Richard Baehr

Richard Baehr

  • Small change in Nebraska election law could throw the presidential election to Trump

    April 3, 2024

    Small change in Nebraska election law could throw the presidential election to Trump

    Yesterday, Nebraska’s Republican governor endorsed legislation that could affect the presidential election and reinstall Donald Trump in the Oval Office. Ben Whedon reports in Just the News: Nebraska GOP Gov. Jim Pillen on Tuesday endorsed...

  • November 26, 2023

    It’s getting scary out there for Jews

    The slavish devotion of American Jews to progressive politics is facing the greatest challenge since FDR swung Jewish public opinion to the Democrats 9 decades ago. Via John Hinderaker of Powerline: Teacher Stands With Israel, Students Riot H...

  • June 28, 2023

    GOP hopes for taking the Senate majority: Finding better 2024 candidates and better anti-fraud and ballot-harvesting preparation

    Let’s start with Montana.  Republican Tim Sheehy, a former Navy Seal, has entered the 2024 Montana Senate race. Source. I think he has a better shot at beating incumbent Democrat Senator John Tester than Congressman Matt Rosen...

  • November 8, 2022

    Election forecast

    We have reached the point where "too close to call" does not cut it.  Unfortunately, there are probably more "too close to call" Senate races than in any other recent cycle.  It is also the case that sometimes ...

  • October 26, 2022

    What the polling tells us about the state of the races

    Certain things seem clear, and other things are unsettled.  Republicans seem to have momentum, both in House and in Senate races.  If you don't believe me, look at Nate Silver's models and forecasts at fivethirtyeight...

  • October 16, 2022

    Anti-incumbency is the big factor in the midterm election, and it doesn’t always help the GOP

    There will be some surprising results this year in races almost nobody is covering.  Most of the surprises will be due to a general sense of misery among voters, which leads to anti-incumbency. And that can work against both parties. Today...

  • September 12, 2022

    Lefty writers understand that education issues could swing the midterms to GOP

    Two leftist writers this week dealt with education more sensibly than Randy Weingarten would.  Either they see real political vulnerability, and are just trying to protect Dems in midterms, or the screwup with keeping schools closed, and pi...

  • November 15, 2021

    GOP seems to be winning the redistricting battle

    Every ten years, following the Census, states that gain or lose seats in the House of Representatives must redistrict.  Redrawing the boundaries offers opportunities to gerrymander or otherwise create an advantage for one party or the other...

  • October 4, 2021

    The Alarm Bells are Ringing for American Citizenship

    The Dying Citizen by Victor Davis Hanson Basic Books, October 2021 Victor Davis Hanson, the classics scholar and military historian, has written or co-authored two dozen books and many hundreds of articles. His latest book, The Dying Citizen, i...

  • August 8, 2021

    On campus, the worst is yet to come

    Review of Nevergreen by Andrew Pessin, 2021, Open Books Andrew Pessin, the author of the comic novel Nevergreen (to be published September first), is a professor of philosophy at Connecticut College. He ignited the furies among the student body at...

  • March 31, 2021

    The One-Party State

    The Enemy Within: How a Totalitarian Movement is Destroying America, by David Horowitz Regnery, 2021 David Horowitz has been warning for decades that the American left stands in opposition to America, in both its lack of appreciation of the pri...

  • February 10, 2021

    The International Criminal Court targets Israel

    The International Criminal Court (ICC) is back on the warpath with its latest effort to do the bidding of a non-state actor (Palestine) in order to damage a non-member state (Israel).  This time, the Court action was a split decision ruling...

  • November 6, 2020

    Pennsylvania's mail ballot results don't look right

    All of the major networks started confidently predicting yesterday that Joe Biden would win Pennsylvania after all the mail-in ballots that had been received by the state had been counted. The numbers gurus at the networks reported that Biden was cap...

  • September 21, 2020

    Collins and Murkowski should abstain

    As the Holy War concerning filling Justice Ginsburg's seat begins in earnest, one question the Republican side and President Trump should certainly pose is, what would the Democrats do if the situation were reversed?  Without question, ...

  • September 16, 2020

    Suddenly, Pelosi wants a coronavirus stimulus deal

    The margin favoring Democrats in the generic ballot for the House is slipping, from about 8 points to about 6 in the last few weeks (one could say the Dem lead has had a bad haircut). Given GOP redistricting advantages in several states ...

  • August 24, 2020

    Matt Stutzman, the armless archer

    CBS Sunday Morning yesterday did a segment on Matt Stutzman, one of the top ranked archers in the country, who has medaled in a sport that many would have thought beyond his reach: he was born without arms. This is a video to send to any people cl...

  • July 21, 2020

    What the coronavirus numbers are telling us

    There are lots of numbers flying around about the coronavirus, so here is a brief attempt to put some context to them.  The United States daily new case volume rose to the mid 30,000 range in April, then started a slide to abou...

  • April 27, 2020

    The Standard for Reopening States is Rigged

    The new White House standard for reopening the economy in various states is rigged to severely prolong the economic strangulation under the current lockdowns. The criterion has been defined as a 14-day period of declining volume in new cases or a 14-...

  • March 16, 2020

    More lessons from the numbers about Covid-19

    Things are getting far more serious by the day in Italy, France and Spain, as well as several other European countries. This country’s virus caseload is also rapidly rising- with over 700 new cases identified per day. When I wrote an article 5...

  • March 12, 2020

    Coronavirus by the numbers

    I have always been fascinated by numbers, so looking at data on the coronavirus spread and its lethality is revealing and also raises lots of questions I cannot answer, since I am not a virologist, nor am I on top of what each country is doing to con...

  • February 13, 2020

    CNN Columnist’s Smear of Bloomberg Has a Math Problem

    Jill Filipovic is an opinion columnist for several left wing media outlets, including CNN.  Her latest column accuses Michael Bloomberg of racism, thereby  disqualifying him as a presidential candidate Her column relies on an audio recor...

  • November 29, 2019

    If Bloomberg swings and misses...

    Conrad Black thinks Michael Bloomberg doesn't have a chance of winning the presidency: It is possible that, with a still-overpopulated field, Mr. Bloomberg could get some traction as obviously the most accomplished of the Democratic con...

  • November 17, 2019

    Two Parties, Many Paths

    How America’s Political Parties Change (And How They Don’t), by Michael Barone, Encounter Books, 2019, 130 pages Before American media began to worship at the feet of the statistics gurus (Nate Silver and others), Michael Barone was ge...

  • September 10, 2019

    Mattis refuses to follow the media's anti-Trump script

    Former defense secretary General James Mattis is upsetting lots of establishment members in D.C. by not following the anticipated script in publicizing his new book, Call Sign Chaos. The media seem to have expected him to indicate that Trump ...

  • August 19, 2019

    Israel's no-win situation with Omar and Tlaib

    Unfortunately, whatever decision Prime Minister Netanyahu made with regard to the planned tour of the West Bank by Reps. Omar and Tlaib would have been a public relations loser for Israel. Unlike the tour of Israel by 72 Democrats and Republican H...

  • July 12, 2019

    Amazon caught blocking favorable reviews of Mollie Hemingway/Carrie Severino book on Kavanaugh confirmation

    There is simply nothing anymore that does not draw forth the social justice warriors to do battle.  Sean Davis writes in The Federalist: Amazon is refusing to publish many reviews and ratings of the No. 1 best-selling "Justice on ...

  • May 10, 2019

    Can town halls change the Democrats' race?

    Wednesday night, my wife and I attended a Fox News Channel town hall in Milwaukee for Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota senator and presidential candidate. The senator currently stands in eighth place in the race, registering an average of just over 1% in ...

  • May 8, 2019

    On Campus, Thou Shalt Not Support Israel

    Hatred of Israel, and its close cousin, hatred of Jews, have been commonly held and expressed sentiments on college campuses in the US, Canada, and Europe in recent years.  Anti-Israel speakers are invited to speak, paid handsome fees, and draw ...

  • May 1, 2019

    Good news for GOP Senate prospects in 2020

    The Hill reports: Former Democratic state legislative leader Stacey Abrams will not challenge Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) next year, a blow to Democrats who hoped to make inroads in a state Republicans have controlled for nearly two decades. ...

  • April 27, 2019

    Fighting back against the indoctrination that has replaced education

    The indoctrination of young Americans is the goal of those who control curricula in public schools and colleges.  Faculty, administrators, and textbook writers all do their part to create a narrative of an America that should be ashamed of ...

  • April 27, 2019

    Cancel the New York Yankees!

    It's time to hold virtue-signalers to account for their own sins. The New York Yankees were the second to last Major League Baseball team to sign a black player; the Red Sox were the final team to do so. Since 9/11, the Yankees have played ...

  • March 21, 2019

    Anti-Semitic blacks in Congress: Then and now

    In the 2002 congressional midterm elections, Israel-supporters were among those who contributed to taking down in Democratic Party primaries two Southern African-American members of the House of Representatives, Cynthia McKinney in Georgia and Earl H...

  • March 17, 2019

    On Friday, American politics took a grim turn

    Friday was a horrid day not just for those killed, and their families (and for them it was unimaginably awful) but also for the direction of politics here and abroad.   Suddenly, anti-Semitism is now a non-issue.  Ilhan Omar and R...

  • March 2, 2019

    A word of caution on Ocasio-Cortez

    Scott Adams, the "Dilbert" creator, says our side is greatly underestimating Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — that she is by no means a dummy, and that at this point, she is the second most persuasive American political figure, af...

  • March 1, 2019

    Climate brainwashing in schools and the Democrats' lurch to the left

    The mainstreaming of climate change hysteria into the public schools, beginning in early grades, has probably more to do with the overwhelming leftist sentiments of the rising generations than any other factor, including demographic shifts in th...

  • February 13, 2019

    The GOP's Senate prospects in 2020

    After losing the open Senate seat race in Arizona last year by 2%, Martha McSally was appointed senator by the GOP governor to fill Jon Kyl's seat, who had been appointed to replace the late John McCain.  That seat will now be contested...

  • November 21, 2018

    NY Times vote guru warns Dems against 2020 optimism

    Nate Cohn of the New York Times is a very smart numbers cruncher who calls it straight, much like Nate Silver. His personal politics may lean left (I am guessing) but he is worth reading. He does not see 2020 as a lost cause for Republicans...

  • November 8, 2018

    Analyzing the midterms

    1.  The country’s demographic changes favor Democrats.  The groups which are growing in size, blacks, Hispanics, Asians, all vote overwhelmingly for Democrats.  College educated  whites are also growing, though not as q...

  • November 5, 2018

    The Breaking Factors that Will Determine the Election

    As I have done every two years for  quite some time, here are my predictions for the midterms. House of Representatives There are several dozen House races and five Senate races where one candidate or the other has a lead of 2 points or le...

  • September 5, 2018

    John Kyl's return to the Senate, replacing McCain, is very good news

    The news that Arizona governor Doug Ducey has appointed former Senator John Kyl the serve out the remainder of Sen. John McCain's term is encouraging for Republicans.  But: Kyl, who left the Senate in 2013, said he will s...

  • August 11, 2018

    Sarah Jeong and the journalist toadies

    There have been many articles written in the last two weeks concerning a Korean American woman hired to write about technology for the New York Times editorial page. The problem with the hire for people who can read, and can get the obvious mean...

  • August 8, 2018

    Looks like a narrow (yet big) victory for GOP in Ohio's 12th District race

    Republican Troy Balderson appears to have eked out a narrow less than one-percent victory over Democrat Danny O'Connor in the special election for Ohio's 12th Congressional District seat.  Results from the State of Ohio, though stil...

  • August 7, 2018

    The Diversity Furies Overrun Another College

    Kenyon College, a small liberal arts college in Ohio, is my alma mater (and that of AT editor Thomas Lifson).  Both of us highly valued the educational experience we received there, particularly as political science majors in a department f...

  • May 17, 2018

    The Grotesque Spectacle of Michelle Goldberg Throwing Up Her Hate

    If you follow New York newspapers, which I do as someone who grew up there, a key question the last day or two was who was more offensive, bigoted, ignorant and disgusting concerning the American embassy opening and the violence on the Gaza border wi...

  • May 16, 2018

    Big day for progressive candidates may limit Democratic gains in the House

    Given historical trends on the number of seats lost by the president’s party in the first midterm, the number of GOP retirements this cycle, and redistricting in Pennsylvania ordered by the state’s supreme court and created by a universit...

  • May 15, 2018

    At the Jerusalem Embassy opening ceremony: 15 GOP office-holders, 0 Democrats

    Ten Republican congressmen, four Republican senators, and one Republican governor flew to Jerusalem for the ceremony opening the American embassy.  There were no elected officials representing the Democratic Party.  They could hav...

  • April 14, 2018

    David Horowitz Explains the Ruling Ideas of the Left

    The Black Book of the American Left The Collected Conservative Writings of David Horowitz Volume IX: Ruling Ideas (purchase here) Many people I know grew up in liberal households, and at some point in their lives, they gravitated to the righ...

  • April 14, 2018

    The left gets even sicker

    Every time you think the left could not possibly sink any lower, you get proof that it can.  Here is a Canadian female "journalist" concerned that the contributions to families of the victims of the horrible bus crash of a ju...

  • March 9, 2018

    Eliminating the toxic residue of Obama's racialist approach to crime

    The Obama administration sent a dear colleague letter to public schools around the country indicating that schools would be evaluated to see if they were disciplining or suspending students, or making calls to police to arrest their students, in a wa...

  • February 1, 2018

    Yale Law School Grad Cory Booker is an Ignoramus on Citizenship Rights

    New Jersey Senator Cory Booker seems to spend every waking moment either admiring his Presidential look in a mirror, or trying to move left of any of his opponents for the 2020 nomination. After the State of the Union Address Tuesday, he demonstrated...

  • January 21, 2018

    1940: American Inaction and the Tragedy of European Jewry

      During 1940, three of the most significant Zionist leaders in the world – Chaim Weizmann, Vladimir Jabotinsky, and David Ben Gurion , all visited the United States , hoping to gain a measure of American Jewish support or US government...

  • January 5, 2018

    Trump and the GOP: The polling turns

    President Trump's approval rating in last four polls has been rising rapidly.  The latest, now 45 approve, 53 disapprove, is a big shift from 37-59 three weeks ago.  Real Clear Politics collects the recent polls: Y...

  • December 13, 2017

    Alabama's new Democrat senator: An avoidable disaster

    The Alabama Senate race was a disaster for Republicans that was entirely avoidable.  The Republican governor, Robert Bentley, appointed Luther Strange to replace Jeff Sessions.  Bentley had ethical problems of his own and resigned.  Th...

  • December 9, 2017

    Watch AT co-founder debate the co-founder of the 'Electronic Intifada'

    Last Thursday evening, I was part of a debate on the public television station WTTW in Chicago to discuss President Trump's decision to recognize that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and begin the process of moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Av...

  • December 1, 2017

    CBO Tries to Sink Tax Bill

    The Congressional Budget Office [CBO] is back at it again, now providing class warfare material to opponents of tax reform.   CBO estimates played a significant role in the  several failed attempts by Republicans to repeal and replace...

  • October 2, 2017

    Is the GOP really 'taking over' New England?

    There's no question that Salena Zito is prescient: she correctly called Donald Trump's appeal and victory when few others did during the campaign.  But in a widely read article at the New York Post, she posits a Republican "tak...

  • September 24, 2017

    Bret Stephens's New Math

    Bret Stephens seems to work hard at finding new things about which to complain about President Trump. In his latest column,  it is our relationship with Australia.  In his column on September 23, Stephens says Australia has suffered 100,...

  • September 12, 2017

    What Hillary forgot to say to Jane Pauley

    I finally forced myself to watch the video of Hillary Clinton being interviewed by Jane Pauley, broadcast on CBS Sunday. I was rather shocked that in her list of things that she did to keep herself busy in the wake of her defeat, she overlooked on...

  • June 26, 2017

    The Real Lesson from Last Week’s Two Special Elections for Congress

    There has been no shortage of effort by pundits and big data analysts to try to draw conclusions on whether the results of the two special elections for open House seats in Georgia and and South Carolina last week meant that Democrats or Republicans ...

  • May 1, 2017

    Ros-Lehtinen retirement a bad sign for the GOP

    Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen's announcement that she is retiring is terrible news for the GOP. U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the dean of the Florida legislative delegation and the first Cuban American elected to Congress, is...

  • March 25, 2017

    When Are Bystanders Complicit?

    The Crime of Complicity: The Bystander in the Holocaust by Amos N. Guiora, Ankerwycke, April, 2017 Amos Guiora, a law professor at the University of Utah,  was born in Israel, moved to America as a child with his family, and  later ...

  • March 15, 2017

    President Trump dropping in the polls since unveiling of GOP health insurance plan

    In the Rasmussen surveys, President Trump has dropped almost 1 point per day – from 53% support to 47% support in one week.  Senator Tom Cotton is correct: the GOP House majority is at grave risk in 2018 if this Ryan plan is a lousy r...

  • March 8, 2017

    The Middlebury riot and the fall of higher education

    If you want to know what a $280,000 investment will buy your son or daughter at an elite liberal arts college, then you can study the behavior of the intolerant leftist monsters at Middlebury College last week.  Invited speaker Charles Murray, a...

  • December 14, 2016

    Former secretary of labor Tom Perez will try to stop Keith Ellison’s DNC chair bid

    The New York Times reports that Thomas (Tom) Perez, President Obama’s secretary of labor: … has told three senior Democrats that he intends to run for chairman of the Democratic National Committee, challenging the front-running cand...

  • December 8, 2016

    Trump’s home run on EPA director

    Greenies are freaking out over Donald Trump’s selection of Scott Pruitt for EPA director, because he recognizes there are tradeoffs between costs and benefits in regulating economic activity to protect the environment. Timothy Cama of The Hill:...

  • November 27, 2016

    The Democrats’ real strategy in launching recounts

    The recount in Wisconsin, and the coming ones in Michigan and Pennsylvania will not change the outcomes in any of the states.  No recount ever changes thousands of votes.  I do not think that is the purpose. The recounts, if done by hand...

  • November 25, 2016

    Jill Stein’s guilty conscience

    Jill Stein must be feeling guilty.  AFP reports: The former Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein has raised the necessary $1.1 million to request a vote recount in Wisconsin, her campaign announced Thursday. The Midwestern state...

  • October 27, 2016

    The Left in Power: Clinton to Obama

    Every year, there is some report of the blissful ignorance of American history demonstrated by the supposedly best and brightest at elite American universities. Suffice it to say the collected writings of David Horowitz on the American Left, which co...

  • September 22, 2016

    Trump and the post-debate attacks

    If Trump holds his own in the first debate, the scorn and hatred directed against him will be like nothing we have ever seen in a race.  There is wide-scale panic already evident in some circles.    But there’s a good cha...

  • September 13, 2016

    Defending Hillary on ‘deplorables’

    You have to hand it to Jamelle Bouie, Slate’s chief political correspondent.  What’s that…you don’t know what Slate is?  Who are you, Gary Johnson? Bouie is not one to realize his candidate has stepped into it, s...

  • August 7, 2016

    Should America Remain Globally Engaged?

    A review of:  America Abroad: The United States’ Global Role in the 21st Century By Stephen G. Brooks and William C. Wohlforth, Oxford University Press, 2016 Two Dartmouth Professors of Government, Stephen G. Brooks and William C. Wohlf...

  • July 21, 2016

    Once again, it was all about Ted Cruz

    I have never been a big fan of Ted Cruz but I would have voted for him without any hesitation, were he the nominee. I liked many of his policy positions, and considered him very bright and knowledgeable.  I think he might have made a very g...

  • July 15, 2016

    What money can’t buy for Hillary

    Despite tens of millions of dollars' worth of TV and radio ads run in swing states by her campaign and her super-PAC, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are effectively in a dead heat in these states.  Trump's position is actually bet...

  • May 15, 2016

    Does US News Degrade Law Schools?

    Engines of Anxiety: Academic Rankings, Reputation and Accountability by Wendy Nelson Espeland and Michael Sauder, Russell Sage Foundation, New York, 2016 The three weekly news magazines, Time, Newsweek and US News and World Report, at one time pri...

  • May 10, 2016

    Music for the presidential campaign

    1. Bernie Sanders may stick around until the convention in Philadelphia, but his campaign will end there.  What can he do next, and where should he go? 2. The Rolling Stones are unhappy that Donald Trump has been using one of their songs ...

  • March 26, 2016

    Obama’s difficulty in choosing capitalism over communism

    It should not be surprising that the President has trouble choosing between communism and capitalism. “So often in the past there has been a division between left and right, between capitalists and communists or socialists, and especially ...

  • March 26, 2016

    Obama: ‘good’ terror victims and ‘bad’ terror victims

    If you think Obama’s actions in Cuba showed some sort of disinterest in terrorism, or disrespect for the victims, you might be right. It is an inconvenient subject for Obama. It forces him to again have to try to differentiate terrorists and mi...

  • January 23, 2016

    Winning the Close Ones

    The battle over Florida’s 25 Electoral College votes in the 2000 Presidential election will certainly come to mind when any political analyst thinks of very close, very consequential American ballot disputes. But as Edward Foley makes clea...

  • November 10, 2015

    How weak a candidate is Hillary?

    Everybody but Ted Cruz beats Hillary Clinton in Minnesota, according to a Survey USA poll done for KSTP Television. Nate Silver rated Survey USA as one of the best polls in 2010, and more in the middle among all pollsters in 2012.   It does a...

  • October 29, 2015

    American Thinker day on the Milt Rosenberg Show

    Ed Lasky and I will be the guests on Milt Rosenberg’s show to discuss last night's Republican Party debate, otherwise known as the night the Fox Business Channel became the humber one name in business news. Would you tell your child this mo...

  • October 6, 2015

    Bad news in New Hampshire

    This is bad news: New Hampshire Governor Maggie Hassan, a Democrat, announced Monday morning that she will challenge first-term US Senator Kelly Ayotte in 2016, setting up what will likely be next year’s most competitive Senate race in New...

  • September 21, 2015

    Chicago Liberal Needs Safe Space at AIPAC

    One of the most diehard Obama loyalists in Chicago, Steve Sheffey, is unhappy that AIPAC chose to oppose the president’s Iran deal. Sheffey argues that since Democrats were on one side of this issue and Republicans on the other, AIPAC shou...

  • September 8, 2015

    NRCC treads on dangerous ground

    The National Republic Congressional Committee has signed agreements with several Republican congressman who are considered vulnerable in the 2016 election. One of them is Bruce Poliquin of Maine’s second district. The agreement seems to tie ...

  • August 3, 2015

    Comprehensive summary of who benefits from the various provisions of the Iran deal

    Anyone who looks seriously and with an open mind at this analysis, produced by the Jewish Virtual Library, will oppose the current agreement with Iran.  However, many simply choose to march in lockstep with their president, as he leads the count...

