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Commentary by Michael Barone

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May 28, 2013

Obama Uses 1917 Espionage Act to Go After Reporters By Michael Barone

There is one problem with the entirely justified if self-interested media squawking about the Justice Department snooping into the phone records of multiple Associated Press reporters and Fox News's James Rosen.   

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May 23, 2013

Low-skilled Workers Get Raw Deal Under Obamacare By Michael Barone

Would you like to have a "skinny" health insurance policy? Probably not. But if you're employed by a large company, you may get one, thanks to Obamacare.

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May 20, 2013

IRS and AP Scandals Cast a Big Chill on Free Speech By Michael Barone

Chilling effect. That's the term lawyers and judges use to describe the result of government actions that deter people from exercising their right of free speech.

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May 16, 2013

Benghazi and IRS Targeting: Politics by Other Means By Michael Barone

What do the Benghazi cover-up and the IRS scandal have in common? They were both about winning elections, under false pretenses.   

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May 13, 2013

Did Clinton and Obama Believe Their Benghazi Baloney? By Michael Barone

What were Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton thinking? Why did they keep pitching the line that the 9/11/12 Benghazi attack that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans started as a spontaneous protest against an anti-Muslim video?    

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May 9, 2013

College Bubble Bursts After Decades of Extravagance by Michael Barone

Markets work. But sometimes they take time.
That's the uncomfortable lesson that proprietors of America's colleges and universities are learning.

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May 6, 2013

Fewer Border Crossings, E-Verify System Justify Bill By Michael Barone

Many loud voices in the debate over immigration have been insisting that effective border enforcement must precede any steps that legalize the status of current illegal immigrants.  

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May 2, 2013

Obama's Blink on Syria Could Bring Peril to Allies By Michael Barone

"We're eyeball to eyeball, and I think the other fellow just blinked," Secretary of State Dean Rusk famously said during the Cuban missile crisis.   

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April 29, 2013

Benghazi Report Revives Troubling Questions By Michael Barone

"What difference, at this point, does it make?"   

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April 25, 2013

As Bush Stays Silent, His Reputation Steadily Gains By Michael Barone

Tomorrow, the George W. Bush Presidential Center will be dedicated at Southern Methodist University in Texas. It's a good time to look back on the performance of the 43rd president, who has been almost entirely missing from the public stage these past four years.    

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April 22, 2013

At Every Turn, Things Were Spinning out of Control By Michael Barone

Chaos. Things seemed to be spinning out of control on many fronts this week.    

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April 18, 2013

Not Such a Hot Idea: Liberal and Conservative Parties By Michael Barone

"More tears are shed over answered prayers," the 16th century nun St. Teresa of Avila is supposed to have said, "than over unanswered ones."    

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April 15, 2013

Extra Care Required in Crafting Immigration Reform By Michael Barone

"Without legislative language," Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy declared in a statement March 20, "there is nothing for the Judiciary Committee to consider this week at our markup."  

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April 11, 2013

Thatcher Insisted on Facing Hard, Uncomfortable Truths By Michael Barone

"Divisive." That's a word that appeared, often prominently, in many news stories reporting the death of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

One senses the writers' disapproval. You're not likely to find "divisive" in stories reporting the deaths of liberal leaders, although every electoral politician divides voters.

"Divisive" here refers to something specific. It was Margaret Thatcher's special genius that she systematically rejected the conventional wisdom, almost always well-intentioned, of the political establishment.

Instead, she insisted on hard, uncomfortable truths.

British Conservatives like Harold Macmillan accepted the tyranny of trade unionism because they had guilty memories of the slaughter of the working-class men who served under them in the trenches in World War I.

Thatcher, who as an adolescent before World War II saved money to pay for a Jewish girl to escape from Austria to England, felt no such guilt.

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April 8, 2013

Mexico Becomes a Stable, Politically Diverse Neighbor By Michael Barone

We Americans are lucky, though we seldom reflect on it, that we have good neighbors.

In East Asia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and the Philippines face challenges from China over islands they have long claimed in the East China Sea.

In Europe, Germany and other prosperous nations face demands for subsidies from debt-ridden nations to avoid the collapse of the Euro.

When Southern Europeans look across the Mediterranean, they see Muslim nations facing post-Arab spring upheaval and disorder.

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April 1, 2013

Why Freight Rail Pays and Passenger Trains Flunk By Michael Barone

Forty years ago, American railroads were in trouble. The Penn Central, the largest railroad, had recently gone bankrupt.

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March 28, 2013

Republicans Grow Less Hawkish in Wake of Iraq War By Michael Barone

Are Republicans no longer the party more inclined to military interventions and an assertive foreign policy?

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March 25, 2013

New Census Data Show People Go Where the Money Is By Michael Barone

What parts of America have been growing during these years of sluggish economic growth?    

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March 21, 2013

Republicans Must Show Support for Hispanic Dreams By Michael Barone

Rarely does a political party issue a document so scathingly critical of itself and its most recent presidential nominee as the report of the five-member Growth and Opportunity Project of the Republican National Committee.   

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March 18, 2013

Support for Same-sex Marriage Crosses Party Lines By Michael Barone

In an opinion article in the Columbus Dispatch, Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman announced that he has changed his mind and now supports same-sex marriage.