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R. Emmett Tyrrell

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TYRELL: Acts of the obnoxious

Leftists love political pranks, except when they're the laughingstocks

Thursday, Feb. 4, 2010

Irving Kristol, the recently deceased godfather of neoconservatism, once said to me, "Fairness is not a liberal value." I thought about his asseveration while observing the liberals' colossal indignation over conservative activist James O'Keefe's entry under false pretenses into the district offices of Sen. Mary L. Landrieu, Louisiana Democrat. Mr. O'Keefe is the merry prankster who entered the offices of the left-wing Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) under the false pretense of being a pimp. Repeatedly, and in ACORN offices across the country, the ACORNiacs counseled this faux pimp on how to be a successful sex entrepreneur. He taped them. The tapes exposed ACORN for the criminal enterprise it has become. Mr. O'Keefe became a hero to some conservatives but a scoundrel to all<i> </i>liberals.

TYRRELL: Savings accounts, not collectivism

Giving consumers choices is the American way

Thursday, Jan. 28, 2010

Well, you might ask in the aftermath of the Democrats' unseemly frenzy to create a health care reform that restrains expenses and extends health care to those who need or want it, is there an alternative? Through all the Democrats' wheeling, dealing and spilling of red ink, sensible health care innovations have been available. They are modern reforms that have been hammered out in conservative think tanks over the years. Wherever they have been tried, they have shown promise. Yet during the Democrats' Capitol Hill revels, they have hardly been heard of. Allow me to suggest a modest health care alternative to what is commonly called the present Congress' health care monstrosity.

TYRRELL: The lost liberals

Obama's hippie holdovers revere the wrong past

Friday, Jan. 22, 2010

With Scott Brown's election to the senatorial seat held by Edward M. Kennedy for 47 years, a few things are suddenly clear.

TYRRELL: Tiger tanks

Reminding fans that golfers play a round

Friday, Jan. 15, 2010

When I read the other day that lapsed golfer Tiger Woods' nationwide approval rating had fallen from 87 percent to 33 percent, the only conclusion I could draw was that he had been out campaigning for the Democrats' health care plan. According to an interesting piece on him in the current issue of Vanity Fair, the superb golfer now has a disapproval rating of 57 percent. Is this the consequence of his getting too close to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and the glacial-faced Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi? No, apparently it is the consequence not of his associating with politicians, but of his living like one. His sex life has been exposed, and it is comparable to that of a particularly virulent germ.

Sanctioning SEALs for Abed cover-up

Warriors belong on the battlefield, not in the courtroom

Friday, Dec. 25, 2009

The editor of the venerable conservative weekly Human Events is causing an admirable ruckus. Jed Babbin, once deputy undersecretary of Defense in the George H.W. Bush administration and now editor of the oldest conservative periodical in the land, is petitioning Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates to dismiss charges against three Navy SEALs for purportedly causing discomfort to one of the most-wanted terrorists in Iraq during his capture in September. Mr. Babbin has more than 90,000 petitioners. Count me in.

Expurgating team names

No offense in PC altercationists anonymous

Friday, Dec. 18, 2009

I am rather sorry that Myles Brand has passed on to his reward. Brand is the fellow who as president of Indiana University gained enormous respect among liberals for ruining the basketball program of that basketball-loving university in that basketball-loving state. He fired basketball coach Bob Knight, one of the sport's greatest coaches, for a minor altercation that was an obvious setup.

'Spend out' of recession

Government gives, government can take away

Friday, Dec. 11, 2009

Do my eyes deceive me? Did I really see President Obama this week calling for a vast increase in government spending?

Gate-crashing boors

White House entertaining, Chicago-style

Friday, Dec. 4, 2009

Sidney Blumenthal, the Clinton administration's famed servitor, saw it all coming. He predicted the Obama administration's Carousel of Incompetence, as I like to call it. He was not thinking about the serious botches, the health care monstrosity, the spending spree, the criminal trial of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed planned for New York, the cap-and-trade extravagance. He probably agrees with these policy lurches.

Global Warmists exposed

Pride and prejudice surpresses science

Friday, Nov. 27, 2009

I assume all readers of this column are aware of polite society's theory of global warming. According to the theory, anthropogenic (once known as "man-made") gases<b> </b>waft into the atmosphere, causing worldwide temperatures to soar and our imminent doom.

Obama and Palin gaffes

President gets a pass where she would not

Friday, Nov. 20, 2009

What would the mainstream media's response be if former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin described China's economic growth to an audience of students in Shanghai as "an accomplishment unparalleled in human history"? That is what the most inexperienced president in modern American history said in Shanghai this week.