June 2011

"Senate confirms Petraeus as next CIA director with 94-0 vote"

The president talked an awful lot yesterday at his press conference about ending tax breaks for corporate jets, but closing that tax break would only amount to $3 billion over 10 years. That's 0.7% of all tax increases he desires over the next 10 years as part of a deal to raise the debt limit. Or,…

I recently returned from my first visit to Las Vegas, and naturally I was charmed by the various location-themed resorts: New York, New York; Paris, Las Vegas; The Venetian; and many more, with their outlandish designs and so-tacky-it’s-good approach to décor and entertainment. Yet I couldn’t help…

Ohio GOP Senate candidate Kevin Coughlin attacks his Republican primary opponent Josh Mandel, the state treasurer:

On Monday, in the case of Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association, the Supreme Court struck down a California law prohibiting the sale of violent video games to children. In a 7-2 holding authored by Justice Antonin Scalia (with Justices Alito and Roberts concurring and Justices Thomas and…

Andrew Ferguson reads all of Newt Gingrich's 21 books, so you don't have to: 

So Mark Halperin went on MSNBC's Morning Joe this morning and said the President was acting like a [coarse euphemism for male genitalia] and an uproar has ensued. I don't applaud Halperin's decision to express himself so vulgarly and he shouldn't have described the president this way.

Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) announced today that the Senate will not be observing a planned week-long recess next week. Politico reports:

Interested in supporting the Palestinians in Gaza? Support Israel, which provides tons of aid and support to the Palestinians. The Israel Defense Forces has a short video, explaining how it actually works:

Mitt Romney has a strong ad out today, hitting the president for falling to save or create jobs:

What is that weird looking book on the chair next to you at the pool? Definitely a woman's face, but definitely a man's arms. It's comedian and television star Tina Fey's new memoir, Bossypants, and Zachary Munson recently reviewed it: 

In Western Europe, Fukushima’s power reactor disaster has produced a loud round of anti-nuclear power reactions. Germany says it will phase out atomic power by 2022, and the Swiss insist they will shutter their reactor fleet by 2034. Earlier this month, the Italian public rebuked Prime Minister…

Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann criticized President Obama's plan to withdraw troops from Afghanistan yesterday in an interview with NPR's Mara Liasson.

"S&P to deeply cut U.S. ratings if debt payment missed"

Obama poisons the bipartisan well, yet again.

Winston Groom reviews Tiny Terror, the new book about the legendary Truman Capote. It turns out, the author of Breakfast at Tiffany's and In Cold Blood was not only a great writer, but an excellent liar as well:

President Obama looks more and more beatable. He’s consistently below 50 percent in his approval ratings, he faces an economy that shows no real signs of progress (despite his having dumped far more money into it as “stimulus” than we spend annually on defense), and Obamacare is tied to his ankle…

When Indiana cut off Medicaid funding to the state's 28 Planned Parenthood clinics, the Associated Press reported that poor women "were left fending for themselves ... to pay for birth control, breast exams, Pap tests and other medical services." What the AP failed to mention is that there are 800…

On Tuesday, the United Nations again made itself an international laughing stock – except perhaps to the American taxpayers who continue to foot 22 percent of the bill – by appointing North Korea chair of the U.N. Conference on Disarmament. That would be the same North Korea that, according to an…

General Jack Keane, earlier today on Fox News, blasted President Obama for prematurely withdrawing from Afghanistan:

In a new documentary, John Lennon's last personal assistant, Fred Seaman, reveals that by the end of his life the Beatles star was in fact a closet Reaganite, according to contactmusic.com. If true, this would indicate quite an astonishing political conversion: 

Think Progress reporter Lee Fang has a long history of being spectacularly wrong. However, there's a seemingly unending thirst for his breathless demonization of the Koch brothers and other rants about corporate greed among the low IQ end of the liberal spectrum.

As thousands protest in the streets, Greek lawmakers "approved a controversial package of tax hikes and spending cuts, helping clear the way for $17 billion in international emergency loans needed to stave off a possible default," the Washington Post reports.

One gets the sense that some in the media are doing their best to help Michele Bachmann win the Republican nomination by attacking her over ridiculous kerfuffles. The latest example involves her claim that the Founding Fathers "worked tirelessly" to end slavery. On Good Morning America, host George…

CNN reports:

Check out Jonathan D. Horn's review of Lincoln on War, Harold Holzer's latest addition to the more than 16,000 books about our sixteenth president. The book focuses on Lincoln's thoughts and speeches about war, and Holzer has pieced together a narrative that allows the reader to follow the…

"Ron Johnson Takes a Stand"

The Des Moines Register poll of Republicans caused quite a stir this week. The congresswoman from Minnesota could not have asked for a better piece of news to correspond with her official announcement: It showed Michele Bachmann down just one point to Mitt Romney in Iowa. Meanwhile, Tim Pawlenty…

"Thirteen Clear Factual Errors" in that Time magazine cover story on the Constitution.

In a strong speech on the Senate floor, Marco Rubio warned against disengagement from Libya. “Here is what withdrawal will mean in real terms,” Rubio said:

Lieutenant General John Allen told the Senate Armed Services Committee today that the Afghanistan decision President Obama announced last week was not among the range of options the military provided to the commander in chief. Allen’s testimony directly contradicts claims from senior Obama…

Lawrence Lindsey writes in the Wall Street Journal: 

By now it is well known that President Obama's big government model disproportionately relies on "waivers" to exempt certain companies and unions—disproportionately located in friendly political districts—from the generally applicable requirements of Obamacare. Whether or not the president's new…

Ron Carey, one of many former chiefs of staff to Michele Bachmann, writes in a Des Moines Register op-ed that Bachmann is not ready to be president: 

There are some interesting findings in a recent survey from Democracy Corps — a Democratic poll founded by James Carville, Stanley Greenberg, and Bob Shrum — and they don’t bode well for the Democrats. The poll’s respondents (all of whom are registered voters) say by an eye-opening margin of 17…

Sure, we're routinely graduating kids in this country that can't read or do basic math -- but hey, let's lard up the curriculum with a bunch of politicized nonsense, shall we?:

Contrary to what you're hearing out of Detroit, the auto manufacturing business in the U.S. isn't so bad. That's because foreign auto company plants, mostly in the South, are thriving. This is largely because such plants are free from the union albatross that hangs around the neck of the big three…

In a speech on the Middle East at the Council on Foreign Relations this morning, former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty strongly criticized President Obama's "murky policy" of "engagement." But he also took aim at unnamed "parts of the Republican Party" that "now seem to be trying to out-bid the…

The Treasury Department now says our national debt will exceed our entire gross domestic product by the end of this year. That hasn’t happened since World War II, when we had a few more justifiable expenditures and a far smaller economy.  Meanwhile, the debt ceiling debate continues apace in…

Jonathan V. Last reviewed George Weigel's latest biography of Pope John Paul II , The End and the Beginning, for our summer books issue. Weigel's newest volume sheds light on the last years of the beloved figure, providing touching stories as well as fascinating new information about the Pope's…

The latest Rasmussen poll of likely voters shows that, by a margin of 17 points (55 to 38 percent), Americans want Obamacare to be repealed. It’s not hard to tell why: By a margin of 32 points (49 to 17 percent), Americans think Obamacare would reduce, rather than improve, the quality of health…

"Afghan officials at loggerheads as U.S. withdrawal looms"

Give Bachmann a break on this John Wayne nonsense, em kay?

After collecting more than 15,000 signatures necessary to trigger a recall election against Democratic state senator Dave Hansen, Wisconsin Republicans failed to get 400 valid signatures necessary to get their preferred candidate on the ballot: 

Preempting President Obama's trip to Pittsburgh last week, Senator Ron Johnson released the following video, where he says that the president has revealed a "depressing display of economic ignorance."

Michele Bachmann has been playing up her Iowa roots as she campaigns for the presidency, but today she made a small gaffe involving Iowa history and geography. "Well what I want them to know is just like, John Wayne was from Waterloo, Iowa. That's the kind of spirit that I have, too," Bachmann told…

A year ago President Obama treated Russian president Dmitry Medvedev to lunch at Ray's Hell Burger in Arlington, Virginia. "Obama ate a traditional cheeseburger, while Medvedev added jalepenos, mushrooms and onions to his," the Washington Post reported at the time. "The pair shared an order of…

The summer issue of National Affairs has just been published. Highlights include: 

The artist currently known as Prince shares his observations of Muslim countries with the Guardian:

I don't know what it is about gun issues that makes people lose their minds, but this editorial from the Washington Post is pretty incredible. The post acknowledges that the ATF flooding Mexico with 2,500 weapons which were used in a variety of crimes -- including the murder of a U.S. border agent…

A press release from Jim DeMint's Senate Conservatives Fund: 

Robert H. Frank, a professor of economics at Cornell University, makes an important point in his New York Times column, titled “The Payroll Tax Needs a Vacation.” Specifically, Frank argues, we shouldn’t allow the debate over the federal deficit to obscure the problem of getting people back to work.

