Month: April 2009

David Broder seems to have a problem with history.

That is me being polite.

(HT: Hot Air Headlines) In the process of trying to ‘convince’ the President to not re-energize the Right by starting witch hunts over interrogation – and in the process of mischaracterizing a largely Democratic party-spawned complaint over AIG bonuses as ‘populist’ – David Broder quite accidentally said something foolish:

Obama, to his credit, has ended one of the darkest chapters of American history, when certain terrorist suspects were whisked off to secret prisons and subjected to waterboarding and other forms of painful coercion in hopes of extracting information about threats to the United States.

That’s not even in the top ten. I came up with the list below the fold in about five minutes, and I bet that someone with more than a heavy minor in history could do even better.

So now that we’ve had our review, David: would you please stop pandering to the prejudices and rationalizations of your liberal readers like this? You’re still ostensibly a conservative, which means that you’re still expected to demonstrate a knowledge of American history that exceeds that of a very bright fifth-grader.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

Best Served Cold Watch: Obama abandoning Murtha.

I have to admit that when it comes to avenging slights made against it this administration has both total recall and infinite patience. What’s below (via Instapundit) is probably the most important part of this New York Times article about Jack Murtha’s travails:

While past presidents often courted Mr. Murtha with phone calls and private meetings, President Obama has extended to him no such courtesies. On a visit to the White House, the lawmaker told senior defense officials that it would be “foolish” and “ridiculous” to cancel all of a $13 billion contract to buy new presidential helicopters, as he later recounted to a defense industry newsletter. But Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has insisted on scrapping the deal as a symbol of waste.

And in a recent meeting with the secretary, Mr. Murtha pushed a plan to divide a $35 billion contract to build a new airborne refueling tanker between two rival contractors — a compromise that pleases both but would cost the government much more. Mr. Gates listened with little response, several people briefed on their conversation said, but he later dismissed it.

You see, restrictions on how, how often, and how much one may trade favors for cash can be finessed. There’s always a loophole or an exception; in fact, often simple indifference on the part of those with oversight can be enough. But Jack Murtha’s power comes from his supposed access. He is not supposed to be one who can be slighted – or worse, ignored.
Continue reading Best Served Cold Watch: Obama abandoning Murtha.

End of the Tamil Tigers?

They apparently have their back to the wall at this point:

Sri Lanka rebels call ceasefire

A Tamil Tiger spokesman told the BBC the move was due to what he called an “unprecedented humanitarian crisis”.

Sri Lanka’s defence secretary however dismissed the announcement as “a joke”, insisting the rebels must surrender.

The rebels have been beaten back to a 12 sq km (5 sq m) area. The UN says more than 160,000 civilians have fled from there, but 50,000 remain.

…and by most accounts they’re fairly deserving of their fate. Not that the Sri Lankan government itself is a paragon of virtue: reading between the lines here, said government seems to be slowly shifting towards a designation of ‘unpleasant.’ On the other hand, a lot of it seems to be due to the pressures of fighting a long, drawn-out regional civil war against what appears to be a much more unpleasant opponent, so possibly once the TT is gone the Sri Lankans will relax things a bit. It’s possible: after all, it’s a “Democratic Socialist Republic” that actually tolerates opposition parties and lets them win national elections. Usually, a title like that is a code phrase for “Communist dystopia…”

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

‘100 DAYS, 100 MISTAKES:’ the New York Post Review. [Now with a mistake that’s all the Post’s!]

[UPDATE] Hot Air reports that the New York Post put the wrong name on a quote: it was Meghan Clyne who made the comments below, not Governor Sarah Palin. Stick this one in the Too Good To Be True files.

(H/T: Hot Air Headlines) It ranges from the petty to the serious – honestly, I don’t think that not getting a shelter dog ranks up there with mishandling the ‘stimulus’, or even killing minority scholarships in DC – but the NYP has a full range, and any article that has quotes from both Glenn Beck and TalkLeft is going to be fascinating reading. And if it all seems so terribly unfair… well. Consider this a teachable moment, then: with the lesson being it’s not really a good idea to take a man and raise him up as some sort of god, or at least an avatar. Men may make mistakes; gods may not. Mistakes are intolerable in gods.

But never mind my natterings: Governor Sarah Palin Meghan Clyne was kind enough to opine for the NYP article, and excerpts of her comments are past the fold. Continue reading ‘100 DAYS, 100 MISTAKES:’ the New York Post Review. [Now with a mistake that’s all the Post’s!]

Liz Cheney breaks Norah O’Donnell on ‘torture’ discussion.

“When they capture American soldiers, they cut off their heads.”

And, honestly? She didn’t even break a sweat.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

This is how you do it, by the way. You don’t let them define the agenda; you certainly don’t let them define the terms; you concede nothing (you can always agree, but you do not concede); you keep going back to a disputed point over and over again until they get tired of trying to sneak one past you; you never lose your cool; when you catch them trying a stupid tactic like read a headline and pretend that it’s established truth, you call them on it without a hint of self-consciousness; and in this case, you don’t accept the other side’s presumptuous bluff that they speak for the American people. Because they don’t.

And you don’t give a tinker’s dam if they like you afterward. To quote Truman: if you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.

Moe Lane

PS: Good job, Ms. Cheney. Just in case my reaction wasn’t already clear.

Crossposted to RedState.

That would be MISTER Mazetier, mind you.

Two guys try to hijack an 84-year-old guy’s car in Tacoma, Washington… yeah, you know where this is going, don’t you?

TACOMA, Wash. — Ted Mazetier may be a grandfather, but at 84 years old, he’s still got his chops.

And two men learned that the hard way.

Yeah, you know where this is going. See Boing Boing and Instapundit for more aesthetic appreciation of what was by all accounts a short, yet lovely beat-down of two very unlucky criminals.  Of particular poignancy is that the criminals have been captured, and will thus have to live with this particular humiliation for the rest of their lives…

Moe Lane

PS: Embarrassingly, I have yet to actually see Gran Torino.

Crossposted to RedState.