The definitive word on Hillary Clinton's debate bungle of the issue of driver's licenses for illegal aliens? Just on the phone with none of than Mark Levin, who says:
Hillary is a radical leftist, and as a radical leftist, first and foremost, she needs to acquire power. And in order to acquire power, she has to camouflage her true beliefs and intentions from a majority of Americans.
But she also needs to appease the "Star Trek" wing of her party, and so the driver's license issue created some difficulty for her, because she can't tell the American people she favors open borders, ciitizenship and voting rights for hordes of illegal aliens. On the other hand, she can't offend the ethnic special interest groups she panders to.
So her answer was gibberish and she appeared buffoonish.
Why was Mark Levin on the phone? To talk compassion.
The conspiracy is vast ... like the lady said.
— Robert Stacy McCain, assistant national editor, The Washington Times
The honeymoon period appears to be over for both D.C.'s favorite son Joe Gibbs and Ralph Friedgen, the one-time savior for Terps football.
Gibbs may be the most maligned 4-3 coach in the NFL, following Sunday's 52-7 thumping by the New England Patriots. His return to the Skins' sideline in 2004 after a lengthy layoff has been less than stellar: a sub-.500 record and just one playoff appearance.
The Fridge's tenure at College Park similarly has gone sour since his arrival in 2001, when he guided the Terps to a surprising ACC title and Orange Bowl bid. Maryland currently lingers at 4-4, all but out of the ACC title race.
Let us know what you think. Is it time for change?
What is amazing to me about this is how Mrs. Clinton gets to be quiet when she wants to be quiet. This is her state. The fact that she's a presidential candidate only adds to the fact she should be asked about this.
At Ace of Spades HQ, Jack M. calls this "the most important two minutes of the Democratic debate":
Hillary Clinton, blew it. Big Time. . . .
Somewhere Bill Clinton must be "feeling her pain."
Which makes me smile.
Almost as much as all the fact that she voluntarily made our best issue the topic of the news cycle for the next couple of weeks.
-- Robert Stacy McCain, assistant national editor, The Washington Times
Hillary Clinton's campaign for president is a bigger business than the city of Charleston. As of Sept. 30, she had hired 697 people, and raised just slightly less than $80 million.
Charleston's budget is less than $70 million.
It takes a village.
But has Team Hillary actually hired any West Virginians?
-- Robert Stacy McCain, assistant national editor, The Washington Times
Mike Huckabee is a good man. And he is a social conservative. But next to social conservatives, I'm willing to bet that the entrepreneurial class is the second largest voting block in the Republican coalition. And they do not like economic populism, which is what this amounts to.
Rich Lowry, of National Review, has described Huckabee as a cross between the famous early 20th century preacher Billy Sunday and Ronald Reagan. But with Huckabee's talk of applied Christianity, the early 20th century figure he most closely resembles is the great populist orator in the cause of Free Silver, William Jennings Bryan.
"We called him a pro-life, pro-gun liberal, when I was in the state legislature and he was governor," said Randy Minton, chairman of the Arkansas chapter of Phyllis Schlafly's national Eagle Forum.
Mr. Minton voices the concerns of many conservatives that while Mr. Huckabee governed as a social conservative in opposing abortion and same-sex "marriage," he was a treacherous liberal on taxes, social welfare spending and illegal immigration.
Talk about perfect timing -- the Democratic candidate shows his dance moves with TV's most famous lesbian at a time when liberal bloggers are accusing Sen. Barack Obama of pandering to "anti-gay bigots."
At Hot Air, Allahpundit compares this to Bill Clinton playing his sax on the "Arsenio Hall Show."
-- Robert Stacy McCain, assistant national editor, The Washington Times
How unhappy are folks with the candidates, Republicans and Democrats, running for the presidency?
Dissatisfied enough, apparently, that comedian Stephen Colbert's phony candidacy (he's vowing to run as both a Republican and as a Democrat in the primaries in his home state of South Carolina) is taking off like a rocket.
The BBC reports that the campaign's online headquarters drew so much attention that, according to a Facebook official, it was "overloading our servers."
The BBC also reports that more than a million supporters have signed up to back the comedian's bid since he announced nine days ago.
The police officer's professionalism is admired by Ken McCracken:
See, I could never be a cop, because I would't even last long enough to be a bad cop. The CAIR guy . . . I would have planted his dentures in concrete the moment I had him outside the building.
Meanwhile, from Gateway Pundit, more video, this time of David Horowitz on Fox News with Neil Cavuto, who watches video of the Emory disrupters and asks, "They call this higher learning?"