This morning, in Waterloo, Iowa, Minnesota congressman Michele Bachmann formally announced that she's running for president. Here are excerpts from her speech (via Politico):

The Los Angeles Times reports that President Obama defied his generals' advice on Afghanistan:

"Chris Wallace Asks Michele Bachmann: 'Are You A Flake?'" (Wallace later apologized.)

The Tiger’s Wife A Novel by Téa Obreht Random House, 352 pp., $25

Tiny Terror Why Truman Capote (Almost) Wrote Answered Prayers by William Todd Schultz Oxford, 208 pp., $17.95

In a few months my wife and I will turn 65 years of age. I guess we’re the proverbial grandpa and grandma that our political leaders aim to protect. Our mailbox has been full lately with brochures describing the Medicare enrollment process, offering supplemental health coverage, and helpfully…

Bossypants by Tina Fey Reagan Arthur, 288 pp., $26.99

We’ve had strong presidents and weak presidents, skillful presidents and incompetent presidents, mediocre presidents and just plain poor presidents. Barack Obama stands alone as the first president who simply declines to lead.

Master of Disguises by Charles Simic Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 96 pp., $22

Lincoln on War edited by Harold Holzer Algonquin, 336 pp., $24.95

Trying to stay upbeat? Avoid the business section. Unemployment stands at 9.1 percent. Growth is narcoleptic. The housing market hasn’t hit bottom. Fears of a Greek default are roiling markets. The deficit is running more than a trillion dollars for the third year in a row and won’t be shrinking…

The End and the Beginning Pope John Paul II—The Victory of Freedom, the Last Years, the Legacy by George Weigel Doubleday, 590 pp., $32.50

We at The Weekly Standard have had plenty of advice for Republicans on how to criticize (and occasionally to support) Obama administration foreign and defense policies. But as the GOP presidential campaign heats up, it seems that some candidates are more tempted to imitate the foreign policy…

There is never a shortage of Middle East peace plans, and another has recently been proposed by a set of Washington luminaries—some with considerable Middle East experience and some with none at all. This new plan, dated June 23 and published in the New York Review of Books, appears to be a…

G. K. Chesterton A Biography by Ian Ker Oxford, 688 pp., $66

The Story of Charlotte’s Web E. B. White’s Eccentric Life in Nature and the Birth of an American Classic by Michael Sims Walker, 320 pp., $25

Anthony Weiner undoubtedly felt pressured these last few weeks to resign his House seat over his dishonesty and online sexual indiscretions. The leaders of his party, everyone from President Obama to House minority leader Nancy Pelosi on down, were publicly in agreement that he should go.

In the midst of last week’s installments of the Anthony Weiner saga​—​rehab, further revelations, resignation​—​another minor media episode played itself out, a little less spectacularly, on the televised stage: Five days before the ceremony, Miss Crystal Harris bailed out on her planned wedding to…

There is an apple tree in my parents’ backyard. Its bark is blackened, limbs reaching unevenly and feebly into the sky. If an art-house filmmaker needed a metaphor for resilience in a war-ravaged country, he would choose this tree. It looks like it’s growing in spite of something, straining against…

The Forgotten Founding Father Noah Webster’s Obsession and the Creation of an American Culture by Joshua Kendall Putnam’s, 368 pp., $26.95

Cambridge, Mass.

House Ways and Means committee member Rep. Kevin Brady  (R-Tx.) unveiled a new spending plan earlier this week, the Maximizing America’s Prosperity Act.

On June 25, 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea and immediately dragged the U.S. and China into the bloody conflict. It was the culmination of not a single event, but a series of missteps.

Our friend Doug MacKinnon, a former White House and Pentagon official and author, writes:

President Barack Obama spent over a trillion dollars on projects he claimed were  “shovel-ready” and would prevent the unemployment rate from reaching 8 percent. Federal Reserve Board chairman Ben Bernanke obligingly printed $600 billion with which to buy the president’s IOUs, predicting that…

"Pair of votes shows House divided on Libya"

Two resolutions on the Libya intervention failed in the House of Representatives today. One sought to authorize military action, while the other would have limited funding for the operation. Only eight Republicans voted for the authorization measure, and 89 Republicans joined with most of the…

Mike Long, the chairman of the New York Conservative Party and a leading opponent of the bill to institute same sex marriage in New York, tells THE WEEKLY STANDARD that the bill will likely pass "by the end of the night."

If Sir James Wolfensohn, the cofounder of Edward Said’s West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, doesn’t deserve to be honored at the American University of Beirut (AUB), then who does? Recently, the former World Bank chief found himself in the midst of controversy after AUB had announced that he would…

A new Australian reality series is "sending six native-born Australians with differing views on immigration on punishing journeys that retrace the voyages of asylum seekers seeking safe haven in their country."

This week, “Russia denied registration of a key opposition political party Wednesday, effectively barring it from upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections that the Kremlin had hinted might be open to some competition,” the Wall Street Journal reports. According to opposition leader Boris…

Berlin—On Tuesday, federal prosecutors in New York brought charges against Arid Uka, a radical Islamist who killed two U.S. servicemen and wounded two more in Germany’s Frankfurt International Airport in March.

Today's New York Times has a blockbuster story about how the cellphone of Bin Laden's courier, which was seized in the raid that killed the terrorist mastermind, contained "contacts to a militant group that is a longtime asset of Pakistan’s intelligence agency." That group is Harakat ul Mujahedin…

The Foreign Policy Initiative has compiled a fact sheet on Afghanistan, detailing problems with President Obama's withdrawal plan: 

It has been written a million times: The Federal Election Commission is a “dysfunctional” agency. But don’t jump on that bandwagon just yet.

A cabbie reacts to President Obama in Bad Rachel's dispatch from Jerusalem:

Chris Christie is one of the few Republican governors in the country dealing with a Democratic legislature, but he was able to secure passage of a bold pension and health benefits reform bill last night with the help of the New Jersey legislature's Democratic leaders.  

John J. Miller discovers that Students for Paul Ryan 2012 is up and running. The group, which appears to be made up of a diverse group of students from across the country, wants fellow students to sign the following letter of support, urging House Budget chair Paul Ryan to run for president:

In a little noticed letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, dated May 9, three House members and four senators wrote, “As strong supporters of the Baltic States in Congress, we were troubled to learn that Russia intends to build a nuclear power plant within 50 kilometers of the Lithuanian…

Ohio congressman Steve Chabot, chairman of the Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, expressed his frustration with the Obama administration over its handling of Syria at a House hearing yesterday. "I continue to be extremely frustrated with the Administration’s Syria policy," Chabot said…

On May 22, 2011, Bill Kristol wrote:

Karl Rove: "Why Obama Is Likely to Lose in 2012"

All reports from the Obama campaign suggest strongly that the president and his advisors will run a very intensive base mobilization strategy. There is good reason for this electoral strategy.

On Wednesday, the U.N. General Assembly elected Iran one of its vice presidents and Qatar as president, each for a year-long term starting in September. At one and the same time the Obama State Department has been blanketing the airwaves with speeches on this administration’s love affair with the…

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney just issued the following statement, in response to testimony today on Capitol Hill from Admiral Michael Mullen and General David Petraeus: 

"Reid Nixes 'Gang of Six' - Members Stunned"

Paul Wolfowitz writes in the Wall Street Journal:

General David Petraeus, the current commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said today that President Obama’s decision to withdraw over 30,000 troops from Afghanistan by September 2012 is a “more aggressive” plan than the one on which the president’s military commanders had advised.

The elusive distinction of most ludicrous analysis of Obama's Afghanistan speech should be awarded to NPR for its story, "Obama's Afghan Speech Echoed Lincoln's Talk." The segment was less than a minute-and-a-half, but it was a doozy. Here's the excerpt on NPR's website:

At the end of a Washington Post op-ed criticizing John McCain for labeling Republicans who oppose intervention in the Libyan war “isolationists,” George Will writes (emphasis added):

Robert Kagan, writing at the Washington Post:  

At this morning's House Budget Commitee hearing, Douglas Elmendorf admitted that the Congressional Budget Office is ill-equipped to measure the signature cost-cutting measure in Paul Ryan's Medicare reform plan--a government exchange designed to introduce competition into senior health insurance…

PPP's latest poll of Florida Republicans shows Michele Bachmann surging to second place: 

A CBS affiliate in Terre Haute reports: 

There is something about big, splashy economic development (“eco-devo”) projects that causes even the most conservative politicians to lose their heads. On the stump, they rail against corporate giveaways and crony capitalism. In town halls, they decry backroom deals, preferential treatment, and…

In response to a report that she'd ended her bus tour early, Sarah Palin writes that the reason she's back in Alaska is because she has jury duty.

Douglas Elmendorf, the director of the Congressional Budget Office, told the House Budget Committee this morning that his office was unable to estimate the long-term viability of the "budget framework" President Obama outlined in his April 13 budget speech.

