November 2010

Jennifer Rubin has said her farewell to Commentary. And while she doesn't officially start at the Washington Post until tomorrow, the prolific Rubin has already a got a couple posts up at her new blog.

Senator Michael Bennet, the Democrat and junior senator from Colorado, told THE WEEKLY STANDARD today that he was talking about "the filibuster" when his conversation on the Senate floor was inadvertantly picked up by a C-SPAN microphone.

Early reports on the Pentagon's survey of the troops on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" were nothing but roses for repeal supporters, but the details of the survey complicate that narrative somewhat. While only 20% of troops who have never been deployed to a combat zone say that repeal of DADT would "very…

A cable released by WikiLeaks that is available on the New York Times’s web site underscores the difficulties that both the Bush and Obama administrations have had in transferring war on terror detainees to Afghan custody. The cable, which originated at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul on August 6, 2009,…

Early reports on the Pentagon's survey of the troops on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" were nothing but roses for repeal supporters, but the details of the survey complicate that narrative somewhat. While only 20% of troops who have never been deployed to a combat zone say that repeal of DADT would "very…

As Bill Kristol was saying, "If Tea Party-inspired Americans—and freedom-loving hackers around the world—can act effectively in cyberspace against today’s threats to our liberties and well-being, and to the liberties and well-being of others—that’s something to be applauded."

Over the weekend, Somali-born American Mohamed Osman Mohamud attempted to murder as many people as he could at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland, Oregon. Thankfully, handy law enforcement work prevented the jihadist from carrying out his plan. But it's all despite the efforts of…

Well, this is just depressing:

If the Senate takes up the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" in this lame duck session, there's a chance that some senators in both parties will cross the aisle. Here's the math:

Last Sunday, actor Leslie Nielsen died of complications from pneumonia. He was 84. Although he is best known for the Naked Gun trilogy and Airplane!, Nielsen had been in the acting business for more than 60 years, playing a good number of unfunny roles, such as Commander Adams on Forbidden Planet…

The criminal and anti-American enterprise WikiLeaks said in a Twitter message this morning that it was under a “distributed denial of service attack," a method often used by hackers to slow or bring down websites. If this is the U.S. government at work, good for our civil servants. If this is…

The Pentagon's report on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" hasn't been released yet, but ABC highlights some interesting numbers: 

Earlier this month a radio station that made history became history.  

David Freddoso reports that just 39 senators voted for an earmark moratorium sponsored by Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.). Fifty-six senators, including eight Republicans, voted to keep earmarks (names of senators up for reelection in 2012 are in bold): 

Yesterday, Secretary of State Clinton called the disclosure of the WikiLeaks documents "an attack on America's foreign policy interests." She and her colleagues in the Obama administration have proceeded, as they must, to try to limit the diplomatic damage, to reassure allies, to improve security…

It is one thing if a left-wing human rights organization like Amnesty International cannot tell the difference between a jihadist and a legitimate political dissident. It is quite another if the U.S. State Department suffers from the same intellectual confusion. One diplomatic cable released by…

The Obama administration today announced a two-year pay freeze for all federal workers (excluding military). Phil Klein puts the policy into perspective:

The Max Boot Challenge: Hey, New York Times, if internal deliberations are so important, why don't you publish your internal correspondences? 

A profile of Indiana Republican senator Richard Lugar from the New York Times this weekend contained this nugget of establishment hysteria:

The latest Rasmussen poll of likely voters shows that Americans support the repeal of Obamacare by a margin of 21 percentage points (58 to 37 percent), independents support repeal by 24 percentage points (59 to 35 percent), and Americans think that Obamacare is more likely to be repealed…

The press has highlighted several documents from the latest WikiLeaks cache that deal with the Obama administration’s attempts to close Guantanamo. The administration can’t close Gitmo without transferring a large number of the remaining detainees to other countries. But its efforts in this vein…

CNN's Peter Hamby reports that former Missouri GOP chairwoman Ann Wagner has joined the race to run the RNC: 

Over the weekend, Texas Republican representative Lamar Smith penned an interesting column for the Washington Post arguing that the GOP's haul among Hispanic voters was "historically robust." Is this conclusion correct? If so, what does it mean, about both 2010 and the future of the Republican…

Today, the Senate is likely to vote on the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2010 (S510). But the bill is little more than an enormous grant of money and power to the Food and Drug Administration and a lot of reporting burdens imposed on the private sector. Those who favor a smaller, leaner…

In last week's issue of THE WEEKLY STANDARD, Fred Barnes wrote on the Republican wave that finally swept over the Alabama legislature. Later that week, four Democrats in the Alabama state legislature became Republicans, giving the GOP a super-majority in the state House.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have been involved in honoring the heroes of Flight 93 almost from the very beginning, from owner Art Rooney II, to the coaching staff, to both former and current players. Two weeks ago, they hosted a dinner to raise money for the Flight 93 Memorial and yesterday CBS ran a…

The Los Angeles Times reports:

Once upon a time I was a member of the policy planning staff at the Department of State, and had a security clearance. It was so long ago that I cannot now recall the level of security my clearance allowed, but it was suitably low. Like most people under such circumstances, I was curious about what…

American Grace

Technically speaking, the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform seems headed toward failure. The commission, chaired by Democrat Erskine Bowles and Republican Alan Simpson, is required to produce a report by December 1 providing recommendations for reducing the deficit and debt.…

Anyone who proposed even a decade ago that a state should be permitted to file for bankruptcy would have been dismissed as crazy. But times have changed. As Arnold Schwarze-negger’s plea for $7 billion of federal assistance for California earlier this year made clear, the states are the next…

“By prosecuting Ahmed Ghailani in federal court,” Attorney General Eric Holder said in a May 21, 2009, statement, “we will ensure that he finally answers for his alleged role in the bombing of our embassies in Tanzania and Kenya.” “This administration,” Holder continued, “is committed to keeping…

Helpston, Northamptonshire

Just how Sarah is Sarah Palin’s Alaska, her new hit reality show on the TLC network? It’s soooo flippin’ Sarah, as Sarah would say. And it’s soooo Alaska, which Palin pronounces “A-LASK-ahhhh.” She repeats this on the show over and over again, as though we might forget where she’s from otherwise.…

If, to paraphrase Philip Larkin, the sexual revolution began in 1963, then the sexual revolution is now well into middle age. And wasn’t that supposed to be the point? Wasn’t the sexual revolution supposed to give us a rational and mature perspective on matters of sexual intimacy rather than…

Max Boot has an excellent post on the press, Julian Assange, and WikiLeaks:

The editors at Der Spiegel can’t contain themselves. Even before publication of the WikiLeaks documents, they’ve taken to their website to announce jubilantly that the leaking of these documents “is nothing short of a political meltdown for US foreign policy.”

The world is once again anticipating a massive leak of classified documents by WikiLeaks. The U.S. State Department is so concerned that it has published a letter addressed to the head of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, and his attorney, arguing that publication of the documents will “risk the lives of…

Enough of what President Nixon’s equally disgraced vice president, Spiro Agnew, called the “nattering nabobs of negativism.” This is Thanksgiving weekend, and we Americans, who have just combined to consume almost 50 million turkeys, have much to be thankful for, and reason for cheer. The political…

Gabriel Schoenfeld's take on the TSA and pat downs in today's Wall Street Journal:

On Election Night a few weeks back, several races remained outstanding.  In the weeks that have followed, all but one of the contests has been settled, with the final one (NY-1) now being tended to by a judge.  Let's run down the results.

THE WEEKLY STANDARD first reported on the continued legal battle between the IRS and the pro-Israel group Z Street earlier this week. Now Ben Smith at Politico picks up on the story:

Signs of a new political culture abound. Call it the era of “reverse pork barrel.”

On November 12, North Korean scientists took Stanford professor Siegfried Hecker and two colleagues to the Yongbyon nuclear complex. The North Koreans led the Americans to a building that Hecker, former head of the Los Alamos nuclear laboratories, had visited in February 2008. The structure had…

On Glenn Beck's show earlier today, Sarah Palin accidentally said North Korea when she meant South Korea:

Jennifer Rubin says Mike Pence is underestimated.

On the eve of Thanksgiving, Howard Dean writes about the troops in an email to his supporters. No, Dr. Dean doesn't find space to thank those who are serving our country--it's just an opportunity to rail against the "shameful policy" of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Oh, and ask for donations: 

U2 frontman Bono on his new Broadway musical:

Yesterday, Sarah Palin seemed to say that if she were criticized by some in the GOP establishment "then I will know that I would probably do more harm that good to the cause":

Will the Obama administration cave to international pressure and transfer a Guantanamo detainee it has previously found too dangerous to release?

