Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Closing the Sale
In commerce, it's closing the sale that counts. Sell to the walls if you can; if you can't, at least outsell your competitor. Such is the free enterprise ethic -- the ethic that Mitt Romney, in this year's presidential field, would seem to represent supremely. As between Romney and his competitors at Obama Inc., there's no question who better grasps the essence and the processes of competitive capitalism. So why isn't Romney's political store crawling with customers right now? How come there are so many budget-busting clearance specials down at Obama's entrance when so many should know better? Why isn't Romney closing the sale? Can he? Will he?
Can Republicans Talk?
The first time I saw Chris Christie on television, shortly after he became governor of New Jersey, my immediate reaction was, "My Gosh! A Talking Republican!" It was almost like seeing a talking giraffe or a talking salamander. Technically speaking, Republicans do talk, but talking is definitely not their strong suit. Nor do they seem to have put a lot of thought into what they say or how they say it. The net result is that articulate Democrats can get away with the biggest lies, without any serious rebuttal from most Republicans.
Romney's Campaign Needs Turnaround Artist
One of Romney's great skills is the ability to turn around failing enterprises. He did it with private firms while he ran Bain Capital; he did it for an indebted Massachusetts and he did it for the Olympics. He needs to do it for his campaign now. Neil Newhouse, Romney's pollster, attempted to soothe worried Republicans last week by stressing that the race remains extremely close. But the fact that Romney's pollster isn't worried is itself worrying. By rights, Romney should be 10 points ahead. They seem to think the bad economy will automatically win this race for the Republican. It isn't as if voters are unaware that the economy stinks. Consider that the morning after the Democratic convention, the dismal jobs report did not prevent Democrats from getting a bigger bounce than Republicans received. Three and a half years of miserably high unemployment, slow growth, increasing poverty, falling labor force participation, record-setting food stamp dependence and an average 5 percent decline in household income has not persuaded most voters to support Mitt Romney.
Video or Bust
How can an administration that believes that Islamists need a reason to attack us apart from their default hatred of infidels conduct a coherent foreign policy? Even if its assessment were correct, how can someone who is presumably sophisticated enough to become the so-called leader of the Free World believe he can convert Islamists overnight into fawning admirers of a new and improved America under his rule? Yet that is precisely what Obama professed to believe. When campaigning for the presidency, he said: "We will restore our moral standing in the world. ... I truly believe that the day I'm inaugurated, not only does the country look at itself differently but the world looks at America differently. If I'm reaching out to the Muslim world, they understand that I've lived in a Muslim country and I may be a Christian but I also can understand their point of view. ... The world will have confidence that I am listening to them and that our future and our security is tied up with our ability to work with other countries in the world. That will ultimately make us safer."
War Through Weakness
"How could this happen?" asked Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in response to the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya that killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three others. The rioting by Muslims supposedly "inflamed" by a cheaply produced YouTube film about the Prophet Muhammad was cited as the reason, but we have learned the attacks may have been planned in advance, some to coincide with the anniversary of Sept. 11. What doesn't Secretary Clinton get? The actions and statements of Islamic extremists have been visible for some time.
Obama's a Nice Enough Guy...
Friday night I was on Anderson Cooper's CNN program, AC360 with one of my favorite debate partners, Paul Begala. As neither Paul nor I am a foreign policy expert we talked about the domestic political aspects of the riots -- and killings -- in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
Just as Intended, Teachers Strike Hurts Families
The true long-term impact of the Chicago teachers strike may be not be known for some time. But there is no mystery about its impact in the immediate term -- anxiety, panic, and disruption for myriad mothers and fathers left in the lurch when 30,000 members of the Chicago Teachers Union walked away from their classrooms last week just as a new school year was getting underway. "Parents and guardians frantically sought last-minute child care, pleaded with their bosses for leniency, and hoped that their kids would return to school sooner rather than later," reported the Chicago Sun-Times. "Citywide, for thousands of families, stress was high." The paper quoted Martina Watts, a mother in West Garfield Park, one of the city's rougher neighborhoods: "I might be losing my job over this. As long as they're on strike, I can't work. I'm not getting paid."
The Consequences of Obama's Bungled Mideast Policy
In Libya, U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three colleagues were murdered Tuesday. Earlier that day, protesters in Egypt stormed the U.S. embassy and tore down the American flag. It was "the day the roof fell in," proclaimed blogger and historian Walter Russell Mead. Barack Obama's "efforts to reconcile the U.S. and moderate Islamism -- in part by distancing the U.S. from Israel -- have angered Israel without reducing Islamist bitterness against the United States." In other words, his Middle East policies are in shambles. His assumption that a president "who doesn't look like other presidents" would endear America to Arabs has been proven unfounded.
