March 2008

A must-read from Christopher Hitchens: The punishment visited on Sen. Hillary Clinton for her flagrant, hysterical, repetitive, pathological lying about her visit to Bosnia should be much heavier than it has yet been and should be exacted for much more than just the lying itself. There are two…

Long before the start of the Iraqi offensive against the Mahdi Army and the associated Iranian-backed Special Groups in Basra, pundits had been bending over backwards to claim Muqtada al Sadr is an Iraqi nationalist with no ties to Iran. As Matthew Duss wrote, "the repeated attempts by conservative…

Obama chooses his words very carefully in this exchange with a reporter at a gas station (?) press conference: What I said is I would have a strike force in the region, perhaps in Iraq, perhaps outside of Iraq, so that we could take advantage of--or we could deal with potential problems that might…

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Since 2005, Barack Obama has donated three times as much as Senator Clinton to Democratic superdelegates: The study found that the presidential candidate who gave more money to the superdelegates received their endorsements 82 percent of the time. That's based on a review of elected officials who…

Last week I wrote about the three dozen or so Democratic challengers running on a platform to withdraw all troops from Iraq. Implicitly or explicitly, these candidates are telling the voters that the Democratic leadership in Washington is ineffective (at best) or hypocritical (at worst). That…

Obama's endorsements are piling up, and the cries for Hillary to exit the race are getting louder. But even if you're not a Hillary fan, the claims that she alone is dividing the party seem ludicrous--certainly the Rev. Wright fiasco is as much to blame. Yet Hillary seems to determined to squander…

The liberal blogger who put together this video, a Clinton supporter at the prominent left-wing site MyDD, darkly warned: If we choose Obama as our nominee, we are locked-in to this narrative. There is no going back, no bogus NBC polls to save the day. No Anderson Cooper softball interviews or…

Vladimir Putin will propose an underwater tunnel linking Russia to Alaska--two places no one in the world wants to go--in a meeting with President Bush next week. Tsar Nicholas II initially proposed the tunnel in the early 1900s. One imagines if constructed, hoards of Russians will infiltrate…

Former vice president Al Gore is back in the media spotlight, and the blogosphere is buzzing about what's next for everyone's favorite sore loser. The weekend news was Gore's $300 million campaign "to try to push climate change higher on the nation's political agenda." The Politico reported…

Politico reports: Among the debts reported this month by Hillary Clinton's struggling presidential campaign, the $292,000 in unpaid health insurance premiums for her campaign staff stands out. Al Franken was reported to have the same problem a few weeks back. No wonder Democrats want the government…

From the New York Times: Biography Isn't Enough, by the boss. From TWS Online: McCain's Democratic Realism, by Joseph Loconte. From U.S. News: Hillary Can Win the Popular Vote, by Michael Barone. From Newsweek: How to Win a Knife Fight, by Karl Rove. From the New York Post: Patriot Games, by…

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The fighting in Basra might rightfully be seen as Iraq's critical and long-awaited "Altalena Moment." This refers to an incident in Israel's 1948 War of Independence, shortly after Israel proclaimed its statehood. Newly elected Prime Minister David Ben Gurion declared that all Jewish militia groups…

The Guardian reports: For years now, Nato nations have been committed to reach a minimum defence spending target of 2% of GDP. Yet 20 of them, including Canada, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain, have fallen far short. Among the six that have reached the target, the shares of four…

China seems determined to ascribe the unrest in Tibet to a concerted effort aimed at sabotaging the Beijing Olympics. The world community, meanwhile, has demonstrated that it has little appetite for a boycott. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) clearly prefers "silent diplomacy." None of the…

Democracy Without Borders

Baghdad

The most dangerous time politically for John McCain is between now and Labor Day, when the GOP convention begins. Democrats, including 527-funded outside groups, will attempt to marginalize him on the domestic front. With the collapse in consumer confidence and the ongoing credit crisis, they will…

IN CELEBRATING City Journal editor Sol Stern's school-choice "apostasy" ("Schoolyard Brawl," March 17), Daniel Casse dismisses as "doctrinaire" several pro-choice responses to Stern, suggesting that neither reason nor evidence informs them. It is in fact Stern and Casse, however, who are unwilling…

It was 75 years ago, on March 4, 1933, that Franklin Delano Roosevelt appeared on the steps of the Capitol to take the presidential oath, declaring in his inaugural address that "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself" and promising "direct, vigorous action" to confront the unprecedented…

Defaming FDR

After three decades of visits to Italy, I stumbled upon the perfect small Italian city. It's a wonderfully livable haven which offers the best case for the Italian way of life, as lived in exquisite surroundings--not uncommon in Italy--but with a rare civility and sense of the common good.

Chinglish

American Creation

Albert Meets America

In July 2001, when the International Olympics Committee (IOC) awarded the 2008 summer games to Beijing, the international community began a thought-experiment. Wouldn't holding the games in China give the world's democracies "leverage" over that country's Communist dictatorship? Wouldn't the…

John McCain is one lucky fellow. Of course you can make your own luck, as the saying goes. That's what McCain did with great courage to survive five-and-a-half years at the Hanoi Hilton. And he made his own luck again by advocating a surge of troops in Iraq that later proved to be successful.

The Several Lives of Joseph Conrad

It is a bitter irony that even as we are enlarging our commitment to human equality in many areas, we are turning our backs on it in others. In particular, we may be about to eliminate from our society people with Down syndrome (DS) and other genetically caused disabilities.

The federal government has had difficulty honoring the heroes of Flight 93. Fundraising for the national memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where Flight 93 crashed on 9/11, lags, and the project has yet to break ground. And even simpler honors have so far eluded Congress.

Dumnica, Kosovo

I've been a collector of odd volumes, the builder of a library, a stalwart of secondhand book shops, for as long as I can remember. Among my earliest memories are sitting--patiently, I like to think--on the floors of stores, long since gone, while my father perused the stock. By the time I could…

The really bad news about the debt crisis is that it is sowing the seeds from which will bloom, if that is the right word, hundreds of doctoral dissertations five or so years hence. Economic model builders, unchastened by the fact that their predecessors' models failed to anticipate, indeed,…

This Supreme Court term marks a crossroads for death penalty jurisprudence. For the first time since 1890, the Court is considering the constitutionality of a particular means of execution--the lethal injection cocktail currently used by most states. And it is expected to rule, in a second case, on…

JOHN MCCAIN'S FIRST MAJOR foreign policy speech as the presumed Republican nominee for president, delivered last week in Los Angeles, was widely viewed as an effort to distance himself from President George W. Bush. The Washington Post said his agenda "contrasts sharply" with the "go-it-alone…

From the Obama campaign: With more than 56% of the results tallied from today's 284 Democratic district conventions across Texas, Senator Barack Obama currently is projected to earn a 38-29 pledged delegate win in the Texas caucuses, exactly as projected on the day after the March 4th precinct…

Like Obama, I don't want to suggest I've absorbed all of the facts, but a couple of thoughts. First, it's too soon to tell the outcome. As Roggio pointed out on Friday, "this operation needs to develop before it can be called a success or failure, and that will take weeks or even months." We and…

The Democratic primary drags on, and the debate rages within the commentariat as to what Hillary Clinton should do in the face of overwhelming odds against her success. David Brooks showed up on Meet the Press and described just what Clinton's continued campaign is doing to her party. "Is this what…

Theatre critic-turned-pundit Frank Rich of the New York Times recounts the story of Hillary Clinton's lie regarding Bosnia, asking the question that's been on the lips of all of her fans in the press: Why would so smart a candidate play political Russian roulette with virtually all the bullet…

Jeffrey Lewis flags some interesting testimony from a recent hearing on the Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW). Here's Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England, apparently unaware that the Pentagon was not responsible for the program, or maintaining the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile in…

Hugh Hewitt links a 1995 profile of Obama in the Chicago Reader. It's worth reading in full. He shares his views on black churches and the Christian Right, and he makes clear his preference for "collective action" over individualism. And at the end, after discussing his participation in Minister…

The front page story on Hillary Clinton in today's Journal includes this gem: Heather Arnet, a Clinton supporter who runs a Pittsburgh organization that lobbies for more women on public commissions and corporate boards, recently surveyed the Internet and found more than 50 anti-Hillary Clinton…

MTV's antiwar picture, Stop-Loss, bombed at the box-office, taking in only $1.6 million on its opening day. This comes in spite of near universal fanfare and loads of free-media. A studio exec dismisses the poor showing anyway, saying, "No one wants to see Iraq war movies." That's not quite right.…

Jim Gerghaty of the National Review Online found an interesting tidbit in the magazine's archives: On January 5, [2003] Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's former personal pilot dropped a bombshell that has been ignored by just about every major U.S. news organization: The Venezuelan president,…

A photo in today's New York Post features two men in Basra. Both wear masks that completely cover their faces. One stands with an assault rifle in his hand and what appears to be electrical cord in the other. His comrade-in-arms is hunched over a bucket and what appears to be a rock. The caption:…

Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell spoke yesterday at his alma mater, Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina. The whole speech is worth a read. Perhaps the most entertaining moment comes when McConnell shares his personal email and that of his assistant with the crowd. In…

China's brutal crackdown on Buddhist protesters in its annexed Tibet province has sparked a heated discussion in Europe about whether or not to boycott (at least parts of) the upcoming Beijing Olympics, which are set to begin with a grandiose opening ceremony on August 8. So far, the 27 EU…

LAST THURSDAY, A controversy erupted in the blogosphere. Like most controversies that start in the blogosphere and die there as opposed to gaining a second and more meaningful life in the mainstream media, the entire affair was a tempest in a virtual teapot. But this incident was a particularly…

In response to the ad McCain released this morning (see the Cardinal's take here), Howard Dean puts out this statement: "The American people have been waiting for a president who understands the challenges they face, not another out of touch Bush Republican who promises four more years of the same…

Glenn Reynolds has posted a fresh interview with Michael Yon. I just listened, but Glenn sums it up nicely: (1) It's likely to get worse before it's better; (2) No one seems to doubt Iranian backing for the violence; (3) This isn't about religion, it's about money and power; and (4) Unlike Al Qaeda…

In the first sermon Obama ever heard preached by Jeremiah Wright, the reverend proclaimed that "white folks' greed runs a world in need." In Dreams from My Father, Obama recalls listening to this sermon by Wright entitled "The Audacity of Hope." Obama writes: "And so it went, a meditation on a…

In response to Fitna, the much anticipated short-film released by Geert Wilders earlier this week (which we posted on our site here, although Liveleak has since removed the video after threats were made against members of their staff), UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had this to say: "We must also…

Great catch from Tom Maguire, regarding Barack Obama's appearance on The View. Obama told the girls this: Had the reverend not retired, and had he not acknowledged that what he had said had deeply offended people and were inappropriate and mischaracterized what I believe is the greatness of this…

Will disappointment and anger at the Bush administration do significant damage to John McCain's presidential campaign? Apparently not: "I am so angry at President Bush that I will not vote for Republican John McCain for president this November." In general, about 5 percent of Republicans and more…

The headline on "Political Ticker" grabbed me: Clinton tells Democrats: Don't vote for McCain My first thought was: How much worse can it get for Hillary when her own husband is begging voters not jump ship because they can't stand her? Then I read the story. It was Hillary doing the begging. Oh.…

McCain's first general election spot is on the air. Maybe I'm missing something, but it looks and feels and sounds much more like a primary spot to me. I think McCain's amazing story should be a key part of his general election message. But if that is the opening move -- and I can make good…

The Iraqi military launched Operation Knights' Assault against the Mahdi Army and other Iranian-backed Shia terrorist groups in Basra three days ago, and the media is quick to call the operation a failure. The New York Times has declared the military offensive in Basra has "stalled" just two days…

Obama on Jeremiah Wright: Part of what I hope to do in this campaign and as president is to get us beyond these divisions that distract us from our common challenges and our common opportunities and move the country forward. On going to war in Iraq: What I am opposed to is the attempt by political…

Michael posted this quote last night from a 2003 sermon by Reverend Wright: "Remember it was soldiers of the Third Marine Regiment of Rome who had fun with Jesus, who was mistreated as a prisoner of war, an enemy of the occupying army stationed in Jerusalem to insure the mopping up action of…

The McCain camp held another in their series of calls with bloggers this morning, this one announcing McCain's "Service to America" tour, which will kick off next week. Ed Morrissey has a pretty comprehensive write-up of the call over at Hot Air, but the comments about Gen. McPeak (and indirectly…

From Reason: In Defense of Geert Wilders, by Michael Moynihan. From the New York Times: Tested Over Times, by David Brooks. From the Washington Post: A Rank Falsehood, by Charles Krauthammer. From TWS Online: Evangelicals Like It Hot, by Mark Tooley. From the New York Sun: The Age of Abundance, by…

The headline is for emphasis; what the Democrats are really promising is to end all our efforts in Iraq -- including anti-terror efforts, training of Iraqi security forces, and anything else you can think of: More than three dozen Democratic congressional candidates banded together yesterday to…

McCain reiterated in his foreign policy speech this week the need for a new international organization comprised of the world's democracies--a League of Democracies as McCain calls it. Despite McCain's repeated insistence that this new organization "would not supplant the United Nations," Charles…

The NAACP is now claiming that legislation to ban students from wearing low-riding pants is unconstitutional discrimination. That's right. The Civil War and the 14th amendment have been reduced to vindicating the rights of people to wear low-riding pants, leaving their skivvies exposed to the light…

This Gallup report on Wednesday morning caused a few Democrats to lose their donuts. It found almost one out of three (28%) of Clinton supporters say they would support McCain if Obama were the nominee. Let's call them the Benedict Arnold Caucus. But who are these potential partisan turncoats? Are…

Jay Cost has a smart post about numbers, dynamics, and the humility of predictions: I agree that Clinton is more likely to lose than win. I also do not necessarily disagree with these low estimates. However, I disagree with the way these estimates are occasionally presented. There is sometimes an…

SUPPOSEDLY GLOBAL WARMING IS the wedge issue that will peel evangelicals away from their conservative voting habits and their ostensible preoccupation with sexual mores. So when the president of the conservative-led 16 million member Southern Baptist Convention signed a Global Warming statement,…

WILLING SUSPENSION OF disbelief is an odd phenomenon. It's one thing to put aside common sense for a movie like Transformers--shape-shifting robots have traveled half the universe to duke it out on Earth? Sure, why not. But the key to a great sports movie is the ability to sit in a theater and…