Both U.S. military and civilian leaders seem a bit nonplussed about the North Korean attack on a South Korean fishing village. With the American Armed Forces tied up in Iraq and Afghanistan, the White House is reluctant to up the ante in the highly militarized Korean peninsula.  So the American…

In a joint statement, three conservative think tanks criticize defense cuts included in a number of budget proposals floating around Washington: 

New York Democrat and Obamacare supporter Gary Ackerman is planning on introducing a series of bills to repeal the most popular provisions of the health care reform law. The Hill reports:

Today's featured op-ed in the Washington Post, "North Korea's consistent message to the U.S.," is by former President Jimmy Carter. In case you have forgotten, Carter has been to the DPRK in both official and unofficial capacities. He has a relationship with the regime and speculates that all the…

Sam Stein reports that the Senate Armed Services Committee has scheduled two days of hearings next week on the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy on gays in the military: 

Excerpts of remarks by Marine Lt. Gen. John F. Kelly to the Semper Fi Society of St. Louis, November 13, 2010. His son, Marine 1st Lt. Robert Michael Kelly, 29, was killed in action November 9, 2010, in Sangin, in southern Afghanistan, while leading his platoon on a combat patrol.

Bloomberg reports:

On November 9, Jordan conducted its first-ever parliamentary elections monitored by domestic and international observers. I was one of the observers and was impressed by the transparency of the process. Indeed, notwithstanding some isolated incidents of violence, the elections themselves set a…

This story caught my eye yesterday:

Bill McGurn and Ross Douthat weigh in on the pope's comments on condoms.

Things don't look good for Republicans in Long Island's 1st Congressional District, where election officials finished counting absentee ballots less than an hour ago. A source close to the campaign of Republican candidate Randy Altschuler tells THE WEEKLY STANDARD that with all absentee ballots…

On the Center for Defense Studies blog, Tom Donnelly writes:

Democratic Congressman Dan Maffei has conceded to Republican Ann Marie Buerkle, a former assistant attorney general, nurse, and professional pro-life activist, in New York's Syracuse-based 25th District. This victory puts the GOP at a net gain of 63 seats since November 2. Steven Moore writes on…

There's nothing like the yellow, dying grass on the other side of the fence to make you appreciate what you already have. In that spirit, and with the prospect of Obamacare looming, a new Gallup poll shows that fully 40 percent of Americans now rate their health care as "excellent," the highest…

I couldn’t help but notice that the New York Times obituary this past week for Norris Church Mailer, widow of Norman Mailer, failed to mention the occasion that first brought their love affair to public attention. If the institutional memory of the Times has failed in this instance—which I doubt,…

The New York Times has a critical in today's paper:

Commentary editor John Podhoretz announces that Jennifer Rubin is moving to the Washington Post:

Last Friday, the American embassy in Rome held a panel discussion on the subject “Is the Internet Changing People’s Engagement in Democracy?” Fair enough. But the curious part is the identity of the featured speaker: one Sam Graham-Felsen, identified on the embassy website as “the Chief Blogger of…

President Obama was woken up shortly before 4 a.m. by his national security adviser, Tom Donilon, and told of the North Korean artillery barrage that has killed two South Korean soldiers and injured civilians.

Cue Dennis Green. In the last week or so we've gotten confirmation about what the Stuxnet worm was designed to do: Blow up centrifuges.Eric Chien at Symantec has the technical details for the nerds. The NYT has the layman's report for the techno-phobes. Key takeaways:

Rogue nation North Korea attacked their South Korean neighbors earlier today, killing two South Korean marines. Reuters reports:

Vic Matus profiles celebrity chef Michel Richard in this month's Washingtonian:

China, the sleeping giant, the middle kingdom, the inscrutable republic of a billion entrepreneurial Marxists lurking behind a Great Wall, is destined to claim the attention of the world in the foreseeable future. And as its economic power continues to multiply, and underwrites China’s traditional…

CNN reports that Democratic congressman Solomon Ortiz has conceded to Republican Blake Farenthold following a manual recount that did little to budge Farenthold's roughly 800-vote lead. This is perhaps the most surprising win for Republicans in 2010--and the most embarrassing defeat for…

CNN reports that Democratic congressman Solomon Ortiz has conceded to Republican Blake Farenthold following a manual recount that did little to budge Farenthold's roughly 800-vote lead.

Mike Huckabee is outraged:

Matt Continetti talks about Sarah Palin on CNN.

First Read reports: "An ABC/Washington Post poll shows by a 64%-32% margin, Americans favor airport body scanners, but by a 50%-48% margin they say the pat-downs go too far."

As THE WEEKLY STANDARD reported in August, pro-Israel group Z Street believes it was discriminated against after "Z Street was told by an IRS agent that it might not be granted 501(c)(3) status, which would allow the group to be tax exempt, because its position toward Israel differs from the Obama…

Fred and Kim Kagan on why defense spending must not be cut:

A national Quinnipiac poll of registered voters out today shows a wide-open Republican primary, as Palin, Romney, and Huckabee remain clustered in the high teens.

The 2010 midterm election saw a historically large percentage of voters claim to be conservative – 42 percent, compared to 32 percent in 2006 and 37 percent in 1994. Unsurprisingly, this has not escaped the notice of liberal analysts who promulgate the “Emerging Democratic Majority” thesis, which…

Many lament the poor state of our economy. But those poor souls, oh how they miss the good in the bad recession:

The Syracuse Post-Standard reports that Republican Ann Marie Buerkle's lead has grown to 567 votes over Democratic congressman Dan Maffei, and it's hard to see how Maffei could pull this off:

Ross Douthat provides a synopsis of Ireland's rise and fall today, and he ends with this chilling conclusion:

The Chamber of Commerce posted its best day of fundraising when Glenn Beck urged his listeners to donate to the Chamber in response to President Obama's unsubstantiated attacks that the group's political attacks were funded by foreign corporations. Beck listeners probably weren't too happy to hear…

The first time Jonathan Spyer went to Lebanon was in the summer of 2006 war when he drove a tank in Israel’s war with Hezbollah. He and I met in Jerusalem in July shortly before he was called up for reserve duty. The riveting and tragic story of his unit’s travails in a war that neither Israel’s…

There is an under-noticed bright spot for the Republican Party after the recent midterm election: Gains with Hispanic voters and Hispanic politicians.

The Daily Beast reports:

Jackson Diehl writes in the Washington Post:

Why has Barack Obama failed so spectacularly? Is he too dogmatically liberal or too pragmatic? Is he a socialist, or an anticolonialist, or a philosopher-president? Or is it possible that Obama’s failures stem from something simpler: vanity. Politicians as a class are particularly susceptible to…

When Cat Stevens was introduced at Jon Stewart’s recent “Rally to Restore Sanity,” the musician also known by his Muslim name Yusuf Islam was greeted with warm applause and howls of approval. It was a strange reception coming from a culturally savvy, mostly twentysomething audience, for while…

Not knowing how to say “Buzz off” in German, I consented when the taxi driver insisted I put my briefcase in the trunk. I was in a rush—I had a meeting at a government ministry. Almost from the moment the taxi began to move it was clear I had made a mistake. 

Birmingham

Do conservatives want a smaller and better government than we now have—properly limited and governed by the rule of law, but also energetically capable of accomplishing its appropriate ends? Or do conservatives just want to cut government willy-nilly, not only reducing its overall size but…

Did John F. Kennedy really write Profiles in Courage? It’s a question that has been on the table ever since Kennedy won the Pulitzer Prize for biography in 1957, and with the death of Theodore Sorensen—Kennedy’s able speechwriter—the issue of authorship has again surfaced. It’s an appropriate time…

Absence of Mind

Eleanor of Aquitaine

I think we lost the election on November 2. Every race was won by a politician. True, we elected some angry nuts. These are preferable to common politicians. Their anger provokes honesty, and their mental illness prevents honesty from being obscured by charm. (What a loss -Barney Frank would have…

Every time I hear Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell dismiss concerns over earmarking, I think of his fellow Kentucky Republican Hal Rogers, the senior House appropriator who has loaded pork into the federal budget.

For the now aging partisans of Camelot, November is a month of anniversaries. It was 50 years ago last week when John F. Kennedy was elected to the presidency as the sophisticated champion of the new liberalism. And it was 47 years ago next week that the dreams of Camelot were cruelly snuffed out…

Norman Podhoretz

Decision Points

Since January, the Dutch politician Geert Wilders, Beach Boy-haired founder and leader of the Freedom Party (PVV), has been on trial in Amsterdam for inciting hatred against Muslims and Holland’s recent Moroccan immigrants, for inciting discrimination against Muslims, and for insulting Muslims.…

The sweeping Republican victories in the midterm elections have yielded the customary progressive analysis: Americans are not just fearful and irrational, they are angry and downright dangerous as well. And as everybody knows, when non-progressives get mad—when they suffer a mass temper tantrum, or…

The calls were unexpected. Early in 2010, Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the ranking Republican on the House Budget Committee, began receiving requests for information about the Roadmap for America’s Future, his ambitious plan to reform entitlements, taxes, and spending. Ryan, a Republican…

Halifax, Nova Scotia

Is the Solomon Amendment a dead letter? The statute, enacted in 1996, forbids federal funding to universities that prohibit military recruiters or Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) units from their campuses. Yet today, nearly 15 years since the amendment’s passage—and despite President Barack…

The Ayatollahs’ Democracy

At his November 12 press conference in Seoul, President Obama was asked the following question by CBS’s Chip Reid: “What was the number-one complaint, concern, or piece of advice that you got from foreign leaders about the U.S. economy and your stewardship of the economy?”

Today's Wall Street Journal reports:

“Don’t worry, be happy,” songwriter Bobby McFerrin instructed. But that was in 1988, at the close of Ronald Reagan’s successful presidency. The unemployment rate, at 7.2 percent and rising when Reagan was sworn in, had fallen to 5.3 percent. The economy, which had been shrinking under Jimmy Carter,…

Reuters: "Obama's Democrats in disarray over expiring tax cuts."

Earlier this week, Republican National Committee political director Gentry Collins resigned and wrote a scathing letter about the RNC's poor fundraising performance in the 2010 cycle. Now, Steele's written a letter saying that the RNC under his tenure saved the Republican party from a "potentially…

A classic interview from soon to be former speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi in the New York Times Magazine:

Democratic congressman Bob Etheridge, who caused controversy for his physical engagement with a student this summer, will concede to Republican Renee Ellmers, the congressman-elect who won a surprising victory November 2. National Journal's Tim Sahd reports:

Last week Lebanese security forces arrested Omar Bakri and several associates on terrorism charges. Bakri, as you’ll recall, is the Lebanese national who was once leader of the London-based Islamist outfit Al-Muhajiroun and returned to Lebanon in 2005 after he was thrown out of England following…

Republican congressman Fred Upton of Michigan is angling for the chairmanship of the Energy and Commerce Committee, and in so doing has taken to calling himself a "pro-lifer." But Douglas Johnson of the National Right to Life Committee writes in a letter to the House Republican Steering Committee…

In an interview with Charlie Rose, Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan says the stakes are high for the next few years:

The master columnist takes aim at the TSA:

Like many of our amphibian friends, birds have been around since dinosaur times, and denuded of their feathers, would not look out of place sharing a prehistoric savanna with Tyrannosaurus Rex. But unlike the terrible lizards of yore, birds have survived and adapted over time, congenially sharing…

Grow PAC's petition to "Stop the Fed."

“[H]ealth care system is coming apart at the seams….On the ground, there is too often a glaring lack of execution: long waits, bed shortages, unequal access to medication. Those failures are compounded by the fact that the ever-rising medicare bill is squeezing out education and other social…

A Wall Street Journal/NBC poll finds that 50 percent of voters favor repealing the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy toward gays in the military, while 38 percent favor keeping the policy. That's a far cry from the much cited CNN poll earlier this year, which found that 78 percent of all adults favor…

Jim Webb: "I again call on President Obama to use the new military commission system that is in place to try the terrorist detainees currently held at the Guantanamo detention facilities."

There’s a little bug inside of me which wants to get the FCC to say to FOX and to MSNBC: ‘Out. Off. End. Goodbye.’ It would be a big favor to political discourse, our ability to do our work here in Congress.

The fight to defund NPR will continue, as Politico reports that "House Republicans failed in their attempt to force a vote on defunding NPR today in what was the first GOP-led House vote since the midterms." No worries, the GOP-led 112th Congress should be able to get the job done. Around here,…

With less than favorable polling for his upcoming reelection bid, Democratic senator Jon Tester of Montana will be a top 2012 Republican target. In 2006, Tester narrowly bested Republican incumbent Conrad Burns by just over 3,000 votes, and a large part of Tester's campaign against Burns--who…

After sending mixed signals on whether he'd support the proposed earmark moratorium in the Senate, Senator John Thune finally came out strongly in favor of it:

Quin Hillyer writes this letter to the editor in response to Kenneth Tomlinson's latest piece, "Lend Me Your Earmarks," which appears in this week's issue of THE WEEKLY STANDARD:

In response to the Ghailani verdict, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) issued the following statement (emphasis added):

Bill Kristol yesterday asked readers to help name the bill the GOP plans to introduce that would take away NPR's federal funding. Kristol's initial suggestion: The JUAN (Jettison Unbalanced Audio Now) Act. Here are a few more suggestions.

While President Obama and most Democrats in Congress have voiced their support for repealing the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy on gays in the military, a few Senate Democrats are leaving open the option of voting against repeal. Senator Jim Webb of Virginia said Wednesday that members…

Douglas Murray writes about the "obscene" payments to terrorists that the British government plans to make in today's Times of London:

In a piece at National Review Online, Tevi Troy reveals what Republican leaders in the House are reading, and what this might mean. Troy concludes: "conservatives can take comfort from the fact that their new leaders are serious readers, and that when they do read, they are paying attention to what…

With the world distracted by currency fights, European debt problems, and other economic challenges, Nicaragua has quietly invaded and occupied the sovereign territory of Costa Rica. It is an act of naked aggression that deserves to be condemned and resisted by governments everywhere, yet most…

Lots of people asked – before and after the midterm elections – if a Republican congressional majority would help or hurt President Obama’s reelection chances?

A New York jury delivered a stunning verdict Wednesday. Ahmed Ghailani, an al Qaeda terrorist who conspired to blow up American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, was acquitted of more than 280 charges, including one count of murder for each of the 224 people killed in the simultaneous…

Peter King rips the Ghailani verdict as a "total miscarriage of justice today in Manhattan’s federal civilian court." He says it demonstrates the "absolute insanity of the Obama Administration’s decision to try al-Qaeda terrorists in civilian courts."

Keep America Safe just issued the following statement in response to the verdict against Ahmed Ghailani, who was found not guilty on 285 of 286 charges:

NBC reports: 

It’s a minor tragedy of the historical profession that Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.’s instincts as a partisan ultimately trumped his gifts as a scholar. The son of a distinguished historian, he published a much-admired monograph on Andrew Jackson, and had begun a multi-volume history of the New Deal…

First the Saturday People, then the Sunday People. Such graffiti can sometimes be found in Muslim neighborhoods in the Middle East. The “Saturday People” are, of course, Jews, today nearly gone from Muslim lands. Now the Sunday people”—Christians— are in the crosshairs, and they, too, are fleeing…

As this press release from the House Republican Whip’s office (see below) suggests, Republicans seem intent on defunding NPR. They presumably won’t be able to act on this until January, when they take control of the House. This gives us all time to suggest catchy names for this bill, which could be…

One-hundred-and-fifty House Democrats have heeded the boss's advice and re-elected Nancy Pelosi as their leader. From the New York Times: 

Last night, Rep. Melissa Bean (D, Ill.) conceded to Republican Joe Walsh, who eked out a 291-vote win in a suburban Chicago district where he was outspent four to one. That gives Republicans a 61-seat gain since November 2, and it looks like the GOP's on track to make that a 64-seat gain when the…

Not so long ago I arrived at Dulles airport, outside Washington, after a very protracted journey from Russia, including a layover in Germany. Like most transatlantic voyagers, I was weary, only approximately awake, and felt vaguely unwashed. Standing for a long time in a long line to present my…

Washington Post columnist Gene Weingarten goes after Amiri Baraka's loathesome 9/11 poem in his latest chat update:

Public Policy Polling, a Democratic firm, is already looking ahead to 2012, when Democrats will have to defend 23 Senate seats and Republicans will defend just 10.

