Chris Carswell

Peggy Noonan unloads on Palin

2009-07-10T12:00:00.000-07:00

Finally a Republican speaking truth to power:
Some Arguments and her counter arguments........

"The elites hate her." The elites made her. It was the elites of the party, the McCain campaign and the conservative media that picked her and pushed her. The base barely knew who she was. It was the elites, from party operatives to public intellectuals, who advanced her and attacked those who said she lacked heft. She is a complete elite confection. She might as well have been a bonbon.

"She makes the Republican Party look inclusive." She makes the party look stupid, a party of the easily manipulated.

"She shows our ingenuous interest in all classes." She shows your cynicism.

"Now she can prepare herself for higher office by studying up, reading in, boning up on the issues." Mrs. Palin's supporters have been ordering her to spend the next two years reflecting and pondering. But she is a ponder-free zone. She can memorize the names of the presidents of Pakistan, but she is not going to be able to know how to think about Pakistan. Why do her supporters not see this? Maybe they think "not thoughtful" is a working-class trope!

"The media did her in." Her lack of any appropriate modesty did her in. Actually, it's arguable that membership in the self-esteem generation harmed her. For 30 years the self-esteem movement told the young they're perfect in every way. It's yielding something new in history: an entire generation with no proper sense of inadequacy.

______________________________________________________________

In Conclusion:

Here's why all this matters. The world is a dangerous place. It has never been more so, or more complicated, more straining of the reasoning powers of those with actual genius and true judgment. This is a time for conservative leaders who know how to think.

Here are a few examples of what we may face in the next 10 years: a profound and prolonged American crash, with the admission of bankruptcy and the spread of deep social unrest; one or more American cities getting hit with weapons of mass destruction from an unknown source; faint glimmers of actual secessionist movements as Americans for various reasons and in various areas decide the burdens and assumptions of the federal government are no longer attractive or legitimate.

The era we face, that is soon upon us, will require a great deal from our leaders. They had better be sturdy. They will have to be gifted. There will be many who cannot, and should not, make the cut. Now is the time to look for those who can. And so the Republican Party should get serious, as serious as the age, because that is what a grown-up, responsible party—a party that deserves to lead—would do.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124716984620819351.html#

The Outsider: Where Is Sarah Palin Going Next?

2009-07-09T09:40:00.000-07:00

The Outsider: Where Is Sarah Palin Going Next?

Thursday, Jul. 09, 2009

The Outsider: Where Is Sarah Palin Going Next?

By David Von Drehle and Jay Newton-Small / Dillingham, Alaska

Sarah Palin is that most exotic of American creatures: an Alaska original, raised and ripened in an environment remote, extreme, unfamiliar — and free. A land of self-invention, where no one bats an eye at a mom-deckhand-governor-whatever-comes-next. Ever since John McCain introduced his running mate last year, Palin has been like a modern-day version of the captive specimens hauled back to Europe by explorers of old. Like Squanto in London, she speaks the language — if not always the idiom — of the audiences she fascinates. But she remains, on some level, unknowable.

This outsider quality is easy to ignore when you see her in full dazzle on a convention stage, but it comes into focus should you find her in her habitat. After announcing plans on July 3 to resign as governor after just 2½ years, Palin retired to her in-laws' place in Dillingham, a tiny fishing village in southwestern Alaska, reachable only by boat or plane. TIME caught up to her there. It was salmon season, and thick fillets, red from the smokehouse, were drying on a line strung from a nearby tree. Husband Todd Palin was chopping wood and feeding it into a homemade sauna, the kind that native fishermen — like him — sweat themselves clean in after a day on Bristol Bay. He likes it hot — 190°F to 200°F (about 90°C to 95°C) — but that's too much for Sarah. Daughter Piper hovered over her baby brother Trig, who shares a name with one of the volcanoes on the far side of the water. Flat land, flat water, distant mountains. You can see for miles but not far enough to spot the nearest town.... (Full Story Here)

Poll: Palin's support still strong among GOP (but the party's shrinking)

2009-07-08T05:43:00.000-07:00

Poll: Palin's support still strong among GOP

By Susan Page, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Sarah Palin's bombshell that she is resigning as Alaska governor actually has boosted her a bit among Republicans, a nationwide USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, though it also has dented her standing among Democrats and independents.

