April 2010

Frederick W. Kagan and Kimberly Kagan: The U.S. must defend the integrity of Iraqi elections.

The AP reports:

Politico's Josh Kraushaar reports:

Rep. Brown-Waite is citing health problems as she becomes the 20th Republican to announce retirement this year, on filing day in Florida.

Via Rich Lowry, the Arizona Republic reports that the Arizona House has approved changes to the new immigration law to clarify that police officers cannot use racial profiling as grounds to check on immigration status and that "lawful contact"--a prerequisite for an immigration check--means "lawful…

I saw this yesterday. It's a lot of fun, and fit to go viral, so here it is for your enjoyment. My favorite part is the info posted by Aaron Melcher, who uploaded the video: "We have more scenes to cut, and edit, however with guys always on mission it is harder to film than you think." I can…

Charlie Crist's former campaign manager and chief of staff, Sen. George Lemieux, will not support him:

Harrison Ford owns seven airplanes, but only flies "one at a time." For environmentalist critics who say this is a contradiction, he has this message:

We won't know who has won Hawaii's special congressional election to replace Democrat Neil Abercrombie until May 22, but by the end of next week most voters will have cast their ballots. The state election board will mail out ballots to every registered voter in the First District today, April 30.

The guy who wrote the Arizona law explains what's in it.

Two weeks ago, Barack Obama got personal with Senator Mitch McConnell over financial reform regulation. In his weekly radio address on April 17, Obama claimed that McConnell was lying about the bill at the behest of Wall Street:

In March, the Center for Naval Analysis, a federally funded research institute published a report called, “The Navy at a Tipping Point: Maritime Dominance at Stake.” (Full disclosure: I participate with the think tank on a part-time basis.) The title pretty much says it all. 

In response to Charlie Crist's announcement minutes ago that he will run as an independent in the Florida Senate race, former Republican Governor Jeb Bush issued this statement hitting Crist:

THE WEEKLY STANDARD has obtained an advance copy of a web ad with which a new organization, Keep Israel Safe, is launching in the near future. Keep Israel Safe is obviously patterned after Liz Cheney’s Keep America Safe (of which—full disclosure!—the boss is a director). Imitation being the…

Joseph Abrams at Fox News reports on the latest masterstroke from the arbiters of legitimacy:

Yesterday in Washington, the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (CSID), a think-tank dedicated to warm ties between the United States and so-called “moderate Islamists”--mainly in the Muslim Brotherhood--held its 11th annual conference.

Yesterday in Washington, the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (CSID), a think-tank dedicated to warm ties between the United States and so-called “moderate Islamists”--mainly in the Muslim Brotherhood--held its 11th annual conference.

Hurry up and take what you can get before he changes his mind again.

No one's seriously talking about a VAT, nutters.

After making an early bid for top techie of the Republican 2012 field with a buzzed-about Facebook town hall in March, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty is following up by letting supporters of his Freedom First PAC help pick the PAC's endorsements.

On Wednesday morning, it looked as though Gordon Brown might have stalled Cleggmania, inching back into second place in some polls. But then he met Gillian Duffy. 

National Republican Senatorial Committee chairman John Cornyn said this morning that the Florida Republican primary between Marco Rubio and Charlie Crist has been "a learning experience" for him.

Last night, Columbia University Hillel honored New York lawyer and former Bush administration official (and Columbia grad) Jay Lefkowitz.

“Courage is contagious.” So runs the pithy motto adorning the bottom of the upload page of the currently minimalist WikiLeaks website. The original site is no longer online. It disappeared from the web shortly before the new year, allegedly to make way for a necessary fundraising drive. “We protect…

Public opinion about the appropriate role of the federal government moves like the moon cycle, causing tidal shifts in citizen attitudes and election outcomes. After watching Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress over the past year and a half, attitudes about Washington are changing again,…

In its annual report to be released tomorrow, the U.S. Council on International Religious Freedom will call on the president to do more to promote freedom of religion abroad.

Marc Ambinder reports:

Eli Lake reports:

Long War Journal: U.S.-born cleric Awlaki 'proud' to have taught al Qaeda operatives.

Having lived in Austria just as it was entering the European Union (1993-1994), I can tell you the charms of the EU were irresistable—all those pins and stickers and posters in deep blue with twelve golden stars arrayed in a circle! And the benefits: No more traffic jams at the border. Live in…

Real Clear Politics on a new PPP poll:

In case you haven't already seen it, here's video of Gordon Brown's big gaffe that's making waves in the UK election:

One year to the day after Arlen Specter became a Democrat, Fox News reports:

Citigroup Inc Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit has written President Barack Obama endorsing “strong regulatory reform” for U.S. banks. What’s more, Pandit wrote, “You can count on me and the entire Citi organization to support” Obama’s reform efforts.

A release from Charlie Crist's campaign:

From Politico's report on reporters' frustration with White House secrecy:

Gov. Rick Perry carries a pistol when he does trail runs in places where there are predators. On this particular sunrise run, a coyote was coming after his dog. I'll just reproduce the quotes, which make me wish I lived in Texas, where this is just plain talk from a politician:

...when Nazi symbolism, vandalism, nasty signs, misspelled signs, violence, and arrests at protests (even without proof) would have deligitimized an entire movement and caused months of media coverage about the threat to the Republic posed by such barbarians? These are different times, now.

The Arizona numbers: "Seventy-seven percent (77%) of Republicans support the law along with 62% of voters not affiliated with either major party. Democratic voters are evenly divided on the measure."

Will proximity talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority soon begin? While both Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Abbas have said they hope so, the matter is no longer in the hands of the Palestinians but in those of the Arab League foreign ministers--who…

Ace: Many critics of Arizona immigration law call their opponents Nazis.

For all those concerned about civility in America, just remember: it could always get worse.