In a moving ceremony yesterday at the White House, President Obama presented Army Staff Sgt. Sal Giunta with the Medal of Honor. Allahpundit has an excellent write-up (with many links) of the event and of what Sgt. Giunta did to merit the honor. As he points out, Giunta is the first living…

Eli Lake reports in this morning's Washington Times:

Providing a strong indication of how personal, accessible, understandable, user-friendly, customer-service-oriented, and not at all posthuman your health care would be under Obamacare, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has just released a 347-page, 118,072-word "rule" to implement…

Is the British government preparing to make one of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s alleged co-conspirators a millionaire? The Washington Post reports on the British payouts to former Gitmo detainees as part of an out-of-court lawsuit settlement:

Earlier this fall, Vanity Fair published an error-ridden and badly sourced hatchet job on Sarah Palin. It was par for the course. But it was disappointing nonetheless for anyone who hoped that, one day, the mainstream media would actually take Palin seriously and cover her in a responsible manner.

The newest Rasmussen poll of likely voters shows that Americans favor repeal of Obamacare by a margin of 21 points (58 to 37 percent), while independents -- who swept Republicans into office two weeks ago -- favor repeal by almost 2 to 1 (62 to 33 percent).

Today's entry is the last in our series reviewing the 2010 midterm electoral results. Our final chapter covers the Midwest. This region has been swinging electoral outcomes in the United States for more than 200 years. It was a key element in the Jeffersonian majority from 1800 to 1824, then it was…

Andy McCarthy: Obama discovers indefinite detention isn't so bad after all.

Recently defeated congressman Steve Driehaus (D, Ohio) won't say why he decided to withdraw his complaint against a pro-life group's ad, which states Driehaus voted for taxpayer-funding of abortion. "No, I don't have any comment," Driehaus, reached by phone this evening, told me. "Stay tuned."

President Barack Obama awarded the Medal of Honor to Staff Sgt. Sal Giunta for his heroic actions in Afghanistan:

The automobile magazine Motor Trend has awarded the Obama-approved, government-subsidized Chevrolet Volt its annual "Car of the Year" appellation, reports MSNBC:

It's inevitable: Whenever a president runs into trouble, the Washington establishment counsels him to hire one of their own. In 2005, as the fallout from Hurricane Katrina, the Fitzgerald probe, and a worsening situation in Iraq harmed the Bush presidency, Republican fixers David Gergen and Ken…

Politico's Jonathan Martin reports: 

But apparently there is crying in politics: 

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

Public Policy Polling finds that where Tim Pawlenty does best--three midwestern states, including his home state of Minnesota--Romney does worst: 

Politico reports:

Cornyn quotes the Buckley rule in a statement: 

The UK government has decided to award seven former Guantanamo detainees millions of dollars in an out-of-court settlement, according to multiple press accounts. Why? The ex-Gitmo detainees claim that British authorities knew they were being tortured during their detention by the U.S. and other…

Much hash has been made about President Obama's refocus on foreign policy in the aftermath of an election that wounded his party's political ranks. That initiative may have suffered an equally damaging blow this morning, as Senator Jon Kyl -- the GOP lead on the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty…

It seems that everyone has their own favorite moment of our president’s mirror-gazing. Here are some sent in by readers.

At 1:00 p.m. today, Army Staff Sergeant Salvatore Giunta will become the first living recipient of the Medal of Honor since the Vietnam war. Bill McGurn writes in the Wall Street Journal: 

Congressman Steve Driehaus (D, Ohio) has withdrawn a complaint he filed in October with the Ohio Elections Commission that challenged the truthfulness of a Susan B. Anthony List ad, which claimed Driehaus voted for taxpayer-funded abortion in the health care bill. (Fact: Obamacare does fund…

It didn't take long for the Federal Reserve to come under fire for its resumption of asset purchases, aka "QE2", announced at the Federal Open Market Committee meeting on November 3. The decision had the unusual side effect of uniting Sarah Palin and World Bank president Robert Zoellick, the former…

George Gilder writes in today's Wall Street Journal: 

Representative Fred Upton of Michigan, the favorite to be the next chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, has come under attack by some conservatives as a mushy RINO (Republican In Name Only). But take a look at what his agenda as chairman would be. It’s anything but what a RINO would…

Morton Blackwell, an RNC committeeman from Virginia and head of the conservative Leadership Institute, has thrown his support to Saul Anuzis in the race for the Republican National Committee chairmanship. Blackwell writes in a letter to fellow RNC members: 

Chuck Schumer gets a special new leadership assignment.

Wisconsin Republican congressman Paul Ryan, likely the next chair of the House Budget Committee, was on CNBC's Squawk Box this morning. Ryan said the United States needs "low tax rates," "sound and honest money," "regulations that are fair, predictable, transparent, [and] reasonable," and to "cut…

A statement from President Obama on earmark reform: 

The recently released draft proposal from the federal debt commission offers some useful ideas for reducing runaway federal spending on health care. Even a committee comprising two-thirds Democrats is suggesting tort reform to curb wasteful malpractice lawsuits (Obamacare would do nothing about…

From the November 13, Washington Post story, "Amid Montgomery [County's] affluence, plight of suburban poor worsens in downturn":

A statement from Maine's senior senator Olympia Snowe echoes Minority Leader Mitch McConnell: 

CBS:

As noted last week, the board of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. awarded its annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor to 40-year-old Tina Fey, former writer/performer on Saturday Night Live (NBC) and current writer/producer/performer on 30 Rock (NBC). In the…

Politico's Alexander Burns has published a story titled: "Abortion was winning issue for Democrats in 2010."

On the floor of the Senate moments ago, Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell endorsed the proposed earmark moratorium that the GOP Senate caucus will vote on tomorrow: 

Rep. Buck McKeon, ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, is set to deliver in the next hour the following remarks in Washington on foreign policy in the 112 Congress:

On a conference call this afternoon, Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina said he thinks that earmark opponents have enough votes within the GOP conference to pass a conference-wide moratorium. "I think we probably have the edge by a vote or two right now," said DeMint, "but I know there's a lot of…

The Hill reports on New York Democrat Charlie Rangel's ethics hearing in the House, which began today:

Former Republican presidential candidate John McCain had some sharp words about President Barack Obama’s policy toward Afghanistan earlier today at a conference in Washington. Presidents should not make decisions based on political calculations, McCain said, and that has been the problem with…

James Grant writes in the New York Times in favor of the gold standard:

In the summer of 2009, Bill Kristol urged Republicans not to try to improve Obamacare but to “kill it.” That advice is equally trenchant today.

A reader sends in a classic Obama moment that I completely missed. Here's Ryan Lizza in a 2004 profile of Obama for the Atlantic:

The proposed earmark moratorium that the Republican Senate caucus will vote on tomorrow has pitted Oklahoma's two conservative senators against one another. "Republicans can send a signal that they get it," earmark opponent Coburn tells THE WEEKLY STANDARD. "Or they can send a signal that they…

The boss joined a number of conservative economists and businessmen in signing an open letter to Ben Bernanke calling on the Fed chairman to reconsider and discontinue the Fed's policy of so-called "quantitative easing," or money printing. "The planned asset purchases risk currency debasement and…

“Portions of this article were deleted by the Israeli Military Censor.” So begins a fascinating article, “Spies Like Us,” by Yossi Melman and Dan Raviv in Tablet. It goes into considerable detail into the U.S.-Israeli intelligence relationship over recent decades. The story is one of friendship and…

Today we continue our post-election overview by looking at the West. Historically, the West has been a fairly volatile region. In the 1880s the Republican Party figured that the West would be a GOP bastion, and accordingly the 51st Congress (1889-90) added four western states to the Union (plus…

The Making of a Catholic President

On November 7, 2006, the Democrats marked their takeover of Congress with a raucous celebration at the Hyatt Regency hotel on Capitol Hill. Balloons and confetti fell from the ceiling as the party’s leaders stood on the stage arm-in-arm, beaming with joy. “Tonight is a great victory for the…

Fame

Red

Like baseball players taking comfort in rituals, in times of uncertainty politicians look to historical trends. For Barack Obama this week, those trends are a mixed bag.

On June 5, 2009, The Washington Post posed the following question in a readers’ poll: “Do you think expressions of faith -- and not just satiric references to religion -- belong on the comics page?” Of the 257 participants, 70 percent answered “YES - the funnies are all about personal expression,”…

Sending an audience through a ritual of repetition requires a director confident in his vision and possessed of a keen eye for detail. Happily, Christian Rizzo is this kind of director. His 2007 dance piece, b.c., janvier 1545, fontainebleu, was presented last month at the Kitchen in New York City.

