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DECEMBER 16,  2010

HAS HOLDER COME ALIVE? – AT 9:55 A.M. ET:  Wiki kingpin Julian Assange, who believes he is full of goodness and grace, was on TV earlier this evening, saying that he's been told he may be indicted in the United States under our espionage laws.

Good, good, good.  That's what he deserves.  If he thinks he's on the side of the angels, fine.  But others who've thought the same thing, but had a higher regard for their fellow law-abiding citizens, have broken the law, then, in the spirit of civil disobedience, presented themselves for arrest.

Assange has a host of problems.  He's wanted in Sweden on a rape charge, and is entitled to the presumption of innocence.  But I hope he will have to answer charges in this country as well.

We've been very critical here of Eric Holder, our very political attorney general.  But if he pursues Assange vigorously, we'll be happy to give him the credit.  I'm not convinced yet.  There apparently is a secret grand jury meeting in Virginia.  Let's see if an indictment is handed down.  Stay tuned.

December 16, 2010       Permalink

THE LEFT ON THE MARCH, TO NOWHERE – AT 9:57 A.M. ET:  The left wing of the Democratic Party continues its kamikaze mission, with implied threats against President Obama, the most left-wing president in our history, for not being leftist enough.  From The Hill:

President Obama’s stark move to the middle will cost him. As in cash, and lots of it.

Democrats in Washington think President Obama is hurting his mighty fundraising prowess by repeatedly ticking off the people who helped Obama shatter fundraising records in 2007 and 2008.

The great strength behind Obama’s eye-popping quarterly reports were online contributions — about $500 million worth — and many Democrats think that area will take a hit as loyal Democrats express their disappointment with Obama by keeping their wallets shut.

To be sure, an extension of the Bush tax cuts, the failure to repeal “Don’t ask, don’t tell” and a fight with some unions and the left over a trade agreement with South Korea don’t make for sexy Democratic fundraising literature.

It will be hard for Obama to say, “Show me the money” when his allies feel like they’ve been shown the back of the president’s hand.

You know, I almost feel sympathy for the president.  And get this:

Even Hollywood, the great liberal ATM, could revolt over the president’s inability to overturn the ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the military, end the war in Afghanistan and close Guantánamo Bay.

Imagine not having Michael Moore on your side.  Why, the impact.  The anguish.  No more free tickets to premieres. 

COMMENT:  The Democratic Party, decades ago, was an engine of practical politics and electoral know-how.  It knew how to do things, not just say things.  Look at it today.  A group of adolescents is offended – one of their favorite words – by the need for Obama to compromise.  Whatever happened to the Soviet dream of one-party rule? 

As the story points out, some of the smarter Democratic pols believe that Obama's fight with the left will actually help him in 2012, and I'm inclined to agree.  Only 20% of Americans identify themselves as liberals.  The election will be won by appealing to the other 80%.

December 16, 2010      Permalink

DON'T COUNT OBAMA OUT – AT 8:57 A.M. ET:  A new poll supports the argument we've been advancing here that President Obama, despite setbacks, remains a potent force for 2012.  From The Politico:

President Barack Obama faces an unsure but still supportive electorate heading into the 2012 campaign, a new poll suggests.

In the Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll released late Wednesday, 42 percent of Americans said they would probably vote to reelect the president, while 39 percent said they would vote for a generic Republican candidate.

Not exactly a vote of confidence for the president, who only leads by three points when matched against nobody.  But there's better news for Mr. Obama:

Matched up with specific Republican presidential hopefuls, Obama does better. If Mitt Romney were the Republican candidate, 47 percent of respondents said they would vote for Obama, while 40 percent said they would vote for the former Massachusetts governor.

Romney is one of the better known Republican candidates, and has been running since Creation.  If this is the best he can do, he has major work ahead.

Other potential 2012 candidates get less support. Pitted against former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Obama gets 55 percent of the vote while Palin gets 33 percent. And 47 percent said they would vote for Obama against Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), while 27 percent said they’d vote for Thune.

