A Shameful Display

Well, it's final arguments day for Big Brother v Steyn at the BCHRT and our faithful scribe, Andrew Coyne is 'broadcasting' -apparently- from inside the 'courtroom'.

The Good:

Merciful heavens, it’s the last day. Time for final arguments…

The Bad:

. . . what is going on here? “These complaints are not about hate speech at all. These complaints seek a fundamental change in speech regulation by human rights authorities which would empower tribunals across the country to force magazines and newspapers to publish replies at equal length” to articles that some group disagrees with — ie a statutory right of reply.

And the Ludicrous:

There will be no more liveblogging. As I left the courtroom for the lunch break, i was taken aside by a sheepish-looking court official, who said that he’d just learned that I had been “broadcasting” from inside the courtroom. So had I. Broadcasting, I said? I didn’t have a microphone, or a camera.

No, he explained: but liveblogging counts as broadcasting. It’s not the computer that’s the problem. You can type away on it all you want. If you step outside to send it, that’s okay, too. But if you send text from within the courtroom, that’s broadcasting.

On This Day

Ogonowski won't challenge

It's official (according to CQ and Politico), Jim Ogonowski, in his bid for the US Senate, will not mount a legal challenge after failing to surpass the threshold of 10,000 certified signatures. Although the blame does (and should) fall on Ogonowski's organisation (or lack thereof), so far none of the credit is going to Jeff Beatty for his popularity amongst grassroots Republicans.

Of course, it's a great story for the large news outlets to pick up: the Republican party's 'best hope' to challenge Kerry can't even get on the ballot. Ironically, the story that they should be writing is that the GOP's 'best hope' is on the ticket -- his name is Jeff Beatty.

And so it begins...

The RNC have begun their assault on Barack Obama.

MeetBarackObama.com is a full-frontal attack on the Senator's lack of judgement and experience. They've also got an entire section that links to DemocratsVsObama.com -- sure, it may be a subdirectory of GOP.com, but it's pretty savvy nonetheless.

They've got some pretty cool little add-ons too (check the sidebar!)

Remembering Bobby Kennedy

Robert F. Kennedy  (November 20, 1925 - June 6, 1968).

Here's Teddy's eulogy -- one of the most understated and moving speeches of the 20th century:

"My brother need not be idealized, or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life; to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it."

ZZZZZzzzzzzz

Don't blame Andrew Coyne, he's just the messenger.

Quote of the day:

Argh. I’m out of power. Bear with me, until I can arrange to get near a power outlet. (SORRY - can’t be helped. There’s one power outlet in the whole room, and if you’re not sitting next to it…) . . We’re back, and by some miracle — actually, by a fairly gross instance of queue-jumping — I have got myself a seat near the power outlet.

Yup, that's how interesting day four at the BC Human Right Tribunal seemed to be.  

The good news: Final arguments tomorrow!

Finally, Some Authenticity!

Via The Swamp:

  

You have to wait until the end.  Watch for it.  Hint: It comes AFTER the fist bump. 

Awesome!

McCain will lose...it's science

Mort Kondracke (in Roll Call via RCP) argues that new 'scholarly analysis' by Alan Abramowitz (which we'll get to in a second) suggests that John McCain will have to 'perform miracles' if he is to have any hope of beating Obama.

Abramowitz is a Professor at Emory University and has developed this 'electoral barometer', (presumably using crayons, play-doh and elbow macaroni):

The formula adds the incumbent president’s net approval rating (approval minus disapproval), the second-quarter election-year GDP growth rate multiplied by five (emphasizing the importance of the economy) and then (factoring in time-for-a-change sentiment) subtracts 25 points if the in-party is finishing a second term.

Bush’s net approval now stands at minus 40. The first-quarter growth rate was 0.6 percent and Bush is finishing eight years, meaning that this year’s electoral barometer currently stands at minus 62.

Apparently, minus 62 is bad. Really bad. Scholarly analysis bad. Miracle bad. I doubt McCain will lose much sleep.