Newsbusters reports that MSNBC provides the best headline of the month (year?):

Newsbusters reports that MSNBC provides the best headline of the month (year?):

Marco Rubio says he has "concerns" about the Arizona immigration law:

The press secretary's office for New Jersey's governor must be pretty busy these days. Or weeks, to be exact. Not only was Chris Christie interviewed in the Wall Street Journal, but he was described by the Journal's Bill McGurn as bringing to voters "a dose of Reagan Republicanism—with a Jersey…

Skype is a practically free video-conferencing service Congress could be using to communicate with constituents, but it is forbidden, so members instead use taxpayer money to conduct video-conferencing without the common application, undoubtedly costing more money and frustration for all parties…

There have been a lot of heated responses to Arizona's law that cracks down on illegal immigrants. Many critics assume that the law would lead to racial profiling--police stopping Hispanics at random and asking them to produce proof that they are here legally. But Byron York points out in the…

In the New York Times today, Roger Cohen reports that George Mitchell told him: "[N]o one in the world knows American politics better than me, and this I will say. There has never been in the White House a president that is so committed on this [the Israel-Palestine] issue, including Clinton who is…

Benjamin Birnbaum has the dirt (and, yes, it's dirt) on Human Rights Watch in the latest issue of The New Republic. Some might recall the outrage directed towards the human rights group when it was discovered that a staffer, who had worked on Israel issues, had a gross obsession with Nazi…

These are great days for George Will fans. His classic baseball book, Men at Work, has been reissued. (Will's friend and colleague Charles Krauthammer mentioned Men at Work in his own baseball column last week.) Will's speech at CPAC was the best of the conference. His columns are as good as ever;…

Tom Tancredo thinks Arizona law goes too far.

It's hard to feel sorry for Goldman Sachs. The investment bank has tremendous wealth and political power. I support efforts to break up such institutions, and I find it interesting that Democrats with ties to the big banks are often the same ones who argue that bank-busting won't solve anything.…

Mary Katharine Ham has noted President Obama's lame attempt to rally his supporters for the 2010 elections, as he appealed in a DNC video to "young people, African-Americans, Latinos, and women who powered our victory in 2008" to repeat their performance in 2010.

I don't know why this interview took place, but I'm glad it did:

President Obama noted at the beginning of April that the U.S. Nuclear Posture Review (NPR)—along with the recent nuclear security summit, next month’s Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) review conference and the pursuit of additional UNSC sanctions—is part of a message that “the international…

On Friday Alexi Giannoulias's family bank was seized by the feds. What does this mean for the Democratic Senate candidate in Illinois who worked at the bank fours years ago? Opportunity for a political ad, of course!

Republicans (and one Democrat) uphold filibuster of financial regulation bill. 

My eyebrow rose last week when I read that GM CEO Ed Whitacre's Wall Street Journal op-ed was titled "The GM Bailout: Paid Back in Full." This isn't true--GM may have paid off loans from the federal government, but the Treasury is still GM's majority shareholder, at a cost of about $50 billion.…

In the tradition of the proverbial carpenter and his nails, if you're Barack Obama, every political problem looks like 2008. Today, the DNC signaled its willingness to use 2008's rhetoric to win in 2010 with a half-hearted rallying video recorded by Obama asking his base to show up at the polls in…

Nothing against Mitch Daniels and Paul Ryan, but in recent weeks fiscal hawks have found a new heartthrob, New Jersey governor Chris Christie. Marc Thiessen writes on the Christie boomlet at the Washington Post:

The collapse of the government in Belgium has put a hold on attempts by local authorities there to ban from public the face veil or niqab and the burqa, or full-body covering, until a new government can be assembled. The standard proposed in Belgian legislation was sensible: nobody could wear a…

Liberals keep voicing amazement that the debate over financial reform is proceeding much more quickly and more smoothly than the debate over health care. The reason is simple: Health care was a clash of two competing governing philosophies, whereas most everyone agrees that something went seriously…

As with many SNL skits, it's a bit on-the-nose and runs too long, but I applaud the spirit and smiled a couple times. An able-bodied host on 100-percent disability introduces a surly DMV worker who takes pride in going full days without helping anyone, an elevator inspector working two government…

There is one sector of the economy that seems to be thriving in these hard times -- the gun industry. At least, that's the impression I got from a Sunday morning ride down to the Nation's Gun Show in Chantilly, Virginia. 

Great column by Ross Douthat today:

A well-informed friend writes:

George W. Bush memoir coming in November.

Hearst Newspapers in Connecticut reported last week that Republican Senate candidate Linda McMahon is paying students “an extra $5 for each Republican registered during a voter registration drive at the University of Connecticut."

The closer Britain gets to election day, the more uncertain things become. One uncertainty, however, seems to have been cleared up - Gordon Brown and the Labour Party are out of contention. 

The closer Britain gets to election day, the more uncertain things become. One uncertainty, however, seems to have been cleared up - Gordon Brown and the Labour Party are out of contention. 

Say goodbye to Mondays. Twelve girls have signed up, the assistant coach has committed to another season, and I can’t actually say no. I will again wake up an hour early on Mondays, go to work early, and leave early to coach my daughter’s soccer team of 6- and 7-year-old girls, the Marauders—though…

The first signs that the Republicans were in for a terrible November in 1974 came in February of that year. Pennsylvania’s 12th District, nestled in the Appalachian Mountains of West Central Pennsylvania, had elected a Republican to Congress in every election for a century except in the very worst…

Paris

When Justice John Paul Stevens retires this summer, he will have served on the Supreme Court for 35 years. Known for his bow ties and polite questioning of lawyers during oral argument, Stevens is the archetypical elite lawyer. He comes from a wealthy family, attended prestigious schools, clerked…

Recently I got around to reading Donald Kagan’s majestic study, The Peloponnesian War. Boy, was it majestic. Adroitly delineating the circumstances that led to the demise of the Athenian republic, Kagan makes it clear that the unnecessary conflict was one of the worst tragedies ever to befall…

The seemingly interminable reign of President Hosni Mubarak has suppressed Egypt’s domestic political scene for decades. The Pharaoh, as he is known, has held an iron grip on power since the assassination of Anwar el-Sadat in 1981. In recent weeks, however, Egyptians have been expressing tempered…

If you think the health care debate is a tangled mess, try wading into the thickets of the energy sector, which is high on the Obama administration’s list of targets to subjugate. Few areas of national policy offer as bad a ratio of blather to substance as energy. It is a field where cliché,…

From my amateur vantage point there are three kinds of politi-cians. The first are the “process” types. They may have gone into politics for idealistic reasons or for the opportunities, but in the end, especially if they are long-serving, the process becomes the whole game, and they find themselves…

There are two ways to look at the profits reports that are emerging from corporate boardrooms, often after a brief stop for an added shine at the office of the firms’ accountants. One is to find out just how this or that firm has been doing in the past quarter, compared with a year ago and with…

Daily Show defends South Park from jihadist threats.

It’s time to set straight a myth that has persisted for many decades, perpetuated most recently by Arianna Huffington in her post, “Guns vs. Butter 2010.”  The myth is that, as she put it quoting Eisenhower, “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final…

From the Washington Times:

Kurt Westergaard, the Danish cartoonist who depicted Muhammad as a suicide bomber in 2006, tells AFP that he has been placed on indefinite leave "for security reasons." Just a few months ago, Westergaard was attacked by an axe-wielding Islamist in his own home. Thankfully, in America the media are…

Here's a list of vulnerable Democrats, running for Senate elections now, who said the health care bill would lower costs. It doesn't. (Jim Geraghty has a handy list of House Dems.)

