April 1, 2007
I have met Matthew Dowd, Bush's chief electoral strategist, on two occasions. The first time we met came at the Republican National Convention, when he briefed the bloggers on the first day, talking about campaign strategies and how the GOP...
The European Union declined last night to provide any substantial support to Britain in its standoff with Iran over the captured sailors and Marines. While the European foreign ministers called for Iran to release its captives, they refused to offer...
The Iraqi government will start relocating Arabs from Kirkuk, where Saddam Hussein put them in an effort to dilute Kurdish claims to the city. The move could create a flash of ethnic violence, as the provenance of the oil-rich area...
An internal audit has discovered that twenty computers have disappeared from a critical counterintelligence agency tasked with protecting America's nuclear secrets. Fourteen of the computers contained classified material, marking yet another in a string of embarrassments for the Department of...
Tony Blair had better dust off his study material about the Jimmy Carter presidency. It looks like the Iranians have begun another embassy standoff: About 200 students threw rocks and firecrackers at the British Embassy on Sunday, calling for the...
Three House Republicans paid a visit to Bashar Assad today to open up their own diplomatic channels. strengthening Syria's hand against the US and providing cover for Nancy Pelosi's attempt to do the same: U.S. House members meeting with President...
Add another entrant to the 2008 Republican Presidential Sweepstakes, and another Thompson. Former Wisconsin governor Tommy Thompson has entered the primary race, declaring himself the "reliable conservative" in a race that has seen a few candidates claim that mantle: Former...
Barack Obama made clear that Senate Democrats will wind up voting for an Iraq supplemental without the mandatory timetables for withdrawal. Saying that the Democrats would not "play chicken" with the troops, he told the AP in Iowa that the...
The First Mate has made remarkable progress in the last 24 hours. Yesterday, she had little energy and felt exhausted, but today she was a bundle of energy. It's a good thing, too, because the donor and his family came...
April 2, 2007
One of the fired US Attorneys got ousted for protesting an FBI policy that forbids taping interrogations of suspects in most criminal investigations. According to the New York Times, Paul K. Charlton tried to demand taped interviews before filing criminal...
The invaluable Michael Barone takes a look at the latest polling and sees trouble for the Republicans in 2008. Over the last five years, party identification in the US has shifted in favor of the Democrats. Part of it, Barone...
The case of William Jefferson continues, although the media has not given it much attention of late. The Louisiana Congressman who hid $90,000 in his freezer until an FBI raid discovered it, still fights the subsequent raid on his House...
Now that they have settled into their offices, the Democrats now want to focus even more on their main enemy. They plan to challenge the Bush administration on a host of issues, most of which have direct correlation to key...
Missouri took the first steps among the states to divest their portfolios of any foreign corporations doing business with Iran, a move they started last year. Now eight other states have begun to follow suit, and the latest state may...
Hillary Clinton has announced the results of her fund-raising efforts for the first quarter of 2007, and it smashes the old record for contributions in the first quarter of a year prior to an election. Of course, many candidates will...
In a surprising turn, the biggest fundraiser in the Republican primary race turns out to be Mitt Romney. Earlier today, the Romney campaign announced that they had raised $23 million in the first quarter of 2007, far outstripping frontrunner Rudy...
Stephen Taylor, one of my blogger pals from our northern neighbor, has covered the Canadian parliament for quite a while, and has built a well-deserved reputation for professionalism in Canada. He requested and received access to several secure areas of...
It seems that those darned Iranians just keep surprising people with their plucky can-do attitude. For years, Iran managed to fool everyone into thinking that it had no nuclear program at all. Once we discovered that those rascals had been...
April 3, 2007
ABC News interviewed Hall of Fame baseball player Dave Winfield on an intriguing question: what has happened to black baseball players? After Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, African-American children wanted to follow in his cleat steps, and many of...
For those who have been waiting for the Palestinians to stop supporting terrorism and to accept a two-state solution, good news will come your way. The Palestinian Authority's foreign minister told French newspaper Le Monde that Hamas is ready to...
Nouriya al-Sabeeh became the second female minister in Kuwait history, after Maasuma al-Mubarak's appointment followed the May 2005 grant of full political rights to women. Today al-Sabeeh became the first to forgo a head cover, causing consternation among the men...
