Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Iraq Is on Its Own!
"It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain..." (The Gettysburg Address) No life is more wasted than one lost in vain. After the U.S. military battled heroically to liberate Iraq from Saddam Hussein's dictatorship and to eliminate the possibility that it might become a staging area for terrorist attacks, the Obama administration has created a vacuum now being filled by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), an al-Qaida affiliate, which has overrun Mosul and Fallujah, cities liberated by American soldiers. ISIS now threatens Baghdad.
Obama Follows Polls in Foreign Policy but Public Turns Against Him
Polls show that most Americans wanted the United States to withdraw from Iraq. Barack Obama did indeed withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq, not troubling to negotiate a readily negotiable status of forces agreement that would have left a contingent of American soldiers there. Polls show that most Americans want the United States to withdraw from Afghanistan. Barack Obama has announced that the bulk of U.S. forces will withdraw from Afghanistan during his term in office, with only small numbers -- less than military leaders recommended -- remaining, provided the new Afghan government approves. The most recent Pew Research Center poll conducted for the Council on Foreign Relations shows that 52 percent of Americans -- the highest percentage in the last 40 years -- think the U.S. should mind its own business internationally and let other countries get along as best they can on their own. Evidently they don't want to see America being, in the old phrase, the policeman of the world.
Obama's Foreign Policy of Retreat
Two hundred and nine years after Marines visited those shores, dispatched by President Jefferson to punish Barbary pirates for attacking U.S. vessels in the Mediterranean, Marines are again in that sea, poised to return. If they are sent ashore, their mission will be to rescue U.S. citizens from the consequences of U.S. policy. Then they might have to do the same thing in Baghdad. The House Select Committee on Benghazi should not consider the attack on the U.S. compound in Benghazi its sole or even primary topic. Rather, it should begin at the beginning, with the U.S. military intervention in Libya's civil war 18 months before Benghazi.
Monday, June 16, 2014
In Today's America, 'Mainstream' Means Left
Just when Tea Party obituaries were being sounded around the country, Washington fixture of 42 years, Mississippi Senator Thad Cochran, loses to upstart Tea Party candidate Chris McDaniel. And one week later, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, in the blockbuster of this year's political season, is booted out of office in the Virginia Republican primary by an economics professor from Randolph-Macon College, total undergraduate enrollment -- 1,312 students. Turns out that reports of the death of the Tea Party are greatly exaggerated.
The IRS 'Loses' Lerner's Emails
Give the Obama administration credit. The way they reveal the extent and depth of their utter contempt for the law is a combination of impeccable timing and confident arrogance. Thus, they are almost certain that latest shoe to drop in the IRS scandal will likely be lost in the cacophony surrounding the Berghdal prisoner swap, the administration-endorsed invasion at our southern border, and the fall of Iraq. In yet another oh-so-familiar Friday news dump, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) revealed to Congress that they have "lost" more than two years worth of emails to and from former tax official Lois Lerner.
Help Wanted: A GOP Leader for a Majority
Louisiana's "Ragin' Cajun," James Carville, was the mastermind behind the first Clinton presidential campaign. He drew the Republicans off their winning strategy back in 1992 with his "It's the economy, stupid!" As a result of following the Clinton campaign, President George H. W. Bush's campaign neglected social and defense issues and he was defeated by Bill Clinton that year, gaining only 37% of the popular vote. This year, there is already a call from some to focus like a laser on the economy. And ditch social and defense issues. It was a mistake in 1992, it was a mistake in 2008, in 2012 and it would be a mistake now.
Sunday, June 15, 2014
Do Republicans Have an Alternative to ObamaCare?
There is a new book out, called Room to Grow. It is produced by the YG Network and has the implicit endorsement of the Republican leadership. The health care chapter is written by Jim Capretta. Here are the main elements: People who buy their own health insurance will be given a fixed sum tax credit, which averages about $6,000 for a middle aged family of four. The credit is more generous than the ObamaCare exchange subsidies for most individuals making more than about $20,000.