  • June 23, 2015

    The best single article on why the Iran nuke deal is a bad one

    The Obama administration agues that the breakout time for Iran to develop a bomb, if they choose to do so, will extended from 2-3 months to about a year as a result of the current deal.  This is patently false.  This article in the New York...

  • June 16, 2015

    Summing Up a Life

    In November 2014 I was invited to speak at the David Horowitz Freedom Center’s conference in Florida. I had not seen David for a few years, and he walked a bit gingerly with a cane. David’s latest book, the bittersweet and unusually title...

  • May 11, 2015

    Breaking the Democrats' Electoral College Blue Wall

    Many savvy political analysts believe the Democrats have a built in advantage in the Electoral College.  Democrats have won four of the last six Presidential elections, and in all six races, they have won a collection of 18 states plus the Distr...

  • April 30, 2015

    The Fake Palestinian Video that Cost Over a Thousand Israeli Lives

    Two days after Ariel Sharon walked onto the Temple Mount on September 28, 2000, an alleged shooting of a young boy and his father at the Netzarim Junction in Gaza launched the deadly second Intifada. The several years of savagery that followed result...

  • March 25, 2015

    Jan Schakowsky is a bigot

    Even far-left Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky should know she stepped in it when J Street-loving columnist Ron Kampeas calls her reference to Joel Pollak as an Orthodox Jew “icky.” Speaking to a J Street audience at their a...

  • March 18, 2015

    Bibi's last-minute maneuver that won the election

    Ted Belman offers a very solid analysis of the election that returned Benjamin Netanyahu to power.  But Bibi did one other thing that may have been more important than his three "nos" in the last few days.  He appealed to the righ...

  • February 3, 2015

    New York Times race-baiting on Cuban-Americans

    The New York Times ran a hit piece on Cubans (“Why are Cubans so Special?”), implying that they are privileged, not like real Hispanics.  This is the first shot in a process intended to delegitimize a potential Hispanic GOP president...

  • December 22, 2014

    Israel, the Obsession

    It has been a pretty typical week on the hate Israel front.  A European Union Court has decided that Hamas is not a terrorist organization, and their previous designation as such had not been justified by real evidence that Europeans had develop...

  • December 21, 2014

    Jeb Bush and Tenet: The other side of the coin

    Robert Potts has done his service to those who do not want Jeb Bush to be the Republican nominee for President in 2016 with a pretty weak attempt at guilt by association.  Potts informs us that Bush made some solid money as a Boar...

  • December 6, 2014

    You heard it here first....

    If Hillary does not run, the Dem candidate will not be Elizabeth Warren, but Bill deBlasio. Warren does nothing to excite minorities. DeBlasio does. They both have appeal to white lefties, so advantage deBlasio. Plus he would clearly be Obama’s...

  • November 29, 2014

    Shades of Landslide Lyndon

    In Maine, the discovery of 21 ballots that could change the victor in a state senate race is resurrecting the ghost of Lyndon Johnson’s highly suspicious victory that catapulted him into the Senate and propelled him to national prominence. I...

  • November 25, 2014

    Washington Post Hit Job on Giuliani Comes Up Short

    Philip Bump, a New York reporter for the Washington Post, went after former Mayor Rudy Giuliani yesterday for a few statements made during a Meet the Press discussion with Professor Michael Dyson, one of the  Ferguson flamethrowers with a r...

  • November 11, 2014

    How well did Republicans do last Tuesday?

    How well did Republicans do last Tuesday?  Very well, indeed, and when you look into the numbers, the story gets better and better.  They are favored to wind up with 54 Senate seats after the Alaska count is finished, and Louisian...

  • November 5, 2014

    Pollsters join Democrats as big losers

    The polls were off in Maryland by 20 points: Hogan won by 10, and polls showed him behind by 10.  The Virginia Senate race off by 10. On average, GOP candidates beat polling average by 5 points in close Senate races, and by 3 in close governo...

  • October 18, 2014

    Embarrassing article by veteran political reporter

    Jules Witcover of the Baltimore Sun is a veteran political reporter and columnist, now 87 years old. Perhaps we could cut him some slack, but this bit of snark from his latest column is just plain wrong: As the titular leader of the party for no...

  • October 14, 2014

    Follow the Republican Money

    The polls that most campaigns rely on are their own. When the Republicans announced they were lifting spending in 6 Senate races -- Colorado, Georgia, South Dakota, Iowa, New Hampshire and Alaska -- it was indicative of growing concerns about ho...

  • October 10, 2014

    Chuck Todd plays the race card on Republican voters

    Chuck Todd, moderator of Meet the Press (because comedian Jon Stewart was unavailable) is explaining away anticipated defeats of Democrat Senate candidates Mark Pryor and Allison Grimes with the race card. Writing in “Fear and Loathing on the C...

  • September 27, 2014

    More good polling news for GOP Senate hopes

    Sam Wang is a mega-wonk at Princeton, whose analysis has been more favorable to Dems this cycle than fellow wonk Nate Silver, who adjusts polls for state and other factors (fundraising).   That changed this week, even factoring in the Ka...

  • September 17, 2014

    Great poll numbers today for GOP

    The Real Clear Politics summary of the latest polls has good news for the GOP today. Quinnipiac is a decent pollster with a large sample, and they have Republican Senate candidate Jodi Ernst up 6 in Iowa today. Democrat incumbent Braley has led in...

  • September 13, 2014

    Good news for GOP in upstate New York

    New York’s 21st Congressional District is an open seat that has been held by a Democrat.  The 19th District is held by the GOP, but sees a very well-funded challenger in the person of Sean Eldrige, the gay husband of Facebook billionaire C...

  • September 8, 2014

    Good news for GOP Senate hopes in new round of polling

    A large collection of new Senate polls from the New York Times/CBS and NBC/Marist are very good news for the GOP effort to retake the Senate.  In the two most vulnerable seats held by Republicans -- Kentucky and Georgia -- the latest polls show Mi...

  • June 18, 2014

    The New York Times saves the planet

    I have noticed that pretty much every day now, there is a New York Times story or op ed that describes someone who saves the planet through environmental action. I decided to Google “save the planet, new york times,” and got 38,000 links,...

  • June 11, 2014

    A hopeful sign for the GOP in Maine

    One result yesterday that I think is significant and few are noticing: Maine's Second District congressman, Mike Michaud, is running for governor against the incumbent Paul LePage, the current very conservative Republican governor, elected becaus...

  • May 1, 2014

    Bill moving ahead in Knesset to silence Israel's conservative newspaper

    Start with a conflict of interest disclosure: I have been writing a regular weekly column for the newspaper Israel Hayom for two and a half years. Israel Hayom is apparently too successful for some people in Israel (being distributed for fr...

  • April 29, 2014

    An all black basketball league?

    Larry Johnson was a junior college transfer who became the top star of the 1989-1991 Running Rebels of UNLV, leading them to two final four appearances and one championship. He later had a successful ten year NBA career with the Charlotte Hornets and...

  • March 6, 2014

    Hope for Illinois GOP

    Illinois is one of the bluest states in the country, but disgust with the mismanagement and corrupt leadership by Democrats, who have complete control of the legislature, and Governor’s mansion, has opened the door to a GOP victory over si...

  • March 2, 2014

    NY Times editorial on Russia's move on Ukraine

    The New York Times has a ridiculous editorial on President Obama and the crisis involving Ukraine and Russia.  This paragraph was of course essential -- Russia bad, Obama good (for not being happy about Russia).  But as indicated in last se...

  • January 10, 2014

    Faulty numbers on Obamacare signups

    It looks as though the numbers touted for Obamacare signups are completely misleading, even disregarding the blatant efforts to massage them. An article by Sean Trende has come and gone, but it is hugely important. He argues that the supposed 4 mill...

  • December 1, 2013

    War Eagle!

    I feel sorry for people who are not sports fans.  Last night, Auburn defeated Alabama in the Iron Bowl, the most intense college football  game you will ever see, in a rivalry game more bitter than any other, and with more at stake than in ...

  • November 19, 2013

    The Biggest Obamacare Lie of All

    The biggest Obamacare lie, which I still see nobody talking about, is this: In the first year, the administration's estimate was that 7 million people would sign up on the exchanges.  Everybody assumed these 7 million would come from the ranks...

  • November 10, 2013

    The Technion: The Engine of a Young Nation

    The modern day state of Israel celebrated its 65th birthday this year.  Throughout this period of time, the nation has faced unremitting challenges to its security and existence.  Now  American President Barack Obama seems to be tellin...

  • September 17, 2013

    The World's Oldest Hate Metastasizes

    A review of Demonizing Israel and the Jews by Manfred Gerstenfeld, RVP Press, New York, 2013 In the six years 1939-1945, two thirds of Europe's  9 million Jews were executed by gunfire, starved to death, or incinerated in gas chambers during ...

  • May 2, 2013

    Red lines are not real for the Obama administration

    Red lines are not real for the Obama administration. That does not mean I have any brilliant solutions for what to do about Syria, where the choices are far worse now than a year ago, when we first started dithering.  However, the lack of resolv...

  • March 21, 2013

    Ben Carson for Michigan Senate Seat?

    The Detroit News is busy talking up the possibility of Dr. Benjamin Carson running as a Republican for the Senate from Michigan.  He could win the open seat race with Levin retiring. An African American, fresh face, who would win a higher percen...

  • February 25, 2013

    If Rahm is Superman, Chicago must be made of Kryptonite

    Chicago is rated the 4th most miserable city in America. There is still work to do to pass Detroit, Flint and Rockford. Keep it going, Rahm.  It makes more sense to me now why Rahm may want to run for President.  Of course, his brother Ezek...

  • February 20, 2013

    The Peace Process Obsession

    A Review of Tested by Zion, by Elliot Abrams, Cambridge Press It is 20 years since the start of the Oslo Peace Process, and this is where things stand: 1. Hamas, a terrorist group committed to the elimination of the state of Israel through violent r...

  • February 3, 2013

    Book Review: The Long Road to Freedom

    The Long Road to Freedom -- Cubanos in Wisconsin by Silvio Canto, Jr. and Gabriel Canto With the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the fall of the iron curtain more than 20 years ago, most Americans do not think any more about the threat from C...

  • December 9, 2012

    Some worms are turning?

    It would be tough to find a bigger bleeding heart liberal in the mainstream media than Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times. So his article yesterday, in which he acknowledges how some federal welfare programs kill incentives to work or educate the...

  • December 7, 2012

    Young Voters

    This is depressing but not surprising:   A Pew Research post-election poll found that a majority of young voters who were 18-29 years of age preferred bigger government. According to the survey, 59% of young voters said "gov...

  • November 14, 2012

    Electoral College: Advantage Democrats

    We can expect calls for abolition of the Electoral College to disappear, now that Democrats appear to have a built-in advantage. In the last 6 presidential elections, 18 states have voted Democratic each time. They have 242 electoral college votes. I...

  • October 5, 2012

    Obama camp may be freaking out today

    New swing state polls are out today from Rasmussen and We Ask America,  all taken yesterday after the first Presidential debate. In Rasmusssen surveys, Romney is up 1 in Virginia (he had been down 1) , up 2 in Floria (he has been down 2) and dow...

  • August 12, 2012

    Apocalypse Soon

    For about a decade, it seems, pretty much every analyst of Iran's nuclear program has offered up an attempt at reassurance, concluding that Iran was two to four years away from completing its program.  Of course, the continued use of this r...

  • August 11, 2012

    The Ryan Rollout

    Ryan is the only fresh face of the 4 on the national ticket, so he will get lots of attention. He has a very attractive family, and an appealing life story. Lots of energy. He is not boring. He will get all the attention Palin did and more, and it wi...

  • August 10, 2012

    Veepstakes fever

    Just so I get it on the record, I think the chances are about 80% or higher that it will be either Portman or Ryan, with Portman the favorite. There is heavy lobbying for Ryan by some on the conservative side.  Since Romney's chances to win are ...

  • August 2, 2012

    Putrid Poll

    Pew is out with a new poll showing Obama with a commanding ten point lead. Do not believe it.  Here are the cross tabs:  http://www.people-press.org/files/2012/08/8-2-12-Topline-for-release.pdf  . A few takeaways: Of those intervi...

  • August 1, 2012

    Propaganda poll shows Obama ahead

    A worthless new Quinnipiac poll gives Obama a big edge in Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. The survey shows Obama up 6 in Ohio and Florida and 11 in Pennsylvania. These are all bigger margins than Obama received when he won all three states in 2008 -...

  • July 31, 2012

    New Yorker writer fabricated, plagiarized

    Move over, Jayson Blair and Steven Glass, here comes Jonah Lehrer joining the pantheon of fabulists and plagiarists.  The New Yorker magazine published quotes from Bob Dylan he made up, among other problems. Funny how it is always the most prest...

  • July 24, 2012

    New York Times series on decline of middle class to run over next few months

    I am sure it will be fair and balanced, since the conclusions seem to have already been reached in the introduction, which contains some questionable data on income shares (top 1% earn 20% of all income). The Times sets the agenda for many local news...

  • July 12, 2012

    Campaign Cash from Jews Is Bad Only if It Goes to Republicans

    The New York Times has been a bit obsessed this campaign cycle with  all the big-money checks going to groups backing Mitt Romney for president, or to support conservative causes.  Since the Supreme Court's decision in the Citizens United c...

  • July 4, 2012

    Lies, damn lies, and TV documentaries

    First the History Channel aired a "documentary" version of Howard Zinn's fake history of the United States (the one that begins with the claim that 12 million native Americans were killed in the Indian wars). Now Oliver Stone and a marxist professor ...

  • June 8, 2012

    Citizens United Becomes the Left's All-Purpose Excuse

    Tuesday night, watching the election returns from Wisconsin was an object lesson in a few areas.  On both CNN and MSNBC, the pundits and hosts proved they cannot divide.  Flashed on their screens were comparisons of total spending on the go...

  • June 7, 2012

    More good polling news

    Colorado is tied.  Romney  up 1 in Michigan (via a respected Michigan pollster).  Michigan was a state Obama won by almost 17%. If Michigan is this close, Romney will be in very good shape in other battlegrounds. See RCP for details. H...

  • June 6, 2012

    Huge exit poll disaster for all the networks in Wisconsin

    Exit polls showed a tie. They had Walker up 13 among men, and Barrett up 12 among women, with slightly more women voters,  right after polls closed.  I was getting nervous.  I think Walker may wind up winning by more than ten points. T...

  • June 1, 2012

    More good poll news for Romney

    For the first time this cycle, the Rasmussen survey now shows Mitt Romney ahead of Barack Obama in Florida, Ohio, Virginia and North Carolina, the last by a wide margin.  Three of the four are within the margin of error, and Rasmussen surve...

  • May 20, 2012

    An unexpected encounter with Chicago NATO protestors

    We went to see a play last night at Timeline Theatre, a great local company. The company rents space from a church on Broadway and Wellington,  which we learned was housing out of towners in to protest NATO. The people on the street and in the c...

  • May 11, 2012

    Good news in the polls

    The Obama lead over Romney in Oregon now is 4 points.  It was much bigger two months back. Hopeful sign: in the governor's race in Oregon in 2010, it was a virtual tie. Oregon is really two states: very liberal from Portland all the way down the...

  • May 10, 2012

    West Virginia daze

    1. My favorite political story of the year is Texas inmate Keith Judd, winning 41% of the vote against Barack Obama in the West Virginia Democratic Presidential primary on Tuesday. Judd carried 9 counties and came close to winning one of the state's ...

  • April 24, 2012

    The Baehr Essentials

    1. The Princeton Review is out with a new book in which it names the 300 top undergraduate Professors in America, based on evaluations and nominations of over 42,00 professors.  Nine of the 300 teach at Kenyon College, my alma mater (and that of...

  • April 1, 2012

    ABC's Terry Moran is a Know Nothing On Bush v Gore

    Terry Moran was on the panel on George Stephanopolous' ABC Sunday morning program today, as he was last week. He was introduced  as ABC's Supreme Court "expert."  For the second straight week, Moran misstated the Supreme Court's  vote ...

  • March 30, 2012

    The real madness

    There was big news dominating the front pages of newspapers in 49 states this week: the Supreme Court's consideration of ObamaCare, the result of which still seems to be a crapshoot, despite tough questioning of the administration's lawyer  by s...

  • March 5, 2012

    Obama at AIPAC: Another Missed Opportunity

    It has been often said of the Palestinians and the peace process (first by Abba Eban), that they have never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity to achieve peace.   At some point, the conventional wisdom that the Palestinians seek p...

  • February 19, 2012

    The Baehr Essentials

    Andrew Ferguson alone makes the Weekly Standard worth reading. With a Bill Clinton revival in full swing, Ferguson reminds us of the parts of the story left untold in the new "documentary" on Clinton on PBS and some new hagiographies in various magaz...

  • December 13, 2011

    The Baehr Essentials

    1. If you are on the left, or just  very pleased with yourself, you believe the New York Times is the paper of record. This Times story (hat tip: Greg Collins) argues that the recession greatly REDUCED income inequality in America. The top 1% sa...

  • December 1, 2011

    The Baehr Essentials

    The President tells some very wealthy Jewish donors (the top 1% or even higher) the following: a. That he does not like to pat himself on the back. This is big lie one, coming from the man who claimed that as a result of his election, the earth would...

  • November 24, 2011

    Thanksgiving: Family, food, and football

    It is Thanksgiving Weekend, which means family get togethers, turkey and football. Most of my work the last twenty years has been in the South, where people have religions (plural). One is what most people consider religion. The other is college foot...

  • November 22, 2011

    The Baehr Essentials

    1. Jason Gay, who writes about sports with a comic touch for the Wall Street Journal, has an article today on the 32 rules for Thanksgiving Day touch football games. 　My favorite is #12. 2. The Obama administration took a pass during the Iranian "gr...

  • November 22, 2011

    Analyzing the 2012 election

    This article by John Halpin and Ruy Teixeira is the best analysis of the 2012 Presidential election I have yet seen.  It was prepared by two liberal academics, one of whom I have met. The authors contend that 37 states are pretty much safe...

  • October 12, 2011

    New survey shows surprising strength for GOP in head to head matchup with Obama

    The political research firm Evolving Strategies in conjunction with the polling firm YouGOv has conducted a national survey of three major GOP Presidentialcontenders in head to head match-ups with President Obama. In their survey, respondents were ...

  • October 7, 2011

    Tipping Points in the Race for the Presidency?

    A series of surveys are now showing President Obama with net negative approval scores of over ten points.  Among those with strongly held views, the net negative approval score is far higher (24% in Rasmussen). Republican voters are more enthu...

  • September 18, 2011

    Obama and the white vote

    One should not lose sight of the forest for the trees. In 2004, George Bush won the white vote 58% to 41% over Jon Kerry.  In 2008, Jon McCain won the white vote 55% to 43% over Barack Obama (so much for the white racism argument).  In the ...

  • September 13, 2011

    Targeting Perry (updated)

    For what it is worth, if Rick Perry does not lift his game, he will be toast in a general election (if he is nominated). He has lots of vulnerabilities, and unlike Romney he can get tongue-tied dealing with them. Perry is still the favorite to be nom...

  • September 10, 2011

    Do We Matter?

    A Point in Time: The Search for Redemption in this Life and the Next, by David Horowitz, Regnery Publishing, Inc., 2011 David Horowitz has written many books about politics, and an autobiography, Radical Son, describing his own political evolution fr...

  • August 8, 2011

    Obama Administration Blames the Messenger

    The Obama administration wants to "pivot" to jobs.  A bit late, I would say.  They wasted a year pushing health care reform.  That passed with zero Republican votes in the House and Senate, and about the same number of Republican ideas...

  • August 1, 2011

    The Baehr Essentials

    Here is one way to look a the debt ceiling/deficit debate:  From 2010 to 2011, total federal spending grew by about $250 billion, to $3.7 trillion.  Absent any cuts, over the next ten years, it will be at least 50 trillion in total, likely ...

  • July 25, 2011

    Another GOP pickup opportunity

    Democratic Congressman Mike Ross will retire after his term is up. Ross, from Arkansas' 4th Congressional district, has won easily (by 18% in 2010) in an increasingly Republican district. Charles Cook rates Arkansas 4 as Republican +7. The district w...

  • July 21, 2011

    Packing, Unpacking: Midterms and the 2012 Elections

    Michael Barone has a serious article today suggesting that the off year vote for the House is an excellent indicator of how the President election might turn out two years later.  GOP gains in 2002, signaled Bush's victory in 2004. Big Democrati...

  • July 17, 2011

    Obama's selling but Americans aren't buying

    Obama's poll numbers tanked this week. Gallup went from 46-46 to 42-50 and Rasmussen from 49-50 to 45-54. Maybe some people are tuning out not only Obama but the media's attempt to make him look the adult in the debt ceiling debate.   Clas...

  • July 15, 2011

    The Debt Limit

    I am pretty certain that in the current debate over the debt ceiling and the attempt to reduce the deficit, the President will come out on top. The reason for this is simple- he is the leader of his Party and his side in the debate. What Nancy Pelosi...

  • June 14, 2011

    The Obama Campaign Team's Electoral College Obsession

    The GOP nominating process is more than half a year away from the first in the nation Iowa caucuses.  There could be several late entries into a field that already includes or is likely to include Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Tim Pawlenty, Gary J...

  • June 7, 2011

    A likely GOP pickup in House of Representatives

    Rep. Dan Boren (D-OK) has announced that he won't seek re-election. Shira Toeplitz of Roll Call reports: Boren, 37, will retire instead of seeking a fifth term, according to a source close to the Congressman - marking the first House Member this cycl...

  • June 3, 2011

    NYT scrubs the new editor's embarrassing words (update of earlier post)

    Has Jill Abramson, the new executive editor of the New York Times, been taking lessons from Newt Gingrich on how to start a new venture, and Anthony Weiner on how to handle an embarrassment? For sheer ham-handed incompetence, it would be hard to top ...

  • June 2, 2011

    Dumb... dumber... dumbest... Wasserman Schultz

    In the internet age, fact checking is not too hard to do. So the new DNC chair probably needs to learn that bald-faced lies won't cut it.  Then again, maybe Debbie Wasserman Schultz does not even know what is in Congressman Ryan's health care pl...

  • May 24, 2011

    Chris Wallace says Israel 'Kicked Out' Palestinians

    I think Chris Wallace of Fox News Sunday is one of the better interviewers among the various news channel hosts.  He is prepared, and pushes pretty hard with everybody, though not in an obnoxious fashion.  He chooses to remain the interview...

  • May 24, 2011

    Why Did the Congress Love Bibi?

    As Jennifer Rubin has laid out in her Washington Post blog entry, Bibi Netanyahu delivered a near perfect speech to the joint session of Congress today,  capping a remarkable six days  in which the U.S Israel relationship has been center st...

  • May 18, 2011

    Obama fundraising has a so so start

    So reports Marc Ambinder in National Journal.  The money is coming in from the big donors -- the wealthy liberals who can give 30K to the DNC and max out for Obama.  It is not coming in at the pace of 2007 and 2008 as far as small dona...

