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JUDGE HALTS [KJL] Osama driver trial (!), saying it violates the Geneva Conventions And Uniform Code Of Military Justice. Here's the ruling (pdf). Posted at 10:02 PM SPECTER ENDORSEMENTS ROLL IN... [KJL] From Republicans for Choice (joining Hugh Hewitt?!!--what's wrong with this picture?): Dear Friend of Choice, Posted at 09:55 PM WAKE UP WITH JOHN HILLEN [KJL] He'll be on ABC's Good Morning America around 7am EST Tuesday. Posted at 09:28 PM YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO [KJL] Subscribe to NR. Posted at 09:14 PM "LET'S MEET THE MEAT!" [Rod Dreher] I have been marveling over the recommendations the cultural left at the NYTimes and within the Netherlands have been doling out to the Dutch people in the wake of the Theo van Gogh murder by Islamic jihadists. Their prescription? Be more sensitive to Muslim immigrants. In fact, as a Dutch government report from January concluded, infinite patience and tolerance with these immigrants over the past 30 years has been a failure. Holland now has an alarmingly large, alarmingly radical Muslim subculture to deal with, and the people there are just now waking up to the sobering fact that multiculturalism -- the idea that all cultures are equally good, and that making distinctions among them is racist and immoral -- is a lie. A frustrated Dutch friend e-mailed on Sunday that the papers are full of journalists telling people that they need to dialogue with more sensitivity with the Islamic extremists among them. Wrote my friend, "What [barnyard epithet]! No matter how nice we put it, they will still want to kill us." Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Somali ex-Muslim who is now a Dutch member of parliament, and who has gone underground after Theo van Gogh's murderer(s) threatened her life, has accused Dutch society of cowardice in the face of Islamic fundamentalism, in part because in her view, it suffers from "misplaced guilt." If you want to understand those people, you could hardly do better than to recall the talking cow in Douglas Adams' sci-fi comic novel "The Restaurant At The End of the Universe." The cow has been genetically modified to want to be eaten. It presents itself at the table to discuss its fate with those about to eat it. The cow's job is to assuage the guilt of the diners, and to make them feel better about eating it. Imagine a nation whose governmental and media elite are a bunch of cows who want to make those who plan to devour them feel comfortable about the devouring, and you have the Netherlands today. Posted at 08:07 PM SPECTER AS JUDICIARY CHAIRMAN [KJL ] A friend of NR puts it this way: “Arlen Specter is the air-traffic controllers for the Bush adminstration. If nothing happens, signal to everyone out there is 'business as usual.' You don't get to pick your fights.” Posted at 06:36 PM RE: DEMOCRACY IN ACTION [KJL] Rich, the guys who were coordinating that grassroots effort on the national level at the RNC really deserve a civics award. While the Left derides the winners for being stupid Wal-Mart shoppers, the Right has reinvigorated an informed sense of civic responsibility. And, for the GOP, these are long-term voters. As long as the Republicans don't disappoint, they've got themselves an expanded base, I would think. Posted at 06:19 PM RE: ROVE [KJL] I thought the same, Ramesh. Laura Ingraham this morning was suggesting her listeners could feel relieved by what little he said regarding Specter and the campaign (I was on her show briefly). Posted at 06:14 PM DEMOCRATIC WITH A SMALL D [Rich Lowry] I've been talking to Bush folks about how they pulled off this victory over the last couple of days, and the grass roots activism is something to behold. It was driven largely by volunteers who gave of their time and effort because they believed in something--in the president and in conservative ideas. This was a marvelous exercise in democratic citizenship and if it had happened on behalf of Howard Dean or some other liberal, we would never hear the end in the media of how members of this grassroots army vinidicated their ideals on election day. But that's exactly what these Bush volunteers did. Posted at 06:06 PM IT'S NOT JUST ABORTION--II [Ramesh Ponnuru] And here's something for conservatives who oppose racial preferences: In 2003, Specter joined three colleagues in writing President Bush to urge that he, in turn, urge the Supreme Court to recognize racial diversity as a compelling state interest justifying the use of racial classifications. "We are assertive when the circumstances warrant it, and I think this issue does," said Specter in the Washington Post. "There are things we can do about it in the Senate. When Supreme Court nominees come up, you can bet I'll be on this point." You can't say he wasn't candid. Posted at 06:01 PM IT'S NOT JUST ABORTION [Ramesh Ponnuru] Although pro-lifers have excellent