Hewitt Blog

From the City Journal:

If you divide the world into geographical regions, then, Iran’s neither here nor there. But if you divide it ideologically, the mullahs are ideally positioned at the center of the various provinces of Islam—the Arabs, the Turks, the Stans, and the south Asians. Who better to unite the Muslim world under one inspiring, courageous leadership? If there’s going to be an Islamic superpower, Tehran would seem to be the obvious candidate.

and

Our failure to understand Iran in the seventies foreshadowed our failure to understand the broader struggle today. As clashes of civilizations go, this one’s between two extremes: on the one hand, a world that has everything it needs to wage decisive war—wealth, armies, industry, technology; on the other, a world that has nothing but pure ideology and plenty of believers. (Its sole resource, oil, would stay in the ground were it not for foreign technology, foreign manpower, and a Western fetishization of domestic environmental aesthetics.)

and

Anyone who spends half an hour looking at Iranian foreign policy over the last 27 years sees five things:

contempt for the most basic international conventions;
long-reach extraterritoriality;
effective promotion of radical Pan-Islamism;
a willingness to go the extra mile for Jew-killing (unlike, say, Osama);
an all-but-total synchronization between rhetoric and action.
Yet the Europeans remain in denial. Iran was supposedly the Middle Eastern state they could work with. And the chancellors and foreign ministers jetted in to court the mullahs so assiduously that they’re reluctant to give up on the strategy just because a relatively peripheral figure like the, er, head of state is sounding off about Armageddon.

and

Once again, we face a choice between bad and worse options. There can be no “surgical” strike in any meaningful sense: Iran’s clients on the ground will retaliate in Iraq, Lebanon, Israel, and Europe. Nor should we put much stock in the country’s allegedly “pro-American” youth. This shouldn’t be a touchy-feely nation-building exercise: rehabilitation may be a bonus, but the primary objective should be punishment—and incarceration. It’s up to the Iranian people how nutty a government they want to live with, but extraterritorial nuttiness has to be shown not to pay. That means swift, massive, devastating force that decapitates the regime—but no occupation.

The cost of de-nuking Iran will be high now but significantly higher with every year it’s postponed. The lesson of the Danish cartoons is the clearest reminder that what is at stake here is the credibility of our civilization. Whether or not we end the nuclearization of the Islamic Republic will be an act that defines our time.

Read the whole thing.

Here's the transcript of my conversation with Paul Gigot this weekend.

And the transcript from tonight's appearance on Hardball will be available here later, although Ian already has the video up at Expose the Left.

Bottom line: It is hard to see how the GOP is not like the Titanic, except it is aiming for the iceberg.

Two parts of the solution:

Steve Laffey for Senate in Rhode Island.

And Martha Rainville for Congress in Vermont.

Very nicely done. Bookmark the SOB.

The Blackwell for Governor and DeWine for Senate races are two of the crucial races in '08. The SOB will be there for both men I hope.

is a group blog founded by students at Pacific Lutheran University (although some contributors appear to have graduated and are working in the area.)

Not only does the blog have great taste in books, it is following Washington state races up and down the ballot (like this plug for Supreme Court candidate John Groen, a propert rights lawyer challenging the incumbant CJ of the Washington Supreme Court.)

Sound Politics led the way in Washington State, but take a look at the blog roll at Sound Politics. There are a score of great bloggers (e.g. Head West, Turn Right) ready to bring balance to the Cantwell-McGavick race --a necessary thing if McGavick is going to be able to fend off the almost certain attacks from the Washinton state MSM.

Time to collect some key links for the Senate races in New Jersey, Maryland, West Virginia, North Dakota, Nebraska, Michigan and of course Minnesota, though KennedyvMachine and the Northern Alliance will have that race covered closely.

I'd also appreciate pointers to the best center-right poliblogs in the three states where GOP incumbants have uphill fights: Pennsylvannia, Ohio and Montana.

With ten key Senate races, it would be best to have three key blogs in each state which in turn swept the other state blogs for daily news on these races. Nominations for such a list are welcome. E-mail me at hugh@hughhewitt.com.

BTW: Hotline on Call brings word that Ronald Reagan has endorsed Robert Byrd's challenger John Raese. Radio listeners in W Va hear the Gipper's voice:

"I need John Raese to help me in the United States Senate."

It is from a 1984 ad when Raese put up a good run against Jay Rockerfeller.

Michael Barone is doubtful that Raese can dislodge Robert Byrd though he is respectful of the race Raese ran years ago and the credibility he brings to the '06 challnge, but I think that may deny the impact of new media even in a tradion-bound state like West Virginia. Strom Thurmond won elections even as he visibly declined in the eyes of his colleagues because he didn't visibly decline in the eyes of his voters, at least on a daily basis.

Senator Byrd, while an icon, has insisted on being center stage very often over the past five years.

West Virginia Republicans have to --respectfully-- talks with their counterparts across the state about the cost to the state of indulging their once great senator another six years (and another sic after that?) in a time of war, and even as their other senator charts a very unusual course in the war.

This Boston Globe story confirms the message of Painting the Map Red: The GOP is in serious trouble.

The good news is that the party has seven months to change the political momentum, and the economy is surging.

The bad news is that there still does not appear to be any plan among the Congressional leadership on how to use the next 28 weeks to frame the choice for voters.

Memo to Fraters: Did I mention that the Tribe swept the Twins?

Perhaps Notorious NIGP can give us the top 11 reasons why the Twins can't hit their weight?

The C-Span "Book TV" showing of the Hertiage Foundation roundtable on Painting the Map Red with Mark Tapscott, Fred Barnes, Bob Beckel and me airs tomorrow at noon and again at 10:00 PM.

Some of the exchanges are spirited, and the questions pointed. Enjoy.

From Friday's interview, transcribed at Radioblogger:

MB: I think Mike McGavick in Washington probably has a better chance than the Republican nominee in Michigan, even though Bush lost Washington by a bigger margin than Michigan. McGavick turned around this company Safeco, which he was CEO of. He's also got political instincts. He was a former Capitol Hill staffer and everything. A lot of glowing reports on him. Maria Cantwell doesn't seem to have much personal aura, and so far as I can determine, a very narrow winner last time. Yeah, you've got all those people in filing cabinets in King County in Seattle...

HH: (laughing) Yeah, hopefully they got emptied out, though.

MB: Well, they got emptied out, but they keep on dragging more of them out after the election's over.

Michael Barone's blog can be read here.

Contribute to McGavick's campaign via his website here.

I am always amazed by the sheer amount of political info that Barone carries around in his head (e.g. "Bob Byrd is, you know, was the first person in West Virginia history to carry all 55 counties.")

Fox ought to consider a weekend show to pair with The Beltway Boys, that featuresbarone just answering questions on the races and politics. It would attract every political junkie in the country because while Barone has decided opinions, he does not spin the numbers, and he sees through bogus polls.

The C-Span "Book TV" showing of the Hertiage Foundation roundtable on Painting the Map Red with Mark Tapscott, Fred Barnes, Bob Beckel and me airs tomorrow at noon and again at 10:00 PM.

Some of the exchanges are spirited, and the questions pointed. Enjoy.

I'll be a guest on the Journal Editorial Report tonight, talking about the book and the GOP's peril as November approaches.