Mona Charen from Creators Syndicate

The Real World Intrudes for 12/28/2007

Fri, 28 Dec 2007 00:00:00 -0800

The next to last assassination attempt on Benazir Bhutto came on Dec. 13, when a man in the crowd got the former prime minister's attention. He was holding a 1-year-old baby — Bhutto said later she thought it was a girl — and tried to hand the child across the sea of bodies. Bhutto said, "He kept trying to hand it to people to hand to me. I'm a mother. I love babies. But the [s ...

Updated: Fri Dec 28, 2007

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Joe Kennedy, Hugo Chavez and That Free Heating Oil for 01/04/2008

Fri, 04 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0800

You've probably seen the TV commercials — former congressman Joseph P. Kennedy II beckons you to enjoy reduced-price heating oil if you are struggling to keep your house warm, thanks to "our good friends in Venezuela." He then offers a few heartwarming examples of poor people who have taken advantage of the program and offers the toll free number: 1-877-JOE-4-OIL (1-877-563-4645 ...

Updated: Fri Jan 04, 2008

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Cry (for) the Beloved Country for 01/11/2008

Fri, 11 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Hillary Clinton has shed the most famous tears since Alexander the Great wept that there were no more worlds to conquer. Observers have since noted that she was exhausted; that she was down in the polls; that she may have been on the prowl for an opportunity to soften her image; and/or that she may have been revealing a bit of her true self. I'm less interested in whether the tears were genuine ...

Updated: Fri Jan 11, 2008

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Can Conservatives Still Win Elections? for 01/18/2008

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Memo to: Republican candidates of all stripes

From: A well-wisher

Subject: How to Win Again

As Republican primary and caucus voters conspire to deny the party a front-runner — one state for you, another for you, and a third for the other guy — some observers have speculated that the party doesn't quite know its own identity. Among party regulars, the lament has ...

Updated: Fri Jan 18, 2008

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Will Venezuela Be Judenrein? for 01/25/2008

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0800

On December 1, 2007, two dozen heavily armed police staged a raid on a Jewish community center in Caracas where hundreds were celebrating a wedding. The police, the Venezuelan equivalent of the FBI, claimed to be seeking weapons and evidence of "subversive activity."

They found no weapons. As for subversive activity, well, in a proto-authoritarian state like Hugo Chavez's Venez ...

Updated: Fri Jan 25, 2008

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Sore Winner for 02/01/2008

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Usually the guy who's ahead finds it within himself to be gracious to his competitors whereas the desperate runner-up goes negative and reaches for any stick. So it was peculiar to watch John McCain sneering and slicing his way through the debate with Mitt Romney at the Reagan Library. When McCain was given up for dead last summer, he was witty and fun on the stump. Now that he is the front-run ...

Updated: Fri Feb 01, 2008

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Why They Can't Vote for McCain for 02/08/2008

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0800

I posted a squib on the National Review website about a robo call I received from John McCain (Virginia's primary is Tuesday). The call stressed that he would, if elected, be a down-the-line limited government conservative who would never raise taxes, would defend life, would enforce immigration laws and would win the war on terror. The candidate is trying, I said, to meet conservatives "m ...

Updated: Fri Feb 08, 2008

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Obama: Old Wine, New Bottle for 02/15/2008

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0800

It says a great deal about a liberal Democrat that he does not outrage conservative Republicans. To mention the Clintons, Howard Dean, Al Gore, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi or John Kerry to this crowd is to inflict hypertension. But I, for one, can sit through an entire speech by Barack Obama without flinching. I can admire his poise, his fluid delivery, and his self-confident, dignified presence.< ...

Updated: Fri Feb 15, 2008

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About that Bullet Hitting a Bullet for 02/22/2008

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0800

The Aegis class cruiser Lake Erie ("Courage, Determination, Peace" reads her shield) was pitching and rolling in heavy seas west of Hawaii on the night of Feb. 20. Her mission was to shoot down a disabled satellite that was tumbling toward the Earth's atmosphere. The spy satellite carried a toxic fuel, hydrazine, that might, on the off chance it hit a populated area, have posed health ...

Updated: Fri Feb 22, 2008

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Farewell to a Great Man for 02/29/2008

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0800

When the terrible sad news of Bill Buckley's death came, I reached for my folder of letters we'd exchanged over the years. It's a thick file, and it makes me well up a bit to realize that I can expect no more bright white envelopes with the familiar blue lettering.

