The American Spectator

Johan Santana Shines on Rusty Staub Bobblehead Day

Posted by Aaron Goldstein on 5.26.12 @ 5:35PM

I am spending Memorial Day Weekend in New York with my Dad.

We along with 28,743 other people are now the proud owners of a Rusty Staub Bobblehead. The New York Mets were giving them away before today's game against the San Diego Padres. Amazingly, the Mets didn't have Staub throw out the first pitch or have some kind of on field ceremony for him. Instead, Le Grande Orange made a cameo appearance in the stands shaking hands with a member of the Royal Canadian Navy who could not correctly identify the season Staub became the first Met to drive in 100 or more runs in season. Staub had 105 RBI for the Mets in 1975. I am amazed that it took 15 years for a Met to drive in 100 runs in a season. I am also amazed that he held the team record for 15 years until it was broken by Darryl Strawberry who knocked in 108 runs in 1990. Mike Piazza and David Wright have the Mets team record with 124 RBI in 1999 and 2008, respectively. 

Speaking of Wright, he was hitting .397 going into the game. Padres starter Clayton Richard wanted no part of Wright and essentially gave him an unintentional, intentional walk in the first inning. Up came Scott Hairston. I turned to Dad and said, "His number don't show it but this guy has pop in his bat." A few moments later, Hairston hit a three run homerun to give the Mets a 3-0 lead. Hairston isn't a superstar but almost every time I see him play he goes deep.

I had never heard of Vinny Rottino until today. In fact, I said to Dad, "I'd like some rottino for dinner tonight." Well, I'm sure somebody is buying Rottino dinner tonight because he hit his first big league homerun in the first to give the Mets a 4-0 lead.

The Mets didn't score again until the 8th when Ike Davis had a pinch hit RBI double and back up catcher Mike Nickeas belted a grandslam homerun to give the Mets a 9-0 lead. It was the light hitting Nickeas' second big league homerun.

But the star of the show was Johan Santana who tossed a complete game four-hit shutout. It was his first shutout since 2010. Santana missed the entire 2011 season due to shoulder surgery. Today, Santana made a very strong case that he has returned to Cy Young form. Santana threw 96 pitches, 74 of them for strikes. Very, very impressive. The only question is if he can sustain this over an entire season.

CitiField is an improvement over Shea Stadium. While the new Yankee Stadium is more architecturally impressive, I'd rather watch a game in Queens than in the Bronx. It also makes for a quicker day. The game lasted 2 hours and 18 minutes. At Yankee Stadium, 2 hours and 18 minutes gets you into the fifth inning with no Rusty Staub Bobbleheads in sight.

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An Honor Flight Story

Posted by TAS Staff on 5.26.12 @ 9:28AM

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WaPost Criticizes Romney's Lack of Rhythm

Posted by Aaron Goldstein on 5.25.12 @ 6:58PM

First, The Washington Post went after Mitt Romney for an alleged bullying incident which took place nearly  50 years ago. Then they went after him for a massacre committed by Mormons in Arkansas 150 years ago. Now they've gone after him for his rhythm or lack thereof.

http://washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012-/post/romney-visits-inner-city-charter-school-in-philadelphia-in-outreach-to-black-voters/2012/05/24/gJQAWBWYnU_blog.html

As you probably know, Romney was heckled by residents of West Philadelphia (egged on in part by the Obama campaign) during a visit to a charter school run by Kenny Gamble of Gamble & Huff fame. More on him later.

Here is the WaPost's Philip Rucker describing Romney's interaction with schoolchildren:

Inside the school, Romney debated issues with educators and tried to connect with students. When he visited a classroom where the kids in the elementary school choir were standing, swaying and clapping to the beat of Kirk Franklin's "I Smile", Romney appeared charmed but did not dance with them. Rather, he tapped one of his toes slightly and bobbed his head, but did not catch the rhythm.

