Cutting Off Your News To Spite Your Face By Debra J. Saunders
A couple of years ago, when speaking to a local group, I mentioned that The Chronicle was losing money.
Commentary by Debra J. Saunders
Most Recent Releases
February 26, 2009
February 22, 2009
Bad Times Visit Our Betters in Europe By Debra J. Saunders
LONDON -- Think that credit collapse that triggered the Bush administration's $700 billion bank bailout was necessary because of Republican hostility to regulation and the ineptness of President George W. Bush?
February 19, 2009
The Celtic Tiger Hits Bad Times By Debra J. Saunders
The unemployment rate in Ireland is 9.2 percent and expected to climb, perhaps as high as 15 percent. A real estate market that, according to Bloomberg, quadrupled from 1997 to 2007, is crashing.
February 13, 2009
Mr. Credibility By Debra J. Saunders
Quoth President Obama: "It's a little hard for me to take criticism from folks about this recovery package, after they've presided over a doubling of the national debt. I'm not sure they have a lot of credibility when it comes to fiscal responsibility."
February 12, 2009
The Harder They Fall By Debra J. Saunders
I ran into a friend in Sacramento Tuesday -- one of the many disappointed Republicans who inhabit the capital -- who told me that he will never again vote for a candidate for governor who has not lost an election. He had soured on the lack of humility invasive in state politics.
February 10, 2009
Harry Beats Goliath By Debra J. Saunders
Back in May 2000, Harry Markopolos, a Massachusetts fraud investigator, provided detailed evidence to the Securities and Exchange Commission that financier Bernard Madoff was a fraud. Eight years later, the SEC figured that out -- albeit after Madoff told federal authorities he had defrauded investors of up to $50 billion.
February 8, 2009
Dysfunctional Family Making By Debra J. Saunders
This is not going to be a column that dumps on the misguided and clearly troubled Nadya Suleman -- the 33-year-old unemployed single Whittier mother of six who gave birth to octuplets last month. Of course, a single mother of six has absolutely no business having more children.
February 5, 2009
Stimulus in Spend City By Debra J. Saunders
Back in October, after the Obama economic stimulus plan had grown from $60 billion to $175 billion and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had doubled the amount she wanted to spend to $300 billion, I asked, "Do I hear $450 billion?"
February 3, 2009
Car and Driver By Debra J. Saunders
Americans now know that the "change we can believe in," which President Obama promised, means a taxes-optional administration. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner rode out the bad news about his failure to pay $34,000 in Social Security and Medicare taxes on income he earned while working for the International Monetary Fund, and still won confirmation. The man now in charge of the IRS says it was "an innocent mistake."
February 1, 2009
Prison or Versailles? By Debra J. Saunders
Of course California's prison inmates are entitled to reasonable 21st-century health care. Unfortunately for taxpayers, Clark Kelso, the federal receiver in charge of California's prison health care has, as state Attorney General Jerry Brown noted at a news conference last week, a "gold-plated wish list" for California's prison health care system.
January 29, 2009
Obama Should Act on Medical Marijuana By Debra J. Saunders
During the campaign, President Obama said he would stop federal raids of medical marijuana clubs in states (like California) that had passed medical marijuana laws.
January 27, 2009
Out of the Closet on Proposition 8 By Debra J. Saunders
I voted against Proposition 22, the same-sex marriage ban, in 2000. I figured that if same-sex couples want to marry, why not let them? I believe in marriage. I don't want gay people to feel marginalized. But 61 percent of California voters thought otherwise.
January 22, 2009
The New Era of Responsibility By Debra J. Saunders
I keep waiting for that moment when Barack Obama -- President Obama -- tells the American people that there is a price to be paid for the many proposals he has offered. That moment has yet to come.
January 21, 2009
The Final Bush Pardons By Debra J. Saunders
On his way out of office, President Bush used his power of the pardon to commute the sentences of former U.S. Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, who had been sentenced to 11 years and 12 years respectively for shooting and wounding a fleeing drug smuggler in 2005 and then covering up the incident. It was the right move.
January 18, 2009
Bush Showed U.S. Is No Paper Tiger By Debra J. Saunders
From the day President Bush took office, the long knives were out for him -- in ways they will not (and should not) be out for President-elect Barack Obama.
January 17, 2009
Arnold's State of the State -- Not So Good By Debra J. Saunders
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's State of the State address on Thursday was a far cry from his first such speech in 2004.
January 13, 2009
From Jack Bauer to Leon Panetta By Debra J. Saunders
Sunday's New York Times ran two columns that advocated for investigations into America's use of coercive interrogation techniques -- known to editorial writers as "torture" -- of enemy combatants, as well as one that opposed a show trial.
January 11, 2009
Governator, the Sequel By Debra J. Saunders
Former eBay chief Meg Whitman is preparing to run for governor in 2010. Considering that California is so broke that next month it may have to issue IOUs instead of checks, I cannot imagine why anyone would want the job.
January 8, 2009
Empty Seats By Debra J. Saunders
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has an identity problem. In blocking the lawful and legitimate appointment of Roland Burris -- admittedly tarnished by its maker, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich -- the Nevada Democrat apparently thought that he was the king of Illinois, with the veto power over whom Illinois could send to the Senate.
January 6, 2009
Eric Holder and All Political Prisoners By Debra J. Saunders
Conventional wisdom last week decreed that President-elect Barack Obama had done such a fine job culling his Cabinet that only one pick -- Attorney General-nominee Eric Holder -- would present a problem, but most likely, a surmountable hurdle.
