Chris Christie’s re-election as governor of New Jersey has rallied the hopes of the GOP establishment. Not only did he carry a “blue state” by a wide margin, but Christie also won among Hispanic voters (even if he lost to
The Wall Street Journal published a devastating op-ed on Friday by the Hoover Institution’s Paul E. Peterson and Eric A. Hanushek pointing out that much of the improvement in education assessments for which the Obama administration is taking credit actually occurred
CNN has blamed Christians for the problem of Americans without health insurance, calling it “The Obamacare ‘scandal’ you haven’t heard about.” In an article on CNN.com’s Belief Blog, CNN writer John Blake says that, while famous pastors “preach in states
Noted defense lawyer, scholar, and pro-Israel advocate Alan Dershowitz has warned the Clintons that they will need to distance themselves from Sid Blumenthal unless he stops defending his son Max’s anti-Israel book. The book, Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel,
In a battle between Media Matters for America and the mainstream news networks, conservatives might be inclined to laugh and pass the popcorn. That’s what most of us did during the dustup over CBS News’ recent story on Benghazi on
Over fifty union activists were arrested by outside a new Walmart in Chinatown in Los Angeles on Thursday evening during a protest for higher wages against “the unequal distribution of wealth.” Similar protests have been taking place around the nation–almost
Benghazi is Hillary Clinton’s most important weakness, no matter whom she faces in the 2016 presidential election. Among Republican contenders, only Chris Christie can claim it as a strength. That’s because of his performance during Superstorm Sandy. Whatever his mistakes–i.e.
UPDATE (Nov. 8): As predicted below, the Iranian regime has been able to extract more concessions from the U.S. The proposed “freeze” on Iran’s nuclear program is anything but, and could allow Iran to accelerate its program in the future more
When I lived in Cape Town, South Africa, I occasionally listened to the local Islamic radio station, partly out of curiosity and partly because it was often left on in the background in the living room of the Muslim family
An internal audit of the Medicaid program in President Barack Obama’s home state of Illinois has confirmed what was quietly known for years: a huge proportion of enrollees are not actually qualified for the program. At first, the proportion was
Tea Party favorite Ken Cuccinelli, abandoned by the Republican establishment as too “extreme” to win in Virginia, crushed Democrat Terry McAuliffe among independent voters by 9 percentage points, 47%-38%. The key to McAuliffe’s victory was that the Democrat–assisted by the
In response to First You Win, Then You Make Policy: Winning is important. Of course. But someone needs to tell that to the Republican establishment class, who abandoned Ken Cuccinelli in a winnable election. The “first you win” argument has
Election Day 2013 is finally behind us. The media are happy that the left seems to have won on all fronts: a Tea Party favorite was defeated in Virginia, a radical socialist will be mayor of New York City, and
The Illinois House of Representatives narrowly approved a bill Tuesday to allow same-sex marriage in the state, replacing an existing provision for civil unions. The bill will now proceed to the Illinois Senate and to Gov. Pat Quinn (D) for
Assemblyman Tim Donnelly (R-33) will officially announce his candidacy for Governor of California on Wedneday, according to a press release from his campaign. Donnelly will contest the GOP nomination to take on incumbent Democrat Jerry Brown, who is popular despite
Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel told Bloomberg News’ Jeffrey Goldberg that Israeli threats of military action against Iran’s nuclear program helped U.S.-led sanctions in pushing the regime into talks. “…I think that Iran is responding to the constant pressure from
When Chris Christie was first elected governor of New Jersey in November 2009, his win–along with that of Bob McDonnell in Virgina–was seen as the first sign of the Tea Party’s political muscle. Two months later, Scott Brown (R) would
Via the Manhattan Institute, Avik Roy of Forbes and HotAir comes a fascinating map of Obamacare premium changes in 49 states (Hawaii’s exchanges could not provide data). The result: premium increases in 41 of 50 states, on average. Premiums go down
The latest Obama talking point on the failure of the Obamacare rollout is that Republicans are “sabotaging” the law. Democrat spinmeister Brad Woodhouse tried that line yesterday, and evidently Obama’s friends in the media are playing along. Jonathan Capehart of
Before last night’s Monday Night Football game, the Chicago Bears were 10-point underdogs against the Green Bay Packers. They hadn’t won at Lambeau Field in years. And their starting quarterback was out, injured. Only Mike Ditka picked his old team
Faced with the ongoing implosion of Obamacare, Democrats are complaining that Republicans don’t have a plan of their own. That was the charge leveled by an apoplectic Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) last week, whose outburst in a congressional hearing was
If you thought Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel’s “mostly false” performance on Fox News Sunday was bad, you would not be alone–but you had better get used to it, says one GOP lawmaker: Dr. Ezekiel is the future of Obamacare. Rep. John Fleming, M.D.
