Entries

The Questions Gomery Didn't Answer

During the days when the Institutional Revolutionary Party ruled Mexico, the country would undergo a remarkable ritual every six years. A new president would take power in the one-party state. He would immediately order an investigation into his predecessor's abuses of power -- and would discover …

Written by David Frum on Tuesday November 8, 2005

Stop Coddling Iraq's Sunnis

Somewhere, T.E. Lawrence is smiling. The man now mythologized as "Lawrence of Arabia" was the British officer who helped recruit the sheiks of Arabia to the Allied side in the First World War. After the war, Lawrence accused the victorious British and French of breaking faith with the Arabs, …

Written by David Frum on Tuesday October 18, 2005

The Miers Revolution

"It's not a rebellion, sire: It's a revolution." With those words, the duke of La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt broke the news to Louis XVI that the Bastille had fallen. Looking back on the events of the past eight days, I wonder whether the Bush White House does not feel the same way. The President…

Written by David Frum on Tuesday October 11, 2005

Divided They Stand

The only real debate over Iraq is among conservatives. It's no secret that conservatives have divided ferociously over the decision to go to war to topple Saddam. The dispute was evident early on, when the national security adviser to the first President Bush, Adm. Brent Scowcroft, published an …

Written by David Frum on Wednesday September 28, 2005

Bush Is Incurious And Dogmatic, But He Is Still The Right Leader

This has been a very bad month for the Bush presidency, maybe the worst to date: Hurricane Katrina, bad news from Iraq and grumbling from within the president's own party over spending and immigration. The man who once scored the highest approval numbers in the history of U.S. presidential polling …

Written by David Frum on Tuesday September 27, 2005

Marching Against War--and Jews

In Washington last weekend, tens of thousands of people gathered in the largest protest to date against the Iraq war. The tally has to be approximate: The National Park Service no longer provides estimates of attendees at rallies and demonstrations, and counts by the groups themselves are notorious…

Written by David Frum on Tuesday September 27, 2005

Older And Wiser?

A Weekly Standard 10th Anniversary Symposium The first issue of The Weekly Standard appeared in September 1995, part way through the Clinton administration, and less than a year after the Republican victory in the congressional elections of 1994. The pressing foreign policy issue of the day was …

Written by David Frum on Monday September 26, 2005

Mulroney Has Much To Be Proud Of

When U.S. President Harry Truman got mad, he would write an angry letter to the person who had offended him, seal it in an envelope, put a stamp on it--and then wait until the next morning and throw it away. Brian Mulroney would have been well advised to try this technique. Instead, he talked and …

Written by David Frum on Saturday September 17, 2005

The Decline Of Old Europe

COLMAR, France--Visiting this charming Alsatian town for a conference on European defense, I tuned into French TV 5 for half an hour on Sunday evening. I caught the final segment of a program called Ripostes, a French-language Crossfirewith three on a side. The topic for debate: "Is the United …

Written by David Frum on Tuesday September 13, 2005

Ignatieff Appeals To Old School Liberals

National Post reader Angelo Zenga generously nominated me for prime minister of Canada in a letter to the editor last week. I appreciate the compliment, but the campaign consultants can quit working on their Power Point sales pitches: I'm not running. Mr. Zenga was responding to the rumours …

Written by David Frum on Tuesday September 6, 2005

Bush May Not Be Able To Escape Storm: Political Careers Can Be Broken On The Shoals Of A Natural Disaster

Hurricane Katrina began as a natural disaster, unleashed a human tragedy, and is rapidly boiling into a political brawl. The worst natural disaster in American history has become an ideological storm, with accusations and counter-accusations flying even before the flooding can be plugged and …

Written by David Frum on Saturday September 3, 2005

A Sunni Hero In Iraq

The new Iraqi constitution is the right answer to the wrong question. As a document, the Iraqi constitution is hard to fault. It is a democratic, federalist document that protects the rights of individuals while acknowledging Iraq's Islamic traditions. But anybody hoping that this new …

Written by David Frum on Tuesday August 30, 2005

Lessons Of The Jean Episode

There's a lot to learn from the Michaelle Jean story. Very little of it is pleasant. But almost all of it is important. First, Canadians have learned some important things about the character of their prime minister, Paul Martin. If Martin's principal secretary Helene Scherrer is to be …

Written by David Frum on Tuesday August 23, 2005

A Master In The Art Of Political Evasion

Modern spin doctors teach clients in trouble a very special kind of non-denial denial: Q: "Did your company dump toxins into Lake Dithers?" A: "I am very proud of my company's environmental record." Q: "Was that you in those photographs frolicking with bikini babes in Bimini?" …

Written by David Frum on Friday August 19, 2005

Has Martin Finally Gone Too Far?

"I'm not particularly interested in talking to somebody who wants to break my country up."--Paul Martin, June 23, 2004. - - - Well, that was then. Today, the Prime Minister stands accused of designating just such a somebody to represent the Queen in Canada. Of course, it's possible that …

Written by David Frum on Tuesday August 16, 2005

The Secret Of Gaza

Why is Ariel Sharon evacuating Gaza? It is not because he believes that a decent Palestinian state will emerge after the Israelis withdraw. Nobody believes that. The almost universal consensus among experts on the region is that post- occupation Gaza will become a Mediterranean Somalia: an …

Written by David Frum on Tuesday August 16, 2005

Once A Prestigious Post, Now A Refuge For Partisans

If there's any one person in Canada entitled to be outraged by the choice of Michaelle Jean as the new governor-general -- and there are many -- it is surely Adrienne Clarkson. Like Clarkson or dislike her, there's no disputing that she was a large figure in Canadian life for more than three …

Written by David Frum on Tuesday August 9, 2005

What We Should Expect From Muslims

Western Muslims feel badly misunderstood. The vast majority of them utterly abhor terrorism against the countries in which they live. And yet they sense suspicion from their fellow citizens. Meanwhile, those fellow-citizens are feeling increasing frustration with their Muslim neighbors. …

Written by David Frum on Sunday July 10, 2005

Reason For Allies To Remain Willing

At a meeting in Washington, DC, about a year ago, a senior Australian defense official looked weary, as well he might. He had arrived in the capital only a few hours before, but already he had met top officials at the Pentagon, Homeland Security and the State Department. This brief lunch at a think …

Written by David Frum on Friday July 8, 2005

The Good News Bush Left Unsaid

Had he wished, President Bush could have filled his entire speech last week with good news from Iraq. He could have cited the latest economic statistics that show the Iraqi economy growing at a 17% annual rate, that unemployment has dropped by as much as one-half, with per capita income …

Written by David Frum on Tuesday July 5, 2005