October 1, 2007
The calendar has moved to October, and that presumably meant that Larry Craig would head home to Idaho and allow a replacement appointment to take his seat. Unfortunately for the Senate Republicans, embarrassed by Craig's guilty plea to disorderly conduct in a Minneapolis airport restroom, Craig has decided to extend his tapdancing. Since he won't commit to resigning, his GOP colleagues plan on holding a public ethics hearing to shame him out of the Senate: The Senate hearing would examine the original charges in Craig's case, including the allegation of "interference with privacy," for peeping into the bathroom stall occupied by an undercover police officer. One senior Republican aide imagined "witnesses, documents, all in front of the klieg lights." The committee also could look for "a pattern of conduct" -- which means combing court records in other locales to discover whether Craig had prior arrests that haven't come to light....
When parties fall out of power, they tend to go through a battle between Puritans and Big Tenters. Inevitably, when Puritans control the debate, they tend to ensure a longer term in the wilderness, and when they don't, they threaten to leave. Perhaps the developments in Salt Lake City, at a meeting of the Council for National Policy, indicates that the Republican center-right has begun to take the lead in GOP politics: Alarmed at the chance that the Republican party might pick Rudolph Giuliani as its presidential nominee despite his support for abortion rights, a coalition of influential Christian conservatives is threatening to back a third-party candidate in an attempt to stop him. The group making the threat, which came together Saturday in Salt Lake City during a break-away gathering during a meeting of the secretive Council for National Policy, includes Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family, who...
The use of aggressive tactics and a larger footprint has resulted in a drop in combat deaths for American troops in Iraq. The number of those lost in combat operations fell to a 14-month low in September. Meanwhile, the US and Iraqi forces continue to hold the momentum, killing almost as many al-Qaeda terrorists and insurgents this weekend as American forces lost all month: Sixty-three U.S. military deaths were reported in September, the lowest monthly toll since July 2006, according to U.S. forces and a preliminary count by The Associated Press. A U.S. soldier was killed Sunday in a small-arms attack during combat operations in eastern Baghdad, the military said Monday. The soldier, whose name was withheld pending notification of relatives, was assigned to the Multi-National Division-Baghdad. In July 2006, 43 American soldiers were killed, according to an AP count. "It's still too high," military spokesman Rear Admiral Mark Fox...
The economic woes of Michigan appear ready to worsen, thanks to a budget agreement reached this morning as the state government began shutting down. Michigan residents will see their taxes increase by over a billion dollars, further burdening the decreasing purchasing power of its residents, as the legislature only sliced less than a third of that from their spending plans (via The Corner): The Legislature agreed to raise Michigan's income tax rate from 3.9 percent to 4.35 percent and expand the 6 percent sales tax to some services. Granholm signed both measures. Structural changes to state government — including the management of teacher and other public employee benefits — also are part of the package. The tax increases should erase most of a projected $1.75 billion deficit in Michigan's next budget. The final budget for the new fiscal year will include $440 million in spending cuts, Granholm said. ... Raising...
The Ukrainian elections held this weekend may have returned momentum to the pro-Western parties that fueled the Orange Revolution two years ago. The slow count in the pro-Russian east of Ukraine could still dent that momentum, and already accusations of cheating have arisen from perhaps the most famous -- and fiery -- of Ukrainian politicians: Ukraine's pro-Western opposition claimed victory on Monday in an election widely seen as key to ending divisions that have stalled market reform and exacerbated tensions between a nationalist west and Russian-speaking east. With just over 60 percent of votes in Sunday's parliamentary poll counted, groups linked to President Viktor Yushchenko, swept to power in 2004 "Orange Revolution" protests, appeared strongly placed but far from certain victory. A close result would again mean long talks on forming a coalition government. Yushchenko's rival, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, dismissed the "orange" declaration of victory as groundless. He said...
Sixteen years after he castigated the Senate Judiciary Committee for conducting a “high-tech lynching,” Justice Clarence Thomas may relish the opportunity to tell his side of the story. With his new book My Grandfather’s Son: A Memoir hitting bookstores today, Thomas’ belated last word on the accusations of sexual harrassment and hypocrisy on racial preferences will undoubtedly transform his image from that of an isolated footnote to an active and powerful voice, both on the Supreme Court and in public life. He has placed himself in the unusually public place of a controversial author, seeking publicity where he and his colleagues have traditionally avoided it. Last night, I watched his interviews on CBS’ 60 Minutes, conducted with taste and objectivity by Steve Kroft. At Heading Right, I review the interview and Thomas' effectiveness. Thomas did well last night in providing the last word on the Anita Hill allegations and the...
Hillary Clinton seems to attract all the right money from all the wrong people. Right on the heels of Norman Hsu, the New York Post reports that another Ponzi-scheme operator has pumped almost $30,000 in contributions to her campaign (via Michelle Malkin): A purported pyramid-scheme operator who was run out of Arkansas when Bill Clinton was governor has reinvented himself as the head of an upstate group accused of being a "cult" - and his devotees have pumped thousands into Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential run. Executives and top associates of the Albany-based NXIVM group - along with their family members - donated $29,900 to Clinton's presidential campaign, according to federal records. On March 14 and April 13, records show, more than a dozen contributions poured into Clinton's coffers from NXIVM, an executive and group-awareness training organization led by Brooklyn-born Keith Raniere, 47. ... In his previous incarnation, the Svengali-like Raniere...
The BBC reports that the good news in Iraq isn't just limited to American troops. The number of violent civilian deaths have dropped dramatically in September to less than half of August, by far the best month of the year: The number of Iraqi civilians killed per month in bombings and shootings has fallen to the lowest level this year, the Iraqi government says. In September, 884 civilians were killed by violence, less than half the figure for August, the government said. The BBC's Jon Brain in Baghdad says the figures suggest the so-called surge involving 30,000 extra US troops is having some success. ... Additional figures released by the government indicated that the death toll had fallen by 38% compared with last year's Ramadan, according to the Muslim calendar. The number of Iraqi troops and police killed also dropped. In August, 87 security force members were killed in the...
Heading Right Radio airs in prime time tonight at 9 pm ET. I will have just left a private dinner function with Justice Clarence Thomas, and I will talk about the experience and his new book, My Grandfather's Son: A Memoir. I hope to have at least one or two more of the invitees join me on the show, and of course I'll be taking your calls. Be sure to adjust your listening schedules for the special prime-time installment! Call 646-652-4889 to join the conversation! And don't forget to join our chat room! Did you know that you can listen to Heading Right Radio through your TiVo service? Click here for the instructions. Also, you can subscribe to Heading Right Radio through iTunes now by clicking this link:...
Earlier this evening, I attended a two-hour dinner event at the Heritage Foundation with Justice Clarence Thomas, his wife Virginia, and a small number of other bloggers and New Media members. It confirmed for me that the media has never gotten a grasp of the man under the robes, possibly because they have not spent even the small amount of time with him that we did tonight and that Steve Kroft did with his 60 Minutes interview -- and they have missed a real story from that failure. And while the nominal reason for the evening was his book launch -- and we each received autographed copies -- it turned into a wide-ranging conversation that had little to do with the book. The evening started with Justice Thomas greeting us, taking pictures and chatting us up a bit. He asked me what I wrote about at Captain's Quarters, and I...
October 2, 2007
The Los Angeles Times takes a look at Fred Thompson's fundraising in the third quarter -- a period of time in which he was an official candidate for 24 days -- and declares him "behind". Instead of looking at a fundraising rate that seems fairly impressive, Dan Morain makes the trenchant analysis that the candidate who just joined the race last month finds himself behind other candidates who have raised money for their third straight quarter: In an indication that his presidential campaign is off to a slow start financially, Republican Fred Thompson raised $8 million in the third quarter of 2007, which included his first month as a declared candidate. Combined with the money he raised while he considered joining the race, Thompson has gathered $11.5 million for the year, putting him a distant fourth in the GOP money race behind Mitt Romney, Rudolph W. Giuliani and Sen. John...
The government of Nicolas Sarkozy intends to keep pressure on Iran to abandon their nuclear program, and wants to see the rest of the world follow suit. Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told a European broadcaster that Western credibility required the pursuit of tougher sanctions, as the UN continued to dither: French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said on Tuesday the West must continue to work on sanctions if it is to be taken seriously by Iran, even as talks continue to resolve a stand-off over Tehran's nuclear ambitions. Kouchner told Europe 1 radio that the situation in Iran was dangerous and that a nuclear-armed Iran would make the situation in the Middle East even more complicated. "While the European dialogue continues...we have to work on sanctions so as to be taken seriously," Kouchner said. So far, the West doesn't appear to be listening. The UN Security Council agreed on Friday to...
Pervez Musharraf, facing a parliamentary revolt after winning his legal petitions to run for the presidency on Saturday, named his replacement as army chief of staff today. Musharraf has made promises to step down in the past, but never has gone quite so far as to name his successor: Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf has named his successor to take over as army chief, the military says. The appointee is former head of intelligence Lt Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kiani, military spokesman Maj Gen Waheed Arshad told the BBC. Gen Musharraf will resign as head of the army if he wins presidential elections on Saturday, his lawyers say. The choice of Kiani will reassure Musharraf's Western allies. Kiani has a reputation as a hard-core Musharraf loyalist, which will hopefully keep military policy stable in the transition to civilian government. Kiana has run the army's intelligence service, which gives him even more credibility...
Anita Hill takes to the pages of the New York Times to answer Justice Clarence Thomas' memoirs -- and becomes an inadvertent ironist. After waiting sixteen years to tell his side of the story, Hill accuses Thomas of throwing unsubstantiated allegations at her. Anyone who watched the Thomas confirmation process should fall into gales of laughter at this cri de coeur: In the portion of his book that addresses my role in the Senate hearings into his nomination, Justice Thomas offers a litany of unsubstantiated representations and outright smears that Republican senators made about me when I testified before the Judiciary Committee — that I was a “combative left-winger” who was “touchy” and prone to overreacting to “slights.” A number of independent authors have shown those attacks to be baseless. What’s more, their reports draw on the experiences of others who were familiar with Mr. Thomas’s behavior, and who came...
The leaders of the two Korean states shook hands to the cheers of thousands in Pyongyang today. The historic summit, only the second in a half-century of hostility, hopes to bridge the gulf between Koreans separated by a DMZ, and to staunch the bleeding from the catastrophic economic collapse in the North. Whether it leads to any real progress may have more to do with disarmament talks taking place elsewhere: As hundreds of thousands of North Koreans cheered and waved pink paper flowers, leaders of the two Koreas shook hands at the start of a summit that is expected to inject large amounts of money from the booming capitalist South into the struggling Stalinist North. The reclusive North Korean leader Kim Jung Il, dressed in the gray military-style jumpsuit he wears to meet the world's television cameras, looked dour as he walked with the smiling South Korean President Roh Moo...
Hillary Clinton’s proposal to give a $5,000 bond to every newborn has received a lot of attention, and most of it critical. Today, the Chicago Tribune’s editorial board gives it a once-over, noting the silly arguments that Democrats have used to excuse Hillary’s pandering. The Tribune advises Democrats to let Hillary’s baby boon die a natural death. At Heading Right, I take a look at the proposal that one can spend their way out of a deficit -- a notion not completely restricted to Democrats, either. This case is so blatantly transparent that other Democrats might be doing Hillary a favor if they just shut up and pretend she never said anything....
Defenders of the S-CHIP expansion refute the accusations of its critics that it amounts to a Trojan horse for nationalized health care. However, The Politico notes that a 1993 memo from Hillary Clinton's health-care task force proposed using children as a mechanism in order to take control of health-care delivery for all Americans. The revelation gives the White House new momentum for its expected veto: Back in 1993, according to an internal White House staff memo, then-first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton’s staff saw federal coverage of children as a “precursor” to universal coverage. In a section of the memo titled “Kids First,” Clinton’s staff laid out backup plans in the event the universal coverage idea failed. And one of the key options was creating a state-run health plan for children who didn’t qualify for Medicaid but were uninsured. That idea sounds a lot like the current State Children’s Health Insurance...
John McCain shows surprising strength in the latest Star Tribune poll. Minnesota voters have him only trailing Rudy Giuliani by five points, and eight points ahead of third-place Fred Thompson. The strong showing may have its roots in the endorsement of Tim Pawlenty, who signed onto the McCain campaign early and has remained adamant in his endorsement: McCain's relative strength in Minnesota -- he trails Giuliani by just 5 percentage points among poll respondents -- could have several explanations, starting with the fact that Gov. Tim Pawlenty is his marquee Minnesota supporter, Hofrenning said. "There could definitely be a Pawlenty effect at work," he said. "But we've also got a maverick streak here, going back to strong support for Perot. And he [McCain] is the pro-war, anti-Bush candidate." In fact, the poll showed that McCain's supporters were far more likely than supporters of any other GOP candidate to disapprove of...
Earlier today, Pervez Musharraf named his successor as army chief of staff as he prepared to stand for election for the presidency he has held after a 1999 coup. Now he has apparently cinched a deal for the support of moderate Benazir Bhutto as the government officially granted the former Prime Minister amnesty against corruption allegations that Musharraf used as an excuse to grab power: Pakistan agreed to grant former prime minister Benazir Bhutto an amnesty on corruption charges Tuesday as President Pervez Musharraf named a new army chief just days before he seeks re-election. The day of dramatic developments came as military strongman Musharraf, a key US ally who seized power in 1999, faced growing opposition to his plan to win another five-year term in Saturday's presidential vote. The move to drop a raft of graft charges against Bhutto, who has vowed to return to Pakistan on October 18,...