Didn't catch the rhythm? Romney isn't a contestant on Dancing With The Stars or So You Think You Can Dance? But apparently the WaPost thinks being able to dance like Savion Glover is a prerequisite for residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Of course, if Romney had danced with the kids you can be sure he would have got grief for it as he did when he sang "America The Beautiful" a few months back.

The WaPost could have taken a moment from its critique of Romney's footwork to mention that Kenny Gamble is now known as Luqman Abdul Haqq (a.k.a. Brother Luqman). Luqman has been buying up properties in South Philly and has been criticized for wanting to turn Philly into a Muslim only enclave and for his association with jihadists in the Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA).

https://www.phillymag.com/articles/features-king-kenny/

http://www.islamist-watch.org/legendary-songwriter-now-marchesd-to-an-islamist

Not only does Romney get heckled by people who don't know what they're protesting but he gets blamed for things for which he was not responsible. Brother Luqman criticized Romney for the anti-busing activities which occurred in Boston during the 1970s. Except that these activities took place a quarter century before Romney was elected Governor.

And on top of it, the WaPost goes after Romney for being rhythmically challenged. All things considered, Romney's time is better spent campaigning elsewhere.

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Regarding America's 21st-Century Population Edge

Posted by Reid Smith on 5.25.12 @ 2:31PM

Just out of graduate school (for the first time), I had the privilege to serve as research assistant to the eminent Ben Wattenberg -- senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and the Hudson Institute, and long-time host of PBS's Think Tank. (I'd mention his son, Daniel Wattenberg, made a name for himself right here at TAS, when he teamed up with David Brock to expose the infamous "Troopergate" scandal that haunted the Clintons, for years.)

A true gentleman and scholar, Ben Wattenberg has a unique knack for humanizing American life through his encyclopedic grasp of social and economic data. I can honestly say I've never met a man so positive about the prospects for our future. If you're ever in need of a jolt of confidence about this American experience, by all means, thumb a few pages of any of his eleven books.

Yesterday, he wrote in the Wall Street Journal -- and hinted at some of the lessons gleaned in his 2004 work New Demography: How Depopulation Will Shape the Future. His column suggests a confidence in the buoyancy of America's population and its bearing on geopolitical, economic and cultural consequence.

An instance of Wattenberg's optimism:

Why is this so important to America? A hefty and growing population can yield power and influence. It's been a long time since a nation with a small population influenced how the world works—think the 16th-century Dutch and Portuguese.

Size also yields vast economies of scale. As population grows, through fertility and immigration, a healthy housing market is inevitable. It's either that or tens of millions of Americans sleeping on the streets. Bet on the boom.

There's corporate growth too, across industries. Imagine an American corporation, XYZ, that wants to start doing business in Thailand. Only in a polyglot nation like America can XYZ search out and find the adult children of Thai immigrants who know America inside and out but also know Thai customs and language.

Few if any nations have all these advantages. The demography in play guarantees that the 21st century, like the 20th, will be an "American Century."

Ever sanguine, Mr. Wattenberg remains a true believer in our exceptionalism. I thank him for his years of hard work, the opportunity he offered me and this most recent, and welcome reminder of what makes America great.

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Tom Coburn on the Debt 'Disease'

Posted by Vivien Chang on 5.25.12 @ 1:11PM

Sen. Tom Coburn, a doctor, utilized his medical expertise when he declared that "the country's sick" while discussing his new book, The Debt Bomb: A Bold Plan to Stop Washington from Bankrupting America at The Heritage Foundation's Bloggers Briefing on Tuesday.

His diagnosis? A dysfunctional political class right here in Washington.

More specifically, he lamented the absence of leadership in the current political arena, dominated instead by politicians who focus on the "symptoms" rather than the "real disease" and its "treatment options."

Coburn has at times been labeled a deficit hawk, but has also been a divisive figure on the right. Last year, he publicly butted heads with Grover Norquist and his anti-tax colleagues when he pushed for a plan to eliminate ethanol subsidies, which Norquist viewed as a gross violation of the advocacy group’s Taxpayer Protection Pledge, as the proposal did not offset the new government revenue with tax cuts elsewhere. Coburn argued that higher revenues are necessary to reduce the nation’s massive deficit.

