In October 1956, shortly after being honorably discharged from the Army at age 23, Lee Edwards found himself in Paris. There he fell into the rhythms of expatriate life, smoking Gauloises, frequenting cafés, and writing fiction. It was in French newspapers that he read of the Hungarian revolt…
For the packed house at the American Enterprise Institute on the evening of January 8, Charles Murray needed no introduction. We were there to celebrate the 75th birthday of the author of Losing Ground, The Bell Curve, and Coming Apart and to mark his transition to emeritus status at the…
For the packed house at the American Enterprise Institute on the evening of January 8, Charles Murray needed no introduction. We were there to celebrate the 75th birthday of the author of Losing Ground, The Bell Curve, and Coming Apart and to mark his transition to emeritus status at the…
Matthew Continetti, writing in the Washington Free Beacon, argues that Donald Trump's cabinet picks so far aren't a betrayal of his promise to "drain the swamp" in Washington—they're a confirmation of it. Read an excerpt below:
Mike was from Ohio and rowed crew. Andrew was from China and spoke little English. Jeremy, from Long Island, arrived on campus with a pet snake. Jacob was interested in architecture. Amy had cheerful eyes and long black hair.
Washington Free Beacon editor Matthew Continetti joined PBS NewsHour Thursday to discuss the alt-right, an online-based movement of racist and bigoted provocateurs who have largely rallied around the candidacy of Donald Trump. In the segment Continetti, who is a contributing editor to THE WEEKLY…
The National Academy of Sciences released a stunning report in December 2015. Coauthored by Princeton economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton, the paper revealed “a marked increase" in the mortality rate of middle-aged non-Hispanic white Americans between 1999 and 2013--a departure from "decades of…
I’ve spent the last few weeks rummaging through The Weekly Standard's archive. It's a musty cobwebbed place where back issues are strewn among copies of the Starr report, hanging chads from the Florida recount, and Saddam's brain. And as I looked through the dusty magazines, I made some…
Bob Livingston, the former Republican congressman, was among the conservatives who met with Donald Trump in Washington on March 21. Now a corporate lobbyist whose clients include Verizon and Adobe, Livingston liked what the GOP frontrunner had to say. He endorsed Trump as he left the gathering.…
What is happening in the world? When one looks at recent news, one can’t help feeling a sense of bewilderment. A storied Olympian announces his new gender on the cover of Vanity Fair, the Supreme Court declares same-sex marriage a constitutional right, racial violence returns to St. Louis and…
‘Without this deal,” said President Obama on Tuesday, “there is no scenario where the world joins us in sanctioning Iran until it completely dismantles its nuclear program.” That was nothing new. Throughout the negotiations with Iran, “the world” has been one of the president’s favorite defenses…
Matthew Continetti writes at the Washington Free Beacon:
Matthew Continetti, writing at the Washington Free Beacon:
Matthew Continetti writes about the hoax of liberalism at the Washington Free Beacon:
Matthew Continetti, writing at the Washington Free Beacon, offers Congress a path for fighting against President Obama's plans to amnesty millions of illegal immigrants through executive order:
Matthew Continetti, writing at the Washington Free Beacon, suggests Hillary Clinton was the 2014 midterm elections' biggest loser:
Matthew Continetti, writing at the Washington Free Beacon, explains why Republicans look poised to take over the Senate this year:
Matthew Continetti, writing at the Washington Free Beacon, calls Republican Senate candidate Jeff Bell of New Jersey the "most interesting candidate in the world." Here's an excerpt:
In 1983, Barack Obama was a senior at Columbia University. He was not well known. He lived off-campus, had a few close friends, and spent a lot of time reading. He went to some meetings of the Black Students Association, but no one remembers seeing him there. He majored in political science, with a…
Matthew Continetti, writing at the Washington Free Beacon, offers a solution to the cycle of violence in the Gaza Strip. Here's an excerpt:
Writing at the Washington Free Beacon, editor in chief Matthew Continetti explains how a donor to Hillary Clinton is trying to keep his reporters out of the University of Arkansas library. One of those reporters, Alana Goodman, had gone to Arkansas and uncovered audio tapes of Clinton reminiscing…
Matthew Continetti writes at the Washington Free Beacon on Jill Abramson's firing and the juvenile goings on at the offices of the New York Times:
