Charles Krauthammer's recent essay, "Obama's Ultimate Agenda," is trenchant and incisive. But it falls one step short.
Many in America think simply being an American is to be instantly advantaged solely by the wonders of the nation's Constitution and laws; its governance and its many freedoms. This is not a' [...]
It's truly amazing.
You know what I mean: a first-round draft pick everyone is jazzed about disappoints in the first few games of the season. It's all just "rookie mistakes." And for some reason the fans are able to forgive the flubs and flops of their beloved rookie. It's almost' [...]
Bret Stephens' provocative piece, "The Stages of Racism," is worth a few minutes of your time.
Enjoy.
' [...]
In Mr. Obama's Inaugural Address we find this statement:
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals.It's a stunning bit of vapidity: safety is one of America's ideals.
In Mr. Obama's speech regarding the use (and destruction) of human [...]
[Originally posted on March 14, 2009, at Political Pundoetry.]
In the classroom beneath the stairs
Along the hallway near the doors
Stands the substitute teacher
And all hell has broken loose.
Despite the texting of bad news
He still lectures all with bland glares
He spins the globe [...]
(Originally posted January 27, 2009 at Contratimes.)
"There is no problem that surgery cannot make worse." -- An orthopedic surgeon
_________________________
It was mentioned in an earlier essay here that Barack Obama’s Inaugural Address included one memorably stupid phrase. But that should be emended. [...]
These few clips from an article in the Wall Street Journal are rather humbling:
Giving alms to Africa remains one of the biggest ideas of our time -- millions march for it, governments are judged by it, celebrities proselytize the need for it. Calls for more aid to Africa are [...]Whether coming from the right or from the left, from conservative talk radio or from liberal blogger land, you have heard some form of the following:
AIG has taken "taxpayer" money and given it away in ridiculous bonuses. Such avarice is unconscionable. American taxpayers have bailed out a company that deserved [...]I left this comment on the Wall Street Journal's website in response to what seemed a rather dismissive editorial about Mr. Obama's "Special Olympics" gaffe:
It is self-evident that any president needs to safeguard the images of his or her most vulnerable constituents. Special Olympians are a particularly vulnerable set; the [...]
Those nasty AIG bonuses have just stuck themselves in nearly everyone's craw. While I have no problem with them, countless others do. But the math is really interesting, and so is a glaring contradiction.
If we accept the numbers as given, we know that AIG has received $190,000,000,000 in [...]
Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama yesterday on "Meet the Press," and it has been seemingly well-received by Mr. Obama's supporters. But it all strikes me as rather odd.
If there is one unique characteristic of Barack Obama's candidacy, it is that he has consistently held that not only was the Iraq [...]
It strikes me as almost self-evident that Sen. John Sununu has mounted an effective defense of his senate seat in the face of the Shaheen Machine. Sen. Sununu's recent TV ad, featuring the concluding triptych of Gov. Shaheen saying, "I will stand with President Bush," is an outstanding example of [...]
From Georgia's Democratic congressman John Lewis:
"Senator McCain and Governor Palin are sowing the seeds of hatred and division, and there is no need for this hostility in our political discourse."There was a Governor of the state of Alabama, George Wallace. He never fired a gun, but he created the climate [...]
I found THIS ARTICLE'S thrust interesting. Is the thesis right?
[...]You have got to read THIS STORY. The headline, the name -- impossible! And then there's one sentence that should, if you're half-alive, make you laugh doubly hard.
(But there is a bit of tragedy in the story, too.)
[...]It's 9:47 p.m. I tried to listen to the 2nd Great Debate between John McCain and Barack Obama. I made it through the first question, and then I turned off my car radio.
I can easily believe that Barack Obama is the Democrat's choice for the White House. I can understand [...]
During Thursday night's debate, I wasn't sure of what I heard. I turned to a couple of folks who were sitting with me in one of the local pubs; the big debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin had drawn a decent crowd (for these parts). I asked whether I [...]
As reported in the Grapevine:
Veep MistakesDuring Thursday's vice presidential debate one of the candidates said, "Along with France, we kicked Hezbollah out of Lebanon," and, "Our commanding General in Afghanistan said the surge principle in Iraq will not work in Afghanistan," and that Barack Obama "did not say he'd [...]
_________________________________________________________________________
(Sure, go ahead. You can use them. But you saw them here first.)
I confess, I was bored, and my actions prove true what "they" say: "The devil finds work for idle hands."
(Created 10.4.2008)
CP here.
[...]You have no doubt heard about the Venice, CA, children singing something akin to a hymn about Barack Obama. New Hampshire citizens should be particularly interested since Mr. Obama's "Yes We Can" speech -- now a major marketing tool -- plays a major part in the song. (Readers will recall [...]
I don't see how one can miss the irony of the acronym. The "Troubled Asset Relief Program," or TARP, has been woven by lawmakers and tossed over what might be the corpse found at a horrific accident scene. Usually what follows is an investigation: a forensic examination of all details, [...]
I have been doing it so long I might as well say I've been doing it forever; it's a very disagreeable habit. Every time I sit in church -- watching how people worship, and listening to prayers and sermons -- I imagine what some outsider who [...]
I am afraid I will have to offend some of my readers today. Not that it will do any good, but I offer my apologies in advance of what I am about to say: Readers, forgive me.
Last night, as I watched the much-awaited debate between Sen. [...]
Last night's debate was, at the very least, illuminating. Perhaps the most illuminating aspect of the whole evening is that Sarah Palin is not easily daunted. Undeniably, the girl's got backbone. She did not flinch.
That is not to say that she won, or dominated. Nor is there any clear [...]
James Taranto on Barack Obama's statements about his father and the once great nation of America:
Happy Days
We'd say John McCain and Barack Obama both did pretty well in Friday's debate. Both men were, for the most part, smooth and well-spoken--making the event far less dramatic than the 2000 and [...]
If you have not read this morning's assemblage of quotes from hearings on Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae beginning in 2003, it is quite illuminating. You can read the article here.
And when you're done with that article, you can watch this engaging video (posted earlier) just to hear [...]
Let me state the obvious: If you were playing the stock market Tuesday, you might have made a fortune. Feast during famine, famine during feast. It all depends on who you are. But a nearly 500-point gain in a day -- buy low, sell high -- might mean that Monday's [...]
In 2004, on the eve of the general election, I wrote a letter to my local newspaper in which I explored a brilliant comment by the well-known Republican satirist, P. J. O'Rourke. I had heard Mr. O'Rourke, who lives nearby in this part of New Hampshire, speaking earlier in the [...]
Here's a video that is quite interesting.
[Quick glossary:
GSE: Government Sponsored Enterprise
OFHEO: Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight]
Peace.
©2008. All Rights Reserved.
CP here.
[...][MOSTLY FULL DISCLOSURE: Mark Fernald and I graduated from the same high school. He has worked as my lawyer. We have children that have known each other nearly since birth. While we may not be close friends, we have always been friendly to each other. And before anyone here suggests [...]
[It's been a wild time in YouTube Land. Just trying to keep the video link alive in this post has been a challenge. Suffice it to say that the video that disappeared yesterday has now reappeared -- and it's modified in a very interesting way. I must confess, I do [...]
In a recent blog post at this site, in which the patently silly idea was posited that Sen. McCain's decision to suspend his presidential campaign and his debate with Sen. Obama proved he's incapable of doing two things at once, I spotted in the comments thread a rather interesting exchange [...]
Sarah Palin has been hammered by her critics for her apparently inept performances during her recent interviews with Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric. I'll concede, perhaps solely for the sake of argument, that Gov. Palin has been, at times, less than stellar, at least in the finer points of national [...]
[Originally posted at Contratimes, Sept. 25, 2008]
During Thanksgiving weekend last year I enjoyed dinner with some of my favorite people on this planet. It was a great time of silliness and laughter, fine wine and soft light, delicious food and spirited conversation. And politics.
I don't mean to suggest that [...]
Let me begin this essay with a concession I've made before: Let it be conceded that only one major political party in America cares about the poor, and that party is the Democratic Party.
