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HH: The two big issues of the day, four justices of the California Supreme Court, by a vote of 4-3, have imposed gay marriage on 30 million Californians, imposed it. It’s a judicial coup. More on that, and then George Bush talks about appeasement to the Israeli Knessett, and all hell breaks loose in the Democratic Party back in the United States. To discuss all this and more, Mark Steyn, Columnist to the World. You can read all of Mark’s material at www.steynonline.com. Mark, I think we should probably start with the President’s Knessett speech. Have you had a chance...

After 18 years of a law practice devoted to counseling landowners, home builders and commercial interests affected by the long arm and severe penalties of the Endangered Species Act, I am used to incredulous looks and outraged oaths from clients coming to grips with the Act's incredible burdens on impacted private citizens. "Are you telling me I can't build my Burger King because a Delhi Sands flower-loving fly that has never been seen and is above ground only a few days a year might be near-by?" "I can't build a connector road because the noise from construction might damage the...

Senator Obama is running as a biography/character candidate, not as a candidate of accomplishment because he has accomplished little except obtaining office. As a biography/character candidate the four corners of that biography that illuminate Obama's character --Michelle Obama, Pastor Jeremiah Wright, the unrepentant terrorists Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, and Obama's mentor, financier, friend and neighbor Tony Rezko-- are all extremely relevant to the debates of the next six months, and we need to know much more about each corner of the square within which Obama has moved.

HH: We begin this Wednesday as those Wednesdays when we are lucky with Christopher Hitchens of Vanity Fair fame. Christopher Hitchens, you thought that Hillary's relentlessness would in the end get her back into the White House. What are you thinking this morning after she barely survived last night? CH: What I'm thinking is that in a little while, people will be marveling over who well she's done in West Virginia and Kentucky. And by that time, the vote will have become thoroughly racialized, if you don't mind that rather disgusting expression.

HH: Thanks to Mark Steyn, Columnist to the World, who joins us as he does every Thursday when we’re lucky. You can read all of Mark’s work at www.steynonline.com, and of course, you can get America Alone, now out in paperback. Mark Steyn, I saw you on Hannity & Colmes last night. You’re having far too much fun with the meltdown on the Democratic side. MS: Yeah, I was, because I think it is terrific fun, and I think actually, that last Obama-Clinton debate was the best debate we’ve had on either side of the aisle since this thing got...

The issues that remain concern Barack Obama's judgment and his credibility. If Pastor Wright agrees to be interviewed by other than Bill Moyers, the questions should ask not for his opinions on various controversies, but for facts about his relationship with the senator. For instance, did Pastor Wright discuss Louis Farrakhan with Obama before during or after they both attended the Million Man March? Were they together during that trip. Did Senator Obama indicated unease with or criticism of Farrakhan? How often did you see Obama at Trinity on Sunday over the past twenty years? Any particular dates you can...

John Mark Reynolds has the words. The opening:

So, was Obama just as naive as a child for 20 years, or as disingenuous as any major political figure of the last forty years when he denied knowing the real Pastor Wright this morning? Either way it creates a huge issue for voters. Is Obama a dupe, or just duplicitous? Do you want him in charge of the nation's security, making judgments about our enemies? Follow-up reporting should focus on the depth of the relationship between Wright and Obama. In Philadelphia Obama described a deep, strong and personal bond. How deep? What did they talk about all these years?...

I conducted a lengthy interview with major General Rick Lynch, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division yesterday. The transcript is here. The audio is here. The enormous progress that the surge has brought to Iraq is detailed by the general, but so was Iran's continued operations in Iraq, operations that kill Americans: You see, what we're trying to do, Hugh, is to trace the rat line back where it came from. See, I've lost 147 soldiers under my command since I've been here in the last fourteen months. Many of those soldiers were killed by explosive foreign penetrators that are...

That's the speculation.

Lefty Obama-supporter Joe Klein, from Time's Swampland blog: Wright's purpose now seems quite clear: to aggrandize himself--the guy is going to be a go-to mainstream media source for racial extremist spew, the next iteration of Al Sharpton--and destroy Barack Obama.

Start your week off with a laugh!