I had not realized that the Senate passed the Defense Department authorization yesterday until the Standard commented on it this morning. The spending bill passed overwhelmingly, 92-3, with only Robert Byrd, Tom Coburn, and Russ Feingold in opposition. Tellingly, the Democrats running for office from the Senate all managed to miss the vote -- Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Chrsi Dodd, and Joe Biden. Democrats had threatened to hold up the Defense appropriation until George Bush bent to their will on Iraq. Harry Reid had petulantly taken the bill off the table in July, attempting to hold it to the last minute in order to pressure Republicans to change course in Iraq. Instead, as the success of the surge became more and more apparent, Reid found the ground falling out from beneath him. Oddly, no major newspaper on my feed list bothered to report this development. The AP did generate a...
Due to my travel schedule today, Heading Right Radio will take a day off. Instead, I'd recommend taking a listen to last night's special prime-time broadcast recapping my dinner with Justice Clarence Thomas. Tomorrow, I'll celebrate the blog's 4th anniversary in my normal time slot of 2 pm CT! UPDATE & BUMP, 1:45 ET: I'm enjoying a layover in Charlotte, which gave me time to post another couple of entries below. It's amazing how much one airport resembles another. I had to hit the restroom, and the stall had this note: TAP DANCE 4 LOVE! It's like I never left Minneapolis .... I've gone through a third of the Clarence Thomas memoir, and so far, it's fascinating. With any luck, I'll finish it before I get home. In the meantime, Danny Glover has a roundup of reactions to Clarence Thomas, his book, Anita Hill's response, and so on. UPDATE II:...
Yesterday, Justice and Mrs. Clarence Thomas presented us with signed copies of his new memoir, My Grandfather's Son. I looked forward to reading it, and took the opportunity to read the book in its entirety today on two flights and a weather-delayed layover in Charlotte. Thanks to bad weather on the last leg of my flight, the turbulence of the flight hit just as I began reading about the turbulence of Clarence Thomas' confirmation to the Supreme Court. The book provides a fascinating and at times touching portrait of a man who had to fight against anger most of his life, and most of that within himself. He talks frequently about having to have his anger on a leash that occasionally slipped. His drinking found its source in his anger and insecurities, the frustration of segregation and racial hatred and the effect it had on his family, and anger at...
October 3, 2007
Two days ago, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown flew to Basra to announce the withdrawal of 1,000 troops in time for Christmas. Critics claimed at the time that Brown had played up the announcement to bolster Labour for snap elections. Now, however, critics have a more substantial complaint -- that Brown far overstated the drawdown by counting troops that listened to the announcement from Britain: The Prime Minister has flown to Basra to announce that 1,000 servicemen would return home by Christmas, leaving a contingent of 4,000. The move was widely seen as an attempt to prepare the ground for a snap general election. But he faced severe criticism for alleged spin after it emerged that half of the withdrawals had previously been announced and hundreds of the troops were already home. ... Liam Fox, the shadow defence secretary, accused Mr Brown of treating the troops as "a political football"....
Kim Jong-Il has agreed to give a "complete and correct" declaration of all its nuclear programs and will allow the US to take the lead on disabling its Yongbyon reactor. The announcement, announced by representatives of North Korea and China, comes within the six-party framework and adheres to the February 13th agreement. It takes the process much closer to completion, but another issue remains open: North Korea agreed to provide a "complete and correct declaration" of its nuclear programs and will disable its facilities at its main reactor complex by Dec. 31 under an agreement reached by North Korea and five other countries released Wednesday. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei said as part of the agreement, the U.S. will take the lead in seeing that the facilities are disabled and will fund those initial activities. ... North Korea is required to disable its sole functioning reactor at Yongbyon in...
The Washington Post/ABC News poll shows the national frontrunners remaining strong with just three months to go before the primaries, if we're lucky. Hillary Clinton has now attracted a majority of Democratic voters and has commanding leads on all issues over her Democratic opponents. Rudy Giuliani has not yet reached those heights, but he has double the support of his nearest rival, Fred Thompson. Clinton seems to be solidifying the perception of her inevitability: Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has consolidated her place as the front-runner in the contest for the Democratic presidential nomination, outpacing her main rivals in fundraising in the most recent quarter and widening her lead in a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. For the first time, Clinton (N.Y.) is drawing support from a majority of Democrats -- and has opened up a lead of 33 percentage points over Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.). Her popularity, the poll suggests,...
Wisconsin Rep. David Obey apparently blindsided Democratic Party leadership in both chambers of Congress with his income-tax surcharge to supposedly fund the Iraq War. Featuring a graduated tax increase with a range of 2-15%, the tax would supposedly cover the costs of the ongoing deployment in Iraq and "drive the costs home" to all Americans. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid reacted as though they finally met a tax they didn't like -- and they have a good reason: Democratic leaders on Tuesday moved quickly to shift public attention to President Bush’s expected veto of a children’s health insurance program from a surtax to pay for the war in Iraq. Democrats had been reveling in their good fortune, believing they had a winning issue in legislation to expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), which Bush is expected to veto Wednesday. But three senior Democrats floated a proposal to impose...
Today, the House Republican Conference will hold a series of conference calls with bloggers to review the GOP legislative agenda and top issues facing the caucus. These will occur throughout the day, with the following members scheduled to speak: 10:15 AM – 10:30 AM EST -- Congressman Jeb Hensarling (TX-5), RSC Chairman & Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn (TN-7) 11:05 AM – 11:20 AM EST -- Republican Whip Roy Blunt (MO-7) & Chief Deputy Whip Eric Cantor (VA-7) 2:30 PM – 2:45 PM EST -- Conference Chairman Adam Putnam (FL-12) & Congressman Mike Pence (IN-6), Former RSC Chairman 3:30 PM – 3:45 PM EST -- Republican Leader John Boehner (OH-8) & Congressman Paul Ryan, Ranking Member on the Budget Committee (WI-1) I'm going to try to broadcast the last one live during today's Heading Right Radio show. I will be blogging each of these sessions at Heading Right during the day, so...
Last week, I finally launched the Bookshelf, which shows the books I'm reading and/or recommend to Captain's Quarters readers. It seems that a couple of tomes inadvertently fell off the shelf during the renovation, so I'm going to feature them in this post as I add them to the Bookshelf page. Don't forget that purchasing items through my Amazon links (including anything purchased through the Search widget) gives me a few cents on the dollar, too....
President Bush increased the number of vetoes issued during his administration by 33% today, torpedoing the S-CHIP expansion and setting up a major policy battle with Congress. With the Senate passing the bill with enough votes to overturn the veto, all eyes turn to the House, where both sides have scrambled to whip their caucuses: President Bush, in a confrontation with Congress, on Wednesday vetoed a bipartisan bill that would have dramatically expanded children's health insurance. It was only the fourth veto of Bush's presidency, and one that some Republicans feared could carry steep risks for their party in next year's elections. The Senate approved the bill with enough votes to override the veto, but the margin in the House fell short of the required number. The White House sought as little attention as possible, with the president wielding his veto behind closed doors without any fanfare or news coverage....
Quite frankly, the entire pseudo-controversy over Rush Limbaugh's remarks headlined the Theater of the Absurd for the past week, and apparently continues its meager run on the stage. Michelle Malkin sees the strategy for exactly what it is -- a payback for the beating that MoveOn took over calling General David Petraeus a traitor on the pages of the New York Times. Andy McCarthy practically has to pick his jaw up off the floor over the target selection of the Left: There really was a news story, generated by the mainstream media of all people, about phony soldiers — poseurs who falsely claim to have put their lives on the line in our country’s armed forces, at least some of whom engage the pretense precisely to libel real heroes as terrorists and marauders. Rush Limbaugh, one of this nation’s single-most ardent supporters of the military, was briefed on the news...
Today on Heading Right Radio (2 pm CT), I plan on celebrating the fourth anniversary of Captain's Quarters. I'd love to hear from friends in the blogosphere, so be sure to call in! We have NZ Bear from the Victory Caucus in the first half of the hour to update us on all of the developments in Iraq. I'll also try -- try, mind you -- to broadcast our Virtual Blog Row event live at 2:30 CT. Call 646-652-4889 to join the conversation! And don't forget to join our chat room! Did you know that you can listen to Heading Right Radio through your TiVo service? Click here for the instructions. Also, you can subscribe to Heading Right Radio through iTunes now by clicking this link:...
He's been the butt of jokes, the focus of derision, and the candidate everyone wished they could ignore. Now he's the man who outraised most of the second tier in the third quarter, and he wants some respect. Ron Paul took over $5 million in donations, the same as John McCain and much more than Mike Huckabee, who had started to make a case for himself as a first-tier candidate (via Memeorandum): Texas Congressman Ron Paul, an anti-war libertarian making his second run at the White House, will report having raised $5.08 million in the third quarter. The number, which rivals those of John McCain and Bill Richardson, was boosted thanks to last-minute online fundraising that brought in more than $1.2 million in the last week of the quarter alone. Paul has drawn himself in sharp contrast with the rest of the field, often engaging in loud exchanges with fellow...
Ruth Marcus picks up the cudgel left by Anita Hill's earlier rebuttal to the memoirs of Clarence Thomas and tries to score a few points in today's Washington Post. Claiming that "Clarence Thomas is no victim", Marcus underscores her belief in Hill's version of events. She points to what she sees as corroborating evidence in the testimony of three witnesses to the Judiciary Committee hearing, claiming that Thomas deliberately omitted evidence from his account (via Bench Memos): First, Hill did not wait 10 years to complain about his behavior. Susan Hoerchner, a Yale Law School classmate of Hill's, described how she complained of sexual harassment while working for Thomas, saying the EEOC chairman had "repeatedly asked her out . . . but wouldn't seem to take 'no' for an answer." Ellen Wells, a friend, said Hill had come to her, "deeply troubled and very depressed," with complaints about Thomas's inappropriate...
Senator John Ensign joined a few bloggers to discuss current events. First, Chuck Schumer proposed today to raise taxes on the equity markets who helped raise funds for the DSCC. The more we see of the Democrats, Ensign says, the more we will see tax increases. Republicans traditionally trust families to make the best choices with their own money rather than government and calls this a fundamental difference between the two parties He also acknowledged that the NRSC will have a tough road in 2008. He thinks that the GOP has an opportunity to do fairly well. Gordon Smith doesn't have a tough opponent on the horizon. Norm Coleman also has a pair of nonentities squaring off to face him, and Democrats are nervous about Al Franken's embarrassment factor. Maine looks solid, and says Susan Collins' constituents know her very well. John Sununu will be the toughest incumbent race, probably...
October 4, 2007
I spent some time last night reviewing some of the transcripts from the "high-tech lynching" delivered by the Senate Judiciary Committee to Clarence Thomas, just to refamiliarize myself with the actual testimony and evidence. It almost felt like jumping into Peabody's Wayback Machine, only in this case the transcripts reveal the truth rather than a facile and inaccurate misrepresentation. Based on a momentary reference in Thomas' book, I reread the testimony of John Doggett, who had come to the panel to testify on behalf of Thomas -- and who ended up facing the exact same smear, from the same apparent authors. Let me set the stage for readers. Doggett, a successful black attorney who knew both Hill and Thomas, had come to testify on Thomas' behalf -- and had done so with little issue. However, Senator Howard Metzenbaum's turn came up to start asking questions, and he immediately accused Doggett...
It seems as though the Iranians want war with the West more than the West wants war with Iran. British military intelligence reports that the Quds Force, a unit within the Revolutionary Guards, has begun supplying the Taliban with the same kinds of terrorist bombs that have been put to use by al-Qaeda in Iraq: Iran is supplying the Taliban in Afghanistan with the same bomb-making equipment it provides to insurgents in Iraq, according to British military intelligence officers. US Army General Dan McNeill, the commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan, said that the discovery of more than 50 roadside bombs and timers in lorries crossing the border from Iran last month proves that Iran's Quds Revolutionary Guards are actively supporting the Taliban. ... "I cannot see how it is possible for at least the Iranian military, probably the Quds force, to not have known of this convoy," said Gen...
Patrick Leahy has capitulated on scheduling confirmation hearings for Michael Mukasey's nomination as Attorney General. Originally, Leahy wanted to hold Mukasey hostage to his demands for internal memos from the White House. However, the Bush administration has apparently proven too tenacious for Leahy: Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) signaled yesterday that he will move ahead with confirmation hearings for a new attorney general later this month without reaching a deal on documents that he hoped to obtain from the White House. But Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, also said that nominee Michael B. Mukasey will be confronted with a range of questions related to ongoing conflicts between Democrats and the Bush administration, including whether Mukasey would allow prosecution of White House aides for ignoring congressional subpoenas. In a letter to the nominee released yesterday, Leahy complained that "the White House has chosen not to clear the decks of...
Michael Jacobson at the excellent Counterterrorism Blog reports that the most influential cleric in Wahhabist Saudi Arabia has published a fatwa ordering would-be jihadists to stay at home rather than travel for holy war. Sheikh Abdel-Aziz Al-Asheikh appears to have contradicted Saudi government insistence that their subjects have not contributed to the terrorism in Iraq, and may embarrass the royal family into making a better effort at stopping the traffic in terrorists (via Instapundit): Earlier this week, Sheikh Abdel-Aziz Al-Asheikh – the most senior Wahhabi cleric in Saudi Arabia -- released a rather surprising religious edict. In this fatwa, the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia instructed Saudis not to leave the Kingdom to participate in jihad – a statement directed primarily at those considering going to Iraq. Al-Asheikh said that he decided to speak up, “after it was clear that over several years Saudis have been leaving for jihad” and...