"When I came to this campus as a freshman 52 years ago . . . the atmosphere was a lot more hospitable to actual thinking than it is today," Horowitz said. A conservative writer, Horowitz said he was a Marxist as an undergraduate in a place where most professors were not. . . .
To the democrats at Columbia, Horowitz said, "You are getting a worse education than the conservatives," because conservatives "are all challenged all the time."
"Horowitz believes that every person of the Islamic faith, regardless of circumstances or background or plans for the future, is inherently violent or conniving, or somehow untrustworthy," said Shlomo Bolts, CC '10, in a speech to the crowd. . . .
Horowitz was also criticized for his conservative ties and allies. "It's a campaign of demeaning Muslims that's transparently disguised as an attempt to justify a new war with Iraq and Iran," said David Judd, CC '08, and a member of Columbia Coalition Against the War.
If either student offered any evidence to support those claims, the student reporter neglected to include it in the article. (Random fact: Columbia tuition, $36,997 a year.)
The question period was full of the usual self-righteous lecturing by thoroughly propagandized students who have no training in critical thinking and quite obviously feel deeply threatened when their cherished ideas, which rest on such shaky intellectual and evidentiary foundations, are questioned. I see that one of the fundamental weaknesses of the Left, and their Islamic supremacist allies, is that they believe their own propaganda, and don't even have the conceptual apparatus required to help them recover when its inaccuracy and dishonesty is exposed.
Maybe these kids are learning their logic from Hollywood. More thoughts on that from Fausta Wertz.
So, time for The Mother of All IFAW Wrapups, beginning with video of Thursday's Horowitz event at George Washington University, courtesy of Andrew Marcus at Incorrect U:
Courtesy of Hot Air and Young America's Foundation, here's video of YAF spokesman Jason Mattera interviewing two opponents of Horowitz, including anti-war activist Adam Kokesh, who ends by giving a shout-out to Ron Paul:
Speaking of GWU, Michelle Malkin asks, "What would George Washington think of the institution of higher learning that bears his name?"
The GW Hatchet has good coverage of Horowitz's speech:
In the Jack Morton Auditorium Thursday, he told a group of about 200 that he was tired of being unfairly attacked. He also criticized University President Steven Knapp for not personally punishing the students who hung the posters.
"There is a lynch mob on this campus, and it's led by Peter Knapp," he said, referring to Steven Knapp. . . .
"It's very difficult to get your message out once you've been branded a racist," Horowitz said after the speech. . . .
"I've spoken at Emory University several times and I've never seen it this bad," said Horowitz responding to the crowd as they shouted and jeered. "This is exactly what the fascists did in Germany in the 1930s." The loud chants, sign-waving, and disruptive gestures continued to escalate from audience members until the atmosphere was so chaotic that even the police present were unable to subdue the crowd. . . .
"Even the students who did not agree with David Horowitz did not get a chance to speak their minds because of the protesters' disruptive actions," said Emory Professor Mark Bauerlein. "No one was able to listen to the lecture or to speak themselves -- pro or con -- everyone was shut down."
Before Thursday's event at GWU, Horowitz explained to me that (a) the disrupters at Emory were mostly non-students; and (b) the basic problem was too few security guards to handle the unexpectedly large crowd of disrupters. This was corroborated by Ben Clark of Emory College Republicans in an e-mail interview yesterday:
A lot of the disruptive individuals were non-students who I think were involved with "National Program to Defend Dissent & Critical Thinking in Academia." Some were involved with the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade of Atlanta. . . .
Emory gave us members of the Emory Police Department there. They weren't prepared to forcibly evict members of the audience. . . . I don't think any of us were anticipating this happening . . . (Emphasis added)
There's a "Communist Youth Brigade" in Atlanta? Didn't America win the Cold War? Isn't the Smith Act still valid? But I digress . . .
Horowitz says the goal of IFAW was to provoke discussion and it certainly achieved that objective -- 352,000 Google hits to date.
-- Robert Stacy McCain, assistant national editor, The Washington Times
If only Ralph Nader and Ross Perot had hosted their own cable-TV satirical news shows.
Rasmussen Reports that when given the choice between Hillary and Rudy Giuliani as president, 13% of voters surveyed would choose comedian-slash-faux bloviator Stephen Colbert as an independent-party candidate to lead our nation (Clinton garnered 45%, Giuliani 35%). When Rudy was switched out for Fred Thompson, a couple GOP and third-party voters migrated to the left (Clinton 46%, Thompson 34%, Colbert 12%).
Last week, Colbert announced his presidential candidacy (he's running as a Republican and a Democrat) on his Comedy Central show.
