Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Pelosi: I Never Met 'Anybody Who Liked His or Her Plan'
Asked whether she needed to apologize to the formerly insured who have lost their health insurance plans, former House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said, "Did I ever tell my constituents that if they liked their plan they could keep it? I would have if I'd ever met anybody who liked his or her plan. But that was not my experience." Pelosi, whose net worth -- combined with her husband's -- is estimated between $35 and $180 million, never "met anybody who liked his or her plan"? Her out-of-touch comment reminds one of then-New Yorker film critic, liberal Pauline Kael. In 1972, after Republican Richard Nixon crushed Democrat George McGovern, 49 states to one, a shell-shocked Kael said, "Nobody I know voted for Nixon."
A Mulligan Stew
Thanks to Obama and his army of liberal pinheads, I'm never allowed a moment's peace. Even with my bad wing, I'm constantly scribbling little notes to myself, reminding myself of their mischief. In no time at all, so many notes pile up that I have to clear the decks, lest I be buried in an avalanche of paper. So, for openers, I would now very much like to see Obama impeached for committing financial fraud, which I believe falls under the heading of high crimes and misdemeanors. We have proof from as far back as his filmed exchange with Rep. Eric Cantor back in 2010 that he knew the Affordable Care Act would deprive people of their health insurance and their personal physicians, although he continued to lie about it on at least 40 occasions in his attempt to bring socialized medicine to America, while simultaneously gobbling up a sixth of the economy.
ObamaCare-Speak Fails to Mask an Evolving Fiasco
The Obama administration once gave us "man-caused disasters" for acts of terrorism and "workplace violence" for the Fort Hood shootings. Now it has trumped those past linguistic contortions by changing words to mask the Obamacare disaster. The president and his advisors apparently knew long ago that millions of the insured would face cancellations or premium hikes once Obamacare would be fully implemented. Yet to get the 906-page bill passed, they had to convince the public of the very opposite scenario. So they repeated ironclad guarantees that no one would lose their coverage or doctors -- "period!"
A Personal JFK Remembrance
My parents voted for Richard Nixon in the 1960 presidential election. I had not yet developed a political worldview, but as a freshman at American University in Washington, D.C., I stayed up late to watch the election returns slowly trickle in before going to bed at 2 a.m. with the outcome still undecided. The following year I was hired as a copyboy at NBC News, delivering wire service "copy" to news reporters in the network's Washington bureau. White House correspondent Sander Vanocur invited me to accompany him to observe the swearing-in of Adlai Stevenson as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
The JFK We Had
He has become fodder for an interpretation industry toiling to make his life malleable enough to soothe the sensitivities and serve the agendas of the interpreters. The quantity of writing about him is inversely proportional to the brevity of his presidency. He did not have history-shaping effects comparable to those of his immediate predecessor or successor. Dwight Eisenhower was one of three Americans (with George Washington and Ulysses Grant) who were world-historic figures before becoming president, and Lyndon Johnson was second only to Franklin Roosevelt as a maker of the modern welfare state and second to none in using law to ameliorate America's racial dilemma.
Return of the Virtue Patrol
The hapless Richard Cohen has done it again. He was acting like a good scout in slandering Americans "with conventional views," and in the course of his noble endeavor he brought down on himself the full force of the virtue patrol. Well, he has only himself to blame. In the course of writing a column assessing Governor Chris Christie's 2016 presidential chances, he went off on a playful scherzo, to wit: "People with conventional views must repress a gag reflex when considering the mayor-elect of New York -- a white man married to a black woman and with two biracial children [What did Cohen expect, tri-racial children? -- RET]. (Should I mention that Bill de Blasio's wife, Chirlane McCray, used to be lesbian?) This family represents the cultural changes that have enveloped parts -- but not all -- of America. To cultural conservatives, this doesn't look like their country at all."
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
When the Joke Was on JFK
Saturday Night Live skewered President Obama last weekend in a spoof so merciless -- a mock commercial for the antidepressant Paxil -- that conservative bloggers found themselves wondering if it marked some kind of a turning point in the president's political support. The skit featured impersonator/comedian Jay Pharaoh as Obama, desperately popping pill after pill, while a voiceover lists the many symptoms that "Paxil/Second-Term Strength" is good for: "Benghazi, the NSA scandal, the IRS scandal, the AP scandal, the Petraeus scandal … and, of course, Obamacare website problems." Along the bottom of the screen, the ad cautions that Paxil is not covered by Obamacare. "We promised that it would be, but it's not," the fine print notes. "And for that, we apologize."
The Persecution of Wisconsin Conservatives
For the crime of supporting Gov. Walker, the Left demands blood.
