January 2011

Here are excerpts from Judge Vinson’s 78-page opinion, in which he ruled (1) that Obamacare’s individual mandate is unconstitutional and (2) that since the individual mandate is “the keystone or lynchpin” of the entire act, upon its removal the entire 2,700-page act must be invalidated.

Ed Martin, a 2010 Republican candidate for Congress in Missouri, has announced he is running for the U.S. Senate in 2012. The Associated Press reports:

In Palm Springs, California, this past weekend, one set of rich folks was the target of another set of rich folks. It is, uniquely, an American story. Here’s how it played out: The Koch brothers, Charles and David, held a closed-door meeting with their political allies at a local hotel. Outside,…

A district court judge in Virginia ruled in December that the individual mandate in the national health care law is unconstitutional. Despite the lack of a "severability clause," that judge ruled that the rest of Obamacare was constitutional (whether or not Obamacare would be functional without the…

Chick-fil-A, the Atlanta-based fast food chain that "didn't invent the chicken, just the chicken sandwich," maintains a famously conservative and Christian corporate culture. It even keeps stores closed on Sunday. According to the New York Times, some gay groups are crying fowl (apologies) over the…

The 2011 National Physicians Survey, conducted by Thomson Reuters/HCPlexus and polling almost 3,000 American doctors, shows that while Obamacare would raise spending, premiums, overall U.S. health costs, and debt, it wouldn't raise the quality of American health care. Rather, by a margin of well…

Marco Rubio, the freshman senator from Florida, has already been touted as a potential part of the 2012 Republican presidential ticket. But as Roll Call reports, Rubio has been actively staying off the national radar, including declining his invitation to attend the Conservative Political Action…

On the heels of a Kaiser Health survey showing that Obamacare is now less popular than at any time since its passage, a Rasmussen survey of likely voters released today shows that Americans now favor repeal by a margin of 20 points: 58 to 38 percent. Perhaps even more strikingly, two-thirds of…

Mike Huckabee expressed solidarity with Israel while attending a groundbreaking ceremony in East Jerusalem: 

This is the 3 a.m. phone call. Will President Obama rise to the occasion?

Max Boot wonders whether President Barack Obama is doing the right thing by taking a cautious approach to Egypt. "Problem is," Boot writes, "taking no stand isn’t an option for the United States in this situation." Boot goes on to praise the Working Group on Egypt's approach:

A scathing piece in Politico by two Democratic pollsters says that Obamacare's mode of passage causes it to bear an "anti-democratic stain," that it has spawned a "political catastrophe" for the Democratic Party, and that the claim that the repeal bill's passage is merely symbolic "reflects the…

For all the pomp and state-dinner circumstance, Hu Jintao’s visit to Washington generated little actual news. The Chinese “paramount leader” agreed to buy a few airplanes, agreed to talk a bit about human rights (with Chinese characteristics), and got some good press back home. All that our China…

Here’s what Republican Fred Upton of Michigan, erstwhile moderate, frequently accused of being a RINO, sometimes faulted for being too friendly to Democrats, said last week to members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, of which he is the new chairman:

In 2000, a deputy attorney general in the Clinton administration slapped the Los Angeles Police Department with federal oversight. A 1994 law gives the Justice Department the authority to seek control of police agencies that have engaged in a “pattern or practice” of constitutional violations.…

Something remarkable happened in Washington last week, and too few people in the media and politics appreciate it. The House of Representatives voted to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 less than a year after Congress passed it into law. What’s more, the vote for repeal…

The Obama administration has gradually been adjusting to reality. On Friday evening, President Obama was still exhorting President Mubarak: “I told him he has a responsibility to give meaning to those words, to take concrete steps and actions that deliver on that promise.” By this morning,…

PressTV:

The prestigious and, since its formation less than a year ago, consistently ahead-of-the-curve Working Group on Egypt, co-chaired by Michele Dunne of Carnegie and Robert Kagan of Brookings, has just issued a new statement late Saturday. The Group includes Middle East and foreign policy experts…

In case you missed it, last week's Washington Post had an in-depth feature on the precipitous decline of Borders Books. As Michael S. Rosenwald explains,

The American economy is being re-floated on a sea of red ink. Yes, there is good news. Factory sales are up, as are retail sales. Orders for capital goods, if the volatile aircraft-order segment is backed out, are coming in stronger than expected, and the figures for back months are being revised…

A little after 6:30 p.m., President Obama spoke at the White House about the protests in Egypt. "I want to be very clear in calling upon the Egyptian authorities to refrain from any violence against peaceful protestors," said Obama. "The people of Egypt have rights that are universal.  That…

Danielle Pletka: "Where is Obama's public support for Afghanistan?"

A very strong editorial from the Washington Post calling on President Obama to push for Mubarak's ouster: 

Elliott Abrams writes in the Washington Post: 

The New York Times reports: 

Writing for the Daily Beast, Bruce Riedel, a former CIA officer and adviser to the Obama administration, argues that the U.S. can coexist with a Muslim Brotherhood-dominated Egypt. The Obama administration “should not be afraid of the Muslim Brotherhood,” Riedel writes. “Living with it won’t be…

At the Washington Post, Charles Lane points out how Washington's recent winter weather woes provide another reason why electric cars--and government subsidization thereof--are a bad idea:

John Kerry calls for democracy in Egypt, while the administration has stopped short of doing so. Josh Rogin reports: 

"What I’m not willing to do is go back to the days when insurance companies could deny someone coverage because of a pre-existing condition," President Obama said during his State of the Union address.  For the most part, this claim (or at least its plain inference) is nonsense: Obamacare's…

Bruce Riedel, who today defends the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, claiming that it’s a viable alternative to the current regime, said some silly things in a recent speech delivered at Tufts Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy. The Tufts Daily reports:

Some of the commentary I have read from the left on President Obama's State of the Union address seems to praise it in the same way that Ed Kilgore of the New Republic does:

U.S. Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, echoed the president's State of the Union speech, acknowledging the need for fiscal responsibility but warning against making deep cuts to government spending. Reuters reports:

Reports from Egypt say that protests across the country’s major cities are getting violent. And now the ruling National Democratic Party’s headquarters are on fire in Cairo (follow the live stream here). But even before the demonstrations that were held after Friday prayers today turned volatile,…

Just came from an off-the-record breakfast with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who's as impressive in private as he is in public. He has to attend to big budget and policy matters in Jersey for the next five months, and he is focused on that. But after New Jersey's next fiscal year begins on…

Some striking footage from the protests in Egypt: the headquarters of the ruling National Democratic Party have been set ablaze. Hosni Mubarak is reportedly set to speak any moment now. 

Conventional wisdom among critics of Guantanamo is that preventive detention runs counter to the American civil rights tradition. Critics of the critics of course can point to previous wars in which enemy combatants were incarcerated until the war’s end. But now, a new study by Ben Wittes of…

From the Daily Caller's Jeff Poor: 

The old Washington axiom that congressional staffers are often more powerful than their bosses will not apply to Marco Rubio and those who work for him. But, as the tremendous number of resumes submitted to his office suggests, Rubio’s staff will be important. And in a move that brings an end to…

Senate Republicans announce new committee assignments. 

Guess who’s holding a super secret, ill-intentioned meeting this weekend in Palm Springs, California? The nefarious Koch brothers – nefarious because they donate to conservative causes, of course.

CNN: 

The Hotline's Julie Sobel writes:

The Washington Post reports: 

Senator Marco Rubio just returned from Afghanistan, where he was forward thinking enough to tote along a flip cam. This is a pretty savvy use of new media, and an admirably innovative way for the 21st century politician to message. 

