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Political Commentary

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March 4, 2010

Stark, Raving, Maryland By Debra J. Saunders

Before she became House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi promised that if Democrats won control of the House, she would "drain the swamp" in Washington. How is she doing?

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March 3, 2010

My Toyota By Susan Estrich

It was a great car. A 1981 Toyota Corolla, white with blue interior, and no extras. Exactly $5,000 -- $1,000 down, the rest financed. To be honest, I really wanted a Honda Accord. My mother had one, and what a dream that car was. But it was also $1,000 more, and while that might not sound like so much, believe me, it was. So I "settled" for the Toyota. After nine years behind the wheel of a 1972 yellow Ford Maverick, it seemed like a very significant step up.

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March 3, 2010

Placing Our Faith in Economic Oracles By Tony Blankley

One of the sadder categories in the history of human misfortunes is the list of those things that are obvious, but wrong. By definition, if something is obvious, most people agree with it, and thus, it is likely to win the day -- but lose the verdict of history.

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March 2, 2010

Why Americans Hate Washington - By Debra J. Saunders

In January, the Senate joined the House in passing "pay-as-you-go" rules to require Congress to pay for new discretionary spending. On Feb. 12, President Obama signed the bill.

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March 2, 2010

The Terrified American Shopper By Froma Harrop

Americans who shopped till they dropped have stopped. Per capita consumption is down for two straight years, according to Booz & Company's new study of U.S. spending behavior. That hasn't happened since the Great Depression.

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March 1, 2010

Dems' Health Strategy Doesn't Add Up to a Win By Michael Barone

"More talk, no deal" was The Wall Street Journal's headline on Thursday's Blair House health care summit. "After summit flop, Democrats prepare to go it alone on Obamacare," proclaimed the headline here at The Washington Examiner. These were appropriate verdicts if you viewed the summit as an attempt to reach bipartisan agreement or even a limited consensus.

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February 28, 2010

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Fantasyland By Debra J. Saunders

The villain in "A Time to Run," Sen. Barbara Boxer's first novel, is a conservative writer for The San Francisco Chronicle. A salvo at moi? Hardly.

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February 26, 2010

Playing Nice By Susan Estrich

A funny thing didn't happen today. People were not plugged in to their televisions, computers or radios. Someone did stop me at lunch to ask what I was having (the chicken salad), but no one solicited the latest on what was going on in Washington. There was no buzz. Can we be frank? Nobody is watching.

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February 26, 2010

Zazi Case Vindicates Justice By Joe Conason

Before Najibullah Zazi is finally dispatched to a secure cellblock for good, it is important to remember how the taxi driver-turned-terrorist was brought to justice -- and why the critics who jeered his civilian prosecution were dead wrong. By convicting Zazi and pursuing the leads that his capture and interrogation have provided, the FBI has shown that traditional American methods -- rather than the "enhanced interrogation" and military tribunals favored by the right -- are highly effective instruments of national security.

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February 25, 2010

Obama's Nanny Care Insults the American Spirit By Michael Barone

You are victims. You are helpless against the wiles of big corporations and insurance companies, and you need protection. You need the government to take over and do things you cannot do for yourself.

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February 25, 2010

Americans Can Speak for Themselves on Health Care By Froma Harrop

Have you voted on any of the Democratic health care reform plans? Me neither.

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February 25, 2010

Jerry Brown Flies Below the Radar By Debra J. Saunders

With the other name Democrats out of the race, Attorney General Jerry Brown basically has a lock on his party's primary election. That's good for Brown, who won't have to blow millions of dollars on a primary. But it's only good if Brown can win in November.

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February 24, 2010

For the Love of Hersh By Susan Estrich

When I was growing up, we never had a dog. My mother told us we would be too sad when it died. She was not one for that "better to have loved and lost" business. Loss, to be spared at all cost, could at least be avoided on the pet front by not having one. Later, my brother got a cat, but when he and my mother moved into an apartment, the cat went to the farm.

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February 24, 2010

Governing Ourselves: The American Passion By Dick Morris

With his up-to-the-second published polls, Scott Rasmussen has revolutionized the way politics is practiced in America. Now, in his new book, In Search of Self-Governance, he bids us all remember that the real political debate is not left vs. right, but rather between being governed by a bureaucracy and self-governance.

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February 24, 2010

Is Our Government Really Broken? By Tony Blankley

If you want to see broken government, consider the fall of the constitutional Roman Republic and the rise of Julius Caesar: "Fortune turned against us and brought confusion to all we did. Greed destroyed honor, honesty and every other virtue, and taught men to be arrogant and cruel, to neglect the gods. Ambition made men false. Rome changed: A government which had once surpassed all others in justice and excellence now became cruel and unbearable." So said the historian Sallust at the time.

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February 23, 2010

Why Evan Bayh Should Not Jump Ship By Froma Harrop

In an essay titled, "Why I'm Leaving the Senate," Evan Bayh brilliantly explains what's wrong with the Senate and how to fix it. If only the headline had read, "Why I'm Not Leaving the Senate" -- or better, "Things I Will Do If Indiana Voters Give Me Another 6 Years."

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February 23, 2010

Yoo Case About Politics, not Ethics By Debra J. Saunders

On Friday, the U.S. Department of Justice announced what amounts to the end of its investigation of former Bush administration lawyers Jay Bybee and John Yoo for writing the 2002 memos that authorized the CIA to use enhanced interrogation techniques. While assailing Bybee and Yoo's "poor judgment," Assistant Deputy Attorney General David Margolis rejected the "final report" written by the Department of Justice's Office of Professional Responsibility. It found that Bybee and Yoo had engaged in "professional misconduct."

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February 22, 2010

Obama Lacks One Crucial Ingredient -- Intuition By Michael Barone

No president enters office knowing everything he needs to know. His experience is limited to some greater or lesser extent; his knowledge of the people from whom he will choose appointees is incomplete; his mastery of the substance of public policy, after years on the campaign trail, is likely to be out of date. And like all of us, he does not know what the future will bring.

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February 20, 2010

Tea Party Power to Solve the Debt Problem By Lawrence Kudlow

The New York Times ran a front-page story this week called "Party Gridlock in Washington Feeds New Fear of a Debt Crisis." As usual, they got it wrong. Instead, the headline should have read, "After Scott Brown's Astonishing Senate Win in Massachusetts, New Political Gridlock in Washington Could Spell the End of the Liberal Crack-Up We Have Witnessed over the Past Year."

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February 19, 2010

What Went Wrong? By Susan Estrich

Something has gone very wrong.

Was it just a year ago that Democrats assumed more control in Washington than the party has had in my lifetime? It was.