August 2011

Damon Root: "Michael Lind: Libertarians "Apologize for Autocracy" and "Side with the Confederacy"

In a letter sent earlier today to House speaker John Boehner and Senate majority leader Harry Reid, President Barack Obama requested to address a joint session of Congress to deliver his jobs plan on September 7, the first day the House of Representatives will be back from recess and the same…

Earlier this month, California Rep. Maxine Waters said the Tea Party "can go straight to hell." The next day, Rep. Andre Carson of Indiana, speaking at a convention in South Florida, told attendees that some Tea Party-supported Republicans in Congress want to see blacks "hanging on a tree."

Preparing to face off more directly against Rick Perry, Mitt Romney's campaign seems to be trying to determine its best strategy. At the New Republic, William Galston offers Romney some unsolicited advice about how to fight back against the apparent Perry juggernaut: 

Reuters blogger and WEEKLY STANDARD contributor James Pethokoukis takes a look at Jon Huntsman's recently unveiled tax plan, and by golly, it might be the first thing about his candidacy that generates real excitement:

One would not expect that college campuses would go out of their way to accommodate the habits of the Republican speaker of the House, John Boehner. But how respectful are colleges of the current occupant of the White House? Not very, it would seem. 

The Associated Press reports that President Barack Obama plans to address a joint session of Congress to present his jobs plan on September 7. That is the same evening that NBC and Politico are holding a Republican presidential debate at the Reagan Library in California.

The Mercatus Center at George Mason University has just released an important new study on the hiring practices of firms that used stimulus funds. It's fairly comprehensive, based on over 1,300 surveys of managers and employees. There's been very little good empirical data on the stimulus thus far,…

Yesterday, Libyan revolutionaries "gave Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s recalcitrant loyalists a four-day deadline Tuesday to surrender," the New York Times reported. Today, Qaddafi has responded, according to the Washington Post: 

The latest poll from Quinnipiac shows President Obama stuck at 45% in match-ups against Mitt Romney and Rick Perry. Obama does better against Michele Bachmann (48% to 39%) and Sarah Palin (51% to 37%).

How are national Democrats living up to President Obama's call for civility in politics? 

Republican presidential candidate Buddy Roemer believes he's gaining momentum. "My best fundraising week was last week," the former governor and congressman from Louisiana tells Slate's Dave Weigel. "I raised enough money to buy a ticket to one of Obama's fundraisers."

Politico: "Rick Perry panic fires up the left"

Earlier this week, Gallup published a sobering graph:

Reading President Obama's eloquent tribute to the 9/11 generation in his American Legion speech today, I thought of our late and beloved friend and colleague, Dean Barnett, and his terrific July 30, 2007, cover story "The 9/11 Generation." It's very much worth reading, or re-reading--and you can do…

Navy Times: "Petraeus shedding military uniform to head CIA"

Earlier today, Syrian security forces arrested the brother of a Syrian opposition leader in exile, Radwan Ziadeh, who is now a George Washington University visiting scholar. Thirty-seven-year-old Yassin Ziadeh was at a demonstration after prayers (for the eid al-fitr holiday), Radwan told me on the…

Jon Ward at the Huffington Post talks to advisers close to Mitt Romney about the campaign's thinking of its chief rival, Rick Perry. Beyond subtle criticisms, like referring to Perry as a "career politician," the Romney campaign apparently thinks the Texas governor's worst enemy could be himself:

The New York Times reports that Libyan revolutionaries have set a four-day deadline for Qaddafi's loyalists to surrender:

Via Ben Smith: "Pro-government protesters outside the U.S. Embassy in Moscow earlier this week seemed to be specializing in obscene references to the Arizona senator [John McCain]:"

The Daily Caller reports that Rick Perry's opposition to liberal health care reform wasn't always so pronounced. In 1993, he wrote a letter commending her health care reform efforts:

The acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is stepping down from his role, according to a story at Politico. The ATF and the Justice Department have been plagued by a recent scandal surrounding the controversial "Fast and Furious" operation, which involved…

MItt Romney took a thinly veiled jab at his opponent Rick Perry at a speech at the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) annual national convention in San Antonio today. "I am a conservative businessman," Romney said. "I have spent most of my life outside of politics, dealing with real problems in the…

Today, in the Post Dana Milbank makes a fairly bold assertion:

In the Washington Examiner, Jim Capretta and James Wootton write that House Republicans should freeze, investigate, and replace Obamacare. All three steps should be taken prior to the 2012 election and would help advance the already extraordinarily popular cause of repeal.

The other day, the boss wondered whether Rick Perry is good for the Jews. Last night on Fox News, Perry's former political opponent Kinky Friedman had this to say:

According to the latest Rasmussen poll of likely voters, Americans support the repeal of Obamacare by a margin of 20 percentage points (57 to 37 percent), with 46 percent “strongly” supporting repeal. To put that into perspective, more than twice as many Americans “strongly” support repeal (46…

On Saturday, August 27, during special night-time prayers held during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, Syrian soldiers and club-wielding gangs encircled the large Al-Rifa’i Mosque in Damascus and then attacked it, killing two people and wounding 12, according to the Local Coordinating…

Jonathan Last: "Romney’s 'Core Constituency'”

Last week, the Almighty expressed His displeasure over Paul Ryan's decision not to run for president by sending us an earthquake and a storm. But Ryan still refuses to reconsider. So we at THE WEEKLY STANDARD have put dreams of Ryan-Rubio 2012 on hold, and have turned our attention to other…

Ross Douthat: "American Theocracy Revisited"

While most area residents escaped indoors to avoid Hurricane Irene this past weekend, a lone guard kept watch throughout the storm at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. Photos of the guard appeared Saturday on a Facebook page managed by the 3rd U.S. INF Regiment, also…

A new national poll from CNN/ORC International shows Rick Perry with a 13-point lead over Mitt Romney in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. Twenty-seven percent of the Republicans and independents polled chose Perry as the candidate they would most likely support. Romney received…

Last week, when Libyan tyrant Muammar Qaddafi had reportedly fallen from power, Senator John McCain, along with his colleague Senator Lindsey Graham, issued (in part) the following statement:

Congressman Ron Paul is holding steady in early polls—even pulling ahead of Michele Bachmann in Gallup’s report last week—prompting many to ask why he isn’t getting more attention from the press. (The Washington Post provides its own explanation here.)  But while we were busy not covering Paul this…

The MacIver Insitute in Wisconsin put together this video about a union protest of a school in Wisconsin where Governor Scott Walker recently made an appearence. The building was vandalized, and the head of the exemplary school understandably worries about what example this protest sets for the…

Jonah Goldberg wrote a column about the recent attacks on Rick Perry, arguing that identity politics on the right are "intensely wearying" and "conservatism needs to spend less time defending candidates for who they are, and more time supporting candidates for what they intend to do." Of course,…

Colin Powell says that Dick Cheney is taking "cheap shots" in his forthcoming memoir:

The Wall Street Journal reports that Rick Perry, while campaigning in Iowa over the weekend, called Social Security a "Ponzi Scheme":

Barack Obama reached a new high: 55 percent disapprove of the president, according to Gallup's daily tracking poll from this weekend. Obama's approval rating tied its lowest at 38 percent. The president has maintained a higher disapproval than approval rating throughout the month of August,…

The AP reports that Iran has warned Syria to ease its crackdown of dissidents protesting the Assad regime: 

The New York Times reports that al Qaeda's number 2, Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, has been killed by a CIA drone: 

Toby Harnden: "Perfect Storm of Hype: Politicians, the media and the Hurricane Irene apocalypse that never was"

Congratulations to President Obama for finally calling on Syrian president Bashar al-Assad to step down. It was past time for the White House to break decisively with a regime that has been slaughtering its people for almost six months, with a death toll conservatively estimated at 2,000 and…

‘Sports diplomacy lives!” raved a former national security official traveling with the Georgetown University basketball team on a visit to China timed to coincide with Vice President Biden’s trip this week. That was before a brawl ended the Hoyas’ game against a professional Chinese team tied to…

There’s no question that Chris Christie, the tough-talking hero of the right, is more conservative than the last Republican elected governor of New Jersey, pro-choice environmentalist Christine Todd Whitman. So fans of the union-busting, liberal-taunting Christie might wonder why the current…

Now more than halfway through his third year in office—with the economy flat-lining, American prestige evaporating, and public anxiety spiking—Barack Obama is the most vulnerable incumbent president since Jimmy Carter. The election is still 14 months away, but it’s not too early to see the broad…

Benghazi, Libya

Cincinnati

One of the biggest box-office hits of 1969 featured a 10-minute scene with a husband and wife getting ready for bed during which a hilarious argument slowly builds and then erupts about six minutes in. Such a patient and leisurely sequence would be unimaginable in a Hollywood movie today; it would…

Winston Churchill titled the final volume of his World War I memoir The Unknown War. The topic of that volume was the Eastern front, but the title could just as well have described the Great War against the Ottoman Empire in Mesopotamia (the present Iraq) from 1914 until 1918, and its aftermath.…

Charleston, S.C.