I can usually find an interesting article or two in the Atlantic Times. (In fact, the story about Hitler's plot to bomb New York is quite intriguing.) The front-page column by co-editor in chief Peter H. Koepf, however, is not one of them. Entitled "Reaping the whirlwind: How Germans view the…

Matt Continetti writes about Rudy Giuliani's chances in the 2012 presidential election, in this week's issue of THE WEEKLY STANDARD newsletter:

Politico's Kasie Hunt reports: 

Perhaps for the first time ever (ever!), Plato's notion of the noble lie was discussed last night on Fox News's "Red Eye." Here's Bill Kristol, getting all philosophical:

The Hotline's Reid Wilson reports: 

You'd think that sooner or later New Jersey governor Chris Christie's blunt exchanges with his constituents at town hall meetings would grow tiresome. But this one (via Instapundit) just might be his best yet:

According to Nicholas Eberstadt, the most important moment of China's president Hu Jintao's state visit to Washington last week came when, as Kelly Jane Torrance previously noted, pianist Lang Lang played "My Motherland," which is "a Mao-era propaganda classic." Eberstadt writes:

Over at CNAS, Andrew Exum has a somewhat different take on President Obama's ROTC shout-out in the State of the Union speech. He writes:

The January Kaiser Health tracking poll, conducted jointly with the Harvard School of Public Health, now shows Obamacare to be less popular than at any time since its passage. For the first time since Obamacare became law, Kaiser now shows 50 percent of respondents holding an "unfavorable" opinion…

Egyptian sources are dismissing reports that Gamal Mubarak and his family have left Cairo for London. If those earlier accounts were not outright propaganda, they seem to have been based more on wishful thinking than reality.The Mubarak regime is not as brittle as that of Tunisia’s erstwhile…

The Associated Press reports:  

Mark Tapscott: Some still fighting the late unpleasantness. Like Jim Moran.

President Obama spoke last night about the need to “win the race to educate our kids” and asked if we as Americans are “willing to do what’s necessary to give every child a chance to succeed.” He highlighted one school in particular—Bruce Randolph School in Denver. “Three years ago, it was rated…

Via Ben Smith, the most amusing congressional story of the month:

Virginia Democrat Jim Moran was asked by the Arab TV news outlet Al-Hurra last night why the Democrats lost in November. His answer: America is filled with racists.

Michael Williams, former Texas Railroad Commissioner, will officially announce his bid to succeed retiring Republican senator Kay Bailey Hutchison tomorrow at an event in Austin. Here's more about Williams from the Texas Tribune, who is sponsoring the event tomorrow where he's expected to make the…

If you thought it was a dopey idea for Republicans and Democrats to sit next to each other at the State of the Union last night, Ben Nelson gets even dopier: 

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Republican chairman on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, pushed back on some of the (few) foreign policy points President Obama made in last night's State of the Union address:

Jon Ward reports on today's Budget Committee hearing, the first one chaired by Rep. Paul Ryan. The hearing was supposed to be about Obamacare, but Van Hollen, former Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman, was intent on attacking Ryan's plan.

Matt Continetti's advice for Tim Pawlenty, former governor of Minnesota from this week's TWS newsletter:

At one point, it seemed as though Barack Obama was set to become the great Democratic leader for the 21st century. Here is a man who was able to ride an impossibly good angle into the White House -- in just four years, he went from being an obscure state senator to president of the United States.…

The Washington Post's lead editorial criticizes Obama for not getting serious about reducing the deficit: 

In his State of the Union address, President Obama seemed to have two goals: the first was to sound centrist; the second was to try to convince everyone to accept the radical leftward policy lurch of the last two years and simply move on from there. As the tension between these two goals suggests,…

As the remnants of Lebanon's March 14 pro-democracy has taken to the streets of Beirut and other Lebanese cities to protest against what has now become a government led by Hezbollah and its allies, it's worth remembering why the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) matters. Hezbollah wants to cashier…

Daniel Bell, the original co-editor of The Public Interest with Irving Kristol, died yesterday at his home in Cambridge.

We learned, I think, two important things from last night's speeches. Both had to do with the power struggles within the two parties, and who now has the upper hand in those battles.

President Obama is a minimalist. Confronted by a public that has rejected his policies and voted for a Republican landslide in last November’s election, Obama has offered the bare minimum, or less, to accommodate the new public mood.

Less than three months after voters across the country expressed their utter disdain for Washington and an overreaching government, Barack Obama’s second State of the Union address, and the mindless symbolism surrounding it, validated their judgment and demonstrated that many in the political…

Attention Columbia, Yale, Stanford, and all the other elite schools dragging their feet on ROTC: President Obama will reaffirm his support for ROTC in tonight's State of the Union. The relevant excerpt [emphasis added]:

As prepared for delivery and just released by the White House for public viewing: 

Republicans have released more excerpts from Paul Ryan's response to the State of the Union: 

Eric Trager reports from the "Would-Be Revolution" in Egypt.

Paul Ryan has posted a brief excerpt of his prepared remarks for his State of the Union response:

Having vastly increased non-defense, non-entitlement spending in the process of racking up unprecedented deficits, President Obama is now expected to call in his State of the Union address for freezing such spending at these new, much higher, levels. NPR reports that Obama will call for a 5-year…

Democrats are targeting Paul Ryan and his Roadmap for America’s Future as the Wisconsin Republican is set to give the GOP response to the president’s state of the union address tonight. But while the Roadmap, Ryan’s proposal to rein in the federal budget deficit, is getting the attention from the…

Last week Tunisians deposed their president for life, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. So now we have the week of tear gas in the Middle East, with Arab security services and militaries pitted against their countrymen. In Egypt, riot police are firing tear gas at protesters, and the same is so in Algeria,…

CNN apparently liked its polling results from earlier this month -- finding the president's approval at 53 percent from January 14-16 -- that it decided to go back into the field ... a week later! They found Obama's approval at 55 percent from January 21-23. I'm not sure why another poll was called…

As Jeffrey Anderson notes below, Paul Ryan is getting attention--a lot of it in the form of Democratic attacks--as he prepares to deliver the GOP response to Obama's state of the union address tonight. This is to be expected. What's unusual is the way some news stories are trying to portray these…

The world of U.N. human rights, best known for a human rights council with members like Libya, Saudi Arabia, and China, has just outdone itself. A short press release on Monday announces that U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has made some new appointments. The biographies…

The Wall Street Journal highlights the selection of Rep. Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) to give tonight's Republican response to the State of the Union address. As the Journal notes, Ryan has gone toe-to-toe with President Obama before, faring quite well in the process. He has provided exceptional critiques…

Two excellent bits of reader email on the removal of phosphates from dishwasher detergents. The first is from a reader who has been pumping up his new detergent by adding his own phosphate. He notes that the customer review section of one trisodium phosphate product on Amazon features people…

Robert Costa reports:

In its coverage of Hu Jintao's visit to Washington, the New York Times managed to find room for five sentences about the music played at the state dinner held at the White House in the Chinese president's honor. Lang Lang, one of the best known classical musicians in this country or, as the Times…

In his State of the Union address tonight, President Obama will reportedly issue a call for "responsible" efforts to reduce deficits (while simultaneously calling for new federal spending). In light of the President's expected rhetorical nod to fiscal responsibility, it's worth keeping in mind his…

“Investment,” Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell noted, is a code word when uttered by President Obama and Democrats. It means, he said on Fox News Sunday, “we want to spend.” Indeed, that’s what Obama and Democrats most want to do.