reasons to be wary of Specter, they're not the only ones. As Republican senators go, Specter is hostile to tort reform--maybe the most hostile. That wouldn't be a reason to keep him from having the Foreign Relations committee. But Judiciary? Posted at 05:51 PM ROVE ON SPECTER [Ramesh Ponnuru] I had a somewhat different take on that than most of Specter's supporters and opponents in the blogosphere. Rove neither endorsed nor repudiated Specter's chairmanship, and neither endorsed nor repudiated the campaign to deprive him of it. What he did was take to the bank the concessions that the campaign has forced Specter to make ("We'll take him at his word"). If a continued campaign against him forces him to make more concessions to the president, I'm sure Rove will be happy with that. If he's forced out in favor of someone else, I suspect Rove would be fine with that, too. "That's up to the United States Senate to decide, not the president of the United States." Posted at 05:43 PM JUDGE BORK [KJL] is responding to Specter's nonsense now on Hannity. Didn't get to address the Specter claim that Bork doesn't believe in due process. Posted at 05:40 PM SPECTER VS. ORIGINALISM [Ramesh Ponnuru] From his Senate remarks earlier this year on the anniversary of Brown v. Board: " There are still some who contend that original intent is the only way to interpret the U.S. Constitution. In the first place, it is very hard to divine what the intent was of the Founding Fathers in 1787 when the Constitution was signed, even more difficult to figure out the intent of the ratifiers of the U.S. Constitution; and then when there is the equal protection clause, there is no doubt that the intent of those who spoke to equal protection was not to have integration. When the fundamental values of our society changed in the intervening years, the Supreme Court of the United States recognized that and interpreted the Constitution and equality and equal protection in a very different way." Posted at 05:31 PM FYI [Shannen Coffin] I'm giving a speech/talk to the UVa Federalist Society next week (11/17, noon at the Law School) on the Partial Birth Abortion litigation. Posted at 05:26 PM SPECTER'S SHIPP COMES IN [Jim Boulet] New York Daily News columnist E.R. Shipp on Arlen Specter, prospective chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee: I am part of the America that did not give President Bush a mandate to do anything, let alone push through a conservative agenda that feeds on fear and a go-it-alone notion that if the U.S. ain't happy, ain't nobody happy. ...Because liberals depend upon the government, their instincts are frankly better than are conservatives on personnel. If Shipp is optimistic about Arlen, conservatives have no reason to be. Posted at 05:23 PM SPECTER LAST WORDS ON HANNITY [KJL ] Sean gave him a chance to address his critics. “I think a lot of the concerns have arisen over Judge Bork.” No, senator, try your comments in the last week. Sigh. Senator, you started this. Posted at 05:18 PM SPECTER'S PROMISE [KJL ] What is an “extremist," Sean asked. A Webster-like answer from Specter, someone who is “far on either side on the political spectrum.” Bork is an extremist, Specter says. Has he every met a liberal extremist? One wonders. Posted at 05:10 PM SPECTER MESSES UP AGAIN [Michael Graham] He tells Sean Hannity the truth! When Hannity asks if Specter will be a champion for the Bush Administration and its judicial nominees, Specter couldn’t give the obvious answer: “Of course! He’s my president. I’ll make suggestions and give input, but once the president acts, I’ll fight for his nominees.” Instead, Specter said, essentially, “It depends. We’ll see. I can’t answer that question on the radio.” In other words “No, I won’t.” Posted at 05:07 PM "GET A GRIP" [Ramesh Ponnuru] Nice post about the center-left derangement of the moment. (Via Prof. Bainbridge.) Posted at 05:04 PM “LITMUS TEST” [KJL ] It seems to me, on CNN, CBS, & Hannity now, Specter is letting himself off the hook using the phrase “litmus test.” So make sure you don’t use that phrase. Yes, he has supported some of the president’s nominees. True. But his temperament, based on what he has said (not in Bork years, in this most recent campaign, and post-election), strongly suggests he is not the right man for the job. As Kate said over the weekend, he declared independence from the president in his comments last week (and thereafter). Why put in place someone who has already proven to you--before getting the job--that he has no intention of being a team player? Posted at 04:57 PM METHINKS SPECTER FIBS [KJL ] Specter just said on Hannity's radio show: “I was not critical of Justice Thomas in my book.” John Miller reports differently. You’d think Specter would have a good response to people bringing that all up by now. Sen. Specter also had a lukewarm response when asked if he would support Thomas for Chief Justice. Posted