Why No Labels Makes Sense
I'm proud to remain a Republican. But, No Labels allows us to address the issues that can't be reduced to party dogma. "Has any org ever gotten off to a worse start?" That was Slate publisher Jake Weisberg’s tweeted reaction to the launch of the new centrist organization, "No Labels." Weisberg …Lockerbie: The Scandal of the Decade?
The WikiLeaks cables offer more evidence the British government was complicit in the release of the Pan Am bomber. WikiLeaks has done terrible harm to some good people. Yet it's also true that the leaked diplomatic cables have brought shame and embarrassment to people who could not deserve it …A DREAM Bill That's More like a Nightmare
Harry Reid's legislation to provide amnesty for illegal aliens has no chance of passage. Here's why that's good news. What should the Democrats do with their final weeks of majority status in the House of Representatives? Should they work to renew middle-income tax cuts, as promised? Should …Can Mitt Romney be President?
The outlook is sunny. But he faces rough seas ahead. Tea Party, Shmea Party. Post-election surveys suggest that Mitt Romney still leads as the favored Republican presidential candidate for 2012. His lead looks especially big in New Hampshire: Almost 30 points. Does this big lead translate …Include Everybody
On Tuesday, the citizens of Toronto elected a new mayor: a budget-cutting populist. How did he win? It's mostly what he did not do: He did not exclude. You wouldn't normally look to a Canadian election for a glimpse of the possible future of American politics. But maybe this is one time we …Prelude to Republican Fratricide
GOP candidates in New York and New Jersey should be cruising to victory this November. But angry conservatives would rather hand power to Democrats than help moderate Republicans win. At the beginning of the summer, most observers expected Republicans to win all three of the big elections on Nov. …Lessons from David Cameron
Britain's Conservative prime minister could teach the Republicans a thing or two. It's fair to say that American Republicans have to this point disdained David Cameron's modernized British Conservatives. Since gaining the leadership of the Conservatives in 2005, Cameron has committed his party …Not So Fast, Tea Partiers
Why a big win in November will only strengthen the case for moderate reform of the Republican Party Slate 's Dave Weigel called last week with a tough question: People such as Ross Douthat, Reihan Salam, David Brooks, and myself, he pointed out, have urged Republicans to modernize their …Beyond the Base
Does a resurgent Republican party have what it takes to govern well, for everyone? It's good to learn from experience, but better to learn from other people's experiences. That old saying resonates in the mind of a North American visitor to this week's British Conservative Party conference in …Soaking the Super Rich
Some Democrats have begun contemplating a new tax rate to apply exclusively to the super rich. It's a terrible idea. There's gathering interest on the Democratic side in a new extra-top rate on very-high-income people. It's fine (they think) to whack the over-$200,000 crowd with a 39.6 percent …Tea Party Cannibals
The Tea Party has an appetite for RINOs, but not for the kind of compromises that bring a party together. Christine O’Donnell had barely finished making a meal of Rep. Mike Castle when she appeared on Good Morning America to deplore Republican “cannibalism.” Tuesday’s message: “Get out of our …Poland Makes Peace with Its Jews
Outside of Israel, I've never seen Jewish history commemorated the way it is in Poland. The last time I saw Krakow was the summer of 1990. Communist power had ended in Poland, but old ways continued. The police still barked orders. The buildings moldered. The air still choked with brown …Will Republicans Learn from Cameron Conservatives?
Tory leader David Cameron has promised not to deliver more conservatism than the electorate will bear. The GOP would do well to study his method. The new Conservative-Liberal coalition government in the United Kingdom marks its 100th day in office this week: How’s it doing? It could be said …Recovering Europe's Past
As the disfigurement of the Cold War recedes, Europe is reclaiming a brighter, better history. I last visited Berlin 20 years ago, in the summer of 1990. My wife and I traveled through newly ex-communist Poland, Hungary, both halves of the soon to be disunited Czechoslovakia, and East Germany. I …Obamacare's Stealth Assault on Small Business
An obscure provision in the new health-care law will require entrepreneurs to spend a great deal more time filling out tax forms. It’s not the sort of change that should have been sneaked through. Small-business owners face a world of troubles these days: a weak economy, impending health-care …Shirley Sherrod and the Shame of Conservative Media
When Andrew Breitbart unveils a selectively edited tape to defame a federal employee, conservatives blame Barack Obama. You want to see media bias in action? Okay — look at the conservative media reaction to the firing of Shirley Sherrod. Sherrod is the former U.S. Department of Agriculture …Where is the Outrage?
With 4 million long-term unemployed, and no new jobs, we're still waiting for the protests to start. I take seriously — and normally accept — the argument that overly generous unemployment benefits will prolong unemployment and invite dependency. But if I were a Republican senator, I’d vote …