Matthew Continetti, writing at the Washington Free Beacon:
Matthew Continetti writes at the Washington Free Beacon about the recent announcement that Democratic lobbyist power couple Tony and Heather Podesta are divorcing:
Matthew Continetti writes at the Washington Free Beacon on the consequences of a feckless foreign policy. He channels Thomas Hardy and his 1915 poem, "The Convergence of the Twain." Here's an excerpt:
Matthew Continetti, writing at the Washington Free Beacon, describes how many in the mainstream media tried to dismiss the Beacon's extensive reporting on archives from Hillary Clinton's close friend during Clinton's time as First Lady. Here's Continetti:
Matthew Continetti, writing at the Washington Free Beacon, on how the New York Times newsroom sounds a lot like high school:
Matthew Continetti, writing at the Washington Free Beacon:
Matthew Continetti, writing at the Washington Free Beacon:
Mike Lee, the senator from Utah, gave a speech at the Heritage Foundation last week that demands attention. The takeaway: Candidates need policy ideas that address the concerns of ordinary voters—and they have to campaign, and win, on those ideas. Lee noted that conservative scholars have a number…
Technology is a problem, not only for President Obama but also for Republicans and conservatives. In fact, technology is several problems, practical and theoretical, all relating to and interacting with one another. And none of them can be ignored.
Matthew Continetti writes at the Washington Free Beacon on Hillary Clinton's cozy relationship with the investment banker types at places like Goldman Sachs:
The WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with contributing editor Matthew Continetti on his recent editorial and why the GOP needs to learn the lesson of Healthcare.gov's failure.
Matthew Continetti, writing at the Washington Free Beacon:
Matthew Continetti, writing at the Washington Free Beacon:
"We provided horrible customer service,” outgoing acting commissioner of the IRS Steven Miller told the House Ways and Means Committee on May 17, referring to evidence that his agency had targeted Tea Party groups for special scrutiny in determining tax-exempt status. The passing remark, which so…
Matthew Continetti, writing at the Washington Free Beacon, on the Center for American Progress:
Matthew Continetti, writing at the Washington Free Beacon:
"With Obama-care entrenched, Democrats feel free to gripe,” read the headline in Politico. And gripe is the word. Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington gripes that the administration won’t subsidize Americans “just above the poverty level.” Senator Bill Nelson of Florida gripes that the…
Matthew Continetti, writing at the Washington Free Beacon:
I doubt John Boehner has read much feminist theory, but it’s never too late for him to start. He and other GOP leaders, not to mention the Republicans who want to run for president in 2016, might want to familiarize themselves with the concept of the double bind. They are in the middle of one, and…
Matthew Continetti, writing at the Washington Free Beacon:
Pakistani national Shahawar Matin Siraj and a friend, Irish-Egyptian-American James Elshafay, went to the Herald Square subway station on 34th Street in New York City on August 21, 2004, shortly before the quadrennial Republican National Convention was scheduled to begin nearby. Siraj and Elshafay…
David Goldhill is a liberal Democratic business executive whose father was killed by a hospital-borne infection several years ago. The experience drove him to study the American health care system in search of an explanation. “How is it possible,” he writes, “that my father’s death was an avoidable…
Caribbean-based company ICSSI had seen its lucrative contract to X-ray the cargo entering the Dominican Republic languish for years when, in 2011, it began searching for an investor with political pull. Perhaps someone with the right connections would be able to pressure the Dominicans into…
Matthew Continetti, writing at the Washington Free Beacon:
Matthew Continetti, writing at the Washington Free Beacon:
Viewers of the 2012 debates have witnessed an extraordinary turnaround. John Stuart Mill famously spoke of “a party of order and stability, and a party of progress or reform.” Once upon a time, Barack Obama and Joe Biden could claim the mantle of change and progress. But the televised exchanges…
In May, the Obama campaign unveiled its “Life of Julia,” a website detailing “how President Obama’s policies help one woman over her lifetime—and how Mitt Romney would change her story.” Julia is a composite character, the invention of one of the several hundred minions toiling away at Obama…
Will Smith was about to be surprised.
