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Musharraf Wins By Losing, Islamists Just Lose Big

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Captain's Quarters - By Ed Morrissey - Feb. 19 (Opinion) - Even though he took a beating at the polls, Musharraf may come out a winner from yesterday's results. He apparently conducted the election honestly, and has acknowledged the results. He managed to marginalize the Islamists and has legitimized the moderates as the driving force in Pakistani politics. The PML-Q will not win many elections after Musharraf's dictatorship -- everyone knew that before the election -- but he allowed them anyway and seems ready to deal with the result. It's a pretty good day for democracy in Pakistan, and Musharraf deserves at least a little of the credit.

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Senate Approves Telecom Immunity

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Captain's Quarters - By Ed Morrissey - Feb. 12 (Opinion) - The Democrats had a legitimate point about handing a blank check to the NSA and other intel agencies in regards to warrantless surveillance. We need to give the maximum amount of flexibility and responsiveness to our front-line efforts, but we also need to ensure that they follow the rules and do not abuse their power. Congress should provide for as much oversight as possible without interfering with gathering of intelligence from terrorists.

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Obama Sweeps Saturday, Sets Up Showdown On Superdelegates

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Captain's Quarters - By Ed Morrissey - Feb. 10 (Opinion) - Hillary has a 90-vote lead among the superdelegates, and it has become clear that the superdelegates will have to make the difference if the nomination is to be settled before the convention. -- This has already generated some anger and threats. Donna Brazile, who has worked to elect Democrats for at least two decades, now says she will renounce the party if superdelegates nominate Hillary if Obama leads in normal pledged delegates. Chris Bowers of Open Left says the same thing in the blogosphere. And why not? If Obama wins more states and wins more delegates, why shouldn't he win the nomination?

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Is This What Burkle Bought?

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Captain's Quarters - By Ed Morrissey - Feb. 07 (Opinion) - one has to wonder whether Burkle may have attempted to float money into Hillary's campaign while bypassing campaign-finance regulations. Did the $20 million, which came just two weeks ago, actually represent a fair-market settlement for Clinton's services and ownership stake in Yucaipa? Or did Burkle inflate it in order to allow Hillary to "loan" herself $5 million to keep pace with a surging Obama campaign?

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Has Ann Coulter Finally Jumped The Shark?

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 14:30:07 -0800

Captain's Quarters - By Ed Morrissey - Feb. 01 (News Report) - She did for me last year at CPAC, of course, when she derided John Edwards as a "faggot". At the time, a number of conservative bloggers wrote that she had embarrassed the movement and owed Edwards an apology, which she refused to offer.

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The Bucks Stop Here, Next Time

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Captain's Quarters - By Ed Morrissey - Jan. 28 (Opinion) - It doesn't demonstrate much courage to put off executive action until the final months of his lame-duck presidency. Allowing the pork projects to stand also won't help rescue the GOP's credibility on fiscal discipline. Like it or not, Bush's actions reflect on the party, and this doesn't improve its position much. It has all the credibility of a parent who tells Junior that the next time he steals from his neighbors, he's really, really, really going to be punished.

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The Low Blow

Sun, 27 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Captain's Quarters - By Ed Morrissey - Jan. 27 (Opinion) - For the most part, the Republican primary campaign has seen tough but honest debate over the issues, as opposed to the racially inflammatory hardball being played between the Democrats. The GOP candidates have done their best to keep negativity to a minimum -- or at least they did until now. John McCain told a Florida crowd that Mitt Romney at one point backed withdrawal from Iraq -- and Romney cried foul, for good reason, according to Time's Swampland:

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Don't Expect An EO

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Captain's Quarters - Jan. 22 (Opinion) - The Bush administration will probably not issue an executive order canceling the 9,000 earmarks in the omnibus spending bill, the New York Times reports, as the White House does not want to have a war with Congress in 2008. Instead, they will review each request line by line and may demand support for each in writing from its sponsor, proving that the money actually got requested by its beneficiary and it will be spent as intended. This will disappoint many who saw this as an final opportunity for this administration and the GOP to reclaim some credibility on fiscal discipline:

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Where Now From Here?