This is a tale of two printing presses.

Charles Krauthammer: "Why President Obama is right about India."

The Ideological Origins of American Federalism by Alison L. LaCroix, Harvard, 320pp., $35

On Tuesday, Republicans in the Senate (as well as those who are about to join the Senate) will vote in a closed door session on whether to support an earmark moratorium, which has been recommended by Senators Jim DeMint and Tom Coburn. The most comprehensive list of the current whip count has been…

At his November 12 press conference in Seoul, President Obama was asked the following question by CBS’s Chip Reid: “What was the number-one complaint, concern, or piece of advice that you got from foreign leaders about the U.S. economy and your stewardship of the economy?”

George W. Bush made some news during a session with a small group of reporters and editors this morning at the Mandarin Hotel in Washington, D.C. Bush, who is touring the country to promote his new book, Decision Points, spoke candidly about a number of issues – past and current.

Berlin 

The New York Times reported (then it didn't!) that Barack Obama suffered an "embarrassing" set back in South Korea: “For President Obama, the last-minute failure to seal a trade deal with South Korea that would expand American exports of automobiles and beef is an embarrassing setback that deprives…

Senator John Thune was profiled on Fox News last night:

Obamacare wouldn't go into effect in any meaningful way until 2014, but it's already politicizing health care to a perhaps unprecedented degree. The AP reports that American taxpayers may soon be forced to pay for free -- and likely more expensive -- forms of contraception, as part of Obamacare's…

Readers of a certain age will remember Margaret Chase Smith (1897-1995), the Republican senator from Maine who enjoyed a certain renown in her day as the first woman whose name was entered into the nomination process for president by a major party (1964), and for her daily habit of wearing a fresh…

Are Michael Steele's days as RNC chairman numbered? This morning, Wisconsin GOP chairman Reince Priebus, viewed as a Steele ally, offered a lukewarm endorsement of Steele's chairmanship and confirmed that top Republican officials are urging him to run against Steele. "I've certainly been getting a…

Barack Obama traveled halfway around the world, traveling to Mumbai and New Delhi last week. He also executed a remarkable 179-degree turn in his political and economic thinking. In India, he declared himself to be a proponent of free trade, globalization and deregulation. 

Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele drew his first official challenger this morning when former Michigan GOP chairman and current Michigan committeeman Saul Anuzis declared his intentions on Twitter. "I’m in. I’m running for Chairman of the RNC," tweeted Anuzis, who posted a link…

Today we continue our post-election review with an examination of the Northeast. Let’s start with a look at the region-wide House map. Here are the results at the end of 2008.

Michael Weiss: "The Settlement Fixation: The Obama administration and the Western media treat Israeli settlements as the key to Mideast peace. In reality, it's the least of their problems."

Ben Smith has a good piece on John Thune’s vulnerabilities as a 2012 presidential candidate. Smith’s post raises the central question: Is Thune too “establishment” for the current political environment?

Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat from New York, has come out against prosecuting Khalid Sheik Mohammed in New York City:

The Federal Reserve’s decision last week to initiate another round of quantitative easing has had its defenders and its critics. The Economist says that the Fed’s purchase of $600 billion worth of Treasury bonds is working to loosen up investment markets, while a Wall Street Journal editorial…

The Huffington Post is reeling, at least that's what the red banner headline (saying, "White House Gives In On Bush Tax Cuts") suggests. Here's the story:

Max Boot sounds an optimistic note on Iraq:

The Washington Post's Ed O'Keefe and Greg Jaffe report:

TWS pays tribute not only to all our veterans but to those now in the midst of the fight--here, for example, is an article about the Marine battalion (mentioned yesterday here) facing a fierce fight in northern Helmand:

Overwhelmed with enviro-guilt for buying bottled water? Good news--water now comes in a box! Boxed Water Is Better, a company which began in 2009, is expanding and gaining more attention. The New York Times Magazine's blog announced that now, for $2 a carton, New Yorkers can get their water boxed.…

“Don’t consult with anyone in fighting the Americans; fighting the devil doesn’t require consultation or prayers or seeking divine guidance.”

One of the more preposterous institutions in Washington—in a city with an abundance of them—is the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, awarded since 1998 by the same people who invented the Kennedy Center Honors. I have no idea who or what committee of the board at the John F. Kennedy Center for…

Never mind the talk of tsunamis and tidal waves, last Tuesday’s results revealed some storm clouds ahead for both parties. (Okay, I promise to stop sounding like the political Weather Channel.)

Robert Kagan: "Why Senate Republicans should pass the New START treaty."

Last Friday at the National Press Club, THE WEEKLY STANDARD and the Washington Examiner held a panel discussion on the 2010 mid-term elections and the future of the GOP. Some highlights: 

An influential, bipartisan group of lawmakers and policy experts are set to discuss the major foreign policy challenges for the 112th Congress next week. The Foreign Policy Initiative's annual forum, Restoring America's Leadership of a Democratic World, has already been generating a fair share of…

This bit of U.N. news would be comical if it weren't such a serious issue, as Fox News reports: 

Politico reports:

Republican governor Chris Christie doesn't mince words when he calls out Parsippany school superintendent Lee Seitz for his attempt to turn a pay cut into a pay raise:

Republican leader John Boehner and Congressman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) spoke briefly to reporters this morning in the Capitol. Boehner, the minority leader who is expected to be elected speaker of the House, and Walden, the chair of the House majority transition team, gave a few details about the…

McClatchy reports:

One line we've heard this past week is that young voters didn't turn out on November 2 like they had in the past. After fine tuning the exit poll this past week, it turns out that voters under 30 accounted for the same proportion of the electorate as they did in the last mid-term election. From the…

In the wake of the best performance by Republicans in a House election since 1938 (the last time Republicans gained this many seats) and arguably since 1894 (the last time Republicans gained this many seats and emerged as the majority party), President Obama and his allies are trying to interpret…

At Tun Tavern in Philadelphia 235 years ago today, the Marine Corps was formed. The Washington Post has an interesting (and somewhat encouraging) report, "U.S. takes on violent Afghan valley that bled Brits," on what the Marines are doing today in Afghanistan to defend America:

Don't let J Street's attempt to distract from the embarrassing performance of its candidates in the midterms prevent you from taking a serious look at the group's new polls. American Jews were polled statewide in Pennsylvania, in Illinois's 9th district, and nationally (the three can be read here).…

Is it becoming modesty in a city, or just cluelessness, to cede to others the celebration of literary lions bred in that city’s midst?

Today's post is the first entry in a four-part series analyzing the 2010 midterm election. My plan is to break it down by region, and I begin today with the South – or more specifically, the 11 states that made up the old Confederacy.

Associated Press: "Bad news Democrats — 2012 could be worse than 2010."

Minnesota may be heading toward another drawn-out recount battle, this time with the race to succeed two-term governor Tim Pawlenty. Politics Daily reports:

Having just been to Dallas this past weekend, I can tell you no one, and I mean no one, wants to talk about NFL football down there. They'll talk sports—including the Rangers and college football—but there will be no mention of the Dallas Cowboys, America's Team. On Sunday I visited an old college…

Josh Rogin reports:

The Washington Post reports that Republican House candidate Keith Fimian has conceded to Democratic incumbent Gerry Connolly in Virginia's Eleventh Congressional District. Politico lists eight other House races that as of last night were still unresolved. One of the most interesting of those…

In a propaganda tape released last week, entitled, “Who Will Avenge the Scientist Aafia Siddiqui,” Ayman al Zawahiri called on Pakistanis to “take the only available path, that of jihad ... which will liberate Aafia Siddiqui.” The woman lionized by Zawahiri is not a real person, but instead an…

Quinnipiac: "Christopher Christie gets decent grades from voters as he nears the end of his first year in office, with a 51 - 38 percent approval rating, higher than President Barack Obama or any other statewide leader, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today."

The first cheer comes from Bret Stephens, in today's Wall Street Journal:

The November Kaiser Health Tracking Poll shows that President Obama's health care overhaul has now hit a lower level of popularity than at any previous time in his presidency. Kaiser writes, "Just a quarter of the public (25 percent) now says they expect their own families to be better off under…

Law professor Ilya Somin chronicles the legal cases against Obamacare:

Conservative foreign policy wonks are worried that the Democratic majority in the Senate might try to squeeze through the new START agreement before the influx of new Republican senators come to work in January. But Don Stewart, spokesman for Republican leader Senator Mitch McConnell, thinks that…

Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, delivered a rousing speech in New Orleans earlier today. Here are a few key excerpts:

House GOP offers freshman spot in leadership. 