  • May 2, 2011

    The Baehr Essentials

    First: Time to debunk the rumor that Donald Trump has demanded that he White House release the  long form death certificate for Osama Bin Laden. 1.  So who carried out the mission? It appears that it was a team which the odious Seymour...

  • May 1, 2011

    Obama COLB release and the polls

    Obama's approval numbers have jumped in the two daily tracking surveys: from 46 to 50 in Rasmussen, from 42 to 45 in Gallup yesterday (and maybe higher in survey released later today).  Hard core birthers still don't believe it, but this is...

  • April 25, 2011

    Obama's incoherent Syria policy

    The "Responsibility to Protect" doctrine (R2P), Samantha Power's justification for entering the conflict in Libya, has been largely absent so far from any discussion of what to do about Syria. Government forces (apparently acting on recomme...

  • April 16, 2011

    Atlas Shrugged Part I

    Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead was published  in 1943, and a film version was released in 1949.   It took a bit longer to get Atlas Shrugged to the screen.  Rand's lengthy book, a 12 year effort for  the author, was published in...

  • April 12, 2011

    The Baehr Essentials

    1. Congressman Paul Ryan has offered his deficit reduction plan. Democrats in the House have come up with theirs.2. Have you noticed that the Libya war has quickly faded from the news? Could this be related to the fact that it is a war begun by a Dem...

  • April 8, 2011

    The Baehr Essentials

    1.  Last week we saw the first Obama TV ad of the 2012 campaign. Today is the first poster ad  (hat tip Dr. Andrew Aronson)2.  The Pacific Intelligencer has the inside story on the impact of a government shutdown. 3. Here is an Af...

  • April 3, 2011

    Is There a New Antisemitism?

    Antisemitism International, a publication of the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism, edited by Robert S. Wistrich, Numbers 5-6, 2010After the murder of six million Jews in the Nazi Holocaust, traditional antisemitism app...

  • March 21, 2011

    Politically Incorrect March Madness Notes

    Last night I attended the NCAA games at the United Center with my daughter.   There were  over 18,000 fans, and about 300 of them went home happy, as the two highly rated Indiana entries, Purdue and Notre Dame, were both crushed, by Virgini...

  • March 16, 2011

    Obama's political brackets

    Obama's Brackets Just Announced on ESPN:  The  Sweet Sixteen ResultsEast Regional: J- Street over AIPAC, Black Panthers over VotersMideast Regional: Mullahs over Iranians,  Gaddafi over LibyansMidwest Regional: Unions over Wisconsin, R...

  • March 14, 2011

    Selection Sunday for Savages

    The Palestinian Authority on Sunday named a new town square."Palestinians from President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction named a town square on Sunday after the leader of a 1978 bus hijacking in which 35 Israelis were killed.""Many Pales...

  • March 11, 2011

    The Baehr Essentials

    I think we can root for both sides to lose this battle. AOL stock has traded straight down since its purchase of the Huffington Post. Any wonder why Arianna asked for her $300 million in cash? ****The CBO has a new report out on the deficit. Her...

  • March 8, 2011

    The Baehr Essentials

    There are a lot of serious subjects today , so I have chosen to start off with some lighter fare.  First, an article from the New York Times on Sunday, that is so ridiculous, it should have been a front page story in the Onion. The Gallup O...

  • March 4, 2011

    The Muslim Brotherhood is officially A-OK for the Obama Administration

    Professor Barry Rubin argues in his latest article that the Administration's approach to the new Middle East is becoming clearer, and that it represents the worst single strategic blunder in American foreign policy in the Middle East in decades. In e...

  • February 28, 2011

    A little nuclear war might not be so bad?

    Finally, we may have an explanation for the Obama administration's playing footsie with Iran,  refusing to side with the anti-government demonstrators' "green revolution", and taking very timid steps to stop the Mullahs' nuclear weapon...

  • February 21, 2011

    Obama and Israel at the Security Council: A Tie?

    So what should we make of the U.S veto of a Security Council resolution on Friday, after which our Ambassador to the U.N. effectively endorsed the very resolution she had vetoed in a sneering attack on Israeli settlements, later compounded by Se...

  • February 18, 2011

    Yet another Democrat senator retiring

    New Mexico Democratic Senator Jeff Bingaman will announce he is retiring today.  New Mexico is a Democrat-leaning state.  Obama won in 2008 by 15% , after Bush's narrow 1% (6,000 vote margin)  victory in 2004.   Republican Susanna...

  • February 14, 2011

    NY Times' willful blindness

    I trust many of you have seen the insufferable wannabe savants in the TV or print ads for the New York Times, encouraging you to "join the conversation" or subscribe so you can be "part of the conversation." After all, withou...

  • February 10, 2011

    Sen. Kyl reportedly won't seek re-election

    Sen. John Kyle (R-AZ) is planning to announce his retirement today, according to Chris Cilliza of the Washington Post:Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl (R) plans to announce his retirement at a press conference later today, according to a high level sou...

  • February 10, 2011

    The Baehr Essentials

    1. The Super Bowl is history, but the game of the year is almost here. On Sunday, the Washington Wizards, who are 0-25 on the road this year, travel to Cleveland to face the Cavaliers,  who have lost a league record 26 straight games (including ...

  • February 9, 2011

    Sen. Webb will not run for re-election

    Ben Pershing of the Washington Post reports:Sen. James Webb (D-Va.) has announced that he will not run for reelection in 2012.Webb's decision, long anticipated by many in Virginia politics, will make his seat more difficult to hold for his party. Ex-...

  • February 1, 2011

    GOP Senate pickup opportunity in Montana

    The Republicans just got the candidate they wanted to run for Senator in Montana in 2012 -- Congressman Denny Rehberg. Montana has only one House seat, so Rehberg has run and won statewide 6 times.   Montana Senator Jon Tester, whose term i...

  • January 27, 2011

    Making Obama a One-Term President

    We are slightly more than 21 months away from the 2012 presidential election.  The election in 2012 will be not a simple referendum on Barack Obama (for which an approval score is a proxy), but a choice between two candidates.  While many p...

  • January 13, 2011

    Krugman tries to move on, stumbles

    Paul Krugman is  back to discussing income inequality on his blog, following a very negative reaction to his disgraceful column on the Tucson shootings, in which he led a left wing chorus arguing that Gabrielle Giffords was brought down by a gun...

  • January 11, 2011

    The Baehr Essentials

    1. Was Jody Foster an accomplice in the assassination  attempt on Ronald Reagan in early 1981?  If you asked John Hinckley Jr. who was to blame, he would have given her name.  While Foster was obviously innocent of any responsibility ...

  • January 5, 2011

    A primer on the principles that conservatives need to defend in offering an ObamaCare alternative

    Avik Roy has written one of the best short primers on the principles that conservatives need to defend in offering an alternative to the straight party line passed health care reform bill in 2010, in the National Review.  He has also offere...

  • January 3, 2011

    The Baehr Essentials

    1. Let's start with a quick sports summary. Nate Silver argues that the Seattle Seahawks are the worst NFL playoff team ever, and the second worst playoff team in the history of the 4 major professional sports.  And to honor their distinguished ...

  • December 13, 2010

    The Lesson of the Tax Deal and the Deficit: Teach Your Kids Chinese

    Many Republicans  are trumpeting the compromise worked out with the Obama administration this week as a victory -- after two years of class warfare, the administration accepted a deal in which all of the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts will be exten...

  • December 5, 2010

    Net job impact of stimulus zero, from SF Federal Reserve study

    A study by Daniel J. Wilson of the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank, suggests that the net job creation from the $814 billion stimulus bill passed in February, 2009, was zero by August 2010. In the first year,  the stimulus "saved or crea...

  • December 3, 2010

    The Baehr Essentials

    There is a lot of early evidence to suggest that the big fire in Israel started in one location, and  was caused by arson.  Most of the Israeli dead were prison guards or trainees on a bus on their way to help move Palestinian prisoners fro...

  • November 29, 2010

    The Baehr Essentials

    Rick Richman responds to the argument that America's tax system is not progressive enough.  In fact, it is the most progressive in the world - 1% of taxpayers pay 40% of all federal income taxes, and half of Americans pay no federal income tax a...

  • November 21, 2010

    Immigration: A Modest Proposal

    One of the major issue that seems to excite the GOP base is immigration policy and what to do with the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants already here. Politically correct Democrats maintain that there are no illegals, only undocumented wor...

  • November 2, 2010

    How big?

    John Podhoretz waxes enthusiastic in Commentary, euphoric with the numbers in the final Gallup generic ballot poll this cycle giving the GOP an edge of between 10 and 15 points, depending on turnout.  Some generic polls have widened a bit lately...

  • November 1, 2010

    2010 Predictions: A Pretty Big Wave

    Tomorrow will be a good day for a political party all but written off as dead two years ago. To measure the significance of the gains the GOP will make, it is worth looking back a bit at the last few election cycles. It is also be important to look f...

  • October 22, 2010

    The Baehr Essentials

    The Juan Williams story is not going away. NPR member stations are  holding their annual pledge drive this week. Reaction to the firing has been generally negative among listeners, and the Washington Post says 80% of its readers who have respond...

  • October 21, 2010

    ObamaCare Unrealistic Cost Estimates Exposed by Dem Governor

    The single most compelling argument against the Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as ObamaCare, was made today in the Wall Street Journal by the Democratic Governor of Tennessee Philip Bredesen. In essence, the subsidies off...

  • October 18, 2010

    Jan Schakowsky: First You Lose, then you Misquote

    Several hundred people turned  out last night to hear Illinois 9th district  Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky  discuss Israel with her Republican challenger, Joel Pollak.  By the end of the night a few things were clear:1. P...

  • October 14, 2010

    Senate takeover prospects dim

    With 19 days to go, GOP chances of winning the 10 seats needed to take control of the Senate, stalled a bit this week.  Modeling guru Nate Silver now forecasts a net pickup of 7 seats to bring the GOP to 48. The realclearpolitics.com average of ...

  • October 12, 2010

    RCP: Only 133 Safe Democrat Seats

    Real Clear Politics now rates 133 Democratic held seats as safe.   That means 123 Democratic held  seats are in play, almost half of the current total.   The number in play rises every few days. Seats move from Safe Democrati...

  • October 8, 2010

    The Forgotten Evil behind the Iron Curtain

    Gulag Boss: A Soviet Memoir by Fyodor Vasilevich Mochulsky, Oxford University Press, 2010The Firm: This Inside Story of the Stasi by Gary Bruce, Oxford University Press, 2010An entire American generation has come of age since the fall of the Berlin W...

  • October 8, 2010

    GOP now ahead in ten pickup Senate races

    Dino Rossi is now up in last 3 Washington polls.  Sharron Angle is up in the last 2 Nevada polls. Add these results to Illinois, West Virginia, Colorado, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, North Dakota, Indiana, and Arkansas: that gets you to 51. Of cours...

  • September 30, 2010

    GOP House Contenders Flying under the Radar

    November 2nd could see some big, unpleasant surprises for incumbent Democrats in the House of Representatives. Strong GOP contenders, largely unnoticed by the national media and party bigwigs, are making bold plays for seats long regarded as belongin...

  • September 29, 2010

    The Most Obnoxious Dem in Congress in Trouble

    Alan Grayson is in real trouble in Florida. Sean Trende on RCP:The latest Sunshine State/VSS poll shows controversial Democratic incumbent Alan Grayson trailing former state Senator Dan Webster by seven points, 43 percent to 36 percent....

  • September 29, 2010

    More good news on Senate polling

    Public Policy Polling, a Democrat-leaning organization, finds Mark Kirk ahead in the Illinois Senate race by 40% to 36% over Alexi Giannoulias. It is a small sample of likely voters (470), but by solid polling organization. Illinois voters do not lik...

  • September 28, 2010

    New Senate polls are all good for GOP

    John Raese is ahead of Joe Manchin West Virginia by 2% in a new survey (his second lead in a poll in recent days). Richard Blumenthal's lead over Linda McMahon is down to 3% (Quinnipiac) to 5% (Rasmusssen) in two new polls in Connecticut. West Virgin...

  • September 27, 2010

    The Baehr Essentials

    So the settlement freeze has ended, and so far, the world has not ended. Michael Singh offers some advice to the Administration.  Mark Silverberg on how the Arabs negotiate.And in the thinking outside the box department, an alternative to...

  • September 21, 2010

    Time for the GOP to Unite

    There has been much ink spilled on the Delaware Republican Senate primary. I am in the Charles Krauthammer camp on this one. Krauthammer is a fan of the Buckley rule, promulgated by William F. Buckley. In essence, conservatives should support the can...

  • September 20, 2010

    New York State Begins to Hurt Dems

    Good news for the GOP in the first post-primary poll in the New York governorship: Andrew Cuomo's lead over Republican Carl Paladino is only 54% to 38%.  This may not sound all that encouraging, and  Cuomo is still very likely to be elected...

  • August 30, 2010

    There are now 13 Democrat-held Senate seats in play

    Add West Virginia to the list of vulnerable Democratic held Senate seats with Governor Joe Manchin holding a slim  6% lead over Republican John Raese in a state where approval for President Obama is at 29%. The current list includes 5 states whe...

  • August 28, 2010

    The Baehr Essentials

    1. I have never cared much for Martin Indyk, one of the many people who are part of the Middle East peace processing industry,  and who have spent decades identifying unique opportunities to make peace, if only Israel would concede a bit more. R...

  • August 23, 2010

    Paul Krugman Is a Liar: Does the New York Times Care?

    Paul Krugman's New York Times column for August 23 on extending the Bush tax cuts is not merely misleading; it is an outright and deliberate fabrication. For more than a decade, Krugman has been writing two columns a week for the New York Times opini...

  • August 6, 2010

    The Baehr Essentials

    Every year, about 1.5 million Americans (1 of every 200) receive a cancer diagnosis, and a bit over a third that number succumb to the disease.  At age 61, writer Christopher Hitchens drew the short straw, and is gravely ill with esophageal canc...

  • July 30, 2010

    The Obama Victory Reconsidered

    The Obama Victory: How Media, Money and Message Shaped the 2008 Election by Kate Kenski, Bruce W. Hardy, and Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Oxford University Press, 2010The Performance of Politics: Obama's Victory and the Democratic Struggle for Power, by J...

  • July 29, 2010

    The Baehr Essentials

    1. Sports teams, just like their individual players, have a character that define them. The teams, and the players who become the heroes for fans of the teams,  tell you a lot about the cities they represent. In St. Louis, for 70 years, there ha...

  • July 12, 2010

    The Baehr Essentials

    Chris Christie continues to demonstrate why serving as Governor is the best preparation for the White House. Imagine taking on the unions, rather than serving as their handmaiden.  Obama is eliminating outsourcing at the federal level, so more u...

  • July 1, 2010

    Joel Rosenberg

    Joel Rosenberg  is one of the most committed evangelical Christian supporters of Israel, and a man of fierce intelligence. I conducted a phone interview with Rosenberg to talk about his politics and how it relates to his understanding of biblica...

  • June 28, 2010

    The Baehr Essentials

    It appears that the Obama administration's obsession with environmentalism even trumps its allegiance to organized labor. The Obama team just kissed off a thousand or more jobs in WisconsinLittle by little, the crude race based policies of the Holder...

  • June 25, 2010

    Taiwanese TV has done it again

    First the simulated Tiger Woods car crash, now Al Gore grabbing the masseuse. Hat tip: Jonah Goldberg at NRO...

  • June 18, 2010

    Alan Dershowitz Finally Endorses a Republican

    Alan Dershowitz, the long time Professor of Law at Harvard University, and a self-avowed liberal Democrat, took his time before he found a Republican he considered worth supporting -- just under 72 years to be exact. But on Wednesday in Chicago,...

  • June 18, 2010

    The Better Team Tied

    Ties are supposed to be  like kissing your sister, but Slovenia will take their tie today.  A very bad call by a referee from Mali  deprived the US of the go ahead goal in the 85th minute. The referee disallowed the goal, and gave no e...

  • June 15, 2010

    The Baehr Essentials

    How bad will it be for the Democrats in November? I think it will be very bad. Gallup shows a 5 point advantage for the GOP in the generic ballot among registered votes. The margin is higher among likely or enthusiastic voters. Rasmussen shows a 10 p...

  • June 9, 2010

    The Baehr Essentials

    If you were not a fan of Obamacare, this site is essential in comparing facts versus fiction about the new plan.   The Obama campaign machinery  is rolling out a $125 million PR campaign over the next  five years to convince voters thi...

  • June 1, 2010

    The Baehr Essentials

    Peter Beinart has written a dishonest article about how Israel is trying to bring the Gazans to their knees by prohibiting all kinds of basic items from getting in, not just weapons. His argument is that Israel is trying to cause Hamas to fail in the...

  • May 28, 2010

    Israel and America's Jews

    After 16 months of effort, there is now the possibility of weak sanctions that will be passed by the UN Security Council to address Iran's nuclear program. Some new Congressional sanctions will follow, though for now they are being delayed by the Adm...

  • May 21, 2010

    The Baehr Essentials

    The Democrats now have to deal with what appears to be a serial liar: Richard Blumenthal, their candidate for Senator in Connecticut. The current count is five public statements in which he lied about serving in Viet Nam. He also lied about bein...

  • May 19, 2010

    The November Impact of the Primaries

    The first of the mini-Super Tuesdays has come and gone, and both parties can find things to cheer about.  Pennsylvania In the Keystone state, the Democrats nominated the candidate they considered more electable -- Joe Sestak. Republican nominee ...

  • May 16, 2010

    The Baehr Essentials

    In the movie A Civil Action, Sidney Pollak, playing the role  of  an older Harvard Law grad, represents a corporate polluter, and invites John Travolta, the young  lawyer representing the cancer stricken  residents of a ...

  • May 13, 2010

    The Baehr Essentials

    The proximity talks have begun. Break out the champagne. After sixteen months, Obama has been so successful with his diplomatic efforts that the two parties no longer need to meet face to face, as they have for nearly two decades. Rick Richman summar...

  • May 12, 2010

    Specter desperate in Pennsylvania

    With all recent polls now showing Congressman Joe Sestak grabbing a small lead over Senator Arlen Specter in the Democratic Senate primary election in Pennsylvania set for May 18, a desperate Specter has decided to play his trump card- a TV ad with ...

  • May 5, 2010

    Bad news on Florida Senate race

    The latest Rasmussen poll in Florida shows Charlie Crist has surged into the lead. Crist 38Rubio 34Meeks 17Half or more of Meeks' support has moved to Crist. It is clear that Crist will attack Rubio for 6 months (his only real threat), and argue that...

  • May 2, 2010

    The Baehr Essentials

    Let's get the sports out of the way first.  The Blackhawks are the only Chicago team with a reasonable chance of securing a title in the near future, and they laid an egg last night in game one at home against Vancouver.  The Obama administ...

  • April 23, 2010

    The Baehr Essentials

    So what is the difference between Republicans who say they are pro-Israel and Democrats who say they are pro-Israel? Actually, a lot.  A few examples:Congresswoman Ileana Ros Lehtinen, Republican of Florida: On the US-Israel relationshipOn ...

  • April 19, 2010

    The Jews of Silence

    The New York Times, in a front page article, described how President Obama appears to be reconsidering, if not turning away from, the historic strategic alliance between the U.S. and Israel. In remarks made at the end of the multinational nuclear sec...

  • April 19, 2010

    The Baehr Essentials

    Good news: A 3rd party leftist is to challenge Dems who did not support health care reform in North Carolina. Bring it on.New ratings in RCP on House and Senate and governors races show continued and decisive movement to the GOP. The last time they m...

  • April 17, 2010

    Obama's numbers sinking again

    I can't put my finger on any single event that may be the cause, but in three days, Obama's approval ratings on Rasmussen's daily tracking poll have gone from 50-49, to 45-54. Among those who feel strongly either way, there has been a drop from 32-40...

  • April 12, 2010

    The Baehr Essentials

    It is becoming clearer by the day, that the Obama administration has not tried, and is not trying very hard, to stop Iran from becoming  a nuclear power. The catastrophe that awaits the civilized world when Iran joins the nuclear club, is s...

  • April 7, 2010

    GOP prospects in the senate continue to brighten

    The GOP now leads in Senate races in Democratic held seats in Pennsylvania, Delaware, North Dakota, Illinois, Arkansas, Indiana, Nevada and Colorado. In California, Barbara Boxer is ahead of some GOP candidates ,and behind others. The GOP leads in Wi...

  • April 7, 2010

    The Baehr Essentials

    Channeling Pete Seeger, Obama announces his new nuclear policy. The US should disarm, and reduce its stock pile of nuclear weapons and delivery systems , and commit to not targeting certain  enemies, and not responding in certain ways to certain...

  • April 3, 2010

    Dumb Dems to be Drummed Out

    The good news is that we may be on a verge of a wave election where some of the dead wood is removed. Speaking of dead wood, who is the dumbest Democratic Congressman of them all? Two recent nominees:Congressman Hank Johnson of Georgia, who is c...

  • April 1, 2010

    When Media Become Obama PR Agents

    The media's tongue bath for President Obama knows no bounds. We all know that President Obama likes to play basketball. We also know his picks in the NCAA brackets and his percentile ranking among four million-plus entries after each round of the tou...

  • March 22, 2010

    Expect to see jump in Obama polling approval

    It already started the last two days. Rasmussen shows it going from from 43-56, to 47-53. from 23-44 (strong approval-disapproval) to 29-41. Democras and liberals will be very positive and excited, and it will show up in polls.Ed Lasky adds: It'...

  • March 16, 2010

    Obama to Israel: 'Drop Dead'

    It took a while -- fourteen months, to be exact -- but both the ADL and AIPAC have issued very solid statements condemning the president's new verbal war on Israel. The organizations are further asking for the administration to curtail the public ber...

  • March 15, 2010

    AT Readers: Call Your Blue Dog

    The House will likely vote on the Senate health care bill and a bill with changes to the Senate version (the reconciliation package), sometime next weekend, probably at 3 in the morning Saturday  night. Alternatively, the leadership may try to m...

  • March 9, 2010

    Counting House Votes on Healthcare Reform

    Where does the healthcare reform bill stand in the House, as of today? Efforts to count votes vary, and must be based on guesswork.Jay Cost of Real Clear Politics lists too few (I think) who are vulnerable to go from no to yes (6), and too many in th...

  • March 6, 2010

    The Health Care Bill's Prospects

    Will the health care reform bill pass? Nate Silver, the expert number-cruncher at fivethirtyeight.com, thinks it is a 50-50 proposition. The real test will be in the House, and not the Senate, where 51 votes are likely there for a reconciliation pack...

  • March 3, 2010

    The Big Problem with Health Care Is Cost, Not Access

    Advocates for the passage of some variation of a comprehensive health care reform package -- whether the House Bill, the Senate bill, or the recently offered White House proposal -- like to argue that such a comprehensive bill is needed to make progr...

