Check out the comments over at my National Review piece. It’s almost as though some of the commenters are going out of their way to prove my thesis, by engaging in exactly the ignorant, straw-man behavior that opponents of the new policy have been for going on three years now. I love the notion that because I correct misstatements of fact, I am “attacking” the commenter. I especially love the latest insane redefinition of “subsidy” — that because SpaceX didn’t reinvent every single wheel in its vehicles, instead building on technology developed over the past decades, that it has been “subsidized” by NASA for decades.
Category Archives: Media Criticism
The “Debates”
Roger Simon writes what I was thinking when I saw the list of “moderators” for this fall’s “debates.”
What would happen if Romney/Ryan played hardball and said, “You know, ABCBSCNNPBS? Here’s the deal. If you want us to debate on your airwaves or cablewaves, we’ll do it on condition that the candidates choose the topics. The only thing we need a moderator for is to time things. If you don’t want to do that deal, we’ll look for another network, and we’ll point out to the public exactly why we’re doing so. We’ll let the White House try to explain why it needs a biased moderator.”
Paul Ryan, Extremist
Thoughts from George Will on Romney’s pick:
When Ryan said in Norfolk, “We won’t replace our Founding principles, we will reapply them,” he effectively challenged Obama to say what Obama believes, which is: Madison was an extremist in enunciating the principles of limited government — the enumeration and separation of powers. And Jefferson was an extremist in asserting that government exists not to grant rights but to “secure” natural rights that pre-exist government.
Romney’s selection of a running mate was, in method and outcome, presidential. It underscores how little in the last four years merits that adjective.
With a bonus discussion of what Barry Goldwater and Martin Luther King had in common.
Burn The Math Witch!
The Freepers have some fun with Iowahawk’s new hashtag game.
Barack Obama: “I was told there would be no math.”
[Update a few minutes later]
One of my favorite comments over there: “Math is racist.”
Why Barack Obama Is Scared As Hell Of Paul Ryan
Because as Iowahawk says, the president has to fear the math.
I wish that the debate was between Obama and Ryan, rather than Obama and Romney. Because Ryan versus Biden is going to be Godzilla on Bambi. Except Bambi didn’t have hairplugs.
[Sunday morning update]
Watch and tremble, Democrats. Lines around the block to see Romney-Ryan in North Carolina, while the donks are worried about filling their convention hall there.
It’s not 2008 any more. And considering what happened in Wisconsin earlier this year, I suspect it’s going to look a lot more like 2010.
[Afternoon update]
I don’t know about the “hope” part, but this is definitely change: “Only $51 to enter an Obama fundraiser in Chicago, but the room is only half full.”
I think they may run out of money before the election. It would seem fitting that his campaign’s finances are run pretty much the way they’ve been governing.
The Colorado Shooting Spree
Explained: it was caused by Canadian PM Harper cutting climate-change funding.
Of course! It’s so obvious now. Why didn’t I think of that?
The Makers Versus The Moochers
The Rachels built America. The Sandras just feed off it. Just like the Julias.
Popping The Higher-Education Bubble
With Obama’s war on the suburbs.
If so, it seems like it would be poetic justice.
Statistics And The Failure Of Space Policy
Thoughts from Ed Wright on why we have to get space activities out of the hands of politicians as soon as possible.
How Disconnected With Reality Is Barack Obama?
This disconnected: he actually believes (or at least claims to) that the press is biased against him:
…overall, this president still benefits far more than most of his predecessors from a press that generally likes him, agrees with his policies on most key issues, and deeply hopes that he will be re-elected in November. Few incumbents have ever had this kind of support from the Fourth Estate; few challengers have ever had such a hard time getting a break from the media as Governor Romney.
Moreover, some of President Obama’s complaints are unsettling. As he sees it, the liberal narrative is “the truth”, competing narratives are “factually incorrect”, and the press has a duty not to treat truth on an equal basis with falsehood. By this standard, any article that doesn’t heap scorn and disdain on those who disagree with him is biased; “balance” is an illusion when it comes to subjects about which liberals are passionately convinced that they are right.
It just isn’t that simple. Political disagreements are often about values and context—about which facts are important and should move policy rather than about whether side A or side B is right about some specific point. There’s a totalitarian impulse and a deep hostility to the concept of public debate lurking not far below the surface here, and it’s a little unsettling that President Obama seems to think there are a lot of public policy issues on which the liberal viewpoint is True and the conservative viewpoint is Dumb.
As he notes, Leftists are the descendants of the Puritans. It’s just a different religion. And it’s frightening to have a commander-in-chief this deep in delusion.