Posted
4/10/2004 07:56:20 PM
by Edward Driscoll
WELL, THIS IS FUN: Charles Johnson writes, "the Kerry campaign is allowing visitors to create their own web pages".
Hilarity ensues...
Posted
4/10/2004 01:21:09 PM
by Edward Driscoll
STANDING ATHWART THE 21st CENTURY, YELLING STOP: Along similar lines to comments by Jonah Goldberg and Radley Balko, Charles Krauthammer writes on "how times have changed":
We now know that the secret to curing hunger and poverty is capitalism and free trade. We have seen that demonstrated irrefutably in East Asia, which has experienced the greatest alleviation of poverty in the history of man. In half a century, places like Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea have gone from subsistence to First World status. And now free markets and free trade are lifting tens of millions of people out of poverty in India and China. And what has been the Democratic reaction to the prospect of fulfilling Humphrey's (and their party's) great dream? Fear and loathing. Democrats today thunder against the scourge of ``outsourcing'' -- American firms giving (what would otherwise be American) jobs to Indians and Chinese and other menacing foreigners. The anti-outsourcing vogue is part of a larger assault on free trade, which until recently -- meaning the Clinton administration -- Democrats had supported. Remember Al Gore's televised debate with Ross Perot, in which Gore demolished Perot's anti-free-trade arguments? Which makes the recent Democratic assault on free trade so jarring, never more so than when John Edwards and John Kerry competed with each other before Super Tuesday to see who was against more trade agreements with more Third World countries.Krauthammer adds, "Democrats have given up the mantle of tribune of the world's poor -- precisely at a time when we have finally figured out how really to rescue them".
Posted
4/10/2004 01:02:14 PM
by Edward Driscoll
MORE FUN WITH CAPTIONS AT AP: Charles Johnson looks at "The Honor of Jihad", with those nutty Hamas activists.
Posted
4/9/2004 11:00:11 PM
by Edward Driscoll
SPOCK'S BEARD: Various bloggers have linked to this Gregg Easterbrook post of an alternative history of our actions to prevent 9/11, but I hadn't had a chance to read it until now.
If you haven't seen it, definitely read the whole thing. As David Cohen wrote a couple of weeks ago, "So, the criticism is that we should have acted pre-9/11 in Afghanistan the way we acted in post-9/11 Iraq and in post-9/11 Iraq the way we acted in pre-9/11 Afghanistan?"
Yes, but if we did--the results would probably have been staggeringly close to what Easterbrook wrote in his Blog.
UPDATE: File this under "great minds think alike": Kathleen Parker has a similar essay in TownHall.com, with a similar ending.
Posted
4/9/2004 04:55:27 PM
by Edward Driscoll
I'VE OFTEN WONDERED WHICH IS WORSE: Listening to Elton John's "Candle In The Wind" or having a wisdom tooth pulled. What I never considered was the diabolical torture of having to submit to both simultaneously, thanks to my dentist's Muzak.
Blogging will resume in a bit.
Posted
4/9/2004 02:03:40 AM
by Edward Driscoll
HACK ATTACK: Matt Welch writes, "when citizens become journalists, and journalists become accountable, the biggest losers will eventually be politicians with something to hide".
Posted
4/9/2004 12:21:42 AM
by Edward Driscoll
BUILDING THE HIGH-TECH FOYER: My latest newsletter for Electronic House is online.
