http://www.powerpundit.com/ Copyright 2008 Mon, 21 Jul 2008 16:17:14 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.14 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss This is an XML content feed. It is intended to be viewed in a newsreader or syndicated to another site. No wonder the New York Times is in record financial troubles, with blatant bias in the presidential campaign from the Times today rearing its head. From Drudge: An editorial written by Republican presidential hopeful McCain has been rejected by the NEW YORK TIMES -- less than a week after the paper published an essay written by Obama, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned. The paper's decision to refuse McCain's direct rebuttal to Obama's 'My Plan for Iraq' has ignited explosive charges of media bias in top Republican circles. 'It would be terrific to have an article from Senator McCain that mirrors Senator Obama's piece,' NYT Op-Ed editor David Shipley explained in an email late Friday to McCain's staff. 'I'm not going to be able to accept this piece as currently written.' MORE In McCain's submission to the TIMES, he writes of Obama: 'I am dismayed that he never talks about winning the war—only of ending it... if we don't win the war, our enemies will. A triumph for the terrorists would be a disaster for us. That is something I will not allow to happen as president.' NYT's Shipley advised McCain to try again: 'I'd be pleased, though, to look at another draft.' [Shipley served in the Clinton Administration from 1995 until 1997 as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Presidential Speechwriter.] MORE A top McCain source claims the paper simply does not agree with the senator's Iraq policy, and wants him to change it, not "re-work the draft." McCain writes in the rejected essay: 'Progress has been due primarily to an increase in the number of troops and a change in their strategy. I was an early advocate of the surge at a time when it had few supporters in Washington. Senator Barack Obama was an equally vocal opponent. 'I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq is going to solve the sectarian violence there,' he said on January 10, 2007. 'In fact, I think it will do the reverse.' MORE Shipley, who is on vacation this week, explained his decision not to run the editorial. 'The Obama piece worked for me because it offered new information (it appeared before his speech); while Senator Obama discussed Senator McCain, he also went into detail about his own plans.' Shipley continues: 'It would be terrific to have an article from Senator McCain that mirrors Senator Obama's piece. To that end, the article would have to articulate, in concrete terms, how Senator McCain defines victory in Iraq.' Developing... Here (also from Drudge) is the editorial from Sen. McCain that the NYT would not publish: "In January 2007, when General David Petraeus took command in Iraq, he called the situation “hard” but not “hopeless.” Today, 18 months later, violence has fallen by up to 80% to the lowest levels in four years, and Sunni and Shiite terrorists are reeling from a string of defeats. The situation now is full of hope, but considerable hard work remains to consolidate our fragile gains. Progress has been due primarily to an increase in the number of troops and a change in their strategy. I was an early advocate of the surge at a time when it had few supporters in Washington. Senator Barack Obama was an equally vocal opponent. "I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq is going to solve the sectarian violence there,” he said on January 10, 2007. “In fact, I think it will do the reverse." Now Senator Obama has been forced to acknowledge that “our troops have performed brilliantly in lowering the level of violence.” But he still denies that any political progress has resulted. Perhaps he is unaware that the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad has recently certified that, as one news article put it, “Iraq has met all but three of 18 original benchmarks set by Congress last year to measure security, political and economic progress.” Even more heartening has been progress that’s not measured by the benchmarks. More than 90,000 Iraqis, many of them Sunnis who once fought against the government, have signed up as Sons of Iraq to fight against the terrorists. Nor do they measure Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki’s new-found willingness to crack down on Shiite extremists in Basra and Sadr City—actions that have done much to dispel suspicions of sectarianism. The success of the surge has not changed Senator Obama’s determination to pull out all of our combat troops. All that has changed is his rationale. In a New York Times op-ed and a speech this week, he offered his “plan for Iraq” in advance of his first “fact finding” trip to that country in more than three years. It consisted of the same old proposal to pull all of our troops out within 16 months. In 2007 he wanted to withdraw because he thought the war was lost. If we had taken his advice, it would have been. Now he wants to withdraw because he thinks Iraqis no longer need