Here’s where the presidential debate stands. Mitt Romney seems comfortable arguing for a Bain Capital-style turnaround of the economy, and the many opponents of the stimulus, Obamacare, and Dodd-Frank are happy to help him. They have a strong case: The nation would benefit from less federal…
The world came unhinged in the fall of 2008.
Defending himself against charges of corrupting the youth of Athens, Socrates told a story. Chaerephon, one of Socrates’ friends, once visited the Oracle at Delphi and asked, “Is anyone wiser than Socrates?” The reply was unequivocal: “There is none.” The philosopher was puzzled. All he knew for…
Why are America’s political, media, and intellectual classes engaged in a head-spinning debate over inequality? Beats us. The difference in incomes between rich and poor is neither the most important issue facing the country nor even a pressing one. Certainly the public doesn’t think so. Recent…
We have Occupy Wall Street to thank for the already grating tendency among pundits to sort the American people by percentages. The possibilities for such categorization are endless. There are, of course, the 1 percent of Americans who make more than $516,000 a year and the 99 percent who do not.…
If for nothing else, Jodi Kantor’s The Obamas will be remembered for an anecdote from 2010. After he spent hours disputing an allegation in the French media that Michelle Obama thought life in the White House was “hell,” press secretary Robert Gibbs encountered senior adviser Valerie Jarrett. She…
Ladies and gentlemen, prepare for battle! The 2012 campaign is shaping up to be a struggle over which candidate best represents the interests and aspirations of the American middle class. Unable to run on his record, President Obama wants to recast the election as a choice between stolid defender…
Most eyes will be on Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich during tonight's debate on Fox News Channel. But I'll be watching Michele Bachmann.
Our friends at the Claremont Institute have published their annual list of recommended reading. Contributors include familiar names such as Hadley Arkes, Cheryl Miller, and Mark Blitz, along with Christopher Caldwell and yours truly. Here's Chris:
Sometimes you get a letter from a reader that's so well written, you just have to publish it. Here's something I received today from a reader in Maryland on Obama's trip to Asia:
Over the last few weeks the ground of American politics has shifted to the left. The process began when President Obama’s tour to promote his jobs bill improved his standing in some polls and forced Republicans to play defense. Next came Occupy Wall Street, which gave the media an excuse to put…
From the New York Times write up of last night's debate:
In happier times, the firm had been celebrated as a harbinger of the future. The political connections it enjoyed were the fruit not only of well-placed contributions but of a self-imposed ideological mission: It was going to deliver cheap energy in amazing ways. Top executives had dismissed…
To find a metaphor for the failed Obama presidency, look no further than Solyndra. Before it went bankrupt, the solar panel manufacturer was more than the recipient of a $535 million loan guarantee from the federal government. It was the model for the White House effort to put the American economy…
Stop us if you’ve heard this one before. The economy is suffering from low growth and high unemployment. Families are struggling with debt. Many are living in homes whose mortgages cost more than the property is worth. All over the world, governments are reeling from the economic and political…
Mike was from Ohio and rowed crew. Andrew was from China and spoke little English. Jeremy, from Long Island, arrived on campus with a pet snake. Jacob was interested in architecture. Amy had cheerful eyes and long black hair.
The reporter went to the City of Light in the summer of 1925. He found himself in the capital of a nation at the height of its military, economic, and cultural power. The continental empires that had been threats to France—Germany, the Hapsburgs, Russia—were smoldering wrecks. France’s economy…
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.
