Recent Commentaries

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Trey Gowdy: Zero Credibility
No sooner had The House Select Committee on Benghazi concluded an intense, 11-hour Q&A of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton then journalists rushed to interview Committee Chair Trey Gowdy asking a very basic question: “What new things did you learn today?” Totally flat-footed, Gowdy said, “Uh… I think some of Jimmy Jordan’s questioning — well, when you say new...
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October 26, 2015
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Ryan’s Hope
Less than two weeks after he essentially said, “Thanks, but no thanks,” to running for House Speaker, Representative Paul Ryan put his finger on the precise problem with Republicans in general and the Freedom Caucus in particular. “We have become the problem. If my colleagues entrust me to be the speaker, I want us to become the solution.” In making...
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October 23, 2015
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Benghazi, Conclusion
On Face the Nation Sunday (Oct. 19), the Chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, Trey Gowdy, defended his committee’s work despite two House Republicans who publicly stated that the purpose of the panel was to place blame on former Secretary of State and current Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton for her actions or in-actions regarding the attacks leading...
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October 20, 2015
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Benghazi, Part 1
On the CBS news program Face the Nation Sunday (Oct. 20), Trey Gowdy was asked about the credibility of The House Select Committee on Benghazi in light of two Republican colleagues and a former investigator calling the committee politically motivated. “Why would all these people say that?” journalist John Dickerson asked the committee chairman. “I guess because they don’t have...
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October 19, 2015
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Authentic Republican Leadership
On Monday I talked about the Freedom Caucus – a group of about 40 unyielding House Republicans whom Republican strategist Frank Luntz says “…believes that it is better to blow-up the process than it is to fix it.” But there is another group in the House. The Liberty Caucus, a group of about 36 members, was founded in 2011 by...
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October 16, 2015
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Planned Parenthood – Conclusion
Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards sat before the House Committee on Oversight to answer questions about funding and more specifically, respond to a widely circulated video purportedly showing an aborted fetus being prepped for organ harvesting by a Planned Parenthood sponsored medical facility. The video has been debunked by a variety of fact-checking organizations. Nevertheless, that did not stop House...
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October 14, 2015
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God Help Us
After Kevin McCarthy’s abrupt withdrawal as front-runner to be the next Speaker of the House, Republican strategist Frank Luntz offered a dire assessment of House Republicans. “I started working up on Capitol Hill in 1993 under Newt Gingrich. So, it’s been more than 20 years, and it was confused up until the last three or four days. It is now...
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October 12, 2015
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Planned Parenthood – Part 2
From the outset, Jason Chaffetz, Republican chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform attacked Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards, at one point using a chart that showed “Abortions up/Lifesaving Procedures down.” “In 2006,” Chaffetz said, pointing to the chart, “Planned Parenthood performed more prevention services and cancer screenings than abortions, but in 2013, there were more abortions…....
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October 9, 2015
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What Went Right
Why is it that so many good stories – the ones where some impending tragedy is prevented – rarely make broadcast news? I could be sitting here writing about another school shooting if not for the intervention of some alert students who didn’t hesitate to act. This story began with an email from friend and former San Francisco vascular surgeon...
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October 7, 2015
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The Planned Parenthood Debate
In the second Republican presidential debate (Sept. 16), former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina took on Planned Parenthood, a non-profit that receives approximately $500 million in federal funds each year. “I dare Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama to watch these tapes. Watch a fully formed fetus on the table, its heart beating, its legs kicking while someone says we have to...
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October 5, 2015

Read Some of the Most Recent Articles
The Latest... And Often Greatest
When Political Identity Replaces Ethical Judgment
The political and cultural landscape has become a minefield of conflicting beliefs, many now rooted less in public policy than in personal identity. One of...
Principles Matter.
A few nights ago, I was watching The Way We Were, a film I’ve seen more times than I can count. This time, a single...
All the President’s Men 2.0
“Politics had infiltrated every corner of government—a strong-arm takeover of the agencies by the Nixon White House.” —Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, All the President’s...
The Threat to November Is Already Here
“Cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government.”—George Washington’s...
Jon Ossoff and the Conscience of Atticus Finch
I’ve written about Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff before, but after watching his questioning of Jay Clayton, President Trump’s nominee for director of national intelligence (DNI),...
Hearts and Minds
There’s a moment in Cool Hand Luke when Luke, played by Paul Newman, is returned to a prison camp after escaping. Determined to break his...