Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Friday, April 29, 2016
The GOP Has Been Bad. But Not as Bad as You Think
Republicans, I’m told, were elected to Congress by the people, and yet they’ve done absolutely *nothing.* This indictment has now mutated into “Republicans gave President Obama everything he wanted,” i.e., the GOP and Obama were basically colluding against the American voter this whole time. Republicans have been dreadful on plenty of fronts — the quality of their advocacy, the spine they show making arguments and the lack of innovation and malleability in the focus of their policies, to name a very few — but resistance to Obama’s legislative agenda was definitely not one of them. If Republicans had capitulated in the way the average angry populist claims, Obama would not have needed to enact some of the most consequential abuses of executive power since World War II.
One Million Americans Vow to Boycott Target Over Transgender Bathrooms
More than one million people have decided they will no longer buy their Nutter Butters or Wet Wipes at Target. The American Family Association launched a boycott of the nation’s second largest retailer a week ago over Target’s corporate policy allowing men who identify as women to use the bathrooms and fitting rooms of their choosing.
Going for Broke With ObamaCare
Everything about health insurance was confusing, stupid and horrible long before Obamacare came along. Just hearing it was time again to choose your healthcare plan for the next calendar year made some business people I know so sick they had to see a doctor. Not really. We all know the ugly truth about the Affordable Care Act. Its rules and regulations and subsidies and penalties and red tape and false promises and reinsurance programs have only made buying healthcare worse for consumers.
Night Owls and Defense Hawks
The coffee was hot — and the debate was even hotter at the unofficial slumber party of the U.S. House: the annual mark-up of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). While the rest of the city slept, more than 60 members of the House Armed Services Committee slogged through hundreds of amendments until the wee hours, hoping to keep one of Congress’s longest streaks alive. For more than 50 years, the House has managed to pass the military’s appropriations bill — even when other spending bills stalled or fell through the cracks. [Wednesday] night, the House’s graveyard shifters did their part to keep the record intact, working an exhausting 16-hour day until finally — at 2:34 a.m. — the committee gaveled out.
Transgender ‘Fact’ and Fantasy
The liberal opinion site that calls itself PolitiFact insists it’s just a fact-checking website. When choosing to assess whether a politician’s claim is true or false, their “About Us” page says they ask: “Is the statement rooted in a fact that is verifiable? We don’t check opinions, and we recognize that in the world of speechmaking and political rhetoric, there is license for hyperbole.” When it comes to humans, there is probably not a fact more verifiable than one’s gender. But guess what? On April 26, the website Mediaite carried the eye-grabbing headline: “PolitiFact Rules It’s Now Objectively False to Call Transgender Women Men.”
Ed Schultz Chooses Limelight Over Principles
Like most people, I never paid much attention to Ed Schultz. A loud, bullying, meaty man in the even meatier middle of the distribution when it comes to smarts, Schultz was your classic “lunch pail populist” as host of MSNBC’s “The Ed Show.” During his six-year run on the network, I don’t think anyone ever asked, “Did you hear what Ed Schultz said?” save when he uttered something ridiculous enough to make smart or decent liberals wince.
Subsidizing Iran’s Nuclear Program
Late last week, the Obama administration quietly announced that it was going to purchase heavy water from Iran. Heavy water can be used to produce nuclear weapons, and the Obama administration is buying it from Iran at the same time that the regime is in the process of developing its missile arsenal.
Cigarettes Cause Cancer
It should be a no brainer of a statement. Smoking cigarettes causes cancer. In fact, there are many things a person can smoke that do less damage. Cigars and marijuana are less likely to cause cancer than smoking cigarettes. Back in March, when people started asking me to smoke cigarettes, I declined. Not only did I decline, but I said I would never smoke cigarettes. Why? Because smoking cigarettes causes cancer. It is a no brainer.
Cruising to Indiana
Though I won’t go so far as to say the Indiana primary is do-or-die for the Ted Cruz campaign, it couldn’t be much more important. As events have unfolded, Indiana has a critical choice to make next Tuesday. It shouldn’t surprise political observers that Donald Trump won decisively in New York and the other Northeastern states. I don’t mean to disparage Republicans in that region, but they are more liberal than Republicans elsewhere in the United States, and Trump is far more acceptable to liberal Republicans than Cruz is, especially on social issues.
Reaganism Is Dead
A longtime Republican conservative emailed me after Donald Trump’s Tuesday night romp through the “Acela corridor.” “Is the GOP now the anti-trade, anti-immigrant party?” I don’t think so, but take no comfort in the reason: Republicans haven’t signed on to protectionism and nativism (or at least, only a minority has), but they seem to have lost all philosophical coherence.
