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Jonah Goldberg is editor-at-large of National Review Online,and the author of the forthcoming book The Tyranny of Clichés. You can reach him via Twitter @JonahNRO.
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Jonah Goldberg (Dec 30, 2011)
Charlie Sheen was clearly the man of the year.
You'll recall that 2011 began with the oafish actor celebrating his own narcotic and sexual crapulence like a victorious... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Dec 28, 2011)
I've made a disturbing discovery: I am a member of the conservative "establishment." I feel like Michael Douglas at the end of "Falling Down": "I'm the bad guy?"
Largely... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Dec 23, 2011)
As a non-Christian with a deep affection for Christmastime, I've always felt a little left out around this time of year, but not in the way you might think. I've... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Dec 21, 2011)
So now it's Ron Paul's turn.
The diminutive Texas libertarian is poised in the latest polls to win the Iowa caucuses.
Obviously, this would be rough news for Newt... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Dec 16, 2011)
Wedge issues are back.
What are wedge issues? Well, a lot depends on whom you ask. Political consultants usually define them as issues that unite the base but split... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Dec 14, 2011)
"How do we stop Newt?"
I've now been asked that question by a lot of conservatives. It's not that I'm the go-to guy for that sort of question. Rather, one gets the sense... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Dec 09, 2011)
In 2007, then-Sen. Barack Obama insisted that the coming presidential primary and general election campaigns "shouldn't be about making each other look bad, they... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Dec 08, 2011)
In 2008, the Democrats were blessed with two candidates the party's rank-and-file admired almost as much as the press corps did. Ultimately Barack Obama,... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Dec 07, 2011)
Newt Gingrich wants to pay poor kids to clean toilets. And all of the right people are horrified.
The Nation says Gingrich is running on "a platform that seems to have... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Dec 02, 2011)
In 2008, I wrote a book called "Liberal Fascism." That title came from H.G. Wells, one of the most important socialist writers in the English language. He believed, as did... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Nov 30, 2011)
Earlier this month, the left-wing magazine The Nation highlighted Joe Therrien as a symbol of the Occupy Wall Street movement. A New York City public-school drama teacher,... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Nov 25, 2011)
I've long thought the notion of a prison-industrial complex to be laughable left-wing nonsense peddled by Marxist goofballs and other passengers in the clown car of academic... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Nov 23, 2011)
Whether the matchup between Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney is the final bout on the GOP primary card is impossible to know. The whole season has been more like professional... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Nov 18, 2011)
Congratulations, average American! It's your turn to be blamed for President Obama's -- andAmerica's -- problems.
This is the biggest honor you've won since Time... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Nov 16, 2011)
He's baaack!
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich is back in the saddle after falling off his horse at the starting line. At least according to one poll (Public... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Nov 11, 2011)
"Of course we're going to riot," Paul Howard, a 24 year-old aerospace engineering student at Penn State University, told The New York Times. "What do they expect when they... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Nov 09, 2011)
You know who I blame for the terrible tone in American politics? Tom Brokaw.
No, not the man himself, but what he represents.
Since Dan Rather famously beclowned... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Nov 03, 2011)
Up to 40 million Chinese people still live in caves. That's more than the populations of Texas and Illinois, combined. In fairness, a fraction of these caves are apparently... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Nov 02, 2011)
Looking back on the events of 2011, who do you think has more regrets for his bad decisions, Hosni Mubarak or former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty?
I guess you have to give... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Oct 28, 2011)
There's only one way the Occupy Wall Street movement can become like the tea parties, and that's for Barack Obama to lose in 2012. Why? Because Obama is the most divisive... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Oct 26, 2011)
And so it ends. The United States is leaving Iraq.
I'm solidly in the camp that sees this as a strategic blunder. Iraqi democracy is fragile and Iran's desire to... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Oct 21, 2011)
"I wish [critics of the administration's jobs bill] had some notion of what it was like to be on the other side of a gun, or [to have] a 200-pound man standing over you,... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Oct 19, 2011)
Weirdest Friday news dump ever.
Very late in the day on Oct. 14, the Obama administration released a lot of politically problematic information, including the news that... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Oct 14, 2011)
Should we bomb Iran for plotting to blow up a Washington, D.C. restaurant in order to assassinate the Saudi ambassador?
