Charles Hurt
Columns by Charles Hurt
HURT: Beware the breathless pollsters
Election polls today are worth precisely what you probably paid to read them. Everybody has their thumb on the scale. Published September 12, 2012
HURT: U.S. on wrong side of Cairo embassy riot
It was a cruel way to observe the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States. Published September 11, 2012
HURT: Obama’s cold leftovers from 2008 are hard to swallow at DNC in 2012
There is nothing sadder than a politician without his balloons. It's like a cowboy, hair slicked down, without a hat. It's especially sad when the cowboy was all hat and no cattle to begin with. Published September 7, 2012
HURT: Even while praising Obama, Clinton pats his own back
Bill Clinton's typically epic speech last night was certainly the most detailed, calculated and complete attack on the Republican agenda that we have heard during the entire campaign. It was also the most unreserved and embracing defense of President Obama. Published September 6, 2012
HURT: Biden’s garrulity, gaffes are 
antithesis of authenticity
If it is true that a sucker is born every minute, then there simply are not enough minutes in the day to account for all the suckers around here. And nothing brings these suckers together in agreement more than the canard that Vice President Joseph R. Biden is some kind of fountain of "authenticity." Published September 5, 2012
HURT: Only a celebrity like Obama can blow through $5.4 trillion
President Obama has gone full celebrity on us. He cannot run on the actual record of his first term, so he reaches back for that old magic from four years ago that helped him cross over from politician to full-blown icon. Published September 4, 2012
HURT: Convention security the embodiment of a police state
Welcome to the police state. In Tampa, Fla., and now here in Charlotte, N.C., thousands of troops, police and Secret Service agents flood the city and set up giant perimeters around the convention sites. They close off public land, shut down streets and take over private property. Published September 3, 2012
HURT: Romney’s ‘look’ is the capper for GOP convention success
By just about any measure, the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., was a success. Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan got nominated without drowning in a hurricane and without committing any campaign-killing gaffes. Published September 2, 2012
HURT: Chris Christie, tamed and leashed at the RNC
What the heck happened to Chris Christie? Everyone eagerly anticipating his signature New Jersey-style smackdown on the first night of the Republican convention walked away scratching his head wondering who or what muted the famously uncontainable, confrontational, loud-mouthed governor. Published August 29, 2012
HURT: With Ryan pick, the adults are now in charge
By picking Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney made a very political decision that his campaign for the presidency will be about offering serious solutions to gravely serious problems. It will be the group of adults versus the once-hip youngsters cruising around on one final bender before graduating from college. Published August 28, 2012
HURT: Tampa dancers do politics American style
But with the Republican convention in town, Thee DollHouse has taken on a decidedly political flair. That is because small business owner Warren Colazzo, a modern American patriot if there ever were one, sensed an opportunity to make some money. Published August 26, 2012
HURT: Another media belly-flop over skinny-dipping ‘scandal’
Skinny-dipping overseas isn't exactly the campaign commercial you want to run for Congress on, but the notion that leaping into the Sea of Galilee is somehow an offense that churches and synagogues all over the country are suddenly fretting about seems a wee bit overblown. Published August 21, 2012
HURT: Ryan knows what’s wrong and how to fix it
By picking Paul Ryan as his running mate, Mitt Romney slapped the big-boy knickers right off President Obama's backside. Published August 14, 2012
HURT: The improbable reign of Harry Reid, mumbling gangster
Harry Reid brings the same honor and integrity that he has used to slime so many to the task of running the Senate, which is to say he will say anything and do anything to win any little skirmish over tactics, policy or anything else. Published August 7, 2012
HURT: The smallness of the new Obama
It has become the disappearing presidency. He went from peddling the "audacity of hope" to sheer hopelessness. From promising change to — literally — begging for change. Any spare change. Published July 31, 2012
HURT: An open letter to Christopher Nolan, Sean Penn and Warner Brothers
It is all so perfectly fitting that in the wake of a murderous rampage in which 70 people are shot, 12 fatally including a 6-year-old girl, and countless families are sacked with unspeakable grief, you would take the time to share with us your feelings. Published July 24, 2012
HURT: Obama’s South Side Chicago thuggery
Now that we know just what President Obama thinks of people who succeed in business, it is no wonder that the economy is so much in the crapper. To avoid any discussion of his own disastrous handling of the economy, Mr. Obama announced last week what he thinks of the struggling spark plugs of commerce: They are a bunch of felons. Published July 17, 2012
HURT: Higgs boson, by Mark Twain
Everyone, it seems, has an explanation for the scorching heat, terrifying winds and hellish wildfires haunting the world these days. Published July 10, 2012
HURT: Explaining the face-eating zombie
With all the zombie cannibals on the loose these days in this scorching heat, choking wildfires and violent winds, we are living in some terrifying times. Published July 3, 2012
HURT: The silver lining? Now Obama owns his tax hikes
Conservatives gathering now for a low-tech lynching of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. need to take a quick breath of air and think about what he managed to accomplish by upholding President Obama's highly unpopular, signature piece of legislation. Published June 28, 2012
