Bookworm Room

Tweet You all remember from the Bush-era how we were told repeatedly that Dick Cheney was George Bush’s brain.  That notion arose when the Left couldn’t square Bush’s effectiveness as an executive (never mind his years of executive experience) with their certainty that he was, in fact, an idiot.  They were so relieved when they [...]

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Tweet Years ago, during the Bush administration, Terry Gross, of NPR’s Fresh Air, interviewed a writer who was in an absolutely tizzy about Bush’s use of executive orders.  Sadly, for the life of me, I can’t find that interview.  What I also can’t find is any evidence that this author has again gone onto Terry [...]

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Tweet Seth Mandel compares Obama’s hot mic moments (insulting Netanyahu; cutting private deals with the Russians) to George Bush’s single hot mic moment: [W]hen the microphones were off, Bush was–to no one’s surprise–just as supportive of our allies and as tough on our adversaries as he was in public. These moments might seem insignificant, but [...]

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Tweet Yes, that’s a wildly mixed, virtually unintelligible metaphor in my post title, but I can actually explain it.  Iran is pranking the U.S.  Considering the way in which we were assured that an Obama in the White House would inaugurate a new era of foreign policy, what the Iranians are doing is funny, but [...]

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Tweet On the one hand, we have a little man (figuratively speaking), sitting at a big, empty desk, speaking in deadened tones and flat words, as his eyes roam relentlessly back and forth between his teleprompter, desperately avoiding the single word that so aptly sums up American bravery and sacrifice:  Victory! And on the other [...]

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Tweet Presidents get photographed hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of time.  Each photograph captures a mere moment.  Some are flattering; some less so.  Many, however, go on to become iconic. My generation, the 1970s generation, is deeply imprinted with this photo of Richard Nixon flashing the victory sign: Then there is this 1932 photograph of [...]

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Tweet I’ve now received five emails bringing to my attention a post at Hillbuzz, a blog that (as best as I can tell) is written by two gay Hillary supporters.  (And thanks to all of you who did bring it to my attention.)  What makes the post at Hillbuzz so unusual is that it’s a [...]

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Tweet There’ve been accusations and counter-accusations flying about Obama fiddling while Afghanistan burns.  Cheney accuses him of being a do-nothing.  Gibb claims Bush did nothing.  Jake Tapper looked into the matter and discovered that, while Iraq was a priority, Bush indeed did little with troop requests, struggling to fill them, but only getting bout 1/5 [...]

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Tweet Paul Krugman is shocked! shocked! (albeit not surprised) that Republicans are exhibiting a certain amount of Schadenfreude when it comes to the rebuff the IOC delivered to Barack Obama: So what did we learn from this moment? For one thing, we learned that the modern conservative movement, which dominates the modern Republican Party, has [...]

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Tweet I’ve been thinking a lot about responses to my post regarding the gal who is running for town council, the one who donated to Obama, and who nevertheless seems to be a fiscal conservative.  I asked how she can live with the cognitive dissonance.  Several of you pointed out, in one form or another, [...]

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Tweet I belong to a wonderful — indeed, scintillating — email group.  Today, the group has been having a healthy debate about comparing Obama’s latest decision to talk directly to children (no parents necessary) to Hitler’s deliberate plan to wean a generation away from its parents and into the Nazi party.  My current position is [...]

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Tweet It occurred to me that, two times in as many days, I’ve alluded to the first couple’s Messiah complex.  Yesterday, I noted that Michelle and Barack are pretty sure that John 3:16 applies to their willingness to “give” Obama to the American people and, just a few hours ago I did a post in [...]

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Tweet Charles Johnson, at Little Green Footballs, has been urging less heat on the Obama bow matter because, as he and Newt both point out, Bush bowed too.  I agree with Johnson that hysteria on the subject is badly placed — although I think hysteria on any subject is badly placed.  Still, I do think [...]

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Tweet I’m no great fan of Jon Stewart’s almost nihilistic humor, but this one pretty much nailed it: The Daily Show With Jon StewartM – Th 11p / 10c Changefest ’09 – Obama’s Inaugural Speech Barack Obama Interview John McCain Interview Sarah Palin Video Funny Election Video

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Tweet I think I’m processing history wrong, and I need your help filling in the gaps. As you know, Obama invited Pastor Rick Warren to give the invocation at his inauguration (a much better choice, I might add, than Wright would have been).  Some in the gay community, however, are very upset, feeling that Warren’s [...]

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Tweet As you may recall, Obama simply couldn’t get around to visiting wounded troops during his whirlwind European tour.  Many suspected that his unwillingness to make those visits was the fact that the cameras would have to stay outside the hospital doors. George Bush is a different kind of politician, that’s all I can say. [...]

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Tweet I’ve noticed an interesting trend in the comments to my Barack Obama posts lately whenever liberals wander by.  I’ll put up a post pointing out something very specific we’ve learned about Obama, despite his rather thin resume.  I might blog about his relationship with Rezko and the peculiar coincidences of his real estate purchase; [...]

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Tweet The story is amazing and the source — the normally anti-American Spiegel (a German magazine) — is equally amazing.  According to this story, things in Baghdad are going really well, and the citizens have a renewed sense of well-being and purpose: There is an unexpected air of normalcy prevailing in Baghdad these days, with [...]

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Tweet There is an absolutely staggering editorial in today’s Washington Post — it admits that, John Rockefeller’s “official” indictment to the contrary, Bush did not lie. If anything, Rockefeller, in his official Senate Intelligence Committee report is lying by reaching conclusions at odds with his own evidence: Search the Internet for “Bush Lied” products, and [...]

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Tweet You all know Aesop’s class tale of the race between the tortoise and the hare: At the starting gate, the hare picks up so much speed that it soon vanishes completely, while the tortoise plods on behind. Within sight of the finish line, however, when the hare looks backwards and realizes that the tortoise [...]

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Tweet It’s becoming increasingly clear that John McCain is going to have to cope with something I call PT-BDS — or Post Traumatic Bush Derangement Syndrome. Let me explain and, as is so often the case with my explanations, let me start with a personal anecdote. I’m visiting with the in-laws right now (hence the [...]

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Tweet Over at the Paragraph Farmer, you can read an almost lyrical article examining the way in which Progressives desperately needed George Bush to give meaning and shape to their lives, and get a sense of the problems they’ll have when, as will inevitably happen in 2009, he leaves the political scene.  Here’s just a [...]

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Tweet One of the things that puts the Kumbi-ya crowd into an absolute frenzy is President Bush’s refusal to deal directly with murderous dictators. Forgetting the example set by Neville “Peace in Our Time” Chamberlain, this crowd is certain that, if they can just wrest a smile from someone evil, they’ll be halfway to ending [...]

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