Friday 10/15 links
Matt Drudge got hold of a 66-page manual published by the Kerry campaign and the Democratic National Committee which Drudge says directs party workers "to declare voter intimidation -- even if none exists." The actual language of the manual: "If no signs of intimidation techniques have emerged yet, launch a 'pre-emptive strike.'"
It would be hypocritical to start gushing approval of the profoundly unsound Reuters/Zogby poll just because it suddenly shows Bush +4, but what the heck. Captain's Quarters blogger "Captain Ed" Morrissey figures it must be good news. And Power Line blogger "Hindrocket," aka John H. Hinderaker, reports that Ralph Nader may hurt Kerry in several states, specifically in the upper Midwest.
Washington Times columnist Arnold Beichman knows why Democrats are so bitter and nasty--it's because they keep losing.
Classicist/columnist Victor Davis Hanson thinks most Americans understand the significance of 9/11 more than the Democratic braintrust does: we are in a war; we cannot heal or repair our enemies, we must destroy them.
Syndicated columnist Mona Charen offers two particularly perceptive observations: first, that the calculated and "tawdry" reference to Mary Cheney's homosexuality revealed the Democrats' cartoon view that Republicans are all homophobic bigots (they evidently thought the disclosure would therefore badly damage Pres. Bush within his base, rather than hurt themselves in theirs); and second, that Bush "has a habit of getting lazy, or distracted, or I don't know," and while he "very much deserves to be re-elected ... he has made difficult what ought to have been easy."
More on the same theme from New York Post columnist John Podhoretz, who discusses "Bush's Biggest Flaw": "Complacent Bush would have shown up at some point, because he always has. It's better that he showed up on Sept. 30 rather than on Oct. 30, the way he did in 2000."
Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer is a medical doctor, so he knows what he's talking about. He also has spinal cord damage that has confined him to a wheelchair for more than 30 years. So he is incensed that John Edwards is peddling snake oil about the immediate benefits of stem cell research: "Politicians have long promised a chicken in every pot. It is part of the game. It is one thing to promise ethanol subsidies here, dairy price controls there. But to exploit the desperate hopes of desperate people with the promise of Christ-like cures is beyond the pale. There is no apologizing for Edwards's remark. It is too revealing. There is absolutely nothing the man will not say to get elected."
Newsweek correspondent Howard Fineman thought Kerry hurt himself badly: "Do you like one who mentions someone else’s child to make a nasty political point? There were no laughs but gasps in the press room when Kerry noted that Vice President Dick Cheney's daughter, Mary, was a lesbian. ... What was Kerry's point in hauling her into a discussion of the pros and cons of gay marriage? ... Kerry [came] off in that exchange as politically manipulative and cold, very cold—a glimpse into at least one part of his personality that he is better off not showing on television." (Hat tip to Glenn Reynolds/Instapundit)
Appearing this time in the London Spectator, Mark Steyn is confident that Kerry "won’t win. Because enough Americans understand that going back to where we were means a return to polite fictions and dangerous illusions. You can’t put that world back together."
Syndicated columnist David Limbaugh thinks but doesn't overthink: "Unlike President Bush, John Kerry is conflicted about who he is and on the scores of issues on which he is campaigning. The public, I trust, will finally pick up on this (because "he can run, but he can't hide") and send him back to Massachusetts."
"ScrappleFace" satirical blogger Scott Ott publishes the text of Kerry's apology for mentioning Mary Cheney's homosexuality during the last debate. An extract: "Far be it from me to pry into the private life of Mr. Cheney's lesbian child, who is gay and a homosexual. ... I should not have mentioned that his daughter is a lesbian person, and not a heterosexual, but in fact a gay homosexual woman who is a lesbian with the last name Cheney."
Another Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post columnist, George F. Will, notices that the next president will appoint a lot of judges, and that is very significant.
London Daily Telegraph Middle East correspondent Anton La Guardia reports that the Iranians have taken control over much of what was Yasir Arafat's terror apparatus.
Jerusalem Post columnist Larry Derfner thinks that Israelis should view Egypt in a more charitable light. Yes, Egypt's media spew anti-Semitic bile, and yes, the peace between the two countries is as cold as it can be--but "on the main issue at hand - the threat of al-Qaida and Islamic terrorism - Israelis should finally understand that Mubarak's Egypt is not our enemy but our enemy's enemy - in other words, our friend."
New York Sun writer Jacob Gershman reports that the US Supreme Court is going to hear arguments about the constitutionality of rent control.
What will they think of next? Associated Press correspondent Michael Liedtke reports that Google has developed a new search engine--for your hard drive.