The Middle East has changed dramatically over the past several years–and yet it has not changed at all. In all the drama over the Arab Spring, the Iranian “détente,” the Syrian civil war, the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, and all the
Politifact–not exactly a right-wing outlet–gave Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel a “mostly false” rating for his statement on Fox News Sunday Nov. 3 that insurance companies, not Obamacare or President Barack Obama himself, were responsible for individuals losing their health insurance coverage. “The
I’m working my way through Charles Krauthammer’s Things That Matter, a collection of his columns over the past three decades. The book’s publication has provided the occasion for some much-deserved appreciation of the man, whose personal story is remarkable and
The refrain repeated by the Obama administration and Democrats defending Obamacare is that the millions of individual health insurance plans that the law cancels are “substandard” plans, forced upon consumers in a “Wild West” environment that allowed for “abusive” behavior
We all know that President Barack Obama is the real villain of Obamacare. But, sweet jumpin’ Jehosaphat, we’ll take Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel. Here’s a guy we barely heard from before–except as the supposed inspiration for the “death panels”–and suddenly, as
Barack Obama hated the Iraq surge. He didn’t just oppose it: he confidently predicted its failure, then refused to acknowledge its success. To be fair, he was not alone: official Washington, right and left, shared that view. But the surge
While the Obama administration may have hoped that Jewish groups would agree not to lobby Congress for tougher sanctions on Iran, and has applied pressure to that effect, Christian pro-Israel groups have refused to play along with the White House’s
An unidentified suspect shot a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agent in the leg at security in Los Angeles International Airport’s Terminal 3 on Friday morning, local radio station KFI 640 AM reported. The suspect was also shot. The condition of
Appearing before Congress on Wednesday, Secretary of Health and Human Services apologized for the “debacle” of the healthcare.gov launch, and promised to fix the ailing Obamacare website. Yet while the Obama administration scrambles to implement its secret “tech surge,” a
NOTE FROM SENIOR MANAGEMENT: A “stranger in a strange land”–Blue State sensibility with Red State sense of policy and politics. We are pleased to announce Joel Pollak’s weekly column, “Blue State Blues.” If you want to understand Barack Obama’s presidency, you
Two new developments have severe implications for the IRS scandal. The watchdog group Judicial Watch announced Thursday that it had obtained emails showing that former IRS official Lois Lerner gave protected information to the Federal Elections Commission. Meanwhile, the House
The Obama administration has been accused of spying on Archbishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the future Popr Francis, “before and during the Vatican conclave at which he was chosen to succeed Benedict XVI,” the UK Telegraph reports, citing the Italian magazine
Dana Milbank of the Washington Post scored Wednesday’s Obamacare hearing at the House Committee on Energy and Commerce a win for Secretary for Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius. Not because of what she said–she apologized for a “debacle,” after all–but because
A few days ago, conservative columnist Debra Saunders speculated that as many as 600,000 Californians might lose their individual insurance policies under Obamacare. Some dismissed her calculations as fevered partisan projections. In fact, the numbers are 50% worse. According to
Back in 2009, as politicians began debating Obamacare–a massive detour from the economy into an issue less important to voters but critical to Democrats’ ideological goals–Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) reveled in the prospect that health care reform might “put the
In a speech at Boston’s Faneuil Hall on Wednesday afternoon, President Barack Obama discarded his now-infamous broken promise: “If you like your health insurance, you can keep your health insurance.” Instead, he offered a new promise: “You will be getting
President Barack Obama spoke at a rally in Boston on Wednesday in an attempt to use the backdrop of Mitt Romney’s home state to reinforce the case for Obamacare. Obama cited his 2012 Republican rival’s signature policy achievement as Massachusetts
Abraham H. Foxman, a self-described liberal and head of the Anti-Defamation League, slammed Secretary of State John Kerry for “inappropriate” remarks directed at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Ha’aretz reports. On Sunday, Kerry had warned in an address to the
