Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
The Moral Giant and the Leftist Creep
I regret that it was only upon reading his obituary this month that I first learned of Nguyen Chi Thien. He was a courageous Vietnamese dissident who had spent nearly 30 years in prison for his opposition to communist repression, cruelty, and lies. Much of Nguyen's opposition was expressed in poetry, most famously "Flowers from Hell," a collection of poems he memorized behind bars, and only put down on paper after being released from prison in 1977. The poems were published after he audaciously handed off the manuscript to British diplomats at their embassy in Hanoi, the AP obituary recalled. As he walked out of the embassy, "security agents were awaiting him, and he was promptly sent back to prison." He spent the next 12 years in Hoa Lo, the notorious Hanoi Hilton. While he was in captivity, "Flowers from Hell" was published; it earned the International Poetry Award in 1985. By the time he emigrated to the United States in 1995, his poems had achieved wide renown. His stanzas "became as familiar as songs," wrote Anh Do in The Los Angeles Times, and "continue to move the Vietnamese immigrant generation -- and their sons and daughters."
Biden and Obama Run a Campaign Fit for the 1980s
When a politician is in trouble, he usually falls back on what he knows best -- the world he saw around him when he entered into political awareness as a young adult. That's what seems to have happened to the Democratic ticket after Barack Obama's disastrous performance in the Denver debate Oct. 3. So Obama on the campaign trail and Joe Biden in the vice presidential debate fell back on what they know from their formative political years. At least that's the best explanation I can come up with for the Obama campaign's obsession with Big Bird.
Deadly Hubris Drives the Benghazi Narrative
While many things have been said about the Benghazi fiasco, it remains undeniable that above all else it is a testament to progressive hubris and the fundamental misunderstanding of human nature that such hubris produces. To be blunt, four Americans, including ambassador Christopher Stevens, were executed because the Obama administration is inhabited by people who continue to believe -- against overwhelming evidence to the contrary -- that 7th-century-minded brutes yearning to impose worldwide religious totalitarianism, are as amenable to reason and intellectual prodding as the people who populate faculty lounges on Ivy League campuses. And when reality interrupted that chain of thinking, this administration reacted in a manner that has become their standard operating procedure, no doubt buttressed by the track record of "sympathetic" media reporting they have long enjoyed. In short, they lied unabashed and unashamedly.
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Too Big to Maintain?
If in four weeks a president-elect Mitt Romney is seeking a Treasury secretary, he should look here, to Richard Fisher, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Candidate Romney can enhance his chance of having this choice to make by embracing a simple proposition from Fisher: Systemically important financial institutions (SIFIs), meaning too-big-to-fail (TBTF) banks, are "too dangerous to permit."
Ryan's Benghazi Surprise
The irony of ironies: The Biden-Ryan debate was more about foreign policy than the economy and jobs. And yet another irony: Paul Ryan, an expert on all things fiscal, revealed a much better knowledge base of foreign policy than anyone thought existed. Shows how smart and well-rounded he really is. In fact, Ryan's Benghazi slam, right out of the chute, won him the debate. This terrorist attack is going to be a huge presidential-race issue. Americans are *furious* at the Obama-Biden-Clinton stupidity and mismanagement surrounding the tragic Benghazi deaths. They are enraged at the Benghazi cover-up. Ryan accused Biden of malfeasance in every aspect of this tragedy. It was a tremendous body slam right from the start.
From The Comedy Store
Al Gore scored the debate and blamed Barack Obama's poor performance on Denver's altitude. The president didn't think the altitude would be much of a problem. Back when he was in college he got some of his best test scores while he was high.
