Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Political Competition, Not Racism, Changes Voter Alignments
Have the Republicans become the white man's party? Are the depth and bitterness of Republicans' opposition to Barack Obama and his administration the product of racism? Those are questions you hear in the clash of political argument, and you will hear plenty of answers in the affirmative if you click onto MSNBC or salon.com with any regularity. You can find a more nuanced and thoughtful analysis in Jonathan Chait's recent New York magazine article, "The Color of His Presidency." Chait, a liberal, starts off by noting that the post-racial America that Obama seemed to promise in his 2004 national convention speech and his 2008 campaign has not come into being.
Monday, April 21, 2014
T.W. Shannon – Rising Black Republican Star
In January of 2013 T.W. Shannon established two milestones. He became the first black speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives. And, at the age of 34, he became Oklahoma's youngest House speaker in history. Also noteworthy is that this young black American is a Republican. Now T.W. Shannon is making new headlines. He has stepped down from his position as House speaker to run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Oklahoma Republican Senator Tom Coburn.
Harry the Hatchet Man
As the self-appointed hatchet man of a Democratic Party determined to divide America for political gain, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has been on quite a tear. Apparently unfulfilled by his demonization of the Koch brothers as "un-American," or branding ordinary Americans who expressed dissatisfaction with ObamaCare as liars, Reid has focused his attention on rancher Cliven Bundy and the people who came to his defense when Bureau of Land Management (BLM) officials decided a paramilitary assault was the best way to handle a long-standing case of delinquent grazing fees. "Those people who hold themselves out to be patriots are not," Reid declared. "They're nothing more than domestic terrorists. I repeat: What went on up there was domestic terrorism." While it is true Bundy hasn't got a legal leg to stand on, Americans might wonder why a United States Senator would forcefully and repeatedly inject himself into this relatively insignificant matter. Or is it insignificant? Perhaps it's time to shed a little light on Harry Reid himself.
Goldwater Lost in a Landslide – and Won the GOP Future
To the recent spate of 50th-anniversary reflections on key political and cultural milestones -- the 1963 March on Washington, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the Beatles' appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show -- here's one to add: The presidential campaign of Barry Goldwater, the most influential also-ran in modern American politics. Goldwater was nicknamed "Mr. Conservative," but now even liberals adore him. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. penned an essay a few years back effusive in its praise for Goldwater, whom he described as an exemplar of civility, decency, and integrity. Goldwater was "neither mean-spirited nor racist," wrote Kennedy; he challenged the liberals of his time through "sensible argument and honest conviction." A 2006 documentary produced by CC Goldwater, Barry's liberal's granddaughter, is strewn with such liberal tributes; Hillary Clinton, James Carville, and Walter Cronkite are among those who attest to the man's statesmanship and charm.
Sunday, April 20, 2014
Regulatory Overkill
Occasionally, the Supreme Court considers questions that are answered merely by asking them. On Tuesday, the court will hear arguments about this: Should a government agency, whose members are chosen by elected officials, be empowered to fine or imprison any candidate or other participant in the political process who during a campaign makes what the agency considers "false statements" about a member of the political class or a ballot initiative? An Ohio statute, which resembles laws in at least 15 other states, says, among many other stern things, that: "No person, during the course of any campaign ... shall ... make a false statement concerning the voting record of a candidate or public official." Former Rep. Steve Driehaus, a Cincinnati Democrat who considers himself pro-life, says he lost his 2010 re-election bid because the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List violated Ohio's law with ads saying that when he voted for the Affordable Care Act (ACA), he voted for taxpayer funding of abortion.
Movin' on Up to the White House
There used to be a TV sit com in the 80s called "The Jeffersons." The central characters were a married black couple, George and Louise. George had worked hard and parlayed one dry cleaning store into a successful chain, enabling them to move into an expensive apartment in a luxurious high-rise. Success quickly went to George's head, turning him into a blowhard and a bigot. Critics referred to him as the black Archie Bunker. When I look at Barack Obama, aside from the hard work, I unfortunately see a lot of George Jefferson in him, when what the nation needs is a president more reminiscent of *Thomas* Jefferson. Like George, there is nothing Obama finds more enchanting than the sound of his own pomposities. But whereas Mrs. Jefferson was a kind and sensible woman who did her best to keep her husband from floating off on his own hot air emissions, Obama's wife is not only an enabler, but is a royal pain in her own right.