The boss blasted President Obama’s plan to withdraw troops from Afghanistan a couple minutes ago on Fox News. “Most strikingly,” Bill Kristol said, “was the president's announcement about the September 2012 deadline: cutting the fighting season in half next year and really putting at risk our…

This week, climate change activists suffered a major loss at the Supreme Court, which unanimously threw out their highly publicized lawsuit against power companies. Although—or perhaps because—the Court's opinion was clear and direct, the losing activists have sought desperately to spin a loss into…

Here’s a startling excerpt from the prepared testimony of Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who is testifying this morning in front of the House Armed Services Committee: “I would prefer not to discuss the specifics of the private advice I rendered with respect to these…

Senators Marco Rubio and Joe Lieberman have an op-ed in today's Wall Street Journal, arguing for "the removal of the Gadhafi regime [in Libya] and, with it, the opportunity for the Libyan people to build a free and democratic society."

In addition to the boss's reaction to President Obama's Afghanistan drawdown speech, Max Boot's post at Commentary is worth reading:

Jennifer Rubin: "For Obama, it’s all about getting out of Afghanistan"

“As a result, starting next month, we will be able to remove 10,000 of our troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year, and we will bring home a total of 33,000 troops by next summer, fully recovering the surge I announced at West Point." — President Barack Obama, June 22, 2011 Why bring home…

It's really quite remarkable that the problems of public pensions were even allowed to get this bad:

Tim Pawlenty went on Bill O'Reilly's show earlier this evening to react to President Obama's Afghanistan speech:

The Good:

Here's the full text of President Obama's Afghanistan address, as prepared for delivery: 

"Is Hugo Chavez Dying?"

A public records request by Wisconsin Republicans has revealed that Democratic state senate candidate Shelley Moore used public resources to organize her campaign against Republican senator Sheila Harsdorf. The documents show that Moore, a union official and high school English teacher, sent a…

There are currently at 800 Medicaid providers that can provide patients with family planning services in the state of Indiana, but you wouldn't know it by this "report" by the Associated Press's Rick Callahan.

At a House Ways and Means Committee hearing today, two Medicare trustees, Charles Blahous and Robert Reischauer, testified about necessary cuts to Medicare's Hospital Insurance program (commonly known as Medicare Part A) once the trust fund runs out of money. According to the recently…

Finally some good news: Ai Weiwei has been released by Chinese authorities. The dissident artist had been detained for three months on charges the international community unanimously recognized were bogus. Weiwei told the New York Times, “In legal terms, I’m — how do you say? — on bail. So I cannot…

Boozehound

There's a conspiracy theory floating around some of the fever swamps on the right that goes something like this: President Obama's economic policies aren't merely misguided; his policies are designed to hurt the economy in order to bring about a more socialist state and consolidate power. "This is…

A press release from the Federal Reserve indicates "the economic recovery is continuing at a moderate pace, though somewhat more slowly than the Committee had expected." 

Although Greek prime minister George Papandreou survived a vote of confidence last night, meeting the conditions required by the IMF for the disbursement of another tranche of aid to its ailing economy, parliament will have to pass another austerity package later this month.

Scott Conroy at RealClearPolitics reports that Sarah Palin has nixed--or at least postponed--visits to Iowa and South Carolina: 

The CBO’s newly released 2011 Long-Term Budget Outlook forecasts that federal spending will soon exceed spending during parts of World War II. In 1942, federal spending equaled 24.3 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) (Table 1.3). Less than 25 years from now (in 2035), according to the CBO,…

Jennifer Horn, a 2008 Republican House candidate and former conservative radio talk show host, is throwing her support to Tim Pawlenty. Horn says in a statement released by the Pawlenty campaign: 

Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said this morning that Congress will not raise taxes this year to reduce the budget deficit, favoring instead a pro-growth agreement as a solution to debt ceiling debate.

THE WEEKLY STANDARD has a full-time position available for a staff assistant. This is an administrative position working with the editors. Duties will include answering phones and emails, updating our website, research, and record-keeping. Candidates should address a cover letter and résumé…

Jon Huntsman joins Tim Pawlenty in criticizing Mitt Romney's record on health care. ABC's Jonathan Karl reports:

Tim Pawlenty is the first Republican presidential candidate to run a TV ad in Iowa. He touts his record as Minnesota governor on spending, unions, supreme court judges, and health care: 

Earlier this month, an aide to Jon Huntsman promised that his candidate would resist the angry tone and name-calling of modern political campaigns. “I think he’ll make it clear where he disagrees when it comes to policy and where he wants to take this country, but for him this is a campaign based…

Former Texas railroad commissioner Michael Williams officially announced this morning that he's leaving the crowded Republican Senate primary in order to run for one of Texas's new congressional seats: 

Senate majority leader Harry Reid had some kind words yesterday for the latest contender to join the Republican presidential field, Jon Huntsman. “In that race, if I had a choice, I would favor Huntsman over Romney,” Reid said, according to CNN. “But I don’t have a choice in that race.”

In a speech tonight, President Obama is expected to announce the staggered withdrawal, over the course of the next year, of the surge troops in Afghanistan. Don't expect Minnesota congresswoman and 2012 presidential candidate Michele Bachmann to praise his decision. Here's what Bachmann had to say…

Last week, Texas lawmakers passed a bill that allows Texas-made incandescent lightbulbs to be sold within the state, sidestepping the effective ban Congress's Energy Independence and Security Act placed on standard bulbs, which requires producers to sell more energy efficient light sources. But for…

"House to vote on authorizing or ending Libya mission"

Last week, in a piece entitled “The right really, really wants Obama to be Jimmy Carter,” Salon’s Steve Kornacki cited my item on Carter as the prime example of a systematic effort on the right to invoke Carter as a bogeyman to “fill the GOP base with resentment and hostility, which translates into…

Democrats were no doubt looking for a bit of a breather now that the Anthony Weiner scandal is receding. But this news won't help with that one bit:

Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty warned against "the drift of the Republican Party toward what appears to be a retreat or a move more towards isolationism," according to an articlein Politico. Pawlenty also had criticism for President Obama, who's expected to announce a drawdown from…

"Panetta Confirmed as Defense Secretary"

Mitt Romney has decided to take a pass on a July debate hosted by the Daily Caller and Americans for Tax Reform, but he will participate in the following six debates in August, September, and October: 

Philip Klein reports: 

Two of Newt Gingrich's top fundraising staff members have quit his campaign, the Associated Press reports:

It's widely expected that the New York legislature will pass a bill instituting same-sex marriage this week, but Jimmy Vielkind reports that an agreement still hasn't been reached yet: 

Join Senator John McCain, Senator Joe Lieberman, and General Jack Keane for a discussion on President Obama's forthcoming Afghanistan decision on Thursday, June 30, in Washington, D.C. The event is being put on by the Institute for the Study of War and will be moderated by Michael O'Hanlon. Full…

On Friday night, the Susan B. Anthony List announced that five Republican presidential candidates have signed its "pro-life presidential leadership pledge," Mitt Romney declined to do so. The four-part pledge states that as president, these Republicans would:

Senator Joe Lieberman spoke last night at a Hudson Institute event, where he urged both political parties not to “retreat from the world.”

Louis Jacobson at Politifact debunks Jon Stewart's claim that Fox News viewers are the "most consistently misinformed media viewers." This nugget from a 2010 Pew survey must be particularly embarrassing for Stewart:

Analyzing Argentina’s foreign policy can sometimes be more suited to psychiatrists than journalists. Consider, for example, how President Cristina Kirchner and Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman have handled bilateral relations with Iran.

Conservatives searching for a foreign policy (think skittishness on winning the war in Afghanistan) should take note of President Ronald Reagan's approach, as Jennifer Rubin reminds us:

Former ambassador to China Jon Huntsman, who was governor of Utah before serving in the Obama administration, has just announced that he's running for president. Huntsman joins the Republican field of at least seven others (Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum, Herman Cain,…

Rick Santorum welcomes Jon Huntsman to the GOP primary field with this little shot across the bow:

The Los Angeles Times confirms that President Obama will announce an Afghan troop drawdown tomorrow:

The Los Angeles Times reports:

Andrew Klavan compares Paul Ryan's and Barack Obama's approaches to health care, the deficit, and the economy (all in less than 5 minutes):

"NLRB tried to save America from dumb, unskilled Southern workers"

Well, I guess Obama's NRA endorsement is really out of the question.

Today’s Asharq al-Awsat, the London-based pan-Arab daily, reports on the role of “Syrian embassies abroad in sabotaging and subverting any movement or activity aiming at expressing solidarity with the Syrian people, and at taking a stand condemning the regime's repressive actions.” In Berlin, the…

A straw poll of liberal activists at the annual Netroots Nation conference found that 80 percent of still "approve" or "strongly approve" of President Barack Obama. Roll Call reports:

THE WEEKLY STANDARD has learned that President Obama will announce his decision about U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan this week—most likely Tuesday or Wednesday.

