Americans should take pride that the promise of Jefferson’s masterpiece—“that all men are created equal”—is now underlined by the fact that an American who happens to be black is just a few steps away from the presidency. (more…)
Even as the cable-news types focus on—and swoon over—the Democratic Party primary duel as if it’s the only race for the White House, observers would do well to remember that just because the GOP race is more wide-open it doesn’t mean a viable candidate won’t emerge. (more…)
My friend and and former colleague S.T. Karnick has a good piece in NRO this week, in which he discusses the benefits either party would gain by nominating a governor—and the less-than-stellar track record, at least in the last couple decades, of senators in presidential elections.
Hats off to The Daily Mail for uncovering the hypocrisy of last weekend’s Live Earth concert series, which did far more to damage the environment than protect it. (more…)
Presidential candidate John Edwards tells us the War on Terror is “a bumper sticker, not a plan.” This follows on the heels of the House Armed Services Committee’s decree to stop using “Global War on Terror” and other “colloquialisms.”
Under the heading “An Antiwar Tide on the Rise,” The Washington Post’s E.J. Dionne tells us that last week’s House vote to withdraw US forces from Iraq “was hugely significant.” (more…)
While the Big Media focuses on Senators Clinton and Obama, conservatives are watching the other race. Most of the headliners were on hand at last weekend’s CPAC convention. (more…)
This week, almost four years after the invasion of Iraq, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Malaki announced plans for a regional conference—in Baghdad—to steer the country away from a Balkan-style breakdown. The conference, which has Washington’s blessing, is set for March 10. (more…)
By now, most of us have heard—or heard about—the goofy ramblings of Rep. David Wu (D-Ore.), who took to the House floor to criticize the war in Iraq by drawing not from the writings of Madison or speeches of Churchill, but from the mind of Gene Roddenberry.
History has a way of forcing nations to deal with things left unfinished. Consider this week’s air strikes against al-Qaeda outposts in Somalia and President Bush’s plan to send an extra 21,000 troops into Baghdad. (more…)
The Iraq Study Group has handed down its findings and policy solutions for Iraq. Depending on what you read or where you watch, the media tell us it is a repudiation of the Bush Doctrine, a cover story for a graceful exit, a helping hand from father (George H.W. Bush) to son (George W. Bush), a surrender, a template for bridging America’s divisions, a “realist manifesto.” But more than anything else, it is a statement of the obvious.
The realists are now ascendant. The signs are everywhere: a new Congress promising to withdraw or redeploy; a new commission advocating overtures to the thugs that dominate the Middle East; a new defense secretary hinting at a return to the old way and an end to the audacious democracy-building project in the region. (more…)
By now, most of us have been subjected to the snuff film CNN received “through intermediaries from the Islamic Army of Iraq” and dutifully broadcast to its international audience.
The president’s critics are gloating over North Korea’s apparent nuclear test. Predictably, Sen. John Kerry was among the first to pounce, melodramatically labeling President George W. Bush’s inability to control a madman—Sen. Kerry’s word, not mine—a “shocking failure.” According to Kerry, “While we’ve been bogged down in Iraq where there were no weapons of mass destruction, a madman has apparently tested the ultimate weapon of mass destruction.” (more…)
The news just keeps getting worse for the White House. The president’s approval rating hovers around 42 percent. More than 50 percent of the country has an unfavorable view of him. And 61 percent of Americans say the country is worse off because of George W. Bush’s policies and needs to move in a new direction.
Pakistan’s Pervez Musharraf is in the middle of a state visit to America—and a firestorm over some charges he made during his recent interview with “60 Minutes.”
“History doesn’t repeat itself,” Mark Twain is credited with saying, “at best it rhymes.” As the president spoke to the United Nations today, offering warnings about dictators unchecked and wars unfinished and international demands unanswered, I couldn’t help but recall Twain’s quote.
It still sounds like some sort of sick, unfunny joke, but we began this year with mobs of angry Muslims rampaging through Europe, the Middle East and Asia in deadly protests over a cartoon. Now, many in the Islamic world are lashing out over an academic lecture presented by a pope eager to promote dialogue between Islam and Christianity.
George Will has a good piece this week discussing the Left’s anti-WalMart crusade. He notes that a recent issue of The American Prospect has an ad denouncing WalMart for “‘lies, deception, immorality, corruption, and widespread labor, human rights and environmental abuses’ and for having brought ‘great hardship and despair to people and communities throughout the world.’”
The good news is that five years after 9/11, Afghanistan is no longer under the control of the medieval Taliban and its al Qaeda partners. The bad news is that five years after 9/11, it doesn’t appear that Afghanistan is under anyone’s control.