Facts of Strokes

Powerline has a great post on how Bob Dole was presented and perceived in the 80's and 90's: 'Back then, Dole was portrayed as a nasty piece of work, a hatchet man with an acerbic wit. In 1976, when he ran for vice president, the line on Dole was that Gerald Ford selected him because of his ability to sling mud at Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale. President Ford would take the high road while Dole would ridicule and demean the opposition. If I recall correctly, Dole was sometimes compared to Richard Nixon, to whom he bore a slight physical resemblance. To the media, Nixon was, of course, the symbol of the politics of negativity, division, and hate.' And as this blog noted on Monday, conservatives didn't like Dole all that much either. 

What Will's Watching, Live Before a Studio Audience: ABC's homage to The Facts of Life and Different Strokes. We turned on the TV and our brain said to us, 'There's The Facts of Life.' It was just there, like it'd always been. Live was well executed Gen-X nostalgia. Ultimately pointless but fun nonetheless. The difference between Live and the Boomer's inability to shut the hell up about the 50s and 60s is this was done with a wink. Live was an hour and a half long inside joke, kind of like the old Brady Bunch Movie. 

The Facts of Life and Different Strokes aired for 8 seasons on network TV and enjoyed long lives in reruns. The quality of the acting, writing and plotting was about on par with those horrible Disney live actions sitcoms.* Don't ask this blog to explain why they were popular. They just were. Back then, younger reader(s), one just watched what was on. We had seven channels, man.**

We don't have many deep thoughts about the Biden/Putin phone call. Did it go well? Who knows? The US pledging not to expand NATO to Ukraine (which makes zero sense anyway) in exchange for Putin not invading Ukraine sounds like a pretty good deal, no? Finlandization, they call it. Not that we care what happens to Ukraine. We won't die for Donetsk. That being said, alert observers should be terrified. Biden managed to ef up vaccines, the Wuhan Virus, the economy and Afghanistan. The man is that special kind of Democrat who has never been right on foreign policy. 

It wouldn't surprise this blog to learn a carrier battle group complete with a Marine MEU is entering the Black Sea right now. The globalists concentrate on Russia, which is no threat to the US, while China runs rampant. There's a subset of Dems who think Ukraine is a vital national interest. Remember Schiff for Brains brainless arguments over Ukraine during the faux impeachment? War over Ukraine may be the ultimate expression of Trump Derangement syndrome. Besides, the Biden family may decide its business interests in Ukraine must be defended. 

And just because this blog has moronic enemies with the reading comprehension skills of a poo flinging orangutang, we once again state that we don't think Russia should invade Ukraine and if it did, we'd root for Ukraine. 

*Not Stuck in the Middle, which is great.

**No one counted PBS and being known to watch it was a good way to get your ass kicked.

Monday Mess

On to The Great Salvation of 1976's last (written) chapter this week. This chapter deals with new hopes in the spring, infrastructure building and planning for elections in the fall. We're on page 110 of 135 (that's in MS Word). 

We should have a couple of articles out this week, one in 19FortyFive, maybe something in Moscow, and one on Substack. We'll be dumping our old War on Terror articles there all this month. A few pieces about Iraq, the Ethiopians in Somalia, etc etc. 

Over at the New York Post we see...a lot of stuff about Meghan Markle. On Behalf of the United States, this blog would like to apologize to HRH, the Royal Family and the British people. I guess this about settles things between our two nations [It settles nothing. You kept arriving late to the wars-Ed]. You know Charles isn't Harry's real dad, right? [Why you cheeky bastard-Ed]. What's Harry gonna do when Meghan has an affair with her yoga instructor?

Back to Killer Andy C. The Democrat Senate Majority leader says he should resign. The guv says he ain't going nowhere. Resignation seems farfetched, but this blog predicts he won't run for gov again in 2022. The great Robert Stacy McCain thinks this is all a conspiracy hatched by the Kamala Harris camp. A fellow North American said the same to us the other day. McCain is going off of Ace's speculation, and both Ace and RSM are always right...But Andy's best strategy is to bow out now, make his comeback in 2024 and run in the primaries against Harris. She'll have a couple of years in office by then, and a record to run against.

We know a lot of people who fear Willie Brown's girlfriend. But she had no support in the Dem primaries. None, zero, zilch, nada. There is no Harris cheering section within the Democrat party. When she takes office later this year her position will be analogous to that of Andrew Johnson in 1865.

Jury selection for the trial of Officer Derek Chauvin begins today. Powerline reports Minneapolis is 'bracing for the worst'. It doesn't matter. If Chauvin is acquitted there will be rage riots. If Chauvin is convicted there will be celebratory riots. Those interested in legal analysis can do no better than Powerline, as they're lawyers out of Minnesota. Last year we called Chauvin a murderer. Well, it's more complicated than that, isn't it? A manslaughterer? 

