Entries

Wall Street Ties Won't Sink Romney

Some on the right are concerned that Obama would slam Romney as a denizen of Wall Street and that Romney's wealth would prove a hindrance in the general election. While some worries about Romney's business background are more the product of sympathy for other candidates than anything else, there …

Written by Fred Bauer on Wednesday December 21, 2011

Congressional Quagmire

The problem is bigger than the House of Representatives. The prior question is: why did the Senate adjourn having passed such a ridiculous thing as a two-month extension of the payroll tax holiday? It's the answer to that question that reveals the true dysfunction in Congress. The Senate …

Written by David Frum on Tuesday December 20, 2011

Criticizing Holder is Not Racist

In a New York Times piece ostensibly characterizing Eric Holder's Justice Department tenure as tenacity in the face of partisan beligerence, the US Attorney General gives opponents the equivalent of manna from Heaven: “This is a way to get at the president because of the way I can be identified …

Written by Jay Gatsby on Tuesday December 20, 2011

A New Leader for Hell on Earth

It was the noted atheist Christopher Hitchens who remarked in a debate before his untimely death last week, that if indeed there was “all-seeing god” watching over us, “it would be like living in North Korea.” And now the latest in the family of hereditary dictators of North Korea has died …

Written by Peter Worthington on Monday December 19, 2011

Gingrich Finds Judicial Review Inconvenient

Newt Gingrich claims to be an historian (rather than, heaven forbid, a lobbyist), who was paid over a million dollars by Freddie Mac. Taking the former House Speaker at his word—if only temporarily—one has to assume that the giant, federally-protected home mortgage security company wanted …

Written by Les Francis on Monday December 19, 2011

Res Judicata: Where is the Authority For a Cell Phone Ban?

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has proposed a nationwide ban on cell phone use while driving, which strikes me as a good idea in principle. But like so many good ideas, we cannot judge it by its facial appeal. Moving beyond that, one needs to ask, does the federal government …

Written by Howard Foster on Monday December 19, 2011

Yes, Hotels Draw Job Seekers. So What?

Journalists need good, shocking examples of the country's still serious unemployment problems and one offered itself this past weekend when people filled out more than 16,000 applications for about 750 positions as a new Cleveland casino. The deluge of applications made for good TV and appeared …

Written by Eli Lehrer on Monday December 19, 2011

The Coming Liberal Argument

Here is a real effect Occupy Wall Street is having on the liberal left. They will start to blame the current bad economy explicitly on income inequality. Here is Heather Boushey writing at the Center for American Progress: Take, for example, the housing bubble of the 2000s. It was …

Written by Noah Kristula-Green on Monday December 19, 2011

The Right to Rise? Ok!

In today's Wall Street Journal , Gov. Jeb Bush celebrates the "right to rise," a concept he credits to Rep. Paul Ryan. The idea behind the phrase is a powerful one: "We have to make it easier for people to do the things that allow them to rise." At a time when Americans born into the poorest …

Written by David Frum on Monday December 19, 2011

Vaclav Havel Was a Champion of Freedom

Vaclav Havel has died. I did not spend time on his plays but read his essays avidly. He was a great hero of the free. One of the things I admired about him, as noted in this piece, is his disregard for his own crowd's leftist pieties. He never ceased to criticize Castro and Cuba for the eliminati…

Written by John Vecchione on Sunday December 18, 2011

Vaclav Havel Wrote to Make Europe Free

Asked once whether he would like to be remembered as an author or as a politician, Vaclav Havel answered that he was first and foremost a, “dramaturge who acted as a citizen and thanks to this circumstance was able to spend a part of his life in a political position.” Havel’s outlet was …

Written by Robin Tim Weis on Sunday December 18, 2011

Watch: Frum on Question Time

On December 1st, David Frum participated in an episode of BBC's Question Time. The episode focused on strikes that were taking place in England, and it has since been uploaded to YouTube:

Written by FrumForum Editors on Sunday December 18, 2011

How the '90s Became the 2000s

Last week, I took a (semi) objective look back at the 1990s nostalgia craze in our politics, from Democrats who remember the time with all the glory and majesty as the most ardent Fox Newsie remembers the Reagan '80s, to Newt Gingrich's comeback on the Republican side of the ledger. Before I …

Written by Telly Davidson on Saturday December 17, 2011

Why Cameron's EU Veto Made Sense

Last week in Brussels, the United Kingdom for the first time in a long time refused to be dictated to by continental elites. David Cameron, under enormous pressure from the Commission, other “core” Union members, and the (then) sotto voce pro-Europe disposition of his LibDem coalition …

Written by Jeff Cimbalo on Friday December 16, 2011

Watch: Frum and Hitchens on C-Span

In David Frum's remembrance for Christopher Hitchens, he notes that the first time he viewed Hitchens as a friend was when they appeared on C-Span together: [A] few weeks later, I had my own face-to-face encounter with him. strong> We were guests together

Written by FrumForum Editors on Friday December 16, 2011

The Anti-Lincoln Brigade

You know what's really discouraging? This is discouraging, this apologetic by Matt Welch, editor of Reason magazine, on behalf of Ron Paul. Welch takes exception to my restatement of the I thought notorious fact about Ron Paul's preference for the Confederate over the Union cause in the …

Written by David Frum on Friday December 16, 2011

The World Loses a Light

Hitchens is gone. And the phrase that echoes in my mind is Nehru’s at the death of Gandhi: “The light has gone out of our lives.” For every young writer – and every victim and opponent of authoritarianism – there is now darkness. To Hitchens, there was no difference between the two: he …

Written by Kapil Komireddi on Friday December 16, 2011

Christopher Hitchens, 1949–2011

A friend of theirs once took Christopher Hitchens and his wife Carol Blue to dinner at Palm Beach's Everglades Club, notorious for its exclusion of Jews. "You will behave, won't you?" Carol anxiously asked Christopher on the way into the club. No dice. When the headwaiter approached, Christopher …

Written by David Frum on Friday December 16, 2011

What Keeps the American Dream Alive?

President Obama’s recent speech on income inequality and upward mobility has struck a chord with many Democrats. If the President keeps using this rhetoric, then it could become a central message of the 2012 campaign. If this happens, I would also bet that Elizabeth Warren will give the keynote …

Written by Noah Kristula-Green on Friday December 16, 2011

Don't Be Fooled, Congress isn't Working

For the seventh time this year alone, Congress appears poised to pass another continuing resolution for spending for a fiscal year that has already begun. If any fact indicts the dysfunction of both the Executive and Legislative Branches, that fact does. Late last night, the House of …

Written by Steve Bell on Thursday December 15, 2011