Columns ‹ Opinion
The End of the Debates and the Romney Campaign Ahead
Like most pundits, I dragged myself along through most of the death march of the 20+ debates. Last night’s was an exception. After seeing excerpts of the first hour through the last hour of my radio show, I was obliged to dash to another event and thus could only judge the result through the anlayses offered by others.
These, however, were near uniform....
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For GOP Contenders, Out of Office Means Out of Touch
Recent history shows that none of the three Republican frontrunners—not Mitt Romney, not Rick Santorum, and certainly not Newt Gingrich—can possibly win the GOP nomination, let alone defeat Barack Obama in November.
Why not?
Because none of them are current office-holders, holding day-jobs that put them in touch with the realities of governance. None of...
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Brokered Conventions and Unicorns
It is the season for silly predictions about the presidential campaign, and the most absurd of all is that the GOP is headed towards the emergence of a new candidate or a “brokered convention.”
This first meme got some traction when ABC’s Jonathan Karl quoted an “anonymous Republican senator” as saying that “[I]f Romney cannot win Michigan, we need a...
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Palin and Romney, Romance and Resignation, at CPAC
Mitt Romney may have won the straw poll but Sarah Palin won CPAC’s heart—electrifying the Conservative Political Action Conference with one of the most rousing and effective political speeches of recent years. Both winners managed to advance the cause of conservative unity and raised the prospects for a competitive and formidable Republican challenge...
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The President’s Anti-Catholic Duck
When President Obama signed off on the new HHS regulations that demand every Catholic institution in the country not officially designated a “church” either shut down or offer its employees subsidized sterilization, “morning after” pills and all other forms of contraception, neither the president nor his political team recognized the...
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For Mitt: Lessons from Teddy
As his formidable campaign marches inexorably toward the nomination, Mitt Romney should learn a vital lesson from the guy who beat him in his first race for public office: Senator Ted Kennedy.
In 1980, Teddy lost his own bid for the presidency because he couldn’t answer a simple question about why he wanted the job. Like Kennedy, Romney could undermine his...
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Memo to the Catholic Bishops
To the Members of the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops:
It may have taken a few days to sink in, but by now you should all have realized that President Obama has opened a massive assault on the Roman Catholic Church in America the likes of which none of you have ever experienced and for which few of you have prepared.
My guess is only a handful of...
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Gingrich, Romney and the “Passion Gap”
Does Newt Gingrich enjoy an electoral advantage with movement conservatives in part because he reaps the benefits of an “adultery edge”?
It would have sounded like a preposterous notion as recently as a few months ago, but the evidence suggests that fresh attention to Newt’s unconventional marital history actually contributed to his startling margin of...
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40 Years After The 1972 Campaign, “Dirty Tricks” No Longer Matter To MSM
The single biggest storyline out of Florida and concerning the GOP presidential nomination isn’t getting much attention.
It is the attempt by President Obama and his allies to pick the Republican nominee.
It is the manipulation of the Tea Party by the hard-left activists of the ACORN-wing of the Democratic Party.
The president and the Chicago Gang as well...
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Obama and the Second-Term Curse
With Americans telling pollsters that they disproportionately disapprove of Barack Obama’s job performance in his first term, advocates of his re-election must promise the public that another four years would represent a dramatic improvement.
But to keep that promise the president must overcome a “second-term curse” which constitutes one of...
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MSM and the 13 State Election
Will ABC’s interview of Marianne Ginrich matter in the South Carolina primary?
Will Mitt Romney’s wealth and “effective tax rate of 15%” hurt him in the Palmetto State?
Will the endorsement of Rick Santorum by key Evangelical leaders over the past weekend in Texas swing him crucial support on Saturday?
Answers on these questions in a...
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The Huckabee Campaign That Might-Have Been
Mike Huckabee, affable host at this weekend’s Republican debate in South Carolina, occasionally (and effortlessly) upstaged the five presidential candidates who participated. The former Arkansas governor remains such a comfortable, self-assured media presence that many conservatives yearn for him to play a more prominent role in the party’s national...
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Rick Perry’s Long March
Rick Perry isn’t giving up and isn’t going home, and some folks in South Carolina have noticed.
The New York Times followed the Texas governor around some his stops in the Palmetto State and reported back to their Manhattan elites that, gasp, Perry was connecting with Christians.
Perry, the paper announced today, “seems to have found in South...
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Voters Deliver Good News—and Better News—For GOP
The results from Iowa and New Hampshire bring good news and better news for the Republican Party and its prospects for November.
First, Mitt Romney’s success in both states all but guarantees that the GOP won’t need to endure a long, bitter, scorched-earth fight for the presidential nomination. Santorum and Gingrich both lack the funding to win in the...
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Romney v. Santorum: 1976 All Over Again
Either Mitt Romney is the presumptive nominee by early February, or we have a replay of the 1976 GOP primaries on our hands.
Both Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum had great nights on Tuesday. Both can say an earnest thanks to Iowa caucus goers. Iowa battered everyone else, perhaps not beyond repair, but probably.
Both men are fine candidates. Bill Kristol provided...
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Rise of “Paul Power” Only Helps Obama
Few of Ron Paul’s enthusiastic supporters actually expect their curmudgeonly, 77-year-old champion to win election as President of the United States, but they nonetheless plan to give him their votes in Republican primaries in order “to send a message” to the GOP and the nation at large.
But what, exactly, is the message that impassioned Paulestinians...
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