Obama, bigger than Jesus

"It's a good day for America", proclaimed Rep. William Lacy Clay (D-Mo.), and truly it is. I may not agree with Obama's policies but his candidacy (whether you like it or not) is about something more than politics, and we shouldn't lose sight of that. But there's always one person who takes it a stage too far, more often than not, that person happens to be Jesse Jackson. Here's what he said:

"I cried all night. I’m going to be crying for the next four years. What Barack Obama has accomplished is the single most extraordinary event that has occurred in the 232 years of the nation’s political history. ... The event itself is so extraordinary that another chapter could be added to the Bible to chronicle its significance.”

What I love though, is how it's followed up with a comment that it's obviously not about race:

"I hope the least historical thing about Barack Obama is his being black and the most historical is that he solved our health care problems, ended the war in Iraq and made life better for Americans".

Hear, hear...but isn't it a little difficult for him to not be just the black President when you're saying that his nomination is the single most extraordinary event in the country's 232 year political history.

Full story at Politico

(hat tip: Nel)

Obama Idolatry

I just can't make up my mind on Andrew Sullivan, sometimes I read his blog and think, "yeah, smart, thoughtful, right on the money," but he seems to be so overwhelmed by Obama, that he's become blinded by all the empty bluster.

This is the entire post (I've highlighted the stranger points):

If I needed reassurance that this man is the most formidable force in American politics today, his speech tonight confirmed it. It was shrewd - with an artful positioning on Iraq. It wasgraceful - with respect for McCain's service and Clinton's tenacity. It was brutal - in turning around McCain's Iraq visit meme to domestic economic woes. It was patriotic - in its evocation of Gettysburg and the Second World War. It was outer-directed: not for Obama the recourse to self-satisfied identity politics of the kind used by the Clintons because they often have nothing else. It was moving. I thought I even saw some suggestions of tears as he remembered his grandmother. It was also rhetorically more powerful than McCain - not by a small amount but by a mile. Put McCain's speech against Obama's - and this was a wipe-out. Not a victory. A wipe-out. Rhetorically, they are simply not in the same league. And if the contrast tonight between McCain and Obama holds for the rest of the campaign, McCain is facing a defeat of historic proportions.

One more thing: with McCain's and Clinton's speeches, you could not forget the politics of it. With Obama, you forgot about that at times. You actually lifted your eyes a little and believed a little and hoped a little.

Yes, he can. And anyone who under-estimates that will regret it.

Hook, line and sinker. Wow. Let the Love-fest begin. But was it really all those things? Sadly, no.

Was his 'artful positioning' on Iraq 'shrewd'?

Here's the section of text he refers to:

Change is a foreign policy that doesn't begin and end with a war that should've never been authorized and never been waged. I won't stand here and pretend that there are many good options left in Iraq, but what's not an option is leaving our troops in that country for the next hundred years -- especially at a time when our military is overstretched, our nation is isolated, and nearly every other threat to America is being ignored. 

We must be as careful getting out of Iraq as we were careless getting in - but start leaving we must. It's time for Iraqis to take responsibility for their future. It's time to rebuild our military and give our veterans the care they need and the benefits they deserve when they come home. It's time to refocus our efforts on al Qaeda's leadership and Afghanistan, and rally the world against the common threats of the 21st century -- terrorism and nuclear weapons; climate change and poverty; genocide and disease. That's what change is.

No. It was contradictory and disingenuous. You cannot complain about an overstretched military when you and your colleagues control the budget. How can someone say "we must be as careful getting out...as were careless getting in" and follow it up with the Yoda-esque "but start leaving we must" -- does that mean 'we must leave' irrespective of whether or not the Iraqis are ready to take over the security of their country? Saying that they'll just have to be ready doesn't seem like leaving carefully.

Was it really graceful? Is this really graceful:

They will come here to nominate John McCain, a man who has served this country heroically. I honor that service, and I respect his many accomplishments, even if he chooses to deny mine.

No. It's a cheap shot. And the reason why McCain hasn't acknowledged Obama's heroic service and many accomplishments is because there aren't any. What's he supposed to do, congratulate him for never serving in the military and for a fairly mediocre record in the Illinois legislature?

Was the reversal of McCain's proposed Iraq trip really brutal?

The text:

John McCain has spent a lot of time talking about trips to Iraq in the last few weeks, but maybe if he spent some time taking trips to the cities and towns that have been hardest hit by this economy -- cities in Michigan, and Ohio, and right here in Minnesota -- he'd understand the kind of change that people are looking for.