our assistance. To make this point, he mangles the evidence. He makes it sound as if Prime Minister Maliki has endorsed the Obama timetable, when all he has said is that he would like a plan for the eventual withdrawal of U.S. troops at some unspecified point in the future. Senator Obama is also misleading on the Iraqi military's readiness. The Iraqi Army will be equipped and trained by the middle of next year, but this does not, as Senator Obama suggests, mean that they will then be ready to secure their country without a good deal of help. The Iraqi Air Force, for one, still lags behind, and no modern army can operate without air cover. The Iraqis are also still learning how to conduct planning, logistics, command and control, communications, and other complicated functions needed to support frontline troops. No one favors a permanent U.S. presence, as Senator Obama charges. A partial withdrawal has already occurred with the departure of five “surge” brigades, and more withdrawals can take place as the security situation improves. As we draw down in Iraq, we can beef up our presence on other battlefields, such as Afghanistan, without fear of leaving a failed state behind. I have said that I expect to welcome home most of our troops from Iraq by the end of my first term in office, in 2013. But I have also said that any draw-downs must be based on a realistic assessment of conditions on the ground, not on an artificial timetable crafted for domestic political reasons. This is the crux of my disagreement with Senator Obama. Senator Obama has said that he would consult our commanders on the ground and Iraqi leaders, but he did no such thing before releasing his “plan for Iraq.” Perhaps that’s because he doesn’t want to hear what they have to say. During the course of eight visits to Iraq, I have heard many times from our troops what Major General Jeffrey Hammond, commander of coalition forces in Baghdad, recently said: that leaving based on a timetable would be “very dangerous.” The danger is that extremists supported by Al Qaeda and Iran could stage a comeback, as they have in the past when we’ve had too few troops in Iraq. Senator Obama seems to have learned nothing from recent history. I find it ironic that he is emulating the worst mistake of the Bush administration by waving the “Mission Accomplished” banner prematurely. I am also dismayed that he never talks about winning the war—only of ending it. But if we don’t win the war, our enemies will. A triumph for the terrorists would be a disaster for us. That is something I will not allow to happen as president. Instead I will continue implementing a proven counterinsurgency strategy not only in Iraq but also in Afghanistan with the goal of creating stable, secure, self-sustaining democratic allies."... http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Powerpundit/~3/342020743/003818new_york_times_disses_john_mccain.php http://www.powerpundit.com/archive/003818new_york_times_disses_john_mccain.php Mon, 21 Jul 2008 16:17:14 -0800 http://www.powerpundit.com/archive/003818new_york_times_disses_john_mccain.php Times Online: Although Obama has continued to raise money at a breathtaking pace, hauling in $52m in June, he leads McCain by only 46% to 42%, according to RealClearPolitics’ poll of polls, at a time when approval ratings for President George W Bush and the Republicans are in the mire. Lanny Davis, a prominent supporter of Hillary Clinton during the primary campaign, said: “Why is he basically in a dead heat? If you are a Democrat ahead of a Republican by five or six points; and if you are polling under 50% and that stays the same through October, the Republican wins.” Democrats are torn between the conviction that 2008 is their year and a rising sense of terror that they could blow yet another election. Hillary has taken notice: The ever-ambitious Clinton has already sensed an opening. It emerged last week that she is sending hand-written letters to campaign donors asking them to roll over their contributions to her Senate re-election fund – with “any amount in excess” of the maximum $2,300 contribution going to the 2012 presidential election.... http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Powerpundit/~3/340897275/003817rising_sense_of_nervousness_among_democrats.php http://www.powerpundit.com/archive/003817rising_sense_of_nervousness_among_democrats.php Sun, 20 Jul 2008 13:09:48 -0800 http://www.powerpundit.com/archive/003817rising_sense_of_nervousness_among_democrats.php Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell from today's WSJ: "Now that an executive-branch ban on offshore oil exploration has been lifted, the time has come for Democrats in Washington to lift their own ban on increased domestic supply. Americans are demanding that Congress do something about record-high gas prices. They recognize that prices will not go down unless supplies go up. And they also know that the only thing now standing in the way of more domestic supply is the Democratic refusal to allow it. A recent Pew poll provides the evidence of a growing consensus on the issue. As gas prices have spiked by about 30% over the past five months, the percentage of Americans who support more domestic energy exploration and less reliance on Middle East oil has jumped too, to 47% from 35%. Most striking: Among self-described liberals, support for increased domestic exploration has jumped to 45% from 22% in just five months. Swift and dramatic public opinion shifts like this are rare, and Democrats are starting to take notice. Just last month, most Democrats on Capitol Hill were reiterating their long-held opposition to any new domestic production. Their presidential nominee was saying that less consumption, not more supply, was the only answer to the problem. In the face of growing public frustration, their opposition is melting away. