Monthly Archives: September 2014
September 27, 2014 — John Hinderaker
2014 is shaping up as a pretty good year for the GOP, and I haven’t given up hope on the proverbial “wave.” But the conventional wisdom is that the opportunity for big gains is slipping away. I share that sense. To some extent, the cause is the Democrats’ overwhelming money advantage. But the Democrats always have more money, and it doesn’t always bail them out. Pundits say that the Republicans
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September 27, 2014 — Scott Johnson
Our chapter of the Republican Jewish Coalition saluted retiring Sixth District Rep. Michele Bachmann this past Sunday night. Since her election to Congress in 2006 — she first spoke to us that December, before she took office — Michele has been our favorite speaker. By my count, this was at least her sixth appearance before us. No one else comes close. We are grateful for her heartfelt and eloquent support
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September 27, 2014 — Steven Hayward
I get it that the public image of the Republican Party is it low ebb—actually that’s true of both parties—but does anyone really think the remedy for this lies in videos like this one, “Republicans Are People Too”? “Republicans have feelings”?? Are you serious? Please tell me this is satire? If this is for real, then Republicans really are back to being The Stupid Party. And it cries out for
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September 27, 2014 — Steven Hayward
May I suggest that we all cheer Eric Holder’s decision to resign as attorney general, and suggest that others in the Obama Administration follow his example? Starting with, oh—how about his boss? But I’ll settle for Valerie Jarrett. Holder’s move might be taken as yet another sign that the Obama presidency is winding down early. Usually controversial attorney generals (think of Clinton’s gem of an AG, Giant Rhino) don’t get
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September 27, 2014 — Scott Johnson
In his mind-numbing United Nations speech this week (White House text here), President Obama invoked the authority of Muslim cleric Sheikh Abdallah bin Bayyah. Obama cited bin Bayyah’s good works, such as they are: The ideology of ISIL or al Qaeda or Boko Haram will wilt and die if it is consistently exposed and confronted and refuted in the light of day. Look at the new Forum for Promoting Peace
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September 26, 2014 — Paul Mirengoff
Last night I wrote about the “Khorasan Group” — the name used to describe operatives sent by al Qaeda to Syria for the purpose of plotting attacks against the West. In discussing the unusual name attached to these operatives, I quoted two experts on terrorism who speculated in the Washington Post that the name was supplied by Washington. Based on this reporting, I concluded: Perhaps further investigation will reveal that
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September 26, 2014 — John Hinderaker
As imagined by Michael Ramirez. Heh. Click to enlarge: The Obama administration has done a great deal of damage on many fronts, but surely its politicizing of the Department of Justice is one of its worst sins.
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September 26, 2014 — Steven Hayward
We’ve featured the wisdom of Herbert Meyer before on Power Line (and he has a new article on the subject of political persuasion out right now that I want to discuss over the weekend), here and here on the end of the Cold War, for example. I got to spend some time with Herb in person recently, and I brought Power Line’s video production crew with me to record some
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September 26, 2014 — John Hinderaker
Oklahoma got a dose of peace yesterday, when Alton Nolen, apparently a Muslim convert, beheaded a co-worker at the food company where he worked. He attacked a second woman and would have killed her too, except that the company’s COO has a gun and knows how to use it. This could actually be a case of workplace violence, as the attack occurred immediately after Alton had been fired. (For what,
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September 26, 2014 — Steven Hayward
The fifth and final installment of my “American Mind” conversation with Charles Kesler about Ronaldus Magnus, this time lingering on Reagan’s 1989 farewell address, which has been overlooked by most surveys of the Reagan canon, as well as his 1985 call for “a second American revolution,” which was not entirely successful. About eight minutes long:
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September 26, 2014 — Paul Mirengoff
Yesterday at the Heritage Foundation, a distinguished panel considered whether the Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) passed by Congress in 2001 authorizes President Obama to bomb ISIS. Steve Bradbury, a terrific lawyer who headed up the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel during President George W. Bush’s second term, argued that the AUMF confers this authority. Robert Chesney, a law professor at the University of Texas and
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September 26, 2014 — Scott Johnson
…is just as rank. Maybe more so. In the new issue of the Weekly Standard, Jay Cost conducts an anatomy of this year’s model of the Democrats’ usual “sneak it past the Rubes” deception. This year’s model comes out of Kansas and his name is Greg Orman, Independent (for the gullible): In Kansas…where Republican Pat Roberts is up for reelection, the Democrats are trying a different form of deception. It
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September 26, 2014 — Scott Johnson
Ammo Grrrll titles this column KATY, BAR THE DOOR! She writes: When I was a child living in a small town in rural Minnesota, we rarely locked our doors, certainly never when we were in the house. My husband grew up in suburban Chicago where they locked the doors at all times, which I found irritating and downright rude. How can the neighbors walk in unannounced to borrow sugar or
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September 25, 2014 — Paul Mirengoff
“The Khorasan Group.” It sounds like a consulting firm, or maybe an orgiastic cult. Actually, though, it’s the name applied to a terrorist outfit the Obama administration targeted for bombing in Syria earlier this week in attacks separate from those aimed at ISIS. But what kind of terrorist organization is the Khorasan Group and where does the name come from? According to the reports I’ve read, the Khorasan Group is
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September 25, 2014 — Steven Hayward
Is it still climate week? Yes, it must be, since John Kerry, who pretending to be secretary of state, has said climate change is just as urgent as ISIS. Also ebola. No word yet on whether all the trash from the weekend’s climate march has been picked up yet, nor whether Leo DiCaprio picked up the tab. But then there’s this inconvenient headline from the Los Angeles Times a few
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September 25, 2014 — John Hinderaker
Rolling Stone has declined badly since the days when it employed P.J. O’Rourke as its foreign correspondent. The magazine falls a little farther with this month’s issue, which features the most uninspired hit piece on Koch Industries yet to appear in print. Timed to reinforce the Democrats’ campaign theme, Tim Dickinson’s article contains no original reporting, but merely regurgitates tired and discredited stories about Koch’s alleged misdeeds over the decades.
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September 25, 2014 — Paul Mirengoff
Elise Stefanik is running for Congress in New York’s 21st district, an open seat. She is Power Line pick. Her credentials are outstanding. Stefanik’s opponent is Aaron Woolf, a wealthy Democrat whose major claim to fame is that he produced and directed a documentary called “King Corn.” The film is a critique of federal subsidies for American corn farmers. We pointed to the hypocrisy of the venture when we noted
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