Numbers Don’t Lie: Bush, GOP Responsible for a Strong Economy
A week ago today, President Bush made one of the most important and impressive announcements of his presidency. Thanks to a robust economy that has led to significantly increased tax revenues, the...
View ArticleThe Old Democratic Game Continues: Bash the President
Democratic leaders last week, headlined by Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, reaffirmed why Republicans still are likely to hold the House and Senate in this fall’s elections: They...
View ArticleOn Economy, Give Credit Where Credit Is Due: to the GOP
Three days before the Nov. 7 elections, The New York Times ran an editorial, “The Economy Cools.” It stated in part: “The latest information about the economy leaves no question that it has slowed down...
View ArticleThe Old Democratic Misdirection Play On Tax Hikes
The show put on by Democratic leaders as they took control of Congress last week was the best entertainment since Al Gore did the Macarena. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) raced from party to party as...
View ArticleThis Is No ‘Strategic Retreat’ From Iraq
Tonight’s State of the Union address comes at a moment that future historians may well define as a critical decision point in what likely will be the challenge of this generation and generations to...
View ArticleDemocrats Offer Nothing but Empty Words on Iraq
In the spring of 1910, after he had left office, President Theodore Roosevelt spoke eloquently about “Citizenship in a Republic” to a gathering at the Sorbonne. “It is not the critic who counts,” he...
View ArticleThis Unique Campaign Begins to Define Itself
Predicting the outcome of the presidential sweepstakes at this stage of the game is the statistical equivalent of trying to peg ground zero for the next asteroid to hit Earth. But, despite the...
View ArticleDebate Over Iraq Brings Honeymoon to an Unpleasant End
The honeymoon is officially over. Like a pair of newlyweds back from a week on a warm Caribbean beach, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) suddenly have run...
View ArticleUp Is Down and Down Is Up in the ’08 Campaign
The 2008 presidential race is an election that just gets “curiouser and curiouser,” as Alice might say. Many of the political assumptions, rules of engagement and benchmarks that drove media coverage...
View Article‘Truce’ Offers Chance to Explore Issues Raised by Va. Tech
In the weeks after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, I wrote that a new American environment had emerged, one “characterized by a sense of unity, personal responsibility, and mutual respect for...
View ArticleThere’s More to Latest Polling Shifts Than Mere Numbers
Congressional action over the past two weeks, or lack of it, isn’t worth a column again this week. How many times can I write that none of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) “6 for ’06” agenda has yet...
View ArticleDemocrats Seem Lost in the Fog of Political War
Politicians, basking in the afterglow of a successful election or a strong job approval rating, often forget that it’s a short hop from “We’re No. 1!” to “We’re numb.” Suffering from a bad case of...
View ArticleThe Political Truth May Not Be True This Time Around
There is a political “truth” underpinning much of the political coverage these days. When it comes to voter staying power, conventional wisdom has it that the electorate, overwhelmed by a seemingly...
View ArticlePetraeus’ Report Will Provide New Context for Fall Debate
Gen. David Petraeus has a Herculean task ahead of him. A few days from now, he must go before a room full of Democratic Congressional skeptics, many of whom have an end point for the war — getting out...
View ArticleMoveOn Ad, ‘Phony Fred’ Site Are Case Studies in Bad Politics
After 25 years in politics, it never ceases to amaze me when I see, as we did last week, politicos who should know better shoot themselves in the foot or — in the case of MoveOn.org’s now infamous New...
View ArticleOpen, Honest Health Care Discussion Is Needed
It’s déjà vu all over again with a familiar political formula: Democrats set up a legislative straw man, or more accurately a straw child, with which to portray Republicans as callous misers whose...
View ArticleBritain’s Cameron Offers Lessons for Republicans in U.S.
In the London Times Online recently, editorial page editor Daniel Finkelstein offered some friendly advice to Tory Party leader David Cameron on the eve of his speech to the annual Party Conference —...
View ArticleToo Many Variables Still in Play to Predict Iowa, N.H. Results
The Iowa caucuses are now just 23 days away, and the New Hampshire primary is one month from today. A fair number of reporters, talking heads and partisans of every stripe have focused on the latest...
View ArticleNew Hampshire GOP Vote a Rebuke to Negative Advertising
Members of the media and political pros have spent much of the past week debating the unexpected outcome of the New Hampshire Democratic primary and what the McCain win in the Republican primary really...
View ArticleHell Freezes Over: Giving Bipartisanship a Chance on the Hill
No, hell didn’t freeze over last week, but it sure felt like it on Capitol Hill. While the presidential contests on both sides devolved into close facsimiles of an Ali-Frazier fight, House Republican...
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