Birth Days, Death Days By Susan Estrich
My friend Kath would have turned 60 this week.
Political Commentary
Most Recent Releases
August 13, 2010
August 13, 2010
Obama’s Transparency Charade Continues By Howard Rich
The more things “change,” the more they stay the same in Barack Obama’s Washington, D.C. – especially when it comes to government transparency.
August 13, 2010
Blood Diamonds Meet U.N. Swells By Debra J. Saunders
Prosecutors at the U.N. Special Court for Sierra Leone at The Hague interrupted the trial of former Liberian leader Charles Taylor last week with some comic relief. They put supermodel Naomi Campbell on the stand to tie Taylor to the trade of "blood diamonds."
August 12, 2010
The Racists Return By Joe Conason
Among the most revealing aspects of life during the Obama presidency is the panoply of responses to a black family in the White House. What made so many of us proud of our country on Jan. 20, 2009, has increasingly provoked expressions of hatred from the far right. That is troubling, but not nearly as troubling as the behavior of conservatives who excuse, embolden or simply pretend to ignore the bigots surrounding them.
August 12, 2010
Obama's State Capitalism: A Failure of Modesty By Michael Barone
"The pace of economic recovery is likely to be more modest in the near term than had been anticipated." Those were the carefully chosen words of the Federal Reserve Board after its meeting Tuesday. Translation into English: We wuz wrong.
August 12, 2010
Regulation Made Canada Fat and Happy By Froma Harrop
Suppose the U.S. government had posted a budget surplus in 12 of the past 13 years. Suppose not a single major American financial institution had failed or needed a government bailout. Suppose the U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 6.1 percent in the first quarter of this year, rather than at 2.7 percent.
August 11, 2010
Coffee, Tea or Me By Susan Estrich
That's what the ads used to say, back in the day when air travel was considered glamorous, stewardesses were required to be young, slim and beautiful, and people actually "dressed" to take a plane. As for me, I thought it was glamorous just to go to the airport, much less get on a plane.
August 11, 2010
'We Socialists' vs. 'We the People' By Tony Blankley
The cheerful, jaded, sneering question de jour from liberal journalists and Democratic Party commentators (I know, there's a pretty fine distinction) is, "What will the Republican Party do if it gets back the House?" The question is phrased along the line of what a car-chasing dog would do if it caught the car.
August 10, 2010
A Question of Citizenship By Debra J. Saunders
Trust Republicans to go too far. They take a good idea -- such as the notion that the federal government should enforce immigration laws, and states should be able to help -- and then drive it into the fringes. Witness a Fox News interview in which Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., declared, "We should change our Constitution and say if you come here illegally, and you have a child, that child is automatically not a citizen."
August 9, 2010
Republicans Ask 'What Do I Do Now?' By Michael Barone
Republicans are starting to think about how to answer the Robert Redford question.
August 8, 2010
Why Voters Should Tell Sacramento To Bag It By Debra J. Saunders
There are two kinds of people in California politics: those who want Sacramento to ban plastic grocery bags and those who just want state pols to pass a budget.
August 8, 2010
A Democratic Panic Attack? By Lawrence Kudlow
With the disappointingly soft jobs report for July and a faltering recovery overall, is Team Obama getting ready for some sort of new, liberal-left, Keynesian, big-bang stimulus package? Will it be desperate to "do something"?
August 7, 2010
The Good, The Bad and the Ugly By Larry J. Sabato
Every campaign season is filled with the good, the bad, and the ugly—enough to fill a book. Here’s an interim selection of examples as we prepare to enter the full-blown general election season.
August 7, 2010
The Washington War on Investment By Lawrence Kudlow
Will higher tax penalties on investment really spur jobs and faster economic growth? Most commentators would say no. It's really a matter of economic common sense. But Tim Geithner says, Yes!
August 6, 2010
Real Democrats By Susan Estrich
"Are you really a Democrat?" someone wrote to me recently, after I wrote a column criticizing the president's decision to go on vacation in Martha's Vineyard while so many people -- especially in the tourist-challenged Gulf -- are suffering.
August 6, 2010
Ethics Trials May Help, Not Hurt, Democrats By Froma Harrop
Democrats will "drain the swamp of Washington" if they win control of the House. So promised California Rep. Nancy Pelosi before the 2006 election that led to her becoming speaker of the House.
August 6, 2010
The Record-Setting Midterm of 2010 By Larry J. Sabato
Everyone already knows the 2010 elections are significant and competitive. Let’s add record-setting to that description. Why?
August 6, 2010
Rangel Scandal Reveals Extent of Capitol Corruption By Howard Rich
Four years ago, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi promised to “drain the swamp” of corruption in Washington, D.C., but after failing miserably to do so it now appears she’s choosing to ignore it – while letting her colleagues sweep it under the rug.
August 5, 2010
The Judge Has Spoken -- Whether You Like It or Not By Debra J. Saunders
"Proposition 8 fails to advance any rational basis in singling out gay men and lesbians for denial of a marriage license," federal Judge Vaughn Walker wrote. So one judge overturned a measure approved by 52 percent of California voters in 2008 and upheld by the California Supreme Court in a 6-1 ruling.
August 5, 2010
Defending the Mosque By Joe Conason
No recent controversy has so plainly revealed the hollow values of the American right than the effort to prevent the construction of a community center in Lower Manhattan because it will include a mosque. Arguments in opposition range from a professed concern for the sensitivities of the Sept. 11 victims' families to a primitive battle cry against Islam -- but what they all share is an arrant disregard for our country's founding principles.