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…
This classic Jonah Goldberg post needs no introduction. My favorite part:
No thanks to President Obama, Speaker of the House John Boehner seems to have come up with a plan that will avoid a government shutdown and possible default, cut spending, and not increase taxes. Some details are here.
A friend alerted me to George Will's latest column on the debt ceiling fight. You won't be surprised to learn that I agree with every single word, including pronouns and transitive verbs. Here's the gist:
Stand still in Washington these days and you're likely to be hit by a deficit reduction plan. There's the Bowles-Simpson plan, the Coburn plan, the Coburn-Lieberman Medicare plan, the Rand Paul plan, the Paul--Graham–Lee Social Security plan, the Cut, Cap, and Balance plan, the Ryan plan, the Gang…
Quick, go and read super-wonk Keith Hennessey's dissection of the fuzzy math surrounding a possible budget deal. The numbers being tossed off are staggering: $4 trillion in savings over 10 (or is it 12?) years, $2 trillion over 10 years, etc. But what are these "savings" being measured against?…
If she’d fallen backward, she’d have been killed. It was September 2009, during her second term in Congress, and a magazine had sent a photographer to shoot Michele Bachmann. He escorted her to the third floor rotunda in the Cannon House Office Building on Capitol Hill, where he positioned a large…
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…
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…
I was interviewing Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky on February 17, in his temporary office in the Russell building on Capitol Hill, when his chief of staff Doug Stafford entered the room.
Portsmouth, N.H.
On the day Paul Ryan released his budget proposal, I went to Judson Memorial Church in New York City to gauge the left’s reaction. Judson Memorial was hosting “Fight Back USA,” where one could get tips on “fighting austerity, debt, and corporate greed” and listen to progressive superstars Frances…
Donald Kagan has a great piece in the New Haven Register on why Yale (and other schools) should bring ROTC back to campus. The piece has a particularly moving passage on the heroism of the American soldier:
Conservatives are on the verge of victory—if only they can take yes for an answer. The situation on Capitol Hill is fluid, but it appears House Republicans will soon be presented with a choice: accept dramatic cuts in spending for the rest of fiscal year 2011 that, while less than the amount passed…
Book of the Week
American Action Forum president Douglas Holtz-Eakin has a must-read post at the Corner. Holtz-Eakin asks a crucial question: Is it worth risking political capital in a righteous stand over budget cuts in the remaining months of fiscal year 2011, or is it more important to accept limited victories…
Anyone who’s been to a gas station recently knows the feeling. There you are, about to refuel, when you see the price of regular gasoline: about $3.52 per gallon, up 77 cents since 2010. Your pulse quickens. Your stomach sinks. Because this is not a dream. The days of $4.00-a-gallon gas are about…
House Republicans scored major points last week when President Obama agreed to $4 billion in cuts for fiscal year 2011. The spending reductions were part of a stopgap continuing resolution that will fund the government through March 18. True, $4 billion may seem small when compared with a $1.5…
The unemployment rate is 9 percent and hasn’t been below that level since April 2009. The deficit, meanwhile, is projected to rise to $1.6 trillion this year. It hasn’t been below $1 trillion since 2008. More than $3 trillion has been added to the federal debt since President Obama took office on…
Not so long ago, the acronym 'R2P' was all the rage in foreign policy circles. It stood for the 'responsibility to protect': Sovereign nations, the UN declared in 2005, have a responsibility to protect their populations "from genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing."…
Retired General Jack Keane has just returned from Afghanistan and is optimistic about the progress there:
Tea Partying House Republicans recently went into revolt over the largest cuts in government spending in decades. Why? Despite their size, the cuts in spending that Rep. Paul Ryan proposed for the rest of fiscal year 2011 didn’t appear to meet the Republican campaign pledge to shave $100 billion…
The independent-minded and always-interesting thinker John D. Mueller has a fascinating post over at The Gold Standard Now. In his study of history, Mueller has noticed that before major shifts in party alignment, large numbers of voters become "detached" from their previous affiliations and…
Looks like they've been reading the WEEKLY STANDARD on Capitol Hill. This afternoon the Republican leadership and Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan released the following statement:
Yuval Levin raises an essential point:
In a hearing, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin asked Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke if he believes that one of the keys to short-term economic growth is a long-term plan to put America's fiscal policy in order. Bernanke replied, "Correct."
