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NY-09 Winner Ran From Ryan Plan

The victory of Bob Turner in heavily Democratic NY-09 is clearly not good news for Democrats. When the media hasn't picked up is that Turner benefited by not embracing the Paul Ryan budget. Mickey Kaus has some good points about the inability for Democrats to win on entitlements: It’s the …

Written by Fred Bauer on Wednesday September 14, 2011

Who is Getting Into These Debates?

One unexpected story that has emerged from the two most recent GOP debates has been the behavior of the audience. They cheered when Rick Perry's record on executions was announced and Ron Paul got shouts of support when he was asked if a person who couldn't afford healthcare should be left to …

Written by Noah Kristula-Green on Wednesday September 14, 2011

Why Americans Don't Trust Anything

Jim Geraghty writes about how Americans have lost faith in their institutions over a 15 year period: Think back to about fourteen or fifteen years ago, and everything you thought you knew at that moment. You knew no president would be so reckless that he would get caught having sex with an …

Written by Noah Kristula-Green on Tuesday September 13, 2011

The Romney We Need

Mitt Romney arrived loaded for bear this evening, pointing out, for example, that Rick Perry's Texas created jobs at barely 1/3 the rate of Anne Richards' Texas. On Social Security, Romney battered Rick Perry's call to have a debate about Social Security ... some time in the far, far future, in …

Written by David Frum on Monday September 12, 2011

No Gratitude for Disasters Prevented

In my column for CNN, I discuss heroes who have prevented disasters yet go unremembered: Imagine that some member of Congress back in the 1990s had devoted himself or herself to toughening America against terrorism. He or she had introduced legislation to require airlines to harden their …

Written by David Frum on Monday September 12, 2011

How it Felt on 9/11

On the morning of 9/11, I was living in Washington, D.C. with my husband, David Frum, then a speechwriter for President George W. Bush. I was six months pregnant with our third child, Beatrice (now nine), and at home with my son, Nathaniel, then seven, who had feigned a stomach ache. The blog …

Written by Danielle Crittenden on Sunday September 11, 2011

Perry Trusts Scientists, if They Help Him Win

Rick Perry may think his opinions on climate change makes him a modern day Galileo, but there is one field where he is willing to concede ground to the experts: the political science of how to run a campaign. Political scientists who study elections are interested to measuring the effectiveness …

Written by Noah Kristula-Green on Friday September 9, 2011

Perry's Immigration Problem: Even Bigger than it Looks

Byron York has some astute things to say this morning about the immigration issue and its potentially negative impact on Gov. Rick Perry's presidential candidacy: Start with the border fence. Perry opposes it. "Building a wall on the entire border is a preposterous idea," he said recently …

Written by David Frum on Friday September 9, 2011

Obama's Cunning Speech

First reactions to the president's big jobs speech: 1) Qua speech, it was excellent - clear, focused, unrhetorical. The core concept - stressing past Republican approval of the major elements of the proposal - ingeniously put Republicans into an awkward spot. And in fact, the maneuver has had …

Written by David Frum on Friday September 9, 2011

In the Shadow of Ronald Reagan

Twenty years ago, historian William Leuchtenberg published a book with the poignant title, In the Shadow of FDR . Leuchtenberg's point: President Roosevelt raised expectations for the modern presidency that his (Democratic) successors could not hope to fulfill. From Truman to Clinton , they …

Written by David Frum on Thursday September 8, 2011

Perry: Unprepared, Underwhelming

The revelation from the Republican presidential debate: Rick Perry and his team utterly failed to prepare answers to utterly predictable questions on "military adventurism" and Social Security. Worse than that, Perry's Social Security answer delivered President Obama the perfect clip for a 2012 …

Written by David Frum on Wednesday September 7, 2011

Perry Comes Unprepared to the GOP Debate

GOP Reagan Library Debate Pre-Debate Analysis: ---------- Tonight will be Rick Perry’s debut at a GOP presidential debate. As we have seen in this cycle, a good debate performance can provide a real boost to candidates and change the dynamics of the race. Michele Bachmann’s strong …

Written by Noah Kristula-Green on Wednesday September 7, 2011

Romney's Plan: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

To read Mitt Romney's economic plan is to join a more elevated conversation. This is a document written by people who value expertise, and it shows. It avoids overstatements and misstatements. It credits Presidents Bush and Obama for pulling the financial system back from the brink in …

Written by David Frum on Wednesday September 7, 2011

U.S. Post Admits: Deader Than the Dodo

Fredric V. Rolando, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers strong> says

Written by Daniel Alexandre Portoraro on Wednesday September 7, 2011

What if it's Perry?

On Election Night 2012, I expect that Republican Presidential nominee Rick Perry will turn into President-Elect Rick Perry. My inbox will fill up with emails from both enemies and frenemies declaring: " Frum Forum Lost! Your cause is doomed and you have failed!" Why do I expect this? First, …

Written by Noah Kristula-Green on Tuesday September 6, 2011

A Sad End to the Summer

The idea that young people don't want to work is a myth. The exception, i.e. he who is content to lay about the house, playing video games and soaking up cheap beer, is the idiotic exception. In a generation that is defined almost completely by consumerism, work is a necessity not only to attain …

Written by Daniel Alexandre Portoraro on Saturday September 3, 2011

A Reply to The President's Defenders

Jared Bernstein has posted a defense of President Obama's economic record at CNN.com against my criticism , also on CNN.com. The story so far: Last week, Jonathan Alter asked Obama's critics to cite specific mistakes in President Obama's economic management. I named 3: 1) A badly …

Written by David Frum on Friday September 2, 2011

The Sky is Not Falling

Michael Coren's inaugural show of The Arena on Sun TV was a tour de force featuring author-columnist Mark Steyn, the fearless Ann Coulter, a laid-back Juan Willams and Muslim moderate Tarek Fatah. Most provocative was Mark Steyn, who cited an International Monetary Fund prediction that China …

Written by Peter Worthington on Thursday September 1, 2011

Christie's Good Fight

As a Democrat – and a fairly liberal one by the standards of where I live – it isn’t that often that someone on the right really knocks my socks off. Let alone a Republican! Yet that is exactly what happened on August 25th. From the comfort of my own living room I watched Gov. Chris Christie of …

Written by Jamie McFadden on Tuesday August 30, 2011

What Happened to the Competence Primary?

Jonathan Last argues that Mitt Romney has not been a very effective candidate over his 17 years of office-seeking: [I] in the 2008 cycle he went 3-16 [win/lose]. Combine that with the rest of his runs and you get a 17-year career average of 5-18. Fair shot. Rick Perry certainly has …

Written by David Frum on Monday August 29, 2011