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The Recession and the National Debt Are Separate Problems
Tweet Share on Facebook June 28, 2010 Comment (2)You have to feel sorry, if only a little, for the Obama administration and congressional Democrats right now. They’ve lost any and all ability they had after the 2008 election to frame debate about the economy.
And, rhetorically speaking, Republicans have successfully conflated short- and long-term considerations: Amid persistently high unemployment, the economy is taking scarcely perceptible baby steps toward recovery. And there is a large and growing national debt. In reality, these two phenomena have little to do with one another.
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Sarah Palin Jumps Aboard the 'Obama as Hitler' Train
Tweet Share on Facebook June 25, 2010 Comment (142)There is an old Dave Barry column about how to win an argument in which he suggests various tactics like drinking liquor, making up facts, and using snappy and irrelevant comebacks. The "heavy artillery," Barry writes, "for when your opponent is obviously right and you are spectacularly wrong," is to compare them with Adolf Hitler.
I don't know if half-term Gov. Sarah Palin and conservative columnist Thomas Sowell are familiar with Barry's work, but they certainly seem to have embraced this last piece of advice, in this case comparing President Obama with the Nazi dictator. (I'll let readers weigh in below about how many of Barry's other nuggets they employ.)
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Democrats' Liberal Lurch Could Sink Them in 2010 Elections
Tweet Share on Facebook June 25, 2010 Comment (46)The Democrats’ continued drift to the left has harmed the party’s political fortunes.
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In Afghanistan, a Troop Withdrawal Deadline Is Good Policy
Tweet Share on Facebook June 25, 2010 Comment (9)Conservative op-ed columnists have taken the firing of Gen. Stanley McChrystal as an opportunity to repeat, once again, their demand that the United States make an open-ended commitment to the use of American ground troops in Afghanistan.
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Australia Prime Minister Gillard Not Your Average Leader
Tweet Share on Facebook June 25, 2010 Comment (14)It’s too soon to hand down a verdict on Julia Gillard's performance as Australia's first female prime minister, but as we're in the discovery stage, I must say I really like this woman. She's got spunk. She's won't roll over for anyone. She knows how to give as good as she gets with aplomb.
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The Democrats Were Against Petraeus Before They Were For Him
Tweet Share on Facebook June 24, 2010 Comment (27)Gen. David Petraeus is now the darling of the Democrats. Having been picked by President Barack Obama to lead U.S. efforts on the ground in Afghanistan, Petraeus, the architect of the surge in Iraq, is being praised by the Democrats from pillar to post.
It wasn’t always so.
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Louis Armstrong, Not Michael Jackson, Broke the Pop Color Barrier
Tweet Share on Facebook June 24, 2010 Comment (7)If anyone was under the mistaken impression that I’m above rank self-promotion, here’s my review for The American Conservative of Terry Teachout’s wonderful biography, Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong, just now available to nonsubscribers.
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McChrystal Firing Is a Sign of Afghanistan Problems
Tweet Share on Facebook June 24, 2010 Comment (9)There is no good news for Americans, this summer, in the departure of Gen. Stanley McChrystal.
Forget Harry Truman. American presidents don't fire generals who are winning America's wars.
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Poll: Hillary Clinton Better Qualified Than Obama to Be President
Tweet Share on Facebook June 24, 2010 Comment (28)Now they tell us!! A new Rasmussen Reports poll shows more Americans believe that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is better qualified to be president than President Barack Obama.
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The McChrystal-MacArthur Comparison
Tweet Share on Facebook June 23, 2010 Comment (5)One analogy that Gen. Stan McChrystal's self-immolation has stirred in many quarters is President Harry Truman's firing of Gen. Douglas MacArthur during the Korean War. It's not a completely mismatched comparison, but it's also not a good fit.
