Joe Lieberman is one of those Senators who I have defended on several occasions in the past. He is – in my opinion – a good Senator – someone who is able to work with both parties. The left-wing of the Democratic Party does not exactly like him, same goes for the right-wing of the Republican Party (except for the war in Iraq). I do disagree on certain issues with Lieberman, but that does not mean that he is not a good Senator / politician. One of the issues I disagree with him on...

The last Democratic presidential debate left me with one major question: how to help the African American community? How to help them help themselves? It does not take a genius to figure out that today’s policies have not accomplished what they were designed to accomplish. Many African Americans still live in poverty, many African Americans are not insured (health care), African Americans are twice as likely to drop out of school than whites, the list goes on and on. This all despite (or perhaps...

Earlier this year, we launched our “Facing the Music Project” – an effort to objectively profile the major party candidates vis-à-vis their positions on five broad policy questions. Those questions were suggested by TMV readers and intentionally focus on core governance issues rather than social/cultural issues. Pete Abel published Congressman Ron Paul’s profile a while ago already, I contacted – among others – the Huckabee campaign and he (and his staff)...

It seems that Governor Mike Huckabee would consider sending more troops to Iraq (if he were president): This morning on NBC’s Today Show, host Matt Lauer asked Huckabee, if Bush delivers a more pessimistic assessment of the surge this week, “would you feel we owe it to the 150,000 or so Americans serving in Iraq to start pulling them out sooner than later?” “We have to make a decision — do we either pull them out or do we put whatever is necessary to make sure we don’t...

What’s funnier: Hookers, cocaine or… censoring president Bush? Fox News again, taking things out of context. Watch the video. Journalistic integrity anyone? Michael Linn Jones strongly disagrees with Broder (who basically wrote that politicians sometimes have to ignore the ‘wishes’ of ‘the people’). Jim Martin: stop fund the war in Iraq ASAP. A rising (young) star in the blogosphere – Kevin Sullivan – has an interesting post up about the growth of...

Should you teach your children that they are special? Jeff Zaslow says no: Don Chance, a finance professor at Louisiana State University, says it dawned on him last spring. The semester was ending, and as usual, students were making a pilgrimage to his office, asking for the extra points needed to lift their grades to A’s. “They felt so entitled,” he recalls, “and it just hit me. We can blame Mr. Rogers.” Fred Rogers, the late TV icon, told several generations of children...

For those of you who are wondering whether John Doe really is stupid: today, Nick Rivera links to this poll. The results of the poll: Even today, more than four years into the war in Iraq, as many as four in 10 Americans (41 percent) still believe Saddam Hussein’s regime was directly involved in financing, planning or carrying out the terrorist attacks on 9/11, even though no evidence has surfaced to support a connection. A majority of Americans were similarly unable to pick Saudi Arabia in...

Read this very funny column at the NY Times about “the six stages of e-mail.” Stage one: Infatuation I just got e-mail! I can’t believe it! It’s so great! Here’s my handle. Write me! Who said letter writing was dead? Were they ever wrong! I’m writing letters like crazy for the first time in years. I come home and ignore all my loved ones and go straight to the computer to make contact with total strangers. And how great is AOL? It’s so easy. It’s...

The New York Times reports: Security forces besieging a radical mosque in the Pakistani capital captured its top cleric Wednesday as he tried to sneak out of the complex in a woman’s burqa, and more than 1,000 of his followers surrendered. In a burqa? He was dressed as a woman? What a brave little extremist he is. A security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, said authorities captured the mosque’s top cleric, Maulana Abdul...

Carter Malkasian wrote a good article for the Democracy Journal about Iraqization. The idea behind Iraqization is, basically, that “an effective Iraqi security force” is created, which “can take the place of U.S. Marines and soldiers. Thereby, the United States can eventually withdraw without leaving behind a terrorist safe haven and fractured Iraq.” The only problem with this plan according to Carter: it will not work. Between February 2004 and February 2005, and later from...

Richard Cohen writes for the Washington Post: The eight Democratic presidential candidates assembled in Washington last week for another of their debates and talked, among other things, about public education. They all essentially agreed that it was underfunded — one system “for the wealthy, one for everybody else,” as John Edwards put it. Then they all got into cars and drove through a city where teachers are relatively well paid, per-pupil spending is through the roof and —...

Anthony Zanetti wrote a good article for Monsters and Critics about “the writing found on internet blogs versus established print publications,” and – more importantly – the prejudices that exist. Anthony – who is one of the most gifted writers on the Internet – writes: Recently, there have been many articles about the writing found on internet blogs versus established print publications. The authors of these pieces tend to work for magazines or newspapers, and...