Probably not.
Should Iran be worried that we... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Oct 12, 2011)
Robert Jeffress introduced Texas Gov. Rick Perry at the Values Voter Summit on Friday. He started a great big hullabaloo by asking, "Do we want a candidate who is a good,... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Oct 07, 2011)
Brian Phillips is the head of communications for the NYC General Assembly, the group primarily responsible for occupying Wall Street. I learned about him while listening to... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Oct 05, 2011)
I agree with the Obama administration's decision to kill the
American-born al-Qaeda recruiter Anwar al-Awlaki. What I can't fathom is
why the administration agrees with... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Sep 30, 2011)
President Obama's failure to fully achieve the liberal agenda and remain popular in the process is fueling dangerous radicalization in the oddest of places: the media... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Sep 28, 2011)
"You woke the bears! Why did you do that?"
That's from one of my favorite scenes in "Anchorman." In the Oscar-robbed film, Ron Burgundy (played by Will Ferrell) loudly... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Sep 23, 2011)
On Wednesday, two men were lawfully executed. Both insisted they were innocent. If you've been watching the news or following Kim Kardashian's tweets, you've likely heard of... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Sep 21, 2011)
And now let us recall the "Fable of the Shoes."
In his 1973 "Libertarian Manifesto," the late Murray Rothbard argued that the biggest obstacle... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Sep 16, 2011)
"If you love me, you've got to help me pass this bill."
That was part of Barack Obama's response to an exuberant fan who shouted "I... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Sep 14, 2011)
Mitt Romney and Rick Perry are both exactly where they want to be.
Until Monday night's CNN/Tea Party debate, it looked like the Texas... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Sep 09, 2011)
During the recent GOP presidential debate, MSNBC ran self-promotional commercials for itself. That's OK; all networks do it. The Hebrew philosopher... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Sep 08, 2011)
School is starting up again, and later this month we will celebrate another national tradition: Banned Books Week, which since 1982 takes place every year... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Sep 07, 2011)
Since President Obama has been having a rough time lately, let me belatedly congratulate him on his apparently successful policy of regime change in Libya.
Initially, I... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Sep 02, 2011)
President Obama is going to give yet another Big Speech next week. Who among us can contain his excitement?
The White House insists this address will have nothing to do... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Aug 31, 2011)
When asked what posed the greatest challenge to statesmen, Harold Macmillan, the former British prime minister, responded, "Events, my dear boy, events."
That's because... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Aug 26, 2011)
Texas Gov. Rick Perry is the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination now, at least in the national polls. Undoubtedly that's the main reason so many East... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Aug 19, 2011)
Before President Obama headed off to his rented 28-acre retreat in Martha's Vineyard, he spent a few days campaigning around the Midwest in his new million-dollar,... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Aug 17, 2011)
On Saturday, Texas Gov. Rick Perry got into the race for the GOP presidential nomination, and within 24 hours, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty got out.
Perry didn't... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Aug 12, 2011)
Riots are fascinating things. How lawless greed, cruelty and violence suddenly set fire to the minds of men is one of the most mysterious, almost magical (though not in the... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Aug 10, 2011)
"Is this a wakeup call to Washington?" NBC's David Gregory asked Sen. John Kerry on "Meet the Press," referring to the S&P downgrade.
... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Aug 05, 2011)
Uncle Sam now owes more on his credit cards than he makes in a year. The national debt passed the total U.S. GDP this week. Mull that over for a bit.
Now mull this... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Aug 03, 2011)
After Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency changed. As he put it in 1943, "Dr. New Deal" had to be replaced by "Dr. Win the... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Jul 29, 2011)
The worst thing about the 2008 primaries -- other than, you know, the result -- was the huge amount of time wasted on what amounted to a Republican "Spartacus" re-enactment.... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Jul 22, 2011)
Every political movement has its rhetorical strengths and weaknesses. The right can wax poetic about liberty and freedom, the left about the nobility of the poor and... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Jul 20, 2011)
"I think increasingly the American people are going to say to themselves, 'You know what? If a party or a politician is constantly taking the position my-way-or-the-highway,... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Jul 15, 2011)
A lot of conservatives are having fun at President Obama's expense after his latest gaffe. In the midst of testy debt-limit negotiations, Obama told House Majority Leader... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Jul 13, 2011)
In 1994, the Republicans took back the House of Representatives for the first time in 40 years. The significance of that victory is hard for some younger people to... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Jul 08, 2011)
5.1, 9.3, 8.1, 8.5, 8, 7.1 and 3.9.