I'm I just receieved the first

Everyone's having a big laugh over the Supreme Court's alleged lack of tech savvy, as illustrated during oral arguments in a case (Ontario vs. Quon) focusing on text message privacy for a city employee using a city-provided pager.

The AP reports that a new report by economic experts at the Department of Health and Human Services found that Obamacare "will increase national health care spending by $311 billion from 2010-2019, or nine-tenths of 1 percent." So much for bending the cost curve downward. 

Just a year ago, Gallup reported 52% of Americans identified as Democrats or leaned Democratic, while 39% identified Republicans or leaned Republican. That 13-point edge has now vanished, as 46% of Americans side with the Democrats and 45% side with the GOP.

The FDA, acting on a recommendation to be made by a task force of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, is about to take the unprecedented step of regulating the salt content of processed foods. There actually is a scientific rationale for this. Numerous studies have shown…

A Fox News poll of registered voters shows that 39% support and 39% oppose the financial regulation bill in Congress. The remaining (honest) 22% admit they have no idea what this bill does.

Labor groups have been blasting Senator Michael Bennet for not supporting the Employee Free Choice Act, the controversial legislation that, if passed, would do away with the secret ballot in union elections. And Bennet has been doing his best to avoid taking a position on EFCA.

Ben Smith reports that during an appearance on New York radio show Senator Chuck Schumer slammed Obama's Israel policy as "counter-productive" and "terrible":

Heckuva a job, Sternie: "SEIU is $85 million in debt, down from its 2008 high of $102 million, and has been forced to lay off employees. Mr. Stern has led protests against Bank of America, calling for the firing of Chief Executive Ken Lewis. Yet the union owes $80 million to Bank of America and $5…

Rocket intended for Israel lands in Jordan.

On this day, often dedicated to genuflecting to Gaia and her regulatory, busy-body apostles, it's worth remembering that capitalism bought us the luxury of having environmentalists in the first place, and the free market has greened large parts of the world without their help.

Politico reports:

The CBO released an analysis today that estimates 3.9 million Americans, many of them middle class, will be subject to the penalty payment required of those without government-approved insurance by 2016.

There's a handy resource for those in the restaurant industry and those simply interested in the numbers and the trends behind the food we order. It's Restaurants & Institutions. What was the top-grossing independent restaurant in America last year? That would be the Tao Las Vegas Restaurant &…

Environmentalists are used to wallowing in misery--in fact, it makes them happy--but the 40th anniversary of Earth Day this week should offer up an extra helping of woe, for the movement has lost its mojo. Opinion surveys show not only that public belief in and concern for global warming is…

Rump party: "We're not counting on one region of the country, nor should we. The Republican Party and the NRCC is a national organization with national reach, with national implications, and we will pick up on the tempo that has been embodied not just within what you've seen [with] the tea party…

The former veep backs Rubio and bashes Crist:

In an interview with David Brody, Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina, a favorite of movement conservatives and Tea Partiers, doesn't rule out a 2012 presidential run. DeMint says the presidency is "not something I desire," adding that not really desiring the presidency is an essential requirement…

On the heels of the first televised election debate in British history, the country seems to have become totally enamored with Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democrat party. While the LibDems traditionally languish in a distant third behind the Labour and Conservative parties, Clegg's…

Rasmussen reports that Charlie Crist trails Marco Rubio by seven points in a three-way race. In March, Rubio was up by 17 points, so it seems Crist's veto of the GOP education bill and his TV ads have helped him.

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton want to spend 63 million taxpayer dollars promoting reproductive health overseas. A drop in the bucket, certainly, but it is the ideological nature of the expenditure that would rankle most Americans. The good news is that at least 35 percent of their rationale just…

The American suburbs fueled the emergence of the Democratic congressional majority in 2006 and then helped expand it 2008.  During those two election cycles, Republicans lost 24 incumbent or open seat races in these cul-de-sac filled districts.

Great news: Now Senate Democrats want to regulate insurance premiums that will be driven up because of Obamacare.

The Obama administration and its allies have fiercely defended DOJ lawyers who previously represented Gitmo detainees. But they aren't so proud of former White House counsel Greg Craig's decision to defend Goldman Sachs. Here's the write up from the New York Times: 

Charlie Crist has already lost long-time friends and supporters in Florida. He'll lose the support of most fundraisers and his stated senatorial role model John McCain if he runs as an independent. If his former campaign manager and chief of staff, Sen. Lemieux, has any interest in GOP politics,…

The Watertown Daily Times reports:

Washington Post television critic Tom Shales feels bad for Larry King. The columnist's sources tell him CNN executives will try to ease out the talk show host the way network executives always do: ruthlessly, without regard for the past, but with kind words to say at the same time. Nevertheless,…

ClickZ reports today that the GOP is quantifiably outperforming Democrats in online buying for House races in 2010:

The reach of American right-wing anger is wider than expected, infecting even liberals in Britain.

New Jersey governor Chris Christie is getting results: 

Questioning the timing: Rep. Darrell Issa, the top Republican on the House Oversight committee, is demanding a slew of documents from the Securities and Exchange Commission, asserting that the timing of civil charges against Goldman Sachs raises “serious questions about the commission’s…

Noah Shachtman reports:

Quinnipiac:

Oslo

Republicans, it appears, instinctively want to defend Goldman Sachs. Yet, they should think carefully before weighing in on this matter, even if both Republican SEC commisioners voted against filing charges. A GOP embrace of the "Giant Vampire Squid," as Goldman is affectionately called in popular…

Chris Matthews says conservative campaign against Charlie Crist is "Stalin-esque."

In his interview on ABC's This Week, Bill Clinton blames--well, I would say credits--the boss for killing Clintoncare in '93-'94. See the 1:30 mark of this amusing video:

The Wall Street Journal recently reported on the hottest boat on the high seas, simply known as the "A." Designed by Philippe Starck and owned by Russian businessman Andrey Melnichenko, the boat boasts everything from $40,000 bath knobs to bomb-proof glass to a special "nookie" room containing a…

Police closed Lafayette Park today to public and press during a public protest of the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, according to video shot on the scene. A handful of gay servicemembers chained themselves to the White House fence, and were removed and arrested, but the protest didn't…

Yesterday, Florida Republican Senate candidate Marco Rubio was asked if he would support a preemptive strike on Iran's nuclear facilities by Israel. Rubio responded: 

This is a fantastic story about the Oregon Tea Partiers, and a statement on the power of good-humored, good-hearted messaging. Oregon teacher Jason Levin was put on administrative leave from his middle-school teaching position this week in connection with his work on the Crash the Tea Party…

To use one of the president's favorite words, this expansion of the Nanny State is unprecedented. The federal agency believes that, without further authorization from Congress, it can go ahead and take charge of our palates.