...before announcing his intent to consider running minutes earlier on his alma mater, The Daily Show.
Rasmussen notes that
"in the match-up with Giuliani and Clinton, Colbert draws 28% of likely voters aged 18-29. He draws 31% of that cohort when his foes are Thompson and Clinton. In both match-ups, Colbert has more support with young voters than the GOP candidate."
Are our young voters — or maybe, just those among the mere 1,200 polled — rebelling against the "Daddy party"? We're not convinced the two ever had a steady, blissful relationship to begin with.
9:25 p.m. Question from student, who quotes Horowitz and quotes Koran, calls Horowitz "Sheikh Horowitz."
Horowitz: "I don't think that the Koran is a fascist document. . . . We are being attacked by a radical religious movement. . . . Why aren't you upset about this massive national campaign?"
Protesters unfurl orange banner, disruption, shouting, are ejected by security.
Horowitz about protester: "You have to admire his discipline. To sit through this whole evening ... and wait until the end."
In closing remark, mentions that YAF is forced to pay for security after threats from left-wing groups.
Speech over.
9:21 p.m. A female student who is an official of Muslim Student Association says she is not oppressed.
Horowitz: "You live in a secular, Democratic society . . . women have more freedom in America than in any other country."
Horowitz talks about female genital mutilation. Singles out Iran and the Afghan Taliban.
Horowitz asks student to denounce Hamas. She refuses.
9:18 p.m. Question from Muslim student about the meaning of the word "jihadist," says she uses "jihad" in terms of personal spiritual struggle. Horowitz points out that bin Laden and other terrorist leaders use "jihad" to mean violent holy war.
9:15 p.m. Question from conservative student: "What are you doing to work with Islamic organizations?"
9:13 p.m. The solution to the problem in the Middle East is first of all, stop coddling terrorists and Nazis." Criticizes Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for giving money to PLA and Fatah.
"You have to show people that their leaders are leading them to destruction."
9:11 p.m. Talks about suicide bombers. "In my mind, there's no difference between Hamas and Fatah, except that Fatah is corrupt. . . . .Filthy, disgusting ethnic hatred."
9:07 p.m. Question about Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Horowitz discusses history of the region, rise of PLO and Arafat. "The question of the Palestine as a state didn't even arise until 1964."
Talks about Clinton's efforts at achieving Mideast peace, and jokes: "You know, the only thing I like about Al Gore's Nobel Peace Prize is that it must eat Clinton up."
9:03 p.m. Horowitz concludes speech, thanking audience for being polite. Applause. Q&A to follow.
9:01 p.m. "Democrats . . . betrayed their own country and the troops in the field to get elected. . . .
"The most disgraceful thing done by a political party in this country. . . .
"Why are the Democrats not listening to Cindy Sheehan these days? Because if we leave Iraq, there will be a bloodbath."
"I was in the anti-war movement. That's one of the reasons I'm not a leftist today." Horowitz talks about the communist-inflicted bloodbath in Vietnam after U.S. withdrawal. "That's what happens when the U.S. turns its back on its allies."
8:55 p.m. Horowitz says that, reluctantly, he's going to talk about the Iraq war "and what the Democrats have done to this country."
"Every Democrat had the same intelligence the president had. . . . Saddam Hussein invaded two countries, poison gassed the Kurds, murdered the Shia. . . . You can't reason with him. . . .
"The Bush administration said, we're going to call him to account. . . . Bush went to the UN and got a Security Resolution, unanimously. . . . "
8:50 p.m. Horowitz: "I'm Jewish, I'm not personally big on biblical claims. . . . But the West Bank is the traditional homeland of the Jews -- Samaria and Judea."
About Hezbollah: There were two democracies in the Middle East, one a Christian democracy, Lebanon -- they destroyed it. . . . You cannot make peace with people who want to kill you. You first have to make them understand that they cannot do it."
8:48 p.m.On the Israel-Palestinian conflict: "It's not about land. . . . It was not controlled by Arabs. It was controlled by the Ottoman Turks -- who are Muslims, but who are not Arabs."
He goes into a history of the division of the Middle East after World War I, the history of Jewish refugees in the region, etc.
8:41 p.m."It's very difficult, under this hail of hate that is directed at me. . . . You can't begin to discuss things rationally when people are firing at you. . . .
"I'm not a violent person. I was not a rock-thrower during the '60s. . . . If I were a raving, American-hating traitor, I could come to this campus without any protection. (APPLAUSE) If I were Cindy Sheehan or Michael Moore."
