...it's been a great trip to Washington! Weather has been very up-and-down, from almost-short-sleeves on Monday to a giant snow blizzard Tuesday. Still better than -30 in Montreal, though...
The most interesting thing so far was a couple of panel discussions organized by The Week magazine. One panel was on the utility of opinion journalism, the other on Iraq war coverage. I can't remember everything that was said but Jeff Jarvis from BuzzMachine was present and live-blogged here, so check him out for details. Geraldo Rivera got into a pretty lively spat with the Washington bureau chief for Al-Jazeera about bias during war coverage. Much fun.
I'm sort of in a rush, but quickly:
- No one here is really concerned about Canada's decision to opt-out of joining missile defence. They just think the move was pretty dumb, even inexplicable. But they don't really care.
- There is tremendous excitement amongst conservatives about what is happening in the Middle East, especially Iraq and Lebanon. Rightfully so. Many feel vindicated, especially those who had supported the Bush Doctrine from Day One. (Not a few of even the most die-hard Iraq war supporters admitted to starting to have doubts last year.)
- Conservatives here are also excited about Bush's domestic agenda. Top priorities are judicial nominations and tax/social security reform. Many innovative ideas are being advanced at present, the most interesting of which is the FairTax, being championed by Sen. Saxby Chambliss and Rep. John Linder. With the big Republican majorities in the House and Senate, real, fundamental reform actually might have a hope.
More later ...
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 9:25 AM
