Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Sunday, October 6, 2013
On Political Speech, a Court Opportunity
The Supreme Court must feel as though it is plowing an ocean as it repeatedly reminds Congress that the anodyne label "campaign finance reform" can encompass a multitude of sins. Come Tuesday, the court will have another occasion to consider that not all regulations of the indispensable means of disseminating political speech -- money -- are constitutional just because they are presented as means of preventing corruption or its "appearance." By siding with Shaun McCutcheon, a conservative Alabama entrepreneur, the court can continue rescuing the freedoms of political speech and association from abridgements written by, and for, the political class. At issue are the aggregate limits on individuals' political contributions.
Saturday, October 5, 2013
Picasso, Cats & Politics
Recently, it occurred to me that when we say certain painters are great, we're generally only parroting what others have told us. I, personally, don't happen to care for Picasso, Gauguin or Van Gogh. Their subjects held no interest for me. But even if they did, does that make any of their canvases worth millions of dollars on the open market? Tell an art critic that you prefer Norman Rockwell's magazine covers to Degas, and he'd have you horsewhipped in the public square as a self-admitted Philistine. But why is a painting of water lilies superior to an amusing depiction of a small town barber or a boy and his dog?
Obama's Reckless Default Fear-Mongering
He's Attacking the Economy and Markets for His Own Gain
From The Comedy Store
President Obama traveled to suburban Maryland to give a speech pitching the benefits of ObamaCare to a cheering university crowd. The president has much in common with today's college kids. They're both in their fifth year and hopelessly in debt.
What American Defeat Looks Like
If United States is ever to be eclipsed as a major power, defeat might begin with foreign "leaders" -- all dictators, actually -- having ready access to the American people via our own mass media. Recently, [Russian strong man Vladimir Putin]((http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/12/opinion/putin-plea-for-caution-from-russia-on-syria.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0) was welcomed to the editorial pages of that "newspaper of record," *The New York Times*.
Friday, October 4, 2013
A Shock to the System
ObamaCare enrollment problems continue into day three of the partial government shutdown, as online error messages, delays, and other "glitches" persist. Congressman [Mike Pompeo (R-Kans.) explained](http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?r113:1:./temp/~r113YknQ1h:e18360:) on the House floor how he tried to enroll online for ObamaCare himself, but after encountering web errors, finally resorted to calling the hotline. After waiting an hour and forty minutes, he got through to a "young lady who told me she was from Louisiana. She said, 'Why did you call?' I said, 'I'm calling to comply with the Federal law.' She said, 'I'm not going to be able to help you with that today. My system is down, too.'" Congressman Pompeo continued, "I asked her how long she'd been working on this.' She said, 'Quite a while.'" And, "quite a while" is how long this shutdown appears likely to continue.
ObamaCare's Failure to Launch
Will it drive anemic support for the law even further into the ground?
A Camp Bastion Mom's Call of Duty
The families of two slain Marines from Camp Bastion finally got some answers this week. But their battle for full accountability in the 9/14/12 Taliban attack is far from over. Two top U.S. military leaders will get early retirement and full pensions for their fatal negligence. But one American mom wants to know: What about the British? And what about the rest of our troops on vulnerable coalition-run bases around the world?
The Death of the Hillary Movies
On the same day, CNN and NBC both dropped their plans to make movies about Hillary Clinton. Interestingly, it looks like a win both for the Clintons and for RNC chair Reince Priebus, who boldly told the two networks that they wouldn't be moderating any GOP presidential debates in 2015 or 2016 with those promotional films in the pipeline. Apologies might be owed from The Wall Street Journal editorial page, which prematurely waved a white flag: "God grant Reince Priebus the serenity to accept liberal media bias. ... The Hollywood-media complex is going to line up hard behind Hillary's 2016 Presidential bid, and this is the first salvo. Mr. Priebus can't stop it, he can't even hope to contain it, so all he has done is open himself to complaints that he's acting as Lord Republican Media Censor."
Obamacare: Obama's Signature Chemistry Set Experiment
The arrogance of this president is staggering. He is so convinced he is immune from accountability that he thinks he can thumb his nose at Republicans and refuse even to come to the table and negotiate. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor sent a memo to his party membership providing an update on the government shutdown, lamenting that Obama wouldn't negotiate and quoting author Bob Woodward's describing Obama's refusal as "baffling" and "in stark contrast to" President Clinton's approach.
