Norman Ornstein
Norman Ornstein
Norman J. Ornsteinis a political scientist and resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington D.C. conservative think tank. He was the co-writerof It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionEducator
CountryUnited States of America
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I think it's clear we're in damage control now.
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Having a lot of time left as president is a good thing for him, because it gives him the opportunities and time to get out of some of these holes.
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But, after the terrible lapses that occurred here, they are going to be on the defensive, and the ability to push other things onto the agenda will be limited.
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There is extreme nervousness about November. The last thing that members want is to be out there in a tough campaign, where the wind is at your face, defending the indefensible.
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My understanding is that now, after taking soundings, he's thinking about running for leader.
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President Bush right now is in the midst of a very severe case of second-term blues.
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President Bush right now is in a very serious case of second-term blues. It may be the avian flu of second-term blues.
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Some members are pulling the blanket over their heads and hoping the storm will pass. For others, there is also a genuine belief that if you just jump in a spasm of reaction, you could do some things detrimental to a good deliberative process.
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That would have been a big plus for the president. You get the blame when you're the top dog. And in this case, I think there is no doubt that we had inadequate preparation and we've had inadequate response.
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I think Specter is going to be protective of Roberts against what he thinks are intrusive questions. But if he thinks Roberts is not even beginning to address larger questions of philosophy of judging, then I think he'll be unhappy.
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Conservatives want smaller government. They want to focus on market-based solutions wherever one can. They want to have as little regulation as possible. But in general, they recognize that government must play an important role for a society to operate.
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The best way to get your audience larger and more consistent is to be more divisive and more radical and criticize those who cater to or kowtow to other forces.
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Radicals don't care about the institutions. They are looking for an ideological crusade. Traditions don't matter.
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Government is inevitably going to play a very significant role in infrastructure, and in a country with a federal system where vibrancy and economic health depend on interstate commerce, it's not going to be private enterprise or state governments that will give you things like an interstate highway system.