Jim Geraghty of NationalReview.com's Campaign Spot listened to the new Jeremiah Wright audio posted immediately below (with transcripts being added as Duane can get to them). His reaction:is reacting in the same way as Fred Barnes, Morton Kondracke and many of my callers did yesterday when I played both of the sermons over the air. Now will MSM allow the public to hear the "context" Pastor Wright has complained he has been denied? It isn't like the cable channels are stuffed with can't miss material. One of them should play the audio.

AEI scholar Michael Rubin's very sober analysis of Iran April 16, 2008 HH: Joined now by Michael Rubin of the American Enterprise Institute, one of the country’s leading authorities on the Islamic Republic of Iran. Michael Rubin, last week, Vice President Cheney was on the program, and I talked to him about 12th Imamism, and about Ahmadinejad. And the left has gone crazy, and they’ve been throwing bricks at him, because he said we should take very seriously what Ahmadinejad says, and we should be concerned about sort of a millennialist outlook. And I’ve been waiting to talk to you...

Incredible. I knew his politics were radical from his memoir. But I had no idea that his contempt for middle America was so complete. Do the Democrats dare nominate someone so completely clueless about the heartland?

Transcript: HH: It’s Thursday, that means we begin as we do most Thursdays when we are lucky with Columnist to the World, Mark Steyn. You can read all of Mark’s work at www.steynonline.com. Mark, when does America Alone come out in paperback? MS: It comes out on Monday, in fact, Hugh, so you catch me right on the eve of getting ready for the big paperback launch. HH: Do they make you go flog it on a second book tour? MS: Yeah, well, they’re having a kind of, I would say a kind of modified mini-relaunch of it. I’m going...

HH: It’s a special program, one of a couple I’m going to be running in anticipation of Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to the United States. Benedict was elected Pope on April 19th, 2005, and much has happened in the succeeding three years. To discuss what has happened in those three years, and what to expect when he visits the United States, we’re joined by Father Joseph Fessio, SJ. If you’ve listened to this program in the past, Father Fessio has often been here, and we really appreciate it. He received his doctorate in theology in 1975 from the University of...

A must see video of YouTube meet Obama/Wright

At my urging, the brains at Kithbridge put together Rezkorama.com on Thursday to provide a continually updating news feed on all things related to Tony Rezko --Barack Obama's friend, finacier and next-door empty-lot owner. It took about a nano-second for Rezkorama to be denounced as "Swiftboating" by Obama fans at Newshoggers.com, which leads me to believe that any coverage of any democratic scandal from now until the end of time will be known as "Swiftboating," for which I think the Swiftboat Veterans for truth should charge royalties. In any event, faux outrage among the Obamians won't be stifling interest in...

HH: On the day after Super Tuesday, and she’s out of her box, the vampire got out of the dungeon before the light came up or the stake went through her heart, and Hillary Clinton is alive and taking to the wing. To talk about this ominous development, Christopher Hitchens, columnist for Vanity Fair, also writes at Slate and he knows the Clintons like few people. Christopher Hitchens, you must have been a little perturbed last night when Hillary got off of the ground and started gaining ground. CH: I had, just for a minute, let my attention wander. HH:...

Governor Romney is an incredibly gifted man --intelligent in the way very few people are, charismatic, and blessed with an amiable openness and determined, strong character. He is a good man, and his very successful run towards the presidency is a testament to his talents. His magnificent family represents an achievement in the private sphere that he shares with Ann Romney and which was reflected in his accomplishments in business, at the Olympics and in Massachusetts. Because he is a very good man, a great conservative and an extraordinary patriot he is standing aside to allow Senator McCain's national campaign...

Was it a good thing for the GOP when Ronald Reagan stayed in the race against Gerald Ford in 1976 even after the Californian had fallen far behind Ford in the hunt for the nomination? Most people say yes, even though at the time many were demanding that Reagan exit stage right. As I wrote below, the GOP needs to keep the MSM focused on the issues that unite the GOP, and the best way to do that is by a series of contests throughout the spring, from Virginia to Pennsylvania and beyond. Each state that has a primary scheduled...

How big is the rally to Romney? I will ask Scott Rasmussen in the last hour of today's program. Big swings in short times have marked Campaign 2008, and an almost impossible-to-quantify-in-terms-of-impact new dynamic from the new media's role has overtaken MSM's ability to forecast results much less determine outcomes. Here are three polls from California: Reuters-CSpan/Zogby has Romney up 8 points. Rasmussen has it tied. SurveyUSA has McCain up 3. All three show a tremendous rally to Romney as do polls from Georgia, Missouri and Tennessee. The Huck voters are switching to Romney in order to make their vote...