There's a longstanding debate over the reasons for the Republican victory in last year's midterm elections. On one side are those who say the great shellacking was inevitable because of America's high unemployment rate. On the other are those who say that the Democratic policy agenda shouldn't be…
Max Boot writes at Contentions:
Contributing editor Joseph Bottum has a piece in USA Today on the fate of Christianity in the Middle East:
Something remarkable happened in Washington last week, and too few people in the media and politics appreciate it. The House of Representatives voted to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 less than a year after Congress passed it into law. What’s more, the vote for repeal…
Daniel Bell, the original co-editor of The Public Interest with Irving Kristol, died yesterday at his home in Cambridge.
As if Congress didn’t have enough to worry about, the states are on the verge of a fiscal meltdown. From Albany to Springfield to Sacramento, the bill for decades of profligacy has suddenly come due. A gimpy economy brings in lower revenues for state comptrollers. The bond vigilantes have caught…
Yesterday President Obama wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal calling for balance between regulations that protect the population and those that promote economic growth. It's one more step on the president's road to the center. But is Obama really willing to embrace a noninterventionist, or…
Penn law professor David Skeel has an op-ed in today's WSJ on the need for a state bankruptcy law. Unfortunately, it's behind a pay-wall. But don't worry, because Skeel wrote a longer version of his argument for TWS last year, which you can read here.
Philip Klein at the American Spectator has a great catch, the kind that encapsulates the inanity of blaming Sarah Palin and the Tea Party for the deranged acts of a psychotic. It's so good that I'll just post the whole thing:
Yuval Levin, editor of National Affairs, recently corresponded with Ryan Streeter of the website Conservative Home. You'll want to read the whole interview. Here's a taste:
Imagine the following scenario. It’s January 2011. President Obama is on Capitol Hill, delivering his State of the Union address. Behind him is Speaker John Boehner of Ohio. Before him are 87 new Republican congressmen and 6 new Republican senators. In his speech, the president paints a grim…
Pete Mansoor and Max Boot write in the Los Angeles Times:
I was going to put this in this week's newsletter, but ran out of space (speaking of the newsletter, sign up today!). In any case, the following quote ought to inspire modesty in all those who use present circumstances to make predictions about American politics:
Mitt Romney has joined Rush Limbaugh and five Republican senators in opposing the deal to extend current tax rates for another two years.
The tax deal reached cloture in the Senate, 83 to 15. But the right-wing debate over the deal continues. Here are some more links for your edification.
What do you know, bloggers and talk show hosts do not necessarily represent the American public. Pew runs the numbers and finds that a sizable majority backs the tax deal:
The Senate plans to hold a cloture vote today on the tax deal between President Obama and Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell. TWS supports the deal, for reasons explained in our editorial. Here are some more reasons to support the deal, from some of our favorite bloggers.
Did America hold an election last month? Sometimes it’s hard to tell. Congress is back in town, and the Democratic majorities in the House and Senate are acting as though the shellacking of 2010 never happened. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, oblivious as usual, have stuffed this Christmas turkey of a…
The November Criminals
David Brooks and Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin had a great debate at AEI today over the proper size and scope of the federal government. The debate originated with a WSJ op-ed that Ryan and AEI's president, Arthur Brooks, wrote in September. Brooks responded to their argument in one of his NYT…
U2 frontman Bono on his new Broadway musical:
The calls were unexpected. Early in 2010, Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the ranking Republican on the House Budget Committee, began receiving requests for information about the Roadmap for America’s Future, his ambitious plan to reform entitlements, taxes, and spending. Ryan, a Republican…
The master columnist takes aim at the TSA:
Earlier this fall, Vanity Fair published an error-ridden and badly sourced hatchet job on Sarah Palin. It was par for the course. But it was disappointing nonetheless for anyone who hoped that, one day, the mainstream media would actually take Palin seriously and cover her in a responsible manner.