The families of the 9/11 victims at the World Trade Center and Pentagon who sued American Airlines have settled their suits against them. American Airlines and other contractors involved in security will pay an undisclosed sum to the victims and pledge to continue improving security. However, they will also avoid having to admit any negligence, and the evidence will remain sealed -- which seems inimical to the plaintiffs' stated motives. At Heading Right, I explore why this settlement bothers me. The families of 9/11 have the right to act in their own self-interest, but their continued insistence that the truth means more to them than money seems at odds with the sealed depositions. What did they learn? How did the airline and airport fail on 9/11, if they did at all? These particular families are not the only people with standing on 9/11. If the depositions revealed failures, we should...
In response to the hysterical bedwetting on the Left over Rush Limbaugh's use of the phrase "phony soldiers" to describe people who lie about their service or their experiences in the war theater, my good friend Scott Johnson has started a new contest at Power Line this morning. Titled "Phony Democrats," his post asks readers to contribute quotes from Democratic officeholders that have smeared and besmirched the military and its members directly, rather than using the tortured logic that Media Matters and its propagandist ilk have used to paint Limbaugh as an anti-military demagogue. Scott started out with several examples, and Power Line readers have supplied a few more. Unfortunately, I have to disagree with Scott on his nomenclature. I wish these were phony Democrats, or even unimportant, fringe Democrats. As one reads the list, the reality of the Democratic Party hits one squarely, and that is that their leadership...
The Iraqi Army, with Americans along as advisors, captured two high-value al-Qaeda figures on Tuesday. One of them served as AQI's banker, pushing more than $50,000 per month into the terrorist network and possibly as much as $100 million during his tenure with the network: Iraqi forces, with U.S. Special Forces as advisers, detained two individuals believed to be linked to the al-Qaeda in Iraq criminal network Oct. 2, near Baghdad. During one of the operations, Soldiers from the 6th Iraqi Army Division detained a suspected al-Qaeda financier in Kindi. The extremist financier is suspected of traveling to foreign countries to acquire financial support for terrorist activities and is suspected of supplying more than $50,000 to al-Qaeda each month. He is believed to have received $100,000,000 this summer from terrorist supporters who cross the Iraq border illegally or fly into Iraq from Italy, Syria and Egypt. The terrorist is linked...
The Republicans have another open seat to defend in 2008, according to Chris Cillizza at The Fix and The Hill. Pete Domenici, whose tenure has recently been marred by his reported involvement in the termination of US Attorney David Yglesias, has decided not to run for re-election. The somewhat surprising decision leaves another opportunity for a Democratic pickup next year -- and a possible change in the presidential race: Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) is expected to announce Thursday that he will not run for a seventh term in 2008, according to sources close to Domenici’s office. Domenici’s retirement would make him the fourth Republican senator to bow out this cycle, joining Sens. Wayne Allard (Colo.), John Warner (Va.) and Chuck Hagel (Neb.). Competitive races in those seats are likely, and New Mexico should be no different. Domenici’s retirement also would open up a Pandora’s Box in the state’s congressional delegation,...
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell takes to YouTube -- and in a few moments, Heading Right Radio -- to attack the Democratic failure to extend the moratorium on taxing Internet access. John Sununu and John McCain have joined Democrat Ron Wyden in making the federal ban on state and local taxation for Internet access permanent. McConnell issues this warning: Why would a federal ban apply? The Internet exemplifies interstate commerce, which places it under federal jurisdiction, even among the most ardent federalists. The entire intent of the Internet is to allow individuals to reach out to the global community. Oversight on tax policy that would discourage or limit that access rightly belongs to Congress. McConnell sees the Internet as an engine for growth, and says "we don't put meters on our modems". If you agree, contact your Senator or Representative and urge action before the ban expires on November 1st....
Today on Heading Right Radio (Note special time: 3 pm CT), we have a great show set up. At the top of the hour, we have Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to talk about S-CHIP, Iraq, Michael Mukasey, and other hot issues. In the second half of the hour, David Andelman joins us to talk about his new book, A Shattered Peace: Versailles 1919 and the Price We Pay Today. It's a topic on which I've already done quite a bit of reading, but the executive editor of Forbes.com has a fresh look at the impact that the Great War had on the world -- and why it matters to this day. He also has an excellent website for the book, with an extra chapter for on-line readers, and a blog as well. Call 646-652-4889 to join the conversation! And don't forget to join our chat room! Did you...
Larry Craig has found a Minnesota judge unsympathetic to his argument that he was in the midst of a ten-week panic attack when Craig pled guilty to disorderly conduct. Judge Charles Porter denied Craig his do-over in a ruling handed down this afternoon, saying that Craig made a rational decision with his plea: A Minnesota judge on Thursday rejected Sen. Larry Craig's bid to withdraw his guilty plea in an airport sex sting, a major setback in Craig's effort to clear his name and hang on to his Senate seat. "Because the defendant's plea was accurate, voluntary and intelligent, and because the conviction is supported by the evidence ... the Defendant's motion to withdraw his guilty plea is denied," Hennepin County Judge Charles Porter wrote. Craig can appeal Porter's ruling, but it wasn't immediately clear if he would. Telephone calls and e-mails seeking comment from Craig spokesmen Sid Smith in...
Want to know when not much is going on? We get breathtaking coverage of stories like this: Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama says he no longer wears an American flag lapel pin because it has become a substitute for "true patriotism" since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He commented on the pin in a television interview Wednesday and then again on Thursday at a campaign appearance in Independence, Iowa. Noting the TV interview, he told the campaign crowd, "I said, you know what, I probably haven't worn a flag pin in a very long time. After a while I noticed people wearing a lapel pin and not acting very patriotic." "My attitude is that I'm less concerned about what you're wearing on your lapel than what's in your heart. You show your patriotism by how you treat your fellow Americans, especially those who serve. You show your patriotism by...
The Republican fundraising numbers have been revealed for the third quarter, and it looks like a three-way photo finish at the top. Rudy Giuliani raised $11 million, half a million going to the general election fund. Mitt Romney raised over $18 million in primary funding -- but $8.5 million comes in the form of a personal loan, which puts his actual donations at slightly under $10 million. And Fred Thompson sandbagged just a little in his announcement earlier, pulling in $9.3 million for the quarter -- but only spending 24 days of it as an actual candidate. So who wins? It certainly looks like Fred Thompson has the momentum at the moment. He's adding dollars more quickly than the other candidates. The 24-day cycle for him would have extrapolated out to around double of what Romney and Giuliani received, and put him ahead of everyone in the race except Hillary...
October 5, 2007
That seems to be the operating philosophy of Bush Derangement Syndrome sufferers in Lancaster County, PA. When George Bush passed through for a visit on Wednesday, workers from a local day-care center led three dozen children in singing songs to greet the President as he arrived. That set off the BDS contingent, who made sure no one heard the children singing: But for nearly three dozen youngsters from the U-Gro child care center, located just off the president's motorcade route on Stony Battery Road, it was all about waving hand-drawn flags, singing songs and holding banners welcoming to Lancaster one of the most powerful men in the world. "What an opportunity this is for our children," center director Liz Burkhard said while herding children ages 4 to 6 into a compact, orderly row behind the yellow police tape lining Stony Battery at Church Street. One group of protesters quickly descended...
Hamas has had its share of difficulties since its terrorists took over Gaza earlier this year. They have had to take responsibility for actually governing territory, and the international sanctions have forced them to sell the office furniture to meet just a fraction of its payroll obligations. Gazans have quickly lost patience with Hamas, and now they face a phenomenon that they would normally endorse, if not directed at them: Over the past two months, Fatah has organized a series of peaceful protests against Hamas in the Gaza Strip; thousands of Fatah supporters participated in open-air prayers to protest against Hamas's June "coup." The protests, which have meanwhile been suspended, led to street clashes between the two parties, seriously embarrassing the Hamas government of Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. Most of the alleged Fatah operations have targeted security vehicles used by Hamas forces in the Gaza Strip. Following the attacks, the...
Even though Democratic leadership has run as fast as possible from David Obey's "war tax" proposal, E.J. Dionne wants it reconsidered. In today's column, Dionne wonders why conservatives who support the war don't support using a surtax to pay for it. He suggests that fiscal responsibility would demand a "yes" vote from Republicans, but fails to recognize the hypocrisy from the other side of the aisle: But it's a shame that Democrats remain so defensive on the tax issue that they aren't willing to bring this proposal to the floor. What if the price for passing President Bush's supplemental appropriation were a tax to cover its costs? What if opponents of the war voted no because they are against Bush's policy and Republicans voted no because they think low taxes are more important than national security as they define it? That's an aggressive way to frame any such antitax "no"...
Pervez Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto have reached a deal on power-sharing that they will announce today. It will clear a path for both Bhutto's return and Musharraf's election as civilian president, returning Pakistan to democracy. It will also provide a stronger and more moderate alliance to face off against the radicals in Pakistan, or so the US hopes: President Pervez Musharraf and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto have reached tentative agreement on a deal that is designed to give his election more credibility and allow her to return to Pakistan without facing corruption charges, officials on both sides said Friday. The deal, which followed months of seesaw negotiations, was expected to be formally announced later Friday, the eve of a planned presidential vote in the national and provincial assemblies. .... Musharraf has the support he needs to win a new five-year term, but Bhutto's party had threatened to join other...
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad celebrated Al-Quds Day today by calling Israel's existence an "insult to human dignity". Backed by chants of "Death To America!", the Iranian president and recent guest of Columbia University challenged Europe to give land to the Jews and to oppose Israel and the United States: Millions of Iranians attended nationwide rallies Friday in support of the Palestinians, while the country's hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Israel's continued existence was an "insult to human dignity." "The creation, continued existence and unlimited (Western) support for this regime is an insult to human dignity," Ahmadinejad said. "The occupation of Palestine is not limited to one land. The Zionist issue is now a global issue." ... The Iranian president once again said Palestinians should not pay any price because Europeans committed crimes against Jews in World War II. He said they could give a part of their own land in Europe or...
Last month, pundits on all sides of the aisle began hyperventilating when Labor reported a decline in non-farm employment for the first time in four years. The loss of 4,000 jobs signaled an oncoming recession, an end to growth, and disaster for the Republicans in 2008. Combined with the volatility of the bond markets, it seemed that the good times had crashed to an end. Today, however, Labor announced the new numbers for September -- and a little change in August's tallies (emphases mine): Employment rose in September, and the unemployment rate was essentially unchanged at 4.7 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 110,000 following increases of 93,000 in July and 89,000 in August (as revised). In September, health care, food services, and professional and technical services continued to add jobs, while employment trended down in manufacturing...
As the Left continues its hysteria over the misrepresentation of Rush Limbaugh's remarks, one wonders when they will denounce Code Pink. In Berkeley, the anti-war contingent defaced a Marine recruiting office, calling Marines predators on children and accusing them of murdering them (via Michelle Malkin and Gateway Pundit): Marine Captain Richard Lund recruits college students and graduates as candidates for officer positions in the marines. But carrying out that job in Berkeley is not always an easy task. He has listened to a variety of complaints from members of the anti-war group Code Pink in recent weeks. "We are so shocked and horrified that the Marines have come to Berkeley to prey on our children," said Zanne Joi, a Code Pink member. Last week, the Code Pink group protested by defacing the recruiting center and calling the recruiters liars. So Rush Limbaugh supposedly calls dissenting soldiers "phony" -- he didn't,...
On Wednesday, I received a proof copy of Kenneth Timmerman's new book, Shadow Warriors: The Untold Story of Traitors, Saboteurs, and the Party of Surrender, which tells the tale of the alleged war against the Bush administration within the CIA and State Department. Timmerman is always a fascinating read, but I just haven't had the chance to get to the book yet. Yesterday's leak by the New York Times on confidential memos on interrogation techniques reminds me that I have to get to it, as does their follow-up today: The disclosure of secret Justice Department legal opinions on interrogation on Thursday set off a bitter round of debate over the treatment of terrorism suspects in American custody and whether Congress has been adequately informed of legal policies. Democrats on Capitol Hill demanded to see the classified memorandums, disclosed Thursday by The New York Times, that gave the Central Intelligence Agency...
Today on Heading Right Radio (2 pm CT), Duane "Generalissimo" Patterson of the Hugh Hewitt Show joins us to review the week -- and what a week it was! We'll want to talk about Clarence Thomas' new book and the reaction it received, the continuing huffery over the deliberate misinterpretation of Rush Limbaugh's remarks and what that means to conservative talkers, the sharp decline in combat deaths for Iraqis and Americans and how the media mostly missed that story, and much much more! Call 646-652-4889 to join the conversation! And don't forget to join our chat room! Did you know that you can listen to Heading Right Radio through your TiVo service? Click here for the instructions. Also, you can subscribe to Heading Right Radio through iTunes now by clicking this link:...
I don't often do this, but I have to highlight this as the comment of the day. Tom W, responding to the inevitable "chickenhawk" ad hominem non-argument in the Code Pink thread, responded thusly: Unfortunately I don't have time to join the military. I support the police, so to be consistent I had to join the LAPD. I also support the fire department, so I became a firefighter, too. Since I drive a car, I had to become a roughneck on an offshore drilling platform, because I can't expect someone to do that dangerous work for me. I also support the building of skyscrapers, incredibly dangerous work, so I had to become an iron worker. Well, I have to go now. Since I eat vegetables, I have to go out and become a crop duster. Yes, but you eat meat, which causes the death of animals. Why aren't you working...