Congress Is Doing Its Job
Liberal pundits and politicians like to refer to them as "hostage takers," "anarchists," "political terrorists," "lemmings with suicide vests" and so on. Grass-roots conservatives think they're a bunch of weak-kneed RINO defeatists. They have no charismatic stars, few compelling ideas, no one leading a Gingrich-like grand ideological charge against liberal institutions. There is no cohesive strategy to speak of, no Tom DeLay whipping the troops into line, no ideological cohesion, no chance of winning very much. And they're probably the best thing going in Washington right now.
Obama Showing His Vindictive Streak
Shutting down the government in an effort to use a budget fight to get rid of Obamacare is not the strategy I would have recommended for the GOP. And while Republicans can be blamed for starting the shutdown, it's increasingly apparent that President Obama and the Democrats deserve the lion's share of blame for not only prolonging it, but for making it as painful as possible. Obama has always had a bit of a vindictive streak when it comes to politics. I think it stems from his Manichaean view of America. There are the reasonable people -- who agree with him. And there are the bitter clingers who disagree for irrational or extremist ideological reasons.
The Democrats' Artillery
Almost exactly 159 years ago, a British light cavalry brigade rode directly into Russian guns at the battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War. Tennyson was available to immortalize the valor of the soldiers who rode bravely to their deaths ("theirs was not to reason why"). How stirring, for the survivors. The Light Brigade was actually meant to harry a retreating Russian artillery battery. But "someone had blundered" and the order was given that the six hundred ride directly into a valley surrounded by Russian guns.
Blame James Madison for the Gov't Shutdown
The problem was caused by James Madison. And by the 39 other men who signed the Constitution in 1787. The problem, of course, is the government shutdown. It was caused because the Framers of the Constitution wisely provided for separation of powers among the three branches of government. The president would faithfully execute the laws and be commander in chief of the military, but both houses of Congress would have to approve of every penny the government could spend.
Who Shut Down the Government?
Even when it comes to something as basic, and apparently as simple and straightforward, as the question of who shut down the federal government, there are diametrically opposite answers, depending on whether you talk to Democrats or to Republicans. There is really nothing complicated about the facts. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted all the money required to keep all government activities going -- except for ObamaCare.
Who Locked Little Johnny Out of Yellowstone?
The Obamacare/shutdown battle has spawned myriad myths. The most egregious concern the substance of the fight, the identity of the perpetrators and the origins of the current eruption.
When Conservatives Turn Radical
In 2008, when Barack Obama was a very junior senator with a thin resume, conservatives were quick to point out that the would-be president was nothing more than a lowly community organizer. What conservatives didn't understand then is that those organizing skills would turn out to be all he needed -- not, of course, to be an effective president for all the people, but enough to get him elected twice and to outmaneuver his opponents at every turn. President Obama has shown little presidential leadership during his time in office. But he has shown remarkable skill at turning every policy argument into a moral crusade in which he represents good and his adversaries, evil. He's doing it now on the government-funding debacle -- and conservatives in the House have fallen right into the trap.
Thursday, October 3, 2013
The IPCC Report Said What It Had To
Why? How could it not? There's no way the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) could come up with a different answer than it presented. Let's examine this. The amount of money invested in "green" technology would have been rendered worthless if their answer was that there is no man-made global warming. In addition, what would happen to the reputation and livelihood of all that have bought into this? Since they are the ones helping drive the train, how could they derail it?
Insuring Disaster
ObamaCare isn't connecting with voters -- and Tuesday, it just plain wasn't connecting with anything! System failures, network crashes, and error messages seemed to multiply from one state exchange to the next, ruining the rollout of what was supposed to be the answer to America's health care prayers. Despite three years to work out the kinks, the dawn of the health care law was one of the President's biggest embarrassments yet, as reporters [raced to cover](http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/09/30/obamacare-glitch-watch-delay-in-launch-spanish-language-sites/) one malfunction to the next. When MSNBC's Mara Schiavocampo tried to sign up for ObamaCare on live TV -- and couldn't -- even she [was frustrated](http://reason.com/blog/2013/10/01/msnbc-anchor-quits-obamacare-sign-up-dem). "If I were signing up for myself, this is where my patience would be exhausted."
Medicare
The hoo hah over ObamaCare may actually have some basis in fact. It is going to cost more than anyone can today conceive. I am on Medicare. I don't (and you won't) have any choice. When you reach a certain age you have to join Medicare or you can't get any other insurance. Trust me. This is true.