At a security conference in Halifax, Senator Lindsey Graham weighed in on the foreign policy implications of the election:

Chris Stirewalt reports that Republicans are trying to convince West Virginia's senator-elect Joe Manchin to join the GOP: 

Among the many strange moments in Barack Obama's post-election press conference last week was this self-pitying complaint from the leader of the free world:

The most recent Islamist terror attack on a major Pakistani Sufi shrine struck the mausoleum of Baba Fariddudin Ganj Shakkar in the Punjab city of Pakpattan on October 25. Bombs hidden in milk cans, carried on a motorcycle, killed six people and left 15 injured.

Politico's Byron Tau reports:

There are, in this great country, many impressive civic and charitable efforts to help our troops. One of them is Project Valour IT, which buys technological devices that support recovery and provide independence and freedom to wounded Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines.

The AP reports: 

On Friday, THE WEEKLY STANDARD called MSNBC’s suspension of Keith Olbermann “ludicrous,” and urged, “Republicans of the world, show you believe in the free expression of opinion! Tell the crony corporatists at NBC—keep Keith!”

The AP reports that General James F. Amos, the recently-confirmed commandant of the Marine Corps, thinks the ban on gays serving openly in the military should not be repealed: 

On Friday, THE WEEKLY STANDARD called MSNBC’s suspension of Keith Olbermann “ludicrous,” and urged, “Republicans of the world, show you believe in the free expression of opinion! Tell the crony corporatists at NBC—keep Keith!”

Conservatives nationwide must still be in shock over this news:

Have you heard about Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood’s “tabletop speech” at the National Bike Summit? Probably not, but it’s legendary in pro-bicycle, anti-car circles. LaHood got a wild standing ovation in March when he climbed on a table in a congressional hearing room, touted his…

The recent district court ruling that the “don’t ask, don’t tell” law governing homosexuals in the military is unconstitutional triggered speculation that the Obama administration, which is eager for Congress to repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell,” might choose not to appeal the ruling. That speculation…

Cognitive Surplus

My alluring wife was a Junior Leaguer, once upon a time, and got a big laugh out of a lecture she was obliged to attend on making “cold calls.” It was the first time either of us had ever heard the term, and she was especially amused at the idea of being coached about so simple a task as picking up…

The New Road to Serfdom

In a New York Times article about the rise of the Urban Caveman (the Paleo Diet is heavy on meat) that I recently happened upon, the celebrity harbinger of doom Nassim Taleb remarked: “New York is the only city in America where you can walk.” Taleb, bestselling author of The Black Swan, has been…

No, this is not going to be a full-blown exercise in the fiction genre of Alternative History: A minor adviser to the 2008 McCain presidential campaign chronicles the day-to-day ups and downs of the two eventful years following the American people’s reluctant conclusion that they don’t know a…

Iran today may be the most sanctioned country on earth. After the International Atomic Energy Agency’s 2005 finding that Tehran was not in compliance with its Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty safeguards obligations, the United Nations Security Council has slapped four sets of sanctions on the…

The United States is at war. The Obama administration has, for better or worse, met its drawdown target in Iraq, but it has also made a far larger commitment to Afghanistan than it forecast in the 2008 campaign. In total, the demands made upon the U.S. military have not diminished. The costs of the…

When Barack Obama gets called “dude” by a comedian with a fake-news cable program whose audience is a fraction of the size of Johnny Carson’s a quarter-century ago, you know we are deeply mired in an era in which American institutions, from the presidency to the late-night talk show, don’t wield…

"You won’t find a lot of Keynesians here,” explained one German economic policymaker in Berlin in September. That will not be news to anyone who has spoken to his counterparts in Washington. In their view, Germany is a skulker, a rotten citizen of the global economy, the macroeconomic equivalent of…

"All children, except one, grow up,” wrote J.M. Barrie, and Dr. Dan Kiley, despite his self-identification with the eternal boy of Barrie’s fiction, was no exception. 

The latest dump of classified WikiLeaks documents shows a few important facts: (1) The United States military unavoidably classifies a mountain of documents because of the easy loquacity of modern computerized warfare; (2) the release of these documents provides no startling revelations—anyone…

Bad enough for the Democrats that they just lost their House majority and saw their Senate advantage tumble from 60 seats two years ago to 53 (it could have been worse), but now they must brace for the effects of the 2010 Census. As the Washington Post's Charles Lane reminds us,

In the midst of a resounding national rebuke at all levels of government, the Democrats have been taking some solace in having held the Senate. But to put the Republicans' Senate gains this week into perspective, Republicans won an even higher percentage of Senate races than House races (they won…

“The people have spoken, the bastards,” said minor politician and prankster Dick Tuck after losing his bid for a seat in the California State Senate almost 50 years ago. Barack Obama undoubtedly shares that sentiment as he plans to face a Republican-controlled House of Representatives and a Senate…

Politico reports:

THE WEEKLY STANDARD was already in good cheer after Tuesday’s election. But then came the news at the end of the week, as the magazine went to press, that Nancy Pelosi has decided to try to retain her position as the top House Democrat, and will stand for House minority leader in January.

Politico reports that Keith Olbermann's fill-in tonight has given money to a Democratic candidate:

MSNBC’s suspension of Keith Olbermann is ludicrous.

Those seeking to explain the decisive Republicans victory in the midterm elections have essentially divided into two camps. The first says the Democrats were primarily the victims of a poor economy. The second says they were the victims of their own policies, and particularly of their centerpiece…

The Washington Metro bomb plot was consigned to lesser media attention in the last week of the electoral campaign. But reporting on Farooque Ahmed, the 34-year-old Pakistani-American residing in Ashburn, Va., who was stung by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the Metro affair, provided a…

Republicans scored smashing victories in the House on Tuesday night, but their six Senate pick-ups--while matching the Democrats 2006 haul--left many in the GOP disappointed. Politico's Jonathan Martin and Manu Raju capture the inevitable round of recriminations over GOP losses in Nevada, Delaware,…

A Washington Examiner and THE WEEKLY STANDARD panel discussion is being held at 12:30 at the National Press Club in Washington. Today's speakers include: Bill Kristol, Fred Barnes, Byron York, Michael Barone, and Susan Ferrechio. Watch live, if you'd like, here on C-Span.

In the past couple of days we’ve learned more about the intelligence that allowed Western authorities to neutralize the threat posed by two bombs shipped from Yemen via cargo plane. (Other bombs may still be in play, according to press accounts, but that is not a certainty.)

Indiana Republican governor Mitch Daniels was profiled last night on Fox News:

Rasmussen writes, "Fifty-nine percent (59%) of those who voted in today’s elections nationwide favor repeal of the national health care bill passed by congressional Democrats in March, including 48% who Strongly Favor it."  In contrast, fewer than one in three voters (32 percent) strongly opposes…

Lula da Silva is an international superstar. Foreign journalists and politicians have fawned over his accomplishments and hailed his “transformation” of Brazil into an economic powerhouse. Barack Obama calls him “the most popular politician on earth.” A recent poll found that his approval rating is…

The New Chamber Ballet is a collaborative ensemble dedicated to creating new work at low cost. It is the brainchild of Artistic Director Miro Magloire, a German composer turned ballet dancer, who founded the group in 2004. Currently comprised of two choreographers, five ballerinas, a pianist, and a…

Chris Christie: “Short of suicide, I don't really know what I'd have to do to convince you people that I'm not running."