at 04:48 PM TEN YEARS AGO TODAY [Ramesh Ponnuru] The Republicans took over both houses of Congress for the first time in 40 years. They've held the House ever since, and the Senate for all but a year and a half. Posted at 04:40 PM STEVE WALDMAN [Ramesh Ponnuru] wants Democrats to embrace a ban on third-trimester abortions with an exception for physical health. I wrote about the problems with this proposal the last time Waldman made it. He doesn't address the objections, and also asserts that the proposal is "perfectly consistent with Roe v. Wade." If the policy is really supposed to ban late-term abortions except where continued pregnancy would pose a serious risk to the mother's physical health, then the proposal is almost certainly not compatible with Roe and its companion case Doe. Nor is it consistent with the way the health exception is currently interpreted by the Supreme Court. If Democrats want to adopt a moderate policy on abortion, that's terrific--but if the proposal is going to be made honestly, they'll have to reconsider their position on Roe. Posted at 04:33 PM ISN'T DEMOCRACY POSSIBLE? [Tim Graham] The election results have changed the media's Iraq take much. This morning, NBC's Matt Lauer asked Sen. Lindsey Graham the usual gloomy question "The elections in Iraq are just more than a couple of months away, and the situation in Iraq right now is difficult because insurgents have stepped up the violence. They overran a couple of police stations over the weekend and executed some 22 Iraqi police officers. They tried to assassinate the interim finance minister. Car bombings, there is a state of emergency. Can legitimate elections really be held under those conditions?" A better question for Matt: If we keep signaling to terrorists that if they create enough violence, Iraq can never have an election, aren't you encouraging the violence? Posted at 04:27 PM JUST 1 OF 100 [KJL ] On CNN’s Inside Politics just now, Arlen Specter did more damage control, dismissing his pro-choice position saying that when it comes to judges, “I don’t make the decisions.” Don’t be so humble, Senator. You’ll be wielding some serious power—especially behind the scenes--if you become judiciary-committee chairman. In full spin mode (credit to everyone who has called, e-mailed, and faxed Republican judiciary-committe members, Republican senators, Bill Frist, and the White House), Specter will be on Sean Hannity's radio show shortly, today. Posted at 04:12 PM ALAN DERSHOWITZ ENDORSES SPECTER [Ramesh Ponnuru] He told a group of Harvard law students today that he is "very encouraged" that Specter will be chairman of the judiciary committee. (One of those students emailed me.) No doubt Dershowitz supports him for the same reasons Hugh Hewitt does. Posted at 04:01 PM MORE KILGORE [Ramesh Ponnuru] A few posts down, he calls social conservatives "the American Taliban." I look forward to his recovery from the election. Posted at 03:50 PM STOP HIM BEFORE HE BLOGS AGAIN [Ramesh Ponnuru] Ed Kilgore on Karl Rove: "Caligula had his 'goofy' and fun-loving moments as well." Posted at 03:44 PM INCREDIBLE "INCREDIBLES" [Rod Dreher] Megadittoes to Frederica Mathewes-Green's review of "The Incredibles" on NRO today. I took Matthew to see it on Saturday afternoon, and we both thought it was fantastic (though I would say the plot is too complicated and maybe even intense in parts for little bitties). Matthew's mother and I are very strict about the movies we let him see, and almost all kids' movies come and go without us even considering taking our son to the theater. At the risk of repeating some of Frederica's points, let me say that "The Incredibles," typical of Pixar's work, gives us a terrific story absent the standard elements you see in kids' movies these days: 1) smart-mouthed kids, 2) parents set up to look like boobs, 3) too-clever-by-half pop culture references, 4) sexual double entendres, and 5) politically correct messages. You get none of that in "The Incredibles." In fact, one particularly surprising and wonderful aspect about the film is how conservative it is in one particular respect. You know how the Disney films are always, always about building self-esteem, e.g., the need to "believe in yourself" and all that? Well, "The Incredibles" is about a world in which superheroes are not allowed to use their gifts because society has decided, in various ways, that mediocrity and avoiding risk-taking are the qualities it wishes to honor. In fact, the villain in the film is an untalented twerp who uses his grievous sense of envy to destroy the talented elites. "The Incredibles" shows that a unified traditional family in which everyone is prepared to sacrifice for the greater good of the family is a source of strength, and that an aristocracy of merit is good for society overall. I'm sure the Left would hate this movie if they stopped to think about it, but their kids will be having