Pete Spiliakos

There is this new sitcom called The Goldbergs that is set in the 1980s. The trailer doesn’t look all that funny. When I first heard that there was going to be a sitcom set in the 1980s, my first thought was that the producers would be kind of sloppy and treat the 80s as some kind of . . . . Continue Reading »

After Mike Lee unveiled his pro-family, pro-middle-class tax plan, Republican Senator Jeff Sessions gave a speech focused on the struggles of the middle-class and workers who are struggling to find jobs. Sessions was one of the few members of Congress from either party to examine the Senate’s . . . . Continue Reading »

On The Square Thoughts. . . . . Continue Reading »

The liberal journalist Peter Beinart and the conservative journalist Andrew Ferguson have both picked up on Ted Cruz’s “children of Reagan” framing for a rising group of young conservative Republicans like Mike Lee, Rand Paul and, of course, Ted Cruz himself… . Continue Reading »

I can’t say enough good things about this speech on family-friendly tax reform by Utah Senator Mike Lee. It is a beautifully written argument for a Republican tax agenda that prioritizes the interests of middle-class and struggling working parents. Lee’s speech also contains some . . . . Continue Reading »

This might be the quietest big news of the week. The American Enterprise Institute is hosting an event for Utah Senator Mike Lee to unveil his new family-friendly tax reform. If Lee’s plan is much like Robert Stein’s, the plan would involve expanding the child tax credit and making it . . . . Continue Reading »

Ronald Brownstein argues that Republicans need to win over a larger share of nonwhite voters if they are to remain competitive in future presidential elections. Brownstein suggests “comprehensive immigration reform” as the kind of policy Republicans need to make gains among nonwhites. . . . . Continue Reading »

1. My wife is in the late stages of pregnancy with our second child, so blogging is going to be light-to-nonexistent for a while. 2. I have some On The Square thoughts about how some kinds of respect for Obama’s words and the concerns of some Obama supporters could be used to defeat . . . . Continue Reading »

In 2012, despite a more favorable political environment, Mitt Romney managed to do worse among Latinos and Asian-Americans than John McCain in 2008. Romney’s voters skewed older than Obama’s and will likely be dying off faster. The younger cohorts are increasingly nonwhite, and Obama won enormous margins among nonwhite voters… . Continue Reading »

So I spent about an hour listening to John Kerry talking to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about President Obama’s proposed strike. Here are some thoughts: 1. Kerry argued that the refugee crisis from the Syrian civil war was destabilizing Jordan. That strikes me as more of an . . . . Continue Reading »