Sharpton v. Falwell
I want to add one more comment on the David Brooks piece criticizing Tim Russert for using Al Sharpton and Jerry Falwell.
Both are buffoons and caricatures, but I cannot say I agree with those who think Falwell and Sharpton should both be out of the running.
On the contrary, while Falwell is not seen or embraced by the evangelical community as a spokesman for the party, Sharpton has been embraced by the left as recently as this century in his Presidential run. He was given all the credibility in the world by the Democrats, unlike Falwell with the Republicans.
So, use James Dobson for the evangelicals and keep Sharpton for the religious race baiters.
“Sir, They Call Themselves Christians”
With a hat tip to James Taranto, the Boston Globe is reporting that Dems are trying to learn how to talk religion.
Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, is investigating how Democrats can talk more effectively about religious issues in the run-up to the midterm elections, when the party of an incumbent president traditionally loses seats in Congress. He was reluctant to talk about his plans until his staff completed research he requested.
I can picture it now.
“Sir, they call themselves Christians. They apparently worship some dude they call Jesus. They aren’t sure who he is. They say he is the son of God, but they say he is God too. We’re still investigating.”
The fact is that lefties do not talk faith, they talk social issues. Americans have a good idea of what Christianity is all about. They know that feeding the poor and taking care of the needy is one aspect of it, but protestants in particular reject “works” based religion. Christianity is about faith in God and a believe in Jesus as both sovereign Lord and savior.
Lefties can dance around the issue, but conservatives can always ask the knockout question: “Can you go to heaven through means other than a belief in Christ.” Saying yes will keep the non-believer indifferent and inflame the believer into greater activity against the lefty politician.
Lefties want to make Christianity a social religion and reject the non-social obligations of faith — like actually believing in Christ and leading others to the Lord. Evangelicals, who are predisposed to believe in witnessing, understand and accept the concept of evangelizing, which is what a lot of our neighbors did in 2004, only they were singing the praises of Bush, not Christ.
Need some balls
For my initial foray into the world of blogging, I thought I’d go out on a limb and write about – golf. Yeah I’ve written about a thousand golf articles and even a book based on golf; but guest blogging on this site is REAL pressure. So here goes…
Paul Casey has a problem. The Englishman is a world reknowned golfer, ranked #28 in the world, a member of the 2004 European Ryder Cup Team that annihilated America’s top players, and recently teamed with Luke Donald to win the 2004 World Cup of Golf. He has an attractive American girlfriend, a skillful American coach, and a beautiful American house in a great American community. His college education was funded by taxpaying Americans at Arizona State University. So what’s his problem?
Well, he <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/sporttop/tm_objectid=14876667&method=full&siteid=50143&headline=casey--americans-are-stupid---i-hate-them--name_page.html">hates Americans</a>. That's right, Americans are stupid, annoying and uncultured idiots according to Mr. Casey. Oh wait, it gets better. Mr. Casey has also decided that his rightful place is among us "stoopid Amerikans" by playing on America's PGA Tour full time next year.
Now I would never suggest doing something idiotic against someone, especially at a sporting event (save that for Pistons' fans) but if Paul Casey hits one into the water at the 18th during the BellSouth Classic - I know one voice that will cheer the sight. Even more, it might be a ball he paid for, since his comments lost him his main sponsor - Titleist. Looks like Mr. Casey will need some balls to play here in 2005.
High Comedy
I’m watching Special Report and the Fox studios are, perhaps, burning down. The fire alarm is ringing and the fire alarm lights are flashing.
Hilarious. Everyone in the background is scrambling around and Brit et al continue to talk.
I Agree With Iran
Having grown up in Dubai, a beautiful city due south of Iran across the Persian Gulf, I never heard of the gulf being referred to as the “Arabian Gulf.” For crying out loud, they have a peninsula and a sea, let’s leave this one the Persian Gulf.
Oh To Be The King
With a hat tip to Ramesh Ponnuru, Noam Scheiber has this up at the New Republic Online.