"[T]here has to be some revenue component to [the tax structure], and anybody that says that’s not the case, I think they’re just wrong and they're not thinking about the long-term health of our country," Coburn had said then.

He described his new book, The Debt Bomb, as "a compilation of how we got where we are, conflict of interest in the average politician, and why they would vote for their next election rather than the best interest of the country."

As a three-time cancer survivor, Coburn is all too familiar with effective treatment options. His prescription for the nation’s debt crisis was a "very limited government," which he believed to be "the principle and the key behind our freedom." In order to attain this, Coburn called on the American citizens to demand action from their representatives.

Coburn expressed hope that "we will re-embrace [this] principle." For more on Coburn's commitment to principle, I heartily recommend this report by Andrew Ferguson.

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WND's Aaron Klein: Obama Spoke at Socialist Conference

Posted by Jeffrey Lord on 5.25.12 @ 11:31AM

Our friend Aaron Klein over at World Net Daily has made a remarkable -- if unsurprising -- discovery.

As Klein writes here, in 1996 there was a town meeting in Chicago presented by "The Democratic Socialists of America." And on the speaking list?

That's right. As listed on the pamphlet Klein has obtained with photo included:

Barack Obama. Candidate. State Senate. 13th Legislative District.

Again, you wonder why Sean Hannity is vetting the President? And our friends at Breitbart.com? Precisely because finding things like this pamphlet were not done in 2008.

But they are finally surfacing and being discussed. They are decidedly relevant -- and yes, Governor Romney is beginning to incorporate this point as the fall campaign gets under way. See Romney here on Fox and Friends taking on Obama over capitalism.

Kudos to Mr. Klein and WND.

Follow the first link above to Klein's story and take a good read. 

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Bradley Prize Winner Meese's Originalism Should Figure in 2012 Race

Posted by Kevin Mooney on 5.25.12 @ 10:36AM

Thanks to the heavy lifting of former Attorney General Edwin Meese, the concept of "originalism" has gained serious traction within the judiciary, and even in academia.

On June 7, Meese will be honored as one of the four 2012 Bradley Prize recipients during a ceremony at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. By calling attention to Meese's contributions to the conservative cause, the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation has performed a valuable service. If President Obama wins re-election, he could potentially remake the U.S. Supreme Court. For this reason alone, it is worth reviewing the former attorney general's key observations.

A critical turning point came in 1985 when Meese addressed the American Bar Association (ABA) in Washington. Here, he made the case for a jurisprudence rooted in the Constitution's text and its original meaning. Since President Obama could potentially remake the U.S. Supreme Court if he wins re-election, it is worth reviewing some of Meese's key observations.

"By seeking to judge policies in light of principles, rather than remold principles in light of policies, the Court could avoid the charge of incoherence and the charge of being either too conservative or too liberal," Meese explained in his ABA talk. "A jurisprudence seriously aimed at the explication of original intention would produce defensible principles of government that would not be tainted by ideological predilection. This belief in a jurisprudence of original intention also reflects a deeply rooted commitment to the idea of democracy."

A close confidante to Governor Reagan and later President Reagan, Meese, who now chairs the Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at the Heritage Foundation, has been a potent intellectual force within the conservative movement.

"Ed Meese has been an invaluable public servant," said Michael Grebe, president and chief executive officer of the Bradley Foundation. "His entire career has been devoted to upholding the rule of law and making the nation more secure."

Meese's 1985 ABA speech jolted Washington's liberal establishment. Supreme Court Justice William Brennan accused originalists of "arrogance cloaked as humility" during a talk at Georgetown University that same year.

There was no reliable way modern judges could properly discern original meaning, he argued.

But Meese was unrelenting.

In subsequent speeches, he continued to hammer home the idea that judges should not substitute their own political convictions in the place of fixed constitutional meanings.

Given how narrowly divided the U.S. Supreme Court is between constitutionalists and activists, Gov. Mitt Romney would do well to channel Meese's commentary on originalist jurisprudence.