It May Take Less In The Winter 2008 To Defeat Just McCain   Patrick's post below bemoans the apparent unwillingness of Huckabee voters to rally to Romney.  I think that is far too premature a complaint to voice, because we have had exactly three days since Rudy threw in with McCain, the clearest signal yet to values voters that their agenda will not be the agenda of a McCain campaign. The fight against McCain-Kennedy in the spring and summer took about two weeks to first organize and then gather overwhelming strength. The battle against Harriet Miers (yes, I backed the president on the losing...

The long exchange between McCain and Romney on global warming is a crucial moment in this debate and campaign: McCain-Lieberman is a massive regulatory program which would greatly burden the American economy. It would tax energy in a regressive and lasting way, and as Romney points out, would drive huge numbers of jobs off-shore without measurably reducing greenhouse gas emissions on a global scale. Conservatives: "Cap and trade" would be the greatest expansion of the federal regulatory authority in the past half-century. John McCain's certainty about the causes of global warming and the solutions put him far outside the mainstream...

HH: It’s Thursday, and we’re very lucky to begin this Thursday, as we do on most Thursdays, with Columnist to the World, Mark Steyn, author of America Alone. Mark, what did you think of last night’s debate? MS: I was incredibly unimpressed by John McCain. You always hope his primary victories might bring out the more graceful side of him. But in fact, he seemed rather sort of small and mean in his general outlook last night. HH: There was a number of exchanges I want to talk to you about specifically. Let’s start with the global warming exchange. First...

In the two days since Florida and in the one day from the debate at the Reagan Library, conservatives across the country are sounding the alarm that John McCain's nomination means the end of the Reagan agenda. Blogger Dan Riehl spelled it out in a reflection on what the Mccain-dominated GOP's party platform would look like, and it isn't pretty. Columnist Robert Novak confirmed reporter/columnist John Fund's story that McCain wasn't a fan of Justice Alito. Talk show host Mark Levin penned a cri de coeur at NationalReview.com, one that is repeated again and again by many other veterans of...

John McCain won over few if any conservatives tonight, and his display of bad temper and his rambling filibuster of his wrongful "timetables" attack on Romney from last weekend may even have lost him some moderates. In the spin room heads were shaking. McCain was at his worst in the second half of the debate, and those who watched had to ask themselves how this sort of performance would play against a youthful, upbeat Obama with a MSM ready not to protect McCain but tear into him as aging and confused --even obviously deceptive-- about his facts. The first half...

Mitt Romney On Good Morning America Today: ~~"I think what will happen across the country is that conservatives will give a good thought to whether or not they want to hand the party's nomination over to Senator McCain. He has not been their champion over the last several years," Romney said in an interview Wednesday on ABC's "Good Morning America."~~ "I think there will be a movement within the Republican party to coalesce around a conservative candidate. Mike Huckabee, of course, might stay in, and that might be one of the reasons he does so - is to try and...

Chris Cillizza reports the MSM understanding of what is happening on the GOP side --the repudiation of conservatism: ~~"The traditional thinking about the Republican nomination is that no candidate can emerge as the standard-bearer of the party who is not embraced by the conservative wing. McCain, with an assist from Giuliani, appears well on his way to proving that conventional wisdom wrong."~~ In fact, the conservative vote has been split in many directions, but now has to decide whether to coalesce around Romney and send the race deep into the spring or turn the party over to Senator McCain and...

I admire Donald Rumsfeld. The former two-time Secretary of Defense, White House Chief of Staff and Congressman is also a former naval aviator and a very successful private sector executive. Rumsfeld's life has been defined by public service of the highest sort. His leadership in the war, from the moment he went towards the crash site on 9/11, was defined by a relentless focus on the enemy, a focus so extraordinary that it made him a political liability and a target for every grouser inside the Pentagon and every critic of the war--for whatever reason-- outside of the building. His...

