CHANGE: Democratic Senator Won’t Bash Tea Party In Debate.

NBC’s David Gregory gave appointed Colorado Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet the chance to bash the Tea Party movement during Sunday’s Meet the Press debate with his Tea Party-backed Republican opponent, but he didn’t take the bait.

“I haven’t seen a lot of that either,” Bennet said during a discussion about whether there are racist or extreme elements within the Tea Party movement.

Bennet appeared to agree on that issue with Ken Buck, the Republican nominee and Weld County district attorney who won his primary with the aid of Tea Party groups. “I find it offensive that people would try to label the Tea Party that way,” Buck said.

Read the whole thing.

MARKDOWNS ON CAMERA AND PHOTO GEAR. And since people often ask me to recommend cameras under $100, note the sub-$90 price on the Panasonic Lumix F2. I haven’t used it, but I’ve had good luck with Lumixes, and the customer reviews are very good. I went ahead and ordered one for Helen.

WHAT A STROKE FEELS LIKE.

DON SURBER: Baghdad Bob Gibbs.

BRUCE BAWER: Wilders Is Right: Europe Needs a First Amendment. “The trial of Dutch MP Geert Wilders wasn’t really about him or about Islam. It was about individual liberty.” If our transnational elites wanted, they might find that in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But they don’t want.

MESSAGE TO MIKE HUCKABEE: Don’t Get Cocky. Indeed.

GROUND GAME: I mentioned William Patterson’s new biography of Heinlein, earlier, but here’s a quote that’s particularly relevant with the election coming up. It’s from Heinlein’s post-mortem of his lost election for California State Assembly, which he lost by fewer than 400 votes:

In the post-mortem I was able to tabulate names of more people than that who were personal acquantances of mine, had promised me support — but did not vote . . . Forty election-day volunteers could have swung the district.

Boots on the ground . . . .

UPDATE: Five Reasons Not To Get Cocky.

TEA PARTY rocks the right and the left. “The irony is great here. A cadre of pundits cautioned the GOP after the 2008 wipeout to move to the center, to accommodate Obama’s agenda, and to recoil from the small-government philosophy that, the self-appointed gurus told us, had no sell with voters. With a big assist from Obama, the Tea Partiers have proved themselves much savvier than the punditocracy (damning with faint praise, I know). An entire populist movement built not on specific positions (e.g., anti-war) but on philosophical principles is a remarkable phenomenon; even more remarkable is the degree to which those principles have resonated with the public at large. . . . The left understood all too well what the Tea Party was about, tried its best to strangle it in its political crib, and now has seen its worst fears come true.”

MY LOVELY AND TALENTED COHOST, as we reprised the old Glenn & Helen show by substituting for George Korda this afternoon. Three hours of live talk radio is actually kind of hard work!

TRAPPED MINERS, LIBERTARIANISM, AND a response to Sandy Levinson.

Well, if you’re looking for counterexamples, I think the post 9/11 “American Dunkirk,” where roughly a million people were evacuated from lower Manhattan by private action seems pretty good:

People at Ground Zero, the Manhattan Waterfront, nearby New Jersey, Staten Island and Brooklyn waterfronts, and crews on the numerous vessels repeatedly used the phrases “just amazing,” “everyone cooperated, and “just doing what it took” to describe maritime community responses. Individuals stepped up and took charge of specific functions, and captains and crews from other companies took their direction. . . . Private maritime operators kept their vessels onsite and available until Friday, Day Four, when federal authorities took over.

Day Four, when federal authorities took over. ‘Nuff said.

Related: How American Industry Aided The Chilean Rescue.

UPDATE: Reader John Burgess writes: “Don’t forget US Airway Flt 1549, ditching into the Hudson. The 155 passengers and crew were rescued by commercial vessels, not the fire department, not the Coast Guard, not the NYPD.”

IS “ADULT” BECOMING A DIRTY WORD?

TRUTH, NOT IDEOLOGICAL BALANCE:

As the academy grows more stridently left wing, conservatives respond with calls for ideological affirmative action — for schools to hire more right-thinking faculty so students encounter intellectual diversity. This is a seductively alluring scheme, and thanks to wealthy donors, it is proliferating.

It is an ill-advised and ultimately anti-intellectual strategy, even in the unlikely event that it succeeds. The academy can not be, nor should it be, an intellectual version of Noah’s Ark.

Read the whole thing.

SETH BARRETT TILLMAN ON Impeachment And Assassination. Here’s the piece by Josh Chafetz he’s responding to.

