ObamaCare 2.0
Charles Krauthammer proclaims "Obamacare Version 1.0 is dead" and helpfully proposes a version 2.0. Basically: No public option, no death panels end-of-life counseling, softpeddle government "best practices," abandon cost-cutting, and guaranteeing universal coverage. What's not to like? If you have insurance, you'll never lose it. Nor will your children ever be denied coverage for preexisting conditions. The regulated insurance companies will get ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on August 28, 2009 13:39
Krauthammer on Palin
Charles Krauthammer is getting a lot of attention for his observation on Fox' Special Report that Sarah Palin "is not a serious candidate for the presidency." As regular readers know, I think he's right on this score: She had to go home and study and spend a lot of time on issues in which she was not adept last year, and she ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on July 3, 2009 08:03
Obama Vindicates Bush?
Charles Krauthammer contends that the remarkable continuity between the Obama foreign policy and the Bush foreign policy he campaigned against so vociferously is an example of "the genius of democracy" through which "a national consensus is forged and a new legitimacy established." As a result, "The Bush policies in the war on terror won't have to await vindication by historians. ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 23, 2009 07:26
Klein on Krauthammer
There's quite a bit of outrage brewing in the blogosphere over Joe Klein's alleged insinuation that Charles Krauthammer would be a better columnist if he weren't a cripple. The offending passage is in a profile by Politico's Ben Smith: "He became ground zero among the neo-cons, but he's vastly smarter than most of them," said Time's Joe Klein, an admirer and ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 20, 2009 16:52
Ezra Klein to WaPo
The Washington Post company continues its consolidation of the media universe with the hire of Ezra Klein. Politico's Michael Calderone breaks the news: The American Prospect's Ezra Klein, one of the top bloggers on politics and policy, is heading to the Washington Post. Rumors about Klein's upcoming move spread on Wednesday night during a reception thrown by The Nation magazine in honor ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on April 23, 2009 12:07
Biden Drops F-Bomb on Former Colleagues
The string of U.S. vice presidents caught saying the F-word on Capitol Hill now stands at two: Joe Biden dropped a big F-bomb into a live mic at an event on Friday afternoon. "Gimme a f--ing break," the vice president said after a former Senate colleague referred to him as "Mr. Vice President." Biden was at Union Station in Washington, D.C. to announce ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on March 17, 2009 06:48
Questioning Their Motives
Victor Davis Hanson has a piece out today that I suspect will be the first of many of its kind. Intermixed with some excellent points about the perception of McCain campaign negativity, the politics of race, and scandalmongering, he aims this cheap shot at Republicans who have expressed dismay at McCain or even endorsed his opponent. Second, with Obama now ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on October 13, 2008 10:14
Sarah Palin, Ignoramus
Several commentators have objected to my characterization of Sarah Palin as an"ignoramus" in the post below. I'm simply using the term in its precise meaning as "an extremely ignorant person." The dictionary definition of ignorant: 1. lacking in knowledge or training; unlearned: an ignorant man. 2. lacking knowledge or information as to a particular subject or fact: ignorant of quantum physics. 3. uninformed; ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on October 11, 2008 09:23
Has Palin Out-Qualyed Quayle?
Dan Qualye was, rather unfairly in my view, a national joke. From very shortly after George H.W. Bush picked a rising star senator from Indiana that few outside his home state had ever heard of to be his vice presidential running mate in 1988, Quayle became the butt of late night comics, "Saturday Night Live," and other culture-setting institutions and ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on September 29, 2008 10:46
Four Bush Doctrines
Charles Krauthammer, who coined the phrase "Bush Doctrine" in July 2001, argues that the condescension of Charlie Gibson and others over Sarah Palin's not knowing what "Bush Doctrine" meant is misplaced. He notes that there have been four distinct meanings of the term, with Gibson's being the third and thus obviated. The first, from Krauthammer's coinage, was a willingness to unlaterally ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on September 13, 2008 07:21
NATO Toothless in Georgia Situation?
Charles Krauthammer has a scathing column this morning excoriating NATO for its weak response to the Georgia crisis. He observes that NATO's recent statement on the matter is "almost comically evenhanded." It's not until paragraph six that NATO, a 26-nation alliance with 900 million people and nearly half of world GDP, unsheathes its mighty sword, boldly declaring "Russian military action" -- ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on August 22, 2008 07:06