The main reason I wanted to read Prime Time, which is Jane Fonda’s latest book—there have been others—about Jane Fonda, is because of its cover. On the right-hand side, next to a large color photograph of the actress, her lips painted the precise color of her sweater (tangerine) and her hair…

In his Inaugural Address, President Obama quoted from Thomas Paine’s The Crisis: “Let it be told to the future world that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet it.”

Otto and Elise Hampel were improbable German resisters. By all accounts, the working-class, middle-aged couple accepted Hitler’s New Order up until 1940. Then, during the invasion of France, Elise’s brother was killed—and something snapped in them. The pair began writing postcards denouncing the…

As a child-rearer, I’ve always prided myself on my carefree attitude and libertine ways. No “helicopter parenting” for this guy, no childproofing my children’s childhoods. If the kids set themselves on fire with their Zippos, not a problem—they can just douse the flames with their beers. Likewise,…

Whether he wins the nomination or not, Rick Perry’s August charge into the top echelon of GOP presidential hopefuls marks at least this turning point: In national Republican politics, Texas is the new California.

Campaign events tend not to be the first place to look for nuanced constitutional debate; the Lincoln-Douglas encounters are the exception that proves the rule. So what are the odds that a thoughtful debate would occur not just between candidates of rival parties, or even rival wings of the same…

There's an entirely absurd op-ed by Georgia Congressman John Lewis in today's New York Times about voter ID laws. You can probably guess where this is going, but here goes:

“Don’t just do something, stand there,” President Ronald Reagan once advised his staff. Federal Reserve Board chairman Ben Bernanke has decided that remains pretty good advice: In his Friday speech to the world’s central bankers assembled in Jackson Hole, he said that he will not use “the range of…

When Jon Tumilson, a Navy SEAL, died in Afghanistan earlier this month, his dog Hawkeye refused to leave his side. The black Labrador Retriever lay beside the coffin during the August 19th military funeral in Tumilson’s hometown of Rockford, Iowa, waiting faithfully for the man he had long…

In the Washington Post, Camden Fine, president and chief executive of the Independent Community Bankers of America, writes, “I was astounded this month when the Federal Reserve announced its intention to keep interest rates at zero percent for at least the next two years. I kept staring at that…

There has been no shortage of articles written from the perspective of the Guantanamo detainees’ lawyers and advocates. The result, more often than not, is a wildly inaccurate picture. A CNN.com piece (“Ten years on, Kuwaiti inmates fear indefinite Guantanamo detention”) published by Jenifer Fenton…

President Obama's former chief economist Austan Goolsbee, who is actively fundraising for the president's reelection campaign, had a rather odd explanation for the economic woes on Sean Hannity's Fox News show (via RealClearPolitics): 

Kate Marshall, a Democratic candidate in a special election in Nevada's Second Congressional District, recently decided to show support--by issuing a statement--for Israel. "I am proud to consider Israel a friend and I reiterate my unwavering support for its fundamental right to exist and the…

NOW Lebanon reports: 

Sabratha, Libya—I went to the Roman ruins here on Sunday, and they seem to be fine. But it’s true that Qaddafi’s forces were based here when they attempted to defend Sabratha on the 14th of August. And they left behind mattresses, parts of their uniforms, and lots of trash.

CNN reports that former New York governor will not run for the Republican nomination for president:

According to pool reports filed yesterday by Maeve Reston of the Los Angeles Times, here's how the president spent Thursday:

CBS reports:

New York Times: "C.I.A. Demands Cuts in Book About 9/11 and Terror Fight"

This video of GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney has been making its way around the blogosphere. In the clip, Romney listens to a question from a voter in New Hampshire about the balanced budget amendment, and after a bit of an exchange, Romney gets visibly annoyed, particularly when the woman…

Zwara, Libya—We’ve arrived in Zwara, which is about 70 miles from Tripoli and 35 miles from the Tunisian border. It’s impossible to get out in any direction, though one could get out to sea, if one fancied a long boat trip.

Ace of Spades: "Bill Keller Of The NY Times Wants His Readers To Know Most Of The GOP Candidates Are Crazy Religious Nuts"

Per a new Sachs/Mason-Dixon poll, Christian Heinze at the Hill points out that Mitt Romney is remaining strong in Florida:

There were people who had high hopes for Roberto Donna. The James Beard award winner and onetime Iron Chef America contestant was in the midst of making a comeback (after settling lawsuits against him and making deals with the tax authorities), having opened Galileo III in downtown D.C. But as Tim…

In his first national radio interview since announcing his campaign for president, Rick Perry criticized Mitt Romney's health care plan in Massachusetts, The Hill's Michael reports:

Warren Buffett wrote an op-ed last week making his case for higher taxes on the rich, like himself, who he said shouldn't pay at lower marginal rates than their underlings—and indeed Buffett paid a relatively paltry $6.9 million in taxes last year. It's possible (actually, it's certain) that…

Bloomberg reports that Syria has been aiding Qaddafi's propaganda machine:

Big Labor is finally getting tired of being led on by Democrats. Politico reports:

In a column for the Washington Post, David Ignatius discusses the cache of documents captured in Osama bin Laden’s safe house. Ignatius writes:

In control of the Alabama legislature and governorship for the first time in 137 years, Republicans sent a clear message that they’re bent on delivering conservative change. In fact, the shock of the their passage of major fiscal and social legislation is still reverberating, especially on the…

Andrew Ferguson inexplicably neglected, in his fascinating and entertaining piece on Rick Perry in the current issue, to raise the question that’s surely on so many readers’ minds: But is he good for the Jews?

For the last week, Israel has been hit by rocket fire from Gaza--"more than 100 rockets and mortars," the Washington Times reports. Just last night, 20 rockets were fired in, hitting Ashkelon, Be'er Sheva, and Sderot. Haaretz reports:

NBC News: "Cheney: My book will have ‘heads exploding’ in D.C."

Politico: "In money race, it’s advantage Democrats"

While delivering a speech in China earlier this week, Vice President Joe Biden said: "Your policy has been one which I fully understand -- I’m not second-guessing -- of one child per family." After Republican leaders criticized Biden for condoning China's one-child policy, which has involved forced…

Since the revolution in January, Egypt has been in a constant state of unrest. While the protests have been mostly peaceful, there are exceptions. The other week, dozens in one of Cairo’s slums—known as “Garbage City”—were throwing rocks at passing cars, demanding housing they had allegedly been…

Gallup's latest:

A new web ad released today by the Romney campaign highlights Mitt Romney's support for right to work laws. In the video, a paper company owner in New Hampshire explains how a union forcing his employees to join would hurt his business. Watch the video below:

John Bolton, writing in the New York Post, urges President Obama to "lead from the front."

The apparent fall of the Qaddafi regime, and the likely capture (or killing) of the tyrant himself, will signal the end not only of four decades of internal repression and external terrorism, but one of the more vexing orthographic challenges in modern American journalism: the spelling of the…

Zwara, Libya—The coastal city of Zwara, near the Libya-Tunisia border, is under siege by pro-Qaddafi forces who continue to shell the city and appear to be the last of Qaddafi’s forces still fighting in Libya.

With the advent of the Arab Spring, several former Arab tyrannies (Egypt, Tunisia, now Libya, perhaps Syria next) have thrown off dictators and are, or will be, moving toward elections. And in Jordan and Morocco, the kings have announced new constitutional arrangements that move powers to elected…

Yesterday, the Des Moines Register reported that former New York governor George Pataki, who has been considering a run for the Republican nomination for president, will travel to Iowa's Polk County this weekend for a local GOP fundraiser:

Iran has a lot riding on the survival—both literal and political—of Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chávez. If the Bolivarian revolutionary beats cancer and wins another term as president, Tehran will continue to enjoy a strategic partnership with the world’s fifth largest oil exporter. But if Chávez…

Senator Marco Rubio at the Reagan Presidential Library last night:

Guy Benson: "BREAKING: Obama Administratrion Clarifies Biden Remarks, 'Strongly Opposes' China's One-Child Policy"

In a recent interview with CBS, President Obama said:

The Hill reported this morning that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) is planning an attack on Republicans for the GOP's upcoming effort to fight the extension of the temporary payroll tax break:

ABC News: Earthquake!

While his critics have been eager to dismiss the Texas Governor as anti-science, the The New York Times takes a look at an upcoming electronic book, "Rick Perry and His Eggheads: Inside the Brainiest Political Operation in America." The book's author shows Perry's approach to politics is at once…

As Muammar Qaddafi’s reign of terror presumably comes to an end (or comes close to an end), there is one part of his regime worth saving: the Libyan intelligence service’s files. Tyrants tend to be diligent record keepers, with vast bureaucracies recording every noteworthy misdeed. This is…

In Gallup's most recent daily tracking poll, Barack Obama hit his lowest approval rating of his presidency, 38 percent. Obama's disapproval rating also tied an overall high, 54 percent. The graph below shows the approval and disapproval ratings over the last month:

The mission of the modern university professor is not merely “forming competent and efficient professionals capable of satisfying the demand for labor,” Pope Benedict XVI said in a speech in Madrid on Friday. Instead, professors and students should be “looking for something more lofty and capable…

Rick Perry only entered the presidential race a week and a half ago. As governor, Perry’s foreign policy experience has been limited. And his views on these issues have hardly been relevant, even if they’ve been known, since few care what the chief executive of Texas thinks about America’s…

PPP's new poll shows the top candidates in Iowa within a few points of one another:

Mitt Romney called China's one child policy "gruesome and barbaric" and criticized Joe Biden for his comments condoning the practice while the vice president was in China. Following on the heels of House speaker John Boehner, Romney released the following statement condemning Biden's remarks:

Dakota Wood, a retired Marine with 20 years of service, announced last Friday that he's running for Congress in Oklahoma as a Republican in the Second Congressional District. 