Sunday’s New York Times included a truly fascinating Landon Thomas Jr. profile of Stephen Schwarzman, the (almost) billionaire private-equity fund manager who’s making a name for himself in national Republican circles. Thomas says the word in New York and Washington is that Schwarzman wants to be Treasury secretary–he’s even hired Washington macher Ken Duberstein to help him navigate the fundraising-society complex from whence cabinet secretaries tend to spring. But, despite the fact that Schwarzman apparently donated several thousand dollars to the Bush re-election effort (and raised much more than that), that he and Bush were dorm-mates at Yale, and that he was recently installed as chairman of the Kennedy Center, I have a tough time believing Schwarzman will realize his dream. Why? Because he apparently hasn’t figured out that modesty and circumspection are two of the three most important virtues in Bush-world (the third being loyalty). What could Schwarzman have done differently had he wanted to help his cause? Well, not cooperating with Thomas would have been a good place to start. But if Schwarzman felt compelled to open his yap, he’d have been well advised to stick to platitudes like “Helping re-elect George W. Bush is reward enough for me.” Instead, the piece reads like a how-not-to manual for aspiring cabinet secretaries. Schwarzman can’t contain his glee over the turnout for a party he threw earlier this fall (”[Did you see Lesley Stahl? … Mike Bloomberg was also there–he came early”) or the congratulatory cake Laura Bush gave him after he landed the Kennedy Center gig (”It was two feet by a foot and a half … There was a black chocolate background, with the stage done in sorbet, the orchestra in peaches and the audience individual raspberries”). And he doesn’t seem to understand that paying your would-be boss a back-handed compliment is a less than reliable way of hoisting yourself onto the fast-track. (”It’s a personal connection,” he told Thomas, recalling his relationship with Bush. “I was fascinated about how that transition occurs with someone who was not achievement-oriented. He could have ended up like most guys from a privileged background.”) The piece de resistance is a joke Schwarzman cracks about his chances of becoming Treasury secretary: “I’m being announced tomorrow,” he tells Thomas. Right. This guy makes Paul O’Neill look silver-tongued.
If you are registered at TNR, go read the whole thing. It is rather humorous.
Jumping the Gun on Racism
I think Dan Abrams has jumped the gun on calling Alabama racist. Dan assails the state for voting down a constitutional amendment that would have stripped clearly racist language from the Alabama Constitution. The defeat of the amendment was very narrow. I think racism may have played a party, but I think taxes played the largest role.
Alabama recently went through a very rough battle over tax increases. The governor lost the fight and will probably lose in 2006, due to the wounds that still have not healed from that fight.
When the amendment was debated in the Alabama General Assembly it was not controversial. But, State Representative Ken Guin, a Democrat from Carbon Hill, AL, amended the proposed language to add the line about guaranteeing public education in Alabama.
The anti-tax reformers, still suspicious that the Governor wanted to raise taxes in some way, became increasingly paranoid that putting the language in the state constitution would lead to a backdoor, court ordered tax increase as some states have seen.
The tax advocates (though, no doubt, with some closet racist support) campaigned against that language — though they never campaigned against taking the Jim Crow language out of the constitution.
The measure failed in a close vote and the Republicans in the legislature are already redrafting the amendment without the controverted language.
Netherlands hospital euthanizes babies
The latest news story on Drudge is the shocking announcement that the Groningen Academic Hospital in the Netherlands has already begun mercy killings of terminally ill newborns by administering a lethal dose of sedatives.
In an article at the Center of Bioethics and Culture Network, Dr. Henk Jochemsen discusses “Life termination of severely handicapped babies,” which mentions Groningen Academic Hospital and it’s “protocol.”
Personally, I was sickened when I read the Drudge headline. What do the readers think?
Bad Idea
I just want to take a moment and say I think cameras on cell phones are a bad idea. Well, not so much bad as stupid. Yeah, I know, Sprint had some pretty good advertisements and some people do make use of the cameras, but overall I want a phone to talk on, not take pictures with.
I bet the Treo 650 would be cheaper without the damn camera.
Exciting Times
I am off to Washington, D.C. this weekend. In the past I have made every effort to blog while I’m away. This time, I’m going to put the site on autopilot, so to speak. I have invited some of my daily must reads to guest blog at Confessions of a Political Junkie this weekend.
As I said the other day, I really admire the group efforts at Red State and PoliPundit. I don’t necessarily want to turn COAPJ into a group effort, but I think inviting other voices on occasion can be beneficial to the reader, to me, and to the guest blogger. I have asked one non-blogger to get his start here (he’s an author), two new bloggers, and a group of bloggers who maintain blogs that I have read ever since I started blogging. With a few invitations outstanding, starting Thursday (or as soon as I get their accounts set up), you can tune in here to read:
Mark A. Kilmer Eric Lindholm of Viking Pundit Jim Pfaff of Opinion Times Brian the soon to be fellow bottom feeder of Tomfoolery of the Highest Order Wes Roth and John Kim the non-blogging author whose book you should buy.
I have two more invites outstanding. I know you are probably thinking “Holy crap! That many.” The answer is I did not flinch to ask so many talented people. I am truly honored that these guys who take time away to help keep my site going.
Each one has a different writing style, different thoughts, and a different background. They all have great ideas and I check them out every day. I think it’s cool that they’ll all be over here for a few days. I’ll update later as the last invites come in.
[UPDATE] Okay, this is so cool. John Behan has promised a few posts to keep us up to date on Virginia politics. You know, Virginia has its major state elections next year. John always has great analysis. Also, Sean Hackbarth of The American Mind, will be here. Sean and Mark Kilmer were the first two blogs (outside of Hugh Hewitt and Instapundit) that I regularly read when I first started blogging. I still read them every day, although Sean cares just a bit more about sports in Wisconsin than I do. No problem, though. He’s an iPod fan and a good guy too!
So, stay tuned for excellent political coverage this week.