http://www.realclearpolitics.com/ en Copyright 2008 Sun, 05 Feb 2012 20:01:34 -0600 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/?v=3.33 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Sun, 05 Feb 2012 15:37:12 -0600 02/05/2012/00/00/00 Mitt Romney secured an overwhelming victory in Saturday’s Nevada caucuses, giving the former Massachusetts governor his second consecutive win of the year as he tightened his claim to dominant front-runner status in what had been a turbulent Republican presidential race.After his easy victory in Florida on Tuesday, Romney’s win in Nevada, where he also emerged on top four years ago, will provide additional momentum heading to Tuesday’s caucuses in Colorado and Minnesota and set him up for more significant primaries in Michigan and Arizona at the end of the month.]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/02/05/with_win_romney_tightens_front-runner_status_272967.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/mitt-romney-poised-for-victory-in-nevada-caucuses/2012/02/04/gIQAyghKqQ_story.html 100272967 PM Update Dan Balz, Wash Post 123087 Sun, 05 Feb 2012 15:38:28 -0600 02/05/2012/00/00/00 Republican Newt Gingrich vowed on Sunday to press ahead with his struggling presidential bid after another big loss in Nevada, saying he will focus on drawing a contrast with "timid" rival Mitt Romney.Romney, the Republican front-runner, easily thumped Gingrich in Nevada on Saturday for his second consecutive win and third in the first five contests in the state-by-state battle to pick a challenger to face Democratic President Barack Obama in the November election.]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/02/05/gingrich_vows_to_take_fight_to_039timid039_romney_272970.htmlhttp://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/05/us-usa-campaign-idUSTRE80Q2AQ20120205http://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/05/us-usa-campaign-idUSTRE80Q2AQ20120205 100272970 PM Update John Whitesides, Reuters 123088 Sun, 05 Feb 2012 16:04:12 -0600 02/05/2012/00/00/00 "It's the economy, stupid," was a useful slogan for the 1992 Bill Clinton campaign. Of course, it wasn't really true. The Clinton campaign was about much more than the economy. It was about "ending welfare as we know it," for example, and putting government on the side of those who "work hard and play by the rules""”all of this part of a broader redefinition of the Democratic party away from the failed liberalism of Walter Mondale and Michael Dukakis. And the collapse of the Bush administration in 1992 was also,...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/02/05/it039s_not_only_the_economy_272913.htmlhttp://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/it-s-not-only-economy-and-we-re-not-stupid_620952.html 100272913 PM Update William Kristol, Weekly Standard 122345 Sun, 05 Feb 2012 15:40:32 -0600 02/05/2012/00/00/00 IF you want to figure out why Newt Gingrich is still out there grasping for lost power, howling at the moon like King Lear, look to Callista.You can find her anytime standing statue-still on stage next to Newt as he speaks, gazing at him with such frozen attentiveness that she could give a master class to Nancy Reagan.Ann Romney often introduces her husband, chatting warmly about his uxorious virtues, and then disappears offstage or to the back of the stage while he talks. ]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/02/05/the_great_man039s_wife_272915.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/opinion/sunday/dowd-the-great-mans-wife.html?ref=opinionhttp://mobile.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/opinion/sunday/dowd-the-great-mans-wife.xml?ref=opinion 100272915 PM Update Maureen Dowd, New York Times 123090 Sun, 05 Feb 2012 15:41:49 -0600 02/05/2012/00/00/00 The worst day of Sugar Bear’s 55 years was one of the days — there have been many of them — when he got out of prison. In the early 1990s, in a prison where people whose sentences have ended and are being released see those whose sentences are just beginning, he saw one of his sons coming in.Generational recidivism is not unusual in Sugar Bear’s world of fatherlessness. His son, who was convicted of selling drugs, is still incarcerated because he has not been a model prisoner. He is an apple that did not fall far from the tree.]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/02/05/lifting_up_the_fatherless_272894.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/george-f-will-in-los-angeles-lifting-up-the-fatherless/2012/02/02/gIQApluznQ_story.htmlhttp://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http://www.