President Obama calls his latest attempt to revive the economy a "Plan to Renew and Expand America's Roads, Railways and Runways." I'm calling it "The Mother of all Big Dig Boondoggles." Like the infamous "Big Dig" highway spending project in Boston, this latest White House infrastructure spending binge guarantees only two results: Taxpayers lose; unions win. The plan would add at least $50 billion more to the nearly $230 billion already allocated in the original trillion-dollar stimulus law for infrastructure. Less than one-third of that infrastructure... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/08/obamas_50_billion_union_infrastructure_boondoggle_107061.html 200107061 Michelle Malkin Michelle Malkin 2010/09 09/08/2010/00/00/00 Tue, 07 Sep 2010 22:59:01 -0500 John McCain is headed back to the U.S. Senate, perhaps a changed and chastened man, and perhaps not. But the manner in which he secured his Senate seat for another six years is instructive, and not only for moderate Republicans facing off against conservatives and tea party candidates, but for 2012. Realizing his career was on the line, McCain began to run attack ads against his rival, ex-Rep. J.D. Hayworth, an authentic conservative, while J.D. was still a radio talk show host. When J.D. announced, and surged to within five points of McCain, the senator did not hesitate to call in Sarah... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/08/what_mccains_tactics_teach_107060.html 200107060 Pat Buchanan Pat Buchanan 2010/09 09/08/2010/00/00/00 Tue, 07 Sep 2010 22:55:42 -0500 With the end of combat in Operation Enduring Freedom presidentially certified, all eyes rivet toward Afghanistan. This is the fight President Obama, when campaigning for office, called our "war of necessity." This is the theater of conflict where Obama, when debating Sen. McCain barely two years ago, promised us victory ending with the killing or capture of Osama bin Laden. Ironically, Afghanistan may also be the only war in American history with a presidential expiration date. In his recent book, "The Promise: President Obama, Year One," journalist and Obama hagiographer... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/08/dissension_in_the_ranks_107059.html 200107059 Tony Blankley Tony Blankley 2010/09 09/08/2010/00/00/00 Tue, 07 Sep 2010 22:54:23 -0500 I have a message for Pastor Terry Jones, who has promised to publicly burn a Quran on Sept. 11: Just don't do it. Rights are important. Constitutional rights to free expression are critical. But some things are more important than rights, and one of them is to do the right thing. Burning a Quran on Sept. 11 is not a religious act, it is certainly not a Christian one. "Put away your sword," as the Master pointed out. "Those who use the sword will die by the sword." Worse, in this case, they may cause innocents to die. Pastor Jones attempts to cite Acts 19 as the... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/08/burn_the_quran_its_un-christian_107058.html 200107058 Maggie Gallagher Maggie Gallagher 2010/09 09/08/2010/00/00/00 Tue, 07 Sep 2010 22:53:10 -0500 You may recall Barack Obama claiming that the original stimulus plan didn't need any more tax cuts or "piecemeal" measures. To suggest so was to engage in "politics as usual." And trust me; you don't want to be caught going there. And today? You know what, America? You look as if you're ready for some piecemeal measures and a fake tax cut! No doubt it came as a shock to many of you that weatherizing windows couldn't get a $14 trillion economy cooking again. But if an $800 billion infusion of government and union bailouts failed to spur any decent... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/08/can_you_smell_what_obamas_cooking_107057.html 200107057 David Harsanyi David Harsanyi 2010/09 09/08/2010/00/00/00 Tue, 07 Sep 2010 22:51:54 -0500 WASHINGTON -- Democratic leaders and their supporters approach the November elections with a lumpy mix of messages. It can't be as bad as it looks (it is) and maybe losing the House would be a good thing for Democrats (it isn't) and Americans are spoiled, ungrateful brats (not really an electoral winner). The president shifts from issue to issue in a kind of ADD without energy, managing to be frenetic and uninteresting at the same time. Now he proposes a focus on job creation -- too late to influence the employment numbers before November but just in time to raise the question: Why... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/08/the_world_after_november_107054.html 200107054 Michael Gerson Michael Gerson 2010/09 09/08/2010/00/00/00 Tue, 07 Sep 2010 16:24:00 -0500 Newly returned from a week in Paris and well sated with delicious cheeses, magnificent art, and glorious (inexpensive!) wines, one is disinclined to reflect upon the decline of Europe. But the demographic reality so scathingly limned in Mark Steyn's "America Alone" cannot be long avoided. Those adorable French babies are not quite as scarce as, say, Lithuanian ones (a 2.1 total fertility rate is required for a society to maintain itself -- Lithuania's rate is 1.2), but the French tots are not quite adequate (1.9 percent). As for Europe as a whole, it's disappearing --... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/08/the_sin_of_indulging_your_guilty_conscience_107053.html 200107053 Mona Charen Mona Charen 2010/09 09/08/2010/00/00/00 Tue, 07 Sep 2010 16:22:44 -0500 According to recent public opinion polling data, U.S. President Barack Obama is a highly controversial and divisive political figure -- public opinion polling data from Iraq, that is. In a poll conducted by Asharq Research Centre, a private Iraqi polling company, 42 percent of Iraqis said they don't think President Obama cares about Iraq. Sixty percent of the respondents claimed "it was the wrong time for a major withdrawal of U.S. combat troops." The results indicate a number of Iraqis distrust Obama's judgment. That's definitely a negative for the president and his... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/08/iraqi_change_vexes_obama_107052.html 200107052 Austin Bay Austin Bay 2010/09 09/08/2010/00/00/00 Tue, 07 Sep 2010 16:21:45 -0500 Every day, federal, state and local governments stifle small businesses to privilege well-connected incumbent companies. It's a system of protectionism for influential insiders who don't want competition. Every locality has its share of business moguls who are cozy with politicians. Together, they use the power of government to keep competition down and prices high. The Institute for Justice, a libertarian public-interest law firm, works to free entrepreneurs from such opportunity-killing regulations. Here are four cases from IJ's files. Case No. 1. The monks at St. Joseph... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/08/entrepreneurs_under_attack_107051.html 200107051 John Stossel John Stossel 2010/09 09/08/2010/00/00/00 Tue, 07 Sep 2010 16:20:47 -0500 WASHINGTON -- Faced with voter anger at the failure of monetary and fiscal stimulus to stimulate, the Obama administration and the Federal Reserve are doubling down. The government is launching another spending spree with an initial outlay of $50 billion geared toward infrastructure projects, while Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke recently suggested that he is contemplating new forms of money printing -- so-called quantitative easing. Stimulus policies started during George W. Bush's final year in office and have continued, with vehemence, under Obama -- to no avail. The response to this... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/08/the_illusion_of_a_stimulus_107050.html 200107050 Alvaro Vargas Llosa Alvaro Vargas Llosa 2010/09 09/08/2010/00/00/00 Tue, 07 Sep 2010 16:19:34 -0500 SAN ANTONIO -- Julian Castro has a good story to tell. And I'm anxious to listen -- even if it isn't the one I came to hear. I wanted to ask the mayor of San Antonio about the challenges of being one of the country's most prominent local Latino officials at a time when the immigration debate is flaring and many Americans can't decide whether having as many as 60 million Latinos in the United States is something to be celebrated or feared. Castro has to put up with hate mail from complete strangers who feel threatened by the browning of America, annoying questions from both... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/08/san_antonios_rosy_promoter_107049.html 200107049 Ruben Navarrette Ruben Navarrette 2010/09 09/08/2010/00/00/00 Tue, 07 Sep 2010 16:18:19 -0500 A year after the US economy stopped falling, we are still mired in "the worst labor-market crisis since the Great Depression," writes Laura Tyson in The New York Times. Voicing the consensus of the left-liberal economic establishment -- she's reportedly a leading candidate to head up President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers -- Tyson argues that the US unemployment rate, still stuck at 9.6 percent, is reason to try "a second fiscal stimulus" to raise "aggregate demand." She's wrong in a number of illuminating ways. First, the highest... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/08/reality_vs_stimulus_snake_oil_107046.html 200107046 Alan Reynolds Alan Reynolds 2010/09 09/08/2010/00/00/00 Tue, 07 Sep 2010 14:42:11 -0500 Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle, about to retire, really wants his state to dive into the passenger-train swamp. He wants it so badly, he's throwing $300 million into the murk in hopes the state's next governor feels duty-bound to chase it. This matters outside Wisconsin. It's your money, for one thing: Wisconsin's plans for a high-speed train are predicated on vast sums of money taken from elsewhere by the Obama administration and sent here. And the mechanism Doyle's using to lock his state into his pet project is exactly the one you'll see in other states when it... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/08/wisconsins_rail_dream_is_a_spending_nightmare_107012.html 200107012 Patrick McIlheran Patrick McIlheran 2010/09 09/08/2010/00/00/00 Tue, 07 Sep 2010 08:00:43 -0500 Four generic polls have come in over the past few days which generally contained bad news for Democrats. Rasmussen Reports showed Republicans with a 12 point lead, 48 percent to 36 percent, tying their previous best showing. CNN showed Republicans up by seven, an improvement from their earlier 48 percent/45 percent lead. Since Rasmussen polls likely voters, while CNN polls registered voters, these polls are actually rather consistent. Republicans typically fare a couple points better among the actual electorate than registered voter polls would suggest. Perhaps the biggest shock came from the... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/07/more_bad_news_for_dems_in_generic_ballot_107055.html 200107055 Sean Trende Sean Trende 2010/09 09/07/2010/00/00/00 Tue, 07 Sep 2010 16:57:30 -0500 0 In another potentially stunning twist in the Alaska Senate race, the campaign manager for defeated incumbent Senator Lisa Murkowski indicated to RealClearPolitics on Tuesday that Murkowski may run as a third-party or write-in candidate in the general election. Amid new reports that Murkowski has reached out to the Alaska Libertarian Party over a possible deal that could keep her on the ballot after her primary defeat to Joe Miller, Murkowski's campaign manager John Bitney told RealClearPolitics on Tuesday, "If she wants to stay in the race, I'll support her 100... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/07/murkowski_camp_hints_she_may_reenter_race.html 200107048 Scott Conroy Scott Conroy 2010/09 09/07/2010/00/00/00 Tue, 07 Sep 2010 16:09:32 -0500 0 In the California Senate race, Republican Carly Fiorina has pulled ahead of incumbent Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, according to the latest poll from Rasmussen Reports. Fiorina leads Boxer by a mere 1 percentage point in the survey of 750 likely California voters. The 48-47 lead is the first for the former Hewlett-Packard CEO in Rasmussen's polling of the race. This poll comes on the heels of a SurveyUSA poll released last week that showed Fiorina ahead by 2 percent. However, Boxer still leads in the RCP Average by two points. The candidates faced each other for the first time in a... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/07/fiorina_pulls_ahead_of_boxer_in_california_107044.html 200107044 Kyle Adams Kyle Adams 2010/09 09/07/2010/00/00/00 Tue, 07 Sep 2010 12:49:09 -0500 0 Republican Rep. Mike Castle is holding onto a 48 percent to 37 percent lead against Democratic county executive Chris Coons, according to a new Rasmussen Reports telephone poll of 500 likely voters in Delaware. The new poll, conducted on September 2, showed similar results to last month's Rasmussen survey, when Castle led 49 percent to 37 percent in the race for Vice President Biden's old Senate seat. Six percent of those polled supported another candidate, and 9 percent were undecided. The poll has a margin of error of +/- 3 percent. Before facing off against Coons, Castle must... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/07/de_senate_castle_leads_in_gop_primary_general_election_matchups__107043.html 200107043 Scott Conroy Scott Conroy 2010/09 09/07/2010/00/00/00 Tue, 07 Sep 2010 11:14:17 -0500 0 Labor Day marks the unofficial start of the home stretch for this year's midterms, and Senate candidates in Florida wasted no time in taking to the airwaves with their first television ads intended to capture the attention of voters who will begin to focus on the choices before them over the next eight weeks. Democrat Kendrick Meek, fresh off his convincing primary victory over billionaire Jeff Greene on August 24th, launched his first ad this morning; a rapid-fire montage in which he declares his positions on a variety of issues:   Governor Charlie Crist followed suit,... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/07/florida_senate_candidates_hit_the_airwaves_107042.html 200107042 Tom Bevan Tom Bevan 2010/09 09/07/2010/00/00/00 Tue, 07 Sep 2010 09:15:18 -0500 0 Just weeks before House Republican leaders are set to announce the contents of a proposed governing agenda if they retake the majority, some GOP politicians and grasstops activists are growing nervous about those plans. House GOP leaders scheduled the rollout for these guiding principles -- similar to former Speaker Newt Gingrich's 1994 "Contract With America" -- late in the campaign cycle, in part to avoid internal struggles and criticism from Democrats just when on the cusp of a potential return to power. But both the substance of what the GOP leaders will unveil later this... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/07/some_supporters_fret_as_gop_readies_rollout_of_agenda__107038.html 200107038 Erin McPike Erin McPike 2010/09 09/07/2010/00/00/00 Tue, 07 Sep 2010 06:30:56 -0500 0 This post resumes a series we were running in the spring. We'll keep a running commentary on the most recent polls, digging down into their internals, keeping an eye on the big picture, and helping to sort out what these polls are really telling us about November. Senate Ohio - The big news over the weekend was the Columbus Dispatch poll showing Republicans overwhelmingly ahead in Ohio. The Columbus Dispatch poll is a mail-in poll and therefore something of a S.L.O.P., but it usually manages to get pretty close to the right number. This is a poll of registered voters, but the enthusiasm... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/07/what_recent_polls_told_us_107040.html 200107040 Sean Trende Sean Trende 2010/09 09/07/2010/00/00/00 Tue, 07 Sep 2010 06:15:33 -0500 0 Republican Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal declined over Labor Day weekend to endorse GOP incumbent Louisiana Senator David Vitter, whose seat is being challenged by Democratic Rep. Charlie Melancon. "Voters can make up their own minds," Jindal told Louisiana television station WDSU on Saturday. Jindal said that he does not take sides in federal races, but media outlets quickly pointed out that the Louisiana governor has done just that in the past. Jindal spokesperson Melissa Sellers left the door open to the possibility that the governor could still endorse Vitter before Election... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/07/jindal_declines_to_endorse_vitter_107039.html 200107039 Scott Conroy Scott Conroy 2010/09 09/07/2010/00/00/00 Tue, 07 Sep 2010 06:05:01 -0500 44854 One of the unintended results of the redecoration of the Oval Office was the downsizing of Barack Obama. In last week's prime-time address to the nation, the president sat behind a massive and capaciously empty desk, looking somehow smaller than he ever has -- a man physically reduced by sinking polls, a lousy economy and the prospect that his party might lose control of Congress. Behold something we never thought we'd see with Obama: The Incredible Shrinking Presidency. This is an amazing and, to me, somewhat frightening turn of events. The folks who ran a very smart presidential... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/07/obamas_shrinking_presidency.html 200107030 Richard Cohen Richard Cohen 2010/09 09/07/2010/00/00/00 Tue, 07 Sep 2010 04:33:55 -0500 President Barack Obama boldly proclaims, "The buck stops here!" But, whenever his policies are criticized, he acts as if the buck stopped with George W. Bush. The party line that we are likely to be hearing from now until the November elections is that Obama "inherited" the big federal budget deficits and that he has to "clean up the mess" left in the economy by the Republicans. This may convince those who want to be convinced, but it will not stand up under scrutiny. No President of the United States can create either a budget deficit or a budget surplus. All... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/07/political_fables_107026.html 200107026 Thomas Sowell Thomas Sowell 2010/09 09/07/2010/00/00/00 Tue, 07 Sep 2010 04:34:03 -0500 Professional partisans see every race as a mark on their team's scoreboard. But these activists err in treating the win of a state governorship and U.S. Senate seat as similar victories. Voters might care which party runs Congress, but why would they fret over whether their state's chief executive is a Republican, Democrat or something else? Truth is, most don't. Yet GOP cheerleaders saw the 2009 elections of Republican governors in "blue" New Jersey and "purple" Virginia as some extraordinary coup full of meaning for national politics. It's like they... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/07/parties_mean_little_in_governors_races_107027.html 200107027 Froma Harrop Froma Harrop 2010/09 09/07/2010/00/00/00 Tue, 07 Sep 2010 04:24:38 -0500 When people learn that you are an economist, they often want you to predict which way the economy is going. There seem to be more than the usual number of calls for such predictions lately. But an economist should be more aware than others are of how hazardous such predictions can be. One reason is that what happens in the economy is affected by what politicians do in Washington-- and who can predict what politicians will do? However, let me go out on a limb, and try to predict what politicians will not do. What would probably get the economy recovering fastest and most completely would be... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/07/a_non-prediction_107025.html 200107025 Thomas Sowell Thomas Sowell 2010/09 09/07/2010/00/00/00 Tue, 07 Sep 2010 04:25:45 -0500 The giveaway regarding presidential candidate Barack Obama's plans for America was his repeated use of the words "fundamentally transform." Some of us instinctively reacted negatively -- in fact, with horror -- at the thought of fundamentally transforming America. The "us" are conservatives. One unbridgeable divide between left and right is how each views alternatives to present-day America. Those on the left imagine an ideal society that has never existed, and therefore seek to "fundamentally transform" America. When liberals imagine an America... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/07/why_the_right_fears_transforming_america_--_and_the_left_seeks_it_107028.html 200107028 Dennis Prager Dennis Prager 2010/09 09/07/2010/00/00/00 Tue, 07 Sep 2010 04:33:15 -0500 WASHINGTON -- Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, who may seek the Republican nomination for president, is trying to sell the biggest load of revisionist nonsense about race, politics and the South that I've ever heard. Ever. He has the gall to try to portray Southern Republicans as having been enlightened supporters of the civil rights movement all along. I can't decide whether this exercise in rewriting history should be described as cynical or sinister. Whichever it is, the record has to be set straight. In a recent interview with Human Events, a conservative magazine and website,... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/07/barbours_civil_rights_fairy_tale.html 200107031 Eugene Robinson Eugene Robinson 2010/09 09/07/2010/00/00/00 Tue, 07 Sep 2010 04:21:48 -0500 Henry Maier Festival Park Milwaukee, Wisconsin 2:11 P.M. CDT THE PRESIDENT: Hello, Milwaukee! (Applause.) Hello, Milwaukee! (Applause.) Thank you. It is good to be back in Milwaukee. It is good to be -- I'm almost home. (Applause.) I just hop on the 94 and I'm home. (Applause.) Take it all the way to the South Side. It is good -- it is good to be here on such a beautiful day. Happy Labor Day, everybody. (Applause.) I want to say thank you to the Milwaukee Area Labor Council and all of my brothers and sisters in the AFL-CIO for inviting me to spend this day with you --... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/06/obamas_remarks_at_laborfest_107047.html 200107047 Barack Obama Barack Obama 2010/09 09/06/2010/00/00/00 Tue, 07 Sep 2010 14:57:12 -0500 As we celebrate Labor Day, let's remember what makes this holiday possible in the first place: American workers. For the most part that means small business. According to federal statistics, small firms (those with fewer than 500 employees): • Represent some 99 percent of all employer firms. • Employ more than half of all private-sector employees. • Pay 44 percent of total U.S. private payroll. • Have generated 64 percent of net new jobs over the past 15 years. Small businesses also represent the true spirit of America. Yes, more than half a million... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/06/stop_squeezing_small_business_107037.html 200107037 Ed Feulner Ed Feulner 2010/09 09/06/2010/00/00/00 Mon, 06 Sep 2010 08:16:03 -0500 WASHINGTON -- As 56 million children return to the nation's 133,000 elementary and secondary schools, the promise of "reform" is again in the air. Education Secretary Arne Duncan has announced $4 billion in "race to the top" grants to states whose proposals demonstrate, according to Duncan, "a bold commitment to education reform" and "creativity and innovation (that are) breathtaking." What they really show is that few subjects inspire more intellectual dishonesty and political puffery than "school reform." Since the 1960s, waves of... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/06/why_school_reform_fails_107033.html 200107033 Robert Samuelson Robert Samuelson 2010/09 09/06/2010/00/00/00 Sun, 05 Sep 2010 14:37:41 -0500 WASHINGTON -- Watching the great civil rights march on television in August 1963, I couldn't help but notice that hundreds carried signs with a strange legend at the top: "UAW Says." UAW was saying "Segregation Disunites the United States," and many other things insisting on equality. This "UAW" was a very odd word to my 11-year-old self and I asked my dad who or what "U-awe," as I pronounced it, was. The letters, he explained, stood for the United Auto Workers union. It was some years later when I learned about the heroic battles of the UAW, not... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/06/on_missing_big_labor_107032.html 200107032 E.J. Dionne E.J. Dionne 2010/09 09/06/2010/00/00/00 Sun, 05 Sep 2010 14:36:44 -0500 Imagine that you have a product whose price tag for decades rises faster than inflation. But people keep buying it because they're told that it will make them wealthier in the long run. Then, suddenly, they find it doesn't. Prices fall sharply, bankruptcies ensue, great institutions disappear. Sound like the housing market? Yes, but it also sounds like what Glenn Reynolds, creator of instapundit.com, writing in The Washington Examiner, has called "the higher education bubble." Government-subsidized loans have injected money into higher education, as they did into housing,... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/06/the_higher_education_bubble_ready_to_burst_107029.html 200107029 Michael Barone Michael Barone 2010/09 09/06/2010/00/00/00 Sun, 05 Sep 2010 14:32:53 -0500 CROWLEY: Facing the prospect of disastrous congressional elections, the Obama administration, trying to fuel recovery, is considering a package of business tax cuts. The president is expected to announce this week an extension of the research and development tax credit. Other proposals under discussion to help small businesses include a temporarily payroll tax holiday. Over half of all the private sector employees work in small businesses. The idea is that those tax cuts might push those businesses into hiring again. Joining me now to discuss these proposals and more, thank you very much,... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/05/labor__business_leaders_on_the_economy_107036.html 200107036 State of the Union State of the Union 2010/09 09/05/2010/00/00/00 Sun, 05 Sep 2010 15:10:38 -0500 President Barack Obama's spending Labor Day afternoon in Milwaukee at an annual union festival. It's quite a party: Parade organizers were still looking for volunteers to help carry the giant protest puppets of the Earth Goddess and such. Pity, then, that Russ Feingold, the incumbent Democratic senator in a neck-and-neck race, can't hang out with the president. But Obama and puppetry just aren't the right atmospherics these days, are they? Feingold, three terms in office and now tied with a plastics manufacturer no one heard of five months ago, will be at Laborfest earlier... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/05/obama_comes_to_wisconsin_feingold_disappears_107024.html 200107024 Patrick McIlheran Patrick McIlheran 2010/09 09/05/2010/00/00/00 Sun, 05 Sep 2010 14:43:45 -0500 41525 SAN DIEGO -- So the immigration debate has you confused and frustrated? Arnold Torres has it all figured out. "Those of us who have done this before can see every move two steps before it's made," he told me. It's not enough to say that the Sacramento-based political and public affairs consultant has seen this movie before. He was once cast in a starring role. Torres' first taste of politics came shortly after graduating from college in the 1970s. That's when he went to Washington -- to work first for Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., and later for Sen. John Tunney,... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/05/immigrations_history_lesson_107023.html 200107023 Ruben Navarrette Ruben Navarrette 2010/09 09/05/2010/00/00/00 Sat, 04 Sep 2010 00:54:57 -0500 PHILADELPHIA -- For decades, Pennsylvania has perfected a unique politics of ambivalence in its Senate races, sending to Washington nonconformists who do not fit comfortably into their parties' norms but reflect accurately the subtle variations within their constituencies. For 30 years, Arlen Specter has been the emblematic figure -- a man who started as a Democrat, became a Republican for most of his political life, and then switched back. He was notorious for his "flexibility" on policy. A labor leader here once told me he had mockingly congratulated Specter for "staying... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/05/no_ambivalence_in_this_race_107022.html 200107022 David Broder David Broder 2010/09 09/05/2010/00/00/00 Sat, 04 Sep 2010 00:53:18 -0500 KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Under a scorching sun, Defense Secretary Bob Gates tells soldiers from the first U.S. combat brigade deployed inside this city that they're the "forward foxhole" in the fight against the Taliban. It's already a bloody battle: In its first two weeks here, the brigade has lost eight soldiers, including five killed last Monday in a roadside bombing. Gates hears an upbeat account from the brigade's commanders about their patrols alongside the Afghan army and police in this Taliban stronghold. And, after touring several fronts in the make-or-break... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/05/the_afghan_work_in_progress_107021.html 200107021 David Ignatius David Ignatius 2010/09 09/05/2010/00/00/00 Sat, 04 Sep 2010 00:51:58 -0500 Tomorrow, many Americans will be enjoying a respite from the incessant demands of their jobs. But many Americans will be wishing desperately they could trade the holiday for the incessant demands of a job. This year, given the state of the economy, Labor Day should be called Not Enough Labor Day. The unemployment rate during the recent recession peaked at 10.1 percent last October, and in August, it was 9.6 percent -- an increase from July. Nearly 15 million people are looking for suitable work and not finding it. Most of the loss of employment is the result of large events: the financial... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/05/our_not_enough_labor_day_107020.html 200107020 Steve Chapman Steve Chapman 2010/09 09/05/2010/00/00/00 Sat, 04 Sep 2010 00:50:05 -0500 At the end of Obamaland's Recovery Summer, Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer is betting that Californians want the federal government to keep growing. GOP challenger Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO, is betting that Californians want more private-sector jobs, not more government jobs. At Wednesday night's televised debate at Saint Mary's College in Moraga, Boxer -- anti-Wall Street -- faced off against Fiorina -- anti-Washington. Boxer hit Fiorina because she laid off 30,000 workers and outsourced jobs. And, after being fired, Fiorina received a $21 million severance... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/05/boxer_fiorina_and_the_endless_recovery_107019.html 200107019 Debra Saunders Debra Saunders 2010/09 09/05/2010/00/00/00 Sat, 04 Sep 2010 00:48:48 -0500 Plenty of people are driving cars they don't want or, worse still, living in homes they can't afford. That's a natural part of a consumer society, especially during a recession. But this fall we may witness a mass example of buyers' remorse in the political world. Over the years we have constructed shock absorbers to insulate politics from such jolts. Gubernatorial terms, for example, generally lasted only one year in 1780 -- but gradually grew to two years and now, with the exception of New Hampshire and Vermont, are four years long. But the House of Representatives was... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/05/a_stark_year_for_democrats_107018.html 200107018 David Shribman David Shribman 2010/09 09/05/2010/00/00/00 Sat, 04 Sep 2010 00:47:40 -0500 LOS ANGELES -- In the early 1980s, in a book called "American Journey," I calculated that American corporate chief executive officers were making 30 to 40 times as much as they paid average production workers. Looking back at that, I see that I was surprised to learn that that ratio had increased from 25-to-1 in 1970 -- and that in other developed countries the ratio was closer to 10-to-1. It seems now that I was easily shocked in the good old days. Today that compensation ratio goes from 300-to-1 to almost 1,000-to-1 in the United States, if you count various perks, including stock... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/04/businessman_of_the_world_unite_107017.html 200107017 Richard Reeves Richard Reeves 2010/09 09/04/2010/00/00/00 Sat, 04 Sep 2010 06:35:40 -0500 10:16 A.M. EDT THE PRESIDENT: Good morning, everybody. As we head into Labor Day weekend, I know many people across this country are concerned about what the future holds for themselves, for their families, and for the economy as a whole. As I've said from the start, there's no quick fix to the worst recession we've experienced since the Great Depression. The hard truth is that it took years to create our current economic problems, and it will take more time than any of us would like to repair the damage. Millions of our neighbors are living with that painfully every... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/03/obamas_remarks_on_the_monthly_unemployment_numbers_107034.html 200107034 Barack Obama Barack Obama 2010/09 09/03/2010/00/00/00 Sun, 05 Sep 2010 14:58:52 -0500 A new poll in the four-way New Hampshire primary released on Friday shows conservative attorney Ovide Lamontagne surging into second place, though still trailing GOP establishment favorite Kelly Ayotte by double digits. The automated poll of 887 likely voters in the open Sept. 14 primary was conducted by the Republican-affiliated Magellan Strategies three days after the influential New Hampshire Union-Leader endorsed Lamontagne. The poll showed Ayotte, the former attorney general whom Sarah Palin has endorsed, leading with 34 percent, while Lamontagne had the support of 21 percent of likely... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/03/nh_sen_lamontagne_moves_into_2nd_place_in_new_poll.html 200107015 Scott Conroy Scott Conroy 2010/09 09/03/2010/00/00/00 Fri, 03 Sep 2010 15:58:21 -0500 44539 Hamas sent a greeting card to the quintet of leaders meeting in Washington, D.C., this week to initiate negotiations about a peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. In a well-planned ambush, they killed four Israeli civilians near the city of Hebron, two men and two women (one nine months pregnant), creating seven orphans. The murderers escaped, and may perhaps have videotaped the atrocity. In Gaza that evening, 3,000 celebrants clogged the streets, waving flags, setting bonfires, passing out candy, and carrying their children on their shoulders. If there is videotape,... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/03/these_talks_are_doomed_106995.html 200106995 Mona Charen Mona Charen 2010/09 09/03/2010/00/00/00 Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:51:24 -0500 Admitting you're a fan of economics is another way of saying that you live a deeply tragic life. That said, I can't seem to get enough of economists who blog about human behavior or write wickedly counterintuitive books about how all the bad things we do are good for society. Professionally speaking, economists are also vital. Where else are columnists going to find a Ph.D. to corroborate all the gibberish we put in our pieces? But the most crucial lesson I've gleaned from smart men and women who practice the dismal science is this: Those who claim to grasp the vagaries of the... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/03/economic_smoke_and_mirrors_107007.html 200107007 David Harsanyi David Harsanyi 2010/09 09/03/2010/00/00/00 Fri, 03 Sep 2010 06:26:02 -0500 Two weeks ago, SurveyUSA caused a stir when it released a post-primary poll finding Washington Republican Senate candidate Dino Rossi up seven points over incumbent Democratic Senator Patty Murray. Rasmussen Reports now weighs in with a poll confirming that result. Its most recent survey of the race (8/31, 500 LVs, MOE +/- 4.5%) finds Rossi leading Murray 48 percent to 46 percent. As something of an ominous sign for Murray, when leaners are included, Rossi's lead grows to a three-point, 50 percent to 47 percent advantage. While Washington voters have a generally favorable view of Murray... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/03/another_poll_shows_rossi_leading_murray_107008.html 200107008 Sean Trende Sean Trende 2010/09 09/03/2010/00/00/00 Fri, 03 Sep 2010 08:32:24 -0500 0 California Working Families for Jerry Brown, a large labor coalition, is circulating a Web ad today mocking Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman and her heavily self-financed campaign. CWF's ad amounts to a music video for Travie McCoy's recent Billboard hit, "Billionaire," and includes glamorous photos of the GOP candidate spliced in with rally-style campaign footage. In photo after photo, the former eBay CEO looks the part of a rock star; two of the photos that open the video show her leading boardroom discussions in rooms full of men. One of the lines in the... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/03/labor_hits_meg_whitmans_wealth_107009.html 200107009 Erin McPike Erin McPike 2010/09 09/03/2010/00/00/00 Fri, 03 Sep 2010 16:14:38 -0500 0 The much-analyzed speeches at the Glenn Beck Lincoln Memorial rally weren't as notable as what the estimated 300,000 attendees did: follow instructions, listen quietly to hours of speeches, and throw out their trash. Just as stunning as the tableaux of the massive throngs lining the reflecting pool were the images of the spotless grounds afterward. If someone had told attendees they were expected to mow the grass before they left, surely some of them would have hitched flatbed trailers to their vehicles for the trip to Washington and gladly brought mowers along with them. This was the... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/03/the_revolt_of_the_bourgeois_107010.html 200107010 Rich Lowry Rich Lowry 2010/09 09/03/2010/00/00/00 Fri, 03 Sep 2010 07:24:02 -0500 In one of the most competitive Senate races this year, Democrat Alexi Giannoulias and Republican Mark Kirk remain locked in a heated battle for President Barack Obama's old Senate seat in Illinois. Giannoulias and Kirk, both of whom have been dogged throughout the campaign by controversy, are tied at 34 percent in a new Chicago Tribune/WGN-TV poll, while more than one in five voters remain undecided. Green Party candidate LeAlan Jones earns the support of 6 percent of voters, and Libertarian Party candidate Mike Labno earns 3 percent. Giannoulias, the state's treasurer, continues to... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/03/giannoulias_kirk_remain_deadlocked_in_illinois_107011.html 200107011 Kyle Adams Kyle Adams 2010/09 09/03/2010/00/00/00 Fri, 03 Sep 2010 09:27:19 -0500 0 After a week dominated by foreign policy, President Obama pivoted back to the economy on Friday, acknowledging that new economic indicators are mixed, but declaring, "the economy is moving in a positive direction." Appearing in the Rose Garden with his economic team, Obama cited new Labor Department numbers which showed that the nation lost another 54,000 jobs in August, although private employers added 67,000 jobs. Obama once again said that there is "no quick fix" to the nation's economic woes, as the unemployment rate ticked up to 9.6 percent from 9.5 percent in... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/03/obama_to_announce_new_economic_measures_next_week_107013.html 200107013 Scott Conroy Scott Conroy 2010/09 09/03/2010/00/00/00 Fri, 03 Sep 2010 12:55:55 -0500 0