It's inevitable: Whenever a president runs into trouble, the Washington establishment counsels him to hire one of their own. In 2005, as the fallout from Hurricane Katrina, the Fitzgerald probe, and a worsening situation in Iraq harmed the Bush presidency, Republican fixers David Gergen and Ken…
It didn't take long for the Federal Reserve to come under fire for its resumption of asset purchases, aka "QE2", announced at the Federal Open Market Committee meeting on November 3. The decision had the unusual side effect of uniting Sarah Palin and World Bank president Robert Zoellick, the former…
Republicans won historic gains in the U.S. House (and statehouses) and above-average gains in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday. Why? Because Independents have swung massively behind the GOP. And the reason for this shift, as Brookings's William Galston explains, is that independents -- and the electorate…
Paul Ryan is preparing to take the reins of the House Budget Committee, where he'll play a key role in the debate over taxes and spending in the post-November 2 era. Here are some links to bring you up to speed on Ryan and his revolutionary Roadmap for America's Future:
Today, the Washington Post reports that Eric Cantor "said on CNN Wednesday that all discretionary spending should be cut to 2008 levels, including defense."
On November 2, voters gave Republicans historic gains in the House and above-average gains in the Senate in a vote for reduced spending, less intrusive government, and low taxes. On November 3, the Federal Reserve voted to resume direct purchases of Treasury securities in order to promote economic…
That sound you hear is my muffled cry -- I'm buried under a mound of electoral data! Rather than somehow dredge a theme out of this mess, here are some impressions:
Once upon a time there was a Democratic president who, despite his faults, championed the power of markets, technology, and the global economy. He spoke about building “a bridge to the 21st century.” He ratified major trade agreements like NAFTA and the WTO. He supported balanced budgets and signed…
Republicans better sign up for yoga class between now and the start of the 112th Congress. They have a difficult balancing act ahead of them, and the performance will require incredible dexterity.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, aka Obamacare, turned six months old on September 23. Hardly anybody celebrated the occasion, and it isn’t hard to figure out why. Last spring President Obama promised Democrats that supporting the new entitlement would turn out to be a…
Yesterday, the anti-Palin blog Mudflats leaked an email that Todd Palin had sent to several people, in which he complained about something Alaska Republican senatorial candidate Joe Miller had (not) said about Sarah Palin's qualifications for the presidency. Predictably, a media frenzy ensued.
It's been remarkable to watch Jon Stewart fall out of love with Barack Obama. Stewart is an intelligent man, a liberal who has reasons for his liberalism, and so he's been unable to sustain the cult worship of the president you find in more reliable Democratic partisans. But Stewart is also a funny…
The new issue of National Affairs is out, which means it's time to read CCNY professor Daniel DiSalvo's piece on public sector unionism. DiSalvo explains the history of public sector unions, and the damage they've done to state finances. My favorite part:
When is Congress going to extend the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts? President Obama wants to extend those cuts only for households making less than $250,000. Republicans want to extend all of the tax cuts, at least temporarily, so that the country doesn't raise taxes in the middle of a terribly weak…
Congress returns to Washington this week, just in time for a fight over the future of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts. Those cuts are scheduled to expire on January 1, leading to increased taxes on estates, dividends, capital gains, and incomes. President Obama wants to maintain current tax rates for…
Minority leader John Boehner, appearing on CBS's Face the Nation yesterday, said he would vote for a bill extending tax rates for everyone but households making more than $250,000 if it's "the only option I have." Clearly he hadn't read this week's editorial!