The Thune numbers are insignificant because not enough voters know him yet.  The Palin numbers, though, are pretty devastating.  Everybody knows Sarah, and has had two years now to make a judgment about her.  While her numbers may well improve, she cannot, right now, make a strong claim to the presidential nomination. 

Reader Chris Corbett relays a quote from conservative political science Professor Charles Dunn, of Regent University:  "She's not demonstrated the seriousness of purpose. [And] she's not taken the vocal training that she should," he suggests. "She comes off more like a high school cheerleader rather than a serious aspirant for the Republican presidential nomination."

I'm afraid there's some truth to that.  And there' some truth to the notion, which you hear constantly, that the GOP doesn't have a real star to run against Obama in 2012.  I'm not sure I agree.  The new senator from Florida, Marco Rubio, is a star.  He's everybody's choice for vice president.  I'm willing to speculate that, sometime before the 2012 election, Rubio might look in the mirror and ask, "Vice president?"  After all, he's the former speaker of the Florida House, and will have had more experience by the 2012 election than Barack Obama had before the 2008 election.  If a star is needed, one is available.  Rubio could sew up critical Florida, and, as a Hispanic, could make a dent in the traditionally Democratic Hispanic vote.

December 16, 2010      Permalink

THE THREAT – AT 8:31 A.M. ET:  Eternal vigilance, my friends, practice eternal vigilance:

(AP) Iraqi authorities have obtained confessions from captured insurgents who claim al Qaeda is planning suicide attacks in the United States and Europe during the Christmas season, two senior officials said Wednesday.

Iraqi Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani told The Associated Press that the botched bombing in central Stockholm last weekend was among the alleged plots the insurgents revealed. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, in a telephone interview from New York, called the claims "a critical threat."

Both al-Bolani and Zebari said Iraq has informed Interpol of the alleged plots, and alerted authorities in the U.S. and European countries of the possible danger. Neither official specified which country or countries in Europe are alleged targets.

There was no way to verify the insurgents' claims. But Western counterterrorism officials generally are on high alert during the holiday season, especially since last year's failed attack by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the so-called underwear bomber, who tried to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day.

COMMENT:  The report seems logical.  Recent attempts at terror attacks in the West have been thoroughly incompetent, but incompetence doesn't have to last forever.  The 9-11 attacks were extremely competent. 

It is simply a matter of time before al Qaeda succeeds at something.  They have clearly not given up their assault on airliners, which is why security procedures at our airports now include some pretty intrusive techniques. 

We wait, and hope that many eyes are open.

December 16, 2010      Permalink

OUTRAGEOUS EXAMPLE OF JOURNALISTS PRACTICING JOURNALISM – AT 8:15 A.M. ET:  What are they thinking at Fox News?  Those silly right-wing, fascistic pigs:  Always asking questions and worrying about facts.  Take them off your invitation list, would you?  From the Washington Examiner:

You think the most essential purpose of journalism and the reason the Founders included freedom of the press in the First Amendment was to insure independent reporting about government, politicians, and public policy issues, right?

Well, you must be wrong because Fox News Washington Bureau Chief Bill Sammon is getting a raft of garbage from liberal activists masquerading as journalists at Media Matters, some liberal bloggers and a scattering of real journalists who ought to know better.

Why? Politico’s headline captures the controversy perfectly: “Fox editor urged climate skepticism.”

Stunning.

For the record, here’s what Sammon said in a Dec. 8, 2009, memo to his reporting staff shortly after the Climategate global warming email scandal erupted:

“Given the controversy over the veracity of climate change data, we should refrain from asserting that the planet has warmed (or cooled) in any given period without IMMEDIATELY pointing out that such theories are based upon data that critics have called into question. It is not our place as journalists to assert such notions as facts, especially as this debate intensifies.”