Over the last two days, the question of patriotism has been debated over the blogosphere. It started with Barack Obama's tortured explanation of why he stopped wearing a lapel pin representing the American flag. He told reporters that he took it off because unnamed others had used it to cover unpatriotic behavior and that the flag had become a "substitute for true patriotism," an explanation that annoyed many more people than did the absence of the lapel pin itself. Today on Heading Right Radio, we debated another dimension of the same question. One of our callers, clearly frustrated with some Democratic Congressmen and specifically Robert Byrd, called them "traitors". Duane Patterson and I argued that being wrong does not make someone a traitor or unpatriotic. It goes to intent, as both of us argued. If one honestly believes in a set of policies, even if wrong, it does not make...
October 6, 2007
Pervez Musharraf took another giant step towards his transformation from a military dictator to a civilian leader today. He won his election to the presidency with little trouble from his rivals, but he has to await a ruling eleven days from now by the Supreme Court to determine whether he can take office: Pakistan's military ruler Pervez Musharraf won a landslide victory in a controversial presidential election Saturday but the Supreme Court might yet snatch another five-year term away from him. Musharraf, a key US ally who seized power in the world's only nuclear-armed Islamic country in a 1999 coup, swept to an easy win over token rivals in the vote by national and provincial parliaments. But the embattled general must now await a decision by the Supreme Court, which said Friday that the winner cannot be officially declared until at least October 17 while it hears legal challenges. It...
Last month's strike by Israel on a Syrian facility didn't just resemble their strike on Osirak in 1981 in the nuclear sense. According to ABC News, the American response also struck a familiar chord, with the Bush administration attempting to hold Israel back from its strike -- and offering some very weak tea as an alternative (via Power Line): The September Israeli airstrike on a suspected nuclear site in Syria had been in the works for months, ABC News has learned, and was delayed only at the strong urging of the United States. In early July the Israelis presented the United States with satellite imagery that they said showed a nuclear facility in Syria. They had additional evidence that they said showed that some of the technology was supplied by North Korea. One U.S. official told ABC's Martha Raddatz the material was "jaw dropping" because it raised questions as to...
The Democrats have come up with yet another challenger to John Kline for Minnesota's Second Congressional District -- my district. The Hill reports that an Iraq war veteran will file campaign paperwork to run against Kline in the general election as a Democrat, and that the former Watertown mayor sees himself as a vanguard in the effort to make Minnesota go completely blue: Iraq war veteran and former Watertown Mayor Steve Sarvi just began his campaign against Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.) on Thursday, but he’s already talking about not only his own victory in 13 months, but three others for the state’s Democrats as well. “We’re talking about the whole state turning blue,” Sarvi said. “It’s going to be an exciting time.” ... Sarvi, who calls himself a fiscal conservative and social centrist, believes he can take a bite out of Kline’s base. He emphasizes that he’s not running as...
Moqtada al-Sadr has signed an agreement with his Shi'ite rivals in southern Iraq to end all hostilities between them. The Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, which recently signed a peace agreement with the central government and the Kurds, has now managed to put Sadr into its coalition, ending years of conflict between the Mahdi Army and the Badr Brigades: Two of Iraq's most influential Shia leaders have signed a deal to try to end violence between their groups. Radical cleric Moqtada Sadr and Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, head of the Supreme Islamic Council of Iraq, have been locked in a bitter dispute for months. The leaders have agreed to try to end further bloodshed, foster a spirit of good will and form joint committees throughout the country. The SIIC stated that the various factions of Iraq had to find ways to come together to "enhance and preserve Iraqi unity." Sadr's spokesman said...
The Washington Post has an article which reminds us that history continues to reveal itself even after we think the story has been told in its entirety, especially in small but intriguing ways. The veterans of PO Box 1142, a highly secret operation which interrogated high-value Nazi detainees, have just begun to speak about their experiences after honoring their commitment to silence for six decades (via Memeorandum): The veterans of P.O. Box 1142, a top-secret installation in Fairfax County that went only by its postal code name, were brought back to Fort Hunt by park rangers who are piecing together a portrait of what happened there during the war. Nearly 4,000 prisoners of war, most of them German scientists and submariners, were brought in for questioning for days, even weeks, before their presence was reported to the Red Cross, a process that did not comply with the Geneva Conventions. Many...
The Northern Alliance Radio Network will be on the air today, with our six-hour-long broadcast schedule starting at 11 am CT. The first two hours features Power Line's John Hinderaker and Chad and Brian from Fraters Libertas. Mitch and I hit the airwaves for the second shift from 1-3 pm CT, and King Banaian and Michael Broadkorb have The Final Word from 3-5. If you're in the Twin Cities, you can hear us on AM 1280 The Patriot, or on the station's Internet stream if you're outside of the broadcast area. Today, Mitch and I will talk about Clarence Thomas' new memoirs, John Kline's challenger, and much more. Be sure to call 651-289-4488 to join the conversation!...
October 7, 2007
After Notre Dame's longest exhibition season ever, the Fighting Irish finally started their regular season with a win over the UCLA Bruins, 20-6, at the Rose Bowl. Coach Charlie Weis remarked how well his team prepared through their extended preseason engagements, pronouncing it one of the most successful decisions he's made since taking the helm at Notre Dame three years ago. Well, that's not exactly the truth, but at least Notre Dame finally won -- in their sixth regular season game. It wasn't exactly a dominating performance, but it still counts as a W: Maybe this will stop the laughing. Jimmy Clausen scored on a quarterback sneak and Maurice Crum returned a fumble 34 yards for another touchdown during a 50-second span of the third quarter as Notre Dame fought its way out of one of the worst slumps in school history with a 20-6 victory over UCLA on Saturday....
Fred Thompson's entry into the race just a month ago has already made a big impact in the key battleground state of Iowa. While Mitt Romney and his excellent organization has managed to maintain the lead among likely caucus-goers at 29%, Thompson has moved into second place with 18%, significantly ahead of Rudy Giuliani and Mike Huckabee (via Memeorandum): Mitt Romney still leads in Iowa but Fred Thompson, a relative newcomer to the presidential race, has emerged as his nearest competitor in a new Des Moines Register poll of likely Republican caucus participants. Mike Huckabee and Rudy Giuliani are in a close fight for third place in the Iowa Poll taken over three days last week. ... Thompson, a former Tennessee senator who officially entered the race for the Republican nomination a month ago, grabs second place in the new poll at 18 percent. The poll was conducted while he...
The Democrats have proposed a different approach to FISA reform for its February renewal. The initiative they have floated would remove the requirement for individual warrants for foreign communication passing through American switches by granting a year-long "umbrella warrant". It still leaves telecom providers vulnerable to lawsuits for cooperating with the NSA, a sticking point that will create another heated debate: House Democrats plan to introduce a bill this week that would let a secret court issue one-year "umbrella" warrants to allow the government to intercept e-mails and phone calls of foreign targets and would not require that surveillance of each person be approved individually. The bill is likely to resurrect controversy that erupted this summer when Congress, under White House pressure, rushed through a temporary emergency law that expanded the government's authority to conduct foreign surveillance on U.S. soil without a warrant. The Protect America Act, which expires in...
Islamist extremists in Pakistan see their opening for control of the country slipping away with the new power-sharing deal between Pervez Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto. After the completion of the deal, radical Islamists have threatened to assassinate Bhutto if she returns to Pakistan, afraid of the burgeoning moderate coalition that threatens to further marginalize them: Pakistani Taliban militants vowed to launch suicide bombers against Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister, when she returns home after eight years of self-imposed exile. The path to her return was cleared when General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's president, last week signed into law an amnesty quashing corruption charges against her. The general swept to apparent victory yesterday in a presidential vote by federal and provincial politicians. He is likely to form an alliance with Ms Bhutto as premier after parliamentary polls in January – though his election must first be pronounced valid by the supreme...
I am happy to announce that I will appear at the Conservative Leadership Conference this week in Reno, Nevada, both as a speaker and as an exhibitor for BlogTalkRadio. The CLC will feature many fine speakers, including BTR's Andrea Shea-King, as well as presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Duncan Hunter. The event is sponsored by the Heritage Foundation, RedState, Citizens United, and more. Over 50 speakers will appear at the convention, and it will make for some great live-blogging opportunities. It starts Thursday, October 11th, and runs through Saturday. I will conduct my normal Friday show, but I will probably have to make other arrangements for my Thursday show as I will be traveling in the morning and speaking in the afternoon. If you have the time free, why not come to Reno and see all of the speakers and exhibitors yourself? If you can't make it out there, be...
October 8, 2007
We seem to have people who still misunderstand the primary system, both in our CapQ community and in the national political movements on the Right. Over the last couple of weeks, we have had grand ultimatums from a couple of factions which have demanded a particular type of nominee, or else the faction leaders claim they will depart the Republican Party. A few commenters have asserted the same ultimatum in the comments on this blog. It shows a lack of understanding not just of the primary process but also in how to build the necessary political coalitions that result in agendas getting addressed. First, primaries serve as a testing mechanism for the various factions that make up the major political parties. Each faction gets a chance to convince a standard-bearer to run for President (as well as Senator, Governor at the state level, and so on). Primary campaigns allow these...
In the wake of the bridge collapse, a local television station polled Minnesotans to see whether they would support a gas tax to generate more money for roads and bridges. Despite the proximity of the collapse -- it had only been a week since the St. Anthony Bridge fell into the Mississippi, killing 13 -- 57% of Minnesotans opposed the tax increase. Two months later, Minnesotans haven't changed their minds: Minnesotans aren't clamoring for action from state leaders in the wake of the Interstate 35W bridge collapse, a new Star Tribune Minnesota Poll has found, supporting neither a gas tax increase nor a new special session to fund bridge repairs. The poll found 50 percent of respondents opposed raising the gas tax, while 46 percent supported it. The gap is within the poll's margin of sampling error -- 4 percentage points, plus or minus. The poll, which surveyed 802 Minnesota...
The Pakistani Army attacked Islamist bases in Waziristan yesterday after one of their checkpoints came under fire. When the dust had settled, 58 combatants had died, and Musharraf may have sent a message about his post-election plans: At least 58 people, including 16 soldiers, have been killed in clashes between Pakistani troops and militants in the North Waziristan region. Security forces struck militant bases after a checkpoint was attacked in the Mir Ali area, the army said. ... Military spokesman Maj Gen Waheed Arshad said: "The operation is over but some clashes are still going on in other areas." Heavy artillery and helicopter gunships were used to attack militants' positions in mountains after the attack on the checkpoint near Mir Ali town. Musharraf has vacillated on pressing the point against the Islamists in the northwest over the last couple of years. Even after his truce fell apart with the tribes...
Israel today offered support for a division of Jerusalem to address the demands of Palestinians, but only in exchange for concessions among Arab states and an end to fighting. A deputy of Ehud Olmert gave this public concession as a means to get Arab states into an American-sponsored peace conference, showing that real progress could be made on peace: A confidant of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Monday that his government would support a division of Jerusalem, which is reportedly a key component of an Israeli-Palestinian declaration to be made at a U.S.-sponsored Mideast peace conference next month. As part of recent negotiations between the sides, Deputy Vice Prime Minister Haim Ramon has proposed turning over many of the Arab neighborhoods of east Jerusalem to the Palestinians. Ramon said the Palestinians could establish the capital of a future state in the sector of the city, which Israel captured from...
The Senate will decide who gets to be a journalist and who doesn't as part of its effort to craft a shield law for reporters. In order to protect journalists against government demands to reveal sources, lawmakers first have to decide who qualifies for that protection. The machinations have created what everyone expects of the necessarily bureaucratic approach taken by Congress -- a real mess. At Heading Right, I thank the Senate for declaring me more of a journalist than reporters of the BBC. I'd rather they recognize my overwhelming genius, but apparently I outrank them merely because the BBC gets its funding from the British government. It demonstrates the problems that arise when government has to start classifying people, and the danger of having the feds determine who qualifies as a journalist. The entire exercise seems a strange effort for government, which has a legitimate interest in securing information,...
We heard from James Carroll five weeks ago, when he attempted to argue that "Marxism has yet to be really tried" as a Labor Day analysis, which emphasized the first two syllables. Today we celebrate Columbus Day, and since it's yet another Monday holiday, Carroll returns yet again to the pages of the Boston Globe to tell us what it means. It involves African slavery, nuclear weapons, and torture, but surprisingly, nothing about Christopher Columbus: IF COLUMBUS is the beginning of the story, and, say, Lincoln is the middle, what is the end? Each episode of the American narrative surfaced a problem, which prompted attempts to resolve it, which led in turn to a new problem. This movement from problem to resolution to new problem and ever new efforts to fix things is what makes the American story great. So Columbus arrived in 1492, but carried the European virus of...
Amir Taheri believes that an assassination in Syria reveals how desperate al-Qaeda has become. His column in today's New York Post reviews the life of the late and unlamented Muhammad Gul Aghasi, who helped channel foreign jihadists into Iraq through Syria until his untimely demise at the hands of unknown assailants ended his distribution business for AQ (via Newsbeat1): UNKNOWN gunmen murdered Muhammad Gul Aghasi - one of the key "theologians" of al Qaeda - at a mosque in northern Syria last month. Candidates for the fiery preacher's killing include rivals within his own radical group, agents of the Americans - and his Syrian hosts. Whatever the truth, this is bad news for the already ailing al Qaeda. Born in 1973, Aghasi, who was of mixed Kurdish-Turkmen ethnic stock, studied Islamic theology in Damascus in the 1990s before traveling to Pakistan, where he established contact with the Taliban and al...