  • February 26, 2010

    The Baehr Essentials

    It is worth noting that Massachusetts adopted an Obama care plan of sorts, and now has, by far, the highest health insurance premium rates in the country. Massachusetts was not a state with a high percentage of uninsured before their health reform pl...

  • February 25, 2010

    GOP Dark Horse Reported Running for Gillenbrand's NY Senate Seat

    Dan Senor is considering a run against Kirsten Gillenbrand for New York's Senate seat, according to the New York Post's Knickerbocker column. Senor is the  co-author, along with Saul Singer, of the recent book Start-up Nation:The Story of I...

  • February 21, 2010

    Obama's approval hits basement

    President Obama's approval numbers in the Rasmussen daily tracking poll have been quite volatile the last few weeks but today reached a new basement level -- with only 22% expressing strong approval, and 41% strong disapproval. The 19% margin favorin...

  • February 12, 2010

    One hand washes the other

    Ed Lasky's exploration of the symbiotic relationship between public employee unions and government overspending at the federal, state and municipal levels sparked a few further thoughts.Total federal spending as a share of gross domestic product is n...

  • February 1, 2010

    Can Illinois Go Red, and Give the White House the Blues?

    Illinois has been a disastrous state for Republicans for over a decade. That could start changing tomorrow. A former Republican Governor, George Ryan, is in jail for selling driver's licenses in exchange for campaign contributions while he was S...

  • January 31, 2010

    Rasmussen shows Obama got a SOTU approval bump

    While the Gallup poll, so far shows little movement to President Obama since his State of the Union address, Rasmussen shows a big bump for Obama among Democrats after the speech: from 25-42 strongly approve-strongly disapprove  to 33-40. Obama'...

  • January 26, 2010

    Senate Strategizing

    Representative Mike Pence has announced he will not challenge Indiana Senator Evan Bayh next November. I think it is a smart decision. The GOP would need to raise millions for Pence in an uphill fight.  Bayh has about 13 mill...

  • January 26, 2010

    Mitchell's Way

    George Mitchell seems to have a way to get the PA and Israel talking again.  But first, it requires a few confidence building measures.  Here are a list of the measures:1. The transfer of authority from the Israeli army to the Palestinians ...

  • January 25, 2010

    Good news for the GOP from Delaware

    VP Joe Biden's son Beau Biden has announced that he will not run for the Senate seat from Delaware his father formerly held. This is a big plus for Mike Castle, the GOP nominee. Biden had the best name recognition, and Biden name is no...

  • January 22, 2010

    The Baehr Essentials

    Scott Brown has won a seat occupied by the Kennedy family for 55 of the last 57 years. He won by 5% in a state that had not elected a Republican Senator since the early 70s, a state that Barack Obama won by 26%,  and is the most Democratic state...

  • January 19, 2010

    AT's Massachusetts election forecast

    There are three possible outcomes today; a very narrow Coakley win (less than 5% margin), a very narrow Brown win (less than 5% margin), or a decisive Brown win (5-10% margin). I would put the odds on each of the three possibilities as follows: 30% f...

  • January 13, 2010

    Ben Nelson waffling again on health care bill

    He is "not yet 100% certain" he will vote for it. But it may be too late for him, or to stop the bill:  Ezra Klein lays out the Dems' strategy: Mass officials delay certification of Brown if he  wins, and Senate and House pass fin...

  • January 12, 2010

    Blue to Red: Massachusetts Senate Race

    American Thinker will be covering the 2010 midterm elections, with featured articles on Republican challengers for Senate, House, and Governor's races. We will also focus on hotly contested races where Republican-held seats are at risk. The GOP now h...

  • January 12, 2010

    Little-noted good news for GOP from PA

    A seat in the House of Representatives may be saved from a likely Democrat victory in 2010, and a statehouse may be recaptured, thanks to a new decision. Jim Gerlach, a Republican Congressman from a suburban Philadelphia district (Pennsylvania 6), ha...

  • January 8, 2010

    Baehr Essentials (updated)

    On at least 8 separate occasions, the President promised to allow C-SPAN to cover all the deliberations in Congress in the health care debate. Of course that was back then, as a candidate.  Now the President and his congressional allies prefer s...

  • January 5, 2010

    GOP momentum on the rise

    Long Island Republican Congressman Peter King, one of only two Republicans remaining in the Empire State's House delegation, is reconsidering a run for the Senate seat held by appointed Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. Momentum is building.A Ra...

  • December 20, 2009

    A Cracking of the Heart by David Horowitz

    At some point in our lives, we come to understand the concept of death, and then it happens to our family members or friends. In the normal course of events, there is a progression: Grandparents die first, then our parents, and then we go. If we are ...

  • December 18, 2009

    Baehr essentials

    - David Brooks has spent too much time at the New York Times, and at times, he has gone a little soft . The same thing happens to some conservative Supreme Court justices  after they are appointed and move to DC.  Brooks holds down one of t...

  • December 14, 2009

    More House Dems leaving

    We may be seeing the first evidence that many moderate Democrats are tired of fighting the leftist urges of their own party, and the Republicans. In Tennessee, Democrat Bart Gordon of the 6th Congressional District has decided to not run for re-elect...

  • December 11, 2009

    Can the GOP Win Back the House?

    The Democrats hold 258 U.S. House seats, the Republicans 177. In the last two cycles (2006 and 2008), the Democrats gained a net 55 House seats. To win back control in 2010, the GOP will need to pick up a net 41 seats. Can they do it?It is likely tha...

  • December 4, 2009

    Dem retirees present GOP with golden opportunities

    John Tanner's retirement at the end of his current term makes his House seat a likely pickup for the GOP. Tanner ran unopposed in 2006 and 2008. McCain won the district by 13% in 2008, Bush by 6% in 2004, making this one of the few districts in the...

  • December 1, 2009

    GE's very special media properties

    Why does Keith Olbermann still have a job with NBC for NFL Sunday night games after this column?Unless you are utterly convinced - willing to bet American lives on it - that the military understands the clock is running, and that the check is no...

  • November 20, 2009

    The Jewish Vote, One More Time

    In the 2008 presidential race in New Jersey, Barack Obama defeated John McCain by 15.7%. In the governor's race in New Jersey two weeks ago, Republican Chris Christie defeated the incumbent Democratic Governor John Corzine by 4.3%.  In other wor...

  • November 19, 2009

    More good news for the GOP

    Rudy Giuliani reportedly may run for the US Senate in New York. This is a huge plus for the GOP if he runs. Giuliani would have an uphill fight against Andrew Cuomo in the governor's race, but has a far better shot at beating Kirsten Gillenbrand...

  • November 18, 2009

    Obama's tide flows in, then it flows out

    President Obama's overall job approval has fallen below 50% for first time in the Quinnipiac poll.Quinnipiac, which uses very big sample size: over 2,500, shows Obama's approval under 50% for the first time.President Barack Obama's job approval ratin...

  • November 16, 2009

    Obama and the 'Palin effect'

    President Obama's approval ratings have inched up in the last week, from 46-53 in Rasmussen (overall approval- disapproval) to 50-49.   It is hard to find a good reason for this, other than a favorable reaction to his Ft. Hood speech. The r...

  • November 16, 2009

    Bad news for Dems in Iowa

    The bad news for Iowa Democrats is that a poll by the highly respected  Selzer  & Co. for the Des Moines Register shows the incumbent Democrat Governor, Chet Culver, losing badly (by 24%!) in his re-election bid to former Republica...

  • November 13, 2009

    Put Chris Dodd on the 'Most Endangered Incumbent' list

    Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd now trails the CEO of the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment), Linda McMahon by 2 points. Rob Simmons, the former Congressman, and likely the strongest candidate for the GOP in the race, leads Dodd 49-38. Connecticut i...

  • November 11, 2009

    Sinking numbers for Obama, Democrats

    The victories by Republicans in two Governors races last Tuesday appear to have lifted the party's prospects in 2010 and in 2012 in the minds of voters with 58% of those surveyed by Rasmussen now believe the next President will be Republican Both Ga...

  • November 8, 2009

    Why Cao voted for Pelosi's healthcare bill

    Cao has zero chance to be re-elected. He is the single most vulnerable member of Congress. His district is 60% black.   His win was like Flanagan over Rostenkowski in 1994. A onetime thing, due to a special circumstance: your congressman is ...

  • November 5, 2009

    The Obama administration's mounting Middle East failures

    The fiasco of US policy in the Middle East gets clearer each day. We have never had such an amateur hour.  Hillary Clinton praises Netanyahu for his concessions on settlements (after foolishly pressuring him for a total freeze), then gets flak a...

  • November 2, 2009

    Election 2009 Forecasts

    On Tuesday, there will be elections in four states: two governorships and two U.S. special elections for U.S. House seats, all of whose constituencies were won by Barack Obama in 2008. Republicans or Conservative Party candidates are poised...

  • October 29, 2009

    A New Obama Jobs Program?

    House Speaker Nancy Pelosi does not have the votes for what she calls a robust public option- one that pays providers Medicare rates plus 5%.  Many Democratic members of the House believe these rates are too low, and will harm providers.  P...

  • October 8, 2009

    Obama's numbers game

    The Pew Trust has completed a 3 year study (summary here) of the world's Muslim population, which it estimates at 1.57 billion, nearly 1/4 of all the people on the planet.  The Muslims are in good shape to make another appearance in the Rel...

  • October 7, 2009

    National Sovereignty and International Law

    "Five to Rule Them All: The UN Security Council and the Making of the Modern World" by David L. Bosco, Oxford University Press, 2009John Bolton, the former United States Ambassador to the United Nations, has described President Barack Obama...

  • September 30, 2009

    Why I hope Obama brings the 2016 Olympics to Chicago

    I do not think readers of American Thinker have any doubts about my concerns about many things concerning Barack Obama. But as to the President's trip to Copenhagen to try to win the Olympic games for Chicago and the United States in 2016, I part com...

  • September 17, 2009

    JTA's terrible premise

    The Jewish Telegraphic Agency is a source of news on the Jewish world and Israel for all of the Jewish federations in America, and many Jews worldwide.  Like most establishment Jewish organizations, its politics lean to the left. Yesterday,...

  • September 13, 2009

    Can Israel Make Peace with the Palestinians?

    Ambassador Alon Pinkas served as Israel's Consul General in New York from 2000 to 2004, capping a two decade career in Israel's foreign ministry, including work for prime ministers from both Labor and Likud governments.  I had the privilege of i...

  • September 12, 2009

    Chicago Olympics prospects dealt blow by Obama

    Obama screwed Chicago yesterday, saying Michelle would lead the US delegation in Copenhagen the day Olympic bid is decided for 2016 games on October 2. He used the excuse of work on health care reform.Some speculate he will fly in at last moment and ...

  • September 3, 2009

    Wild card in Massachusetts

    Curt Schilling, former Red Sox hero, mulls a run as GOP candidate for open Senate seat in Massachusetts. The Red Sox are fighting for a wild card berth, and Schilling would be the ultimate wild card candidate. Mr. Schilling, an at-times outspoken con...

  • August 23, 2009

    Sweden's blood libel of Israel gets worse (updated)

    The story of Sweden's blood libel against Israel gets uglier. Evidence mounts that Swden actually funded the ‘researchers" who charged the IDF with selling body parts of Palestinians.  That Sweden was the focal point for this kind of ...

  • August 18, 2009

    Where Should Treatment Decisions Get Made?

    Our beloved little kitty, Maxie, left us on Friday. For those of you who have experienced the death of a pet, I am at the seeing ghosts stage of grieving.  With all the debate on end of life decisions and death panels dominating the news cycle t...

  • August 17, 2009

    New York Times' Disgrace Deepens

    The New York Times had another in a string of embarrassing moments this weekend, part of a steep descent for the "paper of record,"  much like that of President Obama's approval numbers. And neither seems to have bottomed yet...

  • August 13, 2009

    Arlen Specter in big trouble

    Arlen Specter feared losing a Republican primary to Pat Toomey in 2010.  Specter defeated Toomey by just 2% in the GOP primary in 2004, and Republicans in Pennsylvania were not thrilled with Specter voting for the stimulus bill in February (one ...

  • August 11, 2009

    Harry Reid is in big trouble

    Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid may now be the most endangered incumbent Seantor running in the 2010 cycle. In a state where Barack Obama won by 12%, Reid has only 34% support for re-election, and trails a possible GOP challenger by 6%. Connecticut...

  • August 11, 2009

    Two peas in a pod

    Rick Richman proves that Obama was not misunderstood when in his speech in Cairo he seemed to be equating creation of state of Israel after the Holocaust with the suffering of Palestinians. It is, in fact, exactly what he believes: a moral and histor...

  • August 7, 2009

    Obama the polarizer

    The Rasmussen Daily Presidential Tracking Poll shows that strong supporters of Obama are growing again -- from 28% to 34% in the last week, now at highest level since June 24. I think this reflects two things: the stock market boom and the reaction o...

  • August 5, 2009

    Things looking up for GOP, not Obama

    The Rasmussen survey now shows the GOP with its biggest lead of the year in the generic ballot: 43% to 38% over the Democrats. This result seems consistent with 14 point leads for the two Republican candidates in the two governors' races this Novembe...

  • August 1, 2009

    When Obama waits for the facts

    Sometimes President Obama knows enough to refrain from speaking when he does not have the facts at his command. Witness these words:"It took us a couple of days because I like to know what I'm talking about before I speak," Obama said testi...

  • July 30, 2009

    Obama honors an enemy of Israel (updated)

    Barack Obama today announced that he is presenting the Medal of Freedom to Mary Robinson.  So who is Mary Robinson? An enemy of Israel to begin, and the host and mastermind  of the first Durban conference. This is like sticking a fork ...

  • July 28, 2009

    Ayn Rand: 'Goddess of the Market'

    Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right, by Jennifer Burns, Oxford University Press, October, 2009Several days back, Mark Levin, author of the bestselling book "Tyranny and Liberty", responded in the  American Thinker...

  • July 24, 2009

    Obama poll numbers take a dive

    Barack Obama now has a negative approval score for the first time since his victory last November: 49% approve, 51% disapprove. Among those who feel strongly one way or the other, 30% strongly approve, 38% strongly disapprove. I think the Gates-Crowl...

  • July 20, 2009

    Big Mo turns against Obama

    For the first time since the spring of 2008, Rasmussen's tracking survey shows approval for President Obama is down to 50%, with disapproval at 49%. Given the trend line, the survey result could turn negative tomorrow. Among those who strongly a...

  • July 13, 2009

    Israel: U.S. Promotes Talks With Syria

    Stratfor is reporting on discussions being held today between Fred Hof, a special envoy working with George Mitchell and Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, to discuss a renewed peace effort between Israel and Syria.  The very disturbing...

  • July 12, 2009

    Obama distracts the public by falling back on an old standby

    Barack Obama's poll numbers are sinking, at an accelerating rate. Unemployment is rising, both in numbers (near 3 million more unemployed on Obama's watch and 2/3 of that since the stimulus bill passed), and the unemployment percentage rate which is ...

  • July 8, 2009

    Good news for the GOP

    Four items in the news bode well for the Grand Old Party.1. Lisa Madigan, Illinois Attorney General, will not run for Democratic nomination for Governor or Senator in 2010. Madigan is by far the strongest Democratic vote getter in the state....

  • July 7, 2009

    Just how naïve is President Obama?

    Today, from the group Stratfor, comes this stunning offer to Iran from President Obama:"U.S. President Barack Obama said July 7 that if Iran stops its nuclear weapon development program, the U.S, has no reason to develop a missile defense system...

  • July 6, 2009

    Obama's security reduction mission to Russia

    Barack Obama is in Russia, pushing a high priority item for him: negotiating a nuclear arms reduction deal. His logic for this pursuit appears to be that if rogue states, see the US and Russia reduce their nuclear arms, they will decide it must be a ...

  • July 2, 2009

    Look who's distancing from Obama

    If you want a sign that the Obama bandwagon is losing a few wheels, read this. When Hillary starts leaking to make herself look good and Obama bad, that sort of tells you that the President's handling of the Iranian situation did not get a very high ...

  • July 1, 2009

    Obama and Israel

    An ongoing debate concerns whether the Obama administration has blinked and will now lay off Israel a bit, or whether it is merely a pause in the action before  the steam roller begins  up again. Rick Richman thinks the worst is yet to...

  • June 28, 2009

    GM reached deal with crash victims

    The New York Times reports that GM reached a deal that preserves product liability claims on pre-bankruptcy manufactured vehicles, that arise after GM emerges from bankruptcy.  Previously filed crash victim claims and de...

  • June 25, 2009

    Why Obama changed his mind on hot dog diplomacy

    Why did the Obama administration withdraw its offer of free hot dogs?  The press is reporting that it is because the Iranians did not have the decency to RSVP whether they would be coming to the July 4th parties. This, of course, made it difficu...

  • June 23, 2009

    Obama's hostility to Israel is clear

    The Obama administration seems to have fallen into a pattern: the more outrageous  the behavior of the Iranian regime, the more Obama lashes out at... Israel. Yesterday, a State Department official confirmed that for the Obama administratio...

  • June 21, 2009

    Obama net approval slips to negative for first time (updated)

    The Rasmussen Daily Presidential Tracking Poll slips into negative net approval territory for President Obama on Father's Day, 2009. 32% of the nation's voters now Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President...

  • June 19, 2009

    Explaining Obama: Our First Islamist President?

    One might think that Barack Obama's obsession with Jewish settlements in the West Bank would wane a bit, given the events in Iran. But to think this would be wrong. The President has applauded the vigorous election debate in Iran (the one betwee...

  • June 15, 2009

    Obama starts to get radioactive among Jewish voters

    Robert Wexler was the first Jewish Congressman to carry water for Barack Obama and his love and support for Israel during the Democratic nominating contest. Now the Florida Congressman is creating some space between Obama and himself, while tryi...

  • June 10, 2009

    Obama and the Settlements

    Why is Barack Obama spending so much time focusing on Israeli settlements in the West Bank? Two thoughtful explanations of the widening dispute on the settlements issue have been developed  by Dore Gold and George Friedman.What is clear is ...

  • June 4, 2009

    Obama, Iran, and Israel

    President Obama has in the past few days indicated that Iran certainly has reason to develop nuclear energy. After all, they are the world's second largest oil exporter.  And he will not set any artificial time frames, by the end of which he see...

  • May 29, 2009

    Does Barack Obama believe Israel is a sovereign state?

    Does Barack Obama believe Israel is a sovereign state?  Wednesday, his diplomatic mouthpiece Hillary Clinton said Israel must stop all settlement activity -- outposts, new settlements and natural growth of existing settlements.  W...

  • May 14, 2009

    Did uncounted overseas ballots give the lead to Franken in Minnesota?

    A shameful total of 98,000 of 441,00 ballots requested by Americans overseas in 2008, mainly military personnel, were never returned.  Assume Minnesota's share of these unreturned ballots was proportional  to its share of the US population,...

  • May 13, 2009

    The Circle of Life in Gaza

    A classic video. In 1 minute and 22 seconds, everything you need to know about alleged Israeli atrocities.Hat tip: Amos Guiora...

  • May 12, 2009

    The big shakedown

    Putting politics in command of business ends up rewarding those who have, to use a Chicago word, "clout." The  SEIU shakes down the state of California. AFSCME shakes down Resurrection Health care. The UAW and its patron saint, Barack ...

  • May 11, 2009

    Does the Deficit Matter?

    Barack Obama signaled to the ECNPC (the ever compliant national press corps) last week, that they should make a big deal of his proposed $17 billion in spending cuts for the 2010 fiscal year, many of which (40%) were originally proposed by George Bus...

  • May 8, 2009

    Israel in peril

    The Obama administration seems to want a linkage between progress on the Israeli Palestinian front and any stepped up American pressure on Iran. The way this works, is that if Israel decides it is uncomfortable with US pressure to make concessions to...

  • May 7, 2009

    Obama's approval up

    President Obama has gone from 33-32 strongly approve - strongly disapprove, to 38-30 in the latest Rasmussen numbers. . He's been trending higher for a week or more. Overall approval - disapproval is up from 54-45 to 57-43. As the stock market climbs...

  • April 29, 2009

    The Democrats' Magic Bullet

    Not that many people are aware that Arlen Specter was the staffer who developed the Warren Commission's "magic bullet" theory. The Democrats, with Specter's announced shift from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party, now have their m...

  • April 26, 2009

    An unexpected country thinks more defense spending is needed

    Australia, under its left of center government led by Kevin Rudd, is planning a significant military buildup. What do they see, that President Obama does not? My guess is a vastly expanded naval power in China. ...

  • April 24, 2009

    Why aren't the human rights groups screaming?

    70 civilians a day have been killed on average in the last few months  in the fight between Sri Lankan army forces and  the Tamil Tigers, a separatist group. Thousands of civilians have been killed in the current phase of the fighting, incl...

  • April 16, 2009

    And NBC's biggest hack is...?

    This is incredible. GE is concerned CNBC is too critical of Obama, according to the New York Post.  I guess MSNBC was fair and  balanced towards Bush.  First homeland security memorandums, now this. Do you feel a chill? ...

  • April 16, 2009

    Dept of Defense hires LA Times columnist who belittled terror 'threat'

    The Weekly Standard blog notes:LA Times columnist Rosa Brooks once wrote that al Qaeda was "little more than an obscure group of extremist thugs, well financed and intermittently lethal but relatively limited in their global and regional politic...

  • April 14, 2009

    Al Gore Really is Stupid

    Yesterday I attended the Cubs home opener, as I do most seasons. At scheduled game time of 1: 20,  the temperature was in the mid 30s, windy, with a  steady rain. The game start was delayed an hour,  and the rain  lasted  thr...

  • April 13, 2009

    Jon Stewart's teleprompter

    Andrew Breitbart, who navigated the Bill Maher show, has now also visited the Jon Stewart show. Turns out Jon is another big fan of teleprompters, which feed him the material prepared by a dozen writers.  And to think folks believe these ...

  • April 8, 2009

    Who is blocking an Israeli Palestinian peace? Israel or Hamas?

    Hamas won't even enter a Palestinian government that accepts Israel.   Dr. Ismail Radwan, a senior political leader of Hamas, stated that Hamas will not deal with or be part of any government which recognizes the occupation, and will n...

  • April 1, 2009

    Class War in America

    Last night, for the first time, I watched the movie, The Fugitive, from start to finish. The film is about a surgeon, falsely accused and convicted of murdering his wife, who escapes during a prison transfer, and is pursued by a US Marshall. For Chic...

  • March 31, 2009

    Obama's approval ratings bounce back

    President Obama's approval ratings moving back up. Approval/disapproval now 59-39; at the low, the figure was 55-44. Among very favorable- very unfavorable, he is now at 38-27; the low point was 36-32. The media offensive -- press conference, Leno, S...

  • March 25, 2009

    Obama Retreating

    Yesterday marked what may be a turning point for the Obama administration. The momentum achieved from the quick passage of the stimulus bill, and the release of the President's ten year budget plan with all the big ticket items liberals have long dre...