The problem: yeah, McCain has done all that and visited Iraq more than once in 2 years. Sure, it may be a clever rhetorical device but it's devoid of substance.

Patriotism:

So it was for that band of patriots who declared in a Philadelphia hall the formation of a more perfect union; and for all those who gave on the fields of Gettysburg and Antietam their last full measure of devotion to save that same union.

Is this the only way for Obama to appear patriotic, to mention Gettysburg and the last full measure of devotion?

Finally, a defeat of 'historical proportions'? That, I’m afraid, reflects both an overindulgence of the Obama kool-aid, and the most damaging elements of the word ‘hope’. It gets you believing in the impossible (even in the face of the inevitable). I'm not saying that a McCain win is inevitable (or that an Obama win is impossible), I'm suggesting that abandoning rationality because a politician can give a great speech is getting dangerously close to idolatry. Does Obama really have the substance to run this gauntlet of uncertainty? No, sadly, the promise outweighs the man. Although, to be fair, the promise of his presidency outweighs any man.

Barry, There's a Ball in Your Court

Interesting offer from John McCain.  Will Obama man-up?

Dear Senator Obama:

In 1963, Senator Barry Goldwater and President John F. Kennedy agreed to make presidential campaign history by flying together from town to town and debating each other face-to-face on the same stage. In Goldwater's words, those debates "would have done the country a lot of good." Unfortunately, with President Kennedy's untimely death, Americans lost the rare opportunity of witnessing candidates for the highest office in the land discuss civilly and extensively the great issues at stake in the election. What a welcome change it would be were presidential candidates in our time to treat each other and the people they seek to lead with respect and courtesy as they discussed the great issues of the day, without the empty sound bites and media-filtered exchanges that dominate our elections. It is in the spirit of President Kennedy's and Senator Goldwater's agreement, in the spirit of the politics of change, and to do our country good, that I invite you to join me in participating in town hall meetings across the country to discuss the most important issues facing Americans. I also suggest we fly together to the first town hall meeting as a symbolically important act embracing the politics of civility.

I propose these town hall meetings be as free from the regimented trappings, rules and spectacle of formal debates as possible, and that we pledge to the American people we will not allow the idea to die on the negotiation table as our campaigns work out the details. I suggest we agree to participate in at least ten town halls once a week with the first on June 11 or 12 in New York City at Federal Hall until the week before the Democratic Convention begins at locations to be determined by our campaigns. Federal Hall is particularly fitting as it was the place where George Washington took the oath of office as our first President and the birthplace of American government hosting the first Congress, Supreme Court and Executive Branch offices. These town halls should be attended by an audience of between two to four hundred selected by an independent polling agency, could be sixty to ninety minutes in length, have very limited moderation by an independ ent local moderator, take blind questions from the audience selected by the moderator and allow for equally proportional time for answers by each of us. All of these are suggestions that can be finalized by our campaigns. What is important is that we commit to participate in these history making meetings to join in the higher level of discourse that Americans clearly would prefer.

To show our good faith, we should both commit to the first town hall I have suggested. In the mean time, we can work out dates for future town hall meetings.

I look forward to your favorable reply and to the opportunity to work with you to give Americans a better opportunity to understand our differences, our agreements and the leadership we offer them.

Sincerely,

John McCain

Day of the 'Experts'

Poor Andrew Coyne has liveblogged another day in the life of the BC Human Rights Tribunal.

My favourite excerpt of the day:

 . . . we will have gone through an entire hearing about Muslims exposed to hatred in British Columbia without hearing from one single, solitary outraged British Columbian Muslim . . . . We heard from an outraged Muslim — Joseph’s articling student, Kurrum Awan — but he’s from Ontario. And we’ve heard from a British Columbian, the Islamic scholar Andrew Rippin, but he’s neither particularly outraged nor, it seems, Muslim. Even the lawyers were from Ontario . . .

That's what happens when you allow complainants to go jurisdiction shopping.

Obama pro-Israel?

(but only when speaking to Jews). CNN covered his speech to AIPAC, where he attempted to dispel the anti-Israel rumours which emerged after his fluctuating position on the Iranian threat, and his dubious "open wound" remark.