Bill Sammon belatedly discovers that Hillary Clinton has welcomed Sandy Berger to her campaign advisory panel, more than a month after Michael Hirsh at Newsweek mentioned it in passing as part of a profile on the Democratic frontrunner. While the news may not be new, the fact that Hillary continues to associate herself with a man who pled guilty to stealing national-security documents during a bipartisan investigation should continue to generate outrage: Sandy Berger, who stole highly classified terrorism documents from the National Archives, destroyed them and lied to investigators, is now an adviser to presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton. Berger, who was fired from John Kerry’s presidential campaign when the scandal broke in 2004, has assumed a similar role in Clinton’s campaign, even though his security clearance has been suspended until September 2008. This is raising eyebrows even among Clinton’s admirers. “It shows poor judgment and a lack of...
Last week, I scolded the Democrats for sending a 12-year-old to make their argument for S-CHIP expansion rather than making it themselves. This week, it might be the NEA protesting a new indirect voucher program. It turns out that the spokesboy for the Democrats goes to an expensive private school, lives in a 3000-square-foot house, and all of this gets subsidized by federal assistance: 1. Graeme and his sister Gemma attend the Park School, a private school that costs $20,000 per child. 2. Brown wrote that the family lives on $45,000 per year, but icwhatudo notes: "Halsey Frost has owned his own company 'Frostworks' since...1992 so he chooses to not give himself insurance. He also employed his wife as 'bookkeeper and operations management' prior to her recent 2007 hire at the 'medical publishing firm.'" 3. His business is housed in a $160,000 building -- that he owns. 4. The Frost...
Today on Heading Right Radio (2 pm CT), we again speak with our good friend NZ Bear of the Victory Caucus. NZ has come out of the closet -- no, not on sexual orientation, but on anonymity. Rob Neppell has launched Kithbridge, his new and dynamic consulting firm, and he'll join us to talk about his new effort, as well as all of the other insight he always brings to Heading Right Radio. It's great to see Rob taking his passion to the next level -- a subject on which we have some common ground. Also, plan on some S-CHIP conversation. Should be a bit Frosty... Call 646-652-4889 to join the conversation! And don't forget to join our chat room! Did you know that you can listen to Heading Right Radio through your TiVo service? Click here for the instructions. Also, you can subscribe to Heading Right Radio through...
People have jumped all over Barack Obama for his comment, "We're going to keep on praising together. I am confident that we can create a Kingdom right here on Earth." Mark Finklestein wonders, "What if a Republican Called, Like Obama, for God's 'Kingdom on Earth'?" My friend Nick Gillespie complains about "another layer of moralizing goo to the seven-layer bean dip that we've already got when it comes to sanctimonious pols telling everyone how they should live." Andrew Stuttaford links to Nick's other observation that "[e]stablishing the kingdom of heaven on earth always means rendering more to Caesar than what was originally due." Frankly, this is somewhat akin to Obama's flag pin flap -- much ado about nothing. Obama probably worded it a little inartfully, but he used that particular comment in a religious sense, not an explicitly political sense. Earlier, Obama was speaking about the lack of credibility of...
October 9, 2007
In an earlier thread, a debate broke out about whether malpractice awards have increased so rapidly as to contribute to the rise in health care costs. I decided to take the evening to research the topic while I watched an excellent History Channel documentary on Christopher Columbus' last voyage. It turns out that the data isn't that easy to find. I spent quite a while doing Internet searches and coming up with plenty of commentary but little hard data. Finally, I came across the National Practitioner Data Bank, which takes in all reports of malpractice payouts. Since 1991, the government has directed all such payouts to be reported into a database that allows healthcare providers and patients to research physicians, nurses, and other caregiver types to see what actions have been taken against them. They have historical data prior to that year, but it's not comprehensive. It also doesn't list...
The fighting continues in Pakistan's Northwest Province, where radical Islamst extremists have had an easy time of it until the last three months. Over 150 Taliban and al-Qaeda militants have been killed in the last three days of fighting, and Pervez Musharraf appears to have decided to fight with everything he's got: At least 45 Pakistani soldiers and 150 pro-Taleban militants have died in three days of fierce fighting in North Waziristan, the Pakistani army says. It is the heaviest fighting in the Waziristan region, which borders Afghanistan, for many months. ... The three days of fighting is centred around the town of Mir Ali. The BBC's Barbara Plett in Islamabad says that Mir Ali is known as a base for foreign militants with links to the Taleban and al-Qaeda. Musharraf has begun using his air power in Waziristan. The attacks near Mir Ali include helicopter gunships, in a similar...
Hugo Chavez has decided to direct his socialist crusade at some politically correct targets. He wants Venezuelans to emulate his New Man ideal, a socialist revolutionary ascetic, and he's using tax policy to force them to do so. Taxes on art, cars, tobacco, and liquor aim to price sin out of reach for most of his countrymen: President Hugo Chavez is on a moral crusade in Venezuela, preaching against vices from alcohol to cholesterol, vowing to curb whisky imports and ordering beer trucks off the street. His government announced increased taxes on alcohol and tobacco on Monday, and Chavez also plans steep new taxes on luxury items such as fancy cars and artwork. It's all part of Chavez's efforts to encourage Venezuelans to adopt the psyche of the "New Man," a socialist revolutionary with a monk-like purity of purpose. Chavez often cites the life of Cuba's iconic hero Ernesto "Che"...
UPDATE: The WaPo story says that Katz sent this to the White House on 9/7, but the ABC transcript is dated 9/6. Maybe that's why ABC credited "intelligence sources" rather than "senior White House officials" in its report. Apparently, the US already had the tape before SITE offered it to the White House. (Via Hot Air) The leak of Osama bin Laden's video to the news media last month has shut down an important private penetration into al-Qaeda's communication network. SITE, run by an Israeli whose father was murdered by Saddam Hussein, shared the video with American intelligence on a confidential basis. Hours after its release to the public, observers watched as AQ shut down its Obelisk network as the terrorists realized it had been compromised: The founder of the company, the SITE Intelligence Group, says this premature disclosure tipped al-Qaeda to a security breach and destroyed a years-long surveillance...
Fred Thompson finally makes his bones today in the presidential race, participating in his first televised debate. Thompson meets the rest of the Republican candidates in Dearborn, Michigan for the second debate moderated by Chris Matthews, potentially unfriendly territory in both senses of the venue: In an unusual political season that seems to offer up a presidential debate every week or so, the Republican debate tomorrow is expected to offer something new: Fred D. Thompson. Untested in debate against his opponents until now, Mr. Thompson, a late entrant to the race, chose to skip the last contest in favor of announcing his candidacy on “The Tonight Show” early last month — a decision for which he was roundly criticized. Many have been wondering how Mr. Thompson, a former senator from Tennessee, will do. By his own admission he is “a bit rusty” when it comes to debating, and he has...
Democrats appear willing to surrender on FISA legislation again, as noted here Sunday. The New York Times reports today that Senate Democrats have even given way on immunity for telecoms who cooperated on national security programs with the NSA. The result could be a years-long victory for the intelligence community over the civil libertarians: Two months after insisting that they would roll back broad eavesdropping powers won by the Bush administration, Democrats in Congress appear ready to make concessions that could extend some crucial powers given to the National Security Agency. Administration officials say they are confident they will win approval of the broadened authority that they secured temporarily in August as Congress rushed toward recess. Some Democratic officials concede that they may not come up with enough votes to stop approval. ... A Democratic bill to be proposed on Tuesday in the House would maintain for several years the...
The Supreme Court sent a message today about the use of American civil courts to attack war policy, and that message is not The Customer Is Always Right. Khaled el-Masri sued the US for what he claimed was an illegal detention and rendition that cost him five months in an Afghan jail, but the Supreme Court dismissed the case: The US Supreme Court on Tuesday threw out a lawsuit from a Lebanese-born German national who claimed he was tortured after being kidnapped and detained for several months by the CIA. The court did not give any reason for rejecting the case brought by Khaled el-Masri, an unemployed former car salesman and father of six, who says he was abducted by US agents in the Macedonian capital Skopje on December 31, 2003. He was demanding an apology from the Untied States and 75,000 dollars in compensation, alleging he was flown to...
Tim Walberg, the staunch fiscal conservative and freshman Republican Representative from Michigan, writes about the deceitful campaign waged by Democrats on behalf of the S-CHIP expansion. From country music parodies to hiding behind 12-year-old boys, the Democrats want to paint opponents as heartless Scrooges who want to see kids go without health care. Walberg writes about the way S-CHIP gets applied in Michigan, and we find out that it's not just about kids, or even primarily about them: I support renewing S-CHIP to provide health care to children in low-income families, but I also believe we need to ensure that the children’s health program is available for children who need it, and not for adults, people who enter the country illegally, or families who already have private insurance. The Democratic legislation takes a program originally meant for children of low-income families and expands it to cover some families earning up...
Bill Hobbs has followed the legal case of Stoneridge v. Scientific-Atlanta with his usual tenacity. The complex case pits trial lawyers seeking greater compensation for alleged corporate malfeasance towards investors against public companies already reeling from the effects of Sarbanes-Oxley. The Supreme Court will review the case this session, and the result will have a heavy impact on nearly everyone in this investor-heavy environment: The issue in Stoneridge is simple: If a company that is traded on a U.S. exchange violates American securities laws by misreporting in its financial statements a transaction of any kind, may shareholders sue the entity on the other side of that transaction for the damages that the misreporting caused—even when there is no specific reference to the transaction at issue and it is subsumed along with hundreds of thousands of other transactions in the public company’s annual financial statements? ... The issue is NOT: do...
Today on Heading Right Radio (2 pm CT), Ted Frank joins us to talk about the Stoneridge case, which the Supreme Court will hear this session. If you thought Sarbanes-Oxley was burdensome, wait to you see what Stoneridge could mean for American businesses. Also, former Rep. Bill Paxon joins us at the bottom of the hour to handicap today's GOP debate. The Rudy Giuliani advisor tells us what to expect from the frontrunner while all eyes remain on Fred Thompson. Today's show will end at 2:40 pm CT in order to prepare for today's debate. Call 646-652-4889 to join the conversation! And don't forget to join our chat room! Did you know that you can listen to Heading Right Radio through your TiVo service? Click here for the instructions. Also, you can subscribe to Heading Right Radio through iTunes now by clicking this link:...
Know how a baseball game just doesn't feel right without a hot dog? Will, it just isn't a Republican debate without a Heading Right liveblog, either! Be sure to join us as we present live analysis of the GOP Presidential debate in Dearborn, Michigan, starting promptly at 3 pm CT. At 5:30 pm CT, we'll present a post-debate roundtable at Debate Central, so make sure to tune in there as well!...
The first debate with Fred Thompson was expected to reveal whether the lanky actor had what it takes to make a national run for the office. Instead, it revealed Chris Matthews as a hack of the first order, one who tried his best to torpedo Thompson -- and failed utterly. He got so desparate that he demanded to know whether Thompson knew who the Canadian Prime Minister was -- and he did. Matthews grew so frustrated that he openly critiqued one of Thompson's answer for being too detailed, which prompted a scolding from Thompson. That was the game behind the debate, and Thompson stomped Matthews into a laughingstock. In the rest of the debate, Thompson showed that he was comfortable and prepared, even for the silly attacks from other candidates. Mitt Romney went into a long, telegraphed, and obviously gag-written punch about how the debates resemble "Law and Order" and...
October 10, 2007
Does anyone get the idea that Hillary Clinton has decided to toss out entitlements like sugared almonds at a Sicilian wedding as a campaign strategy? Fresh off the laugher "baby bonds" program she endorsed without much thought, she announced a new plan yesterday to boost American savings -- through more government spending. Hillary proposed spending even more money annually to open and fund 401K plans for every American: Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York unveiled the second biggest domestic policy idea of her Democratic presidential campaign today, proposing to spend $20 billion to $25 billion a year to create 401(k)-style retirement accounts for all Americans and provide federal matching money of up to $1,000 to middle-income people. Under the plan, the government would give a dollar-to-dollar match for the first $1,000 saved by Americans who earn up to $60,000 annually. For those who earn $60,000 to $100,000, the government...
I woke up this morning a little late and read through the comments -- and didn't realize that Chris Muir had put up an announcement of a family crisis until I read Rose's comment on another thread. I don't have any news from Chris, and I don't want to bother him while he focuses on his family. I'd just ask you to keep Chris in your prayers, and to leave positive messages in the comments section for support. Chris reads the blog and the threads when he has time, and I know he'll appreciate it to see all of his friends lining up behind him. Also, please pray for Shaun Daily at BlogTalkRadio, one of my colleagues at the network. He took ill this week and had to be hospitalized. He needs to get some rest and heal up, and he could also use your prayers....
Imagine, if you will, that in the middle of World War II, Congress decided to take under consideration the blame for the famine and hundreds of thousands of deaths during the Irish Potato Famine of the 1840s. Would a House Speaker with any sense of sanity allowed a measure to come to the floor which resolved that our key ally in wartime had committed a genocide and should be censured? What kind of fool would even propose that Congress should act as arbiter of history and chief blame-thrower of the world -- and direct that effort at our allies? Meet Nancy Pelosi. The House has taken under consideration a bill that would declare Turkey's guilt in the genocide of the Armenians in 1915 at the very moment we need them for our efforts in the Middle East. Even former Secretaries of State from Democratic administrations wonder what she's smoking: A...