The St. Petersburg Times reports:

Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin name checks economists and National Affairs contributors Oliver Hart and Luigi Zingales on CNBC's Squawkbox.

The latest Rasmussen poll shows 56% of voters favoring repeal of Obamacare with 41% opposed. "Over the past four weeks, support for repeal has remained in a very narrow range from a low of 54% to a high of 58%," the pollster reports.

Today Mark Kirk's campaign for Senate in Illinois is launching an updated version of RealTruthAboutAlexi.com--a website that "will profile a few of the known criminals and organized crime leaders who received loans and lines of credit from [Kirk's Democratic opponent] Alexi Giannoulias when he…

Remember the two missiles defense sites—one in Poland, the other in the Czech Republic—that the Obama administration cancelled last fall as a goodwill gesture to Russia?  The stated rationale at the time was: Since the sites were intended to defend America and our allies from Iranian missiles, and…

Alas, the interview is much too short:

When did all these reasonable, Northeastern Republicans get so radical?

Where's the civility, I ask you? Was it not just this weekend that former President Bill Clinton warned that words have power, and that in voicing dissent, we should be careful not to get out of hand? And yet, here we have a group of protesters registering their discontent with the government…

Brussels: Vacations are a human right.

Charlie Crist tells NRO's Robert Costa: "damn right, I’m staying in this race."

Joe Klein likes to call his political opponents seditious.

The debate over financial reform has devolved with record speed. As the two parties argue over which is more pro-Wall Street, the actual substance of the Senate legislation, aka the Dodd bill, has remained in the background. Maybe this isn't surprising, since the issue is so complex and no one…

A number of names are being tossed about in the sweepstakes to succeed Justice John Paul Stevens, and the three front-runners at the moment seem to be Merrick Garland and Diane Wood, both federal appeals court judges, and Solicitor General Elena Kagan, former dean of the Harvard Law School. My own…

Perhaps one of the most astute observations by Washington Post TV critic Tom Shales, who recently reviewed the U.K. debate among Labour's Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Conservative David Cameron, and Liberal Nick Clegg:

As Bill Clinton draws "parallels between the antigovernment tone that preceded that devastating [Oklahoma City] attack and the political tumult of today," Byron York takes a trip down memory lane to remind us how Clinton exploited the attack for political gain:

The latest numbers in the Indiana Senate race from Rasmussen: 

The GOP still stands a good chance of picking up perhaps 7 or more Senate seats in November, but Democrats caught a break last week when Tommy Thompson decided not to challenge Russ Feingold in Wisconsin and George Pataki announced he wouldn't run against Kirsten Gillibrand in New York.

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen told a forum at  Columbia University yesterday, "Iran getting a nuclear weapon would be incredibly destabilizing. Attacking them would also create the same kind of outcome...In an area that's so unstable right now, we just don't need more of that."

The AP reports:

The St. Pete Times reports:

The U.S. Geological Survey maintains that the earthquake that hit the remote Tibetan town of Jyeku (the Chinese call it Yushu) in the early morning of April 14 measured 6.9 on the Richter scale, while the Chinese government has said that the quake's intensity was 7.1 (which would mean that it was…

In defense of the Americanization of the British election.

Michael Barone writes in the Washington Examiner:

Last week, U.S. and Brazilian officials signed a defense pact that will significantly enhance bilateral military ties. “This agreement will lead to a deepening of U.S.-Brazil defense cooperation at all levels,” Defense Secretary Robert Gates declared. While the agreement does not explicitly discuss…

Say what you will about Georgia’s Fourth Congressional District—DeKalb County, for the most part, just east of Atlanta—it has certainly blessed us with some interesting representatives. The incumbent, a 55-year-old Buddhist Democrat named Hank Johnson, was preceded by Cynthia McKinney, the leading…

The Pregnant Widow

“Greetings in the name of freedom,” proclaimed the newly minted prime minster, Robert Mugabe, during Zimbabwe’s independence celebration in 1980. His words marked one of the most brilliant transitions of power in recent history, as the last conflict of the post-colonial retreat faded into history.…

Andy McCarthy writes:

Normally placid, neutral Switzerland has been going through a rough couple of years. First there was financial scandal, when Swiss banking giant UBS was caught helping U.S. clients evade taxes. Then came intense international pressure to overturn the country’s banking secrecy laws. It didn’t help…

Christopher Caldwell: Americans are trying to legislate and sue their way out of the “liberation” they imposed on young people starting in the 1960s.

Sen. Tom Coburn caused a stir when he recently suggested that Fox News had spread the falsehood that you could go to jail under Obamacare for not buying insurance. Bill O'Reilly said this week when he interviewed Coburn: "We researched to find out if anybody on Fox News had ever said you're going…

You may be able to tell more about the tone of yesterday's Tax Day protest by the coverage it's getting at the Huffington Post. These are the Top 20 "most outrageous" signs the site could muster. Incredibly tame stuff, and one of the pictures is of a Tea Party infiltrator, not a Tea Partier. Even…

Yesterday the Senate voted 85-13 for John McCain's anti-VAT resolution. The lack of any substantial support for a VAT in the Senate would suggest that, even if the president's fiscal commission recommends such a tax when it reports in December, Ross Douthat is right and the chances a VAT will be…

Ramesh Ponnuru makes a good point over at the Corner:

At a Democratic fundraiser yesterday, President Obama mocked the Tea Party and downplayed opposition to his health care bill. The president said that conservatives and Republicans had called Tuesday's election to replace retiring Representative Robert Wexler, Democrat of Florida, a "referendum" on…

http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2009/09/buy-insurance-or-go-to-jail-.html

More from Obama's speech at the DNC fundraiser last night:

On the face of it, a Republican takeover of the House (or Senate) would seem a good thing—a clear repudiation by the voters of Obama-Pelosi-Reid and the agenda they've proposed. GOPers can claim victory and hold their heads high. But to quote Senator Bill McKay in The Candidate, "What do we do now?"

The followers of Democratic Senate nominee Alexi Giannoulias--let's call him the Ali G of Illinois--are going after Republican candidate Rep. Mark Kirk for ... his support of Israel, saying that the congressman only supports Israel because it is politically prudent of him to do so. (Here's video of…

The latest from Rasmussen:

How fat are we these days? This fat.