From a sermon delivered on April 13, 2003, titled, "Confusing God and Government." "Remember it was soldiers of the Third Marine Regiment of Rome who had fun with Jesus, who was mistreated as a prisoner of war, an enemy of the occupying army stationed in Jerusalem to insure the mopping up action of…

Obama in an interview today with CNBC: Well, look, there's no doubt that anything I do is going to be premised on what the economic situation is when I take office. I'm going to be sworn in in January, we don't know what the economy's going to look like at that point. And, you know, the thing you…

CNN's Michael Ware on the violence in Basra: This is a window into the future of Iraq after the American withdrawal... What many people suggest is that we're looking at a situation that will be akin to Lebanon in the 1980s, with vicious, well-armed militia proxy wars where all the factions are…

So Mumia is entitled to a new sentencing hearing due to a mistaken jury instruction, but before death penalty opponents start proclaiming his innocence, keep in mind the following: The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Abu-Jamal's conviction should stand, but that he should get a new…

The big exclusive from Think Progress: Yesterday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) gave a foreign policy speech to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council.... These lines are not McCain's own. As TP reader 5th Estate discovered, they were in fact taken largely from a 1996 speech by ret. Rear Adm. Timothy…

The New York Times tackles the hottest trend since carbon offsets: Green jobs are especially good "because they cannot be easily outsourced, say, to Asia," said Van Jones, president of Green for All, an organization based in Oakland, Calif., whose goal is promoting renewable energy and lifting…

Congressman Heath Shuler (D-NC) is claiming that John McCain has been pressing Republicans not to sign onto the discharge petition for his legislation to enhance immigration enforcement. In considering the likelihood that this is true, let's look at the reality of the situation: A discharge…

Congressional Republicans are looking into possible disciplinary measures for Jim McDermott and Jim Thompson, two House Democrats who traveled to Baghdad on the eve of votes in Congress to approve the Iraq War. The third member, David Bonior, has since retired from Congress. Murthanna al Hanooti…

David Axe flags what looks like a a major scoop in the latest issue of Men's Health. Apparently the SEALs allowed a reporter from the magazine to embed with their unit in Anbar last fall. The story: But in November 2006, Chris W.'s SEAL team, sensing an opening, used an al-Qaeda attack on a local…

The New York Times reports on the war between vegans and feminists: This isn't the first time animal rights activists have been accused of sexism. Many vegans have long criticized PETA for using naked celebrities in its advertising campaigns and for staging stunts like naked protests. Isa Chandra…

Remember Gary Kasparov's op-ed in the Journal a few weeks back--the one where he said the "thought of [McCain] in the White House strikes fear into authoritarian leaders everywhere"? Kasparov also made a big deal in that piece of the need to eject Russia from the G-8. He wrote: Russia was finally…

Just to prove that one of us in the right-wing attack machine is jiggy with the kids, let's examine the recent article in the Los Angeles Times regarding the 1994 murder of rapper/drug dealer/sexual abuser/humanitarian Tupac Shakur. In trying to implicate fellow rapper Sean "Puffy" "P. Diddy" Combs…

From TWS Online: Meet the Obama Doctrine, by Dean Barnett. From the Current: The Stakes in Iraq, by Ross Douthat. From U.S. News: Polls Show Obama Damaged by Wright, by Michael Barone. From the New York Times: Equal Alliance, Unequal Roles, by Robert Kaplan. From Forward Movement: Blackwater Fever,…

The simple answer: Iran. As I understand it, a few of days ago U.S. troops started going after elements within Sadr's militia that maintain close ties to Iran. The response was a hail of mortar and rocket fire in Baghdad and Basrah. The attacks killed quite a few people in the Green Zone and…

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Last night came the news that Saddam Hussein's regime paid for a high-profile trip taken by three congressional Democrats to Baghdad in the fall of 2002. The visit, by Democratic Representatives David Bonior, Jim Thompson, and Jim McDermott, was brokered by Muthanna al Hanooti, a Michigan resident…

In travel news today, AP reports: Saddam Hussein's intelligence agency secretly financed a trip to Iraq for three U.S. lawmakers during the run-up to the U.S.-led invasion, federal prosecutors said Wednesday. The three anti-war Democrats made the trip in October 2002, while the Bush administration…

Brian Faughnan's here yesterday deserves some follow up and elaboration. What's most interesting about the "Obama Leaves Red State Democrats Cold" narrative is how it differs from the spin echoing in the halls of Congress. Over the past six months, many Democratic political "pros" (and Obama…

Oliver Stone has made some terrible movies, and it seems like he's making one more -- a biography of George Bush that may be released before the November election. While I only came across the story today, it appears that Stone announced the project in January. And don't worry -- Stone says it…

SAY THIS FOR Barack Obama's big speech: It is still being analyzed this week, and it will be analyzed more in the weeks and months ahead. Senator Obama went beyond the controversy over his former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, and delivered a sweeping address on the recent history of U.S. race…

A COUPLE OF DAYS ago, Spencer Ackerman of the American Prospect published a lengthy article that revealed at long last--drum roll, please--the Obama Doctrine for foreign policy. Ackerman, working with copious cooperation from the Obama brain trust and himself a de facto Obama press agent, labeled…

Marc Ambinder wrote today of Obama's troubles with McPeak and Rev. Wright: The problem with guilt by association arguments is that they tend to render insignificant the degree or quality of the association that allegedly tarnishes one participant. Fair enough. But there comes a point when one looks…

The New York Times ran a lengthy story this past Sunday on Hollywood's latest effort to address the Iraq war, the bomb-to-be Stop Loss. The film stars Ryan Phillippe and deals with the tragic story of khoevemcpw3fwc c cmwpowmsmnedheidndccelalaslepfecnecmeclececwwpe - I'm sorry, I feel asleep at the…

Jonathan Chait has a short piece at TNR on the conservative strategy for dealing with climate change: If you want to know how little sacrifice most Republicans are willing to endure to make a dent in global warming, here is your answer. They're not even willing to take back a special interest…

He said: "Those who claim we should withdraw from Iraq in order to fight Al Qaeda more effectively elsewhere are making a dangerous mistake. Whether they were there before is immaterial, al Qaeda is in Iraq now, as it is in the borderlands between Pakistan and Afghanistan, in Somalia, and in…

In 2007, Barack Obama committed to accepting public financing if he was the Democratic presidential nominee. While the Obama campaign has tried to cloud the issue, this was his response to a 2007 survey by the Midwest Democracy Network: If you are nominated for President in 2008 and your major…

A great profile in the Post: Some time back, McCain posted to her Web site a detailed explanation of her campaign trail makeup regimen, including her approach to maximizing lash "density" by blending two brands of mascara, and her technique for priming lips with concealer before applying Benefit…

If 48 months is a sensible amount of time for a car lease, than why not for a Plan B to win the White House? Currently Hillary Clinton's plan is to win PA, score an upset win in NC, win IN and hope that this late surge, along with more bad press for Obama, causes a huge number of super delegates to…

It's almost starting to seem that way. The group Judicial Watch has sought to force both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to release the records that speak to their activities while in the White House (in Clinton's case) and the Illinois legislature (in Obama's). The only problem? There is no…

Obama's Jewish problem is not "largely fabricated" as Andrew Sullivan claims. (What part isn't fabricated, Andrew?) It also isn't just guilt by association with an anti-Semite policy advisor and a bigot reverend. It has to do with his own proposals--in particular, Obama's willingness to meet with…

The Teacher's Union in Britain is calling for a ban on cell phones in schools. Surely there are good reasons for adopting this proposal--to stop cheating, chatting, and the proliferation of the latest Britney ring-tone. The Union relies on none of these justifications. Instead it says banning cell…

Jason Gluck of the Institute for Peace writes today on an unnoticed milestone in Iraq's effort to establish a 'normal' democratic government: First, Iraqi lawmakers deployed a technique familiar to anyone who lives in a developed democracy: logrolling, the essence of political compromise. Iraqis…

This is unexpected: Despite Sen. Barack Obama's (D-Ill.) promises, many Democratic congressional candidates in conservative districts remain unconvinced that he can redraw the general election map by competing in red states. While Obama is popular among some challengers seeking an edge in contested…

A few years ago, tobacco executives testifying before Congress said they didn't believe cigarettes caused cancer or heart disease. That's how you get around lying under oath--by not believing. Now we have Hillary Clinton saying, "I remember landing under sniper fire." Note that she didn't say, "We…

From TWS Online: The Anti-Churchill, by Nile Gardner. From the Washington Post: Olympic Fallacies, by Anne Applebaum. From Commentary: Anatomy of the Surge, by Peter Feaver. From the Prospect: Myth of a New Cold War, by Stephen Kotkin. From Contentions: Obama's Hollow Doctrine, by Noah Pollak.

Over at the Danger Room, David Axe writes of the British posture in southern Iraq: With no forward bases, no intelligence apparatus in the city of Basra, less nimble equipment and no political will to suffer a single additional casualty in Iraq, the roughly 3,000 Brits remaining in the country can…

It strikes me as a particularly bad idea, as we enter spring, to arm Berkeley students with axes and crowbars, yet that is precisely what the City of Berkeley is doing. In the best case scenario, we can all sit back and watch the Trotskyites take care of the Leninists, the Maoists take care of the…

National Journal takes a weekly poll of Democratic and Republican 'insiders,' to get their views on the question of the week. This week, they ask the Democrats when their nominating fight will be wrapped up. Fewer than 10 percent believe it will take until the convention, with more than 80 percent…

We have been among the many conservatives critical of the White House and its inexplicable aversion to making a fact-based case on Saddam Hussein's support for jihadist terror. But for years now, instead of arguments to that effect, George W. Bush simply repeats his assertion that Iraq is the…

Jake Tapper is reporting that Hillary Clinton is ready to pull the "Tonya Harding Option": It implies that Clinton is so set on ensuring that Obama doesn't get the nomination, not only is she willing to take extra-ruthless steps, but in the end neither she nor Obama win the gold. Sure sounds…

WHEN BRITISH PRIME MINISTER Gordon Brown visits the United States next month he is unlikely to receive as enthusiastic a welcome as his predecessor, Tony Blair. A recent report in London's Sunday Telegraph cast a bleak spotlight on the current state of Anglo-American relations with the stark…

LONG BEFORE American Idol proved big ratings could be gotten with people whose only talent lay in egregious self-delusion, I was keenly aware of the entertainment value of reality TV. I mean real reality: the evening news. How well I remember running into the kitchen--I couldn't have been more than…

How close is Obama's church, and his former Pastor of 20 years, to Minister Farrakhan? Well, just months before Oprah endorsed Obama, the Church saw fit to publish an open letter by Ali Baghdadi, Farrakhan's Middle East adviser, to America's richest woman in advance of her trip to Israel with Elie…

A pilot's gun discharged aboard a passenger plane last weekend. As the Washington Post reports: A gun belonging to the pilot of a US Airways plane discharged as the aircraft was on approach to land in North Carolina over the weekend, the first time a weapon issued under a federal program to arm…

National Journal looks at the candidates' views on gun control: In New Hampshire last November, Obama told a gathering of rural voters that his wife worries about urban handgun violence but realized while driving in Iowa that she might want a gun for protection if she lived in a rural area. Insists…

The Wall Street Journal reports today on another surprising find on Raul Reyes' laptop: a suggestion that Congressman James McGovern (D-MA) may be more closely aligned with the terrorist FARC than with the government of our ally, Colombia: Mr. Jones added that "a fundamental problem is that the…

Bloomberg: Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and his wife Michelle gave $10,772 of the $1.2 million they earned from 2000 through 2004 to charities, or less than 1 percent, according to tax returns for those years released today by his campaign. The couple earned more than $2.6 million…

Howard Dean is running some kind of operation over there. You've got a Democratic primary that's tearing the party apart because he can't get a handle on the superdelegates, you've got two key swing-states disenfranchised by a party that whines endlessly about disenfranchised voters, and now this:…

I can't believe Hillary held out this long: Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, in a wide-ranging interview today with Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reporters and editors, said she would have left her church if her pastor made the sort of inflammatory remarks Sen. Barack Obama's former pastor made. "He would…

Politico reports: Though it's not exactly an accurate representation of McCain's views, Democratic strategists view the "100 years" remark as the linchpin of an effort to turn McCain's national security credentials against him by framing the Vietnam War hero as a warmonger who envisions an American…

From David Brooks's column today: Last week, an important Clinton adviser told Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen (also of Politico) that Clinton had no more than a 10 percent chance of getting the nomination. Now, she's probably down to a 5 percent chance. Five percent. Let's take a look at what she's…

That according to Jane's Country Risk: Mr Le Mière said that the US had fallen down the scale, although it still scored an average of 93 out of 100, partly because of the proliferation of small arms owned by Americans and the threat to the population posed by the flow of drugs from across the…

Click the image to view the slideshow of the Spear Brigade in western Mosul.

