National Politics

Where Senator Chafee has Gone “Off the Reservation”

By Marc Comtois | January 31, 2006 |

In addition to being the only Republican Senator to vote against the confirmation of now-Justice Alito, Senator Chafee has opposed President Bush and–more often–conservative ideals on the following substantive matters. (All links are to data provided by ProjectVoteSmart. An index of Sen. Chafee’s complete voting record is here). Presidential Appointments: Voted against nomination of Judge…

Fun Reading at the NRSC

By Marc Comtois | January 31, 2006 |

Back in December, the National Republican Senatorial Committee–in support of Sen. Chafee–decided to try to undermine Steve Laffey’s conservativism by claiming he was really a tax-and-spender. Well, by reading the comments (select “View all comments” at the aforementioned page), you’ll find that a few people have tried to set them straight. Interestingly, the thread is…

Walter Williams: Attacking Lobbyists is Wrong Battle

By | January 19, 2006 |

Walter Williams, once again, cuts through all the political posturing about the rationale for lobbying reforms in his latest editorial: …Whatever actions Congress might take in the matter of lobbying are going to be just as disappointing in ending influence-peddling as their Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, known as the McCain-Feingold bill. Before we…

A government that is big enough to give you all you want is big enough to take it all away

By Donald B. Hawthorne | January 18, 2006 |

George Will has written an editorial entitled For the House GOP, A Belated Evolution in which he makes the following comments: …And now among House Republicans there are Darwinian stirrings, prompted by concerns about survival. In Washington, such concerns often are confused with and substitute for moral epiphanies… The national pastime is no longer baseball,…

Still Looking for New Conservative Leadership

By | January 17, 2006 | Comments Off on Still Looking for New Conservative Leadership

In a Wall Street Journal editorial entitled Right and Ron: Republicans long for a new Reagan, Brendan Miniter offers this commentary on Republican Party leadership in the Congress and in the Oval Office: …It’s telling that now, five years into the second Bush presidency, conservatives are still looking for the next Ronald Reagan to champion…

The Upcoming Public Sector Financial Implosion

By | December 27, 2005 | Comments Off on The Upcoming Public Sector Financial Implosion

Ed Achorn of the ProJo discusses the looming transparency of public sector financial obligations to be required under the new accounting rules: Taxpayers in Rhode Island — and nationwide — will soon be learning some very unpleasant facts of life about debts the politicians have been running up in their name for many years, in…

A Direct Perspective on Samuel Alito

By Carroll Andrew Morse | December 27, 2005 |

Most efforts at evaluating the nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court have focused on parsing the Judge’s record (too often looking solely towards the outcomes of cases while ignoring the legal reasoning used). Anchor Rising was provided with an opportunity to approach the question of what kind of Justice Samuel Alito would be…

Senators Chafee and Reed Filibuster Defense Appropriations

By Carroll Andrew Morse | December 21, 2005 |

Ramesh Ponnuru at National Review Online is reporting that Senator Lincoln Chafee has joined with the Democrats (including Senator Jack Reed) to filibuster this year’s Defense Department appropriation until a provision allowing oil-drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is removed. By the way, to read a more sensible approach to energy policy, click here.…

Is the CIA Impeding the President’s Ability to Act on Foreign Policy Matters?

By | November 21, 2005 | Comments Off on Is the CIA Impeding the President’s Ability to Act on Foreign Policy Matters?

With H/T to Power Line, Dafydd ab Hugh writes: Paul over at Power Line poses a fascinating question — in subtext — in a recent post: How does the CIA protect its turf so well? Its skill in the art of the leak must play a major role. For one thing, this skill helps explain…

Chafee as Weather Vane for the Conservative Rebellion

By Justin Katz | November 11, 2005 |

Something in a Corner post by Larry Kudlow might help to tie local Rhode Island concerns to the broader political landscape: Why Republicans don’t say more about the tax-cut related economic expansion is beyond me. And whether Tuesday’s disappointing election results provide a wake up call for the GOP remains to be seen. But they…