The Supreme Court today unanimously dismissed a class action gender discrimination lawsuit against retail giant Walmart. The decision concluded that the suit, which claimed to represent hundreds of thousands of employees based on specific allegations of discrimination by three of the plaintiffs,…

Gallup's latest poll of American adults asks: "Between now and the 2012 political conventions, there will be discussion about the qualifications of presidential candidates -- their education, age, religion, race, and so on. If your party nominated a generally well-qualified person for president who…

Jackson Diehl raises a good point about President Obama's willingness to crack down on the Israelis, while playing nice with the Syrians:

We all hate the sound of cell phones ringing during classical concerts. Master of the Queen's Music and composer Sir Peter Maxwell Davies has proposed a solution to what he calls "artistic terrorists": Fine them.

Bashar al-Assad’s speech today, promising reforms and evincing paranoia, has done little to quell the three-month-old uprising against him and his regime. “Liar, liar,” opposition forces chanted in Lattakia.

The following open letter has officially been released, arguing strongly that the House of Representatives should not act to cut off funds for military operations in Libya. The letter makes the case for continued efforts to remove Muammar Qaddafi from power.

A reader from Argyle, Texas sends in a picture of his car, decorated with a Paul Ryan 2012 bumper sticker. 

Jonathan V. Last reviews Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys Over Girls and the Consequences of a World Full of Men in the Wall Street Journal:

When President Barak Obama first made his controversial reference to the 1967 lines as the basis for future Israeli-Palestinian negotiations on May 19, 2011, he introduced one main caveat that stuck out: the idea that there would be "mutually agreed swaps" of land between the two sides. He added…

David Brog: "Dana Milbank loses it"

Half a year after the fall of Tunisia’s Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, it’s time for a partial reckoning of the Arab Spring. Verdict: Uncertain. 

If I were smarter than I am I might be able to argue myself into believing that there’s hope for the Washington Nationals. If I were more realistic than I am I would define “hope” downward to mean merely the possibility, however remote, that the team could win almost as many games as they lose this…

Obamacrats think their man is in trouble because (as usual) he’s got “communication problems.” He seems to suffer from these all the time, which is odd given that he was elected mainly because of his flair for communicating; given that the queen of England is still, no doubt, enjoying the audio…

Even as they bask in good political news—Weinergate, President Obama’s ineptitude on the economy—Republicans are headed for trouble. The reason is the gap between what grassroots Republicans want and what Republicans in Washington can deliver.

Is Newt Gingrich getting out? Could be—or maybe you don’t need a staff to run. Is Rick Perry getting in? Why not? Who else combines governing success and Tea Party credibility? What about Rudy Giuliani? He apparently intends to see whether the second time’s a charm. In the Senate Dining Room, John…

Not so long ago, Charles Dickens was the 19th-century British novelist. The others—Austen, the Brontë sisters, Eliot, Thackeray, Trollope, Hardy—were his contemporaries and predecessors and successors and rivals. They were judged against him and considered in his light. In the view of Edmund…

The Statues That Walked

Michael D. Brown says he got a bad rap. With the statement, “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job,” on September 2, 2005, George W. Bush made Brown, then director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the name and face of governmental incompetence after Hurricane Katrina tore through…

Amidst his other pronouncements on Mideast peace in late May, President Obama warned Palestinians they couldn’t get their state by a show of hands at the United Nations. Soon after, Israeli officials predicted that the Palestinian Authority would pursue its case at the U.N. in September. It’s a…

X-Men: First Class

At his confirmation hearing on June 9, Secretary of Defense nominee Leon Panetta faced questions from Democrats and Republicans alike about President Obama’s intention, hastily announced in April, to cut $400 billion from national security spending over the next 12 years. Unfortunately, Panetta…

Close after dawn and armed with a local map I take a stroll in empty fields, canyons, woods, but preferably near a creek or river because since childhood I’ve loved the sound they make. Moving water is forever in the present tense, a condition we rather achingly avoid.

Unbroken

How the End Begins

Annals of Hackery

The New York Times reports today that senior officials within the Obama administration are pressing for an accelerated withdrawal of forces from Afghanistan. The “rationale” for that pressure is supposedly the success of America’s efforts against al Qaeda and the fact that “the counterterrorism…

Former Treasury Secretary Jim Baker, writing in the Wall Street Journal:

When the White House announced last week that it would not comply with the requirements of the War Powers Resolution because the Libya operation does not involve "hostilities," eyebrows arched in curiosity. Many observers questioned the administration's conclusion that America's involvement in the…

The big GOP primary news of the day is Jon Huntsman's surprisingly strong showing in the straw poll at the Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans:

Earlier this week, Nigeria witnessed its first suicide bombing. Boko Haram, a radical Islamist group based in northern Nigeria, claimed responsibility for the attack. The target was inspector general of the police Hafiz Ringim, whose motorcade entered the headquarters in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja,…

In time for summer, two dispatches of interest from the world of publishing.

If you are an oil trader, the daily jiggles in the price of oil are of interest: if you guess right, it’s champagne and caviar; if you bet wrong, it’s beer and potato chips. But if you are a policy maker trying to make sense of oil markets so that you can plan your nation’s energy security, or an…

"Several Saudi women boldly got behind the wheel Friday, including one who managed a 45-minute trip through the nation's capital, seeking to ignite a road rebellion against the male-only driving rules in the ultraconservative kingdom," the AP reports.

Via Ben Smith:

Yesterday, 27 senators from both parties voted against an amendment introduced by Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) to repeal the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC). Nearly all of those senators (most from Great Plains states with large agricultural sectors) instead support ending the subsidy…

Bashar al-Assad's cousin Rami Makhlouf, or the man even the New York Times is calling Syria's "Mr. Five Percent," has decided to give back to the community, somewhere in the neighborhood of a billion dollars. The regime in Damascus may hope to impress Washington, which has sanctioned Makhlouf, but…

The following open letter to House Republicans on Libya, drafted by Elliott Abrams, Robert Kagan, and William Kristol, is now being circulated for signature by leading Republican and conservative foreign policy types. The letter argues strongly that the House of Representatives should not act to…

On June 2, the convicted Italian terrorist Cesare Battisti walked out of a Brazilian prison a free man. He did so after Brazil’s supreme court upheld the decision of former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to refuse to extradite Battisti to Italy. A member of the left-wing terror group Armed…

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned today that the United States is on dangerous economic ground if it does not reduce its budget deficit soon:

"I have my own addition to the Ryan Bumper sticker," reader Mike from Chicago writes. "Yes a Die Hard Chicago Bears Fan Could Vote for a Packer Fan! Run Ryan Run!!"

Tim Pawlenty went on Sean Hannity's TV show last night to express his regrets for not criticizing Romneycare at Monday night's debate:

Tom Daschle, President Obama’s original choice of secretary of Health and Human Services, confirmed yesterday that the motivation behind creating Obamacare’s Independent Payment Advisory Board (IBAP) was to vest power in an unelected body that is sufficiently insulated from the American people.

Big news at the White House. A tipster writes in to explain what's going on:

The 60 Plus Association, a conservative answer to the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), is out with a new ad in support of the Medicare reforms authored by House Budget chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.). Watch below:

Charles Krauthammer writes in the Washington Post: 

Is Paul Ryan "The GOP's Strongest Candidate"?

In my column on Wednesday, I drew a comparison between the Obama administration and the Jimmy Carter administration of 1977-1981, arguing that both were engaging in political theater in lieu of real power to affect the fundamentals of the American economy. Other analysts have also drawn the…

Peter Wallison: "Finally, the True Story of the Financial Crisis Breaks Through"

On Sunday, Tim Pawlenty called Massachusetts health care law signed by Mitt Romney "Obamneycare." "We now have essentially the same features" in Romneycare and Obamacare, Pawlenty said on Fox News Sunday.

When a New York Times op-ed columnist starts celebrating the virtues of the U.S. military, Dorothy, you know you’re not in Kansas any more.

About that deal Chris Christie reached with Democratic leaders in the state legislature: government unions aren't going to let it go without a nasty fight. Here's a video of a protest today in Trenton where Christopher Sheldon, the vice president of the Communications Workers of America in the…

The New Jersey Star Ledger reports that Governor Chris Christie has reached a deal on pension reform with the Democratic leaders of the state senate and assembly. How do we know Christie got a good deal? The Democratic majority leader in the state assembly is accusing the Democratic speaker of…

What's Chris Christie's foreign policy? It's probably a bit too early to tell, but Jamie Weinstein has an early assessment:

As military operations continue in Libya without formal congressional authorization, the debate about presidential war powers has resumed. Last week, former secretary of state James A. Baker III and former congressman Lee H. Hamilton jumped into the fray, writing a Washington Post op-ed calling for…

A Wall Street Journal/NBC poll asks Americans whether they would be more likely or less likely to vote for a candidate who "supports changing Medicare for those under 55 to a system where people choose their insurance from a list of private health plans and the government pays a fixed amount,…

Lebanese prime minister Najib Mikati has finally managed to form a cabinet. Since Saad Hariri’s “national unity” government was toppled in January, due to disagreements over the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) investigating the assassination of Hariri’s father Rafiq, it is hardly surprising that…

Rasmussen conducts the first national poll of likely Republican primary voters following Monday's GOP debate: 

The New York Times reports that Anthony Weiner is telling friends that he will resign:

The AP reports that the new boss of al Qaeda is Ayman al Zawahiri, replacing Osama bin Laden who was killed last month by American SEALs in Pakistan.

