Republican Rebellion
There is a rebellion brewing in the House Republican ranks -- a "mini-mutiny" as one columnist put it -- against Speaker John Boehner. Two conservatives, Reps. Louie Gohmert of Texas and Ted Yoho of Florida, are putting their names forward as candidates for speaker of the House.
Dislodging Boehner will be challenging. Republicans made historic gains in 2014, picking up 13 seats. Boehner campaigned for and raised money for those freshmen and they undoubtedly feel some degree of loyalty to him. That is one way the leadership stays in power.
Almost 30 Republicans would have to oppose Boehner to deny him a majority. That hasn't happened since 1923, when it took nine ballots to elect a speaker. So far, roughly a dozen members have publicly said that they would vote against Boehner. And even those behind the mutiny effort expect only 20 anti-Boehner votes.
While Boehner is expected to survive this challenge, he and other party leaders should be concerned. Boehner's problems are not limited to a dozen members of his caucus.
A poll released this weekend found that 60% of Republican voters would like to see someone new as speaker of the House. That result is further evidence of the growing dissatisfaction between the conservative grassroots and the GOP's political elites.
Obama's Back
Barack Obama's approval ratings are up. A new CNN poll has the president at 48% -- his best showing since May 2013, while a new Rasmussen poll puts him at 51%.
Has the public already forgotten the 2014 elections? Obama said that his policies were on the ballot. Clearly, the voters rejected them. So what has changed in the past two months? I suspect the reason Obama is looking better is that he has largely gone unchallenged since November 4th.
All of this has happened against the backdrop of a vicious anti-law enforcement campaign driven by the left and cheered on by Al Sharpton, Eric Holder, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Barack Obama. It culminated in the predictable deaths of two NYPD officers.
This would have been a good time for a confident opposition party to identify with the vast majority of Americans. Everyone, regardless of race, wants safe streets. No one wants to hear the sound of gunfire or breaking glass in the middle of the night. They know it is the men and women in law enforcement who keep anarchy away from their communities.
It shouldn't have been hard for elected leaders to verbalize their support for the rule of law and the men and women on the thin blue line. Instead, the party seemed largely stuck in a crouching position, afraid that they would face accusations of racism.
De Blasio has been on defense in New York City. Meanwhile, Obama has been calling the shots on virtually every major initiative from the "Cromnibus" and immigration reform to normalizing relations with Cuba.
Jury Selection In Boston
Jury selection began today for the trial of accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Federal prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for the attack, which took the lives of three people, including an eight year-old boy, and wounded more than 260.
For those affected by this atrocity, this day has been a long time coming. I pray for a swift trial and certain justice.
Grubergate Continues
For critics of Obamacare, MIT economist Jonathan Gruber is the gift that keeps on giving. Last week, we learned that Dr. Gruber, described by some as the "architect of Obamacare," admitted that its health insurance policies would not be affordable. In 2009, Dr. Gruber contended that the Affordable Care Act was really about getting people covered.
"Why are we closer than we've ever been before? Because there are no cost controls in these proposals. Because this bill's about coverage," Gruber said. "Let's get the people covered and then let's do cost control."
And how do you control costs? According to Dr. Gruber, "The real substance of cost control is all about a single thing: telling patients they can't have something they want." Translation: Government rationing.
Given what we already know about Dr. Gruber's glibness, I doubt this latest revelation comes as much of a surprise. But I am indebted to my friend and columnist Mona Charen for connecting other dots.
About ten years ago, the pro-abortion movement in America attempted to seize on the argument that abortion was a positive social good that had contributed to reduced crime rates. The idea that society was in some way better off because innocent babies had been destroyed was a tough sell and the left quickly abandoned that bizarre notion.
As Charen notes in her latest column, that argument was based on an economic analysis by -- you guess it -- Dr. Jonathan Gruber.
Charen concludes by expressing her unease with Gruber's "casual readiness to calculate lost lives as so many numbers on a balance sheet." She is right to be worried. The left's disregard for the sanctity of life -- whether it's abortion on demand or the rationing of health care -- is cause for great concern.
Israel Wiped Off The Map -- Literally
Radical Islamists have long dreamed of a world without Israel. Iran's former president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, often vowed to "wipe Israel off the map." Evidently, one publishing company was willing to oblige their fanatical desires for a second Holocaust.
HarperCollins recently published new atlases that were "developed specifically for schools in the Middle East." The maps do not include the nation of Israel. Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank are there, but the Jewish state is not.
A subsidiary company admitted that it was pandering to "local preferences" because publishing accurate maps featuring Israel would have been "unacceptable" in the Middle East. That is how prevalent anti-Semitism is throughout the Islamic world.
This sorry episode tells you all you need to know, my friends, about the reality confronting Israel each and every day. America must continue to stand with Israel. And the Obama Administration should stop pushing a Palestinian state when it would clearly be yet another terrorist, Jew-hating nation.