R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr. from Creators Syndicate

Saving Liberty for 07/09/2009

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

WASHINGTON — A few weeks back, at the dawn of the Obama administration, I was at dinner with a very bright woman of middle years who calls herself an independent. She found the new president very engaging, but she was alarmed by the music in the air: a government takeover of Detroit, a $700 billion government bailout of the banks, a $787 billion stimulus bill, a cap and trade bill that wo ...

Updated: Thu Jul 09, 2009

]]>

Consequences of the Liberals' Death Wish for 07/16/2009

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

WASHINGTON — Witnessing the current attempt by liberal Democrats in Congress to investigate CIA officers and possibly prosecute them for a covert initiative allegedly undertaken in time of war (a war that still is going on) inspires a happy thought. Perhaps these liberals have a death wish. The American people do not want another 9/11 attack on our shores. They approve of operations again ...

Updated: Thu Jul 16, 2009

]]>

More Media Follies for 07/23/2009

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

What follows is a column adducing still more evidence of the trivial nature of the contemporary American news media.

The other morning, I was lying in bed recovering from minor surgery, my body heaving off the residual effects of a powerful anesthetic, propofol. Believe me; it is a powerful anesthetic. It thrust me into the utmost darkness for 40 minutes, according to my doctor. It could ...

Updated: Thu Jul 23, 2009

]]>

Sanity From the Indian Subcontinent for 07/30/2009

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

WASHINGTON — Did you see the look on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's face when, during her visit to India, she visited with that country's environment minister, Jairam Ramesh? It was that frozen smile we have seen from her before, when the smiling lady is, as a matter of fact, mad as hell. You saw it during her husband's impeachment. Bill has seen it practically every day of their ma ...

Updated: Thu Jul 30, 2009

]]>

Vindication! for 08/06/2009

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

WASHINGTON — Back in the 1990s, David Brooks, then an editor at The Wall Street Journal, called me and asked me whether I would like to "gloat" on the newspaper's op-ed page. What inspired him to encourage such ungentlemanly behavior was the publication of a book, "First in His Class," by David Maraniss, which vindicated my claims of the prior year that Bill Clinton wa ...

Updated: Thu Aug 06, 2009

]]>

The Health Care Chaos for 08/13/2009

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

WASHINGTON — Allow me a word of encouragement to our president. Mr. Obama, you are doing just fine. You wanted to set a new tone in Washington, and you have. You wanted an open debate on health care, and you have it. Admittedly, the tone is astoundingly rancorous, and not incidentally, your approval ratings continue to decline. Then, too, support for your health care reform is dropping, e ...

Updated: Thu Aug 13, 2009

]]>

Bob Novak for 08/18/2009

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

It took cancer longer than a year to kill Bob Novak, and actually, this was the fifth cancer that tried to kill him. Let that stand as testimony as to how tough this guy was. He was very tough. He worked long hours as a reporter and columnist. He always was on call to pop onto a TV set and comment on breaking news. He prepared diligently for the two cable shows he appeared on, CNN's "Cross ...

Updated: Tue Aug 18, 2009

]]>

Obama's Carousel of Incompetence for 08/27/2009

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

WASHINGTON — According to the Gallup Poll, the Prophet Obama's job approval is now at its lowest since his coronation. It began at 70 percent. Now it is at 51 percent. Equally glum, his disapproval rating has climbed from 11 percent to 42 percent. So what about his golf game up there at Martha's Vineyard? From all I have been able to ascertain, it is mediocre. In other words, Mr. Obama, y ...

Updated: Thu Aug 27, 2009

]]>

Mark Sanford and the Odd Fellows for 09/03/2009

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

WASHINGTON — Why is the governor of South Carolina still a national news story? This past week, Gov. Mark Sanford was again in the news, and neither sex nor romance had anything to do with it. I can understand his first great news splash, after he completely vanished from the face of the earth. Then he duped his staff into announcing that he was communing with the birds and the bees along ...

Updated: Thu Sep 03, 2009

]]>

New Generation of Churchill Critics for 09/10/2009

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

WASHINGTON — Sept. 1 was the 70th anniversary of Hitler's blitzkrieg into Poland and the beginning of World War II. Fifty million people died. Western Europe was devastated. Eastern Europe was more thoroughly devastated and subjected to communist tyranny that for decades seemed invincible and a threat to the Free World, which remained armed and vigilant. Winston Churchill and Franklin Roo ...

