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December 10, 2009

Fair and Balanced (and Phony) Science By Joe Conason

Evading the challenges of climate change -- and the human responsibility to save the planet -- is simple enough even for the laziest citizen. Pay attention only to the theories that support the comforting skepticism of the oil industry. Focus on a set of purloined emails that prove nothing except that scientists can be as unpleasant to each other as any other group of people. Get the "facts" from Fox News Channel, the Wall Street Journal editorial page, the Moonie-controlled Washington Times and all the other conservative outlets that are as fair and balanced as an Exxon press release.

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December 10, 2009

Misusing Knowledge to Expand Government Power By Michael Barone

"Knowledge is becoming more specialized and more dispersed, while government power is becoming more concentrated," writes economist Arnold Kling in his new book, "Unchecked and Unbalanced." "This discrepancy creates the potential for government to become increasingly erratic and, as a result, less satisfying to individuals."

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December 10, 2009

"Socialized Medicine"? Whatever By Froma Harrop

So it's come down to this. Republicans and some Democrats wouldn't vote for a government-run health plan that competed with private insurers -- though it would enjoy no special taxpayer subsidies. That's socialism.

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December 9, 2009

Tiger's Feet of Clay By Susan Estrich

Nine women. And counting.

When did this guy find time to play golf?

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December 9, 2009

Too Few Troops, Too Much Spin By Tony Blankley

A sense of unreality overshadows our debate on Afghan war policy across the spectrum of opinions. The unreality derives from the simple fact that we do not have enough troops to rationally implement an adequate defense of our national interests. So every argument for Afghanistan policy tends to seem unserious, perhaps pointless.

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December 8, 2009

America's Clean-Energy Defeatists By Froma Harrop

The United States used to be the can-do country. A respect for science married to the entrepreneurial spirit propelled America to the forefront of global progress and made it rich. But a late-20th century malaise had crept in, fueled by a conservative hostility to modern science and public investment.

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December 7, 2009

Professor Obama as Dutiful Commander in Chief By Michael Barone

Every time I visit the White House, I am struck by its military environment.

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December 6, 2009

Declaring War on Another "War President" By Debra J. Saunders

As soon as President Obama had finished his West Point speech in which he pledged to send 30,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, conservative pundits started poking at the president's demeanor and message. Big mistake. If Obama's delivery seemed, well, unenthusiastic, so be it. What is important is that Obama delivered a policy that will keep Afghanistan from devolving into a terror pit. He offered the best plan that conservatives possibly could expect.

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December 5, 2009

What I Don't Know About Afghanistan By Susan Estrich

People keep asking me whether I agree with the president's troop surge in Afghanistan. I am a lawyer. I know what to do with a hard question: Answer another one that is so similar that even the person asking may not notice you've changed it. So I answer that I absolutely support the president on this one, that I absolutely approve of the process and the decision and the way he's handling his responsibility as commander in chief.

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December 4, 2009

Looking Ahead: Senate Races 2012-2014 By Larry J. Sabato

As the most recent Crystal Ball ratings showed, Democrats are benefiting from the equal split of Senate seats up in 2010. Even though Democrats have a large majority of senators, it just so happens that both Democrats and Republicans are defending 19 seats each in the upcoming midterm election, which makes it exceedingly difficult for the GOP to gain enough seats to capture the Senate.

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December 4, 2009

The Crushing Legacy of Bush and Cheney By Joe Conason

From now on, the headlines about Afghanistan will be slugged "Obama's War," and perhaps that is fair enough given the president's many endorsements of what he has called a war of necessity. It would be much less fair, however, to ignore the events that led us to this moment, when whatever choice he makes will offer no great guarantee of progress and no small prospect of trouble.

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December 4, 2009

Big Government Can't Put Young Americans to Work By Michael Barone

"What have you done for me lately?" It's a question that voters implicitly ask politicians, especially ones they have supported and who are seeking their votes again. And it's a question that young voters in particular may be asking Barack Obama, whom they supported by a 66 percent to 32 percent margin 13 months ago.

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December 3, 2009

No Solid Gold Performance from Bernanke By Lawrence Kudlow

Fed head Ben Bernanke got hammered today during his reconfirmation hearing in front of the Senate Banking Committee. Jim Bunning was Bernanke’s toughest critic, followed by Richard Shelby, Jim DeMint, and yes, Chris Dodd, the beleaguered committee chair who in all likelihood will be defeated in Connecticut next year.

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December 3, 2009

Huckabee Handed Out Pardons Like Candy By Debra J. Saunders

There is no need to tiptoe gingerly around this topic: Maurice Clemmons, who was shot and killed as authorities tried to apprehend him for the shooting deaths of four Washington police officers -- is former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's Willie Horton.

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December 3, 2009

Letter to Tiger: Fess Up, Clear the Air, And Seek Redemption By Lawrence Kudlow

Fess up, Tiger. If you don't, the tabloids are gonna kill ya.

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December 3, 2009

After the Thanksgiving Disaster, Will Christmas Be an Encore? By Cherie Bennett

Hey, Cherie!

I am writing this after the world's worst Thanksgiving. By the way, I am a 15-year-old girl who now lives in what I call a blended family. I have two little brothers, and my mom and dad divorced a few years ago. They are both married to other people who each had kids our age, too. To make things worse, everyone now lives in the same town. You would think this would make things better. It doesn't.

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December 2, 2009

Obama Is Following Bush’s Playbook By Lawrence Kudlow

Speaking as a big skeptic of U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan, and as a major critic of nation-building, I basically liked President Obama’s surge speech last night. I think he did himself some good with it. I notice today that General McChrystal spoke positively about both the speech and the policy.

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December 2, 2009

Nothing Is Inevitable, but Anything Is Possible By Tony Blankley

Regularly reading the Financial Times (Britain's leading financial daily) can put an American in a fighting spirit. At least, it puts this American (transplanted former Englishman and naturalized American citizen that I am) in such a disposition.

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December 2, 2009

Holiday Remnants By Susan Estrich

The last Thanksgiving of my childhood started out promisingly enough. It was 1969, and we were going to my parents' best friends' house. I had a crush on their second oldest son, and with luck (a lot of it), we'd end up in his room listening to Led Zeppelin. He was much cooler than I was, but I was who would be there on Thanksgiving.

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December 1, 2009

The Inquisition of Global Warming By Debra J. Saunders

This just in from the Times of London: After the leak of highly embarrassing e-mail messages from the University of East Anglia's influential Climatic Research Unit, CRU has been forced to admit that it dumped "the original raw" climate data used to bolster the case for human-caused global warming, while retaining only the "value-added" -- read: massaged -- data.

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