From TWS Online: The Blathering Storm, by Dean Barnett. From the New York Times: The Long Defeat, by David Brooks. From the Wall Street Journal: How al Qaeda Will Perish, by Bret Stephens. From the Los Angeles Times: A Race Conversation? by Jonah Goldberg. From the National Post: Perhaps the…

In the wake of comments by Obama adviser Gen. Tony McPeak the other day, Robert Goldberg pulled some quotes out of the McPeak memory hole in a piece for the American Spectator: In a 2003 interview with the Oregonian, McPeak complained of that the "lack of playbook for getting Israelis and…

I'm coming late to the Ferraro/Obama dust-up, but a few thoughts... If it's true that, in her words, "In 1984, if my name were Gerard Ferraro instead of Geraldine Ferraro, I would never have been chosen as the vice president," isn't that a tacit admission that she was unqualified for the job? And…

How can Democrats reduce the bloodshed that's accompanying their protracted nomination fight, and which seems likely to continue all the way to Denver? One idea that's emerged is to have the superdelegates caucus in advance of the convention -- perhaps in June -- to anoint a nominee and a runner…

With no apparent irony, the regional governor of Lenin's hometown is pushing English to better market the city to foreign companies and tourists: Before the fall of the Soviet Union, people would often make pilgrimages to Ulyanovsk, the city about 600 miles east of Moscow that birthed Lenin. These…

THERE IS PERHAPS NO clearer example of why the U.S. intelligence community has such a serious credibility problem than the recently released report on the relationship between Saddam Hussein's Iraq and terrorist groups. Media outlets friendly to the meme that there was no such connection were…

IN HIS MANY MONTHS on the campaign trail, Barack Obama has distinguished himself as the finest orator in recent political memory. With such skills in this area, it's little wonder that Obama and his campaign have put talking on a pedestal. When Obama talks, he does great. Even his detractors can't…

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Michael O'Hanlon at the Brookings Institution today on the men behind the surge (via Think Progress): I want to call them the Lombardis of this war. … And in addition to Fred [Kagan] and Ken [Pollack] who have been two of the most important people. Andy Krepinevich is another important think…

I can't believe what I'm reading. In a rather ordinary and predictable piece, Arianna Huffington has accused John McCain of having only a "tenuous grasp on what is happening in the [Middle East] region." This because he declared that Iran is providing support to al Qaeda in Iraq (and, according to…

Earlier today Joscelyn noted the word games being played over Saddam's connection to terrorist groups, specifically Egyptian Islamic Jihad, which later merged with al Qaeda. In his latest book, Cheney, Steve Hayes recounted one such incidence: In 2002, the vice president had been briefed on fresh…

I haven't read Spencer Ackerman's piece on the Obama doctrine (I'm not a masochist), but Ambinder flags this graph: They envision a doctrine that first ends the politics of fear and then moves beyond a hollow, sloganeering "democracy promotion" agenda in favor of "dignity promotion," to fix the…

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union West Coast local is set to strike: The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) has announced a one-day strike against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, calling for a "No Peace No Work Holiday" to take place May 1. They are calling on the…

If Venezuela's PDVSA is the goose that lays the golden eggs which enable Hugo Chavez to hold on to power, that goose may be on life support: PDVSA is tight with financial information that other companies usually provide. But a study of official announcements, company figures and outside analyses…

In the middle of a long and fascinating piece on his regrets about the Iraq War, former New Yorker writer Jeffrey Goldberg, now with the Atlantic Monthly, discusses the new Institute for Defense Analyses report on Iraq and Terrorism. Unlike, virtually every other reporter, he appears to have read…

In discussing new government research, the New York Times focuses on the role of income inequality on life expectancy while neglecting the still larger gender-based disparity. Perhaps the fact that women live longer doesn't even qualify as news. After all, everyone already knows that men live on…

Forward reports: According to a new survey conducted by the Forward, a disproportionately large share of the Democratic party's super-delegates are Jewish. Many of them have declared their support for Hillary Clinton, accounting for more than 15% of her current backers. The break down: out of 246…

Over the weekend Haaretz reported: Saddam Hussein's intelligence service collected information on dozens of sites in Israel, including airports, other transportation centers, as well as scientific and religious centers that were thought to be potential targets for attacks.... This information…

The Times reports: Public buildings, including job centres, schools and hospitals, are to be encouraged to fly the union jack and other national flags to boost national identity. Ministers will this week announce the lifting of restrictions on flag flying that have been in force since 1924. They…

John Hinderaker at Power Line writes, "…our principal news media outlets have fabricated an alternative reality around the Iraq war by simply misreporting the facts." That's true, especially with regards to Saddam's terror ties. And, as Power Line has noted on a number of occasions, the media has…

Barack Obama and his advisers once again happily step into the tar pit that Bill Clinton laid out for them. Consider the former president's latest remarks given to a group of military veterans in North Carolina: "I think it would be a great thing if we had an election year where you had two people…

Afghanistan has its own American Idol!! In fact, Afghan Star just crowned 19-year-old Rafi Naabzada the winner of its third season, and the whole country is going gah-gah for his hip new sound. Actually, his singing voice resembles the screams of a goat passing a kidney stone, but that didn't stop…

From the New York Times: Let's Not and Say We Did, by the boss. From the Washington Post: Democrats' Obama Dilemma, by Robert Novak. From the Wall Street Journal: The Democrats Super Disaster, by John Yoo. From the Wall Street Journal: After Putin, by Joe Biden. From the Spectator: McPeak on…

In the aftermath of the crackdown in Tibet, Chinese internet bulletin boards have become virtual hate sites. In hundreds of thousands of postings, Han Chinese hurl obscenities against Tibetans, condemn foreign governments for "interfering in China's internal affairs," and accuse the Western media…

Ed Rendell and Bill Richardson showed up on Fox News Sunday yesterday to shill for Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama respectively. The Pennsylvania governor struck at what he sees as the heart of the Obama campaign's hypocrisy. "The Obama campaign tries to have it both ways," he said. "They say the…

In a bold challenge to the Chinese government's crackdown in Tibet, nearly 30 dissidents have circulated an open letter titled "Twelve Suggestions for Dealing with the Tibetan Situation." The dissidents' letter contrasts with the Communist government's arrest of hundreds of Tibetans and official…

A popular media narrative last week was that the sordid revelations that brought down New York governor Eliot Spitzer were a total shock to New Yorkers because he was universally regarded as a paragon of probity. The prostitution scandal was the fall of Mr. Clean, as CNN and Reuters put it. We were…

It was one of those insider deals that give the defense industry a bad name, conjuring up images of smoke-filled negotiations between the brass and corporate fat cats in plush leather chairs. By the time it was over, two fat cats were in jail, a top Pentagon official had been forced to resign, a…

The war started with an odd bit of air turbulence just before dawn. A waffling and whining noise, ironically enough. Hardly remarkable. Anyone who wasn't listening for it might have missed it.

Late last week, the Defense Department released an analysis of 600,000 documents captured in Iraq prepared by the Institute for Defense Analyses, a federally funded think tank. Here's the attention-grabbing sentence from the report's executive summary: "This study found no 'smoking gun' (i.e.…

Learning Like a Girl

Howard's End

Heroic Conservatism

Some weeks ago the esteemed pianist Leon Fleisher wrote an op-ed piece for the Washington Post discussing the moral qualms that assailed him when he was honored at the Kennedy Center. Fleisher, a onetime child prodigy who lost the use of his right hand at age 37 and did not perform the two-handed…

Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing?

This ought to be big news. Throughout the early and mid-1990s, Saddam Hussein actively supported an influential terrorist group headed by the man who is now al Qaeda's second-in-command, according to an exhaustive study issued last week by the Pentagon. "Saddam supported groups that either…

Freedom for the Thought That We Hate

My view is, the more grandchildren, the better. I have six with a seventh due in April. And I assume there are more to come. My daughter Grace just had her first child in February--a boy named Paul--and my son Freddy is only now finishing college at Auburn and isn't married yet.

Sputnik Mania

It didn't get much attention on the East Coast, but in late February the town of Vallejo, California, came within an eyelash of becoming the first city since Bridgeport, Connecticut, back in 1991 to declare bankruptcy. This San Francisco Bay suburb of 120,000 residents was threatening to take this…

There's still room for whimsy at the New Yorker magazine, I don't care what you've heard. Just the other day two of the New Yorker's bloggers (now there's a phrase to send Harold Ross spinning) were chewing over the widely noted eloquence of Barack Obama. They were struck by "Obama's wonderful…

On the night that John McCain secured the Republican nomination, he said about Iraq that "it is of little use to Americans for their candidates to avoid the many complex challenges of these struggles by re-litigating decisions of the past."

In the middle of a long and fascinating piece on his regrets about the Iraq War, former New Yorker writer, Jeffrey Goldberg, now with the Atlantic Monthly, discusses the new Institute for Defense Analyses report on Iraq and Terrorism. Unlike, virtually every other reporter, he appears to have…

A couple years of reading Andrew Sullivan's blog (I can't help myself, I can't look away) and I've never understood the Yglesias Award. Andrew says it's "for writers, politicians, columnists or pundits who actually criticize their own side, make enemies among political allies, and generally risk…

The Miami Herald reports: Almost four months before Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigned in a sex scandal, a lawyer for Republican political operative Roger Stone sent a letter to the FBI alleging that Spitzer ''used the services of high-priced call girls'' while in Florida. And the legend continues. For…

Happy Easter. Some thoughts on the Presidential race: 1) Obama is 90 percent likely to be the Democratic nominee, although the press seem to have continuing trouble with basic arithmetic and thereby doubt this. It's important to note that many of the superdelegates are DNC members which means many…

Reuters reports: The U.S. military said on Saturday it had hampered al Qaeda's ability to recruit new members in Iraq by capturing or killing many of the people who make slick videos used to attract disaffected young Muslims. U.S. military spokesman Rear Admiral Greg Smith said that in the past…

Obama aide Gen. Tony McPeak is in the news for comparing Bill Clinton to Joseph McCarthy, but it's a good opportunity to revisit some comments McPeak made just about five years ago today in an interview with the Oregonian (via Hot Air): [Q:] Is Iraq the last country we confront in the Middle East?…

Jack Kelly writes "in search of a true black uniter" and concludes: The first black president of the United States is more likely to be someone like Allen West than Sen. Barack Obama.... You'll remember Allen West as the Lt. Col. in charge of an artillery unit of the 4th ID who, back in August…

Michael Rubin has a good write-up at the Corner. I covered this yesterday here, but what I didn't know until reading Rubin: To support dismissing President Bush's stated concerns, they cite Joseph Cirincione. Fair enough, but wouldn't basic integrity mandate that they mention that Cirincione is not…

The BBC brings us the story of Noor Salman, a 16-year-old girl living in Baghdad whose father was murdered by militants in August of 2006. It's not a happy story, but the girl is happy about one thing: Our city is not what it once was and studying is not easy. Walking to school became a dangerous…

Click to view the slideshow of the Spear Brigade in Western Mosul.

Are liberals poised to deliver a knockout blow to conservatives? Democratic strategist Stan Greenberg and his colleagues seem to think so, based on this recently issued report. The Greenberg/Quinlin/Rosner (GQR) study demonstrates continued Republican brand weakness, increased demand for more…

I'd sort of forgotten about Richardson--it seems like so long ago that this campaign started. It was nice of him to endorse in the middle of the Pastor Disaster, assuming that this is the middle and Obama is actually able to bring this to a close in a week's time. But according to Memeorandum, the…

So the Obama campaign is on record as having provided the photo of Rev. Wright shooting the shit with President Clinton at a prayer breakfast. This raises suspicions about where the Obama campaign itself got the photo. Having worked (briefly) at the White House, I can say the White House photo…

CNN's Roland Martin brings the ridiculous: One of the most controversial statements in this sermon was when [Reverend Wright] mentioned "chickens coming home to roost." He was actually quoting Edward Peck, former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq and deputy director of President Reagan's terrorism task…

Bush spoke directly to the Iranian people yesterday in an address broadcast over Radio Farda: "[The Iranian government has] declared they want to have a nuclear weapon to destroy people -- some in the Middle East. And that's unacceptable to the United States, and it's unacceptable to the world..."…

Michael Barone parses a raft of state polls to tackle the question of whether Clinton or Obama is the more electable Democratic candidate. Barone's general conclusion: But in any case, the numbers weaken the Obama campaign's argument to superdelegates that he would be a stronger general election…

Political analyst and UVA professor Larry Sabato argues for real Congressional reform: more than doubling the size of the House of Representatives: The Founders intended the House of Representatives, with its small districts and frequent elections, to be the pulse of American democracy. But today's…

Each presidential election cycle the media comes around to the idea that this is the year that voters are going to punish 'anti-environmental' candidates. In the past (the argument goes), the American people wanted a clean environment, but didn't consider it a high enough priority to decide an…

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From the Washington Post: The Speech: A Brilliant Fraud, by Charles Krauthammer. From the Wall Street Journal: Democrats Are Still Weak on Security, by Karl Rove. From the Australian: Saddam, the Terrorist's Friend, by Greg Sheridan. From the Washington Times: Saddam Friendly to Terror Groups, by…

As was noted here the other day, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is in India this week, meeting with the Dalai Lama to express support for human rights in Tibet. The Telegraph provides this video of Pelosi's appearance, in which she called for an independent investigation into allegations that the Dalai…

Republican New York Rep. Tom Reynolds announced yesterday that he would not be seeking reelection in the fall. This comes amidst a wave of Republican retirements from the House in a year when things were already looking grim down ticket. The Democrats are putting up an antiwar vet, Jonathan Powers,…

Yesterday marked the 60th birthday of the greatest hockey player ever, Bobby Orr. If by some chance you think Wayne Gretzky was the best hockey player ever, then you were born too late. If by some chance you're unfamiliar with Bobby Orr, he's the guy wearing #4 in the YouTube above skating around…

Looking at yesterday's Rasmussen poll, Jamie Kirchick made a bold prediction: An interesting snippet from today's Rasmussen poll is that Barack Obama leads John McCain by only 49% to 42% in Massachusetts, the bluest of blue states. McCain also has a (slightly) higher approval rating than Obama.…

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Last night from Hugh Hewitt: The EADS Tanker Can't Refuel The USMC Osprey? Boeing's Mark McGraw just told me that on air. Doesn't it strike you as a pretty significant advantage for Boeing that its proposed tanker could refuel the new Marine Corps platform while the Airbus tanker can't? If there…

IF YOU PAY ATTENTION TO the opening credits of Drillbit Taylor, you might notice something interesting. The film is the latest comedy produced by Judd Apatow and is cowritten by frequent contributor Seth Rogen (along with Kristofor Brown, one of the writers on Apatow's cult television hit…

The Washington Post reports on the difficulties Western intelligence agencies face in infiltrating al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations. The piece notes that fresh recruits are often "highly disposable," employed mainly as suicide bombers and general cannon fodder, making it difficult for…

Iran isn't working with al Qaeda in Iraq? Tell that to some of al Qaeda's opposition. The NEFA Foundation has provided a transcript of an interview with a commander from "Hamas in Iraq," an insurgency group that was formerly a faction of the 1920 Revolution Brigades: Q: "Is there any evidence of…

So for the duration of the campaign, Obama almost entirely avoided discussing race--which was part of his charm. It wasn't that Obama had found a new way to talk about race, or that he had moved beyond race - he just didn't touch it. And this created the perception that we had an African-American…

So Think Progress went batty when McCain, earlier this week, said that Iran was "taking al-Qaeda into Iran, training them and sending them back." Today, they continue to pound away on this issue by quoting a statement made by Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno last summer: We don't see any evidence, significant…

As Steve Hayes and I have previously discussed, the new IPP study documents the relationship between Saddam Hussein's regime and Ayman al Zawahiri's Egyptian Islamic Jihad ("EIJ"). It is worth reproducing the language from the IPP study in this regard once again: "Saddam supported groups that…

Eli Lake, whose been covering this issue for years, reports for the New York Sun: Mr. McCain's national security adviser, Randy Scheunemann, told The New York Sun, "There is ample documentation that Iran has provided many different forms of support to Sunni extremists, including Al Qaeda as well as…