We can thank, in large part, the Supreme Court, after 38 years of Roe v. Wade, for the lurid reports coming out of Philadelphia.

Obama will not ask for Social Security spending to be reduced.

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The Wall Street Journal reports that the president "will nominate White House lawyer Donald Verrilli as solicitor general, filling a vacancy left by Elena Kagan when she became a Supreme Court justice last year, the White House said Monday." By picking Verrilli, the White House is passing over Neal…

The first thing that should be said about the Guardian and Al Jazeera’s dump of 1,600 documents supposedly belonging to the Palestinian Negotiation Support Unity and supposedly detailing more than a decade of Palestinian-Israeli negotiations is that neither media outlet has said how it…

Indiana congressman Mike Pence of Indiana--who's deciding this week between running for president and governor--delivered a strong, succinct (372 words by my count) speech at the March for Life in Washington, D.C. today. Pence pushed back against the proposal--advanced by fellow Hoosier Gov. Mitch…

Elliott Abrams writes in the New York Times:

Midway through John Heilemann's big New York magazine piece on Obama Season 2 is this bit of gold:

In the spirit of, well, spirits, Starbucks plans to take advantage of Asia's emerging markets, with an eye towards the Indian subcontinent. As the Wall Street Journal recently reported:

Like the nearly simultaneous release of Deep Impact and Armageddon, Chemical Engineering News also ran a cover story last week about the expunging of phosphates from dishwasher detergents. (You can read my version of the story here.)

Kermit Gosnell, the Philadelphia abortionist who routinely killed babies with scissors after they were born, provides yet another stunning example of what Roe v. Wade has wrought. The editors of National Review write:

Reuters reports: 

It's a surprise to see a New York Times columnist call for a restoration of the Constitution in Exile. It's an even bigger surprise to see that the columnist is Linda Greenhouse.

Jonah Goldberg writes in National Review Online:

In a little noticed but important speech on U.S. relations with Latin America delivered earlier this month at the Brookings Institution, senior State Department official Arturo Valenzuela highlighted everything that is wrong with the Obama administration’s approach to its own neighborhood.

Last week, Beijing decided that Defense Secretary Robert Gates’s fence-mending trip to China was the perfect time to unveil new military capabilities. In the lead-up to Gates’s trip, Admiral Robert Willard, the commander of U.S. Pacific forces, revealed that China’s “carrier killer” antiship…

The Firm

Over the past 30 years, under Pakistan’s laws criminalizing blasphemy against Islam, hundreds of Christians, Ahmadis, Hindus, Sikhs, and unorthodox and reformist Muslims have been tried and imprisoned by the state or killed by extremists. But even against this brutal background, the…

My friend John Gross died on Monday, January 10. His son Tom, who sent out an email announcing John’s death to a large number of his friends, noted that his father’s death was caused by complications relating to his heart and kidneys. His health had been failing in various ways for quite a long…

Liberty and Civilization

After a depressing week—a horrible shooting that killed 6 people and wounded 14 others, followed by days of demagoguery and idiocy surpassing even the normal standards of our power-without-responsibility punditocracy—recent days have brought encouraging news. The medical prognosis for Rep.…

One of the most sought-after classical singers in Europe, Magdalena Kozena has very little of the diva about her. The 37-year-old Czech-born, Berlin-based mezzo-soprano is warm and unpretentious, whether in interviews or in conversation with backstage visitors. A mother of two sons, ages five and…

As if Congress didn’t have enough to worry about, the states are on the verge of a fiscal meltdown. From Albany to Springfield to Sacramento, the bill for decades of profligacy has suddenly come due. A gimpy economy brings in lower revenues for state comptrollers. The bond vigilantes have caught…

There is a sweet spot in France’s cultural life, and maybe in the cultural life of all countries, where a thinker finds himself able to “raise profound questions” in a way that requires neither profundity nor questioning on the part of his readers. Never has a French book hit that sweet spot quite…

A few years ago I was in the West Bank with a Christian missionary who worked among Jews and Muslims. The Jewish converts came to his home for Sunday services that were held in both English and Hebrew. But to gather with Arab converts he had to meet them secretly on the outskirts of their town lest…

The looming battle over the defense budget could produce a useful national discussion about American foreign and defense policy. But we would need to begin by dispensing with the most commonly repeated fallacy: that cutting defense is essential to restoring the nation’s fiscal health. People can be…

It was a weekend of great sorrow. On Saturday, January 8, an insane young man tried to kill Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, injuring her horribly. The man then fired his gun into a small political gathering, murdering a nine-year-old girl, a federal judge, a congressional staffer, and three of…

As President Obama prepares to welcome China’s Communist party general secretary Hu Jintao to Washington for a state visit on January 19, it’s easy to get nostalgic about an earlier era in U.S.-China relations. Throughout the 1990s, there was at least the prospect that America would use the…

State Department spokesman P. J. Crowley wrote the following on his Twitter page early this morning:

The good, the bad, and the ugly. That about describes the state of play in America.

30 years is a long time to wait for human rights in China.

Wealth & Justice: The Morality of Democratic Capitalism

There's been a noticeable uptick in President Obama's approval ratings this month, which has gotten the media talking about a shift in momentum from the Republicans back to the Democrats. Maybe that's the case. But this poll question from CNN is worth bearing in mind:

For the second time in less than a year, former British prime minister Tony Blair testified before the Iraq Inquiry today. The Inquiry is investigating the circumstances that led up to the Iraq war and its aftermath. For the second time, Blair warned of collusion between Iran and al Qaeda.

Indiana congressman Mike Pence has gotten a lot of buzz as a potential GOP presidential candidate who could appeal to both establishment Republicans and Tea Partiers--social conservatives and fiscal conservatives.

CNAS senior fellow Lt. Gen. David Barno, USA (Ret.) has some advice for Gen. Marty Dempsey, the new Army chief of staff. Along with Tim Kane’s recent Atlantic article on reforming the military’s anti-entrepreneurial personnel system, Barno’s top ten list is must reading for how to build tomorrow’s…

In General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt, President Obama may not have picked the worst possible corporate executive to head his new panel on job creation. But Immelt is pretty close.

Via GOP 12, Mike Huckabee said on Fox News today that he'll make up his mind about running for the presidency in late summer: 

Henry Kissinger has proposed a unique solution to the problem of deteriorating relations between Washington and Beijing: a U.S.-China condominium. In a recent Washington Post op-ed, he called on the two countries “to build an emerging world order as a joint enterprise.”

Charles Krauthammer writes about "flimflammery," "phony numbers," and the "the biggest budget buster in the history of the welfare state." Here are a few excerpts:

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R, Wisc.) will deliver the Republican response to President Obama's State of the Union Address. Ryan has done quite well going head-to-head with the president in the past. Here's the video of Ryan at Obama's health care summit last year:

Must viewing this weekend: On C-Span's "After Words" series, Bill Kristol, who wrote the foreword to The Neoconservative Persuasion, the new collection of his late father's essays, discusses those essays and Irving Kristol's thought in general with David Brooks.

The perennial Middle East crisis known as Lebanon has entered a new phase with the fall of Sunni prime minister Saad Hariri’s government. The proximate cause of the government’s collapse was the withdrawal from Lebanon’s coalition Shiite and opposition ministers aligned with Hezbollah. They object…

Khalid Sheik Mohammed killed Daniel Pearl.