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid indicated as much recently when he said exploration was "not off the table." At least 12 other Senate Democrats have joined him since. Now it's time for the Democrats to show that their recent conversion on domestic exploration is genuine, and Republicans are ready to help them. Just prior to the July Fourth holiday, a group of Republican senators proposed a balanced piece of energy legislation aimed at attracting the greatest number of supporters on both sides of the aisle. The bill, known as the Gas Price Reduction Act of 2008, can be summed up in a single phrase: find more, use less. The Gas Price Reduction Act is composed of just a few ideas. But taken together, the proposals will address the problem head on. They include deep-sea exploration more than 50 miles off the coasts of the states that want it, lifting a ban on development of the promising and plentiful oil shale deposits in western states, and increased incentives for the development of plug-in electric cars and trucks. The bill also includes provisions to strengthen U.S. futures markets and guard against excessive speculation. The Gas Price Reduction Act is a sensible approach to gas prices that squarely faces something too many in Washington would rather ignore: the law of supply and demand. Conservation is an idea that both parties support and both parties have addressed legislatively. But if prices are going to go down, supply has to go up too. This means Democrats will have to abandon their traditional opposition to domestic exploration by lifting a congressional ban on off-shore exploration. In a presidential election year, this presents Congress with a particular challenge. Democrats, eyeing the White House for the first time in eight years, have made no secret of their desire to run out the clock on important legislation until after Inauguration Day. Mr. Reid made this clear when he said recently that he intends to put off, until February, 10 of the 12 appropriations bills that fund the government, and which represent the basic duty of Congress. "I don't think we are going to have a lot of bills on the Senate floor this work period," he told reporters last week. "I hope we can get a couple of them done." But the general public is becoming frustrated and impatient with purported legislative solutions that only nibble around the edges, or which are guaranteed to fail. Congressional Democrats may be willing to wait for the next six months. Americans who dread pulling into the gas station every day want relief as soon as possible from the heavy burden of high gas prices. They have every right to expect their representatives in Washington to do something now."... http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Powerpundit/~3/339265525/003816mcconnell_let_us_drill.php http://www.powerpundit.com/archive/003816mcconnell_let_us_drill.php Fri, 18 Jul 2008 10:21:20 -0800 http://www.powerpundit.com/archive/003816mcconnell_let_us_drill.php AOL News: The Wall Street Journal reports that Carly Fiorina, former Hewlett-Packard CEO and senior adviser to Sen. John McCain, met with a group of 25 prominent supporters and fundraisers for Sen. Hillary Clinton at a private home in Westchester County, NY. The group included several so-called "Hillraisers," each of whom have raised in excess of $100,000 for Clinton's failed primary campaign. The meeting was repeatedly sought by the Hillary supporters and is at least the second such meeting between backers of Clinton and the McCain campaign. An organizer of the meeting, Amy Siskind, said that the pro-Hillary groups represented pledged to help deliver, "hundreds of thousands and maybe millions of votes," to McCain if the groups find areas of agreement between themselves and his campaign. News of the meeting will not be comforting to the campaign of Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama, who has been trying to close ranks behind his campaign after a contentious primary season. Clinton has endorsed Obama and has made fund raising and campaign appearances with him. She has also asked her supporters to get behind Obama's campaign. Still, polls show that Obama could lose a portion of Clinton's support in the general election, and the McCain campaign has been trying to exploit the differences between Obama and Clinton's