Two-thirds of Republicans want Palin, the party's vice presidential nominee in 2008, to be "a major national political figure" in the future. Three-fourths of Democrats hope she won't be.

Independents by 55%-34% would prefer she leave the national stage.

The findings underscore how polarized opinions of Palin were even before Friday's surprise announcement. Seven in 10 polled say their views weren't affected by her decision. Among those whose opinions shifted, Democrats by a 4-1 ratio and independents by 2-to-1 view her less favorably. Republicans are somewhat inclined to see her more favorably.

"For independents and Democrats, she's already not their candidate, and with Republicans her support is not based on her record as governor of Alaska," says GOP consultant Alex Castellanos.

The poll Monday of 1,000 adults — including 321 Democrats, 323 independents and 316 Republicans — has a margin of error of +/–3 percentage points for the full sample and 6 points for the partisan subsamples.

Palin's complaints about unfair treatment by the news media resonate with many respondents. Three-fourths of Republicans, more than half of independents and a third of Democrats say coverage of Palin has been unfairly negative.

When it comes to a potential presidential run, the USA TODAY Poll displays Palin's strength in the Republican base and weakness among swing voters, who traditionally decide national elections. Republicans by 71%-27% say they'd be likely to vote for her if she ran for president in 2012, while independents by 51%-44% would not.

"Don't know what the future holds," Palin said Tuesday on ABC. "I'm not gonna shut any door. That — who knows what doors open?"

Dodging an Alaskan Bullet

2009-07-08T05:29:00.000-07:00

Dodging an Alaskan Bullet

By Richard Cohen
Tuesday, July 7, 2009

In his novel "The Plot Against America," Philip Roth imagined that Charles Lindbergh, an isolationist and an anti-Semite (but a hell of a flier), ran for president in 1940 and beat Franklin Roosevelt. In his novel "Fatherland," Robert Harris imagined a Britain that had succumbed to the Nazis. These works are categorized as "alternate history." Here is my contribution to the genre: Sarah Palin becomes president of the United States.

Far-fetched? Not really. After all, Palin was on the Republican ticket, and the Democratic candidate was both untested nationally and the first African American to claim the nomination. A significant misstep here or there and the winner could have been John McCain, the oldest man ever to be elected to a first term as president.

My brothers and sisters in punditry spent a jolly Fourth of July weekend having a swell time with Palin and her decision to quit as governor of Alaska. Her words were parsed for their meaning and her plans were deduced while political operatives of both parties analyzed her move to see if she is really very clever or as dumb as a mud wall. A good time was had by all.

It would behoove us, though, to consider how close we all came to utter disaster -- the "counterfactual" suggested above. A recent Vanity Fair article clarifies just how awful a vice president (or president) Palin would have made. During the campaign, she proved allergic to briefings and remained determined to stay uncorrupted by knowledge. More recently, she explained her decision to -- permit me some GOP talk -- cut and run as Alaska governor by lapsing into no known language, explaining herself afterward in a burst of Tweets that only raised more questions. One question, though, has been settled: She is unfit for office.

Naming Palin to the GOP ticket -- a top-down choice by McCain -- was the most reckless decision any national politician has made in the longest time, and while it certainly says something about McCain, it says even more about his party. It has lost its mind.

Recall, after all, that Palin was not McCain's first choice. That was either Joe Lieberman or Tom Ridge. Both were rejected by the party establishment because of their appalling moderation on social issues over which the president has little direct authority anyway -- abortion, above all -- and in Lieberman's case because he had been a Democrat. In desperation, McCain turned to Palin.

Was there a scream of protest? No. Did the Republican Party demand to know of McCain what the hell he had done? Again, no. Was it okay with the GOP if the person a heartbeat away from the presidency was -- pardon me, but it's true -- a ditz with no national experience whatsoever? You betcha. The party had cracked up, accepting a nullity because she was antiabortion over a seasoned senator and former governor because they were not. Ideology won. The nation lost.

