The US “surge” in Iraq has been so manifestly successful that no serious person can deny that gains have been made. Even Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have (grudgingly) conceded progress. Yet both Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama are quick to add that progress has been purely on the military side and that those gains

There will be many people who knew Bill Buckley far better than I who will attest to his personal kindness and grace over the years. And many people will pour forth with testimonies about Mr. Buckley’s monumental role in the history of modern conservatism. I simply want to recount his role in my own pilgrimage

Among Republicans, conservatives, and some media commentators, we're seeing a backlash develop against Senator Obama. The form it takes is mocking the “cult of personality” we are seeing arise around him and insisting that his rhetoric, while uplifting, is essentially content-free. Obama, the argument goes, is an empty vessel in whom people are investing their

Some thoughts on where things stand after last night: 1. The House of Clinton is falling before our eyes. Hillary Clinton's crushing loss yesterday in Wisconsin, in the wake of the wipeout she experienced in the “Potomac Primaries” and the loss of ten consecutive states, means it is extremely improbable that she will win the

On Tuesday Barack Obama crushed Hillary Clinton in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia. He did this while winning significant support from older voters, women, lower income earners and Hispanics — groups that had sharply favored Mrs. Clinton in other states. And he did this after turning in decisive victories over the weekend in

What's So Great About Christianity by Dinesh D'Souza (Regnery, 348 pp., $27.95) In the last few years we have seen a spate of bestselling anti-God books from a group of prominent writers and first-rate minds, including Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett, and Christopher Hitchens. These men, deeply hostile to religion in general and Christianity

Barack Obama is not only popular among Democrats, he's also an appealing figure to many Republicans. Former GOP House member Joe Scarborough, now a host on MSNBC, reports that after every important Obama speech, he is inundated with e-mails praising the speech — with most of them coming from Republicans. William Bennett, an influential conservative

What kind of campaign is this? Six-plus years after 9/11; while the Taliban attempts an Afghanistan comeback; as Islamist terrorists cause mayhem in Algeria and occupy huge swaths of tribal Pakistan; despite United 93 and The Kite Runner, a library-full of books, presidential commissions, congressional hearings, and four election cycles–despite all of that, a strange,

The new conventional wisdom is that John McCain's victory in South Carolina last Saturday is proof that the “conservative establishment” in general, and Rush Limbaugh in particular, are not the political force they once were. In Sunday's Washington Post, for example, we read this:   From Rush Limbaugh to Tom DeLay, voices that once held

Godly Republic: A Centrist Blueprint for America's Faith-Based Futureby John J. DiIulio, Jr., University of California. 326 pp. $24.95. In a Republican primary debate in December 1999, the six GOP candidates for President were asked to state their favorite political philosopher. Orrin Hatch named Abraham Lincoln. Steve Forbes chose John Locke. George W. Bush answered: