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Paul Pillar corrects a common misunderstanding about the Foreign Terrorist Organization list: Tanter seems to believe that a group has to have committed terrorist acts within the previous two years to be kept on the list. Not true. (Having been directly involved in the laborious process of compiling the required administrative records for the initial [...]
Filed under: foreign policy, politics
Marion Smith responds to Stephen Walt on American exceptionalism and foreign policy (via Scoblete): President Obama’s misunderstanding of American exceptionalism has found defenders among international-relations scholars and taken on an aura of legitimacy. Realist theorist Stephen Walt, in a recent article in Foreign Policy, exposes the “myths” of American exceptionalism. Walt echoes Obama’s view — [...]
Filed under: foreign policy, politics
Pete Wehner admired Paul Ryan’s Heritage Foundation speech: He made the case for why equality of outcome is itself a form of inequality (it creates a system based on political influence and bureaucratic favoritism). He made a moral defense of capitalism, pointing out that it has done far more to help the poor than any [...]
Filed under: politics
Paul Ryan reports on American and European social mobility c. 1900. Unfortunately, he seems to think that it still applies to the present: Our Founding Fathers rejected this mentality. In societies marked by class structure, an elite class made up of rich and powerful patrons supplies the needs of a large client underclass that toils, [...]
Filed under: politics
Erica Grieder discusses Mormonism and theology: Richard J. Mouw of the Fuller Theological Seminary says that the key issue is Mormons say that God and man are part of the same species, apparently a reference to the Mormon belief that God has a body (“He has a body that looks like ours, but God’s body [...]
Filed under: Christianity, religion
If you or someone you know is interested in political writing and traditional and principled conservative analysis and commentary, TAC has a new opportunity: Do you want to join a Washington journalism team that’s advancing a smart, independent voice on the Right? The American Conservative is looking for an online editor. The magazine is already [...]
Filed under: miscellaneous
Rich Lowry talks nonsense: Perhaps none of this should be surprising since the Democrats, despite the Clinton interlude, never stopped being a McGovernite party, and Obama is a McGovernite figure. In what sense could this be true? McGovernite is just a term of abuse here that has no relationship to what Obama is doing. Lowry [...]
Filed under: foreign policy, politics
Mona Charen recycles the old complaint that the administration didn’t do enough for the Green movement: The fall of that regime would be the greatest victory imaginable against worldwide terror (to say nothing of what it would do for Iranians). Yet when the regime was rocked by weeks of protests, Obama let the opportunity to [...]
Filed under: foreign policy, politics
Aaron Goldstein responds to Clark Stooksbury: My point here is that neither supporters nor detractors of the War in Iraq foresaw the emergence of Iran and it is this emergence which prompted my question about Saddam as our military forces prepare to leave Iraq. This is clearly untrue. One of the most obvious consequences of [...]
Filed under: foreign policy, politics
Bill Kristol cannot give up on the dream of new presidential candidates: So: The race seems to be more open and fluid than conventional wisdom has it. In particular, it strikes me that as everyone focuses (understandably) on Romney, Cain, and Perry, Gingrich is increasingly well positioned for a serious challenge. And mightn’t at least [...]
Filed under: politics