Why Are the Poor, Poor?
Have you ever wondered why poor people are poor? It's not as though there aren't plenty of role models around. Millions of people live highly successful, productive lives in this country. So why don't people at the bottom of the income ladder copy the behavior of those several rungs above them and better their lot in life? As I wrote previously, the federal government's own pilot programs established conclusively from the very early days of the War on Poverty that the welfare state encourages people not to be married, not to work and not to invest in human capital.
Saturday, April 19, 2014
From The Comedy Store
Kathleen Sebelius resigned as Health Secreatry Tuesday after she oversaw the disastrous Obamacare rollout. The administration wanted her to quit thinking she'd be blamed by the voters this fall. It explains why getting thrown under the bus is now covered by Obamacare.
Friday, April 18, 2014
Hiding ObamaCare Data With the Census Bureau
How Obama is making long-term comparisons of the bureau's health care statistics impossible.
There Are No Such Things as 'Scientists'
We should get rid of the word and simply replace it with "some guy."
Don't Dump Pennsylvania's Governor
Be careful, Pennsylvania people. You can't afford to blow it this fall. Your great state is, I'm sorry to say, already not so great when it comes to fiscal solvency. Don't make it worse by dumping your Republican governor, Tom Corbett. Despite the Marcellus Shale boom that's turned Pennsylvania into the Saudi Arabia of natural gas, the Keystone State's current fiscal condition is almost as dire as New Jersey's.
The Problem With Dartmouth
Dartmouth College has a problem. Protestors occupied the president's office at the Ivy League school a couple of weeks ago and demanded more "womyn or people of color" faculty, coverage of sex-change operations on the student health plan, and "gender-neutral bathrooms," among other things. Now Dartmouth President Philip J. Hanlon has responded with a call "to end the extreme behaviors that are in conflict with our mission." But Hanlon's aim seems focused almost exclusively on the campus fraternity system, and his solution -- a committee to look into "high-risk drinking, sexual assault and inclusivity" -- appears more a way to appease those who engaged in the sit-in than to confront genuine problems at the school. Let me be clear. Binge drinking is a huge issue on campuses across the country, and fraternity hazing can be cruel and dangerous. But fraternities are not, by and large, the cause of the breakdown of civil and responsible behavior at Dartmouth or other colleges.
'Close Observers of History' Hate Ollie North
For its second season, the creators of the FX series "The Americans" have chosen a new source for insight into the Cold War during the Reagan years -- one Lt. Col. Oliver North. It's a dramatic reversal from the first season, and it has infuriated some hard leftists. The show began with the shocking promise from creator Joel Weisberg that the series' heroes would be KGB agents: "We're making them the sympathetic characters. I'd go so far as to say they're the heroes." It quickly became apparent that these characters could be unsentimental killers of innocent Americans, so perhaps that triggered a change of heart. What's resulted in the second season has been a more conventional dramatist's take: The KGB agents are morally conflicted, and so is the FBI agent who lives across the street. The reaction from the hard left is equally conventional. After shocking conservatives before the first season began, Weisberg's decision to hire North to consult on the second season has thrown these liberals for a loop.
Obama's Diplomatic Dance With Putin Is a Sad Sock Hop
President Obama is right. He told Major Garrett of CBS this week that "Mr. Putin's decisions aren't just bad for Ukraine. Over the long term, they're going to be bad for Russia." I believe that Putin's adventures in Russia's "near abroad" are a mistake. Indeed, they are part of a whole tapestry of wrongheadedness. It's also bad for the Kremlin to crush dissent, censor the news and hobble the economy by handing it over to oligarchs and a kleptocratic bureaucracy. Putin's scapegoating and demonizing of gays isn't only morally wrong, it's not in Russia's long-term interests either. That Putin prefers to use his oil and gas assets as a political weapon abroad and an excuse not to diversify his economy at home has me Googling the Russian word for "boneheaded."
