Monthly Archives: November 2013
November 26, 2013 — John Hinderaker
The White House released a “fact sheet” that purported to summarize the deal it reached with Iran. It is telling that the administration’s summary is actually longer than the agreement itself; it contains a good deal of argument and wishful thinking. Like this: Today, the P5+1 and Iran reached a set of initial understandings that halts the progress of Iran’s nuclear program and rolls it back in key respects. That
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November 26, 2013 — Steven Hayward
I have totally ignored the controversy about “Common Core” standards for K-12 public schools emanating from the bureaucratic penumbras of the Obama Administration. For one thing, I’m still mastering the core requirements of higher education, which tend to be either non-serious or so diffuse that they are neither “common” nor a “core.” Why should the watery “guidelines” for Common Core be much different than the higher ed slop? In general
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November 26, 2013 — Steven Hayward
Our pal Remy Munasifi does it again: the “Keep Your Plan” Rap. I keep being drawn back to Breitbart’s axiom, mentioned here before, that “politics is downstream from culture.” The failure of Obamacare as a cultural phenomenon is another sign that it is doomed.
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November 26, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
A former court of appeals judge, now deceased, used to tell the story of the meeting he had with President Lyndon Johnson after his confirmation by Congress. Johnson met not only with this judge, but with several others who had just been confirmed. Johnson’s performance, colorful and profane, gave rise to several priceless anecdotes. The most telling was Johnson’s parting words. According to this former judge, he said: “Remember boys,
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November 26, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
The Republican Party has pulled essentially even with the Democrats in generic congressional polling. In the latest such polls Republicans are two points ahead in a CNN survey, 49-47, and one point behind in a Rasmussen survey, 40-41. The RCP average for polls taken since November 6 has Republicans with the slenderest of leads. The margin is one point — 42.8-41.8. This result reflects the preferences of more than 7,500
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November 26, 2013 — Steven Hayward
Last Thursday I was on an all-day secret mission to Washington (if you hear a series of large booms a couple years from now. . .), but the non-secret part of the itinerary was taking in Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker at AEI (video here), discussing his new book Unintimidated: A Governor’s Story and a Nation’s Challenge. The Wall Street Journal last Friday ran an excerpt from the book about how
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November 26, 2013 — Steven Hayward
Last year in this space I recalled Churchill’s assessment of the Munich agreement in The Gathering Storm, the first volume of his World War II memoirs, and speculated how it might well apply before long to the Obama Administration’s policy toward Iran. Unfortunately it appears that moment has arrived. With the parallels being drawn between the shameful failure in Munich and the currently unfolding shameful failure over Iran, it may
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November 26, 2013 — Scott Johnson
We have asserted from the outset that Obama’s Obamacare sales job was a variety of fraud. Every word of it was a calculated lie, including (as Mary McCarthy said of Lillian Hellman’s oeuvre) the words “a” and “the.” In this case we might amend McCarthy’s observation to say that every word he said was a lie including the word “period.” This applies especially to the foundational lies of Obamacare, Obama’s
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November 26, 2013 — Scott Johnson
Our friend Hugh Hewitt has a new book coming out next month, The Happiest Life: Seven Gifts, Seven Givers, & the Secret to Genuine Success. The book is now available for inspection and preorder at Amazon. Hugh sent me a copy of the book in PDF so that I could write a blurb for his publisher. I look forward to rereading the book in hardcover. Like Leo Thorsness’s Surviving Hell:
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November 25, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
President Obama has defended his deal with Iran on the theory that “we cannot rule out peaceful solutions to the world’s problems.” Obama added that “tough talk and bluster may be the easy thing to do politically, but it’s not the right thing for our security.” Obama’s defense is based on he calls a “false choice” and what others call question-begging. The imposition of sanctions is a peaceful option for
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November 25, 2013 — Scott Johnson
Today I had the privilege of speaking with a senior administration official who was touting the Joint Plan of Action the United States entered into with Iran over the weekend. The conversation took place on a not-for-attribution basis, though I believe this administration official has been out elsewhere saying the same things in public today and he expressed puzzlement at the ground rules set by the White House for the
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November 25, 2013 — John Hinderaker
Liberal apologists have sprung into action to defend Harry Reid’s sudden turnabout on the filibuster. While the details vary, their theme is that the Democrats’ action wasn’t nakedly hypocritical; rather, the Republicans brought it on through unprecedented and unwholesome use of the filibuster. That the claim is nonsense hasn’t deterred liberal commentators like E.J. Dionne. So: sit back and enjoy Ed Whelan’s deconstruction of Dionne’s column. These are excerpts; do
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November 25, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
What is the centerpiece of President Obama’s foreign policy? In my view, it’s the appeasement of authoritarian, anti-American governments. But the president’s supporters might say it’s his “pivot to Asia.” How is that pivot working out? As Paul Rahe observes, China recently has become quite bellicose towards its neighbors: [E]verywhere where one goes in Asia, an old friend who travels in high circles told me earlier this week, one senses
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November 25, 2013 — John Hinderaker
Heh. There are, I guess, a few people who can count on President Obama’s promises. Click to enlarge:
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November 25, 2013 — John Hinderaker
Under the agreement reached in Geneva over the weekend, Iran is permitted to keep one-half of the uranium it has enriched to the 20% level, and is required to dilute the remaining one-half to 5% U-235. It is allowed to continue enriching uranium, but agrees not to take that process beyond 5% U-235 during the next six months. No doubt many people who hear about those terms will be reassured,
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November 25, 2013 — Steven Hayward
Modern liberalism has long depended on concealing its true character and redistributive intent, and the faceplant of Obamacare threatens to expose the central flim-flam of liberalism as never before. Even the New York Times has been forced to admit this, in its front-page story on Saturday, “Don’t Dare Call the Health Law ‘Redistribution.’” These days the word is particularly toxic at the White House, where it has been hidden away
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November 25, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Michael Ledeen sets forth the three major reasons why President Obama’s deal with Iran represents such a huge coup for the mullahs. First, it relieves the regime from its currency crunch which Ledeen says has the country down to something like two-to-three months’ hard currency supplies. Second, it provides a clear commitment that Tehran can continue enriching uranium. Third, it confirms to the regime’s internal opposition that the West is
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