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Hugh Hewitt
Professor Hugh Hewitt is a lawyer, law professor and broadcast journalist whose nationally syndicated radio show is heard in more than 120 cities across the United States every weekday afternoon. Professor Hewitt has been a frequent guest on CNN, Fox News Network, and MSNBC, and has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and the Los Angeles Times. Hewitt writes daily for his blog, HughHewitt.com, which is among the most visited political blogs in the U.S. He is also a weekly columnist for The Washington Examiner and Townhall.com.
Writer's WebsiteThe Surprise of Francis
“Anyone who tells you they aren’t surprised is lying.”
That is what then Congressman Chris Cox told me on the KCET television set on election night 1994 when the GOP, led by Newt Gingrich, seized the House majority.
That was very early in my broadcast career, but in the 20 years since I don’t think I have seen so many people as surprised as by...
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Two new goals for congressional GOP
As the debate opens on the Continuing Resolution (“CR”) which Congress must pass to keep the government running, and as the Beltway GOP (well, most of it) wakes up to implications of the example of Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., fighting with argument and reason, two political fronts are open to Hill Republicans. They should fight hard on both of...
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Yesterday’s LollaPaulooza
Here’s what Rand Paul did with his LollaPaulooza yesterday:
He engaged the country in a serious discussion of first principles. You may not agree with him, but he did it. The Constitution was actually discussed on the Senate floor for more than a dozen hours. Incredible.
He put the president on the defensive, using the force of argument to penetrate the...
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Covering the Conclave
How are American newspapers and networks covering the Conclave? Poorly, if at all. Most of the stories are breathless horserace-style speculations about men they don’t know. When American journalists venture into the issues facing the Roman Catholic Church they rightly mention the abuse scandals and then most stop, except for a few who go on about celibacy...
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Hugh Hewitt: Politicians rush in
With the Super Bowl behind us, football fans turn next to the NFL’s Scouting Combine, or to reports of recruiting success coming out of Columbus, Ohio, or South Bend, Ind. (the only two such cities that really matter).
There’s a third venue they should be watching as well: Congress. Ready or not, the folks from the government are here to...
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Hugh Hewitt: Choosing the next pope
“Hopefully he will be a pious man,” Cardinal Francis George told John L. Allen Jr. of the National Catholic Reporter last weekend. “Hopefully he’ll be an intelligent man,” the cardinal said.
“He should have a good open personality, which is very important,” he added. “But all that comes together with the question,...
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The Clarity of the Obama Sequester
President Obama’s sequester — he designed it, he demanded it, and it is about to kick in — will have many consequences, some bad, some very helpful.
On the negative side, Stars & Stripes reports that Department of Defense officials are exploring how to collapse the school week to four days at some schools on military bases that serve the...
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Hugh Hewitt: Obama the anti-Lincoln
President Obama’s sequester is getting most of the attention, but before many more days pass the cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church will enter their conclave and most of the world’s attention will focus not on the overheated and overblown rhetoric coming from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. but on the new face, spirit and guide of international Roman...
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Hugh Hewitt: U.S. media cover papacy like a horse race
Racism in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue? A cruise ship nightmare vacation? Marco Rubio’s water bottle?
Oh, and the world’s largest church, the weight-bearing wall of Western civilization, is about to select a new leader who might guide it for a generation.
Which story got the most coverage in major media outlets last weekend?
The only story...
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The Era of Big Gridlock is Upon Us
The New York Times called the SOTU “making the case for government,” but it was in fact the unveiling of gridlock, the opening of the era of Big Gridlock.
Nothing the president wants as a piece of legislation will emerge from the Congress. Unlike President Reagan in 1981, President Obama doesn’t have a single great demand but a dozen little ones. Thus...
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Watch for the Anti-Catholics To Weigh in on the Papal Succession
Because the Roman Catholic Church adamantly defends life in the womb, the oldest and most infirm and the institution of marriage, it has legions of foes spread throughout major media. Those critics will surface repeatedly between now and the selection of the new pope to use the occasion to sling their stones. It is a fun time, really, since they know almost...
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Hugh Hewitt: What will happen when the Obama Sequester kicks in
When President Obama’s sequester kicks in on March 1, thousands of people will lose their jobs, but the president doesn’t care because he kept his.
When President Obama’s sequester kicks in on March 1, the nation’s military readiness will be diminished, but the president won’t mind because he intends the Department of Defense to...
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Talking with Pagans and Talking with Journalists
Sports Illustrated has come to my mailbox for nearly 40 years. I hope it comes for 40 more. But I also hope whomever is assigning the stories in the future begins to think more about the readers than their political and social agendas.
Super Bowl week featured a cover of a praying Ray Lewis rising from the water, and a cover story by New York Times’ religion...
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The Beginning of the Beginning of the Immigration Debate
The end of the first week of the debate over immigration reform proved that it is the roller derby of public policy debates for Republicans and Democrats alike.
Louisiana Senator David Vitter was the first to provide a face plant and skid over the rails. The blowback directed at Vitter for mocking Marco Rubio was intense, and the penalty box includes a copy of...
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Immigration Reform, School Choice and the Proposed Border Commission
First, a terrific compendium of think tank analyses of immigration compiled by the wizards at FindGravitas.com is here.
If you are going to debate immigration reform, be smart about immigration reform, especially about the positions of the opposite party’s intellectuals.
This means among other things being smart about school choice for immigrant children....
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Hugh Hewitt: National Review gathering previews the GOP future
National Review gathered dozens of talking heads and GOP elected luminaries along with nearly a thousand supporters over the weekend in Washington in proceedings designed to take the pulse of a bloodied but unbowed conservative movement.
The electeds who did star turns were, in order of appearance, Tom Cotton, Paul Ryan, Scott Walker, Ted Cruz and Bobby Jindal....
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