Entries

Not to Praise WFB, But to Bury Him

As you may have heard, the novelist Christopher Buckley and the popular historian Richard Brookhiser have each written a book about Buckley’s father, the late William F. Buckley Jr. Neither is just about WFB. Buckley’s Losing Mum and Pup tells what it was like – from battling grief to …

Written by Austin Bramwell on Friday June 26, 2009

Who Scores More: GOP or Dems?

The rapid-fire sequence of Republican sex scandals this year may inspire the depressing thought: what's wrong with our guys? But a quick tally of reported incidents finds the two parties running neck-and-neck. Their polygamous Jesse Jackson is matched by our bigamous Vito Fossella. Their treacherou…

Written by Frum Forum Editors on Thursday June 25, 2009

How to Kill an Economy

In an effort to make finance "boring" again, Obama's new regulations will prop up the biggest institutions and put roadblocks in the way of newcomers. They may also provide an opening for conservatives. There was a saying in Silicon Valley in the 1990s: "The thing that makes America the greatest …

Written by David Frum on Thursday June 25, 2009

The Woman Who Wins in the Sanford Affair

It's plain enough who the losers are in the Mark Sanford story: the governor, his family and loved ones. But there are winners too - the surviving GOP presidential candidates relieved of one more competitor in the crowded right edge of the party field. Who is likeliest to benefit? Nominations are …

Written by David Frum on Thursday June 25, 2009

A Counter-Insurgency Failure

June 25, 1876 marks the date in history when the Lakota Sioux and Northern Cheyenne defended their way of life against the US Seventh Cavalry at the Little Bighorn River near what is now Crow Agency, Montana. General George Armstrong Custer and 267 soldiers and civilians were wiped out to a man by …

Written by Sean Linnane on Thursday June 25, 2009

Obama Opts Out of Obamacare

Obamacare, contrary to its promise, will entrench rather than eliminate the Two Americas, maintaining a system of private coverage for the rich, and imposing a government bureaucracy that rations care on the middle class. Contemporary conservatives are partisans of America’s libertarian traditions.…

Written by Henry Clay on Thursday June 25, 2009

Hypocrites Can Still be Right

Discussing Gov. Mark Sanford’s press conference, one of my co-workers suggested that maybe the time had come for the Republican Party to surrender its claim to represent family values. Dinesh D’Souza put it in em> Letters to a Young Conservative

Written by Dustin Siggins on Thursday June 25, 2009

The Democrats Strangle Finance - and Jobs

I have two related new pieces - one at em> The Week

Written by David Frum on Thursday June 25, 2009

I'll Be Curious ...

... to see whether one - just one! - of the many media sources that have condemned the Bush administration's terrorist surveillance program will deplore the publication by Reuters of Mark Sanford's love e-mails. What on earth does the publication of this embarrassing and hurtfully intimate material …

Written by David Frum on Wednesday June 24, 2009

Lear Hits Back at Frum

Thank you for printing my response to the conservative who took exception to my trumpeting the song, “Born Again American” by Keith Carradine. And thank you, too, for your personal reaction to the song itself and to my involvement with it. Correction: When I started People for …

Written by Norman Lear on Wednesday June 24, 2009

Chavez Steps Up Attacks on Jews

From the beginning of his rule in Venezuela, Hugo Chavez has stridently criticized Israel. In recent months, Chavez has found a more vulnerable target: the Jewish population inside Venezuela. Last week, an angry mob broke out in Miranda, Venezuela’s second largest state. span> …

Written by Tim Mak on Wednesday June 24, 2009

GOP's Winning Team: Facebook/Twitter in '12

Republicans have been quick to recognize the practical benefits of technology, but slow to grasp its political implications. Amidst a backdrop of dizzying technological change, British Conservatives floundered, while the GOP used sophisticated programs to target voters and win elections with …

Written by Jamie Boulding on Wednesday June 24, 2009

Never Give an Order That You Know Won't be Obeyed

So what’s the deal with McChrystal’s initial command guidance to US and NATO forces in Afghanistan? As the Associated Press reported : The top U.S. general in Afghanistan will soon formally order U.S. and NATO forces to break away from fights with militants hiding in Afghan houses so the …

Written by Sean Linnane on Tuesday June 23, 2009

Dodd's New Bait-and-Switch on Healthcare

It is one thing to support reform of our national healthcare system . But I bet most Americans would balk at the creation of a national healthcare program . Yet in a moment of candor this weekend, Senator Chris Dodd, who is steering Democrats’ legislation through the HELP Committee, suggested …

Written by Henry Clay on Tuesday June 23, 2009

GOP's New Financial Plan a Winner

To be successful, it seems obvious that the GOP needs to be more than just the party of ‘no’. Thankfully, the situation may be improving. Last week, the Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee released a policy plan for reforming the financial regulatory system. …

Written by Tim Mak on Tuesday June 23, 2009

How President Obama Blew Health Care and What to Do About It

In their heart of hearts, few in the Obama administration would have predicted late last year that they would be this well positioned by June to achieve a major victory on health care. As the economy faltered, and attention focused on Wall Street and Detroit, it seemed unthinkable that …

Written by David Gratzer on Tuesday June 23, 2009

Tyranny Before Twitter

Events in Tehran are often compared to the student demonstrations in Tiananmen Square in 1989. That was 20 years ago – yet a different world. The man who took the famous photograph of the lone protester confronting a line of tanks, Charles Cole, described how he preserved that image for the …

Written by Jeb Golinkin on Monday June 22, 2009

"Why I Dumped Obama's Party"

The publisher of the Las Vegas Review-Journal explains why he switched his registration from D to R: A fiscal conservative such as myself is treated by Obamaniacs like a ringing cell phone in church. "Shhhh!" they say. The only debate among Democrats is how fast and how deeply to run up the …

Written by David Frum on Monday June 22, 2009

Standing Rules of Rogers' Rangers

Rogers' Rangers was an unconventional fighting force stood up in the (then) British Colonies of North America, to fight the French and their Indian allies in the Seven Years War, a.k.a. the French and Indian War. Modern US Special Forces and Ranger units trace their lineage directly to this …

Written by Sean Linnane on Sunday June 21, 2009

Obama's Next Target: The CIA

The Obama administration is preparing a grand downgrading of the Central Intelligence Agency’s lead role in the war on terror. The administration is contemplating expanding the FBI and Justice Department’s role in global counter-terrorism operations. In addition, National Intelligenc…

Written by Elise Cooper on Sunday June 21, 2009