The Hill reports on President Obama's remarks at a DNC fundraiser in Miami:

Tea Partying in Washington, D.C. on tax day. 

Via Allahpundit, the Washington Times reports:

A couple buddies are in a video contest being held by the Chamber of Commerce to celebrate free enterprise. All three videos below are entertaining and inspiring, so watch them to cheer you on this Tax Day. There's no voting required. They're judged on traffic, so watch and pass along if you like.

Yesterday, polls showed Obama neck-and-neck with Ron Paul and George W. Bush. Today, Public Policy Polling reports:

It's nothing too earth-shattering. Coats, dressed in a casual checked shirt, calls himself a "conservative" leader who likes tax cuts, babies, and the 2nd Amendment.

The Milwaulkee Journal-Sentinel caught the former governor before he gave a speech to a Tea Party gathering at the Wisconsin State Capitol today:

Charlie Crist bows to the teachers' union and bucks the Republican legislature. So when does he announce he's dropping out of the GOP primary?

You know what else they probably have in common? Self-awareness.

The White House and Congress are moving ahead with their plans to reform the financial system. At issue is the Dodd bill's resolution authority to break down large and complex financial institutions on the verge of insolvency. Mitch McConnell says the authority, which would include a $50 billion…

When Sen. Chris Dodd decided to retire instead of seeking another term as senator, the conventional wisdom held that popular Connecticut Attorney General Dick Blumenthal would turn an at-risk seat into an easy win for his party.

The testimony of Rep. Heath Shuler, a Blue Dog Democrat of North Carolina, has been cited as corroborating evidence of Tea Partiers slinging racial slurs since the accusations were made after a March 20 health-care rally in Washington, D.C.

Via Tyler Cowen comes this list of "most cited authors of books in the humanities" in 2007. Here are the top 11:

Quinnipiac:

Cubans in Miami not ready to get on their feet for Gloria Estefan's latest collaboration.

Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin visited Morning Joe:

Congress has always had its flaws. All too often, the road to the enactment of legislation has been fraught with corruption, stupidity, threats, bribes, and other sordid practices.

Voters elected Barack Obama in November 2008 – at least in part – based on an American myth. Seventeen months later, the same allegory is creating a host of consequences for individual politicians, as well as the way citizens view political institutions like Congress.

Fox News reports:

Although a recent Quinnipiac poll showed former New York governor George Pataki leading incumbent senator Kirsten Gillibrand 45% to 40%, Pataki told the Wall Street Journal he isn't running for Senate. A big reason why Pataki chose not to run, one veteran NY GOP operative tells THE WEEKLY STANDARD,…

Syria transfers SCUDs to Hezbollah.

It turns out Eric Holder was just stonewalling for the children. Byron York writes:

From the Wall Street Journal, Crist's advisers lay out how the governor could run as an independent:

The President said on April 1 that it would take a little while for people's real feelings to register on health care:

Twitter has made it:

Yesterday, the Foreign Policy Initiative and ASMEA hosted a conference on the precarious situation in Sudan. Panelists offered analysis of the nationwide elections, presently taking place, and discussed the implications of South Sudan’s almost certain secession, following the self-determination…

As if President Obama's foreign policy hasn't come under enough fire for its warm embrace of the world's misfits and shabby treatment of allies, Jackson Diehl reports:  

"Iran is not expected to be capable of producing nuclear weapons for at least a year, maybe more, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Tuesday,” reports Reuters, covering him from aboard  a U.S. military aircraft en route to South America:

Variety's Michael Schneider lays out in full detail why Conan O'Brien did not end up at Fox:

The Democratic firm Public Policy polling has a new poll which shows voters favor repealing the health care bill passed last month by a 53% to 40% margin, with 8% of voters not sure. Obama's job approval rating is underwater in the poll, with 46% approving and 48% disapproving of the president's…

Kosovo

New York Republican operative thinks

The Democratic firm Public Policy polling has a new poll which shows voters favor repealing the health care bill passed last month by a 53% to 40% margin, with 8% of voters not sure. Obama's job approval rating is underwater in the poll, with 46% approving and 48% disapproving of the president's…

The Wall Street Journal reports:

Marc Thiessen responds to Jane Mayer's attack on his book Courting Disaster:

The story from the new CNN poll is that Mike Huckabee remains a popular choice for the 2012 Republican nomination. Huckabee, Romney, and Palin continue to lead the pack -- probably because they have the greatest name i.d. What's fascinating, though, is Newt Gingrich's surge into the top tier of…

The latest from Gallup:

New Jersey governor Chris Christie appeared on Morning Joe this morning. He was terrific: 

76 senators rebuke the Obama administration for its confrontational stance toward Israel.

Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell isn't a fan of Chris Dodd's financial reform bill:

From the man who called his constituents "political terrorists" twice for showing up at town hall meetings to criticize him.

Via Jim Geraghty, we all know that politicians can be shameless hypocrites, but really: How does a senator vote for a $787 billion "stimulus" bill and a $2.5 trillion health care bill that no one in his right mind believes is actually "paid for" and then attack those in Washington who "spend money…

My Polish is a bit rusty, but Ben Smith finds a translator: "I have unofficial information that president Obama will come, there will be also presidents of France and Russia," said Mayor Jacek Majchrowski.

Over the weekend, the Wall Street Journal reported on the brouhaha (pardon the pun) taking place at the Carlsberg brewing company:

From a survey conducted by a Palestinian university:

David Harris, the executive director of the American Jewish Committee, has a very nice tribute to his friends and American allies who died in the tragic plane crash near Katyn: "Poland’s tragedy is our tragedy." Also, see Charles Crawford at National Review Online, Bret Stephens in the Wall Street…

CNN reports the biggest news from Kyrgyzstan so far:

At exactly the same time that President Obama’s anti-terrorism theatrics are going on in Washington at the nuclear security summit, a pro-terrorism party is going on in New York at UN Headquarters. The trouble is that the states play-acting in D.C. are swinging in New York in the opposite direction.

"Significant unintended consequences." Who woulda thunk it?

Today is Thomas Jefferson's birthday. The Writer's Almanac has a great capsule biography you can listen to here. Christopher Hitchens's short book on Jefferson is here. Jefferson's most famous work is here.

If there was ever an example of how little faith senators have in the free market, this is it. When Spirit Airlines announced last week it would start charging up to $45 for carry-on baggage, it caused an uproar with, well, everyone. In the media, around the water cooler, on Facebook walls around…

Barney Frank vs. the opthamologists at 30,000 feet. Are you ready to rumble?