Politico's Ben Smith yesterday noted this video and the campaign to return to the gold standard:

The Tea Party was clearly instrumental in fueling Republicans’ tremendous success in last year’s election, and Republicans will presumably need strong Tea Party support next year as well if they are to unseat President Obama and repeal Obamacare. So it’s worth asking this question: What does the…

Sure, the rest of America's hurting economically, but Congressional leaders are doing quite well.

Head on over to Reason for today's engaging "Ask a Libertarian" series from Matt Welch and Nick Gillespie. "What's the Libertarian Position on Abortion?" is a good place to start.

Henry Kissinger today had flattering things to say about former ambassador to China and Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman. “He certainly makes a good candidate,” Kissinger said at a meeting with bloggers to promote his latest book. “I saw him yesterday, as a matter of fact.”

Bill Kristol reported that Rick Perry and Rudy Giuliani met earlier today, and urged the potential 2012 candidates to let Fox News know what the two discussed:

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports: 

From Victor Kamber, writing an op-ed in Politico, "Why Democrats need Weiner":

A reader sends in this volunteer spot from real America (Ohio, I'm told), supporting Paul Ryan for president of the United States: 

The Obama campaign just sent out the following fundraising email from the president today:

House Homeland Security Committee chair Pete King (R-N.Y.) held the latest hearing on the threat of homegrown radicalization of Muslims this morning, focusing specifically on radicalization in American prisons. Law enforcement experts testified that a small but dangerous group of convicts are…

After a photo of Rep. Allen West scuba diving and saluting the American flag underwater for flag day surfaced, the media and liberal blogs all wrote a flurry of items about how West is some sort of patriotic hypocrite because he's unaware that the flag code says the American flags should not touch…

The New York Times reports: 

A liberal group has grabbed a number of headlines in the past week by attacking Paul Ryan's budget plan as un-Christian. The group claims that Ryan's a devotee of the atheist Ayn Rand, whose values are explicitly anti-Christian, and that this is the real inspiration for Ryan's budget:

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has just published the following article on its website, indicating clearly that the regime seeks a nuclear bomb. The article, titled “The Day After Iran’s First Nuclear Test Is A Normal Day,” which has been translated by AEI's Critical Threats team,…

Michael Weiss discovers a document that "suggest[s] that the [Syrian] regime fully orchestrated the 'Nakba Day' raids of Palestinian refugees into the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on May 15."

Our current issue features a short, provocative piece by David Gelernter, arguing that too often Republican politicians fail to speak plainly and forcefully to the American people. Based on his remarkable performance during the 2010 campaign and his fine speech on election night, Florida senator…

An odd explanation of the poor economy from President Obama to NBC's Ann Curry:

"House Speaker John Boehner is warning President Barack Obama that he may be in violation of the War Powers Act if Obama refuses to ask Congress for authorization to overthrow Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi."

And so the great machinery of the Obama-Biden campaign has slowly begun now to turn. Consider the following:

Jay Cost has written that, in 2008, Barack Obama ran “a bandwagon campaign with a simple purpose. When your candidate lacks the experience traditionally thought to be necessary to run the government, and you have two wars and an economic slowdown, you need something to cover the gap. And that…

We do! "Rick Perry Says Voters Want More Options in GOP Field"

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports:  

Florida’s Mike Haridopolos, the current state senate president running for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate, doubled down today on his opposition to Medicare reforms in the 2012 House Republican budget proposal, saying that he would not want to see major reforms to the entitlement…

Earlier today, Republican Rep. Peter Roskam, deputy whip in the House, put out a statement signaling his support for the Justice for Sergei Magnitsky Act.

One of the most interesting lines from the New Hampshire Republican presidential debate last night came from Mitt Romney, during the brief discussion of foreign policy. Romney was asked about Afghanistan and responded that he wanted troops home as soon as possible, so long as doing so was…

Earlier today, freshman Florida senator Marco Rubio delivered his maiden address on the floor of the Senate. Here's the entire text, as prepared for delivery: 

LeBron James, who choked away the NBA championship with another dismal fourth-quarter performance on Sunday, is the most despised athlete in America, possibly the world. No, make that the solar system. I, like most basketball fans I know, rejoiced when the Dallas Mavericks beat the Heat last…

Former FBI director Louis Freeh announced today that the Department of Justice has closed its investigation of former Minnesota senator Norm Coleman and businessman Nasser Kazeminy, who is a client of Freeh's law firm. The DOJ "advised both me and Doug Kelly, who is an attorney here representing…

Baqa al-Gharbiyya, Israel—A high-level academic conference on Sufism, the spiritual tradition in Islam, was held here on May 24-25, and it offered lessons apart from any involving religion. For anyone unacquainted with actual life in Israel – and for academics lured by demagogic calls for a boycott…

The former ambassador to China and governor of Utah, Jon Huntsman, who was noticeably absent from last night's Republican primary debate in New Hampshire, will reportedly announce that he's running for president next week. NBC reports:

An adviser to presidential candidate Mitt Romney tells the Washington Post's Jen Rubin:

At last night's debate, one audience member raised the issue of energy infrastructure:

During the first Republican presidential debate last night, two people who were not in the room were nevertheless clearly on the minds of the GOP candidates: Barack Obama and Paul Ryan.  The former, the sitting president, was not at all surprising; the latter, not having yet entered the…

The seven candidates on stage performed creditably last night, with two pretty clearly helping themselves—Mitt Romney and Michele Bachmann. But since the stage at St. Anselm didn't feature all of the eventual candidates, one can also ask, which potential candidates who aren't yet in the race were…

Dems have got to get a new message: "Dems' pre-debate spin: Romney, Pawlenty would revive Bush policies"

Michele Bachmann had a great start to her presidential campaign Monday night. Announcing that she's running for president at the beginning of the debate was a clever way of grabbing headlines, but her performance wasn't all gimmicks. She seemed to outshine Herman Cain, the other Tea Party favorite,…

Tim Pawlenty said on Fox News Sunday that Obamacare and Romneycare are essentially one and the same: "We now have essentially the same features" between the two programs, which he dubbed "Obamneycare." Given the chance to defend his attack during the GOP presidential debate Monday night, Pawlenty…

Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann used her first answer in tonight's GOP debate to announce that she filed paperwork today to run for president of United States. Bachmann's sharing the stage with Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Herman Cain, Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich, and Rick Santorum.

Of course he does: "Obama Seeks to Win Back Wall St. Cash"

As the Republican presidential race begins to take shape, a few sharp elbows have been thrown: Pawlenty vs. Romney and Bachmann vs. Palin, for example. And it seemed that during a recent interview with the liberal blog Talking Points Memo that Herman Cain took a shot at Michele Bachmann. "Well,…

If you are growing tired of hearing all the gruesome details of politicians’ personal lives, you are not alone. But you may also find yourself troubled about what these stories say about the state of our culture. 

Tim Pawlenty projects in his economic plan that the gross domestic product (GDP) would grow by 5 percent in real (inflation adjusted) dollars every year for a decade. The debate is now raging over whether such projections are realistic, but the more important consideration is whether the growth…

WMURPoliticalScoop.com reports that "Former New York Gov. George Pataki will fly to New Hampshire to watch “The New Hampshire Republican Presidential Debate” with friends on Monday night ... Pataki, who has not ruled out a bid for president this year, will not be in the debate hall itself, an aide…

Another reader sends in a picture of his car, decorated with Paul Ryan 2012 bumper sticker:

"How important is it to have a black candidate in the Republican party?" a British reporter asks Herman Cain in this video captured by Dave Weigel.

Last week I wrote a piece about the great comic book bubble of 1993. Today I got a note from Ron Forman, who owned one of the regional distribution companies that Diamond drove out of business, setting the bubble in motion. Ron helpfully adds that it was The Return of Superman and Turok #1—think of…

The latest Rasmussen poll of likely voters shows that, by a margin of 19 percentage points (54 to 35 percent), Americans support the repeal of Obamacare. Among independents, the margin is 27 points (60 to 33).

Another day, another Paul Ryan for president bumper sticker! This picture is sent in from a reader in Colorado Springs, Colorado. 

