Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Thursday, October 30, 2014
After the Wave Comes the Liberation
The wave is approaching the shoreline. No, I am not talking to surfers. I am talking to Republicans and independents. The wave they have been awaiting is an electoral wave, and it seems to be coming in. A veteran of many campaigns, Donald Rumsfeld, came in from the campaign trail a few days ago saying, "It's feeling good out there." Nate Silver, the left-leaning psephologist, says the Republicans have a better than even chance to win both houses. He puts their chances of capturing the Senate at 63 percent. Remember, too, that the mainstream media is full of uncertainty. That seals it. Republicans are headed for another election wave much like 2010.
A Salad of Progressive-Inspired Insanity
The purpose of an opinion column is to call 'em as I see 'em. To wit: There is no sane or logical reason to continue incoming flights from West Africa, or allow anyone with a passport identifying themselves as having come from any of the disease-stricken nations, entry into the United States. Everything that has occurred in Dallas and New York -- and *will occur* as the flights continue -- stem from this insane policy decision that elevates political correctness above the well-being of the nation.
In Georgia, a Capitalist Struggles
In a sun-dappled square decorated with scores of entrants in the community's Halloween scarecrow contest, a balky sound system enables, if barely, the Republican U.S. Senate candidate to exhort a few hundred people, mostly supporters, to urge neighbors to vote to reduce Sen. Harry Reid to minority leader. The exhorter is David Perdue, a glutton for punishment who has been campaigning incessantly for 15 months and may be doing so for two more. A Jan. 6 vote would end his second runoff, which will be necessary if, because the libertarian candidate gets perhaps 5 percent of the vote, neither Perdue nor his Democratic opponent, Michelle Nunn, wins 50 percent of the vote next Tuesday. Perdue's first runoff, a nine-week slog ending in July, resulted when none of the seven Republican primary candidates reached 50 percent.
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
When Leftist Race Hatred Meets Islamism
Ax-wielding NYC jihadist a “crusader seeking justice” for the New Black Panthers -- and ISIS.
Does Hillary Clinton Hate Business?
So now, Hillary Clinton is saying: Never mind, I goofed. The former senator, secretary of state and first lady on Friday declared that businesses and corporations don't create jobs. Yesterday, she, ahem, clarified things. "I short-handed this point the other day," she said. "So let me be absolutely clear about what I've been saying for a couple of decades: Our economy grows when businesses and entrepreneurs create good-paying jobs here in America, and workers and families are empowered to build from the bottom up and the middle out -- not when we hand out tax breaks for corporations that outsource jobs or stash their profits overseas."
The New Security Moms
The media are scratching their heads that the wheels have come off of the "war on women" mantra. A CNN analysis suggests the changing "dynamic reflects the painstaking efforts among Republicans to avoid the mistakes of 2012." But there is a much bigger dynamic here. The Middle East is in turmoil, West Africa is battling a growing plague that threatens to go global, the border is in crisis, the economy continues to struggle and yet Democratic leaders think the future of the world hinges on contraceptives? All of this is happening while America sinks under the weight of the Left's failed policies. Can Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and company possibly be any more insulting to the female voters they claim to speak for? If liberals are such devoted feminists, why do they insist on reducing women voters to the sum of their reproductive organs? It's an offensive -- and now failing -- strategy for the party desperate to keep its grip on the Senate. The "war on women" obsession may have opened the wallets of hard-line Democratic donors, but those soccer moms the liberals thought they were scaring with their phony war have become security moms fearful of the nation's future because of the failed policies of the Left.
Hillary Clinton Flunks Economics
Liberals have this terrible and annoying habit of congratulating themselves for their intellectual heft merely because they hold liberal views. Once this arrogant notion reigns, it's tough for liberals to acknowledge when one of their own says something so remarkably untrue and stupid that it makes you wonder just how ignorant is the liberal really. At an event for Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate Martha Coakley in Boston on Oct. 24, Hillary Clinton told the assembled Democratic faithful: "Don't let anybody tell you that, you know, it's corporations and businesses that create jobs."
The Spectacular Self-Immolation of Wendy R. Davis
Wendy Russell Davis is on fire. And I don't mean that in a good way. I mean it in a five-alarm, set-her-own-skirt-aflame, billowing-human-torch kind of way. To say that Davis is smokin' hot is not a compliment. It's a campaign incineration status update. The Democratic darling of the Hollywood Left and glamour gal of abortion thought her path to the Texas governor's mansion would be a pink-sneakered walk in the park. Instead, her single-issue campaign has combusted.
Turn Down for What?
On the way to the airport the other day, my Uber driver, an elderly Russian chap, turned on a Top 40 radio station. Not being one to complain, I actually sat and listened to the lyrics. The song blasting through the speakers of the late-model Honda Civic was titled "Habits." The singer, a young, presumably wealthy Swede named Tove Lo (actual name: Tove Nilsson), warbles about her need to visit sex clubs, do drugs, "binge on all my Twinkies, throw up in the tub." She laments that she "drank up all my money." Why? Well, she explains, "You're gone and I gotta stay high all the time."
Ebola Emergencies and Questionable Quarantines
Crying 'Disease' Does Not Justify Forcible Isolation of Asymptomatic Health Care Workers
A D.C. Cure: Take the Hard Votes
What day is it?" "It's today," squeaked Piglet. "My favorite day," said Pooh. As a proud member of the "don't just do something, sit there" school of politics, I don't fret much about partisanship and gridlock. Partisanship and gridlock aren't bugs of our constitutional system, they're features. And while everyone likes to see their preferred policies sail through Congress, on the whole I think we've been well served by those features for two centuries.