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My op-ed on Ravi/Clementi

Posted by Ross Kaminsky on 5.25.12 @ 8:37AM

I was very pleased to be contacted by USA Today on Thursday, asking me to write an opposing view on their take that the conviction and sentencing of Dharun Ravi was fair because society is becoming less tolerant of bias. (They had seen my American Spectator article which made roughly the opposite point to theirs.)

I wrote my view for them, and it has been published as the "Opposing View" in Friday's USA Today:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/story/2012-05-24/rutgers-webcam-case-prank/55195230/1

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Ever Wondered What Happened to the Prop Oval Office From the Film 'JFK'?

Posted by TAS Staff on 5.25.12 @ 7:00AM

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Refuting Compassionate Conservatism's Electoral Benefits

Posted by W. James Antle, III on 5.24.12 @ 12:10PM

I wrote about TAS alumni Phil Klein's new Mitt Romney ebook on the main site. One point I didn't get to bring up was Phil's rebuttal to a popular big-government conservative argument: that the Medicare prescription drug benefit and No Child Left Behind got George W. Bush reelected, and therefore we have those expansions of government to thank for John Roberts and Sam Alito. (Of course, without conservative pressure we might have ended up with Alberto Gonzales and Harriet Miers, but be that is at may.)

Phil writes:

Despite the passage of No Child Left Behind and the Medicare prescription drug bill, Bush actually did worse among voters who considered education and health care their most important issues in his 2004 reelection campaign than he did in his 2000 run. According to CNN exit polls, those voters who identified education as the issue that “mattered most,” favored Al Gore over Bush by a spread of 52 percent to 44 percent. Yet four years later, John Kerry trounced President Bush among voters who thought education was most important, by a margin of 73 percent to 26 percent. Similarly, in 2000, Gore had a 64 percent to 33 percent advantage among health care voters; in 2004 Kerry was favored by a margin of 77 percent to 23 percent. Keep in mind, this was even though Bush’s overall percentage of the popular vote increased in 2004.

It's not even clear that Medicare Part D was the chief reason for Bush's gains among senior citizens. As Phil points out in his ebook, 21 percent of seniors cited moral values as their top issue and another 19 percent picked terrorism. Only 12 percent named controlling health care costs.

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Re: Warren Pulls Even

Posted by W. James Antle, III on 5.24.12 @ 11:57AM

Aaron notes that Elizabeth Warren has pulled even with Scott Brown in the latest poll despite the Native American flap. It's Massachusetts; Barack Obama will be on top of the ticket this November. So you can always expect a candidate like Warren to remain competitive. Nevertheless, I think it is striking that Scott Brown is polling better in Massachusetts than George Allen is in Virginia. Warren looks much more beatable than just a few months ago.

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Warren Pulls Even with Brown in New Poll

Posted by Aaron Goldstein on 5.24.12 @ 9:58AM

For all the controversy around Elizabeth Warren's claims of Native American status, it would appear that it has not hurt her with Massachusetts voters.

According to a new poll released by Suffolk University, Warren has closed the gap between herself and Scott Brown. Warren trails Brown by only a percentage point (48% to 47% of likely voters). Back in February, Brown had a nine point lead over Warren.

The most significant part of the poll is that while 73% of those surveyed were aware of the controversy with regard to Warren claiming status as a Native American, 69% of those folks didn't see what the fuss was all about.

Of course, this is a by-product of living in a liberal state. Most folks here in the Bay State not only favor affirmative action but see nothing wrong with Warren's claims even if they are dubious. In which case, Scott Brown could be in a lot of trouble. If voters in Connecticut didn't care about Richard Blumenthal misrepresenting his military service, is it really a stretch to imagine that Massachusetts voters won't care if Elizabeth Warren lied about being Native American to advance her career?

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Obama at the Academy

Posted by Ross Kaminsky on 5.24.12 @ 9:32AM

On Wednesday, President Obama delivered the commencement address at the Air Force Academy. As with most Obama speeches, it was full of self-congratulation.