We were asked yesterday to reco a book on The Israel War of Independence. We really don't know one, as for our own writing we've relied upon military history compendiums. We do suggest  Benny Morris, who has written a book on the subject. Our own, Israel at War, goes into the '48 war as well. 

Those studying the Arab-Israeli Wars will return again and again to one salient fact: Arabs can't fight. The Egyptian army was incompetent. One can't help but shake one's head. In fact, after the '67 debacle STAVKA summoned their Egyptian counterparts to Moscow and read them the riot act. The Egyptians replied, 'You don't understand. We've studied the Red Army in WWII. We've lured the Jews into the Sinai. Now we wait for winter.' Don't forget to tip your waitresses, folks.

Actually the Six Day War is kind of dull. The Yom Kippur war has all the interesting action, tense cabinet meetings, tactical disasters, etc etc. 

The Democrats are Out of Gas

True in 1980. True Today.

It's hard to disagree with Powerline's assessment of the Dems' situation:

Thoughts: Biden seems stuck in the mud. Think of him as the Spinal Tap of candidates: his appeal is getting “more selective.” But if he finishes fourth in Iowa and New Hampshire, I doubt South Carolina can save him. Though the wild card will be Bloomberg and Steyer: will they turn their ample warchests into attack ads on Sanders, the way Mitt Romney serially destroyed each successive challenger in 2012? That will set up a Democratic base versus billionaires fight that will lead to a serious nationwide popcorn shortage.

Do click on through for the polling data.

Ironically the Jew hating progressive left led by young Jew haters like AOC, Rashida Tlaib and Somalia's own Ilhan Omar, is rallying behind an old Brooklyn Jew, Bernie Sanders.

Michael Bloomberg is spending money like he's worth $50 billion. We saw his ads all though this weekend's NFL playoffs (how bout them Titans!). He's kind of a jerk but his ads are well made with a strong message, I'm a manager who gets things done. Bloomberg may have been an annoying nanny-state Mayor, but he ran NYC just fine. Look what's happened to the joint since failed presidential candidate Bill De Blasio (S-Managua) took over. In other circumstances this blog could imagine voting for Bloomberg.

We won't make predictions. Last summer we insisted the nominee would be  Harris or Warren. Harris is long gone and Warren is fading. She's just too annoying to win the nomination. Sooner or later it'll be back to the reservation for her.

The modern Democrat party is not going to nominate a White Man like Joe Biden. But the modern Democrat Party is also not going to nominate a Jew like Bernie Sanders. We're stuck and so are they.

We're weeks away from votes being cast people.

Ilhan Omar May well be Sent Back

So Trump disavowed  the 'Send her back' chant.

Smart.

Trump  elicited the chant, got more publicity for Ilhan Omar and gets to say he didn't like the chant. When people are talking about Ilhan Omar that's a bad thing for the Democrats.

Meanwhile, Ms. Mogadishu introduces a resolution supporting BDS and says she's going to the Jewish State to learn more about the 'occupation'.  Hot Air reports:

Awwww-kward! This move comes at a tricky time for her House Democrat colleagues anyway, as they scramble to defend Omar and three other frosh House Democrats at the same time they’re busy attacking Nancy Pelosi. According to Jake Tapper’s sources in the House Democratic caucus, the resolution adds to their frustration and disgust with the four, and Omar in particular...

Ilhan Omar hates Jews.

As we've written before, Pelosi's Squad think they're winning. They think they're having a great week. They learn nothing and they forget nothing. They are incapable of either. Ilhan Omar is having a horrible week and doesn't even know it. Oh, and her week just got even more horrible, so sayeth Powerline:

I believe Scott Johnson, Preya Samsundar, and me, with our three years of articles, columns and posts, have provided more than enough evidence to give law enforcement authorities probable cause to open an investigation. Now would be the chance for law enforcement, and especially for Rep. Ilhan Omar’s House colleagues, to make a sincere stand against corruption and for the uniform application of the law.

When the sober and serious lawyers at Powerline say you are in trouble, you are well and truly fucked.

Nobody knows more about winning than Donald Jon Trump.

Trump to Omar: Drop Dead

People to whom we pay much attention and respect...

[Cough Powerline Cough-Ed]

...think Trump really screwed up with his Ilhan Omar tweet.

We don't see it.

Ilhan Omar bashes America and Trump simply says what we all think. Which is about a quarter of Trump's appeal to begin with.

If reader(s) think we've gone over to the dark side and believe all Trump actions are part of some grand 4-D chess move, reader(s) are correct.

Meanwhile, here's how the Dems' day went:

Thanks to Trump the subject is Ilhan Omar and that is bad news for the Dems. 

This blog can't wait to see what he does with Miss Venezuela.

Hey Harris: Bus You!