too much fun to be denied. Posted at 03:40 PM GOOD OLD ROBERT REICH [Ramesh Ponnuru] Liberals shouldn't give an inch on policy, and should argue for their policies in moral terms--conceding cheerfully that those policies are based on "an irrational faith that it is possible, by working together, to create a more just nation and a more just world" and "require[] a great leap into the unknown and unknowable." If Reich didn't exist, we would have to invent him. Posted at 03:37 PM NOT TO SOUND REPETITIVE [KJL] but I would love the audio from that meeting Arlen Specter had with the liberal Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (see brief piece), where he made them quite happy, promising to block "extremists" (many of you are "extremists"). Posted at 03:34 PM MANDATE [Jonah Goldberg] I don't blame Dems for trying to diminish or discount the possibility of a Bush mandate (Josh Marshall calls the idea "silly"). I think you can make a pretty good case for Bush's mandate for several reasons. But here's how I see it. The media, academia, the Democrats, Hollywood, the UN, France and the entire international community threw every single thing at Bush and the American people still preferred him in record numbers. John Kerry himself said if you elect Bush you'll get "More of the same." Everybody and his brother said that this was referendum on the incumbent. The American people heard this and not only re-elected Bush, they elected a bunch more Senators and Congressmen to help him with his agenda. That sounds to me like a mandate. Nevertheless, I think there are good contrary arguments. The one thing I ask, however, is that when you hear the contrary arguments ask yourself whether Marshall or Al Hunt or the sillier lefty blogs wouldn't be insisting that Kerry had a mandate if Kerry had won. And keep in mind that would have been a much harder case, since all Kerry basically did was say a vote for him was a vote against Bush. Posted at 03:13 PM "JUDICIAL ACTIVISM IS NOT A WINNING STRATEGY" [Ramesh Ponnuru] for same-sex marriage and civil unions, says Ryan Sager. I'm not sure he's right. Would civil unions be polling as well as they do--according to the exit polls, a plurality of voters (35 percent) support them--if the courts had not acted in Vermont and Massachusetts? Vermont made civil unions thinkable, and Massachusetts made them moderate. Posted at 03:02 PM RE: SOLDIER ADOPTION [Shannen Coffin] Readers have mentioned a couple of other soldier support programs that Joe and Jane Citizen can contribute to. One is Soldiers Angels and another is Any Soldier. I don't have experience with either but suspect they are legitimate -- Hugh Hewitt is a big supporter of the former, apparently. Oh, and other readers have noted with interest my mention of my wife -- yes, indeed, I have been outed as an unapologetic MALE, for those of you who haven't noticed before. (I assure you I make a much more certain impression in person). Posted at 02:54 PM LAME DEMOCRATIC SPIN [Ramesh Ponnuru] "But what about Republican gains in Congress? Here, the argument for a mandate is equally dubious. Tracking polls that looked at which congressional party voters preferred showed consistently that average voters favored the Democrats. In fact, this year Democrats led every one of the final ten daily preelection tracking polls conducted by Rasmussen Reports--by an average margin of between two and three points." So I guess it doesn't matter that more people actually, you know, voted for Republican members of the House. Posted at 02:54 PM MORE LEFT HOPING-FOR-THE WORST [KJL] Did you see this "Act of God" piece in the NYTimes? Posted at 02:48 PM LOL [KJL] CBS News website piece questions "veracity" in blogosphere: "It was clear to me, from following their efforts that night, that, unlike journalists, some blog operators who are quick to trash the MSM not only don’t care about the veracity of the stories they are spreading, they do not understand when there is a live hand grenade on their keyboard. " I don't doubt that might have been the case on some website or another this fella was on. But, um, CBS. Didn't some editor say, "uh, perhaps it isn't prudent for us to do this...." Posted at 02:47 PM THIS POST [Ramesh Ponnuru] prompted me to combine the war-on-terrorism and Iraq-war exit-poll questions. Back of the envelope calculation: Of the 34 percent of voters who cast their votes based on either war, Bush got 59 percent of the total. Posted at 02:44 PM SECOND TERM PRESIDENCIES [Ramesh Ponnuru] Are they inevitably mired in scandal? In almost every examples discussed here--and all the serious ones--the opposition party held the Congress. I'm not making a claim here about what should have happened. But if Republicans had held both houses of Congress, there might not have been a "Watergate scandal," and if Democrats had, there probably wouldn't have been an impeachment. Posted at 02:27 PM PRYOR FOR