COMMENT:  Whaddaya mean?  Hasn't Sammon ever heard of the 1960s?  Hey Bill, things have changed.   Your job isn't to report the news without fear or favor, it's to make a difference.  Haven't you heard?  Don't you read The Nation?  And the difference you make had better be the difference that the beautiful people want made.  You want to be invited somewhere in Washington, don't you, Bill?

Soon these retrogrades will ask for researchers and fact checkers.  Stop them before they demand that universities explain how federal aid is spent!

December 16, 2010        Permalink

SNIPPET OF THE DAY – AT 8:09 A.M. ET:  This just in, from The Scotsman:

A TEAM of scientists claims to have positively identified an embalmed head, presumed lost in the chaos of the French Revolution, as that of King Henri IV of France who was assassinated in 1610.  The head was apparently lost after revolutionaries desecrated the graves of French kings in the royal basilica of Saint-Denis near Paris in 1793.

I was beginning to fear that we'd never find out.  This should put at ease the thousands of you who've written to us about this every day.

December 16, 2010     Permalink

DECEMBER 15,  2010

RESURRECT THE FOUNDING FATHERS AND LET THEM FIX IT – AT 8:50 P.M. ET:  The outgoing Congress will return home with a resounding vote of confidence from the American people.  From The Politico:

Americans’ satisfaction with Congress has hit an all-time low in a Gallup Poll released Wednesday.

Just 13 percent said they approve of the job Congress is doing, while 83 percent said they disapprove.

The lowest approval rating for Congress in a Gallup survey prior to this poll was 14 percent in July 2008.

Among Democrats, 16 percent approve of Congress, down from 29 percent in November. Republicans are less positive, with 7 percent saying they approve of the job Congress is doing.

COMMENT:  I want to know who the seven percent of Republicans are.  I want their names and I want their e-mail addresses.  I want background checks.  I am prepared to counsel them, and will waive my usual fee. 

There is also religious instruction available. 

December 15, 2010       Permalink

MORE FOREIGN POLICY ILLUSIONS – AT 8:41 P.M. ET:  Just when we thought President Obama might have had some sense knocked into him by the recent elections, we're discouraged again.  From Andrew Malcolm at the L.A. Times's Top of the Ticket blog:

Iran today did not exactly welcome President Obama's emphatic expression of sympathy for and denunciation of a deadly terrorist bombing in the southern city of Chabahar.

Initial news reports were confused, but apparently two suicide bombers ignited themselves in a downtown religious procession, killing a reported 39 and wounding scores more.

Obama (full text below) called the bombings "disgraceful and cowardly" and added: "The United States condemns all acts of terrorism wherever they occur."

Not so fast, Barack.

Iran's Interior Ministry, however, immediately blamed foreign governments, mainly the United States. Its statement said: "The equipment and logistical support of the terrorists indicate that these elements were backed by advanced intelligence services of the region and the United States."

Fulfilling a controversial campaign promise, Obama has made numerous unrequited gestures toward the Islamic Republic, promising mutual respect for the Persian culture and traditions and an open dialogue.

The Democrat's gestures have been rejected or mocked and Iran has continued its independent program to develop nuclear weapons and missiles as well as aiding insurgent forces fighting American troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

COMMENT:  Oh, but we must look at the other side of this.  Don't we feel good about ourselves?  Don't we feel peaceful and intellectual, with an understanding of other cultures? 

Why, I'm so inspired, I'm ready to go back to school just so I can spend my junior year abroad.  In San Francisco.

December 15, 2010       Permalink

QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 8:51 A.M. ET:  Richard Holbrooke, who died Monday, was one of those outsized diplomats, both physically and intellectually, who made a name for himself even though his dream of being secretary of state was regularly denied.  The great Fouad Ajami of Johns Hopkins commented in The Wall Street Journal:

He came into his own amid the stirrings of the New Frontier, when American power sat astride the world. In the preface of his Bosnian chronicles, he would recall that time: "Today, public service has lost much of the aura it had when John F. Kennedy asked what we could do for our country. To hear that phrase before it became a cliché was electrifying, and it led many in my generation to enter public service. For me, it was the Foreign Service which I joined right after graduating from college. Less than a year later I found myself in Saigon."