  • March 13, 2009

    The O is for Overrated

    In his campaign for the Presidency, candidate Barack Obama and his minions relied on several key messages: I am for change (I am not George Bush);I am the candidate who will break through the racial barrier and show how America (and yes, you the vote...

  • March 6, 2009

    Obama stimulates the wrong jobs

    The jobs report (or jobless report ) is out for February. There was a loss of 651,000 jobs in the month, but of that total , there was a loss of 660,000 private sector jobs. Which means government jobs grew by 9,000. And this was in February, before ...

  • February 27, 2009

    The Obama Steamroller: Is Resistance Futile?

    The political reality at the moment is that regardless of the wisdom or foolishness of what is or will be proposed by the Obama administration or Congress in the next two years, it will pass. This is the consequence for the GOP of losing elections an...

  • February 26, 2009

    The damage unions will do

    I am not a big fan of unions. While unions played a constructive role in building up the middle class last century, the union movement today is a job killer. It gains higher wages for a few, at the expense of the many,including the taxpayer, and corp...

  • February 25, 2009

    Sympathy for the devil

    Three years ago, there was little sympathy for Hezbollah in its war with Israel. There was, of course, the obligatory harsh criticism of Israel by diplomats, the media, academics, and Muslim and Arab groups, for allegedly destroying Lebanon and killi...

  • February 21, 2009

    The trend is the GOP's friend

    Obama has lost almost all of his post-election bounce, according to Rasmussen. Remember, though, he won by 7.2%,received 69.5 million votes, and is still a bit more popular than he was on Election Day. However, his subsequent numbers were in the stra...

  • February 19, 2009

    Porkulus notes

    The porkulus bill just passed by Congress, and signed by the President after his President's Day vacation was over, contains a provision that will make it much more difficult for government whistle-blowers or watchdogs to uncover waste, or fraud. I a...

  • February 13, 2009

    Israel after the election

    The other night I was on Rick Moran's radio program  to discuss the Israeli election results with Professor Barry Rubin. The single most interesting observation offered by Professor Rubin, was that in Israel, across the broad political spectrum,...

  • January 30, 2009

    Super Bowl 43: A Mismatch?

    Super Bowl 43 follows soon after the inauguration of the 43rd man to be President, Barack Hussein Obama, a symmetry of sorts. But wait, you say, Obama is President #44. No, he is not. Obama is the 43rd man to serve as President. Why should we count G...

  • January 24, 2009

    Think global, blame local

    Many countries in Europe seem to be feeling the effects of the collapse of a consumer driven economy that was living well beyond their means, borrowing merrily to finance it all. Their banks made many bad loans. And amazingly , George Bush was n...

  • January 20, 2009

    Inauguration thoughts

    As someone who has always looked first at the sports page each morning, 44 is not a new number to respect. 44 was Hank Aaron, who, in my opinion, faced a lot more difficulty and pressure in his quest to break Babe Ruth's record, than Barack Obama fac...

  • January 17, 2009

    Obama's animal guy

    Cass Sunstein is a thoughtful legal scholar, and a solid choice for his new job in the Obama administration reviewing regulations. He is not hard core anti-business as are many of Obama's appointees in the Energy and Labor Departments, and the EPA. B...

  • January 8, 2009

    Let Them Eat Rockets

    The international community is expressing outrage over the relatively small number of civilian casualties reported in the first 11 days of Israel's operation in Gaza.  War, apparently, must now mean zero civilian casualties.   If anyon...

  • January 8, 2009

    The dumbest senator of all

    There is really no other conclusion: Harry Reid is not only an incompetent majority leader, but dumb.  I thought Jay Rockefeller and Patty Murray were the two dimmest bulbs in the Senate, but Reid  has sprinted to the front of the line. ...

  • January 3, 2009

    The sounds of silence

    Have you seen any protestors anywhere in the West decrying these massacres and shootings? (from the Jerusalem Post)Fatah officials in Ramallah told The Jerusalem Post that Hamas militiamen had been assaulting many Fatah activists since the beginning ...

  • January 2, 2009

    The Blago Saga: Chapter 2

    In some of his columns, the humorist Dave Barry will throw in a comment to describe some completely ridiculous event or behavior: "I am not making this up".  It would be nice to have Dave Barry blogging the Illinois Senate appointment ...

  • January 2, 2009

    Gaza round-up

    There is real fear that Israel will succumb to international pressure, and not finish the job in Gaza. Hamas is an irreconcilable enemy of the state of Israel. It will not soften its position because diplomats scurry about. When there are temporary c...

  • December 21, 2008

    Truth-telling at the NYT

    I almost never like columns by Nicholas Kristof. Today is an exception. He concedes what is now well known from many studies: conservatives give much more money to charity than liberals, who want government to do the work for them, and Americans are ...

  • December 21, 2008

    Global warming jihadists

    The wind chill is about 25 below today in Chicago. It snowed again last night. Perfect timing for a few more articles on the incoming Obama administration and its cast of global warming jihadists. Some of my friends on the left who are in the science...

  • December 21, 2008

    They call it 'art'

    The world famous Art Institute of Chicago may be considering a satellite location in the city's upscale Old Town neighborhood. The opening exhibition at the Old Town Ale House site is the naked Governor series. As Dave Barry would say: I am not makin...

  • December 15, 2008

    A call for Obama to 'crack heads' in Israel

    M. J. Rosenberg is what during the Cold War, would have been called, a useful idiot, in Lenin's phrase. The head of the Israel Policy Forum, Rosenberg has called for President-elect Obama to crack heads (meaning Israeli heads) so as achieve that...

  • December 13, 2008

    How to steal a senate seat

    The Minnesota senate race is being stolen as you read this. Rejected absentee ballots may be counted at discretion of counties. Which ones do you think will find more to count? There is no uniform standard for determining which once rejected abs...

  • December 11, 2008

    The Blago Saga Begins

    Last summer, my wife opened up the garage door one day, and in the alley, found a score or more of actors (extras) in 1930 period dress. They were awaiting the next scene in the filming of a new movie about bank robber John Dillinger, set to hit the ...

  • December 1, 2008

    Mumbai's big lesson

    There are important lessons to be learned from Mumbai. In a county as large and open as the United States, I think it would be relatively easy for similar  killers to strike at malls, movie theaters, train stations, and supermarkets and schools ...

  • December 1, 2008

    Know the enemy

    What do Syrian President Assad and PA President Abbas have in common? They both chose to honor Sami Kuntar, the Palestinian monster who shot and killed a father in front of his young daughter, and then cracked the child's head against a rock until sh...

  • November 29, 2008

    She's Baa-aack!

    As predicted by Ed Lasky, Samantha Power, a long time close associate of Barack Obama  has returned to the inner circles of the Obama team , with a role in vetting State Department personnel, policy and operations.  This new role is ironic...

  • November 29, 2008

    Dancing around the obvious in Mumbai

    The mainstream media's goto guy (a mental midget) on the attacks in Mumbai, is dancing around the obvious nature of the effort. Fareed Zakaria assures us that the attacks were aimed at Indians, not foreigners -- the nouveau riche Indians who fre...

  • November 28, 2008

    Obama kids to skip DC public schools

    Jonah Goldberg thinks it is fine for Barack Obama to send his kids to private school. I agree. But he also argues it is criminal that in D.C, the public school spending per student at $13,000 per student per year, is 3rd highest of the 100 largest pu...

  • November 28, 2008

    Liberal tells liberals not to be fooled by Obama appointments

    Peter Beinart, one of the smarter and saner liberals, assures those to his left, pulling their hair out that Obama is putting all these "hawks" into national security /foreign policy/defense roles, that they should not worry. Beinart argues...

  • November 26, 2008

    Fiscal crisis or not, Obama may push for nationalized health care

    Two articles today, one from a supporter of Barack Obama and one from an opponent, both warn that just because the Treasury and the Federal Reserve are pouring trillions into the financial markets, and Obama has plans for a half trillion or larger fi...

  • November 21, 2008

    Obama proves to be stock market poison

    Hours before the polls closed on November 4th, the S & P 500 stock index closed for the day at 1005.75 . Yesterday, after 12 trading sessions since the election results were known, the S & P closed at 752.54. That is a drop of 253 points, and...

  • November 11, 2008

    The Jewish Vote in 2008 and the Exit Polls

    Once again, as in 2006, Jewish Democrats are trumpeting the results of the national exit poll, which this year seems to show a very solid win for Barack Obama over John McCain among Jewish voters. And once again, as in 2006, anyone who has a clue abo...

  • November 10, 2008

    A Few Post-Election Thoughts

    The State of the Republican PartyIt is not a good sign when Party officials describe a loss of at least 6 Senate seats and 20 or more House seats and the presidency as not all that bad, given the circumstances this year. After the 2004 elections, the...

  • November 5, 2008

    What numbers so far tell us

    The polls were dead on, or at least the good ones  (e.g Rasmussen , Battleground and IBD/TIPP). Gallup, Pew  and CBS/New York Times pollsters can now leave the room.  McCain lost by 6%, after leading by 3% in mid September. The nationa...

  • November 4, 2008

    Election Prediction

    The final deluge of national tracking polls and state polls has arrived, and they reveal a most unusual picture. Barack Obama's lead in the national tracking polls has widened by almost 2% in the final days, now standing at 7.4% in the realclearpolti...

  • October 30, 2008

    Asinine racist claptrap at The Atlantic

    For months, many in the media have been insinuating that if whites do not vote for Barack Obama, or if Obama loses, it must be because white Americans are racist. In 2004, 62 million Americans voted for the Republican candidate for President, Ge...

  • October 29, 2008

    Good news for McCain from latest Rasmussen poll

    The Presidential race is getting tighter. The most respected daily tracking poll (most heavily weighted by Nate Silver at his fivethrtyeight.com site) is Rasmussen. Today, his 3 day, 3,000 sample size survey shows Obama up 50-47 . Yesterday, the lead...

  • October 28, 2008

    McCain's End Game

    Can John McCain win?  Lots of folks think it is over. Nate Silver calculates today on his fivethirtyeight.com site that John McCain has a 3% chance of winning. Realclearpolitics and Rasmussen put his chances a bit higher, just above 12%. Many pu...

  • October 22, 2008

    Responsibility for Fannie/Freddie

    Everyone who is planning to vote Democrat in order to punish Republicans for the economic meltdown needs to watch this video clip. It shows the interim director of Fannie Mae (after Franklin Raines took off with his $90 million golden parachute) addr...

  • October 22, 2008

    Must-read of the day

    Must-read of the day:The comprehensive argument against Barack Obama on hotair.com...

  • October 21, 2008

    Obama's campaign built on lies

    There have been many lies by Barack Obama in the 2008 campaign that he has tried to mask by shifting his recollections over time.  These include the extent of his relationship with Bill Ayers, what he heard Reverend Wright say during his ne...

  • October 20, 2008

    The Buying of the Presidency 2008

    Barack Obama is well on his way to buying the Presidency. The effect of  Obama's financial advantage has  now even been admitted by the New York Times,  whose editors and political writers already may be lighting up their victory ...

  • October 16, 2008

    Joe the Plumber on GMA (update with video)

    If you did not see Diane Sawyer interview Joe the Plumber (7:15 am central), you need to watch it here (below). This guy should be McCain's poster child. He says in one sentence all that is wrong with Obama--basically wanting to punish succ...

  • October 16, 2008

    Best Rasmussen numbers in three weeks (updated)

    Obama lead down to 4: 50-46. 8 point lead a week ago. Among those certain: a tie 41-41. was 45-38 obama a week ago. Regrettably, in state polls, Obama is still in good shape and spending very heavily where McCain needs to win -- Florida, Virginia in ...

  • October 13, 2008

    Tracking polls show signs of hope for McCain

    This trend may or may not mean much, but Obama's  numbers appear to have peaked a few days back. Whether Congressman John Lewis's racist comments have had anything to do with this, is unclear.  The markets appear a bit more settled. That of...

  • October 11, 2008

    Osama for president?

    The Rensselaer County (New York) Board of Elections has sent out absentee ballots with the Democratic candidate for president's name spelled Osama.Bob Gardinier of the Albany Times-Union reports:...with one "s" the Rensselaer County Board o...

  • October 9, 2008

    Can McCain Come Back?

    Over the last few days, the national tracking polls, for the first time in a month (or since the Lehman Brothers collapse triggered the current stage in the financial crisis), have shown a small movement away from Barack Obama and toward John McCain....

  • September 25, 2008

    Faux outrage at Palin

    Campbell Brown of CNN unleashes her sarcasm over the McCain campaign's limiting press coverage of Sarah Palin's meetings with world leaders at the UN. Sid she or any other reporter object when no reporters were allowed in during Obama's meetings on h...

  • September 25, 2008

    Letterman's attack on McCain

    David Letterman has a long running late night program that is part of CBS' entertainment division. Katie Couric is the anchor of the CBS Evening News, a program produced in the news division. Despite his decades in broadcasting, Letterman seems unawa...

  • September 22, 2008

    NYT recognizes reality in Iraq at last

    In a remarkable page one story in Sunday's New York Times "News of the Week in Review" section, Dexter Filkins makes it official: the former paper of record acknowledges that things have changed dramatically  in Iraq in the last two ye...

  • September 22, 2008

    Disinviting Palin 'cowardly and shameful'

    In one of the most shameful, cowardly and foolish displays by the organized  Jewish community in America since its weak response to the Holocaust, the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, and its Executive Director Malcolm Hoe...

  • September 17, 2008

    What states are really in play?

    The McCain convention bump seems to be subsiding, and the tracking polls suggest the national race is back almost dead even.  Part of the recent movement may well be attributable to the financial crisis gripping Wall Street, and the fact that fo...

  • September 5, 2008

    Hurricane Sarah Shakes Up the Race

    Hurricane Gustav wiped out day one of the Republican convention on Monday. But Hurricane Sarah delivered a body blow to Barack Obama and Joe Biden Wednesday night that more than made up for it.  Gustav turned out to be overrated, though reporter...

  • August 29, 2008

    Class vs no class

      Last night, John McCain put on ads congratulating Barack Obama for his achievement. The day Joe Biden was picked, John McCain called him to congratulate him. That is class.Tom Bevan of realclearpolitics.com describes how the Obama campaign rea...

  • August 26, 2008

    Democrats in Denver Discuss the Jewish Vote

    On Monday afternoon, I was part of a panel on the Jewish vote in 2008 at the Democratic National Convention. The panel was sponsored by the National Jewish Democratic Council and its not for-profit-arm, the Solomon Project. Two partisan Democratic po...

  • August 21, 2008

    Obama campaign made another big mistake

    The Obama campaign team seems to have been  intimidated by Olympics coverage, so they held off on announcing a VP.  They had a  week or two to get some traction with a VP pick before their convention, but for some reason they held off....

  • August 18, 2008

    The Shape of the Race Changes

    Slowly, almost imperceptibly, the contest for President has become a real horse race, close to a tossup (Obama maintains a 1-2 point lead in the tracking polls).  The 17 days of the Olympics and the exploits of Michael Phelps have driven most po...

  • August 18, 2008

    Misreporting at the New York Times

    Nowhere in this story about the "cone of silence" at the Saddleback Forum does Elizabeth Bumiller let the reader know that McCain was in the car for half an hour and in the cone of silence for half an hour after he arrived. One might think ...

  • July 22, 2008

    The Trip that Did Not Deliver

    With the major media in full swoon mode -- every network anchor covering the Obama trip, and only one reporter following John McCain to New Hampshire Monday night, the polls should be moving strongly for Obama.That was the expectation of savvy politi...

  • July 17, 2008

    Encouraging Poll Numbers for McCain

    Today's state of the race:Rasmussen: 3 point pickup for McCain in one day. Race now tied at 46. McCain obviously had a huge night yesterday. Rasmussen poll is average of 3 days. Check out the trendline on Nate Silver's great site "538" (gra...

  • July 16, 2008

    The Party of Defeat

    Party of Defeat by David Horowitz and Ben Johnson, 224 pages, Spence PublishingDavid Horowitz has written many books and articles that deal with the topic of American political warfare.  Horowitz has often argued that the left is much more resol...

  • July 12, 2008

    A candidate who needs help

    Cynthia McKinney is running for the Green Party nomination. She's "better" than Nader -- younger, more radical, more hostile to Israel and the US. And she's a twofer-- a black woman. The far left, some of whom may be angry at Obama for sell...

  • July 11, 2008

    Signs of life for the McCain campaign

    Rasmussen polling reveals a significant shift in last week toward McCain, and that is just one of three good signs. Then again, Phil Gramm did not help, and that will be ad material for Obama to be sure.  But I think all the media talk about the...

  • July 10, 2008

    How McCain Could Win

    Yesterday, I laid out the very favorable environment for any Democrat running for President this year.  I noted that the current Obama lead of 4-5% is very modest, given the structural advantages any Democrat would have in this year's race....

  • July 10, 2008

    Judicial Watch files complaint on Obamas' mortgage

    Judicial Watch has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission over the below-average interest rate Barack and Michelle Obama received on their Hyde Park mansion in Chicago. American Thinker broke the news  of the low interest ra...

  • July 9, 2008

    The State of the Race

    Part OneIn the month since the end of the Democratic nominating contest, the Presidential race has settled into a fairly narrow band in Obama-McCain polling results.  The two daily tracking polls, Gallup and Rasmussen, have consistently shown an...

  • July 8, 2008

    Knife control in Britain

    A friend visiting London tells us about the obvious and inevitable lesson being learned about gun control efforts.  Once again. It isn't the weapon, it is the person who is the problem. He writes:Stabbings dominate the news here.  If you re...

  • June 24, 2008

    Latest State Polls Show McCain Competitive

    National polls show Barack Obama settling into a 3-6 point  lead with a modest bounce after Hillary Clinton dropped out of the race for the Democratic nomination. Polls in battleground states continue to show a competitive race. A new South Flor...

  • June 19, 2008

    Obama Renegs on Promise to take Federal Financing of the Election

    Barack Obama told Common Cause in November 2007 he would accept federal funding for the General Election race were he the Democratic Party's nominee in 2008. Today Obama became the first candidate of a major party to ever opt out of the system. There...

  • June 18, 2008

    The Mistakes That Launched 3,000 Rockets

    When Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon withdrew 8,000 residents and all of its defense forces from the Gaza Strip in the late summer of 2005, he offered several rationales to support what he called "disengagement."  Regrettably, all ...

  • June 18, 2008

    Progress in Isarel-Syria talks?

    Egypt is leaking word of a ceasefire to begin Thursday between Gaza and Israel, and there have been some subtle shifts in announced American policy regarding Shebaa Farms suggesting that the Turkish sponsored Israeli-Syrian talks are more seriou...

  • June 15, 2008

    Another key Dem uninterested in being Obama's VP

    Former Virginia governor Mark Warner has ruled himself out as Barack Obama's running mate. The AP reports:Former Gov. Mark R. Warner on Saturday removed himself from consideration as a vice presidential running mate for Democrat Barack Obama.War...

  • June 14, 2008

    A hate-Israel screed of extraordinary vileness

    Stephen Kinzer, writing  in the UK Guardian, argues in essence that RFK had his assassination coming, since what happened to him was "in fact an eminently political act."Murder apparently is not murder for this author,  if the act...

  • June 14, 2008

    Chris Matthews and Tim Russert: Crass versus Class

    Among all the tributes offered Friday night on the various cable networks to Tim Russert, only one that I saw managed to use the opportunity to crassly advance a political perspective and advance a personal political ambition. Chris Matthews is saliv...

  • June 13, 2008

    The battle for the Senate

    According to Rasumessen, Senator Cornyn has opened up a 17 point lead in texas (it had been 4), almost killing the Dems' hopes of picking up 9 to gain a filibuster-proof 60 seats. Here's how the key Senate races look.Dems are ahead in Virginia, ...

  • June 10, 2008

    How the Media misrepresents the Candidates' Tax Plans

    When President Bush signed the 2001 tax cuts into law, the new lower rates had a ten year life, and are set to expire in 2010. John McCain has supported extending the tax cuts and making the current tax rates permanent. This means that for individual...

  • June 6, 2008

    India expresses a vote of confidence in American Thinker

    Tuesday, as the Democratic nominating process finally came to an end, American Thinker was contacted by the Times Global Broadcasting Company of Mumbai, India, asking if I would agree to an interview for their TV news programs.   After a fe...

  • June 5, 2008

    The Lakers and Celtics meet again

    Tonight begins Round 11 of the Celtics-Lakers championship series. The Celtics lead the series 8 to 2, but lost the last two to the Lakers in 1985 and 1987.   When I was growing up, the teams I rooted for, but rarely made it to the champion...

  • June 5, 2008

    Obama and AIPAC: A Delicate Dance

    Amazingly, it has taken less than 24 hours before Barack Obama started backtracking on one key part of his speech to AIPAC Wednesday -- the part that brought the crowd to its feet cheering - that Jerusalem should remain the undivided capital of Israe...

  • May 31, 2008

    Two Views on McCain's Chances in the Fall

    The favorable View for McCain comes from the daily Rasmussen tracking poll . Today McCain is ahead 46-43 over Obama.  "McCain is viewed favorably by 52% of voters nationwide and unfavorably by 46%. Those figures include 19% with a Very...

  • May 29, 2008

    Obama's Woes: A Tale of Three States

    If you want evidence that the Democrats are taking a huge gamble by nominating Barack Obama as their Presidential candidate, you need look no further than the current state of the race in three Southern/border states.In 1992 and 1996 Bill Clinton won...

  • May 27, 2008

    Sharon Stone on China Quake: 'Karma' for Tibet

    Sharon Stone, best known for crossing her legs on camera, is a friend of the Dali Lama (or so she claims). When asked abut the recent horrific earth quake in China, which has caused upwards of 50,000 dead and 5 million homeless, Stone smilingly descr...

  • May 27, 2008

    It gets worse for the GOP

    It is no longer out of the question  that the Democrats could gain a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate -- they need to net 9 seats, and GOP-held seats are in jeopardy in Virginia, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Colorado, Mississippi,  Min...

  • May 24, 2008

    Why Polls Can be Off

    Survey USA has a new poll out showing Obama ahead of McCain in the crucial state of Ohio by  48%-39%. This is, to say the least, an odd result, since the same group's recent poll showed Obama beating McCain by only 8% in California. When yo...

  • May 23, 2008

    Stupid politician tricks

    A campaign stunt by Democrat Dan Seals, a candidate for the 10th district U.S. House seat in Illinois, seems to have backfired in a most predictable fashion.  The candidate, in what might appears to be a fairly naked attempt at bribing vote...

  • May 19, 2008

    Primary Preview

    Clinton will win another blowout in Kentucky by 25-40 points according to latest polls. Latest two Oregon polls show Obama up only 4 and 5 -- much closer than last week (15-20 point leads). I don't buy that it is that close in Oregon. Oregon is ...

  • May 19, 2008

    Are Obama's view on Israel informed by radical Palestinian Activist?