supporters.... http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Powerpundit/~3/338721860/003815clinton_donors_meet_with_mccain.php http://www.powerpundit.com/archive/003815clinton_donors_meet_with_mccain.php Thu, 17 Jul 2008 22:36:38 -0800 http://www.powerpundit.com/archive/003815clinton_donors_meet_with_mccain.php A Clintonite on Obama: "I would say he was pretty underwhelming," said Lawyer Gus several days after he and some 200 other big-money supporters of Hillary Clinton's failed presidential campaign met with the victor, Barack Obama, in Washington on June 26. Lawyer Gus is a longtime Democratic activist, who will support and contribute to Obama as the party's nominee, but will not be enthusiastic about it. He is not alone. After the closed-door session in the Mayflower Hotel's ballroom, Gus was among 20 participants who gathered for drinks to talk it over. They agreed it was not an "exciting performance" by the candidate who has entranced monster rallies across the country. Obama was "low-key" in a perfunctory appeal to them.... http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Powerpundit/~3/332100926/003814obama_underwhelming.php http://www.powerpundit.com/archive/003814obama_underwhelming.php Thu, 10 Jul 2008 13:36:15 -0800 http://www.powerpundit.com/archive/003814obama_underwhelming.php On Iran's test firing of missiles today: "Iran's most recent missile tests demonstrate again the dangers it poses to its neighbors and to the wider region, especially Israel. Ballistic missile testing coupled with Iran's continued refusal to cease its nuclear activities should unite the international community in efforts to counter Iran's dangerous ambitions. Iran's missile tests also demonstrate the need for effective missile defense now and in the future, and this includes missile defense in Europe as is planned with the Czech Republic and Poland. Working with our European and regional allies is the best way to meet the threat posed by Iran, not unilateral concessions that undermine multilateral diplomacy."... http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Powerpundit/~3/331154533/003813john_mccain.php http://www.powerpundit.com/archive/003813john_mccain.php Wed, 09 Jul 2008 14:08:39 -0800 http://www.powerpundit.com/archive/003813john_mccain.php And calls it the fairest to Clinton.... http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Powerpundit/~3/329649418/003812wolfson_signs_with_fox_news.php http://www.powerpundit.com/archive/003812wolfson_signs_with_fox_news.php Tue, 08 Jul 2008 01:57:39 -0800 http://www.powerpundit.com/archive/003812wolfson_signs_with_fox_news.php As expected, pivots on Iraq.... http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Powerpundit/~3/326055690/003811obama.php http://www.powerpundit.com/archive/003811obama.php Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:45:44 -0800 http://www.powerpundit.com/archive/003811obama.php John Bolton on the Bush cave to North Korea: The only good news is that there is little opportunity for the Bush administration to make any further concessions in its waning days in office. But for many erstwhile administration supporters, this is a moment of genuine political poignancy. Nothing can erase the ineffable sadness of an American presidency, like this one, in total intellectual collapse.... http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Powerpundit/~3/324325576/003810rewarding_north_korea.php http://www.powerpundit.com/archive/003810rewarding_north_korea.php Tue, 01 Jul 2008 05:22:42 -0800 http://www.powerpundit.com/archive/003810rewarding_north_korea.php Good for the Supreme Court! WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Individual Americans have a right to own guns, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday for the first time in history, striking down a strict gun control law in the U.S. capital. The landmark 5-4 ruling marked the first time in nearly 70 years the high court has addressed the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. It rejected the argument the right to keep and bear arms was tied to service in a state militia. Justice Antonin Scalia said for the majority the Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with militia service and to use it for traditional lawful purposes, such as self-defense in the home. However, he said the new right was not unlimited. The court struck down two parts of the country's strictest gun control law adopted in Washington, D.C., 32 years ago -- the ban on private handgun possession and the requirement that firearms kept at home be unloaded and disassembled or bound by a trigger lock. The ruling marked the first time the court has struck down a gun control law for violating the Second Amendment.... http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Powerpundit/~3/320767963/003809gun_ban_struck_down.php http://www.powerpundit.com/archive/003809gun_ban_struck_down.php Thu, 26 Jun 2008 12:28:20 -0800 http://www.powerpundit.com/archive/003809gun_ban_struck_down.php Politico: McCain’s problem with the Republican base is not his lack of conservative credentials. The Arizona senator’s 82 percent lifetime rating from The American Conservative Union