Copyright 2012 The New York Sun Wed, 21 Mar 2012 09:57:00 -0400 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr. :: Stories from The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/authors/R.+Emmett+Tyrrell+Jr. admin@nysun.net (Seth Lipsky) webmaster@nysun.com en-us R. EMMETT TYRRELL, Jr. http://www.nysun.com/national/ryans-choice-puts-the-senate-on-the-spot/87754/ Wed, 21 Mar 2012 09:56:46 EST We in America today live in a country circumscribed by entitlement policies devised by an America that has steadily been disappearing. Those policies established over a generation ago cannot possibly in mathematical or demographic terms support the America of the present much less the America of the future. That is the stark reality. We need to reform those policies or we shall go bankrupt, and raising taxes on the so-called rich will not fix things. Even raising taxes on the middle class will... R. EMMETT TYRRELL, Jr. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/why-gingrich-floundered-in-florda/87686/ Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:15:18 EST Ah, yes, Newt Gingrich did in the last days of the Florida primary precisely what I predicted he would do. He hurled wild charges at Mitt Romney that suggested Newt was losing his grip. He charged Romney with lying and falling into the hands of George Soros and Goldman Sachs, and he did this while seeking the Republican presidential nomination! Newt quoted Soros as saying, “We think either Obama or Romney’s fine, but Gingrich, he would change things.” Citing Goldman Sachs’ profiting from the... R. EMMETT TYRRELL, Jr. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/william-jefferson-gingrich/87674/ Wed, 25 Jan 2012 12:00:46 EST How long have I been saying it? At least for 15 years, but in private I have been aware of it longer. Newt Gingrich is conservatism’s Bill Clinton, but without the charm. He has acquired wit but he has all the charm of barbed wire. Newt and Bill are 1960s generation narcissists, and they share the same problems: waywardness and deviancy. Newt, like Bill, has a proclivity for girl hopping. It is not as egregious as Bill’s, but then Newt is not as drop-dead beautiful. His public record is already... R. EMMETT TYRRELL, Jr. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/tebow-inspires-our-man-in-washington-to-call-off/87644/ Mon, 9 Jan 2012 17:37:12 EST I have officially called off my boycott of the National Football League. I do not care how many felons or frotteurs play the game. Now there is Tim Tebow to redeem it. He can pass and run. He inspires his teammates. He inspires many returning fans like me. I shall follow him through the playoffs and maybe even next year as the season resumes anew. He is an American original — and he is controversial. I am for him. No, I shall not fall for the NFL’s gimmicks. You will not see me wearing a jersey... R. EMMETT TYRRELL, Jr. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/time-to-repair-the-wreck-of-the-progrssive-reforms/87634/ Wed, 4 Jan 2012 11:48:28 EST An underlying theme of our times that has gone unperceived by the high and mighty in press, government, and other locales where the politically alive come to roost is the thumping failure of an increasing number of counter-productive old Progressive reforms. Once they were beheld as prodigies from the minds of superior citizens, such stars of yesteryear as Robert M. La Follette and Woodrow Wilson. Now they are revealed as hollow shams or at best curiosities. Surely soon they will be seen for... R. EMMETT TYRRELL, Jr. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/can-republicans-be-losing-the-tax-debate/87596/ Tue, 6 Dec 2011 19:22:10 EST Do my eyes deceive me? It seems that the Republicans are in danger of losing the debate on cutting taxes. Some thirty years after President Reagan proved that tax cuts encourage economic growth — which enriches us all — glum figures like President Obama are roaming the land talking about the apolaustic lives of the very rich and the need to take their loot so we can all live better. Facts are facts: if you expropriated all the wealth from the top one percent you would but dent our national... R. EMMETT TYRRELL, Jr. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/the-day-teddy-fortsmann-gave-away-his-coat/87575/ Tue, 22 Nov 2011 13:13:27 EST We lost a big-hearted prodigy on Sunday morning, Teddy Forstmann, financier, political player, philanthropist (especially for the young and in education) and a bit of an adventurer. I know. I accompanied him on some and feared for my life. He was a member of the Board of Directors of The American Spectator in the 1980s and early 1990. He died of brain cancer, and we shall miss him. Teddy was from a prosperous family, but his fortune he made on his own. He relished “the deal,” and sports, and... R. EMMETT TYRRELL, Jr. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/fred-ikle-set-an-example-that-will-illuminate/87568/ Wed, 16 Nov 2011 11:14:26 EST The death of Fred Iklé last week inspires me to prophesy. Thus far only the redoubtable Wall Street Journal has remarked on Fred’s passing. That he was a formidable mind during the Cold War and important to the peaceful settlement of that decades-long struggle is remembered thanks to the Journal. Yet to the rest of the media he is a minor figure, perhaps a menacing figure. We shall see what they say, but I am not holding my breath. This is the way Liberalism creates the kultursmog, which is to... R. EMMETT TYRRELL, Jr. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/an-erroneous-idea-about-william-f-buckley-takes/87559/ Wed, 9 Nov 2011 10:46:53 EST Last weekend I was given a hint as to how an erroneous idea is born and how it takes on a life of its own. I was at Yale University, as a guest of “The William F. Buckley Jr. Program at Yale.” It is run by a group of extremely winning young Yale students who are all admirably conservative. Bill would approve. They all carried themselves like young ladies and young gentlemen. They were confident of their ideas and amused. One of their goals is to keep the name of William F. Buckley Jr. alive and... R. EMMETT TYRRELL, Jr. http://www.nysun.com/national/obama-running-on-mcgovern-rules-as-race-begins/87292/ Wed, 6 Apr 2011 15:37:06 EST WASHINGTON — I see that President Barack Obama has filed as a candidate for reelection in 2012. I had suggested that he get to work early on his presidential library and forgo the race, but he is insistent. Well, I tried. Though some in the press are covering for him, his announcement is the earliest of any modern president. It continues a trend that began in 1972. That was when Senator McGovern captured the Democratic presidential nomination, though he lost in the autumn of that year in a... R. EMMETT TYRRELL, Jr. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/bachmann-steals-the-show-as-gop-field-starts-its/87394/ Wed, 15 Jun 2011 11:21:34 EST WASHINGTON — So there are two. Two pulchritudinous ones, that is. Michele  Bachmann and Sarah Palin are beautiful, and the feminists tells us, so what? Well, they never say so what when an attractive male, usually a Democrat, comes on stage. They call him charismatic. Mmes. Bachmann and Palin are sufficiently charismatic for me, and both have raised families, Mrs. Bachmann 5 children of her own and 23 foster children before entering public life. That is the proper sequence of events: Raise a... R. EMMETT TYRRELL, Jr. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/paul-ryan-gets-a-boost-from-obama/87308/ Wed, 20 Apr 2011 17:52:23 EST WASHINGTON — Why is it that Donald Trump is a creditable candidate with a significant segment of Republican voters? In some polls he runs ahead of all Republicans save Governor Romney, and all I have heard him say is that he wants to see our president’s birth certificate. Imagine if he would ask to see budget cuts from the president or revenue enhancements? Frankly, I, too, would like to see President Obama’s birth certificate. On the other hand I have in hand a copy of a notice of our... R. EMMETT TYRRELL, Jr. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/pawlenty-doctrine-draws-a-distinction-with-obama/87280/ Wed, 30 Mar 2011 10:51:46 EST Monday night I attended a public policy discussion sponsored, not surprisingly, by The American Spectator—I say not surprisingly because I have been attending these meetings for roughly thirty years and always come away with fresh ideas. They are meant to ventilate ideas, and now that a presidential election is drawing near we are inviting presidential candidates as our special guests to float their ideas by our assembled luminaries. At any rate Monday night, while our President was addressing... R. EMMETT TYRRELL, Jr. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/castros-nears-an-anniversary-cheered-by-pbs/87177/ Wed, 29 Dec 2010 21:23:19 EST WASHINGTON — Next week marks the 52nd anniversary of Fidel Castro’s accession to his Cuban throne. I cannot wait to see how it will be solemnized. Will little children appear before Fidel throwing flowers? They better not throw them too hard. He is pretty frail. Will there be a military parade? If there is where will they come up with the gasoline? There is hardly enough in the country for the Communist party leaders’ limousines. What will they be celebrating? By now everyone knows that the... R. EMMETT TYRRELL, Jr. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/rahm-emanuel-and-the-case-of-the-hounds-tooth/87159/ Wed, 1 Dec 2010 11:36:41 EST WASHINGTON — My campaign for mayor of Chicago against Rahm Emanuel is getting underway. I already announced on Sean Hannity’s nationally televised program and have Sean’s endorsement. After careful consideration, Rush will undoubtedly be aboard and Mark Levin and, of course, the Tea Partiers. Moreover, I already have two major newspapers endorsing me, The New York Sun, which was very kind in noting my talents and relative integrity compared to the opposition, and the Washington Times—also very... R. EMMETT TYRRELL, JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/why-i-like-tony-blair/87071/ Tue, 7 Sep 2010 12:14:10 EST WASHINGTON - Tony Blair I like. The left is always lecturing us conservatives on moderation. It would do us good, they say. If only we were moderate we might win the fall elections. Yet, we are likely to go for people like Joe Miller in Alaska and the dreaded Sharron Angle in Nevada, and we are going to get clobbered, or at least not win as thumpingly as expected. For some reason, this troubles sages like E.J. Dionne and Sam Tanenhaus. I sense they cry to crocodile tears, but maybe I have... R. EMMETT TYRRELL JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/wikileaks-and-other-failed-radicals/87056/ Wed, 25 Aug 2010 21:05:35 EST WASHINGTON — They are beginning to die out, or at least to retire. So long suckers. Surely the Clintons, Senator Jean-Francois Kerry, Al Gore and dozens