“Moammar Qaddafi and his regime need to recognize that their rule has come to an end. Qaddafi needs to acknowledge the reality that he no longer controls Libya. He needs to relinquish power once and for all.”

Walter Russell Mead: "W Gets A Third Term In The Middle East"

In a speech at Sichuan University in China, Vice President Joe Biden said: "Your policy has been one which I fully understand -- I’m not second-guessing -- of one child per family."

GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney told Fox News's Neil Cavuto this afternoon that he will reveal his plan on job creation on September 6, the same week President Obama is set to unveil his own. Romney's speech is part of a strategy to "pick up the pace" in a new phase of the campaign.

Philo Klein: "Is Obama's 'specific' plan now just an outline?"

Gallup is out with a new poll showing four of the Republican candidates for president beating or within striking distance of Barack Obama among registered voters. Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney has the greatest advantage, beating Obama 48 percent to 46 percent.

With Muammar Qaddafi surrounded in Tripoli, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad may be starting to fear more for his future. Perhaps he’s thinking that the international coalition that brought down the Libyan leader may now turn its attention to him—but now with a victory, once thought uncertain,…

While the GOP presidential primary race has captured most of the media attention, Republicans are also gearing up for the 33 Senate seats on the ballot next year. Democrats currently hold 23 of those seats, and Republicans will need a net win of at least 4 seats to gain control of the Senate. A…

If I had more dramatic flair, I'd announce that I'll be in seclusion for a while, grimly pondering the Republican future while re-reading the great Yeats poem, "To a Friend whose Work has Come to Nothing."

Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan has decided for a final time that he will not run for president in 2012, THE WEEKLY STANDARD has learned. Ryan, who began seriously considering a bid in late May after Indiana governor Mitch Daniels took himself out of the race, had consulted with top Republicans,…

So the media is abuzz today that Mitt Romney has plans to tear down his 3,000 square foot beach front home in La Jolla, California and replace it with an 11,000 square foot home. (Note NPR's sarcasm about the matter.) Yes, this doesn't exactly scream "man of the people" and these kinds of splashy…

Good news, reproductive rights advocates and neo-Malthusian environmentalists! Vice President Joe Biden has no problem with the government forcibly sterilizing people and compelling abortions. From his remarks at Sichuan University in Chengdu, China yesterday discussing the U.S. debt:

Is former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney now the candidate of big finance and Wall Street? Several financial industry donors who gave to Barack Obama in 2008 have shifted their dollars to Romney, the Hill reports.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney released the following statement on Libya, stopping short of even calling for a "cautious celebration" of Muammar Qaddafi's impending downfall. Instead, Romney, in his statement, hopes now to seek "justice" for the victims of the Pan Am 103 bombing:

Rick Perry's campaign just released the following statement on Libya from the Texas governor: 

At The Witherspoon Institute, a think tank founded by Princeton Professor Robert P. George and devoted to discussing ethics in the public square, Public Discourse editor Ryan T. Anderson kicks off a new series of essays designed to inform the discussion of the upcoming presidential election:

According to the New York Times, Syria strongman Bashar al-Assad is defiant, promising to continue to crackdown on protestors: 

Bill Kristol and Steve Hayes, with A. B. Stoddard and Evan Bayh, yesterday on Fox News: 

Rebels flooded Green Square (now being called Martyr Square) in Tripoli last night: 

New York Times: "Rebels Pour Into Central Tripoli Square"

The White House press office just sent out this statement from President Obama on Libya:   

Via Reuters, a spokesman for the International Criminal Court says that Saif al-Islam Qaddafi, the son of Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi, has been detained (no details yet on how he was arrested or who is holding him). The Libyan rebels have been advancing all day--see Hot Air for the most…

The Wisconsin State Journal editorial page wants Paul Ryan to run for president: 

A day after Sarah Palin released a campaign-like video documenting her recent trip to Iowa, veteran campaigner and former George W. Bush adviser Karl Rove said he believes the former Alaska governor will enter the race for president. Byron York at the Washington Examiner reports:

Full marks to Jay Cost for his deft evisceration of Chris Matthews and Howard Fineman, and their resurrection of Dwight D. Eisenhower as a liberal Democrat. What Fineman and Matthews don't know about American history could fill a book—and in each instance, has done so.

As if the economic news is not worrying enough, politicians around the world have decided to make things worse. The Chinese regime treated vice president Joe Biden rudely on his visit to Beijing to discuss economic issues of mutual concern—the rapidly depreciating dollar worries the Chinese, while…

Dan Foster: "Space Aliens Are Probably Progressive Liberals"

In a letter being circulated by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, conservative foreign policy experts, including Bill Kristol and Lee Smith, urge President Obama take a series of actions that will hasten the fall of Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad. The letter follows President Obama's…

Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi held her first ever meeting with the top civilian official in the Burmese regime, President Thein Sein, in the isolated capital of Naypyidaw. There had earlier been rumors that Ms. Suu Kyi would be going to Naypyidaw to attend a government sponsored…

Further fueling speculation that Sarah Palin will run for president, SarahPAC has released this gauzy campaign-grade video of her recent appearance at the Iowa state fair:

When even the New York Times is forced to confront reality, you know things are bad:

Since word came of the terrorist murder and mayhem in the Negev, I haven't been able to get out of my head an old Israeli dance song about setting out for the desert. There has been (Lord knows) plenty of blood shed in the Negev since this long-ago song was first sung, but the first generation LP…

On MSNBC's Morning Joe today, economist Jeffrey Sachs, a self-professed supporter of Barack Obama in 2008, said the president has no plan to save the economy and that "there's never been a plan."

In his statement yesterday demanding that Syrian president Bashar al-Assad step down, President Obama said: "we have heard [the Syrian opposition's] strong desire that there not be foreign intervention in their movement.” Perhaps so, but today opposition members are happy that the White House is on…

A potential Paul Ryan presidential run has sparked a lot of enthusiasm among conservatives who are depressed with a weak Republican field. But it has also prompted some conservatives to voice concerns about Ryan's path to the GOP nomination and victory in the general election--and what failure in…

Yuval Levin and Pete Wehner ask, in today's Wall Street Journal, whether the Tea Party will be willing to take on entitlements:

Ryan Streeter continues collecting reaction to the prospect of a Paul Ryan run for president: 

Mitt Romney's latest web ad addresses the "corporations are people" comment he made last week in Iowa. The pushback comes at about 1:12 in the video below:

From an announcement on Georgetown University's website: "The Georgetown Men's Basketball team will be embarking on its first tour to China from August 13th to August 27th 2011 to participate in a range of athletic, educational and cultural activities. All members of the Georgetown community are…

The boss made a cameo on Jon Stewart's Daily Show the other night, encouraging Paul Ryan to run for president:

A potential recall campaign against Wisconsin governor Scott Walker looks much more hopeless this morning. WisPolitics.com reports:

Washington Times: "Obama to deport illegals by ‘priority’"

Check out this short clip from MSNBC’s Hardball  (h/t Allahpundit):

Max Boot: "Obama’s 'Smart Power,' Not So Smart"

President Obama’s statement demanding Bashar al-Assad step down as president of Syria was quickly followed by similar condemnations coming from the French, Germans, British, the EU, and Canadians. “To have them all fall in line is a hell of an accomplishment, especially in summertime,” Syria…

John Bolton, writing in the Washington Times: 

Just to close the loop on President Obama’s claim that GM is “now making a profit for the first time in decades,” reader D.B. sent along GM profit-loss statements from 1990 to 2000. The tally: GM had mounting net losses in 1990, 1991, and 1992. In 1993 they turned things around, posting a net…

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney issued the following statement today on Syria: 

Wall Street Journal:

Jadu, Libya—Yesterday, around 4 p.m., 10 Jadu fighters, who were attempting to cut off the retreat of a column of Qaddafi militiamen, were killed by an errant NATO missile strike near Badr, Libya. Two other fighters are missing. The loss of ten, who included two commanders, is an unimaginable…

It seems entirely possible that the only thing keeping consumers away from the Chevy Volt is its price point. It’s basically a $41,000 Honda Civic with better mpg, a quieter ride, and an upgraded interior. So the big brains at GM have decided to address the price issue by making a more expensive…

