Political Commentary

Most Recent Releases

March 30, 2012Democrats’ House Hopes Could Run Aground in Great Lakes By Kyle Kondik
During the War of 1812, Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry whipped the British in the famous Battle of Lake Erie. Nearly 200 years later, winning Lake Erie won’t suffice for Democrats seeking to reclaim the House; they need to win on the shores of all five Great Lakes.
Now that decennial redistricting is nearly over, we have a relatively complete picture of where and how the race for the House will be run. While there are hotspots all over the country, the key region that will determine future control of the House is a combination of the Midwest and the Northeast — the eight states that touch the Great Lakes: Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
March 30, 2012Does Romney Have a Home? By Froma Harrop
Mitt Romney has three houses. The former Massachusetts governor would like to do a $12 million "fix-up" on one of them, a beachfront property in La Jolla, Calif. The plan is to tear down the existing 3,000-square-foot structure and build an 8,100-square-foot replacement, plus a car elevator.    

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                
                                
                
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                            March 30, 2012Even If It Survives the Court, the Health Care Law Is Doomed By Scott Rasmussen
Media coverage now implies that the U.S. Supreme Court will determine the fate of President Obama's health care law. But nothing the court decides will keep the law alive for more than a brief period of time. There are three ways the health care law could meet its end. The first, obviously, is the Supreme Court could declare some or all of it unconstitutional in June.
March 29, 2012Obama's Gaffe Hints at Hidden Agenda in Second Term By Michael Barone
"I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it." So said John Kerry, in Huntington, W.V., on Tuesday, March 16, 2004, two weeks after he had clinched the Democratic presidential nomination by carrying every state but Vermont in the Super Tuesday primaries.
March 29, 2012If Obamacare Goes, Will America "Let Him Die"? By Joe Conason
Despite significant negative signals, the final outcome of this week's arguments over the Affordable Care Act will remain unknown until the Supreme Court issues a ruling in June. What is painfully obvious today, however, should have been clear enough long before any of the lawyers opened their mouths. The five Republican justices represent an ideological bloc as adamantly hostile to universal health care -- no matter the cost in lost lives or squandered trillions -- as in 1965, when Medicare passed.   
March 28, 2012Job Killers By John Stossel
Politicians say they "create jobs." In fact, only the private sector generates the information needed to create real, productive jobs.
March 27, 2012Whether Obamacare Wins or Loses, Obama Wins By Froma Harrop
Small wonder President Obama chose not to delay the U.S. Supreme Court case on his health care reforms until long after the election. His advisors are clearly in the lab transforming the president's signature legislation into a potent election issue -- whether the justices leave it intact or rip it apart.
March 26, 2012In Obama Campaign Video, It's Not Morning in America By Michael Barone
President Barack Obama's 17-minute video, "The Road We've Traveled," gives us an idea of how he wants to frame the issues in the fall election.
March 23, 2012Ryan's Budget Kicks the Can at Timorous Democrats By Michael Barone
As I listened to House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan describe his latest budget plan in a speech at the American Enterprise Institute this week, I couldn't help thinking how different things will be in Britain when Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne steps out of No. 11 Downing St. with a battered red briefcase holding his budget for the forthcoming year.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                
                                
                
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                            March 23, 2012For Voters, Tax Reform Means Tax Equality By Scott Rasmussen
There's a reason President Obama, Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan and many others are touting tax reform these days. On the campaign trail, it taps into deeply held beliefs about the way American society ought to work and the role of government.
March 22, 2012Sky Not Falling With Japanese Birthrates By Froma Harrop
There's one complaint visitors to Tokyo rarely make, and that is "not enough people." With a population of 36 million, the Tokyo metropolitan area stuffs an average 6,800 people in each square mile. By contrast, the New York metro area, with 19 million residents, has a density of 2,800 people per square mile.
March 22, 2012Paul Ryan's Plan for American Decline By Joe Conason
If the foreign adversaries and competitors of the United States imagined a future that would fulfill their most ambitious objectives, it might begin with a government crippled by the House Republican leadership's "Ryan budget" released on Tuesday. Followed to its absurd conclusion, this document would lead America toward a withered state, approaching the point where Marxian dreams and Randian dogma converge.
March 21, 2012What Is Fair? By John Stossel
President Obama says he want to make society more fair. Advocates of big government believe fairness means taking from rich people and giving to others: poor people; or people who do things politicians approve of, like making "green" energy equipment (Solyndra); or old people (even rich ones) through Social Security and Medicare.
March 20, 2012Expensive Care That Hurts Patients By Froma Harrop
The biggest challenge for fixing American health care isn't finding more money. It's learning not to spend money on the wrong things. The solution, conservatives say, is simple: Have patients bear more of the costs now being covered by private or government insurers. The concept has merit, except for this: How on earth can we mortals know we don't need something when the god wearing the stethoscope says we do?
March 19, 2012Redistricting Not a Big Story in 2012 By Michael Barone
The 2012 congressional redistricting cycle following the 2010 Census is just about over and done with. And it seems likely to make much less difference than many of us expected.
March 16, 2012What Are We Doing in Afghanistan? By Joe Conason
For everyone who originally supported the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan to oust the Taliban, the question today is how what was once a righteous mission can end in anything but ruin. Blaming the Bush administration's neglect and incompetence for the critical failures of the first several years is fair enough, but it is not easy to argue, let alone prove, that the Obama administration has improved upon the mess it inherited.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                
                                
                
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                            March 16, 2012To Create Jobs, Voters Want to Cut While Washington Wants to Spend
Scott Rasmussen looks at one of the fundamental gaps between the American people and their elected politicians: the perceptions of the relationship between economic growth, job creation and government spending. In official Washington, Keynesian economics still rules, and it is simply accepted as fact that cutting government spending will hurt the economy. Politicians also assume that increasing government spending and growing deficits will lead to job creation.
March 16, 2012Romney Set to Dominate Race Through April By Kyle Kondik, Larry J. Sabato, and Geoffrey Skelley
Three of the four candidates for the Republican presidential nomination -- Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul -- might soon agree with T.S. Eliot: for them, April may indeed be “the cruelest month.”
March 15, 2012Pundits Gasp as Economy Dents Obama's Poll Numbers By Michael Barone
You can almost hear the note of surprise in their voices when you read the Washington Post and New York Times reporters' stories on their papers' latest political polls.
March 15, 2012Rising Gas Prices Don't Hurt Like They Used To By Froma Harrop
Here's why I'm not panicked about rising gasoline prices, as many headlines suggest we all should be. It's a personal story. Let me start at the beginning.
The automotive love of my life was my first. It was a 1979 Pontiac Grand Prix, already 10 years old when it drove to my door on that mild spring day. A cloudy ocean color, the mid-size car had a V6 engine, and boy, did it move. A whole lot of hood stood between me and the car ahead.