Bad news for fans of Boston fans of Bill Bennett, Dennis Praeger, Mike Gallagher, Sean Hannity, Michael Medved, and Hugh Hewitt: WTTT AM 1150 has apparently changed its format from conservative talk to Spanish language religion. Salem Communications also owns WEZE AM 590 and WROL AM 950 in town but I don't believe any of the shows will wind up there (we'll see). Boston still has WRKO AM 680 (mostly conservative), WTKK FM 96.9 (mostly conservative), and WBZ 1030 at night (middle of the road)

HH: As many Wednesdays, we are happy to welcome Christopher Hitchens, columnist for Vanity Fair. Christopher, welcome, it’s always a pleasure to speak with you. CH: Thank you, and Happy New Year, I think, isn’t it? HH: And it is. It’s our first meeting of the new year, and I appreciate your remembering that. Christopher, you’ve made something of a career watching the Clintons, haven’t you? CH: If you could call that a career. It’s barely a life. HH: It’s sort of like a prison sentence, actually. Well, we have some new and very exquisite Bill Clinton, vintage today, which...

The Rasmussen and Mason-Dixon numbers show a Romney trend, one no doubt assisted by the Fred-heads moving towards Romney. There is still tremendous volatility in the electorate, and conservative voters wishing to end the attempt by MSM to jam down McCain's nomination on an unwilling party could continue to move to Romney to block that result.

All signs from Michigan point to a Romney win, and not just with the Republicans. It will be hard for either McCain or Huckabee to spin a loss in the fiercely contested Wolverine State as both poured so much of their dwindling resources into the effort. If as expected Huckabee is below 20%, it should sink his South Carolina effort as his narrow base recognizes he has no appeal beyond, well, his narrow base. And if John McCain cannot win in a state that allows its Democrats and Independents to vote in the Republican primary --even as the Democratic contest...

With absentees being cast in the tens of thousands in the Golden State already, the Los Angeles Times/CNN/Politico poll shows: The Republican race is far more uncertain. Among likely voters, Arizona Sen. McCain was ahead with 20%. Mitt Romney was at 16%, Rudolph W. Giuliani at 14% and Mike Huckabee at 13%. All four were within the poll's margin of sampling error. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas had 8%, and former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson was at 6%. Rep. Duncan Hunter of Alpine did not register on the poll. The barest of bumps for Senator McCain.  Why?  Because he hasn't...

That's Mitt Romney on the attempt by pundits to define what constitutes a win for him, in an interview I conducted for today's program.  (Transcript here.  Audio here later.)  Romney is right to reject the pundits' analysis of what he has to do and when.  The race is fundamentally different than when it began, and it is only about to enter its "Republican only" contests (though Romney won the first of those in Wyoming.)  His comments on this subject: I know there are a lot of people that would like to force other people out of the race. But simply, that’s a...

UPDATE: John McCain with Sean Hannity immediately after the debate compounds his error on immigration by giving the impression that the only change needed in McCain-Kennedy is border-security first. Wow. He just doesn't get it. Romney followed McCain and by contrast shined, and spent time talking about the Reagn example and inspiration and the Reagan-Bush legacy. Romney also got the opportunity to talk to Michigan voters. "I continue to feel that you cannot write off jobs," he replied to Sean's question about McCain's "straight-talk" about Michigan's economic woes, and spoke specifically to the auto industry's renewal in Michigan. Assuming that...

HH: I am joined now, though, by America’s favorite conservative in exile. It’s Rick Santorum. Senator, always a pleasure to talk to you. RS: Thank you, Hugh. It’s great to be with you again. HH: Now you know, I think pretty much everyone on our side of the aisle believes you know the media just about better than anyone, and you know how they can manipulate a race. They’re trying to force Mitt Romney out. Should the Governor go? RS: No, absolutely not. I think this race is wide open. I think Mitt Romney still has a very good chance...

Whoa. Did you see the Luntz focus group of undecided voters: an overwhelming surge to Romney. This was the first well-managed debate and Romney had the best of all of his debate showings. Oliver Wendall Holmes once famously remarked about FDR that the president had a A "second-class intellect but a first-class temperament." Tonight's debate --by far the best of this long campaign-- allowed Mitt Romney to display not only a first class temperament but also a first class intellect. The folks at NationalReview.com's The Corner have a long string of on-target comments, to which I will only add a...

Discuss Hugh's preview of Iowa, and support of Romney

In preparation for a John McCain presidential run, I clipped out what is perhaps the seminal article on McCain’s transformation from a Goldwater conservative to a maverick quasi-Democrat during the 2000 campaign and the early Bush years. Jonathan Chait’s assessment of just how far McCain had gone to the left in the April 29, 2002 issue of The New Republic stood out even at the time. I Googled it a few years later, and saved the full text. It is no longer available on TNR’s website. The piece is heavy on speculation of a McCain presidential run as a Democrat....

