Salon.com > Jennifer Rubin

GOP creates Ted Cruz, now thinks he’s a jerk

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 11:46:00 +0000

Here's Sen. Ted Cruz, Ted Cruzing it up, taking practically sole credit for killing gun background checks and trashing all his colleagues:

The New York Times charitably says that "Friday’s speech was not the first time Mr. Cruz may have acted counter to some of the Senate’s norms," before bringing up Cruz's decidedly McCarthyite take on Chuck Hagel.

Cruz is at the FreedomWorks Texas Summit, and the news here is that he calls most of his colleagues "squishes" and gives a (quite self-aggrandizing) account of off-the-record Senate Republican caucus luncheons, which apparently involved a lot of people yelling at Cruz and Rand Paul and the other guy who also promised to filibuster the entire gun deal from start to finish. In this version of events, the three filibustering amigos were responsible for the failure of the entire proposal. As Dave Weigel points out, that's not really how it happened. The bill failed -- and was probably doomed to begin with -- because a lot more than three senators opposed it, and the Cruz/Paul filibuster threat was worse politics for the party than allowing debate to proceed and then watching red-state Democrats cave. Which is what actually happened.

A George W. Bush comeback?

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 11:45:00 +0000

Americans are a forgiving and forgetting people. That’s all that can explain the rise in George W. Bush’s approval ratings since he left office in 2009. Back then, he had the lowest approval rating of any departing president since Richard Nixon (who departed in a helicopter after resigning in disgrace) with a 33 percent overall approval rating. Only 24 percent of Americans approved of his handling of the recession-bound economy. As recently as last November’s election, more voters blamed Bush than President Obama for the country’s ongoing economic woes.

Now, on the eve of the opening of his presidential library and an apparent Bush-rehabilitation tour, starting with a Diane Sawyer interview Wednesday night, Bush faces a kinder, gentler American public. According to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll, Americans are now split on the former president, with 47 percent approving of his performance and 50 percent disapproving. He’s still underwater, as the pollsters say, but that’s not a bad jump in four years. He’s even climbed on the economy, with 43 percent now approving of the job he did, while 57 percent stayed tethered to the reality-based community, and still disapprove.

Worst reactions to the Boston explosions

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 23:24:00 +0000

Update - April 16, 10:15 a.m.: The reactions continue:

Jim Hoft, a blogger for the Gateway Pundit, blamed Obama in a post titled: "Worst. President. Ever… Boston Marathon Terrorist Attack Cements Obama Legacy as Complete Failure."

Patrick Dollard, a contributor to Breitbart News, tweeted:

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Sean Hannity cut news footage of the attacks into a montage set to music - music that Deadspin observes sounds very similar to "Doctor Who" theme song, "I Am The Doctor." Video of Hannity's segment is here.

And amidst the misinformation flying around throughout yesterday, the New York Post did not help with this tweet, which misreported the number of deaths in the attack.

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Officials said Tuesday that three have died so far.

Jennifer Rubin: Boston explosion a “local crime story”

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 22:24:00 +0000

Following the explosions at the Boston Marathon this afternoon, conservative Washington Post blogger Jennifer Rubin tweeted that she wasn't going to write about the issue, because, "It is a local crime story for now."

The comment is a sarcastic reference to the Kermit Gosnell controversy, in which conservatives claim that the mainstream media has been covering up the horrific crimes of the Philadelphia doctor accused of performing illegal abortions. Her colleague at the Post, health policy reporter Sarah Kliff, tweeted last week that she wasn't writing about the case because, "I cover policy for the Washington Post, not local crime." The tweet prompted outrage among pro-lifers.

Responding to Rubin on Twitter, numerous people criticized her for politicizing the tragedy in Boston and dismissing its importance, even sarcastically. "Pathetic," conservative writer Justin Green responded.