8:35 p.m. Horowitz: Ahmadinejad, "the little Persian Hitler," was a student leading protests during the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis, shouting "Death to the Great Satan." . . .
8:31 p.m. "Genocidal Jew hatred . . . is, unfortunately, now endemic in the Middle East. . . .
"Hezbollah is a Nazi party. Hamas is a Nazi party. . . . They're Jew-hating totalitarians -- they're Nazis."
8:29 p.m. "It's perfectly possible to have an Islamic society with a secular state. . . . .
"Osama bin Laden and Zawahiri .... want an Islamic empire. . . . .
"There is a denial in this country of what we're up against. . . .
"It's not an accident that the Iranian National Guard goosesteps. It's an homage to the Nazis."
8:22 p.m. Horowitz: "I guess you can learn about the oppression of women in the faculty lounge," but not about abuse of women under radical Islamic regimes.
8:19 p.m. Horowitz says CAIR, which has "led the hate campaign" against IFAW, was founded by the Muslim Brotherhood, "a terrorist organization."
8:18 p.m."The president of the United States is intimidated from using the term 'Islamo-fascism,' because it's supposed to be prejudiced."
8:15 p.m. Horowitz cites the example of Duke University as a "lynch mob mentality" on American campuses today.
"The whole university was prepared to lynch three white kids. . . . That is the reality in this country. . . .
"If those 7 students are not expelled from this university, or suspended . . . you will know that there is a lynch-mob mentality on this campus."
8:10 p.m.Horowitz calls hoax posters "a vicious racist attack." Compares to noose incident at Columbia University.
The purpose of the hoax was "to put a target on our back."
8:08 p.m. GW YAF president Sergio Gor introduction:
"Our name, along with the university's name, has made headlines, but not in a way we would have liked."
Calls on university to expel seven who admit posting hoax posters Oct. 8. "Please welcome David Horowitz." Audience applauds.
The speech begins early ...
8:05 p.m. Now hooked up live, beside the stage at Jack Morton Auditorium at George Washington University's Marvin Center, where a full house of students await the start of David Horowitz's lecture.
GW YAF treasurer Matt Sauvage makes an announcement: "No disruptions of any kind will be tolerated during the event." He asks the audience to remain seated during the performance. Anyone leaving during the event will not be re-admitted.
UPDATE 7:40 p.m.: As students -- many in the traditional Muslim kaffiyeh -- fill the auditorium in the Jack Marvin center, so far, all is calm. (Whether that's a testament to civic-minded GWU students or the rain remains to be seen.) Horowitz will soon arrive from dinner at the Magic Gourd (review), where he dined with YAF. Should any shenanigans erupt, like last night's debacle, a couple of security guards are on hand to police the scene, with Incorrect U's camera crew ready to capture it.
•••
In just a few hours, we'll be live-blogging David Horowitz's George Washington University appearance (that is, if it's not shut down, as it was at Emory, described by the incendiary conservative activist here) as the culminating event for Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week (IFAW), hosted by Young America's Foundation (YAF). Check back here at Fishwrap at 8:30 p.m. ET.
Comments will be listed in reverse-chronological order, with the most recent comments at the top.
Warm up with some quick hits around the 'sphere about IFAW:
I hardly got through fiteen minutes of my scheduled talk before members of the audience who come to protest rather than to listen became so unruly that it was impossible to go on. …
After the event became a shambles, I went over to the local Starbucks to indulge in a tall Orange Mocha. While I was sitting there the president of the Muslim Students Association came over and introduced herself, and shared her regrets at what had happened. I thanked her for that and told her I would like to continue conversation another time.
(Orange Mocha? I prefer the Caramel Frappuccino myself, but … well, let's tolerate dissent.)
The left merely inflicted a defeat on itself, since civil America, both left and right, will be appalled at the spectacle. …
Universities like Emory are paying the price of not taking care of the important task of establishing a campus decorum appropriate to civilized discussion.
The only thing that makes the cut-and-run crowd mad enough to fight is the idea that someone, somewhere might be criticizing radical Islam.
Consequently, the speakers for Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week require the sort of security phalanx one would expect for someone more like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
UPDATE 11:55 p.m.: Protesters at Emory University reportedly managed to shut down David Horowitz's speech. Incorrect U. has the exclusive with video and photos:
The booing started when David Horowitz walked on the stage and the interruptions lasted until the talk was cancelled.
It was a dark day for Emory University. . . .
There were continuous outbursts coming from this crowd.
Finally a member of the university security staff told the crowd to sit down or they would be forcibly escorted out of the building.
You know what happened next . . . The place erupted. . . .
