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R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr.

R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr.

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R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr. is the founder and editor in chief of The American Spectator and a New York Times best-selling author. He makes frequent appearances on national television and is a nationally syndicated columnist, whose articles have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Baltimore Sun, The Washington Times, National Review, Harper's, Commentary, The (London) Spectator, Le Figaro (Paris) and elsewhere.

Articles by R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr.

R. EMMETT TYRRELL: Bernie Sanders’ flower-child roots

Political observers are still speculating over whether the July 4 New York Times report on the loony biography of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders was meant as a hit job or an encomium. He is closing in on the Democratic frontrunner, Hillary Clinton. Joe Biden is standing in the wings. Other ambitious Democratic pols are smelling blood. Sen. Sanders is surging in New Hampshire, the first primary state.

July 7, 2015
Illustration on a proposed national 20 day early voting period by Alexander Hunter/The Washington Times

R. EMMETT TYRRELL: Awakening voters with longer elections

For a generation -- perhaps longer -- the liberals have been segregating Americans into smaller and smaller groups. Then they claim to be each group's unique champion. First they fragmentize America. Then they step forward and represent themselves as fragmented America's noblest defenders.

June 9, 2015
Skeletons in the Closet Illustration by Greg Groesch/The Washington Times

R. EMMETT TYRRELL: The future of identity politics

Are American voters still suckers for identity politics? Have they not learned that character matters more to leadership than some random physical trait, say, race, color, or creed? Did Franklin Delano Roosevelt's race help him win World War II? Did Ronald Reagan's creed help him win the Cold War? What was his creed?

June 2, 2015
Illustration on alternatives to inner-city public schools by Alexander Hunter/The Washington Times

R. EMMETT TYRRELL: Vouchers offer escape from inner-city schools

Before he passed away recently, John M. Templeton, the distinguished physician and philanthropist, questioned: "Should we tolerate a public educational system with its entrenched self-interest which virtually every inner-city parent knows is destroying any hope or possibility of their children achieving meaningful opportunity in a 21st century economy?" A growing number of parents say no.

May 26, 2015
Illustration on the corruption of the Clintons by Alexander Hunter/The Washington Times

R. EMMETT TYRRELL: ‘Clinton Cash’ chronicles Clinton corruption

It turns out that 17 years ago, Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr was lucky that, at the end of his long pursuit of President Clinton, he could fasten upon a DNA sample left by the president on Monica Lewinsky's dress to prove that Mr. Clinton was lying when he said, "I did not have sexual relations with woman, Miss Lewinsky." Otherwise, Mr. Starr might still be pursuing the wily ex-president.

May 5, 2015
A growing chorus of party insiders is calling for a credible challenger to enter the primary race against Hillary Rodham Clinton, either to provide a viable liberal alternative or at least to test Mrs. Clinton in preparation for a general election contest. (Associated Press)

R. EMMETT TYRRELL JR.: Can 1 percenter Hillary Clinton lead the Democrats?

Does it strike you as an indication of a political party's robust vitality that in a country of more than 300 million people, that party has just one likely nominee for president? Notwithstanding the fact that she has at her disposal nearly $1 billion, she is 67 years old, and she stands accused of committing at least one felony. What country are we talking about, the old USSR? No, we are talking about the contemporary U.S. of A.

April 28, 2015
Parking lot rant illustration by Greg Groesch/The Washington Times

R. EMMETT TYRRELL JR.: Journalists America’s real aristocracy

Notwithstanding what the Marxist whim-wham artists have been telling the youths of our country for over a generation, there has been little sign of a true aristocracy in America. For a very short period of time something like an aristocracy appeared during the era when the Robber Barons plied their arts, but it did not last.

April 21, 2015
Fidel Castro, 1962. Associated Press photograph

R. EMMETT TYRRELL: Reminding Obama about Cuba’s history

Does anyone remember what it was that turned America hostile toward the tropical paradise of Cuba? Our president tells us that "we're caught in a time warp, going back to the 1950s and gunboat diplomacy, and 'Yanquis' and the Cold War." Yes, really, "gunboat diplomacy." That is how University of Chicago adjunct law professors talk about American foreign policy. And he adds, "Sometimes those controversies date back to before I was born." So, what got America so riled up over the Castro brothers and Cuban communists even before Barack Obama was born?

April 14, 2015
Illustration on gay activist agitation by Alexander Hunter/The Washington Times

R. EMMETT TYRRELL: Angry gays in America

Some of my most cherished lines from President Clinton's presidency had nothing to do with women with whom he did or did not have sexual relations. Rather, they were inspired by the Religious Freedom Restoration Act that he signed on the White House South Lawn on Nov. 16, 1993. At the time there was not much controversy about what he then said, but they are admirable lines nonetheless. Today they might be deemed heroic lines.

April 7, 2015
Illustration on the waning of sexual political scandals by Alexander Hunter/The Washington Times

R. EMMETT TYRRELL: Political sexual scandals on the decline

What is going on in American politics of late? There has not emerged a truly goofball politician since Anthony Weiner, the congressman and later New York mayoral candidate who could not resist sending pictures of his private part so frequently and to so many women, that it really was no longer a private part but rather a public spectacle. Go ahead, Google it. In fact, Yahoo it. My guess is there are dozens of pictures of Mr. Weiner's public private part all over the Internet.

March 31, 2015
Illustration on the need for reform in Islam by Alexander Hunter/The Washington Times

R. EMMETT TYRRELL: Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi challenges Islam’s archaic ways

What do you know — the world's leading reformer of Islam is turning out to be a general. He is not a learned mullah. He is not a suicide bomber. He does not even have a weaponized bicycle. He is Egypt's Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi who, somewhat reminiscent of our own Gen. George Washington, turned in his uniform for civilian garb and was elected president of Egypt with a huge majority.

March 24, 2015
Cost of the prison system, illustration by Greg Groesch/The Washington Times

R. EMMETT TYRRELL: Rand Paul’s appeal for sensible sentencing

A couple of months back in our nation's capital, Sen. Rand Paul spoke at The American Spectator's annual Robert L. Bartley dinner and wowed the crowd. However, at the end of his rousing speech he assumed a more somber tone as he spoke about the plight of America's poor, particularly the poor who commit petty crime.

March 17, 2015
The Tarheels Step on Themselves Illustration by Greg Groesch/The Washington Times

R. EMMETT TYRRELL JR: Cleaning up left-wing college boondoggles

Readers of this column are familiar with my argument that a conservative tide is sweeping the country, contrary to the mainstream media. In the off-year elections of 2010 and 2014, the gains made by conservatives have been substantial in governors' mansions and in state legislatures. To be sure, they have been substantial in Washington, too, at the House and Senate level, but I would argue that they have been more consequential at the state level. There, old conventions that have been in place since the left-wing 1960s are being heaved out and a clamor of protest is being heard from the evicted. It can only get worse.

March 3, 2015
Jon Stewart Illustration by Greg Groesch/The Washington Times

EMMETT TYRRELL: Jon Stewart lied about Iraq war

The irrepressible New York Times is at it again. First it destroys the credibility of the most trusted newsreader in America, Brian Williams, and leaves him in a heap, exposed as a flagrant liar. Now it is destroying the credibility of the most trusted comic in America, Jon Stewart, and intent on leaving him, too, in a heap, exposed also as a flagrant liar. The New York Times used all of its investigative skills to expose Mr. Williams, and it is using them again to expose the wretched Mr. Stewart.

February 18, 2015