Trump Isn’t the ‘Presumptive Nominee’ — Not Yet, Anyway
Donald Trump has declared himself, after following up his New York win April 19 with victories in five other Northeastern states Tuesday, the “presumptive nominee” of the Republican Party. Is it a done deal? Not quite. Trump’s 40 percent of total primary votes so far have yielded him 48 percent of pledged delegates — not exactly the unfair system he’s been decrying. He must win about 56 percent of those yet to be chosen to get to the 1,237 majority necessary for the nomination.
The World According to Trump
Foreign policy does not determine American elections. Indeed, of all Western countries, we are the least interested in the subject. The reason is simple: We haven’t had to be. Our instinctive isolationism derives from our geographic exceptionalism. As Bismarck once explained (it is said), the United States is the most fortunate of all Great Powers, bordered on two sides by weak neighbors and on the other two by fish.
Thursday, April 28, 2016
Target’s War on Women, Little Girls and You
If you’ve been half awake the last week you’ve no doubt heard about Target’s recent pronouncement where they “welcome transgender team members and guests to use the restroom or fitting room facility that corresponds with their gender identity.” The phrase “gender identity” is code for a person who rejects his or her biological gender at birth as male or female and chooses to act out the opposite of their own physical reality. Thus a male (boy or man) will feel as if he is a female (girl or woman) — regardless of the truth of his/her own anatomy. Consequently, he will begin to act and make decisions in a manner that is at odds with the truth of his gender.
Setting the Record Straight on Great Britain, America and World War II
While in London last week, President Obama waded into the upcoming British referendum about whether the United Kingdom should stay in the European Union. Controversy followed his lecture about the future of the Anglo-American relationship should Britain depart the EU. Obama also implied that without an EU, the United States might again be dragged into European squabbling, as it had been in the prior world wars. Americans might take this occasion to reflect on Britain’s role in World War II.
God and Politics (Continued)
Religion and politics are again at the forefront of this year’s presidential race. Yet, in this campaign, self-described evangelicals don’t seem as concerned as they once were about a candidate’s personal faith. Otherwise, more of them might support the openly Christian candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, rather than Donald Trump, whose familiarity with the Bible, not to mention the lifestyle it recommends, places him among biblical illiterates.
Crony Capitalism and the Spigot of Government Subsidies
Creating something that people want is how one gets wealthy in a market economy. Sadly, there’s another way to get rich. It’s called cronyism, and it can make billions for the lucky businesses that get government support — whether their products are profitable or not. In the process, the taxpayers foot the bill. Taxpayer insurance against unprofitability takes many forms, from loan guarantees to grants, which provide a no-lose scenario for beneficiaries. If the business is profitable, then the corporation makes massive profits. If the business goes bust, then the taxpayers take a hit. Either way, the crony capitalist wins.
Open the Door to Christian Refugees From Syria
“Today, Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world.” Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas said that on the Senate floor March 17 after he explained what had happened six months before to a Syrian man and his 12-year-old son. “This boy was a Christian and standing above him were Islamic State terrorists holding knives,” said Cotton. “In the crowd was the boy’s father, a Christian minister,” he said. “Methodically, the terrorists began cutting off the young boy’s fingers. Amidst his screams, they turned to the minister, his father. If he renounced his faith and in their terms ‘returned to Islam,’ the boy’s suffering would stop.”
ESPN Fires Curt Schilling — What About Liberal Offenders?
ESPN fired baseball analyst and former All-Star Curt Schilling for mocking the debate about the North Carolina public facilities law. On his Facebook page, Schilling posted a meme (a graphic) with the picture of an aged and overweight man dressed in just enough women’s clothing to prevent flagrant violation of public exposure laws. The photo caption read: “Let him in to the restroom with your daughter or else you’re a narrow-minded, judgmental, unloving, racist bigot who needs to die!” Under the meme, Schilling wrote: “A man is a man no matter what they call themselves. I don’t care what they are, who they sleep with, men’s room was designed for the penis, women’s not so much. Now you need laws telling us differently? Pathetic.”
Primary Results, Warning Signs
Let me dive a bit deeper and give you some more details from the exit polls that may explain the primary results.
Garland Nomination Would Fulfill Obama’s Pledge to ‘Transform’ America
While campaigning for president in 2008, Barack Obama promised to “fundamentally transform” America. And there can be little doubt that his vision is an America in which the Second Amendment only applies to government officials, religious liberty exists only to protects private belief, unelected government agencies are given carte blanche to impose regulation on businesses and consumers, equal protection requires racial quotas, and where the president can simply rewrite laws passed by Congress which displease him.