This past weekend’s fatal crash of Poland’s presidential aircraft, a Russian-made Tupolev Tu-154M, has had cataclysmic affects on the country’s national leadership. Among the 97 victims were the Polish president, Lech Kaczyński, and virtually the entire Polish armed forces’ leadership – the senior…

WaPo Ombudsman: Hey, maybe we should try to find out if anyone at the Tea Party actually used a racial slur.

Our freedom-loving lawyer friends at The Volokh Conspiracy have compiled a post exploring Obama's possible SCOTUS nominees' positions on the Second Amendment.

During 2009, Bob McDonnell ran a campaign many political observers hailed as a model for the post-Obama Republican, with good reason. His Northern Virginia roots combined with conservative values and tech savvy to create a promising Republican who stuck to pocketbook issues in a purple state and…

The Hill reports:

Rasmussen:

The Washington Post reports on a suspected drunk driver, Rene Fernandez, who swerved onto oncoming traffic, smashing his Chevy Tahoe into a Honda Accord, critically injuring an elderly couple, Edwin and Ellen Collier. This wasn't Fernandez's first mishap. In 1998 he pleaded guilty twice to driving…

We're beginning to see the outlines of an economic recovery. The recession may not be officially over, but GDP has been growing, stocks are up, and the economy is beginning to create jobs. Robert Samuelson:

The evidence is mounting that Americans are correct in their overwhelming appraisal that Obamacare, if not repealed, would not only raise health costs and deficits, and would not only involve far too much government control over our lives, but would also reduce the quality of health care.  It’s not…

April 12 is the day Galileo stood before the inquisition.

Trying to prevent terrorists from obtaining nukes should be national security priority number one. But the Obama administration's plan to combat that threat is puzzling. They've argued ad nauseam that arms reduction treaties like START are the key to keeping loose nukes out of the hands of…

Arthur Herman has a must-read piece on Iranian nukes: "The Islamic revolutionary regime in Tehran is poised to hand the United States its worst foreign-policy setback since the fall of South Vietnam."

Josh Rogin reports:

The latest Rasmussen poll shows Marco Rubio crushing Charlie Crist 58 percent to 29 percent in the GOP primary--Crist has dropped six points in the past month. So what's the Florida governor to do?

I subscribe to the Gregg Easterbrook school of prognostication: All predictions wrong or your money back! Still, I couldn't help thinking, when I saw the list of the top four vote-getters in the SRLC straw poll, that none of them will be the Republican nominee for president in 2012. (In case you're…

Okay, he's not really crazy. Odd, sure. And calculating. But things are never so simple, as Radio Free Europe's Jeff Gedmin explains in Foreign Policy:

Hmm. CQ has reclassified California's Senate race:

Hawaii's special election to fill Rep. Neil Abercrombie's seat has been getting generous buzz for a week as Republican candidate Charles Djou has unexpectedly pulled even with possible Democrat challengers in Obama's home district. Abercrombie is running for governor.

Remind me. What is it that happens when you transparently call in sick with a fake illness for most jobs?

New Jersey's new Republican Gov. Chris Christie is not amused by an internal memo from a Bergen County teachers' union official, which "prays" for his death.

Third party candidate can't even save Reid, says new poll.

In light of Erin Sheley's appreciation of William Stuntz in this week's issue of THE WEEKLY STANDARD, readers might be interested in the (if I may say so, terrific) articles Stuntz has published in this magazine. They all have intrinsic merit, but the first two were also of some historic…

"Repeal, and then real reform" is clearly the political message that most Americans, especially most of those who are strongly engaged, want to hear.  However, the Left has taken some solace in a CNN poll showing that "only" 47 percent of Americans want to see Obamacare repealed, as opposed to…

Chinese-American relations have one of the characteristics of an iceberg. The part that is visible is cold -- lots of mutual recriminations -- and jagged; the greater part, nine-tenths, is submerged, invisible to the naked eye, and far more consequential. This is one area in which what you see is…

Katherine Mangu-Ward on sad lunch ladies who protest privatization and suggest savings through more mystery meat.

Justice Stevens turned out to be one of those Republican appointees to the Court who “grew” during his tenure. That was nowhere more evident than in cases challenging the legality of racial preferences. Consider that in the landmark Bakke case (1978), Stevens wrote an opinion joined by three other…

For all those wondering what the Obama administration's latest Friday night news dump would be, here it is:

The Atlantic's Chris Good reports that Republican Charles Djou is tied with Democrat Ed Case at 32%, and Democrat Colleen Hanabusa is close behind:

A Friday night news dump, brought to you by a floundering Senate campaign: Florida governor Charlie Crist raised $1.1 million last quarter. In an email, campaign manager Erik Eikenberg attributes the paltry figure to a "limited fundraising program this quarter due to the Governor’s busy work…

Arnold Kling responds to Paul Krugman's Friday column:

In what was billed as “his first U.S. appearance since the Bush administration barred him from the country in 2004,” the Muslim academic Tariq Ramadan spoke last night to a nearly full house at the Great Hall of the Cooper Union in New York City. It may well in fact have been his first public…

With healthcare reform behind him, President Obama has turned his attention to what is perhaps his number one foreign policy priority: nuclear disarmament. On April 6, the Obama administration released a new Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) report, outlining U.S. nuclear weapons strategy. The NPR is…

Ramesh Ponnuru runs through some options for Republicans eager to take on Obamacare next year if they take back the House. He thinks this is their best bet following the Senate's blocking or Obama's vetoing repeal:

Sarah Palin will strike back at President Obama in her speech this afternoon to the Southern Republican Leadership Conference. Here's an excerpt, as prepared for delivery:

Jennifer Rubin aptly sums up Liz Cheney's speech at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference: "Maybe We Should Be Nice to Our Allies." You can watch Cheney's speech here.

Astana, Kazakhstan

As liberals engage in one of their periodic celebrations of how open-minded and intelligent they are, it's worth taking a moment to assess just how bad a political situation they've created for the Democrats. Consider:

The AP reports:

Peggy Noonan translates the testimonies to the Financial Industry Inquiry Commission.

Via Allahpundit, voters view the Democratic party more disfavorably than favorably for the first time since Gallup began tracking this figure in 1992. As you can see, the Democrats had a double-digit lead in their favorable rating even during the 1994 GOP takeover. What does it mean that 54% of…

From the Washington Post:

Fox News poll: Obama approval hits 43 percent.

There's a Voyeur joke in that headline, I'm sure of it...

