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Thursday, December 20, 2007

Merry Christmas to the Troops, and Thank You!

Posted by: Mary Katharine Ham at 3:28 PM

A bunch of your favorite bloggers appear in this message to troops overseas during Christmas, put together by Uncle Jimbo at Blackfive. We can't say thank you enough for what you do.

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Thursday, December 20, 2007

Game Day

Posted by: John Campbell at 2:49 PM

In 1866, Mark Twain said that "no man's life, liberty or property is safe when the legislature is in session." Congress is now out of session so your life, liberty and property are safe until mid-January.

We engage in some pretty hard discourse on very weighty topics in this regular missive. Now, as the holidays approach, it's time to talk about something even more important and taxes, spending, war, and energy policy.

By that I mean, of course, college football.

Now I follow college football, along with NASCAR and Formula One racing. And, like politics, I am not without my opinions. In the interests of full disclosure, my two sons are both undergraduates at USC and the captivating Mrs. Campbell (my wife) did her undergraduate work there as I did my graduate work there. I'm also a USC football season ticket holder and will be going to the Rose Bowl.

OK, disclosures complete. Here are my predictions for the 5 BCS bowls ahead of us over the next few weeks:

Jan. 1, 2008 - Rose Bowl - USC vs. Illinois: USC is going to run over Illinois like Democrats over a proposal to cut a John Murtha earmark. I so wanted to see SC play Georgia or Hawaii. Oh well. SC is finally playing like the team we thought they might be early in the season and they should win by 3 touchdowns to make a statement. Go Trojans!!!

Jan. 1, 2008 - Sugar Bowl - Hawaii vs. Georgia: This is the best game of the BCS bowls and I won't be able to see it because I will be at the Rose Bowl. I would like to see Hawaii win and have an undefeated season. But I think Georgia will win. Either way, it should be even more entertaining than watching Hillary and Obama ask each other questions about illegal immigration that they both duck. Oh and by the way, Hawaii's quarterback Colt Brennan (an Orange County native) should have won the Heisman trophy. Hawaii's games are on just too late for anyone back east to see how good he is. He suffered from college football's version of not being 'inside the beltway."

Jan. 2, 2008 - Fiesta Bowl - West Virginia vs. Oklahoma: I am normally not a fan of Big 12 football, but I like Oklahoma in this game. They looked as impressive against Missouri as Mitt Romney did during his religion in government speech earlier in the month. This is my least favorite game of the BCS bowls. I'm not saying I'd rather watch C-Span, however.

Jan. 3, 2008 - Orange Bowl - Kansas vs. Virginia Tech: First of all, if I were Missouri I would be asking why a team that didn't even make it to their conference championship is playing in a BCS bowl when Missouri beat Kansas? Moving along, I think VaTech is peaking at the right time and should win this game. But I do have a soft spot for Kansas since my mother was born there and we have a family farm there.

Jan. 7, 2008 - BCS National Championship Game - Ohio State vs. LSU: Bet the farm on LSU. The Big 10 is the worst conference in football. Ohio State only has one loss because they played nobody outside of their conference and there is nobody inside their conference. Winning the big 10 this year was about as hard as getting some additional spending in a Nancy Pelosi budget bill if you promise to vote for it. LSU will win the game, but they may not be the best team in football this year. Bring on an 8 team playoff!

OK, I have probably offended more of you than I could ever do with political positions. So, reply with your picks, criticisms and agreement using the tab on this page. Never let it be said, in politics or sports, that you don't know where I stand. Want some opinions on wine and beer? J

Until some time in January, here's wishing you and yours the Happiest of Hanukkahs, The Merriest of Christmasses and the Happiest of New Years!

Tags: Campbell earmarks john pork Representative Congressman

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Thursday, December 20, 2007

Linus For President ...

Posted by: Matt Lewis at 1:56 PM

Regarding my post from yesterday, The Fonz emails me this:

I know you don’t read the posts on your comments any more, but several asked if Linus was running for president. The Answer is Yes.