AG!! [KJL] Bill Pryor for Attorney General? Or for Solicitor General? Very cool, either one. Of course, he'd have to go through the Senate Judiciary Committee... Posted at 02:17 PM BITTER SPINSTER [Ramesh Ponnuru] psychoanalyzes Karl Rove. Posted at 02:14 PM MORE HUGH HEWITT RATHER THE CORNER PLAY BASKETBALL THAN POLITICS [KJL] I hadn’t seen till now that Hugh Hewitt has another post on the Specter stuff this morning. Jim Geraghty has some answers to questions he poses. The one question I find most surprising is the one about Santorum. It seems real obvious to me that Senator Santorum will have a better shot at reelection if Arlen Specter isn’t Judiciary Chair. Fairly or not, many Toomey supporting-types will blame Santorum for any Specter wrongdoing. Especially if Supreme Court nominees are less-than-ideal or Specter blocks a nominee or otherwise causes trouble for the president. Listen, Santorum has a hard fight for reelection however one looks at it. But NARAL et al. will not soften on him. But it’s hopeless if the right jumps ship on him. Seems to me if there’s a troublemaker Chairman Specter chairing the judiciary committee, and a few ugly incidents by then, Santorum’s going to have a much harder time. Anybody but Specter for chairman won’t be a panacea for Santorum, but it will help. Posted at 02:02 PM PLANNED PARENTHOOD VS. SISTERS OF ST. FRANCIS [KJL] You'd think Glorida Feldt would have better things to do. (Especially since President Bush plots to take away women's right to...do anything.) Posted at 01:43 PM APOLOGIES TO DERB [Jonah Goldberg] He noticed the Salon interview over a Posted at 01:43 PM "OUR PARTY IS ERRODING." [KJL] Democrats in Pennsylvania regroup after a tight race. Posted at 01:40 PM NICE NOTE & QUOTE [Jonah Goldberg] From a reader: That was quite a fine piece of popular moral theologizing hidden in your "Sore Loser Party" column today, Jonah. If morality does not have a transcendent foundation, then it is all about power -- or expedience. A rampantly immoral society is a poorly functioning one. As Diane Keaton told Woody Allen, "If everyone went to the same restaurant on the same night and ordered blintzes, there'd be chaos." Posted at 01:32 PM BAGGED ANOTHER ONE! [Jonah Goldberg] From a reader: Okay, you guys finally got me. I subscribed to National Review yesterday. Posted at 01:29 PM END OF CIVILIZATION PART 9,098,087,076.A: HIGH-LARIOUS & DISGUSTING [Jonah Goldberg ] Okay, this article isn't for everybody and I don't reccomend it to those "values voters" among you who don't enjoy long discussions of, um, unconventional sex i.e. buggery. In fact, you should stop reading here. Nevertheless, Salon has an interview with a woman who's written an "erotic memoir" about her experiences acting like Yassir Arafat's bodyguard on a saturday night. Hundreds of encounters. Disgusting personal habits. Detailed descriptions of how she likes it, who she's liked it with etc etc etc etc. She even explains that even though she's an atheist this approach to "romance" gave her, uh, a back door route to the divine. I'm sorry to be even as graphic as this. But you can't get the joke unless you know how detailed her exposé is. In the middle of the inerview she's asked: Q:At the end of your book, you have only had anal sex with one other man. Now, years later, have you had other anal relationships? No...we wouldn't want that. Let's not delve into this woman's personal life, that would be wrong. Where on earth could the interviewer have gotten the impression that this woman wanted to discuss her personal life? Posted at 01:23 PM TV HOST IN CRISIS [Shannen Coffin] Keith Olberman, who used to be a really funny sportscaster, continues to rage against the machine on MSNBC, suggesting that the books were cooked in Ohio. I'll let you draw your own conclusions. Posted at 01:19 PM LOOKING AT THE RIGHT [Stanley Kurtz] What better moment to take a good hard look at what it means to be a political progressive or conservative in America than now? Distinguished political theorist, Peter Berkowitz, has just turned out two star-studded volumes featuring thinkers on each side of our political battle. Varieties of Conservatism in America is about the pull and tug between classical conservatism, libertarianism, and neoconservatism. Mark Henrie, Senior Editor of Modern Age, traces the shaping of today’s classical conservatism by the work of Russell Kirk. Of course, National Review is a direct descendent of Kirk. Joseph Bottum, Books & Arts Editor at The Weekly Standard, takes on the core dilemma of modern conservatism–how to preserve liberty, while resisting its tendency to devolve into license. Bottum focuses on the struggle between believers and secularists, with a careful look at what the abortion issue means for different kinds of conservatives and liberals. Randy Barnett, an occasional NRO writer, shows why libertarians needn’t choose between a moral defense of property