Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Thursday, November 3, 2016
Hillary Clinton’s Dream Is America’s Nightmare
To say the 2016 presidential election is dramatic would be an understatement. Never before have we had so many revelations, leaks, and shocking moments in an election. The revelation that Hillary Clinton consigliere Huma Abedin’s estranged husband Anthony Weiner would be the reason why the FBI’s criminal investigation would be re-opened will make a great movie plot twist someday.
The Final Speech Trump Should Make
If Donald Trump wants to win this election and thwart the attempt by the corrupt Clintons to acquire the White House again, he must close the deal with persuadable voters in a nationally televised address. Here is how it might go. My fellow Americans, running for president of this country I love and that has been so good to me is the greatest privilege I have ever known. Only being elected president would be a higher honor. I know the concerns many of you have about me. I am far from perfect and have made mistakes, but I have learned from those mistakes and I promise you a presidency that will make you proud.
Has Clinton Topped Nixon?
Another day, another Hillary Clinton bombshell disclosure. This time the scandal comes from disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner’s laptop computer, bringing more suggestions of Clinton’s sloppy attitude about U.S. intelligence law. Meanwhile, seemingly every day WikiLeaks produces more evidence of the Clinton Foundation leveraging the Clinton State Department for pay-for-play profiteering.
The Panderer in Chief and the ‘War on the American Farmer’
Auditioning for the title of panderer in chief during this election cycle are two potential masters. On one side, you have Hillary Clinton constantly offering “free” stuff, such as college tuition. On the other side, you have Donald Trump promising to protect Michigan’s cars, Idaho’s potatoes, Harley-Davidson in Wisconsin, Caterpillar in Illinois and corn-based ethanol in Iowa. But nothing beats Trump’s contention that there is a “war on the American farmer” requiring his help to end. The truth is that if there’s a war on anyone, it’s on taxpayers and individual freedom.
John Kasich — and Fellow Republican ‘Never Trumpers’
Gov. John Kasich, R-Ohio, just announced his decision. For his presidential vote on a mail-in ballot, he wrote in the failed 2008 Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. Apparently, Kasich found Wendell Willkie too difficult to spell. For the umpteenth time, Donald Trump, out of 2016’s 17 Republican candidates, placed 20th on my list. He is a populist — not a fiscal conservative — with an assortment of views, some conservative, many centrist and even liberal. Has there ever been such a blatantly protectionist modern Republican candidate?
Hillary’s Final Days
Is it just me, or are there others out there in my audience who find it odd that Hillary Clinton, the inevitable presidential candidate of the Democratic Party, would continue to have at the highest level of her staff a woman married to a man who has repeatedly embarrassed himself, his wife and the Democratic Party? Anthony Weiner is a pervert. As to how perverted he might be we can only speculate, but we did see the picture of him sexually aroused in his underpants with his infant son lying next to him. Presumably, Weiner was sending that picture to one of his digital sweethearts.
More Clinton Corruption
New Wikileaks are revealing the extent of the corruption at the Obama Justice Department and why it is essential that Donald Trump prevail. As we reported last week, John Podesta, Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, was having regular dinners with a very close friend, Peter Kadzik, a top official at the Department of Justice, while Hillary was under investigation. We have learned from the latest batch of Wikileaks that Kadzik was also tipping off Podesta about the status of various Clinton investigations. But there’s more.
Russell Mania: Obama Goes to the Mat on NDAA
President Obama has made plenty of history (not much of it good). And if he follows through with his threat on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), he’ll make more. For 53 straight years, the military’s spending bill is one of the few things that Congress has succeeded in passing on time. Unfortunately, this White House is complicating that this year, thanks to its stubborn opposition to the First Amendment. In a staggering move, administration officials announced last week that it’s willing to send the bill that funds our military down in flames because it dares to protect religious liberty.
Washington Post Attacks Ranch Salad Dressing
There’s trouble brewing in Hidden Valley, America. The nation’s most beloved salad dressing is under attack by a bunch of granola-eating, tree-hugging hipsters who forage artisanal beets sold on food trucks. Consider this recent headline from the pages of The Washington Post: “Ranch dressing is what’s wrong with America.” Columnist Ben Adler fired off an unhinged diatribe on America’s favorite salad dressing, calling it “milk-rot” and warning that it could destroy Planet Earth.
Wednesday, November 2, 2016
The Inside Story: What Really Happened With Roe v. Wade?
Since the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, courts have struck down many attempts by state governments to regulate the abortion industry. Just this past summer a Texas law requiring abortion-providing facilities to meet the same health and safety standards as outpatient surgical clinics was declared an “undue burden.” Those who claim to be the champions of women’s health cheered the decision.
Don’t Raise the Charter-School Cap. Eliminate It.
