During his recent Middle East and European tour, Senator Barack Obama stated his strategic positions on Iraq and Afghanistan, which involves a timetable for withdrawal of most, if not all, U.S. forces from Iraq, and redeploying some forces to Afghanistan, … Continue reading
American History & Presidents
Where are the Bush Democrats? The GOP Leadership Lurch from 2000 to 2008
Editor’s Note: A longer version of this article first appeared in American Thinker. “The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He’s the one who gets the people to do the greatest things. And that’s what’s lacking … Continue reading
Barack Obama Embraces Theocracy
“George W. Bush is a [EXPLETIVE] theocrat!” If I had a dollar for every time I heard that over the past eight years. Having written a book on the faith of George W. Bush, I was pummeled by liberals for … Continue reading
Four for the Fourth
It’s a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, White Christmas. When December rolls around everyone knows which movies to watch to celebrate the holidays. Sadly, America’s birthday doesn’t seem quite so lucky. So, here is a list of four films … Continue reading
Electing Obama: How Religious Conservatives Can Help
Religious conservatives can help Barack Obama win in November. Here’s how: stay home or go to the voting booth and cast ballots for Obama in surprising numbers. It could happen. First, let’s review. Last year, religious conservatives were sweating over … Continue reading
Ms. Hillary’s Comeuppance
It was springtime. The year was 1969. The spirit of la revolucion was in the air. Ms. Hillary Rodham and her Wellesley sisters sat in the crowd awaiting words of inspiration from their speaker. The commencement speaker that year was … Continue reading
On Cap Weinberger and Civility
Last week, the Center for Vision & Values at Grove City College ran another of its “V&V Q&As,” this one with Peter Schweizer, whom I interviewed on his new book, Makers and Takers. As noted in the interview, Schweizer dedicated … Continue reading
Seduction by Air: Then and Now
Air power is seductive. From the Army Air Service’s Col. Billy Mitchell’s Winged Defense, written in the aftermath of the slaughter fields of the Great War, to U.S. Air Force Colonel John Warden’s The Air Campaign, first published in 1988, air power … Continue reading
The Cynical Politics of Global Warming and Its Hobgoblins
“Cynical politics” may be a redundancy, but it is hard to imagine a mo1re cynical political issue than global warming (GW). In his 1992 book Earth in the Balance, Al Gore called for a “wrenching transformation of society.” Leftists, with their … Continue reading
RFK and RR: United in Life and Death
Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this article first appeared in National Review Online. Last week, specifically, June 5, 2008, was the 40th anniversary of the death of Robert F. Kennedy, one of the most beloved politicians of his era. I was … Continue reading
How to Avoid Being Bamboozled
What a difference a century makes, specifically a turn of the century. Shortly after the 19th century ended, the United States had a president who was the real deal, whose honesty, sincerity and courage would be challenged only by those … Continue reading
Bush at the Knesset: Another Historic, Unheralded Speech
Editor’s Note: This article first appeared in American Thinker. A couple of weeks ago, President George W. Bush gave an outstanding speech to the Knesset, the Israeli parliament. It stands out among the top five or so best speeches of … Continue reading
Enviro-Extremists vs. the Machine in the Garden
Political Cartoonists are national treasures. The best ones are able to distill an entire think tank’s worth of commentary into a single frame or two, thus saving our country untold barrels of the dark stuff from the national emergency inkwell … Continue reading
Supporting the Troops—and Their Children—this Memorial Day
When it comes to “supporting the troops,” some Americans have chosen some curious means of expression. Who can forget Senator Dick Durbin’s (D-IL) June 2005 statement from the Senate floor, comparing U.S. troops at Guantanamo to “Nazis, Soviets in their … Continue reading
Secrets of Suriname: Another Reagan-Administration Cold War Success Story
Editor’s Note: This article first appeared in National Review Online. It was 25 years ago that a remarkable effort took place concerning a small, unremarkable country at the northern tip of South America—Suriname. What happened there was quite significant but has escaped … Continue reading
George “Truman” Bush
A new CNN poll ranks President George W. Bush the most unpopular president in modern American history. The key figure is not Bush’s 28 percent approval rating, which, though dismal, is not as poor as all-time lows set by Harry … Continue reading
Pile of Manure
“It reminds me of the story about that little boy … in this room filled with manure.”—Hillary Clinton, April 1 As Senator Hillary Clinton presses on in her battle to win more primaries on the road to the Democratic convention, … Continue reading
El Cinco de Mayo
Cinco de Mayo (5th of May) festivities are to Mexican-Americans what St. Patrick’s Day festivities are to Irish-Americans—a joyful expression of ancestral pride and a celebration of the rich diversity of American culture. Mexican-Americans, like Irish-Americans, migrated to the United … Continue reading
From Udorn to Celina: The End of My Vietnam War
The Vietnam War ended for me on a cold Monday afternoon in late November 2007 at a lonely, windswept graveyard in Celina, Ohio. It took four hours to drive the 270 miles from Grove City, Pennsylvania to Celina, Ohio. That … Continue reading
Barack Obama: Cultural Anthropologist
Barack Obama has a way with words. They trip lightly from his tongue, and some onlookers have swooned during his oratory. No one doubts his speechmaking ability. When opining off-the-cuff, however, he can get into trouble. Case in point: At … Continue reading