Wikipedia--

You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown is one of many prime-time animated TV specials based upon the popular comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz. It was originally aired on the CBS network in 1972. It was released to DVD as a bonus feature in 2003 with It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.

Linus runs for the post of student body president with a vigorous and enthusiastic campaign which receives a setback when he spreads the message of the Great Pumpkin. He wins the election by one vote, 84 to 83, the deciding vote cast by Linus' opponent, Russell Anderson, who had come to feel that Linus was better for the job (The plot is taken from a story that ran in the comic strip in October 1964, in which Linus ran for school president with Charlie Brown as his running mate. That time, when Linus brought up the Great Pumpkin in a speech, he was laughed off the stage and had blown his chance for election).

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Thursday, December 20, 2007

Major!

Posted by: Jonathan Garthwaite at 12:21 PM

What will Tancredo say at 2pm?

***Media Advisory***
Tancredo Presser in Iowa
(Washington, D.C.) – Presidential candidate Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-CO) will hold a presser to make a major announcement regarding the campaign.

Is it "Major" or he just thinks it is?

Dropping out wouldn't be major -- but dropping out with an endorsement would be close.

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Thursday, December 20, 2007

Finally...Progress

Posted by: John Campbell at 10:02 AM

The impending Christmas holiday, which cannot be waived even with a 2/3rds vote of Congress, has motivated lots of deal making, and Congress adjourned for the year last night. Here are some of the things, in addition to the energy bill and the budget, that are on their way to the President's desk:

TRIA: A 7 year extension with some positive modifications to the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act which was put in place after the attacks of 9/11. This provides federal government reinsurance so that the private market can profitably offer terrorism risk insurance on major commercial properties around the country. This compromise was more than the no extension that some wanted and less than the subsidies that others wanted.

SCHIP: After a year long and often bitter fight over whether to expand the State Children's Health Insurance Plan to cover adults and middle class children (basically a step to socialized medicine), the Democratic leadership backed down and relented to a 16 month extension of the current program with some program revisions. This bill passed with a vote of 411-3. The floor speeches from virtually all the Democrats who spoke said not to worry, a Democratic President, House and Senate in 2009 will immediately expand the reach and cost of this program. (Heavy sigh).

Troop Funding: $70 billion was added to the budget today to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This is considerably less than the $196 Billion asked for by the President but it clearly funds operations into the first quarter of next year.

Alternative Minimum Tax: The very last act of the 1st session of the 110th Congress was to extend the current AMT rates for this year. So, you escaped a tax increase.....this time. This was very contentious within the Democratic Caucus, but in the end they relented and allowed a vote to not raise the tax, rather than see 25 million taxpayers get a tax increase in an election year. But, it is still scheduled to go up on 2008, so there will be another fight. The Democrats had to violate their own much-hyped "paygo" rules in order to allow you taxes to remain the same. Here is a 1 minute floor speech I gave on this issue to close out debate today.

All in all, not a bad day.

Tags: Campbell earmarks john pork Representative Congressman

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Thursday, December 20, 2007

NR: From Pat to Mitt in 15 Years ...

Posted by: Matt Lewis at 9:40 AM

Yesterday, National Review hosted a conference call to explain their decision to endorse Mitt Romney for president. I was fortunate enough to be on the call.

The fact that a conference call was necessary probably underscores the point that their decision was a bit controversial. The call was also nearly hijacked by an anti-Romney gadfly named Brian Camenker. Camenker runs a group in Massachusetts called, "MassResistance." He asked numerous questions during the call, and at one point, Kate O'Beirne angered him by noting that she didn't find his group terribly credible.

But I digress ...

Regarding Romney's supposed "flip-flops," Rich Lowry said: "It just comes down to whether you believe Romney -- or not -- and we do." He also noted that "... everyone has moved right in this race."

