So the media is under-covering Iraq, immigration and Paris Hilton. But not the election. I’m not sure what this says about Al Gore’s "Assault On Reason" thesis. Burt somehow I don’t think he believes the media is not covering the Hilton scandal enough.
Richard Hale of Port Angeles, Washington, joined about 30 people on the National Mall near the Washington Monument during an anti-illegal-immigrant rally sponsored by the Minuteman Project June 15, 2007 in Washington, DC. By Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.
A good question, and Jonah has an excellent column on the subject. Steyn agrees. But is there a contradiction in Steyn’s argument? Brian Beutler:
Interestingly, in the middle of making the case against the whole public school system, he’s pointed out the fact that state-run schools can be run successfully. They’re run successfully in other countries, and, additionally, they’re run successfully in plenty of municipalities around this country. What that means is that there are plenty of templates–and no shortage of data–that the government can use if it wants to actually fix (as opposed to grenade) the problems. That would, of course, be both simpler than privatizing everything and would allow us to avoid all the problems that would no doubt arise if we instituted the sort of voucher/magnet system which – similar data shows – is riddled with problems of its own.
One of the recent lowpoints of an Obama speech was his invocation of "crumbling" schools in DC. If Obama thinks the problem with public education in DC is insufficient funding, he really should visit more often.
An insult comic dog and a bunch of mainly obscure actors? Sublime:
"Were our founding fathers here, they would surely look on Iraq with horror and judge that the nation they created had fundamentally lost its way. If the war in Iraq leads the United States to return to its traditional, restrained grand strategy, then perhaps the whole experience will not have been in vain. Either way, the Iraq syndrome is coming. We need to be prepared for the divisiveness, vitriol, self-doubt and recrimination that will be its symptoms. They will be the defining legacy of the Bush administration and neoconservatism’s parting gift to America," – Christopher J. Fettweis, an assistant professor of national-security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College. "Reader Brett Conner, who sent word of this, writes: ‘One of the reasons I left the military was being stabbed in the back by our fellow countrymen. It happened to my father in Vietnam, and I didn’t want to continue living through the same experience.’ I’m afraid a lot of people will view Harry Reid’s statement that way. Of course, some folks like the way the Vietnam War turned out," – Glenn Reynolds, dress-rehearsing the "stab-in-the-back" canard he will surely use to scapegoat, rather than understand, the total failure of the president he voted for twice.
The pro-war right is surely not going to take defeat in Iraq or at home gently. If we withdraw from Iraq in the next year, and a terror attack occurs in the U.S., regardless of its provenance, watch Giuliani blame the Democrats and try to win the election on a classic "we-were-stabbed-in-the-back-we need-a-strong-leader" message. The constitutional dangers of such a move are, of course, grave. I can indeed see a scenario in which a classic fascist-style appeal to wounded nationalism – combined with a call to suspend constitutional protections in favor of a presidential protectorate and a Weimar-style "stab-in-the-back" smear against the MSM – will become the mantra of the Southern-dominated GOP in the next election. If you can’t see it coming, you don’t know who they are.
Qote
A reader writes:
Can’t we also apply the ticking bomb scenario to regular criminals?
Let’s say you have a father/son serial killer team.
You have the son in custody. The father is out there. He has kidnapped N children and is going to torture, rape and then kill them in a secret location. How big does N have to get before you start torturing the son to find out where he is? It works just fine for regular US citizens too, you see.
Now imagine the guy has TWO sons. One of them knows where Dad is, but the other doesn’t, and has nothing to do with the crime. Only you don’t know which is which. How big does N have to get before you torture them both?
Now imagine the innocent son is Mickey Kaus.
The point of torture is always torture.
Kaneohe, Hawaii, 1 pm.
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The GOP and media establishments have no interest in the man. But his electoral track record is pretty impressive:
Ron Paul is the only current member of Congress to have been elected three times as a non-incumbent. Given the 98 percent reelection rates for House members, it’s no great shakes to win three terms — or 10 terms — in a row. It’s winning that first one that’s the challenge. And Ron Paul has done that three times.
And he may be out-fundraising most of the minor candidates.
Rich Lowry diagnoses it: too much integrity for today’s GOP:
The tricky thing about political leadership is that it has to involve some followership, too. Mitt Romney would have no chance to lead the Republican party as a relatively moderate northeasterner, because that’s not where the Republican party is. Nor would Rudy Giuliani, which is why he has distanced himself from many of his positions as mayor (although in not as jarring a fashion as Romney).
McCain’s record is more conservative than that of both of those rivals, but, temperamentally, he’s a go-it-alone crusader. That’s not a good fit for leading a political party. McCain’s political persona says, "Here I stand, I can do no other." The emphasis is always on his personal honor and integrity. When he was crusading for campaign-finance reform, McCain seemed to disdain political parties and offered in contrast his lone voice of righteousness… The flaws of the other Republican presidential candidates are so manifest that McCain could yet come back. But who can doubt that when John McCain essentially says he’d rather be right than president, he means it, and it could prove prophetic?
(Photo: Kevin C. Cox/Getty.)
David Boaz understands what motivates the left on raising revenue:
"Let’s go and get it from those who’ve got it."