President Obama has just called upon Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad to step down. "We have consistently said that President Assad must lead a democratic transition or get out of the way," the president said in a statement. "He has not led.  For the sake of the Syrian people, the time has come for…

Ryan Streeter, editor of ConservativeHome, has asked his readers to react to the prospect of Paul Ryan running for president. The response has been overwhelming: 

New Hampshire Journal: "Poll: Romney rocks, Perry pops, Bachmann doesn’t bounce"

Wisconsin governor Scott Walker added his voice to a growing chorus of conservative leaders calling on Congressman Paul Ryan to join the Republican presidential race. Walker, one of the country's most popular figures with rank-and-file Republicans, says that Ryan's leadership on the difficult…

Byron York: "Black caucus: Tired of making excuses for Obama"

Yesterday I pointed to President Obama’s alarmingly statist “reasonable” view of his government’s handling of Chrysler and GM. But in focusing on Obama’s ideology, I missed the bigger story. To refresh, here’s what Obama said:

Good for Toomas Ilves, the president of Estonia, for meeting with the Dalai Lama:

It seemed like a good idea at the time. Daimler AG (owner of Mercedes-Benz) had decided to revive Maybach, the luxury German sedan famous in the 1920s and '30s, as a way to compete with Rolls Royce and Bentley. How very late-90s of them! Last year fewer than 200 Maybachs were sold. The good news is…

Arid Uka, 21, a German-Albanian Muslim who killed two U.S. servicemen and wounded two more at Frankfurt Airport on March 2 of this year, will go on trial in a German court beginning August 31, on two counts of murder and three of attempted murder. The dead Americans were Senior Airman Nicholas J.…

In today’s Wall Street Journal, Jay Solomon and Nour Malas report on the Syrian regime’s dirty work in the United States, spying on and intimidating dissidents. (Indeed, Syria has been engaged in subterfuge for the last few months.) Sometimes Bahar al-Assad’s henchmen made good on their threats.

If you're looking for a dramatic example of a government regulatory agency run amok, consider EPA’s arbitrary and shameful attack on one Texas natural gas company. 

Quinnipiac's poll of New Jersey shows Obama's approval rating dropping to 44 percent:

Liberal MSNBC host (I repeat myself) Ed Schultz did his best yesterday to help out Texas governor Rick Perry. By falsely and ridiculously accusing Perry of making a racist statement about Obama, Schultz helped deflect attention from real issues that could hurt Perry in a Republican primary.

There is a certain irony, as well as much truth, in Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s drumbeat of warnings about the consequences of further cuts to U.S. military budgets of the sort threatened under the current deficit reduction law.

It might be hubris for a writer to point out a typo made elsewhere. But when it's the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities making the mistake, it's irresistible. Perhaps the folks over there need some remedial English? This photo was taken on the metro this morning:

As Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan comes to a final decision about running for president, several top national conservatives are encouraging him to join the race. Ryan, who has been seriously but quietly considering a presidential bid for several months, is expected to decide on a run in the next…

New Jersey governor Chris Christie slammed President Obama at a recent press conference for not demonstrating competent leadership and not providing the American people what they want in a president. "You can't lead from behind," Christie said. "Leading is not a political strategy. It's a moral…

New Jersey governor Chris Christie talks to the press about what Americans want in a president (via Real Clear Politics):

Last week, the White House cleansed its photo captions of references to Jerusalem being in Israel. The most compelling defense of the Obama administration, offered by Adam Kredo, was that they were only cleansing their website so that they could be consistent with the Bush administration's policy.…

The Associated Press scoops:

Plans for the U.N.’s “anti-racism” event known as Durban III, which will be held in New York City on September 22, 2011, just got a whole lot uglier. A new draft of the final declaration that U.N. organizers hope will be adopted by over a hundred world leaders, who will be on hand for the annual…

Wall Street Journal: "Two Democrats Survive Recall in Wisconsin"

When discussing the Republican nomination battle, it is critically important to understand the invisible primary that happens between now and the Iowa caucuses in early January and how it will affect the nomination.

CBS News: "Clinton: US using 'smart power' for Libya, Syria"

The Scotsman reports that Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad is now using Iranian snipers to target his citizens: 

Sure, the eurozone is collapsing, the economy is headed toward recession, the Middle East is in flames, and the GOP race has finally begun. But what I really want to know is which piece of pretentious literary fiction President Obama will read on vacation this year.

Catherine Herridge of Fox News reports that Anwar al-Awlaki might have a connection to the terrorist attacks of 9/11. At least, that is what the House Homeland Security Committee is currently investigating.

At a fundraiser in New York, President Barack Obama compared himself to Andrew Cuomo and Martin Luther King Jr. "I think that we forget when [King] was alive there was nobody who was more vilified, nobody who was more controversial, nobody who was more despairing at times. But what he understood,…

Western Libya—Only about thirty volunteers of the three hundred strong Martyr Wasam Qaliyah Brigade are gathered around former Libyan army general Senussi Mohamed as he outlines the plan for the liberation of the coastal city of Sabratha, about 90 kilometers north from Qaddafi’s forces. Crouched in…

Since embarking on a taxpayer-funded campaign tour of the Midwest, Obama has already compared his plight to Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. and blamed his troubles on "bad luck," as if the president's policies had nothing to do with the current predicament. 

Rasmussen has just released a new poll of the GOP presidential candidates, and after less than a week in the race, Texas governor Rick Perry leads Mitt Romney by 11 points:

Here’s the good news about Obama’s luxury RV bus tour through middle America: For the first August of his presidency he’s not pushing the cock and bull line about this being a “recovery summer.” It’s a whole new president!

In an op-ed at foxnews.com, John Bolton defends defense:

Last Wednesday, at 3:46 p.m., the White House Office of Public Engagement (WHOPE) sent an email message to 9/11 families to announce it was sponsoring a conference call the next day with victims' families in anticipation of the 10th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks. The purpose of the…

Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan is strongly considering a run for president. Ryan, who has been quietly meeting with political strategists to discuss a bid over the past three months, is on vacation in Colorado discussing a prospective run with his family. Ryan’s concerns about the effects of a…

Even as the rest of the country focuses on the economy, the inventor of the scratch-off lottery ticket continues his push to all but eliminate the Electoral College. John Koza’s National Popular Vote (NPV) effort is making unfortunate progress. Just last week, Governor Jerry Brown’s signature…

Forty years ago yesterday, President Richard Nixon suspended gold convertibility, and the U.S. (and the world) went onto a “paper dollar standard.” Two pieces yesterday on the fortieth anniversary of Nixon’s announcment, by Lew Lehrman in the Wall Street Journal and Jeffrey Bell in the Washington…

This morning, Mitt Romney released his latest installment in his ad series, "Obama Isn't Working." This one is focused on Iowans, since President Obama's bus is currently touring Iowa:

Byron York: "Obama: I reversed recession until 'bad luck' hit"

Apparently, there was a kerfuffle earlier today because Rick Perry said the following: "If this guy [Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke] prints more money between now and the election ... I don’t know what y’all would do to him in Iowa, but we -- we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas.…

Politico: Perry outshines Bachmann in the latter's hometown of Waterloo, Iowa.

Today, at the Iowa state fair, Ben Smith asked Rick Perry if he was packing heat:

Last week there were four nights of rioting in London and other English towns and cities. I was shocked, but not surprised. The sense of incipient violence and a breakdown of society were high on my list of reasons why I left London and immigrated to the United States three years ago.

Eli Lake reports that a gunman shot-up the defense ministry in Estonia last week. While Estonian officials are "investigating whether [he] was inspired by Russia's 'massive propaganda attack' against the Baltic nation," the other disturbing facet of the man's crazed mission is the manifesto he left…

Here's Rick Perry's first ad of his presidential campaign. The narrator refers to Perry as "America's jobs governor" and cites the Texas governor's economic record:

Two minus one is a subtraction problem. If you have two, but only want one, just subtract another, right?  Well, that's how the New York Times Magazine describes it.

With the congressional “supercommittee” – or, to be precise, the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction – now complete, the stage is set for a very high drama indeed. Now comes the moment when Americans must confront the costs of remaining the world’s sole superpower, the guarantor of an…

One surefire way to tell that Rick Perry's entry into the presidential race is having a big impact is the sheer number of hit pieces that have been written against him in a 48-hour period. (See here, here, here, here...I could go on.)