Almost as interesting as Palin is South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford. Never mind his affair. These things happen. Concentrate instead on how he hid his affair -- by disappearing and calling attention to himself. Note also that even before he somehow took the Appalachian Trail to Buenos Aires, he was renowned for rejecting federal stimulus money. Before that, as a congressman, he claimed to have forsaken a housing allowance -- and a cot -- and said, "I sleep on the floor of my office." Most of us would consider this weird behavior. In the GOP, it was seen as presidential timber.

Shall I go on? Newt Gingrich, another possible candidate, is the Old Faithful of the Grand Old Party, erupting on a regular basis. He recently suggested that Judge Sonia Sotomayor is racist because of her comment about the innate astuteness of a "wise Latina." He later apologized, but his hair trigger is well established. This is the same Gingrich, you may recall, who threw a tantrum in 1995 when President Bill Clinton seated him in the rear of Air Force One and then, with ingenious malice aforethought, failed to come back to chat. As for the other GOP candidates, all of them must be vetted by the party's Grand Inquisitor, Rush Limbaugh, a belch from the gutter.

For Tina Fey, Sarah Palin was comedic material. For the rest of us, she's been a summer weekend's diversion. But when the chuckling stops, you have to ask yourself what in the world she was doing on the GOP ticket and what would have happened if McCain had won. Only part of this is alternate history. The rest is frightening reality.

Live. From St. Paul. It's...

2009-07-01T09:42:00.000-07:00

Live. From St. Paul. It's...

Al Franken. Finally. Who in his or her right mind would have thought last November that it would take until July to seat Franken?

The Democrats’ patience had a down side and an up side. The down side is that the party was short one critical vote in the Senate. It’s possible that the stimulus package would have been better if Franken had been there. It would not have been subjected to quite so many of the compromises that made it smaller and less effective. The trajectory of the health care battle would have been better, too.

But the upside is that no one can accuse the Senate’s Democratic majority of ramming through Franken’s seating prematurely. In the 1980s, House Democrats created extraordinary bad blood among Republicans (even moderates) with their aggressiveness in a battle over a closely fought seat in Indiana. Many argue that the bitterness created by the Indiana fight led to the Gingrich revolution. Democrats avoided that this time.

One can now hope that Franken’s seating will make it less likely that Democrats concede more than they have to on health care. The worst outcome would be reform so small and crabbed that it disappoints voters who actually expect real change. Writing for The New Republic, Jonathan Cohn offers the cautionary tale of the 1988 Catastrophic Coverage Act, where senior citizens experienced the costs before they felt the benefits and eventually forced its repeal.

Here is Jonathan’s conclusion:

To get something through Congress, Obama probably needs some centrist support -- or, at the very least, he needs to make a good show of courting it. But Obama must be wary of conceding too much. Even in strictly political terms, a good bill that passes with a narrow margin may preferable to a weak bill that carries huge majorities.
The lesson of the Clinton health care fight is that Congress won't embrace reform if there aren't some compromises. The lesson of the Medicare Catastrophic Care Act is that the public won't embrace reform if it has too many compromises. We know that Obama has mastered the first one. For his own sake, as well as ours, he'd better master the second.

With Franken seated, there is a chance for a better health care bill -- and also a much better chance to pass the Employee Free Choice Act, aimed at making it easier for workers to join some unions.

More generally, Franken’s victory will create pressure on Democrats to deliver. They will now have 60 Senate votes. They can, in theory at least, stop a filibuster all by themselves. Of course, some moderate Democrats may still vote with the Republicans on certain measures. But such Democrats will now have to calculate more carefully, since their party will be more accountable than ever for failure.

On a personal note: I have written before about knowing Franken for a long time and liking him. He will surprise you. People will have to get used to the idea that someone can have a brilliant sense of humor and be fiercely substantive at the same time. And, Lord knows, no other senator will have fought harder to get there.

Anyone that has listened to Senator Franken when he was on Air America will know that just below his sardonic whit is a steely intelligence that must be respected.

Minn. court rules for Franken in Senate fight

2009-06-30T11:49:00.000-07:00

The high court rejects a legal challenge from Republican Norm Coleman

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31667236/ns/politics-capitol_hill/

ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Minnesota Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered that Democrat Al Franken be certified as the winner of the state's long-running Senate race, paving the way for a resolution in the seven-month fight over the seat.