Last month the TWS cruise sailed from Boston to Montreal, Canada. The entire complement enjoyed smooth waters and perfect weather as we stopped by Bar Harbor, Halifax, Sydney, Charlottetown, and Quebec City on our way to Montreal. Unfortunately, however, some cruisers, on another ship, in the…
A few months back I came across the trailer for I Want Your Money, an upcoming right-of-center documentary on the perils of big government and redistribution. Naturally, I was interested. The trailer made me laugh, which is more than I can say about most movies. Even better, according to today's…
The controversy over the Ground Zero mosque has breathed new life into Samuel P. Huntington's "Clash of Civilizations" thesis. In the early 1990s, Huntington argued that:
The Obama administration has bent over backward in its attempt to reset relations with Russia. The result? The White House secured an agreement on START. It got Russia to sign on to U.N. sanctions against Iran. Russia also agreed to permit overflights into Afghanistan.
Whatever Arnold Kling writes, I read. So I made sure to read his essay in AEI's American, "When Labor is Capital." So should you!
Recently Michael Barone pointed out that President Obama has a concentration problem:
Recently the FT's Ed Luce spent some time with families in Minnesota and Virginia and concluded that we're pretty much done for. The American Dream, Luce says, has become "America's Fitful Reverie." His article is worth reading in full; in fact, it's the best summary of the decline argument that…
In July 1994, Michael Barone raised the possibility that the Republicans might capture the House of Representatives for the first time in 40 years. Sixteen years later, Barone is revisiting his methodology and seeing what it may portend for November 2, 2010. As you probably already know, things do…
If you haven't already done so, make sure to stop by the new group blog / discussion forum Ricochet, founded by the estimable Rob Long and Peter Robinson. The site is a lot of fun, and features great posts by its editors and John Yoo, James Poulos, Claire Berlinksi, Jim Pinkerton, and many more.…
Classic Hitchens:
Jonathan Rauch has written a fascinating article for National Journal using data from the Pew Research Center. His argument is complicated, so let's reduce it to bullet points.
Columnist Mark Shields expounds the martial virtues:
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Concerns over the public debt make it highly unlikely that the government will pass any sort of fiscal stimulus anytime soon. Of course, that might not make much of a difference -- Congress passed stimulus bills in 2008 and 2009 and a much smaller jobs bill this year, and the economy is still…
My favorite movie critic, David Thomson, has a great piece on Christopher Nolan's latest blockbuster, Inception. Key bit:
Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin delivered a speech at AEI today on the fight against big government. You can watch the speech below:
The FT has had tons of good stuff lately. Here's columnist Tim Harford on another side of Keynes:
Reading this piece on Greece's debt-ridden rail system in today's Times, I was struck by these lines:
CNNMoney.com has an informative piece on the deflation threat today, featuring quotes from economists familiar to readers of various econ blogs. Why do many economists believe deflation is a bad thing? Because,
Kenneth Rogoff, coauthor of This Time is Different, in the FT:
Reading Norman Podhoretz's The Bloody Crossroads (1986), I came across this striking passage from his essay "The Adversary Culture and the New Class":
Before he started the late New York Sun, Ira Stoll had a great blog called Smartertimes.com, in which he pointed out the Gray Lady's errors, inconsistencies, and absurdities on a regular basis. Now Stoll runs a blog called FutureofCapitalism.com. Today's great catch: The Times op-ed page printed a…
Before he started the late New York Sun, Ira Stoll had a great blog called Smartertimes.com, in which he pointed out the Gray Lady's errors, inconsistencies, and absurdities on a regular basis. Now Stoll runs a blog called FutureofCapitalism.com. Today's great catch: The Times op-ed page printed a…
Arnold Kling has a great post this morning on the "neo-Reactionaries." The best part:
In his statement celebrating the passage of the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill last week, President Obama said: "There will be no more taxpayer-funded bailouts -- period."
This has been a great couple of weeks for Sarah Palin. Her endorsements show that her finger is on the pulse of Republican voters. She released a campaign-style video that won plaudits from the D.C. establishment. Her PAC announced that it had raised funds commensurate with other serious contenders…
Recently, Niall Ferguson offered a five-minute summary of his current thinking at the Aspen Ideas Festival. It's essential stuff. RealClearPolitics has the video and transcript. One key point:
Washington woke up this morning to the unthinkable -- kind words from the establishment, in the form of Politico's Mike Allen, for Sarah Palin. The former governor's political action committee has released a video which speaks to one of Palin's favorite themes: the rising tide of conservative women…
In a response to my article, “The Two Faces of the Tea Party,” Jonah Goldberg writes that “at times [Continetti] seems to be trying — and trying very hard — to use [Glenn] Beck to discredit the entire conservative argument against the progressive revolution in politics.”