A Summing-Up
With the Democratic convention wrapped up, I find myself wondering if Timothy Cardinal Dolan finds microphones and TV cameras as irresistible as moths find burning candles. I mean, this was an event at which the assembly clearly voiced its disapproval of putting "God" back in the Party platform. In addition, on the same night that Cardinal Dolan gave the benediction, Caroline Kennedy, after identifying herself as a Catholic, gave her unwavering support to abortion, and Barack Obama, who remains one of the few people who ever voted in favor of partial-birth abortions, accepted his party's nomination. The question that comes to mind is whether there is any venue, no matter how unsavory, no matter how openly offensive to Church doctrine, that Dolan would avoid so long as he was guaranteed a featured role in the proceedings. One can only wonder if next season he'll be hosting a new TV reality show, "Celebrity Divorce Court."
Restoring Respect for the Constitution
Americans must renew appreciation for their protective pact
The Tangled Web of Conflicting Rights
Elaine Huguenin, who with her husband operates Elane Photography in New Mexico, asks only to be let alone. But instead of being allowed a reasonable zone of sovereignty in which to live her life in accordance with her beliefs, she is being bullied by people wielding government power.
How Whining Grows Government
Want a smaller government? Stop complaining about stuff within earshot of politicians.
Clinton Trumps God
I swear I tried to sit through all the speeches at the Democratic convention. As it turned out, I couldn't make it through a single one. I watched a few minutes of Michelle Obama's and Mayor Castro's and a few seconds of Elizabeth Warren's before throwing in the towel. I actually found myself sitting through a half-hour's worth of Clinton's magnum opus, but gave up when I realized I had no idea if he was at the halfway mark or was merely getting started. My overall reaction was that if someone had only thought to bring bread to the Convention, they could have made sandwiches for thousands with all the baloney on display.
From The Comedy Store
President Obama's convention speech was moved inside due to the threat of bad weather. There was zero percent of rain in the forecast. If you want to know why pro athletes get paid so much money it's because it's not all that easy to fill a stadium.
Obamanomics Has Failed Dismally
About 30 years ago, Paul Volcker launched a monumental monetary effort to bring down inflation. As Fed chairman, he sold bonds, removed cash from the economy and cared not one wit about rising interest rates. And it worked. Gold plunged, King Dollar soared, and the drop-off in bank reserves and money extinguished high inflation -- and actually launched a multi-decade period of very low inflation. This week, current Fed chairman Ben Bernanke embarked on an absolute reversal of Volcker's policy. He is launching a monumental effort to buy bonds and inject new money into the economy in order to reignite economic growth and job creation. It's like history is repeating itself, but in reverse. Gold is soaring, the dollar is falling. Something's wrong with this picture.
Read more 
A Worm in the Apple
Apple is a great American success story and we can say of the late Steve Jobs: You *did* build that. But there's a problem with Apple in China. The Beijing government's forced abortion policy is worming its way into the factories of Apple, Inc. Twenty-four of these factories, it is reported, have helped the Communist government's brutal efforts to prevent so-called unauthorized births to Chinese mothers. Exiled human rights champion Chen Guangcheng is reporting on the collaboration of Apple in compulsory pregnancy testing of Apple's Chinese employees. Chen told Bloomberg news agency that Apple should refuse to comply with such gross violations of human rights in their facilities. Chen urged Apple to take a stand for human rights -- to stop the Beijing government's cruel pursuit of young mothers. This, we know, is the real "war on women." And it's currently being waged with active collaboration of U.S. companies.
Don't Rely on Politicians
Hey, remember when 6% was considered to be high unemployment? That's certainly a distant memory now that we've had higher than 8% unemployment for over three and a half years. But don't worry: President Obama is convinced that he's making good progress and that if he can just continue being president -- and if the Republicans are magically more accommodating in his next term -- everything will be super. Plus, if he can just tax the rich some more, then somehow -- no one can quite explain how -- that will turn everything around. Governor Romney, on the other hand, says that the way things are progressing, we’re doomed to high unemployment and living on off-brand Ramen noodles for as long as Obama is in office. But if he's elected, Romney says he'll get things moving in the right direction with his dynamic plan of... tax cuts or something.
Our Michael Corleone Foreign Policy
In the *Godfather Part II*, Al Pacino, as Michael Corleone, says: "My father taught me many things in this room. One of them was 'Keep your friends close ... and your enemies closer.'" Which I was thinking about yesterday when I Tweeted (you can follow me @richgalen): >So, Obama speaks with [Egyptian President Mohammad] Morsi (who is NOT an ally) but snubs [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu (who IS an ally). #HoldYourEnemiesCloser Yesterday afternoon the Associated Press thought there was so much anti-American activity in the Middle East that they had to put all of it into one easy-to-digest filing.