The high court rejected a legal challenge from Republican Norm Coleman, whose options for regaining the Senate seat are dwindling.

Justices said Franken is entitled to the election certificate he needs to assume office. With Franken and the usual backing of two independents, Democrats will have a big enough majority to overcome Republican filibusters.

Well the only question left is will Govenor Pawlenty sign the election certificate..

MORE...

Terrible News, Michael Jackson dead at 50

2009-06-25T16:49:00.000-07:00

Pop star Michael Jackson dead at 50
June 26, 2009

Pop star Michael Jackson was pronounced dead today after paramedics found him in a coma at his Bel-Air mansion, city and law enforcement sources told The Times.

Los Angeles Fire Department Capt. Steve Ruda told The Times that paramedics responded to a 911 call from the home. When they arrived, Jackson was not breathing. The paramedics performed CPR and took him to UCLA Medical Center, Ruda said.
http://www.latimes.com

Let’s be honest: Barack Obama is better than you are.

2009-06-25T13:24:00.000-07:00

Let’s be honest: Barack Obama is better than you are.

He’s a better father — taking breaks from running the world to cheer on his daughters at soccer and basketball games.

He’s a better husband — zipping his wife off for dinner in New York and Paris.

He’s got a better diet — nibbling on vegetables from his homegrown garden to keep his love handles in check.

And he’s got a terrific jump shot.

You? Not so much.

Call it the politics of personal perfection. The Barack Obama brand is as much about being a personal example to the nation as it is about being a political figure. But the danger of that frothy mix of glamour and domesticity is that President Obama could become in the public mind something he never sought to be: the Martha Stewart of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

And political veterans say the fine line between what’s inspiring and what’s annoying can be difficult to spot in advance....
True enough. That’s indeed a disadvantage. But there is another, bigger and much more important one: modern democracies don’t fare well when the people are made to believe that their elected officials are ‘perfect’ creatures. Obama is a human being. That’s why Congress, reporters, bloggers and other citizens should watch him closely.

When someone is perfect, there is no need to do so, however. In fact, the average citizen may become extremely angry when anybody dares criticize his ‘perfect, grand leader.’

That’s unhealthy in any society, but especially in a democracy, as America’s founding fathers understood all too well.

Obama knows how to win elections, and how to keep his personal favorability ratings up. But in order to do so he, his advisers and his friends in the media have created a myth; the myth of the perfect president. That myth will hurt America tremendously if Americans do not see through it rather quickly.

And if Democrats don’t care about that, because all they care about is winning elections they should remember that Republicans are watching and learning and that they will simply copy Obama’s strategy if they consider it necessary.

For Republicans, a Long Winter Gets Longer

2009-06-25T10:36:00.000-07:00

For Republicans, a Long Winter Gets Longer

........ John Weaver, a longtime GOP strategist, said: "The voters have chosen new management [in the White House] for a reason, and this just reinforces it. It just makes the hill a little steeper for us." Looking toward 2012, Weaver joked, "At this rate, if you're a junior Jaycees president in Memphis, you could be in line for the nomination."....

Sources confirm Obama sent a direct message to Iranian leader

2009-06-24T10:57:00.000-07:00

Sources confirm Obama sent a direct message to Iranian leader

Posted: 01:45 PM ET

From Christiane Amanpour

CNN Chief International Correspondent

(CNN) — U.S. President Barack Obama sent a direct message to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei weeks before this month’s disputed election, Iranian sources said Wednesday.

The letter requested dialogue and engagement between the two nations, the sources said.

The sources said Khamenei has yet to reply to the letter, but nonetheless it “had set the negotiating table in order for both sides to sit around it after the election.”

Khamenei made an indirect reference to the letter in his sermon on Friday at Tehran University.

“The U.S. President said that we were waiting for a day like this to see people on the street,” the Iranian leader said. “Some people attributed these remarks to Obama and then they write letters to say we’re ready to have ties; that we respect the Islamic Republic and on the other hand they make such comments. Which one should we believe?”

One Iranian source said before the election, “We thought President Obama would send congratulations to President Ahmedinajad” and his senior advisors had already prepared a response to the anticipated note, which never came. The Iranian source said that the election dispute is wasting time on the issue of starting U.S.-Iranian negotiations.