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/op_ed/view/20220205ex-con_rewrites_his_sentence/ 100272894 PM Update George Will, Washington Post 117679 Sun, 05 Feb 2012 15:45:04 -0600 02/05/2012/00/00/00 This turns out to have been the best week Planned Parenthood has had in years. The bad news that the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation was pulling its grants for breast cancer screening was quickly replaced by a flood of donations - including $250,000 from New York’s Republican mayor, Michael Bloomberg - and an outcry so huge that, by Friday, Komen had reversed its decision entirely.And in the meantime, in those three days of fury, Planned Parenthood got precisely the publicity it needs. Indeed, even in the midst of the crisis, some Planned Parenthood officials could see the...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/02/05/a_good_week_for_planned_parenthood_272936.htmlhttp://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2012/02/05/good-week-for-planned-parenthood/KikFiPuf3TH4oKs6MR0zOM/story.htmlhttp://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2012/02/05/good-week-for-planned-parenthood/KikFiPuf3TH4oKs6MR0zOM/story.html 100272936 PM Update Joanna Weiss, Boston Globe 123064 Sun, 05 Feb 2012 15:44:31 -0600 02/05/2012/00/00/00 IN the most recent Gallup poll on abortion, as many Americans described themselves as pro-life as called themselves pro-choice. A combined 58 percent of Americans stated that abortion should either be “illegal in all circumstances” or “legal in only a few circumstances.” These results do not vary appreciably by gender: in the first Gallup poll to show a slight pro-life majority, conducted in May 2009, half of American women described themselves as pro-life.]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/02/05/the_media039s_abortion_blinders_272916.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/opinion/sunday/douthat-the-medias-blinders-on-abortion.html?ref=opinionhttp://mobile.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/opinion/sunday/douthat-the-medias-blinders-on-abortion.xml?ref=opinion 100272916 PM Update Ross Douthat, New York Times 123091 Sun, 05 Feb 2012 08:49:21 -0600 02/05/2012/00/00/00 President Obama believes government has a vital role in creating good jobs in America. Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich say American businesses will create good jobs here if their taxes are lowered and regulations eased.The facts are on the president's side. U.S. corporations are increasingly global and have less and less stake in America. According to the Commerce Department, American global corporations added 2.4 million workers abroad in the first decade of the 21st century while cutting their American workforce by 2.9 million.]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/02/05/who_represents_american_workers_272928.htmlhttp://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/02/05/INQB1N0SNT.DTL&type=printablehttp://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/02/05/INQB1N0SNT.DTL&type=printable 100272928 AM Update Robert Reich, San Francisco Chronicle 123057 Sun, 05 Feb 2012 08:50:50 -0600 02/05/2012/00/00/00 The air is filled with noisy outrage about the moral emergency of the day. We are, according to the leaders of every major political party, in the midst of a crisis of capitalism. However bountiful the free market system may have been at its best, it is now in such deep disrepute that any politician who wishes to remain credible must join in the general vilification.Even in this storm of condemnation, everyone has to admit that there is actually no alternative to free market economics or to the private banking system. ]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/02/05/lost_lessons_of_communism039s_fall_272939.htmlhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9061328/The-lessons-of-the-fall-of-communism-have-still-not-been-learnt.htmlhttp://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9061328/The-lessons-of-the-fall-of-communism-have-still-not-been-learnt.html 100272939 AM Update Janet Daley, Daily Telegraph 123058 Sun, 05 Feb 2012 14:40:53 -0600 02/05/2012/00/00/00 EVERYONE seems to be talking about a crisis in manufacturing. Workers, business leaders and politicians lament the decline of this traditionally central part of the American economy. President Obama, in his State of the Union address, singled out manufacturing for special tax breaks and support. Many go further, by urging trade restrictions or direct government investment in promising industries.]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/02/05/do_manufacturers_need_special_treatment_272930.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/business/do-manufacturers-need-special-treatment-economic-view.html?ref=businesshttp://mobile.