Another Two Bite the Dust By Susan Estrich
It was not a good day for ethics in government.
Political Commentary
Most Recent Releases
February 4, 2009
February 4, 2009
Obama's Defense Budget Mystery By Tony Blankley
There has been some confusing reporting in the past few days regarding President Barack Obama's plans for the Defense Department budget. Officially, the Office of Management and Budget is claiming that it will increase the budget by 8 percent. But because most of the Iraq and Afghanistan war costs have been funded through supplemental appropriations rather than the regular department budget, total military funding remains a mystery.
February 4, 2009
Daschle Was Too Compromised for the Job By Froma Harrop
Tom Daschle's withdrawal from consideration as future secretary of Health and Human Services had to happen. So seemingly strong on health-care policy but weak on ethics, the man President Obama had picked to remake the American health-care system had set off wild mood swings among the public.
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 2, 2009
The Gregg Factor By Lawrence Kudlow
So why would the estimable Sen. Judd Gregg (R., N.H.) quit his job to become commerce secretary in the Obama administration?
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 31, 2009
The Politics Of The Economic Recovery Act By Scott Rasmussen
Something shifted in the political dialogue last week when the House version of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act failed to pick up a single Republican vote.
January 31, 2009
Shelve the Stimulus By Lawrence Kudlow
Wednesday night's House tally on the Democratic stimulus package, where not a single Republican voted in favor, was another shot across the bow for this incredibly unmanageable $900 billion behemoth of a program that truly will not stimulate the economy.
January 31, 2009
The GOP Should Go Upscale By Michael Barone
There's a debate going on in some Republican circles over which groups of the electorate the party should target.
January 30, 2009
Let the Limbaughs Whine By Joe Conason
How fortunate for Barack Obama that Rush Limbaugh, big radio personality and leader of the instinctual far right, has yet to retire to a sunny island with his bottles of pills. At a moment when Republicans on Capitol Hill feel they must pretend to negotiate with the popular new president over spending to revive the economy, he blurted out what they really feel.
January 30, 2009
Stop Those Checks By Susan Estrich
This is the Republicans' big contribution to our economic recovery: They want to make sure that undocumented immigrants who pay taxes using tax identification numbers don't get a cent of their tax money back in the refunds enacted by Congress. Oh, yes, and they want rich people to get tax refunds.
January 30, 2009
The Georgia Senate Runoff: The First Shot of 2010? By Rhodes Cook
The 2008 election these days may seem long ago and far away. But it is worth remembering that while the Republicans had a bad time at the polls in November, they fared well in the array of contests that concluded the election cycle in December.
January 30, 2009
Obama Is Essential To Passing the Economic Recovery Plan Analysis by Scott Rasmussen
Public support for the economic recovery plan working its way through Congress is modest, but the proposal is likely to pass for a very simple reason: Voters want to give President Obama the benefit of the doubt.
January 29, 2009
Stimulus Criticism Mounts By Lawrence Kudlow
Last night’s House vote on the Democratic stimulus package, where not a single Republican voted in favor, was another shot across the bow for this incredibly unmanageable $900 billion behemoth of a program that truly will not stimulate the economy.
January 29, 2009
Sports Man Therapy for Tough Times By Froma Harrop
I envy Sports Man. He can rise above his own problems by focusing on the triumphs or setbacks of The Team.
January 29, 2009
The 2008 Election in Perspective By James E. Campbell
Some political analysts have interpreted the 2008 presidential election as an ordinary retrospective election. With a very unpopular Republican incumbent presiding over unpopular wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and a weak economy, 2008 appeared to be a Democratic year.
January 29, 2009
Obama's Wounded Treasury Man By Lawrence Kudlow
Over a third of the Senate voted against Tim Geithner's confirmation as treasury secretary, though he did pass the test by 60 to 34 early Monday evening.
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 28, 2009
History Lessons By Susan Estrich
On Jan. 27, 1945, Soviet soldiers entered the largest Nazi death camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau, in Poland and liberated the 7,000 prisoners who were still there, most of them sick and dying.
January 28, 2009
Obama's Collectivist Nationalism By Tony Blankley
President Barack Obama is a beguiling but confounding figure. As he said of himself in "The Audacity of Hope," "I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views."