That Bill should have taken notice of me at all was a bit incongruous. By the time I was old enough to write to him — ...

Updated: Fri Feb 29, 2008

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How Does Obama Feel About America? for 03/07/2008

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Barack Obama's words are often attractive but oddly concealing. His speeches are all balm and mood. It's all very well to seek, as Obama claims, to transcend old categories, to reject the "old politics." But then what? This graceful rhetorician leaves you wondering: Who is he really? What does he want for himself and for his country?

In search of answers that go deeper than the ...

Updated: Fri Mar 07, 2008

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Worlds Apart Morally for 03/14/2008

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700

When the sirens wail in the southern Israeli town of Sderot, residents have just 16 seconds to reach shelter before the rockets fall. In the last month, the sirens have been sounding almost continuously as Sderot and (in the last several weeks) nearby Ashkelon, a city of 117,000 that traces its history back to the Canaanites, have been targeted by 50 rockets a day. The elderly, who cannot sprin ...

Updated: Fri Mar 14, 2008

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Throwing Grandma Over the Side for 03/21/2008

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700

It's a mistake to try to pigeonhole Barack Obama. He is too smart and too agile to succumb to easy categorization. But the candidate's eloquence is often more of a curtain than a window to his soul — and one is left to wonder where his heart truly lies. As George Burns said of acting, "Sincerity is everything. If you can fake that, you've got it made."

Discussing his past ...

Updated: Fri Mar 21, 2008

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A Filibuster-Proof Congress? for 03/28/2008

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700

There are dozens of reasons for John McCain to be gloomy this spring. So many of the structural factors at work in this election redound to his disadvantage. To name just a few: 1) he seeks to succeed a very unpopular two-term president of the same party, 2) he is a member of a body (Congress) whose approval ratings are even lower than those of the president, 3) poll after poll suggests that Re ...

Updated: Fri Mar 28, 2008

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Do We Care What They Think of America? for 04/04/2008

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

If there's one thing the Democrats are certain they can accomplish provided they win in November (and it doesn't matter, for this purpose, which of the two candidates becomes the nominee) it will be the restoration of America's tattered world reputation. Barack Obama has promised that his first priority is to get the United States out of Iraq and "restore our standing in the world." M ...

Updated: Fri Apr 04, 2008

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Character Counts, But Not by Race for 04/11/2008

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The public schools, perhaps more than any other institution in American life, are afflicted with "sounds good" syndrome. Let's teach kids about the dangers of smoking. Sounds good. Let's improve math scores with a new curriculum called "whole math." Sounds good. Let's reduce teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases by teaching sex ed. Sounds good. Let's have cooperat ...

Updated: Fri Apr 11, 2008

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More Debates Please! for 04/18/2008

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

You jaded citizens may be bored silly by these seemingly endless candidate debates. But last night's encounter between the two Democrats was an entertainment milestone. I say give me more!

Who has ever seen a politician admit to lying before? Asked yet again about the corkscrew landing, Hillary Clinton introduced her mea culpa with this odd formulation: "I can tell you that I may be ...

Updated: Fri Apr 18, 2008

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Let Them Eat Ethanol? for 04/25/2008

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

They don't have enough to eat. Five people are dead in Port Au Prince, Haiti after a week of food riots. Unions in Burkina Faso have called a general strike to protest the high cost of grain. Food riots have rocked Egypt, Cameroon, Indonesia, Ethiopia and other nations. In Manila, police with M-16s have supervised the sale and distribution of subsidized grain. Hoarders have been threatened with ...

Updated: Fri Apr 25, 2008

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What We're Buying at College for 05/02/2008

Fri, 02 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

This week millions of high school seniors across the nation will mail forms and checks to colleges announcing their intention to matriculate. It's the culmination of what some say was the toughest year ever to pry open the golden doors of academe.

My husband and I are still a few years away from writing those whopping checks to doubtless already well-endowed institutions, but a spirit of ...

Updated: Fri May 02, 2008

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Did Israel Drive Out the Arabs 60 Years Ago? for 05/09/2008

Fri, 09 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Sixty is pretty old for a country. Consider that by the time the United States was 60 (counting from the conclusion of the War of Independence), the year was 1843. We'd already had 10 presidents, had nearly quadrupled the size of the nation, and were on our way to becoming a world power. As with the histories of all nations, our birth was not without sins and crimes. The Indians paid a dear pri ...

Updated: Fri May 09, 2008

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