When Massachusetts’ charter schools were still in their beta phase, it made sense to limit their number. As with other promising innovations — in technology, in medicine, in business — a gradual rollout of charter schools ensured that there would be ample time to monitor progress, adjust standards, fix bugs, and learn from experience. Massachusetts learned well. Its experiment with state-chartered public schools has proved a phenomenal success. More than two decades after the original charter law was passed, the state’s 69 charter schools (25 in Boston) are among the most effective urban public schools in America. As study after study has confirmed, the benefits of a Massachusetts charter-school education are profound. They lead to improved math and language mastery, lower dropout rates, higher SAT scores, and greater college attendance.
The Left’s Vision
The political left keeps announcing, as if it is a new breakthrough discovery of theirs, that life is unfair. Have they never read Thomas Gray’s “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard,” more than two and a half centuries ago? What about economic historian David S. Landes’ statement: “The world has never been a level playing field”? In the joint autobiography of Milton Friedman and his wife Rose, they say: “Everywhere in the world there are gross inequities of income and wealth. They offend most of us. Few can fail to be moved by the contrast between the luxury enjoyed by some and the grinding poverty suffered by others.”
The Rich and Us
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, having a net worth of $81.8 billion, and Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos, having a net worth of $70.4 billion, are the nation’s two richest men. They are at the top of the Forbes 400 list of America’s superrich individuals, people who have net worths of billions of dollars. Many see the rich as a danger. New York Times columnist Bob Herbert wrote, “It doesn’t really matter what ordinary people want. The wealthy call the tune, and the politicians dance.” His colleague Paul Krugman wrote, “On paper, we’re a one-person-one-vote nation; in reality, we’re more than a bit of an oligarchy, in which a handful of wealthy people dominate.” It’s sentiments like these that have led me to wish there were a humane way to get rid of the rich. For without having the rich around to be whipping boys and distract our attention, we might be able to concentrate on what’s best for the 99.9 percent of the rest of us.
DC City Council Votes to Allow Physician-Assisted Suicide. That’ll Change Us All, for the Worse.
[Yesterday], the D.C. City Council voted to allow physician-assisted suicide. But the debate isn’t over. The Washington Post reports that “the council must still hold a final vote on the bill, possibly as early as Nov. 15,” and that the mayor, Muriel Bowser, must decide if she’ll sign or veto the bill.
Team Clinton Has a Laughable Double Standard on Protocol
The word of the weekend was “protocol.” In deciding to tell Congress about a new trove of emails that may or may not contain classified information and may or may not relate to Hillary Clinton, FBI Director James Comey broke Justice Department protocol both by releasing information close to an election and by revealing details of an ongoing investigation. It was a “stunning breach of protocol,” former Attorney General Eric Holder dutifully insisted.
What FBI Director Comey Did Wrong
In July, FBI Director James Comey shattered his near-sterling reputation by letting Hillary Clinton off the hook. After delivering a meticulous case against Clinton for setting up a private server and allowing classified information to flow into it illegally, he inexplicably decided not to recommend indictment by the Department of Justice. This followed hard on President Obama announcing he would begin publicly campaigning for Clinton, Attorney General Loretta Lynch meeting secretly with Bill Clinton at a tarmac in Arizona and the FBI performing a peremptory interview with Hillary Clinton — after which Clinton attended a late showing of “Hamilton.” Minutes before Obama took the stage with Clinton, allowing her to use a lectern with the presidential seal, Comey announced there would be no indictment.
Trump-Pence Up!
Ten days ago, the ABC News poll had Hillary Clinton leading Donald Trump by 12 points. [Tuesday], the latest ABC News/Washington Post tracking poll finds Trump leading Clinton by one point. Hillary has lost five points, while Trump has gained seven. When Hillary was leading by 12, I felt the ABC poll was an outlier. I am also skeptical that the race has swung 12 points in ten days. But this much is clear: The Trump-Pence team has the momentum.
The Rest of Your Ballot
The presidency isn’t the only choice next week. There are more issues than “Who’s worse, Trump or Clinton?” Other important things are on the ballot. Congressional elections may determine whether Obamacare lives or dies. Electionbettingodds.com currently says Republicans will hold the House but lose the Senate. But it’s close. And politicians aren’t the whole story.
Transgender Flight From Reality
The late Daniel Patrick Moynihan — ambassador, senator and presidential advisor — once observed that “you are entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts.” To a sober, rational individual, this seems sensible. Implicit is an assumption — which also seems fair and reasonable — that there is something called reality, consisting of facts that exist independent of opinions, wishes or attitudes.
A Fitting Final Chapter to the Sleaze Sweepstakes
As the presidential campaigns sink to the challenge of demonstrating that there is no such thing as rock bottom, remember this: When the Clintons decamped from Washington in January 2001, they took some White House furnishings that were public property. They also finished accepting more than $190,000 in gifts, including two coffee tables and two chairs, a $7,375 gratuity from Denise Rich, whose fugitive former husband had been pardoned in President Clinton’s final hours. A Washington Post editorial (“Count the Spoons”) identified “the Clintons’ defining characteristic: They have no capacity for embarrassment. Words like shabby and tawdry come to mind. They don’t begin to do it justice.”