rights and defense rooted in social consequences. The brilliant Richard Epstein tries something fascinating and new–a defense of libertarianism on classically conservative grounds. Libertarian laws, says Epstein, create virtuous citizens who strengthen the social fabric. Jacob Heilbrunn says that neoconservatism does exist! (Heilbrunn is writing a book that will prove it.) Heilbrunn even tells you what neocons believe and how they’re changing modern conservatism. Policy Review editor, Tod Lindberg, finishes the job by emphasizing the neoconservative preference for judging policies by their actual outcome, rather than the elegance of the theory that undergirds them. Somehow George Bush managed to hold these diverse and contradictory views together in a winning coalition. Now that he’s won, will the coalition hold? To find out, you may just want to read this book. Posted at 01:09 PM FALLUJAH [Jonah Goldberg] From a reader: My son recently returned from Fallujah. He's a Marine that was attached to the group now invading. When we discuss the upcoming battle, he expresses regret that he was unable to extend his tour long enough to be "in it" as he puts it. He also relishes the possibility that he'll return there in May or June. His opinion of the struggle?..."We're doin' it right over there. Don't believe everything you hear". Don't lose sight of the big picture. Posted at 01:06 PM DEMOGRAPHY [Stanley Kurtz] Does the demographic future lie with the Republicans? This sharp analysis by Joel Kotkin says it does. Posted at 01:01 PM RE: VALUES [Stanley Kurtz] There have been so many stories on the election and the role of the values vote. I think this piece from The London Times, “It’s family values, stupid,” is one of the very best. I especially like the portrayal of social conservatives. This is not the usual caricature and vilification. I don’t know if the media will ever stop feeding us simplistic propaganda about “values voters.” But here, at last, is an example of fair treatment. And here is a great column by Jeff Jacoby on same-sex marriage and the election. While we’re at it, check out this fine piece by John Leo. I have only one disagreement with Leo. I hope the Democrats follow Thomas Frank’s advice. And Democrats, please, please nominate Hillary in 2008. I’m depending on you. Posted at 12:58 PM ADOPTION [Shannen Coffin] With the Fallujah offensive underway, many of us have our troops in the forefront of our minds. Now's the time to act on it. My wife and I recently adopted a soldier through Operation AC and are working on sending boots and some needed supplies (they love to get Koolaid and beef jerky in the field) to our adopted soldier. So if you're wondering what you can do -- and with Christmas fast approaching -- wander on over to that site and take a look. It's a worthwhile endeavor. And the kudos in my family go to my wife, Casey, for taking the initiative. Posted at 12:55 PM MORE SPECTER [Mark R. Levin] The argument against Specter isn't that he won't support all nominees the president would send to the Senate, but that he wouldn't support the judicial originalists. I am mindful of the president's close and long-time association with his counsel, Alberto Gonzales, and the possibility he could be nominated to the Supreme Court. As a Texas Supreme Court justice, Gonzales's record was mixed. Posted at 12:52 PM SPECTER [KJL] The Mobile Register is on our side. Posted at 12:48 PM SUMS IT UP NICELY... [Jonah Goldberg] From a reader, about the Butterfield headline: It does not surprise me that the liberals see no correlation between crime going down and more criminals behind bars. Liberals also believe that gun control laws will keep guns out of the hands of criminals,…. because criminals would never dream of breaking the law. Posted at 12:45 PM THE SORE LOSER PARTY [Jonah Goldberg ] Ramblin' and rolling G-File is up. FYI.
Posted at 12:42 PM FALLUJAH [Jonah Goldberg] I don't really know what to say except I hope for the best I have enormous respect and admiration for our guys in uniform and I'm immensely proud of them. It's hard not to sound corny at such moments, but they really are heroes and they should be treated as such. Posted at 12:25 PM RE: VALUES [Jack Fowler] Why the NYT or any other media outlet is surprised by the strong “values” bloc supporting President Bush is a bit bewildering. It’s not like this is new. Take the abortion issue – historically in previous presidential elections some 12 percent of Americans (one in every 8) have been single-issue voters, usually breaking 2 to 1 in favor of pro-lifers. That’s how America has been voting in national elections the last 16 years. Take the abortion edge, throw sanctity of marriage referenda into the mix, and you’ve got the makings of a happy day for the GOP in 2004. Posted at 12:17 PM SPECIAL OFFERS ON NR KIDS BOOKS! [Jack Fowler] December 25th begins to loom. Before you find yourself empty-handed and