Author: Debra Saunders

Amid all the stories about the ongoing violence in Syria, the most disturbing is the possibility that Syrian President Bashar Assad could either deploy the arsenal of chemical and biological weapons that his government claims it has, or provide it to terrorists. There are suggestions that at least some of Assad’s supposed stockpile may have […]

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper had the right idea when he refused to utter the suspected gunman’s name in the Aurora multiplex theater shootings, which left 12 dead and 58 wounded. Instead of naming the alleged killer, Hickenlooper referred to him only as “Suspect A.” At a prayer vigil Sunday, Hickenlooper read the names of each […]

In January, prosecutors would not believe Eliana Lopez when she said her husband, San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi, did not hurt her when he bruised her arm during a Dec. 31 argument on the dubious grounds that as a battered woman, she was effectively brainwashed to rationalize the abuse. In July, as Mayor Ed Lee […]

“Why is the modern Republican Party so opposed to allowing the rich to pay just a little bit more in taxes to help solve the debt and deficit problem in this country that they would prefer no deal at all?” Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., asked at The Brookings Institution on Monday. First off, Murray should […]

D.C. Democrats are pushing the DISCLOSE Act again. “DISCLOSE” stands for “Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light on Spending in Elections.” The American Civil Liberties Union and the National Right to Life Committee oppose this bill because they fear it would chill free speech. As far as the anti-abortion group is concerned, “DISCLOSE” stands for […]

There are some ideas so convoluted that only an expert (or wannabe expert) could love them. For example: collateralized debt obligations, which seemed like a good idea until the mortgage meltdown swamped the U.S. economy. Into this hallowed territory comes a new instrument, playing its siren song. San Francisco startup Mortgage Resolution Partners has come […]

NAACP members booed Mitt Romney when he spoke at the group’s annual convention in Houston on Wednesday. The audience heckled the former Massachusetts governor three times, once after he promised to repeal Obamacare if elected. It’s also true that the audience cheered Romney repeatedly, if not wildly. Why did he bother to attend? Barack Obama […]

Democratic California state Sen. Joe Simitian probably is best-known as the author of California’s bill to ban the use of hand-held cellphones while driving. After Friday’s vote, Simitian may be best-known as the Democrat who warned his colleagues not to issue $4.6 billion in bonds for big-ticket high-speed rail. “Any of us who talk to […]

John Burton has achieved the impossible. As the author of the 2004 bill that led to California’s foie gras ban, the crusty former state senator, now chairman of the California Democratic Party, has made eating liver cool. Before the ban went into effect last Sunday, high-end restaurants offered last-bite foie gras fare, and frantic foodies […]

We who work for newspapers have a love/hate relationship with the Internet. On the one hand, more people than ever — millions every week — are reading our product. On the other hand, fewer are paying for it. Search engines, such as Google, make it easier to look up information, but they’re pirates that make […]

In the court of public opinion, Republican officials cannot win. It’s a known fact, made more evident with each news cycle, that many campaign issues are lose-lose for the GOP. If the Supreme Court had overturned Obamacare, the public no doubt would have turned against the GOP for being too obstructionist, the GOP-led Supreme Court […]

Let’s start with all the things San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi did wrong: 1) Mirkarimi bullied his wife, Eliana Lopez, when he grabbed her right arm and bruised it Dec. 31. 2) When police first contacted Mirkarimi about the episode, the sheriff did not cooperate with the investigation. Instead, he circled the wagons. 3) He […]

I approve. Chief Justice John Roberts has written a cagey political decision upholding Obamacare in order to keep the court from being too politicized. That’s a good thing. “We do not consider whether the Act embodies sound policies,” Roberts wrote. “That judgment is entrusted to the Nation’s elected leaders.” Roberts believes that the court should […]

President Barack Obama hailed the Supreme Court’s 5-3 decision Monday that struck down most of Arizona’s 2010 immigration law. In a statement released by the White House, however, the president said that he remains “concerned about the practical impact of the remaining provision of the Arizona law that requires local law enforcement officials to check […]

The important question to ask about Attorney General Eric Holder is: Whom does he protect and whom does he pursue? Until recently, Holder claimed “deliberative privilege” to justify his refusal to comply with House Oversight Committee subpoenas for documents involving the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives “Fast and Furious” program of 2009-2010. The […]