The Roar of Europe's Protest Vote
When the dyspeptic poet Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867), who loathed Belgium even more than most things, was asked to imagine an epitaph for that nation, he suggested: "At last!" Which is how many Europeans feel about the rapidly growing disgust with the European Union, which is headquartered in Brussels. Opposition to the EU is a worthy cause that unfortunately has been embraced by, and might become the property of, political parties tainted by disreputable motives and members. That xenophobia, anti-Semitism and other acrid aromas of Europe's past are today present in corners of the continent is an indictment of the EU's -- and of Europe's major parties' -- disregard of the legitimate concerns of decent people dismayed by the damage the EU is doing to democracy and freedom.
Cruel & Unusual Punishment
It's an odd paradox, but I understand those who commit cold-blooded murder better than I do those people who attend vigils outside prisons where killers are being executed. The murderers, after all, are evil, making their acts, along with those of rapists and child molesters, comprehensible. When such a crime is committed and people say, "How could anyone do such a thing?" conservatives know the answer is: "They're the evil spawn of Satan." Liberals, on the other hand, assume that nobody, except conservatives are truly evil, and that bad behavior can inevitably be traced back to capitalism. If it weren't for money, they're convinced we'd all be living in condos in the Garden of Eden. They never bother explaining how money or the lack thereof motivates rape or the sexual abuse of children, but logic, as you may have noticed, is never their strong suit.
Saturday, June 14, 2014
From The Comedy Store
Susan Rice went on the Sunday talk shows to defend the administration for trading five Taliban leaders for a soldier who went AWOL. This time she covered her tracks. Susan Rice declared that Bergdahl served with honor and distinction, but she didn't say for which side.
Obama: 'Fundamentally Transforming' America?
Dr. Cornel West is a leading liberal public intellectual. He gave an interview to [NewsOne](newsone.com/2078884/cornel-west-obama-blackface/) immediately following the 2012 election that was nothing if not provocative. Dr. West said he was happy Romney didn't win, but far from satisfied with the Obama record and especially with the just-ended presidential campaign: >So we end up with such a narrow, truncated political discourse, as the major problems -- ecological catastrophe, climate change, global warming. So it's very sad. I mean, I'm glad there was not a right-wing takeover, but we end up with a Republican, a Rockefeller Republican in blackface, with Barack Obama, so that our struggle with regard to poverty intensifies.
Friday, June 13, 2014
Amnesty Lite Is Still Amnesty
Not since a 42-to-1 underdog named Buster Douglas knocked out undefeated heavyweight champion Mike Tyson in 1990 has there been an upset like economics professor Dave Brat defeating House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in the Republican primary in Virginia. You couldn't write a script like this for a movie and have it be believable. Congressman Eric Cantor, with all kinds of name recognition, and outspending his opponent by 5 million dollars to $100,000, lost 55 percent to 45 percent against somebody that virtually nobody ever heard of before. Polls, incidentally, had predicted that Cantor would defeat Brat 62 percent to 28 percent. To add a touch of absolute fantasy to the story, Dave Brat's Democratic opponent this fall is another professor at the same Randolph-Macon College where Professor Brat teaches.
A True Maverick for Colorado: Who's Afraid of Tom Tancredo?
Panicked liberals and crony Republican elitists agree: Tom Tancredo would be bad for their Big Government and Big Business rackets. That's exactly why I support him in Colorado's June 24 GOP primary election for governor. A fear-mongering ad campaign by the left-wing group "ProgressNow," which is funded by billionaire George Soros, hyperventilated last week that "Tancredo believes Obamacare is a scam." Gasp! "Scam" is putting it politely, of course. Billions of dollars have been wasted on defunct and dysfunctional Obamacare health exchanges. Criminals, illegal aliens and con artists have been hired as "navigators" to sign up Obamacare enrollees (a.k.a. future Democratic voters). And millions of Americans of all backgrounds, including my family, have had their plans canceled thanks to the costs and regulatory burdens of the law. Workers have seen their wages and hours cut; employers, especially small and family-owned businesses, have been forced to drop coverage.
