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Tuesday, October 30, 2007
McCain Still Polls Best Against HillaryThis poll is a little dated (middle of the month), but it highlights a trend we've seen often in the past, with John McCain outperforming the rest of his Republican rivals against Hillary Clinton. The latest Rasmussen Reports survey shows Clinton with just a single point edge over McCain, 44% to 43%.
McCain also trailed Clinton by just one percentage point in September and by two points in August. Those consistent results put McCain in a more competitive position at this time than any other Republican hopeful.
The new survey shows Clinton with a 47% to 41% lead over former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. Clinton has led Romney every time we’ve polled this match-up. In September, she had a nine-point advantage.
Clinton currently leads former NYC mayor and Republican frontrunner Rudy Giuliani by seven and former Senator Fred Thompson by 15. Her lead has been growing steadily over these two in recent months. But of course, some Republicans don't care about beating Hillary; they'd rather lose gloriously. Labels: 2008 Candidates, Hillary Clinton, John McCain
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Best Post Yet on BeauchampIt's easy to forget in the heat of the blogging battle that Beauchamp is just a young man who made a mistake. Fortunately the military has plenty of experience with those fellows: Beauchamp is young; under pressure he made a dumb mistake. In fact, he has not always been an ideal soldier. But to his credit, the young soldier decided to stay, and he is serving tonight in a dangerous part of Baghdad. He might well be seriously injured or killed here, and he knows it. He could have quit, but he did not. He faced his peers. I can only imagine the cold shoulders, and worse, he must have gotten. He could have left the unit, but LTC Glaze told me that Beauchamp wanted to stay and make it right. Whatever price he has to pay, he is paying it. Of course, a young man who made a mistake does not apply to Franklin Foer and the editorial team at the New Republic. Labels: Franklin Foer, Scott Beauchamp
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Shattered BeauchampDrudge has put up the transcript of a phone call between Scott Beauchamp, TNR editor Franklin Foer, and Peter Scoblic, the executive editor of TNR. The transcript is devastating and raises not only questions about the original stories, but about Foer's efforts to stonewall any investigation, resorting to veiled threats about Beauchamp's wife's continued employment at TNR. Consider these segments: Foer: Ellie (Beachamp's wife) sent me an email to tell you it's the most important thing in the world for her that you say that you didn't recant... You're obviously in a very uncomfortable position in that your wife's involved in this and I wish she wasn't involved because I, I... trust her, I care for here, I don't want her to get hurt in all of this. Note what's missing here is that Ellie does not say that it's the most important thing in the world to her that he tell the truth; it's that he does not recant. And Scoblic notes that Beauchamp will not be able to pursue his supposed desire to become a writer: Scoblic: What are you going to do after this job? Are you staying in the Army?
Beauchamp: Um, I don't know what I want to do. Um I haven't made up my mind yet what I want to do.
Scoblic: Ah... you're not going to be able to write anymore after this... you know that, right? Michelle Malkin, as usual, has the definitive links post. It's interesting to see how the liberal blogosphere is playing this. Over at Political Animal: It's hard to judge whether this is damning or not. On August 10, the Army was stonewalling TNR. They didn't get to talk to Beauchamp until nearly a month later. And the fact that after a month of browbeating from his chain of command Beauchamp "just want[ed] it to end" is hardly surprising either. We still don't know whether Beauchamp was telling the truth the first time around when he wrote his pieces for TNR or the second time around when he recanted under pressure from the Army. He also claims that Drudge did not include the source material; in an update he notes that Drudge did in fact link to the transcripts, but does not revise his "hard to judge" stance. Labels: Scott Beauchamp, The New Republic
Monday, October 22, 2007
Navy SEAL's Family to Receive Medal of HonorWhere indeed do we find guys like Michael Murphy? Murphy, Luttrell and two other SEALs were searching for a terrorist in the Afghan mountains on June 28, 2005, when their mission was compromised after they were spotted by locals, who presumably alerted the Taliban to their presence. An intense gun battle ensued, with more than 50 anti-coalition fighters swarming around the outnumbered SEALs.
Although wounded, Murphy is credited with risking his own life by moving into the open for a better position to transmit a call for help.
Still under fire, Murphy provided his unit's location and the size of the enemy force. At one point he was shot in the back, causing him to drop the transmitter. Murphy picked it back up, completed the call and continued firing at the enemy who was closing in.
He then returned to his cover position with his men and continued the battle. A U.S. helicopter sent to rescue the men was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, killing all 16 aboard.
By the end of the two-hour gunfight, Murphy and two of his comrades were also dead. An estimated 35 Taliban were also killed. Luttrell was blown over a ridge and knocked unconscious. He escaped, and was protected by local villagers for several days before he was rescued. Labels: Medal of Honor, Michael Murphy
Friday, October 19, 2007
Randi Rhodes Was AttackedJust not outside that Irish pub where she was downing Ketel Ones on an empty stomach. NewsHounds opines: Sometimes it's just the little things like this that prove beyond a reasonable doubt the bias rampant in this so-called "fair and balanced news" network. That they couldn't just cleanly report the incident, wish her well, and move on just exposes their hate and agenda-driven drivel for what it is. They don't even pretend on this show to be even-handed - their's are three voices speaking as one.
We wish Ms. Rhodes a speedy and full recovery, and when she feels up to it, maybe she'll look into this deliberate and unfounded attack. Heheh; it only took a couple of days before the story became not the phony claim she'd been assaulted by right-wingers. Labels: Randi Rhodes
Monday, October 08, 2007
Runner Dies at Chicago MarathonAs soon as I saw the story, I knew I had to head over to John Ruberry's blog, where he's got lots of photos and descriptions of the event. Labels: Chicago Marathon, John Ruberry, Marathon Pundit
Saturday, October 06, 2007
US WWII Interrogators Violated Geneva ConventionWe can surely expect the media to denounce this, right? Nearly 4,000 prisoners of war, most of them German scientists and submariners, were brought in for questioning for days, even weeks, before their presence was reported to the Red Cross, a process that did not comply with the Geneva Conventions. Many of the interrogators were refugees from the Third Reich. Oh, no, wait, these guys are denouncing the Bush Administration, so they're heroes: "We got more information out of a German general with a game of chess or Ping-Pong than they do today, with their torture," said Henry Kolm, 90, an MIT physicist who had been assigned to play chess in Germany with Hitler's deputy, Rudolf Hess. One thing that always annoys me about the anti-"torture" people is that they try to have their cake and eat it too. Not only is torture inhumane, they say, but it doesn't work. Stick with the humane argument; you are not going to convince me that playing a little Ping-Pong with Khalid Sheikh Muhammed is more effective than waterboarding.
Friday, October 05, 2007
Hitchens on a HeroThis is a terrific article on a young man who was inspired by Hitchens' writing to sign up for the military, and who died in Iraq. Keep the Kleenex handy! I had already guessed that this was no gung-ho Orange County Republican clan. It was pretty clear that they could have done without the war, and would have been happier if their son had not gone anywhere near Iraq. (Mr. Daily told me that as a young man he had wondered about going to Canada if the Vietnam draft ever caught up with him.) But they had been amazed by the warmth of their neighbors' response, and by the solidarity of his former brothers-in-arms—1,600 people had turned out for Mark's memorial service in Irvine. A sergeant's wife had written a letter to Linda and posted it on Janet's MySpace site on Mother's Day, to tell her that her husband had been in the vehicle with which Mark had insisted on changing places. She had seven children who would have lost their father if it had gone the other way, and she felt both awfully guilty and humbly grateful that her husband had been spared by Mark's heroism. Imagine yourself in that position, if you can, and you will perhaps get a hint of the world in which the Dailys now live: a world that alternates very sharply and steeply between grief and pride. Highly recommended! Labels: Christopher Hitchens, Mark Daily
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
McCain: Momentum in New Hampshire?Is this the Petraeus effect? "Sen. John McCain attended what was more of a block party than a house party in Hollis Sunday. Dr. Jim and Jan Squires hosted the presidential hopeful and close to 300 people at their Pepperell Road home, wrapping up a busy two days in New Hampshire for McCain." (Joseph G. Cote, "McCain Makes Quick Stop At Hollis Party," Nashua Telegraph, 10/1/07)
New Hampshire Presidential Watch Blog: "McCain Draws Big Crowds At Saturday Events," Including "Standing Room Only" Town Hall In Epping. "I've been told that today McCain was able to draw some big crowds to his events. At an Exeter house party McCain drew about 250 people. While at the American Legion Hall in Epping it was standing room only." (Cosmo, "McCain Draws Big Crowds At Saturday Events," New Hampshire Presidential Watch Blog, 9/29/07) Note as well that pollsters are starting to pick up McCain's surge, with the latest American Research Group poll showing him tied in New Hampshire with Rudy Giuliani, and only four points behind Mitt Romney (who led McCain by 15 points only last month). Labels: 2008 Candidates, John McCain
Monday, October 01, 2007
Woman Strangles Self While In CustodyWhat a strange (and sad) story this is: Carol Ann Gotbaum was arrested at the airport Friday for alleged disorderly conduct, said Phoenix Police Department spokesman Sgt. Andy Hill.
Police handcuffed Gotbaum with her hands behind her back and took her a holding cell, where she was later found dead, said Hill.
Police "found her with the handcuffs up by her neck area," Hill said. Gotbaum was unconscious and police and firefighters tried to revive her by CPR and other means, Hill said. "They could not revive her and tragically, she died." I know, I know, you're wondering how this could have happened. A commenter at Lucianne suggested that she probably managed to get the handcuffs around the front by sliding them down past her rump, and then slipping her legs through. Then she may have put her hands behind her neck to get leverage to try to slip one hand out of the cuffs, but by doing so put pressure on her neck, cutting off the flow of blood to the brain. Sounds odd, I know, but certainly less odd than the alternative, which is that one of the police strangled her. BTW, I'm going out on a limb here to guess that she was flying US Airways (fka America West), which is consistently and infuriatingly late, to the point where I won't fly them if there is any other option. And, looking later in the story: A US Airways spokesman told the New York Daily News that Gotbaum's flight to Tucson, Arizona, was preparing to leave when she arrived at the gate.
Traveling alone, Gotbaum rebooked on a following flight, but "she became extremely irate, apparently running up and down the gate area," airline spokesman Derek Hanna told the Daily News. Labels: Carol Ann Gotbaum
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