Good point about modern political rhetoric. Neoneo
The McCain fan vs. Romney fan kerfuffle: Insty, Donald Douglas, Viking. Hewitt wonders whether McCain is the next Bob Dole: apparently he did not impress in the debate last night.
Banned: Hillary the Movie, thanks to McCain-Feingold.
The Woodpecker Boom, gone bust: good photo essay in the NYT
Obama: Clintons are a step backwards.
Hawaii forgets about the First Amendment. Thank God for the Bill of Rights (which the Founders felt unnecessary because freedom under limited central government was assumed, having been the entire reason for their war).
A Baghdad Hospital: Inside the Red Zone. Video
Run, Ralph, run! Add some humor to 2008.
Greenspan doubts that the Fed can prevent global recession. Economies are truly global now.
The Kindle e-book. Will it catch fire? Our Opie knows somebody who loves the thing.
Republicans not wanted at poetry readings. Taranto
Insty writes a long one about the subprimes, which begins:
SO I'M WATCHING MCCAIN TALK ABOUT THE SUBPRIME CRISIS, and how there may be some "greedy people on Wall Street who need to go to jail."
But I heard a typically sad-toned NPR story on subprimes tonight, and despite their best efforts to evoke the Joads it was a story of people who "used their houses like ATMs," taking out home equity loan after home equity loan when they started with a subprime mortgage, only to wind up owing far more than their houses were worth and unable to make the payments. Boo hoo. Shouldn't there be a price for being an idiot? And -- despite not being on Wall Street -- a greedy idiot? Why does McCain want to bail these people out? Why does he want to put Wall Street people in jail?
Hinderaker on politicians vs. businessmen:
Businessmen, in my experience, are generally more idealistic than politicians. Businessmen really do make deals with a handshake. No one would dream of doing that with Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi or the Clintons. Turning a businessman loose in the political world is basically a mismatch. That's the sense I get of McCain's reaction to having Romney as his last serious rival. He can't believe his good fortune; Romney is an amateur. McCain can poke him in the eye, knee him in the groin, and the rule-following businessman has no idea how to respond.
I don't view this as an argument in Romney's favor. As President, he wouldn't be dealing with honorable, law-abiding businesspeople. He would be going up against the Vladimir Putins, Osama bin Ladens and Harry Reids of the world. This is not a game for amateurs. I think we should recognize that professional politicians bring important experience and skills to the table, and that one of those skills is the ability to knee an opponent in the groin and get away with it. It's not pretty. But, compared to politics, business is beanbag, and politics is the game the Republican nominee will have to play.