At National Review Online, Pete Hegseth documents the Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans who were just elected to the House:

It is not just age that has mellowed the revolutionary passions of Brazil’s new president-elect, Dilma Rousseff, but also real experience in governance. Rousseff’s selections for her transitional team are in keeping with her moderate tone and point toward a continuation of the pragmatic policies of…

Last month, the joint “Media Academy” of Germany’s two public television networks, ARD and ZDF, hosted a three-day seminar in Wiesbaden on the topic of “Islam in the Media and in Society.” As reported in Germany’s Islamische Zeitung, or “Islamic Newspaper,” the final day of the seminar featured…

Yes, it's early, but here's a new CNN poll of the GOP presidential field:

Totalitarianism thrives on deliberate ambiguity and the installation of perpetual fear in the mind of its subjected citizenry. Even after emigrating to Great Britain, the great Hungarian-Russian historian Tibor Szamuely could never get to bed at night because he never knew when that knock at the…

While the biggest election news for Republicans is the party's takeover of the House of Representatives, the GOP had a great showing in governor's and state legislature races. Republicans won a total of 23 governorships on Tuesday, nearly double the number of Democratic wins (the New York Times has…

The appearance of Yusuf Islam (formerly known as Cat Stevens) at Jon Stewart’s “Rally to Restore Sanity” has sparked controversy. At Hot Air, Allahpundit explains why. You can also read these two articles by Nick Cohen in Standpoint magazine (UK) for background on the matter. The gist of the issue…

Republicans won historic gains in the U.S. House (and statehouses) and above-average gains in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday. Why? Because Independents have swung massively behind the GOP. And the reason for this shift, as Brookings's William Galston explains, is that independents -- and the electorate…

Paul Ryan is preparing to take the reins of the House Budget Committee, where he'll play a key role in the debate over taxes and spending in the post-November 2 era. Here are some links to bring you up to speed on Ryan and his revolutionary Roadmap for America's Future:

Fred Barnes writes in today's Wall Street Journal:

Last week I argued that President Obama and the Democrats failed to anticipate the counter mobilization created by passage of the health care law. And while some of the ghosts of health care haunted Democrats this past Tuesday, other White House and Democratic policies pursued in the last two…

Under the auspices of the Hudson Institute’s Bradley Center for Philanthropy and Civic Renewal, Martin Morse Wooster has revised and expanded his 2006 study of where and why foundations go wrong. A frequent contributor to THE WEEKLY STANDARD, and maestro of the rarefied art of philanthropic study,…

One of the most important results of Tuesday's election occurred below the governor, Senate, and House lines on the ballot. The Republicans overwhelmed the Democrats in state legislative races all across the country, picking up more than 500 seats and flipping a dozen and a half legislative…

Tuesday’s election produced another opportunity for hope and change in Washington.

Democratic pollster Pat Caddell just finished providing a remarkable rebuttal on Fox News to President Obama's assertion in his post-election press conference that, "[T]here is no doubt that people's number-one concern is the economy, and what they were expressing great frustration about…

Just in case you thought only economic issues matter in 2010, the New York Times reports: 

Salman Rushdie: I talked to Jon Stewart and he’s fine with Yusuf Islam’s rally cameo.

I think it's worth mentioning that, in a federal election of some historic significance, foreign and defense policy played a relatively small role. To be sure, foreign policy seldom plays an important role in American electoral contests, and mid-term elections are especially occupied with domestic…

The last time the Republicans gained this many seats in the House while also regaining control of the chamber was in the 19th century. Moreover, at President Obama's press conference following this historic repudiation of him and his party by the American voters, the first three questions offered a…

Today, the Washington Post reports that Eric Cantor "said on CNN Wednesday that all discretionary spending should be cut to 2008 levels, including defense."

The Denver Post has called the Colorado race between Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet and Republican candidate Ken Buck for the incumbent, reports Politico.

Matthew Continetti writes over at Ricochet that President Obama is "stuck in a political ditch."

Eric Cantor, the Republican congressman from Virginia who is likely to be the next House majority leader, wants federal spending cuts across the board--defense spending included:

On November 2, voters gave Republicans historic gains in the House and above-average gains in the Senate in a vote for reduced spending, less intrusive government, and low taxes. On November 3, the Federal Reserve voted to resume direct purchases of Treasury securities in order to promote economic…

Now that the 6-foot-7, 330-pound former Eagles offensive tackle Jon Runyan has been elected to Congress, it's worth contemplating how the leadership can best make use of him. Although the party whip is responsible for helping corral votes on key legislation, Eric Cantor may want to consider…

Saying that it's a whole new ball game on the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) would be an understatement -- it's more like a whole new sport. Several of HASC's key Democratic lawmakers lost their seats last night, including Chairman Ike Skelton from Missouri and moderate Gene Taylor from…

According to the New York Times, the Republicans picked up 60 seats (so far!) in yesterday's election. Just a reminder: Bill Kristol predicted this outcome on August 8 on Fox News.

That sound you hear is my muffled cry -- I'm buried under a mound of electoral data! Rather than somehow dredge a theme out of this mess, here are some impressions:

With their landslide victory in the midterm election, Republicans rearranged the nation’s political landscape.  They strengthened their position in the Midwest, gained a foothold in the Northeast, and practically drove Democrats out of the South.

1. Nancy Pelosi will presumably step down as Democratic leader in the House. Steny Hoyer could be challenged from the left as he seeks to move up to replace her, and he could lose--partly because the defeat of Democrats in swing districts throughout the country yesterday will move the…

Last night, the Republicans made history in the House of Representatives.  As of this writing, the GOP has been declared the winner in or is winning in 243 House districts.  If this number holds, it would exceed any Republican majority since 1946.

Politico reports that Proposition 19, which would have legalized recreational marijuana in California, has failed:

With 65% of precincts reporting, Patty Murray is leading Dino Rossi 50.5% to 49.5% in the Washington Senate race. The election is done completely by mail, and the Rossi campaign points out that more than 500,000 ballots still have to come in: 

Some Republican House victories will be sweeter for conservatives to savor than others. 

The polls were wrong: The networks and the AP have called the Nevada Senate race for Majority Leader Harry Reid. With 41% of precincts reporting, Reid is leading Angle, 50% to 45%.

Media outlets are now predicting that Congressman Mark Kirk will be the next senator from Illinois. As it stands, the New York Times reports that Kirk has 48.4 percent of the vote, while Democrat Alexi Giannoulias has 46 percent, with 97 percent of precincts reporting. This might be the greatest…

In New Jersey, former Philadelphia Eagles offensive lineman and Republican Jon Runyan has defeated Democratic Rep. John Adler by over 6,000 votes. Runyan will represent the Third District in central New Jersey.

Iraq veteran and Republican Adam Kinzinger has defeated Democratic congresswoman Debbie Halvorson in Illinois's Eleventh District, and Republican Bobby Schilling, the owner of a pizza place in Moline, has defeated Democratic Rep. Phil Hare in Illinois's Seventeenth District. Our own Matthew…

With 99% of precincts reporting, Pat Toomey has defeated Joe Sestak in the Pennsylvania Senate race by a 51% to 49% margin. 

If the 2010 midterms are, in fact, the wave they seem to be, it will have crested in the Midwest. The numbers in Wisconsin are huge – much bigger than pre-election polls suggested. One of the big winners is Scott Walker, the Republican candidate for governor. With 44 percent reporting, Walker holds…

Fox News projects that Senator Barbara Boxer will defeat Carly Fiorina in California. Fiorina, to her credit, gave Boxer quite a run, considering the liberal state of California. But it doesn't seem to have been enough. 

The networks have called it: Republican Ron Johnson has defeated liberal stalwart Russ Feingold in Wisconsin. THE WEEKLY STANDARD on Johnson here and here.

Democrat Gary McDowell is conceding to Republican surgeon Dan Benishek in the upper-peninsula district formerly held by Bart Stupak. Benishek is leading McDowell 52% to 40% with more than 60% of precincts reporting.

Democrats in Georgia appears to have been reduced to four House districts, three of which are in minority districts in Metro Atlanta. Blue Dogs Jim Marshall of the Eighth District and Sanford Bishop of the Second District seem to have fallen to Republicans Austin Scott and Mike Keown, respectively.…

With Republicans picking up a Senate seat with Dan Coats's win and two House seats so far with Todd Young winning in the Ninth and Larry Bucshon winning in the Eighth (Brad Ellsworth's old district), the Hoosier State seems to have turned back to the GOP after its flirtation with Obama and the…

Fox News has called the race in Massachusetts's Fourth District. 30-year incumbent Barney Frank has defeated upstart Republican Sean Bielat. Frank seemed to be facing his first serious challenge in decades, but the Newton Democrat appears to be carrying this race by a large margin.

Marco Rubio is now delivering his victory speech and waxing patriotic: "No matter where I go or what title I achieve, I will always be the son of exiles." 

Fox News projects that the GOP will gain more than 39 seats needed to take control of the House. In Virginia, Republicans are on the verge of sweeping all competitive House seats. 

Fox News projects that Democratic governor Joe Manchin will win the West Virginia Senate race. With 14% of precincts reporting, Manchin leads Republican John Raese 53% to 45%. Manchin's win will very likely put a Senate takeover out of reach for the GOP--Republicans would have to run the table in…

Fox News projects that John Boozman will defeat incumbent Democratic senator Blanche Lincoln in Arkansas. Lincoln struggled in the primary against her Democratic opponent, and was widely considered to lose this Senate race. Mark it as another GOP pick-up.