The New York Times reports that Syria is using its navy to suppress protestors:

Politico reports that Virginia governor Bob McDonnell would be "very interested" in the Republican vice presidential slot:

Los Angeles Times: "Gallup: Obama job rating sinks below 40% for first time"

Sometime late this summer—the Friday before Labor Day if historical patterns hold—the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will announce the beginning of something called Medicare Round Two of “the Competitive Bidding Program for certain Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics,…

Editor’s note: On March 1, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a mysterious dark lady approached me in Harvard Yard and pressed a sheet of paper into my hand. It was entitled “To Her Chris Christie,” based on Andrew Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress,” and we were happy to share it with our readers on our…

In 2006 Hasbro released the Marvel Super Hero Squad line of action figures. The figures are little​—​only about two inches tall, on average​—​and made of plastic. They are rendered in what is known as the “super deformed” style: small, stumpy arms and legs, oversized heads, and hands with four,…

It’s a conspiracy! In a stunning display of harmonic convergence, the right and the left have hit on the cause of the persistent malaise that afflicts the economy: a sinister plot to destroy the country, for selfish and partisan gain. That these plots exist is the fervent belief of the most intense…

In November 2005, the Quarterly Journal of Economics, published by Harvard University and regarded by academics as one of the four top scholarly journals on economics in America, published the results of a study conducted by Tim Groseclose, a professor of political science and economics at UCLA,…

We can’t say we were surprised that Newt Gingrich’s reaction to the debt ceiling deal was like no one else’s in all the world. No sooner had the agreement been struck than Gingrich released a statement that was vaguely disapproving. But then he went positive: “As president [wait​—​Newt Gingrich is…

As I tap this out on my computer, there resides in my yellow wooden inbox a sleeping three-month-old female Calico kitten named Hermione. I acquired her this past Friday evening, and spent the better part of the weekend in her company. Jolly company it was, too, all fun and games. In the most…

On July 28, the Treasury Department designated six al Qaeda operatives involved in shipping money and men from the Persian Gulf to senior al Qaeda leaders in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The move targets a node of the global terror network that is critical to its overall strength, freezing any of its…

The home mortgage interest deduction costs the U.S. Treasury nearly $100 billion a year without actually doing much to encourage home ownership, most evidence suggests. Providing an impetus for home ownership in the form of a tax deduction means that most of the benefits go to taxpayers in the…

President Obama’s support for raising income taxes on high earners is more than a talking point. It’s an obsession. In negotiations in July over a $4 trillion “grand bargain” on deficit reduction, the president proposed the tax hike as part of an agreement with Republicans. It was a clumsy mistake…

Visual memories, especially those of boyish vintage, tend to be inexact but I am pretty confident of this one: Joseph Grégoire de Roulhac Hamilton was a short, gnomish, balding figure, longtime chairman of the history department at the University of North Carolina, and founder of the great Southern…

Reading an essay by Montaigne is like strolling through a labyrinthine flea market. You are likely to find all sorts of things there, except maybe logic, and you are likely to get, like the author, a bit lost. His essays, ruled only by curiosity, wander, wonder, sidestep, and circle, accumulate…

After a disappointing third place finish in yesterday's Iowa straw poll, former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty will today announce the end of his campaign for president of the United States. Mike Allen reports: "Tim Pawlenty, the former Minnesota governor, told supporters on a conference call…

Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty doesn't think his third place finish at the Ames straw poll was too shabby. While Pawlenty said earlier this week that he'd have to "reassess" his candidacy if he did very badly, he issued a statement this evening saying that he "made progress" and the campaign is…

Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota narrowly defeated Rep. Ron Paul of Texas at the Ames Republican presidential straw poll today. Out of 16,892 votes cast (about 15% of the total number of 2008 Iowa caucus goers), Bachmann received 4,823 votes while Paul got 4,671. Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty…

In South Carolina today, Texas governor Rick Perry announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination. “I will work every day to make Washington, D.C. as inconsequential in your lives as I can, and free our families, small businesses and states from a burdensome and costly federal…

President Obama blames the recent turmoil in financial markets on floods in Japan and Republicans who won’t raise taxes. Republicans blame roiling markets on the president and Democrats who won’t cut spending. The Europeans blame short-sellers. Stock traders blame the problem variously on Standard…

Des Moines

Ari. L. Goldman: "Telling It Like It Wasn't."

Roberto Herencia was appointed by President Obama to sit on the board of directors of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) back in November 2010. OPIC is the government’s development finance institution and, according to their website, “mobilizes private capital to help solve critical…

Philip Klein reports: 

The New York Post reports on the latest poll on New Yorkers' views of President Obama:

The recent exchange of fire between the IDF and Lebanese Armed Forces troops is a reminder that Israel’s northern border has been relatively quiet these last five years, or ever since the 2006 war that Israel fought with Hezbollah. Five years ago, on July 12, a Hezbollah ambush set off the 34-day…

The Foreign Policy Initiative is accepting application for its 2011-2012 Future Leaders Program:

Douglas Murray, writing in the Wall Street Journal: 

It's hard to believe Thursday night's debate did much to alter the dynamics of the 2012 GOP presidential race. And it's unlikely Saturday's Ames straw poll will do so either, though it will begin to winnow the field.

A reader, inspired, he says, “by the sudden outburst of poesy at THE WEEKLY STANDARD,” sends in this reflection on last night’s debate:

New York Times: "Obama Urges Voters To Scold Republicans"

With President Obama’s job approval ratings falling to new lows, liberal thinkers are rushing forward to offer the president some free advice.

Thursday's Republican presidential debate in Ames, Iowa featured at least a few testy exchanges. Ron Paul and Rick Santorum sparred over the Iranian threat. Newt Gingrich slapped Fox News moderator Chris Wallace for asking about departures of his campaign staff. And Tim Pawlenty jabbed at Mitt…

Ames, Iowa

Ames, Iowa

City Journal: The London riots should surprise no one familiar with Britain's degenerate society.

Fox News reports that Texas governor Rick Perry will announce that he's running for president on Saturday: 

As noted earlier, Mitt Romney had a lively exchange today with a liberal activist in which the former Massachusetts governor defended his opposition to raising taxes on corporations: 

The Democratic National Committee is circulating this Associated Press report about Mitt Romney's "shouting match with crowd at Iowa fair." The AP reports:

Beirut—Press reports over the last few days claim that the Obama administration is preparing to announce that Syrian president Bashar al-Assad must step down. However, an official readout from the president’s conversation with Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan this afternoon suggests…

House Budget chair Paul Ryan, along with House Committee on Armed Services chair Buck McKeon and Bill Young, chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, have written a letter to Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and OMB director Jack Lew, urging the Obama administration officials not to…

House minority leader Nancy Pelosi announced on Twitter that she has selected James Clyburn of South Carolina, Xavier Becerra of California, and Chris van Hollen of Maryland to serve on the joint select committee on deficit reduction (aka the supercommittee).

Former CIA director Gen. Michael Hayden recently warned of the problems in President Obama's Afghanistan strategy. “We all knew it was a surge, and a surge doesn’t last ... but drawing them out in the middle of the fighting season isn’t looking at the calendar,” Hayden said, according to the…

On Tuesday night, the Obama administration began signaling that it will call for Bashar al-Assad’s departure in Syria. CNN and other outlets reported that the White House would soon increase pressure on the Syrian government’s finances, and isolate a number of officials in the Assad regime.

Republican candidates in Iowa, preparing for tonight's debate, should take note of this video starring Michael Gove, a member of the British Parliament, clearing up some rubbish surrounding the protests in London:

London—Trying to return to Hackney, five minutes from the heart of the protests, from vacation on the night the rioting was at its fiercest provided an insight into the carnage engulfing London. The city had been transformed into a kind of Alan Moore dystopia. Sirens were deafening, with bright…

Michael Barone: "How Iowa's Straw Poll Can Lead to the Presidency"

David Weigel: In Iowa, Tim Pawlenty searches for the spotlight.

There may be an overtly political reason that moviegoers will be seeing the story of the Osama bin Laden raid just before they vote for president. Sony Pictures, the company distributing next year's film, hosted a fundraiser for Barack Obama on their studio's premises in California last April. So…

By noon today, the Dow Jones Industrial Index had tanked by yet another 400 points. So what's a hands-on, crisis-oriented president to do? Should he let the veritable army of in-house chefs crank out another executive lunch from the White House kitchen and stay close to the unfolding mayhem of the…

Michael Barone takes a look at the recall election returns and concludes:

According to Gallup's daily tracking poll, President Obama's disapproval rating has risen to 51 percent, while his approval rating hovers near his all-time low, at 41. The graph below shows the trends for the president's approval and disapproval over the last month:

Josh Rogin reports that the Treasury Department has announced new sanctions of Syria:

Did the Obama administration compromise intelligence and sensitive military information by giving a Hollywood director high level access to details of the killing of Osama bin Laden? That’s what Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, wants to investigate.

Senate majority leader Harry Reid picked his three representatives to the twelve congressional member supercommittee yesterday, selecting Max Baucus, John Kerry, and Patty Murray. The first two choices make sense: Baucus is chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and Kerry was the Democratic…

House speaker John Boehner has chosen Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas to be co-chair of the joint select committee on deficit reduction, or the so-called supercommittee. Reps. Dave Camp and Fred Upton, both of Michigan, were also selected by Boehner to represent the House Republicans on the…

"It's our responsibility, whether we're Democrats or Republicans, whether we agree or disagree, to remember we're Americans first, and that words have an impact," Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said after a crazed gunman opened fire on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and others at a open…

Americans overwhelmingly continue to support the repeal of Obamacare, and among those who feel “strongly” (either way), support for repeal is greater still — according to the latest Rasmussen poll of likely voters. Americans support repeal by a margin of 14 percentage points (54 to 40 percent), the…

A businessman and investor for whose judgment I have the highest regard sends this email about yesterday’s Fed announcement:

TWS: Wisconsin Republicans beat back Big Labor in recall elections.

