Archive for November, 2007

Michael Brendan Dougherty Has Said It Well

November 29, 2007

Regarding Mike Huckabee’s have-it-both-ways answer to the question of whether Jesus would support the death penalty, MBD says, “Basically, he’d kill them but he’d cry about it afterwards.” When asked tonight — and earlier when asked at the Morgan State University debate in Baltimore — Huck said that he supports the death penalty but feel [...]

What Does the Weekly Standard Think About the Republican Base?

November 29, 2007

Answer from the magazine’s campaign blog:
So, a good night for for the lowest denominator, a bad night for the GOP. America got to see a vaguely threatening parade of gun fetishists, flat worlders, Mars Explorers, Confederate flag lovers and zombie-eyed-Bible-wavers as well as various one issue activists hammering their pet causes.
Admittedly, the Mars Explorers are [...]

Uncooked Thoughts on Tonight’s YouTube Debate

November 29, 2007

I think Ron Paul should talk more about cutting taxes — he deservedly got good applause for talking about abolishing the Departments of Energy, Education, and Homeland Security, but he was almost upstaged by Huckabee — Tax-Hike Mike — who proposed abolishing something Americans despise much more, the IRS. Huckabee is a big government, [...]

The Invaders

November 27, 2007

It’s a thrill to discover that something you liked as a kid has a pedigree you can respect as an adult. In this case, I’ve just learned that a classic “Twilight Zone” episode that scared the wits out of me when I first saw it 22 years ago (age eight or so) was written by [...]

But Where Will the Neocons Get Their Torture Porn?

November 10, 2007

They’ll have to go back to watching their Abu Ghraib tapes because the new season of “24″ has been postponed indefinitely — another salutary effect of the Hollywood writers’ strike.  Make it permanent, guys!

There’s Something About Barry

November 8, 2007

The American Conservative has put on-line my recent article about Barry Goldwater, which takes a look at his evolving reputation among conservatives, libertarians, and liberals and argues that many of his admirers have overlooked one of the most important qualities of the Goldwater movement: the spirit of amateurism that animated it.

Disgruntled Authors Sue Regnery

November 7, 2007

Lefty websites are having a field day with this story, particularly Richard Miniter’s whine, “Why is Regnery acting like a Marxist cartoon of a capitalist company?” Miniter, Joel Mowbray, Bill Gertz, Jerome “Swift Boat” Corsi, and Buzz Patterson are suing their former publisher, claiming that Eagle Publishing’s self-dealing — Eagle owns publisher Regnery, as well [...]

Give Till It Hurts!

November 6, 2007

If you need inspiration, just look at the lede of David Kirpatrick’s NYT article on Ron Paul’s fund-raising today:
Historians and British school children remember Guy Fawkes as the Catholic, anti-Protestant rebel who on Nov. 5, 1605, unsuccessfully tried to assassinate King James I by blowing up the parliament.
Supporters of the long-shot Republican primary campaign of [...]