As readers of this blog know, Victor Davis Hanson is one of my favorite commentators on America’s position in the world and its war against Islamic fascists. Dr. Hanson finally has his own website. I suspect that this site will go on more than a few favorite lists over the several days.

Today is the Texas Primary election, so remember to vote. Here is the prior post in which I provide my recommendations in the Republican primary judicial races.

Dr. Keith Poole is a bright political science professor at the University of Houston. Daniel Drezner points us today to this Chicago Tribune article by Assistant Professor Jeffrey A. Jenkins of Northwestern University that concludes, based upon this methodology developed by Dr. Poole, that President Bush and Senator Kerry are both more moderate than their respective opponents represent. Professor Jenkins notes:

As it turns out, Bush is positioned near the dividing line between the center-right and right quartiles of the party. So, while clearly right of center, he is not part of the most conservative segment of the party, anchored historically by the likes of Sens. Phil Gramm and Jesse Helms. He is considerably more conservative than Dwight Eisenhower and Gerald Ford, somewhat more conservative than Richard Nixon, slightly more conservative than his father, George H.W. Bush, but less conservative than Reagan.
What about Kerry, the would-be president? Should he become president, what should we expect? How does this left-leaning moderate compare to other recent Democratic presidents? In fact, only Lyndon Johnson appears more conservative than Kerry; Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton appear slightly more liberal; and John F. Kennedy, to whom Kerry is often compared, appears considerably more liberal than the Massachusetts senator trying to follow in his footsteps.

Some 140 Iranian and Iraqi Shiite pilgrims died earlier this week in suicide bombings in Baghdad and Karbala, and another 43 Pakistani Shiites were killed in Quetta, Pakistan. Moreover, yesterday, Shiite Muslims in Iraq refused to sign the U.S. sponsored Iraqi Constitution unless changes are made to strengthen Shiite power. These developments highlight a grave problem that confronts American foreign policy — i.e., the conflict between Shiite Muslims and Sunni Muslims in Iraq threatens a religious war throughout Muslim regions of the Middle East and Asia. In this David Warren piece and in this Vali Nasr piece, Mr. Warren and Professor Nasr examine Wahhabi Sunni Muslim antipathy toward Shiite Muslims, and the growth of the conflict between those two factions of Islam over the past decade. These are excellent analyses of this primary barrier to stability in Islamic countries.

Tony Blair is the clearest communicator on the international political stage right now. This is his most recent speech defending the Iraq War.

Victor Davis Hanson‘s weekly column takes a look at the big picture and calls for steady leadership in the face of change. Mr. Hanson will also be the guest on Book TV’s March 7 In Depth program.

Seymour Hersh has written an article in the most recent New Yorker entitled “Why is Washington going easy on Pakistan’s nuclear black marketers?” According to Mr. Hersh, the answer is that the U.S. agreed to let Pakistani President Musharraf pardon a known dealer in nuclear-weapons materials so that President Musharraf would allow the U.S. to operate in a region of Pakistan that would facilitate the capture of Osama bin Laden. As usual with Mr. Hersh’s work, fascinating reading.

This endorsement is one that the Kerry Campaign could do without.

In this Austin American Statesman story, Texas Governor Rick Perry responds to and denies salacious rumors that have been circulating over the Internet for the past month that his marriage is on the rocks because of alleged infidelity and that Mr. Perry is preparing to resign. Although a couple of fringe magazines had alluded to the rumors earlier, this is the first major news media acknowledgement of the rumors despite the fact that several blogs — notably The Agonist and the Burnt Orange Report — have been irresponsibly reporting the rumors as virtual fact for the past several weeks, prompting Texas Democratic Party Chairman Charles Soechting to refer to the rumors at a Feb. 24 political rally in Houston.
I am independent politically and vote for Republicans and Democrats candidates in virtually every election. However, the response of Mr. Soechting to Mr. Perry’s announcement reinforces my belief that the Texas Democratic Party’s leadership in Texas is sadly misguided. Here is Mr. Soechting’s response:

“What crosses the line of everything decent is the utter hypocrisy of Rick Perry injecting his mean-spirited politics into everyone else’s personal life while insisting his own personal life is off limits. What is truly indecent is the state of children’s health care, public schools and insurance rates under Perry’s regime,” Mr. Soechting said in a statement issued by the Texas Democratic Party.