The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza reports:

A statement from Crist campaign manager Eric Eikenberg in response to the Crist-fueled speculation that the governor will run as an independent:

A CBS News poll shows that ObamaCare's popularity has fallen off dramatically since the day of its passage.  It appears that Americans aren't as inclined to reward politicians for defying them as the Democrats had hoped.  The CBS News poll shows that ObamaCare is now 10 percentage points less…

The economy is the No. 1 concern for a majority of voters heading into 2010's midterm elections, but the deficit comes in close behind, particularly with all-important independent voters, according to a new Gallup poll.

Is false advertising always bad? That certainly is not the case with the Obama administration’s Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), which is being billed by the White House as the greatest shift in American doctrine since Dr. Strangelove devised a doomsday machine. The truth of the matter is that there…

A new Rasmussen poll shows Colorado GOP Senate candidate Jane Norton leading Democratic senator Michael Bennet 46% to 41%--Norton's margin has actually decreased four points since last months' poll.

Paul Volcker and Ronald Reagan tamed inflation and laid the groundwork for 25 years of global economic expansion. The growth was interrupted by just two of the shortest and shallowest recessions on record. The long boom ended in December 2007, when the financial crisis metastasized and the economy…

White House advisor Paul Volcker made news this week by calling a value-added tax (VAT) "not as toxic an idea" as it's been in the past for tackling the nation's deficit problem. Today, Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf confirmed he's been getting "a lot of questions" about the…

White House advisor Paul Volcker made news this week by calling a value-added tax (VAT) "not as toxic an idea" as it's been in the past for tackling the nation's deficit problem. Today, Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf confirmed he's been getting "a lot of questions" about the…

Andy McCarthy writes that President Obama's authorization of the targeted assassination of Anwar al-Qalaki is "obviously the right call."

Dan Walker, an English teacher from Spotsylvania, Va., has won our contest with this haiku:

Michele Bachmann's rally with Sarah Palin at the Minneapolis convention center yesterday was a sight to see. Politico estimates that up to 11,000 people may have attended. Bachmann and Palin know how to work a crowd. Their message was that only Republican victories in 2010 and 2012 can undo the…

If the Nuclear Posture Review -- a congressionally mandated document which evaluates the state and purpose of America's nuclear forces -- was a battle between Secretary Gates and President Obama, Gates won.

In 1982, Tylenol faced a potentially lethal brand crisis.  Someone tampered with its packaging in a number of Chicago retail locations, randomly lacing the pain relief capsules with cyanide.  Fear and chaos ensued.  Seven people died, and the well known product risked commercial extinction.

Russia claims START treaty establishes “inextricable connection” with missile defense.

On the same day that Marco Rubio announced he raked in a whopping $3.6 million in first quarter, Charlie Crist offered the latest signal yet that he may drop out of the Republican primary and run as an independent. Crist is "making noise about a possible veto of the bill that abolishes teacher…

The pro-life Susan B. Anthony List has launched a $150,000 radio and phone campaign targeting Bart Stupak and four other other self-proclaimed pro-life Democrats who voted for the abortion-funding health care bill.

The latest from Gallup:

Kurchatov, Kazakhstan 

Financial markets are necessary because they put people in need of money in touch with people who have money to lend. This is the essence of capitalism. Somewhere along the line, however, our financial system went out of whack.

Controversy over the U.S. military's conduct during an engagement in New Baghdad on July 12, 2007 continues to swirl after WikiLeaks released the video of the gun camera footage from the Apaches that fired on a Mahdi Army element that day. The U.S. Army investigated this incident after it occurred…

“Obama to Impose Terms on Israel” is the headline you didn’t read on David Ignatius’s column in the Washington Post today. The story ran under the title “Obama’s Mideast Plan,” which Ignatius describes as “proposing an American peace plan to resolve the Palestinian conflict.”

As Venezuela sinks deeper into economic quicksand, President Hugo Chávez continues to mortgage his country’s future with weapons purchases and harebrained schemes. Last week, Russia’s Vladimir Putin visited the South American nation to promote greater bilateral cooperation on strategic issues,…

There's a reason he's been called "an inspiration to dour, foolish men everywhere."

Yesterday David Brooks wrote a cheerful column on why the United States, despite everything, remains in a strong position heading into the mid-twenty-first century. Sometime yesterday afternoon, I was struck when I noticed that Brooks's column had received more than 500 comments. Apparently…

Martin Wolf asks his readers their opinion of the Austrian school of economics (whose most famous adherent in this country is Ron Paul):

This is just fun TV. Rudy keeps it nice and clean while Scarborough plays bad cop. Scarborough's lines about Huffington's former support of Newt Gingrich and her run for California governor are particularly delicious.

"Basically, they’re going to try to make the election a referendum on that “Miss Me Yet?” billboard."

Eli Lake: Barack Obama is operating with the war powers granted George W. Bush three days after the 9/11 attacks.

Oklahoma senator Dr. Tom Coburn raised some conservatives' eyebrows today with his statement that Nancy Pelosi is a "nice lady":

A Newsweek blogger writes that we don't know if any of the 12 men killed in the 2007 video of an operation in Baghdad "had weapons."

The columnist and bestselling author John Feinstein is arguing yet again that expanding the NCAA basketball tournament from 65 teams to 96 is detrimental to the sport in so many ways. "In short, this is the worst idea anyone has come up with since New Coke," he writes. And still Feinstein is…

Irwin Stelzer delivered a thought-provoking and entertaining lecture yesterday evening at the American Enterprise Institute. You can watch it here.

Barack Obama beat John McCain in Pennsylvania by 11 points (55% to 44%) in 2008. A new poll by the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling shows Obama's approval rating in the Keystone state at 46%, with 50% of voters disapproving.

A friendly reality check for exuberant Democrats on the first day of the Nuclear-Zero Pax Obama -- this treaty is almost certainly dead on arrival. I hedge only because the Democrats might try to jam it through using reconciliation. (Is it legal? The parliamentarian will decide!) Yes, Republican…

Yesterday I noted that the Wikileaks tape purportedly showing U.S. troops "murdering" Iraqis in Baghdad in July 2007 appeared to begin in mid-stream. A New York Times article confirms that the tape has indeed been cut. There are 21 additional minutes of tape:

After signing the national health care bill, Barack Obama said he welcomed a campaign fight over the law. "Bring it on," he dared Republicans. He toured the country to boost the law's popularity. And on April 3, a Rasmussen poll showed that voters trusted Republicans more than Democrats on health…

25 dead in West Virginia mine explosion.