It was shameful.
Now Horowitz comes to D.C. for Thursday's showdown at George Washington University.
Santorum began his speech by acknowledging that some are offended by the term "Islamo-Facism," but said it is misunderstood.
"What that term does is describe an ideology," he said. "You either subscribe to it or you do not."
However, the audience was not pacified by Santorum's statement. Even during the former senator's 45-minute speech, the crowd could not stay quiet, interjecting questions and corrections throughout.
"What that term does is describe an ideology -- just like Italian fascism was an ideology. Not every Italian was a fascist. Not every German was a Nazi.
"You may disagree that that's an appropriate term for the ideology I'm going to talk about, but it is important to understand that this is a serious issue and that there are people who are avowed enemies of the West and of the United States, and that Americans do not fully appreciate the gravity or nature of the threat." . . .
Santorum said people "should not be offended by a description of a way of thought."
"I would make the argument that since we do not understand the enemy, we have no concept of the gravity and severity of the nature of this war," he said.
Last week, as Stop The ACLU reports, Santorum was blunt and specific:
You have to describe the enemy as who they are. . . . They're not Irish Catholics, they're not Ukrainian Orthodox. They are who they are and their faith is integral as to why they are doing what they are doing.
Dr. Pipes told the audience that "radical Islam is the problem and moderate Islam is the solution" and warned that the greatest danger to the West was in legal Islamism which is crafted to work, "through the system."
According to Pipes, "The key battles in this war . . . are the political battles between ourselves" and in that conflict "public opinion" was more important than "soldiers on a battlefield." . . .
Dr. Pipes concluded his address, "Noting that the problem ultimately is . . . between Muslims among themselves" and that "Islam was not radical a few decades ago."
As reported yesterday, Monday's IFAW speech by Nonie Darwish at Berkeley was repeatedly interrupted by opponents. ZombieTime has put together a photo essay of that event. Incorrect U highlights an interesting video from the Berkeley event: A reporter for Al-Jazeerah begins interviewing a conservative student; a liberal activist (in a green shirt) then interrupts; a confrontation ensues, which concludes after another liberal activist shouts, "I hate capitalism!"
The battle for Fairfax County chairman may come down to the influence of a new book by two researchers at a free-market think tank. David Weigel of Reason magazine reports:
The epochal Fairfax (VA) County chairman race between Democrat (and incumbent) Gerry Connolly and Republican environmental lawyer Gary Baise has taken a dark turn after Baise relied on a certain mystery-cloaked tome for much of his transportation plan.
Connolly also criticized Baise for relying on "The Road More Traveled," a book he described as a "right-wing screed" against mass transit, as the basis for some of his transportation positions. The book, written by two scholars of the Reason Foundation, a nonprofit group dedicated to free markets and limited government, emphasizes adding lanes to existing roads, eliminating parking subsidies and increasing the efficiency of traffic signals to check congestion.
Many say we can't build our way out of congestion, but we haven't even tried. Over the last 30 years, vehicle lane miles traveled have increased by over 143 percent, but we've added just 5 percent in new capacity. If we removed all of the pork and light rail projects from existing transportation plans and instead built roads and added lanes where they are most needed, we could eliminate severe congestion for less than we are currently planning to spend on transportation over the next few decades.
The ideas in Balaker and Staley's "right-wing screed" were the inspiration for this video, starring Drew Carey:
-- Robert Stacy McCain, assistant national editor, The Washington Times
It was sometimes difficult for listeners to hear Nonie Darwish, the founder of Arabs for Israel, amid the protest at last night's kickoff event for Islamo-Fascist Awareness Week. . . .
Darwish was introduced to an equal mix of boos and applause and was unable to begin speaking for about a minute because of heckling from the audience. She was noticeably flustered by the various protests during the speech and was flanked by a bodyguard.
UCPD escorted a number of loud opponents out of the lecture hall at various times during the event.
The speech was notably interrupted however, when former UW lecturer Kevin Barrett stood up and began questioning Horowitz about the events of 9/11.
Barrett was unable to address Horowitz, however, as he was drowned out by jeers from the audience.
Barrett gained notoriety for teaching 9/11 conspiracy theories in an introductory course on Islamic history and culture at UW-Madison in fall 2006. Members and supporters of the Muslim Student Association gathered to show their disapproval of Horowitz's message.
7:14 Ms. Darwish takes the stage to jeers of "Fascist; you are nothing but a tool of the United states." Shouter is rebuked and removed. . . .
7:16 the interruptions continue: "That's a lie! Osama bin Laden was a CIA agent!" and such continue to come from the audience. . . .