Ramesh Ponnuru on the mainstream media's spin of the Obamacare repeal vote: 

Common Cause embarrassed itself by attempting to disqualify Justices Scalia and Thomas from the Supreme Court's review of Citizens United v. FEC, in Common Cause's last-ditch effort to overturn the Court's year-old pro-free speech decision. Ben Smith's report demonstrates precisely how unfounded…

The New York Times runs a story today based on what appears to be an obviously frivolous petition filed at the Justice Department by the partisan left-wing activist group Common Cause. The group alleges that Justices Scalia and Thomas, by virtue of their appearance at a seminar held in Palm Springs…

Matt Negrin of Politico picks up on this gem from White House press secretary Robert Gibbs:

In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, former House majority leader Dick Armey combines with his FreedomWorks partner Matt Kibbe to suggest “What Congress Should Cut” in order to reduce the deficit and debt.

As noted below, roughly $2.3 trillion of the $2.5 trillion in savings from the Republican Study Committee's Spending Reduction Act would come from cutting non-defense discretionary spending to 2006 and freezing that spending through 2021.

Republican Chris Smith of New Jersey and Democrat Dan Lipinski of Illinois have introduced H.R. 3, the "No Taxpayer Funding of Abortion Act"--a bill to ensure, well, that there is no taxpayer funding of abortion through Obamacare or any other federal program. Speaker of the House John Boehner…

Senator Jim DeMint (R, S.C.) and Congressman Jim Jordan (R, Ohio), the head of the conservative Republican Study Committee, are proposing to cut spending by $2.5 trillion by 2021. They write in the Washington Examiner, along with the RSC's budget point-man Rep. Scott Garrett of New Jersey, about…

The New York Times reports that the president's reelection campaign will officially begin in March:

While the House of Representatives passed a bill yesterday to repeal Obamacare, the bill will have a difficult time passing the Democratic-run Senate, and President Obama is almost guaranteed not sign it into law. Speaking at a press conference at the Capitol this morning, House speaker John…

A day before the House voted to repeal the worst regulatory nightmare ever conceived on these shores, President Obama claimed in the Wall Street Journal that he's signing an executive order to prevent, among other things, "excessive" regulation. Moreover, Obama claimed, his administration will take…

Daniel Henninger, in the Wall Street Journal, writes about the Spirit of America:

Jeffrey Anderson has a characteristically perceptive piece over at NRO's "Critical Condition" blog on "Three Things We¹ve Learned from Repeal."

Jonathan Martin reports: 

The list of attendees for tonight’s state dinner has been released. We note that it includes TWS contributing editor, Robert Kagan, author of this week’s cover story arguing for a robust defense budget—in large part to counteract the rise of China.

Chinese president Hu Jintao plays the lost-in-translation card.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) released the fourth edition of its Inspire magazine online in recent days. As with the previous three editions, the PDF publication is a combination of deadly serious threats and the comical, with American street slang mixed with jihadist ideology. For…

Reflecting the clear and strongly held views of the vast majority of Americans, the House has voted overwhelmingly to repeal ObamaCare. 

As the situation surrounding the flight of Tunisian dictator Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali last Friday continues to develop, the battle for the future of Tunisia is just beginning. Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Tunis to force Ben Ali from office, and former prime minister Mohammed…

The Democrats' defense of Obamacare principally relies on the fiction that Obamacare is needed to protect Americans from big health care corporations, especially insurers. Yet, as Rose Ann DeMoro writes at the Huffington Post (of all places), the truth is that "nearly all the giants in the…

A horrifying report from the Associated Press: 

Our Parody aside, CNN's John King informs his viewers that guest Andy Shaw should not have used the phrase "in the crosshairs." Explains King, "We're trying, we're trying to get away from that language. Andy is a good friend, he's covered politics for a long time, but we're trying to get away from…

Bill Kristol suggested yesterday that Joe Lieberman would be an appropriate pick for Secretary of Defense. Today, John McCain endorsed the idea. Politico reports:

ABC's Jonathan Karl reports: 

The announcement this week that both Kent Conrad and Joe Lieberman will not be seeking reelection is a stark reminder of how polarized American politics is today, as well as why it has gotten that way.

Andy Ferguson on Twitter in this month's issue of Commentary:

Tuesday morning, NBC News broadcast an interview with Saad Iqbal Madni, a former Guantanamo detainee. Madni’s story is an old one and there is no real “news” here. The New York Times published basically the same story more than two years ago. (You can read my analysis of the Times piece here.)

A year ago, 42-year-old Republican congressman James Lankford was running a youth camp in Oklahoma, and was holding planning sessions for camp activities.

Yesterday President Obama wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal calling for balance between regulations that protect the population and those that promote economic growth. It's one more step on the president's road to the center. But is Obama really willing to embrace a noninterventionist, or…

In a new editorial, the New York Times frets that when it comes to the Supreme Court's current business docket, too many corporations are hiring lawyers that are just too effective, experienced, and well-respected. Or, in the Times's words, too many "former lawyers in the Justice Department’s…

Sargent Shriver, the brother-in-law of JFK who served in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations before running as George McGovern's vice presidential nominee, died last night at the age of 95. In 2004, Michael Novak wrote an engaging piece in THE WEEKLY STANDARD on his time working as Shriver's…

On the morning of the House of Representatives' vote to repeal Obamacare, it's worth noting that four polls in the past two weeks have asked Americans the straightforward question of whether they support or oppose repeal. Three of these polls didn't screen for likely voters (who tend to be more…

In the congressional floor debate leading up to the repeal vote, Rep. Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) highlighted a point that has generally gone under the radar: The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says that Obamacare would increase the national debt. The CBO writes that, by the end of 2019…

A Lieberman aide has confirmed to THE WEEKLY STANDARD that Joe Lieberman will announce tomorrow that he will not run in 2012 for another term as U.S. senator from Connecticut.

Holtz-Eakin, Antoz, and Capretta: Health care repeal won't add to the deficit. 

Watching the debate over the repeal of ObamaCare that's taking place on the House floor right now, Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D., Tex.) said late this afternoon, "The choice here is whether to give more money to insurance monopolies or leave just a little bit in the pockets of middle-class Americans." …

Politico PULSE reports

Several people have e-mailed to ask why Joe Lieberman is (apparently) going to announce tomorrow that he won’t be running for re-election to the Senate.

Germany’s Der Spiegel has made it something of its bread-and-butter to promote scares with sensationalist cover stories and spooky cover art. But Americans might be especially surprised by the identity of Der Spiegel’s latest big threat: the social-networking site Facebook. Yes, just three weeks…

Fox News reports that the Council on American-Islamic Relations has asked a chapter in California to stop using a provocative propaganda poster:

The Atlantic's Joshua Green digs up a pretty great video of Herman Cain, likely 2012 GOP presidential candidate and former Godfather's Pizza CEO, debating Bill Clinton on the cost of Clinton's national health care plan:

The Hotline's Steven Shepard reports:

Senator Joe Lieberman, the independent from Connecticut who caucuses with the Democrats, will announce his plans for 2012 tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. in Stamford, Connecticut. Earlier today Connecticut's Democratic secretary of state Susan Bysiewicz announced that she will seek the Democratic Senate…

Charlie Spiering at the Washington Examiner picks out some highlights from the Today show's interview with Dick Cheney. 

