RAGGED THOTS

I figure that when Thomas Paine said that “these are the times that try men’s souls,” he must’ve been talking about the start of another Winter Olympics. Because they’re so trying, maybe over the next three weeks we should all try too.
Like, try not to be incredulous when someone attempts to link these games to those of the ancient Greeks who never heard of skating or skiing. So try not to laugh when someone says these are the world’s greatest athletes, despite a paucity of blacks that makes the winter games look like a GOP convention.

# posted by Robert A. George @ 10:30 AM

[P]erhaps no future president will ask for such congressional involvement in the gravest decision government makes -- going to war. Why would future presidents ask, if the present administration successfully asserts its current doctrine? It is that whenever the nation is at war, the other two branches of government have a radically diminished pertinence to governance, and the president determines what that pertinence shall be. This monarchical doctrine emerges from the administration's stance that warrantless surveillance by the National Security Agency targeting American citizens on American soil is a legal exercise of the president's inherent powers as commander in chief, even though it violates the clear language of the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which was written to regulate wartime surveillance.

Administration supporters incoherently argue that the AUMF also authorized the NSA surveillance -- and that if the administration had asked, Congress would have refused to authorize it. The first assertion is implausible: None of the 518 legislators who voted for the AUMF has said that he or she then thought it contained the permissiveness the administration discerns in it. Did the administration, until the program became known two months ago? Or was the AUMF then seized upon as a justification? Equally implausible is the idea that in the months after Sept. 11, Congress would have refused to revise the 1978 law in ways that would authorize, with some supervision, NSA surveillance that, even in today's more contentious climate, most serious people consider conducive to national security.

Anyway, the argument that the AUMF contained a completely unexpressed congressional intent to empower the president to disregard the FISA regime is risible coming from this administration. It famously opposes those who discover unstated meanings in the Constitution's text and do not strictly construe the language of statutes.

# posted by Robert A. George @ 10:20 PM

Vice President Cheney's slow and unapologetic public response to the accidental shooting of a 78-year-old Texas lawyer is turning the quail-hunting mishap into a political liability for the Bush administration and is prompting senior White House officials to press Cheney to publicly address the issue as early as today, several prominent Republicans said yesterday.

The Republicans said Cheney should have immediately disclosed the shooting Saturday night to avoid even the suggestion of a coverup and should have offered a public apology for his role in accidentally shooting Harry Whittington, a GOP lawyer from Austin. Whittington was hospitalized Saturday night in Corpus Christi, Tex., and was moved back into the intensive-care unit after suffering an abnormal heart rhythm yesterday morning.

# posted by Robert A. George @ 8:37 AM

UPDATE: What JPod says here. And what NRO says here.

UPDATE II: What Marlin Fitzwater says here.

Tags: Dick Cheney, shooting, crime shows, White House

# posted by Robert A. George @ 10:00 AM

The biggest losers...were two moderates: former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who dropped from first place last year (with 19%) to third this year (with 12%); and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who went from second last year (with 18%) to fourth (with 10%).

Sen. George Allen (R.-Va.) went from a middle-of-the-road presidential candidate one year ago to the favorite among conservatives...The unscientific poll of CPAC attendees gave Allen 22% -- double the 11% he received in last year’s straw poll. Although conservatives remain divided, Allen’s plurality cements his status as one the leading Republicans. Finishing second was Sen. John McCain (R.-Ariz.) with 20%. One year ago, McCain tied Allen at 11%. McCain’s strong showing came as somewhat of a surprise given his role as a maverick unafraid of bucking his party. McCain has also rankled conservatives for his support of a campaign-finance law strongly opposed by those on the right.

# posted by Robert A. George @ 9:45 AM

Why does a man who served in the Reagan administration now embrace the very party that, since Vietnam, has denigrated the martial virtues he epitomizes? Part of it is his opposition to the war in Iraq. Webb is no knee-jerk Bush hater, and his opposition to the Iraq war is based on strategic considerations -- he is concerned that by committing such a large force there for an extended period of time we have weakened ourselves in the long run against a rising China.

More to the point, though, is his growing anger at the Bush administration for what he sees as a McNamara-like disregard for military advice, and even worse, a tendency on the part of too many Republicans and conservatives who did not serve in the military to attack the service of veterans like Jack Murtha who oppose the war. Webb's New York Times op-ed of January 18, 'Purple Heartbreakers,' was a clear harbinger of his break with the Republican party. There he wrote:

"[I]n recent years extremist Republican operatives have inverted a longstanding principle: that our combat veterans be accorded a place of honor in political circles. This trend began with the ugly insinuations leveled at Senator John McCain during the 2000 Republican primaries and continued with the slurs against Senators Max Cleland and John Kerry, and now Mr. Murtha."

