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“Her view is the old, classic, European caricature that we describe of big government, big taxation, welfare state,” said the former Massachusetts governor.
“She gave a speech a couple of days ago and laid out her vision for America. And as I listened to her I figured her platform wouldn’t even get her elected in France,” […]
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Filed under: politics
Opponents of the First Gulf War, for instance, would argue that the events of 9/11 vindicated their concerns - because the Gulf War created a permanent U.S. military presence in Saudi Arabia, providing grist for anti-Americanism across the Islamic world - but there hasn’t been a massive post-9/11 backlash against George H.W. Bush or Brent […]
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Filed under: politics, foreign policy
He tried to explain away his state’s low rankings on high-school dropout rates, poverty, and crime during his tenure, his bold statements as energy secretary that turned out not to be true, his 72-hour change of mind on the immigration bill, his stance on guns, the stock he once owned in an oil company, his […]
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Filed under: politics
It seems to me that though democrats may be irritated by the relish with which Rove disdains them and infuriated by his habit, until now at least, of winning, to say that they find his cleverness insufferable is preposterous. So preposterous, in fact, that only a certain kind of Washington hack hellbent on ignoring obvious […]
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Filed under: politics
Finally, after all these years of hard work and sacrifice…a break! ~The Writer/Comedian (Bill Murray), The Lost City*
Later this summer, I will have a review of Colin Wells’ Sailing from Byzantium in Chronicles. Here is the table of contents for the May issue, which has, in addition to many fine meditations on the importance of property […]
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Filed under: miscellaneous
Peter Suderman writes about Ron Paul for NRO (via Michael).
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Filed under: politics
Reihan has a few responses to the legions of Fletch-loving maniacs and other critics.
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Filed under: miscellaneous
So Republicans will keep winning because Americans are becoming more entrepreneurial and “market-oriented” and because they’re increasingly “saying it’s not all about materaliasm, it’s not all about the pursuit of material things”? It’s hard to imagine a balder description of the essential contradiction at the heart of the GOP coalition, and yet Rove seems unaware […]
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Filed under: politics, culture
A veil of timidity and euphemism hangs over the entire discussion, which could lead a sleepy reader to miss his meaning altogether. ~Paul Berman
One might say much the same about Berman’s essay on Ramadan, which seems to timidly and euphemistically dance around the edge of saying something bold about Ramadan. I understand that writing about […]
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Filed under: politics
Here’s some additional confirmation that the Iraq war was built on a foundation of lies and deceit (as if you needed more proof). I’m waiting for the pro-war propaganda response, which will probably be, “You go to war with the intelligence you fabricate.”
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Filed under: politics, foreign policy
Since some liberals have (only half-jokingly) sometimes spoken of Obama in messianic terms, and his childhood associations with Islam have become fodder for discussion, it is probably not helpful to him to talk about him by using Muad’Dib references. (Link via Yglesias)
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Filed under: miscellaneous
He [Buruma] marveled over Ramadan’s mix of anti-globalist fervor and ultra-conservative cultural views. “In American terms,” Buruma remarked, “he is a Noam Chomsky on foreign policy and a Jerry Falwell on social affairs.” ~Paul Berman
So, in other words, he’s rather like…me? Well, not quite. For starters, my grandfather did not found the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt (a piece […]
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Filed under: politics, culture, foreign policy
In his contribution to the ever-widening discussion of Ghostbusters, Fletch and Reihan’s fun article about the latter, Yglesias wrote:
Mass market comedy, as seen in Hollywood films, strikes me as a pretty good partner for post-Goldwater conservatism. Comedy, to be funny, usually requires the skewering of the powerful in some sense. But the mass culture marketing demands that your […]
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Filed under: politics
The foundation published Ramadan’s book To Be a European Muslim in 1999, and it enjoyed a modest success. To Be a European Muslim was regarded as a thoughtful argument for healthy new relations between old-stock non-Muslim Europe and the new-stock immigrant Muslim population. Daniel Pipes in the United States was among the expert observers who […]
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Filed under: politics, Islam, ideology
554 years ago today, Constantinople, the God-guarded City, the Queen of Cities, fell to the assault of the forces of the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II. Three days of pillage and rapine followed. The Byzantine Empire came to an end after 1,123 years.
Update: Paul Cella has a good commemoration here.
Second Update: Dr. Trifkovic also has a very good piece on […]
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Filed under: history
News media world-wide described the event as a step in overcoming Russia’s tragic history. The New York Times called the merger “the symbolic end of Russia’s civil war.” But the reality is far more complicated. Not only are there theological and moral issues at stake, but there is also the suspicion among some that Mr. […]
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Filed under: Orthodoxy, Russia
Select presidential candidates respond to a query from The Jerusalem Post about how they understand the importance of the U.S.-Israel strategic relationship. McCain does his best to leap to the front with an exuberant endorsement of Israel as an ally (you have to admire the “sacred soil” line, considering McCain’s general dislike of religious conservatives here and […]
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Filed under: politics, foreign policy
Consider Iraq. The split among conservatives has widened since Saddam was toppled in the spring of 2003. Traditional realists continue to put their trust in containment, and reject nation-building on the grounds that we lack both a moral obligation and the requisite knowledge of Arabic, Iraqi culture and politics, and Islam. Supporters of the war […]
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Filed under: politics, foreign policy
We cannot acquiesce in independence movements where independence means a return to savagery or Communist domination. ~Sen. Barry Goldwater
Earlier today I had written a fairly lengthy commentary on this item taken from a 1961 National Review Goldwater essay, but my browser cut out on me at an inopportune moment and all of it (plus the time I […]
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Filed under: politics, foreign policy, Africa
The Republicans gave up a lot to get Kennedy, particularly in agreeing to “Z” visas that would allow the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants already in the United States to stay as legal residents and eventually seek citizenship. ~Fred Barnes
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Filed under: politics, immigration
Shorter June 2007 Washington Monthly forum on how the Democrats can compete for the military vote:
Carter: Attacking Serbs was a good thing.
Cohen: Don’t get trapped in the kill zone (a.k.a., Iraq)!
Stewart: Theocracy is scary.
Exum: Be like Kennedy (and Rumsfeld)!
Douglas: Be tough like Webb!
Tyron: Ignore the generals.
Fick: You, too, can serve the empire.
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Filed under: politics
But Rove cautioned against reading too much into polls, or the results of the 2006 midterm elections. “It’s important to keep in perspective how close the election actually was,” he said. “Three thousand five hundred and sixty-two votes and we would have had a Republican Senate. That’s the gap in the Montana Senate race. And […]
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Filed under: politics
Must we arrive at something anti-liberal when we build up from a metaphysical proposition? ~Joseph Bottum
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Filed under: philosophy, politics
The suspicion of metaphysics would be more persuasive if, for another example, we imagine that religiously informed governments follow a pattern that invariably ends in some form of the Inquisition, granting civil police powers to religious authorities. ~Joseph Bottum
Mr. Bottum’s entire essay would be more persuasive if he didn’t pepper it with bizarre phrases like […]
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Filed under: history, Christianity
I suppose the postmodernists belong somewhere in the Counter-Enlightenment fold—although whether on the left or the right, philosophically, is difficult to say. ~Joseph Bottum
It is difficult, perhaps, because they aren’t Counter-Enlightenment people at all, but post-Enlightenment who have nothing in common with the Counter-Enlightenment except perhaps skepticism about the importance of the self and the power […]
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Filed under: philosophy, politics