Posted
4/9/2004 12:06:10 AM
by Edward Driscoll
RENDEZVOUS WITH DESTINY: Greg Buete of Tech Central Station writes that we need to stay on course to turn Iraq over on June 30th:
An arbitrary date? Tell that to Abu Zarqawi and other terrorists opposed to Iraq's democratic transition. What we're witnessing in Fallujah and Ramadi is the execution of Zarqawi's playbook -- in the form of a letter addressing future insurgent strategy. In this letter, captured by Kurdish soldiers, Zarqawi fretted that time is running out for the insurgency. In response, Zarqawi, a Jordanian terrorist linked to al Qaeda, urged sparking a civil war between Iraq's Shia and Sunni Muslims, and most importantly, to do so before June 30, the date the US officially begins its transition of power to Iraq. At that point, Zarqawi noted, any further insurgency will be seen as a fight against fellow Muslims instead of a fight against America. Zarqawi said, "...if we fight them [Shia], that will be difficult because there will be a schism between us and the people of the region. How can we kill their cousins and sons and under what pretext, after the Americans start withdrawing? The Americans will continue to control from their bases, but the sons of this land will be the authority. This is the democracy, we will have no pretext." Were we to follow the leadership of John Kerry, and push back our transfer date, we would be delivering a gift-wrapped package to the promoters of chaos and instability in Iraq, just as the Spanish population delivered them a victory by capitulating to terror. It is imperative that coalition authorities stay the course. But in a repeat of last summer, armchair strategists are misdiagnosing the issue. With every milestone achieved putting more Iraqis in control, the insurgent factions -- whether former Saddam loyalists, Iranian-supported Shiite extremists or al Qaeda network terrorists -- lose ground. They are threatened by the June 30 transition date because on that day forward an insurgent attack is no longer against "occupiers" but against Muslims. Their argument and support will erode. Sen. Kerry isn't alone, unfortunately. Over the weekend two frequent Republican critics of the president, Senators Richard Lugar and John McCain (but of course!), joined Democratic Senator Joe Biden in advocating moving the transition date. The issue is thus added to the rest of the red herrings that never die in the course of this war: The most notable others being "more troops required" and a lack of an "international face" in Iraq.RTWT.
Posted
4/8/2004 11:35:22 PM
by Edward Driscoll
MEET THE NEW GREG PACKER: Just the same as the old Greg Packers.
Posted
4/8/2004 08:18:54 PM
by Edward Driscoll
FUN, FUN, FUN UNTIL DADDY TAKES YOUR HOT WHEELS AWAY: I have a nifty review of automobile writer Randy Leffingwell's book, Hot Wheels: 35 Years of Speed, Power, Performance Attitude, on Blogcritics.
It makes a nice double feature with this recent Tech Central Station by Ralph Kinney Bennett on the rise and continued popularity of Detroit's full-sized muscle cars of the 1960s.
Posted
4/8/2004 06:46:03 PM
by Edward Driscoll
SO THAT'S WHERE ROSE MARY WOODS WENT TO: A local talk radio station does some selective editing of Condi Rice's testimony.
(Via Protein Wisdom.)
Posted
4/8/2004 06:30:32 PM
by Edward Driscoll
DO YOU YAHOO!? Jeremy Reynalds says that Al-Qaida does.
Posted
4/8/2004 03:29:47 PM
by Edward Driscoll
ED'S IN ELECTRONIC HOUSE: If you're a football junky trying to survive the offseason, I have some tips on the back page of Electronic House magazine this month.
Posted
4/8/2004 01:24:53 PM
by Edward Driscoll
IN SEARCH OF THE ELUSIVE LEGAL COLLEGE DRINKER: Leonard Nimoy Jonah Goldberg discovers something that I never saw when I was in high school or college: kids under 21 who said that they don't drink because it's against the law!
Of course, the drinking age in New Jersey was raised from 17 to 21 during my senior year in high school, so it was very new, and we were young bucks who wanted to protest. And it was much closer to the '60s and '70s ethos of getting drunk and having a good time on the weekends. As Jonah writes (and he's a few years younger than I am), "I associate college so much with social drinking; I have such an ingrained and generalized contempt for the 21 drinking age; and I’ve simply never met anybody who used this explanation before, let alone heard that this is a fairly widely held attitude among college students. It makes me rethink the power of the law to shape culture in America."
Posted
4/8/2004 01:11:53 PM
by Edward Driscoll
AT THE SOUND OF THE BEEP, James Lileks has some memories of Joe Zimmermann and the ubiquitous technology he wrought.
Posted
4/8/2004 12:58:28 PM
by Edward Driscoll
ASYMMETRIC VERBAL WARFARE: Instapundit has some great quotes from Condi Rice's testimony today. Scroll down for her great rebuttal to Bob Kerrey.
UPDATE: More on Kerrey in November of 2001, here.
Posted
4/8/2004 11:49:46 AM
by Edward Driscoll
GREAT MOMENTS IN CAMPAIGN ORATORY: Charles Johnson caught this nuanced bit of oratory from John Kerry:
Yesterday on CNN, John Effin’ Kerry was asked how he would handle the situation in Iraq, after his strident criticisms of the Bush administration’s handling of the war. His response:As someone wrote on Charles' comments section, "I don't see what all the confusion is about, Kerry is clearly forgenst Bush's handling of the war."“Right now, what I would do differently is, I mean, look, I’m not the president, and I didn’t create this mess so I don’t want to acknowledge a mistake that I haven’t made.”