Philip Berk, president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which runs the Golden Globe awards, told the Hollywood Reporter that host Ricky Gervais "definitely crossed the line. And some of the things were totally unacceptable. But that's Ricky." Also, "any of the references to individuals…

Peter Wehner points out that Seymour Hersh has lost his few remaining marbles:

President Obama has written about the need for balance between the free market and government regulations in the Wall Street Journal today. In the process, however, he repeats a canard about how insufficient regulation "caused" the financial crisis of 2008:

Well-known New York book publisher Jonathan Karp, head of Simon & Schuster, sent out this mass e-mail this morning. It seems to be an ingenious and subtle way of hyping Simon & Schuster’s forthcoming anonymous novel, “O.” But it also got me thinking.

Chris Cillizza reports: 

Penn law professor David Skeel has an op-ed in today's WSJ on the need for a state bankruptcy law. Unfortunately, it's behind a pay-wall. But don't worry, because Skeel wrote a longer version of his argument for TWS last year, which you can read here.

The Civil War

Yuval Levin: Paul Krugman, Logician.

The vote on H.R. 2, the bill to repeal ObamaCare, is scheduled for Wednesday in the House of Representatives. (H.R. 1, a simple resolution to elect the House clerk, chaplain, chief administrative officer, and sergeant-at-arms, was passed on day-1 by a voice vote.)  It's quite fitting that the…

Peter Wehner pays tribute to Martin Luther King Jr:

Joseph Bottum writes in USA Today on GOP efforts to play chicken with the debt ceiling: 

American political parties are loose associations that lack any kind of formal structures. The two parties stretch across three broad categories -- the electorate, the party organization in place to facilitate the campaign, and the government.  None of these parts of the party is formally connected…

In the Wall Street Journal, Arthur Laffer writes, "There are...many truly bad provisions in...the president's health-care legislation that should and could be repealed. The Republicans should target these provisions for repeal and attach them to the bill to raise the debt ceiling." Laffer notes…

The Hill reports on a hopeful change at the RNC: 

Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, like Marco Rubio, comes away from his trip to Afghanistan with a stronger commitment to victory in that war. “We’ve sacrificed so many lives and so many dollars in this effort and it’s such an important effort in terms of our national security, we have to see this…

Four new Republican senators--Marco Rubio (Fla.), Kelly Ayotte (N.H.), Ron Johnson (Wisc.), and Pat Toomey (Penn.)--just concluded a trip to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and senators Richard Burr (N.C.) and Lindsey Graham (S.C.) were on the trip as well. 

The Chinese government chose to answer some questions (though not others) submitted by the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post, ahead of the visit by Chinese President Hu Jintao to the U.S.. The first paragraph of Hu Jintao's response to Question 4 could turn out to be historically…

A widely reprinted AP story, based on a recent AP/GfK poll, is entitled, "Opposition to health care law eases." Don't believe it. What has eased isn't the level of opposition to Obamacare, but rather the level of effort that AP/GfK has made to ensure that its polling sample is representative of…

In 1991, at the end of the Cold War, there were 710,821 active-duty soldiers in the U.S. Army. By 2001, that figure was down to 478,918. That 32 percent decline in active-duty strength severely limited our options for a military response to 9/11, practically dictating that the forces sent to…

Just as he was due to take power over New Year’s weekend, Vincent Gray, the new mayor of Washington, D.C., declared surrender in what voters had anticipated would be a knock-down, drag-out fight. Last November Walmart announced plans to open its first stores in the District. The low-cost retailer…

As the 112th Congress begins its work this month, it must take up some unavoidable unfinished business left behind by its predecessor. In their frantic, sloppy struggle to advance big-ticket items on the liberal agenda, the Democratic leaders of the 111th Congress not only failed to produce a…

Robert Benchley said that the world is divided between those who divide the world into two kinds of people and those who don’t. I am one of those who do, and would like to present a fresh such division. Here the little darling is: The world is divided between people who believe that what is most…

No painter in history is more taken for granted than Meindert Hobbema.

Nazi Propaganda for the Arab World

I Found This Funny

China’s president, Hu Jintao, is about to make a state visit to Washington, hard on the heels of a statement by Liang -Guanglie, his defense minister, that “in the next five years our military will push forward preparations for military conflicts in every strategic direction.” Not quite Nikita…

The Typewriter Is Holy

The Honor Code

True Grit

Whether House Republicans will succeed in limiting the national government is a question raised by a simple rule adopted on their first day in the majority. Under the rule, every bill when introduced must be accompanied by a statement citing the specific authority granted to Congress by the…

Tunisia’s president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali abandoned his post on Friday after 23 years, and has reportedly landed in Saudi Arabia. To retire from the position of president-for-life is an exceedingly rare move for an Arab regime chief. Indeed, no modern Arab ruler before Ben Ali has ever willingly…

The tragic shooting by a deranged man in Tucson absorbed the president’s time and attention last week, and culminated in a masterful speech in which he refused to blame the tragedy on heated political discourse, but nevertheless called for a more civil discourse to help the nation face up to its…

With apologies to Wordsworth, a well-known conservative emailed the following sonnet to The Scrapbook “Expressing Concern with Republicans’ Tendency to Revert to a Green-Eyeshade Obsession with Trivial Spending Cuts.” Here’s hoping this will stiffen congressional spines for going after larger game,…

The fifth ballot at the RNC race:

William Galston, senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institute, writer for the New Republic, and founding board member of the recently launched No Labels project, predicts, “the key to Democratic Party success over the next two years will be its strategic response to Obama.”

An emotional Michael Steele just took the stage at the RNC meeting to announce that he's dropping out of the race. 

“The United States in the 20th century is an example of a state achieving eminence without conflict with the then-dominant countries.”

Americans don't really need another reason not to link the senseless actions of a deranged individual in Tucson to the tenor of American political discourse, but it is worth considering how accusations that the lunatic shooter in Tucson was influenced by our political rhetoric feed directly into…

The Hill reports that Vice President Joe Biden has named Bruce Reed his new chief of staff:

Round two: 

Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty has been doing the rounds lately, promoting his new book and signaling quite clearly that he is going to run for president. He's still pretty much an unknown quantity among the mass public, but I think there are a lot of reasons for conservatives to take a…

The 168 RNC members have just cast their ballots in the first round of voting in the RNC election. Wisconsin GOP chairman Reince Priebus got 45 votes, Michael Steele 44, GOP operative Maria Cino 32, Michigan committeeman Saul Anuzis 24, and former Missouri chairman Ann Wagner 23. That's pretty much…

A new Rasmussen poll of likely voters shows that fewer than one in five Americans -- 18 percent -- want to keep Obamacare as it is. The 75 percent who don't want to keep Obamacare in its current form (the remainder are undecided) are pretty evenly split among three options -- repealing it and not…

Mike Allen reports: 

So I pick up the Wall Street Journal this morning, and read about the closing of the Mayflower Hotel's bar in Washington D.C.:

The AP reports that one of the men behind the Ground Zero mosque, Feisal Abdul Rauf, will now have a "reduced" role in the project:

The Wall Street Journal reports on the closing of the Mayflower Hotel's bar in Washington D.C.: 

Last week, when the big news was the health care repeal bill in the House, Democrats accused Republicans of only wanting to do something symbolic. Since the repeal bill would probably pass in the House but would fail in the Senate or fail to gain the president's signature, Democrats argued,…

Ramesh Ponnuru looks at the history of (attempted) entitlement reform and suggests Republicans should wait until they have the presidency to reform Medicare and Social Security:

A bipartisan group of China watchers and human rights advocates have written a letter to Barack Obama, urging the president to "seize the opportunity before [him]—an opportunity nearly all Chinese lack—to confront the Chinese leadership about its profound disrespect for universal human rights."…

The Virginia Pilot writes, "The Obama administration 'did a really terrible job handling health care reform,' he [Sen. Jim Webb (D., Va.)] said, because the president relied on Congress to draft a plan. 'You can't turn something that complicated loose on the United States Congress,' he said..."

