Ed Driscoll.com

Building A Bridge To The 1930s

2008-05-10T12:40:56-08:00

Father Coughlin could not be reached for comment:

"All we're doing is going into the basket and saying, 'Damn, what did they do in '32, what did they do in '34, what did they do in '36,' and we're pulling them out, dusting them off, giving them a paint job, correcting the fenders a bit, and we're using them," Congressman Paul Kanjorski (D-PA) said. "To get us through the horrendous problems we may have over the next several years, we've got to make these old programs work, and we've got to be as inventive as hell."

Nice to know that with the Dow Jones about 12,700 points higher than it was in 1932, the left still sees nothing but Hoovervilles into eternity.

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This Is CNN

2008-05-10T12:30:11-08:00

From Clinton-aide Lanny Davis's interview with the Politico yesterday:

Davis said he told a producer several times before getting on-air that he wanted to offer a counterpoint to CNN�s panel, which he thinks is too pro-Obama.

How can Davis say that? Why, other than literally swooning over him, they're completely objective and neutral!

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Unelectable

2008-05-10T11:31:35-08:00

Wow:

Another dividend from Operation Chaos, and Hillary's concurrent scorched earth final campaign days; I hope Team McCain puts together ads as potent as this one. (Or these ads that the GOP is rolling out, which apparently haven't been endorsed by the McCain camp.) On the other hand, salt this one away for the fall, where it's sure to be pressed into service again.

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"Every Generation Gets Its Own Tron"

2008-05-10T01:21:57-08:00

Another pleasant boomer/Gen X collective childhood memory ruined by postmodern Hollywood:

MAYBE every generation gets its own "Tron."

"Speed Racer" comes to us from the creators of "The Matrix," and as my cerebral cortex was reeling from the onslaught of its jelly-belly colors and "Lucy in the Sky" graphics, I wondered if there was some parallel universe where it might be considered an entertaining experience. Maybe Japan?

This adventurously awful film is awful in many ways at once.

Or to paraphrase this extremely perceptive media critic duo, this film sucks--but it sucks in ways we've never seen before. It sucks in new and unusual ways--especially once you get past its Tron-on-acid visuals.

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This Is Why Gore Blew It In 2000, As Well

2008-05-09T19:19:59-08:00

I think Jonathan Chait is actually pretty astonished himself, when he writes:

People who thought they knew Hillary Clinton have gazed in astonishment: What has she become? The answer is, a conservative populist.

Orrin Judd looks back on her husband's two successful elections won with endless conservative populist rhetoric and wonders: What took her so long?

Meanwhile, Jonah Goldberg notes that Hillary's rhetoric may sound populist in the (presumably) waning days of her campaign, it's certainly not conservative.

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Quote Of The Day

2008-05-09T16:45:05-08:00

Astonishingly, via the Huffington Post:

We may now understand why Barack does not wear a flag lapel pin. He's afraid that Bill Ayers will stomp on him.

Heh. You know, some blogger should make a video exploring all of that ancient Radical Chic rhetoric coming home to roost.

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"The No Zone"

2008-05-09T16:35:58-08:00

Keeping wide swatches of nearby sources of oil off-limits to drilling only ensures that Americans will be paying the Pelosi Premium for some time to come.

As Jim Geraghty writes, this would be a slam-dunk issue for John McCain to exploit--so naturally, don't hold your breath waiting for him to take it on.

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Sister "Soulja Girl"

2008-05-09T16:29:08-08:00

Paging Theodore Dalrymple: Grist for your next essay on the decline and fall of western civilization is waiting right here.

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Those Bitter 57 States

2008-05-09T14:46:31-08:00

John Brummett of the Arkansas News Bureau writes that because "Bill Clinton has behaved ineptly and inanely" on the campaign trail, "His wife has taken to sending him to small towns, like the Republicans did to conceal Dan Quayle in 1988."

But Bill may not be the only one making Quayle-esque gaffes on the campaign stump:

Victor Davis Hanson writes, "Almost imperceptibly to the McCain campaign, I think Obama has already established quite new messianic rules of engagement that will be difficult to overturn". But "the eventual downside for Obama is that the loftier the prophet, the more transparent his all-too-human transgressions."

Update: John Hinderaker is on a similar wavelength:

This is much worse than anything Dan Quayle ever did. Needless to say, these bizarre moments won't be promoted by the media as evidence that Obama is stupid. But they'll be worth keeping in mind in the fall, when every time John McCain misspeaks, the Democrats' whispering campaign will suggest that he's getting senile.

Win or lose, come November, McCain may wonder why he spent so much time cultivating the MSM, as they inexorably turn on him.

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The Audacity They Kept To Themselves

2008-05-09T13:40:33-08:00

Just to follow on from my post from this morning, here's yet another article that would easily have fit in on Newsbusters, except that its chief source of quotes is a liberal who is complaining about the partisan nature of CNN's political coverage:

When Clinton supporter Lanny Davis appeared on CNN during primary night, shortly before 10 p.m., there was a peculiar exchange with host Anderson Cooper.
Cooper: Lanny, let me start off with you. We haven't heard from you tonight. Your take on Barack Obama's speech earlier?
Davis: You haven't heard from me tonight. And I'm not sure � I�m not sure you want to hear from me tonight but �
Cooper: We heard from Paul Begala. This is your big chance.
Davis: Well, actually, I don't think we heard very much from Paul Begala. We did hear an awful �
Cooper: All part of the conspiracy against Hillary Clinton, I suppose.

During the Election Night broadcast, there was palpable tension between Davis and CNN reporters and panelists on camera � and apparently, with producers off camera.