As George Will put it, "If you struck from Barack Obama's vocabulary the first-person singular pronoun, he would fall silent, which would be a mercy to us and a service to him, actually."

In his speech at the Academy, Obama used the word "I" 36 times. ("Me" was only used a further two times, while some fraction of the 69 instances of "we" were simply aggrandized versions of "I".)

After explaining to the airmen and women that they would face fewer deployments than other recent graduates because of the winding down of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Obama embarked on a litany of self-defense, cloaked in terms of leadership, almost pathetic for the Commander-in-Chief speaking at a military academy.

Obama said that the US is "leading on global security," almost amusingly mentioning "reducing our nuclear arsenal with Russia." You would think he would not want to remind us of the sweet nothings he whispered to former Russian President Medvedev about increased "flexibility" after the 2012 elections.

He said we are leading economically, at a time when his outrageous budget deficits have even Europeans ignoring the US when it comes to being a role model for how to keep a nation from bankruptcy.

He said we're leading "on behalf of freedom" because of our actions in Libya, where he said we "led from the front," again an odd reminder of the fact of his "leading from behind" as well as a reminder that thousands are being slaughtered in Syria as the US stands nearly silent.

He said that "there is a new feeling about America (and)...new confidence in our leadership." Perhaps he has not noticed the results of Pew's annual survey of opinion of America which, other than in Japan, has generally been sliding during Obama's presidency.

Perhaps most disingenuous and clever, however, was Obama's stated support for capitalism, a word which must be difficult for him to utter. He urged the listeners to "(put) aside the tired notion that says our influence has waned or that America is in decline" and then suggested that "we fought our way back (and) created the largest middle class in history and the most prosperous economy the world has ever known."

The president transitioned this into calling for more "investing," which is his code for government spending, and to "get on with nation-building here at home."

Obama went on to a theme of an upcoming "American Century," but in typical Obama fashion said that it will be "because we have the strongest alliances of any nation." Even when he said that "no other nation can play the role that we play in global affairs," that was based on "shaping the global institutions of the 20th century to meet the challenges of the 21st."

In other words, according to Obama, the US will only be strong because it works through the United Nations, a premier anti-American institution if ever there was one, and because we skip through the fields of foreign affairs holding hands with other nations' diplomats. That may be Obama's definition of strength, but it is one which most prior American presidents and others in position of national leadership would not recognize. Indeed, some might consider Obama's characterization a description of American weakness rather than strength. An interesting message to deliver at a military institution.

It was also amusing to hear the president say that he supports "the liberty of individuals," getting in a jab at Walmart by saying "we stand with...the entrepreneur who wants to start a business without paying a bribe." Of course, there were many labor unions whose implicit bribe of campaign contributions earned them waivers from the tyrannical mandates of Obamacare. Cash may not have changed hands, but this administration is no better than the money-grubbers Obama criticized in his speech.

Obama added that he believes in a "simple yet revolutionary idea -- there at our founding and in our hearts ever since -- that we have it in our power to make the world anew, to make the future what we will." I doubt this was the conception of Madison and Jefferson. Their goal was not to "make the world anew" but to create a nation in which the powers of the federal government were limited so that people are free to pursue happiness. If our Founders knew that a big government radical like Barack Obama was using them as his stated inspiration and justification for his policies and practices, they would shout out in disapproval.

The Commander-in-Chief is an appropriate speaker at a military academy's graduation. But this president's words serve to remind that he is a narcissistic, self-congratulatory, internationalist well outside what many, especially in our military, believe our nation's leader should be.

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Video of the Day: Cruz-ing in Texas

Posted by TAS Staff on 5.24.12 @ 9:15AM

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RET on C-SPAN

Posted by TAS Staff on 5.24.12 @ 12:42AM

R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. will be on C-SPAN's Washington Journal Thursday morning between 8:30 and 9:15, to discuss his latest book, The Death of Liberalism. Parental discretion advised.

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