Thomas Friedman Extols the Virtues of Communism
Thomas Friedman's latest column, in which he argues Communist China's system is preferable to ours because it "can just impose the politically difficult but critically important policies needed to move a society forward in the 21st century," has quite naturally generated a heated response in the blogosphere, with everyone from Reason editor Matt Welch to National Review's Jonah Goldberg to ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on September 9, 2009 15:33
State of the Republican Party
Some loosely related threads seen on memeorandum this morning: California's Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger allows as to how he could conceivably endorse a Democrat as his successor — while insisting that he will himself remain a Republican Texas Republican Congressman Joe Barton likened the Bowl Championship Series, which determines college football's top division's national championship, to Communism. Red State's Erick Erickson repeatedly Twitters ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 2, 2009 06:56
The End of Fascism
Megan McArdle calls for an extension of Godwin's Law that would put an end to "using the word fascist to apply to the current, or indeed previous, administration." How is this helpful? Has clarifying the distinction between fascism and socialism really added to most peoples' understanding of what the Obama administration is doing? All this does is drag the specter of ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on March 31, 2009 08:32
Foreign Policy Blogging
Over at New Atlanticist, I've written several foreign policy-related posts. Fighting Poverty with Profit looks at a persuasive editorial calling for a radical new approach to development aid. Poland Slashes Early Retirement Benefits notes the irony that Poland, a country which lived under Communism for decades and freed itself thanks, in large part, to an incredibly powerful labor union, is among the ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on December 19, 2008 11:00
Pulling Out: Debating Middle East Disengagement (Affirmative)
On January 23, 1980 President Jimmy Carter enunciated what became known as the Carter Doctrine. He stated, "An attempt by any outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf region will be regarded as an assault on the vital interests of the United States of America, and such an assault will be repelled by any means necessary, including ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on December 15, 2008 12:52
Is Your Washroom Breeding Bolsheviks?
I found this earlier and had to share: As best I can tell from Googling, this is not a PhotoShop but an actual ad circa 1930. The image has the watermark of the Georgetown Book Shop, which offers the poster for sale. The copy reads: This is a perennial bestseller and attention grabber, but to us the best line in the ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on July 3, 2008 08:25
Going to War with the Ideology You Have
Kevin Drum, responding to Jonah Goldberg's argument that George Packer's "The Fall of Conservatism" erroneously conflates conservatism with the Republican Party, retorts: No political ideology lives in isolation. We judge communism by how Mao and Stalin implemented it, we judge 60s-era liberalism by how LBJ and the Democratic Party implemented it, and we judge social democracy by how Western Europe has ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 23, 2008 07:50
McCain Declares Cuba Policy a Success
Senator John McCain declared our policy of containment towards Cuba a success and declared his support for an independent Kosovo in a conference call with bloggers this afternoon. He made some opening remarks focusing on foreign policy before taking questions and I had the opportunity to ask him to expand his thoughts. He challenged Barack Obama's statement in last ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on February 22, 2008 16:19
Mike Huckabee – False Conservative?
Bob Novak has a scathing attack on Mike Huckabee's conservative credentials. Huckabee is campaigning as a conservative, but serious Republicans know that he is a high-tax, protectionist advocate of big government and a strong hand in the Oval Office directing the lives of Americans. Until now, they did not bother to expose the former governor of Arkansas as a false ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on November 26, 2007 12:58
Improving America’s Image Around the World
Slate's Fred Kaplan surveys his readers for ideas on improving America's image around the world. Most of the suggestions revolve around travel and cultural interaction, such as expanding foreign student exchange programs, Fulbright grants, the Peace Corps, and the like. While those things are valuable in and of themselves, their impact on reshaping world ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on November 15, 2007 09:23
Ron Paul – Ralph Nader, Bill Buckley, or Howard Dean?
John Derbyshire and Andrew Sullivan see great similarity's between Ron Paul and a young William F. Buckley, Jr. John Podhoretz and Richard Fernandez, though, see more similarities between Paul and Ralph Nader. Ed Morrissey, meanwhile, thinks he's this years' Howard Dean. To the extent he's following any of those parallels, I'd go with Dean. As Derbyshire notes, Buckley's conservatism ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on November 7, 2007 10:17
Lech Walesa to Get Heart Transplant
Lech Walesa is comign to Houston for a heart transplant. Former Polish President and Solidarity movement leader Lech Walesa said on Wednesday he planned to have a heart transplant in the United States. Walesa, a symbol of the overthrow of the communist regime in Eastern Europe in 1989 and a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, said his health was worsening ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on November 7, 2007 09:58
Pakistan Dictator Consolidates Power
I was away to attend a wedding this weekend and have barely been paying attention to non-football-related news. There's lots of blogospheric reaction to the mess that's unfolding in Pakistan, with Pervez Musharraf suspending any pretense that he's head of a democracy, jailing opposition leaders, lawyers, and journalists by the hundreds and I'm not sure that I've got ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on November 5, 2007 10:16
Ronald Reagan Wannabes
Washington Examiner cartoonist Nate Beeler sums up the Republican contest thus far quite aptly: In the accompanying commentary, Beeler observes, "While the Republican heavies snipe at each other over who is the real conservative in the race, Barry Goldwater is rolling over in his grave." Part of the problem, though, is that while Reagan and Goldwater both called themselves "conservatives," ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on October 23, 2007 07:45
Polish Opposition Wins
The chief opposition party has won a plurality in Poland's parliamentary elections but is apparently short of an outright victory. Voters appeared to have ousted the prime minister, one half of Poland’s wonder-twin team, in parliamentary elections on Sunday. The challenger, Donald Tusk, declared victory for his pro-business party, Civic Platform. The prime minister, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, conceded defeat as two ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on October 22, 2007 09:05
