricane

Featured image Michael Ramirez is in Tampa, attending the convention. He took time out to draw this cartoon, which contrasts Hurricane Isaac with the force that has really brought destruction to America: Barack Obama’s left-wing, crony-socialist policies: »

John Kasich’s speech (updated)

Featured image After a hesitant start, John Kasich came on strong to deliver a solid, forceful speech. He was at his most effective in touting his accomplishments as Ohio governor. These may seem beside the immediate point in the national race. But Kasich’s actions that helped put Ohio back on track are key to the battle for Ohio’s electoral votes. Potentially, they help Obama because Ohio’s unemployment rate is well below the »

Today’s Dose of Democratic Insanity

Featured image We have been documenting the unrelenting hysteria and panic with which Democratic Party leaders have been trying to shake down their party’s faithful for money. I got more emails today, as I do every day, one from Nancy Pelosi. Here is how it began: From: Nancy Pelosi [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, August 28, 2012 4:50 PM To: Hinderaker, John H. Subject: When Romney chose Ryan… John — When Romney chose Ryan, »

Mia Love’s speech

Featured image Mia Love just delivered a brief but extremely powerful address to the convention. I wish she had been given more time and a somewhat better slot. Mia Love is a “Power Line Pick Six” candidate, so we already knew plenty about her. Yet she is even more dynamic at the podium than I had thought. Think of this Black Republican and her inspiring speech about self-reliance the next time Chris »

Show Some Love to Love

Featured image Mia Love (one of the Power Line Pick Six) just finished speaking to the GOP convention in Tampa, and coincidentally there is a Mia Love money bomb under way today, with a goal of raising $50K.  Chip in!  Meanwhile, here’s Mia in action: »

Ann Romney’s speech

Featured image Ann Romney is one of the most impressive “wife of a candidate” I can recall. I first noticed her during a C-SPAN broadcast in late 2007 in which a number of such wives, including Michelle Obama, discussed their lives and their roles. Ann Romney stood out along with, to be fair, the late Elizabeth Edwards. Ms. Romney was equally impressive the only time I saw her in person. That was »

Why was this man bowing?

Featured image The mainstream media have been utterly in the tank for Obama. One sign of this fact is that to this date he has not been asked what he was doing when he bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia and the Emperor of Japan. His then press spokesman simply lied about Obama’s behavior when asked by a member of the press. White House press spokesman Robert Gibbs denied what any »

Join Us On Power Line Live to Watch the Convention

Featured image We won’t be coming to you live from Tampa this year, as none of us made the trek to Florida for the convention. But we’ll be doing the next best thing–hanging out at Power Line Live, the web site that is like a tavern where like-minded people gather to discuss the news. PL Live will be open from shortly before 7:00 p.m. Eastern time, when the convention’s evening session begins. »

Obama’s foreign policy failures catalogued

Featured image With the help of the mainstream media, President Obama has been able to pass himself off as a successful president when it comes to foreign policy. Republicans don’t buy this line, of course, but neither do they push back much. Given Obama’s record on the economy, they don’t need to. For the record, though, here is a good, albeit partial, list of Obama’s major foreign policy failures, as set forth »

Who Is GOP’s Mystery Speaker?

Featured image There has been a lot of buzz about the fact that one prime speaking slot at the GOP convention has been left open. The party has released a detailed schedule for all three nights that identifies every speaker, every video, every prayer, every song. But there is just one exception: a speaker on Thursday evening is listed as “to be announced.” Here is a screen shot of that part of »

Let’s Get This Party Started

Featured image As the GOP convention gets under way a day late today, Team Obama must be truly worried about things, if Chris Matthews’ unhinged behavior over the last 36 hours is any indication.  But the egregious Matthews is just one small symptom of a larger asymmetry between the two parties. The Team Obama theory was that they could destroy Romney over the summer with vicious attacks calling him a tax cheat, »