Ramesh Ponnuru, who has written favorably and extensively about John McCain, noted that most of McCain's wounds were "self-inflicted." He also referenced Romney's business and executive experience as a reason why Romney was the better pick. When a candidate has never "run" something before, Ponnuru explained, you pay special attention to the way they run their campaign. McCain's campaign, of course, had plenty of problems, and thus, Ponnuru lost confidence in his ability to run other things.

(McCain would probably argue that he was a military leader responsible for the lives of others, and that should trump running the Olympics, at least.)

Regardless of whether or not you like Mitt Romney, his endorsement is a clear signal that National Review has evolved into a more mainstream publication. Their endorsement of Romney says: "Our guiding principle has always been to select the most conservative viable candidate," but as John Seiler notes, in 1972, NR endorsed John Ashbrook, and in '92, NR endorsed Pat Buchanan over President George H.W. Bush.

Mitt Romney is a long way from Pat Buchanan ...

Tags: Romney

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Thursday, December 20, 2007

A Cuiture of Badassery: 95-Year-Old Version

Posted by: Mary Katharine Ham at 9:13 AM

A 95-year-old WWII veteran dared two knife-wielding robbers to kill him when they confronted him on his lawn. They fled, and he's got a message for them:

"Wake up to yourselves and go and get a job, there's plenty around,'' he said.

Tags: badassery of culture

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Thursday, December 20, 2007

McCain Looked Into His Eyes and Saw: KGB

Posted by: Matt Lewis at 8:40 AM

Instapundit's recent podcast with John McCain includes a lot of "I Told You Sos."

It is now clear that McCain was right all along about the Surge. In addition, aside from showing how much Bush and McCain have aged in the last eight years, this video demonstrates that McCain also had a better sense of who Time's "Person of the Year" -- Vladimir Putin -- really was ...

Tags: mccain

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Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Capital Punishment, Imprisonment and "Death Row Romance"

Posted by: Michael Medved at 8:10 PM

The State of New Jersey just voted to eliminate capital punishment, and death penalty opponents argued that murderers suffer more through life imprisonment than quick execution. Ironically, the day after New Jersey’s vote, a story in the Dallas Morning News described the love life of prisoners on the Texas Death Row—many of whom “romance” up to ten women at a time, in-e mails, phone calls and visits. Most of these women are Europeans, some of them spectacularly beautiful, recruited by anti-death penalty groups to come live near the maximum security prison where they get to see the convicts, through plexiglass, up to four hours at time.

Some of the women marry the inmates, and send them provocative photos which then become status symbols on death row. This sickening pattern explodes the notion that imprisonment is a harsher penalty than execution—especially after the spate of recent studies showing capital punishment does produce a powerful deterrent effect.

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Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Huckabee Frightening?

Posted by: Jonathan Garthwaite at 6:34 PM

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Wednesday, December 19, 2007

I'll Have a Bobble Head Christmas!

Posted by: Matt Lewis at 3:41 PM

For Christmas, Townhall.com got the entire team perhaps the coolest gifts ever ... personalized bobble heads!

I'm in Richmond Virginia today visiting the guys who actually make Townhall.com run -- and presenting them with their bobble heads. From left-to-right, let me introduce you to Jon Blankenship, Alvin Carter, Chris Bower, Jim DeArras, and Preston White. Merry Christmas, guys!

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Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Christmas Tree

Posted by: John Campbell at 3:00 PM

Last night, the omnibus appropriations bill passed the Senate.

This bill is simply exploding with earmarks. The last count I’ve heard was about 9,000 where 115 of them, totaling $117 million, were added to the Homeland Security section by itself. It’s no shock that these earmarks are slated to go to Members in vulnerable Congressional Districts.

We call a bill like this a “Christmas Tree”. The analogy is perfect because this bill is decorated with ornate accounting and legislative gimmicks and offers an abundance of gift-wrapped presents for Members.

This is not Fiscal responsibility.

Tags: Campbell earmarks john pork Representative Congressman

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Wednesday, December 19, 2007

McCain on Trailing Huck: 'Life's Not Fair'

Posted by: Mary Katharine Ham at 2:37 PM

All this from a conference call with the surging senator this afternoon. His comments on Time's Man of the Year and Hillary are great, too.