The following facts about the federal budget deficit are, as far as I know, widely accepted:

Madison, Wisc.

Polls closed just closed (9:00 p.m. eastern), and the AP will be posting unofficial results here. Democrats need to win three of the six seats to take over the state senate. I'll be updating this post as results start rolling in.

Polls close for the Wisconsin recall elections in just 15 minutes, but whatever the results are tonight, the lucky winners (and perhaps some of the losers) will get to do this all over again in November 2012--just a mere 15 months down the road--when these seats would normally be up for election.

Every time you think Harry Reid can't be even more crassly political and partisan, you're proven wrong. He's now appointed Patty Murray—chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC)—to be co-chair of the new deficit supercommittee. Murray has little in the way of widely recognized…

Max Boot: Let's not make our special forces win wars on their own.

The riots in the United Kingdom continue for a fourth straight day. On Tuesday, Londoners awoke to torched cars and street scuffles in Ealing, police horses lining up in Lewisham, and stores and residences in flames in Tottenham. Prosperous boroughs in the capital now resemble war zones, as mobs…

At 3:22 p.m., I posted this photo of Vice President Joe Biden and Shimon Peres, with an accompanying caption that indicated it had been taken last year in Jerusalem, Israel:

In Foreign Policy, John Hannah suggests that Syria's neighbors are betting on Bashar al-Assad's demise:

Michael O'Brien at the Hill reports:

Quick question: According to the State Department, what nation is the city of Jerusalem in? If you answered Israel, you'd be wrong. The State Department just issued the following press release: 

Yesterday, C-SPAN followed coverage of the president's address with another looming issue: A press conference held by the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance, which expressed concern that the Safe Schools Improvement Act of 2010 did not sufficiently cover the obese—in other words,…

A major scandal amoung influential Democrats just broke, and so far it appears to be flying under the radar. Stephen Losey at Federal Times has the scoop.

If a Democrat narrowly loses in one of the Wisconsin recall elections today, expect to hear a lot more about this story: 

Beirut—Kuwait and Bahrain are the most recent additions to the list of Gulf Cooperation Council states that have withdrawn their ambassadors to Syria. First Qatar yanked its diplomat, after a regime-led mob attacked Doha’s embassy in Damascus. Now, with the ruler in Damascus laying siege to Deir…

The Washington Examiner's Philip Klein reports today on one of the many ways in which the Obama administration's regulatory policies are hurting small businesses, creating additional uncertainty in the economy, and generally killing jobs. Klein writes:

The president has decided to take a tack on the largest federal education law he certainly wishes were available in budget battles: bypassing Congress and legislating through administrative agencies by offering states waivers in exchange for education policies he favors.

Ben Smith and Jonathan Martin report on President Obama's reelection strategy: 

Last month, I wrote that President Obama’s own handpicked Council of Economic Advisors had released an estimate that the president’s economic “stimulus” had added or saved just one job for every $278,000 of taxpayer money spent.  Obama’s economists said the “stimulus” had cost $666 billion to date…

On Monday, August 8, Governor Jerry Brown finally signed a bill the California state legislature had passed in July—a bill that binds California to “National Popular Vote” (NPV). Which is to say, to the committing of all its electoral college votes in a presidential election to the winner of the…

The Daily Caller: "Researchers: Obamacare cost estimates hide up to $50 billion per year"

CNBC: Rough day for financial markets as Dow Jones Industrial Average falls over 634 points.

"Milwaukee gains more than it loses in budget bill," reads the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel headline. And so you understand why unions are in such a rush to hold recall elections before voters see the benefits of Wisconsin's new law:

Lobsang Sangay was sworn in today as head of Tibet’s democratic exile government in Dharamsala, India. He succeeds Samdhong Rinpoche, the first directly elected Kalon Tripa, or chief of cabinet, who served two terms.

Max Boot, writing in the Los Angeles Times: 

Polling conducted over the weekend by the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling for the left-wing website Daily Kos shows control of the Wisconsin senate may come down to two of tomorrow's six contests. Democrats need three wins to take over the senate, and one victory seems assured against…

Politico reports: 

Yesterday on Fox News Sunday, Paul Ryan responded to Standard & Poor’s downgrading of America’s long-term debt by explaining to host Chris Wallace that Republicans in the House “passed a budget, which according to somebody from S&P yesterday, would have prevented this downgrade from happening in…

A recently released Rasmussen poll shows that likely independent voters strongly oppose Obamacare’s mandate — recently announced by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius — that all insurance companies must offer “free" contraception coverage at no direct cost to the recipient. By a…

Yesterday, Matar Ibrahim Matar, a former member of parliament from the main opposition bloc, Al Wefaq, was released from detention after more than three months in a Bahraini jail, where, he told the BBC, he was tortured. Matar was pulled out of his home by Bahraini security forces on May 2.

A lot of people are talking about this piece, "What Happened to Obama?" by Drew Westen in the New York Times, as it seems to encapsulates a lot of liberal anger at the president. This bit from the piece warrants special comment:

Recently, Education Secretary Arne Duncan no doubt thought it radical to say that teachers should get a $60,000 yearly starting salary and top out around $150,000. He’s hoping this could shift teaching from attracting undergraduates at the middle or low ends of their classes, as it does now, to…

At least $30 million has already been spent in total on the Wisconsin state senate recall elections and that number may rise to an eye-popping $40 million when it's all over. To give some perspective on just how crazy that is, that's about 10 times more than all expenditures on state legislative…

Back in May, Ecuadorean voters approved a referendum that gave President Rafael Correa broader authority to regulate opposition journalists. At the time, Freedom House expressed concern that Correa was acquiring “undue influence over the country’s media,” and its senior program manager for Latin…

It’s amazing that a senior member of a party that’s in control of a legislative body that hasn’t passed a budget of any sort in more than two years would publically try to pin blame for Standard and Poor’s recent downgrade of America’s long-term credit rating on, of all groups, the Tea Party. But…

In today's Washington Post, Robert Samuelson argues that it was liberal protectors of the entitlements, not the Tea Party, that "won" the most in last week's debt deal. The military, he says, was the real loser:

New York Times: "Second Recession in U.S. Could Be Worse Than First"

Among the many surprises of Barack Obama’s presidency, perhaps the most unexpected have been his appointments to the federal government’s egghead agencies—the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Even his ardent admirers might admit that the current…

‘When we moved to California, I got a new Cadillac Seville,” Nguyen Cao Ky told me back in 1990. “One day I was driving around, dressed in some old shorts and a T-shirt, when a motorcycle policeman pulled me over because I needed a registration sticker. I looked suspicious and couldn’t even…

According to the Commerce Department numbers released Friday, the U.S. economy is growing at just 1.3 percent. Maybe. First quarter growth, initially reported as a disappointing 1.9 percent, was revised drastically down to just 0.4 percent. Those numbers are depressing enough. The downward revision…

A cruise ship sank in the Volga River in heavy weather a few weeks back, with more than 100 lives lost. On the radio I heard President Medvedev vow to banish the antiquated boats that ply Russia’s waterways. A commentator called them “rust buckets,” and a shiver went down my spine.

When the pitiful octogenarian Hugh Hefner got ditched by his scheming fiancée a few weeks back, it was a pitiful reminder that the only living “playboy” who can still be considered suave, debonair, sexually irresistible, and, well, cool, is the middle-aged man in the Dos Equis commercials.

Circumstance #1: Obama is a weak candidate for reelection. 

In 1986, five-year-old Mazyar Kesh-vari and his family fled their native Tehran for Oslo. His parents were opponents of the Khomeini regime that took power following Iran’s 1979 revolution, and there came a point when “it was not possible to be in Iran without risking being killed or tortured and…

For House speaker John Boehner, Tea Party Republicans weren’t the problem as he sought support for a package of spending cuts attached to an increase in the debt limit. The biggest impediment to a House majority was Republicans fearful a primary opponent would use a vote to boost the debt limit…

The talks were going nowhere. It was July 13, the fifth straight day of negotiations between President Obama and congressional leaders over an agreement to increase the debt ceiling. The hour was late when House majority leader Eric Cantor repeated the Republican preference for a short-term…

When Marilyn Monroe divorced Joe DiMaggio, Oscar Levant remarked that it only went to show that no man can be expected to excel at two national pastimes. Time can do terrible things, even to wit, and this superior mot now has a slight flaw, which is that it is no longer clear that baseball is…

In The Making of the English Working Class, E.P. Thompson famously claimed that he wrote his history to rescue his subjects “from the enormous condescension of posterity.” This did not stop him from saddling his weavers, tailors, croppers, and artisans with aspirations that they would hardly have…

The Obama administration is after your Lucky Charms, or at least your children’s. The public comment period closed on July 14 for a set of “voluntary” guidelines for the marketing of food to children. If adopted, these rules will transform the advertising of breakfast cereals.

