Political stuff & more for a Friday

Hugh Hewitt examines James Webb's candidacy for U.S. Senate from Virginia. Hewitt believes (and I agree) that this race will be seen as a referendum on the Iraq War. Webb is a decorated Marine and former Republican running as a Democrat opposed to the action in Iraq against Sen. George Allen who has supported taking action.

Uriah Kriegel of TCS Daily considers the effort to draft Secretary of State Rice to run for president in 2008 and the obstacles to her election. Interesting analysis even if I don't agree with all of it. It is one of those articles you have to read twice. I stick to my contention that she is not going to run, but you never know.

Did Ann Coulter commit election fraud?

Bolton Launches Talks on Replacing Annan If you believe that the United Nations is still relevant (which I don't) then this could be important.

Lost in the media obsession with a hunting accident was the ludicrous speech that former VP Al Gore gave in Saudi Arabia last weekend. Jack Kelly of Jewish World Review has an article fact checking Gore's speech. And to think that buffoon was close to being elected president. Gore's despicable behavior since serving as VP only serves to enhance Dan Quayle's reputation.

House candidate admits former work as prostitute

A Dallas Democrat seeking election to the Texas House of Representatives has acknowledged that he once worked as a prostitute. Tom Malin, a salesman and actor, said he no longer works as a prostitute but conceded that his previous life could cost him the nomination in the March 7 Democratic primary. "I've made mistakes in my life, and I've stood before my creator and I've accepted responsibility for my behavior," Malin told The Dallas Morning News. "I've also accepted his grace and his redemption and his love and his forgiveness," and that's what is important, he said.

Let him run. The voters can decide if his positions on the issues they care about are good.

The American Thinker has an article which reviews the Washington Post's coverage of two high profile shootings, Dick Cheney's hunting accident and Vince Foster's suicide. Both had delays in reporting. However, the WAPO's reporting was drastically different in handling the two stories.

The early reporting record of the Foster death shows very little skepticism, lots of sympathy and a pronounced inclination to accept whatever whoppers the White House layed out for the press corps.

Contrast this with coverage on the Cheney matter: question everything, believe nothing, always infer the most nefarious and evil explanations. Conjecture and speculation are the rule of the day. All this being done with the irrefutable knowledge that no one got killed, and no one doubts it is anything other than a regrettable garden-variety accident

The most unbelievable aspect of the coverage of the two stories to me is no one in the media has noticed the irony of Hillary Clinton accusing Cheney of wrongdoing in the delay considering she was the one who ordered a delay in the Foster investigation. Amazing.