The XYZ Affair brought us to the brink of war and stunned Jefferson when it was released. The author Gordon Woods compared it to the paranoia that gripped the west coast after Pearl Harbor that led to the internment of Japanese Americans. The XYZ memo destroyed public support for the pro French Republican party of Jefferson.
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“But these are stupid times, especially for Republicans, who in their pursuit of fleeting political advantage must pretend to be something other than what they are and pretend that Trump is something other than what he is. “
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from John Podhoretz at Commentary The Truly Forgotten Republican Voter But the truly forgotten Republican voter never bought Trump’s new outfit. I mean the Republican person who believes in limited government and a strong national defense and some kind of
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The Democrats have long enjoyed greater unity than the Republicans. Even the surprising challenge raised from Bernie Sanders is now only a recent memory. This may have come from the insider manipulations and the control wielded by the super delegates,
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“This may be too much for a blunt instrument to understand, but arrogance and self awareness seldom go hand in hand.” “M” to Bond in Casino Royale. Trump may have used his swagger and ego to get the nomination, but
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from Bret Stephens at The Wall Street Journal, The Better Angels of Our Nature When did the decline of American character begin? Maybe it was between July 1969, when two Americans walked on the moon, and a Saturday that August,
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Yuval Levin in The Fractured Republic brings a new and illuminating framework to understanding our state of political affairs. Both parties are engaged in political nostalgia. The Democrats see the good old days as 1965 and the Great Society and
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I would describe my voting pattern as a soft Republican. For most of my life I have tolerated objectionable segments of the GOP. I have never felt comfortable with the evangelical movement and their ethnocentrism even after they shifted to
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Whatever the outcome of the Republican civil war some call a primary, Reince Priebus, the party chairman should be shown the door. If Trump loses the damage is done, if he wins the damage will be greater. I have been
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Much of the talk about the fairness of the tax code and the extension of the Bush tax cuts is just thinly veiled class warfare. By focusing on billionaires and millionaires we lose sight of the far more mundane reality.
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Mitch Daniels, governor of Indiana, is one of the rising stars of the reinvigorated Republican party. He is fiscally conservative, and has taken innovative action to put his state in the black. Like Chris Christie of New Jersey Mitch is
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Corporate earnings are improving, but unemployment remains high. These are not unrelated. As the weak economy has held down wage increases, this alone will translate into lower costs and better profits. But this is true only if high competitive pressures
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From The Wit and Wisdom of Will Rogers edited by Alex Ayres When the nation plunged into the Great Depression in the late 1929, President Hoover swiftly took bold action. He appointed a commission to investigate. “I could have told
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A thorough review of what caused the financial crisis is needed and it should be a fascinating subject. Unfortunately the hearings are weak and boring. In the Wall Street Journal’s “After the Crash, a Crashing Bore The men behind the
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Having squeezed the health care bill through with the sleaziest of methods and the slimmest of margins, the bill now creates a dilemma for Republicans. If the public reaction paves the road for a return of Republican control of Congress,
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Perhaps the biggest blunder the Republicans made about the healthcare bill was letting it be about abortion. There were so many things wrong with the bill that centering on the abortion issue ended up obfuscating other issues that were far
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With the clarity of time we can look back at the brink of the collapse that hit us just prior to the last national election. In the midst of the collapse we were stunned and angry, and tended to blame
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Understanding Republicans
from John Podhoretz at Commentary The Truly Forgotten Republican Voter But the truly forgotten Republican voter never bought Trump’s new outfit. I mean the Republican person who believes in limited government and a strong national defense and some kind of