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/business/do-manufacturers-need-special-treatment-economic-view.xml 100272930 AM Update Christina Romer, NY Times 123059 Sun, 05 Feb 2012 08:59:36 -0600 02/05/2012/00/00/00 Remember when some 18 percent of Americans thought President Barack Obama was a follower of Islam?It wasn't true, but it really aggravated Obama's defenders in the media, particularly those militant secularists, and then they cried racism and began pointing their angry fingers.But now we can put all that to rest because last week, while speaking to some 3,000 pastors at a breakfast, President Obama performed yet another miracle.]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/02/05/praise_the_lord_and_pass_the_taxes_272949.htmlhttp://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/ct-met-kass-0205-20120205,0,2383349.columnhttp://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/ct-met-kass-0205-20120205,0,2383349.column 100272949 AM Update John Kass, Chicago Tribune 123063 Sun, 05 Feb 2012 08:55:42 -0600 02/05/2012/00/00/00 Mitt Romney spent years cultivating voters in Nevada, and it paid off with a commanding victory that not only pushed him closer to the GOP nomination but laid a strong marker in a state both parties will fight to carry in November.Romney also won the Nevada caucuses in 2008, one of the few impressive performances of his failed bid for the Republican presidential nomination, and he never really stopped campaigning here. The only question was whether Romney on Saturday would top the 51% he received four years ago; he was winning just less than that in early returns.]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/02/05/romney_on_a_roll_in_republican_race_272931.htmlhttp://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-nevada-caucuses-20120205,0,3397649.storyhttp://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-nevada-caucuses-20120205,0,3397649.story 100272931 AM Update Mark Barabak, Los Angeles Times 123039 Sun, 05 Feb 2012 08:57:30 -0600 02/05/2012/00/00/00 Few presidential candidates have successfully emerged from the dark valley that likely awaits Newt Gingrich after his decisive loss to Mitt Romney in Florida’s primary.After the Florida fizzle, Gingrich faces the prospect of a February freeze. Only seven states vote in February, and none of them tilts toward him. Michigan offers Romney a home-state advantage. In Nevada and Arizona, Romney will benefit from both a large Mormon population and conservative resistance to Gingrich’s more lenient policy on illegal immigration.]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/02/05/what_newt_can_learn_from_past_comebacks_272816.htmlhttp://nationaljournal.com/columns/political-connections/out-of-the-valley-20120202http://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http://nationaljournal.com/columns/political-connections/out-of-the-valley-20120202 100272816 AM Update Ron Brownstein, Natl Jrnl 123061 Sun, 05 Feb 2012 08:58:09 -0600 02/05/2012/00/00/00 Last Thursday, Attorney General Eric Holder was called to testify before Congress. His attitude toward "Šhis questioners was by any measure unbecoming of his office. At one point he actually demanded he be “given some credit” for his performance as attorney general. Though, bad as that outburst was, it was slightly less petulant than the earlier insinuation that his critics are racist.One hopes Holder isn’t expecting kudos for his handling of the Fast and Furious scandal—the reason for his latest testimony. ]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/02/05/holder_refuses_to_come_clean_272951.htmlhttp://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/slow-and-infuriating_620954.html 100272951 AM Update Mark Hemingway, The Weekly Standard 123062 Sun, 05 Feb 2012 08:58:52 -0600 02/05/2012/00/00/00 In my State of the Union address, I laid out a blueprint for an economy that's built to last -- an economy built on American manufacturing, American energy, skills for American workers, and a renewal of American values of fairness and responsibility.Over the past decade, we strayed from those values and we saw what happened. Millions of families who did the right thing were hurt when the massive housing bubble burst. ]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/02/05/a_plan_to_help_homeowners_272953.htmlhttp://www.freep.com/article/20120205/OPINION05/202050451/President-Obama-A-plan-to-help-responsible-homeownershttp://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http://www.lvrj.com/opinion/president-obama-proposes-fixes-for-real-estate-market-138736054.html 100272953 AM Update President Barack Obama, Detroit Free Press 122637 Sun, 05 Feb 2012 09:00:32 -0600 02/05/2012/00/00/00 As Senator Obama said during the 2008 campaign, words matter. Modern “liberalism” is strikingly illiberal; the high priests of “tolerance” are increasingly intolerant of even the mildest dissent; and those who profess to “celebrate diversity” coerce ever more ruthlessly a narrow homogeneity. Thus, the Obama administration’s insistence that Catholic institutions must be compelled to provide free contraception, sterilization, and abortifacients. This has less to do with any utilitarian benefit a condomless janitor at a...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/02/05/big_abortion_and_the_liberal_enforcers_272925.htmlhttp://www.nationalreview.com/articles/290134/liberal-enforcers-mark-steyn 100272925 AM Update Mark Steyn, National Review 122932 Sun, 05 Feb 2012 09:05:36 -0600 02/05/2012/00/00/00 The Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation must have been totally unprepared for the firestorm provoked by its announcement that it was severing its long relationship with Planned Parenthood, which for at least five years had been receiving grants to provide low-income women with breast exams and mammogram referrals. Komen showed itself to be both dishonest and ridiculous: there was its initial long silence over the decision, followed by a flurry of flimsy and inconsistent explanations"”first it was that Planned Parenthood was being investigated by Representative Cliff...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/02/05/a_real_win_for_pro-choicers_272933.htmlhttp://www.thenation.com/blog/166076/komens-ambiguous-apologyhttp://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http://www.thenation.com/blog/166076/komens-ambiguous-apology 100272933 AM Update Katha Pollitt, The Nation 123064 Sun, 05 Feb 2012 09:13:28 -0600 02/05/2012/00/00/00 Former US congressman Robert Wexler is a man worth listening to. Wexler served as then-senator Barack Obama's chief booster in the American Jewish community during the 2008 presidential campaign. He appeared everywhere and said anything to convince the American Jewish community that the same man who sat in the church pews listening to Rev. Jeremiah Wright's anti-Semitic vitriol for two decades, and listed among his closest friends and associates a host of Israel-haters as well as former terrorists, was the greatest friend Israel could ever have.Once Obama was elected, Wexler...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2012/02/05/us_friends_like_wexler_obama_play_israel_for_the_fool_113030.htmlhttp://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2012/02/05/us_friends_like_wexler_obama_play_israel_for_the_fool_113030.htmlhttp://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2012/02/05/us_friends_like_wexler_obama_play_israel_for_the_fool_113030.html 200272950 AM Update Caroline Glick, Jerusalem Post 123065 Sun, 05 Feb 2012 14:39:59 -0600 02/05/2012/00/00/00 AS a journalist, the best part of covering the recent wave of protests and uprisings against autocrats is seeing stuff you never imagined you'd see "” like, in Moscow last week, when some opponents of Vladimir Putin's decision to become president again, for possibly 12 more years, hung a huge yellow banner on a rooftop facing the Kremlin with Putin's face covered by a big X, next to the words "Putin Go Away" in Russian. ]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/02/05/russia_the_039sort_of_but_not_really039_country_272927.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/opinion/sunday/friedman-russia-sort-of-but-not-really.htmlhttp://mobile.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/opinion/sunday/friedman-russia-sort-of-but-not-really.xml 100272927 AM Update Thomas Friedman, NY Times 123066 Sun, 05 Feb 2012 09:15:33 -0600 02/05/2012/00/00/00 We usually don't think of the U.S. as a monetary union, but early in its history it essentially was. Unlike the crisis-wracked euro zone, the dollar zone survived its first few decades without a major crisis, providing the fragile young republic with a period of relative stability during which it began to congeal culturally, economically, politically and militarily.European policy makers hoped that the euro would serve as the unifying and integrating force of the European Union much as, they believed, the dollar had for the early U.S. What the Europeans failed to appreciate was that...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/02/05/why_early_us_didn039t_go_the_way_of_the_euro_272947.htmlhttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-01/why-the-early-u-s-didn-t-go-the-way-of-the-euro-echoes.html 100272947 AM Update Robert Wright, Bloomberg 111233 Sun, 05 Feb 2012 09:43:02 -0600 02/05/2012/00/00/00 Last week Germany reclaimed its status as the leading power in Europe. In the two years since it became apparent that Greece was, essentially, bankrupt, there have been dozens of emergency meetings of the countries that use the common European currency, the euro. Most of the euro-using states believe that Germany—with a booming industrial economy, vast trade surpluses, a reputation for fiscal probity, and a history that makes it reluctant to reject the counsel of France—ought to cover the bill. Germany has long argued that Greece must become competitive again by selling...