Romney: "...This week has been a stark reminder of the threats faced by the civilized world. But ultimately, America will prevail in this defining struggle of our generation." By contrast, Mike Huckabee is watching another alleged foreign policy advisor disavow a connection with Team Huck: Huckabee said he had also spoken with...former national security adviser Richard Allen... Reached via e-mail, Allen said an intermediary asked him to speak with Huckabee, but he hadn't yet agreed. I think it is almost impossible for a voter tuned in to the complexities of the war to vote for Mike Huckabee. The other four...

But as Huckabee now mounts his closing argument for the Iowa caucuses, he has moved full bore into the rhetoric of economic populism. "I am out to change the Republican Party. It needs changing. It needs to be inclusive of all those people across America for whom this party should stand," he said Sunday, on CBS's Face The Nation. On the trail, he speaks regularly of challenging the "Washington to Wall Street power axis." At some of these events, if you close your eyes, you would think a Democrat was speaking — Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton turned southern Baptist....

HH: We start with Columnist to the World, Mark Steyn. Merry Christmas, Mark. I won’t have a chance to say that before next week, so Merry Christmas to you and yours. MS: Yeah, Merry Christmas to you. I don’t think Mike Huckabee’s copyrighted it yet. HH: (laughing) MS: But Merry Christmas, I’m not Mike Huckabee, but I approved this message. HH: Thank you. I’ve got to start, I want to talk politics with you, but I’ve got to start first to alert the audience. I thought it was a joke, these Muslim radicals bringing complaints against you in Canada. But...

Six months ago the MSM story was Fred's groundswell --except, it wasn't. Three month's ago, the MSM swooned over Newt --for a weekend. In the past month, the MSM has been booming the Huckaboom, even though it is already a Huckabust. Never have so many pundits been so wrong about so much. A few pundits --John Podhoretz, Fred Barnes, some of the gang at NationalReview.com's The Corner and of course yours truly-- have called it a two man race from early '07: Mitt v. Rudy. The former Massachusetts governor intended to do well early and build an unstoppable momentum. The...

When Mike Huckabee asked a New York Times' reporter, "Don't Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers," he crossed a line he cannot uncross. Previous to this he had played a game of teasing the anti-Mormon vote, and had been called on it by Charles Krauthammer and others. But Huckabee had maintained deniability. No more. Huckabee's obvious attempt to salt the mine and get the reporter to carry antt-Mormon rhetoric into the paper without Huckabee's fingerprints on it backfired, and the transparent attempt to use the MSM to further the anti-Mormon message was repulsive. Until he crossed that...

HH: We lead off with a newsmaker today, National Review endorsing Mitt Romney on a cover story that has sent shock waves across the Republican national primary electorate. Joined now by the editor of National Review, Rich Lowry. Rich, good to have you, thanks for joining me. RL: Hey, Hugh, thanks for having me. HH: Take me inside first the process by which National Review arrived at its endorsement. RL: (laughing) I don’t know, Hugh. It’s a really tightly held process here. It’s like selecting the Pope. We can’t reveal too much, but… HH: How many people got a say...

HH: Joined now by my colleague on many of these great radio stations, and author of the New York Times bestselling Power To The People, Laura Ingraham. Laura, Merry Christmas to you, and welcome. LI: Hey, Merry Christmas, Hugh, great to be on with you. HH: Well, thank you for making some time today. I am canvassing the influencers as to their reaction to Mitt Romney’s speech. For those who haven’t been able to listen to you this morning, what was the Laura Ingraham take on The Speech? LI: Well, I thought it was a really good speech. I mean,...

In the annals of American history there are but a handful of defining, epochal speeches. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. Roosevelt's stirring Inaugural reassurance that "all we have to fear is fear Itself." Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream." Cleveland Indians Manager Eric Wedge's "Nice Game guys" locker room remarks following the Tribe's unforgettable 3-1 triumph over the Yankees in the 2007 American League Division Series. And now: Mitt Romney's magnificent, soaring, Olympian speech yesterday at the Bush Library. Without question, The Speech is destined to enter the pantheon of the defining moments of our time; for in it, we lucky...