Tuesday's links and comments

Sometimes I'll know I'll like an article just from reading the headline. Here is an example: Just how crazy are the Dems? Jonah Goldberg uses some recent polling data to demonstrate that the majority of Democrats are completely out of their mind.

MOST FAIR-MINDED readers will no doubt take me at my word when I say that a majority of Democrats in this country are out of their gourds.

But, on the off chance that a few cynics won't take my word for it, I offer you data. Rasmussen Reports, the public opinion outfit, recently asked voters whether President Bush knew about the 9/11 attacks beforehand. The findings? Well, here's how the research firm put it: "Democrats in America are evenly divided on the question of whether George W. Bush knew about the 9/11 terrorist attacks in advance. Thirty-five percent of Democrats believe he did know, 39% say he did not know and 26% are not sure."

It is one thing to hear that some percentage of people believe in UFO's or don't believe in the moon landing. It is another thing altogether to come to grips with the idea that the majority of people in what used to be a serious political party think there is a chance that our government could have known about the attacks in advance and done nothing about it. Pathetic.

Since Watergate, only Bill Clinton refused to release his past tax returns when running for president. According to this article several of the 2008 candidates are not intending to release theirs. How much personal information a candidate needs to divulge is undetermined. In the formative years of our country, politicians did not release much personal information at all. As we progressed through the 20th century, the media demanded more and more information. With FDR and Eisenhower the concerns centered on health issues. With others, financial returns were combed over looking for anything that could lead to a potential conflict of interest. Now, the returns are wanted by the media and opposition research teams to ferret out anything that could embarrass a candidate. Many Democrat candidates appease the labor unions and the far left by railing against various big business. If their returns showed holdings in companies like WalMart they understandably would hesitate to disclose that information. For other candidates, charitable contributions (or lack thereof) could be equally embarrassing.

Rev. Jerry Falwell passed away today. May he rest in peace. Falwell spoke for many people as he campaigned against the decline of the moral fabric of our society. Unfortunately, he also often gave the media and his opponents sound bites that could be used as ammunition against him.

This is hilarious. It is Fred Thompson's response to Michael Moore challenging him to a debate about Cuba.

BREAKING NEWS:

President George W. Bush has chosen Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute as the new U.S. "war czar" to oversee the conflicts in Iran and Afghanistan

I understand the political realities and the need to do "something" to show a change, but I am sure the problems we've had in prosecuting the war don't stem from an insufficiently cumbersome chain of command. Adding another level of command and control just gives another stop along the way for orders to get misconstrued. Nothing against General Lute (who I admit I've never heard of before tonight), I'm just not thrilled with the idea of adding a position.