Overview for FF Spotlight

Why Was the $10,000 Bet Moment so Bad?

Ed Morrissey observes at HotAir.com: If Romney  wanted to make himself look rich, arrogant, and clueless, he could hardly have done a better job. When was the last time someone challenged you to a ridiculous bet in order to intimidate you out of an argument? For me, I think it was junior-hig…

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Written by David Frum on Monday December 12, 2011

Where Was the GOP's Middle Class Agenda?

Saturday night's debate provided a good example of how current GOP orthodoxy thwarts presidential candidates from talking seriously about the economic problems of the American middle class. Mitt Romney wants to offer a middle-class economic agenda. (Or anyway, his consultants have decided he …

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Written by David Frum on Monday December 12, 2011

Don't Expect Results at a Climate Conference

Another biennial international climate negotiation jamboree wraps up today. What does the world have to show for it? Durban shouldn't turn out to be the belly flop that Copenhagen was in 2009. Other than that, not much. See you in two years and all that. Even a few greens are wondering if …

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Written by Jim DiPeso on Friday December 9, 2011

It's 3AM, Do You Trust Newt Gingrich?

David Brooks makes a great point in his column today about Newt Gingrich's temperament: But how you believe something is as important as what you believe. It doesn’t matter if a person shares your overall philosophy. If that person doesn’t have the right temperament and character, stay away. …

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Written by David Frum on Friday December 9, 2011

The Coming GOP Gingrich Freakout

Today's question is: will the Gingrich balloon deflate like all the previous Not Mitt balloons? The answer is: yes of course--but given that these balloons take typically 6-8 weeks to shrivel, the impending Gingrich bust may not arrive soon enough to save Romney. No question though, it will …

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Written by David Frum on Thursday December 8, 2011

How An Entrepreneur Sparked the Arab Spring

I recently had the great pleasure of hearing economist Hernando de Soto speak to a group of think tank types and media members about his perspective on the Arab Spring. De Soto is most famous as an advocate for property rights for the world’s poor. Henando de Soto’s big argument about the …

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Written by Noah Kristula-Green on Thursday December 8, 2011

Before the Gold Standard

I'm very much enjoying Charles Mann's 1493 . So much of the book has deep relevance to current affairs, including this piece of monetary history on p. 135: [In contrast to commodity money,] fiat money has no intrinsic value, and is worth something only because a government declares it is. …

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Written by David Frum on Wednesday December 7, 2011

He Went to Kansas to Say That?

In my column for The Week , I discuss how Obama's speech on income inequality fell short: The Kansas speech was composed of two main parts: a critique of the performance of the U.S. economy over the past generation, and a program for "rebalancing" in the years ahead. The trouble is that …

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Written by David Frum on Wednesday December 7, 2011

Will Newt Win? Lets Ask President Giuliani!

Though Newt Gingrich seems to be styling himself as the inevitable nominee, a look back at the polling in during the Republican primary race in late 2007 suggests that Gingrich's camp should not get too confident yet. In December 2007, no polls seemed to show McCain as the frontrunner. …

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Written by Fred Bauer on Wednesday December 7, 2011

Obama Can't Bring Back the 1900's.

Walter Russell Meade captures something about the current moment that can be overlooked to easily. Ron Paul and Barack Obama are forces for Americas that don’t and can’t exist anymore. The America where 90% of the people farm is not coming back. But less acknowledged is that the post-war …

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Written by John Vecchione on Wednesday December 7, 2011

Randian Bankers Are Great Accountants

Noah asks in his post whether one could trust a Randian banker. By coincidence, I read Noah's post on John Allison while I was in the middle of reading Donald Luskin's through-the-looking-glass book on the characters that allegedly either contributed to or didn't contribute to the financial …

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Written by Thomas J. Marier on Tuesday December 6, 2011

Your Morning Newt Basket

John Podhoretz on Gingrich in the New York Post today . "[Republican primary voters] know him mainly from Fox News." From a funny story in Politico that I missed while traveling: "He’s going to blow up at some point, and I’m just hoping it comes before he gets the nomination,” said one …

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Written by David Frum on Tuesday December 6, 2011

Newt, Your Ad With Pelosi Wasn't Dumb

Newt Gingrich recently described his 2008 appearance in a 30-second ad with then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi as “ the dumbest single thing I’ve done. ” Many conservatives share a negative view of it. Ron Paul, for instance, cites the ad as an example of Newt’s “serial hypocrisy.” Curious, I took a …

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Written by Kenneth Silber on Monday December 5, 2011

Only Yesterday

Newt Gingrich endorsed Harriet Miers . Conservatives should feel confident with the selection of Harriet Miers to replace Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court for a simple reason: George W. Bush selected her.

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Written by David Frum on Monday December 5, 2011

Would You Trust a Randian Banker?

Conservatives give a lot of deference to the opinions of business leaders and other 'job creators'. The operating assumption is that their criticisms of White House policies are accurate and well informed. What if this assumption is largely off-base? Consider this roundtable hosted on CNBC …

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Written by Noah Kristula-Green on Monday December 5, 2011

Can One Man End Pakistani Democracy?

In my column for CNN, I discuss how Mansoor Ijaz is putting Pakistani democracy in danger: Big events do not always have big causes. The British once went to war over an injury to a sea captain's ear. And today's Pakistan may collapse into military rule because of one man's eagerness to read …

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Written by David Frum on Monday December 5, 2011

President Romney Won't End Conservatism

In an interview with Laura Ingraham, George Will despairs of the choice between Gingrich and Romney as GOP frontrunners: Ask yourself this: Suppose Gingrich or Romney become president and gets re-elected – suppose you had eight years of this...What would the conservative movement be? How …

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Written by Fred Bauer on Monday December 5, 2011

Give Santorum His Chance

Well the punditry has pretty much come down to determining that Republican choices are Gingrich or Romney. Here’s the big Kahuna of Conservative Commentary on that very subject. In my quest to avoid voting for Romney I have pretty much picked through the remainders of announced candidates …

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Written by John Vecchione on Monday December 5, 2011