The Tea Party is more than a year old. It began with Rick Santelli's famous rant against the Obama administration's housing policy on February 19, 2009. As Santelli predicted, that policy failed and the administration announced a new approach last week. It probably won't help either. But the Tea…

Its stated purpose may be higher education, but for the storied University of California system recent times have brought with them the lowest of lows.

Before you hit the snooze button, I want to point out a fascinating debate that's taking place over financial reform. Here's where we stand. The House passed its bill in December. The Senate recently passed its bill out of committee, and it now awaits a floor vote. Two weeks ago David Leonhardt had…

Ross Douthat: Can CNN be saved?

Here's some helpful analysis of President Obama's first pitch today. It specifically critiques last year's pitch, but since he's shown no signs of improvement in the last year, it's equally relevant today.

The numbers in David Carr's piece on Sarah Palin's brand are striking:

Wikileaks, the website devoted to publishing classified documents on the Internet, made a splash today with a video claiming to show that the U.S. military "murdered" a Reuters cameraman and other Iraqi "civilians" in Baghdad on July 12, 2007. But a careful watching of the video shows that the U.S.…

The latest Rasmussen poll shows Harry Reid trailing former Nevada state senator and GOP chair Sue Lowden by 15 points (54% to 39%). Reid does slightly better but barely tops 40% against Danny Tarkanian (49% to 42%) and ex-assemblywoman Sharron Angle (51% to 40%).

Here's video of Obama's opening day pitch:

Richard Schmalbeck and Jay Soled have a good idea:

Iran is pressing forward with its nuclear program. The Obama administration is dithering. Bent upon getting a Security Council resolution rather than assembling a coalition of the willing, the White House and American policy is being held hostage by Russia and most of all by China. Here’s an…

Late last week, the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and most other major media outlets ran stories that portrayed U.S.-China relations as being on the mend after the recent rough patch. As evidence of the skillful personal diplomacy of President Obama, several news stories…

We're all anti-statist home micro-brewers, now.

If only it had been a campaign promise to show up during every single important sporting event in the country during his first year in office, Obama would have quite an accomplishment under his belt.

In the wake of the health care vote, the media did their best to paint Tea Party activists as a bunch of violent bigots. But it looks like that narrative didn't gain too much traction with the public. Rasmussen reports that the American people think that a Tea Party member's views are closer to…

President Obama does not like to be challenged. During a Q & A in Charlotte, North Carolina, last week, a woman named Doris asked the president whether it was smart to raise taxes in the midst of a sluggish economic recovery. Doris is right -- taxes are going up, thanks to the health care law and…

Betsy Markey, a pro health-care vote whose district opposed it 60-30, thinks the health care issue could fade by November.

Via Mark Shields comes this great Jack Germond quote:

AP: "Blagojevich Fired From 'Celebrity Apprentice.'"

Some links to start the week off on the right foot.

Aim for the Heart

There is a famous World War I poem by Siegfried Sassoon called “Everybody Sang!

The gloom is dissipating. It might be because Congress is in recess, and therefore unable to add any billions to the burgeoning government debt, at least for a few weeks. It might be because spring is sprung. And it might be because most people are focusing less on the economy and more on the NCAA…

Paul Ryan on Obamacare and the future of American freedom.

We're getting lots of great submissions to the haiku contest. Here's an amusing one from reader A.G.:

A Senate GOP aide responds to today's jobs report:

The AP reports that Rudy Giuliani will endorse Marco Rubio on Monday. This endorsement could damage Charlie Crist's attempts to appeal to moderates and independents. The backstory here: Crist reportedly offered his endorsement to Giuliani in the 2008 Republican primary but backed out after McCain…

The Hill reports:

Rasmussen reports:

One of Barack Obama’s more significant unfulfilled campaign promises is getting the Senate to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Last year, speaking in Prague, he announced a determination to press ahead, declaring that

Back in November 2007, the National Intelligence Council (NIC) released a declassified summary of an authoritative National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) declaring with “high confidence” that four years earlier "Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program.” Buried in a footnote was the fact that the…

John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, and most Republicans say that the GOP platform is to repeal Obamacare (or "repeal and replace it with real reform"). Yuval Levin argues in this week's issue of THE WEEKLY STANDARD that "nothing short of repeal could suffice," and Sean Trende offers four reasons why…

For most Christians, Lent is a season of penitence and devotion in remembrance of the events leading to Christ’s crucifixion. For Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP), Lent is an organizing tool for rallying U.S. Christians against Israel.

A new CBS poll puts Obama's approval rating at 44 percent.

The United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit is now considering the case of several Uighurs, currently detained at Gitmo, who are asking to be released into the Washington metropolitan area. The D.C. Circuit has already ruled against the Uighurs once, affirming the government’s power to…

An insider in the oil industry responds to TWS regarding the president's recent apparent shift in off shore drilling policy:

Gary Schmitt: How will British elections change their national security policy?

WINPAC—the CIA’s clearinghouse for data on various weapons and delivery systems—sent a new report to Congress this week that amounts to one of the intelligence community’s few sustained public statements on Iran’s drive to acquire nuclear weapons since the widely noticed (and discredited) November…

Jim Geraghty on the race to fill Hawaii Democrat Neil Abercrombie's seat:

EYE-OPENER -- Gallup, “Republicans Move Ahead in 2010 Vote for Congress”: “Registered voters now say they prefer the Republican to the Democratic candidate in their district by 47% to 44% in the midterm congressional elections, the first time the GOP has led in 2010 election preferences since…

On March 26, President Obama announced that the United States had reached a new strategic arms agreement with Russia. He explained that the new nuclear-arms treaty strengthens “our global efforts to stop the spread of these weapons, and to ensure that other nations meet their own responsibilities.”

Gary Locke, the Secretary of Commerce, has now weighed in on the impact of Obamacare on health care costs by pointing out that since there will no longer be uninsured individuals, “this law reduces the hidden tax of about $1,000 for family coverage that those with insurance pay to cover the cost of…

Sean Trende points out: "Democrats barely fielded 2/3 the number of candidates for office in Missouri as Republicans."

Gallup:

Chris Cilizza at the Washington Post has an interesting assessment of the presidential prospects of Senator John Thune of South Dakota. Thune has been taking a wait-and-see attitude toward a possible run in 2012, neither ruling it in or out.

Success in America is an endangered species. Business bonuses are under heightened scrutiny; soon, making the right picks in the stock market or earning more than $200,000 per year will mean higher taxes; even the occasional business trips that “happened in Vegas” to reward top sales producers…

 The American Community Survey wasn't around when Ronald Reagan declared that the nine most terrifying words in the English language are: "I'm from the government and I'm here to help." If it was, he'd probably agree that having a government representative knock on your door, try to threaten their…