If it's in the News, it's in our Polls. Public opinion polling since 2003.

Commentary by Debra J. Saunders

Most Recent Releases

White letter R on blue background
February 7, 2010

Holder's Premature Mirandization of Suspect By Debra J. Saunders

Republicans have been hitting the Obama administration for Attorney General Eric Holder's too-quick decision to Mirandize accused Christmas bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab after a mere 50 minutes of what has been described as valuable interrogation. After the Miranda moment, the would-be bomber clammed up.

White letter R on blue background
February 4, 2010

Poizner Unhinged, Whitman Unavailable By Debra J. Saunders

At first, it seemed like a bonehead move. On Monday morning, the campaign for Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner's bid for the governor's office sent out an e-mail announcing that the candidate would hold a news conference at its headquarters. I was not the only journalist to wonder: Does this mean that Poizner is getting out of the race -- leaving the GOP primary to Ms. Moneybags, former eBay CEO Meg Whitman?

White letter R on blue background
February 2, 2010

A Results-Free Cell Phone Law By Debra J. Saunders

Last week, an insurance industry report found that bans on using hand-held cell-phones while driving in California, New York, Washington, D.C. and Connecticut did not reduce the number of car crashes. To the contrary, crashes went up in Connecticut and New York, and slightly in California, after the bans took effect.

White letter R on blue background
January 31, 2010

So Much Wasted Green for Climate Change Talks By Debra J. Saunders

It was bad enough last month watching Washington politicians merrily flying off to the U.N. climate change Conference of Parties in Copenhagen (or COP-15 for short), ostensibly to draft a global warming treaty, when all the players knew that no meaningful pact would result and that the only sure outcome was that much energy would be squandered.

White letter R on blue background
January 30, 2010

Obama Sees Both Sides Now By Debra J. Saunders

It all looked so easy in August 2008, when Sen. Barack Obama spoke before the Democratic National Convention in Denver. The Democrats were going to win in November, storm Washington with their reforming ways, and because they were so much smarter than everyone else, they'd know how to get the American economy cooking. There was no doubt as the enthusiastic Invesco Field throng cheered and chanted, "Yes, we can."

White letter R on blue background
January 26, 2010

Pentagon Clueless on Fort Hood Shootings By Debra J. Saunders

Political correctness is alive in the Pentagon. Witness "Protecting the Force: Lessons from Fort Hood," a Department of Defense report released last week on the Nov. 5 shootings that left 13 people dead.

White letter R on blue background
January 21, 2010

The Bay State's Voter Revolt By Debra J. Saunders

There are two ways to look at Republican Scott Brown's pivotal victory in the Senate race to represent Massachusetts. The voters looked at runaway spending in Washington and the corrupt deals cut to grease the support of key Democratic senators, government workers and Big Labor for Obamacare, and said, "Enough."

White letter R on blue background
January 17, 2010

And Then There Were None By Debra J. Saunders

Former U.S. Rep. Tom Campbell announced Thursday that he is dropping out of the California GOP gubernatorial primary and instead will run against Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer.

White letter R on blue background
January 15, 2010

Berkeley High's Next Science Experiment By Debra J. Saunders

If liberal politics and good intentions helped all students learn, then Berkeley High School should be an exemplar to all California. Yet, according to its governance council, Berkeley High was identified last year as the high school with "the largest racial equity/achievement gap in the state."

White letter R on blue background
January 12, 2010

How Harry Got His Groove Back By Debra J. Saunders

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid spent the weekend trying to finesse the news that he told "Game Change" authors Mark Halperin and John Heilemann in 2008 that he believed Barack Obama could win the White House

White letter R on blue background
January 10, 2010

Obama at War with al-Qaida By Debra J. Saunders

In the days that followed a foiled attempt to blow up Northwest Flight 253, the Obama White House clearly thought that it could bluff its way past the near disaster.

White letter R on blue background
January 8, 2010

Schwarzenegger -- What Might've Been By Debra J. Saunders

Mention Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger -- you need only say his first name -- and many Californians respond with a long sigh, then with words like "squander" or "waste" or "missed opportunity." Those in the political class look at Schwarzenegger and see what might have been.

White letter R on blue background
January 5, 2010

Another Entitlement That's Unsustainable By Debra J. Saunders

Inside the House and Senate health care bills lurks a ticking time bomb -- a new federal entitlement, under the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act, which would allow Americans to buy into a voluntary federal long-term care insurance program.

White letter R on blue background
January 1, 2010

Yes, Someone Has To Pay for Health Care By Debra J. Saunders

Most Americans already have health care insurance, but many middle-class Americans are afraid of losing what they have.

White letter R on blue background
December 29, 2009

Warning, Satire Alert: Liberal Take on Terror! By Debra J. Saunders

Gosh darn, I feel great to live in a country that gives full constitutional rights to a foreign national who, on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit, was tackled by passengers and crew as he reportedly was trying to blow up the plane.

White letter R on blue background
December 25, 2009

The Year of Living in Everybody's Face By Debra J. Saunders

It was the year of the Octomom, the balloon boy and the White House party crashers. The year of "Jon & Kate Plus 8" -- minus Jon. The year Tiger Woods ran into a tree, revealing a scandal that linked him not so much to another woman as duplicates of a pouty-lipped prototype.

White letter R on blue background
December 22, 2009

A Cool Wind Braces the Hot-Air Crowd By Debra J. Saunders

For years, global warming alarmists have pointed to every drought and heat wave as proof that global warming was a real environmental threat. They had few qualms about blurring the line between weather and climate to make a PR point.

White letter R on blue background
December 20, 2009

Stop Me Before I Call Again By Debra J. Saunders

Gavin Newsom is at it again. The San Francisco mayor's latest foray into annoying nanny statism is a proposal, reported in The Chronicle last week, to require the city's cell phone retailers to post the radiation levels of their products.

White letter R on blue background
December 18, 2009

DINOs and the Next Endangered Species By Debra J. Saunders

The most endangered species in Washington may well be the moderate. Consider the long knives pointed at the heart of Sen. Joe Lieberman.

White letter R on blue background
December 15, 2009

Electoral Dysfunction from Barbara Boxer By Debra J. Saunders

The U.S. Senate defeated an amendment last week to restrict taxpayer funding of abortions under Obamacare. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., voted against the measure, arguing that it would require women to buy special riders to purchase abortion coverage.