Sun, 20 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Captain's Quarters - By Ed Morrissey - Jan. 20 (Opinion) - The South Carolina primary turned out to be a clarifying event after all. Instead of the potential for five front-runners in the Super Tuesday contest in two weeks, it appears we will have at best three viable candidates for the nomination, and only if Rudy Giuliani proves his strategy correct by winning Florida. What will be left will be the three candidates that the conservative blogosphere has relentlessly criticized for their lack of lifelong fealty to the Ronald Reagan legacy, but whom voters have nevertheless trusted enough to support in the primaries.

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McCain's Michigan Edge: Democrats

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Captain's Quarters - By Ed Morrissey - Jan. 14 (Opinion) - The Michigan primary promises to start a bloody debate among Republicans that in some quarters has already started. A new Zogby poll of likely GOP primary voters in Michigan shows John McCain with a three-point edge over Mitt Romney. The poll's internals, however, show that Romney leads among Republicans while McCain gets a boost from Democrats and independents that will skip the meaningless Democratic primary

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Rasmussen: McCain Beats Hillary Like A Drum

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Captain's Quarters - By Ed Morrissey - Jan. 14 (Opinion) - As McCain strengthened among Republicans, he has strengthened against Hillary. Huckabee also has come out ahead of Hillary in this polling, 45%-42%, the first time that has happened all year. That appears to indicate that Huckabee and McCain have gained credibility from their early wins, while Hillary has gained none from her New Hampshire victory.

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De-Baathification Reform Law Passes In Iraqi Parliament

Sat, 12 Jan 2008 07:35:02 -0800

Captain's Quarters - By Ed Morrissey - Jan. 12 (News Report) - Those who claim that the surge strategy in Iraq has paid no dividends because it hasn't met Congressional benchmarks may wish to skip to the next post. The Iraqi National Assembly has passed one of the two most critical benchmarks that the American government had pressed for Baghdad to adopt, the de-Baathification reform that will allow Sunnis to once again enter government jobs:

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Tancredo Endorses Romney

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 00:00:00 -0800

Captain's Quarters - By Ed Morrissey - Dec. 21 (Opinion) - As widely expected, Tom Tancredo dropped out of the presidential race this afternoon. He had generated almost no significant national support despite being associated with the favored position on one of the biggest issues for Republicans, immigration. However, he surprised everyone with his valedictory endorsement of Mitt Romney:

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A Huckabee Ho Ho Ho

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 00:00:00 -0800

Captain's Quarters - By Ed Morrissey - Dec. 17 (Opinion) - I'm not sure I buy the "war on Christmas" meme, either in the larger sense or as a motivation for this ad. Huckabee needs to keep using the personality push in Iowa, because it seems to have worked in generating the surge he's gotten in the Hawkeye State. It will enphasize his warmth and his easy, one-of-us appeal.

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Brits Hand Basra Back To The Iraqis

Sun, 16 Dec 2007 00:00:00 -0800

Captain's Quarters - By Ed Morrissey - Dec. 16 (Opinion) - The British completed their handoff of security responsibility in Basra to the central Iraqi government today, the last of four provinces under their control. The UK will leave 5,000 troops at their base near the Basra airport, but will only deploy on request from Baghdad. Otherwise, they will consider themselves "guests" and assist with training for Iraqi security forces:

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The Register Endorsements

Sun, 16 Dec 2007 00:00:00 -0800

Captain's Quarters - By Ed Morrissey - Dec. 16 (Opinion) - The Des Moines Register gave its endorsements in the primary races. For the Democrats, the Register unsurprisingly went with the Establishment candidate, Hillary Clinton. For the Republicans, they gave a big surprise to John McCain, a man who ignored Iowa in 2000 and has gained almost no traction in 2008. Why McCain?

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Did Romney Score With The Speech?

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 10:27:21 -0800

Captain's Quarters - By Ed Morrissey - Dec. 06 (Opinion) - The speech probably did serve to make evangelicals more comfortable with Mitt's approach. Mitt specifically mentioned how his father marched with Martin Luther King for civil rights, a reproach to those who continue to talk about the historical racism of the Mormon church.

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Chavez Loses -- But Does That Vindicate Him?