Romney's out with his first major ad of the election season, and if you suspected that he was planning a campaign that's heavily focused on the economy, it sure looks like that's the case:

A new CNN poll shows which issues Americans say will most influence their votes in next year’s presidential election. The issues that respondents most often listed as being “extremely important” were the economy (51 percent), health care (45 percent), unemployment (45 percent), and federal deficits…

"Debbie Wasserman Schultz: Obama Was Able 'To Turn The Economy Around'"

The issue of nuclear power will be front and center when German chancellor Angela Merkel visits Washington this week. Consider the front-page story in the May 31 Washington Post: “Germany to shut down nuclear plants by 2022: Decision in aftermath of crisis in Japan is a turnaround for Merkel.” The…

At English department parties of many moons past, or so I have been told, once all had become properly snockered, a popular game commenced in which everyone confessed to what he or she hadn’t read. The game had a crescendo quality as the intellectual stakes rose. “I’ve never read Christopher…

Most sophisticated museumgoers would think it ineffably crass to complain about Cezanne’s unending sequence of apples and peaches, or the relentless quadrilaterals of Piet Mondrian. But it appears that certain of these people are no proof against the ennui that sets in when they encounter yet…

Although it’s gauche to ask, one can’t help wondering: Do the Obamacrats love America? If so, how come? Would they please be specific? 

The U.S. economy might be on the verge of a double-dip recession, while Europe is paralyzed by a massive debt crisis afflicting the governments on the periphery of the eurozone. Alarming as they are, both of these stories are just part of an even gloomier overall economic picture of the West.

There was supposed to be some good news amidst the dismal report card the U.S. real estate market got last week. On average, houses have lost a third of their value since their peak in 2006. Blighted Detroit has seen home prices fall to half their old level, and overbuilt Las Vegas is off by 60…

John Edwards on Trial

They are buying limousines in Washington. Lots of them. The number of government limousines increased by 73 percent during the first two years of the Obama administration. The official justification for the acquisition (with borrowed Chinese money) of all this rolling stock is “security.” Our…

Compass Rose

On China

Right after Easter, the irrepressible evangelical-left activist Jim Wallis of Sojourners magazine announced a new “spiritual battle” against cuts to sacred federal programs in the 2012 budget. Enlisting the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the National Association of Evangelicals, and the…

Like most Americans, I have constructed my personality and lifestyle almost entirely by consulting magazines. I have purchased the “10 Stocks You Need to Own Today!” and long ago mastered the “7 Ways to Drive a Woman Wild!” I have also benefited from such superb articles as “Six Weeks to Tighter…

What Tolstoy wrote about families is true of economics: Boom times are all alike, but every crash is disastrous in its own way. That’s why stories about bursting bubbles are always instructive. There are lessons in the smallest of them, even the bubble that led to the comic book crash of 1993. 

From roughly 1982 to 2007, the motion-picture industry was transformed financially by the advent of the VCR and the DVD—new technologies that created gigantic new markets for renting and owning Hollywood’s wares. Previously, Hollywood could only make its money on theater tickets and sales to…

The Obama administration is 0-for-3 in meeting economic expectations. In 2009, President Obama and his advisers believed the bountiful stimulus package would give the economy a strong jolt. It didn’t, and still hasn’t. In 2010, Obama declared Recovery Summer and predicted a surge in employment. The…

It’s easy to get caught up in the details of the political battle of the day over the nation’s economic and fiscal health—after all, that’s what we do in Washington. Unfortunately, many of our decision-makers and opinion leaders possess the skills required for political infighting in greater…

Aerotropolis

Tim Pawlenty has been reluctant to take any direct shots at Mitt Romney. During an interview with Steve Hayes the other week, "Pawlenty steadfastly—even stubbornly—refused to offer criticism of the frontrunner." 

A recently released CNN poll shows that Americans oppose Obamacare by a margin of 17 percentage points (56 to 39 percent). Independents like Obamacare even less, opposing it by a margin of 25 points (60 to 35 percent). CNN also shows that, by a 10-point margin — 52 to 42 percent — independents do…

There are times when anecdote trumps data, when a general impression gives a clearer picture of what is going on in the economy than a data-laden description, especially when the data point in opposite directions, or cover only one month. This is such a time. So here are some impressions gathered…

"Panetta: Iraq will ask for some US troops to stay"

CNBC reports: 

With Syrian troops poised to take revenge for the clash that reportedly left 120 military and security personnel dead last week in the northern town of Jisr al-Shughour, the Obama administration still can’t figure out where it stands on Bashar al-Assad.

The first Paul Ryan 2012 bumper sticker was spotted earlier this week on Route 50 in Arlington, Virginia. And today a Newport Beach, California reader writes in to say, "I bought one for my car a couple of months ago (on a Prius and in California, no less!), and I bought a bunch for every friend of…

Later this month, President Obama will decide the size and scope of the drawdown of U.S. troops in Afghanistan. July 2011 marks the beginning of a process that should ultimately result in the complete transfer of security responsibilities to the Afghans by 2014. Although the American public has…

Senator Jeff Sessions, arguing against what is now a meme on the left (that the stimulus didn't work because it was too small):

Charles Krauthammer writes in the Washington Post:

When the Court hears 80 or so cases in a year, not all of them will be interesting.  In fact, some of them will be dreadfully boring.  Those tend to be known as "telecommunications cases."  (The occasional "fleeting expletive" or "wardrobe malfunction" case notwithstanding.)

On a conference call with veterans groups, Democratic senator Mark Begich of Alaska said of his party, "we look at the budget as a moral document." What should one conclude, then, from the failure of the Democratic controlled Senate to offer a budget for the second straight year?

Alec Baldwin: "Anthony Weiner Is a Modern Human Being"

Ugh: "Evidence That Weiner Was Talking Dirty to Underage Girls? Part 2"

The problem was the wife. Aides to Newt Gingrich have resigned from his presidential campaign in protest of what they felt was a takeover by Callista Gingrich, the candidate’s wife since 2000.

Yuval Levin highlighted this yesterday, and it's one of the most revealing things I've seen recently, not just about Obamacare, but how the left generally views the exercise of power.

Fox News reports: 

AEI's Danielle Pletka puts the war in Afghanistan in perspective, in a column for the Daily Beast: 

I notice that when Congressman Anthony Weiner is asked about resignation—usually on the fly, generally while hurrying past a scrum of reporters—that aura of contrition quickly evaporates. “No, I’m not resigning,” he declares, and the narrowed eyes and pursed lips familiar to viewers of his C-SPAN…

The AP reports that the Navy SEALs' raid on Osama bin Laden's hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan has resulted in a "trove" of actionable intelligence:

In comments today in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee, which is holding a hearing for Leon Panetta's nomination to be the next secretary of Defense, Senator John McCain warned against drastic Defense budget cuts and dangerous, immediate drawdown in Afghanistan and Iraq.

It’s the year for revisiting the Civil War, and also, alas, for “revisioning”—according to current sensibilities—how the war should be remembered. A recent casualty of the blogosphere skirmishes is the famous letter from Union major Sullivan Ballou to his wife Sarah, written a week before his death…

In anticipation of today’s Senate confirmation hearing for Defense secretary nominee Leon Panetta, a list of ten questions on the future of U.S. defense spending priorities was jointly released by the American Enterprise Institute, the Foreign Policy Initiative, and the Heritage Foundation earlier…

A reader sent in this picture, taken yesterday on Route 50 in Arlington, Virginia:

"U.S. Is Intensifying a Secret Campaign of Yemen Airstrikes"

"[Alec] Baldwin sees Weiner’s implosion as opportunity for him in 2013"

Staten Island Republican Michael Grimm doesn't seem spooked by the Democrats' campaign against Medicare. In an interview on CNBC's Squawk Box earlier today, he showed no sign of backing down on the plan he voted for:

I'm told by two reliable sources that Rudy Giuliani intends to run for the GOP nomination for president in 2012. He may throw his hat in the ring soon.

Iran has long stonewalled the IAEA, the organization tasked with enforcing multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions that demand a halt to Iran’s illicit nuclear activities. And this week the rogue regime continued its march: Iranian leaders announced steps to accelerate and harden their…

A blogger over at The Gormogons noticed something odd about today's New York Times editorial on national immigration policy:

As you might have noticed, new DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz has been saying some pretty outrageous things about Republicans. GOP super PAC American Crossroads decided to poke a little fun at her in the video below. Aside from the ribbing here, this is also smart politics. The more Wasserman…

Politico reports that there is growing support across the political spectrum for repealing Obamacare’s Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB). Politico writes,

Yale University has now canceled the Yale Initiative for the Study of Antisemitism (YIISA), the only such program in the country. The New York Post reports that the reason for the program's termination was not lack of interest, but, likely, the program's insistence on covering all forms of…

Another call for the art community to stand up for Ai Weiwei: Philip Bishop says a little known online petition is not enough. Museums should be publicizing the detention of the artist by Chinese authorities front and center.

Rasmussen's latest poll shows that "Most voters still believe President Obama is more liberal than they are, while just one-out-of-four say they share the same ideological views as the president."

