David Frum's Blog, page 66

Americans Want the Defense Cuts Cancelled

After all, it's what the American people want, right?

Where Chavez Learned to Chavez

Apologies on the Hugo Chavez overload, but one last post about the fallen dictator. Francisco Toro, the author of the excellent blog Caracas Chronicles , writes in the New Republic on the Cuba-Venezuela relationship:

Chavez Wasn't Enough of a Dictator? Hmm

I'll let John Podhoretz introduce this doozyfrom The Nation.

This is How We Treat Our Soldiers?

As part of the multibillion-dollar settlement between mortgage lenders and the federal government, it has been discovered that over 700 military personnel had their houses wrongfully foreclosed while they were deployed. Besides everything else, these evictions violated federal law.

Conservatives Need More Friedman, Less Hayek

It's getting less lonely out here!AsJames Pethokoukis of the National Review notes:

Bob McDonnell Also Not Invited to CPAC

Allahpundit thinksVirginia Gov. Bob McDonnell won't be sweating this one too much:

Iraq: What We Got Wrong and Why

As we assess the Iraq war, one observation is painfully inescapable: almost all the original planning was sadly misjudged. The war planners were wrong about the WMD, about the numbers of troops required, about the cost, about the reactions of the Iraqis themselves.

Do Conservatives Want to Win?

Viewing CPAC's reaction against New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Ramesh Ponnuru is moved to wonder:

Why Republicans Should Defend the Welfare State

Go read Ed Morrissey's defense of "practical conservatism." I'll add this: Morrissey should be careful to distinguish between Social Security, which only needs modest reforms, and Medicare/Medicaid, which will bring serious problems in the medium term. The GOP will give itself credibility by shoring up the program that works and seriously attempting to fix the one that doesn't.

Master of the House: How John Boehner Runs the Insane Asylum

Noam Sheiber pens a wonderful paen to Speaker of the House John Boehner. My favorite paragraph is Scheiber's description of Boehner's strategy to neutralize the far right in order to solve pressing issues like the fiscal cliff.