Overview for News

So Where Else Could Specter Go?

RNC chairman Michael Steele offered this comment by email on the Arlen Specter defection: Arlen Specter committed a purely political and self-serving act today. He simply believes he has a better chance of saving his political hide and his job as a Democrat. Well, obviously. What …

Written by Alex Knepper on Wednesday April 29, 2009

The Hundred Days

My take, on American Public Media's Marketplace, can be heard or read font color="#000000"> here.

Written by David Frum on Wednesday April 29, 2009

The Coming Republican Purges

Senator Jim DeMint told Arlen Specter last week he would be supporting Pat Toomey , Specter’s challenger in the Pennsylvania Republican primary. DeMint (R-SC) also said: “I would rather have 30 Republicans in the Senate who really believe in principles of limited government, free …

Written by Andrew Pavelyev on Wednesday April 29, 2009

Once Rinos Are Extinct...

Now that Specter's gone, we can turn to the real enemy – Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe! Then the only thing between us and victory will be Graham, Lugar, McCain, Murkowski, Grassley, Hatch, and some of the RINOs in the House. And the Governors, like Crist and Douglas and Lingle and anyone …

Written by Bradley Smith on Wednesday April 29, 2009

Conservatives Eat Their Own

With the swearing in of Kathleen Sebelius for Health and Human Services yesterday came swearing from the social conservatives. It's time for them to grow up. Before the 2006 election cycle, the two most prominent social conservatives in politics, without a doubt, were Senator Rick Santorum, …

Written by Thomas J. Marier on Wednesday April 29, 2009

Mary Ann Glendons Failed Hail Mary

I am a longtime admirer of Mary Ann Glendon, a former Ambassador to the Holy See as well as a scholar and innovative thinker on women’s issues. However, I was gobsmacked by her recent decision to refuse a prestigious award from Notre Dame because, as she discovered, she would have to share a …

Written by Danielle Crittenden on Wednesday April 29, 2009

The Bush Legacy Continued: Hey Boss, Can You Spare A Dime?

Over the last few months, the Wall Street Journal has printed two stories that suggest that many Bush administration staffers are having trouble finding employment now that President Bush’s two terms are over. According to the WSJ, up to 75% of former Bush political appointees have been …

Written by Tim Mak on Tuesday April 28, 2009

Podhoretz On Specter

This is very well said I think: The defection of Arlen Specter from the GOP, following the effort by the Club of Growth to target him for defeat in the Republican primary, is an example of how confused conservative ideologues can get about the nature of the Republican party. Specter is, …

Written by David Frum on Tuesday April 28, 2009

Barone On Specter

Michael Barone : I think this shows the folly, from the point of view of expanding Republican numbers in Congress, of Pat Toomey’s candidacy. His chances of winning a general election, in my judgment, were far lower than they were in 2004, when he ran against Specter and lost the …

Written by David Frum on Tuesday April 28, 2009

Canada Vindicated At Durban Ii

We Canadians are often too polite to say, “I told you so.” But 16 months after we told the world that the Durban “anti-racism” conference was anything but, we have been vindicated. Canada was the first nation to pull out of the Durban II conference and to cut off funds …

Written by Pierre Poilievre on Tuesday April 28, 2009

9/11 Was Far From Robert Gibbs Memory Yesterday

Believe it or not, I do not spend my days playing “Gotcha!” with President Obama. I do not care about what he said on Leno about the Special Olympics, nor do I catalog every teleprompter gaff. Like all Presidents, the man does a lot of speaking and mistakes, misstatements, and …

Written by Brad Schaeffer on Tuesday April 28, 2009

Another Triumph For The Club For Growth

With Arlen Specter’s defection, all that stands between the Democrats and a 60-seat Senate majority are Norman Coleman’s lawyers. I wish them every success – but they have not exactly been on a winning streak to date. Which means that Democrats won’t need to resort to …

Written by David Frum on Tuesday April 28, 2009

Does Mark Levin Know?

Frequent FF contributor Jamie Kirchick has an important oped in today's Los Angeles Times about President Obama's global apology tour. Obama apologized some more in Turkey. "I know that the trust that binds us has been strained, and I know that strain is shared in many places where the …

Written by David Frum on Tuesday April 28, 2009

Even More Money For Coal!

A friend with a close understanding of the utility industry adds a postscript to this post of mine about the giveaway to coal that may be embedded in the Democrats' final cap-and-trade scheme. Not only would the coal industry get free permits for emissions, but [T]he permits would be capitalize…

Written by David Frum on Tuesday April 28, 2009

White Man's Burden

I’m reading over the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin , a man who loved learning more than anything. I wonder what he and the founders would think of a school where it was okay for kids to read at pre-primer levels at the ages of 17-18, fight, roam the halls and cuss at adults with …

Written by Thomas Gibbon on Monday April 27, 2009

We Jail When Families Fail

If you represent a client who is found guilty and goes to jail, the first thing that happens is that you return to your office. You have a few moments together. Then the chasers come with cuffs in hand and take your client so that he can begin serving his time. For anyone who has observed …

Written by Michael Toth on Monday April 27, 2009

Dem Plan: Free Money For The Coal Industry!

Democrats and liberals often divide the world between industries they like (Hollywood, Wall Street, Silicon Valley) and industries they don't like (coal, oil, pharmaceuticals). Industries they don't like get the word "Big" prefixed to their name: Big Coal, Big Oil, Big Pharma. Big Coal you might …

Written by David Frum on Monday April 27, 2009

Failure To Communicate

Ben Smith and Jonathan Martin in Politico today : Rank-and-file Republicans remain, by all indications, staunchly conservative, and they appear to have no desire to moderate their views. GOP activists and operatives say they hear intense anger at the White House and at the party’s own …

Written by David Frum on Monday April 27, 2009

Pay Attention To Us, Eh?

On Friday, it was reported that Sen. John McCain had mistakenly claimed that some of the September 11 hijackers had entered the United States through Canada . “If only there had been some semi-major news story about this in the past few days,” a friend remarked to me sarcasticall…

Written by Tim Mak on Saturday April 25, 2009

The Durban Ii Upside Down World

Kudos to The New Republic for a lively series of dispatches from the so-called Durban II conference. Start here and read backwards. The good news: the demonstrators who turned Durban I into an anti-Semitic hatefest have been overwhelmed by friends and supporters of Israel from all …

Written by David Frum on Friday April 24, 2009