Tony Blankley died this weekend after a long battle with cancer. His passing is a sad loss for America, the nation's capital and The Washington Times, all of which he served with great honor and decency. He was editorial page editor of this newspaper for five years. His example, wisdom and political perspective will continue as guiding lights for the work we do here. Published January 8, 2012
By Tony Blankley - The Washington Times
Almost all political commentators agree on one thing: The Republican presidential campaign is unlike any we have experienced. It is not a campaign of steady trends and continuities, but rather of emotional reversals and discontinuities. Perhaps this is so because the past three or four years have been a shocking time of discontinuities and reversals for America. Really, America has been bewildered, shocked and disoriented since Sept. 11, 2001. Published December 12, 2011
By Tony Blankley - The Washington Times
One of the nice things about human history is that no matter how much people or their leaders misjudge events and make a hash of things, within a few Published December 5, 2011
By Tony Blankley - The Washington Times
Sunday on "Meet the Press," Colin L. Powell blamed divisive, poisonous Washington politics on the media and the Tea Party. The essence of the retired general and former secretary of state's argument: "Republicans and Democrats are focusing more and more on their extreme left and extreme right. And we have to come back toward the center in order to compromise. ... The media have to help us. The media love this game, where everybody is on the extreme. It makes for great television. ... So what we have to do is sort of take some of the heat out of our political life in terms of the coverage of it, so [members of Congress] can get to work quietly. ... But the Tea Party point of view of no compromise whatsoever is not a point of view that will eventually produce a presidential candidate who will win." Published November 28, 2011
By Tony Blankley - The Washington Times
As we approach the festive season - the elongated, en- chanting month from Thanksgiving through Christ- mas to New Year's - my mind has been drifting through various memorable past holidays. Some have been personal, including the last one with my father before he died. But one that stands out for historic reasons is Christmas 1991. Published November 21, 2011
By Tony Blankley - The Washington Times
A just-released book, "Bowing to Beijing" by Brett M. Decker and William C. Triplett II, will change forever the way you think about China - even if, like me, you already have the deepest worries about the Chinese threat. As I opened the book, I was expecting to find many useful examples of Chinese military and industrial efforts to get the better of the United States and the West. Published November 14, 2011
By Tony Blankley - The Washington Times
Here's a thought: The GOP presidential primaries may well prove to be inconclusive, with the nominee actually being chosen at the convention in Tampa, Fla., in the fourth week of August next year. Published November 7, 2011
By Tony Blankley - The Washington Times
Now is a particularly dangerous moment for American national security interests. It's not just because threats are growing. It's not just because the current administration is making a historic bungle from China to Iraq to Iran to Russia to Europe to Mexico to our historic allies in the Middle East - both Jewish and Muslim. All that would be bad enough. Published October 31, 2011
By Tony Blankley - The Washington Times
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's assertion on "Meet the Press" Sunday that as the United States government orders the final, complete retreat from Iraq, the U.S. government remains resolved to support Iraqi democracy. Are Mrs. Clinton's words designed to make lies sound truthful, or does she actually believe things she knows to be untrue? Published October 24, 2011
By - The Washington Times
For the past few years, fear of China's predatory mercantilism has been growing steadily in America, both among the public and in privileged business and political circles. But last week, for the first time, one could discern the genuine possibility that America might actually do something about it - even if it means a trade war. Published October 17, 2011
By Tony Blankley - The Washington Times
William F. Buckley Jr., founding father of the modern conservative movement, famously asserted his doctrine of voting for the most conservative candidate who is electable. Let me presume to add an analytic codicil: The GOP and the conservative movement have tended to support the most conservative policies only when they are understood to be conservative and are plausibly supportable by the conservative half of the electorate. Published October 3, 2011
By Tony Blankley - The Washington Times
President Obama, like most American presidents, is lucky that the public pays little attention to foreign policy and rarely casts its votes on the basis of presidential foreign-policy performance. It required something as dramatic as Iran's November 1979 seizure of our diplomats as hostages, followed the next month by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, to turn Jimmy Carter's foreign-policy mess into a major negative issue for him in his failed 1980 re-election bid. Published September 26, 2011
By Tony Blankley - The Washington Times
In one of the least-needed reassurances in modern political history, President Obama's top political man, David Plouffe, "told Democrats late last week that the White House would not suffer from overconfidence. 'What I don't want to suggest is that we're sitting around and thinking everything is great,' he said." Published September 19, 2011
By Tony Blankley - The Washington Times
Since the end of World War II, in both the United States and Western Europe, the best way to win a national election has been to be the incumbent political party. But that 3-generation-old predisposition in Western democracies may be coming to an end. Published September 12, 2011
By - The Washington Times
In the past few weeks, leading Democrats in Congress have called Tea Party members terrorists, said they should go to hell and accused them of wanting to lynch black people. Last weekend at an event attended by President Obama, the head of the Teamsters Union, Jimmy Hoffa Jr., attacked the Tea Party, screaming, "President Obama, this is your army. We are ready to march. Let's take these sons of bitches [Tea Party members] out and give America back to an America where we belong." (Note: The president was not on the platform when Mr. Hoffa spoke.) Published September 7, 2011
By Vanessa Gera
Vandals desecrated a monument marking the spot in Poland where hundreds of Jews were burned alive during World War II, scrawling "they were flammable" and a swastika on the memorial. Published September 1, 2011
By Tony Blankley - The Washington Times
President Obama's post-Labor Day "jobs" speech will be his last chance to launch an economic policy with any chance of manifesting its effect - both economic and political - before the November 2012 elections. He has three options. Published August 29, 2011
By Tony Blankley - The Washington Times
In the weeks during and since the debt-ceiling debate, the media, pushed by the Democratic Party, has peddled the propaganda that our government is broken - because the Republicans in the House of Representatives negotiated a better deal than the liberals wanted. Published August 15, 2011
By Tony Blankley - The Washington Times
Except according to the Lord's plans - which are not known to man - the "end of the world" is not nigh, although to listen to politicians and pundits, we should be packed and ready to go by next Thursday. Published August 8, 2011
By Tony Blankley - The Washington Times
The debt deal - if it sticks - is a triumph for the bipartisan, status-quo-clinging Washington establishment. Here is a prediction: Between now and January 2013, total actual spending cuts will be minimal. That will result from the following: (1) The $900 billion deficit reduction is almost all backloaded to the years beyond 2012. (2) The select committee created by the budget deal will fail to pass a "second tranche" deficit-cut package of an additional $1.5 trillion. (3) The "trigger" will be pulled identifying an additional $1.2 trillion. Published August 1, 2011
Illustration by Dana Summers of the Tribune Media Services
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