Not Exactly the Fight of the Century
As you all know, I hate pointing out that I was right. I'm sure the cynics among you are saying to yourself, "I bet it pains him about as much as winning the state lottery." But what else can I say when I kept telling people to wait for the debate, and the smarty pants crowd, folks like Bill Kristol, Peggy Noonan and Charles Krauthammer, spent weeks harping on Romney to do this, that and the other thing. Through it all, I pointed out that if Romney shot his wad prior to October 3rd, he would, one, help Team Obama know how to prep their guy and, two, give the goons in the media a chance to spin everything he said and accuse him of making endless gaffes. I was convinced that most viewers would have to acknowledge that one of the two debaters would be seen as a man born to be the president and the other guy would be seen for what he is, a pretender who was born to be the smarmy mouthpiece for a public sector union such as the SEIU, which is what Obama was referring to when he identified himself with the nebulous title of "ex-community organizer." The question nobody bothered asking in 2008 was which community was he referring to and what sort of mischief was he organizing them to do.
Re-Elect Obama: The Ultimate FAQ
President Obama inherited a mess of an economy and has really turned it around. People seem to have trouble understanding this, though, so I thought I'd answer some common questions about the economy to explain what a great job he's been doing and why he deserves reelection.
Man-Made Global Warming Voters' Guide
As you prepare to vote this election season, if it's the disasters from CO2 induced global warming -- I mean climate change... oops, climate disruption (all of the above) -- that are of most concern, some things to consider...
The VP Debate
Democrats have been stunned by the staying power of last week's debate between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. The other day Obama did a taped interview for the Tom Joyner radio show. In it he said he had been "too polite" toward Romney in their debate but we were not likely to see that next time. It seems like every cab in which I've ever ridden in Washington, DC had Diane Rehm on the radio. Since 1977 I've been working through the dial to find the "All Diane Rehm" station, but I've been unsuccessful.
The Coming Romney Boom
If Mitt Romney is elected and secures Republican control of both houses of Congress, the U.S. could be poised for a vertiginous economic snapback. To understand how, consider that the Democratic explanation for our current malaise is utterly fallacious. Mr. Obama and his allies identify the "Bush tax cuts," "two wars that weren't paid for," and "deregulation" as the causes of America's present economic doldrums. But federal outlays as a percentage of GDP under George W. Bush averaged 19.6 percent. Under Obama, spending has ballooned to 24.1 percent of GDP. Much of Bush's spending was temporary (the two wars, one of which Obama expanded). But Obama's spending on new entitlements is permanent and bound to increase over time, further burdening a country already facing an entitlements crisis.
Racial Preferences for the Privileged
The Supreme Court this week took up a case that just might put an end to race-based college admissions. The justices heard arguments Wednesday involving an affirmative action program, at the University of Texas, whose whole purpose seems to be to give special preference to black and Hispanic applicants who come from middle-income and affluent homes. Long past are the days when affirmative action proponents could argue they were simply trying to help disadvantaged minorities, much less actual victims of discrimination. Now, the rallying cry is simply to bolster the number of black and Hispanic students on campus -- even if it means denying admission to better-qualified white and Asian students who also happen to be more economically disadvantaged than the favored minorities.
The Big Bird Counterattack
WASHINGTON -- No mystery about the trajectory of this race. It was static for months as President Obama held a marginal lead. Then came the conventions. The Republicans squandered Tampa; the Democrats got a 3- to 4-point bounce out of Charlotte. And kept it. Until the first debate. In 90 minutes, Mitt Romney wiped out the bump -- and maybe more. Democrats are shellshocked and left searching for excuses. Start with scapegoats: the hapless John Kerry, Obama's sparring partner in the practice debates, for going too soft on the boss; then the debate moderator for not exerting enough control. The Obama campaign's plea that the commander in chief could find no shelter under Jim Lehrer's desk did not exactly bolster Obama's standing. Moreover, the moderator's job is not to control the flow of argument, but to simply enforce an even time split.