Pro-abortion groups want to protect the filibuster. 

Most of the press accounts of China’s test flight of its new J-20 “stealth fighter” took their spin either by gauging whether it was a middle-finger welcome salute to Defense Secretary Robert Gates during his trip to Beijing, or whether Chinese leader Hu Jintao knew about the insult beforehand. 

Republican Texas senator Kay Bailey Hutchison announced today she isn't running for reelection in 2012. Hutchison had planned to resign from the Senate to run for governor last year, but chose to serve out her term after losing the Republican primary for governor to incumbent Rick Perry, who went…

Good news for the president. After nearly two years of sliding downward, his job approval numbers have ticked up a little bit. The average of major media polls in December had him clocking in with a job approval of about 45 percent. As of early January, his numbers are up to about 49 percent. The…

Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty, who kicks off his national book tour (i.e. the unofficial start of his presidential candidacy) this week, is viewed as a somewhat squishy establishment Republican by some in the media and the conservative movement. That perception may be due in part to the…

President Obama’s speech in Tucson was fine, as far as it went. The protocol in such circumstances seems to require presidents to call for healing, unity, civility, fellowship, and a determination to move forward, as well as a shout-out to heroes and victims. The president appears to have done all…

Leading up to President Obama's meeting next week with his Chinese counterpart, Pew Reserach has released a poll that details Americans' views of China:

Perhaps the most powerful moment of President Obama’s moving address yesterday came when he announced that Representative Gabrielle Giffords had opened her eyes for the first time during a visit from some of her colleagues in Congress.  

Last night, former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty sat down with the Daily Show's Jon Stewart:

Pete Hegseth and Wade Zirkle write in the Wall Street Journal:

As prepared for delivery:

As Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri was in Washington to meet with President Obama this morning, Hezbollah and its allies withdrew from the Lebanese cabinet, setting the table for what many fear is an inevitable escalation of violence in the eastern Mediterranean. The Obama administration…

Allahpundit: "ABC: Why must Sarah Palin insert herself into this story by defending herself against charges of inspiring murder?"

Tim Mak reports that, in a letter to RNC members, Speaker of the House John Boehner has endorsed Maria Cino:  

Max Boot corrects the false narrative that Grover Norquist seems to be pushing, which suggests that America could save a lot by leaving Afghanistan. Boot writes:

What if you could prepare for a state visit in Washington that boosts your public image while at the same time humiliating your rival and intimidating your neighbors?

Here is a new myth about Guantanamo. The attorneys for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange claim that if Assange is extradited to Sweden he may end up detained in Cuba. The Guardian (UK) reports:

The Catholic News Agency has excerpts from Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput's tribute to Judge John Roll, who was gunned down on Saturday in Tucson: 

Some bloggers are outrageously outraged that Sarah Palin used the phrase "blood libel" in reference to the attempts by many on the left and in the media to smear the blood of Tucson massacre on her hands. Historically, of course, that phrase refers to the medieval European libel against Jews.  

A high school friend of Tucson shooter Jared Lee Loughner says that when the two were in touch a couple of years ago, Loughner "did not watch TV. He disliked the news. He didn’t listen to political radio. He didn’t take sides. He wasn’t on the left. He wasn’t on the right."

The New York Times reports:

Jennifer Rubin wonders whether the planned memorial service tonight in Tucson is appropriate. As the Washington Post reported yesterday, "The service is set for 8 p.m. Eastern time at the University of Arizona's basketball arena, the school said. It will include a Native American blessing, a moment…

Sarah Palin has posted the full text of her address on her Facebook page:

Just when it seemed like everything that could be said about the Tucscon massacre had been said, Charles Krauthammer has written the definitive column:

Going Home to Glory

The Obama administration supports the establishment of a jihad rehabilitation program in Yemen, according to remarks Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made during a town hall in the region. Clinton said the efforts would be modeled after jihad rehabilitation programs in Saudi Arabia supported by…

Former Dem congressman Paul Kanjorski calls for civility in NYT op-ed today, called for GOP candidate to be shot in the fall.

In response to Saturday's shooting spree in Tucscon, Rep. Peter King (R, N.Y.) has announced that he's planning on introducing legislation to make it illegal for American citizens to knowingly carry a firearm within 1,000 feet of a member of Congress. King told THE WEEKLY STANDARD over the phone…

There has been no shortage of individuals and institutions that have sought to capitalize on the shootings in Tucson. Add Vermont senator Bernie Sanders to that list.

Via Drudge, NBC Chicago reports that Rahm Emanuel was "taken aback" when asked about his remark "you never want a serious crisis to go to waste."

Over the weekend, Jeb Bush wrote a very insightful editorial for the Miami Herald:

A Cheerful and Comfortable Faith

In shopping for the best value in a health care plan, what sort of plan would you choose? What benefits would you choose to have it cover? Well, under Obamacare, that wouldn't really be your decision to make. It wouldn't even really be Congress's decision. Rather, It would be the decision of the…

Heading into the RNC meeting and election this week, the Hotline reports that Wisconsin GOP chairman Reince Priebus remains the frontrunner in the race for RNC chairman. The winner needs 85 of the 168 RNC votes, and Priebus has 38 publicly declared supporters, while former Michigan GOP chairman and…

The AP reports:

Jim Capretta offers some outstanding advice in National Review about the upcoming budget battles. He writes, "Republicans need to convince voters, especially independents, that their plan is one of sensible, pragmatic stewardship of the taxpayers’ money, and that the president and his allies in…

Marc Thiessen: "Stop blaming the Tea Party for the Arizona tragedy."

There's as much evidence that Sarah Palin's map of "targeted" House districts inspired the Arizona shooter as there is that the killer was inspired by Joe Manchin's "shoot the cap-and-trade bill" ad. That is to say: None. Manchin shouldn't need to explain his ad any more than Palin needs to explain…

George Will writes in the Washington Post:

As Jared L. Loughner opened fire on Representative Gabrielle Giffords and a small crowd of supporters, killing at least 6 and wounding many others, there appears to be at least three people who, in the face of horror, performed unimaginable heroic acts: Bill Badger, Daniel Hernandez, and Patricia…

The Los Angeles Times reports:

In a report titled, “Defining Success in Afghanistan,” Fred and Kim Kagan write:

The mayor of Boston doubts that Scott Brown can lose next year:

Glenn Reynolds: "The Arizona Tragedy and the Politics of Blood Libel: Those who purport to care about the tenor of political discourse don't help civil debate when they seize on any pretext to call their political opponents accomplices to murder."

Paul Krugman writes on the Arizona shooting in his New York Times column today: 

Philip Klein at the American Spectator has a great catch, the kind that encapsulates the inanity of blaming Sarah Palin and the Tea Party for the deranged acts of a psychotic. It's so good that I'll just post the whole thing:

Even before anything at all was known about Jared Lee Loughner, who went on a deadly shooting spree outside a Safeway in Tucson, Arizona, on Saturday, a narrative was beginning to take shape.

