Returning to the Nov. 3 special House election in NY-23, (which I mentioned on Sunday) we find the embattled, moderate to liberal Republican candidate, Dede Scozzafava demonstrating how to lose a race in a district your party has held for more than one hundred years. When a reporter shows up to ask you about your position on some uncomfortable topics, you can respond in a number of ways. You could just spill your guts honestly, attempt some spin, or even reply with a gruff, “No comment.”...

Following on the heels of yesterday’s much debated column on the civil war among the Republicans, we clearly had far too many liberals feeling smug and self-satisfied to let it stand. With that in mind, I would like to present the companion piece, published today at Pajamas Media, titled, “The Modern Left Abandons Classic Liberalism.” In this piece I take a look at some of the best, most noble aspects of classic liberalism and the positive impact it has had on American society,...

Yes, my friends. It has been rumored on a few Democratic sites I check in on from time to time, but opportunity is slipping away before your very eyes. Rasmussen is bringing disastrous news for the Obama faithful this week in the form of a new poll. While you’re all focusing your attention on what the new Democratic majority is up to, it seems that prospects for a Sarah Palin 2012 GOP nomination are fading away like dreams of spring during autumn’s first hard frost. Read on from the...

With a title so inviting of hyperbole and hysteria, the first question which likely comes to mind may be, “Is he talking about a fight within the Republican party or open combat in the streets?” It’s a fair question, and to be honest, I’m not sure which we should focus on right now. What I do know is that we are living in a period where persons with my particular hybrid, hard-to-pigeonhole political persuasions have a lot to concern them. First, we have an era of government...

The the relative quiet of an off year election, there are still some special elections to watch. One of them is taking place up near the Canadian border with New York in the largely rural, mountainous 23rd district. (You may recall that I usually spend part of my summer up there fishing with disappointing results.) This district is about as conservative as they come in the Empire State, and Republicans have held that seat continuously since the late 1800’s. That may be about to change, though,...

In case you find yourself stuck with the kind of weather we’re getting in Upstate New York this weekend and have nothing better to do, tune in to Mid Stream Radio at 1 pm eastern (10 am pacific) for your weekly dose of bombastic political rhetoric and absurd analysis. The only thing off the table today is Balloon Boy, but everything else is fair game. Follow the link above to listen, join in the chat or call us at (646) 595-3963 with your own deranged ramblings. See you on the radio!

Senator David Vitter, (R – La) along with his somewhat questionable and controversial activities in the past, also comes up with some good ideas. He demonstrated this talent once again recently when he suggested that maybe the next census should be sure that it’s only counting legal citizens. As Ed Morrissey points out, the consequences of screwing this up can be serious indeed. Each seat represents 690,000 American residents at the moment, although in 2000 it would have been closer to...

This is the question on the lips of both sports aficionados and political pundits alike this week. Rush Limbaugh is looking at the possibility of purchasing (or at least co-owning) the National Football Leagues St. Louis Rams franchise. At the heart of the controversy are a number of comments Rush has made over the years which some observers felt were racist in nature, particularly one 2003 show where he said that some people in the sports media were overly interested in seeing Donovan McNabb succeed...

(Sorry… Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!) Via Ed at Hot Air we find the Washington Post reporting the the law of unintended consequences is striking right and left on the health insurance reform front. The latest “revelation” (which won’t come as any surprise to the people who have been paying attention) is provided by accounting giant PriceWaterhouse Coopers, who reveal the shocking news that if the government begins dumping huge new taxes and fees on the insurance industry...

David Broder asks an important question in the Washington Post which should cause us all to ask how we evaluate political “figures” on their own merits. Call it, if you will, a result of the law of unintended consequences falling out from the current health care debate. As we focus on exactly how much health care money is spent on treating the negative consequences of obesity (along with whether or not we have a moral imperative to tax soft drinks) this battle seems to be giving cover...

Due to a change in my co-host’s schedule, Mid Stream Radio will temporarily be moving to a weekend format, starting today, Saturday Oct. 10, at 1 pm eastern time. On today’s show we’ll be catching up on the fallout from the Nobel Peace Prize, along with some other news that slipped through the cracks during all this media craziness. Stop by and join in our online chat or call in to (646) 595-3963. See you on the radio!

While many of my colleagues here at TMV have already chimed in on the rather “curious” choice of awarding President Barack Obama the Nobel Peace Prize today, I was already asked to opine on the subject elsewhere. You can find the full rundown in my “special comment” (with a hat tip to MSNBC) at Pajamas Media… Freaky Friday: Obama’s Weird Peace Prize Win. One thing not noted in that column which I found of even more interest was the fact that nominations for this award...

Putting the lie to my recent theory that Congress can’t manage to accomplish anything, the House of Representatives voted yesterday to further expand so called “hate crime” legislation to include “those committed because of a victim’s sexual orientation” which will include attacks on lesbian, gay and transgender people. Of course, in typical fashion, Democratic sponsors of the measure used what amounts to blackmail to get it through, attaching it as an amendment to...

