Category: Column

Few social scientists, and even fewer political scientists, have done as much to improve American life as James Q. Wilson, who died last week at age 80. His name is familiar to three decades of college students who studied the American government textbook he co-authored, though one wonders whether they would recall it without the […]

Though the Obama administration’s decision to force church-based institutions to provide “access” to contraception as part of their health plans was intolerant and unconstitutional and gratuitously divisive, events have proved the move to be brilliant politics. The White House later came up with a phony compromise — one that allows church-affiliated employers to opt out […]

The best way to win in politics is to choose the right opponent. When your opponent is making a strong effort to get one particular candidate nominated to be his adversary in the general election, it’s worth paying attention. Clearly, in Michigan — where Democrats could and did vote in the Republican primary — there […]

When a whirlwind dies, there is a sudden quiet. Los Angeles last Thursday was deathly silent. Andrew Breitbart — the conservative gadfly-blogger-entrepreneur — died at the age of 43. He just crumpled on a Westwood sidewalk, in full view of other pedestrians. Breitbart — besides being a unique media figure who in many ways changed […]

They’re baaaaaaack. Barack Obama’s election-year goon squad kicked into high gear this week by kicking the president’s fiercest opponents in the teeth and targeting their pocketbooks. Returning to bully business as usual, the Obama campaign launched a brazen salvo against two prominent conservative critics and their legions of private citizen donors. Let’s be clear (to […]

Andrew Breitbart’s heart was too big to fail, but it did anyway. If you don’t know who Breitbart was, you haven’t been paying attention. A conservative activist, entrepreneur, author, muckraker, media pioneer and performance artist of sorts, in his heart he was a radical. His friends saw him as a fearless truth-teller and provocateur. (The […]

Now hear this: No Republicans on the national political scene, including Rick Santorum, threaten our religious liberty. Many Democrats, including President Obama and Senate Democrats, do. And they’ve struck again with the Senate’s defeat of the Blunt amendment. President Obama, who seems to spend as much time community organizing as he does attending to his […]

HBO has perhaps made Bill Maher America’s nastiest talk show host. He’s also America’s most prominent, militant atheist. Now he’s made himself the most prominent million-dollar donor to Barack Obama’s super PAC, Priorities USA. He broke out a big check onstage in San Jose to advertise his magnanimous support. A few days ago, NBC’s resident […]

Many people are looking to the many primary elections on March 6th — “Super Tuesday” — to clarify where this year’s Republican nomination campaign is headed. It may clarify far more than that, including the future of this nation and of Western civilization. If a clear winner with a commanding lead emerges, the question then […]

The European Union and the United Nations, as well as globalization and advanced technology, were all supposed to trump age-old cultural, geographical and national differences and bring people together. But for all the high-tech veneer of the 21st century, the world still looks a lot like it did during the last hundred years and well […]

Public Television touted the Bill Clinton documentary as a long-awaited warts-and-all piece. USA Today called the two-parter a “solid and even-handed account … of a remarkably skillful politician with an immense intellect.” While calling it “tedious and predictable,” The Washington Post described the documentary as “honest.” In the first hour, the documentary stumbled out of […]

Even when I agree with Rick Santorum, listening to him argue the point almost makes me change my mind. I also wonder why he’s running for president, rather than governor, when the issues closest to his heart are family-oriented matters about which the federal government can, and should, do very little. It’s strange that Santorum […]

Did Mitt Romney eke out a victory in Michigan? No. He actually won by a hefty margin. Did he lose blue-collar voters, showing weakness in that key sector? No. He carried them quite nicely. So why don’t the results reflect this? Because the primary was invaded by Democrats who largely voted for Rick Santorum. Had […]

Most wars have a turning point that either signals the road to victory or the ditch of defeat. In Vietnam, the 1968 Tet Offensive by communist troops against South Vietnamese and American forces and their allies is regarded as the turning point in that conflict. Though communist forces suffered heavy losses, which would normally define […]

