Yeah, that’s called “journalism”

From today’s NY Times Corrections page:

An article in Business Day yesterday reported on discussions between Rupert Murdoch's company, the News Corporation, and a Russian media company, Gazprom. Citing people close to the negotiations, the article said the News Corporation was in talks on a potential acquisition of the satellite business of NTV, the television network owned by Gazprom. The Times should have obtained comment from the two companies.

Both said yesterday that although they held general discussions earlier this year, there were no negotiations about the sale of NTV assets.

The Paper of Record, indeed.

The Boston Globe is all over Senator Splunge

Lots of Kerry post-mortems today including this analysis: “Reversing the Kerry slide is going to be difficult, because Kerry cannot reverse the single biggest mistake he made as a presidential candidate: voting for the Iraq war resolution.”

And this: "Kerry's on life support right now and is desperately trying to find ways to stay alive," one Democratic operative who is familiar with the campaign said. "It's a little like shifting the chairs on the Titanic, except he threw off his best chair."

Rantburg: Saudi Troops head to Mecca

To paraphrase one commenter on the thread: why is the Saudi government sending the military to the holiest city in the Muslim world during the holiest month in Islam? Oh, yeah, the terrorists.

Expecting another terrorist attack at any time, Saudi security officials have ordered 4,600 troops to Mecca for the remaining three weeks of Ramadan.

Which is equal to, what, 20 U.S. Marines? Good luck, Riyadh.

Death to the House of Saud…until the check clears

Mary at Exit Zero makes an excellent point about the recent attacks in Saudi Arabia: if the terrorists really wanted to hurt the Saudi royals, they would attack the pillow-soft targets of the oil industry. But they don’t because that’s where the cash comes from. At the core, the attacks are just another elaborate shakedown for more “protection” money.

“Appeasement is the policy of feeding your friends to a crocodile, one at a time, in hopes that the crocodile will eat you last”. -- FDR

Where’s Howard?

Have I missed Howard Dean on TV? Does he do any more Sunday morning talk shows since his disastrous appearance on “Meet the Press” in June? (Here’s a roundup of that debacle courtesy of The Carpetbagger Report). Judging by his recent remarks, maybe the Dean people feel that the less Howard talks, the better.

Speaking of Edwards

He was cruising along on Meet the Press yesterday until he hit this brick wall:

SEN. EDWARDS: This gets to be a fairly simple thing at the end of the day. For this operation to be perceived both by the Iraqi people and people in that region of the world as one that they can respond to and embrace, it’s going to have to be two things. One, an international effort, and two, an international effort that’s moving toward Iraqi self-governance.
MR. RUSSERT: As you know, the French could veto any United Nations involvement. Any nation that’s a member of NATO could veto NATO involvement.
SEN. EDWARDS: Sure.
MR. RUSSERT: And, in fact, the French have been rather insistent, they do not want to participate in this from day one. If they did that, what would you do then? You’re in the Oval Office. The U.N. and NATO have said “no.” Do you withdraw U.S. troops?
SEN. EDWARDS: Well, I don’t accept that proposition.

Edwards pulled a Dogbert “Bah!” and dismissed recent history as “unacceptable” thereby entirely avoiding the question. Surely President Edwards would marshal the forces of his Southern charm and get those Frenchies to pony up some troops. There is no other scenario.

Bah!

Dean: the anti-Clinton

Andrew Cline writes in the National Review Online that Howard Dean has appeal to the Democrats because, counterintuitively I think, Dean is not Clinton:

Dean is everything the Left hoped Bill Clinton would be in 1992, and nothing Clinton turned out to be. He holds the promise of being a president who is dependably liberal and uncompromising in his principles.

Dean is plain-spoken and honest. Clinton was obtuse and slimy. Dean was a wealthy urban kid who, laden with liberal guilt, voluntarily moved down the social ladder to maintain his principles. Clinton was a poor, rural kid who sold his soul to the highest bidder for eight years in the White House.

To the political Left, Clinton was the tall, dashing lover who swept them off their feet only to break their hearts and leave them vowing never to go out with such a creep again. Dean is the nice guy with sensible shoes who has them believing in love again.

Jon Stewart of the Daily Show described Dean (at a recent debate) as “the stern but fair drivers-ed teacher”. Is that the personality appeal of Dean? I do think that, despite his stand on issues, Dean puts on a show of resolve that gives the impression he’s solid and confident. Candidates like Kerry and Edwards (we’re for the war – we’re against it!) are diminished by comparison.

All Shook Up

What is shook up more than a paint can at Home Depot? John Kerry's campaign staff - "Democratic candidate John Kerry fired his campaign manager Sunday night in an attempt shake up his beleaguered presidential bid, The Associated Press learned."

The Poliblogger now officially agrees with me: Kerry is toast.

Detroit Dummkopf

Solomonia has the story: "Michael Moore stabs America in the back - in Germany" Solomon notes: "Moore's writing, as usual, Fisks itself" Ja.

Cletus is not amused

From the NY Daily News:

Q: And what is Clark's reaction to former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean's pandering comment that that he, Dean, wants the votes of Southerners, i.e. "guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks"?

A: "Well, he shouldn't have said those things. I think all Americans - and this is a joke! - all Americans, even if they're from the South and 'stupid,' should be represented."

It's as if Kang and Kodos have taken over the entire Democratic field.

Update: Boy, Simpsons fans just can't let it go. Always a comment. Here's Nick on Duck Season with some Kang and Kodos background. Maybe we'll also see some good-natured sniping from Ben Domenech, who's always good for a Simpsons reference.