Mark Murray writes at First Read: When McCain made a foreign policy gaffe in Jordan on Tuesday, it was Sen. Joe Lieberman who quietly pointed out the mistake, giving McCain an opportunity to correct himself in front of the international press corps. In Israel yesterday, NBC's Lauren Appelbaum…

Yesterday, the Clinton Presidential Library released, to much fanfare, 11,000+ pages of Hillary's schedules from her time as First Lady. Journalists were eager to dig up dirt on the presidential candidate, hoping the schedules would reveal truths about Hillary's proclaimed executive and foreign…

The president signals his support for Georgia to join NATO: President Bush indicated support yesterday for Georgia's aspirations to join NATO eventually, but left uncertain whether he will try to start the process at the alliance summit next month in Bucharest, Romania. Russian President Vladimir…

Roll Call reports that the House Appropriations Committee had its website crashed yesterday by a flood of requests for earmarks. As a result of the problem, they've been forced to extend the deadline to give Members more time to submit requests: In a sure sign that earmarks remain as popular as…

A must-read from the Wall Street Journal by Dan Senor and Roman Martinez leads with this quote from Moqtada: "I have failed to liberate Iraq, and transform its society into an Islamic society." Senor and Martinez trace Sadr's ascent, and his decline: In 2007, the U.S. military shifted approach,…

Yesterday I turned on my radio in time to listen to what sounded like a latter day John Kerry describing the war crimes he had taken part in in Vietnam. It took me a little while to track down what I was listening to (and I still don't know why NPR was broadcasting it), but it was an excerpt from…

Another day, another poll showing that Democrats are not in a mood to put aside their differences after the primaries are concluded and graciously support the eventual nominee: If Obama is nominated, just 42% of Clinton supporters say they are even somewhat likely to vote for him against McCain.…

From the Boston Globe: Patton and the 2008 Vote, by Jeff Jacoby. From the Wall Street Journal: No Surrender, by Fouad Ajami. From China Rises: Blogging from Tibet, by Tim Johnson. From the Los Angeles Times: Obama Blew It, by Michael Meyers. From Townhall: Obama's Squandered Chance at…

Over at the Daily Kos, they're feeling the love for Barack Obama in a manner so demonstrative that even Andrew Sullivan would shudder at the thought of putting such hyperbole down on paper: Barack Obama is not John Kennedy. He is not Robert Kennedy. He is not Martin Luther King. He is not the…

A Reverend Wright induced political backlash is underway in at least two key swing states, Ohio and Missouri, and has driven Obama's numbers down even more dramatically in Kentucky, according to Survey USA polling released yesterday. Last month, for example, Senator Obama led Senator McCain in Ohio…

Rasmussen has conducted a poll measuring "the impact of Pastor Wright and THE SPEECH on Election '08:" "Early data suggests that it has already had a negative impact on Obama's chances of winning the general election against John McCain. The good news for Obama is that his numbers have stopped…

Though the Ruskies still aren't happy about it: Russia's foreign ministry said March 19 it was studying written proposals from the U.S. aimed at allaying Moscow's concerns over Washington's missile defense plans in Europe. The proposals came after U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and…

Pete Wehner has a very interesting piece on the Obama speech today. He echoes the Jay Cost question from yesterday, but then goes further, pointing out that the entire episode, and the widely-praised speech, actually feed all of the major anti-Obama narratives: (1) That he's actually a conventional…

IF THE AMERICANS WHO lived through the Depression and won the Second World War were the Greatest Generation, then the Baby Boomers would have to be the Greatest Ego Generation. Pampered like no others before them, free to explore their own interests while their parents worked hard to put food on…

"MOST WORKING- AND middle-class white Americans don't feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race," Senator Barack Obama bravely asserted in his March 18 speech. "Their experience is the immigrant experience--as far as they're concerned, no one's handed them anything, they've…

Key graph: "The surge has done more than turn the situation in Iraq around -- it has opened the door to a major strategic victory in the broader war on terror. For the terrorists, Iraq was supposed to be the place where al Qaeda rallied Arab masses to drive America out. Instead, Iraq has become the…

With the ongoing imbroglio over Senator McCain's comments linking Iran and al Qaeda, it is worth reviewing what Saddam's own files have to say about Iran's support for al Qaeda. Not only do Saddam's Intelligence files confirm that his regime had a significant relationship with al Qaeda, but they…

The Times Caucus Blog reports: As critical as she is about the Bush administration's conduct of the Iraq war, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton gave a relatively rare shout-out to the military's top man in Baghdad, General David Petraeus, calling him "an extraordinary leader and a wonderful advocate…

Jay Cost offers up what could be the most damaging question to be asked of Obama in reaction to his speech (in the context of the Democratic primary). He writes: My concern with the speech is the following. I am not sure what I think about Obama's claim that he never heard Wright make incendiary…

GovExec has the story: House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman John Murtha, D-Pa., threatened during a hearing in early March to "stop the money" for the contract. Rep. Norman Dicks, a Democrat from Washington whose district would see an influx of jobs if Boeing won the contract, argued…

Rasmussen's daily tracking polls show that Barack Obama's favorable/unfavorable rating among likely voters now sits at 48 percent favorable and 49 percent unfavorable. That compares to 43/53 for HIllary, and a sunny 53/43 for John McCain. Obama's numbers have moved over a relatively broad range,…

McCain puts out a statement on the fifth anniversary of the war: "Today in Iraq, America and our allies stand on the precipice of winning a major victory against radical Islamic extremism. The security gains over the past year have been dramatic and undeniable. Al Qaeda and Shia extremists -- with…

Public Policy Polling has recently conducted surveys in both Florida and Ohio which find that neither Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama is currently able to unite most Democrats in trial heats against John McCain: A similar PPP poll for Florida released yesterday showed Hillary Clinton having…

The Washington Times reports: Ron Paul says the legions of newcomers his presidential campaign brought to the Republican Party are getting the cold shoulder from John McCain and from the party.... "I don't think they want them," Mr. Paul told The Washington Times, adding that indifference doesn't…

Accompanying the IPP report were four volumes of backup materials. In all, the five total volumes contain more than 2,000 pages of documents, translations and other related materials, which are collectively housed in the so-called Harmony Database. The database contains a massive warehouse of…

So Barack Obama has made racial reconciliation the lynchpin of his campaign. Finally! The polls have shown that the American public has been fairly screaming for the presidential candidates to address this issue: Opinion Research Corporation Poll. March 14-16, 2008. N=1,019 adults nationwide. MoE…

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Eli Lake reports for the New York Sun: The news that American forces had captured Iranians in Iraq was widely reported last month, but less well known is that the Iranians were carrying documents that offered Americans insight into Iranian activities in Iraq. An American intelligence official said…

Over at The Corner, Michael Leeden responds to my question about when, if ever, the Bush Administration claimed Iraq had an "operational" relationship with al Qaeda. He writes: What about Colin Powell's speech to the United Nations on the eve of Operation Iraqi Freedom? That day, with George Tenet…

From TWS Online: Obama the Ditherer, by Dean Barnett. From the Financial Times: Americans Must Be a Good Role Model, by John McCain. From the Washington Post: A Speech that Fell Short, by Michael Gerson. From the Atlantic: Questions About Obama, by Marc Ambinder. From NPR: Oceans Cooling in Global…

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A few weeks ago, The Democratic Strategist, a blog written by--you guessed it, Democratic strategists--featured a roundtable on swing voters. While all the comments of the veteran campaign operatives deserve a read, the piece by author and consultant Robert Creamer on the differences between…

More evidence that AQI gravely miscalculated in their decision to take the fight to the Iraqi people: Information gleaned from 48 foreign fighters detained in Iraq offers insight into al Qaeda's methods, a Multinational Force Iraq spokesman told reporters during a briefing today in Baghdad. "The…

What if I told you in 2004 that the Democratic party would run an African American candidate for president in 2008? I tell you National Journal will officially label this candidate the most liberal member of the United States Senate. This candidate will also have served less than three years in…

And here I thought Obama was supposed to be the hip candidate: Democrat Barack Obama on Monday promised Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans help with their grievances - save one. "I know it drives you nuts. But I'm not going to lower the drinking age," the presidential candidate said. Army veteran…

Lego has created videogame series where well-known franchises get portrayed not in normal videogame graphics, but in a videogame rendition of Legos. There's Lego Star Wars; coming in October is Lego Batman; and in a few weeks Lego Indiana Jones will hit shelves. Of note in the new game is the…

Guantanamo Bay, Cuba

A LITTLE OVER a year ago, I read and reviewed Barack Obama's memoir, Dreams From My Father. It was an odd Obama who leapt from those pages. Actually, it would be more accurate to say that Obama slouched from the pages of his own book.

AMONG THE MORE stalwart American allies throughout the Cold War and the war on terror one can number Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and . . . Sweden. Wait! Sweden? The steadfastly "non-aligned"? Home of the cradle-to-grave welfare state, of the pacifist Stockholm International Peace…

Twice in recent days, articles in the Washington Post have suggested that Bush Administration officials claimed before the Iraq War that Iraq and al Qaeda had an "operational relationship." Last week, Karen DeYoung made the accusation directly when she wrote: "An examination of more than 600,000…

Some bloggers are jumping all over Senator John McCain for his supposed "gaffe" today. According to The Trail, a blog over at the Washington Post, McCain said that Iranian operatives were "taking al-Qaeda into Iran, training them and sending them back." He elaborated by saying it was "common…

Click the photograph to view the slideshow of Iraqi soldiers in the

As discussed in my first post in this series, Saddam tasked his minions with hunting Americans throughout the Muslim world and especially in Somalia in 1993. The Iraqi Intelligence Service identified eleven groups with which it had relations and that were capable of carrying out the mission. One of…

The Arctic ocean is warming up, icebergs are growing scarcer and in some places the seals are finding the water too hot, according to a report to the Commerce Department yesterday from Consul Ifft, at Bergen, Norway.... Great masses of ice have been replaced by moraines of earth and stones, the…

Anyone remember a few years back when "Free Tibet!" was all the rage among the kids? They must've gotten lost on a side-trip to the nearest "Recreate ‘68" rally or something. That's the only thing I can think of, what with not a peep of protest from the usual suspects (i.e., people who memorize…

(Note: Over the next few days, I will be blogging about documents captured in post-Saddam Iraq. Some of these documents were analyzed in a new study written for the military by the Institute for Defense Analyses. That report is part of the Iraqi Perspectives Project and is titled, Saddam and…

From TWS Online: The Wrong Reverend, by Joseph Loconte. From Slate: How Did I Get Iraq Wrong?, by Christopher Hitchens. From Haaretz: The Best of All Possible Presidents, by Amir Oren. From the Wall Street Journal: The Obama Bargain, by Shelby Steele. From the Wall Street Journal: Gun Rights…

Barack Obama has staged one of the most remarkable campaigns in American history, all on the basis that he, and he alone, could transcend race. That he was looking forward, rather than back. And that the past could be overcome. Today, Obama put all that behind him: Contrary to the claims of some of…

Hugo Chavez has been waging a war against the free market and rule of law. And as if guided by an invisible hand, the Venezuelan economy is responding rationally: Capital flight out of Venezuela established a record during 2007, the Central Bank of Venezuela has reported, despite strict currency…

How John McCain influences the Republican brand--or how it impacts him--over the next few months will provide some clues about the party's prospects in this fall's down ballot congressional races. The GOP continues to struggle with its overall image among voters. The party's standing in the generic…

I was in Washington the last few days, and I couldn't resist stopping by the Mayflower Hotel for a celebratory cocktail. Since our fallen friend Eliot Spitzer is unlikely to make a comeback, this was my one and only chance to toast his late career. In selecting the perfect drink from the hotel's…

Tom Barnett's piece in the April issue of Esquire is blamed--or credited--with bringing about the fall of Adm. William Fallon, who will step down soon as commander of U.S. Central Command. Barnett portrayed Fallon as a guy who stood up to the president on Iran. Barnett also portrayed Fallon as a…

WHEN TELEVANGELISTS Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson blamed the 9/11 attacks on "gays, feminists and the ACLU," their obscene remarks were used like a club to bludgeon George Bush and his "fundamentalist" base right up to the 2004 elections. For media elites such as The New York Times and CNN, it…

THE LIFE OF A self-styled paragon is not an easy one. So Eliot Spitzer found when it was revealed that he not only prosecuted prostitution rings, but patronized them. And so David Rubinstein discovered when Carlyle Capital Corporation's (CCC) hedge fund collapsed. "I don't think one fund out of 60…

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When the 9-11 Commission's final report was published in July 2004, some in the press were quick to trumpet one line in the report that appeared to dispense with the issue of Saddam's ties to al Qaeda. The Commission reported on a number of contacts between the two sides, but ultimately concluded:…

I know. Obama wasn't at that sermon. Or any other sermon where something objectionable was said. In any event, this one goes out to all the bubbys in Boca. I doubt they have some kind of religious litmus test for Democratic candidates, but they may be looking for a candidate whose religion doesn't…

IMG00031.jpg Getting my marching orders.