Last night's speeches

Tom Bevan reviews last night's speeches at the RCP Blog. I'm glad that some of the punditry also thought that Obama's last paragraph was just a step too far:

The climax at the end also struck me as a bit over the top veering dangerously close to the kind of messianic rhetoric that might make people's hair stand on end (generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment... when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal).

Jonah Goldberg at The Corner, hit a little harder, calling the last section "an enormous gust of gassy nonsense".

One point that I forgot to make about Obama's speech last night was in regard to the McCain cheap shots, especially the, "They will come here to nominate John McCain, a man who has served this country heroically. I honor that service, and I respect his many accomplishments, even if he chooses to deny mine" (picked up by Mark Hemingway at The Corner). Aside from being totally uncalled for, it's the type of lame stunt that renders a great speech very ordinary in eyes of history -- it was a shame to see it, but equally, it's something we've come to expect from Mr Duplicitous: even though I could attack my opponent for all of these reasons, I'm not going to do it (--it's as bad as Huck's anti-Romney, 'I'm going to show the press the attack ad I've decided not to run' stunt from during the primaries).

Obama's Speech

Drudge has the full text here. It's good, but not great. His speeches are really getting awfully formulaic, both in content and style. Although the "Change is...", "Maybe...", and "So it was..." introductions are great for his oratorical style (where he starts soft, slow and deep and ramps up the pitch, pace and volume), they are becoming quite tiresome. Same for content: change is good, change is what he's about, McCain won't change anything, change can unify the country, a unified country can do anything, change begins now, and with him. Again, very simple, very effective, and always delivered excellently.

The last couple of paragraph's actually let the speech down -- it reads like it's trying to be truly spectacular, but comes of as both a little clichéd, and as a bit of a clumsy West Wing/JFK rip-off, like the writer was trying to merge the fictional Sam Seaborn and the actual Ted Sorenson:

America, this is our moment. This is our time. Our time to turn the page on the policies of the past. Our time to bring new energy and new ideas to the challenges we face. Our time to offer a new direction for the country we love. 

The journey will be difficult. The road will be long. I face this challenge with profound humility, and knowledge of my own limitations. But I also face it with limitless faith in the capacity of the American people. Because if we are willing to work for it, and fight for it, and believe in it, then I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on Earth. This was the moment -- this was the time -- when we came together to remake this great nation so that it may always reflect our very best selves, and our highest ideals. Thank you, God Bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America.

I feel a little sorry for the candidates; it must be so hard to preserve any originality in such an exceptionally long primary season. Maybe I'm just overly sensitive, but every time I hear Obama say "change" or McCain say "my friends" or "straight-talk", I look for a cushion to cringe behind. Perhaps a two-month moratorium could be placed on certain words and phrases to afford the public some well-needed respite, and provide them (and me) with an opportunity to become re-sensitised to some of the terms that have become lost inside the white noise of political rhetoric.

A Leader You Can Believe In

McCain kicked off the 2008 Campaign from Louisiana tonight.  Pretty good speech, but the delivery could have been better.  However, what impresses me is that McCain does not seem to be cowed and is willing to take the fight to Obama.

The takeaway from the speech and perhaps the entire 2008 Election:

I don't seek the presidency on the presumption I'm blessed with such personal greatness that history has anointed me to save my country in its hour of need. I seek the office with the humility of a man who cannot forget my country saved me.

And therein lies the difference.  McCain 2008!

A 'Marsupial Court'

Another day with the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal.

Again, the liveblogging Andrew Coyne does the heavy lifting, so you don't have to.

My favourite excerpt of the day:

Aha, clearly the evil hand of Steyn at work: he’s already influencing public opinion even before the Maclean’s piece appeared! . . . I remain impressed with Steyn’s ability to influence opinion even in advance of publication. I admit this seems implausible. However, we must always remember, good people of Salem, that when when it comes to witches, all things are possible, natural and supernatural…

For an even less charitable, and arguably more colourful, play-by-play of the 'trial' check out Ezra Levant's liveblogging.  Unfortunately, Ezra is returning to Alberta and won't be covering the 'trial' for the rest of the week, but his first two days are well worth a read.