Magazine September 22, 2014, Issue

The Price of a Gaffe

By John J. Miller

September 22, 2014 4:00 AM

Terri Lynn Land (AP Photo/Daimler Financial Services via PRNews, File)

In a Michigan Senate race, Terri Lynn Land tries to recover

George F. Will says she owns “a musical name,” and that’s not all Terri Lynn Land has going for her. As she runs for the Senate in Michigan this fall, she may have the forces of history on her side. Since the presidency of Richard Milhous Nixon — a less musical name — Republicans have prevailed only once in the Wolverine State’s Senate contests, but it happened in a year a lot like 2014.

The victory came in 1994, when the retirement of a Democratic senator had opened a seat, a lackluster Democratic congressman tried to fill it, a Republican governor …

In This Issue

Articles

Politics & Policy

The Unrealist

By Elbridge Colby

Even before his presidency began, Barack Obama articulated a foreign-policy course markedly different from that of his immediate predecessors. Not only did he present himself as the anti-Bush, but he ...

Politics & Policy

Islam’s Nightclub Brawl

By Theodore Dalrymple

Youth, as everyone knows who has passed through it some time ago, is the age not of idealism but of self-importance, uncertainty masked by certitude and moral grandiosity untouched by ...

Politics & Policy

Put China on Notice

By Arthur Waldron

On August 19, an American P-8 Poseidon anti-submarine aircraft, on routine patrol in international airspace off the east coast of China, was intercepted and harassed by a Chinese J-11 jet ...

Politics & Policy

The Price of a Gaffe

By John J. Miller

George F. Will says she owns “a musical name,” and that’s not all Terri Lynn Land has going for her. As she runs for the Senate in Michigan this fall, ...

Politics & Policy

Consigned to ‘Assistance’

By J. D. Vance

It’s sometimes easy to forget that the Republican party’s proudest moment was the emancipation of the American slave. Indeed, for decades after Lincoln gave his life for the Union, black ...

Politics & Policy

A Job Like No Other

By Jay Nordlinger

The problem with some issues is that everything is true. Both sides of the question have merit. Which truths do you emphasize? Which truths seem most important in a given ...

Features

Politics & Policy

How Iran Will Get the Bomb

By Mario Loyola

The Iran nuclear talks that began last November were supposed to have ended in a comprehensive agreement by July 20 of this year. At the last moment, to nobody’s great ...

Politics & Policy

Apocalypse Soonish

By Kevin D. Williamson

By their headlines shall ye know them. Daily Mail: “Will there be a global famine in 2050? Crops will be overwhelmed by pests in the next 30 years, scientists warn.” ...

Books, Arts & Manners

Politics & Policy

Whose Declaration? Which Equality?

By Steven F. Hayward

It has always been the fate of the Declaration of Independence to bounce back and forth between the political equivalents of foster homes and orphanages. This owes to its ambiguous ...

Politics & Policy

Good Men, Bad Strategy

By David French

There are great men in America. As I read Bing West’s third — and best — book about the Afghan War, I met some of those men. Bing West is many ...

Politics & Policy

State Capitols vs. Capitalism

By John Hood

In the first chapter of this book, its co-authors offer the economic history of New Jersey as “a colorful example of opportunity wasted.” During the 1950s and 1960s, New Jersey’s ...

Politics & Policy

Looking for Tom

By Kevin D. Williamson

I do not know much about gods; but I think that the river Is a strong brown god — sullen, untamed and intractable. — T. S. Eliot, “The Dry Salvages” London was ...

City Desk

Look in the Mirror

By Richard Brookhiser

All these columns are about some place! But this column is about the Twitterverse! Twitterverse is no place! Its strings of words and spaces <140 characters! You see your margin shrink ...

Sections

Politics & Policy

Letters

By Ramesh Ponnuru

Immigrant Entrepreneurs I read with interest the article by Jay Nordlinger, “The State of Maine,” in the August 11 issue. He discusses, among other things, the recent influx of Somali immigrants. ...

Politics & Policy

The Week

By Ramesh Ponnuru

‐ President Obama says the United States will not tolerate Russia’s “brazen assault” on Ukraine. A discrete, tactful assault, on the other hand . . . ‐ That was quick. In ...

How to Handle Your Gifted President™

By Rob Long

A user’s guide for the media Congratulations! You are now a Supporter of Your Very Own Gifted President! Your Gifted President™ is a finely crafted, unique lifestyle product that reflects your ...

Athwart

Golden Oligarchy

By James Lileks

The world is a curious place where coincidences abound, but there’s something suspicious about the timing here: As relations between the West and Russia curdle and rot, McDonald’s restaurants are ...

Politics & Policy

Poetry

By William W. Runyeon

BLUE MOUNTAINS Modest as mountains go, they have a charm in that close-to-home majesty, surmounted by a spine of falling away bald rock, dangerous as any siren song of explorer’s imagining, with plenty of room for ...

Politics & Policy

And Now You May Laugh

By Sonny Bunch

I presume there is a healthy overlap between Emmy viewers and NR readers, so apologies for covering well-worn territory. However, those of you who missed last month’s awards show failed ...

Recommended

CNN News Writer Denies the Biological Reality of Sex at Birth

To pretend that we as a society are incapable of knowing whether a child is a male or female at birth is lunacy.

Alexandra DeSanctis

Powerful Evidence That George Floyd Resisted Arrest

Powerful Evidence That George Floyd Resisted Arrest

The Derek Chauvin case is more complicated than prosecutors would have it.

Andrew C. McCarthy

Chauvin Defense Expert Destroyed on the Stand

Chauvin Defense Expert Destroyed on the Stand

The prosecution blew the witness’s testimony to bits.

Andrew C. McCarthy

Why Not Fewer Voters?

Why Not Fewer Voters?

The fact is that voters got us into this mess. Maybe the answer isn’t more voters.

Kevin D. Williamson

Never Ask a Question You Don’t Need to Ask: Chauvin Lawyer Gets Clobbered by Witness’s Gripping Testimony

Never Ask a Question You Don’t Need to Ask: Chauvin Lawyer Gets Clobbered by Witness’s Gripping Testimony

There’s rarely an upside in asking pointed questions to a young, nervous, highly sympathetic witness.

Andrew C. McCarthy

The Great California Exodus

The Great California Exodus

A look at why droves are leaving the state.

David L. Bahnsen

The Latest

Derek Chauvin Convicted — but What Comes Next?

Derek Chauvin Convicted — but What Comes Next?

While the guilty verdicts are rational and defensible, the speedy nature of the decision could lead to problems for prosecutors in the appellate process.

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Biden: Floyd’s Murder Exposed the ‘Stain’ of ‘Systemic Racism' on 'Our Nation's Soul'

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‘It was a murder in the full light of day and it ripped the blinders off the whole world to see,’ Biden said

Celebrations Break Out after Chauvin Convicted on All Charges

Celebrations Break Out after Chauvin Convicted on All Charges

The jury in the case against former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin pronounced the defendant guilty of all counts.

Caroline Downey

Pelosi: 'Thank You George Floyd for Sacrificing Your Life for Justice'

Pelosi: 'Thank You George Floyd for Sacrificing Your Life for Justice'

Pelosi's comments came after Chauvin was convicted of second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter.

Brittany Bernstein

Chauvin Found Guilty on All Counts in George Floyd Trial

Chauvin Found Guilty on All Counts in George Floyd Trial

Chauvin was found guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter.

Jury Reaches Verdict in Chauvin Case

Jury Reaches Verdict in Chauvin Case

Chauvin was charged with second-and third-degree murder as well as manslaughter.