With that sweeping concession made, let me ask a question. Barack Obama has raised $450,000,000 this election [...]
On Sunday I wrote about the New York Times' report on Gov. Sarah Palin's style of leadership. Recall that I highlighted the following, which I believe the Times wants readers to believe counts against (wild guess!) Gov. Palin:
[…]four months ago, a Wasilla blogger, Sherry Whitstine, who chronicles the [...]
There was an amazing article in Saturday's New York Times. Perhaps you heard about it. Maybe you even read it.
I read it, and I found it amusing.
The story -- as if you could not have guessed -- focuses on Sarah Palin's governorship of Alaska. The portrait it paints of [...]
File this under incredible.
Opinion Journal's James Taranto brings more clarity to Charlie Gibson's interview with Sarah Palin (see transcript). Recall that Mr. Gibson construed Sarah Palin's words in such a way as to imply she believed America's troops were just bellicose Blues Brothers on a "mission [...]
(This essay first posted at Contratimes, Friday, Sept 14, at 11:53am)
Bill Gnade: Good evening. Tonight, ABC News' Charlie Gibson, who just brought us the first-ever televised interview with Gov. Sarah Palin since her ascendancy to the national spotlight. Mr. Gibson, welcome, and thank you for being with us.†
Charlie [...]
We have been told Barack Obama is singularly brilliant, articulate, eloquent. We have been told that he is nuanced; deep. One journalist even suggested Barack Obama is more highly evolved than the rest of us. But what have we found? We have found someone blandly human, and not particularly [...]
I am wondering if we are watching the greatest political meltdown in American history. I am also wondering if the "Lipstick Defense" is a cover-up.
James Taranto simply passes over something I find absolutely incredible, especially since accusations of plagiarism have been hurled at both Barack Obama and Joe Biden [...]
I appreciate Barack Obama's somewhat lighthearted attempt to exegete his now infamous joke as he sat last night with David Letterman. In fact, I love it when anyone whittles a statement down to its components, to its syntactical and grammatical pith. And that is what Barack Obama did. I just [...]
[It is another cloudless morning here in New England, just like the morning seven years ago. Back then, two planes were already in the sky; observers on the ground might have seen them from Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont or New York. There would be a different flight plan that [...]
I am contributing to the disgusting political propaganda battles simply by mentioning this. But I have to mention it. When something like this becomes the lead story on at least one national news program, the offering of opinions is de rigueur, even from the lowliest of [...]
I want to know what you think.
The other day the New York Times highlighted part of a comment left by a reader in the comments thread of Paul Krugman's op-ed, The Resentment Strategy." Here is the link to the comment, and here is the clip the Times featured [...]
NH Insider readers should take a few minutes to read Gail Collins' "McCain's Grizzly Politics." I think you will find it stunningly patronizing ... and wrong. And maybe, just maybe, even a little bit absurd.
The surprising revelation over the last nine days of political news is [...]
One would have to be disengaged not to notice that the Democratic Party, along with the party's scribes in the press, are really quite angry about the ascension of Sarah Palin. But it is not Sarah Palin that has them most upset; it is not [...]
It is quite clear that even leading Democrats are completely tone deaf. That Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has sent out his lead man to denounce Gov. Sarah Palin's speech last night as "shrill and sarcastic" proves that the Democrats are in this to lose. [...]
Though the title of this post is facetious, I cannot deny what I just witnessed. I had never heard Sarah Palin give a speech until tonight. I now know why John McCain chose her for his running mate. In fact, I have to say that, at least tonight, she was [...]
I find this incredibly amusing: The New York Times reports that Gov. Sarah Palin has not traveled much outside the United States. Apparently the governor did not receive her passport until 2007 when she needed to travel to Kuwait to visit the Alaska National Guard deployed there.
One can conclude [...]
Not that anyone is paying attention to my simple warning to Democrats, but it seems quite clear that the Democrats are going to fall on their own sword attacking Sarah Palin, especially when it comes to Governor Palin's family.
I wonder: Are the Democratic hacks who are spreading grotesque rumors [...]