is roughly comparable to the 86 percent rating for former Tennessee senator and 2008 GOP presidential candidate Fred Thompson, once the object of conservative dreams. Barack Obama’s rating during his brief Senate tenure is 8 percent. But conservatives ultimately found Thompson and every other Republican candidate wanting. They have even turned on their onetime hero President Bush, a sure sign of a movement in disarray. In the unkindest cut of all, the late patriarch William F. Buckley said of Bush in 2006, “If you had a European prime minister who experienced what we’ve experienced, it would be expected that he would retire or resign.” The problem for conservatives, as I explain in my new book, “White Protestant Nation: The Rise of the American Conservative Movement” (Grove/Atlantic, 2008), is more fundamental than failed leadership. Rather, the conservative era that began in 1980 is coming to an end, the victim not of liberal pounding but of contradictions from within.... http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Powerpundit/~3/319247983/003808mccains_problem.php http://www.powerpundit.com/archive/003808mccains_problem.php Tue, 24 Jun 2008 14:56:40 -0800 http://www.powerpundit.com/archive/003808mccains_problem.php John Podhoretz: The November election is, and remains, Barack Obama’s to lose. Usually, candidates whose victories are entirely in their own hands make it through. It is clear Obama’s path to victory is through the teleprompter. Let him give a big speech and he drives it like Tiger Woods hitting a fairway, as he did Sunday with his stunning sermon about the importance of fathers. But let him sit for an interview with a well-prepared reporter who isn’t interested in shilling for him and Obama makes mistake after mistake. This is what happened the other day with ABC’s Jake Tapper, who got Obama to talk about how we need to treat terrorism as a law-enforcement matter — which is exactly what he should not be saying if he wants to solidify those less-liberal Democratic votes in the states where he was shellacked by Hillary Clinton — and how he opposes all forms of school choice — which works against his vague message that he is a vague agent of vague change. I suspect this is why John McCain is so eager to get Obama into those town-hall meetings Obama seems intent on avoiding. McCain has been doing them for 25 years and is very good at them; it’s a mark of how good he is at them that he doesn’t make career-threatening gaffes during them. McCain wants Obama off that teleprompter, which is sound strategy. But he can’t make Obama go anywhere Obama doesn’t want to. The media pose a different challenge for Obama.... http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Powerpundit/~3/314218411/003807extemporaneous_speaking_not_good_for_obama.php http://www.powerpundit.com/archive/003807extemporaneous_speaking_not_good_for_obama.php Tue, 17 Jun 2008 16:59:07 -0800 http://www.powerpundit.com/archive/003807extemporaneous_speaking_not_good_for_obama.php From Breitbart: WASHINGTON (AP) - Tim Russert, who pointedly but politely questioned hundreds of the powerful and influential as moderator of NBC's "Meet the Press," died Friday of an apparent heart attack. The network's Washington bureau chief was 58. In addition to his weekly program, Russert appeared on the network's other news shows, was moderator for numerous political debates and wrote two best-selling books. President Bush, informed of Russert's death while at dinner in Paris, swiftly issued a statement of condolence that praised the NBC newsman as "an institution in both news and politics for more than two decades. Tim was a tough and hardworking newsman. He was always well- informed and thorough in his interviews. And he was as gregarious off the set as he was prepared on it." NBC interrupted its regular programming with news of Russert's death, and in the ensuing moments, familiar faces such as Tom Brokaw, Andrea Mitchell and Brian Williams took turns mourning his loss.... http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Powerpundit/~3/311473798/003806tim_russert_rip.php http://www.powerpundit.com/archive/003806tim_russert_rip.php Fri, 13 Jun 2008 14:12:57 -0800 http://www.powerpundit.com/archive/003806tim_russert_rip.php The dissent of Chief Justice John Roberts with regard to today's awful Supreme Court decision: "Today the Court strikes down as inadequate the most generous set of procedural protections ever afforded aliens detained by this country as enemy combatants." Indeed.... http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Powerpundit/~3/310837369/003805a_very_bad_supreme_court_decision.php http://www.powerpundit.com/archive/003805a_very_bad_supreme_court_decision.php Thu, 12 Jun 2008 15:57:36 -0800 http://www.powerpundit.com/archive/003805a_very_bad_supreme_court_decision.php The Clintons know who is, and who is not.... http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Powerpundit/~3/309693871/003804friends_or_not.php http://www.powerpundit.com/archive/003804friends_or_not.php Wed, 11 Jun 2008 07:28:16 -0800 http://www.powerpundit.com/archive/003804friends_or_not.php