The increasingly ridiculous Hagel opposition

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 20:23:00 +0000

Here it is, everyone, the absolute epitome of Lindsey Graham statements:

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Sen. Graham and his best friend John McCain have been blocking the confirmation of Chuck Hagel as Defense secretary, because they want to know whether President Obama called the president of Libya the night of the Benghazi attack. While that's not a very good reason to filibuster a Cabinet nominee, it is at least "a reason." The White House has complied, giving Graham and McCain what they want. Graham's response: Now he is just going to pointlessly delay the Hagel vote, because it will make him feel good. As always, with Lindsey Graham, being a senator is all about feelings.

While Lindsey Graham says he will have changed his mind on Hagel's suitability in 10 days' time, lots of other Hagel opponents are definitely not going to "feel better," because they have all convinced themselves that Hagel is basically America's Worst Anti-Semite. Here is some "proof," from a guy who writes for the depressing website named after Andrew Breitbart:

Conservatives: Obama’s inauguration speech proves he’s a liberal

Tue, 22 Jan 2013 16:27:00 +0000

President Obama's second inauguration called for a return to broadly progressive ideals as a way of moving the country forward. And many conservatives agreed: The speech proved Obama is a liberal.

Here are some of the reactions:

Stephen F. Hayes at the Weekly Standard:

President Barack Obama used his second inaugural address Monday to offer an aggressive, unapologetic defense of activist government and to call for a new spirit of unity even as he seeks to move the country even further left.
But in celebrating the power of the government to lead the nation forward, Obama breezed past the costs of an ever-growing public sector and made only passing mention of the country’s most urgent problem as he took the oath to lead it: debt.

John Hinderaker at the Powerline blog:

Hack List No. 2: The Washington Post

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 20:25:00 +0000

This year, my annual list of the worst of political media highlights not just individuals, but the institutions that enable those individuals. The 2012 Hack List will be counting down the 10 media outlets that are hurting America over the next two days -- stay tuned! (Previous Hack List entries here, here and here.)

The Washington Post is the hometown paper of the city that everyone in America hates, usually for good reason. And the things Americans hate about that city and the people who work there are reflected in its pages.

The newspaper itself is an ever smaller and more starved-looking thing. The people running it used to actually compete with the New York Times, for readers and writers and national influence. Now they can't really decide if they even want to try.

Conservative pundit: “I don’t think much of Obama’s “us”

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 16:25:00 +0000

In Republicans’ first writings about last night’s defeat there was bitterness, doomsaying, defiance and contempt, sure, but also hints at how the party needs to reform if it’s going to compete in 21stcentury America:

Ben Shapiro, Breitbart.com

With Mitt Romney’s projected defeat in the presidential race tonight, Americans are very clearly divided into two camps.

The first camp is those who want a country of unending bailouts, of free giveaways, of government-provided goods and services – a camp of Americans who want to forfeit the future to guarantee ease and comfort in the present. The second camp is those who understand that that world is unsustainable, who recognize that freedom is the only guarantor of the present and the future.

Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post

Romney proves me wrong

Sat, 11 Aug 2012 16:34:00 +0000

So here's what I wrote last Monday: "It is still probably going to be Rob Portman." Here's what I wrote about Ryan:

Hey, Paul Ryan! People love that Paul Ryan! The only downside, with Paul Ryan, is everything he believes. The Obama administration cackles with glee imagining the opportunity to explain the contents of the Ryan budget to moderate voters. Ayn Rand starts showing up in Democratic attack ads if Paul Ryan is the running mate.

And then I concluded with, "please enjoy watching every pundit who confidently made a bullshit prediction pretend it never happened."

I was wrong! (Though I think I'm right about the cackling, still.) I thought Romney was too smart and too risk-averse to go with an even slightly polarizing figure, but Romney made the "surprise" pick. Though, let's be honest, Ryan is still a boring white guy, he's just a boring white guy with excitingly far-right economic and budget policy preferences.

Romney shill’s amazing Clinton spin

Wed, 08 Aug 2012 18:28:00 +0000

Astute campaign analysis from the Washington Post's fiercely independent conservative blogger Jennifer Rubin: A news event that seems to be a misstep by Romney is in fact a thrilling Romney victory that has Obama cowering with fear.