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/02/05/europe039s_german_future_272948.htmlhttp://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/ber-alles-after-all_620949.html 100272948 AM Update Christopher Caldwell, The Weekly Standard 123067 Sun, 05 Feb 2012 09:45:14 -0600 02/05/2012/00/00/00 When it comes to national security, Michael V. Haydenis no shrinking violet. As CIA director, he ran the Bush administration's program of warrantless wiretaps against suspected terrorists.But the retired air force general admits to being a little squeamish about the Obama administration's expanding use of pilotless drones to kill suspected terrorists around the world — including, occasionally, U.S. citizens.]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/02/05/who_reviews_the_us_quotkill_listquot_272945.htmlhttp://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-mcmanus-column-drones-and-the-law-20120205,0,876903.columnhttp://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-mcmanus-column-drones-and-the-law-20120205,0,876903.column 100272945 AM Update Doyle McManus, Los Angeles Times 123068 Sun, 05 Feb 2012 09:46:45 -0600 02/05/2012/00/00/00 This past summer, Edward I. Koch, a Democrat, made headlines by noisily endorsing Republican Bob Turner in a special election to fill the congressional seat of disgraced Tweeter Anthony Weiner. The former mayor explained that he’d decided to rally Jewish voters in Brooklyn and Queens to chastise President Obama for his Israel policy. Koch’s outsize role in Turner’s surprise victory made for big political news and led to speculation that Obama could be facing trouble in his reelection bid. ]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/02/05/ed_koch_the_last_sane_liberal_272837.htmlhttp://www.city-journal.org/2012/22_1_ed-koch.htmlhttp://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http://www.city-journal.org/2012/22_1_ed-koch.html 100272837 AM Update Tevi Troy, City Journal 102602 Sun, 05 Feb 2012 14:40:35 -0600 02/05/2012/00/00/00 The hype can blind you at the Super Bowl, of course. For instance, this year I would say that most people I run across think that the New York Giants will beat New England on Sunday. The Patriots, at last check, were still 2 1/2- or 3-point favorites, which tells you that the betting everywhere is still skewing toward New England. But it feels like two out of three people I have talked with here (players, media, former players, insiders, ticket scalpers, some husband and wife named Teddy and Linda who hang around the hotel lobby) have said that the Giants will win. ]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/02/05/nothing_makes_sense_about_xlvi_272946.htmlhttp://joeposnanski.si.com/2012/02/03/an-unusual-super-bowl/?sct=hp_t11_a1&eref=sihphttp://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http://www.realclearsports.com/ 100272946 AM Update Joe Posnanski, Sports Illustrated 123000 http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/02/05/an_easier_path_to_refinancing_272954.html http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/opinion/sunday/an-easier-path-to-refinancing.html http://mobile.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/opinion/sunday/an-easier-path-to-refinancing.xml 100272954 Editorials Sun, 05 Feb 2012 09:48:12 -0600 New York Times 122741 http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/02/05/obama_can_stop_fast_and_furious_cover-up_today_272942.html http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/editorials/2012/02/obama-can-stop-holders-fast-and-furious-cover-today/2168481 http://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/editorials/2012/02/obama-can-stop-holders-fast-and-furious-cover-today/2168481 100272942 Editorials Sun, 05 Feb 2012 09:49:10 -0600 Washington Examiner 123069 http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/02/05/lax_us_gun_laws_enable_killing_in_mexico_272956.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/lax-us-gun-laws-enable-killing-in-mexico/2012/02/02/gIQAWb9CqQ_story.html 100272956 Editorials Sun, 05 Feb 2012 09:51:00 -0600 Washington Post 123070 http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/02/05/walker_recall039s_ripple_effect_across_us_272955.html http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/walker-338786-recall-gov.html http://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/walker-338786-recall-gov.html 100272955 Editorials Sun, 05 Feb 2012 09:51:50 -0600 Orange County Register 123071