Author: David Harsanyi

Let’s put ideology aside for a moment. Karl Rove, architect of the George W. Bush-era Republican victories, says he’s sick of fanatics running his party into the ground. So he’s devised a strategy to pre-emptively sink unelectable candidates early in the process. He’s formed a new super PAC to implement this strategy. It’s called the […]

So, U.S. consumer confidence unexpectedly plunged in January to its lowest level in more than a year. The U.S. economy unexpectedly posted a contraction in the fourth quarter of 2012 — for the first time since the recession — “defying” expectations that economic growth is in our future. If the economy were as vibrant as […]

When Barack Obama implored Americans to “do the right thing” on gun restriction during a news conference this week, the “right thing” should have been obvious to everyone. Absolute moral authority — it’s the only way to go. If you fail to see the picture as clearly as the president, you may be an extremist […]

If Republicans do happen to force a shutdown in Washington, it’s very possible they’ll be embracing a political loser while doing the rest of us an immense favor. With three Washington-manufactured fiscal apocalypses — sequestration, the debt ceiling and a new “budget” — on the docket, the idea of shutting down government to extract concessions […]

The worst part of the fiscal cliff deal isn’t the specifics — though they do stink. It’s being reminded again how utterly detached Washington is from reality. The question, now that we’ve finally hiked taxes on the rich (and doesn’t everyone feel better knowing that life is that much fairer?), is: How are we going […]

You may recall that during the presidential election, the Treasury Department refused requests by General Motors to unload the government’s stake in the giant automaker. Taxpayers had sunk $50 billion into a union bailout in 2009 and were now proud owners of 26.5 percent of the struggling company. Reportedly, GM had growing concerns that the […]

The “fiscal cliff” deal House Republicans and President Barack Obama are debating can be called many things — the “avoiding a political nightmare” deal or a “Yes, Mr. Obama, may I have another” deal — but please let’s stop referring to it as a “deficit reduction” deal. We’ve yet to see a serious proposal on […]

According to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll, 73 percent of Democrats and 63 percent of independents — and even 39 percent of Republicans — now favor raising taxes on those making $250,000 or more a year. So give the people want they want. As it is, the GOP is engaged in an unwinnable scrum […]

You’ll remember that President Barack Obama was the only candidate with a detailed plan to deal with the impending fiscal unpleasantness. And, as the president explained this week during his first press conference since winning re-election, “more voters agreed” with him, so naturally, it’s time to give the people what they want. So what do […]

Don’t get too depressed, Republicans; the national decline will be divvied up justly. After all, in a liberal nation, there is no higher calling than fairness. And a liberal nation it is. The electorate is complicated, and factors of culture and geography can dictate party identification more than any specific policy. And yes, the Republicans […]

You know what could really help the economy? A huge new bureaucratic department in Washington, that’s what. President Barack Obama, a man who recently asserted that the “free enterprise system is the greatest engine of prosperity the world’s ever known,” intimated that once he secures a second term in office, he would appoint a Secretary […]

Fear not; Barack Obama has an economic plan for America, and it’s all in a glossy brochure, called “The New Economic Patriotism: A Plan for Jobs & Middle-Class Security” — an antidote, we’re told, to the vagueness of Mitt Romney’s agenda. This is what the president, according to a campaign official, believes will ensure that […]

Perhaps the most intriguing moment of the second presidential debate came late in the contest when a rock-ribbed undecided voter asked both candidates, “What do you believe is the biggest misperception that the American people have about you as a man and a candidate?” And really, this is the sort of compelling inquiry that makes […]

Some of us are old enough to remember when Washington, embroiled in a debt ceiling negotiation crisis, was on the brink of default. Way back in 2011, newly empowered congressional Republicans (then commonly referred to as “nihilists”) attempted to negotiate a dollar-for-dollar deal on the debt. Those who used the good faith and credit of […]

Not long ago, a former Obama staffer working with a left-wing think tank concocted a study using an assortment of cooked-up assumptions that claimed Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney would have to increase taxes on the “middle class.” In Washington, this is referred to as an “independent study.” At the Denver debate, the president called […]