mad-scrambling with the clock running out, why not get (now!) something decent, thoughtful, and wholesome this Christmas for that special child or family--such as NR’s acclaimed kids books? The National Review Treasury of Classic Children’s Literature (original edition and Volume Two) and The National Review Treasury of Classic Bedtime Stories make perfect gifts: our two big “treasuries” (500-plus page hardcovers brimming with hundreds of illustrations) each feature over three dozen stories (personally selected by William F. Buckley Jr.) that are ideal for pre- to early-teens who would enjoy beautifully written adventures by Jack London, Mark Twain, and Rudyard Kipling, or exciting tales by Louisa May Alcott and Frances Hodgson Burnett. And for new readers and even younger ones who love to be read a story before heading off to dreamland, we have our acclaimed collection of Thornton Burgess’s delightful bedtime stories (starring Peter Rabbit, Jimmy Skunk, Reddy the Fox and dozens of other colorful critters). Please check out our order page--we have a number of special offers available. And, of course, we have L. Frank Baum’s Queen Zixi of Ix, a free copy of which goes to anyone who purchases one of our great titles. Order here. Remember, there’s no better gift you can give a child than a work of great literature--it doesn’t have volume control or require a joystick to operate, and it won’t kill brain cells. I’ll close with this fine praise for our books from our good friend, Marvin Olasky, editor of World magazine: "Before having children I did not realize that it would be so much fun to read them bedtime stories. It's no trouble finding picture books and fairy tales for young children, but eloquent tales that can be read to or read by older kids are harder to come by. These stories are just what parents need for children's joy and their own pleasure." Posted at 12:15 PM VALUES [Rich Lowry] I think the original post-election emphasis on values in this election was probably overblown, and now the blowback saying it wasn't values is probably overblown. It seemed most of the Saturday New York Times was devoted to arguing that the values question in the exit polls was hopelessly flawed. But I noted that Bill McInturf--a GOP pollster, but by no means a shill for social conservatives--defended the question, and the idea that moral values were important in the election: "But Bill McInturff, a Republican pollster, called critiques 'garbage.' 'The people who picked moral values as an issue know what that means,' he said. 'It's a code word in surveys for a cluster of issues like gay marriage and abortion.' Mr. McInturff said that if 'moral values' was really a 'catchall' with a confused meaning, then more Democrats would have picked it. Of the 22 percent who chose 'moral values,' 80 percent were Bush supporters, 20 percent were Kerry supporters. 'It's self-selected by people for whom these issues are very important for their votes,' he said, adding that the margin by which Mr. Bush carried these voters arguably made the difference in the election. Posted at 11:49 AM OPERATION PHANTOM FURY IS NOW--IN FALLUJAH [KJL] From CNN: "We're going to start at one end of the city, and we're not going to stop until we get to the other side," said Lt. Col. Pete Newell, a battalion commander from the U.S. Army's 1st Infantry Division. Posted at 11:41 AM GROUNDHOG DAY [Jonah Goldberg] Our favorite headline returns again: Despite Drop in Crime, an Increase in Inmates By Fox Butterfield [Note: If you just arrived, you may not know that Fox Butterfield has been writing this story for years, ever since the crime rate started to drop. Butterfield remains flummoxed by the possibility that filling prisons (AKA the bad people place) causes a drop in crime.] Posted at 11:07 AM ARAFAT AND AIDS [Jonah Goldberg] There's a very easy way to settle the question. Have the hospital give a press conference and have the doctors explain what is wrong with him. If the doctors are remotely ethical and honest (not a huge if, but a significant one) the press and the medical community will be able to weigh the evidence themselves. Answer the question: If he doesn't have it, what's wrong with him?
