Republicans
May 10, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
Liz Cheney is about to be removed from her post in the GOP House leadership. Some conservatives are quite unhappy about this and some liberals pretend to be. Our friend Jim Dueholm, once a law partner of John and Scott, disagrees. He offers this opinion: I’ve long admired the Cheneys, father and daughter. Liz, like her father, is whip-smart, a reliable conservative, a sure Republican vote in the House, but
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May 6, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
Rep. Liz Cheney seems destined to lose her position in the GOP House leadership. One could almost infer from her actions that she’s determined to lose it. The mainstream media is playing Cheney’s likely ouster for all its worth. Cheney is now portrayed as a hero who is too good for the current, Trump-dominated Republican Party. (These are some of the same lefty media stalwarts who portrayed Cheney’s father as
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April 29, 2021 — John Hinderaker
Historically, giving the out-party’s response to a president’s speech to a joint session of Congress has been a thankless task. That is, in part, because the out-party’s response, typically delivered to a camera in a more or less empty room, looks lame compared to the excitement in the House chamber. Last night may have been different, however. Joe Biden’s snoozefest generated no excitement in the near-empty House, and Senator Tim
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April 28, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
A new NBC poll finds (at page 19) that 50 percent of Republicans say they consider themselves mainly supporters of the GOP, while 44 percent say them consider themselves mainly supporters of Donald Trump. That’s an extraordinarily high number for Trump, to be sure. However, as Rich Lowry notes, it represents a decline. In January, respondents split evenly, 46-46. In October, it was 54 for Trump and only 38 for
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April 12, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
On Saturday, Donald Trump spoke to a Republican National Committee event at Mar-a-Lago. From reports by some in attendance, it looks like the former president, in true Trumpian fashion, aired grievances and bitterly attacked former allies. Most notably, Trump went after Mitch McConnell. Reportedly, he called the Minority Leader a “dumb son of a bitch” and claimed that Chuck Schumer would never have allowed the 2020 presidential results to be
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March 17, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
A dozen House Republicans voted against a resolution to award Congressional Gold Medals, one of the nation’s highest civilian honors, to the Capitol Police, the D.C. police, and the Smithsonian Institution in recognition of their defense of the U.S. Capitol on January 6. To understand the votes of these Republicans one needs to look at the loaded language the Democrats smuggled into the resolution being voted on. It states: On
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March 11, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
Just for fun, I assume, the folks at FiveThirtyEight decided to hold a “Way-Too-Early 2024 Republican Presidential Primary Draft.” The format was that of a fantasy football or baseball draft, with five members taking turns selecting potential Republican candidates for president in 2024. It’s clear that the draft participants don’t like Republicans. However, they appear to have drafted objectively, at least until just before the end. Based on the draft
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February 26, 2021 — John Hinderaker
What is strange about our current political climate is not, in my opinion, polarization per se. It is not surprising that people with different interests and philosophies have different policy preferences and priorities. What is remarkable is that increasingly, liberals and conservatives don’t even seem to be living on the same planet. Their political concerns and agendas are largely ships that pass in the night. Thus, check out the results
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February 16, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
Joe Biden and the Democrats plan to go it alone on stimulus legislation in response to the Wuhan coronavirus. Apparently, they will not compromise in order to pick up Republican support. There’s nothing wrong with that. The Dems have a majority in the House and the functional equivalent of one in the Senate. They can do whatever they want on stimulus, thanks to the miracle of “budget reconciliation.” What Biden
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February 13, 2021 — John Hinderaker
Congressman Tom Emmer represents Minnesota’s Sixth District and is part of the GOP leadership team in the House. He heads the NRCC, which had a hugely successful cycle in 2020. Yesterday my organization hosted a zoom event with Congressman Emmer. He talked about the 2020 election and the GOP’s prospects for 2022, about the first three weeks of the Biden administration, and about what we can expect going forward. Emmer
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February 4, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
I like Liz Cheney and respect that she followed her conscience by voting to impeach Donald Trump. There was a case for impeaching him, though not one that I found persuasive. But there’s little to like in Cheney’s remarks to colleagues at last night’s closed-door GOP House conference meeting, as reported here. Cheney lectured the caucus, saying: I have to tell you I am really, deeply, deeply concerned about where
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February 4, 2021 — John Hinderaker
I know, the year is young. But today’s tweet by new Congresswoman Lauren Boebert is a contender: Hypocrisy 101: @IlhanMN cites my legitimate mileage reimbursements while she paid her husband* over $1 million in campaign consulting fees. *Not her brother, the new husband. — Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) February 4, 2021 Congresswoman Boebert represents Colorado’s 3rd District. From her official web site bio: Congresswoman Boebert is 34 years old and is
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January 27, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
Most conservatives I know are disgusted that the Senate is going to try Donald Trump even now that he’s no longer president. At the same time, most think that holding the trial will either benefit Republicans or be a political wash. However, Andy McCarthy believes that it’s the Democrats who will come out as winners. He argues that the trial will “unite the Left while intensifying the Right’s internecine conflict.”
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January 22, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
On Election Day 1964, I handed out pro-Lyndon Johnson leaflets to voters at Connecticut Park Elementary school in Wheaton, Maryland. My friend Bruce stood nearby handing out pro-Barry Goldwater material. As he offered his literature, Bruce’s would say, “Good afternoon, sir (or ma’am), vote for Senator Goldwater.” The sirs and ma’ams seemed disinclined to follow Bruce’s advice. Most were stone faced. Some pushed back. “You’ve got to be kidding” and
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January 14, 2021 — Scott Johnson
Republican House Rep. Brian Mast represents Florida’s 18th Congressional District. Yesterday he had the temerity to vote against the impeachment of President Trump. CNN’s Jake Tapper, need we say, disapproved, and in the process called Mast’s commitment to democracy into question. Tapper is apparently incapable of embarrassment. Rep. Mast is an Army veteran who lost two legs in the course of his service in Afghanistan. He did not take Tapper’s
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January 10, 2021 — John Hinderaker
During our live podcast/VIP/whiskey hour Friday evening, Steve commented that the Republican Party is “reeling” following the D.C. demonstration and riot last week. Given what I know of the Republican Party establishment I expect he is right, but still I was taken aback. Why in the world should Republicans be reeling? Because a handful of demonstrators invaded (or, in some cases, were ushered into) the Capitol and some of them
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January 6, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
There will be plenty of commentary about what looks to be the Democrats’ sweep of the Georgia runoff elections. Scott has already provided an insightful take. However, I think the most concise analysis came a week before the election from my Georgia source, a well-placed Republican in that state. He told me: In a 50/50 state where some percentage of Republicans are refusing to vote because they think their vote
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