Free Republic

Is Chris Matthews taking lessons from Ed Schultz on keeping it classy? In August and September, Schultz got off a series of fat jokes aimed at NJ Gov. Chris Christie. After Schultz eventually stooped to calling Christie a "fat slob," he was reportedly reprimanded by MSNBC president Phil Griffin. On this evening's Hardball, Matthews got off a fat joke of his own at Christie's expense. Matthews suggested that someone inform Christie that the tunnel he vetoed is going to be "a wide tunnel; it'll be very useful to certain people." The irony? Matthews' gibe came in a segment about Daniel...

In 1993, Sen. Daniel Moynihan published a momentous article entitled “Defining Deviancy Down.” In it, he explained that by defining what is deviant we know what is not and thereby we are able to live together with shared standards. Moynihan proposed that the amount of deviancy in American society had outgrown our capacity to control it, forcing us to re-define it so that abnormal behavior became leniently accepted as normal. He listed several instances of this phenomenon, perhaps none with as far-reaching consequences as the breakdown of the traditional family whose ripple effects were felt in drug use, teen pregnancy,...

Hillary Clinton has been in politics long enough to know the value of the word "change." In 1992, her husband's political guru, James Carville, hung a white sign in the Clinton campaign war room that read CHANGE VS. MORE OF THE SAME. Bill Clinton won the presidency that year with 370 electoral votes. Over the course of the summer, she watched her rivals for the Democratic nomination try again and again to define themselves as change and Clinton as the status quo. ("We're more interested in looking forward, not backward," Barack Obama told reporters. "And the American people feel the...

After the Supreme Court upheld the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act on Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said at a news conference: "I would only say that this isn't the only decision that a lot of us wish that [Justice Samuel] Alito weren't there and [former justice Sandra Day] O'Connor were there." Does that mean Reid was repudiating his 2003 Senate vote in favor of the bill? No, he told me Thursday, he was talking about other decisions by Alito. Reid, an effective legislator and canny politician, reflects a dilemma on abortion among Democrats, currently flying high against dispirited...

Jewish World Review July 9, 2003 / 9 Tamuz, 5763 Jeff Jacoby Same-sex marriage vs. society's ideal http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com | One way to approach the same-sex marriage debate is to think about something else entirely. So let's talk about welfare. In the 1960s, welfare spending soared. New welfare programs were created, while existing programs like food stamps and Aid to Families with Dependent Children swelled. Tens of billions of dollars were spent to provide the poor with cash aid, social services, food, and housing. Eligibility rules varied, but in general the bar was low: Welfare recipients did not have to be...

<p>ONE WAY to approach the same-sex marriage debate is to think about something else entirely. So let's talk about welfare.</p> <p>In the 1960s, welfare spending soared. Tens of billions of dollars were spent to provide the poor with cash aid, social services, food, and housing. Eligibility rules varied, but in general the bar was low: Welfare recipients did not have to be employed or married to qualify for the dole. They only had to be very low-income, with children to take care of.</p>

WASHINGTON -- In the summer of 1965, Daniel Patrick Moynihan asked me to lunch at the Occidental Restaurant in downtown Washington. He was resigning as an assistant secretary of Labor in the Johnson administration to run, unsuccessfully, for City Council president of New York. He had something to give me: his 79-page Labor Department report, based on Census Bureau statistics that exposed the breakdown of the African-American family. Labor Secretary Willard Wirtz refused Moynihan's request to release the report that showed broken homes, female-oriented households, and especially rampant illegitimacy among blacks negated increased federal spending. The report had been leaked...

Friends and family of Former Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan are more than miffed at Junior Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (Democrat-NY) who broke the news to a stunned United States Senate Chamber last week that the longtime New York Democratic Senator had died.'That was not hers to announce, it was classless,' says a family representative.The family had planned to issue a statement Wednesday at 6:30 PM, but Senator Clinton spilled the beans earlier without the family's okay.What happened? Clinton associates say she was in a caucus meeting when an aide told the group of Moynihan's death.Since she had replaced Moynihan, Clinton...

 Spectator.org Print Article         Close Window         Copyright © 2002 Spectator.org. All Rights Reserved. Heard in Moscow By Published 3/31/2003 12:02:00 AM Special Report The death last week of Daniel Patrick Moynihan throws into sad relief the state of partisan politics today. Steven F. Hayward, writing on National Review Online, mourned the death of "old liberalism," too. He quoted Moynihan, perhaps the most thoughtful of modern liberals, as saying, "Liberalism faltered when it turned out it could not cope with truth." Moynihan himself paid the price for truthfulness years later, in the fight over Hillarycare. "He's not one of...

The death of retired New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan has written yet another chapter in the bitter war between junior senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and senior senator Charles Schumer. Last Wednesday both senators received calls from the Moynihan family informing them of the senator's death as well as of their plans to announce his passing at a time convenient to the family. Both Clinton and Schumer were participating in meetings when the calls came but evidently did not want to miss out on the PR buzz that would come from announcing the great Moynihan's death themselves. "Clinton could barely...

John Marshal, more impact than presidentsSaturday, March 29, 2003By GEORGE F. WILL WASHINGTON--Many of America’s largest public careers have been those of presidents. Many, but by no means all. Chief Justice John Marshall was more consequential than all but two presidents--Washington and Lincoln. Among 20th- century public servants, Gen. George Marshall--whose many achievements included discerning the talents of a Col. Eisenhower--may have been second in importance only to Franklin Roosevelt. And no 20th-century public career was as many-faceted, and involved so much prescience about as many matters, as that of Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who died Wednesday at 76. He was...

WASHINGTON--Many of America's largest public careers have been those of presidents. Many, but by no means all. Chief Justice John Marshall was more consequential than all but two presidents--Washington and Lincoln. Among 20th- century public servants, Gen. George Marshall--whose many achievements included discerning the talents of a Col. Eisenhower--may have been second in importance only to Franklin Roosevelt. And no 20th-century public career was as many-faceted, and involved so much prescience about as many matters, as that of Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who died Wednesday at 76. He was born in Tulsa but spent his formative years on Manhattan's Lower East...

Breaking

When I was 18 years old I received the right to vote. I grew up in New York City where the Democrat Party had a monopoly on power. Common sense dictated that I register as a Democrat or I would in effect be disenfranchised. The winner of the Democrat primary in New York was the winner of the November election in 99% of the cases. Therefore the primary was the election and anyone who was not a Democrat did not get to vote in the election. I also believed in the party to some degree. This was the era when...