The man who shot Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and others, including a 9-year-old who died, today in Arizona is Jared Loughner, the AP reports. YouTube videos posted by a man with that same name include rantings about "mind control and brainwash methods" and an incoherent obsession with grammar and years:

At a news conference moments ago, a spokesman at the hospital where Rep. Gabrielle Giffords has been taken said that Giffords is out of surgery after being shot through the head. The spokesman said he is "very optimistic about recovery" and "about as optimistic as I can get in this situation." 

Horrifying news out of Arizona. Politico reports:

NPR reports:

It is not for nothing that Victorian historian Thomas Carlyle’s description of economics as the “dismal science” hangs around the profession’s neck like some dreadful albatross. For where most people see clear blue skies, we see clouds. Just as the American economy is picking up, threats are…

Philip Klein: "CBO Says Repealing ObamaCare Would Reduce Net Spending by $540 Billion."

Republican Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama delivered a powerful argument Friday for deep cuts in federal spending to avert an economic downturn far worse than the sharp recession of 2008 and 2009.

Tom Donnelly, Mackenzie Eaglen, and Jamie Fly write:

On Thursday, the Department of Defense announced the transfer of an Algerian named Saiid Farhi from Guantanamo to his home country. The second line of the DoD’s press release reads: “Farhi was ordered released by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Nov. 19, 2009.” What the DoD’s…

Jen Rubin writes at the Washington Post:

It’s disappointing that Princeton University remains unwilling to consider ROTC courses for academic credit, particularly after student calls for the university to reevaluate its relationship to ROTC pending the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

From the New York Post's Page Six:

“We can only find the ways to communism if we get started and try them out, whether in the opposition or in the government,” Gesine Lötzsch, co-president of the German Left Party, declared earlier this week.

Three Republican members of the House Armed Services Committee, in addition to the chairman, Buck McKeon, have put out statements critical of the new round of Obama defense cuts—Todd Akin, Randy Forbes, and Rob Wittman.

Next week's repeal vote is where the rubber will meet the road for the 13 House Democrats who voted against Obamacare, as it's their chance to show whether they're really against the highly unpopular overhaul or not. Two of these 13 Democrats have already pledged to vote for repeal. Last night on…

In the past four years, administrations of both parties have had to surge ground troops to war theaters in order to make success possible in missions central to the national security of the United States. Just last week, the Obama administration announced an additional 1,400 Marines would be…

The most recent Gallup poll shows that Americans favor repeal by a margin of 6 percentage points (46 to 40 percent) – and that's even without screening for likely, or even registered, voters.

Charles Krauthammer writes in the Washington Post:

William Daley is President Obama's new chief of staff.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates today tried to put the best face on the White House’s decision to enforce on the military additional cuts beyond an already stringent defense budget, and beyond the reductions Gates had already volunteered. So the military, having uniquely in the government received…

The House Armed Services Committee responds to the Obama administration's demand for further Defense cuts today: 

For days, Democrats have made clear their displeasure with the Republican leadership's decision to begin the new House term with a reading of the U.S. Constitution. But Democrats' specific grievance, immediately before the reading commenced, was a surprise: Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and…

In THE WEEKLY STANDARD and on this blog, we’ve taken note of the ongoing Justice Department investigation involving the disclosure of classified information by James Risen in his 2006 book, State of War. The case finally seems to have resulted in an indictment of a former CIA officer:

Nicholas Kristof, generally a standard-fare liberal columnist, devotes his New York Times column today to defending a more capitalist approach to aiding Haiti:

Having just returned from the e21 and Manhattan Institute-sponsored Conversation with Paul Ryan (very ably conducted by Paul Gigot)--and having seen Marco Rubio speak recently as well, I'll just say this: Wouldn't it be easier just to agree now on a Ryan-Rubio ticket, and save everyone an awful lot…

In an otherwise fine editorial, the Wall Street Journal writes that, after Republicans vote for Obamacare's full repeal (next week), they should "attack ObamaCare piece by piece," by "restor[ing] funding for Medicare Advantage" and passing other bills of that nature – which, the Journal writes,…

According to FishbowlDC, the NPR executive responsible for firing Juan Williams has resigned:

The Obama administration fancies itself as the ‘most transparent’ presidential administration ever. Yet, when it comes to Guantanamo Bay detainees, the White House has consistently been less than forthcoming. Today, Eli Lake picks up a letter that Republican members of the Senate Intelligence…

Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan said this afternoon at the National Press Club that his committee and others will hold “lots of hearings” on Medicare and Medicaid reform during the next two years, even though he's not sure there's consensus in the Republican party to bring up legislation for a…

Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan said this afternoon that contrary to claims that Obamacare will reduce the deficit, it will actually increase the deficit by roughly $700 billion. 

As Politico reports, today Secretary of Defense Robert Gates will step forward to offer a list of procurement programs the administration is putting on the chopping block in the coming year. It won’t be the first time that Secretary Gates has moved to cut high profile programs that, in his…

The Hill reports that John McCain, the Senate's lead opponent of repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell, will work to "minimize" repeal's harmful effects on the military: 

Paul Ryan will soon sit down for a conversation with Wall Street Journal editorial page editor Paul Gigot. e21 and the Manhattan Institute are sponsoring the event, which will be at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. from 12-1 p.m. Bill Kristol will be introducing Ryan and Gigot. You can…

House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) issued the following statement with respect to House Republicans’ continued efforts to repeal and replace the Democrats’ costly government takeover of health care:

A column on yesterday's swearing-in ceremony in Massachusetts:

Ryan Streeter, editor of the very interesting and useful new website, ConservativeHome, had an excellent Q and A with Yuval Levin earlier this week. Read the whole thing here —and then read some of the fine articles in the new issue of National Affairs, which Levin edits, here.

As I reported on Monday, the Obama administration is paying taxpayer money to Google, Yahoo!, and Bing so that, when Americans search for "Obamacare" (and a whole host of other entries, the first listing that comes up (or the first listing after "Stories" on Yahoo!) is the administration's own…

Muqtada al Sadr returns to Iraq.

As speculation grows over whether Rep. Mike Pence (R., Ind.) will run for governor or president, a number of observers have seen his concentration of scheduled events in Indiana as a sign that he'll opt for governor. On the other hand, Politico's Kasie Hunt notes that Pence is heading to South…

Iran's military meddling in the fledgling nation of Iraq is common knowledge, as is their frequent -though ineffective- electoral tampering. A key instrument of Tehran's propaganda machine is manipulation of Iraqi and wider Arab media, vehicles for Iran to slander Iraqi politicians who reject the…

Speaker of the House John Boehner's remarks, as prepared for delivery:

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Via Mary Katharine Ham:

Like other tyrannies before it, the Iranian clerical dictatorship, headed by “supreme leader” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the venomous demagogue Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, seeks to frighten and intimidate its subjects by identifying a wide range of alleged internal and external enemies. But the Iranian…

Speaking to reporters at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast this morning, former Vermont governor and 2004 Democratic presidential candidate Dr. Howard Dean shared his thoughts on the Tea Party.

A recently leaked WikiLeaks cable says that Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was slapped in the face by Revolutionary Guard chief of staff Mohammed Ali Jafari. The New York Daily News reports:

Press secretary Robert Gibbs is leaving the White House. The New York Times reports:

CBS reports the findings of a new Zogby poll:

When Republicans officially take over the House of Representatives today, a small group will begin playing an influential role. It’s not the tea parties (which aren’t small). Nor is it establishment Republicans. It’s the meager Republican class of 2006.