Ann Coulter's IFAW speech at Tulane drew a crowd of 1,500 and it "took 15 police officers and personal security for Ms. Coulter to keep the crowd at bay," Peter Collier reports in a Front Page Magazine roundup of Monday's events nationwide.
Both movements are based on a cult of murderous violence that exalts death and destruction and despises the life of the mind. . . . Both are hostile to modernity (except when it comes to the pursuit of weapons), and both are bitterly nostalgic for past empires and lost glories. Both are obsessed with real and imagined "humiliations" and thirsty for revenge. Both are chronically infected with the toxin of anti-Jewish paranoia . . .
Harvard junior Christopher Lacaria contrasts the campus reception of IFAW with the treatment accorded to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at Columbia University:
Campus progressives chafe at the idea of rabble-rousing, controversial, and inflammatory events staged to criticize politically-correct excesses. Bigots like Ahmadinejad do little harm -- few American college students share his opinions, and he already lacks credibility in most people's eyes. But firebrands like Horowitz who bring legitimate -- if often overblown and rhetorically inappropriate -- criticisms to bear against the academic left pose a much greater threat: to expose to more observers the shaky foundations upon which most postmodern prejudices are bulwarked.
The only endorsement that matters, from Chuck Norris:
Though Giuliani might be savvy enough to lead people, Fred Thompson wise enough to wade through the tides of politics, McCain tough enough to fight terrorism and Romney business-minded enough to grow our economy, I believe the only one who has all of the characteristics to lead America forward into the future is ex-Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.
That's it. Election 2008 is over. Nobody argues with Chuck Norris.
Remember, there is no theory of evolution -- just a list of animals Chuck Norris allows to survive.
-- Robert Stacy McCain, assistant national editor, The Washington Times
This right wing assault on college campuses across the country has nothing to do with "free speech" or the oppression of women in Islam.
It has everything to do with silencing dissent and whipping up Islamo-phobic hysteria to justify U.S. domination of the Middle East.
It is an attempt to intimidate, confuse, and put on the defensive the many students and faculty who are opposed to what the Bush regime is doing here and internationally.
Islamic fundamentalism is not a progressive force for the world. . . .
But the U.S. is a much more powerful and more dangerous reactionary force. Overall, it is the far greater threat to humanity. It is in no way the "answer" to the genuinely oppressive nature of Islamic fundamentalism. (Emphasis added.)
Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week events for Monday include: Ann Coulter at Tulane University, 7 p.m.
Tammy Bruce at Pepperdine University, 7 p.m.
Robert Spencer at DePaul University, 7 p.m.
David Horowitz at the University of Wisconsin, 7:30 p.m.
Luana Saghieh and Alan Nathan at George Mason University, 8:30 p.m.
Nonie Darwish at UC Berkeley, 7 p.m.
"The radical Muslims on American campuses are getting more belligerent, far more militant," author and lecturer Nonie Darwish tells me. "They have perfected their intimidation and disruption techniques." . . .
Darwish concludes: "Muslim girls like these are like gangsters. They know more about their rights in America than the Jewish girls do. The Muslim girls all have a chip on their shoulders."
And then she is silent. Softly, she says: "We are fighting an avalanche. We are too few. I am frightened by my culture of origin. I am scared of my own people."
The heartbreaking part of this report is to see the reaction of the children being interviewed. They have obviously been indoctrinated with only one side of the story to the point of fear.
Children "indoctrinated" in public schools? Say it ain't so.
-- Robert Stacy McCain, assistant national editor, The Washington Times
"Yesterday's debate in the House to override the President's veto of bipartisan legislation to cover 10 million children was heated on both sides," Pelosi said in a statement that was released after 5 p.m. today. "While Members of Congress are passionate about their views, what Congressman Stark said during the debate was inappropriate and distracted from the seriousness of the subject at hand — providing health care for America's children."
Mel Martinez's announcement today that he is stepping down as the Republican National Committee's chairman to devote full time to his duties as a U.S. senator ends a chairmanship that was difficult from beginning to end.
Mr. Martinez was hand-picked by White House political strategist Karl Rove to run for an open Senate in Florida in 2004 and was tapped by President Bush to be a spokesman for the party and for the administration after the GOP's 2006 election debacle.
But when his party's forces were mounting a major grassroots offensive against illegal aliens, Mr. Martinez was pushing administration-backed legislation that would offer them a path to citizenship.
"We can't deport them," he told The Washington Times earlier this year.
That was not a welcome message among the party's conservative rank and file, and the RNC suffered in its fundraising as a result.