TNR's Jason Zengerle takes issue with Steve Hayes's post from Iraq this morning. After a lengthy excerpt, Zengerle writes: The above, by the way, isn't from the Onion but from the Weekly Standard's website. I know it can be a bit hard to tell the difference. It's called reporting. And that's a…

Bloggers are still buzzing about Obama's pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright and his controversial, America-hating sermons. On Friday, Wright left his post on Obama's campaign, and Obama has since denounced the most offensive sermon in a Huffington Post op-ed and claimed he was not aware of Wright's…

Reason publishes a ridiculous rant today from Terry Michael on the surge. Michael is a former DNC press secretary and heads up the "non-partisan" Washington Center for Politics & Journalism. He's not much of a journalist, but his politics are clear: When it comes Iraq, neoconservative true…

Hillary Clinton spoke this morning at George Washington University, where she spent most of her time trying to rebut "the claim that withdrawal is defeat." I can see a situation where Clinton might be right. Like when the Russians withdraw to Moscow--that's not defeat (it's also not particularly…

While most recent national polls show a close contest in the general election between either McCain and Obama or McCain and Clinton, adding Ralph Nader into the mix boosts John McCain, at least according to the latest Zogby poll released over the weekend. In a prospective general election match-up,…

Click to view the slideshow. Mosul, Iraq The 2nd Iraqi Army Division is considered one of the most mature and effective formations in the Iraqi security forces. Led by the charismatic Major General Mouta'a, the division operates in Mosul and throughout Ninewa province. The Iraqi Ministry of Defense…

From the New York Times: Generation Obama? Perhaps Not, by the boss. From the Wall Street Journal: Salvaging Our North Korea Policy, by John Bolton. From the AP: Walking the Arrogance Line, by Ron Fournier. From the Asia Times: The Peculiar Theology of Black Liberation, by Spengler. From the…

The long fight over Tibetan independence has gotten hotter recently: Protests spread from Tibet into three neighboring provinces Sunday as Tibetans defied a Chinese government crackdown, while the Dalai Lama decried what he called the "cultural genocide" taking place in his homeland. Demonstrations…

Baghdad, Iraq Sitting in the U.S. Embassy just blocks from the bombed out headquarters of the former Iraqi Intelligence Service, Vice President Dick Cheney said today that a new Pentagon study issued last week confirms Bush administration claims that Saddam Hussein's Iraq supported a broad range of…

Real Clear's Tom Bevan reports: A new poll of 2,200 Iraqis conducted by ABC News, the BBC, ARD German TV and the Japanese broadcaster NHK shows much improved attitudes across virtually every aspect of life in Iraq - though perhaps especially on the security front. The numbers are impressive. Twice…

Andrew Sullivan wants us to view the Obama/Wright connection in a very specific way: The relevant - the only relevant - question is: are Obama's beliefs represented by the handful of video clips of the most incendiary of Wright's sermons? Or to unpack it a little further: Does Obama believe that…

It was probably inevitable that if the argument over Jeremiah Wright raged long enough, someone would bring Jesus Christ into the discussion. But if defenders of Wright (and by extension, Obama) are trying to convince moderates and/or Reagan Democrats that Wright actually sounds a lot like Jesus…

Tomorrow Beijing will put on trial one of its most ardent human rights campaigners. Hu Jia, 34, faces charges of "inciting subversion of state power." Evidence to be used against him includes articles he posted on an overseas Chinese-language website and statements he made during interviews with…

The Little Book of Atheist Spirituality

The election of a new Russian president should not be mistaken for a democratic transition. Vladimir Putin's hand-picked successor, First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev, ran almost unopposed, and there was little doubt as to the outcome. But Medvedev will now be the beneficiary of the most…

The Executor

A Magnificent Catastrophe

The Band's Visit

Santiago, Chile

Houston

A friend of mine, a highly intelligent lawyer with an interest in human nature, not long ago asked me if I knew any men given over in a serious way to chasing women. When I said I did, he asked if I'd ever noticed that, at the end of a lifetime of doing so, these men seemed to have no regrets? I…

Justice John Paul Stevens turns 88 in April, and by January 2009 five other justices will be from 69 to 75 years old. If Barack Obama is elected president, he will probably--with the benefit of resignations by liberal justices eager for him to be the president who chooses their successors--have the…

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Power Outage

Go to Barack Obama's campaign website, click on the education link, and there you will read many ideas like this: "Obama's plan will expand mentoring programs that pair experienced teachers with new recruits. He will also provide incentives to give teachers paid common planning time so they can…

It's been three weeks since Democrats in Congress allowed the Protect America Act of 2007 to expire. Three weeks in which House Democrats have allowed marginal special interest groups veto power over national security legislation. And no one in the House Democratic leadership seems particularly…

It's nearly impossible for Hillary Clinton to win more pledged delegates than Barack Obama, but can she still win the nomination? Yes, she can. Here's what her path to victory might look like.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

The failure of the Bush presidency is the dominant fact of American politics today. It has driven every facet of Democratic political strategy since early 2006, when Democrats settled on the campaign themes that brought them their takeover of the House and Senate in November 2006. Nothing--not even…

Where to turn next on Social Security reform? The presumptive Republican nom-inee for president, John McCain, like President Bush, supports introducing fully funded personal accounts within the program. Still, the odds are against a push for such accounts anytime soon. Too many Republican…

When John McCain begins his search for a vice presidential running mate, he'll quickly come upon a sad fact. He wants a candidate who will be seen as a plausible president. That's criterion number one. He also wants someone who won't subtract from his campaign in any serious way. That's criterion…

HALF MACE, CARNA, Connemara, County Galway situated in the wild west of Ireland lies well beyond the pale of Trinity College, Dublin far to the east. Numerous small fields divided by loose rock walls are the main features of this hilly and treeless terrain. How stark a contrast is the Gaeltacht…

It was a rough week for Barack Obama thanks to some of his reverend's more hateful comments coming to light. Brit Hume got to the heart of the problem on Fox News Sunday. "It's worth noting also, I think, certainly Obama knew what sort of church this is," Hume said. "Now I have no doubt that the…

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For what it's worth, Barack Obama dropped seven points in yesterday's Rasmussen tracking poll that matches him against Hillary Clinton. Rasmussen calls last night's sample "very favorable for Clinton." Although we don't know exactly how favorable, simple math says Clinton beat Obama by a lot last…

From National Journal, The Bills Come Due: Since 1991, the United States has been the world's sole superpower. Now, 17 years later, the armed forces that underwrite that status have begun to fray. Nowhere are the limits of the U.S. military more evident than on the ground in Iraq, and so Congress…

Probably not, but it's still an interesting "what-if." In the face of Iran's race to obtain nuclear weapons, defense officials who will visit the US next week plan to ask the Pentagon to reconsider its decision not to sell Israel the F-22 fifth-generation stealth fighter jet, The Jerusalem Post has…

Last night Barack Obama was interviewed by Major Garrett on Hannity and Colmes. Garrett asked Obama why Jeremiah Wright was placed on Obama's African-American Religious Leadership Committee after Obama knew of at least one of Wright's radical statements. Obama answered: "I knew about one or two…

Are you concerned that your child is too happy? Do you want him to enjoy beatings from his classmates because he lectures them on the evils of their Styrofoam cups? Are you desperate for your progeny to become a tedious pedant? Then I have good news for you. Al Gore is releasing "the first ever…

The inevitable has occurred. Barack Obama has taken to the virtual pages of the Huffington Post, attempting to distance himself from the Meshugenah Minister in a more muscular manner: "All of the statements that have been the subject of controversy are ones that I vehemently condemn. They in no way…

Senator McCain's latest campaign video is extremely well done and meant to familiarize many Americans with his heroic behavior as a prisoner of war. It's likely to enhance his positive image before the Democratic nominee has a real opportunity to tear him down. Of course, that opportunity may not…

Pundits will ponder this question in great detail over the next several months. The Monkey Cage links to useful research on the issue and includes new data and preliminary insights from this year's exit polls. Dissatisfaction among those on the losing side represents one factor that could influence…

The left is happy today. For months they've been pushing House Democrats to force a reauthorization of FISA that fails to protect American telecommunication companies for their good-faith cooperation with America's intelligence agencies--and which was doomed to be vetoed by the president. Instead,…

Click image to view slideshow. On March 14, Brigadier General Noor Aldeen and the Military Transition Team for the 4th Brigade, 2nd Iraqi Army Division toured the combat outposts owned by the 2nd Battalion, which is commanded by Colonel Hajji. The 2nd Battalion does not have US advisors assigned to…

Reports earlier this month that U.S. school kids didn't know squat had me shrieking O tempora! O mores! Half of high-school students could not say what the Renaissance was. Fewer than half can place the Civil War in the half-century 1850-1900. But I'm feeling not so bad today, because we learn our…

This is a clip from Speaker Pelosi's recent press availability. She was asked about the House Democrats' decision to hold open a recent floor vote to change its outcome: Pelosi seems to be arguing that, in her view, it's OK to hold a floor vote open to change the outcome, as long as you don't hold…

From the New York Sun: Report Details Saddam's Terrorist Ties, by Eli Lake From the Wall Street Journal: The Bare Necessities: A Generation Tries to Imagine Life Without iPods, by Stephen Moore From the Heritage Foundation: The Surge in Iraq: One Year Later, lecture by Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno,…

Over at the New York Sun Eli Lake has an excellent write-up on the new military report, which (contrary to what many press outlets are reporting) details Saddam's extensive ties to regional and global terrorist groups, including al Qaeda. I'm sure we will be following up with more commentary in the…

No Country for Old Men is a film that lends itself to over-analysis and pretentious film snobbery. This is not necessarily a bad thing--it's simply a fact. Consider, for example, Jim Emerson's (excellent) take on the movie's opening scene, which begins thusly: "The land is black, swallowed in the…

A new Pentagon report on Iraq and Terrorism has the news media buzzing. An item on the New York Times blog snarks, "Oh, By the Way, There Was No Al Qaeda Link." The ABC News story that previews the full report concludes, "Report Shows No Link Between Saddam and al Qaeda." How, then, to explain this…

Earlier this afternoon, Democrats broke Senate rules in order to defeat the Kyl amendment, which would have set the top death tax rate at 35 percent with a $5 million exemption. Under current law, the death tax will jump from zero in 2010 to a top rate of 55 percent with a $1 million exemption in…

The internets have been ablaze today with talk about Barack Obama's pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Without belaboring the Reverend's already much discussed rhetoric, I'll mention his greatest hits for any readers who may be new to the conversation. "Hillary Ain't Never Been Called a N***er" had…

Several recently released national polls show a close general election contest between both McCain vs. Obama or McCain vs. Clinton (NBC News/Wall Street Journal and Gallup). For example, the NBC/Wall Street Journal head-to-head is Obama 47/McCain 44 and Clinton 47/McCain 45. Both results are best…

Yesterday, director of national intelligence Mike McConnell participated in a foreign affairs symposium at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md. This interesting exchange occurred between McConnell and Hopkins political science professor Dr. Stephen David: DR. DAVID: Let me talk about torture.…

Fausta comments on the possibility that the Bush administration could designate Venezuela a state sponsor of terror: The US is Venezuela's largest oil customer, buying 65% of Venezuela's oil output, while only 15% of the US's oil comes from Venezuela. Hugo needs the oil revenues to stay in power.…

The other night I attended an electrifying debate by Intelligence Squared U.S. about U.S. interrogation techniques in the war on terror. Despite the recent brouhaha about John McCain allegedly backtracking, I think it's clear that the presidential candidates of both parties will dismantle many of…

Bloggers have gotten a good laugh out of a video ad created by some enthusiastic Hillary supporters (via Ben Smith and Hot Air): I don't want "Hillary in the House," but I'd sure like to see this guy on Broadway. Now, is Obama a little worried that his super-cool celebrity supporters don't match…

Just think--if Eliot Spitzer hadn't flushed his political career down the toilet, he probably never would have been honored with his own theme night at a minor league baseball game: The plans call for an invitation extended to Spitzer to attend the game and throw out the first pitch. Other elements…

Every time a talking head appears on Fox News or CNN to discuss Eliot Spitzer, the term "Shakespearean" seems to come up. If memory serves, even Rep. Peter King called Spitzer's downfall "Shakespearean"--and King ain't exactly chairman of the Eliot Spitzer Empire State Fan Club. I've admitted in…

Vice President Dick Cheney is willing to poke fun at his critics: This is a clip from Cheney's appearance yesterday at the Heritage Foundation to discuss the 25th anniversary of the Strategic Defense Initiative. The full text of his remarks is available here. A highlight: There is still a great…

From THE WEEKLY STANDARD Online: The Fall of Admiral George B. McFallon, by Mackubin Thomas Owens From the Washington Times: Pelosi's FISA Sabotage, by the editors From the New York Sun: McCain in Jerusalem, by the editors From Jules Crittenden's Blog: Yeah, But, by Jules Crittenden Dean already…

The latest Wall Street Journal/NBC poll is fascinating, and provides clarity on the muddled electorate. First the WSJ summary: Rarely have the stars aligned so squarely against the party in power in elections for the White House as it has for Republicans, the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News…

The controversy surrounding the status of Michigan's and Florida's presidential-nomination delegates continues. Pundits and critics have examined the actions and decisions of three parties involved, but have overlooked perhaps the most interesting actor in the fray: Barack Obama. His conduct in…

It you haven't seen this already, you will enjoy it very much. Guaranteed, or your money back! Careful about spraying coffee on your monitor if that kind of thing gets you in trouble at your place of work.

SUNDAY MARKED THE END of an era on American television. HBO's brilliant series The Wire concluded its five-season run with a 93-minute finale. Over the past several months, the show's devotees in the media lavished the show with praise. The most common assessment? "Best TV show ever."

THE CONTROVERSY SURROUNDING the status of Michigan's and Florida's presidential-nomination delegates continues. Pundits and critics have examined the actions and decisions of three parties involved, but have overlooked perhaps the most interesting actor in the fray: Barack Obama. His conduct in…

I didn't become a political writer until relatively late in life, so I didn't have the dubious pleasure of meeting many politicians during my relative youth. One of the few that I stumbled across was Geraldine Ferraro. I figured with Rep. Ferraro garnering some headlines today for practicing that…

Global warming never polls very well compared to other issues, such as the economy or the Iraq war. But a new study shows it doesn't rank that high even compared to other environmental issues. Despite all the hoopla about global warming, it ranks below eight other environmental concerns and is even…

Just posted on THE WEEKLY STANDARD Online is an article by Mackubin Thomas Owens about Admiral William "Fox" Fallon and his recent resignation. Owens explains that Fallon's resignation was largely due to a recent Esquire article about Fallon's very public disagreements with the Bush administration…

Note this story about the illegal and violent tactics employed by animal rights activists to chill scientific research: It was late into the night when 25 people in ski masks descended on professor Dario Ringach's family home. Pounding on the door, frightening his small children, they screamed into…

A curious statement from a State Department spokeswoman suggests that the United States is now in possession of the laptop and hard drives seized by the Colombian military when it killed FARC leader Raul Reyes: "We are currently evaluating the contents of the confiscated laptop and hard drive and…

Now that Eliot Spitzer's reign of error has mercifully ended, what can a responsible analyst do but irresponsibly speculate about Spitzer's future? The most common opinion is that we won't have Eliot Spitzer to kick around anymore. Spitzer will retire to private life, accept employment at some…

Click to view slideshow On March 11, the 2nd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 2nd Iraqi Army Division stopped a car in the Al Bakir neighborhood in Mosul, Iraq. After searching the car, the Iraqi Army found six improvised explosive devices (IEDs, or roadside bombs). The driver has been detained and the…

Congressional Democrats are so committed to cleaning up Congress, they'll even break House rules to do it: But Republicans, and some Democrats, charged that Pelosi and the Democratic leadership "stole" the vote on the parliamentary procedure, technically known as "ordering the previous question."…

