Pete Spiliakos

We just went through a presidential election where the Republicans demonstrated an unhealthy obsession with cutting the marginal income tax rates of the job creator, high earners who “built that” in the top two percent of the income distribution. We also caught a glimpse of the . . . . Continue Reading »

but does anybody see a Republican endgame in the fiscal cliff negotiations that isn’t about intra-Republican positioning and careerism? John Boehner looks like he is just trying to muddle through and get the best deal from Obama under conditions where Obama is more popular, more trusted and . . . . Continue Reading »

David Frum likes Jean Edward Smith’s biography of Eisenhower. I mostly enjoyed it myself, but Frum agrees with Smith’s claim the Interstate Highway Act was a Keynesian stimulus program to deal with the end of the Korean War. That seems mostly wrong when I look at the dates. Smith wrote . . . . Continue Reading »

Reagan started his political life trying to win over the other party’s voters alongside mobilizing his own party’s base.  In this forum, Henry Olsen talks about the difference between “reaching out” and “inclusion.” Olsen says: I think reaching out says . . . . Continue Reading »

Because that is how much the candidate we support got in an election with high unemployment, tepid growth, and high gas prices. Rerun the election with Romney as the incumbent and Obama as the challenger and how does it go? Sort of depressing isn’t it? Want to feel better? Reagan began his . . . . Continue Reading »

As the American right emerges from its November defeat, I’m wondering how conservatives will relate their current situation to their memory of Ronald Reagan. What lessons of Reagan’s career are most appropriate for our current situation? One approach is to repeat heavily distorted and . . . . Continue Reading »

Every person working for the Republican National Committee should be required to watch this ten minute clip of Henry Olsen every month.  Maybe every week.  If you have too much free time, watch the whole event. . . . . Continue Reading »

Rich Lowry notes that the video recorded assault on Steve Crowder by pro-union demonstrators does not seem to have gotten much reaction in the mainstream media news sections. Compare the lack of mainstream media interest in this story with the many media insinuations that the Arizona shooter was or . . . . Continue Reading »

This is a pretty terrific article by Matt Lewis about the struggles of people at the lower end of the income distribution and how bad decisions in one’s teens and twenties cause more long-term harm for those whose families have the least. Lewis says: This is a topic that deserves the . . . . Continue Reading »

There seems to be a fair amount of national interest in who will replace Jim DeMint in the Senate. A lot of this interest focuses on Representative Tim Scott. I remember people talking about who would be appointed to replace retiring Republican Senator Jim Ensign from Nevada. Whoever was appointed . . . . Continue Reading »