Two schools of thought on the Senate's power of advice and consent on Supreme Court nominees: One -- which I support, but then-Sen. Barack Obama did not -- holds that barring extraordinary circumstances, senators should go along with a president's judicial choices.
Back when the boomers were babes, the girls would strut and preen around a stylish health food restaurant in Manhattan. No one took much note of a 70ish woman in comfy shoes who would sit quietly along the wall at lunch. She was Greta Garbo.
I agree with publisher Mort Zuckerman who recently wrote in the Wall Street Journal that subprime jobs numbers in the U.S. foreshadow continued economic weakness. But the stock market seems to disagree with both of us. Stocks are roaring ahead again today — up over 150 points — after holding the high ground yesterday and following Monday’s huge rally. Even a sub-par retail sales report didn’t stop retail stocks from posting a 1.6 percent gain.
Sonia Sotomayor makes me smile. Maybe I should have a more highfalutin response to the back-and-forth between the judge and the senators. But why?
As I cruise around the Greek Isles for a few weeks, I want to recommend a truly remarkable book for your summer reading, "Freeing Tibet:50 Years of Struggle, Resilience, and Hope," by my great friend John Roberts and his wife, Elizabeth Roberts.
In the polling hierarchy, the least signif icant data measure is a president's per sonal popularity. Here, President Obama excels, with most polls showing him in the high 60s. Next comes his job approval, significant but not necessarily predictive.
When California voters rejected five measures on the May 19 special election ballot, but passed a sixth measure that barred legislative pay raises in budget deficit years, the message to Sacramento was clear: Voters did not like what Sacramento had to offer.
One of America's toughest problems is being solved right before our unseeing eyes. As Mark Sanford strayed, Michael Jackson departed and Sarah Palin quit, the Obama administration was quietly putting law, order and the national interest back into our immigration system.
Disarray. That's one word to describe the status of the Obama administration's legislative program as Congress heads into its final four weeks of work before the August recess. A watered-down cap-and-trade bill passed the House narrowly last month, but Sen. Barbara Boxer has decided not to bring up her version in the upper chamber until September.
No wonder skeptics consider the left's belief in man-made global warming as akin to a fad religion -- last week in Italy, G8 leaders pledged to not allow the Earth's temperature to rise more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit.
There's no question that current government policies for taxes, spending and regulation are causing the United States to lose competitiveness in the global race for capital, prosperity and growth.
Was that a $5,000 VBH alligator clutch that Michelle Obama was carrying in Italy? So the company bragged, absolutely certain it was theirs, until the White House responded that it was not the alligator but the patent, an $875 VBH clutch and not the more expensive model.
The new senator from Minnesota is a comedian, writer and actor who lived on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and raised a lot of money from friends in Hollywood.
Here's the reason Californians don't trust Sacramento: In July 2003, the state controller's office figured there were 230,000 state employees. Since then, every budget deal has featured legislators' howling protestations that they've been forced to make horrific budget cuts, yet the controller now estimates the state has 244,000 employees.
The financial system collapsed. Housing prices cratered. Unemployment is at a record high for the last quarter-century. The Democratic president has a solidly positive job rating.
Some years ago, I shared cocktails along San Antonio's River Walk with Richard Estrada, the legendary columnist for The Dallas Morning News. Estrada would trace the nuances of the Mexican-American experience while framing it in the long sweep of American history.
You don't need a briefing book on being a mother to answer this one: What do you do when your daughter comes home complaining that she wants to drop off the swim team or quit the play or, with the little ones, never go to school again because the other kids are being so mean, calling her names and saying unbelievably terrible things about her family and especially her mother?
Professional politicians and political journalists don't waste energy on political corpses. They reserve their energy -- positive or negative -- for viable politicians.
"A ship in harbor is safe, but that's not why the ship is built," Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said last year to explain why Sen. John McCain picked her to be his running mate. Those words may come back to haunt her. When she assumed office in December 2006, Palin committed to Alaskan voters to serve four years. Having failed to do so, she will be in no position to campaign in 2012 for four years in the White House.
Why are cities growing faster than the rest of the country? That's happening and reverses a decade-long trend, according to new U.S. Census figures. Gainers in 2008 included such diverse locations as Chicago, Los Angeles, Columbus, Ohio, and Lincoln, Neb. The Census found that cities losing people, such as Cleveland, were shrinking at a slower rate.