Mitt Romney marred an otherwise fine performance in yesterday's debate by attempting to pick fights with Rudy Giuliani over tax and spending policies in New York City and Massachussetts and the line-item veto. Rudy brushed off the attack and kept focused on Hillary. This morning, Romney tried walking back a bit on the feud on the Today show, in an interview with Matt Lauer: ML: He says that as mayor of New York he lowered taxes, and he says as Governor of Massachussetts, you raised taxes. You say the opposite is true, that you lowered taxes, so only one of you can be right. How do you think that the average voter should sort this out? MR: Well, I don't think the average voter is going to be able to go through the statistics, and frankly, both of us lowered taxes, both of us tried to rein in spending. But...
The Rake, a local alternative newspaper here in the Twin Cities, published an interesting cri de coeur from "one Strib veteran" about the direction of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. The anonymous attribution wears thin in the first line of the quote: As one Strib veteran tells the Mole, "The right-wing blog voices that were bashing the paper a couple of years ago, Hugh Hewitt and the rest, have gotten pretty much everything they wanted. The GOP wanted the Minnesota Poll gone, and now it's gone. They wanted to get rid of people like [editorial board members] Jim Boyd and Susan Albright and their editorial policy, and they've succeeded at that. Now there won't be editorials about the war and global warming; they'll write about local issues like zoning conflicts in Coon Rapids instead. They wanted the paper to hire a conservative columnist, and they got that. From here on out, it...
The New York Times takes a look into the storm of controversy over the Frost family in the S-CHIP debate. David Herszenhorn gives a fairly balanced view of the nine-day wonder that the Frosts became, and settles some of the factual disputes that has plagued the sideshow: There have been moments when the fight between Congressional Democrats and President Bush over the State Children’s Health Insurance Program seemed to devolve into a shouting match about who loves children more. So when Democrats enlisted 12-year-old Graeme Frost, who along with a younger sister relied on the program for treatment of severe brain injuries suffered in a car crash, to give the response to Mr. Bush’s weekly radio address on Sept. 29, Republican opponents quickly accused them of exploiting the boy to score political points. Then, they wasted little time in going after him to score their own. In recent days, Graeme...
Frankly, the announcement at the end of September that the Family Research Council would back the call for an independent presidential candidate surprised me. Tony Perkins and the people at the FRC normally act in a level-headed manner, even when I disagree with their stands. I expected the FRC to pursue its agenda in an energetic and assertive manner but to make a more pragmatic decision for the general election. Today, Perkins seems to have reconsidered the statement from ten days ago, as Jim Geraghty reports: On the Utah meeting: I was at that meeting it’s been misconstrued a little bit. It was not a declaration of intent, it was a declaration of principle that there is a line we will not cross. If the party chooses to break its commitment to creating a culture of life, we’re not going to go in that direction with the party. There’s only...
The Wall Street Journal notes the golden anniversary of that great polemical novel, in Michelle Malkin's words, Atlas Shrugged. Ayn Rand's signature epic on objectivism and the moral compass of unfettered capitalism remains as topical and controversial than ever, and David Kelley explains the fascination: Businessmen are favorite villains in popular media, routinely featured as polluters, crooks and murderers in network TV dramas and first-run movies, not to mention novels. Oil company CEOs are hauled before congressional committees whenever fuel prices rise, to be harangued and publicly shamed for the sin of high profits. Genuine cases of wrongdoing like Enron set off witch hunts that drag in prominent achievers like Frank Quattrone and Martha Stewart. By contrast, the heroes in "Atlas Shrugged" are businessmen -- and women. Rand imbues them with heroic, larger-than-life stature in the Romantic mold, for their courage, integrity and ability to create wealth. They are not...
Today on Heading Right Radio (2 pm CT), Jim Geraghty of National Review Online's Campaign Spot joins me as co-host to talk about last night's Republican presidential debate. We'll also talk with Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post's blog The Fix for his analysis of the debate and the post-debate spin. He lists Hillary Clinton as one of the big winners from the debate -- do you agree with that? Be sure to tune in to hear why he thinks Hillary gained credibility from the GOP's attacks on her. We may also hear from some of the campaigns as well. Don't miss the action ... UPDATE: We will have representatives from the Thompson campaign on at 2:30 and the Romney campaign at 2:40! So far, still waiting to hear from others ... Call 646-652-4889 to join the conversation! And don't forget to join our chat room! Did you know...
It's hard to imagine what Judge Charles R. Breyer had in mind when he issued a ruling that prevents the government from detecting identity fraud, but clearly it wasn't the law or the interests of the American community. The federal judge in Northern California issued an injunction against the issuance of "no-match" letters that inform employers of potential fraudulent employees, halting enforcement of employer sanctions for hiring illegal workers: A federal judge barred the Bush administration today from launching a planned crackdown on U.S. firms that hire illegal immigrants, warning of the plan's potentially "staggering" impact on law-abiding workers and companies. Issuing a firm rebuke of the White House, U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer of San Francisco granted a preliminary injunction against the government's plan to pressure employers to fire up to 8.7 million workers with suspect Social Security numbers starting this fall. ... Breyer said the plaintiffs, an...
October 11, 2007
I'm just running through the blogs before I head to the airport this morning, and my partner Mitch noticed something amiss at the University of Minnesota. The U recently adopted the policy that they would not allow their sports teams to compete against schools that used Native American references for team names or mascots, part of the political-correctness movement in Academia that continues to aim at the most pointless targets in the US. The U has followed dutifully along, to no one's great surprise. However, one has to wonder about the priorities of the administration when reading this: A University of Minnesota policy discouraging the school's athletic teams from competing against the University of North Dakota in any sport except hockey will stand. The school's Advisory Committee on Athletics said in February that it would reconsider the policy, which was prompted by UND's Fighting Sioux nickname. Committee chairman Douglas Hartmann...
When the Democrats took the majority this year, they swore to set a new tone of hard work in Congress by demanding a five-day work week while in session. This would allow both chambers to get more accomplished and impress upon everyone the responsible nature and work ethic of the Democrats. Nine months later, while overdue appropriation bills still have not seen the House floor and the 110th Congress acquiring a do-nothing appelation, Democrats have begun to rebel against the schedule: Rank-and-file members of Congress are grumbling about the five-day workweek instituted this year by House Democratic leaders, complaining that it leaves little time for campaigning and allows few weekdays to deal with business back home. “We have a long list of meetings that can’t be scheduled because I’m never back in the district,” said freshman Rep. Jason Altmire (D-Pa.). “Part of it is related to the campaign, and part...
For some reason, I received a glut of books this week, which I hope to be able to read while traveling. I'm adding them to the Bookshelf all at once, and hope to read through them in transit to and from the Conservative Leadership Conference. I'll probably focus first on Dinesh D'Souza's book, What's So Great About Christianity?, on the plane trips into and out of Reno. It comes out Monday, and it will no doubt generate controversy, as Dinesh D'Souza often does. Since I spend an inordinate amount of time in silent but fervent prayer on airplanes -- especially my last trip -- at least this goes with my thought process. Don't forget that you can shop through the Captain's Quarters Bookshelf and the Search widgets for Amazon for any product at all, and a small percentage of the sale drops into my tip jar. Thanks in advance for...
Later today, I will appear at the Conservative Leadership Conference in Reno, Nevada, both as a speaker and as an exhibitor for BlogTalkRadio. The CLC will feature many fine speakers, including BTR's Andrea Shea-King, as well as presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Duncan Hunter. The event is sponsored by the Heritage Foundation, RedState, Citizens United, and more. Over 50 speakers will appear at the convention, and it will make for some great live-blogging opportunities. In the morning, I will be traveling, and I give a talk just as soon as I hit the hotel. After that I'll put together the BlogTalkRadio exhibit, and once that's complete, I should be ready to start blogging again. I'll try to conduct a Heading Right Radio show if I can at that point, but we'll have to see how things are going at that point. Keep an eye on the blog for further updates....
I've had an interesting day of travel to Reno. My first plane had an O-ring failure in the hydraulic system, so we all had to shuffle over to another plane -- and then that turned into another headache, as US Airways fretted over how to make our connecting flights. They took us off the plane and sent us back on, and then they cancelled our bookings for the connecting flight to Reno, which forced us to rebook our seats. I did finally arrive in time for my panel assignment, which consisted primarily of defending the blogosphere model for Internet radio. One of the men on the panel, Brian Wilson of Clear Channel Communications, dismissed the notion of citizen broadcasters out of hand, saying that it takes training and experience to turn out a quality broadcast. He expanded that argument to the blogosphere, and while he said kind things about this...
October 12, 2007
It's been a long and terrific day getting to the Conservative Leadership Conference, but tomorrow looks even more eventful. I'll be setting up the BlogTalkRadio exhibit booth to demonstrate the ease of the BTR experience, and I'm hoping to win some converts. I'll also be checking in on the speakers, and they have a raft of them on the agenda. Highlights include: 8:15 am PT: Dick Armey 11:30 - John Fund on "Why Reagan Would Tell Conservatives To Be Of Good Cheer" 12:30 - Mitt Romney That last one might prove a tough call for me. I'm scheduled to do my Week In Review show with Duane Patterson at noon PT, but I'd like to hear Romney speak. I may work some magic on the timing for tomorrow's show, so be on the lookout for any time changes. I want people around when I do the show as well, and...
Former Vice President Al Gore how has a Nobel Peace Prize to go along with his Oscar for his efforts to advance the cause of global warming by misstating data and frankly lying about its effects. At least that's the conclusion of a British court that had to rule on whether schools in the UK could use Gore's documentary as a teaching tool: The judge said that, for instance, Gore's script implies that Greenland or West Antarctica might melt in the near future, creating a sea level rise of up to 20 feet that would cause devastation from San Francisco to the Netherlands to Bangladesh. The judge called this "distinctly alarmist" and said the consensus view is that, if indeed Greenland melted, it would release this amount of water, "but only after, and over, millennia." Burton also said Gore contends that inhabitants of low-lying Pacific atolls have had to evacuate...
Eli Lake at the New York Sun follows up today on the exposure of private efforts to penetrate al-Qaeda's global Internet network. An independent analytical group that has focused on AQ operations now says that the damage was not as bad as first thought: One of the world's foremost authorities on Al Qaeda says that last month's compromise of the intelligence community's penetration of the terrorist group's Internet communication system was a serious blow, but that, ultimately, the damage was not fatal. The head of the International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University, Rohan Gunaratna, said in an interview yesterday that the damage done on September 7, when ABC News published online quotes from a transcript of Osama bin Laden's first speech in three years, was "reparable." But he also called it a "serious breach." "This has happened from time to time," Mr. Gunaratna...
I just concluded an interview with DHS Deputy Press Secretary Laura Keehner on the status of no-match regulation enforcement after a federal judge slapped a temporary restraining order on DHS and the Social Security Administration to block the letters. Unfortunately, my recording equipment took a nose dive and the audio did not record properly. Instead of podcasting inaudible noise, I'll recap the conversation. Ms. Keehner took great pains to point out a couple of erroneous suppositions in the ruling. Foremost, the notion that no-match letters exert an undue burden on small businesses is nonsense. The regulation exempts businesses that employ less than 10 people, so mom & pop stores don't have to worry about it at all. No-match letters require employers to verify the proper name or SSN of the flagged employees within 90 days. Even if one just looks at work days, that means sometime in 65 separate arrivals...
Former Representative Dick Armey addresses the Conservative Leadership Conference in the first event of the day. It's 8:15 in the morning here, and there isn't much of an audience for the opener. The auditorium is about one-quarter full, but people continue to stroll into the room. 8:19 PT - Armey starts off by praising Nevada as a "pretty little ol' state. It would make a fine county back in Texas ... but only western Texas." 8:20 - "I believe in individual liberty," and from that free-market economics flow. This is a key point, but he isn't choosing to follow up on that theme at the moment. 8:21 - "Politics is juvenile delinquency," focusing on short-term goals rather than long-term benefits. Armey notes that heroes always focus on policy criteria while fools and scoundrels focus on politics. 8:24 - People in public office do not naturally serve the electorate, but naturally...
One of the big success stories of the surge came from the disaffection between the Sunnis in western Iraq and the foreign terrorists of al-Qaeda in Iraq. The Anbar Awakening started as a tribal alliance against AQI and blossomed into a widespread movement to bring the Sunnis stability and engagement with the rest of the nation. Now it looks like the Shi'ites have tired of their sectarian militia headed by the onetime kingmaker, Moqtada al-Sadr: In a number of Shiite neighborhoods across Baghdad, residents are beginning to turn away from the Mahdi Army, the Shiite militia they once saw as their only protector against Sunni militants. Now they resent it as a band of street thugs without ideology. The hardening Shiite feeling in Baghdad opens an opportunity for the American military, which has long struggled against the Mahdi Army, as American commanders rely increasingly on tribes and local leaders in...
I discovered that Romney will actually deliver two speeches here at the Nugget in Reno today. This first event appears to be sponsored by the Romney campaign, as the room is covered in Romney posters. The media has arrived in force, although they are complaining about being stuck in the back while seats remain open in the rest of the room. I've detached from the booth and set myself up fairly close to the action. I'll live-blog this speech in case we get squeezed for time on his other appearance. Keep checking back on this post ... 10:37 - Looks like we're getting underway. This is sponsored by the Republican Women's Association of Nevada. which is holding their own conference here this week. 10:40 - Women manage a large part of his life, he says to laughter, and not just his wife. He had more women in senior policy positions...
