Political Commentary

Most Recent Releases

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                
                                
                
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                            April 26, 2013Americans Seem to Be Taking Terrorism in Stride By Scott Rasmussen
The news from Boston over the past couple of weeks has been the stuff of nightmares. Homemade bombs killing and injuring innocent people at a high-profile public event were followed by a massive manhunt. People in the surrounding suburbs were ordered to stay inside, businesses closed, and SWAT teams overwhelmed a typically quiet community. The Boston police commissioner warned everyone: "We believe this is a terrorist. We believe this is a man that's come here to kill people."
April 25, 2013The Newsmaker Memo: An Interview With Pioneering Climate Scientist James Hansen By Joe Conason
Having directed NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies for most of the past four decades, Dr. James E. Hansen retired this month to devote himself to the scientific activism that has brought both awards and catcalls during his long and distinguished career. On April 24, he will receive the Ridenhour Courage Prize in Washington, D.C., for "bravely and urgently telling the truth about climate change."  
April 25, 2013As Bush Stays Silent, His Reputation Steadily Gains By Michael Barone
Tomorrow, the George W. Bush Presidential Center will be dedicated at Southern Methodist University in Texas. It's a good time to look back on the performance of the 43rd president, who has been almost entirely missing from the public stage these past four years.    
April 24, 2013The Education Blob's Revenge By John Stossel
I wrote recently how teachers unions, parent-teacher associations and school bureaucrats form an education "Blob" that makes it hard to improve schools. They also take revenge on those who work around the Blob. 
April 23, 2013The Bombers and Who Gets In By Froma Harrop
The uncle of the accused Boston Marathon bombers got the boys right. They were unable to settle into American life, Ruslan Tsarni told reporters from his home in Maryland, "and thereby just hating everyone who did." He called the two brothers "losers." I prefer the term "weaklings."    
April 22, 2013At Every Turn, Things Were Spinning out of Control By Michael Barone
Chaos. Things seemed to be spinning out of control on many fronts this week.    
April 19, 2013Trumped-up War Between the Generations By Froma Harrop
During the big health care fight, the right told older Americans that Obamacare was grabbing money from their Medicare and giving it to young people. Now it tells young workers that Medicare and Social Security are draining their take-home pay to support retirees sitting around the pool.  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                
                                
                
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                            April 19, 2013GOP Needs to Get Over the Makers vs. Takers Mindset By Scott Rasmussen
Mitt Romney's secretly recorded comment that 47 percent of Americans are "dependent on the government" and "believe they are victims" isn't the only reason he lost the presidential campaign. But the candidate himself acknowledged after the election that the comments were "very harmful."
April 19, 2013Soft on Crime: Protecting the 'Second Amendment Rights' of Thugs and Terrorists By Joe Conason
What can Americans learn from the bitter debate over the gun reform bill?
April 18, 2013Not Such a Hot Idea: Liberal and Conservative Parties By Michael Barone
"More tears are shed over answered prayers," the 16th century nun St. Teresa of Avila is supposed to have said, "than over unanswered ones."    
April 18, 201316 For 16, Part 2: An Elephant Rises From The Heartland? By Larry J. Sabato, Kyle Kondik and Geoffrey Skelley
As we discussed last week, the Democratic Party’s presidential field in 2016 hinges greatly on the decision of one person: Hillary Clinton. The Republican Party’s early primary picture is much more complicated, and the top-tier contenders are grouped much closer together at the starting gate.
April 17, 2013A Post-Post Office World By John Stossel
Even parts of government that look like a business never get run with the efficiency of a business. Just look at the post office. 
April 16, 2013Housing Hot, Again? By Froma Harrop
Another housing boom? N-o-o-o!
April 15, 2013Extra Care Required in Crafting Immigration Reform By Michael Barone
"Without legislative language," Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy declared in a statement March 20, "there is nothing for the Judiciary Committee to consider this week at our markup."  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                
                                
                
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                            April 12, 2013Gun Debate Highlights Voter Distrust of Government By Scott Rasmussen
Gun control advocates sound puzzled by congressional resistance to relatively modest gun control legislation.
April 12, 2013An Immigration Fix for Real By Froma Harrop
Not only is a Senate plan for reforming the immigration program smart, it may actually become law. Those two things don't necessarily go together. That it is bipartisan would seem a near miracle.
The "Group of Eight" reformers -- led by Republican Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Democrat Chuck Schumer of New York -- would demand concessions from both open-border and closed-border hardliners. Most importantly, they are the right concessions.
April 11, 2013Her Tea Party: What Margaret Thatcher Really Meant to England and the World By Joe Conason
Amid all the suffocating claptrap celebrating Margaret Thatcher in the media, only the British themselves seem able to provide a refreshing hit of brisk reality. Over here, she is the paragon of principle known as the "Iron Lady," devoted to freedom, democracy and traditional values who bolstered the West against encroaching darkness. Over there, she is seen clearly as a class warrior, whose chief accomplishments involved busting unions and breaking the post-war social contract.   
April 11, 2013Thatcher Insisted on Facing Hard, Uncomfortable Truths By Michael Barone
"Divisive." That's a word that appeared, often prominently, in many news stories reporting the death of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
One senses the writers' disapproval. You're not likely to find "divisive" in stories reporting the deaths of liberal leaders, although every electoral politician divides voters.
"Divisive" here refers to something specific. It was Margaret Thatcher's special genius that she systematically rejected the conventional wisdom, almost always well-intentioned, of the political establishment.
Instead, she insisted on hard, uncomfortable truths.
British Conservatives like Harold Macmillan accepted the tyranny of trade unionism because they had guilty memories of the slaughter of the working-class men who served under them in the trenches in World War I.
Thatcher, who as an adolescent before World War II saved money to pay for a Jewish girl to escape from Austria to England, felt no such guilt.
April 10, 2013Government Plays Favorites By John Stossel
People say government must "help the little guy, promote equality, level the playing field." 
April 9, 2013The Moderation of Margaret Thatcher By Froma Harrop
In honoring Margaret Thatcher, some of her greatest fans complain, "They don't make conservatives like that any more."   