Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Friday, September 24, 2010
The GOP's Ante
On the political gimmickry scale, the GOP's new "Pledge to America" is worse than some, better than others. Let's say it falls somewhere between the Federalist Papers and a Harry Reid press release -- which, admittedly, pins it down as much as saying you lost a cufflink somewhere between Burkina Faso and Cleveland.
No More Racial Gerrymandering
Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D-Calif., seems to believe that her ethnicity entitles her to keep her congressional seat this election. In a Spanish language interview on Univision, the seven-term representative from California's 47th Congressional District accused "los Vietnamese y los Republicanos" of trying to take away a seat she says belongs to the Hispanic community, and therefore her.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Obama's Policies Drag Down Democratic Governors
In Washington, I'm often asked how many seats Republicans will pick up in the House and whether they'll win a majority in the Senate. But I'm seldom asked anything about the 37 races for governor that will be decided next month (except for Georgia, which will have a runoff if no candidate tops 50 percent).
How Many Times Did Goldwater Run for President Again?
Washington elites' heads exploded when Christine O'Donnell won the Republican Senate primary in Delaware last week. Luckily they were all reading The New York Times' op-ed page at the time, so the mess their exploding heads created was minimal.
The Waste of Recycling
I generally see her after dark: an old woman in a conical Vietnamese hat, making the rounds in my neighborhood the night before our weekly trash pickup. She is out in all kinds of weather, checking the bins that residents have set out on the curb, helping herself to the aluminum cans. I've smiled and nodded hello once or twice, but she looks right past me and moves on. I figure she's too busy working to lose any time on pleasantries.
Destroying King Dollar Is Not the Solution -- Pro-Growth Fiscal Action Is
Fed head Ben Bernanke and the FOMC dropped a new policy bomb at their meeting this week. Now they say inflation is too low. That's the real problem. And the solution? Punch up the money supply and punch down the dollar -- or what I used to call King Dollar. No more.
Harry Reid's Winning Strategy -- It's Losing
This week, Reid called for a vote on the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Everyone knew the measure would fail, and it did, leaving supporters angry that in his fervor to make Republicans look obstructionist, Reid damaged their cause. Ditto his decision to put the DREAM Act -- a measure that would provide citizenship for young people who were in the country illegally but had attended college or served in the military -- in a military spending bill.
A Nation of Peasants?
Traditional peasant societies believe in only a limited good. The more your neighbor earns, the less someone else gets. Profits are seen as a sort of theft. They must be either hidden or redistributed. Envy rather than admiration of success reigns.
Why Does Obama Hate Tax Cuts?
In his recent town-hall appearance, President Obama sought to pin the blame for the nation's economic troubles on the so-called Bush tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003.
Academic Freedom: Obama Edition
During a previous political uprising in the 1980s, academic institutions managed to fend off conservative attacks on some of the subjects taught on their campuses -- from "peace studies" to kinky sexual practices, to bad history -- with cries of "academic freedom." Where are those cries now that the federal government is on the verge of regulating the content of subject matter on college campuses and changing the way these institutions are accredited?
Bucks County Rematch
LANGHORNE, Pa. -- From the 1930s through the 1950s, Bucks County northeast of Philadelphia acquired a glamorous reputation as a retreat for Manhattan celebrities, including Oscar Hammerstein, who, according to local legend, was inspired by the view from his Doylestown front porch to write "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'," the opening song of "Oklahoma!" Today the county, which is 93 percent of Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional District, figures in Republicans' plans to sing that song on the morning of Nov. 3.
Is Obama Throwing Pelosi and Reid Under the Bus to Save His Own Hide?
Is Obama throwing Pelosi and Reid under the bus? Yes, this column is a real exercise in cynicism. But in the world of politics and its big-boy nastiness, it's entirely possible that's it's true, nevertheless.
Australian Muslim Cleric Calls for Beheading -- Who Cares?
Terry Jones, pastor of a 50-member church in Gainesville, Fla., threatened to burn the Koran as a protest against the proposed construction of a mosque near the site of the World Trade Center. Democrats and Republicans denounced Jones. Gen. David Petraeus, U.S. commander in Afghanistan, warned that Jones' action would put American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan at risk, and he personally telephoned the pastor to dissuade him.
The Other Delaware Candidate
WASHINGTON -- Christine O'Donnell, the tea party-supported Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Delaware, has no secrets. The press even has gone back to her high-school years and found that she "dabbled" in witchcraft. But now, Jeffrey Lord of The American Spectator has been scrutinizing her opponent, Democratic candidate Chris Coons. Lord did not have to go back to Coons' high-school days. He found quite a lot in Coons' infatuation with Marxism, starting in college. Coons found Marx about the time that large numbers of Marxist pols behind the Iron Curtain had given him up. By the 1990s, even jailers and torturers were forsaking old Karl, but not Coons.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Leaving Out God
It was certainly reassuring to see the president and first lady coming out of St. John's Episcopal Church last Sunday. With all the confusion about the president's religion, we can be sure that the very liberal historic parish will provide a warm welcome to the first family. And they're unlikely to hear anything as unsettling as "God d____ America" coming from St. John's elegantly carved pulpit.
The Delphi Disaster: An Economic Horror Story Obama Won't Tell
The White House believes it can win back depressed and economically stressed voters by turning President Obama into the storyteller-in-chief again. But victims of Obama's Chicago politics don't want to hear any more of his own well-worn tales of struggle and sacrifice. They've got their own tragedies to tell -- heart-wrenching dramas of personal and financial suffering at the very hands of Obama.
Profit versus Nonprofit
"Philadelphia Scandal Underscores Pitiful State of Public Housing Oversight," read Jonathan Berr's Aug. 28 report in the Daily Finance. It was a story about Carl Greene, the embattled director of the Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA). He was put on paid leave while the board investigates charges that he settled four sexual harassment claims against him without notifying the PHA, doled out work to politically connected law firms and pressured employees to donate to his favorite nonprofit. Greene is also being investigated by the U.S. Attorney General Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and HUD's Office of Inspector General. They have yet to bring criminal charges against him.
Moderate Extremists
Suppose a 40-year-old teacher wanted take his class of 30 14-year-old high school freshmen on an 80-mile daylong field trip into the next state to visit a national historical site. Do you think the school would require him to notify the parents of these children he was taking them away for the day?
The Battle for the Future
For most of the life of America, and when it grew fastest, government spent just a few hundred dollars per person. Today, the federal government alone spends $10,000. Politicians talk about cuts, but the cuts rarely happen. The political class always needs more.
A Mere Pimple on the Trunk of the Elephant
Entitlement reform has become a leading issue in this year's Republican primaries. I don't mean the kind of entitlement reform associated with Medicare or Social Security. I'm referring to the Republican Party's establishment figures and their exaggerated sense of political entitlement.