Posted
4/8/2004 11:36:57 AM
by Edward Driscoll
THIS EXPLAINS VOLUMES: Joanne Jacobs explains that the School of Engineering "is a frill" in the postmodern "academic" world of San Francisco State.
Posted
4/8/2004 11:29:57 AM
by Edward Driscoll
IPCENTRAL REVIEW is a new e-journal focusing on intellectual property issues of interest to both public policy specialists and the general reader. It's put out by the Progress & Freedom Foundation.
If IP issues are of interest to you, stop on by!
Posted
4/7/2004 10:22:38 PM
by Edward Driscoll
Posted
4/7/2004 09:14:44 PM
by Edward Driscoll
2001: A TYPOGRAPHIC ODYSSEY: Via Bill Peschel, who has some interesting thoughts of his own on the subject.
For more on Stanley Kubrick's font fetish, be sure to check out this article in England's Guardian.
Posted
4/7/2004 08:28:56 PM
by Edward Driscoll
THINGS TO DO IN DENVER WHEN YOU'RE ED: As James Lileks once wrote, "parachute journalism" is the laziest sort of reporting. "Find a Symbol of America, talk to a guy eating supper, and discern the Pulse of the Culture".
Which is why I'll be flying into Denver on Friday May 28th to stop by the Rocky Mountain Blogger Bash. If you're attending, you can't miss me--I'll be the guy who sort of looks like this.
Posted
4/7/2004 08:09:20 PM
by Edward Driscoll
SENATOR BYRD'S HITCH IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY--complete with photographic proof! Wow, I knew the guy was old...but not this old!
Posted
4/7/2004 07:17:29 PM
by Edward Driscoll
WELL, THEY ALREADY CRASHED COLUMBIA: Nothing like having the EPA in bed with NASA and the Air Force. The EPA's order to NASA to change the foam on the space shuttle's external tank may very well have doomed Columbia last year.
For its next brilliant move into the final frontier, the EPA is reducing the distance our nuclear missles can fly! StrategyPage writes that he U.S. Air Force "is in the process of replacing the decades old solid fuel rockets of its 500 Minuteman III missiles":
The last of the Minuteman III missiles will receive their new motors by 2008. It costs about $5.2 million to replace the rockets on each missile. The new rocket motors, which have to comply with EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) rules, will have a shorter range than the original motors.Via James Taranto, who adds, "If nuclear missiles have to comply with EPA regulations, what about the warheads?"
Posted
4/7/2004 05:31:33 PM
by Edward Driscoll
BECAUSE THE MEN IN THE BABY-BLUE HELMETS CAN'T PROTECT THEMSELVES: Matt Drudge writes that "The United States has asked more than a dozen countries to join a new international military force to protect the United Nations in Iraq, according to late reports from Washington tonight":
Bush Admin has approached France, which led opposition to the war in Iraq, as well as India, Pakistan and other nations that were reluctant to join the U.S.-led coalition that invaded Iraq. The list includes 'a good global mix,' said a State Department official familiar with the proposed force. But no Arab countries or neighbors of Iraq are on the list, with Turkey notably absent.Senator Kerry told NPR today:
The alternative to that is to get off your high horse and begin to show a little humility and begin to share responsibility and share risk and ask the world to come to this effort. The world has a legitimate effort, a legitimate interest in not having a failed Iraqi state. The world has a legitimate interest in beating back terror, and it is astonishing to me that given the legitimacy of that interest, this administration has managed to proceed so unilaterally. There are so few allies who are genuinely there both in serious numbers of troops taking risks and serious amounts of money committed to this.Let's see if Kerry's friends agree with him.
Posted
4/7/2004 04:59:36 PM
by Edward Driscoll
THE TORICELLI GAMBIT: Back in February, we posted:
SOUND ADVICE FROM MICHAEL GRAHAM (especially after the Toricelli and Paul Wellstone episodes in 2002): "Don't assume you know who's on the Democratic ticket until Election Day."Recently, Thomas Lifson wrote:
Keep in mind that there are still almost 200 days left before the election. There is plenty of time for second and third thoughts about Kerry, on the part of America's non-ideological voters, and plenty for them to think over. The vetting of candidate Kerry has only just begun. But of course, Kerry isn't really the nominee yet. He is only the "presumptive nominee." So it is time to seriously wonder if the Democrats might not exercise what we can call the "Torricelli Gambit.""And we all know who is waiting in the wings", Lifeson somewhat ominously adds. In a way, it makes a bit of sense. Arnold Schwarzenegger chose the shortened time period of the recall election to announce his candidacy, rather than face the heightened scrutiny of a full campaign slog. He may very well have started a precedent. If you feel you're popular enough to win, and have enough superstar clout to pull it off, why go through a full, bruising campaign when you can abbreviate things? Besides, your biggest attacks invariably come in October. Why not keep your bullets fresh?
