Informed Speculation

Four senators have just returned from Guantanamo Bay, two Republicans and two Democrats. Their conclusion: Two Democratic senators just back from reviewing U.S. detention facilities and interrogations at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, said they saw no signs of abuse and said it would actually be worse to close the facility and transfer the detainees elsewhere. “I [...]

Good piece by Brendan Miniter in the Wall Street Journal today on the growing defeatist chorus in Iraq. Best line: …the Vietnam metaphor is apt today because the U.S. is in a war it can win and is winning, if only those inside the Beltway would stop preferring defeat to victory and disgrace to honor. [...]

Our good friend Fargus thinks the Supremes got the Ten Commandment decisions just right… AJStrata seems fine with the SCOTUS decisions, as well… Ditto Mark Daniels… Keith B8 let me know I got Luttig’s name wrong in the poll above – d’oh!… Ryan James spotlights the latest words of wisdom from JFK II… Don’t miss [...]

George Will takes on the Supreme Court decisions on religious displays by giving a short history lesson of what the founders thought, then ends with this Coalition-worthy conclusion: Nowadays many people delight in being distressed. They cultivate exquisitely tender sensibilities and practice moral exhibitionism, waxing indignant about minor encounters with thoughts and symbols they dislike. [...]

Every horrible thing you’ve heard about Gitmo is true! In fact, it’s worse than you thought! Click here for the proof…(hat tip to those Raging RINO Llamas – wait, that can’t be right, can it?)…

Who will be the next Supreme Court nominee? Bush administration officials are sure to be watching closely to see who gets the coveted Decision ’08 readership nod, so vote early and often…in our last poll, you overwhelmingly chose dinner with Triumph, as the Insult Comic Dog easily steamrolled over second place Bill Clinton. Poor Dick [...]

People, this is not a drill…you may have noticed the Andrew Sullivan Freakout Advisory is at ‘Filled With Heart-Ache At Such Gob-Smacking Vileness’. Ace has the details here. Remember: stay calm. If Sullivan sees panic in your eyes, it will only make him MORE excitable. This is the day we’ve drilled for, folks; take your [...]

Political Derby is the name of a website with a 2008 focus that is the home of the Power Rankings; currently the Jockey has Mitt Romney and HRC in the lead… Via Michelle Malkin, we learn that Ward Churchill is now not so subtly suggesting troops frag their officers… If Erick-Woods Erickson’s source is correct, [...]

Drudge sure thinks so, latching on to the following phrase from Obama’s essay in Time: …I cannot swallow whole the view of Lincoln as the Great Emancipator. As a law professor and civil rights lawyer and as an African American, I am fully aware of his limited views on race. Anyone who actually reads the [...]

Leave it to Michael Barone, one of the more astute observers of the political scene, to articulate so well what I have often called the ‘progressive’ infestation of the Democratic Party. Here’s Barone: One reason that the Democrats are squawking so much about Rove’s attack on “liberals” is that he has put the focus on [...]

Rare is the Paul Krugman column that doesn’t cause me to sneer in disdain, but the most recent one, probably because it doesn’t deal with the Bush administration, is pretty much on the money, as far as I can see. Sure, Krugman being Krugman, there are the quick snide remarks thrown in the administration’s general [...]

At least, at the moment…while we wait, Slate has a nice piece spotlighting some of the leading candidates and their positions on various issues. Pay special attention to Edith Brown Clement if it is O’Connor that retires; I still think if Rehnquist goes, the most likely pick is Michael McConnell.

Robert Novak writes today on the Supreme Court, specifically the potential nomination of Alberto Gonzales. Novak says Gonzales would alienate the base, practically pro-lifers, but that all the other possibilities would probably face ugly confirmation fights, so the choice, Novak says, is between the base and a take-no-prisoners confirmation battle. Novak also confirms the new [...]

The first round of RINO Sightings is in, and it’s a beaut, so be sure and check it out, won’t you? Lots of great reading…and don’t forget I’m the host for next week, so be sure and send me your best, and I’ll do my worst. Email to mark-dot-coffey-at-gmail-dot-com before noon, July 3rd…

Arthur Chrenkoff has his 30th installment of Good News From Iraq, and from the standpoint of the political climate, it couldn’t be more timely. The Wall Street Journal, in its featured editorial (registration may be required), speaks of the insurgency’s bombs hitting their target – in Washington. Despite increasingly gloomy reporting, and a public souring [...]

If you were to ask most serious bloggers, at least the moderates and conservatives, who their own personal favorite bloggers are, I bet you would find Wretchard of the Belmont Club pretty high up the list. He’s famous (well, at famous among bloggers) for his thoughtful, lengthy posts that seldom fail to show real insight [...]

I don’t TOTALLY dislike Joe Biden; he takes national security issues seriously, and he understands what’s at stake in Iraq. Biden gives new meaning to the old joke about ‘most dangerous place in Washington is between ___ and a camera’, though; his floating of a 2008 candidacy is hard to understand as anything but a [...]

AJ Strata has posted the Second Carnival of the Chillin’, and very timely it is, so please check it out. Also, yours truly will be hosting the second edition of RINO Sightings for the long July 4th weekend (three-day weekend! Woo-hoo!), and, as the description of my blog suggests, it’s never too early (submissions will [...]

How’s that for a portentous (or is that pretentious) opening? Once again, our beloved Coalition of the Chillin’ is under attack, this time from that famous pontificator, Patterico. As longtime readers know, the Coalition is a loose (very, very loose) confederation of bloggers who felt the reaction to the judicial deal of May 23, 2005, [...]

In my world, the real world, the media asks tough questions about the War on Terror and Iraq incessantly; I just watched Tim Russert grill Donald Rumsfeld pretty hard for half an hour on national television. In the world of Frank Rich, the Bush administration controls the media, public broadcasting, the Internet, and the price [...]