I was just listening to Fred Barnes speaking on Fox News; he said that "it reinforced the idea that I already had, that Barack Obama is a very decent human being." [emphasis added]
The "it" in Mr. Barnes' remarks refers to Barack Obama's statement about Sarah Palin's pregnant daughter. Mr. Obama [...]
In the wake of the incredible news that Governor Sarah Palin's daughter, Bristol, is pregnant, I think it would behoove Democrats to protect any moral high ground they may believe they hold by choosing decorous silence. Any other tack would be profoundly detrimental to their cause.
After [...]
I was completely out of the media loop on Friday, having left all the political hoopla aside so I could attend to an important and wonderful domestic event. So by the time I learned of Sen. John McCain's choice of Gov. Sarah Palin as his running [...]
Why is this woman
NOT the Democratic Party's 2008 nominee for president?
Simple. It is because of this man:
I cannot think of a single person I've spoken to who disagrees with this fact. I especially have never spoken to a single Democrat who disagrees. Bill [...]
If you would like to see logic put to both good and bad use, then see James Taranto's "The Weisberg Fallacy" in yesterday's Opinion Journal. It will appear too academic to some who are inspired by the sort of fallacious argument Mr. Taranto dismantles; some might consider it pedantic. [...]
It is the third sentence that I find amusing, and maybe even bemusing.
In this morning's New York Times report about Barack Obama's choice of Sen. Joe Biden for his vice president, I read this curiosity:
"Over the course of two months, as the dynamics of the presidential campaign and world [...]
Big News: Joe Biden is Barack Obama's running-mate. Very old news: Joe Biden is not change we can believe in.
I love the headline over the AP ESSAY written by veteran AP political analyst Ron Fournier:
BIDEN PICK SHOWS LACK OF CONFIDENCE
Here's a great quote from Fournier's commentary:
"For all his self-confidence, [...]
I don't think readers will be disappointed with Daniel Henninger's Wonderland essay, "Saddleback: The Inner Game of Politics", posted at Opinion Journal. It's just straightforward good stuff.
Let me know what you think.
Food for thought, or not.
[...]If you have not read Ryan T. Anderson's "Huckabee And Social Conservatives" first published at First Things (and then reprinted in the Wall Street Journal's online Federation), then you should.
Of course, I know "should" is a strong word these days. Perhaps I should -- there I go again [...]
There have already been some amazing statements made about this past weekend's Saddleback Forum, the debate/interview between Barack Obama and John McCain moderated by Rev. Rick Warren. The chattering classes have been jawing on about the results and impacts. And, depending on who you ask, there [...]
From the editor's notes in Mark Twain: Collected Tales, Sketches, Speeches, & Essays (1891-1910)†, we find this amazing tidbit of science and medical history:
Ignaz Phillipp Semmelweis, (1811-65), a Hungarian physician working in Vienna, demonstrated the infectious nature of puerperal ("childbed") fever in 1846 and greatly reduced [...]
It is first and foremost a sad story: another wife has been cheated on by her politically ambitious husband. Adding to the sadness is the fact that the wife is a cancer victim, and that her husband, when asked about rumors about his affair with an [...]
I was recently asked by a reader at NHInsider to comment on John McCain’s TV spots aimed at Barack Obama’s celebrity status. (Readers can view the ad at THIS YOUTUBE LINK.)
Here’s the reader’s query:
"I would appreciate, as would no doubt other faithful readers, your comments on the official McCain [...]
I wonder if the following quotation will tickle NH Insider readers as it did me. I found the quote in a comments thread at NHI (it is utterly irrelevant where), and I think it a dandy. Here it is:
"[Barack] Obama will win [the presidency] because this time the country will [...]
[Special thanks to NHInsider blogger Chaz Proulz for bringing to my attention Mr. Ron Tunning's op-ed in the Laconia Citizen. Readers may view Mr. Tunning's essay at THIS LINK. I have a few thoughts about Mr. Tunning's style and manner; I share those thoughts with you now.]
Every now and [...]
I very much enjoyed THIS ESSAY by Michael Knox Beran. There is much to ponder, to study and descry, in Mr. Beran's piece. Though it seems ridiculous to highlight any one point Mr. Beran makes, I did find his remarks about how some people view suffering particularly salient; that [...]
