Monthly Archives: April 2010

Is It Obama’s Fault?

Tonight I was listening to Hugh Hewitt as I drove to the grocery store, and got so engrossed that I missed my exit. What was so interesting? Hugh was arguing that the Obama administration failed to respond promptly to the oil spill in the Gulf, and that its belated response was inadequate. Is that a fair charge? Normally, I would be slow to blame government at any level for a »

Minnesota GOP Picks Emmer

Today Minnesota’s Republican convention selected Representative Tom Emmer as its nominee to replace Tim Pawlenty as Governor. Emmer competed for the nomination against Marty Seifert, who was Minority Leader of the House in recent years. Both candidates were thoroughgoing conservatives. I never endorsed either one because there was nothing to choose between them on the issues. The question came down to electability, and I figured the ability to get the »

What price indirect talks?

Secretary of State Clinton says that indirect talks between Israel and the PA will begin next week. But Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat suggests that the talks are not a done deal. He says that “every effort is being made” to have the talks go forward, but the official decision will be made by the Arab foreign ministers and the PLO executive committee. You have to believe that the fix is »

An evening of French-Jewish music

Pro Musica Hebraica is an organization devoted to presenting Jewish classical music — much of it lost, forgotten, or rarely performed — in a concert hall setting. It is the project of Charles and Robyn Krauthammer (respectively, the chairman and the chief executive officer). I reported on Pro Musica Hebraica’s November 2009 concert, which featured baroque music from Italy and Holland, here. Last night, my wife and I attended Pro »

Clap hands, here comes Charlie

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist has made official what has been strongly suspected for some time — facing the certain prospect of a resounding defeat in the Republican primary, Crist will run for the Senate as an independent. My general view is that it may well make sense for politicians who have held high office in a state to run for election as an independent if their party eventually rejects them. »

Learning From Experience

Polls consistently show that most Americans have more faith in lower taxes than in higher spending as an engine of job creation. This Rasmussen survey confirms that preference, with an interesting twist: A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely Voters finds that 66% believe cutting taxes is a better way to create new jobs than increasing government spending. That’s up seven points from January. Just 18% think increasing »

At some point you have grabbed enough power

Given that poorer citizens always outnumber the rich, the classic political philosophers held that government based on majority rule was untenable. They were of the view that it would lead to organized theft from the wealthy by the democratic masses. Thus Aristotle warned in The Politics, for example: “If the majority distributes among itself the things of a minority, it is evident that it will destroy the city.” The Founders »

Dust bowl, California-style

Writing from Coalinga, California, for Investor’s Business Daily, Monica Showalter opens her report on the drought with a few rhetorical questions: “Would France rip out its storied vineyards? Would Juan Valdez scorch Colombia’s coffee crop? Sri Lanka its black pepper harvest? China its tea?” Showalter writes: On a springtime drive through the Central Valley, it’s hard not to notice how federal and state governments are hell-bent on destroying the state’s »

Vote Tim Burns for Congress on May 18

Tim Burns is the Republican candidate for Congress in the late Democrat John Murtha’s old seat in Pennsylvania’s Twelfth District. (Contribute to his campaign here.) Murtha held the seat for 36 years. The video below is meant to get out the vote for a conservative victory in the special election for the seat to be held on May 18. The video is called Pennsylvania Patriot, and is only 1 minute, »

A hero in defeat

Last night, the Washington Capitals suffered as devastating a defeat as a sports team can experience. The Caps had the best record in the National Hockey League and were expected to skate past the Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the playoffs. After all, the Canadiens had barely made the playoffs. The Capitals took a 3-1 in games after winning two in a row in Montreal. But they then »

Whistling past the death panel

President Obama has selected Dr. Donald Berwick to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Berwick is a Harvard professor, a pediatrician, and the CEO of a nonprofit that, according to its website, has a staff of over 100 people. These seem like dubious qualifications to head a massive organization with a budget greater than that of the Department of Defense. As Jeffrey Anderson explains, however, Dr. Berwick is »

The Smear Continues

You’d think the Lamestream Media would give it up, but no: they are determined to push the absurd claim that Tea Partiers are “racists.” Never mind that the issues driving the Tea Parties–the constitutional role of the federal government, bailouts and government takeovers, spiraling deficits and out of control spending–self-evidently have nothing to do with race. The smear is the only kind of argument most liberals know, so they press »

So long, Charlie

Jay Cost argues persuasively that, as an independent third-party candidate for the United States Senate, Charlie Crist is not a man in tune with the times. Just a few weeks ago Crist sat next to Marco Rubio on Fox New Sunday and uncomfortably declared his bona fides as a Republican candidate. Why he thinks that anyone would or should ever take him at face value again or trust another word »

The meaning of the “Roadside Strangler” case

Judge Robert Chatigny, President Obama’s nominee for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, has expressed regret over how he handled the case of Michael Ross, the “Roadside Strangler.” I discussed Judge Chatigny’s conduct in that case here. Yesterday, under tough questioning by Republican Senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Chatigny testified that he was trying to do the right thing in connection with the issue of Ross’ »

Desperate times call for desperate measures

Laura Bush has written a book, Spoken From The Heart. Last evening, a friend of ours wanted to ascertain the former First Lady’s book tour schedule. When she typed in www.laurabush.com, she was automatically redirected to an Organizing for America website — barackobama.com. As I write this post, the same redirection is still occurring. This little scheme seems ugly even by the standards of Team Obama and its supporters. But »

Obama Seeks to Weaken Sanctions Against Iran

The Obama administration’s lack of seriousness when it comes to Iran is on display once again. Congress is considering the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act, which will ramp up pressure on Iran by penalizing foreign companies that prop up Iran’s economy by selling Iran gasoline or equipment to refine petroleum. But the Obama administration wants to add to the bill a provision that would render the act a »

Time for Steele to Go

Michael Steele strikes me as a nice guy who is out of his depth as head of the National Republican Committee. His most annoying habit is one that he shares, sort of, with President Obama–like Obama, Steele keeps confessing error and apologizing. But whereas, when Obama apologizes for America, he means those other Americans, Steele continually apologizes for his own Republican Party. He did it again yesterday, on CNN. Here »