Time Bombs in Democratic Coalition
The Republican Party is roiling with internal conflicts, say the analysts. The tea party is confronting the establishment. The noninterventionists are at war (forgive the expression) with the interventionists. The libertarians would like the party to endorse same-sex marriage. Fair enough. These conflicts will play out during the primaries in 2016, and we'll discover whether they are serious fault lines or merely squabbles. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party, supposedly the firm fortress of the middle class, minorities and women, is actually showing some internal stresses as well. Little fissures are snaking through the crust, perhaps reflecting tectonic movement beneath.
Conservatives Still Don't Want You to Get Sick and Die
The notion that conservatives not only oppose liberal health care reforms but are vigorously working to deny Americans access is a popular one on the left. If you don't support Obamacare, you are basically endorsing murder. A recent contemptible piece in New Republic, which argues that Democrats should -- without any evidence, if necessary -- blame the unfortunate deaths of Americans on the rival political party, is perhaps the pinnacle of this brand of absurd demagoguery. Alan Grayson mainstreamed.
Obama Must Defend NATO's Red Lines From Putin's Aggression
Last week, masked men in camouflage garb with no insignia, dressed and equipped like Russian special forces, started taking over police stations and other government buildings in the Donets basin in Eastern Ukraine. They appeared to be working in tandem with local militias in defying the Ukrainian government. This week, the Ukrainian government has responded by sending in military forces to counter these actions. There has been shooting and violence. But Ukraine's military doesn't seem capable of asserting control. So Vladimir Putin's Russia, with some 40,000 troops massed just outside Ukraine, seems to have taken effective control of a significant chunk of Ukraine -- or at least denying effective control to the Ukraine government.
Feminist Thought Police vs. Feminine Kirsten Dunst
The left's tyrannical suppression of opposing views would be less farcical if leftists weren't such pseudo-champions of tolerance and freedom of expression. In our leftist-dominated culture, the permitted categories of speech are becoming ever more restrictive. If, for example, you are a conservative radio talk show host, you must always remain vigilant because the left wants to resurrect the Fairness Doctrine to suppress the opposing viewpoint and re-establish its major-media monopoly. If you own a small catering company and same-sex marriage violates your religious beliefs, the left wants to force you to provide food for same-sex marriage ceremonies. If you are a health care provider or business who objects to providing insurance coverage for abortifacients or contraceptives, you will be denied your freedom to do so. If you are a conservative organization applying for tax-exempt status, the leftist Obama administration -- via probable collusion among the White House, the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Justice -- will delay, harass or deny you.
The Zealots Win Again
The debate over campaign contributions is never-ending for a simple reason: Both sides of the argument have merit. On the one hand, of course money is speech. For most citizens, contributing to politicians or causes is the most effective way to augment and amplify speech with which they agree. The most disdainful dismissers of this argument are editorialists and incumbent politicians who -- surprise! -- already enjoy access to vast audiences and don't particularly like their monopoly being invaded by the unwashed masses or the self-made plutocrat. On the other hand, of course money is corrupting. The nation's jails are well stocked with mayors, legislators, judges and the occasional governor who have exchanged favors for cash. However, there are lesser -- and legal -- forms of influence-peddling short of the outright quid pro quo. Campaign contributions are carefully calibrated to approach that line without crossing it. But money distorts. There is no denying the unfairness of big contributors buying access unavailable to the everyday citizen.
Obama, Gays and Betting on the Oscars
Where does Obama keep finding these guys? As if Eric Holder wasn't horrible enough, Obama tried to push Debo Adegbile, whose most notable achievement was keeping a cop killer from being executed, into the Department of Justice, turning it into even more of a sewer than it already was. Next, he decided to make Vivak Hallegere Murthy, who apparently regards the Second Amendment to be a greater threat to the nation's health than booze, tobacco and Katherine Sebelius, put together, America's Surgeon General. Obama has also hired an Afghan immigrant named Mohammad Rasool to be a financial management analyst for the IRS. Odd even for Obama, considering the fact Mr. Rasool had a friend who just happened to be connected to al-Qaeda. What's more, he tried to help his chum evade a terrorism probe by the FBI. Ultimately, the friend was arrested, convicted and deported. Mr. Rasool was arrested, placed on probation for two years and, perhaps by way of apology for causing a Muslim the slightest bit of embarrassment, given this gig with the IRS.