Author: Cal Thomas

“You gotta have hope; mustn’t sit around and mope.” — “Damn Yankees” Sitting in the room at the Jack Kemp Leadership Award dinner last week, listening to Senator Marco Rubio, Florida Republican, and Rep. Paul Ryan, Wisconsin Republican and of late the GOP vice presidential candidate, I sensed more than a generational shift in party […]

An Internet search is inconclusive as to where the phrase “no skin in the game” originated. Some ascribe it to the late columnist William Safire; others to investor Warren Buffett. Politicians often use the phrase to justify policies to their liking. It can also be applied to the latest in a long list of their […]

The opening scene-setter for the 1996 film “Independence Day” might serve as a metaphor for what Egyptians could face if a draft constitution written by a panel dominated by Islamists and based on Sharia law wins approval in a referendum: “A loud rumble is heard. Suddenly, we are covered in darkness as the shadow engulfs […]

Congress returned to “work” this week (now there’s a laugh) to complete its lame-duck session before taking another holiday. Spending other people’s money is a taxing experience. Their task is to avoid the “fiscal cliff,” a geological construct of their own making. It doesn’t take a genius to predict both parties will try to do […]

The diplomatic hosannas for Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi following his brokering of the recent ceasefire between Hamas and Israel were still being heard even as the former head of the Muslim Brotherhood started behaving like a pharaoh. Morsi “temporarily” seized new powers that, among other things, forbid judicial review of his policies. What ought to […]

Conservatives have been dreaming that a political reincarnation of Ronald Reagan would lead them to an electoral promised land. I never put my faith in such a possibility, because the past is a dangerous place in which to live. Reagan never lived in the past, though he learned from it. Yet among the contemporary political […]

In the film “Groundhog Day,” Bill Murray wakes up each morning and relives the previous day. A similar scenario is playing out in the Middle East between Israel and her enemies. The deadly “movie” always goes like this: Israel is shelled or attacked by terrorists groups, often called “militants” by the media, each one with […]

The resignation of CIA Director David Petraeus over an extramarital affair has raised and will continue to raise a number of questions. First among them (OK, maybe not first, national security being more important, but stay with me) is why should he have resigned? I am always amused when journalists use the words “sex scandal” […]

“The color of the world is changing day by day.” — “Les Miserables,” the musical A look at the electoral map indicates the Republican Party won in square miles. Unfortunately for them, electoral votes, not landmass, won President Obama a second term. Analysis from the Center for Responsive Politics estimated that total spending on federal […]

Great nations and proud empires have always collapsed from within before they were conquered from without. President Obama’s re-election mirrors the self-indulgent, greedy and envious nation we are rapidly becoming. Pollsters Michael Barone and Dick Morris got it horribly wrong. Both predicted a 300 electoral-vote win for Romney. It was President Obama who reached that […]

Presidential elections decide only who wins the White House and a congressional majority. They don’t by themselves solve the nation’s problems. George W. Bush had a majority Republican Congress and did little with it. President Obama had a majority Democrat Congress during his first two years in office, but appeared to let ideology trump solutions, […]

This election will tell us what kind of America we believe in. Is it the one our Founders bequeathed to their posterity of limited government, or is it the one re-made in the image of liberal paternalistic government? The choice, as President Obama has said, could not be clearer. Is our country a giant ATM, […]

On MSNBC’s Ed Schultz program Friday night, the former chief of staff for Colin Powell, retired Army Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, said, of the Republican Party, “My party is full of racists … and the real reason a considerable portion of my party wants President Obama out of the White House has nothing to do with […]

After watching the third presidential debate, are you clear on America’s foreign policy? I thought not. That’s because there appears to be no singular foreign policy, rather a series of foreign policies, which must be tailored to fit each nation. I expected Mitt Romney to go after President Obama on his most recent foreign policy […]

Former South Dakota Democratic Senator George McGovern, who died Sunday, had all manner of evil said about him because of his opposition to the Vietnam War. He was called unpatriotic, disloyal, an appeaser and an enabler of communism. Those were the printable slanders. Many conservatives at the time believed in the “domino theory,” that if […]