As high school seniors throughout America will be receiving acceptance letters to colleges within the next month, it would be nice for parents to meditate on what they’re getting for the $20,000 to 50,000 they’ll pay each year. –The United States is no better than any other country, and in many areas, it’s worse than […]

I have long been puzzled by the enthusiasm with which many young liberal bloggers cheer on proposals to raise tax rates on high earners. I can understand why they might favor them, but not why they seem to invest so much psychic energy in the issue. Some of this may just be team ball: You […]

California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom began a San Francisco Chronicle editorial board meeting last week by complaining about his job. In states such as Texas and Maryland, gubernatorial nominees choose their lieutenant governors. Those officers, Newsom argued, are “empowered,” as each is “truly a lieutenant.” Under the status quo with Gov. Jerry Brown, Newsom said, […]

The White House fairy tale about the Happily Ever After Auto Bailout is missing a crucial, bloody page. While President Obama bragged about “standing by American workers” at a rowdy United Auto Workers meeting Tuesday, he failed to acknowledge how the Chicago-style deal threw tens of thousands of nonunion autoworkers under the bus. In a […]

Unlike Bill Clinton, President Obama admits he inhaled!. “Frequently,” he said. “That was the point.” People laugh when politicians talk about their drug use. The audience laughed during a 2003 CNN Democratic presidential primary debate when John Kerry, John Edwards and Howard Dean admitted smoking weed. Yet those same politicians oversee a cruel system that […]

President Obama apologized this week for the U.S. military’s accidental burning of Qurans in Afghanistan. “I wish to express my deep regret for the reported incident,” said Obama. “I extend to you and the Afghan people my sincere apologies. … We will take the appropriate steps to avoid any recurrence, to include holding accountable those […]

Rick Santorum’s speech at the Detroit Economic Club stirred a bit of controversy when he said: “I’m not about equality of result when it comes to income inequality. There is income inequality in America. There always has been, and hopefully — and I do say that — there always will be.” That kind of statement, […]

I hate to quote the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, but the chickens have come home to roost for President Barack Obama as higher oil and gasoline prices swamp his re-election bid. Count the chickens: Obama has refused to impose tough sanctions on Iran until two months ago, increasing the likelihood of an Israeli attack. Already speculation […]

False choices. Populist bromides. A lecture on values. President Barack Obama treated us to some of his greatest hits this week. Speaking before the United Auto Workers union in Washington, Obama, champion of the working man, challenged auto bailout “naysayers” to “come around” and admit that “standing by American workers was the right thing to […]

It seemed like someone had been inhaling something at CNN on Friday morning. They kept touting an upcoming interview: “Barack Obama could win the presidential election by a landslide. Op-ed contributor Charlie Garcia tells us how next.” Garcia, a consultant to corporations on how to market to Hispanics, broke out rainbows and unicorns for Obama: […]

I’m an Occupy girl, age 45, into eco-shamanism and planetary consciousness stuff. I’ve mostly dated engineers with a playful side who initially seemed open to my interests but quickly became resentful of them. My boyfriend of two years is different — easygoing and willing to expand his horizons. He actually reads the articles I post […]

As promised in December, WikiLeaks has begun to release a stash of documents related to the modus operandi of the “private intelligence” sector, using Texas-based Stratfor as a case study. Claiming to have hacked Stratfor’s system to obtain millions of private emails, WikiLeaks has just released the first batch — and what it suggests about […]

For some strange reason, there are millions of us who believe that if a little of something is good for us, a lot would be even better. Sometimes, that is true, but frequently, it is not. For example, if a non-swimmer has fallen into water over his head, if you throw him one end of […]

One of the biggest myths of the 2012 presidential campaign, propagated by Team Romney and the mainstream media, is that Willard Mitt Romney is a hard-liner on immigration issues. One easily could reach that conclusion if Romney were judged on his speeches, press releases, and sound bites. However, as all conservatives should know, it is […]