While that might sound like a controversial series of Olympic curling scores, these numbers in fact add up to a grave problem for... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Jul 06, 2011)
"That's racist."
It's a comedic catchphrase these days, popularized by an online clip from a 2005 TV show "Wonder Showzen" on MTV2. It's not as iconic as Gary Coleman's... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Jul 01, 2011)
President Obama's core message in his Wednesday press conference, his first since March, could be found in his advice to Republicans. "You go talk to your constituents and... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Jun 29, 2011)
The backdrop for my favorite science-fiction novels, Frank Herbert's "Dune" series, is something called the Butlerian Jihad. Some 10,000 years before the main events of the... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Jun 24, 2011)
Former Republican New York Gov. George Pataki personifies almost everything I dislike in politicians. He's not corrupt -- as far as I know -- in the criminal sense, but he's... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Jun 22, 2011)
Suddenly and sadly, the Libyan war may be one of the most consequential adventures in recent American history.
Libya's not important because it is vital to our national... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Jun 17, 2011)
"Shovel-ready was not as ... uh ... shovel-ready as we expected," Barack Obama joked the other day at a meeting of his Council on Jobs and... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Jun 15, 2011)
I'd barely followed "A Gay Girl In Damascus" until last week, when Daily Beast columnist Peter Beinart posted something to Twitter: "This is really... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Jun 10, 2011)
"Live simply so that others may simply live," Gandhi famously proclaimed.
Some vegetarians see their diet as the truest expression of Gandhi's advice. But these days,... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Jun 09, 2011)
Washington is suddenly embroiled in one of its most time-honored traditions, a debate about the constitutionality of the War Powers Resolution, specifically how it should... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Jun 08, 2011)
"Now, my administration has a job to do as well, and that job is to get this economy back on its feet," President Obama declared on July 14, 2009, in Warren, Mich. "That's... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Jun 03, 2011)
Rep. Anthony Weiner of New York is a very busy man. He sits on several important committees. He's newly married to a high-powered wife. He's planning a run for mayor of New... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Jun 01, 2011)
Princeton's Cornel West, one of the most famous black intellectuals in America, says that President Obama is afraid of "free black men." Because of Obama's atypical... more
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Jonah Goldberg (May 27, 2011)
Alea iacta est. That's what Julius Caesar proclaimed as he crossed the Rubicon river in 49 B.C. It means "the die is cast." By crossing the Rubicon with his army, against... more
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Jonah Goldberg (May 25, 2011)
Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels' announcement that he can't play in the presidential primaries because his wife and daughters say he's not allowed to is terrible news for the GOP... more
By
Jonah Goldberg (May 20, 2011)
Dominique Strauss-Kahn has resigned as the head of the International Monetary Fund. He would like to spend more time with his family.
But that's not why he resigned.... more
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Jonah Goldberg (May 18, 2011)
The Republican presidential logjam has finally broken.
Donald Trump, who believes not only that he would make the best president but that he could win, declined to run... more
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Jonah Goldberg (May 13, 2011)
After hearing the news that Osama bin Laden had been killed, who among us didn't joyfully shout, "Yes! This is a huge triumph for wind and solar energy!" Or, "Wahoo! Now we... more
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Jonah Goldberg (May 11, 2011)
For a week people have been asking, "Why won't the president release Osama bin Laden's photo?" That's the wrong question. We should be asking, "Why was Barack Obama in such a... more
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Jonah Goldberg (May 06, 2011)
Killing Osama bin Laden is a strange way to start a presidential campaign season, but that's where we are.
Now, bin Laden wasn't taken out for partisan political... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Apr 29, 2011)
Of course you've heard some version of this tale before. Winston Churchill says to a woman at a party, "Madam, would you sleep with me for 5 million... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Apr 27, 2011)
"What the heck went wrong?" That, apparently, is the question roiling the environmental community as it realizes that the fight against climate change has... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Apr 22, 2011)
"The Oval Office, I always thought I was going to have really cool phones and stuff. ... I'm like, 'C'mon guys, I'm the president of the United... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Apr 20, 2011)
At this point, there's at least one thing you can't blame Donald Trump for: being Donald Trump.