FROM STEVE HENDRICKS, A STORY OF EXTRAORDINARY RENDITION: A Kidnapping in Milan: The CIA on Trial. I haven’t read the book yet, but I’ve known Steve for years and he’s a smart guy.

BARNEY FRANK, then and now.

HELEN AND I ARE STILL HOSTING GEORGE KORDA’S SHOW and this hour we’ll be to Julienne Davis and Maggie Arana, the authors of Stop Calling Him Honey and Start Having Sex.

You can listen live to the show here on NewsTalk 98.7 and call in with questions or comments at:

Talk Lines
865.656.TALK (8255) or 800.951.TALK (8255)

HELEN AND I WILL HAVE ANDREW KLAVAN ON THE RADIO in just a minute: You can listen live to the show here on NewsTalk 98.7 and call in with questions or comments at:

Talk Lines
865.656.TALK (8255) or 800.951.TALK (8255)

TRACY QUAN: A Miner, A Mistress, And Chile’s Etiquette Of Love. “While it’s tempting to believe that people in other countries are more open-minded about infidelity, it’s never simple.”

IN THE MAIL: From Ezra Levant, Ethical Oil: The Case for Canada’s Oil Sands.

THE GLENN AND HELEN SHOW RETURNS, KIND OF: Helen and I are hosting George Korda’s show, “State Your Case” for 3 hours today from 12-3:00 Eastern time. We will be talking to father’s rights activist and politician Stacey Campfield, to Julia Hurley who is running for State Representative in the 32nd district in Tennessee (where one of the big issues is an Internet tax), to Andrew Klavan from PJTV, and finally to Julienne Davis and Maggie Arana, the authors of Stop Calling Him Honey and Start Having Sex.

You can listen live to the show here on NewsTalk 98.7 and call in with questions or comments at:

Talk Lines
865.656.TALK (8255) or 800.951.TALK (8255)

DODD HARRIS: DON’T KNOW MUCH ABOUT HISTORY:

“Progressive” commentary about the Tea Party movement — such as E.J. Dionne’s assertion that it reflects the “anti-statism” of the Anti-Federalists who lost out at America’s founding — does more to illuminate the lack of knowledge of political history of the commentators than the reality of the movement.

Well, studying political history is almost as boring as reading that Hayek guy, whoever he was. Or knowing what Herbert Hoover actually did. Squaresville, man.

UPDATE: Yes, the Hayek thing is a reference to this: “He’s so unhip, when you talk about Dylan, he thinks you’re talking about Dylan Thomas. Whoever HE was. The man ain’t got no culture.” Now I’m going to have that going through my head for the rest of the day. Andy Warhol, won’t you please come home? Well, I learned the truth from Lenny Bruce . . . .

THE “D” STANDS FOR “DESPERATE:” Democrat Jack Conway attacks Rand Paul over religion in Kentucky senate race? “Here we have a doctrinaire liberal candidate who just a short time ago was a enthusiastic supporter of Obamacare and cap and trade legislation now trying to come off like an out-and-out bible thumper.”

TOM MAGUIRE: “Bitterly clinging to his pop psychology, First Sociologist Barack Obama regales a Democratic fundraising event with his latest insight into the minds of the Great Unwashed.”

Related: The Trauma Is Obama.

CHARLIE RANGEL UPDATE: ‘Influence-Peddling at Its Most Basic Level.’

MOSQUE VICTIMIZED by shameful “Bacon Attack.”

Can we get Pat Benatar to record Stop Using Pork As A Weapon? Bacon is supposed to be something . . . sacred. On the other hand, things could be worse.

It occurs to me that right after 9/11 we saw the beginning of anti-mosque demonstrations but those quickly dissipated. Why? Probably because right after this march, we had Bush’s WTC bullhorn speech and people started to feel confident that Bush would protect the country. With less confidence in Obama, are they resorting to self-help? It’s a long way from bacon to beheadings, of course, but a sense that the powers-that-be can’t be trusted to protect the country is dangerous and destabilizing.

UPDATE: Reader Steven Dzik writes:

The responsilibity for the bacon attack lies with the people who did the attack and the people who have whipped up hysteria against the Islamic religion. Obama’s appalling lack of leadership is not an excuse. I have been shocked at some of the anti-Moslem bigotry coming out of the conservative movement recently. Conservative leaders have to do what Bush did, explain the difference between Islam and Islamic fundamentalism to their followers.

Hmm. I don’t exactly disagree, but . . . if Obama’s “appalling lack of leadership” is not an excuse, then whence comes the responsibility for “conservative leaders?” I think a general lack of confidence in the ruling class is behind this, and I don’t think a just-words approach will do much good, though better ones would be a start.