Only the Self-Reliant Remain Free
Who had more freedom? Was it the pioneer who rode horseback across the Midwest, settled in a wide-open space without paved roads, grocery stores or hospitals, and he had to build his own home, cultivate his own food and educate his own children?
On S----ing in Sarah Palin's Mouth
On Friday evening, MSNBC's Martin Bashir, a man known largely for interviewing Michael Jackson back in 2003, made a name for himself in a new way: He stated that former Alaska governor and vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin deserved to have someone "p-ss" and "s---" in her mouth. The repulsive comments came on the heels of Palin's statement that racking up debt to China would result in the enslavement of future generations to a foreign power. Bashir read a long passage from sadistic slave owner Thomas Thistlewood, who forced slaves to urinate and defecate on each other. "She confirms that if anyone truly qualified for a dose of discipline from Thomas Thistlewood, then she would be the outstanding candidate," Bashir concluded.
The Punishment Is the Crime
Nine years ago, Ronald Washington swiped two Michael Jordan jerseys from a Foot Locker in Shreveport, La. Although the shirts were on sale for $45 each, they were officially priced at $60, putting their combined value above $100. The difference between the discounted price and the list price was the difference between a misdemeanor punishable by no more than six months in jail and a felony that triggered a life sentence.
Arne Duncan's War on Women and Children
Just when you thought the Obama administration couldn't antagonize America any further, along comes Education Secretary Arne Duncan. He didn't just attack "white suburban moms" and children over their criticism of the Common Core "standards"/testing/data-mining program. The feds' top educrat also managed to insult every one of the nation's minority families and educators who oppose Fed Ed's threat to academic excellence, local control and student privacy.
Tough Sledding for Holiday Health Care Push
What's the difference between Christmas and ObamaCare? Christmas involved wise men. And after the last month and a half, most Americans are pretty certain that the health care rollout did not. Still, the President is convinced that the holiday season is the perfect time to spread peace, goodwill, and socialized medicine to all. As part of his Organizing for America (OFA) outreach, the White House is launching a new program called "Healthcare for the Holidays," encouraging "family, friends and neighbors to have the one-on-one conversations that are crucial to getting people enrolled."
Joe Scarborough Doesn't Care About GOP Victory
Joe Scarborough is out with a new book again, lecturing conservatives on the best road forward. Here's the first sign it should be ignored (just like the previous ones): It will be reviewed by The New York Times, while Mark Levin's truly important, best-selling books are not. It's the same formula for the Scarborough TV tour: an appearance next to Barbara Walters on ABC's "The View," spots on "CBS This Morning" and "Charlie Rose: The Week" on PBS. The liberal media really want Scarborough to tell Republicans what to do. And why not? Might that be because their recommendations are similar?
Oprah, Obama and the Racism Dodge
In Britain to promote her film "The Butler," Oprah Winfrey gave an interview to the BBC last week. Not surprisingly, she promoted her movie about race relations in the White House with comments about race relations and the White House. The BBC's Will Gompertz asked: "Has it ever crossed your mind that some of the treatment of Obama and the challenges he's faced and some of the reporting he's received is because he's an African-American?"
War on the Little Guy
Marty the Magician performed magic tricks for kids, including the traditional rabbit-out-of-a-hat. Then one day: "I was signing autographs and taking pictures with children and their parents," he told me. "Suddenly, a badge was thrown into the mix, and an inspector said, 'Let me see your license.'" In "Harry Potter" books, a creepy Ministry of Magic controls young wizards. Now in the USA, government regulates stage magicians -- one of the countless ways it makes life harder for the little guy.
A Very Dangerous Game
New York City police authorities are investigating a series of unprovoked physical attacks in public places on people who are Jewish, in the form of what is called "the knockout game." The way the game is played, one of a number of young blacks decides to show that he can knock down some stranger on the streets, preferably with one punch, as they pass by. Often some other member of the group records the event, so that a video of that "achievement" is put on the Internet, to be celebrated.
Do Americans Prefer Deception?
There's more to the deceit and dishonesty about Social Security and Medicare discussed in my recent columns. Congress tells us that one-half (6.2 percent) of the Social Security tax is paid by employees and that the other half is paid by employers, for a total of 12.4 percent. Similarly, we are told that a Medicare tax of 1.45 percent is levied on employees and that another 1.45 percent is levied on employers. The truth of the matter is that the burden of both taxes is borne by employees. In other words, we pay both the employee and the so-called employer share. You say, "Williams, that's nonsense! Just look at what it says on my pay stub." OK, let's look at it.
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
ObamaCare Fix as Bad as ObamaCare Itself
Americans remain panicked by insurance uncertainty and a president with no credibility.
Reliving the 'End of Days'
President Kennedy's killing still sells books 50 years later