Elect Romney to Reverse Bush's Failed Third Term
After reading transcripts of Obama's recent campaign stump speeches and watching his interview with ABC News' Diane Sawyer, I am even more convinced he is every bit as clueless as he appeared in that fateful debate but also very deceitful. The money quote in Obama's interview with Sawyer, who asked him what happened in the debate, was: "It's not the first time I've had a bad night. But I think what's important is that the fundamentals of what this race is about haven't changed. You know, Gov. Romney went to a lot of trouble to try to hide what his positions are, because he knows that those ideas have been rejected. They won't work." This is just more of the same. Obama is saying that our ongoing economic problems are still President Bush's fault and that Romney wants to go back to the Bush policies that caused all this -- as if the four years we've just experienced never occurred and as if he and his party weren't more responsible than Republicans for the policies that led to the housing and financial collapse.
The Most Famous Woman You've Never Met
The hottest ticket on Broadway continues to be "The Book of Mormon," a musical that pokes fun at the Mormon faith in particular and Christianity in general. It is also full of profanity and blasphemy. If there was a show called "The Book of Muhammad," the Eugene O'Neill Theatre probably would have been burned down by now. New Yorkers are selective when picking their targets. Now there's a new musical called "Scandalous," about a colorful, some would say corrupt, evangelist named Aimee Semple McPherson, founder of the Foursquare Church. In the early part of the 20th century, Aimee was more famous than any TV evangelist today. She combined a considerable amount of show business with an equal amount of religiosity and packed them in at her Angelus Temple in Los Angeles, which remains in operation today, long after her death.
Be Afraid
WARDAK PROVINCE, Afghanistan -- "If you leave here like you left Iraq, I am a dead man," says the blunt-speaking district governor. His district chief of police, a newly appointed civil judge and the chief of the Afghan Local Police detachment all nod their heads in assent. None of them is smiling. We are reminded by the commander of the special operations unit with whom we are living not to broadcast names or faces of Afghan security force personnel. The local district governor is speaking through an interpreter. He doesn't pull any punches: "You must not abandon us again. You helped us expel the Soviets and then left us to the Taliban and al-Qaida. Look what happened to you. When you came back, we put our lives and our families at risk because you told us you would help us rebuild our country. But now you are leaving before the job is done. We have enemies to our east and west. They are your enemies, as well. But your deadline means we are dead."
Jenny McCarthy and the Fall of Books
The book industry seems to be collapsing, at least that hallowed old paper-and-glue industry that promoted serious ideas. Even talk radio and TV hosts are spending less time with authors. There are exceptions, but they won't make you feel optimistic about books. Exhibit A of today's kind of author: Jenny McCarthy, the former Playboy centerfold who's parlayed her nudie shots into a long list of TV gigs, and six best-selling "humor"/advice books (which absolutely no one might guess were written by someone else). Her latest must be her lamest. It's called "Bad Habits: Confessions of a Recovering Catholic." She's wearing a nun's habit on the cover. Original, huh?
The Deadly Disgrace of Obama's Pro-Terrorist Lawyers
October 12 marks the 12th anniversary of the bombing of the USS Cole. The grim milestone comes as President Obama faces mounting questions about his administration's dereliction of duty during the murderous attack on our consulate in Benghazi, Libya. And it comes just a day after resurgent al-Qaida thugs pulled off the drive-by assassination of a top Yemeni security official who worked at the U.S. embassy in Sanaa. These are not "bumps in the road." These are gravesites on the blood-spattered path to surrender. Seventeen U.S. sailors died in the brutal suicide attack on the guided Navy missile destroyer as it refueled at the Yemeni port of Aden in the fall of 2000. Then-President Bill Clinton vowed to track down the Muslim terrorist attackers: "We will find out who was responsible and hold them accountable." But a dozen disgraceful years later, Slick Willy's toothless promise has become a bitter punch line.
Why Another Terroristan?
You could not have a better example of moral equivalence than a column written by Steve Clemons in The Atlantic Magazine's online version. Clemons reviews the always interesting history of President Harry Truman's bold decision in 1948 to defy the State Department -- and especially his hand-picked Sec. of State, Gen. George C. Marshall. Truman had said that Gen. Marshall was the greatest living American. He said that, perhaps to the irritation of his running mate, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, when the largely unknown Missouri senator was thrust onto the ticket in 1944. FDR may have had his own ideas as to who was the greatest living American.