Debra Saunders from Creators Syndicate

McCain Talks Energy for 07/31/2008

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

I'll say this for John McCain — he doesn't hide behind his staff. The Republican candidate for president holds town meetings across the country and takes questions from critics and supporters alike. Regular citizens, who often depart from the news-pack question du jour, get to tell him what they think about Washington. If in reply McCain says something dicey, he can't blame his staff for ...

Updated: Thu Jul 31, 2008

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Tax-Cut Nation for 08/03/2008

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Every year, Washington spends more than it takes in. The federal deficit is expected to hit $482 billion next year. So why are both presidential candidates promising voters bigger government and more tax cuts? They must figure that if they don't, they lose.

I understand why John McCain wants to make permanent the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts, and Obama wants to retain the cuts for familie ...

Updated: Sun Aug 03, 2008

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The War on Scientists in America for 08/05/2008

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Imagine if a group of rabid creationists started firebombing the homes of University of California professors to prevent them from teaching evolution. Area politicians would be holding competing press conferences to assure the public that they would take on the violent zealots, who have declared war, not only on good academics and their families, but on science itself.

No need to imagine ...

Updated: Tue Aug 05, 2008

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Free the Oil -- and Other Slick Tricks for 08/07/2008

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Earlier in the presidential campaign, when John McCain and Hillary Rodham Clinton called for a summer holiday on the 18.4-cent-per-gallon federal gasoline tax, Barack Obama dismissed the tax vacation as an election-year gimmick that offered financially squeezed families "just pennies." I wrote that, unlike Clinton and McCain, Obama "stood tall in opposing the gas-tax holiday.&quo ...

Updated: Thu Aug 07, 2008

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Diary of a Mad Columnist for 08/10/2008

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Not for the first time, The Chronicle is offering buyouts to a large number of workers — at least 125 people for a paper that employs around 1,680 souls. Other industries have been through this drill, too. Longtime staff members weigh whether they can keep careers in an ailing, perhaps dying, industry.

I've seen some excellent professionals walk out these doors. It's heartbreaking, ...

Updated: Sun Aug 10, 2008

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The Not-So-Pretty Boy for 08/12/2008

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

John Edwards is done.

The pretty-boy candidate always was the biggest phony at any Democratic debate. He was the $400-haircut poster boy for poverty. The 28,000-square-foot mansion owner who preached about global warming. The candidate who demanded that other Democrats swear off accepting contributions from Fox News baron Rupert Murdoch, after he pocketed a $500,000 advance — with ...

Updated: Tue Aug 12, 2008

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Boxer Bullies Senate's Birth Doc for 08/14/2008

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

In July, federal authorities indicted Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, on corruption charges on the grounds that Alaska's Prince of Earmarks concealed hundreds of thousands of dollars of gifts and improvements to his Alaska home provided by a powerful oil services company. Also this summer, amid the mortgage meltdown, newspapers reported that a number of senators — including Senate Banking Com ...

Updated: Thu Aug 14, 2008

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Pimps, Pedophiles: Welcome to S.F. for 08/17/2008

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

A quick reading of the measure that will go before San Francisco voters in November to decriminalize prostitution easily could leave you with the misimpression that the measure is an exercise in fairness that demands that prosecutors go after men who abuse prostitutes and implement policies "to reduce institutional violence and discrimination against prostitutes." A careful reading of ...

Updated: Sun Aug 17, 2008

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Woe Is Me, Said the Democrat for 08/21/2008

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

In politics, everyone wants to be seen as a mudslinging virgin — who, like King Lear, is "more sinned against than sinning." Toward that end, Democrats have crafted the conceit that Republicans are attack dogs, while Democratic candidates are not sufficiently ruthless. After years of calling President Bush every name in the book, the left nonetheless manages to see itself as the ...

Updated: Thu Aug 21, 2008

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Renewing America's Promise Means Lots of Goodies for 08/24/2008

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Democrats used to love to bash President Bush for sending America to war without asking Americans to sacrifice. Now that it is an election year, you won't hear the s-word coming out of their lips. The Democratic National Committee draft platform is all goodies.

The draft, "Renewing America's Promise," says the party will heed the American desire to "abandon the politics of ...

