2016 Election
November 10, 2016 — John Hinderaker
During the run-up to this year’s election, we saw the usual nonsense about how the Republican Party may become extinct as a result of the inevitable Hillary landslide. The landslide, of course, didn’t happen, and neither party is going out of existence any time soon. But if that fate awaits either major party, it is the Democrats, not the Republicans. As I wrote after the 2014 election, the GOP has
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November 9, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
Hillary Clinton is a Wellesley grad, but that’s no excuse for this inane letter from Wellesley president Paula Johnson to the “Wellesley community”: For many of us hoping to see our first woman president, this election has surprised and disappointed us. But the Wellesley spirit is indomitable, and it is in this spirit that I wanted to express to you my feeling of resolve—a powerful resolve to transform this moment
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November 8, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
It isn’t going to swing control of the Senate to the Democrats, but Catherine Cortez Masto has defeated Republican Joe Heck in Nevada. This, of course, is the seat currently held by Harry Reid. The Dems will keep it. The Latino vote probably was decisive in Nevada. I assume it also boosted Hillary Clinton in Colorado. It doesn’t seem to have tipped Arizona to the Democrats, though Hillary is making
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November 8, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
The House is a done deal. The Senate is very likely to be in Republican hands. And now, Trump has a considerably better than even chance of winning the presidency. If the GOP does control all three branches, and if Trump is able to work with congressional Republicans, we might actually see real change. Keep this in mind too: Although the out-of-power party tends to do very well in off-year
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November 8, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
The termination of the campaign, that’s what. As things stand now, we have a bad president who is a lame duck. We also have a Republican Senate and a Republican House. Neither is anything to write home about, but neither is doing much new damage to the country. Finally, we have a Supreme Court with four leftist Justices, one short of the majority needed to bring about radical transformation. When
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November 7, 2016 — Steven Hayward
With the final day of the campaign, things are getting seriously weird out there. First, a guest on MSNBC outs Victor Davis Hanson: Malcolm Nance, executive director at the Terror Asymmetrics Project and a commentator on MSNBC, called conservative commentator Victor Davis Hanson a Russian spy. I feel compelled to utter the age-old adage, “This is not The Onion.” “I know some of the spy-catchers in FBI counter-intelligence, guys who have taken
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November 6, 2016 — Steven Hayward
You know, this really ought to be the favorite weekend of conservatives everywhere. We literally got to turn back the clock! Isn’t that what we’re supposed to do? That, and cut taxes? Meanwhile, I’m enjoying the schadenfreude of liberals bemoaning that Hillary might still have to face a Republican Senate as well as a Republican House if she wins on Tuesday, which means six more weeks years of gridlock. But as
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November 5, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
If I recall correctly, Anthony Weiner initially was the frontrunner in the last New York mayoral election, his first sexting scandal notwithstanding. Only after a second such scandal broke did his campaign collapse. Richmond, Virgina voters seem even more forgiving than New Yorkers. They may be on the verge of electing the Anthony Weiner of the South as their mayor. I’m referring to Joe Morrissey. Unlike Weiner (so far), Morrissey
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November 5, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
Jon Ralston, the veteran Nevada political reporter, has been tweeting about massive turnout by Latino voters in Clark County (the Las Vegas area). He suggests that it may already be game over in Nevada, not just for Trump but perhaps in the important Senate race as well. This is just one reporter (albeit highly respected) talking about a single state (albeit one Trump could very much use if he’s going
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November 3, 2016 — Steven Hayward
A thing to understand about legendary university towns like Berkeley or Boulder or Madison is that they are fundamentally conservative in the ordinary sense of that term: they never change. Take Berkeley (please, as the joke goes). It’s got a hot race for mayor going off next Tuesday, and the Daily Californian is doing profiles of all the candidates. And I’ve found mine: Berkeley Activist Zachary RunningWolf runs 4th Mayoral
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November 2, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
The Democrats are worried, and justifiably so, that African-American voters aren’t supporting Hillary Clinton and other Dems to same extent that they backed Barack Obama. Actually, the Democrats are frantic about this. Thus, Benjamin Barber, a top Democratic donor has been caught on camera attacking non-compliant African-Americans during a fundraiser. The video comes via Project Veritas Action. Barber had this to say: Have you heard of the Sonderkommandos? Jewish guards
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November 1, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
The FBI has published 129 pages of internal documents related to its investigation years ago into Bill Clinton’s pardon of fugitive Democratic donor Marc Rich. According to the Washington Post, the records don’t appear to provide much new information about the matter (I haven’t yet reviewed them), but they serve as a reminder of the scandal. Naturally, Team Hillary is steamed. Clinton flack Brian Fallon tweeted that the FBI’s move
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October 28, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
A reader points out the irony of Hillary Clinton complaining about timing of the reopening of the FBI investigation. In 1992, the reader reminds me, President Bush was gaining on Bill Clinton as Election Day approached. But just four days before the election, the special counsel, Lawrence Walsh, obtained a new indictment of former Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger. Weinberger had been indicted earlier in the year. But the new
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October 25, 2016 — John Hinderaker
There is a lot of speculation about whether Donald Trump’s weakness will drag down Republicans in races across the country. It’s a legitimate question, but there is a silver lining: Hillary Clinton’s own unpopularity. It is reasonable to wonder whether Hillary will hurt down-ballot Democrats almost as much as Trump hurts (in most places) down-ballot Republicans. America Rising PAC has put together this video montage of Democratic candidates being pressed
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October 24, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
The Obama administration admitted today that Obamacare premiums will rise an average of 22 percent for the Silver Plan in 2017. The Silver Plan is the Obamacare benchmark upon which federal subsidies are based. The subsidies will shield many Obamacare purchasers from the impact of the increase, but a large of number of purchasers will be hammered. And, of course, taxpayers will be hit as well by virtue of the
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October 24, 2016 — Steven Hayward
If you’re like me, or even if you’re not like me an you’re more normal, no doubt by now you are sick of political ads on TV, even for the candidate you like or the attack ads against the candidates you hate. But why are they nearly always the same? TV political ads haven’t changed much in the last few decades, even as the styles of other kinds of TV
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October 17, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
Last week, Donald Trump proclaimed that “the shackles have been taken off me.” He wasn’t kidding. Unshackled, Trump has responded affirmatively to cries of “lock [Hillary]’ up” (the shackled Trump used to respond “defeat her”). He has attacked the physical appearance of a woman who accused him of sexual touching. And he claims that such allegations are part — not just of collaboration with Democrats and the media, which is
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