Smarter Harper's

I've updated my other page, Smarter Harper's, with sections from an article back when Harper's was a smarter magazine. I found an old Harper's from 1996 and re-typed some excerpts from an article titled "Saddam's Inferno." It's striking how critical the article is of Hussein back in the days when Clinton was dropping bombs on Baghdad, esp. compared to Harper's current position on Iraq to condemn a military action that stopped this.

Terrorism in Saudi Arabia: "RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Three blasts ripped through a residential compound in the Saudi capital around midnight Saturday, killing at least two people in an attack the Saudi government is calling a homicide car bombing."

Well, that's just terrible. Saudi Arabia should ask itself what it's done in the world to invite this tragedy.

Time to lay off Kerry

As readers of this blog know, I have a beef with John Kerry; not least of which is that as my Senator he doesn't do much to earn his $150,000+ paycheck. But I digress....

Tonight, I was flipping around and caught Kerry on C-Span at a "rally" in New Hampshire. Sweet mercy, it was pitiful. It appeared to be in somebody's living room with all the furniture pushed up against a wall so Kerry had a space to move, microphone in hand. There couldn't have been more than 30 people there, including children. Kerry gave a speech (mostly Bush-bashing) then announced he would stick around for questions.

And here's where it got just so sad: Kerry got cornered by a 10-year-old who asked him what his favorite childrens' book was. Kerry gamely answered "Sam I Am" (presumably "Green Eggs and Ham.") Then the precocious and chatty kid asked him what his favorite book of all time was. I don't know what was flying through Kerry's head at this point but my guesses are either 1.) "this wasn't covered in my talking points script" or 2.) "I'm running for President and the only person who wants to talk is this kid. Better make it look good for the cameras."

So I'm going to turn over all the cards and officially declare: Kerry is toast. He's done. He'll hold on until after New Hampshire but I don't think he'll even wait until South Carolina (where he's beating only Dennis Kucinich in the polls) before he quits. He's just a walking shadow now.

So: no more "Kerry Vote Watch" updates. Instead, I'm going to turn my attention on Howard Dean who, with the recent union endorsements, is looking most likely to gain the nomination. Then, in the general election, he's sure to gain twice as many states as George McGovern and Walter Mondale, combined. Wow.

Aimee Deep of Music Pundit has her first post in four months today about her dad’s ongoing fight with RIAA. I stop by Music Pundit every once in a while to see…um…if there’s anything new to see. Heh.

Daily Pundit has the raw numbers on the Dems "catastrophic loss of power" over the past decade.

Democrats take aim at Bush – hit foot

If Karl Rove bestowed me with magical powers to make the Democrats look irrelevant, unfocused, trivial, bitter, and feckless, I don’t think I could have come up with a better plan than the Democrats themselves.

Two words: Haiku contest

(BTW: here’s one response to the “winner”).

My last post on the "Rock the Vote" debate

Here's what I said Tuesday: "Debate winner: Gephardt."

and here's the New Republic in a longer harangue on Terry McAuliffe: "Surely last night's biggest winner was Dick Gephardt, who was smart enough not to show up."

The Economist agrees: Europe stinks!

The British magazine The Economist has a cover story about America titled “Greatest Danger, or Greatest Hope?” Generally speaking, the Brits think we’re good (hooray!) if a little imperious. But check out this riff on France some other Europeans:

Given that foreign voices were so keen to disparage America for withdrawing from Somalia in 1994, for failing for years to intervene in the Balkans, for having “allowed” the Taliban to take power in Afghanistan, and for being reluctant recently to send troops to Liberia, why should so many be hostile now to intervention in Iraq?

One answer to this final question is that incoherence is one of the luxuries of impotence. Those who cannot, or will not, take responsibility themselves feel free to snipe at those who do. Another is that it is natural to feel afraid when dramatic, ambitious actions are being undertaken, for the consequences of such actions can themselves be dramatic.

Oof! That’s gonna leave a mark.

Europeans are worse than cockroaches

C’mon, Mark Steyn, tell us how you really feel:

Europe is dying. As I’ve pointed out here before, it can’t square rising welfare costs, a collapsed birthrate and a manpower dependent on the world’s least skilled, least assimilable immigrants. In 20 years’ time, as those Dutch Muslim teenagers are entering the voting booths, European countries, unlike parts of Nigeria, will not be living under Sharia, but they will be reaching their accommodations with their radicalised Islamic compatriots, who like many intolerant types are expert at exploiting the ‘tolerance’ of pluralist societies.

I’m driven to apoplexy whenever I hear an American (read: Democrat) declare that we need to supplicate to the Europeans on the world stage. Steyn, quite a bit less humorous than usual today, explains why.

Howard Dean perpetuates the myth of Florida

The Washington Post has been having candidate forums and here’s Howard Dean’s response to a question about voting machines:

Howard Dean: The chairman of Diebold has sent a letter saying that he will do everything he can to get Bush reelected. This does not engender confidence in the American electoral system. If I become the Democratic nominee we will have teams, particularly in jurisdictions like Florida, who will be conducting poll watching activities to prevent the kind of Republican abuses that took place in the last election. We will do more work on the voting machine issue as the campaign moves along.

“Republican abuses?” What abuses would those be, Governor? Name one. This is the state of the Democratic party: they keep losing elections so, working off the mythology of Florida, they conclude that it must be because the vote is rigged. It could never be because voters actually disagree with the Democrats on issues – oh, no no no.