Today on Heading Right Radio (Note special time: 3 pm CT), Duane "Generalissimo" Patterson of the Hugh Hewitt Show joins us to review the week and the CLC. We'll be talking about Mitt Romney's speech to the conference, and we'll meet Jodi Bridges of the Sam Adams Alliance, who will explain her group's mission and also give me a free bobblehead of Adams. We'll also talk about the week in politics. UPDATE & BUMP: We'll also speak with Horace Cooper, the senior fellow at the American Civil Rights Union, to speak about his group's mission on civil liberties. Horace will be speaking tomorrow at the CLC on issues facing us in the 2008 election. UPDATE II: Thanks to Jazz in the comments for noting that I had the wrong URL for the ACRU. I had it confused with the booth across from mine in the exhibit hall, and I...
Now that the Democrats have decided to give up on forcing a surrender in Iraq, more stories about progress in Iraq have started hitting the wires. The AP focuses on another Sunni tribal chief who has decided to throw in his lot with the Americans, and the area of Youssifiyah has put violence aside: Thirteen members of Sheik Faisal Chilab's family were slain by militants. The U.S. military arrested him twice. Three of his four sons also were detained. So the sheik struck a deal with the U.S. military. The Sunni clan chief would bring 500 tribesmen to help battle al-Qaida in Iraq and Shiite militiamen in their part of a former shooting gallery dubbed the "triangle of death" south of Baghdad. In return, the Pentagon put them on a monthly payroll that's almost on par with what the Iraqi government pays entry-level policemen and army soldiers. Their alliance —...
I just finished my second panel appearance here at the Conservative Leadership Conference, which focused on looking into crystal balls for the 2008 presidential race. It was moderated by Jason Wright, author of The Wednesday Letters, who was very entertaining and engaging. The questions were very intriguing, and I think produced some interesting and surprising answers. Instead of recapping it here, however, I'm going to simply podcast it. Bear in mind that this is almost an hour long, and it's recorded from my handheld digital recorder from the dais. It's a little echo-chamberish, but still pretty clear, considering. Tonight, Alan Keyes will address the gathering during dinner. I may have another post coming up on that....
October 13, 2007
As I mentioned in my previous post, the dinner for the CLC tonight featured a speech by recent presidential aspirant Dr. Alan Keyes. Keyes has operated on the fringes of the Republican Party for years, although he took on Barack Obama in 2004 as the party's nominee in an ill-considered and mostly embarrassing carpetbagging run for the Senate in Illinois. Just a few weeks ago he declared his candidacy for the GOP nomination, but has garnered little interest, and was not invited to the Dearborn presidential debate this week. I have never heard Keyes speak in person, although I have heard him on many television appearances, usually in shoutfests on cable news. Until tonight, I have never experienced the powerful oratory of a man who may well be the modern master of the form. Watching Keyes dominate the stage and thunder, whisper, muse, and cajole his message to the CLC's...
It seems that half of the message retired General Richard Sanchez intended to deliver missed the cut at most newsrooms, and with most bloggers. Typical among the reports of his blistering oration is the front-page treatment given by the Washington Post's Josh White, the entire first half of Snachez' speech -- found in its entirety here -- gets reduced to a single paragraph at the end of the story. Why? Well, it turns out that Sanchez considered his first target the media itself, which he blames for a large part of the problems he sees in Iraq (via Power Line, reformatted by me to normal case): Almost invariably, my perception is that the sensationalistic value of these assessments is what provided the edge that you seek for self agrandizement [sic] or to advance your individual quest for getting on the front page with your stories! As I understand it, your...
The US will award the Medal of Honor to Lt. Michael P. Murphy posthumously for his courage and determination to save the lives of his team at the expense of his own. The announcement, made Thursday, makes Murphy the first sailor to be so honored since the Vietnam War and the first recipient for action in Afghanistan. Murphy's story reveals much about how America fights the war on terror, and it demonstrates once again the courage and honor in one of America's finest and most elite fighting units: Two years after his death in Afghanistan, Lt. Michael P. Murphy, who grew up in Patchogue and joined the elite Navy SEALs after college, has been awarded the nation's highest battlefield award, the Medal of Honor, for a valiant attempt to save the lives of comrades that cost him his own. "This tells the country what we already know about Michael --...
We have an interesting set of speakers for today's Conservative Leadership Conference. It features a presidential candidate, tax activists, porkbusters, and that just gets us through lunch. The straw poll taking place here will finish today, and that should be interesting. There are a lot of Ron Paul supporters here, but a high degree of disappointment that he didn't bother to show here while Mitt Romney and Duncan Hunter did. I'm going to predict a narrow Mitt win; he generated some very positive buzz here yesterday. Here's what I'll be watching today: 8: 00 am PT - Grover Norquist 8:30 - Duncan Hunter 9:00 - Panel on the Unfairness of the Fairness Doctrine 10:00 - Issues '08: What Wins, What Loses 12:30 - Rep. John Shadegg 2:45 - J.D. Hayworth 4:30 - David Keene, ACU I will have to tend the exhibit booth during some of these presentations, but I'll...
Grover Norquist has just started speaking on tax policy. The issue, Norquist says, is that tax payers want to mostly be left alone. Home schoolers want to be left alone -- they don't insist that everyone home school, but they want to make their own individual choices. Hunters want to be left alone -- they don't want to force schools to teach from a book called Heather Has Two Hunters. Most importantly, people want to be left alone in their faith. The "Leave Us Alone" coalition, Norquist says, hearkens back to the Reagan Revolution. It springs from we used to call Western conservatism -- a small-L libertarian, center-right movement that wanted to let people live their private lives and shrink the role of the federal government. It opposes the Left, which wants to extract more and more resources from individuals in order to create a larger and larger federal government...
Congressman and Presidential candidate Duncan Hunter addresses the CLC this morning. The first order of business is endorsing his son for his seat in Congress. Duncan Hunter Jr is currently serving in Afghanistan as a Marine, called back to active duty, and his father has been campaigning almost as hard for his son as he has for himself here at the CLC. Hunter talks about the "arsenal of democracy," which he can see when he flies in and out of San Diego, and reminds us that Americans make things. The retreat of the manufacturing sector puts American security at risk. He tells the story of how the Swiss cut off production of a critical component of our smart bombs because of our policy in Iraq, and we had to scramble to find a replacement. Had we retained that capability in the US, it never would have been a problem. The...
John Shadegg addresses the CLC after an introduction by Rep. Dean Heller (R-NV), who sat on yesterday's 2008 prognostication panel with me. Heller calls Shadegg a "true exception" to the stereotype of politicians who lose their way once they get to Washington. I met with Rep. Shadegg earlier this morning, and I found him very approachable, humble, and gracious, so that description seems particularly apt. Shadegg starts off by returning the compliment, asking the audience to keep sending Congress more Dean Hellers. He says we need more Western conservatives, more independent thinkers. He also complimented the CLC organizers for sticking to their guns and holding the conference this far outside of DC. Republicans win when they run as the party of ideas. Two basic concepts of government are in conflict. One believes that people are not bright enough to make their own decisions, take responsibility for their own lives, and...
Former Representative JD Hayworth speaks on behalf of Citizens United, speaking on immigration, and it's kind of an inside-baseball moment. Hayworth had been criticized in the pages of the Wall Street Journal by Richard Nadler and called an "immigration loser". Hayworth responded last week in a letter to the Journal, and Nadler responded in a letter printed just this morning. Nadler is also here at the CLC -- and he's taking bows while Hayworth talks about the exchange. Hayworth remains unbowed in defeat. He thundered at Nadler that he feels that some things are more important than winning, and the national security of America is foremost among them. Hayworth at least got Nadler to quit bowing, noting that he seemed "starved for attention". He noted that George Bush and Bill Clinton lost Congressional elections, and told Nadler that he wasn't going away. Compassion, Hayworth says, has little to do with...
Fred Barnes gives Rudy Giuliani a warning and some free advice in the next edition of the Weekly Standard. The warning covers familiar ground -- his pro-choice position in a pro-life party. While some see it as a demonstration of party strength, others see it as a general-election nightmare, including Barnes: That's where the social conservatives come in. If Giuliani is the Republican nominee--and he's the frontrunner at the moment--a pro-life candidate is bound to run on a third party ticket. Richard Land, a prominent Southern Baptist leader, says the pro-life presidential effort would be "significant." The question is how significant. In 2000, Ralph Nader won only 2.74 percent of the vote nationally, but he got enough votes in Florida to keep Al Gore from taking the state and becoming president. Of course this assumes most Nader voters would have voted for Gore over George W. Bush had Nader not...
October 14, 2007
I received an e-mail from our friend Chris Muir this morning that his sister passed away yesterday. Please continue your prayers and good thoughts for Chris and his family, who will be struggling with this tragic loss. Day By Day will return, but in the meantime, he and his family need time to themselves.
Last night, the Conservative Leadership Conference concluded with an awards banquet and yet another two excellent speakers from whom we had not heard before. The CLC created two awards for their first conference to honor those who work to advance conservative principles, named after former Reagan aide Lyn Nofziger and conservative titan Senator Barry Goldwater. Introducing the first was former Ambassador Jerry Carmen, who worked closely with Nofziger in and out of the White House. Carmen told some wonderful stories about Nofziger, how dedicated he was to Reagan, and how he always followed his own star on politics. Nofziger criticized the Reagan administration in which he served on more than one occasion, but he did so to remind people of the principles that got them into office. Former Senator Paul Laxalt gave a touching tribute on video. The CLC awarded the Nofziger to Rich Galen, former director of GOPAC and...
The Washington Post's editorial board noticed something over the last few weeks that many of us have pointed out all along. They discover that General David Petraeus told the truth about the improving situation in Iraq. They have also found out that hardly any news agency seems interested in reporting it: NEWS COVERAGE and debate about Iraq during the past couple of weeks have centered on the alleged abuses of private security firms like Blackwater USA. Getting such firms into a legal regime is vital, as we've said. But meanwhile, some seemingly important facts about the main subject of discussion last month -- whether there has been a decrease in violence in Iraq -- have gotten relatively little attention. A congressional study and several news stories in September questioned reports by the U.S. military that casualties were down. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), challenging the testimony of Gen. David H....
When I first agreed to attend the CLC, I thought about how long it had been since I'd been in a Nevada casino. The last time was on my honeymoon in Lake Tahoe, almost 14 years ago, so I wondered whether I'd bother to gamble at all. I finally got a roll of quarters -- and discovered that most machines have no coin slots any more, instead using casino cards for gambling. I finally found one of the few that still accepts coins, and turned the $10 into $33. Since I'm suddenly flush, I decided to treat myself to a buffet breakfast. In some ways, the CLC has been the same kind of surprise. A first-time event usually suffers from a thin level of organizational skills and a dearth of interesting speakers. The CLC avoided both of these pitfalls, and in fact put on a very strong schedule of events....
George Will takes a look at the requirements for today's students of social work -- and discovers a political commissariat worthy of the Soviet Union. Universities have required pledges of loyalty to liberal political thought as a requisite for success in their social-work programs, failing students who object to being told what to think (via CapQ reader Sandeep Dath): In 1997, the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) adopted a surreptitious political agenda in the form of a new code of ethics, enjoining social workers to advocate for social justice "from local to global levels." A widely used textbook -- "Direct Social Work Practice: Theory and Skill" -- declares that promoting "social and economic justice" is especially imperative as a response to "the conservative trends of the past three decades." Clearly, in the social work profession's catechism, whatever social and economic justice are, they are the opposite of conservatism. The...
For people who had hoped that oral sex and politics would see their last connection in the previous decade, a candidate for the Hialeah (Florida) city council wants to bring back an old favorite. Jose "Pepe" Caragol's campaign tried out a new campaign slogan that has some residents wondering exactly what Pepe's conception of the job might be (via Memeorandum): Live in Hialeah? Like oral sex? Then one Hialeah City Council candidate thinks he's the one who deserves your vote. As election season intensifies in the City of Progress, incumbent Jose ''Pepe'' Caragol, known for dishing out rhyming one-liners at city events, is catching criticism for a slogan he has been pitching on Spanish television. "Si te gusta el sexo oral, vote por Caragol por consejal,'' Caragol said on a March 14 taping of the America Te-Ve show Seguro Que Yes! and in subsequent radio and television appearances. The phrase,...
Apropos of nothing at all .... When I lived in Southern California and traveled through LAX, I'd usually see a celebrity of one sort or another on every pass through the airport. Living in Minneapolis and traveling mostly to DC or Orange County, though, I haven't seen any that I recall. So I was a little surprised to see Steve Tyler of Aerosmith coming through the security checkpoint with me here in Reno. It took me a couple of moments to be sure of it, but it's pretty difficult to confuse him with anyone else. Many of the women in the terminal were also pleasantly surprised to see him as well. They called out greetings to him, ignoring the woman with whom he was traveling. After a few minutes of that, I can imagine it gets old for both Tyler and his companion. He's still somewhere in my terminal as...
October 15, 2007
After my last trip to DC, I thought that I couldn't have a bumpier flight, but the trip from Vegas last night proved me wrong. Thanks to tough weather and some delays, I didn't make it home until almost 1 am this morning, so I'll be off to a slow start. Later today, we have the interview with John McCain on Heading Right Radio, and I will be blogging as normal, with just a later start. Be sure also to read Andrea Shea-King's report on Mark Sanford's speech at the CLC, too....
