Bookworm Room

I don’t know about you, but I’m impressed as all get out by McCain’s decision to stop campaigning for a while and serve his country during what may be the most significant economic crisis since 1929: Tomorrow morning, I will suspend my campaign and return to Washington after speaking at the Clinton Global Initiative. I [...]

20 Comments »

This, directly from the McCain campaign, deserves to be reprinted in its entirety: Today the New York Times launched its latest attack on this campaign in its capacity as an Obama advocacy organization. Let us be clear about what this story alleges: The New York Times charges that McCain-Palin 2008 campaign manager Rick Davis was [...]

9 Comments »

At Iowa, McCain “gets in your face” mano a mano (that is, he doesn’t delegate his surrogates, but gives a speech to America, Obama included), and he focuses on the facts.  This is a very concrete speech, which appropriately boasts his virtues and clearly exposes Obama’s failings: U.S. Senator John McCain will deliver the following [...]

59 Comments »

Almost three years ago, Thomas Lifson wrote what I think is one of the most important political analyses I’ve ever read — and one that goes a long way to explaining the way in which American voters are slowly abandoning Obama and coalescing around the McCain ticket.  Thomas believes that their are two political seasons:  [...]

2 Comments »

The McCain campaign is giving substantive responses to the attacks the Obama campaign is leveling against it: TO:                 Interested Parties RE:                Empty Words And Insults Cannot Cover A Weak Record DATE:            September 15, 2008 Over the last few days, the Obama campaign has watched their poll numbers falter and decided to lash out with personal [...]

2 Comments »

It’s always been considered impolite to pick on or humiliate those who are handicapped in some way.  Of late, it’s also been a PC faux pas, extending far beyond mere manners.  Yet in the last two days, the Democrats have done this twice.  The first was just Biden being Biden (and I think he recovered [...]

12 Comments »

I noted earlier that the “Country First” slogan that McCain uses is meaningful (and moving) only if you understand McCain’s life story. Otherwise, it sounds suspiciously jingoistic, especially to liberal ears.  Beldar, however, has come up with a brilliant slogan that would serve McCain and Palin very, very well.  What do you think? Hat tip:  [...]

21 Comments »

I finally got the chance last night to watch John McCain’s speech and I thought it was excellent.  It was, in fact, exactly what I anticipated:  pragmatic, straightforward, low on, and rich with a sense of love for America.  Certain subjects fired him up, especially national security, about which he spoke with fluency and fervor.  [...]

14 Comments »

From the San Francisco Chronicle (with the emphasis all theirs): Worth noting: Democrats had good reason to be nervous going into the Denver convention – and the problem looked to be bigger than just the bruised feelings between the Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton camps. Recent polls of California voters show that going into [...]

5 Comments »

To me, the first good thing about the Palin nomination is that it highlights Obama’s inexperience.  You can just hear him going around the house muttering, “I know you are, but what am I?  I know you are, but what am I?  I know you are, but what am I?” To date, Obama has written [...]

45 Comments »

Because I’d like to see traffic driven to the new Bloggers for John McCain website, to which I am a contributor, I’ll just print a little bit here of the post I did there regarding the Sarah Palin pick.  If you like the post, you can read the rest here: The more I think about [...]

14 Comments »

Palin gave a great speech.  What’s really funny is that it’s chock full of “I did this and I did this and I did this,” which is appropriate, not boastful, considering that she’s trying to explaining to her potential future employers  — the American people — why she should be hired for the job.  In [...]

10 Comments »

It looked in the beginning as if the McCain campaign group was doing nothing at all.  They were just dormant, though, ready to explode.  They came up with a series of great ads that highlighted the creepy personality cult building around Obama.  They timed the VP announcement perfectly to suck the air out of Obama’s [...]

3 Comments »

Information or disinformation? It’s hard to tell right now.  The AP article expresses surprise that McCain would pick a neophyte for a VP when he’s been attacking Obama for being a neophyte.  Apparently the AP reporter is confused about the difference between being a VP (a good place for on-the-job training) and being President (a [...]

42 Comments »

I’ve been traveling, so I missed the Saddleback conversation with the candidates.  Nevertheless, through emails and Mike Devx’s comments, I’ve become aware of the question Rick Warren posed to the two candidates about evil.  Here’s the transcript: REV. WARREN: Okay, we’ve got one last — I’ve got a bunch more, but let me just ask [...]

15 Comments »

A group of Bay Area bloggers have joined together to create a blog advocating a John McCain presidency.  I’m one of those bloggers.  The new blog is called (appropriately enough) Bloggers for John McCain.  i’ll have a regular Saturday gig there.  My first post there today is called “The Tide Is Turning.”  Here’s a snippet, [...]

7 Comments »

In 1980 (and again in 1984), Ronald Reagan won in significant part because traditionally Democratic voters abandoned their party to vote for him. Those same “Reagan Democrats” have shown up frequently in the news today.  Indeed, McCain is specifically targeting those same people and demographics.  US News & World Report explained back in May: As [...]

22 Comments »

Pamela Geller, who blogs at Atlas Shrugs, has spent countless hours following both McCain’s and Obama’s money.  In a carefully detailed article at American Thinker, she explains that McCain’s donations are squeaky clean, while the donations coming into the Obama campaign are, to put it tactfully, questionable.  For example, Obama’s gotten more than $30,000 from [...]

2 Comments »

Regular readers now that I have a fatal weakness for ABBA.  I can’t help it.  Sometime back in the 70s, during my formative years, they left an imprint on my brain, and I just get fizzy happy when I hear their bouncy music and beautiful harmonies.  It turns out that I’m not alone.  John McCain [...]

4 Comments »

“Better to keep your mouth closed and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.” You’ve probably noticed that I’ve said nothing about Russia invading Georgia.  This is, in part, because the exigencies of the past week have deprived me of time to read in detail about it.  I only know [...]

134 Comments »

Although I was still an unthinking Democrat back in 2000, and I cast my vote for Gore without blinking an eye, I was sufficiently objective to concede one fact:  Bush seemed like the much nicer guy.  Gore might hold forth on erudite subjects at a cocktail party, but Bush was the guy you’d want to [...]

21 Comments »

I was worried that the McCain people, flush with excitement about the success of their two ads puncturing Obama’s celebrity and Messiah status, would just keep churning out more silly satires, weakening both the message and the campaign.  Fortunately, they’re not that dumb. The newest ad references the celebrity point to provide context, but then [...]

10 Comments »

It was Aristotle who first stated that man is a social animal.  He was right.  Humans define themselves by their allegiance to their family, their community and their country.  The ancient desert rule condemning a thief to lose his hand (an idea that Mohammed co-opted), was not intended simply to cause physical pain and suffering.  [...]

78 Comments »

In Marin,  9 out of 10 bumperstickers one sees are liberal in context.  Make that 9.9 out of 10. There’s the “Endless This War” sticker; and the still popular “Somewhere in Texas a village is missing its idiot” sticker; and the saccharine, unrealistic and facile “Coexist,” with the symbols of various religions used in lieu [...]

5 Comments »

The LA Times has mounted a spirited defense against the ever increasing volume of reader complaints the Times is getting about its loving coverage of Obama, especially when contrasted with the fact that its McCain coverage is minimal and fairly hostile.  Here’s the key part of its defense: [I]t’s the string of Page 1 stories [...]

4 Comments »