The 'Transgender Tipping Point' to Censorship
Now that our cultural elites feel they have sufficiently educated the public on the virtues of gays and lesbians, it's time to drill down to the next level. Here comes transgenderism. Time magazine placed "Orange Is the New Black" star Laverne Cox (born Charles Cox) on the cover as the face of "The Transgender Tipping Point: America's Next Civil Rights Frontier." Cox wrote on Facebook that the Time cover was a wonderful present on her birthday, and "I realize this is way bigger than me and about a tipping point in our nation's history where it is no longer acceptable for trans lives to be stigmatized, ridiculed, criminalized and disregarded." Beware of the words "tipping point." That means Americans will no longer be allowed to express dissent, moral or otherwise, about the choice to discard the oppressive "gender binary" and be whichever blend of genders you choose. Disagree, and you "stigmatize" and "dehumanize" people. You deny them "civil rights." You "criminalize" the innocent.
Wrong Lessons From Cantor Defeat
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's primary defeat this week is being widely touted as a warning to Republicans contemplating immigration reform. The popular narrative has it that because Cantor's opponent, David Brat, is a hard-line immigration opponent who accused Cantor of being "pro-amnesty," immigration was the deciding factor in the race. But the facts don't bear out this restrictionist fantasy. First, whatever else one can say about Cantor -- that he is one of the brightest members of the House, for example -- he is no friend to immigration reform. NumbersUSA, an opponent of both legal and illegal immigration, gave Cantor an overall B rating in its "report card" on his voting record from 2011-2014, including an A-plus on reducing "amnesty entitlements" and an A-minus on "reducing illegal jobs and presence." Cantor would have scored higher overall, but he voted for visas for high-tech and other needed workers, and the immigration restrictionists want no immigration, period.
Ready for Hillary
Have you seen the "Ready for Hillary" bumper stickers? I've seen one already and wondered about the implied insult to the current occupant of the White House. You're "Ready for Hillary" when the greatest statesman of our age isn't even halfway through his second term? Are you ready because Hillary Clinton's tenure as secretary of state was such a rousing success? As of this writing, Islamist forces are marching south from newly conquered Mosul and Tikrit in Iraq. Wasn't Clinton the chief architect of our foreign policy when we failed to negotiate a status-of-forces agreement with Iraq in 2011? Reviewing that history in September of 2012, The New York Times quoted an administration spokesman: "As we reviewed the 10,000 option, we came to the conclusion that achieving the goal of a security partnership was not dependent on the size of our footprint in-country, and that stability in Iraq did not depend on the presence of U.S. forces."
Political Correctness Run a Duck
It used to be offensive to support natural marriage -- now it's offensive just to like someone who does! Even, two Eglin Air Force officials found out, if that "someone" is a famous celebrity. In a mind-blowing story of political correctness run amok, a controversy is rocking a Florida military base over two tiny decals stuck to the back of employees' personal vehicles. "I stand with Phil" is all the stickers said -- but it's enough, one government union argues, to get the officials fired. The "Phil," of course, is a reference to "Duck Dynasty's" famous -- and unabashedly Christian -- patriarch. By supporting the Robertsons' leader, who spoke out against same-sex "marriage" in December, the American Federation of Government Employees insists that base officials are somehow violating the Civil Rights Act -- even though the display is on their personal property. Fox News's Todd Starnes, who broke the story, interviewed the union rep, who said someone on base had reported the employee, "offended and disgusted that a senior management official would display the decal on their pod."
Obama Has Painted Himself Into a Foreign-Policy Corner
The Arab Spring is over. Welcome to the Jihadi Spring. Across a huge swath of what, up until recently, had been known as Iraq and Syria, a transnational movement of Sunni Islamic extremists has taken control. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has conquered -- without much effort -- Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, along with most of the province of Nineveh. It's also taken Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown. Along the way it has ransacked banks (to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars), pillaged weapon stockpiles (including the stuff we left behind for the Iraqi army), and recruited ever more fighters from Iraq, Syria and abroad. ISIS started out as an al-Qaeda franchise, but in 2011 it broke off to become an independent dealer of Islamist mayhem. If anything, it is more extreme than al-Qaeda -- though that fine distinction probably means little to the Shiites and Christians it slaughters.
Revenge, American-Style
Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord. And although retribution shall surely come in the fullness of time, a ballplayer can only wait so long. Accordingly, when Boston slugger David Ortiz came to bat against Tampa Bay's David Price at the end of May -- for the first time this season -- Price fired the very first pitch, a 94 mile-an-hour fastball, square into Ortiz's back. Ortiz was not amused. Hesitation, angry smile, umpire's warning. Managers screaming, tempers flaring. Everyone knew this was no accident.