Politics Turns Dangerously Rougher By Tony Blankley
In the last few weeks, leading Democrats in Congress have called Tea Party constituents terrorists, said they should go to hell and accused them of wanting to lynch black people.
Political Commentary
Most Recent Releases
September 7, 2011
September 6, 2011
Beware Easy 'Fixes' for Entitlement Programs By Froma Harrop
Please, everyone, stop monkeying around with Social Security and Medicare. We mean you, Republicans, and you, Democrats. No one's saying that Social Security can't be slightly recalibrated to keep the program on a sound footing or that significant savings can't be found in Medicare waste. We're saying that if Americans are not vigilant, these programs can be undermined by seemingly small "fixes."
September 5, 2011
Obama Speech Fiasco Shows 'Audacity of Weakness' By Michael Barone
I can't remember a more stunning rebuke of a president by a congressional leader than House Speaker John Boehner's refusal to agree to President Barack Obama's demand -- er, request -- that he summon a joint session of Congress to hear the president's latest speech on the economy at 8 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, Sept. 7.
September 3, 2011
A Reagan Moment - Stop Our Economic Decline By Lawrence Kudlow
No sooner had President Obama shocked the political world with a gloomy economic forecast -- projecting 9.1 percent unemployment for this year and a reelection-killing 9 percent for 2012 -- than the dismal August jobs report arrived showing no gain in nonfarm payrolls. That’s right, no gain at all. Private jobs increased a scant 17,000, while hours worked and wages actually declined. Obama’s economic policies have failed.
September 2, 2011
How To Honor the True Spirit of 9/11: First, Ignore Limbaugh By Joe Conason
If volunteerism is suddenly unpatriotic and even "socialist," that will come as a nasty surprise to many of the Republicans and conservatives who always have supported such efforts, notably including both presidents named Bush.
September 2, 2011
One Year From Convention, What Does Obama Say? By Thomas F. Schaller
With Barack Obama's 2012 renomination speech in Charlotte now about a year away, here's a very simple political question with a potentially complex answer: In his 2012 bid to win re-election, what messages and themes will the president employ?
September 1, 2011
The Progressives' Freedom Agenda By Froma Harrop
The third week in July, Republican Gov. Rick Perry said that the U.S. Constitution -- whose 10th Amendment limits federal power -- gives states the right to decide on such matters as abortion and gay marriage. The fourth week in July, the Texan recanted. He now supports a federal ban on abortion and gay marriage. Social conservatives told him they didn't cotton to giving states the right to defy their views on things they care about.
September 1, 2011
Is The Senate The Republicans' To Lose? By Larry J. Sabato and Kyle Kondik
The recent decision by ex-Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) not to seek the seat of his retiring colleague, Democratic Sen. Herb Kohl, was a big moment for Republicans because it gave them yet another clean shot at a Democratic-held Senate seat. Feingold, still popular despite his reelection loss last year, would have been a favored quasi-incumbent had he run. Instead, his decision is just another piece of miserable news for Democrats in this cycle's race for the Senate.
August 31, 2011
Obama's Last Economic Policy Chance By Tony Blankley
President Obama's post-Labor Day "jobs" speech will be his last chance to launch an economic policy with any chance of manifesting its effect -- both economic and political -- before the November 2012 elections.
August 30, 2011
Steve Jobs Told Us What We Wanted By Froma Harrop
"It's not the consumers' job to know what they want" -- Steve Jobs
August 29, 2011
Obama and His Rivals Duck the Entitlement Crisis By Michael Barone
Some of society's most intractable problems come not from its failures but from its successes. Often you can't get a good thing without paying a bad price.
August 25, 2011
Scott Brown No Shoe-in for Re-election in Mass By Froma Harrop
When Scott Brown was elected U.S. senator from Massachusetts in a special election last year, Republicans rejoiced. They had wrested the Senate seat held by the late liberal icon Edward Kennedy in a Democratic stronghold.
August 25, 2011
In Ohio, Labor Showdown Looms By Kyle Kondik
In the vengeful world of politics, what goes around often comes around.
August 25, 2011
Traveling Back to the Future on Intercity Buses By Michael Barone
Not long ago, I wrote about how the private sector outraces and laps government. While governments dither and dispute, the private sector discovers.
August 23, 2011
'Enforcement' of Immigration Laws Already Here By Froma Harrop
Have you noticed that our immigration laws are finally being enforced? That illegal immigration is way down? That employers hiring undocumented workers are finally being punished? And that this is being done in the Democratic administration of President Barack Obama? If not, take note.
August 22, 2011
Same-Sex Marriage Moving Toward the Mainstream By Michael Barone
One of the few issues on which opinion has moved left over the last few years is same-sex marriage. In 1996, Gallup found that Americans opposed it by a 68 percent to 27 percent margin. Last May, Gallup found Americans in favor by 53 percent to 45 percent. That's a huge change in 15 years.
August 19, 2011
In Iowa, It's Up Close and Personal By Kyle Kondik
As the Iowa Straw Poll in Ames was wrapping up Saturday, a reporter rushed onto the floor of Iowa State University's Hilton Coliseum, where the press was filing their stories. She went up to her colleagues with what she said was a new, breaking quote from Michele Bachmann: Bachmann, the reporter said, had just vowed to make Barack Obama a "one-term president."
August 19, 2011
The Commentary Pages Are No Tea Party By Froma Harrop
Several columnists recently referred to the tea party "patriots" as terrorists. The terrorist label set off a stormy protest among the group's legion of message writers.
August 18, 2011
The Dirty Thirties By Larry J. Sabato
President Obama has found himself in the cellar for the first time since taking office: He fell to 39% in Gallup Poll tracking over the past weekend. Obama may or may not have a month or months when his average is below 40%. Still, it is a number that has already imprinted itself on the mind of the political community.
August 18, 2011
Harry S. Obama? By Michael Barone
Pundits lately have been comparing Barack Obama to Jimmy Carter, suggesting he is a likely loser in 2012. But my American Enterprise Institute colleague Norman Ornstein, writing in The New Republic, compares Obama to Harry S. Truman, suggesting he may outperform the polls and win.
