WASHINGTON — If there is one operative rule in this city’s left-right paradigm, it is to shift the focus of any conversation that seems at risk of revealing something approximating truth — a game at which the current administration and its media surrogates happen to excel. Thus, the focus early this week was on the […]
Kathleen Parker
Posted inOp-Eds
Hear ye, hear ye, make way for the king
WASHINGTON — Though Republicans profess to despise Big Government, especially the federal kind, it seems that what they really don’t like is Democracy — and indeed prefer a monarchy. Yes, yes, the czarina sighed, signaling her weariness with the palace historian’s inevitable scold. I know America is a Republic and not a pure democracy, but […]
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Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web
Trump’s gamble on health care failed
WASHINGTON — In a week that felt like a month, Americans got a clear view of Donald Trump’s governing style and also of his fabled dealmaking approach. Or rather, I should say, Trump got a good sense of what governing is like — hard, hard, hard. And it’s bound to get more difficult given the […]
Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web
Neil Gorsuch steals the week
WASHINGTON — Watching the Senate confirmation hearings of Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, one might easily find oneself wishing he were president of the United States. Alas, he’s not. But Gorsuch’s selection to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia is the sanest act committed by a president whose first 60 days have left him with […]
Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web
Did they even ask that mother in Detroit?
WASHINGTON — From Ronald Reagan’s “welfare queen” to Donald Trump’s “Detroit single mom,” the unmarried mother remains a constant fascination to Republicans wielding budget-cutting scalpels. Whereas Reagan was propagating a stereotype of the fraudulent abuser of public largesse when he popularized the term in 1976, framing welfare policy thereafter, Trump’s budget blueprint purportedly is aimed […]
Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web, Uncategorized
Changing demographic landscape has created a level of discomfort
Yelling racist in a crowded nation WASHINGTON — “Culture and demographics are our destiny.” Stop. But Iowa Rep. Steve King didn’t stop there. He continued to feed his foot deep into his gullet: “We can’t restore our civilization with somebody else’s babies.” Well, now. Let’s pause to parse. First, one never speaks of “somebody else’s […]
Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web, Uncategorized
No defense for House Joint Resolution 69
WASHINGTON — In its zeal to repeal, the U.S. House of Representatives recently voted to overturn a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service rule forbidding the baiting, trapping and “denning” of bears and wolves in Alaska’s national wildlife refuges. The Senate is poised to consider the resolution as soon as next week. Distilled to its essence, […]
Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web, Uncategorized
Not your daddy's Marines
WASHINGTON — An old Marine told me that Marines guard Marines from the other side. And when one of their brothers is being threatened, the Devil Dogs (aka Marines) will “go wild on them” for eternity. Yes, but what about the sisters? Do the Devil Dogs protect them, too? What about the female Marines whose […]
Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web
Democrats must rebuild party's foundation
JACKSONVILLE, Alabama — If the Democratic Party is ailing after losing the presidency to Donald Trump, state parties are on life support. Here in the long-ago Democratic stronghold of Alabama, the party is all but dead, say some of its disheartened members. Consider: Not a single statewide office is held by a Democrat; the state […]
Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web
Hey, Sean Spicer, take a chill pill
WASHINGTON — White House press secretary Sean Spicer might owe Melissa McCarthy a thank-you note. The actress who mocked Spicer in her “Saturday Night Live” caricature of his angry, anti-media persona seems to have breathed new life into the man — as only a woman could do? To his credit, Spicer didn’t curl up in […]