Like the scorpion in Aesop's fables who must sting the frog... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Apr 15, 2011)
I cannot remember a more depressing week in Washington.
The Republicans boasted a heroic accomplishment: slashing $38.5 billion from the budget, purportedly the... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Apr 13, 2011)
"Since American liberals don't have the guts to say it, allow me: The Rev. Terry Jones hasn't done anything wrong. Nothing."
So writes my friend and... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Apr 08, 2011)
Republicans want to "end Medicare as we know it."
Cue cat shriek!
This "end Medicare as we know it" line -- and many like it ("end Medicaid as we know it," "end... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Apr 06, 2011)
Obama's in!
In truly unshocking news, Barack Obama e-mailed supporters Monday to let them know he was running for president again. "We're doing this now because the... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Mar 30, 2011)
Feminism as a "movement" in America is largely played out. The work here is mostly done.
At a time when education matters more than ever, more American women attend... more
By
Jonah Goldberg (Mar 23, 2011)
As someone who supported a Libyan no-fly zone from the earliest days of what once seemed like a revolution but now looks like a civil war, I have to admit that Operation... more
By
Jonah Goldberg (Mar 18, 2011)
I've figured out Obama. He's not a Muslim, he's a golfer!
That's a reference to Russell Kirk's semi-famous retort to the conspiratorial nuts who insisted that Dwight... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Mar 16, 2011)
When a loved one dies (as my brother did last month), one of the standard pieces of advice is to not make any big decisions. Don't reorganize your life in a moment of... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Mar 11, 2011)
According to earth-logic, if you got a raise of 10 percent last year, but this year you're only getting a raise of 8 percent, you're still getting a raise. On Planet... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Mar 09, 2011)
And so now we enter the mopey phase of the GOP presidential contest. The gloom takes many forms, but foremost is the fear that the field taking shape might be the one we're... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Mar 04, 2011)
Fred Phelps, the deranged pastor of the Westboro Baptist Church -- which is more like a family entourage of psychos -- has devised a scheme for getting attention: He... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Mar 02, 2011)
"Pawlenty's attacks get more pointed," announced a headline in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "He's betting sharper rhetoric will spring him from GOP pack," clarified the... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Feb 23, 2011)
The protesting public school teachers with fake doctor's notes swarming the Capitol building in Madison, Wis., insist that Gov. Scott Walker is hell-bent on "union busting."... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Feb 18, 2011)
Finally, the national conversation about democracy is relatively mature and serious. Save for some TV news anchors, just about everyone seems to understand that democracy is... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Feb 08, 2011)
HERZLIYA, Israel -- Finally, I can put the rumors to rest: the land of Zion isn't merely an abstraction, it's an actual country.
I am in Israel -- my first time -- to... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Feb 04, 2011)
The only good conservative is a dead conservative.
That, in a nutshell, describes the age-old tradition of liberals suddenly discovering that once-reviled conservatives... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Feb 03, 2011)
It's a sign of how tinny and uninspiring President Obama's State of the Union address was that a week later it all seems so forgettable.
Let's see, there was something... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Feb 01, 2011)
History is lurching in the Middle East, perhaps forward, possibly backward.
Consequently, some see the newly minted revolution in Tunisia and the unfolding one in Egypt... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Jan 21, 2011)
On Tuesday, the president will deliver his State of the Union message.
The conventional wisdom is that Barack Obama will continue his "move to the center." The... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Jan 19, 2011)
Chinese President Hu Jintao's state visit this week has rekindled the familiar debate over American "decline." Our sole-superpower moment is over, we're told, and the 21st... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Jan 12, 2011)
In the wake of the horrendous shooting rampage in Tucson, why isn't anyone talking about banning "Mein Kampf"? Or "The Communist Manifesto"? Or for that matter, "Alice's... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Jan 07, 2011)
For years we've been hearing about how the peaceful religion of Islam has been hijacked by extremists.
What if it's the other way around? Worse, what if the peaceful... more
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Jonah Goldberg (Jan 05, 2011)
"Unfortunately, partisan politics has immobilized Washington," New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg told Time magazine in 2007. Bloomberg, according to Michael Grunwald's... more