The Anchoress

THE DEBATE:
No, I didn’t watch the GOP debate. “Too Early, All Pols Go Away” and “Your Endless Campaign Stops Here” are still mantras of the day.

But J’s been watching, as have Dean Barnett and Don Surber. Captain Ed gives it to Rudy, others do some others. Michelle Malkin liveblogged it and has links up the wazoo, as does Instapundit.

Hot Air compares the FOX Hume-hosted debate to the MSNBC Matthews-hosted debate.

Media Blog goes one better and puts together video montage of the two debates. Don’t miss it. The difference in substance is really staggering. The FOX crew did not throw softballs, and they made plenty of candidates squirm.

Word is CBS will host the final DNC-sanctioned debate, with Couric in charge. I wonder if she’ll ask them why they were afraid to debate before Hume at FOX. I wonder if she’ll ask them what they think makes Hillary so great? I wonder if she’ll ask them about the debate over the “gi-normous” windfarms off the coast of Nantucket and how they upset Walter Cronkite?

Speaking of Debates, watch Hillary debate herself on funding Iraq. Come on, woman, be consistent. Don’t let Obama scare you away from your initial convictions. When things turn around in Iraq - as they seem to be doing, certainly, in Anbar, you’ll look like a prescient leader. Unless you keep flip-flopping!

Ed Koch says the surrendering Democrats will be responsible for the blood that will follow - both here in the US and abroad - our pulling out before stability is achieved:

Because the Democrats are forcing an end to the struggle in Iraq, we must now prepare to fight terrorism in our homeland for the next thirty or more years. This is a war of civilizations. The Islamic terrorists worldwide want to destroy the U.S. and every other Western nation, along with moderate Muslim nations, e.g., Egypt, Jordan, etc. Our very survival as a nation is involved. Will we have the courage and will to do all that will be necessary to prevail?

He’s quite right, although it won’t be spun that way. Instead of just hanging in and defeating the whole concept of terrorism as a means of movement - even though that is hard and takes a long-term view of things, in the Middle East - we’ll instead have John Kerry’s “terrorism as a daily inconvenience” here at home…for the next few decades. What a great plan.

Not that anyone cares, really, but more evidence that Saddam hearted Al Qaeda.

FALWELL:
Sorry to hear the man is dead, but he seems to have gone peacefully. He was never my cuppa - he was no Rev. Billy Graham - but I liked him more than Jimmy Swaggart and Pat Robinson. Hot Air watched the story from its inception and took the trouble to go find the predictable “hate” stuff. I don’t know why people go out of their way to find the hate stuff we all know is there, posted by small people with small lives, and yes, I did say the same when some on the right posted ugly on the passing of Molly Ivins. People need to grow up - everything comes around, you know. And yes, the crap you post says more about you than about Falwell.

Kathryn Jean Lopez has a little blurb about reporter’s reactions to Falwell’s death. Not edifying; rather adolescent. “It is a good day!” About what you’d expect.

J notes that the daughter of Martin Luther King, Jr has passed. My birth mother always said “these things come in threes,” and then would launch into a rather jolly speculation about who would be “next.” I’m thinking Tammy Faye Bakker. But my pal Dee says that Jane Wyman is always the stand-by “third” person who “could be next.” But then, she spend an inordinate amount of time at the Old Blue Eyes Memorial Celebrity Death Watch.

HOOHAH:
Jay Ambrose is starting to wonder if the Global Warmingists aren’t oppressors. Ah, it’s always nice to see a smart guy come upt to speed on an issue which clearly threatens liberties as well as the economy. Particularly when it’s an issue based on dubious models. And by the way, some scientists are “walking back” the whole theory, lately. Is the Earth getting warmer? Maybe. It does that from time to time, and gets cooler, too. So does Mars. Are humans responsible for the warming? I hear a lot of yelling that the debate is over, but have still seen no empirical, scientifically verifiable proof. So I’m still voting no. I expect there is a pyre and spike out there somewhere for my heresy, too.

RANDOM STUFF:
Clayton Cramer finds CNN re-writing archived material. I have to go read George Orwell’s 1984 again.

Christopher Hitchens is saying that Paul Wolfowitz is being slimed and has done nothing wrong at the World Bank. Former UN Ambassador Andrew Young agrees with Hitchens and calls the movement against Wolfy “crap.” Clarice Feldman is calling the whole affair an attempted Putsch Nevertheless, ABC is saying Wolfowitz may resign this afternoon (H/T Pajamas Media:

The officials say the bank’s board will accept Wolfowitz’s resignation but will also acknowledge that the World Bank’s Ethics Committee bears “some responsibility” for giving him bad advice on the issue of his girlfriend.

In other words, “yeah, we admit the whole “scandal” was crap from start to finish, but we wanted and got the scalp.” Seems shabby to me. Among other things. :::Update::: Word is Wolfowitz is not resigning.

Why does the press keep warning terrorists that they might be caught? What the hell is wrong with the press?

Jules Crittenden says it’s time for a little chat in a tone that sounds suspiciously like “say hello to my little friend…

Fausta shows how Western feminists have become clowns. French journalists soon will be clowns if they agree to not report on violence.

GM Roper is preparing for Memorial Day with a thought-provoking post.

Glenn Reynolds wonders if, by Imperialism, the left means this.

Dan Rather is taking up acting. Why not? Actors think they’re journalists, journalists think they’re in showbidness…it’s all screwed up.

Siggy is writing about Science and Faith. He and the Sanity Squad have posted a podcast on the subject with guest Rabbi Shmuley Boteach. He’s also writing about Love and Friendship in a way that suggests he has lots more to say about it, so stay tuned.