Africa: A Tragic Continent
Here's how my Aug. 11, 2003, column began: "Anyone who believes President Bush's Africa initiative, including sending U.S. troops to Liberia, will amount to more than a hill of beans is whistling Dixie. Maybe it's overly pessimistic, but most of Africa is a continent without much hope for its people." More than a decade has passed since that assessment, and little has changed to suggest a more optimistic outlook. Now Ebola threatens the very existence of the West African nations Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. Moreover, the deadly disease is likely to spread to neighboring nations. Each year, The Wall Street Journal and The Heritage Foundation publish an "Index of Economic Freedom," which measures economic liberty around the world. Mauritius is the only one of the 48 countries in sub-Saharan Africa to rank among the 10 freest economies in the world. Botswana is the second-freest African country, followed by Cape Verde. South Africa used to be near the top but has since declined. Of the other sub-Saharan countries, 11 are rated as "repressed" and 26 are "mostly unfree." Eight of the world's 20 least free economies are in Africa's sub-Saharan region.
Invitation to a Tea Party
Recently, my wife told me to stop picking on the Tea Party. Frankly, I was taken aback that after six books and 1500 articles espousing my conservative beliefs, not to mention 29 years of marriage, I would be accused of attacking those with whom I tended to agree. But Yvonne's words gave me pause and made me think about it. I had to admit that on a couple of occasions I had admitted that I couldn't stand listening to Sarah Palin's voice, and that the recurring "You betchas" had begun wearing on me like an Alaskan water torture. I had also taken Ted Cruz to task because his carefully engineered, but ill-timed, shutdown of the federal government, had allowed Clinton bagman Terry McAuliffe to defeat Republican Ken Cuccinelli in Virginia's 2013 gubernatorial race. To be fair, Cruz wasn't entirely responsible. If the Libertarian candidate Robert Sarvis hadn't sucked off roughly seven percent of the votes, Cuccinelli would today be ensconced in the governor's mansion.
Incumbents Always Win
I'm told that the public is "angry" at today's politicians. Eighty-two percent disapprove of the job Congress is doing. So will Tuesday's election bring a big shakeup? No. Congressional reelection rates never drop below 85 percent. The last big "wave" election was 1994, when Democrats lost control of both houses. The media called it a "revolution," and the late Peter Jennings from ABC likened Americans to 2-year-olds throwing a tantrum.
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
The Facts Behind ObamaCare's Numbers
Many enrollees had coverage before the health care law forced them out
Voter ID Myth Crashes
Democrats want everyone to vote: old, young, white, black, Hispanic, Asian, citizen, non-citizen. Wait, what was that last one again? We'll get to that. Voter ID laws, passed by 30 states so far, are efforts by legislatures to ensure the integrity of votes. Being asked to show a photo ID can diminish several kinds of fraud, including impersonation, duplicate registrations in different jurisdictions and voting by ineligible people including felons and non-citizens. The Democrats have made a number of arguments against voter ID laws. They argue a) that the problem of voter impersonation or in-person voter fraud is nonexistent, b) that black and poor voters are more likely than others to lack a valid ID and c) that Republicans are attempting to "suppress" the votes of Democratic constituencies in a bid to revive Jim Crow.
If It Damages America, It's Good for Democrats
In almost every area of American life, the better things are, the worse it is for the Democratic Party. And vice versa. Marriage. Even today, after decades of feminism, most Americans agree that it is better for women (and for men) -- and better for society -- when women (and men) marry. Yet, when women marry, it is bad for the Democratic Party; and when women do not marry, even after -- or shall we say, *especially* after -- having children, it is quite wonderful for the Democratic Party.
Government as the Great Equalizer -- and Other Absurdities
The really troubling point that Joel Kotkin makes in the New York Daily News is that New York can't figure out how to do the economic equality thing we hear so much about in this and every political season. "Gotham," writes Kotkin, "has become the American capital of a national and even international trend toward greater income inequality and declining social mobility." The most unequal county in America -- that's Manhattan. Second lowest among the country's 100 largest cities in terms of middle-income neighborhoods -- that's the city as a whole. The Bronx one-ups, so to speak, that dismal distinction, being the nation's poorest urban county. Meanwhile, says Kotkin, a respected (outside "New Yorker" circles) writer on urban dysfunction, "Roughly one in four Brooklynites -- most of them black or Hispanic -- lives in poverty."
Help for Middle East Christians
American Christians have been slow to the point of near silence when it comes to speaking out about the atrocities committed against their fellow believers by the Islamic State in Iraq (ISIS). The Jewish people are much better models in solidarity when Jews are persecuted. Members of ISIS have targeted Christian churches, destroyed symbols of Christian faith and killed Christians because of their beliefs, but from American Christians we hear very little. Even President Obama, a self-described Christian, rarely speaks about the persecuted. Reality television producer Mark Burnett and his actress wife, Roma Downey, are trying to raise awareness and money to help displaced and threatened Iraqi Christians who survived the genocidal attacks against them.
Scales Finally Falling From America's Obama-Obscured Eyes
Do you all realize what a major deal it is that liberal comics are now openly ridiculing President Obama -- and not just for his mannerisms and the like but based on his abject policy failures? In his first few years and beyond, liberal funnymen sometimes complained that Obama was so flawless that he didn't provide them any material. Of course, we knew at the time that this otherworldly caricature of Obama was wholly mythical, but it was nonetheless very real in the eyes of its liberal beholders. They regarded him with a quasi-idolatrous zeal -- almost as though it would be sacrilegious to criticize, much less mock, him.