Updated: Thu Sep 10, 2009

]]>

The Absurdity Meter Blowup for 09/17/2009

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

WASHINGTON — My absurdity meter has blown up. The current news has been simply too much for this frail device, which I attach to my television set to give me a daily reading of the news' absurdity content. First, two wholesome young people conduct a sting operation in the offices of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, presenting themselves as dealers in the sex busi ...

Updated: Thu Sep 17, 2009

]]>

Conservatism's Next Coming for 09/24/2009

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

WASHINGTON — Was I wrong about him? I have voiced a low opinion of the Hon. Newt Gingrich since the mid-1990s. It was then that I concluded Newt was the Republican equivalent of Boy Clinton. That is to say, Newt was a 1960s narcissist of the student government variety. A rather good book on these two lovable lugs, "The Pact: Bill Clinton, Newt Gingrich, and the Rivalry That Defined a ...

Updated: Thu Sep 24, 2009

]]>

Freedom From Foreign Oil for 10/01/2009

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

WASHINGTON — Boone Pickens likes to call it a "game changer," and the game he has in mind is a big one: the game for our global energy security. Boone is the billionaire Texas oilman who years ago warned that the price of oil will continue to go up, price plateau by price plateau — each plateau being higher and more expensive for the American consumer. Sure, the price of o ...

Updated: Thu Oct 01, 2009

]]>

White-Collar Hero for 10/08/2009

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

WASHINGTON — If you happen to be in Manhattan on Monday, do not miss the Columbus Day parade gliding up Fifth Avenue. It will be a gaudy, joyful affair as always, but it will feature something especially timely. Its grand marshal is a brassy gent who took on Eliot Spitzer when the former New York governor as attorney general was at the height of his reckless powers, publicly slandering pr ...

Updated: Thu Oct 08, 2009

]]>

Another Clinton Scandal for 10/15/2009

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

WASHINGTON — I have been defamed by Taylor Branch, and he will not reply to my repeated calls for clarification. The defamation takes place in his new book, "The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History With the President." The defamation he printed comes from the Boy President himself, so perhaps my reputation will emerge immaculate. By now, I think it is pretty clear to all Americans ...

Updated: Thu Oct 15, 2009

]]>

Dangerous Zanies for 10/22/2009

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

WASHINGTON — We are at that delicious moment in a modern Democratic presidential administration when the bizarre fantasticos who decorate each chaotic regime make their painful appearance — though this administration is bringing a whiff of the ominous. Let me explain.

In the Carter administration, there was Midge Costanza, the White House aide who sent crazy memos to the Whit ...

Updated: Thu Oct 22, 2009

]]>

Where the Girls Are for 10/29/2009

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

WASHINGTON — These are vexed times. The country is at war on two fronts. Rogue states are edging toward acquiring strategic nuclear weaponry. We have been through a very serious recession from which we may not emerge into the bright morn of economic health for years. The dollar is frail. The future of national health care, finance and corporate governance is in doubt. Yet that is not all. ...

Updated: Thu Oct 29, 2009

]]>

The Off-Year Elections and the Politics of the Obvious for 11/05/2009

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

WASHINGTON — What strikes me about politics over the past couple of years is how obvious it all has been. In 2008, as the junior senator from Illinois campaigned across the country, demonstrating his gifts as a motivational speaker and community organizer, all one had to do was review his recent life to know that he was about to bring down on the country — ever so incompetently &mda ...

Updated: Thu Nov 05, 2009

]]>

She Is Gone for 11/12/2009

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

WASHINGTON — Well, that did not take long! Just weeks after initiating a war of words with Fox News and being exposed as an admirer of Chairman Mao's, Anita Dunn, the White House communications director, is stepping down. I intimated as much a couple of weeks back, when I lumped her in with two other Obama administration zanies who were forced to resign — environmental czar Van Jone ...

Updated: Thu Nov 12, 2009

]]>

Sarah and Barack for 11/19/2009

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

WASHINGTON — What would the mainstream media's response be if former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin described China's economic growth to an audience of students in Shanghai as "an accomplishment unparalleled in human history"? That is what the most inexperienced president in modern American history said in Shanghai this week. I wonder whether any of the assembled journalists choked. Pr ...

Updated: Thu Nov 19, 2009

]]>