The key state in the last two presidential elections has been Florida, and pollsters have focused more attention on the Sunshine State the last few years to test the electoral mettle of candidates declared and presumed. Quinnipiac takes the latest...
Barack Obama assured America that the Democrats would fund the troops in Iraq if the White House vetoed the current supplemental two days ago. Speaking with the AP in Iowa, he said that the Democrats would not "play chicken" with...
This blog wrote extensively about the Orange Revolution in late 2004 and early 2005, which propelled pro-Western Viktor Yushschenko to power after a sham election had denied him his rightful place as Ukraine's leader. At the time, the reformers held...
The United Nations faces another embarrassing scandal, as the New York Sun's Benny Avni reports today. Despite its earlier denials, UN officials not only knew about North Korea's counterfeiting operation -- it helped Pyongyang hide the evidence in Turtle Bay...
Jonathan Singer at MyDD published an interview with John Kerry today that has sent ripples through the blogosphere. In the interview, Kerry claimed that John McCain approached him about being Kerry's running mate in the 2004 election, contrary to a...
The First Mate has returned home this evening after her kidney transplant, about two days earlier than I expected. She has done so well that the doctors had nothing more to add to her therapy at the hospital, and told...
April 4, 2007
John McCain took a lot heat this week for asserting that the security situation has improved since the beginning of the surge. Michael Ware at CNN especially ridiculed his comments, and scenes of McCain touring Baghdad with a heavy security...
Michael Chertoff tells the London Telegraph that the US and the West has to do more to protect themselves from "clean-skin" terrorists -- those born in the West who become disaffected enough to align themselves with radical jihadists. He also...
Well, talk about making lemonade out of lemons. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has announced a "pardon" for the 15 British sailors and Marines just a few moments ago, and promises to have them flown out of Iran within the next couple of...
I had to read Ronald Brownstein twice today to make sure the Los Angeles Times had not started a new satire section. The Times' political analyst writes an entire column decrying the lack of intimacy in the 2008 Presidential primary...
In a strange version of Newspeak, the Penn State College of Communications has transformed the ombudsman role into that of media critic, and awarded Byron Calame its Bart Richards award. Calame made headlines when he reported that his own bosses...
Tom Tancredo announced his intention to run for President this week, which initiated the question of credibility. After all, Tancredo is mostly known for his hard-line views on illegal immigration and his threat to bomb Mecca, and most candidacies of...
As some of you have probably surmised, I've stayed home to take care of the First Mate today. I expected her to come home later in the week, when the Admiral Emeritus and his wife will be here for a...
Barack Obama has raised $25 million for his presidential bid, coming in only a million behind Hillary Clinton's record-breaking performance. What makes it even more impressive is the number of donors who contributed to the total: Sen. Barack Obama raised...
One of the more annoying tendencies of modern culture is to elevate euphemisms to daily usage in order to diminish the unpleasant. Problems became "issues", and "issues" became "opportunities", and so on. The Washington Post's Jonathan Weisman introduces a new...
The Iranians apparently caught everyone by surprise when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad unexpectedly 'pardoned' the 15 British sailors and Marines they captured in Iraq waters two weeks ago. The Times of London reports that the sudden concession by the mullahcracy springs from...
What a shame; Rudy Giuliani had been doing so well in convincing conservatives that he could represent them even while differing on social policy. He had advanced the argument that he would appoint strict constructionist judges to the federal bench,...
The Jerusalem Post notes that the Israeli Prime Minister's office had to issue a "clarification" after Nancy Pelosi attempted to deliver a message from Ehud Olmert to Syria's Bashar Assad. The PMO's statement contradicts Pelosi and points up the problems...
The new surge security plan in Iraq has performed so well, the Iraqi government will now expand the strategy to Mosul, where Petraeus first conceived it. The results in Baghdad have Iraqi officials optimistic enough to start ending curfews and...
April 5, 2007
Senate Democrats are outraged over the recess appointment of Sam Fox by President Bush, just a few days after the White House withdrew his nomination for Ambassador. Fox, who contributed to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth campaign in 2004,...
Nancy Pelosi's amateurish fumble in Syria left the Washington Post less than impressed. In an editorial titled "Pratfall in Damascus," the Post doesn't stop at scolding Pelosi for demonstrating why egotistical Representatives should not insert themselves into diplomacy. It also...