A Mormon in the White House? 10 Things Every American Should Know About Mitt Romney is written by well-known conservative pundit Hugh Hewitt. Hewitt is one of the most vocal opinion-makers in American politics: a partisan Republican and a staunch conservative who does not hold back when dealing with liberals (especially Bill and Hillary Clinton of course). Besides that, he is also a passionate supporter of candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, Governor Mitt Romney. Thus, when I opened...

Some, probably most, of us think that the Summer break is a great time to go on vacation to another city, place, or even another country, to see something of the world, to walk on paths you did not yet walk on, to enjoy life to the fullest. Others have different plans: A secret U.S. law enforcement report, prepared for the Department of Homeland Security, warns that al Qaeda is planning a terror “spectacular” this summer, according to a senior official with access to the document. “This...

Last Friday I published this post about an article which was sent to me to review, written by Shadi Hamid, Project on Middle East Democracy’s Director of Research, called “Parting the Veil.” As I noted then, the article is well worth the read: it is highly interesting and thought provoking. I cannot say that I agree with everything Hamid writes, but he makes some good points, and raises some interesting questions. The main point the author makes is that the West – better,...

Angelo M. Codevilla, who is a professor of international relations at Boston University and a fellow of the Claremont Institute, offers quite a different perspective on the newly released CIA documents: THE CIA last week released a heavily redacted version of a 1973 report what it considers its fathers’ sins. There was nothing new: In the ’70s and ’80s, agency employees on all sides of the quarrels over what the CIA should do shopped their versions of the report to whoever would...

A highly interesting study was conducted by The Washington Post in collaboration with the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard University, about the infamous group of voters called “Independents.” Who are they? What do they believe? Are they all the same? The results: The new survey underscores the Republican Party’s problems heading into 2008. Fueled by dissatisfaction with the president and opposition to the Iraq war, independents continue to lean heavily toward the Democrats....

I had the opportunity to review an article by Shadi Hamid, Project on Middle East Democracy’s Director of Research, called “Parting the Veil.” It is well worth the read, I checked at the articles section at POMED, but they didn’t publish it online yet, I am sure they will later. I will keep an eye on it, and when they do, I will let you know. For now, some thoughts on this article. “Parting the Veil” is an interesting, thought provoking read. I cannot say that...

There seems to be quite some outrage coming from the left (fake of course) about something that happened in… 1983. The NYT reports: An example of Mitt Romney’s crisis management skills has turned into something of a political problem for the Republican presidential contender. Romney placed his family dog, an Irish setter named Seamus, into a kennel lashed to the top of his station wagon for a 12-hour family trip from Boston to Ontario in 1983. Despite being shielded by a wind screen the...

Well, Americans were disappointed when Tony’s family did not die in the final episode of the Sopranos, seemingly Hamas learned from that (and the criticism), and decided to give Farfour Mouse quite a different treatment. In the final episode of the show that featured Farfour (”Tomorrow’s Pioneers”), Farfour dies a violent death. An actor, pretending to be an Israeli official, tries to convince Farfour – who is every Palestinian’s child best friend – to sell...

This is major news: With the second quarter closing on Saturday, Hillary Clinton campaign spokesman Howard Wolfson said in a memo the campaign expects to take in at least $27 million, conceding that Barack Obama will be collecting “significantly” more in April, May and June. The Clinton campaign did not break down how much of that $27 million was for the primary and how much was given for the general election contest. The only figure that counts politically is money raised for the primary...

If I were American, my vote for first lady would definitely go to Elizabeth Edwards. And yes, I am a conservative. What a classy lady.

After a video appeared at YouTube of John Kerry saying he wants to revive the fairness doctrine, the Heritage Foundation responded with a video of their own. If you want to watch both videos and read my thoughts on the Fairness Doctrine, please click here. There is also an interesting discussion going in the comment section of the post.

A lot of Americans complain about the overpartisanship in American politics these days: both sides are more busy fighting and insulting each other, than persuing policies that are actually worthwhile. Sometimes, to an outsider like me, Washington seems to be ruled by little children, who all try to bully each other, and steal each other’s money, instead of by adults who believe in what they do and actually try get things done. If there is one thing wrong with American politics – and,...

Scott Horton wrote quite an interesting column for Harper’s Magazine about US vice president Dick Cheney. Cheney has been under fire for a while now; especially since the Washington Post started publishing a series on him / his vice presidency (of which the last installment was published yesterday). Scott, too, isn’t exactly a fan of Cheney either: Aristotle, writing in his Politics, spends a good bit of papyrus on the question of tyranny. What exactly makes a leader a tyrant, he asks....