JAY GRODNER UPDATE: Professor Bainbridge has more thoughts on the lawyer charged with “keying” an Iraq-bound Marine’s car. And Eric Scheie has thoughts on moralistic vandalism.
Archive for 2008
January 4, 2008
THE INVISIBLE INGREDIENT IN EVERY KITCHEN: Heat.
BIG BROTHER’S WATCHING YOU — but who’s watching Big Brother? Big Brother doesn’t want it to be you . . . .
I’ve written on that myself, recently.
BIDEN DROPS OUT.
January 3, 2008
HILLARY’S new talking points.
Meanwhile, reader Jody Green emails: “The start of this election is a little scary and has started with two populist, eloquent demagogues. They talk about hope when half the world hopes to be in America.”
UPDATE: The votes are all in, and Hillary’s come in third, behind Obama and Edwards.
MORE: TigerHawk: “If the nominees really turn out to be Huckabee and Obama, the paternalists will have won long before November. And the jihadis will not have done too badly either.” Ugh.
FINALLY: Big Iowa reaction roundup here.
And Fred Thompson: “We just got our ticket to the next dance.”
LAURA INGRAHAM is saying that the energy in the Democratic caucuses — for Obama — was huge, especially by comparison to the Republican caucuses. Interestingly, it’s Susan Estrich who’s saying that winning Iowa doesn’t seem to help Democrats much. Ingraham responds that “Republicans are missing the boat on this economic security issue.” It’s the “I feel your pain” issue, again.
Interestingly, though, the SEIU supported Edwards, and AFSCME supported Clinton, and Obama won.
WHAT ROMNEY COULD LEARN from Obama.
ANOTHER CHANCE TO PLAY name that party!
NOW I’M WATCHING OBAMA’S SPEECH, and before he started talking my first thought was “what a great suit.” What is it, Canali? Brioni? But the speech is good, too. “You have done what the cynics said we couldn’t do.” But while the speech is good, his facial expressions are curiously still — not usually like him. Good on TV, but probably better on radio. But what’s surprising is how closely his speech parallels Huckabee’s.
Meanwhile, Tyrone Steeles writes: Obama 1, Black Democratic Establishment 0. Yeah, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson can’t be liking this too much.
Keith Olbermann could be happier, too.
UPDATE: Meanwhile, Chris Matthews has Franz Fanon envy?
ANOTHER UPDATE: Mark Steyn: “We shouldn’t take away from the Senator’s achievement tonight. He’s made history. And the problem for Hillary is that, for those Democrats who want to cast a history-making vote, he’s a much more appealing figure than she is.”
HUCKABEE’S GIVING A GREAT SPEECH: Says the election proves that “people are more important than the purse.” He’s good at this stuff. And I’d swear his speech is crafted to bounce off of Hillary’s, even though he only had a few minutes.
UPDATE: The big question in a lot of people’s minds, apparently, is “who’s the hot blonde over his shoulder?” I’m pretty sure she’s with Chuck Norris — who’s over the other shoulder — so I wouldn’t let that question run away with me, guys . . . .
ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Chris Maiorana emails that she’s Norris’s wife. So, really guys, back off . . . .
MORE: Richard Viguerie sends out an email-blast to the effect that Huckabee’s win is bad for the GOP: “Mike Huckabee is a Christian socialist. He is a good man, but with a Big Government heart. He is the most liberal of all the Republican presidential candidates on economic issues.”
And here’s some Ed Rollins video.
ALAN COLMES SAYS that Chris Dodd has dropped out of the race.
DAVID FREDDOSO was at the Republican caucuses in Iowa and reports:
As the results shake out, nothing is settled on the Republican side, except that Romney is the only Republican loser of the night. It’s hard to see how he comes back from this.
Huckabee wins, of course — evidently, he found the holy grail of the caucuses, expanding the pool. Thompson did much better than expected, as did McCain. Rudy Giuliani watches the race stay unresolved long enough that his late strategy could work. And even Ron Paul made double digits.
But Romney is in big trouble now.
Not irretrievable, but yeah.
Meanwhile, on the Democratic side, John Edwards is the big loser. Not so much from the vote, but from the absolutely awful speech he’s giving right now. I think he knows it’s awful, too, as he’s blinking about twice per second. The crowd response is unenthusiastic, too.
UPDATE: Hillary looks to come in third, but her speech is much better, and the crowd was at least acting enthusiastic. She’s standing next to Bill, and so far hasn’t made the obvious point about losing Iowa and still becoming President.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Video here.
MORE: Matt Welch on Edwards: “It strikes me as a little-remarked phenomenon in this election that, for the first time since maybe 1988, the Democrats are running a serious candidate with an essentially Naderite worldview on the evils of Corporate Greed. . . . With the one-day Hucka-BOO-yah on the GOP side, the big winner in Iowa tonight seems to be illiberal economic populism.”
HOW BILL AND HILLARY WERE DIFFERENT, as law professors.
FOX HAS NOW CALLED IOWA FOR BARACK OBAMA: Clinton & Edwards are basically tied for second.
UPDATE: Arianna Huffington is celebrating.
A FAKE REPUBLICAN in the New York Times? I used to get a lot of letters published in the NYT, and the letters staff knew who I was. I don’t think there’s much chance that they didn’t realize they were publishing letter after letter from a “lifelong Republican” who happened to always agree with Democrats.
UPDATE: Reader Mark Artuso emails: “The way you worded this article, it makes it sound like YOU are the lifelong Republican who happened to always agree with Democrats… I’m pretty sure that isn’t the case.” Oops. Nope. That’s obvious if you follow the link, but I can see how people who didn’t do so could get the wrong idea. Note to self: Reduce pithiness by 10%.
FOX IS PROJECTING HUCKABEE THE WINNER in Iowa.
PRESIDENT MUSKIE, meet President Gephardt. A look at Iowa’s importance.
CAPT. ED MORRISSEY is liveblogging the caucus results.
CAUGHT YOUTHENING: If John Edwards did this, people would make fun of him.
JED BABBIN: Fred won’t quit after Iowa. “Sources told me that Thompson’s campaign was already moving elements to South Carolina where they expect to do very well.” Was The Politico suckered?
JOHN MCINTYRE: What the major campaigns need tonight.
THIS HOMEMADE FRED THOMPSON AD is better than the real thing.
PHOTOBLOGGING THE MEDIA at the Iowa Caucuses.