"He was swimming upstream during the immigration debate," a Republican strategist said.
Still, Mr. Martinez served as a visible symbol of Mr. Bush's determination to put Hispanics in the top ranks of his administration and his party to reach out to a large and powerful ethnic bloc whose votes could decide the outcome of the 2008 presidential election.
— Donald Lambro, chief political correspondent, The Washington Times
Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid is no fan of Rush Limbaugh, but the Nevada Democrat praised the conservative radio talk-show host on the Senate floor Friday for raising more than $2 million for charity — by auctioning on eBay a letter in which Reid condemns Limbaugh.
"I think it's really good that this money on eBay is going to be raised for this purpose," Reid said. "Everyone knows that Rush Limbaugh and I don't agree on everything in life, and maybe that is kind of an understatement.
"But without qualification Mark Mays, the owner of the [Clear Channel Communications] network ... [and] Rush Limbaugh should know that this letter that they're auctioning is going to be something that raises money for a worthwhile cause."
Limbaugh has pledged to donate the auction proceeds to the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation, which provides financial assistance to the children of fallen Marines and federal law enforcement officers.
Reid also encouraged "anyone interested with the means to consider contributing to this worthwhile cause."
"I stongly believe when we can put our differences aside, even Harry Reid and Rush Limbaugh, we should do that and try to accomplish good things for the American people."
The letter, which was co-signed by 40 Democratic senators and sent to Mark Mays, whose network syndicates Limbaugh's show, condemned Limbaugh for comments he made "characterizing troops who speak out against the war as phony soliders."
Limbaugh has denied the accusation and said he was referring to anti-war activist Jesse Adam Macbeth, who falsely claimed to have participated in war crimes while in Iraq.
By early Friday afternoon, the letter had received a bid of $2.1 million. The auction will close later today.
— Sean Lengell, Capitol Hill correspondent, The Washington Times
People were shocked a couple of weeks ago when Ron Paul -- one of those mysterious Republicans who seem to be running for President because everyone needs a hobby -- raised $5 million from July through September, mostly on the Internet. Paul is a libertarian. In fact, he was the Libertarian Party presidential candidate in 1988. The computer revolution has bred a generation of smart loners, many of them rich and some of them complacently Darwinian, convinced that they don't need society -- nor should anyone else. They are going to be an increasingly powerful force in politics.
Question #1: Does Kinsley actually know any Ron Paul supporters, or is his characterization of them as "smart loners . . . rich . . . complacently Darwinian" just a prejudicial stereotype?
We must end welfare state subsidies for illegal immigrants. Some illegal immigrants -- certainly not all -- receive housing subsidies, food stamps, free medical care, and other forms of welfare. This alienates taxpayers and breeds suspicion of immigrants, even though the majority of them work very hard. Without a welfare state, we would know that everyone coming to America wanted to work hard and support himself.
Our current welfare system also encourages illegal immigration by discouraging American citizens from taking low-wage jobs. This creates greater demand for illegal foreign labor. Welfare programs and minimum wage laws create an artificial market for labor to do the jobs Americans supposedly won't do.
Question #3: Isn't it likely that if such views were expressed by any first-tier Republican candidate -- as opposed to a "mysterious . . . hobby" candidate like Ron Paul -- that Kinsley would be shouting "extremist" at the top of his lungs, rather than promoting that Republican as an alternative to the "religious right"?
-- Robert Stacy McCain, assistant national editor, The Washington Times
Fans and followers of the Dalai Lama are descending on Capitol Hill to see him receive the Congressional Gold Medal.
"We follow an ideal of being aware and awake, which is what Buddism is," said Mark Hambleton, 47, one of more than a dozen members of a meditation group that boarded a train in Baltimore heading to Washington.
He said the group supports the Dalai Lama's struggle against China's rule in Tibet, as well as his spiritual teachings.
"He's talking about peace and human rights, which are worldwide issues but also specific to Tibet," Mr. Hambleton said, adding that he hoped the event drew attention to U.S.'s favorable trade policies with China despite the country's poor human rights record.
-- S.A. Miller, Capitol Hill correspondent, The Washington Times
The White House this morning said they will work hard to avoid letting an outcry over a Chinese firm's merger with a U.S. computer security company to become a repeat of the Dubai Ports deal.
"The members of the [Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States], led by Treasury, are committed to communicate, certainly better than we have previous to the Dubai Ports transaction, so they'll communicate with Congress," said White House spokesman Tony Fratto.
The Washington Times' Bill Gertz first broke the news of the planned $2.2 billion purchase of 3Com, which sells hacker-prevention hardware to the Pentagon, by the investment company Bain Capital Partners and China's Huawei Technology.