From beginning to end, the debt crisis talks have come down to a struggle between advocates of tax increases and champions of domestic discretionary spending cuts. This important dispute has been at the heart of our politics for decades, and without question our out-of-control discretionary budget…

Dorset, Vermont

Sooner or later, all good dinner table debates reduce themselves to semantics. Yes, John Stuart Mill argued that your freedom only extends to the point where you do harm unto others, but what is harm? Sure, you can say that the Beatles were the best rock band of all time, but what do you actually…

Qasr el-Haj, Jafara Valley, Libya

The Associated Press reports that "a military helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan, killing 31 U.S. special operation troops, most of them from the elite Navy SEALs that killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, along with seven Afghan commandos."

The stock market lost all of its 2011 gains on Thursday. Investors lost a staggering $787 billion — the exact same amount of money President Obama’s economic “stimulus” was originally supposed to cost (before its costs were adjusted upward). Unemployment is now at 9.1 percent, up from 7.3 percent…

Baldwin, Wisc.

The New York Times reports that credit rating agency Standard & Poor's has downgraded America's long-term debt: 

Standard and Poor's has downgraded the United States government's AAA credit rating. CNN reports:

Politico: Alan Simpson says Barack Obama is 'smarter' than his critics.

John Kerry announced today on Morning Joe that he believes the media should take some responsibility for keeping the Tea Party and its ideas out of our public discourse:

Max Boot makes the compelling case that "Cutting Defense Spending Could Hasten America’s Decline as a World Power."

None. That’s the total of on-the-other-hand good news I have to report this week. Lest you think I am overlooking the debt deal cut in Washington last week, consider this:

In some polls of Middle East opinion, Obama ranks lower than Bush. And now here come assessments from the region's intelligentsia. "Give Obama an ‘F’ in the Middle East," writes Lebanese journalist Michael Young, author of the award winning account of the Cedar Revolution, The Ghosts of Martyrs…

With the debt ceiling debate behind us, now might be a good time to get back to the biggest problem currently facing the world economy: the eurozone. While the European debt crisis may have slipped off Americans' radar screens in the past weeks, its significance has not diminished.

Lately there's been a spate of businessmen loudly complaining about the burdensome regulatory climate of the Obama administration. Fortunately, there's at least one highly experienced businessman in the Senate that feels their pain. Until he was elected last fall, Wisconsin Republican Ron Johnson…

Jay Cost argues convincingly that “No serious Democratic official would dare challenge Obama for the nomination.” But Ralph Nader says that “I would guess that the chances of there being a challenge to Obama in the primary are almost 100 percent.” Nader says that challenger could be “an ex-senator…

Jeff Anderson argues at National Review Online that Congressman Paul Ryan "has outgrown his office" and should run for president. "If Ryan wants to change America, he needs to change jobs," Anderson writes.

One of the most widely publicized controversies in Australia this week involves former Guantanamo detainee David Hicks. Hicks pled guilty to providing material support for terrorism before a military commission at Gitmo as part of a plea bargain and was repatriated to Australia shortly thereafter…

The AP reports: 

Hot Air: "Jay Carney: 'The White House doesn’t create jobs'"

Yesterday, I argued there is no reason to expect that a serious Democratic candidate would primary Obama. Today, I’ll make the case that, in the 2012 general election, Obama will get the full, unequivocal support of the left.

While the United Nations is doing its best to legitimize the forthcoming Durban III “anti-racism” bash, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appears intent on blowing the U.N.’s cover. Each year for the past five years, Ahmadinejad has chosen to speak on the opening day of the General Assembly’s…

The White House earlier today sent out an email that assured Americans that it will not let America "become a safe haven for human rights violators or those responsible for other atrocities." 

Democrats and their partisans in the mainstream media have been fully occupied these past few days with demonizing conservatives for their successful stand against tax increases in the debt ceiling compromise. To Thomas Friedman, the Tea Party is the “Hezbollah faction” of the Republican party.…

Jonathan V. Last, writing in the Wall Street Journal: 

Djerba, Libya—As Saturday night wears on, the young men talk more and more confidently about an offensive they anticipate the next day, the big move 100 km north that will allow them to liberate their city of Sabratha. The mood is exultant, with some speculation that we will move forward at…

The Foundation for Defense of Democracies has compiled a report on "Syria's Energy Sector." As FDD's Mark Dubowitz writes in the Hill: "This week, members of Congress are waking up from a debt-ceiling hangover to consider a bipartisan energy sanctions bill that would exert peaceful pressure on…

Of all the email I received from yesterday’s post on GM’s Chevy Volt sales numbers, hands down the best was from reader J. W.:

There's a fascinating story over at The Hill that was published yesterday, "How John Boehner escaped disaster." I don't think we should get ahead of ourselves here, but certainly there's a storyline emerging here that when it comes to the art of the deal, Boehner is one of the more capable…

Via Ben Smith, a clever ad attacking government largesse from Bankrupting America: 

The other night on Current TV, former vice president Al Gore said to the host of Countdown with Keith Olbermann that America needs to work toward the “reinvigoration of democracy.”

Fred Barnes, writing in the Wall Street Journal: 

George Will: "The debt deal and Obama’s 2012 problem"

Froma Harrop wrote a column this week, arguing that Democrats should primary Obama:

While most Americans were fixated on the debt ceiling debate, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius took the opportunity on Monday to decree that, under Obamacare, all Americans will hereby be required to pay for other people’s birth control pills and morning-after pills — including…

Keith Hennessey: "Two Joint Committee structures that could succeed."

MSNBC host Martin Bashir interviewed Stanton Peele, a psychologist and an "expert on addiction," this afternoon. Bashir urged Peele to psychologically evaluate supporters of the Tea Party. "It reminds us of addiction because addicts are seeking something that they can't have," Peele said. "They…

With the debt ceiling thing done, the scribes are now straining for the illuminating metaphor and “terrorism,” it seems, is the preferred choice. One New York Times columnist writes that “the Tea Party Republicans have waged jihad on the American people,” and you had to wonder if he would have…

Israeli media report that Aleksandar Cvetkovic, 43, a Bosnian Serb who emigrated to the Jewish state and acquired Israeli citizenship through marriage, has been ordered extradited to Bosnia-Herzegovina to face trial for his alleged involvement in the Srebrenica massacre of 1995. Cvetkovic, who…

Senator Marco Rubio, the most talented speaker in American politics today, kept pretty quiet for his first six months in office. It wasn't until June 14 that he delivered his first speech on the Senate floor. But when he finally had something to say, he didn't fail to impress. He delivered another…

Last week, a senior Russian official met two Republican senators and came away warning that the GOP would drive Washington’s relations with Moscow into the ground if they came back to power.

Lawrence Summers, the Harvard economist who served as Clinton's Treasury secretary and one of Obama's chief economic advisers, has a troubling (to say the least) op-ed in the Washington Post:

The New York Post had a long story on fertility rates yesterday, centered on the idea that lots of college educated women—and particularly Manhattan women—no longer want to have kids.

The Heritage Foundation has created a useful chart, showing that even if military spending were completely eliminated, the U.S. would still face major financial problems:

In his column for Tablet, Lee Smith asks, "The recent massacres in Oslo, Norway, and Hama, Syria, were both carried out by heartless sociopaths. Why does one of them—Syria’s Bashar al-Assad—continue to enjoy diplomatic relations with Washington?"

Steve Hayes, with Charles Lane and Charles Krauthammer, last night on Fox News:

The July sales numbers are out and the Chevy Volt continues to electrify (get it?) the country. GM sold … 125 Volts last month!

Talking Points Memo: "Pelosi: My Deficit Committee Members Will Oppose All Entitlement Benefit Cuts"

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s confirmation hearing of Robert S. Ford, a first rate foreign service officer now serving as ambassador to Syria under a recess appointment, was held Tuesday, August 2nd. If the United States is to have an ambassador in Damascus, Ford is an excellent man for…

Just a few hours after Barack Obama signed the debt limit deal, Paul Ryan comes out swinging against Obamacare and the president's failure to lead on the budget:

Now that the Great Debt Ceiling Deal has become the law of the land, it’s time to consider what just happened to America, and in particular to America’s armed forces. On the one hand, it’s complicated. On the other hand, it’s ugly.

James Kirchik: "Why Islamist terror dwarfs Breivik's brand: Almost nobody supports 'Christianist' violence"

According to the Budget Control Act, the 12-member Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, or the so-called supercommittee, must be formed within 14 days of the bill becoming law. Since President Obama just signed the law, Congress has until August 16, two weeks from today, to fill the slots.…

In the Wall Street Journal, Elliott Abrams writes: 

In today’s New York Times, Avi Jorisch argues that the U.S. should seize the Iranian embassy and other assets belonging to the Islamic Republic. The purpose isn’t retaliation for the takeover of the U.S. embassy in Tehran more than 31 years ago, but rather to pressure Iran for funding terrorist…

Speaking in the Rose Garden at the White House Tuesday afternoon, President Barack Obama tepidly praised Congress for passing the debt limit deal that he said will “avert a default that would have devastated our economy.” The president called the bill an “important first step” in reducing the…

Much to the frustration of the press corps and the country at large, President Obama went nearly a year without giving a press conference at a time when the country was in a rather precarious state economically and politically. Lately, however it seems that Obama has decided that the debt ceiling…

Just after noon today, the Senate easily passed the debt ceiling deal bill, 74-26. The House of Representatives passed the bill last night, and the president will presumably sign the bill today, the deadline set by the Treasury Department for raising the debt ceiling to avoid a default.