In last week's debate Kamala Harris attacked Joe Biden for opposing forced busing. Breitbart:

“And it was not only that, but you also worked with them to oppose bussing,” Harris told Biden in what was the night’s signature moment. “And you know, there was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools, and she was bussed to school every day. And that little girl was me. So, I will tell you that on this subject, it cannot be an intellectual debate among democrats. We have to take it seriously. We have to act swiftly.”

For foreign and younger readers who are wondering what the hell Harris is talking about, forced busing was the attempt by the courts to desegregate public schools by busing students away from their own local schools to schools across town.

Segregated schools were enshrined by the 1897 Plessy vs Ferguson case which OK'd 'separate but equal' schools.

The forced busing battles raged throughout the 60s, 70s and even into the 80s. The practice destroyed entire school districts. The Boston case is the most notorious but there were hundreds of others.

In the prog imagination forced busing involved bringing black kids to white schools, ala Little Rock but more often involved busing white kids to black schools.

Nobody liked forced busing then, nobody likes it now. This from 1999. Eighty-two percent want to stay put.

When asked if Harris still supports forced busing a spokesmen replied, 'Yes.'

By the way, Powerline* reports Ms. Harris's own school integration story is...exaggerated?...embellished?:

It seems clear that Harris would have attended an integrated school absent busing. The Times describes Harris’s neighborhood as “more diverse [and] less affluent” than the neighborhood to which she was bused. Because the neighborhood was racially diverse, the local school would have been too. As I had speculated, busing was not required for Harris to attend a racially integrated school.

This is not quite Hillary dodging snipers on the Tarmac, yet. 

Harris has created a major headache for herself. We can't wait till she's asked if, as president, she'll issue executive orders on forced busing. This will go on for weeks and will help define her for the general. The dumpster dive on her story should be fun too!

*No excuse for not reading Powerline. None.

Wither Brezhnev

Steven Hayward at Powerline cracks Brezhnev jokes and quotes a 1978 Spectator review of a Brezhnev autobiography:

Have you ever been in a heated debate about Leonid’s life and found yourself stumped and humiliated when your opponent put his nose against yours, asking as a sneer rippled across his upper lip: “Okay, wise-guy: if you’re so smart, can you tell me when Brezhnev was elected First Secretary of the Zaporozhye Regional Party Committee, when he was elected First Secretary of the Dnepropetrovosk Regional Party Committee, and when he was elected First and Second Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan?”

If your answer to this question is “yes,” then this book is for you.

He's not kidding.

In preparation for the World War 1990 series in which Yegor Ligachev is the Soviet Premier, we read Ligachev's memoirs, which are just awful. They are a recitation of meetings, plenums, committee assignments and conferences. In spite of their awfulness, Ligachev's memoirs tell us much about the Politburo and the Soviet Union.*

Meetings, congresses, plenary sessions and the like are the essence of communist government. It's impossible to underestimate their importance.

Gorby's big coup against Yeltsin was dragging the drunk mongol out of a hospital bed, drugging him up, and sitting him in front of a party session for hours of ritual denunciation. Commies love that crap. 

They gab with one another like 13 year old girls arguing whose the cutest member of One Direction. 

*We took this from our intro to Eastern Storm.

Drudge: Five Years After

It's the summer of 2003. We rent a rustic 18th century farmhouse across the street from the swan park in Peapack, NJ. The house has original floor boards (once a month we have to walk around the house and hammer the nails back in), 19th century door handles and old fashioned farm closets. The house sits on 2 .5 acres, shaded by a couple of massive trees, airy in the summer actually, but cold in the winter. The Delaware born Mrs. Stroock is still wincing from her first northeastern winter in the place.

We've finished our work for the day, grad school stuff and writing what will become A Line through the Desert. Things are really coming together and we know it.

We're sitting down in the afternoon to get our news. We start at the Drudge report, world famous after he broke the Clinton-Lewisnky affair.

From their we go to Andrew Sullivan, the first blogger we ever read. Then over to NRO's The Corner. After that Mickey Kaus, who we knew from his New Republic Days. After that a blog called Captain's Quarters (now Hot Air), and then Powerline. We've just discovered Instapundit. 

We've completely abandoned the TV news, though we'll watch a bit of Fox. We now laugh at the notion of newspapers. Imus? We wish he'd go fall off a horse, again.

A year later CBS published the Killian fake memo about W.'s national guard service. 

We watched what happen next unfold in real time. Powerline noticed the memo supposedly written in 1972 was super-scripted. Little Green Footballs, before Charles Johnson lost his mind, made an exact duplicate of the memo in MS Word. The Weekly Standard found a website dedicated to old typewriters whose owner explained that typewriters did nor super-script letters. Drudge picked up the story by noon the next day. That night the sham doc was on Fox...