On the possibility of a brokered convention:

"I just don't see the scenario...Who's ever won two of the first three is gonna be the nominee...They're not gonna be able to buy media in all those states, so it's gonna be the earned media that makes a difference...if it was a brokered convention, we'd have to dig into the history books...it would have to depend on who controlled the delegates."

"It's something for us political junkies to sit around and think about."

On his return to Iowa:

"I think it would be helpful to have a decent showing in Iowa. That's why I'm going back there. That's why we're spending some money there. We've got some marvelous people on the ground there...There's a poll out today that shows us up to 14. That's the first time we've been above single digits in forever.

On Time's Man of the Year:

"David Petraeus is the guy who should be the man of the year by any measure; Putin is gonna cause us a bunch of problems internationally."

"I don't think it's going to be a return to the Cold War. They don't have the territory or the population to bring about the military power of before."

"I do think he's gonna present a major problem for us in bullying his neighbors.
..He'll be a thorn in our side."

After 50 years of public service, how do you feel about trailing a guy like Mike Huckabee?

"I confirm again Jack Kennedy's old adage that life's not fair." (Laughter)

"His rise shows a few things. One of them is debates matter. He comes across in debates as the genuine individual that I think he is. He was able to capture a large undecided part of the so-called Christian right...I think it's still a lot of this undecided stuff..."

"I don't think that Huckabee has a lot of foreign policy international experience. I also don't think the Fair Tax is a good idea. But I also think he comes across as a genuine person that I think he is."

On yet another attempt on the part of the Democrats to cut off war funding.

"It's still incomprehensible to me to hear on the floor of the Senate that the war is lost. If we had set a date of withdrawal 6 months ago, al Qaeda would be trumpeting to the hills right now that they had been the U.S. of A....

"When things get better, things get better. Things are better in Iraq so Syria sent an envoy to Annapolis...I think things are getting better in the region because they think we're gonna stay."

"There are Dems who have a vested interest in this conflict and one of them is, frankly, Harry Reid. And, Hillary Clinton who said she'd have to suspend disbelief to believe that the surge was working."

"I look forward to her [Hillary's] comment that she has to "suspend disbelief to believe the surge is not working."

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Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Why the Huckabee Ad is Over the Line ...

Posted by: Matt Lewis at 2:03 PM

Not only did Mike Huckabee cross the line for injecting Jesus into his Christmas campaign ad, someone has to do something about this Linus kid who keeps injecting him into my cartoons ... I mean, why should a Christmas special talk about religion? Couldn't Linus have just focused on the issues, and left the religious stuff for church?

Tags: huckabee

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Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Obama Goes Nuclear in Christmas Cute Offensive

Posted by: Mary Katharine Ham at 12:15 PM

Iowa voters, meet Malia and Natasha.

Huckabee's ad is getting all the buzz. My thought? It's a lovely ad, a smart ad, and heck yeah, they knew that bookshelf in the background was a cross. It didn't get there by accident. Even in something as silly as HamNation, we frame shots and know pretty much exactly what's in the background. It was a really sly place to put a cross and avoid getting bashed for it because anyone who gets upset about it looks like a Scrooge.

I'm half-convinced the cross is in the background expressly to provoke criticism, which Huckabee can then brush off with a charming pop culture reference (hilarious, by the way), simultaneously boosting his likeability and energizing the "War on Christmas" vote. Such a controversy also allows Huckabee to deflect fairly silly criticism easily while avoiding more serious questions. But then, I'm pretty cynical.

Word on the street is Edwards is coming out with a Christmas ad, and Rudy brought this this morning. It's all right. Not as sincere-sounding as Huck's, but sort of funny (I actually like the fruitcake part) and it stays on message. I don't think it'll hurt him, though that sweater vest might. Har. The irony of all this is that Iowa voters will soon get ad fatigue over the ads meant to relieve them of their ad fatigue. Merry Christmas, Hawkeyes!