Huawei is a Chinese firm with close ties to Beijing's military and a history of illicit exports and industrial espionage.
House Republicans yesterday introduced legislation that would block the merger between Huawei and Bain Capital — which was founded by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney in 1984.
Mr. Fratto said the White House wants "everyone who has concern over these transactions to take a look at the facts, and look at them very clearly and understand the threats that may or may not be there."
But Mr. Fratto would not comment on any specifics of the deal.
"The committee will do a national security review, as they always do, and it will be thorough and diligent, but while they are in that process … we're not going to comment on the transaction," he said.
— Jon Ward, White House correspondent, The Washington Times
The federal deficit just hit its lowest level since 2002 and September unemployment was 4.7 percent -- very good news for Americans. Yet British newspaper readers might suppose it was all gloom and doom, that is, if they read the Guardian:
America, in short, is in a deep funk. Far from feeling hopeful, it appears fearful of the outside world and despondent about its own future. Not only do most believe tomorrow will be worse than today, they also feel that there is little that can be done about it.
Perhaps the clueless Brit confuses our citizens' negative opinion of the government in Washington with being "despondent" about America itself. But that's the beauty of limited government: People can be quite happy in their own lives while simultaneously believing their government is corrupt and incompetent.
Just in case any Brits are reading this: Things are jolly well splendid over here, lads. Don't let that bloke from the Guardian tell you otherwise.
President Bush went to Rogers, Ark., today to speak about the federal budget, and took questions from a pretty friendly audience afterward.
One questioner, a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, even said he wanted Mr. Bush to serve a third term, prompting applause from the crowd at the John Q. Hammonds Convention Center.
"Thank you, yeah. Well, I can't," Mr. Bush said. "It's time for new blood."
"Plus, I'd be single," he said.
— Jon Ward, White House correspondent, The Washington Times
Last week, Audrey Hudson reported on how the Jawa Report and other bloggers are targeting Internet jihadis. Her story, which was widely discussed, named exactly one of those pro-terrorist sites:
The blogger who goes by the name "Rusty Shackleford" . . . is currently focused on bringing down a blog called "Inshallah Shaheed" . . .
Inshallahshaheed responded to the latest shutdown with a post that said: "They can attack us 100 times if they want."
"In the end, they will see us coming from many different positions to continue the media Jihad of speaking the truth. So let them bite their nails in frustration. We say to them: Perish in your rage, O filthy disbelievers!" said Inshallahshaheed, whose name means "a martyr, God willing."
"Rusty" had asked that the name of the "Inshallah" blogger not be used in the story, since to do so might compromise federal investigations. Five days later, Inshallah was identified on the front page of another newspaper, with only one brief mention of the efforts of anti-terrorist bloggers:
[Inshallah] has also been fending off citizen watchdogs who are working to knock sites likes his off the Internet. Twice in September his blog went dark when his service provider shut him down, citing complaints about the nature of his postings.
I've been sitting on his true identity for months, but in one fell swoop Samir ibn Zafar Khan, who lives in Charlotte, [N.C.], has been identified.
Thanks a lot . . . for blowing an ongoing investigation into a known al Qaeda sympathizer who lives here in the United States. I've known about this piece for a few weeks and wrote . . . to ask [the reporter] not to run it. No reply . . .
What's interesting is the location of the Inshallah blogger. Which is the greater threat in Charlotte, N.C.: A pro-terrorist blogger who dreams of meeting Osama bin Laden or . . . cooties?
-- Robert Stacy McCain, assistant national editor, The Washington Times
While the "NASCAR cooties"epidemic was sweeping the blogosphere last week, apparently nobody on Capitol Hill thought to ask about the real risks of contagious diseases like Hepatitis B.
Leave it to the wizard of Poca, W.Va., Don Surber:
Democratic congressional staffers got hepatitis shots before attending a NASCAR race in North Carolina. Hepatitis is more common in DC than in North Carolina.
Federal figures show there were 3.5 hepatitis cases per 100,000 people in Washington, DC, in 2005 — and only 2.9 per 100,000 in North Carolina in 2005.
A Volvo SUV, a Chevy Suburban and a Ford F-250 may finally bring to an end a long and bitter flame-war between conservative and liberal bloggers over the S-CHIP veto. Michelle Malkin explains, the blogger chorus joins in, and Don Surber sums it up in a song:
Halsey the SCHIPman
Was a workingman, they plead
He wasn't made of dough
But the children know
How he drove 3 S-U-Vs. . . .
