Author: Moe_Lane

Quote of the Day, John Yoo edition.

This pretty much encapsulates the intellectual, and I use the term extremely loosely, rigor of the antiwar movement when it comes to the GWOT:

How did he do it? It’s a question John Yoo has been getting a lot lately. How did he manage to outwit Jon Stewart? (“He slipped through my fingers,” Stewart recalled after Yoo’s recent appearance on The Daily Show. “It was like interview sand.”) Easy, says Yoo. “I’ve spent my whole career learning to settle down unruly college students who have not done the reading.”

…yes, pretty much. From what I watched of the interview I’d say that Stewart’s mistake was classic: his assumption that of course everyone agreed with his faction that torture was ordered; torture was committed; and that everything that his faction calls ‘torture’ was in fact torture caused him to walk into punch after punch.  What made it exceptionally painful (for given values of ‘painful’) was seeing Yoo take pity on Stewart a couple of minutes in and gently start presenting both sides of the core argument of What does the government need to do when faced with deliberate, unconventional attacks on its citizens? That lapse on Stewart’s part is actually a lot more damning than his inability to lay a few zingers on Yoo, but try telling that to his disappointed fanboys.

Mind you, I like Jon Stewart: he was making fun of the President back when it was still secular blasphemy.  But a man’s got to know his limitations.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

The Change that they were waiting for: Gibbs and the WH Press Pool.

[UPDATE] Welcome, Instapundit readers. And Ed Driscoll readers.

Contra Hot Air and Instapundit, this isn’t really funny:

…it’s sad. The White House press pool is being given the mushroom treatment; and they know that they’re being given the mushroom treatment. But they don’t want to respond appropriately – which is to say, stop letting Robert Gibbs define what are or are not appropriate questions to ask. Until that happens – and the press corps internalizes the notion that Gibbs and the administration needs them a hell of a lot more than they need Gibbs and the administration – they’ll keep getting the mushroom treatment.

I’d be sympathetic, except that elections have consequences.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

Vic Snyder (D, AR-02) breaks and runs.

The usual ‘more time with his family‘ bit, and nothing about a 17 point deficit in the polls. Then again, that’s not too surprising – although it’d be great if just once one of these guys said “I’m not going to throw away ten months of my life on an election that I’m just going to lose anyway?”  Admittedly, if Snyder had the nerve to do that he might not have fled the upcoming race.

Moving along, Charlie Cook had this at Democratic Toss-Up, and emphasis on ‘had.’ If I had to guess, I’d expect at least ‘Leans Republican’ by the next update.  The three Republicans that I know of so far for this race are Tim Griffin, Scott Wallace, and David Meeks.  Check them out.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

Quote of the Day, Quote of the Year edition.

Pour yourself a glass of something nice before you read this: it deserves it.

“Obama is radioactive in polls,” said one senior Dem operative who has seen the campaign’s internal numbers. “Every time they dropped his name in a poll, it was awful. So you just can’t take those kinds of chances.”

We actually got the damned horse to sing.

Moe Lane

PS: Scott Brown for Senate.

Crossposted to RedState.

Dante’s Inferno: the novelization!

Longfellow (whose translation* they’re using) would be… asking where his damn royalties were, actually:

500x_dantes_inferno_book

Yeah.  They took the first book of the Comedy, slapped in some Dante’s Inferno-specific artwork and called it a ‘novelization‘.

Boo-yah.

Hey, Penny Arcade said it best: “fact is, sometimes you got to lie to a motherf*cker.”  Only, without the asterisk.

Moe Lane

*I prefer the Ciardi translation, myself.

Yes, Earl Pomeroy (D, ND-AL). Why DON’T you retire?

Doing so will save us the trouble of removing you from office in November.  Which we will. This is a bad year to be a Democratic incumbent in a Republican district.

In an emotional talk with other Democrats on the Ways and Means Committee this week, North Dakota Rep. Earl Pomeroy said the protracted debate is hurting him so badly back home that he might as well retire if it drags on much longer.

Via Hot Air Headlines.

Moe Lane

PS: Of course there’s a GOP candidate running for his seat. Kevin Cramer, chairman of North Dakota’s Public Service Commission. More fallout from Senator Dorgan cutting and running – although ‘fallout’ may have too many negative connotations, here. At least, negative from the GOP’s point of view…

Crossposted to RedState.

DOOMWatch: Democrats insulating POTUS from Massachusetts…

…yes, I just wrote that out. This is one time when the title says it all: “Massachusetts: ‘Bottom has fallen out’ of Coakley’s polls; Dems prepare to explain defeat, protect Obama.””

H/T… everybody, really.

Moe Lane

PS: Scott Brown for Senate.

Crossposted to RedState.