Looking back, Davis said by phone this afternoon, he considers it �the worst experience I ever had on television.�

What bothers Davis most is that CNN is the network with which he�s had the longest relationship, where he�s maintained close friendships through the years, and that he's always considered middle-of-the-road in its coverage. But in his opinion, CNN has not treated Hillary Clinton fairly in the �08 race.

Formerly special counsel to President Bill Clinton, Davis admits wholeheartedly to being a partisan and strongly supports Clinton against Obama.

So what happened on Tuesday night?

Davis, by his account, was invited to appear on the CNN panel in New York but declined because of a family commitment � his son�s baseball practice in Maryland. Instead, he opted to participate by remote from the network�s D.C. studio.

He was instructed to arrive around 8:30 p.m., he said, in order to take over the pro-Clinton position once Paul Begala left. So Davis left the baseball practice early in order to arrive at the studio on time, but he didn�t make it on air until almost 10 p.m.

A CNN spokesperson said that Davis was scheduled to go on-air at 9pm, but CNN didn't go to him or any commentator during Sen. Obama's speech in the 9pm hour, just as no commentators were on-air during Sen. Clinton's speech later the same night.

Davis said he told a producer several times before getting on-air that he wanted to offer a counterpoint to CNN�s panel, which he thinks is too pro-Obama.

Regarding the panel's make-up, Davis said that he believes Gloria Borger, David Gergen, Donna Brazile and Carl Bernstein are all tougher on Clinton than on her rival. And he maintains that Roland Martin is definitely a �partisan for Obama.� (Martin has not official endorsed Obama and is not labeled as such on the network,)

According to a post found via Protein Wisdom and Hot Air, Martin is apparently quite a partisan for Reverend Wright, in any case.

Hillary's Final Campaign Days As Personal Rorschach Test

2008-05-09T12:59:19-08:00

This could make for one of those cheesy guilty pleasure National Enquirer-type surveys:

Choice of Hillary Metaphor

Reveals Your Inner Personality!

Is Hillary:

Norma Desmond?

Your psycho ex-girlfriend?

Richard Nixon?

Don Corleone?

Big Brother?

Or is she simply everything you hate about yourself?

You make the call!

Update: This one arrived too late to make the initial cut: Is Hillary Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction?

More: This was inevitable, and in highly questionable taste, to be honest

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The Last Remnants Of The Illuminati

2008-05-09T12:47:23-08:00

Travis Kavulla notes that last night, "Apparently a laser light show � or, rather, a piece of 'illumination art' � was projected onto the National Cathedral" in Washington, DC:

Last night, [Gerry Hofstetter, a 45-year-old artist from Zurich] ran a series of glass plates through a 6,000-volt projector and said artisty things like "Light is hope, fire is energy. These colors mean hope and energy."

Light is hope? I only wish more in the artistic class still believed that.

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The Audacity of Bitterness

2008-05-09T12:30:13-08:00

James Taranto writes:

For all the hype about Barack Obama being some new kind of politician, in one respect he is very similar to recent Democratic presidential nominees: He takes criticism very badly, responding to it by getting both defensive and nasty. It is a most unattractive quality.

And remember, he's the optimistic one in the family:

Michelle Obama: �working in some of the toughest neighborhoods on the south side of Chicago, worked for years in neighborhoods where people had a reason to give up hope, because their jobs had been lost, steel mills shut down, living in brown fields left by those closed steel plants, unsafe streets, schools deteriorating, grandparents raising grandkids. Barack spent years working with churches, busing single mothers down to City Hall to help them find their voice, building the kind of operations on the ground, just like he�s doing in this race, block by block, person by person. Now you tell me whether there�s anybody in this race who can claim to have made the same choice with their lives. You tell me. But I think that Barack Obama is the only person that can claim that kind of choice�so trust me, we�ve seen it all. Barack has seen it all.

Hugh Hewitt: Mark Steyn?

Mark Steyn: (laughing) Well, you know, that�s�I don�t know�Chicago doesn�t sound like part of America. It sounds like we need to fly in some U.N. relief agency. They should all pull out of Burma and fly into these derelict parts of Chicago. The fact is, community organizer is a bogus term. She ought to knock it off. Real people�one of the most pathetic aspects of this race is that somehow, a guy like Mitt Romney, who runs successful companies, he�s regarded as Mr. Bloated Plutocrat like the guy in the top hat on the Monopoly board. A guy like that actually makes a contribution to people�s lives, to generating the great wealth in corporate America that pays for everything else. And a community organizer, which most functioning communities in the United States don�t have the need for, is an entirely bogus term. She is becoming, I miss Teresa Heinz Kerry.

HH: (laughing)

MS: God bless here. I used to love going to John Kerry events, and John Kerry would be droning I say to George Bush, bring it on, and Teresa used to stand there next to him looking board out of her skull. God bless her. She was a, you know, she�s a genuine, a very genuine woman. And Michelle Obama by contrast seems to have all the condescension of Teresa Heinz Kerry, plus this weird bitterness and anger. I think she�s a very strange woman.

Ascending towards the eschaton, one is always likely to get the vapors.

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"It's Not Math Anymore, It's Psychodrama"

2008-05-09T11:48:53-08:00

From Peggy Noonan's fingers to this terrific video on YouTube:

Operation Chaos: the gift that keeps on giving. At least until it doesn't.

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"Why Are Liberals Actively Helping Terrorists?"

2008-05-09T11:00:32-08:00

Good question. Let's ask Bill Ayers next time we see him, or any of these folks.

(H/T: IP)

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