Updated: Sun Aug 24, 2008

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Obama, Clinton, Biden and McCain for 08/25/2008

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

DENVER — The goodie bag given to attendees of the Democratic National Convention includes maps, magnets and Dale Carnegie's Golden Book. The first principle for Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People" is: "Don't criticize, condemn or complain." No. 2: "Give honest, sincere appreciation."

Clearly Carnegie didn't write an opinion page column ...

Updated: Mon Aug 25, 2008

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Now Playing: The Four Deficits for 08/26/2008

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

DENVER — Monday morning, before the Democratic National Committee launched its convention at Denver's Pepsi Center, the documentary "I.O.U.S.A." — think: "one nation, under stress, in debt" — played to a small but committed audience at the nearby Starz Film Center. It was a fitting venue, given a national debt of $9.5 trillion and Sen. Barack Obama's pledge ...

Updated: Tue Aug 26, 2008

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The Middle Convention and the Under Convention for 08/27/2008

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

DENVER — There are two Democratic National Conventions here in Denver.

The first one is the official convention, which has a sole purpose: to sell Barack Obama, not as a different kind of Democrat, but as a red-white-and blue everyman. Mr. Middle America.

The speakers Monday night downplayed the accomplishments and uniqueness of Barack and Michelle Obama by highlighting what ...

Updated: Wed Aug 27, 2008

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Democrats Talkin' Like the GOP for 08/28/2008

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

DENVER — In some ways, the Dems confab sounds a bit like a Republican convention. For example: Nuclear energy? It's big here. The daily convention edition of the National Journal has been running pro-nuclear energy ads on Page Two every day — and touting the support of Democratic Party biggies.

"Under any scenario, we're going to see more nuclear power, because it's just ...

Updated: Thu Aug 28, 2008

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It's All Good in Obama's "Cathedral" for 08/29/2008

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

DENVER — Can he win in November? Yes, Barack Obama was the best Democrat in the field. Start with his charismatic yet cool demeanor. Add his compelling personal story — and the inviting possibility that Obama's ascension to the White House could heal racial wounds in America — and you understand why Democrats at Invesco Field would answer the above question with the familiar c ...

Updated: Fri Aug 29, 2008

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Sarah Palin -- Dream Girl for 08/31/2008

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL — Bingo.

For weeks, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has been the Republican whom conservatives barely dared to hope could become John McCain's pick as his running mate.

For Republicans angry at Washington's big-spending bonanza when Republicans controlled the White House and Congress, Palin, like McCain, is an antidote. She is the Alaskan who pulled state suppor ...

Updated: Sun Aug 31, 2008

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The RNC's Unconvention for 09/02/2008

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

ST. PAUL — "This plan makes no sense. It's the height of political correctness," railed John Ziegler, a California alternate delegate, Sunday after he heard the news that John McCain was suspending the political part of the first night of the Republican National Convention. Ziegler was angry that presidential nominee McCain has chosen to cede airtime that could be used "to ...

Updated: Tue Sep 02, 2008

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The Palin Pile-On for 09/03/2008

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

ST. PAUL — Sarah Palin is different. Too different. Few Beltway insiders thought Republican nominee John McCain would pick her as his running mate. She is not a Washington staple, like the Democratic veep pick, Joe Biden, whose mistakes are established facts that are as worn as a pair of old shoes.

She is a runner — which is standard among modern politicians. She is a hunter ...

Updated: Wed Sep 03, 2008

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Sarah Palin Strikes Back for 09/04/2008

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

ST. PAUL — "The Republican Party will not stand by while Gov. (Sarah) Palin is subjected to sexist attacks," Carly Fiorina, the former head of Hewlett-Packard and constant McCain booster, told a press conference at the Republican National Convention Wednesday. "I don't believe American women are going to stand for it either."

Flanked by a cadre of GOP women, Fio ...

Updated: Thu Sep 04, 2008

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The Old John McCain for 09/05/2008

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

ST. PAUL — "I miss the old John McCain." It's a refrain I hear on a regular basis, most often from people who are Barack Obama voters no matter what. They yearn for the man who hated the same people that they hate — or so they believed, when in 2000 he called Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson "agents of intolerance."

That is, they yearn for a man who could n ...

Updated: Fri Sep 05, 2008

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