I may be a tongue-tied American who would have taken up arms against the lobsterbacks had I been born in the 18th century, but I for one welcome Lord Goldsmith's proposal to make British school kids pledge allegiance to the Queen at school assemblies. Certainly nationalism is preferable to the…

House Republicans have launched a discharge petition to force a vote on Congressman Heath Shuler's immigration enforcement bill, which was introduced in November and has not been acted on yet. Launched on Tuesday, the discharge petition has quickly gathered 163 of the 218 signatures (as of this…

DURING THE 1990s, a number of events led observers to conclude that all was not well with civil-military relations in America, generating an often acrimonious public debate in which a number of highly respected observers concluded that American civil-military relations had become unhealthy or even…

The LA Times reports on the AFL-CIO's decision to spend millions to try to keep their members supporting the Democratic presidential candidate--whoever that candidate may be: The AFL-CIO became concerned after polls and focus groups found considerable willingness among union members to consider…

Das Hillary Apparat is claiming that she would be a stronger general election nominee as she has done better in the big state primaries. It is a specious argument. Primary results in a given state do not really have much to do with general election results in that state. In fact, a private pollster…

Now that Eliot Spitzer has finally ended the Empire State's long nightmare, the time is finally right to indulge in some long overdue golf-blogging. Golf Digest has released its list of the best golfers in the political world. Not surprisingly, the two best are lobbyists. T-Mobile's Tony Russo…

While we wait on the denouement of Eliot Spitzer's governorship, I can't recommend this David Mamet essay (that everyone else has been linking to) highly enough. In it, the great playwright, screenwriter and director details how he has left liberal groupthink behind. Over at Hot Air, Captain Ed…

From the Wall Street Journal: The Pentagon vs. Petraeus, by the editors From the Los Angeles Times: Fallon Didn't Get It, by Max Boot From the Village Voice: Why I Am No Longer a 'Brain-Dead Liberal', by David Mamet From the Washington Times: China Left Off List of Violators, by Nicholas Kralev…

The Iraqi Army continues to push its troops into the neighborhoods to counter al Qaeda in Iraq and its allied terror groups' attempts to regain a foothold in the northern city of Mosul. The 4th Brigade of the 2nd Iraqi Army Division opened its newest combat outpost, called Knife, in the northern…

On Monday, trial lawyer Mike Ciresi bowed out of the contest to become the Democratic challenger for Minnesota senator Norm Coleman's seat. Al Franken is poised to win the nomination and perhaps the general election. The most recent Rasmussen poll showed Franken leading Coleman 49 percent to 46…

THE FBI'S NATIONAL SPOKESMAN was already prepared to dismiss a connection to terrorism the day after ricin was found in a Las Vegas hotel room. Special Agent Richard Kolko told the press on Feb. 29 that the presence of ricin appeared unrelated to terrorism "based on the information gathered so…

LATER THIS MONTH, a Dutch politician is scheduled to release a film that reportedly calls for the Koran to be banished and hints that Muslims might be expelled from the Netherlands. The 15-minute production, aptly called Fitna--Arabic for "strife"--has already generated death threats, security…

Tomorrow's New York Times will offer a piece that details the dizzying heights of hypocrisy that Eliot Spitzer habitually occupied: As New York's attorney general, Eliot Spitzer had broken up prostitution rings before, but this 2004 case took on a special urgency for him. Prosecuting an…

Racial polarization among Mississippi Democrats should come as no surprise to students of southern politics. But the just-released exit polls show especially sharp differences in the Clinton versus Obama margins between whites and blacks. Among white voters, Clinton won 72 percent to 27 percent,…

Image It was a couple of months ago that we all stared agape at Hillary Clinton audaciously basing her ceaseless claims of foreign policy "experience" on a putatively death defying goodwill mission to Bosnia that included "singer" Sheryl Crow, first daughter Chelsea, and "comedian" Sinbad. To many…

Republicans performed poorly among independents in the 2006 elections, a major factor contributing to losing the congressional majority. Some exit polls showed a decline of at least 18 percent in GOP support among these voters between the 2004 and 2006 contests. So independents represent a key…

1) Let's start at the ending: Is there any way Spitzer can survive this scandal and remain in office? Right now, it looks like he'll be gone within hours. Then again, it looked that way yesterday at this time. One of the few lasting legacies of the Clinton administration is that Bill Clinton…

Over the last year or so, I've chronicled the attempt of Congressional Democrats to have it both ways on Iraq. They've consistently promised their base that they'll do everything in their power to end the war (except de-fund it), and they've told the general populace that they'll never cut off…

Today the Wall Street Journal's Gerald Seib tackles the question of whom John McCain will select for his running mate. He sums up the conventional wisdom quite well, and comes up with a list of contenders that have made a number of short lists. Seib weighs the pros and cons of Mark Sanford, Tim…

Michael Walsh, one of your Cardinal's Irish pals and author of a fun novel about NYC mob legend Owney Madden called And All the Saints, offers up some fun detail on the pseudonym "George Fox." Client number 9 was not alone in using that moniker when slipping into hotels. Madden's partner, George…

One of Her Majesty's Finest vs. 150 Taliban. Good odds, it appears. A BRITISH soldier who almost single-handedly took on 150 Taliban after he and his 50-man convoy were ambushed in Afghanistan has been awarded the Military Cross. Fusilier Damien Hields used his grenade machinegun to destroy seven…

It's interesting how Democrats harp on foreign policy explanations for anti-Americanism while disregarding the role domestic policy plays. In the world according to Obama, America is hated because we're in Iraq: "The fact that the continuation of a presence in Iraq as Sen. McCain has suggested is…

It's official. Boeing is going to the mattresses. Boeing Co. said it plans to protest the Air Force's decision to award a $40 billion contract for aerial refueling tankers to a team comprising Northrop Grumman Corp. and the parent company of rival Airbus. The move sets up a protracted political…

The Associated Press reports today: Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday joined Republican presidential candidate John McCain and a small band of GOP senators in making a run this week against the billions of dollars in home-state pet projects Congress funds each year. Obama,…

As I mentioned yesterday, Matt Stoller of OpenLeft.com is one of the leading lights of the progressive blogosphere. It is thus with a measure of sadness that I must make note of a post Stoller made this morning. Under the headline "Is the Bush Administration Going After Eliot Spitzer?," Stoller…

A majority of people in 31 different countries not only oppose military action against Iran, they oppose economic sanctions as well. In fact, 14 percent of people do not even believe diplomatic efforts should be employed to discourage Iran's nuclear program. The United States is one of only two…

The intertubes never forget. Below is one of Eliot Spitzer's campaign ads from the last campaign cycle. (HT: Allah)

We talked about post-Vietnam syndrome, and the threat it poses to the Democratic campaign, just about a year ago. Richard Cohen observes today that it might cost the Democrats the presidency: You can see it all happening again: a Republican charging that the Democrats are defeatist, soft on…

From the Wall Street Journal: Spitzer's Rise and Fall From the New York Post: Gov. Longshot?, by Fred Siegel From USA Today: Reality and the Iraq War, by Michael O'Hanlon From the Long War Journal: Targeting Mosul's Kidnappers, by Bill Roggio From Commentary's Contentions: Lost in the Scandal, by…

Ken Langone was one of the lions of Wall Street who had the misfortune of having his reputation stand in the way of Eliot Spitzer's ambitions. Last night, CNBC's cameras caught up with Langone, and he wasn't shy. The best part came when he responded to the question, "What's next for Eliot Spitzer?"…

I've received quite a few letters speculating how the Customer No. 9 scandal might impact the Democratic presidential race. Two theories are dominant: 1) HILLARY WILL BE HURT. The thinking here is that Spitzer's dalliances will remind them of the Clintons' worst and most venal moments (in spite of…

The next Governor of New York, David Paterson, is embroiled in a discrimination lawsuit brought by a white photographer he fired after becoming Minority Leader of the New York State Senate five years ago. His defense is worthy of note: Paterson, now the lieutenant governor, asserted he axed the…

London

Remember how Larry Craig was going to resign the same day, and then he was going to resign quite soon, and then he announced a resignation that would take effect somewhat down the road, and when that time came...he didn't resign? I wonder if that could work for Eliot Spitzer. And more to the point:…

A new survey shows that Democrats are divided on the question of ending their nomination madness and creating an Obama/Clinton or Clinton/Obama ticket. According to a Gallup poll released today, 51 percent of Democrats overall favor Clinton and Obama settling their differences and forming a "dream…

Spitzer's not just the president--he's a client. eliot_spitzer.thumbnail.jpg

I'm skeptical of the notion that the effectiveness of the nation's intelligence agencies will be helped by opening up their operations so that Americans feel better about them: A top intelligence official says he wants to pull back the curtain of secrecy to let Americans see more clearly what it is…

The latest trend coming to a Toys 'R' Us near you: war-on-terror toys! I remember thinking my little brother's Star Wars Legos were way cooler than the traditional generic red, blue, and yellow Lego bricks I had. But now Legos have gotten even better and more realistic with BrickArms's Kops,…

Brian Baird (D-WA) may have a 100 percent rating from NARAL, the National Farmers Union, Citizens for Tax Justice, and the ACLU, as well as a 94 from the SEIU and an 'A' from the NEA, but it's not enough to let him escape an anti-war primary challenge. That's because Baird has been an enemy of the…

In these, the first hours after Eliot Spitzer's epic fall from grace, it will be difficult for Spitzer's numerous detractors to avoid reveling in an unhealthy amount of Schadenfreude. Nevertheless, it would be salubrious to remember at this time that there are many things worse than a hypocrite.…

With the news that Eliot Spitzer is preparing to discuss his involvement in a prostitution ring, it's worth taking a look at how he's been doing in the eyes of New York voters. It's a good news/bad news situation for Eliot. The good news: His ratings are unlikely to suffer much. The bad: It's…

The Daily News got Hillary's offer to make Obama vice president right in saying, "She's like a con artist trying to sell a house she doesn't own." Now Obama is using Hillary Clinton's offer against her, albeit not that persuasively. He says, "I don't understand. If I am not ready, why do you think…

The New York Times reports: ALBANY - Gov. Eliot Spitzer has informed his most senior administration officials that he had been involved in a prostitution ring, an administration official said this morning. I know it's annoying when writers can get all high and haughty over other writers producing…

The Iraqi Army still has plenty of work to do before it can sustain independent operations, but their ability to plan and execute brigade-level operations in the city of Mosul was apparent during an operation with the 4th Brigade, 2nd Iraqi Army Division on March 9. The target was the kidnapping…

Last week, Hillary suggested that she could run on a ticket with Obama--provided she is at the top of the ticket, of course. Bloggers were mostly skeptical of the idea of this "dream ticket." This week, the Clintons are continuing to push the idea on the campaign trail: Bill said the duo would be…

Drinking won't just make you the life of the party...it will prolong your life. A new study finds that "non-drinkers who begin taking the occasional tipple live longer and are less likely to develop heart disease." Perhaps scientists will soon prove another hunch of mine: Drinking gin directly from…

Image Blogosphere newcomer Jeff Dobbs offers some wistful words that reflect how timing truly is everything: If I have one regret about waiting as long as I did before starting this blog, it is that by self-stifling my dissent and not speaking truth to power, I was giving up essential liberty for…

LAST SUNDAY, OUR friend Charlotte Allen wrote a gentle spoof for the Outlook section of the Washington Post on the general subject of feminine ditziness, suggesting that at times members of her and my gender could be ineffectual, overemotional, sometimes irrational, and, now and then, "dim."…

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Last Sunday, our friend Charlotte Allen wrote a gentle spoof for the Outlook section of the Washington Post on the general subject of feminine ditziness, suggesting that at times members of her and my gender could be ineffectual, overemotional, sometimes irrational, and, now and then, "dim."…

From the New York Times: McCain's Daunting Task, by the boss From the American: Why Can't a Woman Be More Like a Man?, by Christina Hoff Sommers From the Middle East Journal: In the Villages of Al Anbar, by Michael J. Totten From Michael Yon's Online Magazine: Guitar Heroes, by Michael Yon From the…

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A Democrat in the Tennessee state legislature has introduced a bill to require a paternity test before a father's name may be added to the birth certificate. One might get the impression from such a law that there is a bigger problem in this country with mothers falsely alleging paternity than…

THE BRITISH ONCE tried to separate Americans from their money by taxing tea. It didn't work. Now, they're trying again, this time using obscure treaties to raid the U.S. Treasury to the tune of what might be hundreds of millions of dollars--and I am told by sources here in London that our…

So it turns out plastic bags, the bête noire of environmentalists worldwide, are not so bad for marine life after all. According to a new report, "The widely stated accusation that the bags kill 100,000 animals and a million seabirds every year are false, experts have told The Times. They pose…

A 17 year-old California youth had made it through Los Angeles County's foster care system and was ready to join the Marines. Only one thing stood in his way -liberal Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner Marilyn Mackel and the fact that she "didn't approve of the Iraq war, didn't trust…

In the run-up to Taiwan's first-ever direct presidential election in 1996, China fired three ballistic missiles into the island's territorial waters in an attempt to dissuade its electorate from voting for the independence-minded Lee Teng-hui. Lee won by a landslide. Four years later, then-Chinese…

In photographs from those days, the young William F. Buckley Jr. of the 1950s always seemed to have his legs stretched out--his feet up on a nearby chair, or a pile of books, or an open desk drawer. Slumped down, the phone squeezed to his ear by his shoulder, his fingers twiddling a pencil, he…

"At his desk," wrote Christopher Buckley in his email to friends, "in Stamford this morning." Well, one had somehow known that it would have to be at his desk. The late William F. Buckley Jr. was a man of incessant labor and productivity, with a slight allowance made for that saving capacity for…

This year's excruciatingly boring Oscars stumbled to a conclusion with the victory of a movie that (a) nobody has seen and (b) nobody who has seen it is all that crazy about. The 80th annual Academy Awards ceremony was no country for ordinary men, or women, who go to the movies because they want to…

BORDER INSECURITY

A few weeks back, the Washington Post wrote that Democratic frontrunner Barack Obama is running on a "platform of hope and change." Which is true enough--if by "hope and change" the Post actually means "despair and a change for the worse." That is certainly the case, anyway, when it comes to…

Faith in the Halls of Power

blog.mode: addressing fashion

Last summer, Senate Republicans seemed headed for a cliff in the 2008 election and likely to land on the wrong side of a 60-seat, filibuster-proof Democratic majority. Fights over immigration and Iraq had plunged Republican approval ratings to new lows, and a string of retirements left the GOP in…

Edward Elgar and His World

Young Stalin

I came to him when I was still a teenager, through television. You might be surprised at how many people found him this way. He published millions of words of commentary and rumination, on a startling range of subjects, in high-circulation newspapers and the slickest magazines. He pulled off a…

As the GOP debates whether John McCain is sufficiently Reaganesque, here's a point in the senator's favor: Like the Gipper, he doesn't consider education a top presidential priority. Indeed, McCain has said very little about the subject on the campaign trail, and his website barely touches it.