of others who presented themselves as reasonable alternatives to the radicals of the 1960s thought they were suckers. I thought about all of them this week as problems mounted for Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks thief. Late in June death took Dwight Armstrong, the anti-Viet Nam War protester who blew up a building at the University of Wisconsin... R. EMMETT TYRRELL JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/obama-turns-out-to-be-after-all-merely/87046/ Wed, 18 Aug 2010 17:03:08 EST WASHINGTON — It is becoming apparent for all to see, that a man who made his name as a community organizer does not have the skills to be President of these United States. Maybe he could develop the requisite skills as a governor. Possibly, he could develop such skills were he to sit in the Senate for a couple of terms. Yet there are delicate sensitivities, the ability to listen, to stick by your guns, occasionally to remain reticent. These are the fundamentals of a leader, and President Barack... R. EMMETT TYRRELL JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/foxes-hounds-and-liberty/87025/ Wed, 14 Jul 2010 17:21:10 EST WASHINGTON — My friend, Andrew Roberts, has inherited the title of Historian of the English-Speaking Peoples, from Winston Churchill. Churchill wrote his four-volume history up to 1900. Roberts took up the story from there and has written his stupendous History of the English-Speaking Peoples Since 1900. I commend it to you. In that book Roberts says that there is something about the English-Speaking people that encourages a certain number among them to speak ill of us. He does not think that... R. EMMETT TYRRELL JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/mother-russias-finest/87021/ Thu, 8 Jul 2010 11:15:39 EST WASHINGTON — Well, well, well — now it appears that even the Soviet — strike that — the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is afflicted by the general mediocrity of the moment. There was never any reason to doubt that the Soviet grasp of the third-rate and meretricious should not survive into the Russian Renaissance. A Zil, the cumbersome Soviet limousine, is still a Zil—and no one ever buys a Russian computer if there is one or a Russian hamburger. Yet, frankly I had fears that at least in... R. EMMETT TYRRELL JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/conrad-blacks-principles/87014/ Mon, 28 Jun 2010 12:20:25 EST WASHINGTON — “If you have nothing else you have your principles,” Lady Thatcher told me when things were pretty tough at The American Spectator in the late 1990s. Sharks were circling the ship and there was blood in the water and I was getting anxious. She was serene, having just flown back from Beijing, but she was adamant. “You have your principles.” They endure, and fortify you when things are dire. Doubtless, Conrad Black has had his principles too, and they are not much different from... R. EMMETT TYRRELL, JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/the-turning-point/86978/ Wed, 26 May 2010 20:11:57 EST Owing to the promotion tour for my new book, After the Hangover: The Conservatives’ Road to Recovery, I have been meeting with what the intelligentsia once called “the masses.” They read books. They pay taxes. They attend lectures. Oh, and by the way, they are now a lot more prosperous and even more civilized than the intelligentsia, today’s version of which are actually anti-intellectual and occasionally only semi-literate. The reason that “the masses” are a lot more prosperous and even... R. EMMETT TYRRELL, JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/mayor-betrays-an-awkward-discomfort-in-wake/86940/ Wed, 5 May 2010 12:11:25 EST WASHINGTON — As we read the news about this Pakistani jackal who admits to planning a cowardly assault on hundreds of innocent people in New York’s Times Square a thought that occurs to me is, how endlessly interesting history is. Often things take place that one never would have imagined. For most of the last decades of the 20th century America girded its loins to defeat world communism, at the time led by the Soviets and the Chinese. We lived in fear of nuclear holocaust. We feared Soviet... R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/clinton-gives-cover-to-the-angry-left/86920/ Mon, 19 Apr 2010 17:40:28 EST WASHINGTON — Not so long ago there arose on the American political scene something called the Angry Left. It was an indignant group of ritualistic liberals whose appearance the mainstream media apprised us augured well for Democratic victory in 2008, and so it did. The Angry Left turned out the vote for the Prophet Obama. At the time, do you recall any public figure on the right stepping forward and warning against possible violence from the indignados of the Angry Left? Did, say, the Hon. Newt... R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/the-ghost-of-ngo-dinh-diem/86916/ Fri, 9 Apr 2010 08:33:55 EST WASHINGTON —The increasing static between Kabul and the White House brings to mind other dicey episodes in American diplomacy. Even dealing with allies can be tricky. Recall de Gaulle. He was heartburn for five American presidents. Even Churchill could be difficult, and he was half-American. Yet for Roosevelt and Truman he could be a trial, particularly when the question of the British Empire was on the table and the future of its colonies. President Barack Obama’s rows with President Hamid... R. EMMETT