THEY’LL TRY AGAIN: U.S. rejects GM’s call for help in a merger. “The Treasury Department has turned down a request by General Motors for up to $10 billion to help finance the automaker’s possible merger with Chrysler, according to people close to the discussions.”
Archive for 2008
November 3, 2008
VIRGINIA POSTREL on Mitch Daniels and dynamist politics.
I AGREE: “So, why turn the clocks back to Standard Time in the fall? After all, that’s when we really need to save—or rather, to extend—the daylight.”
HANGING OUT WITH the Seahorse Marines.
SO PEOPLE ON THE LEFT AND RIGHT ARE BOTH worried sick about the election. Both seem more worried about the other guys controlling the White House than anxious to win themselves. (Some are very worried). They’re right to be worried, of course, at least to a degree. The Presidency is an office of great power.
On the other hand, if the federal government were properly limited to its constitutional powers, there would be much less to fear, and elections would be less stressful for all concerned. Just a thought.
A JOHN MCCAIN STORY you’ve probably forgotten. (Thanks to reader Lois Brenner for the tip.)
JIM LINDGREN DEBUNKS A “silly Obama rumor.”
THIS YEAR’S RISING POLITICAL STAR? The Internet.
FROM JOHN HAWKINS, more thoughts on building a rightroots movement.
JERROLD NADLER: Let Russia Invade Georgia.
MARK STEYN on the San Francisco Chronicle: “There is no explanation for the Chronicle’s action if they’re in the newspaper business (ie, in attracting readers, selling copies, etc.). But it makes perfect sense if they’re in the ideological PR business in hopes of electing politicians sufficiently grateful to include them in the next $700 billion bailout. ”
MICKEY KAUS: “Five years after being exposed (by Ann Coulter) as ‘the entire media’s designated “man on the street” for all articles ever written’ and banned by the AP, Greg Packer’s triumph over the MSM is complete: Patterico documents his Friday humiliation of the New York Times. … He will dance on their grave, and maybe give a celebratory quote to Mayhill Fowler.” Heh.
TUNKU VARADARAJAN: The three Bush elections: “The Bush presidency, now drawing to a merciful close, will be noted by historians for three revolutionary elections: the one that brought George W. Bush to the White House in the first place; the one, tomorrow, that will usher him out from that address; and the one in Iraq in January 2005–immortalized by its defiant display to the world of ink-stained fingers –which was a rare indisputable high point in an otherwise contentious presidency. “
WHY ISN’T DETROIT a paradise?
UPDATE: From the comments: “I’m not singling out Michigan and Detroit for condemnation but just using them as the primary examples of the collapse of the area. Fifty years ago, Detroit was the premier industrial city in the entire world. If you’d have told someone in 1957 that in 2007 Detroit would be a basket case, they would have thought you mad. The collapse of the region occurred in a period of less than 15 years (1960-1975). It can happen that fast in the rest of the country if we implement the same policies.”
ANOTHER UPDATE: Related thoughts from Rand Simberg.
MORE: Several readers note that Detroit is a paradise for Democratic officeholders, since it keeps reelecting them.
JOHN FUND: Phony registrations become phony votes.
Plus, gaping weaknesses in the electoral process. Though the headline on this piece is a bit stronger than I would have preferred.
RICHARD ADAMS: “Politically, we know that Senator Obama knows how to play hardball. . . . What I can’t figure out is whether he has real backbone.”
ABC NEWS: Obama Brings Back ‘Virtue of Selfishness’ — But in Different Context. Hey, maybe he is a closet Randian. . . .
Nah.
JOHN KASS: Fitzgerald’s future tied to election results too. Firing a U.S. Attorney for political reasons? Nonsense. That would be a national scandal. I mean, just look what the press did to Bush . . . .