London Spectator columnist Taki (Theodoracopulos) supplies a spirited defense of harlots through the ages.
It would be hypocritical to start gushing approval of the profoundly unsound Reuters/Zogby poll just because it suddenly shows Bush +4, but what the heck. Captain's Quarters blogger "Captain Ed" Morrissey figures it must be good news. And Power Line blogger "Hindrocket," aka John H. Hinderaker, reports that Ralph Nader may hurt Kerry in several states, specifically in the upper Midwest.
Washington Times columnist Arnold Beichman knows why Democrats are so bitter and nasty--it's because they keep losing.
Classicist/columnist Victor Davis Hanson thinks most Americans understand the significance of 9/11 more than the Democratic braintrust does: we are in a war; we cannot heal or repair our enemies, we must destroy them.
Syndicated columnist Mona Charen offers two particularly perceptive observations: first, that the calculated and "tawdry" reference to Mary Cheney's homosexuality revealed the Democrats' cartoon view that Republicans are all homophobic bigots (they evidently thought the disclosure would therefore badly damage Pres. Bush within his base, rather than hurt themselves in theirs); and second, that Bush "has a habit of getting lazy, or distracted, or I don't know," and while he "very much deserves to be re-elected ... he has made difficult what ought to have been easy."
More on the same theme from New York Post columnist John Podhoretz, who discusses "Bush's Biggest Flaw": "Complacent Bush would have shown up at some point, because he always has. It's better that he showed up on Sept. 30 rather than on Oct. 30, the way he did in 2000."
Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer is a medical doctor, so he knows what he's talking about. He also has spinal cord damage that has confined him to a wheelchair for more than 30 years. So he is incensed that John Edwards is peddling snake oil about the immediate benefits of stem cell research: "Politicians have long promised a chicken in every pot. It is part of the game. It is one thing to promise ethanol subsidies here, dairy price controls there. But to exploit the desperate hopes of desperate people with the promise of Christ-like cures is beyond the pale. There is no apologizing for Edwards's remark. It is too revealing. There is absolutely nothing the man will not say to get elected."
Newsweek correspondent Howard Fineman thought Kerry hurt himself badly: "Do you like one who mentions someone else’s child to make a nasty political point? There were no laughs but gasps in the press room when Kerry noted that Vice President Dick Cheney's daughter, Mary, was a lesbian. ... What was Kerry's point in hauling her into a discussion of the pros and cons of gay marriage? ... Kerry [came] off in that exchange as politically manipulative and cold, very cold—a glimpse into at least one part of his personality that he is better off not showing on television." (Hat tip to Glenn Reynolds/Instapundit)
Appearing this time in the London Spectator, Mark Steyn is confident that Kerry "won’t win. Because enough Americans understand that going back to where we were means a return to polite fictions and dangerous illusions. You can’t put that world back together."
Syndicated columnist David Limbaugh thinks but doesn't overthink: "Unlike President Bush, John Kerry is conflicted about who he is and on the scores of issues on which he is campaigning. The public, I trust, will finally pick up on this (because "he can run, but he can't hide") and send him back to Massachusetts."
"ScrappleFace" satirical blogger Scott Ott publishes the text of Kerry's apology for mentioning Mary Cheney's homosexuality during the last debate. An extract: "Far be it from me to pry into the private life of Mr. Cheney's lesbian child, who is gay and a homosexual. ... I should not have mentioned that his daughter is a lesbian person, and not a heterosexual, but in fact a gay homosexual woman who is a lesbian with the last name Cheney."
Another Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post columnist, George F. Will, notices that the next president will appoint a lot of judges, and that is very significant.
London Daily Telegraph Middle East correspondent Anton La Guardia reports that the Iranians have taken control over much of what was Yasir Arafat's terror apparatus.
Jerusalem Post columnist Larry Derfner thinks that Israelis should view Egypt in a more charitable light. Yes, Egypt's media spew anti-Semitic bile, and yes, the peace between the two countries is as cold as it can be--but "on the main issue at hand - the threat of al-Qaida and Islamic terrorism - Israelis should finally understand that Mubarak's Egypt is not our enemy but our enemy's enemy - in other words, our friend."
New York Sun writer Jacob Gershman reports that the US Supreme Court is going to hear arguments about the constitutionality of rent control.
What will they think of next? Associated Press correspondent Michael Liedtke reports that Google has developed a new search engine--for your hard drive.
London Spectator columnist Taki (Theodoracopulos) supplies a spirited defense of harlots through the ages.
posted by S.Y. Silverstein at 8:19 AM
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