The political tactic of playing up the soldiers on the battlefield while tearing down the reputations of veterans who oppose them could eventually cost the Republicans dearly. It may be one reason that a preponderance of the Iraq war veterans who have thus far decided to run for office are doing so as Democrats.

Both Jim and I have taken Kerry to task for what he said after the war (readers of National Review and NRO may have noticed that I wrote some 14 articles on Kerry's antics after the war), but both of us were troubled by the attack on his service. I cringed during the Republican convention in 2004 when some genius came up with the idea of mocking John Kerry by circulating band-aids in the shape of Purple Hearts. This seemed to me to be a real case of tonedeafness.

Webb is an impressive man. He is a 1968 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. As a Marine officer in Vietnam, he led an infantry platoon and company, was wounded twice, and was awarded the Navy Cross (second only to the Medal of Honor as a recognition of valor) and the Silver Star. After he was medically retired from the Marine Corps, he attended Georgetown Law School and later served as counsel to the House Veterans Committee. He is the author of six novels, including Fields of Fire, the best novel there is about Vietnam. During the Reagan administration, he served as an assistant secretary of Defense and secretary of the Navy. Combine his virtues with the fact that Virginia is one of the few states where a conservative Democrat might win, and, if Webb prevails in the Democratic primary, Senator Allen is likely to be in for the fight of his life.

I think Webb is a serious threat to Allen starting from the Norfolk area and moving west, right into the heart of Allen's heartland. When Webb was in the Pentagon he was the lead prophet touting the ambitious 1,000 ship Navy during the ideologue Weinberger days.
That is music to the ears of those in Norfolk (not to mention naval bases from the Norfolk to Galveston Bay -- all Red States, mind you -- so key to a certain lock). Webb will run against Rumsfeld's Pentagon budget, Rumsfeld's "transformation"/ downsizing and base closings, which Allen will not be able to defend.
Webb will play up the threat of China and the necessary need to beef up Naval operations which means jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs to northern Virginia (Pentagon) and Norfolk. Naval families will see a new savior in Webb and will put Virginia's other Senator John Warner, a former naval man and former Sec. of Navy -- like Webb in a tough position.

It will be interesting to see if Webb can overcome the local Democrat organiztion who want a liberal. However; seeing how Lynn Swann took over the state party in Pennsylvania, I'll bet Webb can do so in Virginia. Imagine if Allen and Santorum both lose this fall. The Far Right will be squealing like a stuck pig on the set of "Deliverance," and George Bush will be blamed. The Far Right will be left with Brownback (or Condi Rice) for 2008. If Webb wins, he will be a national Dem star and a serious VP candidate for any Democrat challenger -- especially a northern candidate with no military experience.

# posted by Robert A. George @ 2:00 AM

[S]he made the following "joke": "I think our motto should be post-9-11, 'rag head talks tough, rag head faces consequences.'"

How stupid are such remarks? Let us count the ways.

First off, they're racist. There is no difference between using "rag head" and using "nigger," "spic," or "honky." Perhaps it could have been excused had she made it clear she was referring to Islamists and not Muslims in general, but she did not. Indeed, her speech seemed to suggest that she wasn't making that distinction. It is cliche, but true: the vast majority of Muslims are not Islamists.

# posted by Robert A. George @ 8:55 PM

The South Korean military bans men who clearly appear of mixed racial background
from serving compulsory duty out of concern they might be unable to fit in,
noted Song Kil-weon, head of HIfamily Institute, a group working for rights of
those with mixed heritage.

Children, particularly those with a black American parent, routinely suffer harsh discrimination by fellow students, said Yi Kyung-kyune, director of Pearl S. Buck International Korea, a group that supports mixed-heritage youth. Because of the pressure, the middle school dropout rate for "Amerasians" -- children with American and Korean heritage -- is more than 17 percent, Yi said.

The group says about 2,000 Amerasians in this country suffer severe discrimination along with another estimated 1,000 children of mixed Korean and Asian descent, or "Kosians." Many also have challenges at home, with 83 percent being raised by single mothers, who are often jobless or only work part time.

# posted by Robert A. George @ 10:15 AM