Here in reality, Mitt Romney seized on a misleading right-wing talking point about an obscure TANF policy change from Barack Obama's Department of Health and Human Services and used it to create a blatantly dishonest attack ad (and stump speech attack line). Then, still in this reality, Bill Clinton, whose name and image were invoked in the Romney attack ad, released a statement saying plainly that Romney's ad was dishonest. Bill Clinton remains broadly popular nationally, because his time as president was a time of relative prosperity for many Americans, which is why the Democrats have given him a prime speaking slot at their upcoming convention. The last Republican president, by the way, won't be speaking at the Republican convention. In fact, he won't even attend.

Jennifer Rubin, Mitt Romney’s top media shill

Thu, 02 Aug 2012 14:14:00 +0000

Reading Jennifer Rubin in 2012 makes me almost nostalgic for the days when Jennifer Rubin's writing was almost solely devoted to bloodthirsty vitriol against Arabs and any Americans who dared say a kind thing about Palestinians. Because the new Jennifer Rubin is something even lower than a reactionary columnist: Now she's just a shill. A boring shill.

In Jennifer Rubin, the Washington Post currently employs a semi-official Mitt Romney spokesperson. There's not another prominent media figure who is more shameless about acting solely in the best interests of a presidential campaign. Bill Kristol is at this point a more intellectually honest commentator than Rubin has become.

Romney spokesman quits after right-wingers freak out about his being gay

Tue, 01 May 2012 19:55:00 +0000

You may know Richard Grenell as the Romney "foreign policy spokesman" who had a history of writing dickish things -- mainly sexist "jokes" -- on Twitter. He has resigned, Jennifer Rubin reports, from the Romney campaign. Not because he didn't have the sense not to post his offensive jokes about Hillary Clinton and Rachel Maddow in a public venue to begin with, or because he then stupidly attempted to scrub his Twitter history after everyone had already seen the posts, but because he is gay, and that grossed out a bunch of creepy right-wingers.

2. Jennifer Rubin

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 18:00:00 +0000

The Washington Post had a big problem. It failed, twice, at hiring a proper "Conservative blogger," a commodity every newspaper website needs. Its first hire was a plagiarist, and then it accidentally hired a reporter who wasn't conservative enough. The third time, it got someone directly from the neocon ~~Weekly Standard~~ Commentary, ensuring her bona fides. The only problem with Jennifer Rubin as a "conservative blogger," though, is that while she's most definitely a Republican, she doesn't seem invested in any conservative issues, bar foreign policy. And by foreign policy, I mean a fanatical hatred of Arabs and Muslims accompanied by constant fear-mongering about the jihadist menace and regular accusations of anti-Semitism (and tacit support for terrorism) levied against anyone slightly critical of Israeli government policies or remotely sympathetic to Palestinians.

So, good work, Washington Post editors, you have finally provided some "balance" for your newspaper's many left-wing Palestinian voices, like ... Mary Worth?

Jennifer Rubin’s boss sees no problem with anti-Arab bigotry

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 13:30:00 +0000

Jennifer Rubin, the Washington Post's official correspondent for passing along and endorsing the Romney campaign's anonymous criticisms of Rick Perry, recently "retweeted" a link to this blog post by Rachel Abrams, in which Adams responds to the release of Gilad Shalit by calling on Israel to commit mass murder against Palestinians in revenge. Rubin kind of got in a bit of trouble for this, except not really.

The grandiloquent post in question requests either (it's not entirely clear) that Israelis feed Shalit's captors to sharks or that they feed his captors along with women and "their offspring" to sharks. (I imagine Abrams considers nearly every Palestinian in Gaza to be complicit in Shalit's imprisonment, so this distinction may not amount to much.) Either way, the post makes liberal usage of unambiguous anti-Arab slurs ("devils' spawn," "savages," "animals") and, well, it's a call for mass slaughter.