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Political Commentary

Most Recent Releases

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August 25, 2009

The Mysterious Case of Scottish Justice By Debra J. Saunders

When convicted Pan Am Flight 103 killer Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi landed to a hero's welcome in Libya last week, there was no question about it: Our Betters in Europe got rolled.

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August 24, 2009

Democrats' Colorado Gold Rush Turns Into a Bust By Michael Barone

Colorado, where the Great Plains meet the Rocky Mountains, has some claim to be on the leading edge of American politics. It produced antiwar, pro-environment Democrats like Sen. Gary Hart in the 1970s, Reaganite Republicans like Sen. Bill Armstrong even before Ronald Reagan won in 1980, Clintonesque Democrats like Gov. Roy Romer in the 1980s, and National Review's favorite Republican governor, Bill Owens, in the 1990s.

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August 23, 2009

Too Big To Vote?: By Debra J. Saunders

How do you run for California's top political offices when you often have failed to vote yourself and have no political experience?

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August 21, 2009

Uncle Al By Susan Estrich

He might have won the Nobel Prize before I was born. Back in 1940, when he was a researcher at the Beth Israel Hospital in Boston (as in, "call Uncle Al at the BI"), he was studying the effects of infection on the heart and circulatory system.

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August 21, 2009

The Netroots Put Winning Ahead of Convictions By Michael Barone

"I am a pessimist by nature, which is why I have spent my life as a journalist instead of trying to be a leader, which requires optimism."

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August 20, 2009

Middle-aged Rant By Debra J. Saunders

At a recent Colorado town hall, University of Colorado at Boulder student Zach Lahn asked President Obama how private insurers could be expected to compete with a public health care plan.

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August 20, 2009

Obama's Enforcer: Not Really Tough Enough By Joe Conason

If the Democrats fail to pass real changes in the health care system this year -- rather than a sham that mimics and mocks reform -- they will have nobody to blame but themselves.

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August 20, 2009

Democrats Must Fix Health Care Alone By Froma Harrop

Early on as New York mayor, Ed Koch went to battle against entrenched interests that were bankrupting the city.

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August 19, 2009

The Prince By Susan Estrich

I discovered Bob Novak when I was in college. My political science teacher assigned us Rowland Evans and Robert Novak's classic tomes: "Lyndon B. Johnson: The Exercise of Power" (1966) and "Nixon in the White House: The Frustration of Power" (1971).

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August 19, 2009

Finally, Change We Can Believe In By Tony Blankley

Those of us who are self-appointed advocates -- who expend our efforts trying to persuade a few more people to our political point of view -- must sit back in slack-jawed wonder when the great American public makes one of its great roars, as we all have been hearing in town hall meetings across the country.

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August 18, 2009

Bob Novak, R.I.P. By Lawrence Kudlow

Now we say good-bye to Robert Novak, who passed away early Tuesday morning at the age of 78. Yet another conservative icon has left us. He was a good friend, and an amazing reporter.

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August 18, 2009

Obama in Paradise By Debra J. Saunders

When Barack Obama was 11, his mother and grandmother took him and his half-sister Maya on the most American of family vacations -- a road trip that included Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon. Last week, Obama passed on that gift as he took his wife, daughters Malia and Sasha -- as well as Maya and her family -- on a four-day trip to two of America’s most breathtaking national parks.

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August 18, 2009

Free-Market Death Panels By Froma Harrop

"Death panels"? I'll tell you about death panels. My husband faced one some years ago, and it didn't involve any government bureaucrat. It was run by our private insurer, the sort of corporate entity that foes of health care reform say will give you anything you want.

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August 17, 2009

Young Voters Should Take Another Look at Obama By Michael Barone

Dear Young Obama Voter,

Congratulations. You have truly changed America.

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August 16, 2009

The Flight 2816 Fiasco By Debra J. Saunders

The latest infamous incident of Major Airline Tarmac Dysfunction occurred in Minnesota last weekend when a severe storm curtailed Continental ExpressJet Flight 2816.

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August 15, 2009

Two Problems By Susan Estrich

America has two problems to deal with in the health care debate, and only one of them relates to health care.

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August 14, 2009

Congress Jet-sets Further into the Red By Debra J. Saunders

First a confession: I've never flown on a private jet. I've never flown on a Gulfstream. Never flown on a private 737 "office in the sky."

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August 13, 2009

Health Reformers Need Not Fear Mob Scenes By Froma Harrop

Craig Anthony Miller earned brief fame by screaming something about the Constitution in the face of Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter. A woman followed with the same scripted rant. The subject of the meeting in Lebanon, Pa., was to be health care, and the goal of the organized mobs was to disrupt it.

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August 13, 2009

The Real Death Panels By Joe Conason

When Republican politicians and right-wing talking heads bemoan the fictitious "death panels" that they claim would arise from health-care reform, they are concealing a sinister reality from their followers. The ugly fact is that every year we fail to reform the existing system, that failure condemns tens of thousands of people to die -- either because they have no insurance or because their insurance companies deny coverage or benefits when they become ill.

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August 13, 2009

When Liberal Leaders Confront a Centrist Nation By Michael Barone

There are more conservatives than Republicans and more Democrats than liberals. That's one of the asymmetries between the parties that helps to explain the particular political spot we're in. The numbers are fairly clear. In the 2008 exit poll, 34 percent of voters described themselves as conservatives and 32 percent as Republicans; 39 percent described themselves as Democrats but only 22 percent as liberals.