Entries

How Out Of Touch Are The Politicians?

Yesterday on this site, Geoffrey Kabaservice wrote : Every reliable survey reveals a bell curve distribution of American political opinion. A solid majority of Americans, usually some 70 to 80 percent of the electorate, holds basically moderate views, center-left on social issues and …

Written by Andrew Gelman on Tuesday May 5, 2009

How To Win Again

As a young conservative I find myself very concerned about the way the country is going- in fact, I’ve been so since the middle of 2006. Obviously I didn’t expect the blowout in 2008, nor the economic circumstances we find ourselves in, but the concerns were building. Now, the Republica…

Written by Dustin Siggins on Tuesday May 5, 2009

Why The Wind Lobby Should Be Blown Off

The annual Windpower expo opens Monday in Chicago. The FT reports that attendees are "impatient" for their plateful of stimulus funds. Investment in renewables has been delayed or even withdrawn as the credit crisis has stemmed the flow of capital. The economic recession has cut into sales …

Written by David Frum on Monday May 4, 2009

Cal Gov Race: The Candidates Speak To FrumForum

Every year people say they vote for the best of the worst candidates. For the upcoming Governor’s race, Republicans do not have that problem. They have an excellent choice of candidates: Tom Campbell, Steve Poizner and Meg Whitman. All are intelligent, social moderates (in a state like …

Written by Elise Cooper on Monday May 4, 2009

Bluegrass Republicans Breathing Easier

Derby revels done, Kentucky Republicans turn from the Sport of Kings to that of Senators. Their odds improved considerably last week in the political horserace to hold the U. S. Senate seat now occupied by Jim Bunning, 77, when secretary of state Trey Grayson, 36, formed an exploratory …

Written by John David Dyche on Sunday May 3, 2009

From "policed By America" To "policed By Nobody"

That's the verdict of a former head of Britain 's spy service on the state of the world under the Obama administration.

Written by David Frum on Sunday May 3, 2009

The Cheney Might Have Been?

Every reliable survey reveals a bell curve distribution of American political opinion. A solid majority of Americans, usually some 70 to 80 percent of the electorate, holds basically moderate views, center-left on social issues and center-right on economic issues. And yet, oddly, the overwhelming …

Written by Geoffrey Kabaservice on Sunday May 3, 2009

Right Message, Wrong Messenger

One of my many sarcastic liberal friends recently emailed me a Politico story titled “ GOP stumbling in health care fight .” After generically outlining the various reasons that Republicans have been largely silent in the health care debate, the story casually mentions that the …

Written by FF Washington Insider on Sunday May 3, 2009

The Perfect Storm

How's this for a movie angle on the news: Obama, Democrat House and Senate majorities, and the Liberalization of the Supreme Court = The Perfect Storm. Here's the movie: A crew of fishermen struggle to support themselves and their families on a catch that gets progressively smaller. Their …

Written by Sean Linnane on Sunday May 3, 2009

Frum On Hofstadters The Paranoid Style In American Politics

I have a new short piece in the Bookshelf today, this time of Richard Hofstadter's The Paranoid Style in American Politics .

Written by David Frum on Sunday May 3, 2009

On Kemp

Bruce Bartlett, lead author of the Kemp-Roth tax cut, honors the memory of Jack Kemp in the online edition of Forbes . Richard Brookhiser remembers Kemp at National Review.

Written by David Frum on Sunday May 3, 2009

Glendon @ Notre Dame - Round 3

The story so far: Danielle Crittenden, aka Mrs Frum, posted an entry at NewMajority here regretting the decision of Mary Ann Glendon not to share a platform at Notre Dame with President Obama. It should probably be mentioned that Glendon and Danielle are associates from former days at the …

Written by David Frum on Saturday May 2, 2009

Who Is Sonia Sotomayor?

From the Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education, Nov. 4, 2002, found by an FF reader: "I had enough natural intelligence to get myself through my early education, but at Princeton I found out that my earlier education was not on par with that of many of my classmates. When my first mid-term paper …

Written by David Frum on Friday May 1, 2009

Reading By Ear

Unlike my wife's relationship with her Kindle , my relationship with audiobooks is unambivalent: I adore them. My take can be read in the new issue of Commentary or online (behind a subscription wall) . It opens: Four years ago, I resolved to get more seriously into shape. This least …

Written by David Frum on Friday May 1, 2009

Yes, Souters Replacement Can Be Worse

For national security matters, the bad news was that David Souter never met an ACLU argument he didn’t like or an executive branch view he couldn’t brush off. The good news: unlike, say, Justice Stevens, Souter could never generate a new or powerful argument, or a clearly stated …

Written by Richard Klingler on Friday May 1, 2009

David Souter - Partisan Democrat?

At the time of the Bush/Gore recount in 2000, there was a persistent rumor that Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor had angrily let slip that she would have to stay on the Court for four more years if Gore won, to give a Republican president a chance to appoint her successor. For the …

Written by FF Washington Insider on Friday May 1, 2009

Doj To Drop Aipac Espionage Case

... the Washington Post reports : The decision is a stunning vindication for the former lobbyists, who were accused of providing information about topics that included the activities of al-Qaeda and possible attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq. Rosen, of Silver Spring, was AIPAC's director of …

Written by David Frum on Friday May 1, 2009

Bring Back Patrick Fitzgerald!

US government officials leak to ABC the names of the two contractors who devised waterboard interrogations for the CIA. ABC has posted their photographs too. I remember that it was kind of a federal case when the name of a former but now inactive undercover agent was leaked. How about now?

Written by David Frum on Friday May 1, 2009

Sotomayor - Centrist?

The claim is advanced that Sotomayor must be a "centrist" because she was appointed to the appelate court by President George HW Bush. Just like David Souter! In fact, Sotomayor is by almost all accounts the very most liberal judge on the Second Circuit, with an ominous enthusiasm for racial …

Written by David Frum on Friday May 1, 2009

On The Other Hand ...

... George Stephanopoulos suggests that Sonia Sotomayor is the front-runner. My theory is that Kagan as SG has already been ultra-vetted by a White House whose vetting resources have been stretched thin. Stephanopoulos demurs and argues that Obama will want the affirmative action two-fer. …

Written by David Frum on Friday May 1, 2009