As expected, Republicans are projected to hold Senate seats being vacated in Kentucky (Rand Paul), Ohio (Rob Portman), and former and future senator Dan Coats will pick up a Democratic seat being vacated by Evan Bayh in Indiana. 

National Review reports:

There's been lots of talk about what the GOP needs tonight for a big, huge win. One big factor is Republican turnout. Higher than normal - that would be great. Also, the independent vote should come in big for the GOP.

As of noon today, per Michael Sandoval at NRO:

Republican sources in Florida tell THE WEEKLY STANDARD that they're very pleased with the early and absentee voting tally in Florida, and its implications for the governor's race between Democrat Alex Sink and Republican Rick Scott, which is expected to be one of the closest races in the country.…

The New York Times editors could've saved themselves trouble -- and paper! -- by just saying, vote for Democrats (and Charlie Crist and Lincoln Chaffee!). Here's their list of "Choices Around the Nation":

You know what the problem with the Democrats is: they just don't fight dirty like the Republicans do.

The Cincinnati Enquirer reports:

Man oh man, I've been looking forward to this moment.  

The United Nations is planning to hold “Durban III” in New York City in September 2011, marking the tenth anniversary of the 2001 Durban conference, and the non-governmental forum which preceded it, held in Durban, South Africa in 2001.

Kathryn Jean Lopez interviews Jay Cost about today's election:

Mary Katharine Ham tries to peel back the layers of the Rally to Restore Sanity:

Democrats currently have a 77-seat advantage in the House: 255 Democrats to 178 Republicans (there are 2 vacancies). Incumbency has its advantages, even in a year like this, so it would be amazing for the two parties to trade positions in just one cycle. But it's entirely plausible that voters will…

As we begin Election Day, the Democrats not only appear poised to lose between 60 and 75 House seats (I’ll defer to Jay Cost for the exact number), but they appear to have a roughly 50-50 chance of losing control of the Senate as well. To be sure, this is not what most people are saying, and it’s…

Much is unknown about this election. But with Republicans poised to make historic gains based on deep unrest about the policies of Barack Obama and other Democrats, one thing is certain: There will be lots of chin-stroking about the anger and hate on the right.

Fred Barnes, in the Wall Street Journal, on today's election:

1. Intro. I have to say that I am of two minds about this midterm election. On the one hand, it is great to see the Republican party in resurgence. And not just in terms of raw politics: The Tea Party movement has given the GOP a sense of meaning and purpose in the domestic political debate that it…

Democrats face a rough election day. There’s almost no chance they’ll keep control of the House. And they could lose the Senate as well, not to mention governors’ seats. My prediction is Republican pickups of 60 House, 10 Senate, and eight governor’s seats.

This week’s (October 31) issue of Parade offers the same garden of earthly delights—“Who Are You Calling a Cougar? Betty White Goes Wild,” “Peanuts at 60: Why We Still Love the Great Pumpkin,” Marilyn vos Savant, the world’s smartest woman—that have made it America’s most beloved Sunday supplement…

Is the pressure getting to Ron Kind? Last week, the Democratic congressman who holds Wisconsin's third congressional district got a little testy and refused to shake the hand of his opponent Dan Kapanke following a debate. Kind was upset that Kapanke's campaign was pushing the story that two local…

Final Fox Senate polls: 

Take a look at the pin Sarah Palin wore during a rally over the weekend for Republican Senate candidate John Raese in Charleston, West Virginia:

Via Marc Ambinder, Obama kinda sorta walks back the "enemies" part of his "punish our enemies" line from last week (not the "punish" part, mind you):

Ever since then-CNN president Jon Klein declared himself “firmly in the Jon Stewart camp” after the comedian's bombastic appearance on Crossfire in 2004, something like an anti-cult has formed around that very camp—including as it does The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and the many books and…

An amusing video via Ben Smith:

The death last week of former Argentine president Néstor Kirchner filled Buenos Aires’s Plaza de Mayo with thousands of mourners, similar to other emblematic moments in Argentine history. In 1952, the death of Eva Perón brought out the thronging masses to this legendary square in front of the Casa…

Reading about Christine O'Donnell's inability to get her 30-minute television ad on the air, The Scrapbook was reminded of one of the great political tricks of the television era. Its victim, the late Malcolm Forbes, told the story on himself in his "Fact and Comment" column in 1984:

One of the inherent difficulties of defining left-wing bias in the press to journalists is that it is something like describing the ocean to fish: It is so pervasive, and such a comfortable, nurturing environment, that it is hardly noticed.

Rasmussen shows the GOP wave cresting right about now: 

A reminder from Gallup that the terms 'independent' and 'moderate' are not interchangeable: [img nocaption float="center" width="640" height="355" render="<%photoRenderType%>"]12226[/img]

Rasmussen's final pre-election poll on the repeal of Obamacare shows that independents favor repeal by the colossal margin of 45 points (70 to 25 percent). Likely voters on the whole favor repeal by a margin of 22 points (58 to 36 percent), men favor repeal (55 to 39 percent), women favor repeal…

A legal assistant for the Center for American Progress Action Fund emails to clarify that blogger Matthew Yglesias, mentioned in this blog post last week, does not work for the Center for American Progress:

Adding to Michael Warren's findings from the "Million Moderate March" is Robert McCartney's column from this past weekend's Washington Post. Even McCartney, who admits he agrees with the concerns of many of the attendees, knows the event was not simply a call for sanity, reason, and moderation:

Among Barbara Tuchman’s many sins as an historian was the notion, propagated in her popular volume The Guns of August (1962), that the Great Powers had more or less blundered into conflict in 1914, and that smarter diplomacy might well have prevented the Great War. So pervasive is the Tuchman…

David Freddoso has a very useful election guide at the Washington Examiner: 

Bill Kristol, with Juan Williams, Mara Liasson and Brit Hume, on Fox News Sunday talking about tomorrow's elections:

Public Policy Polling, a Democratic firm, has released its final batch of Senate polls. The Republican has a one to seven point lead in the following states: 

Public Policy Polling, a Democratic firm, has released its final batch of Senate polls. The Republican has one to five point lead in the following states: 

David Freddoso, from our cousin publication the Washington Examiner, has a very useful rundown for tomorrow's election:

Scott Rasmussen writes in the Wall Street Journal:

If you’re looking for evidence that a nuclear Iran would be very difficult (if not impossible) to “contain,” visit Buenos Aires. Between 1992 and 1994, the Iranian-backed terror group Hezbollah launched not one but two murderous attacks in the Argentine capital, bombing both the Israeli embassy and…

My internal conflict between “Bruce Banner,” who predicts a 1994-style scenario, and “The Incredible Hulk,” who thinks 2010 will be as Republican as anything since the 1920s, has been resolved.

Late on Wednesday, October 20, David Folkenflik, the media reporter for National Public Radio, announced that NPR executives had terminated the contract of Juan Williams, who had worked for NPR for ten years, first as a reporter and for the last two years as a “news analyst.”

Constitutional Illusions

There are certainly bigots in the world. By no reasonable definition is Juan Williams, whose journalistic career has been capped with several books on civil rights, one of them. But last week, Williams spoke honestly about having had a thought that has occurred to many people. He confessed on…

When he died in 1986 at the age of 75, Hank Greenberg was widely acknowledged to have been the greatest Jewish player in the history of baseball. His achievements were beyond merely great—they were monumental. He played in the major leagues from 1933 to 1947, but lost four and a half seasons to…

I remember the first time I talked with a neighbor on our block. He was an athletic guy, not quite 40 if I had to guess. His head was shaven clean, which balding men prefer these days, I think to remove any doubt from your mind as to whether they know they’re going bald. They may not have hair,…

It’s been awhile since a German chancellor’s pronouncement caused a global reaction. But Angela Merkel’s remarks—to a conference of the youth wing of the Christian Democratic Union in Potsdam—that multiculturalism hasn’t worked in Germany, and that the attempt to build a multicultural society and…

The Social Network

The original sin of President Obama and Democrats was their belief in the theory that smashing victories by their party in the 2006 and 2008 elections represented a political realignment that would leave them in power in Washington for decades to come.

The final Gallup poll shows that likely voters prefer Republicans to Democrats by a 55% to 40% margin on the congressional ballot. Jay Cost will have more on this in the morning, but suffice it to say that Gallup's final number translates to enormous gains for Republicans. From Gallup: "Taking…