Condoleezza Rice told reporters this morning that the time has arrived for a Palestinian state. She defended the launch of the latest American-sponsored peace conference by asserting that the administration had "better things to do than invite people to Annapolis for a photo op," and that the conference could make real progress towards resolving the decades-long standoff: Secretary of State Condoleezza said Monday it was "time for the establishment of a Palestinian state," and described Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts as the most serious in years. An international peace conference expected to take place in Annapolis, Md., in November has to be substantive, Rice said at a news conference with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. "We frankly have better things to do than invite people to Annapolis for a photo op," she said. Israelis and Palestinians, Rice added, are making their "most serious effort" in years to resolve the conflict. "Frankly, it's time...
In a rare case where all sides appear to be displaying some sense, the military has not said that al-Qaeda in Iraq has been defeated, and a media outlet isn't hiding the fact that AQI has suffered a rout. The Washington Post reports on the delicate matter of what to make of the tremendous progress the US has made against the terrorists in western Iraq, and the likelihood that a premature declaration of victory would get used as a propaganda stunt by our enemies: The U.S. military believes it has dealt devastating and perhaps irreversible blows to al-Qaeda in Iraq in recent months, leading some generals to advocate a declaration of victory over the group, which the Bush administration has long described as the most lethal U.S. adversary in Iraq. But as the White House and its military commanders plan the next phase of the war, other officials have cautioned...
The answer should be "none", but thanks to the FISA hiccup earlier this year, the question became very germane indeed. Charles Hurt reports at the New York Post that the restriction on communications through American telecom switches caused a ten-hour delay in NSA tracking for Corporal Alex Jimenez after his capture by terrorists in Iraq. The attorneys had to decide whether they had enough probable cause to wiretap terrorists talking abroad: A search to rescue the men was quickly launched. But it soon ground to a halt as lawyers - obeying strict U.S. laws about surveillance - cobbled together the legal grounds for wiretapping the suspected kidnappers. Starting at 10 a.m. on May 15, according to a timeline provided to Congress by the director of national intelligence, lawyers for the National Security Agency met and determined that special approval from the attorney general would be required first. For an excruciating...
The media does love a good narrative, and they may have one handed to them this fall. After writing off John McCain this summer, and not for altogether unrealistic reasons, the presidential candidate has proven unwilling to disappear. He has retooled his campaign and returned to the feisty and sometimes disquieting habit of speaking his mind on the stump. At Heading Right, I take a look at why Republicans may be giving McCain a second look. He still has plenty on his record to criticize, but as GOP voters have discovered, so do the other front-runners. With social conservatives threatening a revolt over Rudy, Mitt's disavowal of Ronald Reagan hitting YouTube, and Fred's stamina in question, McCain may wind up being the default candidate in the end. We'll talk with Senator McCain on today's Heading Right Radio at 2 pm CT....
I see our good friend Kevin Aylward has once again launched the Weblog Awards, which give everyone an opportunity to find new voices in the blogosphere. Like The Anchoress, I missed the actual launch of the awards, and the nominations close today. Kevin has done an excellent job in setting up the categories and has even switched to Movable Type 4.0 for the contest blog -- which shows a lot of courage as well. Be sure to visit, nominate your favorites in the various categories, and most importantly take some time to try new sites!...
Aaron Klein, author of Schmoozing With Terrorists, met with a suicide-bomber recruit in Jenin to discover what drives volunteers to kill civilians in the name of Allah. Tomorrow, WND plans to publish excerpts from the book's first chapter in which Klein relates his conversation with Ahmed, as well as with Ahmed's recruiter, Abu Ayman, the head of Islamic Jihad in Jenin. Here's a taste of what we can expect in the interview: AHMED: The will to scarify myself for Allah is the first and most major reason. It is true that the Zionists are occupying our lands and that it is our religious duty to fight them, including through suicide attacks. The goal is not the killing of the Jews, but that this is the way to reach Allah. The goal is satisfying Allah and his instructions. No money interests, nothing. No brainwash, no pressure; it is my decision. All...
I just left the great state of Nevada, so the latest polling by the Las Vegas Review-Journal has a special appeal to me. Harry Reid's high-profile leadership of the Democratic Party has impressed the folks back home, but not in the way that Reid would prefer. He now scores lower favorabilty ratings than George Bush, and his negatives go higher than Hillary Clinton's (via Memeorandum): Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's appeal among Nevadans has plunged dramatically in a new Review-Journal poll, which finds him viewed unfavorably by most likely voters in his home state. ... The poll asked 625 likely voters from around the state whether they recognized a politician's name, and if so, if they had a favorable, unfavorable or neutral opinion of that person. The survey carries a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. Reid's favorable rating was 32 percent, compared with 51 percent...
UPDATE: Please note that today's show will start at 1:30 PM CT rather than 2 PM, as Senator McCain's schedule had a late change. I want to bring him live to HRR listeners! Today on Heading Right Radio (1:30 pm CT), Senator John McCain joins us for the first half of the show. We'll talk about the improvement seen in Iraq, the criticisms leveled by retired General Richard Sanchez, as well as his efforts in the presidential race. We'll also take your calls for Senator McCain and work the webchat, too. Don't miss it! Call 646-652-4889 to join the conversation! And don't forget to join our chat room! Did you know that you can listen to Heading Right Radio through your TiVo service? Click here for the instructions. Also, you can subscribe to Heading Right Radio through iTunes now by clicking this link:...
Senator John McCain appeared on Heading Right Radio this afternoon, and as always gave our listeners a good dose of straight talk. He spoke about the pitfalls of his campaign, and how he has learned from the immigration debate that the borders have to be secured before any other decisions can be made about the illegal immigrants already in the country. McCain also felt that the recent criticisms of his fellow candidates on core issues for the party's base may give him an opening to make a case that he is the most reliable conservative in the race. However, his most explosive comments came when I asked him about the criticisms leveled by General Richard Sanchez about the politics, strategy, and reporting of the war in Iraq. Sanchez ripped the administration for strategic blunders, which came as news to Senator McCain, who had spent years making the same criticisms of...
USA Today has polled Americans on the Democratic proposal to extend S-CHIP subsidies to middle-class families -- and the results bode ill for the bill's proponents. A majority of Americans support George Bush's veto, and an even larger majority believes it will undermine private health insurance altogether: A majority of Americans trust Democrats to handle the issue of children's health insurance more than President Bush, but they agree with the president that government aid should not go to middle-income families or those with private insurance, a new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll shows. Three days before the Democratic-controlled House attempts to override Bush's veto of a five-year, $35 billion expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), the poll shows that Americans' opinions on the issue are mixed. Of those polled, 52% said they have more confidence in Democrats to deal with the issue, compared with 32% for Bush. But majorities...
October 16, 2007
The Washington Post has a must-read critique of the Iraq War written by veterans of the mission, similar to one written for the New York Times earlier this year. The twelve former captains of the Army write about their personal experiences and frustrations with force levels and the lack of progress. They make some good points, but the best point comes from the Post itself at the end of the piece: This column was written by 12 former Army captains: Jason Blindauer served in Babil and Baghdad in 2003 and 2005. Elizabeth Bostwick served in Salah Ad Din and An Najaf in 2004. Jeffrey Bouldin served in Al Anbar, Baghdad and Ninevah in 2006. Jason Bugajski served in Diyala in 2004. Anton Kemps served in Babil and Baghdad in 2003 and 2005. Kristy (Luken) McCormick served in Ninevah in 2003. Luis Carlos Montalván served in Anbar, Baghdad and Nineveh in...
According to a book on Hillary Clinton, she personally reviewed transcripts of cell-phone conversations illegally tapped by members of her husband's first presidential campaign in 1992. The Hill notes that the calls took place between members of opposition campaigns, and would have been as illegal then as they are now. It places Hillary in the position of demanding limitations on surveillance of terrorists while having pursued wiretaps on political opponents: In their book about Clinton’s rise to power, Her Way, Don Van Natta Jr., an investigative reporter at The New York Times, and Jeff Gerth, who spent 30 years as an investigative reporter at the paper, wrote: “Hillary’s defense activities ranged from the inspirational to the microscopic to the down and dirty. She received memos about the status of various press inquiries; she vetted senior campaign aides; and she listened to a secretly recorded audiotape of a phone conversation of...
George Bush has turned out to be the master of misunderestimation. Following the 2006 election, Democrats crowed over President Bush's lame-duck status, insisting that they now controlled the agenda on all fronts and that Bush should commence capitulation as quickly as possible to avoid the pain of humiliation. Almost a year later, the Democrats have lost on almost every major issue, and on the one agenda item they won -- a minimum-wage increase -- they won it by attaching to their biggest loss of all, the supplemental for Iraq War spending. Now it looks like they face another fight with Bush, and this time he will likely have the nation on his side: The White House and Congress are heading for what President Bush predicts will be a "fiscal showdown" at a time when the nation's financial health has actually improved for the moment. After years of record-high deficits, both...
The Democratic leadership in Congress has started to work overtime in blocking a Republican attempt to permanently ban taxes on Internet access. According to Congressional Quarterly, they will instead offer a four-year extension in its place, and refusing to consider a more permanent solution: House leaders are using a looming deadline and procedural heavy-handedness to thwart the will of nearly 240 House members who support a permanent ban on Internet-access taxes, some supporters of the ban say. Democratic leaders have scheduled a vote Tuesday on a bill (HR 3678) that would extend for four years the existing ban on taxing Internet access, which is scheduled to expire Nov. 1. Although supporters of making the tax ban permanent almost certainly would have enough votes to amend the bill more to their liking, it is scheduled for consideration under suspension of the rules, a procedure that bars amendments and is usually reserved...
India may pull back from the nuclear deal negotiated two years ago with the Bush administration, a result of party politics. The Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, informed President Bush directly of the "difficulties" that have arisen internally, focusing on sovereignty but also an effort by Indian Communists to keep the nation from becoming too close to the US: A controversial nuclear deal between the United States and India appears close to collapse after the Indian prime minister told President Bush yesterday that "certain difficulties" will prevent India from moving forward on the pact for the foreseeable future. The main obstacle does not involve the specific terms of the agreement but rather India's internal politics, including fears from leftist parties that India is moving too close to the United States, according to officials and experts familiar with the deal. Besieged over the past two months by growing opposition to nuclear...
Jeri Kehn Thompson garnered a lot of attention when her husband officially was a non-candidate for President. Now that Fred Thompson has entered the race, however, the press has mostly dropped the "trophy wife" and "May-December" narratives to focus on the race itself, and Jeri seems happy to see the spotlight dim, in a rare interview at the Joliet Herald News: Q: In your interview last month with the Tennessean, you mentioned your mom and grandmother being hurt by some of the ugly aspects of political life. Was that a reference to the negative press? A: Oh sure, yeah ... I think you do get a little bit used to it, because you understand if folks think that you're a threat -- either they're running, or if you're changing a system that they're not comfortable with you changing the rules with--they're going to go after whatever they think might hurt...
Most bloggers use some sort of RSS feed reader to make their operations more efficient. For almost the entire four years I have been blogging, I have used Sharpreader, which has done a serviceable job in keeping me current with the day's news and blogger views. However, the free feedreader has caused some problems, and does not have all of the flexibility that I would like to see in this utility. After Allahpundit at Hot Air asked for suggestions on the best reader to use, I decided to start looking around at some fresh choices. First I tried just using the embedded RSS functionality of Thunderbird, which I use for my e-mail, but I couldn't get that to work at all, and it seemed to slow its overall functionality somewhat. After that, I installed NewsFox as an extension to Firefox. This actually worked reasonably well, except for two issues. One,...
Earlier today, the port side of the blogosphere erupted in righteous indignation as reports that Air America radio host Randi Rhodes got mugged began to swirl. Many bloggers started blaming a nameless conservative mugger, and then began extending the indictment to the entire conservative movement. It served their prejudices to think that conservative meanies would lay in wait for Rhodes just to keep her from speaking Truth to Power, etc etc etc. The only fly in the ointment? Rhodes never got mugged at all (via Michelle Malkin): Air America radio host Randi Rhodes is temporarily off the air, but claims she was brutally attacked near her Manhattan apartment are bogus, her lawyer and a police source said today. Fellow host Jon Elliott claimed on the liberal radio network that Rhodes had been mugged while walking her dog, Simon, on Sunday night. Elliot, who said Rhodes lost several teeth in the...
Today on Heading Right Radio (2 pm CT), we have two great guests. Grover Norquist from Americans for Tax Reform joins us in the first half to talk about the Leave Us Alone coalition, as he describes them. I met Grover at the CLC-07 conference and he gave a great speech about limited government, and how lowering taxes can force reduction in its reach. He also noted that reduced revenue can act to split apart the liberal coalition by forcing it to fight each other over the scraps. In the second half of the show, our friend Robert Bluey from the Heritage Foundation joins us to discuss his latest column on media coverage of the war, as well as the CLC and Ron Paul's impact on it, and more on tax and spending policies that will erupt in the remainder of this session of Congress. Don't miss it! Call...
The White House held a conference call to talk about the new Wounded Warrior Reform. The VA disability system, they say, is not consumer friendly, which is a large understatement. It no longer reflects the constituency it serves, and hasn't really been updated since World War II. Karl Zinsmeister, Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, spent some time explaining the reform effort to a group of bloggers. We need a new system to meet the new requirements, and they want to do a "complete restructuring" of the VA disability system. They want a new focus on rehab, and they want to make sure that disabled vets can get back into the mainstream of American life. Questions: * How will this curtail bureaucratic nightmare currently in operation? The current system requires vets to navigate both Defense and VA systems in parallel, and it's exhausting. The first step will be to...