Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
The Terminator vs. the Constitution
Does a zombie count as "an image of a human being"? What about an android or a shape-shifting alien? If his arm regenerates when you hack it off, does that still amount to "maiming"? Are you "killing" him if he comes back to life after you incinerate him with a flamethrower?
The Foreign Policy Clash Between Obama and the Next Congress
Tea party-inspired candidates primarily stressed U.S. domestic issues during the midterm elections, with special focus on the economy. Though the tea party victors now headed for Capitol Hill are in many respects a disparate group, an emphasis on free-market principles, a healthy skepticism of big government and a confirmed populist faith in the wisdom of average American voter were common themes in their campaigns.
Obama Talked Class War -- Now He's Got One
Anyone who listened carefully to President Barack Obama over the last two years could not avoid hearing the rhetoric of a Marxist class warrior bent on dividing Americans by their perceived economic status. Our president -- who ought to be a leader and inspiration for all Americans -- sought to motivate his supporters with alleged class-based grievances. He talked up class struggle and now has one -- if not exactly the one he envisioned. Tuesday's election was only the first battle in what will surely be the defining political struggle for Americans now alive.
Obama Failed To Communicate?
In one of his latest attempts to get his face on every television network in America before the election, President Obama appeared on "The Daily Show" with Jon Stewart to plead his case to the hip, young, leftist voters who love that show. Obama claimed he had done so much, "We have done things that some folks don't even know about!"
Virginia's Black Confederates
One tragedy of war is that its victors write its history and often do so with bias and dishonesty. That's true about our War of 1861, erroneously called a civil war. Civil wars, by the way, are when two or more parties attempt to take over the central government. Jefferson Davis no more wanted to take over Washington, D.C., than George Washington, in 1776, wanted to take over London. Both wars were wars of independence.
Did Freedom Win?
What a surprise! Everyone predicted a Republican resurgence. Instead, voters shocked pundits by strengthening the Democratic majority in Congress. President Obama called the result "a resounding confirmation of my legislative achievements." Democrats quickly introduced legislation to add a public option to Obamacare; a second, larger "stimulus" bill; a Paycheck Fairness Act; and new card-check and cap-and-trade bills.
The Morning After
If the polls were unerring, historians would now be debating the pros and cons of the first Dewey administration. But as I write these lines, Americans are still observing the ritual, communion and act of faith known as voting. Perhaps it's not entirely coincidence that those little voting booths we enter to cast our ballot resemble confessionals.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Will the GOP Now Blow It? (No)
I write before the election has even been held. Wouldn't you know it? -- obliged to traffic in certainties while lacking Final Certainty. Of the most varied certainties circulating right now, among the more arresting, is that the Republicans, once ensconced in power, are going to blow it.
Political Passivity
Every Election Day, when my children were small, I would take them with me to the local polling place. The school would close but the gym played host to a steady stream of voters, each rewarded with the red, white, and blue badge of good citizenship: a sticker that said "I voted." Today Americans will enter school gyms in Virginia, firehouses in Ohio, and municipal buildings in California -- and similar venues all across the country--to cast their votes. But something's different this year, not in the layout of polling places or the design of little stickers, but in the hearts and souls of American voters.
Sanity and/or Fear Meet Comedy -- or Not
If you are a big fan of Comedy Central's Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, you probably got a big kick out of the title of Saturday's "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear" on the National Mall in Washington. The motto was "Take it down a notch, America."
Why I Now Vote Party, Not Individual
There is an American tradition of voting not for the party, but "for the man." Unlike Europeans, who are more ideologically driven, Americans have prided themselves in assessing individuals of both parties, and then voting for the more personally impressive candidate. The European parliamentary system of government fosters ideological voting whereas the American political system does to a much lesser degree. With only two parties competing in American elections, each party has had to encompass a much wider spectrum of ideologies.
Guess Who?
Guess who said the following: "We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work." Was it Sarah Palin? Rush Limbaugh? Karl Rove? Not even close. It was Henry Morgenthau, Secretary of the Treasury under Franklin D. Roosevelt and one of FDR's closest advisers. He added, "after eight years of this Administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started. . . And an enormous debt to boot!"
The 'Big Dog' in Campaign Spending
What special interest is spending the most money to influence the 2010 election? The answer isn't the US Chamber of Commerce, notwithstanding President Obama's recent attacks on the Chamber's campaign contributions. Nor is it the Karl Rove-backed network of pro-Republican campaign organizations, including American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS, that have also been assailed by the White House and the focus of critical media attention.
John Kerry: Elect a New People
Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry is frustrated. He recently spoke to the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce and complained that we are in "a period of know-nothingism in the country, where truth and science and facts don't weigh in. It's all short-order, lowest common denominator, cheap-seat politics." He'd really like to elect a new people.
It Takes One to Know One
I'll never forget how Al Gore's Democrats tried to steal the 2000 presidential election and then spent the next eight years complaining about Republicans stealing their "democracy." Liberals: Projection is your name.
Priority One for Republicans
For newly empowered congressional Republicans, priority one must be an extension of the Bush tax cuts. There should be enough votes not only from a new Republican majority, but also from some of the decimated and dispirited (and even newly elected) Democrats. If President Obama is smart, he won't veto the bill. If the tax cuts are allowed to expire, everyone who gets a paycheck and has taxes withheld is going to see less money in the "net" column starting January 1.
Corruption as Usual
First, there was Bell, Calif., the little L.A. suburb that achieved distinction for its florid corruption. Robert Rizzo, former city manager, stands accused of 53 counts of misappropriating public funds and conflicts of interest. In a town described as the poorest in L.A. county (average income $30,000, unemployment rate 16 percent), Rizzo earned a salary of nearly $800,000 in 2009 and was expecting to rake in $1.5 million this year.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Juan Big Hullabaloo
If I had ever imagined for even a second that Juan Williams would be at the center of a controversy, I would have guessed that he had appeared on TV wearing a turtleneck instead of his customary tie and jacket. Mr. Williams, after all, has done very well for himself being the well-mannered, soft-spoken, black house liberal on the various Fox opinion shows. He is less moronic than Alan Colmes, less egotistical than Geraldo Rivera and better-looking than Leslie Marshall.
Obama's Economists Missed What Voters Plainly Saw
Heading into what appears to be a disastrous midterm election, the Obama Democrats profess to be puzzled. The president's record, they insist, is moderate, accommodating -- if anything, overcautious. So why do most American voters seem to be angrily rejecting it?
First Hope, Then Memory
There is the party of hope and there is the party of memory, and often enough they are the same party just a couple of years removed. For the bright hopes of election season inevitably give way to the harsh realities of exercising power -- for good or ill. Then the party in power is weighed in the balance, and its performance compared with its promises. When that party it is found wanting, there is no refuge like recalling those halcyon days when all was possible, when hope and change were in the air. Now excuses must be made, and in politics nostalgia can be a useful substitute for accomplishment.