FrumForum | Building a Conservatism that can win again

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.

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 …

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

American Pharaoh

What is it about Illinois? Three governors since 1968 have gone to jail, and a fourth seems headed to join them. The state’s biggest city, Chicago, is a byword for corruption and election-rigging. Until inauguration day 2009, the Chicagoan to have held most power in Washington was …

Written by David Frum on Sunday March 15, 2009

David Frum On Meet The Press

An economic and political roundtable with David Frum, BBC's Katty Kay, CNBC's Steve Liesman, and PBS's Tavis Smiley.

Written by David Frum on Sunday March 15, 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 …

Written by David Frum on Sunday March 15, 2009

A War You Can Stop

Mexico's violence has reached deeper and deeper into the United States and Canada. Guess which city leads the world in kidnappings? No, not Beirut. Not Baghdad. Mexico City. And guess who comes second? Ready? It's Phoenix, Ariz.: 370 recorded cases in 2008 alone, and who knows how many …

Written by David Frum on Saturday March 14, 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 …

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 …

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 …

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" />

Written by Broadside Panel on Friday March 13, 2009

Mark To What Market?

The debate over mark-to-market accounting – arcane and tedious though it sounds – has become relevant and (relatively) invigorating. The regulatory implications loom large over Treasury and the entire financial services industry. Warren Buffett and Ben Stein, among others, have …

Written by George Craddock on Friday March 13, 2009

Readers Respond

From the mail bag: I seldom get past the first page of most articles in Newsweek. It's my wife's subscription and while I do skim the magazine, I never scan it. Your article in this week's issue held me from start to finish. I am a Marine (left active duty the day before Bill Clinton took …

Written by David Frum on Friday March 13, 2009

Bernie Madoff, Democrat

The Center for Responsive Politics has just released a study of Bernie Madoff's political donations. Since 1991, he and his wife have given $238,200 - 88% of it to Democrats, including Sens. Frank Lautenberg (D., NJ), Hillary Clinton (D, NY), and Ron Wyden (D., OR).

Written by FF Washington Insider on Friday March 13, 2009

They Know Its Not Working

I guess the Obama White House noticed the same thing that I did about top economist Christina Romer's speech at Brookings Monday: that it strongly implied that the administration's economic plans were not working. To counteract the negative impression, WH top economic planner Larry Summers …

Written by David Frum on Friday March 13, 2009

Szia Magyarorszg

My debut appearance in Hungarian can be seen here .

Written by David Frum on Thursday March 12, 2009

Grin & Bear It, Mr. President

It may not be much fun for you, but don't skip the Gridiron Dinner . Washington is a city of folkways. Some are good (cherry blossom visits, the city stopping during Redskins home games); some are bad (corruption, earmarking). Sometimes the bad folkways are actually good, such as President …

Written by FF Washington Insider on Thursday March 12, 2009

Are Republicans Healthier Than Democrats?

In the International Journal of Epidemiology , S. V. Subramanian and Jessica Perkins write that, after controlling for age, sex, race, marital status, religious service attendance, highest educational degree, and total family income, Republicans were 25% less likely than Democrats to report …

Written by Andrew Gelman on Thursday March 12, 2009

An Afghan Reconstruction Horror Story, Part 3

Atash told me that throughout his tenure at Ariana, he’d been tipped off by sympathetic parties as to how unpopular he was within the government. In 2006, a one-inch-thick report was brought to him by a man with ties to the Afghan secret police, containing biographical information and …

Written by Michael Weiss on Thursday March 12, 2009

Bristol's Myth

The news that Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston have canceled their engagement doesn’t come as very much of a surprise. The arrangement looked from the start like an election-season pretense. With the election decently behind us, the pretense can be dropped. Now Bristol and her baby can …

Written by David Frum on Thursday March 12, 2009

Transparency On Earmarks

President Obama and OMB Director Peter Orszag have taken some well-deserved heat for their laissez-faire attitude towards the thousands of earmarks in the 2009 omnibus appropriations bill. Today, the President addressed the issue, calling the bill itself “imperfect” and making two …

Written by Douglas Holtz-Eakin on Thursday March 12, 2009

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