When the Oscar nominations were announced back in January, few were surprised that There Will Be Blood and No Country for Old Men led the way with eight nods. Searing visions of life in the American West, both struck a chord with critics from coast to coast. Each picture also marked a powerful…

I once wrote a letter to my hero, hoping to get one back. This was early in 1976, and I'd recently taken my first newspaper job. William F. Buckley Jr., who was willing to challenge liberal orthodoxy and defend traditional norms like no one else, was as famous as I was obscure, and I could think of…

Great commanders often come in pairs: Eisenhower and Patton, Grant and Sherman, Napoleon and Davout, Marlborough and Eugene, Caesar and Labienus. Generals David Petraeus and Raymond Odierno can now be added to the list.

As Barack Obama strode to the podium after his triumphant victory in the South Carolina primary last month, the crowd gathered to hear him began to chant. "Race doesn't matter! Race doesn't matter!"

John McCain's proposal for health care reform is more than a plan for making health care more affordable and for controlling costs through deregulation and market competition. It is also an attempt to restore independence and human dignity to patients. Both of his potential opponents in the fall…

A Trudeaumania Postscript

Here's one measure of the man and the scope of his achievement: No serious historian will be able to write about 20th-century America without discussing Bill Buckley. Before Buckley, there was no conservative movement. After Buckley, there was Ronald Reagan. Reagan was the most important American…

Mediterranean Anarchy, Interstate War, and the Rise of Rome

THE STREETS OF GAZA were packed with thousands of joyous revelers on Thursday following the terrorist attack at a Jerusalem rabbinical seminary that killed eight people. In mosques throughout Gaza, according to news reports, many residents went to perform the prayers of thanksgiving. Armed men…

Howard Dean made the rounds this weekend to discuss the increasing likelihood of the nasty fight inside his party continuing all the way up until the convention. "There's two things they can do," he said on Face the Nation. "One is to have this kind of an alternative process, which we're talking…

Our friend Jack Keane e-mailed, asking us to help him set the record straight: "On March 7th I was misrepresented on two evening news shows as a 'Clinton supporter or advisor.' In fact I am an independent and have endorsed no one in this, or any other, presidential campaign. I've had discussions on…

Matt Stoller, one of the leading lights of the progressive blogosphere, underscores some of the far left's discomfort with Barack Obama: "Insulting liberals is a standard Obama tactic…So too is Obama's tendency to dismiss and sneer at progressives. There's a dual claim from the Obama camp that I…

As luck would have it, I didn't have to wait any longer than six hours to catch a flight from Baghdad to Mosul. I saw a Mosul flight on the board at the passenger terminal and signed up for Space A, or Space Availability seating. It turned out that the flight was empty: I shared a C-130 with an…

In a piece that will appear in tomorrow's issue, the New York Times joins its step-sister (the Boston Globe) in noticing the fortuitous timing of Barack Obama's emergence as a leading voice advocating withdrawal from Iraq: "He was cautious (during his early days in the Senate) - even on the Iraq…

When a liberal politician changes his mind, particularly when he journeys to an even more liberal position, you can count on his fellow travelers in the media to refer to such a fortuitous happenstance as an "evolution." A case study of this phenomenon is to be found on the front page of today's…

The girl in the red-phone ad is 8-years-older than when that footage was shot and is quite the feisty Obama supporter… "It's really sort of ironic that my image would be used to advocate for Hillary when I myself do not," said Casey. She may only be 17, but Casey has some very strong political…

Looking out the window on a night flight into Baghdad, you would hardly know there is a war going on. Iraq appears deceptively peaceful during the flight from Kuwait into Baghdad. The lights from cities and towns are clearly visible, as is the excess gas burned off from refineries in the South. As…

Lefties describe McCain "flying off the handle" and "flipping out." They wish, but so do conservatives. Glenn Reynolds writes: The press hates it when pols get mad at reporters. I'm not convinced that anyone else does. Exactly. Nobody likes the press very much, least of all conservatives. McCain…

Here's one for the unconventional wisdom files. Women voters supercharge Hillary Clinton's engine on the road to the nomination, right? The hi-octane boost she gets from female voters is part of this campaign's regular narrative. So in any given primary, the bigger the slice of the electorate women…

More straight talk from Samantha Power, the now departed foreign policy adviser: Like Vieira de Mello, Obama is "comfortable crossing boundaries". They also have in common a willingness to talk to dictators; and here Obama needs to be careful. When the former Yugoslavia was disintegrating, Vieira…

ABC News reports (via Geraghty): In a new interview with National Journal magazine, an intelligence adviser to Barack Obama's presidential campaign broke with his candidate's position opposing retroactive legal protection for telecommunications companies being sued for cooperating with a dubious…

One thought about the Jerusalem massacre: the lack of moral outrage about the fact that the gunman disguised himself as a rabbinical student. Although the media frequently covers protests by outraged Muslims throwing temper tantrums at any perceived disrespect to their religion, Reuters and other…

From Andrew Sullivan: What I think this misses are the cultural and social consequences of beating Obama (or McCain) this way. I don't mean beating Obama because the Clintons' message is more persuasive, or because the Clintons' healthcare plan is better, or because she has a better approach to…

Can this be possible? The United States' closest ally in South America is Colombia. The fact that Colombia receives billions in aid from the U.S. is highly controversial. Colombia has negotiated a Free Trade Agreement with the United States, whose consideration is long overdue. And now, Colombia…

The strength of Barack Obama, the candidate, is clearly Barack Obama, the person. He seems engaging and open-minded, genial and bipartisan, moderate, humble, and un-corrupt. But if the candidacy is essentially about the man, then it runs aground if the man can't match the hype. Among the three…

According to Capitol Hill Police, there's no link between the bombing of the recruiting center in Times Square, and the contemporaneous mailing to several Capitol Hill offices of pictures of the recruiting office with notes claiming 'we did it:' Laura Eimiller, an FBI spokeswoman in Los Angeles,…

From TWS Online: End of Reyes, by Michael Moynihan. From the Times: Hillary's Weapon, by Gerard Baker. From the Wall Street Journal: Freedom Means Responsibility, by George McGovern. From the Long War Journal: Is Gadahn Dead or Not? by Bill Roggio. From Contentions: Must. Surrender. Somewhere. by…

Samantha Power has resigned from her role as foreign policy adviser to the Obama campaign. Her offense: "[Clinton] is a monster, too - that is off the record - she is stooping to anything," Ms Power said, hastily trying to withdraw her remark. First off, tell us something we don't know. Second,…

According to the most recent Gallup poll, "A record proportion of Americans -- 47% -- say the United States' national defense is not strong enough. Another 41% say the country's defense is about right, while 10% say it is stronger than it needs to be." This is a very interesting finding,…

It's "yes we can" for grown-ups. And it works on a couple of levels. First, it has all the sheen of a pharmaceutical ad--so it seems futuristic and forward looking at the same time as it reminds of an earlier age. Second, it rebukes Obama for his defeatism, for his insistence that America owes…

Things can sure change quickly in Washington! It seems just a few weeks ago that Democrats were again talking about attempting to force a withdrawal from Iraq. That was odd, since they had recently funded the war. It's even more surprising when you consider that the Democratic budget plan for 2009…

Northern Germany's wealthy city-state of Hamburg may soon become home of the country's first-ever Black-Green coalition government involving the conservative CDU party and the environmentalist Greens. If successful at the regional level, such a previously almost unthinkable political configuration…

IN NOVEMBER 2006, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (FARC), the Marxist terror group that has waged a nearly half-century war against the Colombian state, circulated an open letter to the academic and Hollywood left, requesting that their "always generous solidarity" with Third World…

EVERYONE LOVES A good heist movie. There's something about a gang of villains coming together and crafting a brilliant plan--which, if pulled off, promises riches beyond their wildest dreams--that really gets the juices flowing. Examples in the last decade alone abound: there's the Ocean's series,…

From the BBC report speculation on today's massacre in Jerusalem: The fact that the school is at the heart of the settler movement in the occupied West Bank may have been the reason why it was targeted, BBC Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen reports. Many of its students are on special courses that…

On the one hand, I'm stunned that lefties can't seem to get beyond playground style name games, Petraeus-Betray Us, McCain-McSame. On the other hand, do Democrats really want to legitimize this kind of inanity...let me think, how could an unaccountable, right-wing, third-party outfit go about such…

Obama: Creating new and better realities.

Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) warns that if Florida's delegates aren't seated, we may be headed for a 'train wreck': "If they go to the Democratic Convention and stiff-arm the Florida delegations, how in the world do you think Floridians are going to support the Democratic nominee on Nov. 4?" Nelson…

The Politico reports on a dustup on the House floor between Representatives Heath Shuler (D-NC) and Debbie Wasserman-Schulz (D-FL): As told to us, Wasserman Schultz asked Shuler if he'd sign the [GOP dischage] petition. Shuler said, "You're damn right I would sign it, it's about time we did…

Carter Wood points us to a new interview with Carl Pope, the Executive Director of the Sierra Club. Pope calls for expanded production of natural gas to help reduce the American dependence on foreign oil: But among the fuels that you can use there are clear preferences and our preference is,…

What's scarier than Madam President Clinton or President Obama? A Clinton-Obama ticket (or vice versa). Bill and Michelle included. From the CNN ticker: The morning after primary wins in Ohio, Texas, and Rhode Island, Hillary Clinton said she would consider being part of a Democratic "dream ticket"…

From a McCain adviser: It seems that there is much more than Tuesday's losses this week to raise serious doubts about whether the Obama operation is ready for prime time. He ends his first contentious press conference by walking out and simpering "I answered, like, eight questions." In the wake of…

The secret's out: Gov. Sarah Palin shocked and awed just about everybody around the Capitol on Wednesday when she announced she's expecting her fifth child. The governor, who recently turned 44, told a handful of reporters as she was leaving work to expect a new member of the first family, then…

From TWS Online: Hillary Won't Go Away, by Fred Barnes. From the Wall Street Journal: She's Alive! by Karl Rove. From Real Clear Politics: Obama's Pessimistic Message, by Victor Davis Hanson. From Esquire: The Man Between War and Peace, by Thomas P.M. Barnett. From the Washington Post: Commander…

Finally, there is an Iraq war demonstration that we can support. Three retired Army officers who have recently returned from Iraq have just embarked on the Resolve to Win March: a 16-day, 400-mile walk from South Carolina to Washington, D.C., to show support for our troops and their efforts in Iraq…

There is a "huge, gaping hole that looks like the descent into hell" on Mark Penn's lawn, but Hillary Clinton is still with us. Perhaps this has something to do with talk of her refusal to drop out of a race unless Obama picks her as a running mate. There is only one possible conclusion from this…

The Washington Post gets some attention this morning for a poll that shows John McCain losing to Barack Obama by 12 points and Hillary Clinton by 6. The findings are a bit of a surprise, since recent polls have shown McCain trailing Obama by just 5 or so, and roughly even with Clinton. Why the…

Without any apparent irony, tour guides at the Lower Eastside Tenement museum are trying to unionize and their bourgeois overlords are resisting such efforts. Labor disputes at not-for-profit groups do not often provide excellent educational opportunities, but this one sure does. I propose the…

Really: Jamaleldine doesn't even crack a smile when he talks about how, in 1991, he joined in anti-American protests on Berlin's Kurfürstendamm boulevard during Operation Desert Storm. "That was the way it was back then," he says. He was 15 and "America was simply the enemy." It took a full 14…

ON MONDAY, MARCH 3, the first U.S. special envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), which brings together 57 Muslim countries, took up his duties. Named by President George W. Bush, America's new diplomat to Muslims is Pakistan-born Sada Cumber of Austin, Texas. Cumber is the…

HILLARY CLINTON MAY BE calling herself "the new comeback kid" after wins in Ohio and Texas. But as a number of observers are pointing out, the delegates don't add up. Barring some cataclysm, Sen. Barack Obama's lead will hold all the way to the convention, which means he's going to be the nominee.

SOME PEOPLE THRIVE on adversity, but most of them are not politicians seeking high office. The Clintons, first Bill and now Hillary, are the exception. Three times in the Democratic presidential race Hillary Clinton has suffered shattering losses that threatened to destroy her candidacy. And three…

Marc Ambinder crunches some delegate numbers and comes up with an interesting scenario in which Obama and Clinton could tie in the delegate count: Allocating (generously), 60 percent of the remaining superdelegates to Clinton and running the following projections through Forbes's delegate…

For the first time in a month, Hillary Clinton has pulled ahead of Barack Obama in a national tracking poll, 48-44. According to Gallup, "National Democratic preferences began to shift in Clinton's favor on Sunday, gained momentum on Monday, and remained favorable to her on Tuesday." Gallup will…

We reported here last week that a Northrop-Grumman/EADS coalition was the surprise winner over Boeing in the competition for the Air Force's new tanker. It seems the push backfrom the Hill has already commenced: At a sometimes emotional hearing of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense,…

Germany's Spiegel reports: A young co-pilot steered the Airbus A320 that almost crashed on Saturday while trying to land in heavy wind. The more experienced 39-year-old pilot then took over to abort the landing and take off again. The Lufthansa Airbus A320 that almost crashed (more...)while trying…

From the Atlantic's new Current: U.S. military personnel have been raping Okinawans for the last 60-plus years. The author does concede that "the overwhelming majority of U.S. military personnel aren't sociopaths." At least not before they get deployed to a war zone, after which they become prone…

The Wall Street Journal reports that there's at least one major difference between Iraq and Vietnam -- a comparison Democrats are eager to draw. In the case of Vietnam, the views of Americans never changed course: Pollsters first noticed an uptick in public perceptions of the war in the fall. But…

It's time for Republicans to rally around the official nominee: John McCain. He won every primary yesterday, and his last remaining opponent, Mike Huckabee, has dropped out. Now pundits and bloggers forecast the coming months for McCain. At the WEEKLY STANDARD Online, Fred Barnes describes "three…

From TWS Online: Now the Hard Part, by Fred Barnes. From the Times: Memo to Medvedev: democracy counts, by Mikhail Gorbachev. From the Wall Street Journal: Sentiment on Iraq is Changing, by John D. McKinnon. From the New York Post: She Just Won't Die, by Rich Lowry. From the Washington Times:…

General Petraeus gets ready for next month's report to Congress: The security trend lines all are favorable, the general said. "Attacks have continued to go down. We've had a five-month period consistently of a level of attacks we've not seen since spring of 2005," he said. "This past week was the…

That's the take from ABC News: What, then, provoked one U.S. Marine to let himself be videotaped apparently flinging a yelping puppy over a cliff, bursting into laughter at the sound of the animal's body hitting the ground below? The tape of the apparent incident has rocketed around the Internet,…

Reuters reports: New South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, who has pledged a tougher policy in dealing with North Korea, rebuffed his communist neighbor's offer to meet in January, a news report said on Wednesday. The proposal was made through South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) "for…

There is great happiness in Clinton world this morning. Giddy staffers are pinging bloggers to grab credit for the 3am ad that supposedly stopped a surging Obama in Texas. Indeed, the hangman's noose has been postponed. But the truth of the matter is that for Hillary Clinton the confetti was flying…

"WE THINK THAT ONE OF the strongest means by which to improve transparency is the mil-to-mil relationship," said Condoleezza Rice last week in Beijing. "That has really accelerated over the last several years of the Administration and we think that that's really the way that you get at transparency…

NOW THAT HE'S WON the Republican presidential nomination, John McCain has some serious tasks ahead of him. Wooing conservatives and raising money are the least of it. Telling his life story to the country and making speeches on big issues, while Democrats continue their nomination struggle, won't…

INDIA IS ONE OF THE MOST important customers for two of the world's major arms producers: France and Russia. Both nations have recently had fairly good success in this market and are competing there along with four other U.S. and European suppliers for a large export contract for fighter aircraft.