What do Harvard’s Stephen Walt and the Iranian parliament have in common? Both are obsessed with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a bipartisan think tank in Washington that we’re proud to call our neighbor. Walt and the Iranians, on the other hand, both see FDD as a pillar of​—​you…

Last week, a senior Russian official met two Republican senators and came away warning that the GOP would drive Washington's relations with Moscow into the ground if they came back to power.

A striking image on the front page of New Jersey's largest newspaper, the Star-Ledger:[img nocaption float="center" width="404" height="640" render="<%photoRenderType%>"]15195[/img]

Last month President Obama called his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, to “discuss a range of bilateral and international issues,” according to the White House, and to formally back Moscow’s arbitration in Libya. Meeting with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov a day later in Washington,…

The debt ceiling deal will pass the Senate early this afternoon. No suspense there. But the vote will be worth watching for another reason: Three Republican Senate sources tell TWS that senators who vote against the deal will be ineligible to serve on the so-called “supercommittee” for deficit…

Last week, former army officer Ollanta Humala was inaugurated as president of Peru, and he vowed to maintain the successful economic policies adopted by his predecessor, Alan García. The significance of that vow should not be understated.

The latest Rasmussen poll of likely voters shows continued overwhelming support for the repeal of Obamacare. By a margin of 16 percentage points (55 to 39 percent), Americans support the repeal of President Obama’s signature legislation. This marks the 67th consecutive week that more Americans have…

New York Times: "Giffords’s Return Marks Moment of Unity in Divided House"

I’m glad for the long-suffering John Boehner. I respect those who stood with him and their attempt to do the right thing as they saw it. I hope the deal—for as long as it lasts—turns out to benefit the country and advance conservative principles. I will curb my annoyance at those who triumphantly…

Earlier this evening, the House of Representatives passed the bipartisan deal to raise the debt ceiling and cut spending, 269-161. Sixty-six Republicans voted against the bill, titled the Budget Control Act of 2011, while an equal number (95) of Democrats voted for and against it.

Politico: "Biden: Tea partiers like 'terrorists'"

A federal judge in Ohio named Timothy S. Black, who was appointed by President Obama in 2009, claims that Obamacare does not fund abortions. Black ruled today in favor of former Democratic congressman Steve Driehaus, who filed a defamation suit against the Susan B. Anthony List. The SBA List ran…

I understand the debt ceiling deal is probably going to pass. I’m not even comfortable unequivocally urging members to vote against it, given all the real loyalties and future relationships and competing responsibilities actual members have to deal with. And I’m not sure I’d urge anyone to vote…

Can the debt deal pass the House of Representatives? House speaker John Boehner has said he believes he has the votes from the Republican caucus, and Steny Hoyer, the Democratic minority whip, says he can deliver 80 to 100 votes from his side of the aisle. Key GOP House members who have said…

Yesterday, the Associated Press dropped what's known in journalism parlance as a "thumbsucker" on the Norway shootings. It's a piece that's awfully heavy on analysis and short on the necessary facts to justify said thumbsucking. THE WEEKLY STANDARD makes a cameo here, selectively quoted and used as…

Some political groups like to go incognito, hiding their political allegiances in order to take on a more serious, impartial tone. Take, for instance, the “Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington,” which masquerades as “non-partisan watchdog.” But CREW is far from non-partisan, a new…

Anyone considering opposing the debt ceiling deal will be accused of being ... not just a hobbit (!), but also a totally irresponsible full-faith-and-credit-of-the-U.S.-government defaulter. Not so—if the anti-deal position is not pro-default.

President Obama deserves some credit for using strong language to condemn the Syrian regime’s massacre of peaceful protestors over the weekend in Hama, Deraa, Idlib and other cities in the pre-Ramadan onslaught. With reports still coming in, the most conservative assessment estimates that 145 were…

In his remarks on the debt ceiling deal, President Obama said, “The first part of this agreement will cut about $1 trillion in spending over the next 10 years....The result would be the lowest level of annual domestic spending since Dwight Eisenhower was president.” This claim is utterly false, as…

Here’s the situation with respect to defense spending, which Speaker Boehner fought for yesterday, with some (very limited) success:

I’m pretty much where Mitt Romney is on the deal to raise the debt ceiling: On the one hand, it “opens the door to higher taxes and puts defense cuts on the table.” On the other hand, “I appreciate the extraordinarily difficult situation President Obama’s lack of leadership has placed Republican…

We’ve learned a lot from the fight to attach spending cuts to the debt limit increase. Here are five of the lessons:

Presidential candidate Mitt Romney has just issued a statement on the debt ceiling deal, saying that he "personally cannot support the deal." Instead, Romney says, his "plan would have produced a budget that was cut, capped and balanced – not one that opens the door to higher taxes and puts defense…

The House Rules Committee has posted the entire text of the deal to raise the debt ceiling and cut spending. (PDF is accessible here.) Full text, here:

John Bolton has just issued a thoughtful statement raising “serious questions ... about the national-security implications of the proposed deal to raise the Federal debt ceiling.” Bolton calls attention to the worrisome short-term defense cuts that the deal makes likely, and to the huge medium- and…

Talking Points Memo: "Reid Agrees To Major Debt Limit Deal — Here’s What He’s Signed Off On"

President Obama’s nomination of former Ohio attorney general Richard Cordray to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau may finish off the brief political career of the most eccentric and poorly understood figure of the finance crisis. It was Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren who…

The week of August 1 marks the beginning of Ramadan, the monthlong celebration that for many Muslims is the central event of the calendar. Where daytime fasting is the most arduous aspect of the season, especially when the holiday falls in midsummer, that discipline is alleviated come sundown, when…

Albert Brooks is a comedian and filmmaker. He has now written a novel. The novel is called 2030, and it is about the future of America. This is how the novel is written. Like this. The way this review is written. In this manner of writing. 

As the truth-or-dare battle over raising the debt ceiling moves toward a resolution of some sort, we are witnessing a unique political moment, with attention finally riveted on our nation’s fiscal future. We are about to learn whether there is such a thing as fiscal responsibility in a democracy…

The path to ratification by Congress was greased after President Obama renegotiated trade treaties with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama. Obama would supply Democratic votes.  Republicans were already on board, President Bush having put together the treaties in the first place. It had the look of…

In the beginning, there was a glade. A green and foresty place, a meadowy clearing in the great big woods. The robins called from branch to branch. A laughing stream wove gently through the dell. A rabbit hopped through the long grass, bright with morning dew. All was well, and all manner of things…

By now just about everyone has jumped on board the natural gas bandwagon (see “The Gas Revolution,” April 18, 2011). Its newfound abundance inside the four corners of the United States is proving to be a disruptive factor in the nation’s energy mix. Cheap natural gas adds to the pressure on…

O tempora, o mores! O Cicero, if thou couldst be with us now! The corruption of our age is approaching that of your own! Who today speaks for the ancient Roman—and modern American—virtues of civic duty and personal responsibility?

Last March the city council in San Bernardino voted 5-0 to kill their red-light camera system. Since the cameras were installed in 2005, the program had brought them little but grief. In 2008, the city was caught shortening the timing of yellow lights in order to gin up more citations. Later that…

Do movies matter? 

Ah, social science. All those numbers. All those technical terms. How comforting. How reassuring.

Billion by billion by billion, showdown by argument by ultimatum, Greece’s latest bailout is being put together by those who run the eurozone. The country’s finances are so bad, and its prospects so poor, that even the new $159 billion rescue package announced on Thursday will (assuming it comes…

We will probably never know for sure what really happened between former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn and the chambermaid who accused him of sexually assaulting her in a Manhattan hotel room on May 14. In the days after the French politician’s arrest, media commentary…

Until it was amended in 1994, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act included an exception for universities, permitting them to set a mandatory retirement age of 70 for tenured faculty. Out of all America’s employers, universities were among the handful that Congress worried would be overburdened…

Paul Krugman writes:

Via Jennifer Rubin, here's the House GOP line on defense cuts in the deal: 

Speaker of the House John Boehner has put together a PowerPoint presentation (accessible here) to explain the deal reached between congressional leaders and the president to raise the debt ceiling and cut spending. Boehner spoke with Republicans on a conference call, earlier this evening, to share…

The details of a debt limit deal agreed to by congressional leaders and the White House became public Sunday evening. According to John Boehner's office, the first $900 billion debt limit increase is tied to $917 billion in discretionary spending cuts over 10 years.

This evening, at around 8:40 p.m., President Obama announced a debt deal between himself and congressional leaders. Here is the full text of Obama's short remarks: