Month: October 2007

A thief and liar is hired by Clinton. But his thievery is less important to Clinton than his loyalty. After all, his theft was an attempt to keep president Clinton’s failures with respect to al Qaeda under wraps. And so he gets a pardon. Remember: the Clintons are on their best behavior right now. And they still rehire their corrupted loyalists. Like the other royal family, the Clinton court exists to reward loyalty, protect the brand, circle the wagons and to punish dissenters. With post-Cheney executive powers, the potential for the Clinton machine to abuse their power more profoundly than in the 1990s is high.

While I’m at it: Several of you have emailed claiming that my antipathy to the Clinton Restoration is a function of my discomfort with women in power. This argument is a little weak since my entire interest in politics was born out of an unhealthy devotion to the career and achievements of Margaret Thatcher, a truly powerful woman and a far more impressive feminist than Hillary Rodham Clinton. Thatcher was not a willing and knowing accomplice to a man who routinely sexually abused and harassed the women in his orbit. Nor was she fully involved in the subsequent smearing of such women. Hillary was. Her feminism extends only to the extent that it advances her and her husband’s power.

"Clearly it is a rather one-sided group of people. Their foreign-policy manifesto seems to be ‘We’re right, we’re powerful, and just make my day.’ He’s out-Bushing Bush," – Dimitri Simes on Rudy Giuliani’s nascent foreign policy team.

The enviro website gives Obama a rave review. David Roberts writes:

Overall, I’m pleasantly surprised — even shocked — at its quality. It’s a deft mix of good politics and strong, substantive policy. Here are what I see as the three headlines:

    * 100% auction of cap-and-trade credits. This is a home run, a real act of standard-setting boldness (the kind that Obama always promises but rarely delivers). The green community should immediately use it to push Clinton and Edwards into making the same commitment, insuring that it’s the new baseline for any cap-and-trade program.

    * Smart investment. The revenue from auctions will be considerable, up to $50 billion a year, and Obama’s smart about putting it to work, dividing it between energy R&D, protections for low-income workers, and market deployment of existing clean tech.

     * A focus on efficiency. Clearly Obama gets that efficiency is the easiest route to emission reductions, and he’s got a set of thoughtful, detailed initiatives to make it work.

Matt comments here. If you find any reax from more conservative green quarters, let me know. Some of this is highly technical and it’s good to get as many viewpoints as possible.

Instapundit links to a very judicious review of Jack Goldsmith’s book on "The Terror Presidency." The final sentence:

Because of the Bush administration’s obsession with excessive presidential power, our nation and our democracy are less secure.

Odd that Reynolds has done very little but enable or acquiesce in such an obsession with excessive presidential power for the entire Bush administration.

A reader writes:

One of my best friends, Aziz, is Syrian. When his son, Ali, graduated from a Wisconsin high school last year, Aziz through a large garden party. He rented a dozen large tables, set them up in his big, shady backyard, and easily filled then with several dozen of his Arab friends.

I was enjoying my favorite beverage when a mutual friend walked in and said to me "Who are all these people? I’ve never seen any of them."

I pointed to the tables one by one and said "Way in the back by the swingset is al Qaeda. Next to them is Hezballah. Islamic Jihad is playing badminton."

Aziz still laughs about that whenever I see him.

A reader writes:

An angle of the Ron Paul story that is missed in most reports is the party affiliation of those who are contributing. I am a registered Democrat. I am making my only substantial contributions during the primaries to Ron Paul. Why? He is the only candidate on either side who is truly addressing my concerns about our current lack of fiscal responsibility, our overly interventionist foreign policy, and the executive branch’s utter lack of respect for the Constitution.

It is well worth a few hundred dollars of my money to help him stay in the debates to present substantive arguments on the most important issues we face as a country. It is my sincere hope that at least a few percent of Republicans hear his message and insist upon a serious candidate, not just the candidate who presents himself as the biggest bully.

A Bush era exodus:

Defense Department statistics show the number of young black enlistees has fallen by more than 58 percent since fiscal year 2000. The Army in particular has been hit hard: In fiscal year 2000, according to the Pentagon statistics, more than 42,000 black men and women applied to enlist; in fiscal year 2005, the most recent for which a racial breakdown is available, just over 17,000 signed up.

This country is polarizing in many dangerous ways.

"I hope you get elected, cause it will make Rush Limbaugh really, really mad.," – an Iowa Democrat to Clinton.

The usual nonsense. But I am gladdened by the chutzah of many people living with serious illnesses in confronting the candidates – of both parties – and demanding they look into the face of the sick and tell them they have no interest in allowing them to get better. It helps crystallize matters.

Not so flash Gordon. A Tory take-down here.