    Before becoming a US Senator, Barack Obama spent a fair amount of time with Palestinian advocate and fellow University of Chicago professor Rashid Khalidi. The relationship still seems close judging by almost identical language that Obama and Khalidi...

  • May 15, 2008

    The Good News for John McCain

    Several pundits and the McCain campaign itself, warned several weeks back that once the Democratic race was settled, Barack Obama would open up a ten point lead on John McCain as consolidation began among the Democratic ranks. The major media de...

  • May 15, 2008

    The Obama campaign senses the glove fits

    The Obama campaign seems to know they have a problem -- their man is  perceived as soft on terrorists, and way too accommodating to the  world's worst thug regimes. After Obama stated that he would meet  with any foreign leader without...

  • May 13, 2008

    Obama and affirmative action

    Richard D. Kahlenberg makes the case for Barack Obama winning over white working class voters by turning against race-based affirmative action programs in favor of class-based AA, writing  in Inside Higher Education.While Obama has in the p...

  • May 9, 2008

    Obama and the Jewish Vote

    The Jewish vote in the coming presidential election is up for grabs to an extent unseen for almost three decades, assuming Barack Obama wins his party's nomination. And that has got Jewish Democrat activists worried.An email is circulating in the Jew...

  • May 5, 2008

    Obama and Iran's nukes

    Barack Obama wants to go easy on Iran and its nuclear program, and does not like Hillary Clinton's strident rhetoric on the subject (of course Obama put up with his pastor's strident rhetoric for 20 years without batting an eye). Obama's advisor on n...

  • May 4, 2008

    Why I hate pledge drives

    I hate pledge drives.  The reason is simple: I associate them with National Public Radio and public television. A collection of unctuously earnest people representing every major racial, religious, gender/transgender, age, and ethnic group swear...

  • May 3, 2008

    Democrats live in two different worlds

    Rasmussen's daily survey out today shows an amazing split between Democrats for Obama and Democrats for Clinton with regard to the Reverend Wright controversy. Clinton now leads among Democrats 47-44, an 11 point shift in a week.  Just 18% of Cl...

  • April 30, 2008

    Obama's Wright Turn

    When Barack Obama made his official announcement that he was running for President over 14 months ago in Springfield, Illinois, the Senator made sure that his pastor Jeremiah Wright had no speaking role and was kept away from the ceremony. Obama camp...

  • April 28, 2008

    Superdelegates trickling toward Obama

    Democratic Party super-delegates continue to break for Barack Obama in ones and twos. He has now closed what was once an over 100 delegate lead for Clinton among the super-delegate category to just 21 (259-238) This pattern is occurring as Hilla...

  • April 14, 2008

    McCain's Electoral College Math

    The 2008 Presidential contest should logically be one where the Democratic Party nominee, still likely to be Barack Obama despite his latest case of foot in mouth disease, would win a solid victory. The turnout in the Democratic Party primaries has b...

  • April 4, 2008

    Rabbi Yoffie Excommunicates Pastor Hagee

    Rabbi Eric Yoffie, President of the Union for Reform Judaism, seems to think Israel has too many allies in America.  In particular, he believes that Israel can do without the support of evangelical Christians, and especially Pastor John Hag...

  • April 1, 2008

    McCain's numbers in the tracking poll

    Rasmussen has numbers today that must be making the McCain camp very happpy.   Looking ahead to the General Election, John McCain is leading Barack Obama 47% to 41%. He leads Hillary Clinton 48% to 41% (see recent daily results). Among...

  • March 29, 2008

    The shape of the race is changing

    I consider Rasmussen the go-to-polling organization for following election trends. Their samples are consistent from one poll to the next, and they use four day rolling averages to smooth out the noise. It is the best source for following t...

  • March 22, 2008

    Very bad poll news for Obama and the Dems

    The latest news from the Rasmussen Tracking Poll  is very encouraging for McCain. Obama's favorable-unfavorable is 46 to 51, its all time low, demonstrating no ability yet to stanch the bleeding.  No wonder they trotted out Bill Richardson ...

  • March 20, 2008

    The Palestinians Have no Interest in Peace

    The latest survey on Palestinian attitudes should throw a glass of very cold water on the large class of Middle East peace processors, both here and in the region, assuming that they are conscious.  As reported by the New York Times no less, it ...

  • March 9, 2008

    Israel's Siege Continues

    Israel's national anthem, Hatikvah, ("The Hope"), was written in 1886 by Naphtali Herz Imber, an English poet, originally from Bohemia.  In 1897, at the first Zionist Congress, Hatikvah was adopted as the anthem of Zionism. And at that...

  • February 28, 2008

    Obama's Farrakhan moment

    Barack Obama's response to Tim Russert's questioning and Hillary Clinton's barbs on Farrakhan may suffice for those who don't listen closely, but the repudiation of only his anti-Semitic views struck many as lawyerly. See law professor Ann Althouse's...

  • February 27, 2008

    The Democrats' debate last night

    Obama was unflappable and very smooth. Her strategy was to unnerve him by annoying him with relentless attack on his health care plan. He held his own.He also lies: he is not ahead in every poll with john McCain- Rasmussen and Gallup have McCain ahea...

  • February 23, 2008

    Presidential race polling may be shifting

    The New York Times smear appears to have been a huge boost for McCain, and Obama is beginning to plateau, if not slip a bit.  Nobody but Rasmussen has picked this up yet (he has new numbers at 10 Central each day).  This is a big story,...

  • February 21, 2008

    New York Times disgraces itself, may help McCain

    The New York Times under Pinch Sulzberger has, for all practical purposes,  become an arm  of the Democratic National Committee.  If Howard Dean, instead of Bill Keller and Andy Rosenthal, were formally given the assignment to select a...

  • February 15, 2008

    Can Anybody Stop Obama?

    We are just shy of nine months to the general election, and many in the media, in their excitement over Barack Obama, are ready to declare him the Democratic Party nominee, and a likely general election winner over the all but certain Republican stan...

  • January 30, 2008

    The Base is Wrong About the Gang of 14

    When conservatives lay out their long list of apostasies committed by John McCain, one of them is always his role in the Gang of 14, the 7 Democrats and 7 Republicans in the Senate who agreed to a judicial compromise in 2005. The deal that was struck...

  • January 26, 2008

    Hillary's inner Tracy Flick

    I just re-watched the flim Election the other night, and made the same connection between Hillary and the film's character Tracy Flick as did Slate V. Watch the entertaining video clip here and see for yourself....

  • January 26, 2008

    Another kiss of death

    How can you tell the Dems do NOT want McCain to be the nominee of the Republican party?  They smother him with kisses.  First the NY Times endorses him, now Bill Clinton offers this.If they can move a few per cent in Florida from McCain to ...

  • January 15, 2008

    Romney ahead in Michogan

    If Romney wins Michigan, as appears to be happening, the big winner will be Rudy. A loss in Michigan will weaken McCain in South Carolina and Florida, the next two big stops for the GOP. Rudy is still very competitive in Florida, and has banked his w...

  • January 12, 2008

    Nevada prepares to caucus

    I am in Las Vegas and it is heaven for a political junkie. Lots of Hillary and Obama ads in the media. Non-stop coverage on local news. One major media theme: unions endorsed Obama without polling members. Another: women and Hispanics like her better...

  • January 11, 2008

    Immigration: A Modest Proposal

    No issue seems to excite the GOP base more than immigration and the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants already here. Politically correct Democrats maintain there are no illegals, only undocumented workers.  Democrats, for all practical purp...

  • January 7, 2008

    Only McCain Can Beat Obama

    I know John McCain does not go down easily among many conservatives. But with Barack Obama looking like the victor among Democrats, his party needs the Arizona Senator at the top of the ticket. Conservatives may decry his support of campaign finance ...

  • January 4, 2008

    The Big Winners

    There were three winners in Iowa last night: Mike Huckabee, Barack Obama, and John McCain. The race in both parties has now changed, with the path to the nomination clearer on the Democratic side than the Republican. The DemocratsBarack Obama won dec...

  • January 4, 2008

    Goodbyle Iowa, Hello Obama

    Goodbye Iowa for 4 more years. But the Hawkeye State may have crowned the new President this time: Barack Obama. I believe he will be very hard to stop now, both for the nomination and the general election if he is nominated, given how shattered the ...

  • December 26, 2007

    Has Hillary Found Her Man?

    There has been much speculation that if Hillary Clinton wins the Democratic nomination for President (a less certain bet today than a few months back though still likely), she will choose a running mate with a military background.  Virginia Sena...

  • December 22, 2007

    Giuliani's Woes Continue

    Rudy's numbers are starting to break down. Rudy Giuliani's national share of the GOP vote dropped to 13% Thursday before recovering to 16% Friday in the daily Rasmussen tracking poll. As McCain's numbers have risen, Rudy's have declined by almost the...

  • December 20, 2007

    Back from the Dead Again: McCain Rising

    Political journalists all too often get caught up in the day-to-day momentum of a race and have short memories, making them poor judges of character.  A few months back, John McCain's run for the GOP Presidential nomination was considered to be ...

  • December 17, 2007

    The Hall of Fame Debate Begins Anew

    The long awaited Mitchell report on steroid use by baseball players identified over 80 alleged users. The evidence presented on some players, for example Roger Clemens, appeared to be more damning than on others who have received far more publicity f...

  • December 17, 2007

    Is Paul Krugman bucking for a Cabinet position in a Clinton Administration?

    Paul Krugman continues to carry water for Hillary Clinton, with another hit piece on Barack Obama and his health care proposals in the New York Times. Krugman suggests you need to go to war with the drug companies and insurance companies to get ...

  • December 6, 2007

    Obama rally to be held at massive venue

    More terrible news for Hillary. She may be tossing lamps and china at hapless staffers soon. Blake Dvorak reports on the TIME Magazine blog: "Faced with overwhelming demand, the Obama campaign announced today that it will be moving Sunday's rall...

  • December 4, 2007

    NIE: other things going on

    Here is a my quick reflection on the top news story of the day: the intelligence community's assessment on Iran's nuclear program.  1.  The intelligence community was unaware that Al Qaeda was about to strike on 9/11. So wrong on that ...

  • December 3, 2007

    Nominating the Next President: The Frontrunners and the Wingmen

    Not for the first time in the current Presidential election cycle, the momentum appears to have shifted in each party's race. The current national frontrunners, Hillary Clinton for the Democrats, and Rudy Giuliani for the Republicans,  appear to...

  • November 29, 2007

    A GOP Senate seat pick-up in Louisiana?

    Finally, some good news for the GOP in Senate recruiting efforts. John Kennedy was up 7 points in a poll against Landrieu before he announced his candidacy. Now he has declared himself in the race. I think Mary Landrieu, who is a strong campaigner, i...

  • November 26, 2007

    Lebanese Shiite cleric slams Hezb'allah

    Lebanese Shi'ite cleric Muhammad Al-Hajj Hassan slams Hezb'allah Sec-Gen Nasrallah, and the "Godfather of Idiots" Assad in this TV clip from Future TV in Lebanon, via MEMRI. It may be similar in some ways to Sunnis in Iraq separating f...

  • November 23, 2007

    Road to Nowhere

    The effort to achieve peace between Israel and the Palestinians is today premised on the belief that if Israel withdrew from the West Bank, there would soon be a basis for achieving a stable two state solution and an end to the violence bet...

  • November 21, 2007

    Hillary imitates Johnny Cochran

    Hillary Clinton was not too happy that a picture of a nude man was on a wall in a home where a fundraiser was to occur. No problem. The owner took it down, saying it was done for "conservation" reasons but that it would be back up ...

  • November 21, 2007

    Reclaiming high school education

    More and more families have given up on the public school system, and for good reason. The curriculum has been substantially dumbed down, and with the exception of preaching Al Gore's global warming medicine, and the danger of Islamophobia ( Islam is...

  • October 29, 2007

    The other curse of the Cubs

    The Cubs have reached a new low in a season in which they made the playoffs.   The Cubs were swept by Arizona, which was swept by Colorado, which was swept by Boston.  So is it a curse even to beat the Cubs?[Editor's note: Richard Baehr is ...

  • October 23, 2007

    How Hillary Revived the GOP

    A few months back, Republicans were troubled by the prospect of House and Senate retirements, the huge fundraising advantage for Democrats in the Presidential race and Congressional races, and the continued political overhang of the Iraq war and the ...

  • October 21, 2007

    Why I am a Jewish Conservative

    [Editor's note: The following is the text of an address given yesterday by AT political director Richard Baehr to Congregation Rodfei Zedek in the Hyde Park district of Chicago, and a group of visiting students from Harding University, a Christi...

  • October 15, 2007

    Responses to Coulter

    I have received a lot of email about my article on Ann Coulter. I have also watched the video of her interview with Donnie Deutsch a few more times. I am not a Deutsch fan by the way, regardless of what I think of Coulter. He appears to have learned ...

  • October 13, 2007

    Ann Coulter is Not Helping

    I have never been much of an Ann Coulter fan. I tend to prefer substantive argument to flame-throwing. There is plenty of very substantive conservative political argument around. Some of it has appeared on this website the last four years. There is a...

  • October 3, 2007

    The New American Tyranny: A Prosecutor, the Faculty and Journalists

    A review of Until Proven Innocent, by Stuart Taylor and K.C. JohnsonIn one of  the final scenes from Robert Bolt's classic 1966 film: A Man for All Seasons, Thomas More confronts Richard Rich, who has lied about hearing Sir Thomas condemn King H...

  • September 19, 2007

    Signs of life for the GOP

    This will likely keep Bob Kerrey, the only Democrat with a shot at the open Nebraska Senate seat, from running. Johanns was very popular former Governor and Agriculture Secretary.  From Reid Wilson at Real Clear Politics:The Lincoln Journal Star...

  • September 18, 2007

    The GOP horse race

    Fred Siegel, writing in Commentary Magazine's Contentions blog, argues that Rudy Giuliani's response to the MoveOn ad and his attack on Hillary Clinton, may have helped both him and Hillary Clinton.  For months Mitt Romney was the only one ...

  • September 12, 2007

    The New Years Gift from Hamas

    Word came yesterday that a rocket fired from Gaza injured 69 Israeli soldiers at their Negev base located but one kilometer north of the Gaza border, where the soldiers were in basic training.  Practically every day since Israel's disengagement ...

  • September 3, 2007

    Ellison's chutzpah

    Following his appearance before a group advocating the murder of Jews, Rep. Keith Ellison has joined the bi-partisan Congressional Task Force on Anti-Semitism (CTFAS). Americans Against Hate reports:Congressman Keith Ellison is touting on his website...

  • September 2, 2007

    The LAT's porno peace plan

    The Los Angeles Times devotes an editorial   to supporting a new Israeli initiative with the Palestinians -- reaching out to them through a pornographic web site. The editorial of course finds a way to get in a gratuitous slap at Presi...

  • August 27, 2007

    The circus is coming to town in Chicago

    DePaul University wants Norman Finkelstein gone in the wake of denial of tenure. The Professor refuses to go. Scott Jaschick of Inside Higher Education, in an article generally sympathetic to Finkelstein, writes  DePaul is having secon...

  • August 22, 2007

    Amanpour's war

    I slogged through one episode of Christiane Amanpour's CNN series Warriors for God last night, this one on Israel's Holy Warriors, those awful religious settlers in the occupied territory. I tried to count the number of times the word "occu...

  • August 14, 2007

    The Shape of a Hillary-Rudy Race

    Current national polls show both Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani with solid leads for their respective party's nominations. Clinton holds about a 20% lead over  Barack Obama in national polls , and is rated by London odds-makers a near 60% pro...

  • August 6, 2007

    Is Barry Bonds Baseball's Greatest Slugger?

    Sometime in the next few days, Barry Bonds will become the all-time home run leader in major league baseball history, surpassing Henry Aaron. He already holds the single season home run record of 73. The Giants slugger has won 7 MVP awards, a major l...

  • July 30, 2007

    GOP Lags in Fundraising, Internet Savvy

    If Hillary Clinton is the Democratic nominee (better than 50-50 at this point) ,she has already announced she will not accept the $75 million federal payment, and raise money independently for the general election. She might be able to raise ...

  • July 25, 2007

    Dear New Republic...

    American Thinker Political Director Richard Baehr sent the following to Editor in Chief Martin Peretz at The New Republic with regards to the Scott Thomas Saga: I have been a subscriber to the New Republic for well over 20 years. While I am more to t...

  • July 23, 2007

    More Cultural Relativism From The Times

    Noah Feldman, an orthodox Jew, educated at Maimonides Academy in Brookline, Massachusetts many years back, is very upset that his school paper is not including updates on his life events (marriage to a Korean American, two children). He clearl...

  • July 21, 2007

    Why Does the Left Hate Israel?

    An American Thinker ClassicFor decades, most American Jews have believed there were far greater threats from the fringe right than the fringe left in this country. While this view may have been reasonable in the past, it is certainly not so today. Th...

  • July 11, 2007

    Vitter's troubles may benefit Landrieu

    David Vitter's madam troubles – play-for-pay companions in two cities, it appears today (with a Larry Flynt press conference to pile on tonight), will not force him to resign, but they may help Democrat Mary Landrieu in her re-election bid...

  • July 7, 2007

    Where in the world?

    Where is the world's best-performing stock market right now? Someplace you probably didn't consider....

  • July 5, 2007

    Seven Months Out: The State of the Races

    It is only July 5th, and Election Day, 2008 is 16 months away, but with the front loading of the primaries next year, particularly the many large states voting on February 5th, it is a reasonable assumption that both major party candidates will be kn...

  • July 1, 2007

    Where's the data?

    London's leftist mayor "Red Ken" Livingston has made a controversial statement. I would like to see the statistics to support this whopper:"In this city, Muslims are more likely to be law-abiding than non-Muslims and less likely to sup...

  • July 1, 2007

    Another black congressman falsely accused

    Carl Hiassen, the very talented novelist and Miami Herald columnist, covers  the heartwarming story of a mother and son falsely accused of graft, when in fact they are the victims of a mere coincidence. Or something. Just as fellow Black Caucaus...

  • June 29, 2007

    No More Land for War in Israel: Part 2

    Part 1 may be read hereThe difficult part of commenting on the Israeli Palestinian conflict has never been in assigning blame for what has gone wrong.  Rather, it has been in trying to come up with rational and creative policy suggestions and al...

  • June 25, 2007

    Events clarify Palestinian realities

    Freed from his politically correct overseers at the New York Times, Joel Brinkley provides an honest assessment of Hamas. While President Bush and other Western leaders stumble over each other as they scramble to embrace Mahmoud Abbas, the Fatah lead...

  • June 25, 2007

    Not fit to print in the NYT?

    Does anyone really expect to read this news in the New York Times? Elizabeth Stanton of Bloomberg writes:Among the markets that say President George W. Bush is doing ``a heck of a job,'' the one he can take the most satisfaction from is U.S. Treasury...

  • June 21, 2007

    The assault on free speech in radio (updated)

    Think Progress, a left wing organization, prepares for the assault on free speech radio, through reimposition of the government controls on what can and can't be said on the airwaves in what proportion.  Of course, the way such calculations are ...

  • June 20, 2007

    No More Land for War in Israel

    Part OneThe decisive rout of Fatah in Gaza last week has led to a series of calls for new strategies designed to seize the opportunity created by the sudden turn of events. The current thinking among the world's leading "peace processors" i...

  • June 7, 2007

    Socialized medicine's death toll in Scotland

    Scotland is a  nation within a nation, whose population has remained around 5.1 million for the last 40 years.  So the fact that a study suggests  that 462,000 Scots have died as a result of poor care from the National Health Service o...

  • June 3, 2007

    No real new here. Move along

    The New York Times manages to find space on page 30 of the national print edition this morning for news of the thwarted terror plot to blow up JFK Airport, which, after all, is not as important as the news that Barack Obama shoots hoops  in his ...

  • June 1, 2007

    Krauthammer's Guarded Optimism on Israel

    Dr. Charles Krauthammer, a psychiatrist by training and a long time political journalist by profession, rarely travels outside of Washington DC to deliver talks. So it was not surprising that an audience of close to 2,000 filled the Grand Ballroom of...

  • May 27, 2007

    To some, Obama can do no wrong

    Why are seemingly very intelligent people drinking the Barack Obama Kool-Aid?It seems for some that it is enough that he is not Hillary Clinton, viewed by many Democrats as a loser in a general election contest, and not very likable or warm in a...

  • May 25, 2007

    The Muslim vote

    How many Muslims are there in America? Try 2.3 million, not 5 to 12 million as the spokespeople for Muslim groups like to claim. Will the mainstream media wake up and stop spouting  the 6 to 8 million estimates now that the liberal Pew Trust has...

  • May 23, 2007

    Pew propaganda spin

    Are Muslim Americans mostly middle class and mostly mainstream, as headlined by the Pew Research Center?  Is there any other group which would be surveyed for which the labels "moderate" and "assimilated" would be used when m...

  • May 22, 2007

    Israel a bigger human rights problem than Sudan? Really?

    Gerald Steinberg, who publishes the NGO Monitor, has carefully reviewed the various activities and official activities by Amnesty International in the last year, and found that for Amnesty, Israel is a bigger human rights problem than Sudan. In ...

  • May 17, 2007

    Bolton v BBC: no contest

    This is priceless. A prototypical British interviewer for the BBC tries to jab John Bolton, and gets his empty head handed to him. That the Democrats twice worked to prevent Bolton from getting confirmed as UN ambassador is nothing short of a nationa...

  • May 10, 2007

    Soros and Hillary: Partners on Israel?

    George Soros, like many megalomaniacs, particularly the wealthiest ones, likes to keep his hands in those enterprises in which he invests.  As he has turned over more of the day to day operations of his Quantum hedge fund to his sons, Soros has ...

  • May 6, 2007

    A worthless survey from Newsweek

    Newsweek is out with a new poll on the presidential race, with head to head ratings among leading Democrats and Republican candidates.   The survey shows Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards all beating Rudy Giuliani, John Mc...

  • May 4, 2007

    Fred Thompson and the GOP's Southern Problem

    The inside the beltway political horse race broadcasters are abuzz about the possible (I think likely) entrance into the GOP Presidential race of former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson.  In his email report to subscribers, Charles Cook summarize...

  • April 29, 2007

    Democrat Dreams and GOP Weakness

    These are dark days for the GOP. Chris Cillizza, the Washington Post's political prognosticator, is starting to talk seriously of the Democrat's being in position to obtain a filibuster-proof majority  of 60 seats in the Senate after the 2010 el...

  • April 24, 2007

    Imus is offensive?

    What about "Rosie to Sheryl Crow: 'Have You Seen My Ass?'..."?Or Rosie Grosses Out Media Elite?Or CBS Radio Show Hosts Suspended?...

  • April 20, 2007

    Blaspheming Barack

    Charles Krauthammer may soon need a new secretary to respond to reader e-mail.  As I learned this week, when one writes a critical article about Illinois Senator Barack Obama, the furies descend on you. Krauthammer , Ben Smith,  Mickey Kaus...

  • April 20, 2007

    A long weekend at the NYT?

