Ross Douthat has an insightful word in today’s New York Times about the brain-stultifying effects of hyper-partisanship. He writes: “Up to a point, American politics reflects abiding philosophical divisions. But people who follow politics closely — whether voters, activists or pundits — are often partisans first and ideologues second. Instead of assessing every policy on the merits, we tend to reverse-engineer the arguments required to justify whatever our own side happens to be doing. Our ideological convictions may be real enough, but our deepest conviction is often that the other guys can’t be trusted.” Douthat argues that the controversy over TSA searches would have gone differently had a Republican been…
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Cal Thomas on Media Bias
I love this excerpt from a Cal Thomas column explaining how liberal media bias usually happens: “For a conservative guest, the questioning by a liberal usually goes something like this: ‘What do you say to people who think you are a jerk?’ Translated this means, ‘I think you’re a jerk, but I’ll couch it in a way that makes me look professional.’ To a liberal guest, the liberal host asks: ‘When did you first realize you were right about everything and the opposition was wrong?’ I exaggerate only slightly to make a point. What passes for modern ‘journalism’ is something quite different from what I remember growing up.” (HT: Trevin…
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Matt Lauer’s Interview with President George W. Bush
Just in case you missed Matt Lauer’s interview with President George W. Bush earlier this week, here it is. Part 1 is above, and the rest are below.
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Interview with George W. Bush
Matt Lauer has an exclusive interview with President George W. Bush that will air tonight at 8pm ET / 7pm CT. The interview is timed to coincide with the release of President Bush’s memoir Decision Points, which hits the shelves tomorrow (3am tomorrow morning if you’re downloading to Kindle). In the excerpt above, President Bush talks about Vice-president Cheney’s angry reaction to Bush’s decision not to pardon Scooter Libby. He also talks about his decision to quit drinking.
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Kentuckians, are you ready to vote?
Millions of Americans will go to the polls tomorrow for the mid-term election. By all accounts, this election will likely cause a sea change in the U.S. House of Representatives and perhaps in the U.S. Senate. Many voters have some knowledge of these high-profile national races, but many of those same voters are unaware of the candidates and issues at stake in local and state races. I received an e-mail tonight, for instance, asking me if I knew anything about the candidates running for judge in our city. If you are in this position and you are a Kentucky voter, I want to direct you to the Courier-Journal website. The…
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President Bush’s Memoir
I am eagerly anticipating the release of President George W. Bush’s memoir on November 9. It’s titled Decision Points, and it’s already available for pre-order on Amazon.com. In the promotional video above, President Bush offers a glimpse of what is to come. Earlier today, however, an anonymous source leaked the manuscript to Matt Drudge who has given even more details about what the book will contain. Drudge writes:
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Juan Williams and Objectivity
By now you’ve probably heard about the flap with Juan Williams, whom NPR fired last week for remarks he made about Muslims on Fox News. Voices from the left and the right have denounced the firing as unfair. Eugene Robinson has gone so far as to call NPR’s response a pretext. I think the dust-up is a good opportunity for all of us to be reminded about news reporting and the myth of objectivity. Mika Brzezinski had it exactly right in her remarks on “Morning Joe” Friday morning. You can watch above or read below. “I really think this sets a dangerous precedent, and I think we all need to…
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Matthews Brings “Hardball†to Louisville
Chris Matthews brought his cable news show “Hardball” to Louisville yesterday. In advance of the mid-term elections next month, Matthews focused on Kentucky politics with students and faculty from the University of Louisville.
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The Ethics of In Vitro
By now, you’ve probably already heard the news that the 2010 Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to the scientist who developed in vitro fertilization (Robert G. Edwards of Great Britain). What you may not have heard is how many difficult ethical quandaries have been created since the implementation of this new technology. Debora Spar reports how this lawless industry is spawning Octomoms, birth defects, and maternal deaths. She also demonstrates how far behind the United States is in regulating In Vitro compared to Europe. She writes,
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Interview with Wayne Grudem
The Alliance Defense Fund has an interview with Wayne Grudem about his new book Politics – According to the Bible (see below). In the interview, Grudem explains the genesis of the book and why he wrote it. Grudem also explains in the book itself why he wrote it. He writes: “I wrote this book because I was convinced that God intended the Bible to give guidance to every area of life—including how governments should function!