THOMAS: There is a lot of evidence of moral decline in America. What do you think is the chief cause of it? SEN. MCGOVERN: I think there’s deterioration in some areas in terms of the moral tone of our society, but not across the board. I think you can make a pretty strong case that […]

In form, President Obama came back strongly in Tuesday’s debate with Mitt Romney, but substantively he continues to lag behind the Republican candidate. That’s because the president has a record to defend and it isn’t a good one. Television being what it is, the president looked and sounded good, but the air seems to have […]

Had Vice President Joe Biden behaved toward Sarah Palin in their 2008 debate the way he behaved toward Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan in their debate last Thursday, he might have been denounced as a patronizing misogynist. In his debate with Ryan, the vice president was merely a jerk. Interrupting while someone is trying […]

The hottest ticket on Broadway continues to be “The Book of Mormon,” a musical that pokes fun at the Mormon faith in particular and Christianity in general. It is also full of profanity and blasphemy. If there was a show called “The Book of Muhammad,” the Eugene O’Neill Theatre probably would have been burned down […]

On Monday, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney delivered a foreign policy speech to cadets at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Va. He was correct in his indictment of the Obama administration for its numerous failures — especially in the Middle East — and his embrace of Ronald Reagan’s “peace through strength” philosophy. A strong […]

To the millions of Americans unable to find work, to college graduates who can’t get a job and are living with their parents, to the underemployed who are working at jobs far below their skill set and experience, and to those who have given up looking for work altogether, a 7.8 percent unemployment rate is […]

“You can’t run from your mistakes. You have to confront them.” — Arnold Schwarzenegger Believe it or not, there was a time when people didn’t go on TV to confess their sins. That was back when most understood what sin is, before everything became excusable, especially for celebrities and the politically powerful. Former California Governor […]

Mitt Romney’s main advantage in his first debate with President Obama on Wednesday may be that the president will be speaking without a teleprompter. His second advantage is the president’s record and how he has failed to fulfill many of his promises. While the president will probably recycle his class warfare themes, Romney should focus […]

NEW YORK — Prior to leaving Egypt for the United Nations General Assembly, Egypt’s Islamist President Mohamed Morsi told The New York Times the United States needs to “fundamentally change” its approach to the Arab world. That includes, he said, showing greater respect for Arab values, as well as helping to build a Palestinian state. […]

Did anyone think the release of Mitt Romney’s tax returns would satisfy Democrats and make them focus on the real issues in this campaign, including President Obama’s failed domestic and foreign policy record and approaching massive tax increases? If so, please call me for a great deal on Arizona swampland. The Obama campaign’s deputy manager, […]

There’s another video, this one of Mitt Romney speaking to donors at a fundraiser in Boca Raton. The video was reportedly “leaked” by James Carter IV, the grandson of former President Jimmy Carter. How appropriate. It apparently was saved for the most politically opportune moment and then published by the liberal Mother Jones Magazine in […]

“How could this happen?” asked Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in response to the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya that killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three others. The rioting by Muslims supposedly “inflamed” by a cheaply produced YouTube film about the Prophet Muhammad was cited as the reason, but we have […]

“There is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody, anywhere, any time.” — Calvin Coolidge, responding to the 1919 Boston police strike This oft-quoted line from the then-governor of Massachusetts might be updated to include “the public interest,” as well as public safety. There are few matters of public interest greater than […]

In a speech resembling a TV re-run (the liberal website The Daily Beast called it “dull”), President Obama accepted his party’s nomination for a second term. In doing so, he made the most ludicrous claim of this campaign, indeed, of his presidency: “You didn’t elect me to tell you what you wanted to hear. You […]

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Columnist Leonard Pitts wrote a story for the front page of last Sunday’s Charlotte Observer indicting both parties for failing to speak up for the poor. He inspired this column. I could be writing the expected narrative from a conservative at the Democratic National Convention, but have chosen instead to acknowledge that […]