    Maybe with Earth Day on Sunday, the New York Times editors took Friday off and let the staff of NY Sun run the paper. Consider two items today about Librescu the hero (from The AP) and a piece by Isabel Kershner in effect bashing Muslim honor killing...

  • April 18, 2007

    Obama not ready for prime time?

    Barack Obama apparently believes that the mass murder of 32 students and professors at Virginia Tech is on a par with the violence represented by outsourcing of American jobs. I kid you not. He actually made this comparison in his latest attempt at i...

  • April 16, 2007

    Obama continues to surge

    As matters stand now, it looks like Obama could well be the Democrats' nominee. He has already pulled within 2-3% of Hillary on a Rasmussen poll and 4% on a CNN poll, and bettered her in total funds raised for the primary election by $5.7 millio...

  • April 4, 2007

    The money primary

    Barack Obama has released his first quarter fundraising totals, and the data are even more impressive than they appeared Monday, when I was the first to note (so far as I am aware) that Obama's total included only funds for the primary election, whil...

  • April 2, 2007

    Obama, not Hillary, won the 1st quarter fundraising derby

    The headlines may proclaim that Hillary Clinton set a record for fund-raising in the first quarter of the year, and that she out-raised Obama. The New York Times, for instance, said,"Clinton Campaign Shows Fund-Raising Edge"But go beneath t...

  • April 1, 2007

    One German who gets it

    His name is Claus Christian Malzahn, and he writes for Der Spiegel (of all publications!). Read this. ...

  • March 28, 2007

    The War Against Israel in America: Part Two

    [Part one is found here.]Imagine a major orchestra playing Beethoven's  9th  Symphony, with a very large chorale on stage to sing during the final movement.  Their voices are easily heard throughout the hall.  Today in America, we...

  • March 26, 2007

    March Madness

    Finally, a New York Times article hits all the right notes!  Matt Villano describes the "action at Ceasars Palace's' sports book on the first weekend of the NCAA Mens' basketball tournament in March .While I missed this recent weekend ...

  • March 21, 2007

    The War in America Against Israel (part one)

    Like a new Broadway show testing the waters in New Haven or Boston before hitting the bright lights of New York, an anti-Israel media crusade is going through its warm up numbers in preparation for two big June events.  Those upcoming showcases ...

  • March 9, 2007

    The State of the Race: The Republicans

    The most remarkable aspect of the 2008 Presidential race at the moment is its unpredictability. Hillary Clinton, is now in an unexpectedly tight fight and could easily lose to Barack Obama, something she probably never anticipated.  Possibly wai...

  • March 5, 2007

    The State of the Race: The Democrats

    The likely Presidential nominees of both parties will be decided by February 5, 2008, (if not earlier), when more than a dozen states, including the largest five, may hold primaries.  The frontloading of the primaries suggests that only candidat...

  • February 18, 2007

    The Last Dance

    There will be the usual sellout crowd at Assembly Hall in Urbana, Il. this coming Wednesday night. The Fighting Illini are a bubble team this year for the NCAA Men's Basketball 65 team field in March, and need every win before the tournament to ...

  • February 11, 2007

    Netanyahu bloggers conference call

    The bloggers conference call with Benjamin Netanyahu we covered earlier is now available as a podcast at the One Jerusalem website. Click here. ...

  • February 9, 2007

    Bibi Netanyahu conference call

    Bibi Netanyahu, the former Israeli Prime Minister, held a bloggers conference call yesterday in which I participated. The call is comprehensively described (as is always the case) by Rick Richman Netanyahu is keenly focused on preventing Iran from co...

  • February 8, 2007

    The Chicago Tribune's Pre-emptive Strike on Rudy Giuliani

    The Chicago Tribune seems to fancy itself in the role of kingmaker when it comes to knocking candidates out of political races, and helping hometown politicians it favors to win. Its latest effort has targeted Rudy Giuliani, who all but officially en...

  • February 6, 2007

    The Guardian's Monbiot takes on the moonbats

    The British paper, the Guardian, is the paper that the New York Times strives to emulate. Like the Times, it despises George Bush, America's war in Iraq, Christian religious believers and Israel, and is captivated by the wonders of multiculturalism. ...

  • January 28, 2007

    Two Good Guys and the Other G Word

    Super Bowl XLI has lots of folks excited, and with one week to go before the big game, lots of predictable story lines about the teams, coaches, and cities are in the media. Indianapolis has never had a team in the Super Bowl before and only once bef...

  • January 18, 2007

    Clintonites hedging their bet with Obama

    There are few politicians shrewder or tougher than Rahm Emanuel, my Chicago Northside neighbor. His leadership of the Democrats' efforts to regain control of the House paid off handsomely last November for the Democrats, enhancing his clout. His brot...

  • January 13, 2007

    Why Europe Abandoned Israel

    Why is Israel viewed so differently in Europe than in the United States? To argue as the title of this article does, that Europe has abandoned Israel, is to suggest that it was once in its corner. And in fact, this is true. Prior to the Six Day War i...

  • December 31, 2006

    A Tale of Two Ex-Presidents

    Gerald Ford's death has brought back into the news for a few days a lot of  political history that roughly half of all living Americans were born too late to experience. Watergate, Richard Nixon's resignation, the collapse of the South Vietnames...

  • December 29, 2006

    A new apartheid wall?

    A country has chosen to build a wall to stop the flow of militants from crossing its border and creating terror and havoc in two countries.  Some critics say that the real problem is the tolerance of militants by a government that claims to be f...

  • December 24, 2006

    NYT throws in the towel on Nifong

    This account of the serious problems with the Duke rape case and Mike Nifong's conduct comes a little late, after their multi-page attempt to resurrect he case a few months back. Maybe Jayson Blair can do a followup story on what really happened...

  • December 15, 2006

    The damage to Duke starts to show

    Duke University's handling of the alleged rape attack by three members of its lacrosse team last year, along with the exposure of town-gown antagonisms and other negative publicity seems to have caused measurable damage to the school. The results are...

  • December 15, 2006

    Can the Israeli-Palestinian Dynamic Change?

    Editor's note: We present a four-part dialogue on the possibility of fundamentally changing the nature of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. First comes a proposal from Dan Gordon, a response from Richard Baehr, and shorter rejoin...

  • December 14, 2006

    Mortality and the Senate

    Sen. Tim Johnson is in critical condition after surgery. We wish the Senator all the best in his recovery. But the medical news sounds very bad. Johnson is a moderate Democrat who voted for both Alito and Roberts for the Supreme Court. The governor o...

  • December 13, 2006

    From left field

    As Hillary Clinton attempts to carefully play nice with America's newest political saint, Senator Barack Obama, hoping to lure him into a VP slot on her ticket rather than a competitive race against her for the Democratic Presidential nod, comes news...

  • November 29, 2006

    The debate on Jewish GOP voters continues

    Shmuel Rosner, Chief US Correspondent for Haaretz, has weighed in again in the continuing debate on what polls revealed about Jewish voting preferences in the recent election.  Mr. Rosner's article is worth reading carefully. He agrees with me t...

  • November 27, 2006

    Voting Republican while Jewish

    The Jewish newspaper, The Forward has carried an article claiming that far fewer Jews voted for the GOP than claimed in a survey sponsored by the Republican Jewish Coalition. Jennifer Siegel suggests in her "Unaffiliated Jews Don't Count?" ...

  • November 15, 2006

    The Exit Polls and the Jewish Vote

    Almost within hours of the release on Wednesday morning of summaries of the national exit polls, conducted with voters across the county on Election Day, I received several gloating emails from liberal Jewish acquaintances, pointing to one specific r...

  • November 8, 2006

    No Dressing up this Pig

    Let us be honest. This was a wipeout. The Republicans did not win any Democrat—held House seats. They won no Democrat—held Senate seats. They won no Democrat—held Governors races. That has not happened before within memory. The vot...

  • November 6, 2006

    Premature Celebration for the Democrats?

    Two big balloons popped over the weekend. The Bears were routed at home by Miami, and those Super Bowl reservations already made by their fans now seem a bit premature. And that Democratic wave in the polls that Stuart Rothenberg and Charles Cook ha...

  • November 3, 2006

    Will a Democrat Win Change Our Relationship with Israel?

    On Wednesday, AIPAC, the American Israel Political Affairs Committee, released a statement on the impact of a change in control in the Congress on the US Israel relationship. The statement reads as follows: 'In recent weeks, some have suggested that ...

  • November 2, 2006

    Five Days to Go

    The Republican Party has had a good two days thanks to John Kerry's insulting remark about the intelligence and drive of our military in Iraq on Monday, and his ham—handed inability to apologize for it right away. Kerry gave the GOP a free day ...

  • October 23, 2006

    Barack Obama: The Visible Man

    Senator Barack Obama is on the cover of Time this week, with a love song portrait composed by Joe Klein, who last lost his heart with Bill Clinton. Obama, who is not running for anything this year, was on Tim Russert's Meet the Press show Sunday to t...

  • October 18, 2006

    Election Forecast: Three Weeks Out

    In the past two weeks, since the emergence of the Mark Foley affair, every political analyst has raised his forecast of likely Democratic gains in the House, and most are forecasting a Democratic takeover, requiring at least a 15 seat pickup. Yesterd...

  • September 29, 2006

    Al Gore's Crusade

    Wednesday  night I heard the global warming presentation that former Vice President Al Gore has now given many hundreds of times around the country and the world in recent years. The speech was turned into a movie, An Inconvenient Truth (with ac...

  • September 18, 2006

    Under the Media Radar: They Also Run

    There are 435 Congressional districts, and in most election years, 5 to 10% of them have competitive races, almost always won by an incumbent.  In recent years, a much higher percentage of open seats have turned over between the parties, than se...

  • September 5, 2006

    Will the Democrats Take the House? It Might Happen

    It is a lot harder to reliably forecast the likelihood of a change in control for the House than for the Senate.  There are 435 House races, and roughly 65 of them are drawing some degree of competitive attention this year, far more than in prio...

  • August 17, 2006

    Hezbollah Plays Oprah

    The New York Times reported Wednesday that Hezb'allah is starting to spread the green around Southern Lebanon, offering $10,000 per family for rental assistance for a year, while clearing roads, helping reconstruct houses, feeding the returning ...

  • July 20, 2006

    American Political Wars and Israel's War with Hezbollah

    The Sunday talk shows and the evening cables news show have devoted much of their time this week to the Israel/Hezbollah conflict. As if required by law to demonstrate perfect balance, the talk shows always find a Republican and a Democrat to discuss...

  • July 9, 2006

    The Hope and the Siege

    Israel's national anthem, Hatikvah, ("The Hope"), was written in 1886 by Naphtali Herz Imber, an English poet, originally from Bohemia.  Or it may have been first written in 1878 by Imber, a Galician, while living in the Ukraine. With google sea...

  • July 5, 2006

    Convict, Correct, but Never Apologize

    In recent months, the cable TV shows, newsweeklies and large circulation newspapers eagerly jumped into a story about an alleged rape of an exotic dancer by several Duke lacrosse players.  The media storyline fit the theory of the case put forth...

  • June 6, 2006

    Giuliani Time?

    The rubber chicken circuit can be brutal. So one of the best indicators of how likely it is that a potential candidate will in fact run for national office is how much effort he expends to campaign for his party's candidates in the Congressional elec...

  • May 22, 2006

    Tectonic Plates Moving on Madison Street

    Chicago, the most ebulliently American of our big cities, is seeing a great reversal of fortune in baseball, the American national pastime. The White Sox, scandalized as the "Black Sox" almost a century ago, the team of the downscale Southside, has e...

  • May 4, 2006

    More Land, Less Peace

    Caroline Glick, columnist for the Jerusalem Post, аhas written a serious paper exposing the risks inherent in Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's 'Convergence ' plan for the West Bank.ааThat plan calls for an Israeli withdrawal from most (90% or mor...

  • April 19, 2006

    The 2006 Prospects for Capitol Hill Control

    Several months back, many political pundits were arguing that the Democrats had a real chance of winning control of the Senate in the 2006 elections. There were fewer stories about the battle for control of the House. This is not surprising sinc...

  • April 7, 2006

    The College Rejection Bonanza

    'April is the cruelest month' — T.S. Eliot, The Wasteland It is rejection time for almost all the applicants to elite colleges and universities. America's most prestigious schools, which pride themselves on their ever—lower acceptance rat...

  • February 6, 2006

    Fear Factor, the Shakedown, and Diversionary Tactics

    The first dangerously violent protests in the Muslim world that have been directed against Denmark and other EU nations in the current cartoon crisis were in the Palestinian territories. Those attacks have grown more serious in the past few...

  • January 27, 2006

    Hamas, the Mussolini Test and Iran

    Hamas, the Islamic Resistance movement, has won an overwhelming victory in the Palestinian legislative elections. The latest count is that they have captured 76 seats to 43 for Fatah out of the 132 seats in the legislature, or well over half. ...

  • January 24, 2006

    Larry Franklin and the New York Times NSA leaks

    Pinch Sulzberger, meet Larry Franklin. The publisher of the New York Times had better pay attention to the fate of Mr. Franklin. Last Friday, US District Judge T. S. Ellis III sentenced Pentagon employee Larry Franklin to just over 12 years in prison...

  • January 17, 2006

    Will Democrats Take the Senate? In a Word, No.

    Democratic National Chairman Howard Dean is talking of retaking control of the Senate in the 2006 elections. With Republicans holding 55 seats, and having to defend only 15 of the 33 seats that are up this year, that would be a tall order for the Dem...

  • January 10, 2006

    The Alito Hearings

    I watched almost none of the hearing live Monday, except for Alito's statement, since the rest of the day was Senatorial posturing, or in the case of Senators Kennedy and Schumer, indicting.  But Tuesday was much more interesting, almost li...

  • December 28, 2005

    The Good German and the Bad Jews

    I have not seen Steven Spielberg's new movie Munich, and I certainly do not intend to pay to see it.  When I read  that Spielberg had hired Israel—hating playwright Tony Kushner to write the screenplay for the movie (Kushner has argue...

  • December 27, 2005

    Why Does the Left Hate Israel?

    [Editor's note: during the holiday period, we are republishing classic articles along with a few new ones. This article was written in January 2004.] For decades, most American Jews have believed there were far greater threats from the fringe righ...

  • December 27, 2005

    Suffering and Jihad

    [Editor's note: during the hoiliday period, we are republishing classic articles along with a few new ones. This article was written in January 2004, when Yasser Arafat was still alive] One of the arguments heard frequently since 9/11 is that there...

  • December 26, 2005

    The myth of the stolen election of 2000

    [Editor's note: during the holidays, we are re—publishing some classic American Thinker articles. This article comes from early 2004.] Elections in which vengeful anger is the strongest motivating force for one or more sides, deviate from the ...

  • December 9, 2005

    A Special Hanukkah Party

    A few weeks back, I was pleasantly surprised (shocked would be more accurate) to have received an invitation to the annual White House Hanukkah Party, held this past Tuesday evening.  Scott Johnson of Powerline  has written a very good desc...

  • November 24, 2005

    Spielberg steps in it

    Warning signs are already out and should be for the coming Steven Spielberg movie on the Israeli effort to hunt down those who participated in, or planned the Munich massacre in 1972.  In an article in the LA Weekly about the movie, the clear sp...

  • November 22, 2005

    Megalomania in the Liberal Jewish Establishment

    Liberals are feeling their oats these days. The President's poll ratings are down. Support for the Iraq war has eroded. Democrats in Congress are on the offensive charging the White House with misleading the country into war.  An aide to the Vic...

  • November 8, 2005

    France shatters the MSM template

    But two short months ago, European newspapers and magazines were in full thrall over Hurricane Katrina, and the Bush Administration's flawed response. They were joined in their journalistic ecstasy by prominent American reporters, including Brian Wil...

  • October 26, 2005

    The growing threat to Israel

    [Editor's note: the following article is the text of an address given by our chief political correspondent Richard Baehr to a gathering at the Los Angeles area home of Tammy Steinsapir, a remarkable hostess who has revived the honorable and thoroughl...

  • October 19, 2005

    South Side Story

    There is no White Sox Nation. There is also no national White Sox diaspora, only those who left the declining Southwest—Side ethnic neighborhoods and moved to distant suburbs in the last few decades. When the Pale Hose play on the road, there i...

  • September 29, 2005

    The Siege

    [Editor's note: The following is a transcript of an address by Richard Baehr to the Stand By Israel conference of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, in Washington, DC, September 28, 2005] It is a great pleasure and privilege for me...

  • September 6, 2005

    New Orleans myths: The numbers tell a different story

    There will be plenty of time to argue about who was responsible for the slow response in New Orleans this week in dealing with those who did not choose to leave, or were unable to leave the city before the hurricane hit. The catastrophe that followed...

  • September 3, 2005

    Wal-Mart and the Death of the American Labor Movement

    Weekend Holiday Classic   For many years, civil rights advocates have complained that major commercial chains— supermarkets and department stores, avoided locating stores in inner city neighborhoods.  Now Wal—Mart has decided to...

  • August 26, 2005

    More Krugman lies: the Great Unraveling continues

    Paul Krugman, provides a small correction box at the bottom of his column today in the New York Times, to deal with some of his multitude of errors in his two recent columns on the Florida election controversy in 2000, and the Ohio controversy (...

  • August 23, 2005

    More baloney from Krugman

    Paul Krugman, tries to respond today to withering attacks on his column from last Friday in which he declared that a full statewide manual recount would have given Al Gore the victory in Florida in 2000.  Somebody at the New York Times may have ...

  • August 20, 2005

    Krugman's Big Lie

    Paul Krugman, the former Enron advisor, New York Times op ed columnist, and presumably in his spare time, 'educator' at Princeton, has made a habit of distortion, and half truths in his twice—weekly columns in the 'paper of record.'  Sever...

  • August 15, 2005

    All over except for the shouting

    For the second time in just a few weeks, the left has badly overshot in an attempt to smear Supreme Court nominee John Roberts. The two attempts reflect panic over what has from the beginning appeared to be an easy path to confirmation for the obviou...

  • August 5, 2005

    Storm Clouds for the GOP?

    Newt Gingrich is right, I think, that Republicans should be concerned with the results of the special election for the 2nd district House seat of recently appointed trade representative Rob Portman in the Cincinnati suburbs of Ohio. John Kerry ...

  • July 25, 2005

    Israel as a stabilizing force in the Middle East

    [Editor's note: this article is based on a recent address to meeting of the 42nd Ward GOP in Chicago, July 20th] This topic is an unusual one. An argument that Israel is a stabilizing force suggests that many people hold a different view. It is worth...

  • July 5, 2005

    Supreme Hype

    The media is abuzz and hoping for a great battle. While most Americans are not particularly excited about the choice of a new Associate Justice for the Supreme Court, activists from the left and right, and those who report or comment on politics, are...

  • June 18, 2005

    The Democrats sign up with the anti-Semites

    It is important that support for Israel in the US Congress is bipartisan. Israel, the only functioning democracy in the Middle East, has no real friend in the world other than America. The stability of that friendship, demonstrated by support in the ...

  • June 15, 2005

    The McCain gambit

    Just as Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman is the Republicans' favorite Democrat (now that Zell Miller is retired from the Senate), Arizona Senator John McCain is the Democrats' favorite Republican. McCain's selective opposition to domestic polic...

  • May 31, 2005

    The big set-up

    Haaretz  reported yesterday  that charges, possibly under the Espionage Act of 1917, will be filed very soon by the Justice Department against two former AIPAC officials, Steve Rosen, and Keith Weissman. The most disturbing part of the stor...

  • May 23, 2005

    Slurring Bush at the New York Times

    The utter disdain of New York Times reporters for President Bush makes a mockery of the supposed "separation of church and state" (putatively reporting neutrally, editorializing from the left) in their brand of journalism. The Times' condescension or...

  • May 10, 2005

    Subsidizing Palestinians

    The Los Angeles Times endorses a recent Rand Corporation analysis callingа for $33 billion in international aid for the Palestinians over ten years, to build or rebuild their society. The history of providing money to the Palestinian Authority since ...

  • April 29, 2005

    The best of times or the worst of times for the GOP?

    The Baehr Essentials The mainstream media are full of news stories, written with barely concealed glee, suggesting a GOP crackup is near. The accepted story line is that far right Christian conservatives have rocked the political boat too hard, and m...

  • April 18, 2005

    DePaul's Jihad against academic freedom

    DePaul University in Chicago is one of the fastest growing universities in the country. It has become the largest Catholic—affiliated university in America. Muslim and Arab students are one of the segments of DePaul's student population that ha...

  • April 13, 2005

    A media-hyped rift

    Not every foreign leader gets invited to the Bush ranch in Crawford. In fact very few do. There have been no barbecue foie gras fests the past few years at the ranch. That Ariel Sharon, who has a ranch of pretty decent size himself in Israel, was inv...

  • April 1, 2005

    Columbia whitewash

    Predictably, as night follows day, the ad hoc faculty committee appointed by Columbia University President Lee Bollinger to examine the behavior of several Columbia faculty towards Israeli or pro—Israel students has concluded that little o...

  • March 23, 2005

    For the Times, it is always racism

    For the third time in a week, the New York Times has devoted space on the front page of its main news section to a sports article. The first story covered the baseball steroid hearings in Congress. The second was a feel—good puff piece on how v...

  • March 22, 2005

    Can TWA 800 shoot down Hillary?

    On July 17th, 1996, TWA flight 800, headed for Paris, exploded over the Atlantic Ocean at 8:30 PM, just minutes after takeoff from JFK Airport.  Immediately, suspicion arose that the plane had been shot down by a missile fired from a boat offsho...

  • March 15, 2005

    Hail to the Chief: tribes and tribalism in American sports

    At the Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament at the United Center in Chicago this week, ten of the eleven teams were allowed to bring their mascot. The outcast was the University of Illinois, the number one seed, the tournament winner and the number on...

  • March 1, 2005

    The early morning line on the biggest of the open seats

    Every two years, both major political parties fight hardest over open Senate and House seats. These seats tend to change hands between the parties a lot more often than incumbent Senate and House members are defeated running for re—election....

  • February 27, 2005

    Response to "Israel in retreat"

    Rachel Neuwirth's article "Israel in Retreat" is, to put it mildly, a bit hysterical. The Gaza disengagement plan was put together by Ariel Sharon, the father of the settlement movement, more than a year ago.  He did not prepare it as a result o...

  • February 21, 2005

    American demography and support for Israel

    There is good news and bad news.*  The good news is that the reports of the decline of Jewish and pro—Israel influence, and the rise of Arab/Muslim influence in the American political system are at the moment greatly exaggerated. The bad n...

  • February 8, 2005

    Thank you sir, may I have another?

    One of the many memorable scenes in the movie Animal House involves the fraternity initiation at Omega House. A young pledge, played by Kevin Bacon, is squatting before  the sadist ROTC leader Nedermayer, who keeps  walloping his behind. Ba...

