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February 13, 2012
Binyamin Rose: Back to the Bunker: How a life-risking act by a Christian family during the Holocaust saved a family and built a thriving community a world away
Menachem Wecker: Business Schools Teach Real Estate Despite Troubled Housing Market
February 10, 2012
Lisa M. Krieger: Man with defibrillator demands access to his own heart's information
David G. Savage: Why activists may not be in a hurry to have High Court rule on alternative marriage
February 9, 2012
Laura McMullen: 10 Least Expensive Public Schools for Out-of-State Students
Kimberly Palmer: How to actually enjoy -- relaxing, financially -- your vacation
February 8, 2012
Warren Richey: Why momentous Prop. 8 ruling might not satisfy gay-rights groups
Menachem Wecker: Though Controversial, LL.M.'s Can Lead to Specialized Legal Jobs
The Kosher Gourmet byDana Velden: Going to the bother of making soup? You know it better be good. This CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP certainly is! And it's a cinch to make, too (Includes techinques and serving secrets)
February 7, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Caught off-guard? President's Super Bowl interview with Matt Lauer gives those who need a reason not to vote for him, a darn good one
Suzanne Bohan: Leaping lizards! Tiny reptiles advancing robot design
February 6, 2012
Jonathan Tobin: Iran Threatens Israel With Destruction, But the New York Times Doesn't Hear It
Jeffrey Fleishman: In newly democratic Egypt, tens of democracy activists jailed, to stand trial; their groups are 'threatening the stability of the homeland'
Julie Deardorff : Researchers say antioxidants may not be that effective and could do more harm than good
Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
February 3, 2012
Edmund Sanders : Israeli official says Iran is creating missile that could reach East Coast of US
Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
Reza Kahlili : Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: What Obama doesn't grasp about striking deals with Tehran
Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
Brian Bennett: US officials see increasing threat of domestic attack from Iran
Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
January 31, 2012
January 30, 2012
Paul Richter and Ramin Mostaghim: Misreading Teheran's limits -- deadly and economically devastating as they may be -- is a risk administration, Europe seem willing to take
Suzanne Bohan: Warning: Nap-deprived tots missing more than sleep, study finds
Meg Handley: Banks Revamping Rewards Programs to Woo Customers
January 27, 2012
Caroline B. Glick: Obama: Of course I intend to prevent a nuclear holocaust . . . in a few months
Yochonon Donn: In liberal New York City, fervently-Orthodox Jews may soon be getting a district to call their own
Jeannine Stein: An inflated ego and thinking you're 'all that' doesn't just make others sick of you, it can make you ill
Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
January 26, 2012
Ed Koch: To the New York Times, calling for the murder of Jews by those capable of having their incitement taken seriously isn't news
Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
Caroline B. Glick: America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent
Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
Melissa Dribben: Jewish voters to play a key role in Florida's Republican primary
Jordan Rau: In quest to grow, Catholic hospital system will announce this morning its break from church
Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
January 19, 2012
January 18, 2012
January 17, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
David G. Savage: They sued their principals after slandering them online --- now the cases are headed to the Supreme Court
David Francis: Where to Invest in 2012: With stocks expected to rebound, opportunity abounds for investors
January 13, 2012
Ben Lynfield: Israeli lawmakers move to annex Jewish Judea, one museum at a time
Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz: Thriving through touch: Gentle massage helps older people with low mobility improve in mind and body
January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
Warren Richey: Supreme Court says no to new rule on eyewitness testimony
John Fauber : Statins found to raise diabetes risk in postmenopausal women
Katy Hopkins : Consider This Before You Pay for an Online Degree
The Kosher Gourmet by Joseph Erdos: This mushroom and barley soup has an intense -- almost nutty -- flavor that mixes robust with Middle East. It has creaminess without cream
January 11, 2012
Shari Roan: Millions of atrial fibrillation sufferers at risk for devastating, but preventable, stroke
Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Karen Kaplan: Study: Nicotine replacement products ineffective when used in real-life situations
January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
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Jewish World Review
Feb. 2, 2009
/ 8 Shevat 5769
Obama vs. the GOP's audacity of nope
By
Clarence Page
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
We don't often see politicians celebrate a loss. But when your party happens to be on the outs with voters, you claim your victories wherever they can find them.
In that spirit House Republicans were slapping at least mid-fives with each other, if not high-fives, over their unanimous vote against President Obama's economic stimulus package, which they knew was going to pass anyway.
They were not happy to lose the vote but delighted that they had been able to stay together as they went down swinging, denying Obama's package a single Republican vote.
That was a blow to Obama's charm offensive, his unbridled wooing of Republican support through meetings, cocktail parties and a salute to his former opponent Sen. John McCain. House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio and others praised the friendliness and fruitfulness of their talks with Obama before they voted against him anyway.
Conservative talk show hosts were delighted, I am sure. But conservative talk show hosts don't have to run for office
For example, despite their principled objections to big spending in the $819 billion stimulus bill that the House sent to the Senate, I wonder how many of the Republican refuseniks will take another principled position: returning to Washington the big money that stimulus legislation is expected to send to their districts.
Sure, the bill is expensive, but as an effort to buy our way out of recession, its approach is largely a continuation of the recovery package that the recently departed President Bush initiated. The party of fiscal conservatism would be more believable had its members in Congress not bit their tongues in grim silence quite so often through Bush's spendthrift policies. Now free to hammer a Democratic president again, the party of fiscal prudence sounds like a hive of resentful obstructionists.
In the long run, Republicans need to do more than oppose whatever Democrats propose. Savvy leaders recognize when the public mood has shifted and take smart steps to get in front of it. Democrats with long memories should know. Presidential nominee Walter Mondale failed a similar challenge in 1984. Voters had shifted to the right more than he realized or he never would have promised in his acceptance speech to raise their taxes. We have not since heard the likes of such candor from either party, especially when they were raising our taxes.
As today's Republican leaders deal with a similar public mood swing back to the left, one detects a similar Mondale-style tone-deafness. Or maybe it's just shellshock.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, now the country's top-ranking Republican, warned that the Grand Old Party "seems to be slipping into a position of being more of a regional party than a national one."
"In politics, there's a name for a regional party," the Kentucky Republican said last week in a speech before party leaders launched a national meeting. "It's called a minority party. And I didn't sign up to be a member of a regional party."
You can walk from Canada to Mexico and from Maine to Arizona without ever leaving a state with a Democratic governor," said McConnell. Nor does the party have any senators on the West Coast or from North Carolina to New Hamphire on the East Coast.
More bad news for the GOP comes in a new Gallup Poll. It found voters now consider themselves Democrats rather than Republicans by a record margin of 12 percentage points.
And, counting independents who say they lean toward one party or the other, Gallup found that only five of the 50 U.S. states contained more self-identified Republicans than Democrats.
That can change and probably will someday. Political pendulums swing back and forth in our democracy. That's a good thing. It keeps politicians on their toes. But Republicans can ill afford to wait for Democrats to trip over themselves to bring the next swing back their way.
McConnell blamed much of the party's woes on Bush, which is a widely held belief, and on poor salesmanship. "Too often we've let others define us," he said, especially on issues like immigration, the environment and the family, "And the image they've painted isn't very pretty."
If that sounds familiar, it's a lot like the image under which Democrats labored in the Reagan '80s as the party of "limousine liberals" and "acid, amnesty and abortion." It took more than a decade for the party to get its grove back with Bill Clinton and more recently with Obama's victory.
Now it is Republicans who need to upgrade their image. They can begin by standing together behind something more helpful than the audacity of "nope."
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
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