Republicans
January 27, 2023 — Scott Johnson
Few men emerged from the Nixon White House with their reputations unscathed, let alone enhanced. Pat Buchanan was one of the few, a distinction he achieved in part by vanquishing the Senate Watergate Committee in his televised testimony at the end of the hearings. Buchanan tells the story of his Senate Watergate Committee testimony in chapter 17 (“Before the Watergate Committee”) of his 2017 memoir Nixon’s White House Wars: The
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January 22, 2023 — Steven Hayward
One of Stan Evans‘s many great quips was that it was fortunate Republican politicians were pro-life, since they spend so much time in the fetal position. The lack of fight in congressional Republicans was a source of endless frustration for Stan, and despite some indications the new House GOP majority may pick some worthy fights, in some areas they are already proving to be a colossal failure. The Washington Free
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January 8, 2023 — Steven Hayward
The media and the left were content to munch popcorn this week as House Republicans struggled to select a Speaker, but now that the deed is done largely on terms dictated by the so-called “Chaos Caucus” (I prefer Rebel Alliance), they are starting to wring their hands about how terrible this is. Which means they are worried. Which means the outcome is probably good. There is a disturbance in The
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January 7, 2023 — Steven Hayward
I’ll ask readers to indulge a roundabout introduction, as I think it useful for setting up such a rare occasion as a substantial disagreement with what Brother John has written here about the McCarthy Question. It has become a frustrating and annoying practice of the Supreme Court to issue decisions whose summary begins as follows (in this case, Allegheny County v. Greater Pittsburgh ACLU in 1989): “BLACKMUN, J., announced the judgment of
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January 6, 2023 — John Hinderaker
The fiasco in the House of Representatives may be drawing to a close, as 14 of the 21 Republicans who collaborated with Democrats to prevent the organization of a Republican House have now come to their senses. Only a few more need to wake up, and Republicans can start carrying out the duties for which they were elected. How much damage have the tiny minority of sellouts done? Quite a
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January 5, 2023 — Steven Hayward
Unless I am mistaken about the order of things, the impasse over selecting the next Speaker of the House will end very soon for a simple reason: since no members can be officially sworn in until there is a Speaker, it means none of them can draw a paycheck. That will tend to concentrate the mind of many House members. I am not as averse to the current general scene
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January 3, 2023 — John Hinderaker
First, the bad and ugly: the House adjourned today with no speaker for the first time in a century. Nineteen Republican spoilers have prevented Kevin McCarthy from taking the gavel. Reportedly, some of the dissident Republicans have told McCarthy that they don’t mind if far-left Democrat Hakeem Jeffries becomes Speaker. I don’t want to believe that, but there are some conservatives who are only comfortable as outsiders and who shun
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January 3, 2023 — Steven Hayward
As of this writing, Kevin McCarthy has lost two rounds of voting to be the next Speaker of the House, something that hasn’t occurred in a century. Nineteen Republicans voted for someone else in both votes (McCarthy could only lose five votes). One interesting wrinkle though is that in the first round, the renegade GOP votes were split between Jim Jordan and Andy Biggs, but in the second round all
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December 29, 2022 — Scott Johnson
I detect Seth Lipsky’s characteristic prose and train of thought in the New York Sun editorial “Yes, Virginia–There Is a Santos Clause.” Seth’s hand in the editorial makes sense: he is the editor of the Sun. The subject of the editorial is the post-election discovery that Rep.-elect George Santos is not who he said he was. The subhead summarizes the gist of the editorial: “All the falsehoods George Santos is
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November 15, 2022 — Scott Johnson
John Sexton updates five House races that were called yesterday for the GOP here at Hot Air. The AP story here includes quick takes on a few close California House races that hang in the balance. By the end of the day the GOP total stood at 217, one away from a majority. Democrats stand at 205. Two of the five GOP wins (David Schweikert and Juan Ciscomani) reflected close
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November 9, 2022 — John Hinderaker
Just kidding. Out of the range of possible outcomes, what we saw last night was about as bad as it could be. The GOP’s failure to make progress stunned everyone, not least the Democrats. What happened? * Fantasy vs. Reality. It turns out that there are a great many voters who don’t care much about what traditionally have been considered decisive issues: inflation, crime, illegal immigration, lousy schools, etc. Many
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October 29, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Dan Conston is the president of the Congressional Leadership Fund, the super PAC aligned with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy with the singular mission of flipping the House. They appear to be on the verge of success. In an illuminating hour-long interview with Politico Playbook’s Ryan Lizza, Conston talked through the nuts and bolts of CLF’s involvement in 50-plus districts around the country. They also took up the issues and
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October 14, 2022 — Scott Johnson
I noted and commented on Tulsi Gabbard’s announcement that she had exited the Democratic Party here (“Tulsi Gabbard quits Dems”) and here (“The compleat Tulsi”). I wondered what comes next and expressed the hope that John Hinderaker might be able to figure it out when he hosts her at the Center of the American Experiment‘s Fall Briefing tomorrow night. I hope that she joins the Republican Party. She is a
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September 14, 2022 — Scott Johnson
New Hampshire held its late party primaries yesterday. The only interesting races were on the Republican side and Democrats had a hand in two of them. In the Senate contest to pick a challenger to vulnerable incumbent Maggie Hassan, Don Bolduc faced off against Chuck Morse. Democrats supported Bolduc because he is the less viable candidate. With 87 percent of the vote tabulated, Bolduc leads Morse by about 1300 votes
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August 25, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Dr. Scott Jensen is the Republican gubernatorial candidate running against Governor Tim Walz. He is a former state senator and leader of the opposition to the authoritarian Walz Covid regime that did so much damage to Minnesota. I support his candidacy without reservation. Jensen appeared with the rest of the slate of Republican candidates for Minnesota’s constitutional offices before our local chapter of the Republican Jewish Coalition this past Tuesday
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August 18, 2022 — Scott Johnson
In the Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll (revised 1980 edition), Janet Maslin wrote the chapter on Bob Dylan. She included the photo of the folkie Dylan posing with a cigarette dangling from his lips and a guitar in his lap. Maslin supplied the caption: “The conscience of a generation, trying to smoke and sing simultaneously.” (The photo is accessible here.) Liz Cheney followed in Dylan’s footsteps with
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August 15, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Former Minnesota Senator Al Franken waited until the last minute to bestow his coveted endorsement on Rep. Liz Cheney via Twitter (below). Cheney is of course contending for the Republican nomination to stand for reelection to Wyoming’s single seat in the House. I’m sure Rep. Cheney appreciates Franken’s confidence as she seeks to persuade Wyoming conservatives that she is deserving of their continued support to represent them in Congress. It’s
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