  • February 1, 2005

    Bill Gates, global warming, and Davos

    The New York Times has now reviewed Michael Crichton's latest novel State of Fear twice, both times scathingly. In the Sunday Book Review Section on January 29th, the reviewer, Bruce Barcott, an editor of Outside Magazine, pins the left's ultimate sm...

  • January 25, 2005

    Democrats adrift

    In the first two and a half months following the bitterly fought 2004 Presidential election, a regular viewer of C—SPAN would have been 'entertained' by countless panels of Democrats, and progressives (liberally sprinkled with the requisite num...

  • January 17, 2005

    Shilling for the new Castro

    Last week, three US Senators, Florida's Bill Nelson, Connecticut's Christopher Dodd, and Rhode Island's Lincoln Chafee visited with Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez in Caracas, to try to assess the deteriorating state of US—Venezuelan relatio...

  • January 15, 2005

    Blue state madness

    Steve Sailer and others have developed lists of factors that appear to correlate fairly strongly with voting patterns in the most recent Presidential election and prior ones (white birth rates, among them).  The February 2005 edition of Chicago ...

  • January 10, 2005

    A day in the life of the Times

    Saturday is not normally the worst day of the week to read the New York Times. On Friday, one has to suffer through Paul Krugman's screeds blaming all the world's ills except for the tsunami on President Bush.  Sunday brings Maureen Dowd and her...

  • December 30, 2004

    Turning a blind eye

    We have arrived at another of those moments of opportunity in the long conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.а And as has occurred so many times before, we are told to ignore all the signs that things are in fact not changing at allаby those w...

  • December 17, 2004

    The sound of stealing

    The late Chicago columnist Mike Royko often told a story about election night 1960 in Illinois, and the Presidential contest between then—Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy and Vice President Richard Nixon. As Kennedy's lead over  Nixon...

  • December 7, 2004

    Why Europe Went Wrong on Israel

    [Editor's note: this article is a transcription of a talk delivered by Richard Baehr at Temple Beth Israel, Skokie, Illinois Dec. 5, 2004] I will explain today why Israel is viewed differently in Europe than in the United States. Specifical...

  • November 29, 2004

    The intimidation factor

    There has been no shortage of articles in the last week on the decline of the NBA.  As a basketball fan with some historical perspective, I found the assault on the league both accurate, and a bit overwrought. There has also been a series of art...

  • November 22, 2004

    Berkeley bunkum

    For the past few days, the die—hard internet conspiracy theorists, desperate to cling to some thread of reasoning that will reassure them that Kerry actually won — that Bush stole the 2004 election —  have been touting a 'study...

  • November 17, 2004

    A state of nature

    The death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has brought forth all the shopworn bromides about the critical opportunity now ahead, to finally forge a lasting peace and a two state solution for Israel and the Palestinians. Arafat's death ha...

  • November 6, 2004

    An election wrap-up

    A few short takes on the election results. The Economy:  The economy was not the pre—eminent issue in the campaign.  The jobs report out on Friday showed 337,000 new jobs were created in October, and over a hundred thousand jobs ...

  • November 1, 2004

    Election forecast

    The Baehr Essentials We are four years on from the near—tied election of 2000.  But at least in terms of Presidential politics, things have not changed very much.  It is, in fact, quite possible that every state will vote the same way...

  • October 31, 2004

    John Zogby, the DNC's polling shill

    For much of the year, pollster John Zogby has been telling anyone who will listen that the election is John Kerry's to lose. With virtually all polls by all pollsters, including Zogby, showing a very close race for the presidency all year, the confid...

  • October 29, 2004

    A split for Beantown

    The Red Sox gave Bostonians the victory they wanted Wednesday night.  But one poll no national media group dared to undertake was to ask the exuberant Bostonians whether they wanted a Red Sox World Series win or a John Kerry win next Tuesday, if...

  • October 25, 2004

    The sprint to the finish

    The Baehr Essentials A week from today, I will provide my state—by—state forecast for the Presidential election and the Senate. So that gives me one more week to hedge.  Both President Bush and Senator Kerry still have a realistic sh...

  • October 22, 2004

    Peddling the myth of the stolen election

    Al Gore, whose endorsement of Howard Dean proved to be the kiss of death during the Democratic primary season, is suddenly campaigning in Florida for the Kerry/Edwards ticket. The reason is obvious: the Democrats are yet again peddling the myth...

  • October 18, 2004

    The endgame

    The Baehr Essentials Sixteen days to go, and the presidential race is taking on an unpredictable character.  After sagging in the national polls after the first debate and losing much of his 5 to 6 point lead, President Bush seems to be experien...

  • October 17, 2004

    Condo wars: the fight for Florida

    In 2000, Florida's 25 Electoral College votes were decided by a mere 537 votes out of over 6 million. The Florida election was close for one primary reason: what I will call the Lieberman love factor among Jewish voters in southeast Florida.  Je...

  • October 7, 2004

    The media megaphone and the polls

    The Baehr Essentials It appears that the first Presidential debate, is now seen as a decisive defeat for the President. Repeating a story over and over in all the mainstream media seems to have taken a toll on many people who did not even watch the d...

  • October 3, 2004

    Polls, propaganda and prevarication

    The Baehr Essentials Newsweek is out with the first post—debate poll by a major news or polling organization.  The poll shows John Kerry has regained the lead, running 2 or 3 points ahead of President Bush among registered voters, dependin...

  • September 24, 2004

    Advantage: Bush

    The Baehr Essentials The national polls show varying leads for President Bush at the moment, with most in the 3—5% range, and a few suggesting a bigger lead. But the state surveys are telling a more consistent story, with Bush holding a solid a...

  • September 17, 2004

    Bush-Rather fight would be stopped by a ref

    The Baehr Essentials The wheels are flying off the Kerry campaign. In August, the Swift Boat Veterans' attack softened Kerry up. The Republican Convention then reinforced the contrast between President Bush as a strong leader, and John Kerry as someb...

  • September 17, 2004

    Kerry's Middle East advisor wants to reward Syria

    Martin Indyk served two stints as US Ambassador to Israel during the Clinton Administration.   He is one of the individuals that the Kerry campaign has identified as part of its Middle East advisory team, and many think he will return to a ...

  • September 11, 2004

    Rather ineffectual

    Dan Rather is a mediocrity who is the CBS anchor today because on one horrible day he happened to be in the right place at the right time. Rather was in Dallas working for a local CBS affiliate on 11/22/63. When Kennedy was assassinated, he became CB...

  • September 10, 2004

    Threading a small needle

    The Baehr Essentials The Democrats have all but formally written—off the entire South, except for Florida, as well as a few other states once considered prime pickup opportunities. The ad buys for the next month by the Kerry campaign and the DN...

  • September 8, 2004

    Was the election in Venezuela stolen?

    Several weeks back, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman warned that the Presidential election might be stolen in Florida. This year, he warned, unlike the Presidential race in 2000, the election might be stolen even without help from the Supre...

  • September 7, 2004

    Eight weeks to go

    The Baehr EssentialsA food fight has broken out among a few political pundits as to the validity of recent polls by Time  and Newsweek  which appear to show a large growing lead for President Bush. The two surveys, conducted during the GOP ...

  • August 27, 2004

    The Hypocrite's Oath

    Evan Thomas of Newsweek has written that the media chorus behind John Kerry's candidacy could add 15 points to his Presidential bid. Given that the race is now about even, or Bush very slightly ahead, this suggests that President Bush would be runnin...

  • August 25, 2004

    The state of the race

    The Baehr Essentials The Kerry and Bush campaigns have spent about $400 million between them so far.  Add the two national committees, plus the other Democratic candidates and the spending by independent groups, and with 10 weeks to go before El...

  • August 19, 2004

    Planting poisonous seeds

    Paul Krugman, salving his wounds after his knockout at the hands of Bill O'Reilly on Tim Russert's show, has offered a warning in his August 17 column about what he says is  the coming threat to the "credibility of our democracy."  The grav...

  • August 17, 2004

    Abortion and political realignment

    [Editor's note: We are re—publishing a few articles this summer from the early days — 7 months ago — of the American Thinker, for the benefit of our new readers. This article originally appeared on January 6th of this year.] The deb...

  • August 13, 2004

    Two can play

    For most of this election year, the Kerry for President campaign has had its own ad buys supplemented by ads purchased by "independent" 527 groups, such as the Media Fund, America Coming Together, and Moveon.org.  Over $200 million has been rais...

  • August 12, 2004

    The myth of the stolen election

    [Editor's note: Richard Baehr published the definitive analysis of the false claim that that the 2000 election was stolen on our site's debut day last January. Given the extreme bitterness of the current election, the mobilization of thousands o...

  • August 5, 2004

    Which campaign is really in trouble?

    The Baehr Essentials Based on events of the past few months, the Kerry Edwards ticket should now have vaulted to a comfortable lead of between five and ten points. In April, American casualties in Iraq soared to their highest one month level since t...

  • August 2, 2004

    Kerry's Saudi Gambit

    John Kerry skipped over 30 years of his political career in his acceptance speech Thursday night. He also skipped over Iran, and Syria, Israel and the Palestinians.  He skipped over Iraq, except to briefly complain that we (and presumably h...

  • July 26, 2004

    The State of the Race

    The Baehr Essentials If Monday, July 26th were Election Day, instead of the start of the Democratic National Convention, it would likely be a good day for the Democrats and the millions of Bush haters in the US and abroad.  As many learned in 20...

  • July 26, 2004

    Okrent Spots a Rat

    Daniel Okrent, the New York Times' recently appointed Public Editor, has already had some run—ins with Times writers and staff, who are apparently not used to criticism or scrutiny from within. After his July 25 column, Is the New York Times a ...

  • July 20, 2004

    Kerry bounces backwards

    Two weeks ago, both Democratic and GOP strategists were talking about the coming Kerry poll bounce.  The bounce would have two stages: the VP nominee selection, and then the Democratic convention.  The GOP, trying to highball the number, es...

  • July 16, 2004

    The Presbyterian Church loses its grip

    Jewish liberals received a shock this week. The liberal Presbyterian Church USA [thanks to readers who corrected the earlier mistake on the name] declared war on Israel at is annual General Assembly meeting, approving a divestment campaign ...

  • July 15, 2004

    Da Wildcard Senator

    The topic being debated on sports talk radio in Chicago this week was not the coming Bears training camp, or the fading hopes for the Cubs, but whether 'da Coach' would run, and could he win a Senate race for 'da GOP.' Da coach, of course, is Mike Di...

  • July 12, 2004

    What Israel Has Lost

    A few weeks back, Charles Krauthammer wrote an article, 'Israel's Intifada Victory,' in which he argued that rather than bringing Israel to its knees, the intifada had been a strategic disaster for the Palestinians.  In one sense, Krauthamm...

  • July 8, 2004

    A big whoop?

    The Baehr Essentials Last week, Bush campaign strategist Matthew Dowd emailed Bush supporters that they should expect to see a 15 point bounce for John Kerry in the next month. This bounce would be consistent with those for candidates in previous cam...

  • July 2, 2004

    Israel, the courts and Michael Moore

    On July 9th, the International Court in The Hague is expected to announce its ruling on the legality of Israel's security fence. Perhaps in a bow to The Hague, Israel's Supreme Court, in two separate rulings this week, struck down the planned pa...

  • July 1, 2004

    The media and the election

    Last week, the New York Times ombudsman was forced to acknowledge that the Times headline about the 9/11 Commission's findings on an Iraq Al Qaeda link was misleading. He noted, however, that the error was unintentional, whatever that might mean. A ...

  • June 28, 2004

    Rich White Trash

    Michael Moore has been making a lot of money the past four years at George Bush's expense.  If Bush is re—elected, Moore should continue to do very well making his propaganda movies and authoring his 'humor' books attacking the President. ...

  • June 25, 2004

    Can the Democrats win back the Senate?

    The Baehr Essentials   There has been a series of articles in recent weeks suggesting that the Democrats are in surprisingly good shape to spring a major upset and win back control of the Senate. While not impossible, it is unlikely that this wi...

  • June 18, 2004

    The Gipper`s final hurrah

    The Baehr Essentials President Reagan`s death and funeral appear to have lifted the current President and his party in all the new polls out this week.  Less than two weeks ago, Senator Kerry jumped out to a six or seven point lead in two nation...

  • June 17, 2004

    The Europe that was

    Nova Gorica, Slovenia Yesterday I arrived in New Europe. Slovenia, the jewel of the former Yugoslavia and a recent entry into the EU, is prospering.  Large new homes are being built in the hills. The casino is expanding. The Slovenian stock mar...

  • June 4, 2004

    Money talks

    The Baehr Essentials On Saturday, Smarty Jones will try to become the 13th winner of racing's Triple Crown, and the first to accomplish this since Affirmed in 1978.  Smarty Jones is an unbeaten three year—old, and was an impressive winner ...

  • May 28, 2004

    Will al Qaeda re-elect the President?

    The Baehr Essentials   Howard Fineman reported that the Kerry campaign is leaning strongly towards John Edwards for his VP pick. Edwards was a favorite of the media during the primary season —— he is a fresh face, a smooth speak...

  • May 25, 2004

    The Protocols of the Elders of Zinni

    A few months back, leftist Jewish critics, such as Frank Rich, Abraham Foxman and Leon Wieseltier, trashed Mel Gibson's movie, The Passion of the Christ, for what they called its blatant anti—Semitism, warning of the danger the movie could crea...

  • May 22, 2004

    Has Bush Bottomed?

    The Baehr Essentials We are over five months away from the Presidential election, and supporters of both candidates continue to behave in a manic—depressive fashion, as their candidate first pulls away and then falls behind. For several weeks,...

  • May 21, 2004

    The Other Coming Out Party

    On Monday, the first legal gay marriages took place in Massachusetts.  Tuesday was another 'coming out' day — for Jewish Republicans.  I attended the AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington, as I have for the last 14 years.  Israel...

  • May 14, 2004

    Drawing Blood

    The Baehr Essentials A new Ohio Poll by ARG, released Thursday, gives Senator Kerry a 7 point lead over President Bush in a three way race, with Ralph Nader at 2%.  The President is highly vulnerable in Ohio, a state he won by just under 4% last...

  • May 13, 2004

    The games people play

    Senator Ted Kennedy bellowed this week that Saddam's torture chambers never closed; they are just under new American management.  The comment was so outrageous that John Kerry tried to create some distance from Kennedy, saying he understood the ...

  • May 6, 2004

    A Bad Week for the President is a Mixed Week in the Polls

    The Baehr Essentials There are very mixed messages in the most recent polling for the Presidential election. Several surveys, particularly those that include Ralph Nader, continue to show a Bush lead of from 2 to 6 points. These include NBC News/Wall...

  • May 4, 2004

    The Gaza Retreat

    Israel's Likud party members voted overwhelmingly Sunday to reject Prime Minister Sharon's plan to evacuate 21 settlements in Gaza and 4 in the West Bank.  Generally, a high percentage of voters turn out in Israeli elections, but the day before ...

  • April 29, 2004

    A Good Day for Bush and the GOP in Pennsylvania

    The Baehr Essentials On Wednesday, the Supreme Court, by a 5 to 4 vote, rejected a challenge to the Congressional redistricting plan in Pennsylvania that was first used to establish districts for the 2002 House races.  That plan, passed by a leg...

  • April 28, 2004

    More NYT front page propaganda

    The New York Times does not give away front page space easily. But today, the Times awarded a front page article to a remarkable puff piece by Jodi Wilgoren, the correspondent covering the Kerry campaign. Obviously concerned about unflattering i...

  • April 27, 2004

    Wal-Mart and the Death of the Labor Movement

    For many years, civil rights advocates have complained that major commercial chains— supermarkets and department stores, avoided locating stores in inner city neighborhoods.  Now Wal—Mart has decided to enter these neighborhoods. But...

  • April 26, 2004

    The October Surprise

    In every Presidential election cycle there is talk of an October surprise. Usually the talk comes from the party out of power, which expects that the President, whether he is running for re—election or is term limited from doing so, has the abi...

  • April 22, 2004

    Why is Bush Pulling Ahead?

    The Baehr Essentials Last week the President's poll ratings suffered after fighting picked up between coalition forces and Shiite radicals in the south, and with Baathists and foreign jihadists in the Sunni triangle. But this week, the President's nu...

  • April 16, 2004

    Iraq, Israel, and the Electoral College

    The Baehr Essentials President Bush has slipped in most national poll the past few weeks.  These polls sample 600 to 1,000 voters, typically over the course of three days.  The average of the various recent polls give Senator Kerry about a ...

  • April 15, 2004

    The Wisdom of Quiet Diplomacy

    Former President Clinton met with Yassar Arafat 15 times, more often than he met with any other foreign leader during his 8 years in office.  Now, on the $250,000 an hour lecture circuit in synagogues across America, Clinton bemoans how Arafat s...

  • April 14, 2004

    Thank You Martha

    Thanks to last year's campaign by Martha Burk and her small cadre of feminist activists, the Augusta National Golf Club decided to spare the corporate sponsors of the CBS broadcast of the Masters from any nationwide boycott of their products, by havi...

  • April 12, 2004

    The need to blame

    Nineteen Arabs hijacked four commercial jets and flew them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, killing almost 3,000 people on 9/11.  But for many people, this is an afterthought or a minor part of the story.  The real criminals ar...

  • April 8, 2004

    Jenin and Iraq: The Usual Calumnies

    On the first night of Passover in late March 2002, a  Palestinian suicide bomber walked into the Park Hotel in Netanya, Israel and blew himself up in the dining hall. About 200 mostly elderly Jews (some of them Holocaust survivors) were sitting ...

  • April 6, 2004

    The Referendum on Iraq

    The Baehr Essentials [Editor's note: Today we begin a regular series of columns by Richard Baehr, one of the founders of The American Thinker. He has written a subscription—only newsletter of political analysis for many years. In his columns fo...

  • March 30, 2004

    Clarke Strikes Out

    It had already been a two rough weeks for the opposition candidate, with John Kerry slipping and cursing a Secret Service agent on the Idaho ski slopes, and only a Malaysian Jew—hater fessing up to being a foreign leader who wants Kerry to...

  • March 29, 2004

    And the Palestinian Band Plays On

    In the spring of 2003, the international press corps fell in love with the new Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen). Abbas was the alternative to Arafat the US has been seeking, a cultured nogotiator, and a temperate civil servant. Hi...

  • March 23, 2004

    The Shadow Campaign

    Most of America will not see a campaign ad for President Bush or Senator John Kerry this year. That is because most of us do not live in the 17 designated battleground states. I was in Florida a week ago, and Bush ads were all over radio and televisi...

  • March 20, 2004

    Clinton's Embarrassing 'Successes'

    One Clinton foreign policy initiative that was claimed to be  'successful' by the former President and his supporters was the Nato mission to stop the Serbs' attempted  ethnic cleansing of Kosovo. The Nato bombing mission in 1999 forced the...

  • March 14, 2004

    March Madness

    CBS, the broadcaster of the NCAA basketball championship tournament, has referred to the games by the moniker 'March Madness' for so many years, the term has entered the popular vernacular.    On a more serious geopolitical front, the news...

  • March 10, 2004

    Rockefeller in the Fever Swamps

    Senator John Kerry has been making nice with Jewish leaders the past two weeks since he has become the all but certain nominee of his party to run against President Bush. He met with 40 major Jewish organization leaders in New York last week, and pub...

  • March 5, 2004

    Using the Free Media

    The Democrats have hit on a savvy approach to dealing with the appearance of being severely under—funded in the race against President Bush.а I say appearance of beingа under—funded, since the Kerry effort in the next few months will incl...

  • March 2, 2004

    A Tale of Two Fences

    India announced Monday that a 340 mile long electrified fence, being constructed along the line of control in Kashmir that separates Indian and Pakistani forces, will be ready by summer.    There are some interesting parallels with Isr...

  • February 26, 2004

    Apocalypse Not

    President Bush announced the day before yesterday that he favored a constitutional amendment defining marriage as referring to the union of a man and a woman.  He did not endorse the language of any specific proposed constitutional amendment, su...

  • February 25, 2004

    The Real Battle

    The first state—by—state polls of George Bush versus the all but certain Democratic nominee John Kerry are now appearing.  These polls matter much more than national polls. It is the Electoral College, as many Americans learned for t...

  • February 22, 2004

    South Africa and the Hague

    In the Hague tomorrow, debate will begin on Israel's security barrier, erected to stem the tide of hundreds of suicide bombers, who have killed close to a thousand Israelis since the start of the Intifada in late September 2000.  This morning br...

  • February 9, 2004

    Tom Friedman Embraces Anti-Semitic Canard

    Tom Friedman is rarely original when it comes to Israel. His mantra for several decades has been that Israel was the primary obstacle to peace with the Palestinians, because of its policy of expanding settlements in the West Bank and Gaza. Friedman s...

  • January 31, 2004

    A GOP Realignment or an Emerging Democratic Majority?

    The Democratic Party nominating process has completed the stage of retail politics and personal appearances. Only in New Hampshire and Iowa, can a reasonable percentage of those who vote for a candidate claim to have met him. Next week there will be...

  • January 25, 2004

    Comeback Howard?

    The pundits have had a lot of fun at Howard Dean's expense the past few days. Arguably, even had Dean not 'lost it' with his supporters Monday night, John Kerry would have surged to the top in New Hampshire based on his Iowa momentum. This morning's...

  • January 22, 2004

    Why Does the Left Hate Israel?

    For decades, most American Jews have believed there were far greater threats from the fringe right than the fringe left in this country. While this view may have been reasonable in the past, it is certainly not so today. The fringe right still exists...

  • January 14, 2004

    Suffering and Jihad

    One of the arguments heard frequently since 9/11 is that there is a need for moderate Muslims to challenge and combat the radical Islamists who have become the vanguard of the world's fastest growing religion, and won millions of adherent on all cont...

  • January 12, 2004

    Cratering and Rising

    A month back just before the capture of Saddam Hussein, and after the endorsement of former Vice President Al Gore, Howard Dean shot out to a huge lead in national polls (15—20%) over whomever was second, a 25 percentage point lead in New Hamps...

  • January 6, 2004

    Abortion and Political Realignment

    The debate over abortion has been an emotional one for thirty years in America. It is an issue on which partisans have shown little ability or willingness to compromise. When one side considers the procedure murder, and the other a constitutionally p...

  • January 5, 2004

    The Myth of the Stolen Election

    The serious political season is about to begin, and the preliminaries that have occurred to date suggest it will be an extremely bitter one. While most Americans go about their daily lives, not thinking all that much about politics, both conservative...

  • December 21, 2003

    Coming Attractions?

    If the Republicans are to become a permanent majority party, they have to expand their base.   Michael Barone has argued that the 2002 election might have been a way station to real Republican control (a six percentage point Congressional v...

  • November 19, 2003

    George Soros Speaks

    According to newspaper reports this week, financier George Soros, has a personal net worth of $7 billion, and has given $5 billion away to various charities and initiatives (drug legalization being a big one). No—one can identify a dollar of th...

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