In other words, “so long as we disagree with the Governor’s political stances, it’s O.K. to spread salacious rumors about the Governor’s personal life.” With that kind of judgment behind its political decisions, it is little wonder that the Texas Democratic Party has become an afterthought in Texas politics.
In fact, if the Texas Democratic Party had any remaining political savvy whatsoever, it would immediately fire Mr. Soechting as chairman and denounce the rumor campaign against Governor Perry. With the paucity of statesmen that exist in either state or national politics, how can the political parties expect to attract the men and women with the potential to become statesmen when the parties encourage this type defamation of public figures?
One other observation is in order for the bloggers who have been circulating these rumors. Many of these blogs contain interesting information and provocative insights. However, they undermine their most important quality — i.e., credibility — when they engage in the type of rumor mill that they have engaged in with regard to Governor Perry. Once you have lost your credibility, you have lost your ability to persuade, which means that you are left to discuss matters only with people who agree with you. That is a tremendously limiting experience.

Texas’ system of judicial elections is not a good way to choose judges. For over 20 years, I have been supporting a new system for appointing judges in the Texas state courts similar to the appointment process that is used in the federal judicial system. That process has produced a superior federal judiciary.
Although a growing number of Texans agree that elections are not the best way to choose judges, the tendency in Texas politics is for the party in control of the statehouse to support the current system because most of the elected judges are from that party. Inasmuch as the Republicans are now solidly in control of Texas state government, the GOP state leaders are in no hurry to change a flawed system that nevertheless produces judges mainly from their party.
That is unfortunate. Virtually no Texas citizen knows all of the best candidates for the various judicial positions. For example, even though I have an active civil trial practice in both Harris and Montgomery Counties, I rely on the opinions of friends who practice criminal law to advise me regarding the best candidates for the criminal judgeships because I do not practice much in the criminal courts. Moreover, most lawyers are not trial lawyers, so even they have no experience on which to base an informed judgment about the best judicial candidates. Generally, lay people do not have the foggiest notion of who to select in Texas judicial races. Most folks simply look for a familiar name or two, sigh, and just make the best guess possible under the circumstances. Not exactly a sterling example of democracy at work.
As a result of the foregoing, family members, friends, and clients often ask me for my recommendation on the best candidates in the various state and county judicial races. Most of these races will be decided in the upcoming Republican Primary because of the paucity of Democratic Party candidates for these positions in the fall election. Accordingly, the following are my recommendations in the upcoming Republican Primary races:

Statewide:
Supreme Court of Texas, Place 5: Paul Green.
Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 2: Guy James Gray.
Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 5:Patricia Noble.
Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 6:Michael E. Keasler.
Harris County
14th Court of Appeals: Eva Guzman.
281st District Court: David Bernal.
334th District Court: Reece Rondon.
Appointed incumbents running for election for the first time, both of these judges are young and smart, and both possessed solid experience in private practice before taking the bench. We are fortunate to have young lawyers of this caliber on the bench.
177th Criminal District Court:: Adam Brown.
228th Criminal District Court: Clint Greenwood.
Montgomery County
1st Court of Appeals: Charles Kreger
410th District Court: Michael Mayes
This race is a good example of the flawed Texas judicial election system. Judge Mayes is a first rate trial judge, puts cases to trial, and thus promotes prompt resolution of cases in his court. Texas needs to be supporting good lawyers who are willing to make the sacrifices necessary to be a judge, not requiring them to incur the cost of a re-election campaign.

Early voting is going on right now, so get out and cast your vote!