After struggling to come up with an explanation that doesn't admit a policy failure, the White House seems to have settled on an answer to questions about what led to the grim unemployment numbers last week: Gas prices. The president said the other day that the latest jobs numbers are a "blip"…

A new study by McKinsey & Company finds that, under Obamacare, the exodus of employers from the employer provided insurance market would be “vastly greater than expected.” The report on the study states:

Why not just call for an individual Chevy Volt mandate? "General Motors Co. CEO Dan Akerson wants the federal gas tax boosted as much as $1 a gallon to nudge consumers toward more fuel-efficient cars."

Jennifer Rubin takes on the Washington Post boys club.

Syria instigated violence on its border with Israel this past weekend when it dispatched Palestinian refugees to the Golan Heights to commemorate the 44 anniversary of the June 1967 war, what Gamal abd el-Nasser called the Naksa. Syrian authorities say that Israeli troops killed 23 on the border,…

Dan Boren (D-Okla.), the four-term conservative representing Oklahoma's Second Congressional District, won't be seeking reelection in 2012, the Hill reports:

Earlier today, I noted that Washington Post's Richard Cohen had written a rather absurd defense of Anthony Weiner comapring him to an innocent Christian that has been "thrown to the lions."

A confidential copy of a draft resolution by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which would call for Syria to face consequences for its nuclear transgressions, is now being privately circulated among the IAEA’s 35-nation Board of Governors, in the hopes of getting it approved by the…

Katie Couric wants to be the new Oprah. She says her upcoming show will model itself after the queen of daytime. Though Couric wasn't big on specifics: "It’s gonna be topical, it’s gonna be live, you know, hopefully it will deal with various issues."

Does Syria’s recent offer of transparency to the world’s atomic watchdog represent a change of heart, or is it simply a tactic meant to prevent (or delay) punishment for its nuclear transgressions?  History tells us that it’s likely the latter.

In a speech that calls for a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, a slashing of corporate and income tax rates, and emergency presidential powers to rein in spending, former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty laid out his economic vision for the country in Chicago today.

There is no fundamental reason to resist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's demand that Israel be recognized as a Jewish state, despite its sizable Palestinian population. Surely Netanyahu is not suggesting any Israeli citizen be denied equal rights. Nor is he advocating the implementation of…

The sweepstakes to see who can offer up the most ridiculous defense of Anthony Weiner is ongoing, but we have a strong late breaking entry from the Washington Post's Richard Cohen:

Well, it's something when we're on the same page as ThinkProgress, who -- to their credit -- flags this exchange from Chris Matthews' show:

The Washington Post reports:

A recent National Journal article misrepresents the effects of the proposed Medicare reforms in the House of Representatives on current seniors. House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan has repeatedly noted that these proposed Medicare reforms — which would not go into effect until 2022 — would…

A newly released ABC News/Washington Post poll shows that President Obama’s approval ratings on dealing with the economy and deficits are now the lowest of his entire presidency. By a margin of 19 points (59 to 40 percent), Americans now disapprove of Obama’s handling of the economy.  His numbers…

Austan Goolsbee abandoning the Obama White House.

Tuesday's Wall Street Journal features a very important piece on Afghanistan by Kim and Fred Kagan. The Kagans show how irresponsible it would be for the president to announce the withdrawal of a substantial number of troops in July, as some political advisers in the White House are advocating.…

Robert Samuelson: "Why we must end Medicare ‘as we know it’"

If commenters on the Daily Kos website are an indication of how the left wing will respond to Anthony Weiner's admission of guilt in sending lewd pictures to women, it won't end well for the New York congressman, who was once considered a rising star in the Democratic party. Here are a few choice…

"In 1992 Colm Tóibín encountered the power of the critic for the first time. He awoke one morning to find The Heather Blazing, his second novel, favourably reviewed in the books section of the Sunday Times by a just-published author named Nick Hornby." The notice helped the Irish novelist sell…

This afternoon, New York Democratic congressman Anthony Weiner admitted that he lied about publishing a lewd photograph of himself on his Twitter feed. In a press conference at New York City's Sheraton Hotel, Weiner told reporters he meant to send the picture that sparked this controversy directly…

In February 1955, Senator Harry Byrd of Virginia took to the floor to decry the results of a government study estimating that a highway bill under consideration would cost American taxpayers $27.2 billion. Does the tune sound vaguely familiar? Excerpted from Earl Swift’s new book, The Big Road: The…

The latest Rasmussen poll of likely voters shows that Americans think Obamacare would achieve a sort of triple crown of failed health care reform: It would increase nationwide health costs, increase federal deficits, and reduce the quality of Americans’ health care. By a margin of more than 2 to 1…

Jan Crawford reports: 

Andrew Breitbart has been releasing photographs of New York Democratic congressman Anthony Weiner throughout the day, and he now reports that he received pictures of a shirtless Weiner from an anonymous source. The pictures are published on Breitbart's websites.

The race card is usually dealt from the bottom of the deck, but Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz is not known for her subtlety. The Democratic National Committee chairwoman, who was appointed just two months ago by President Obama, said yesterday that Republicans "literally" want to reinstate…

Over 100 members of the conservative Republican Study Committee (RSC) in the House have signed a letter to leadership requesting a "Cut, Cap and Balance" debt reduction plan. The three-step plan, the letter states, begins with a plan to cut the budget deficit in half for next year's budget with…

For the last several months, Syrians have been loudly protesting their own government. The regime, led by strongman Bashar al-Assad, has responded by killing its own citizens, including women and children, and shutting off channels of communication that the protesters have been utilizing (such as…

The Telegraph reports:

According to a researcher at RAND, Iran is two months away from acquiring nukes. Ynet reports:

Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum will seek the Republican nomination for president, ABC reports:

Walter Russell Mead: "The Death of the American Dream II"

It can’t give many Americans much lasting pleasure that the Israeli prime minister humbled our commander in chief this week on his home turf. To be sure, a president who seems to relish provoking public confrontations with an ally may have had it coming, but in the end Netanyahu’s speech before…

In the next month, after more than four decades of distinguished public service including almost five extraordinary years at the Pentagon supervising the successful surges in Iraq and Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Robert Gates will retire. He departs as the very model of a Washington “wise man,”…

From the moment the Democratic House passed Obamacare on March 21, 2010, it was clear that November 6, 2012, would be a defining moment in American history. It is not an exaggeration to say that, in many ways, that day will decide the future course of this country: Will our fellow citizens reelect…

Ronald Reagan’s defeat of Jimmy Carter in 1980, and the subsequent rapid American recovery at home and abroad, didn’t come out of the blue. There were plenty of signs before Election Day 1980 that such a reversal and triumph were possible:

Even before the successful raid against Osama bin Laden was announced, news that America’s most admired general, David Petraeus, would take the helm at the CIA while CIA director Leon Panetta would become secretary of defense had induced much discussion about the intertwining of the CIA and…

Last week the Supreme Court reentered the business of dubious liberal policymaking with its decision in a case from California, Plata v. Brown. With Justice Kennedy writing for himself and four colleagues, the Court sustained a lower court’s order requiring the state to reduce the number of…

What with Arnold and DSK, male transgression is once again in the news. Let’s not equate the two cases—one is forgivable, the other, if the accusations are true, is not. Together with these male transgressions is the reaction to them, still more interesting. The reaction shows the power of morality…

Let’s assume that it was not President Obama’s intention for the final section of his big Mideast speech, in which he took up the subject of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, to entirely overwhelm everything he had just said in support of democratization and the “universal rights” of those living…

In late 1979, during an economic strategy meeting, Ronald Reagan was talking about his upcoming presidential campaign. At one point, somebody expressed concern that John Connally, the former governor of Texas and another presidential candidate, was gaining support among corporate chief executive…

Contrary to what the Obama administration might hope, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad is no reformer. Even with the Syrian government’s murderous crackdown against its unarmed opposition, the White House is not getting the message. Yet Assad’s true colors should have been plainly obvious at least…

A three-inch lizard scuttled into the spotlight in December after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed moving it onto the Endangered Species List. The dunes sagebrush lizard’s habitat covers just eight counties on the Texas-New Mexico border, right in the heart of the Permian Basin, a major…

Not that long ago it looked like President Obama had Republicans right where he wanted them. As the debate over the 2011 budget played out on Capitol Hill, he threatened to veto the legislation if it cut one dollar more from defense spending than the budget request submitted by Secretary of Defense…

The week of dueling speeches by President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu was great political drama, but a key character was missing from the scene: Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas. While Abbas was absent, it was in fact his creation on April 27 of a unity government with the…

Venice

It’s anybody's guess whether Sarah Palin will run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012. If she does, she’s likely to benefit from a highly favorable documentary that highlights the part of her career least known to most Americans.

The Faith and Freedom Conference, organized by former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed, met in Washington this weekend and previewed several Republican presidential primary candidates—including Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty, who are both committed to seeking the GOP nomination, as well as…

Bloomberg reports that "Yemeni protesters fought to take advantage of their government’s sudden flight abroad, with hundreds of thousands cheering the departure of wounded President Ali Abdullah Saleh even as government spokesmen said he would soon return."