TYRRELL, JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/the-taranto-principle/86573/ Thu, 25 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST Years from now, in journalism schools, they will call it the "Taranto Principle." At least that is what they will call it, if they still have journalism schools years from now. In the future, the great republic may only have Web log schools, those being schools where students are taught to sit in their underwear in front of their luminescent laptops and pound out semi-literate diktats to an — for the most part — unobservant world. The amalgamation of all this indignation is today called "The... R. EMMETT TYRRELL, JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/pelosis-drilling-ruse/86085/ Thu, 18 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST The other night when House Democrats appeared to reverse their long-standing ban on offshore oil drilling, the electorate was again hoodwinked. At least the Democratic leadership hoped the electorate was hoodwinked. In August, Speaker Pelosi was beginning to feel the heat from a citizenry angered by high energy prices, particularly high gasoline prices. Republicans were clamoring for an expansion in drilling. The voters agreed. Thus the speaker relented and notified endangered House Democrats... R. EMMETT TYRRELL, JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/democrats-dont-get-economy/85754/ Fri, 12 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST The campaigning politicians apparently cannot talk accurately about the economy. As I am not campaigning for anything, let me try to describe the economy as it is. The Democrats cannot talk accurately because if they did the average American would realize that the economy under President Bush has not been so bad. Furthermore, the Democrats don't have a clue as to how to improve it. All they would do with their promised tax increases and other extensions of the federal bludgeon onto the market... R. EMMETT TYRRELL, JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/hypocrisy-in-the-kultursmog/85234/ Fri, 5 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST In this election year, "change" has been the catnip of the liberals. It renders them blissful. Change will put an end to the dominance of American politics by the "Washington insiders." And the instrumentality of that "change" will be a first-term senator of unassailable probity, Senator Obama, who curiously enough began his career a decade ago in Chicago as a cog in the political machine of Mayor Daley. To the critics' charges that Prophet Obama is short on experience his supporters respond... R. EMMETT TYRRELL, JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/meet-the-huckstering-champions/84886/ Fri, 29 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EST I believe I made a mistake when I decided not to attend the Democratic National Convention. The consequence of that decision has been that I have had to watch its highlights on national television. There the media gaggle, with few exceptions, has plangently repeated — tediously and cheerlessly — many things that I know to be untrue. The preeminent untruth resounding across the airways is that the Clintons are political geniuses. They are to electioneering what Ludwig van Beethoven was to the... R. EMMETT TYRRELL Jr. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/the-other-obama/84315/ Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EST It has been a mixed week for Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate. On the one hand, a Reuters/Zogby poll announced that the junior senator's 7-point lead over John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential candidate, has dissolved into a 5-point deficit. Senator McCain now leads him 46% to 41%. On the other hand, the press has discovered Senator Obama's long-lost half brother, George Hussein Onyango (also spelled Owango) living quietly in Kenya. Among the... R. EMMETT TYRRELL Jr. and ALAN SOMERS http://www.nysun.com/opinion/are-nuclear-swimsuits-next/83673/ Tue, 12 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EST After decades as ardent fans of Grand Prix racing and of international swimming competition, we have come to the conclusion that in both, sports engineering has become more important than the competitors. In Grand Prix driving it is not surprising that engineering has come to overshadow the talent and gallantry of the drivers. Auto races have involved technology since the first racing car fired up. Today, however, the heroics of the driver matter far less than their cars' technology. The... R. EMMETT TYRRELL, JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/the-spirit-of-the-olympics-losing-faith/83462/ Fri, 8 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EST I see that the Olympics Games are again taking place. Nonetheless, the boycott that I slapped on them a couple of decades back remains in effect. I shall not watch them voluntarily. Perhaps I shall be passing through a room where the games are being boomed and blathered, but I shall avert my gaze. Admittedly the games have suffered no setback since my boycott began. In fact they seem to be tawdrier than ever. But my boycott finally has attracted the support of my old friend, the former... R. EMMETT TYRRELL JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/brilliant-modest-and-loyal/83246/ Wed, 6 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EST STONE HARBOR, N.J. — With some good reading I am lolling along the Jersey shore. The sun is high in the clear blue sky and there is a cool breeze. All of a sudden a hurricane just hit. From my office comes word that Peter Rodman died over the weekend, unexpectedly from the blitzkrieg of a rare leukemia. Of all the writers I have dealt with in 40 years of editing the American Spectator, Peter is at the top of the chop in terms of intellect, character, and literary skill. He served as a foreign... R. EMMETT TYRRELL, Jr. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/what-to-read-this-summer/83029/ Fri, 1 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EST It is vacation time, and this summer millions of Americans are going to take a break from their daily toil. Many will seek out a quiet spot to relax with family members. They will head to the beach or to a campsite, and some will defy gas prices and head for the open road. The summer vacation is a perfect time to read a book, possibly two books. There are all kinds of books available: personal improvement books, how-to books, bad books, very bad books. For some reason the books I have been... R. EMMETT TYRRELL, JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/ave-maria-is-off-to-naples/82615/ Fri, 25 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Something very good has just taken place on a college campus. After a two-year ordeal orchestrated by a group of mutinous faculty members, the Ave Maria Law School has been given a clean bill of health by the American Bar Association and can continue with its work. I spoke on the campus last autumn and departed burdened by gloom. I feared the mutineers might win. They were the typical professorial grumblers, and such unhappy philistines so often have the upper hand on campuses. Truth be known... R. EMMETT TYRRELL, JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/the-gaffable-prophet-obama/82186/ Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST As I suggested a few weeks ago, Senator Obama is not going to have an easy time of it. For one thing, Senator McCain is a much tougher candidate than has been suspected. Looking over his career, one will note that Mr. McCain learned politics before ever entering politics. As a young Navy liaison to the Senate in the 1970s, he worked effectively with Democratic and Republican hawks to reverse the post-Vietnam military decline. He, having managed the largest fighter squadron in the Navy, has... R. EMMETT TYRRELL JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/health-care-a-la-adam-smith/81794/ Mon, 14 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST I am back from travels in old Europe and have survived in the pink. Readers of this column will recall that over the last three weeks I have been traveling through France and Britain. Add Scotland to the pilgrimage. In Edinburgh during the July Fourth weekend I participated in the unveiling of an Adam Smith statue, prominently placed near the top of this famous city's Royal Mile. Smith now overlooks much of this city in which he with other members of the Scottish Enlightenment thrived. He is... R. EMMETT TYRRELL, Jr. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/eco-extremism-de-born-abroad/80733/ Thu, 26 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST SARLAT, France — I have journeyed to the south of France to continue my researches into the earliest ancestors of America's present-day political exotics. The American scene abounds with bizarre creatures: feminists, militant advocates of identity politics, environmentalist wackos — as Rush Limbaugh's millions call them. I came here to investigate the life of the 12th century troubadour, Bertran de Born, as early an intellectual precursor to the environmental wackos as I have yet discovered... R. EMMETT TYRRELL, JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/awaiting-the-vindication-of-victory/80469/ Mon, 23 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST The stature and repute of our public figures are shaped, as I have written before, by this thing called Kultursmog. It is our political culture, a kultur utterly polluted by politics, left-liberal politics. For instance, it renders the Clintons, as reporter John Harris hymned in a recent hagiography, "the two most important political figures of their generation." It matters not that they are also the most scandal-prone couple in American history or that also numbered among the political figures... R. EMMETT TYRRELL, JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/mccains-flight-status/79950/ Fri, 13 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST Think of it: Since early 2007 ambitious politicians have cluttered up the news with their campaigns for the presidency. Giants such as Dennis Kucinich, Joe Biden, and Bill Richardson, have tantalized us with the possibility that America could, under their leadership, become the new Athens. Finally, the presidential candidate field is down to two candidates. Usually the last leg of a presidential campaign begins after Labor Day. From all I can tell, the last leg of Campaign 2008 already is under... R. EMMETT TYRRELL Jr. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/the-gaffable-barack-obama/78947/ Fri, 30 May 2008 00:00:00 EST As I noted several weeks back, some very bizarre happenings began to haunt the Obama campaign in April. The candidate, taking his breakfast in a Scranton, Pa., eatery, was asked by a reporter for his reaction to a meeting President Carter had just concluded with a thug from Hamas. Clearly annoyed, Senator Obama refused to answer the question. In a word, he waffled. I also cited another bizarre story reported about this time. In San Francisco, which should be safe territory for him, an Obama... R. EMMETT TYRRELL Jr. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/appeasing-appeasers/76855/ Thu, 22 May 2008 00:00:00 EST Poor Neville Chamberlain. The long deceased British prime minister — remembered through the decades for his policy of appeasement and for the war with Hitler that it hastened — now suffers yet another disgrace. The mere mention of "appeasement" apparently sets off paranoid tantrums amongst members of the political class. Once deemed a very enlightened tool of statecraft, appeasement has become a slur, a hate term. Speaking before the Israeli Knesset, President Bush associated appeasement with... R. EMMETT TYRRELL Jr. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/four-issues-spread-on-hot-air/76566/ Fri, 16 May 2008 00:00:00 EST Readers of this column will recall that from time to time in covering an election cycle I have referred to a voting bloc that political analysts of more delicate sensibilities would rather not mention, to wit, the moron vote. It is a constituency composed of politically ignorant citizens who nonetheless feel very intensely about political issues once their respective demagogues have notified them of the issues, suitably transmogrified. The moron vote's rank and file might, in point of fact, not... R. EMMETT TYRRELL Jr. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/boris-for-president/76198/ Fri, 9 May 2008 00:00:00 EST The most momentous political story of the hour is not what you might think. It has to do with an American politician now living in London and his aspiration to become president of America. His name is Boris Johnson. He, an exemplary conservative, has just beaten one of the most rebarbative left-wing reactionaries in Britain to become the mayor of London. Mr. Johnson ran a very fine campaign, an amalgam of high intelligence, sound principle, rollicking good humor, and energy that could be... R. EMMETT TYRRELL Jr. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/obamas-haunted-campaign/75265/ Thu, 24 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EST Anyone who has followed politics studiously over the years is aware that there are gifted politicians who, for whatever reason, eventually find their campaigns haunted. I do not mean haunted by accidental events or by a clod or two at campaign headquarters. I mean haunted. I mean visited by the weird, by supernatural pranksters, by what our Islamic friends call djinni. Clearly, after months of suave upward mobility, Senator Obama is now in this unfortunate condition. The bizarre is his... R. EMMETT TYRRELL Jr. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/carters-conceit/74922/ Fri, 18 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EST In the 1980 presidential election the American people did the best they could with President Carter, given the limitations imposed on them by our Constitution. They retired him from office — 44 states participated in the ceremony. Looking back, however, on how he has abused his retirement, I, for one, wish we could have done better. Perhaps he could have been put in a jar. He has, in the succeeding 28 years since his exit from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, remained almost as ruinous a nuisance out... R. EMMETT TYRRELL Jr. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/modern-giant/74496/ Thu, 10 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EST The other day I was beholding Fox News's beauteous Martha MacCallum on her TV salon, "The Live Desk," when a smudge darkened my otherwise sunny afternoon. Linda Chavez, that perennial conservative talking head, was being interviewed about American politics, when, all of a sudden, she did something quite jarring. She referred to conservative activist Grover Norquist in chill terms suggesting that this Grover Norquist is an obscure figure somewhere out on the margins of politics. Her... R. EMMETT TYRRELL Jr. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/possibility-of-prosperity/74205/ Fri, 4 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EST Regarding the present economic apprehensions, may I counsel calm and good sense. As for those agitated voices in the chorus, ululating of our dire straits and even of depression and doom, remember they have been out there for years. Generally speaking, they are opportunistic liberals itching for power. It is not so surprising that their lamentations are so frequent but that they are so monotonous, for they have yet to be occasioned by either depression or doom. A pause here, a pause there... R. EMMETT TYRRELL, Jr. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/running-out-of-jokes/73844/ Fri, 28 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EST As the Clintons enter their 17th year at the center of the national stage, some Washington pundits are running out of patience with them. My condition is more desperate. I am running out of jokes about these two perennial college kids. History eventually will remember them as the reincarnation of Warren and Florence Harding. For now they come off as two undergraduate b.s.-ers on a protracted spring break. Hillary b.s.-es about her indispensability to the first Clinton administration. Bill...