Monthly Archives: July 2016
July 29, 2016 — Scott Johnson
I wondered what Madam Hillary and her cornermen would do to make sure she didn’t suffer one of her patented coughing fits last night in the course of the the biggest speech of her career. I would guess they must have done something, but I’m still wondering what. At the Daily Wire, Robert Kraychuk makes a related observation: “Clinton noticeably cleared her throat twenty-two times. In and of itself, it
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July 29, 2016 — John Hinderaker
Duty won out last night, for a while, anyway. I steeled myself to watch Hillary’s acceptance speech, beginning with the introduction by her daughter Chelsea. As the Fox hosts carefully noted after Chelsea finished, politicians’ children are traditionally off limits for criticism. Sure: but if you choose your son or daughter to deliver an important speech at a national convention, people are going to form some kind of judgment on
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July 29, 2016 — Scott Johnson
Hillary Clinton demonstrated again in her DNC acceptance speech that she is a terrible public speaker. Politic has posted the text of the speech here. C-SPAN has posted video of the speech here; PBS has posted it on YouTube here. Having received some of the best instruction in the world on how to do it, Madam Hillary has absorbed this lesson: speak slowly. Speak as if you’re talking to children.
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July 29, 2016 — Scott Johnson
Ammo Grrrll draws on a REVEALING RIDE-ALONG chronicled by former Pioneer Press and Star Tribune columnist Nick Coleman wasy back when: About 15 years ago, when the “Driving While Black” meme was just finding purchase in the public mind, ultra-liberal Twin Cities columnist Nick Coleman, son of a Democrat pol, no friend to Power Line, was invited to go on a ride-along with the police. I knew Nick personally, not
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July 28, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
The Democrats wrapped up their convention tonight. Like the Republican convention, this one had its ups and downs, along with more turmoil than probably was expected. But I believe that, like the Republican convention, this one will produce a decently large bounce for the nominee — in this case Hillary Clinton. I believe this for two reasons. First, Hillary received the benefit of what (by all accounts) were strong speeches
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July 28, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
I wrote here about the NBA’s decision to participate in the bathroom wars by pulling its all-star game from Charlotte in response to North Carolina legislation on the matter. To no one’s surprise, the NCAA has elected to indulge in similar leftist grandstanding. Ed Whelan has the details. He reports that the NCAA will require cities seeking to host championship tournaments to answer a questionnaire pertaining to state and local
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July 28, 2016 — John Hinderaker
Contrary to what seems to be the conventional wisdom, I don’t think President Obama is a particularly good speaker. This is partly because he is lost without a teleprompter, partly because he has no gift for the memorable turn of phrase, and partly because he rarely talks about anything except himself. Think about it–when has an Obama speech ever moved public opinion on any issue? Never. If he has ever
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July 28, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
Marilyn Mosby burned most, if not all, of her bridges to Baltimore’s law enforcement community when she decided to prosecute and overcharge six Baltimore police officers and announced the decision with great fanfare. The fanfare brought her national celebrity including a Vogue magazine spread. It also earned her the contempt of Baltimore’s police officers. The resulting demoralization of the police force has coincided with a steep increase in violent crime.
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July 28, 2016 — Steven Hayward
Earlier this month we reported here (“Brexit Vote: Italy Hardest Hit?“) about how Italy was the nation to watch in the aftermath of Brexit, as it had the weakest financial profile among EU nations after Greece. Tomorrow Italy will report the results of its “stress tests” of its banks, and if the results are as dismal as expected, it may trigger the next Eurozone political crisis, and the next chapter
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July 28, 2016 — Steven Hayward
Now and then we like to say here on Power Line—”Pass the popcorn!” Well, last night I literally (as in actually) got to say to John “Pass the popcorn” at a special screening of the documentary film “Climate Hustle” sponsored by the organization John now leads, the Center of the American Experiment. About 250 people turned up for the special screening, and John and I conducted a Q & A
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July 28, 2016 — Steven Hayward
When Wikileaks first released classified materials embarrassing to the Bush Administration, the left either celebrated or was silent about the security implications of this kind of disclosure of classified information. This contrasts with the case of the Pentagon Papers way back in 1971. Since those secret documents were deeply embarrassing to the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, Nixon’s political operatives briefly considered exploiting them for partisan gain. But Nixon and Kissinger
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July 28, 2016 — Scott Johnson
Donald Trump attracted a lot of attention of the negative variety with a statement during his press conference in Miami yesterday. Asked repeatedly about allegations that the Russian government is behind the hacked and leaked Democratic National Committee’s emails, Trump took the opportunity to touch on the related subject of Hillary’s 30,000 deleted emails. “Russia, if you’re listening,” Trump said, “I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that
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July 27, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
I didn’t watch President Obama’s speech to the convention tonight. By all accounts, it was an outstanding one. If so, I’m not surprised. Here’s a passage that caught my attention when I read it: [This election] is not just a choice between parties or policies, the usual debates between left and right. This is a more fundamental choice about who we are as a people. . . . [W]hat we
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July 27, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
I missed President Obama’s speech to the convention (okay, I skipped it), but watched Tim Kaine’s. I thought the speech was a tale of two halves. The first half was mediocre. Much of it consisted of self-congratulation delivered with a certain smugness and no particular oratorical skill. The only times Kaine came close to achieving lift off was when he spoke Spanish. The convention hall audience loved it. Kaine was
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July 27, 2016 — John Hinderaker
This Gallup poll came out on Monday, but I just saw it tonight (via InstaPundit). The headline is, “Clinton’s Image at Lowest Point in Two Decades.” The numbers are stunning. Hillary Clinton favorable: 38% Unfavorable: 57% I have thought for a while that pretty much everyone’s mind is made up about Hillary, after all these years. But Gallup finds a remarkable fall from grace, with Hillary having been at 59%
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July 27, 2016 — Steven Hayward
I thought it unnecessary to add to Paul’s analysis below of the dismissal of the remaining charges in the Freddie Gray case in Baltimore, but then I watched Baltimore DA Marilyn Mosby’s press conference announcing the decision. You have to see it, not to believe it. She attacks the police. She attacks the judge. She says her case against the officers is solid, but is dismissing it anyway because the (black)
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July 27, 2016 — John Hinderaker
This morning Donald Trump conducted a press conference in Miami, in the course of which he made a flippant comment about Russia finding Hillary Clinton’s tens of thousands of deleted emails: Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press. This caused the Democrat/media complex to become hysterical, charging Trump with encouraging
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