Joe Biden's chief of staff leaves.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), a division of the Department of Health and Human Services, are required by law to educate the public about important information regarding open enrollment for Medicare. But are they also required to reeducate us about the “benefits” of Obamacare?

The AP reports:

J. Christian Adams has a devastating post on Adam Serwer and the New Black Panther Party scandal:

Rasmussen finds that more Americans now consider themselves to be members of the party of Lincoln and Reagan than of FDR and Obama.  The poll finds that 37 percent of Americans now call themselves Republicans, compared with 34 percent who call themselves Democrats. Rasmussen adds, "Keep in mind…

On Saudi television last week, a former Guantanamo detainee named Jabir al Fayfi claimed that he and his fellow Saudi detainees were radicalized during their time in American custody. According to a write-up on alriyadh.com, al Fayfi claimed “that the weakness of religious knowledge among the Saudi…

If you have a moment—that is, once you've caught up on emails and firmed up those resolutions—I recommend perusing Dave Barry's year in review in the Washington Post Magazine. You'll laugh, you'll cry, all at the same time.

In John McCormack's interview with Michael Steele, the chairman of the Republican National Committee said: "Tell me what election we lost because I gave $15,000 to Guam."

If there's one thing more annoying than hypocrisy, it's illogical accusations of hypocrisy (e.g. for some reason, those who want freedom to save for their own retirement as they see fit and oppose Social Security in principle should not accept Social Security benefits after they've already paid…

Yuval Levin, editor of National Affairs, recently corresponded with Ryan Streeter of the website Conservative Home. You'll want to read the whole interview. Here's a taste:

Soon-to-be Speaker of the House John Boehner praises a $35 million cut in spending in his first press release of the new year. Sure, it's a drop in the bucket as far as federal spending goes, but it's a good start. Here's the release:

The picture is pretty bleak for Michael Steele--a majority of RNC members have pledged to vote for someone other than Steele. So is there any chance he would throw his support to another candidate if the balloting doesn't go his way? "No," Steele told THE WEEKLY STANDARD yesterday. "I'm running to…

On Thursday, January 6, e21 and the Manhattan Institute will be hosting an event with Rep. Paul Ryan at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. Wall Street Journal editorial page editor Paul Gigot will moderate the event. Here are the details:

Overwhelmed by violent protests, Bolivian president Evo Morales announced last Friday that he was reversing his controversial decision to abolish fuel subsidies. The removal of those subsidies had caused an abrupt spike in gasoline and diesel prices (which immediately jumped by 73 percent and 83…

On January 12, the House of Representatives will vote to repeal the unprecedented centralization of power, massive increase in spending, and disquieting affront to liberty known as Obamacare.

Having recently praised Michele Bachmann, and remaining a fan in general, I think it appropriate to register disappointment at her embrace of a silly position. On several conservative websites, you'll find a web ad featuring her and promoting a petition: "Tell Congress, 'Don't Raise the Debt…

One of the more amusing aspects of Monday's RNC debate was the sight of the Tucker Carlson of the Daily Caller and Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax reform, two of the debate's moderators, sitting side by side at the same table. In the past, the two have not been the best of friends, to put it…

Mark Stokes and Dan Blumenthal: "Why China's missiles should be our focus."

Following the RNC debate in Washington D.C. this afternoon, Chairman Michael Steele vigorously defended his controversial decision to spend RNC money on Republicans in the U.S. territories--a move that a number of RNC members saw as an unwise use of resources and a cynical attempt to win the votes…

I’m told the Speaker’s office is about to announce that the House Rules Committee will meet on Thursday, and that a rule to consider the repeal of Obamacare will be brought to the House floor on Friday.  The House will then vote on the repeal of Obamacare on Wednesday, January 12. In order to…

The brazenness of the Obama administration never ceases to amaze. Try typing "Obamacare" into Google, and you'll find that the first entry is now the Obama administration's www.healthcare.gov. If you don't particularly like that result, you'll probably hate the fact that you're paying for it.

Under the headline, "Construction Stops at Physician Hospitals," Politico reports today that "Physician Hospitals of America says that construction had to stop at 45 hospitals nationwide or they would not be able to bill Medicare for treatments." Stopping construction at doctor-owned…

The latest edition of Newsweek says that Jon Huntsman might be interested in running for president:

A few weeks ago, I wrote about a 347-page, 118,072-word Obamacare "rule" released by Health and Human Services Secretary (HHS) Kathleen Sebelius and unconfirmed-Medicare Administrator Donald Berwick, two people whose power would increase immensely under Obamacare. I wrote, "To get a real flavor for…

Norman Finkelstein will speak at Tufts University on March 15, 2011, according to Finkelstein's speaking schedule posted on his own website. The news is not that an anti-Israel speaker would visit a liberal New England academy, since unfortunately this has become standard fare, but that this…

As we ring in the New Year, the Wall Street Journal reports, "The Credit Card Act signed into law last year [in 2009] was supposed to stop financial institutions from sleazy antics. But, instead, some retailers say, it may restrict stay-at-home moms."

It's been apparent for some time that Michael Steele's chances of winning reelection were slim to none, but just in case there's any doubt, Politico's Alexander Burns and Jonathan Martin report: 

From Monday's Washington Post Metro section, "Slashed budgets of Montgomery County libraries felt in readers' daily routines," we learn:

With the flipping of the calendar to January, we've now moved into the first year in which Obamacare will cut funding for the popular Medicare Advantage program. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that, in 2011, Obamacare will cut Medicare Advantage by $2 billion. According to the CBO,…

I once took a road trip to Clarksdale, Mississippi, a Delta town in the northwestern corner of the state known primarily—okay, known only—as the epicenter of the blues. 

Once upon a time, there was success and there was failure, and one could usually tell the difference between them​​—​the first had a thousand fathers and the second was an orphan​​—​but those days are over: The Democrats of 2010 have come up with a new variant, catastrophic success. That’s what…

There’s been some hyperventilating among conservatives about the effects on the military of repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. It’s going to be amazingly difficult to implement, some say. It could well be the end of the U.S. military as a feared fighting force. It’s just another step in the decline…

Last month, the Canadian journalist Richard Klagsbrun drew attention to a newly submitted Master’s thesis at the University of Toronto’s ed school: “The Victimhood of the Powerful: White Jews, Zionism and the Racism of Hegemonic Holocaust Education.” Proud author Jennifer Peto told a reporter for…

The Fighter

The vehemence of the opposition to President Obama’s overhaul of health care has spawned an assortment of strategies for killing it. The newest and most ambitious would create a health care compact among the states and use it to switch control of health care programs from the federal government to…

With the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, elite colleges now have a chance to make good on their promises and bring the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) back to campus.

Catherine of Aragon

The Year of Reagan

Wisconsin GOP chairman Reince Priebus has emerged as the frontrunner in the race for the RNC chairmanship. His status as Michael Steele's former right-hand man has enabled him to peel off important members of Steele's coalition and win the backing of some of Steele's biggest critics (Priebus's…

New Republican members of Congress and Tea Party favorites Mike Lee and Allen West appeared on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace. Lee, the incoming senator from Utah and West, a new congressman from Florida, faced questions from Wallace about implementing their agenda in the new Congress.

Over at NRO, you can read Rich Lowry's engaging year-end column about America, "Yes, the Greatest Country Ever."

Republican senator Christopher (Kit) Bond of Missouri surely gave more farewell addresses – a half dozen, by my count – than anyone else who departed from Congress in 2010. He called them “legacy speeches.” They got little media attention, but his address on national security and intelligence…