American patriotism and American liberalism were still tethered together as Holbrooke made his way. There may have been hubris in that outlook. Our country would be bloodied in distant places, it would learn that the world wouldn't always bend to our will. But the lodestar remained that essential belief that American power could be a force for the good in the world beyond our shores.

COMMENT:  America still is largely a force for good in the world, but our own elites (see our first posting today) disparage that idea, and teach their skepticism to the young.  At the top of those elites is one Barack Obama, who can't bring himelf to embrace American exceptionalism.  After all, how would that play in the faculty lounge? 

Holbrooke was a remarkable guy, and would, in better times, be the fascinating subject of a movie.  Don't buy your ticket just yet.  Hollywood is still busy glorifying Valerie Plame. 

December 15, 2010      Permalink

SNIPPET OF THE DAY – AT 8:41 A.M. ET:

From AP:  NEW YORK -- Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been named Time magazine's "Person of the Year" for 2010. 

Does anyone still care about the "person of the year"? 

December 15, 2010       Permalink

I'M SHOCKED, SHOCKED AT THIS – AT 8:25 A.M. ET:  The Politico is reporting this morning that Washington elites are down on Sarah Palin.  Aren't you as shocked as I am?  Take a pill please.  Zoloft is okay:

She told you so.

Washington elites, it turns out, do look down their noses at Sarah Palin.

The former Alaska GOP governor has been saying it for more than two years now, and a new POLITICO poll released Wednesday suggests she’s right.

Just 11 percent of the D.C. elites surveyed said they believe Palin is qualified to be president, less than half of the general public — 23 percent — who believe the same. Eighty-six percent of Washington elites — roughly 9 out of 10 — think Palin is not qualified, compared with 64 percent of the general public.

In addition, 79 percent of Washington elites believe Palin is a “negative influence in national politics” while just 15 percent find her to be “a breath of fresh air.” Outside the nation’s capital, however, more than twice as many believe she has had a positive impact on politics, while 50 percent see her as a negative influence.

If she had gone to Harvard, rather than to a state school, those "elite" figures would be different.  And all she'd have to do is utter four words – "I am pro choice" – and the numbers would change.

My first instruction in elitist thinking came in the 1950s, when the self-appointed protectors of American intellect ridiculed Dwight Eisenhower and had passionate love with Adlai Stevenson.  Why, Stevenson was an intellectual, whereas Ike was merely "an Army man."  In fact, Eisenhower had made history, and was much better read in it than the hapless Stevenson, who'd never met a common man whose name he remembered.  But Stevenson sounded so good, the way a president should sound.

Remember that it was elite opinion that shaped the reporting of the 2008 election, and gave us the image of Barack Obama as a godlike figure, filled with brilliant thoughts. 

I have my own doubts about Sarah, and have reported them here.  But a survey like this makes me cheer for her.

December 15, 2010       Permalink

RICH MARYLAND – AT 8:09 A.M. ET:  Census data shows that Maryland has replaced Connecticut as the nation's wealthiest state.  

Why should we be surprised?  An inordinate number of federal employees live in Maryland, and some work there in federal facilities just outside Washington, D.C.  Federal employees now earn considerably more than their counterparts in the private sector, and don't get laid off routinely.  Thus, Maryland has a disproportionate number of highly paid, stable workers.  From the Baltimore Sun, which has laid off plenty of employees in recent years:

Maryland's median household income was nearly $70,000, ahead of Connecticut and New Jersey, and far above the nationwide median of about $51,400.

But notice this, about Baltimore:

Fewer than 10 percent of city households fit the "traditional" mold of a married couple with children. Both the average household size and family size in the city have increased since 2000.

And this:

...more residents in some suburbs were living in poverty than in 2000.

The report is a combination of success and disaster, but the Sun doesn't even mention the role that the federal government plays in propping up the Maryland numbers.  I guess it's politically incorrect to point it out.

December 15, 2010     Permalink