Mon, 03 Dec 2007 14:25:54 -0800

Captain's Quarters - By Ed Morrissey - Dec. 03 (Opinion) - Chavez almost had a no-lose situation in this sense; if he won the referendum, he'd get even more power thrust into his hands by popular acclaim, and if he lost, he'd prove himself a democrat, at least for now. The only way he could lose is if he claimed victory in a tight election, as everyone would have assumed he manipulated it.

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Sharif Home After Reaching 'Understanding'

Sun, 25 Nov 2007 07:55:29 -0800

Captain's Quarters - By Ed Morrissey - Nov. 25 (Opinion) - The return of Nawaz Sharif to Pakistan went better than his last visit, where security forces bundled him onto a plane within hours of his arrival. This time, the former Prime Minister left the airport and successfully transited to his home, as planned in Saudi Arabia this week. While Sharif still opposes Musharraf, he has apparently accepted the presidential election as a fait accompli:

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Democrats Lose Footing On Iraq

Sun, 25 Nov 2007 07:52:59 -0800

Captain's Quarters - By Ed Morrissey - Nov. 25 (Opinion) - The Democrats thought that Iraq would make the 2008 elections a cakewalk -- that voters would throw flowers in their path, joyously celebrating their liberation from a complete American defeat. As it turns out, a funny thing happened on the way to the cakewalk -- the US forgot to lose. As the situation improves in Iraq, the Democrats now face the task of defending their prior rhetoric and retooling the message in order to avoid the defeatist label in 2008:

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Why Pork Is DC's Favorite White Meat

Thu, 22 Nov 2007 10:09:16 -0800

Captain's Quarters - By Ed Morrissey - Nov. 22 (Opinion) - When we talk about white meat on Thanksgiving, most picture a finely roasted turkey, carved thin, with delicious gravy and trimmings. In the context of federal government, however, the white meat refers to pork, which is never cut thin but dropped thickly onto the backs of taxpayers. Why white meat? As our friend Jazz Shaw reminds us, it's both red and blue and the favorite meal of Congressmen of both parties. Today's Washington Post demonstrates that Republicans still have not quite learned their lesson from 2006:

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Will: No Line-Item Veto

Sun, 21 Oct 2007 09:01:53 -0700

Captain's Quarters - By Ed Morrissey - Oct. 21 (Opinion) - George Will rides to Rudy Giuliani's defense on the line-item veto issue, and in fact rides so hard he passes Rudy at full gallop. Giuliani favors a Constitutional amendment to grant the President the power to strike individual spending items from legislation, but Will argues against pursuing it at all:

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S-CHIP Battle Moves To Vetoland, Population: 3

Fri, 28 Sep 2007 11:17:48 -0700

Captain's Quarters - By Ed Morrissey - Sep. 28 (Opinion) - The Senate passed the expansion of the S-CHIP program yesterday with a veto-proof majority, 67-29, which sets up a standoff between Congress and the White House over the renewal of the politically sensitive program. The Bush administration favored renewing S-CHIP and even expanding it to a small degree, but the large expansion and the cigarette tax it uses has the White House talking veto. If Bush vetoes it, it may set up a standoff between Bush and Republicans looking towards tough re-election fights:

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How Petraeus Moved The Debate, Literally

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 06:25:00 -0700

Captain's Quarters - By Ed Morrissey - Sep. 27 (Opinion) - How far has General David Petraeus moved the debate on Iraq? His testimony on the surge, and the effects of the surge itself, has made it much more difficult for Democrats to argue for withdrawal and defeat. In fact, at last night's debate, the leading contenders for the Democratic nomination couldn't even commit to a withdrawal -- by 2013:

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Hsustock: What Did Hsu Want?

Sun, 16 Sep 2007 08:16:56 -0700

Captain's Quarters - By Ed Morrissey - Sep. 16 (Opinion) - The Washington Post asks the question at the base of the Hsustock scandal, but comes up with few answers. What did Norman Hsu hope to gain by flooding the zone with millions in contributions to Democrats, especially Hillary Clinton? Where did he get the money at the beginning, before apparently fleecing Woodstock founder Joel Rosenman of $40 million?

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