A couple weeks ago I went into high nerd dudgeon over the decision by the big brains at DC Comics to have Superman renounce his U.S. citizenship. Turns out, that was only the second dumbest thing DC did last month.

Today is the anniversary of the earthshaking election victory of Solidarity in Poland—and the Tiananmen Square massacre.

The only question now is whether the slowdown in the economy is what economists at the HSBC bank call “a speed bump” on the road to continued recovery, or the first step down the road to a double-dip recession. No less an expert than former Federal Reserve Board chairman Alan Greenspan answers, “I…

William McGurn on Notre Dame's new ties to Emily's List.

Congressman Steve Chabot just introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives that calls on America to stop giving money to the United Nations “if the General Assembly adopts a resolution in favor of recognizing a state of Palestine outside of or prior to a final status agreement negotiated…

University of Illinois at Chicago professors Barbara Risman, William Bridges, and Anthony M. Orum write this letter to the editor in response to “Fat City: Thank you, Illinois taxpayers, for my cushy life,” which appeared in a recent issue of THE WEEKLY STANDARD:

The House of Representatives voted today on two resolutions regarding the United States's involvement in Libya. One resolution, sponsored by Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, stated the United States must cease its involvement in conflict within 15 days. The measure failed 148 to 265, but managed to get 87…

Sources from Israel's military now believe that the Syrian regime is likely to fall, according to Haaretz:

Ralph Reed, organizer of the Faith and Freedom Conference, introduced former Utah governor Jon Huntsman this morning as "a good conservative and a great friend." Huntsman, who previously served as President Obama's ambassador to China, said he would speak on two topics--"life and liberty." He used…

Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh survived a rocket attack on the presidential palace in Sana’a today, and he is reportedly planning to address the country sometime soon. This latest episode is more evidence that the country where the most active al Qaeda franchise has found sanctuary is sliding…

At the Faith and Freedom Conference in Washington, D.C. on Friday morning, Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann delivered a stemwinder. She warned that marriage is "under siege" like no time before. She called for a renewed defense of the right to life and the defunding of "corrupt…

According to the unemployment data released this morning, the economy added only 54,000 jobs, pushing the unemployment rate up to 9.1 percent. However, this report from MarketWatch suggests the data is much worse than that:

Judge Frank Easterbrook, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, is known for two things: First, he writes some of the crispest, liveliest opinions that the federal bench has seen in decades. Second, he has absolutely no tolerance for nonsense. Both of these traits were on display…

Jack Kevorkian, most famous for playing a part in the deaths of 130 people, has died in Michigan. Over the years, THE WEEKLY STANDARD has paid a little attention to Kevorkian -- and his practice. Consider these articles:

Senior writer Matt Labash reveals tricks of the trade in a recent interview with Fishbowl D.C.: 

The New York Times writes,

"Oh my: Paul Ryan opens the door slightly to running for president?"

House Budget chair Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) says there's a growing sentiment among House GOP caucus members that Congress ought to make larger defense spending cuts as a way to relieve the national debt. Speaking after his foreign policy address last night, Ryan said he attributes this libertarian or…

Paul Ryan defended America's role as the leading defender of freedom and liberty in a foreign policy address this evening. Speaking to the Alexander Hamilton Society, Ryan, the Republican chairman of the House Budget Committee, laid out a vision that defended America's exceptional role as a world…

Kevin Williamson: "Hope Is Not a Policy"

Some brave Chinese artists offered an artistic protest of the arrest of Ai Weiwei. The exhibition has been dismantled, and three artists and organizers have since disappeared.

The AP writes, “Democrats are distorting the fundamentals of a Republican plan to reshape Medicare, falsely accusing the GOP of pushing a proposal that tells the elderly ‘you're on your own’ with health care and that lets insurers deny coverage to the sick.”

Former Utah governor Jon Huntsman, who recently resigned his post as ambassador to China, is considering a run for president. And though he hasn't announced whether he'll seek the Republican nomination, already some conservatives have put together this ad, essentially labeling him a Republican in…

House Budget chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) will lay out his vision for America's foreign policy in an address to the Alexander Hamilton Society tonight in Washington. Crediting Charles Krauthammer's 2009 essay in THE WEEKLY STANDARD, "Decline Is a Choice," Ryan will insist the United States maintain…

The Hill reports on a visit to the White House yesterday by members of the House Republican caucus: 

At a farm near Mason, New Hampshire, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney just announced that he is running for president. "I’m Mitt Romney, " Romney said. "I believe in America, and I’m running for president of the United States."

Scott Conroy reports at RealClearPolitics:

Just what the country needs in its moment of maximum fiscal peril: wisdom published in the Times (where else?) from one of the architects of the Great Society.

From the New York Times article announcing that Jill Abramson is replacing Bill Keller as the paper's executive editor:

A Rasmussen poll released yesterday shows that 35.6 percent of Americans are now Republicans, compared to 34.0 percent who are Democrats. That’s a higher tally for Republicans, and the widest margin between the two parties, than at any time since the GOP took control of the House in January. A year…

This floor speech from Paul Ryan is about as fiery as the Wisconsin congressman gets:

The left has been slamming the Koch brothers’ donations to education after the Charles G. Koch Foundation’s made an agreement with Florida State University to sponsor an academic position in the university’s economics department. The real controversy is not related to the academy at all, of course:…

Uh oh:

The Emergency Committee for Israel is running the following ad in a significant cable news buy, thanking “Israel’s true friends, Democrats and Republicans alike,” for supporting Israel when “President Obama sided with the Palestinians.”

Larry Kudlow writes: 

"Romney leads in Iowa, Cain surging"

RINOs Under Attack: "Sources say Chaffetz is in against Hatch"

CNN releases some more data from its latest poll. Obama's favorable rating has ticked up to 54 percent, but that may still be due to his "bin Laden bounce." Sixty-five percent of adults approve of the job he's doing combating terrorism and 55% approve of his handling of the war in Afghanistan. But…

Berlin—In separate efforts, Republican congressmen Mike Conaway and Peter King have confronted the world's third largest shipping company—the French-owned CMA CGM—for enabling Iranian arms to be smuggled aboard container ships. Some of the intended recipients of Iranian arms include the terrorist…

A CNN poll of 1,007 adult Americans asks: "From everything you have heard or read about the Republicans' plan to change Medicare so far, do you favor or oppose it?"

Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said that Medicare reform would be a “defining issue” for his party’s plan to win back control of the House of Representatives next year. Speaking with reporters this morning, Israel said that the House…

The folks over at the Center for American Progress are up in arms over this statement by Rep. Paul Ryan, D-Wis.:

Yesterday, Anthony Weiner had an incredibly testy 9-minute exchange with reporters who were asking him questions about the lewd photo posted on his Twitter account Friday night. Weiner repeatedly refused to say why he wouldn't ask the authorities to investigate what he alleged to be an illegal…

The ROTC is booming, writes the Los Angeles Times. Not only have several elite schools ended their Vietnam-era bans on the program – with Yale, most recently, establishing the only Naval ROTC program in the entire state of Connecticut on its campus – participation has increased by 27 percent…

A delegation of the People's Liberation Army, the largest group of Chinese military officers ever to visit the United States, recently toured the Pentagon and other U.S. defense facilities. Part of their mission was to further erode and finally end the congressional ban on weapons and technology…

Speaking with reporters this morning, Rep. Steve Israel offered only tepid support to fellow New York Democrat Anthony Weiner in that congressman's growing scandal. Asked about what he thought about the controversy, stemming from the fact that a picture of a man's underwear was sent from Weiner's…

In case you doubted that Palin derangement syndrome is still one of the most potent forces in American politics, I give you MSNBC's Martin Bashir:

This is quite remarkable. Senate candidate and Florida state Senate President Mike Haridopolos was dumped off a conservative talk show in the sunshine state for refusing to say whether he'd support Paul Ryan's medicare plan. From the transcript with radio host Ray Junior:

The New York Times’s Nate Silver claims that Paul Ryan’s proposed Medicare reforms — which are part of a budget that would save a staggering $1 billion a day in relation to President Obama’s budget — are likely to become unpopular. Silver argues,

The Washington Post's Glenn Kessler fact checks DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz claim that Paul Ryan's Medicare reform would "throw [seniors] to the wolves and allow insurance companies to deny you coverage and drop you for pre-existing conditions."

The White House has been asking Congress for months to simply raise the debt ceiling with no strings attached. Last night, the House of Representatives brought up such a measure for a vote, and it failed 318 to 97. Eighty-two Democrats sided with the Republicans. So now we have bipartisan agreement…

Saturday, May 28, was the thirteenth anniversary of Pakistan's first nuclear test in 1998. The day is known as Yaum-e-Takbeer, the Day of Revival. This year it revived a long-running and vicious campaign between the controversial Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan and the former military…

Hmm: "Group Launches Effort To Draft Ryan For WH Bid"