Slower Rise in Health Care Spending Is a Big Deal By Froma Harrop
The sky isn't falling. The train is not wrecking. The end is not nigh. And to drag this out a bit, the tidings are not all bad.
Political Commentary
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June 4, 2013
June 3, 2013
Tragedy of Detroit Shows 'Big Unit America' Is out of Gas By Michael Barone
Detroit, once one of the nation's most vibrant cities, faces imminent bankruptcy. That's the headline from the report last month of emergency fiscal manager Kevyn Orr, issued 45 days after he was appointed this spring by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder to take over the city's government.
May 31, 2013
Watergate Amnesia, the 'Nixonian Slur and Other Big Lies By Joe Conason
Let's state this very simply, so everybody will understand. The notion that Barack Obama is "Nixonian" -- or that his administration's recent troubles bear any resemblance to "Watergate" -- is the biggest media lie since the phony "Whitewater scandal" crested during the Clinton presidency.
May 31, 2013
Consumers Set to Repeal a Big Part of the Health Care Law by Scott Rasmussen
Most stories about the president's health care law these days are about the challenges of implementation and the complexity of setting up exchanges. But that's not where the action is. What's more important is that insurance companies, benefits consultants and others are actually reading the 2,000-page law to see what it says.
May 30, 2013
Unintended Consequences Often Bedevil Reformers By Michael Barone
A thoughtful reformer targets the traditional rules of an aging institution that has retarded progress in the past. Time to modernize those rules, the reformer says, and prevent obstruction in the future.
May 29, 2013
Gas Myths By John Stossel
Plan to drive more this summer? Annoyed by the price of gas? Complaining that oil companies rip you off?
May 28, 2013
Obama Uses 1917 Espionage Act to Go After Reporters By Michael Barone
There is one problem with the entirely justified if self-interested media squawking about the Justice Department snooping into the phone records of multiple Associated Press reporters and Fox News's James Rosen.
May 28, 2013
A World of Rotten Tax Laws By Froma Harrop
Guy writes a film script full of four-letter words. But when the actors repeat them, he gets all huffy about the dirty language. An absurd reaction, wouldn't you say? But it's not so different from the scene in which our lawmakers scold corporate chieftains for exploiting tax loopholes their legislatures helped create.
May 24, 2013
Oklahoma! By Froma Harrop
The world looked upon the tornado-flattened landscape of Moore, Okla., with awe. The destruction was shocking, as were the personal losses. Many Americans in the audience also felt -- and this must be said -- some comfort. Here was a country of strong people rolling with some very serious punches. It still exists. On CNN, BBC or wherever, one heard plainspoken voices describing their ordeal with natural stoicism. These were victims (a word they might not apply to themselves) standing in front of the trash piles that were their houses. Some were bearing the death of loved ones, including nine schoolchildren. They spoke calmly of what happened and what they must do next.
May 24, 2013
The Political Ground Is Shifting Under the President By Scott Rasmussen
This isn't just a case of people believing politicians always behave this way. Only 19 percent think the IRS usually targets political opponents of the president.
Skepticism is so high that few are convinced the IRS acted alone. Sixty percent believe that other federal agencies also were used to target the tea party and other conservative groups. Ominously for Democrats, two out of three unaffiliated voters share that view.
So, why hasn't it hurt the president's overall job approval? Some believe it has. The theory is that with a recovering economy, his ratings should be higher. Another possibility is that the president's base may have doubts, but they are still sticking by their man.
May 23, 2013
Low-skilled Workers Get Raw Deal Under Obamacare By Michael Barone
Would you like to have a "skinny" health insurance policy? Probably not. But if you're employed by a large company, you may get one, thanks to Obamacare.
May 23, 2013
Benghazi Interview: Pickering Dissects Congressional Follies, Media Coverage and 'Cover-Up' Charges By Joe Conason
No doubt the degraded quality of congressional oversight astonishes Thomas Pickering, the distinguished American diplomat who oversaw the State Department's Benghazi review board -- although he tries not to say so too directly. For his demanding and difficult effort -- only the most recent in a long history of public service under both Republican and Democratic administrations -- Pickering has found himself under sustained attack by Republican Rep. Darrell Issa of California, the excitable partisan who chairs the House Government Reform Committee.
May 22, 2013
Sublet My People Go By John Stossel
My kids moved out! I have two empty rooms in my apartment. Maybe I can rent them? A tourist visiting New York City could have a different experience, and save hotel money. I'd make money. Wouldn't it be great?
May 21, 2013
Tea Party Rage: Nothing Fails Like Excess By Froma Harrop
Back in their day, the tea party folks were riding high, fueling indignation over alleged government-run death panels, a treasonous Federal Reserve and the like. They commandeered sparsely attended Republican primaries, managing to nominate for Senate seats a dabbler in witchcraft in Delaware, holders of strange views on rape in Missouri and Indiana, and in Nevada, a candidate suggesting armed insurrection if her people didn't win elections.
May 20, 2013
IRS and AP Scandals Cast a Big Chill on Free Speech By Michael Barone
Chilling effect. That's the term lawyers and judges use to describe the result of government actions that deter people from exercising their right of free speech.
May 17, 2013
Consumers Not the Best Drivers in Health Care By Froma Harrop
For years, conservatives have pushed for a health-insurance model emphasizing catastrophic coverage. It works as follows:
May 17, 2013
Controversies Doom Obama's Effort to Restore Faith in Government By Scott Rasmussen
It's impossible to predict the lasting impact of the controversies now besetting the Obama administration, but the risks to the president's agenda are sizable.
May 16, 2013
The Newsmaker Memo: an Interview With Ron Wyden, the Senate's Powerful Policy Wonk By Joe Conason
Having served in Congress for more than three decades -- and in the upper chamber since 1996 -- Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden has established a reputation as one of the Senate's more serious and diligent members. Over the years on Capitol Hill, he has watched the Republican Party veer constantly further rightward, and yet he continues to believe against all evidence that bipartisan legislative cooperation is possible -- even likely. His habitual reaching across the partisan chasm has generated much controversy, notably when he floated a Medicare reform plan with House Budget chair Paul Ryan.
May 16, 2013
Benghazi and IRS Targeting: Politics by Other Means By Michael Barone
What do the Benghazi cover-up and the IRS scandal have in common? They were both about winning elections, under false pretenses.
May 15, 2013
True Grit By John Stossel
Are you a real man (or woman)? Do you have "grit"?
Compare yourself to the man on the $20 bill: Andrew Jackson, our seventh president.