After Rudy Giuliani's surprising statement on federal funding for abortions yesterday, several commenters expressed reservations about the credibility of CNN to report what Rudy said honestly. Here is the transcript from the relevant portion of the interview, so that we...
The 15 Royal Navy personnel held captive by the Iranians for a fortnight returned home today on a British Airways flight. Less than 24 hours after their "pardon" from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the sailors and Marines flew business class, with parting...
Johnny Walker Lindh wants the Hicks treatment, his lawyer announced today. Lindh, whose capture in Afghanistan after 9/11 made headlines, pled guilty to lesser terrorism charges rather than face charges that could have resulted in the death penalty. Now that...
Max Boot writes from Iraq of his surprise over John McCain's comments regarding the Iraqi security situation. While he acknowledges that McCain wore body armor and had armed personnel guarding him, Boot points out the obvious -- that McCain makes...
The New York Sun reports that recent polling has encouraged Fred Thompson to seriously consider a run for the Republican Presidential nomination. Jim Geraghty, the blogger behind NRO's HillarySpot, says that Thompson fills a void left by the unexpected loss...
It appears that Rudy Giuliani, intelligent man that he is, understands the damage he did to his efforts to connect with conservatives in his CNN interview yesterday. As Kathryn Jean Lopez posted at The Corner, Giuliani has started to climb...
We're going to have a great show tonight on CQ Radio. Debra Burlingame, one of the founders of 9/11 Families for America and the sister of murdered pilot Charles "Chic" Burlingame, will join me tonight at the top of...
April 6, 2007
Today is Good Friday, the remembrance of the sacrifice of Jesus of Nazareth which Christians believe redeemed all of us from sin. On Sunday, we will celebrate His resurrection, which promises new life and victory over death for those who...
A Texas radio host made a Texas-sized blunder during a debate about a bill in the state legislature that would issue a formal apology for slavery. Michael Berry, in an attempt to apply the apology efforts elsewhere to oppose it,...
The US has determined that the release of 15 British Navy personnel reflects no great change in the Iranian diplomatic posture. The New York Times reports that the White House believes that the order for the capture came from lower...
Minneapolis will have to end its use of cameras to ticket and fine drivers who run red lights and commit other infractions of traffic regulation. The state Supreme Court shut down the system in a decision yesterday, ruling that state...
The New York Times appears willing to damn Romney for being rich and both using his own money for his presidential campaign and not using his own money for his presidential campaign. In seeking to explain Romney's success at fundraising,...
Jules Crittenden scores a bulls-eye today in a post regarding the recess appointment of Sam Fox as Ambassador to Belgium. After all the screeching from Democrats about firing prosecutors over their politics, John Kerry and his allies attempted to deep-six...
Did Rudy blame bloggers for his tough week after his remarks on abortion and federal funding? Some apparently believe so, including Matt Lewis , who read Roger Simon's report for The Politico. Roger asked Rudy about whether he realizes how...
Michelle Malkin notes another case of provocative behavior in an airport that recalls the Traveling Imams incident here in the Twin Cities. Two women, one of whom was on probation for waving a fake grenade, have been arrested for suspicious...
April 7, 2007
The economy continues its growth under the stewardship of the Bush administration. Unemployment fell to 4.4%, a five-year low, as the nation added 180,000 jobs last month. Wages also rose faster than inflation in March, indicating continuing strength and real...
Der Spiegel reports that Indonesia's ostensibly secular government faces increasing pressure from the Islamists in their midst. The Muslim nation may start down the road towards a Taliban-Lite government as radical Islamists gain more seats in their assembly and demand...
Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro have joined in criticizing the United States for its efforts to find alternative fuel sources. They claim that ethanol and other biofuel technologies take food out of the mouths of the poor: Cuba and Venezuela...
The Northern Alliance Radio Network will be on the air today, with our six-hour-long broadcast schedule starting at 11 am CT -- but it will be a "Best Of" broadcast through all six hours. We are taking our traditional Easter...
The Guardian reports that the Bush administration offered a series of military options to the Blair government at the beginning of the hostage crisis, but the British asked the Americans to hold off on any response. The exact list remains...