Posted at 10:37 AM ROLL CALL [KJL] says Specter's secure as chairman [subscription required]. Miles to go... Posted at 10:28 AM RICK'S RIGHT [Jonah Goldberg ] I'm not very invested in this assault and I don't know if the fight against Specter is winnable. Indeed, I'm fairly skeptical since the one thing we know about Specter is that he's an amoral survivor. Specter represented Ira Einhorn to further his political career for Pete's sake. And he got away with it! But Specter is worthy of our scorn. If conservatives fail to knock him out, it's not like he'll hate conservatives any less. And the rest of the committee and caucus will be put on notice that undue deference to Chairman Specter is not in their interests. And, if conservatives win, they win. Specter will want revenge of course. But I'm sure he wants that anyway already. And if he's not the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee he'll have less power to inflict it. At the end of the day, a bad day for Specter is a good day. So give 'em hell as far as I'm concerned. Posted at 09:58 AM SENATOR TERESA--ACK. [KJL] Rick's 1995 Specter piece is up and has this frightening tidbit: Specter has been feuding with fellow Republicans in Pennsylvania for years. He feared that the moderately conservative Richard Thornburgh would give him a primary battle in 1986. In 1994, he supported solidly conservative Rick Santorum's successful challenge to Senator Harris Wofford, but only after trying to persuade Senator John Heinz's widow, Teresa, to seek the nomination. (Teresa Heinz is now married to Democratic Senator John Kerry.) Posted at 09:50 AM INSTADOUBT [KJL] Glenn Reynolds seconds Hugh Hewitt. If you were offline this weekend, read some of the weekend response to Hugh in The Corner (scroll down, or here). I find Hugh's argument unpersuasive, and a) think this is a right fight to have regardless b) think winning is plausible. Posted at 09:43 AM SPECTER PILE-ON [Rick Brookhiser] Piling on Arlen Specter? Why not? He's been bad for so long that I did an NRODT hit piece on him years before John J.'s hit piece (mine was called, "A Frightful Specter"). He is an arrogant, friendless, disrespected operator who is purely out for himself. In his lame duck years, self-esteem can only come by sedulously cultivating the MSM, as the heroic bulwark against flat-earth Jesus freaks. Chairman Spector would be bad news--which is no news at all. Posted at 09:42 AM WE HAVE A WINNER [John J. Miller] The Chronicle of Higher Education has announced this year's winner of the David W. Miller Award for Student Journalists. Details here. Many conservatives fondly remember Miller (no relation to me) as a good friend and a good man who helped edit Policy Review at the Heritage Foundation before taking a job at the Chronicle. Posted at 09:40 AM LET THE EXPLAINING BEGIN [Jonah Goldberg]
Posted at 09:29 AM OPERATION SPECTER-NO [KJL] Today's action item: Contact Mike DeWine. Mike DeWine, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who is up for reelection in 2006, is in a perfect position to be a leader on this, as NRO says today in an editorial. Encourage him to step up and oppose Specter as chairman. Call his office in Washington, D.C., at (202) 224-2315. Or call his main district office in Columbus, Ohio, at (614) 469-5186. Or send him an e-mail, here. And while you are at it: Many of you contacted your Republican senators and GOP members of the Judiciary committee last week. If you haven't, go for. And don't forget to let the White House know this election isn't over until Arlen Specter is refused the Judiciary chairmanship. Today will be a big day in the Senate--if the phones are ringing off the hook again, they know this didn't die with the weekend. So, keep on at it... Posted at 09:24 AM STUNNING [John J. Miller] Korean Air pilots and flight attendants now have permission to use stun guns in U.S. airspace. Posted at 09:14 AM NOVAK ON SPECTER [KJL] From Bob Novak's column today: That puts Frist, who has been criticized for his management of the judicial confirmation debacle, on the spot. He is considering asking the full Republican Conference to waive term limits for Hatch. The majority leader also may let Hatch keep his chairmanship temporarily to handle any immediate Supreme Court vacancy. Frist could mobilize a majority of the Judiciary committee's expected 11 Republicans in the new Congress to breach seniority and bump Specter. Posted at 09:01 AM THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX [Jonah Goldberg] From Reuters:
Arafat Wife Deputies Plotting to 'Bury Him Alive' Posted at 06:56 AM "HE IS A PROBLEM, AND HE MUST BE DERAILED" [KJL] That's Dr. Dobson, from This Week, on Arlen Specter as judiciary chariman. The Washington Times has a piece today on Senate deliberations and Specter damage control. Posted at 06:22 AM THOMAS VS. SPECTER [John J. Miller] The top story on Drudge today says that President Bush is giving serious thought to nominating Clarence Thomas for Chief Justice, if the position becomes available. And who might stand in the way? Well, there's Arlen Specter. Although he was critical in confirming Thomas to the Court during the Anita Hill controversy--something he likes to remind conservatives about--Specter has since expressed his "disappointment" in Thomas's performance. The prospect of Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter presiding over the hearings of Chief Justice nominee Clarence Thomas does not thrill me. Does it thrill Bill Frist? Posted at 05:59 AM TEARS FOR FEARS [KJL] A BBC reporter cries over Arafat. Posted at 05:38 AM |
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