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Political Commentary

Most Recent Releases

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June 2, 2008

McClellan on Plame By Robert Novak

In Scott McClellan's purported tell-all memoir of his trials as President George W. Bush's press secretary, he virtually ignores Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage's role leaking to me Valerie Plame's identity as a CIA employee.

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May 31, 2008

The Economy: A Reality Check By Michael Barone

"It's the economy, stupid," James Carville famously said during the 1992 campaign, when a young Bill Clinton was running against the other President Bush. The same could be said during this presidential campaign. The headlines are full of economic bad news -- mortgage foreclosures, the collapse of an investment bank, higher gas and food prices and lower home prices.

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May 31, 2008

McClellan's Revenge By Robert D. Novak

Republican insiders see the bitter criticism in Scott McClellan's memoir, "What Happened," as a payback for his abrupt firing as White House press secretary in the spring of 2006.

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May 29, 2008

Coal-Cap Disaster By Lawrence Kudlow

Tuesday's Wall Street Journal strongly editorializes against the Warner-Lieberman cap-and-trade plan that allegedly will solve our alleged problem with global warming -- now called climate change.

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May 29, 2008

Teens Belong in Summer Jobs By Froma Harrop

Put disadvantaged teens into summer jobs. Hook them into the world of work. They'll come home with new skills, discipline, contacts and, yes, money.

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May 29, 2008

The Controversial Caucuses: An Outsized Influence in 2008 By Rhodes Cook

Maybe one of the most intriguing - and nefarious - aspects of this long-running Democratic presidential campaign is that the legitimacy of the system itself has come into question.

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May 29, 2008

Can McCain Overcome the Triple Whammy? By Alan I. Abramowitz

With the long and contentious Democratic nomination race finally winding down, the attention of the media and the public is beginning to shift to the general election. In November, voters will face a choice between two rather atypical presidential candidates.

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May 29, 2008

Blame to Share in Primary Farce By Joe Conason

When the Democratic Party's Rules and Bylaws Committee meets on May 31 to determine the status of the votes cast in the Michigan and Florida primaries, its members should try to look past self-serving campaign arguments and silly attempts to save face by bumbling party leaders.

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May 29, 2008

Hillary Agonistes By Robert Novak

When Hillary Clinton last Friday said, "We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June (1968) in California," she was not saying anything she had not publicly declared earlier.

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May 28, 2008

Just Say Yes By Susan Estrich

There is a very easy way for Barack Obama's team to avoid floor fights at the Democratic National Convention.

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May 27, 2008

Bad News for GOP Can Be Good News for McCain By Froma Harrop

The recent loss of formerly deep-red congressional districts to Democrats is supposed to be awful news for John McCain. Actually, the opposite could be true.

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May 26, 2008

A Vice President for Abortion By Robert Novak

Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann, whose Roman Catholic archdiocese covers northeast Kansas, on May 9 called on Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to stop taking Communion until she disowns her support for the "serious moral evil" of abortion.

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May 24, 2008

The Rev. Wright Connection Still Haunts Obama By Michael Barone

As Barack Obama makes his slow but steady way toward the Democratic nomination, the assumption in the admiring precincts of the press corps is that voters have dismissed as irrelevant his longtime association with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

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May 24, 2008

Warner for VP? By Robert Novak

Former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, a strong favorite to be elected to the Senate this year, has told associates that he is being considered as Barack Obama's vice presidential running mate. He did not indicate whether he would be receptive to such an offer.

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May 22, 2008

Democrats Should Be More Democratic By Froma Harrop

There was unfortunate symbolism in Barack Obama's choice of Des Moines as the place to celebrate his delegate milestone on the day of the Kentucky and Oregon primaries.

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May 22, 2008

McCain's Shocking Discovery By Joe Conason

Disturbed by troubling connections and unflattering publicity, John McCain has just purged several prominent Washington lobbyists from his presidential campaign. Surely his intentions are laudable, but if Sen. McCain is consistent in ridding his campaign of such compromised people, he will find himself riding lonesome on the Straight Talk Express.

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May 22, 2008

McCain, Not Disarmed By Robert Novak

When one of the Democratic Party's most astute strategists this week criticized John McCain for attacking Barack Obama's desire to engage Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, I asked what the Republican presidential candidate ought to talk about in this campaign.

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May 21, 2008

GOP Senate Massacre of '08 By Dick Morris

While Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) hangs in there, locked in a tough race with Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), the Republican undercard is facing obliteration in the 2008 general elections for the Senate.

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May 21, 2008

The Kennedy Family By Susan Estrich

That's what we are. I don't just mean the real Kennedys, the people who are related to what will always be, for my generation, the closest thing America has to royalty.

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May 20, 2008

The Marriage Debate We Ought to Have By Froma Harrop

The new California court decision advancing gay marriage will reignite "the debate," the headlines read. What impact will the issue have on the presidential campaigns?