It's subscriber only, unfortunately, but that's no reason to miss Robert Zubrin's devastating analysis of the last several decades of space policy in Commentary. The piece is informative, imaginative, and extremely well written. Upon finishing it, I immediately looked up Zubrin's book, The Case for…
Classic David Brooks:
Here is Paul Krugman today:
Two 2012 stories today deserve a mention. Both involve, directly or indirectly, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, who may run for president in 2012. The first is Huckabee's attack, via his PAC website, on Indiana governor Mitch Daniels. In an interview with THE WEEKLY STANDARD, Daniels called…
The 2010 FIFA World Cup has occasioned all sorts of "football" primers for ignorant Americans like me who still want to enjoy the event. The best by far is Jeff Blum's team-by-team analysis at n+1. It's informative and funny. Here's Blum on Team Portugal and its star Christiano Ronaldo:
The news that Glenn Beck's endorsement has sparked renewed interest in Friedrich Hayek's Road to Serfdom reminded me of this passage from Irving Kristol's "America's 'Exceptional Conservatism'" (1995, available in Neoconservatism: The Autobiography of an Idea):
You can't read the papers these days without being reminded that Israel is isolated. Of course, Israel has had few friends in Europe and the Middle East for some time. So, what's new?
We were flipping through back issues of the magazine when we were reminded that Hillel Fradkin and I. Lewis Libby anticipated Turkey's Islamist turn in the February 22, 2010, issue. The piece was headlined "Twilight of the Arabs." Here's a choice cut:
The "big think" pieces on the Tea Party movement are starting to come out. I've linked to John B. Judis's (subscriber only) analysis of the Tea Party before, but continue to recommend it. I also recommend William Voegeli's essay in the new Claremont Review of Books. Choice cut:
The most ominous aspect of the flotilla incident is Turkey's involvement. The flotilla bound for Gaza, in violation of the blockade, was allowed to leave a Turkish port. The main sponsor was a Turkish charity known for ties to jihadist groups. The Turkish diplomatic and governmental apparatus…
Well, Rand Paul trounced Trey Grayson, Mark Critz beat Tim Burns, and Joe Sestak defeated the longest-serving senator in Pennsylvania history, while Blanche Lincoln will face Bill Halter in a runoff election. Are these races connected? The first law of punditry says you have to find a theme. But…
In years like 2010, you get candidates like Dale Peterson. The 64-year-old retired businessman has never run for public office, but he's one of three GOP candidates in the June 1 primary for Alabama agriculture commissioner. His ad "We are Better Than That!" has gone viral, with more than 470,000…
Last week the president outlined his 2010 message for an audience of Democratic campaign donors:
From George Will's Sunday column:
Taegan Goddard asks, "Best Political Ad Yet?" And I think he's on to something:
Tomorrow is a big day in American politics. Important primaries (and an equally important special election) will take place in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and Arkansas. USA Today runs through the contests.
I read Charles Peters's "A Neoliberal's Manifesto" today and came away thinking the founder of the Washington Monthly really ought to meet Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. The manifesto was published in May 1983. Here is Peters on means-testing:
Sarah Palin delivered the keynote address to a breakfast of the pro-life Susan B. Anthony's List this morning. The speech was typical for Palin: attacks on big government and the media, a robust defense of the culture of life using her personal narrative as an example, and support for a "frontier…
The 2000s saw a massive housing bubble that, when popped, gave us the financial crisis and Great Recession. For decades, the federal government incentivized home-ownership and encouraged banks to write mortgages for people who might otherwise have been unable to afford them. The ability of these…
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