Posted
4/7/2004 04:42:21 PM
by Edward Driscoll
SELF-VANDALISM: Are the numbers of Tawana Brawley wannabes increasing? Michelle Malkin has some thoughts.
Posted
4/7/2004 04:02:40 PM
by Edward Driscoll
HAMAS AND HIZBALLAH are "a sort of terrorist alignment", says John Kerry.
Sort of??
Posted
4/7/2004 03:25:29 PM
by Edward Driscoll
DID BRESLIN COOK THE BOOKS? I was just thinking the other day that Jimmy Breslin's writing, since I've been reading him on the 'Net in the late 1990s, is no great shakes, considering his superstar rep. Breslin's name was initially made back in the early days of the New Journalism with Tom Wolfe, when they both wrote for the New York Tribune in the mid-1960s. (Scroll down to a Thursday Bleat by Lileks for his take on the Herald Tribune.)
Lately, Breslin's writing has seemed partisan, shrill, and downright nasty. And frankly, this news (concerning faked quotes in this article) doesn't surprise me all that much.
Posted
4/7/2004 02:33:57 PM
by Edward Driscoll
REMEMBER MOVEON.ORG'S Bush=Hitler ads? Kerry has just hired Zack Exley, a strategist with MoveOn.org, as his director of online communications.
Posted
4/7/2004 12:43:52 PM
by Edward Driscoll
FUTURE SHOCK: Well, I suppose that eyeball jewelry was merely a matter of time.
Posted
4/6/2004 11:32:33 PM
by Edward Driscoll
THE LOTT DODD DOUBLE STANDARD: Daily Newsbrief compares the two scandals, and notes that Dodd himself said, during the height of the Lott scandal, "If a Democratic leader had made (Lott's) statements, we would have to call for his stepping aside, without any question whatsoever".
OK, clock's ticking, Chris.
Posted
4/6/2004 11:13:02 PM
by Edward Driscoll
IT'S NOT YOUR FATHER'S REPUBLICAN PARTY: Err, unless your father is Cpl. Max Klinger.
On the other hand as James Lileks observes in a Minneapolis shopping mall, its influence is spreading...
Posted
4/6/2004 06:56:23 PM
by Edward Driscoll
STOP THE PRESSES! Reuters manages to use the words Islamic Terror in a sentence--a headline no less--and with nary a quotation mark in sight! Hallelujah! Up off their feet at last!
It's probably a mistake, it won't last, and it's pointless to get your hopes up. But it's a nice--if all too brief--change of pace from terrorism's favorite western news source.
Posted
4/6/2004 06:20:31 PM
by Edward Driscoll
FARK PHOTOSHOPS FRANKEN: Geeks in sticks sics Photoshop on pix.
Posted
4/6/2004 05:52:46 PM
by Edward Driscoll
GHOST TOWN: P.J. O'Rourke once wrote a book called Holidays in Hell. If you're up for a virtual one, how about a motorcycle ride past the abandoned hulk of Chernobyl and its nearby deserted ghost towns, with Elena, a beautiful Russian brunette as your guide?
Posted
4/6/2004 05:22:04 PM
by Edward Driscoll
THE AMERICAN THINKER THINKS ABOUT AIR AMERICA:
All of this fuss over a network whose outlets numbered five low-powered, low-rated AM stations, whose airtime was purchase in blocks by the network. Not one program director in the entire country decided on his own that the potential listenership was attractive enough to merit carriage of the network as a commercial venture. Even worse, Air America’s radio outlets in the two largest markets, New York and Los Angeles, formerly served black and Hispanic ethnic audiences. There has already been one protest rally in New York, as “community leaders” protest the loss of their ethnic broadcasts. Not since Howell Raines published dozens of stories about Martha Burke’s efforts to force Augusta National to admit women members, while she was only able to muster a handful of demonstrators at the climax of her campaign, has there been such an obvious case of obsessive-compulsive coverage. But Raines was one (now-unemployed) editor. The Air America overkill was collective. Nobody who pays attention to the news has been able to escape repeated exposure to the story. All this for an operation reaching, in all probability, fewer people than a single evening newscast in a decent-sized TV market. You don’t have to be a Ronald Reagan worshipper to think to yourself, “There they go again.”Thomas Lifson, the author of the piece writes, "The proper term for this phenomenon is clear. It is a death spiral". Needless to say, RTWT. UPDATE: Glenn Reynolds has some additional links (there's a shocker!) on the topic.
Posted
4/6/2004 03:52:41 PM
by Edward Driscoll
THE SILVER LINING IN THE DARK CLOUD: Tremendous essay by Steven Den Beste on Fallujah. Den Beste writes, "The most important thing that happened in the last few days is that many of the most dangerous people in Iraq gave us an excuse to destroy them. CENTCOM won't throw this opportunity away."
Posted
4/6/2004 03:18:25 PM
by Edward Driscoll
THE REUTERS SYNDROME: The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has a very selective use of quotation marks when it comes to the war on terror.
Posted
4/6/2004 03:11:57 PM
by Edward Driscoll
LYNCH MOBS: Virginia Postrel and Mark Bowden have some thoughts on them, and the psychology of those who participate in them, both in the south in the 1930s, and Fallujah in 2004.
Posted
4/6/2004 02:09:42 PM
by Edward Driscoll
WEEKEND AT BERNIE'S: OK, it was a half-hour, not a weekend. And it wasn't "at", it was from my den via phone. But I just got off the phone after an interview with HBO and former CBS producer Bernard Goldberg, author of Bias and Arrogance, to get his take on how the media's covered events since the release of those two books. I'll let you know when it's online.
In the meantime, here's Jonah Goldberg's look at Bias. And here's John Hawkins' interview with Goldberg.
Posted
4/6/2004 02:03:09 PM
by Edward Driscoll
TEDDY VERSUS JFK: On his MSNBC Blog, Glenn Reynolds writes, "Kennedy doesn't seem to care: What happens to America is second to the all-important task of beating George Bush. Kennedy -- like all too many Democratic party stalwarts in Washington -- sees Republicans, not Islamist terrorists, as the real enemy. That's a formula for disaster at home and abroad."
Posted
4/6/2004 01:56:20 PM
by Edward Driscoll
PROFILES OF THE FUTURE: Stephen Pollard of England's The Telegraph speaks ill of the late Peter Ustinov and his terrible, pro-totalitarian politics.
Expect similar obits of many of today's celebrities in 40 or 50 years.
Posted
4/6/2004 11:55:31 AM
by Edward Driscoll
THE ATLANTIC CREEPS LEFTWARD: Jonah Goldberg writes:
The Atlantic is still a great magazine, but it seems to be inching further and further into official Liberal Magazine Land. One can be a liberal magazine and still be a great magazine, The New Republic has proved that more than a few times. But what made the Kelly and post Kelly era Atlantic particularly special was its effort not to be predictably on one side of the political ledger.Goldberg writes the Atlantic's current pieces, "contribute to the continued Slateification of the magazine, by which I mean that 'post-partisan smart' is defined as a certain kind of enlightened liberalism which enlightened liberals see as simply correct, not liberal".
Posted
4/6/2004 10:44:17 AM
by Edward Driscoll
THE KERRY JOBS MACHINE: Wow, this'll be quite a feat!
UPDATE: Buried in this New York Times article is another Kerry gaffe:
He added: "I'm not a church spokesman. I'm a legislator running for president. My oath is to uphold the Constitution of the United States in my public life. My oath privately between me and God was defined in the Catholic church by Pius XXIII and Pope Paul VI in the Vatican II, which allows for freedom of conscience for Catholics with respect to these choices, and that is exactly where I am. And it is separate. Our constitution separates church and state, and they should be reminded of that." Mr. Kerry apparently meant John XXIII, as there is no Pius XXIII.I don't expect anybody who's speaking extemporaneously to the press and the public to have a perfect command of the facts. But it does seem that Republican gaffes get far more coverage than Democratic ones, don't they?
Posted
4/6/2004 10:40:54 AM
by Edward Driscoll
CLELAND UPDATE: Yesterday, I quoted from an Ann Coulter piece on Max Cleland. Mike Spenis of the Feces Flinging Monkey Blog (now that's a Blog name!) emailed me an addendum to it:
Yes, Cleland was crippled as the result of an accident, not as a result of combat. However, Cleland did win a Silver Star for valor in combat a short time before the accident which ended his tour. A Silver Star is a serious combat medal, not the sort of thing they just hand out to anybody. Coulter said that Cleland was 'no hero', and I think that's what got her into trouble. I'm no fan of either Coulter nor Cleland, but Cleland has earned my respect for his service. He's a victim, and a hero, one right after the other.Mike also has news of an amazing marketing feat by Reason magazine, one that's gotten them surprisingly positive press in that other hardcore libertarian publication, the New York Times.
Posted
4/6/2004 12:22:37 AM
by Edward Driscoll
HUGH HEWITT: "I added as many affiliates this week as AirAmerica assembled in a year. I wonder if the New York Times will call today?"
Posted
4/5/2004 11:15:55 PM
by Edward Driscoll
MICHAEL MEDVED HAS A GREAT QUESTION FOR JACK VALENTI: "What happened, Jack, to all those missing moviegoers?"
Despite his unquestioned eloquence, elegance and charm, Mr. Valenti presided over history's most disastrous decline in the audience for feature films. In 1965, the year before he left the Johnson administration to assume his plush position as chief mouthpiece for the entertainment industry, 44 million Americans went out to the movies every week. A mere four years later, that number had collapsed to 17.5 million. In other words, some potent, puzzling force drove more than half of the nation's film fans to break the habit of movie going.Read the whole thing. UPDATE: Meanwhile, Chris Kanis notes the difference a change in administrations makes when it comes to Hollywood and foreign policy.
Posted
4/5/2004 04:07:57 PM
by Edward Driscoll
NANCY PELOSI URGES FAST ACTION in finding a suitable vice presidental candidate for Senator Kerry. Here's a modest proposal...
Posted
4/5/2004 01:53:47 PM
by Edward Driscoll
QUAGMIRE WATCH: On February 27th of last year, a month before surprisingly brief hostilities broke out in the war to liberate Iraq (as opposed to the post WWII-like difficulties reconstructing it afterwards), CNN was already declaring the war a quagmire.
On Sunday, four months before the actual event, AP declares, " Boston's Democratic Convention a Quagmire"!
(Via James Taranto.)
Posted
4/5/2004 01:30:44 PM
by Edward Driscoll
I'VE READ MICHAEL CROWLEY'S SLATE ARTICLE on former Georgia Sen. Max Cleland, and while Crowley writes that, "Cleland...lost two legs and an arm to a grenade explosion in Vietnam", he really, really underplays just how Cleland's accident occurred, and that it wasn't in combat. I'm no fan of Ann Coulter's writing style and sneering tone, but she took an enormous amount of flak for researching and simply writing about the incident:
Cleland lost three limbs in an accident during a routine noncombat mission where he was about to drink beer with friends. He saw a grenade on the ground and picked it up. He could have done that at Fort Dix. In fact, Cleland could have dropped a grenade on his foot as a National Guardsman – or what Cleland sneeringly calls "weekend warriors." Luckily for Cleland's political career and current pomposity about Bush, he happened to do it while in Vietnam. There is more than a whiff of dishonesty in how Cleland is presented to the American people. Terry McAuliffe goes around saying, "Max Cleland, a triple amputee who left three limbs on the battlefield of Vietnam," was thrown out of office because Republicans "had the audacity to call Max Cleland unpatriotic." Mr. Cleland, a word of advice: When a slimy weasel like Terry McAuliffe is vouching for your combat record, it's time to sound "retreat" on that subject. Needless to say, no one ever challenged Cleland's "patriotism." His performance in the Senate was the issue, which should not have come as a bolt out of the blue inasmuch as he was running for re-election to the Senate.And Crowley never mentions the Dan Quayle like gaffe that Kerry made in January on Meet The Press in defending Cleland:
We saw what they did to challenge the patriotism of Max Cleland, a triple amputee, a man who left three of his limbs on the ground in Vietnam. They challenged his patriotism. His regret is he didn’t stand up and fight back.To be fair though, Crowley does quote a particularly poor choice of wording by Kerry, although he fails to telegraph it to his readers:
"If they're going to try to question my commitment to the defense of our country, then I'm going to fight back," Kerry said at a February campaign event. "Because they did that to Max Cleland ... and I'm not going to stand for it."Neither of course, is Cleland. Had Quayle or George W. Bush made either gaffe, both men would be crucified by the press. But Kerry's gaffes always get a pass. In general though, Crowley is right: the Democrats, in constantly portraying themselves as the party of victims and "losers of life's lottery", may find themselves real losers in November, unless they start offering ideas other than "vote for Kerry, because he's not President Bush." UPDATE: Mike Spenis of Feces Flinging Monkey has an update to Coulter's article. Click here or scroll up to read it.
Posted
4/5/2004 12:24:22 PM
by Edward Driscoll
14:59 WATCH: Matt Drudge writes that Alanis Morissette strips to her birthday suit in Canada--only she doesn't, she's wearing a body suit with fake nipples and...stuff to protest Janet Jackson and Nipplegate. So it's a fake protest about a fake controversy, done in Canada, rather than in the US itself.
In the photo that accompanies Drudge's copy, Morrisette looks surprisingly embarrassed--as well she should.
UPDATE: Jonah Goldberg agrees.
Posted
4/5/2004 11:25:50 AM
by Edward Driscoll
ANOTHER ELDERLY SENATOR WITH A RACIST PAST IS PRAISED, only this time, rather than involving Republicans Trent Lott and Strom Thurmond, it's Chris Dodd praising Robert Byrd, whose checkered background includes time spent as a KKK Grand Dragon.
Both episodes began with quotes broadcast on C-SPAN and pushed forward via the Blogosphere and talk radio. In 2002, Lott ended up being disgraced--as a result of the elections that November, he was about to resume his role as Senate Majority Leader. Instead, he's now an anonomous backbencher.
Lott's speech was made as part of Thurmond's retirement celebration, and the 100 year old senator from South Carolina died shortly thereafter.
To the best of my knowledge, Byrd isn't planning to retire, and if anything, Dodd is more powerful in Democratic circles, than Lott is with Republicans.
Let's see if the traditional media picks up on this, and if anything happens to either of Lott or Byrd as a result of this speech and its initial reaction.
(Senator Lott Dod, from The Phantom Menace unfortunately could not be reached for comment about his two namesakes.)
Posted
4/5/2004 01:16:42 AM
by Edward Driscoll
IS CALIFORNIA IN FREEFALL? Greg Ransom writes that California has lost 355,000 manufacturing jobs in the past three years, because the cost of doing business is 32 percent higher in California than in neighboring states.
Posted
4/4/2004 12:24:45 PM
by Edward Driscoll
THERE'S A BUMPER STICKER IN THIS, SOMEWHERE: Joanne Jacobs writes that "The best school system in the U.S. is run by the Defense Department".
Posted
4/4/2004 11:52:39 AM
by Edward Driscoll
STEYN ON M.C. KERRY: There's always a danger when Republicans try to be too hip, something clearly George W. Bush understands. John Kerry's Dean-like claim that he's "fascinated by rap" illustrates that it's always a danger whenever 60 year old guys who aren't Jack Nicholson try to be too hip:
''Oh sure. I follow and I'm interested,'' says John Kerry. ''I'm fascinated by rap and by hip-hop. I think there's a lot of poetry in it. There's a lot of anger, a lot of social energy in it. And I think you'd better listen to it pretty carefully, 'cause it's important . . . I'm still listening because I know that it's a reflection of the street and it's a reflection of life.'' Really? You're ''fascinated'' by rap and ''listening'' to hip-hop? You're America's first flip-flopper hip-hopper? The best riposte to Kerry came from an encounter a few years ago between his predecessor Al Gore and Courtney Love, lead singer of the popular beat combo Hole, when they chanced to run into each other at a Democratic party night in Hollywood. ''I'm a really big fan,'' gushed the vice president. ''Yeah, right. Name a song,'' scoffed Courtney. The panicked vice panderer floundered helplessly. Fortunately, his Secret Service guys moved in before he wound up completely riddled by Hole. As wise old campaign consultants always say, the politician's First Rule of Holes is: When you're in one, stop digging. Al introduced us to a Second Rule: When you're with one, stop pretending to dig her. If only that MTV guy had said to Kerry, ''Yeah, right. Name a song.'' Think Kerry could've? Reckon if you bust into his pad and riffled through his and Teresa's CD collection you'd find a single rap album? Of course, you wouldn't find any in George and Laura's CD collection either. The difference is that President Bush doesn't feel the need to pretend.Needless to say, read the whole thing. (Hat tip to Betsy Newmark.)
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