-
Search
-
Sign Up
-
More About John
FAVORITE MOVIES FAVORITE ALBUMS FAVORITE BOOKS SPEECHES -
My Columns
-
My Videos
-
Published Articles
Category Archives: Columns
Our Screwed Up Tax System: Fix It – The Daily Beast
With tax snafus scalping Tom Daschle and Nancy Killefer—and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner narrowly escaping a similar fate—the Obama administration has hit its first rough patch. From Zoe Baird to Linda Chavez, we’ve seen this movie before. The tax code’s … Continue reading
Family of Hate
What are you doing for your family’s summer vacation? Shirley Phelps-Roper decided to take her two daughters to New York City from Topeka, Kansas. To protest outside Walter Cronkite’s funeral yesterday. They even had a fancy sign made up that … Continue reading
How I Got Interrogated by the Bushies
At his final press conference, President Bush seemed mystified by one aspect of his legacy in particular—his failure to change the tone in Washington. The man who campaigned on his bipartisan record as governor of Texas, and was confident that … Continue reading
Obama’s Infrastructure Opening – City Journal
The president-elect can rally support for public works, homeland security, and government transparency at the same time. The neo-Keynesian fervor sweeping Washington is set to culminate in President-elect Barack Obama’s proposed $775 billion stimulus package. The Democratic congressional leadership has … Continue reading
How Obama Can Avoid the Mistakes of Carter
You get graded on a steep curve as president. Getting elected should be accomplishment enough to last a lifetime, but once you enter the Oval Office the goalposts get moved and you’re competing against the ghosts of presidents past. On … Continue reading
3 Things Ford Can Teach the Rest of Detroit
After billion-dollar-bailout binges, bankruptcies, and the death of the Big Three, it’s time somebody said thank you to Ford on behalf of the American taxpayer. The last man standing is also the only major U.S. automaker to choose free markets … Continue reading
What If New York Goes Bust? – The Daily Beast
UPDATE: Looks like the tsunami has arrived in California, with state legislators one vote short of a spending cut and tax-hike compromise to close a $42 billion budget deficit. (By comparison, that’s twice the national debt during the Great Depression.) … Continue reading
Mandate for Modernization – National Review
When entering the wilderness after two consecutive election defeats, it is good to have a vigorous and clarifying debate — because something is not working. Demographics are destiny, and election returns show that the GOP base is shrinking. The party … Continue reading
New York GOP must reconnect with centrists – Newsday.com
Like a drunk after a decade-long bender, the Republican Party needs to hit bottom before it can bounce back. The good news is that it can’t go much lower. The numbers are ugly: Ten years ago, New York had a Republican … Continue reading
The Repudiation of Karl Rove – Politico.com
We don’t know yet who will win or by what margin, but we know one thing for certain: This election represents the repudiation of Karl Rove and his play-to-the-base strategy. There was always something dicey about stoking the fires of … Continue reading
What Independent Voters Want – Wall Street Journal
They tend to be fiscally conservative and strong on security. Independent voters, once a political afterthought, are now the largest and fastest-growing segment of the American electorate. This shift led to the nomination of two candidates who ran against the … Continue reading
Marathon Becomes Brawl – Politico.com
The rules of sports metaphors in politics are as follows: primary campaigns are marathons, general election campaigns are horse-races, the final weeks leading up to Election Day are sprints — but debates are boxing matches. And in last nights’ first … Continue reading
Soundtrack to Economic Anxiety – Politico.com
In a fall defined by market chaos, the long road of the campaign has ended up in uncharted economic territory — amid voters’ competing emotions of anxiety, aspiration and anger. After the spring primaries’ reversals of fortune and the hot … Continue reading
A Conspiracy of Crackpots – City Journal
The world watched as the horror of September 11 unfolded. The attacks were filmed in real time; mass murder played out on our televisions and computer screens in what must be the most digitally documented loss of human life in … Continue reading
The Rise of the Evangelical Center – Politico.com
On Saturday, John McCain and Barack Obama will sit on the same stage for the first time during this presidential election. But don’t call it a debate. It is a “civil forum” hosted in the heart of conservative Orange County … Continue reading
An American Honor Killing – New York Post
ON July 6, police say, a Pakistani named Chaudhry Rashid strangled his 25-year-old daughter San- deela Kanwal with a Bungee cord in her bedroom because she wanted to end her arranged marriage. This “honor killing” came not in Pakistan, but … Continue reading
George H.W. Bush, Our Preppiest Ex-President, Honored at White House
It’s been a quarter-century since George H.W. Bush was elected president, but the wheels of history are finally turning his way. In a triumph of civility and character over hyperbolic hyper-partisanship, Bush 41 was honored Monday by President Obama at … Continue reading
Posted in Columns
Leave a comment
Independent Voters Burgeoning – New York Sun
Want to make a professional partisan really nervous? Ask him why the fastest growing demographic in American politics is the independent voter. It just doesn’t fit with the play-to-the-base Kool-Aid that political consultants have been drinking the past few years. … Continue reading
Muslims in the Military – New York Sun
His call sign is “Hadji,” meaning “one who has made a pilgrimage to Mecca.” “It’s a pilot thing,” explains Colonel Douglas Burpee, the highest ranking Muslim officer in the U.S. Marine Corps. Now in his 23rd year of military service, … Continue reading
‘West Wing’ Bows Out – The New York Sun
At a time when the TV show “American Idol” garners greater levels of voter participation than actual American elections, there is reason to question whether the entertainment industry adds much civic value to our society. But viewers of NBC’s “The … Continue reading