The acquittal and dismissal in the John Edwards campaign-finance fraud case and the acquittal of Roger Clemens on perjury charges after high-profile federal trials should give San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi hope. It would seem jurors aren’t going for prosecutions that pit the full force of the government — the power to destroy people’s lives […]

It was gutsy for Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein to come out against Washington’s recent rash of dangerous intelligence leaks last week; she made criticism of the leaks bipartisan. Flanked by the House Intelligence Committee’s ranking Democrat, Dutch Ruppersberger, and GOP committee leaders, Feinstein declared: “This has to stop. When people say they don’t […]

“The private sector is doing fine,” President Barack Obama declared Friday at a news conference that was supposed to show that the administration knows how to make the economy stronger. It was a bad way to end a tough week. Wisconsin voters had rejected a recall of their Republican governor, and Bill Clinton had praised […]

Every once in a while, Democrats and Republicans can work together. Witness Thursday’s 90-8 vote to bring a “bipartisan reform” farm bill before the Senate. In the expectation that the bill will garner the necessary 60 votes, the House Agriculture Committee has changed its schedule to allow a floor debate on the measure in July. […]

Dianne Feinstein, California’s most popular politician, garnered 49.3 percent — less than half — of the vote on election day Tuesday. Winning 1.8 million votes, Feinstein trounced her 23 challengers handily in what wags call California’s “jungle primary.” There was no big-name challenger, yet more than half of voters went for Anyone But DiFi. Feinstein […]

Explaining his call to ban the sale of supersize sodas at restaurants, theaters and arenas, New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg told NBC’s Matt Lauer on Friday: “We’re not banning you from getting the stuff. … If you want 32 ounces, the restaurant has to serve it in two glasses. That’s not exactly taking away your […]

Mitt Romney came to stand on a weed-infested patch of dirt in front of the shuttered Solyndra plant in Fremont, Calif., Thursday. If you stood at the right angle, you could look past Romney’s shoulder and see a big red “for sale” sign draped on the building, dubbed by Romney the “Taj Mahal of corporations.” […]

On Tuesday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi explained to the Commonwealth Club the reason Washington passed Obamacare. Even if everyone in America “loved” his own health care plan, Pelosi argued, Congress had to pass President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act because American health care was “unsustainable financially.” Yes, Pelosi actually believes Washington had to get […]

It’s hard to figure who looks worse in this story, Elizabeth Warren or Harvard Law School’s affirmative action policies. Warren is the former Harvard law professor whom President Barack Obama pegged to set up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Now she is running as a Democratic challenger to Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass. Last month, the […]

As a candidate for president in 2008, Barack Obama pledged to “immediately” review federal mandatory minimum sentences “to see where we can be smarter on crime and reduce the ineffective warehousing of nonviolent drug offenders.” Obama also had written memoirs, in which he admitted to using marijuana and cocaine — “maybe a little blow when […]

When Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., lost the GOP primary to challenger Richard Mourdock this month, Beltway types saw the voters’ verdict as a victory for the tea party and a defeat for the kind of Republican who could work across the aisle. I think Lugar, 80, lost because he is out of touch with Indiana. […]

Cory Booker, mayor of Newark, N.J., came across as a moderate, sensible Democrat when he said on “Meet the Press” Sunday that negative political ads are “nauseating to the American public. Enough is enough. Stop attacking private equity. Stop attacking Jeremiah Wright.” Booker, a Barack Obama surrogate, later tried to walk back his comments. He […]

The Federal Trade Commission announced Wednesday that Skechers USA Inc. will pay $40 million to settle charges that the shoe company made “unfounded claims” about its Shape-ups. “Shape up while you walk,” one ad proclaimed. And: “Get in Shape Without Setting Foot in a Gym.” Kim Kardashian endorsed the rocker-bottom sneaks. She said they worked […]

When presidential hopeful Mitt Romney’s eldest son, Tagg Romney, 42, and his wife, Jen, 39, posted a birth announcement for healthy, happy twin boys on their Facebook page, they demonstrated how mainstream in vitro fertilization births have become. They gave “a special thanks” to their “gestational surrogate,” who “made this possible” for them. The couple […]

In 1993, a jury convicted Clarence Aaron for his role in two planned cocaine deals. Aaron was a 23-year-old college student. It was his first offense. Unlike his co-defendants, Aaron was not a career drug dealer. He didn’t know enough to plead guilty and testify against others to win a reduced sentence. He perjured himself […]