[This is Part 2 in a series in which I discuss a recent letter to the editor written by Edward "Ted" Leach, co-chair of New Hampshire's Carbon Coalition. Part 1 begins here.]
___________________________
AN ASIDE: Why Is This Important?
I have focussed on Mr. Leach's letter for two main reasons. First, [...]
In a letter to the editor printed in the July 3, 2008 edition of the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, Edward "Ted" Leach, co-chair of the Carbon Coalition and former Republican state representative from Hancock, gives us a glimpse of global warming vacuity.
Making the case that the signs of global warming [...]
I was thinking this morning of the necessity of commenting on comments. You see, I have been surprised at the vacuity and meanness of many of the comments that I've found at NHinsider. Mind you, some of the comments received are stellar, driving the discussion forward, deeper. But far too [...]
I had the pleasure today of watching, via a link provided by BlueHampshire.com, my first-ever episode of "Political Chowder," hosted by NH political notable Arnie Arnesen. And I must admit that the first few minutes of the show left me dumbfounded.
After a rather didactic and plodding preface about [...]
The Concord Monitor editorializes today about the horrors of water-boarding as proven by the willful and self-promoted water-boarding of that notorious belletrist, Christopher Hitchens. Mr. Hitchens writes about his "ordeal" in the August 2008 edition of Vanity Fair.
In the Monitor's somewhat embarrassing essay titled "This should quell [...]
NHInsider readers will no doubt recall the unfortunately-this-is-true story of the public servant disciplined and dismissed for using the very apt word "niggardly" in a public meeting wherein budgetary issues were on the agenda. Extremely wounded souls claimed injury over the man's allegedly racially-insensitive diction. That the word has nothing [...]
Kossack ScottyUrb discusses patriotism at the Daily Kos, and I would encourage you to read his "Are You A Patriot?". At least, I urge you to read the first 23 comments that follow that interesting essay (it won't take long).
I ask, is Urb right about [...]
[In honor of today's holiday celebration, I post an essay I wrote the morning of Independence Day, 2005.]
Good morning, and may this be a grand Independence Day for you.
The older I get, and the wiser I become, so much the grander are these patriotic holidays we celebrate. [...]
[What follows may not be appropriate for a political blog, but no matter. Sometimes we need to set politics aside. -- bg]
I heard the Amber Alert on the radio. I was driving somewhere, tuned to a local station, when I heard the tones, the sirens; and then the message. Perhaps [...]
How embarrassing.
Barack Obama promised the other day in Unity, New Hampshire that one of his presidency's top priorities would be to ensure that women would get "equal pay for equal work." Now the junior senator might have to issue a broad mea culpa. Or something else.
During a campaign stop in [...]
The inimitable James Taranto deserves praise here, especially for this rather apt reminder:
"The point is this: If you vote for Democrats on the theory that Republicans are a threat to civil liberties, caveat elector. Bill Clinton and his administration incinerated children at Waco, undertook the policy of [...]
OK. Despite the fact that we are all about full and responsible freedom here at NH Insider, you have to read "Global Warming As Mass Neurosis" by Bret Stephens. It is simply and unequivocally brilliant.
Mr. Stephens poses a very serious challenge to global warming "science" this morning in today's [...]
Early yesterday afternoon I called a friend of mine who is a veteran photojournalist. I was certain he'd be in Unity, New Hampshire to cover the The Great Event, when Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton would publicly unify their heretofore antagonistic political campaigns. But when my friend answered his cellphone, [...]
I recall listening to rather recent programs on National Public Radio warning the world that the most toxic industry on the planet is the computer industry. If this is true -- and I have no reason to suspect that it isn't -- then it amuses me to no end [...]
Gary Rosen's review of Susan Neiman's latest book Moral Clarity is great reading, and surely makes a decent case that Ms. Neiman, who stands on the political left, has produced a work worthy of broad attention.
Mr. Rosen does not hesitate to explore Ms. Neiman's frustrations with the increasingly [...]