After the lack of journalistic vigor displayed during Barack Obama’s magnificently ambiguous 2008 campaign, it’s comforting to see so many reporters clamoring for details about Mitt Romney’s policy proposals. Romney, you see, has a tax plan — a vague plan that relies on the sound notion that tax cuts can generate economic growth and even, […]

Government is the only thing we all belong to — but, don’t worry, you won’t have to pay for any of it. That about sums up the Democratic National Convention’s case to America, a place where whatever isn’t handed to you is actually just being taken away. Democrats like to claim that Ronald Reagan and […]

Bold ideas move people. Big ideas seduce them. And nothing crushes passion like a decimal point. Few things get politicians into more trouble than offering voters too many details. Yet every election cycle, pundits of all denominations join to lament the fact that candidates (mostly Mitt Romney) aren’t putting enough meat on their platitudes. Let’s […]

With words like “radical” and “extreme” being liberally flung around, it’s probably time to define our terms. After all, vice presidential hopeful Paul Ryan, I am assured, embodies both words in deed and spirit. These days, radical ideas appear in many forms: a plan offering future seniors a choice of health care insurance or one […]

The other day, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi nonchalantly explained to a group in Florida that conservatives are in the “E. coli club.” The next day, a pro-Barack Obama super PAC began running an ad blaming Mitt Romney and Bain Capital for the death of a steelworker’s wife (who actually had insurance and passed away […]

Former President Bill Clinton is slated to deliver a prime-time address at the Democratic National Convention. No doubt, he’s going to give one hell of a talk. The man is on his game, enjoying the highest favorable ratings he’s seen since 1993; a robust 66 percent of Americans think highly of the former president. It’s […]

Former President Bill Clinton is slated to deliver a prime-time address at the Democratic National Convention. No doubt, he’s going to give one hell of a talk. The man is on his game, enjoying the highest favorable ratings he’s seen since 1993; a robust 66 percent of Americans think highly of the former president. It’s […]

It seems that one of Mitt Romney’s top surrogates, John Sununu, recently gave us a guided tour of the life cycle of a political gaffe. First, he wished that President Barack Obama “would learn how to be an American,” and then he amended the comment with a “what-I-really-meant-was” clarification, and finally, he surrendered, as they […]

Is there a “fairness” factory somewhere out in Middle America producing self-sustaining jobs? If not, President Barack Obama’s obsession with ending Bush-era tax cuts makes no sense as either policy or politics. To begin with, Obama — and nearly all media coverage of the decade-old tax cuts — continues to discuss the “cost” of tax […]

Outsourcing has been successfully lowering costs, creating better jobs and spreading wealth since … well, since the Persians hired Greek mercenaries to do their pillaging. So why are we always knocking it? After the nation’s intuitive comprehension of basic economics sank Barack Obama’s inane diatribe against investment banking, the administration has thrown a new ladleful […]

The greatest crisis of American democracy is not getting your way. And when a sluggish republic hinders progress, it’s time to act. Just ask Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who advanced an astonishing argument the other day on the Senate floor: The president, explained Reid, is free to unilaterally craft immigration policy because we’ve tried […]

Soon after the president dropped his ill-advised “the private sector is doing fine” gaffe, White House press secretary Jay Carney scolded the media for failing to frame the comment in the proper “context.” Which is weird, because the context is the worst part. Yes, government “creates” jobs, often out of thin air. The private sector […]

Only one group of Americans can make this nation a fairer place: trial lawyers. After all, crushing injustice has enveloped the nation. New Yorkers make more money than Iowans. Female lawyers earn more than male fishermen. People who are 6 feet tall — and I saw this in a semi-scientific study — earn, on average, […]

Are you sick and tired of these moralizing moralizers imposing their morality on the rest of us? I know I am. Though it’s commonly said that social conservatives would force us to live under theocratic rule if they could, these days the group most successful in imposing its worldview on others happens to be called […]

When banks generate huge profits, they are exploiting the American people, engaging in unadulterated greed and, needless to say, in need of more regulation. And when banks lose too much money? Yep, they’re being insatiably greedy — but stupid, too — and, naturally, in need of more regulation. The unscrupulous can’t win for losing, apparently. […]