Overview for News

How Progressive Are You?

The Center for American Progress offers a fascinating interactive quiz, more sophisticated than usual, here . (For anyone wondering: I scored 142 out of 400, which qualifies me as "very conservative.")

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Written by David Frum on Wednesday March 18, 2009

Defender Of Democracy

Talking about the card check bill, Teamsters boss James Hoffa asks : "Since when is the secret ballot a basic tenet of democracy?" Good question! And the answer? Maybe not for very much longer.

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Written by David Frum on Wednesday March 18, 2009

President Obama, This Isn't Chicago

Is President Obama really planning to treat the US Congress the way Mayor Daley treated the Chicago City Council? So the Washington Post reports this morning. The shortcut, known as "budget reconciliation," would allow Obama's health and energy proposals to be rolled into a bill that …

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Written by David Frum on Wednesday March 18, 2009

Virginia: Jeff Frederick Responds

RPV Chairman Jeff Frederick has now sent his responses to the charges (reported here at FrumForum.com) placed against him by the State Central Committee, to his email list from votejeff.com (which he used last year). It's not on the RPV site, unless someone has posted it separately to the …

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Written by John S. Gardner on Wednesday March 18, 2009

Tv Doesnt Get Dumber Than This!

Greg Gutfeld takes the challenge: Can Fox produce a show that anticipates a SNL parody of Fox? The panel discusses the question: should the US invade Canada … and produces something almost as hilarious as the old Half Hour News Hour . UPDATE : The clip in question is a …

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Written by David Frum on Wednesday March 18, 2009

A Republican Opportunity In Upstate New York

Republicans and Democrats are fighting hard to retake the congressional seat once filled by new NY Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. The seat, NY-20, used to be safely Republican : 68% of the vote in 2000, 73% in 2002, 66% in 2004. Even now the GOP enjoys a 70,000 voter registration advantage in …

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Written by Tom Qualtere on Tuesday March 17, 2009

Anger And Aig

More than a decade ago, when Harris Interactive asked whether most people on Wall Street “would be willing to break the law if they believed they could make a lot of money and get away with it,” 64 percent said they would. In another question in the 1996 poll, only 40 percent agreed …

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Written by Karlyn Bowman on Tuesday March 17, 2009

Scandal Atop Scandal

$170 billion is so much money that it can support more than one scandal. As the Obama administration bursts with outrage over executive payouts that the administration had previously approved, there is a risk of overlooking another and in some ways more shocking scandal. Thanks to Steve …

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Written by David Frum on Tuesday March 17, 2009

Bloggingheads

I'm up at Bloggingheads.TV this morning opposite Dan Drezner. We discuss Limbaugh & Beck, Chas Freeman, and antiwar conservatives. You can see the video here .

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Written by David Frum on Tuesday March 17, 2009

The Bureaucracy's Secret War

Hey, I thought Chas Freeman was sacked? Yet his point of view apparently lingers on within sections of the US bureaucracy. Eli Lake reports this morning in the Washington Times that Benjamin Netanyahu's top national-security aide, his Condoleezza Rice, has been barred from the US because he …

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Written by David Frum on Tuesday March 17, 2009

Survey: Half Of Workers Would Opt Out Of Social Security If They Could

A new survey by Sun Life Financial found that 48 percent of American workers would opt out of Social Security, even if doing so meant the loss of future Social Security benefits. Given the decline in the stock market over the past year, as well as the defeat of personal account-based Social …

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Written by Andrew Biggs on Monday March 16, 2009

What Is Going On At Fox News?

What the hell is going on at Fox News? On Friday evening, Fox viewers were treated to an hour-long televangelical special starring Glenn Beck. (The opening of the show can be seen in our Watch Now window, at right.) Watching Beck cry for the cameras is always a treat, although I notice …

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Written by David Frum on Monday March 16, 2009

Ron Silver: 1946-2009

Actor Ron Silver has passed away at 62 . A Democrat for many years, after the 9/11 attacks he became a supporter of President Bush and was a featured speaker at the 2004 Republican National Convention.

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Written by David Frum on Monday March 16, 2009

Questions For Jeff Frederick

I wrote earlier of the decision of over 75% of the Virginia State Republican Central Commission to ask Republican Party of Virginia Chairman Jeff Frederick to resign or face expulsion at a special Central Committee meeting on April 4. The battle’s now getting more heated. All five …

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Written by John S. Gardner on Monday March 16, 2009

Obama's Trade Actions Threaten To Further Destabilize Mexico

Once elected, President Obama disavowed the protectionist rhetoric of his campaign. But over the past weeks, the Democratic party's impulse to restrict trade has reasserted itself in menacing ways. The president's trade representative, Ron Kirk, has pooh-poohed span> further trade expansion …

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Written by David Frum on Sunday March 15, 2009

Tracking The Bailout

John McCain used to repeat a joke of Bob Hope's (and I'm sure that he got it from Artemus Ward or somebody) about Americans coming to Washington to visit their money. But it's not here any more - we are busy shoveling it out the back door to bailed out banks! The New York Times has helpfully …

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Written by David Frum on Saturday March 14, 2009

The American Enterprise Institute's Annual Dinner In Washington, D.c.

Conservative glitterati turned out to toast AEI's new president, Arthur Brooks, and to honor Charles Murray, recipient of the 2009 Irving Kristol Award, on March 11. Click here to read the full text of Murray's Irving Kristol lecture, "The Happiness of the People." Ester and …

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Written by FF Events on Friday March 13, 2009

Obama Signs A New Attack On Trade

Remember all the fuss during the debate over the stimulus bill about the “Buy American” provision? And how the President said that , “I think it would be a mistake, though, at a time when worldwide trade is declining, for us to start sending a message that somehow we’re …

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Written by John S. Gardner on Friday March 13, 2009

Dating Advice For The Newly Impoverished Bachelor

Lost your job and can only afford a dinner date at Wendy’s? This week’s Broadside panel, Mona Charen, Danielle Crittenden, Betsy Hart, and Melinda Sidak, offer tips for recessionary romance. img src="/Images/contributors/betsy_hart/hart_medium.jpg" alt="" width="89" height="96" />

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Written by Broadside Panel on Friday March 13, 2009