For those interested in the public debate over the Iraq war and looking for a great film experience, I would suggest that you check out Andrew Lawton’s beautifully crafted film, “Wake.” (IMDB data on the film may be found here.) Technically a short, the movie comes in at around thirty minutes, but fills the screen in such a vibrant fashion that the movie seems much larger. Rather than taking place in the dusty streets of Baghdad or amid the anti-war protests in the streets of America,...

This just in, courtesy of Lady Logician. Not News: Republicans want Charlie Rangel to step down. Kind of News: Democrats want Charlie Rangel to step down. Worthy of Onion News: People actually think Charlie Rangel would step down. Congressional Republicans are again demanding that Congressman Charles Rangel step down as chairman of the House tax writing committee, saying his ethics problems make him the poster boy for institutional arrogance. And here’s a new twist. Highly placed Democratic...

It was with a good bit of disappointment that I read my friend Ed Morrissey’s take over at Hot Air on the decision by Gen McChrystal to give a speech on war strategy in London last week. Of course, to the best of my reccolection, Ed hasn’t served in uniform, so he may not be as familiar with the Military way as those of us who have been there. McChrystal may not know the ways of Washington, but that’s not his battleground. It seems as though Obama knows Afghanistan less than McChrystal...

With Sunday football back upon us, it’s a good time to ask about the potential for more rules changes being considered currently by the NFL. The rules in the NFL change only at a glacial pace which is generally a good thing. You don’t want to mess too much with a winning formula. But they do change on occasion. Some have been minor tweaks with varying levels of success. A few have been really boneheaded moves which were later abandoned, but some have been truly spectacular. (The advent...

Are cable news shouters such as Ed Schultz and Glenn Beck a reflection of American society at large? Do the displays of Alan Grayson and Joe Wilson mirror the attitudes and actions of their constituents back home? Has politics really turned our formerly civil population into an unruly mob, screaming at each other and biting off fingers? No. In fact, those of us who spend far too much time steeping in the ebb and flow of political warfare may have forgotten how nice many of our neighbors actually...

I’m going to have to take exception with the premise put forth by my colleague, Dalitso Njolinjo, who earlier opined here that the losers in the recent Olympics bidding kerfuffle were Chicago, Obama and America. It was an interesting analysis and sparked a spirited and useful discussion in our comments section, but it simply doesn’t ring true for me. The real losers in this battle, if there are any to be found, are among some of my conservative brethren around the web. In particular I...

Because of a scheduling conflict yesterday, we’ve had to push back the line-up for our weekly show, Mid Stream Radio, to Friday morning at 10 am eastern. (An ungodly 7 am pacific.) We’ll be picking apart the fast breaking, though likely irrelevant David Letterman sexual affairs story, as well as a little reported attempt at a federal landgrab in Utah. If there’s time we’ll look at a few of the 2010 House and Senate races where incumbents may find a less than receptive voter...

As reported by our friend Dave Schuler at Outside the Beltway, the North Koreans have revamped their constitution and abandoned communism. SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea has officially made Kim Jong-il its “supreme leader” and his “military first” policy its guiding ideology, according to the text of the country’s newly revised Constitution made available on Monday. The Constitution also declared for the first time that North Korea “respects and protects” the “human rights”...

Continuing our coverage of news surrounding the recent arrest of scumbag, pedophile, child-rapist Roman Polanski, (not that I want you to think your reporter is biased on the story or anything) Paterico is still all over the case. Yesterday we told you of Anne Applebaum’s jaw dropping defense of said child-rapist in which she failed to mention that her husband was working to get President Obama to grant said scumbag clemency. As noted below, we should definitely sympathize with Anne, because...

I had an interesting conversation last night regarding a curious e-mail which my friend Ed Morrissey received about a new bill being introduced in the House of Representatives. The purpose of the legislation would be to provide tax deductions to people for the care of their pets. ACTON, CA – PetExemption.com founders Leo Grillo and Robert Davi are pleased that the Humanity and Pets Partnered Through the Years (“HAPPY”) Act was introduced last week in the U.S. House of Representative. The legislation...

As you may have heard by now, infamous film director Roman Polanski has been arrested in Switzerland more than thirty years after the fact of his crimes and may be extradited to the United States. For those of us who have been outraged by this case for decades, it may come as cold comfort to see justice finally served when the criminal is in his twilight years and has lived a live of decadent luxury for all this time, but half a loaf is better than none, I suppose. But perhaps nearly as outrageous...

In 1913 our nation suffered a collective failure of judgment when we passed the 17th amendment. It was not a mistake to hand the power of electing senators to the voters rather than state legislatures, but we really dropped the ball when we put in an “option” for each state to pick and choose whether their governor could make interim appointments. The fundamental harm this causes far exceeds any benefits paid in either expediency or fiscal savings for extra elections. There is no greater...