Conservative: US Democracy Is Alive and Well
Commentary’s Noah Rothman chides the Economist Intelligence Unit, which last year downgraded the United States to “flawed” democracy from “full” democracy, and sounded the alarm again in 2017. Rothman notes that among the supposedly “full” democracies ahead of the United States are Australia, Spain and Uruguay. Yet Australia has “among the world’s most draconian anti-whistleblower laws in the developed world”; Spain forcibly removed one region’s autonomy last year when it flirted with independence; and Uruguay is still recovering from its period of military dictatorship, and the reconciliation process from that period has stalled. Says Rothman: “America’s model republicanism is a product of conventions that are remarkably resistant to radical change,” and their endurance even in these trying times “is cause for hope, not despair.”
Prosecutor: Nunes Isn’t Being Honest About Dossier
In alleging FBI misconduct, GOP House Intel Chair Devin Nunes said former FBI chief Jim Comey called the Steele dossier “salacious and unverified.” But that’s not true, notes LA prosecutor Patrick Frey at Red State — and it calls the rest of Nunes’ memo into question. Comey was only referring to parts of the dossier. Indeed, when asked during a hearing if the FBI verified any of it, Comey replied: “I don’t think that’s a question I can answer in an open setting because it goes into the details of the investigation.” As Frey points out, if Comey had “specifically said in closed session that nothing in the dossier had been verified, you’d be reading about it in this environment of politicized intelligence.”
Foreign desk: Why Italy Chose Terrorists Over America
“Italy is a Palestinian shore of the Mediterranean.” So wrote the late Palestinian terrorist and leader Yasser Arafat in his diary, a portion of which has been made public for the first time. Italian magazine L’Espresso revealed parts of the diary confirm what was long claimed: Italy and Arafat’s PLO had a mutual nonaggression pact, “which led Italian authorities to allow terrorists behind the hijacking of the Italian liner Achille Lauro to escape in 1985,” reports the Times of Israel. Attackers threw wheelchair-bound US citizen Leon Klinghoffer overboard, and US authorities wanted the attackers brought to justice. “According to the diaries, then foreign minister Giulio Andreotti allowed hijacking mastermind Muhammad Zaidan, who went by the nom de guerre Abul Abbas, to escape US extradition and flee from Rome to Yugoslavia.”
From the left: GOP Tax Plan Could Be Winning Bet
The Republican gamble on tax cuts might be paying off, writes Aaron Blake at The Washington Post. When tax reform passed it was, according to some polls, “the most unpopular bill in decades.” But since Trump praised it in his State of the Union, its support has jumped nearly 20 points. And there’s reason to believe that trend will continue: “People still don’t seem to recognize how the tax cuts will benefit them personally. Polls have routinely shown more people expect to see their taxes increase rather than decrease, but that’s simply not what will happen.” Americans’ paychecks will start to increase this month. “Republicans seem to be counting on Americans seeing that extra money in order for the law to become even more popular. Which isn’t a bad bet.”
Campaign trail: Republicans’ Money Woes Continue
And a tax-law bump can’t come soon enough, says National Journal’s Josh Kraushaar, who points to low fundraising by GOP candidates as a sign of trouble to come: “Based on newly released fundraising figures, Republican congressional candidates continue to badly lag behind their Democratic counterparts. In several high-profile races, GOP candidates’ lackluster fundraising in the final three months of 2017 raises questions about their political viability.” Meanwhile, Democratic enthusiasm has resulted in “numerous senators surpassing the $2 million mark in quarterly fundraising and over three-dozen Democratic challengers outraising Republican members of Congress.” Kraushaar says all isn’t lost for Republicans: “Outside groups supporting their campaigns are flush with cash.” Plus, GOP polls are improving and “donors will be rewarding Republicans for getting a consequential tax bill passed.”
— Compiled by Seth Mandel