Category: Column

Who would have thought that God and Jerusalem would become controversial issues at this year’s Democratic National Convention? Previous Democratic Party platforms had mentioned God and referred to Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. After both were initially missing from this year’s platform, someone apparently realized that this was likely to raise questions about Democrats […]

The liberal media gave the ceaselessly political President Obama a pass for campaigning instead of performing his presidential duties when they were most needed, while they castigated Mitt Romney for being political when he was the only one of the two acting presidential. To be sure, Obama is a political candidate for re-election to the […]

The post-convention bounce that led to jubilation in the mainstream media has exhausted itself, and Romney is coming back strongly. Having shown Obama as much as four points ahead of Romney in the immediate aftermath of the conventions, Rasmussen now has the president down to a one point margin: Obama: 46 Romney: 45. Instead, the […]

“Forward” is a perfectly appropriate slogan for progressives. Progress suggests forward or upward motion. That’s why revolutionaries and radicals as well as liberal incrementalists have always embraced some derivation of the forward trope. So ingrained are these directional concepts in our political language, we often forget they are mere geographic metaphors applied — and often […]

The health care debate is a great example of why Americans hate politics. Both Republicans and Democrats pursue their plans with ideological zeal and reckless disregard for the truth in hopes of winning 51 percent of the vote. Voters hold their nose and choose but would rather have their leaders search for consensus. That would […]

Ross Douthat asks that question, more specifically about the Romney campaign, andanswers it “no.” Since Bush left office, conservatives have been willing to acknowledge his failures as a fiscal conservative and to promise more responsibility on deficits and debt. This has been a necessary and important shift, responsible both for the energy of the Tea […]

Would it surprise anyone if THE MAJORITY of the people: getting disability payments in this country are scamming the system? More than one out of every 20 Americans of working age was collecting Social Security disability payments as of March, but the system designed to judge claims is overloaded and bungles more than a quarter of […]

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, […]

They don’t fear us, and they don’t respect us. That’s the only message you can take away from an Egyptian mob’s attack on the U.S. Embassy in Cairo during which rioters scaled embassy walls and tore down the American flag on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. President Barack Obama helped ease out Egyptian President […]

The theme of the president’s 2012 re-election campaign is that George W. Bush left such a terrible mess that Barack Obama could hardly be expected to clean it up in four years. In other words, 43 months of unemployment rates above 8 percent, $5 trillion in new borrowing, $16 trillion in aggregate debt, gas prices […]

“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 […]

One of the services of the Simpson-Bowles Commission was to set out a path for tax reform, with lower income tax rates and removal of many tax preferences — or, to use the commission’s term, tax expenditures. It’s an approach that has been tried before and worked. Ronald Reagan called for such a reform in […]

The teachers union will never recover from this strike in Chicago. If their demonstrations against Scott Walker were self-destructive, then the strike now unfolding is pure assisted suicide. Of course, voters like the teachers union when they advocate for better schools but hate them when they strike. And, of course, voters empathize with teachers when […]

Politics takes a lot of brass. And Bill Clinton is a master politician. His rousing speech at the Democrats’ convention told the delegates that Republicans “want to go back to the same old policies that got us into trouble in the first place.” That is world class brass. Bill Clinton’s own administration, more than any […]

When President Obama intervened in Libya last year, he claimed that “it’s in our national interest to act” to remove a tyrant who — in response to Bush’s invasion of Iraq — had just given up his weapons of mass destruction and pledged to be America’s BFF. Apparently Gadhafi neglected to also tell Obama, “I’ve […]

On Thursday, the House of Representatives is expected to pass a six-month Continuing Resolution (CR) to fund the federal government through March 2013. The CR is expected to gain bipartisan support, and will fund the government at the levels dictated by the Budget Control Act (BCA). The Senate may pass it as soon as next […]

The socialists in France are planning to put a: 75% tax on the richest Frenchmen. Much to their dismay, this policy is starting to have consequences. Bernard Arnault – the richest man in Europe – has ignited an uproar in France over taxes, citizenship, patriotism and what policies the government needs to promote growth. It’s a […]

In a better world,: this: would be taken as a sign of mental illness. Verenice Gutierrez picks up on the subtle language of racism every day. Take the peanut butter sandwich, a seemingly innocent example a teacher used in a lesson last school year. : “What about Somali or Hispanic students, who might not eat sandwiches?” says Gutierrez, […]

Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis walks, talks and barks like a rootsy Occupy Wall Street activist. But this Big Labor loudmouth who’s leading the abandonment of nearly 400,000 schoolchildren in the Windy City is just another power-grabbing union fat cat. Instead of academic excellence, she rails about “social justice.” Instead of accountability, she fumes […]

Radical Islamist animals stormed our Libyan and Egyptian embassies. Four Americans, including our Libyan ambassador, are dead as a result. The designated fall guy for the latest example of violent, intolerant radical Islamists acting like violent, intolerant radical Islamists is: Terry Jones. Protesters angry over an amateurish American-made video denouncing Islam attacked the United States Consulate […]

Bill Clinton got rave reviews for his speech at the Democratic National Convention. My wife said: “Clinton was great. He made Republicans look like liars and losers.” Clinton, now a sainted elder statesman, also gets credit for the booming economy of the ’90s. Today, he appears in an Obama commercial — in full “I feel […]

Within the past decade, I’ve written columns titled “Deception 101,” “Stubborn Ignorance” and “Exploiting Public Ignorance,” all explaining which branch of the federal government has taxing and spending authority. So here it is again: The first clause of Article 1, Section 7 of the U.S. Constitution, generally known as the “origination clause,” reads: “All Bills […]

Now that both conventions are over, the dimensions of the likely Romney triumph are becoming clear. Both through an analysis of the polling and an examination of the rhetoric, the parameters of the victory are emerging. Start with the polling. It appears that the bulk of the Obama post-convention bounce has been in blue states […]

This week, writer-director Nick Cassavetes released his new movie, “Yellow,” about a woman having an affair with her brother. “I have no experience with incest,” says Cassavetes. “We started thinking about that. We had heard a few stories where brothers and sisters were completely, absolutely in love with one another. You know what? This whole […]

The theme that most seemed to rouse the enthusiasm of delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte was that we are all responsible for one another — and that Republicans don’t want to help the poor, the sick and the helpless. All of us should be on guard against beliefs that flatter ourselves. At […]

Other than Sandra Fluke, a 31 year old student who’s demanding that everyone else pay for her birth control and perhaps the entire city of Berkeley, you won’t find a: better example of what’s wrong with modern liberalism than the striking Chicago Teachers’ Union The coverage of the strike has obscured some basic facts. The money […]

On the one hand, Democrats claim voter fraud is rare, so unlikely, such an insignificant factor at the polls that there’s no need for people to present voter identification at the polls. Sure, it’s REALLY EASY for people to commit voter fraud without the ID, but our voting process is so important, so sacred, so […]