National Politics
Charles Blow informed New York Times readers, Friday, that President Obama may be “unbreakable”: First, let’s take his job approval rating. Yes, it slid during the summer, but it stabilized around 50 percent in November and has hovered there ever since. The empty-headed chattering class began another round of speculation and inane analysis this week…
Congressman James Langevin (D-RI), who had been on the fence, issued the following statement this afternoon. It appears that he has been persuaded in part by the revised CBO report. In a few minutes I will be making an announcement about the upcoming vote on health care legislation. Because I value your continued support, I…
The fiction, manufactured by the CBO in a report revised and reissued at the instruction of the Dem leadership desperate to round up votes, that the pending healthcare reform bill will lower the deficit is quickly being exposed. Over at The New Atlantis, James Capretta enumerates some items. For starters, as I mentioned yesterday, the…
Monique and Matt talked about the foolishness that is “deem and pass” on last night’s Matt Allen Show. The biggest question seems to be: Whom do the legislators think the maneuver is going to fool, especially now that it’s become a catch phrase? Stream by clicking here, or download it.
An explanation by Byron Tau of “deem-and-pass”, currently being contemplated by House Democrats as a means of getting health care reform on the books. Okay, so here’s how the “deem-and-pass” procedure would actually work. The House Rules committee is often called the “traffic cop” of the House – controlling what bills come to the floor…
Rich Lowry and Ramesh Ponnuru had an excellent cover piece in the National Review before last on the domestic battle over American exceptionalism, which divides pretty conveniently along the current line of left and right. President Obama is obviously a key figure in the dispute. Not surprisingly, what strikes me is the gargantuan task facing…
Yesterday I mentioned the report that federal employees make more than private employees in most occupations. Now we learn that 6 out of the 10 wealthiest counties ( and 11 of the top 25!) are suburbs of Washington, D.C. Rank County Population Median household income 1 Loudoun County 277,433 $110,643 2 Fairfax County 1,005,980 $106,785…
Chatter about the comparison of circumstances between President Obama and President Reagan has been everywhere, and it all falls apart on one basic question. Here’s an example from Henry Olsen (subscription required): Where does this leave us? Republicans should first remember that politics is like tennis, and the Democrats are serving. It’s very hard to…
National Review conducted a poll (subscription required) to find out what we all know about the tea party movement. First of all, Americans think well of the movement. McLaughlin and Associates asked respondents whether the tea parties represented an angry fringe or consisted of “citizens concerned about the country’s economic future.” 57% chose the latter,…
When people behave irrationally, there are fundamentally two possibilities: incompetence or calculation. I fear that Andy McCarthy may be right that we’re looking at the latter, in Washington: I hear Republicans getting giddy over the fact that “reconciliation,” if it comes to that, is a huge political loser. That’s the wrong way to look at…