Karl Rove is stationed in front of a MacBook Air on Fox News tonight, leaving me to wonder will our dark lord's use of the machine destroy Apple's hipster street-cred? Will Apple's monopoly on the too-cool-for-school market vanish as word spreads from Dupont Circle and Williamsburg to hipster…

In the course of his victory speech tonight, McCain seemed to finally, and confidently, settle on a strategy for dealing with Iraq in the campaign ahead: As you well know, America is at war in two countries and involved in a long and difficult fight with violent extremists who despise us, our…

Texas exit polls are now up and point to a very tight race Lone Star state. See the full results here. A few interesting tidbits: Clinton did very well with Hispanics in general, but Obama broke through among those under 30, winning the 18-29 Latino vote 52-47. He lost the other age groups among…

Limited exit poll information points to a Clinton win in Ohio tonight. You can see the results here. Women represented 59 percent of all Ohio Democratic voters--good news for Senator Clinton who won among females 54-45. Obama won among men by a narrower 52-47 spread, more good news for Clinton who…

Dan Balz writes in today's Washington Post: Every political junkie around the country is spending hours with Slate's delegate calculator on the Internet or with more complex spreadsheets that are being passed around by e-mail. Plug in what you think the results will be in Ohio or Texas or…

Democrats have spent the last year loudly insisting that Afghanistan is the "real" war on terror. But when it comes to making meaningful recommendations for what actually needs to be done to reverse the situation in Afghanistan and defeat the Taliban, they have been notably vague and lethargic.…

Here's the quote from his op-ed in today's Wall Street Journal: Meanwhile, we are watching the American elections closely along with the rest of the world. The Russian ruling elite is rooting for Hillary Clinton, who represents a known and predictable entity compared to Barack Obama. John McCain…

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Senator John McCain weighed in on the retirement of Brett Favre this morning. On his campaign plane in San Antonio, Texas, I told McCain about the report. "Did you hear the big news?" I said, deliberately obtuse. "Oh, no!" Several other people in the front of the plane expressed shock upon hearing…

The Pentagon hosted a conference call today with bloggers in order to promote the Defense Department's latest report to Congress on the military power of China. When the DoD first started this outreach program, there was a great deal of criticism--the Pentagon was spoon feeding administration…

From TWS Online: Buckeye Blues, by Fred Barnes. From the New York Post: Russia Chooses Chains, by Ralph Peters. From the Wall Street Journal: The World Has Plenty of Oil, by Nansen G. Saleri. From the Middle East Journal: In the Slums of Fallujah, by Michael J. Totten. From the Wall Street Journal:…

Why is Iran going after al Qaeda's enemies in Iraq? A few days ago, Iraqi spymaster Mohammed Abdullah Shahwani accused Iran of trying to sabotage al Qaeda's opposition. "We have information confirming that Iranian secret services have sent agents to sabotage the Sahwa [i.e. the "Awakening"]…

Today's Texas and Ohio primaries could decide the Democratic nominee. If Obama is able to sweep both states, he will likely be the nominee--and given his swoon-inducing factor, many Republicans think he will be more difficult to beat than Hillary. But now it looks like the media is getting tougher…

Today is a big day for John McCain, and I say this not because he could end the evening with the 1,191 delegates needed to secure the nomination. I say this because Hillary Clinton could exit the election if she loses in both Ohio and Texas, and that would be very good news for the McCain campaign.…

Experience and vision produce some sharp electoral fault lines this presidential election season. As we'll no doubt see in the Ohio and Texas exit polls, Democrats like Senator Clinton's experience but swoon over Senator Obama's vision. These candidate characteristics cause even more dramatic…

Run down his position on the issues, or look at his rating from National Journal, and there's not much doubt that Barack Obama is one of the most liberal candidates ever to contend for his party's presidential nomination. Listen to him speak, and he's a pragmatist uninterested in partisan dogma,…

This is the funniest thing I've seen all week. Also, since it's the Easter season, try some light reading on the science of Peeps.

After World War II, Congress passed what I consider to be one of the most important pieces of legislation in U.S. history, the GI Bill. The bill, which provided college benefits for troops returning from the war, quite literally built the American middle class. Today the GI Bill is still alive…

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This is worrisome news. The Chinese military, known as the People's Liberation Army, is acquiring technologies to improve its ability to operate in space and is "developing the ability to attack an adversary's space assets," the report said. "PLA writings emphasize the necessity of 'destroying,…

WHEN VOTERS IN OHIO go to the polls today, they will have heard over and over again from Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton that their state's economic troubles are caused by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and other trade treaties.

Beirut

IT WAS A BOLD move. The movie industry, long condemned as purveyors of every conceivable offense for the sake of a buck, was taking a stand. We will not abide by this rot anymore, it said, pounding a fist into its hand; the time has come to take the high ground, no matter the financial consequence.…

WITH ALL OF THE BAD economic news coming out these days, I wouldn't be surprised if many readers are wondering if I am not being overly optimistic in my reports on the U.S. economic outlook. So, to provide a balanced view of the turbulent economic scene, let me sketch the more widely believed…

The New York Sun's Eli Lake quotes surge architect Gen. Jack Keane: "I have no doubts whatsoever that if she were president in January '09 she would not act irresponsibly and issue orders to conduct an immediate withdrawal from Iraq, regardless of the consequences, and squander the gains that have…

In the days after the New York Times published its non-blockbuster on John McCain and lobbyists, other news outlets followed-up, most of them focusing on one question: Did John McCain do special favors for Lowell "Bud" Paxson? To answer it, reporters largely focused on Paxson's efforts to obtain a…

The Quote of the Day (So Far!) is from Christopher Hitchens, and it's a 'beaut: Pretty soon, we should be able to get electoral politics down to a basic newspeak that contains perhaps 10 keywords: Dream, Fear, Hope, New, People, We, Change, America, Future, Together. Fishing exclusively from this…

Lockheed hits all the right notes: versatile attack/reconnaissance ability, budget concerns, the need for a long-range loitering bird, all while playing out the sort-of obvious attack on a hypothetical "WMD base." Honestly though, all they would have needed to do to sell me on this thing would be…

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has a wacky scheme to eliminate the penny and alter the composition of the nickel. He worries, however, that eliminating the penny may not be "politically doable." Since when did the penny lobby become such a juggernaut that it could make a former CEO of Goldman…

Per the post earlier today about McCain's surprisingly strong recent numbers in national polls vis-à-vis Obama, your Cardinal says: don't believe it. Those numbers will change. If, as I suspect, Obama prevails in both states tomorrow -- or even in just Texas and Vermont -- and HRC does indeed…

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Christmas has come early for the right wing attack machine. Obama the sequel is the latest viral ad about the Democratic frontrunner. Featuring celebrities (and Theo Huxtable) from such family films as Boogie Nights, the 2-minute spot is to campaign commercials what the Sopranos is to television.…

The government shows up at your office just days after the 9/11 attack and asks for your help in the war on terror. What are you going to do? According to Glenn Greenwald, you should call a lawyer (isn't that always what the lawyers say). But telecom executives did the only thing they could…

McCain goes a little crackpot himself: At a town hall meeting Friday in Texas, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., declared that "there's strong evidence" that thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative that was once in many childhood vaccines, is responsible for the increased diagnoses of autism in the U.S.…

Stu Rothenberg poses that question today in Roll Call: It's remarkable that, with all of the bad news for Bush and the GOP, the huge crowds that Obama is generating at events, the undeniable Democratic surge in turnout in this year's primaries and the horrendous state of the Republican brand just…

Gloria Steinem

Affirmation of Vladimir Putin's accomplishments as president was a constant theme of recent Chinese press coverage of Russia. Yesterday, as Russians went to the polls to elect a new president, Xinhua celebrated with a lengthy piece titled "Putin's report card." It credits the Russian leader not…

ss-080224-oscarawards-08.widec.jpg Crackpot.

From the New York Times: The Indispensable Man, by the boss. From le Monde: IAEA Has Evidence of post-2003 Iranian Nuke Program, by Natalie Nougayrède. From Hot Air: Chickenhawk V2.0, by Allahpundit. From Contentions: Rice's Misplaced Priorities, by Eric Trager. From the New York Daily News:…

CJCS to Military: Ditch the peacetime mentality... In a broad-ranging all-hands meeting with Joint Staff members here today, Navy Adm. Mike Mullen discussed the stand-up of U.S. Africa Command, the challenges of leadership in a changing world, and the increased speed of war. Military officials need…

Last week I wrote that neither party's front-runner enjoyed broad support among frequent churchgoers--a key target group for both parties in 2008. Exit polls show that those who attend church more than once a week prefer Clinton to Obama and Huckabee over McCain. Neither party will nominate the top…

The House and Senate have returned to work after the President's Day break. As they head into what is effectively the home stretch before the 2008 election, how is the Democratic leadership faring in comparison to the last, Republican-led Congress? Not too well. According to the Real Clear Politics…

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Confessions of a Spoilsport

The Castro News Network

Boston

In January 1959, during the early days of the Cuban revolution, Fidel Castro declared, "Behind me come others more radical than me." It was a reference to the hardcore Stalinists such as his younger brother, Raúl, and also a warning of what might ensue should Fidel be assassinated. Today, however,…

When the newly nominated American ambassador to Cairo, Margaret Scobey, testified at her Senate confirmation hearing on February 6, she listed many current problems in Egypt and pledged to do work to advance civil and political liberties there. Apart from a reference to including religious leaders…

How can I teach my students to write decently when the English language has become a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Academic-Industrial Complex? Our language used to belong to all its speakers and readers and writers. But in the 1970s and '80s, arrogant ideologues began recasting English into heavy…

Homer's the Iliad and the Odyssey

On February 16, last year's bipartisan legislation governing the collection of foreign intelligence and protecting from liability all persons who comply with federal directives to assist in such collection--the law otherwise known as the "Protect America Act of 2007"--expired, having exhausted its…

How do we explain the bizarre recent National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran, which stated in its opening sentence that the ayatollahs had halted their nuclear weapons program in 2003, even as, tucked away in a footnote, the same document noted that the most critical component of such a…

My American politics undergraduate students tease me without mercy for predicting a year ago that the Democratic nomination was Hillary Clinton's to lose. (I also predicted that Mike Huckabee would outlast all the Republican hopefuls except maybe John McCain. "Professor D's latest lucky guess,"…

Some people think cults are creepy. But as a child in the seventies, I rather enjoyed them. Whether Jonestowners, the Children of God, or the Symbionese Liberation Army, I always waited for the inevitable plot twist, when whatever had attracted the crazy cultists to each other in the first…

Madison, Wisconsin

Shortly after sundown on Wednesday night, the New York Times posted on its website a long story about John McCain, a female lobbyist, and the relationship--professional and perhaps personal--between the two. By midday Friday, executive editor Bill Keller had taken to the paper's website to offer a…

Chris Matthews tells us that Obama's victory speech after the Potomac primaries he felt "this thrill going up my leg." Frothing on, he invokes the last Democrat to carry Virginia, JFK. Brit Hume runs a replay of an audience member at the same speech enjoying an almost orgasmic reaction. Again,…

If you've ever wanted to be backstage during an opera, now's your chance.

1. John McCain: Does his appeal to independents, centrists, and Lieberman Democrats outweigh the ennui, nausea, and revulsion he evokes among those on the right of the right? In a sense, this is a row between conservatives who are politicians, and concerned with assembling a center-right coalition…

Senator Sam Ervin, Last of the Founding Fathers

History of My Life

Pictures at a Revolution

For decades, Democrats have been the coalition party. They brought together groups of people who differed on ideology and in social status. Republicans, at least since 1980, have been the consensus party. They rallied behind the standard positions of conservatism, differing only (and then mildly)…

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On Fox News Sunday, Karl Rove explained why John McCain had to distance himself from the conservative radio host who tried to use Barack Obama's name against him. "Using his middle name helps Obama, it doesn't hurt him," he noted, adding "I think people look at it and say ‘hey look, that's one…

A GWOT draft has been a left-wing fantasy for some time now, most notably pushed by Charlie Rangel to the cheers of the nutroots. The idea is to fill the streets with thousands of kids burning draft cards and recreate the antiwar movement of the 1960s. So even though neither Senator McCain nor the…

China and the United States have agreed to establish a Cold War style hotline: The U.S. and China aim to set up a telephone hot line between their militaries within a month after an agreement signed Feb. 29, the U.S. defense department said. The deal was signed in Shanghai alongside a deal giving…

HuffPoCiv.jpg The news from Anbar Arianna.

The Atlantic has started a new feature called the Current. I gather it's something of a group blog for the magazine's staff, but so far it looks like it's mainly an outlet for the slightly off-kilter rants of the magazine's associate editor (and WEEKLY STANDARD contributor) Reihan Salam. Here's his…