"The Navy Yard massacre won’t revive the gun debate in Congress for a simple reason. There is no gun control agenda this side of a total ban and confiscation that would have stopped Aaron Alexis. 

"The Toomey-Manchin bill could have passed Congress unanimously. The assault weapons ban could still be in place. Gun-controllers could have achieved their long-ago goal of barring the private purchase of handguns. And every step of his mayhem at the Washington Navy Yard would have been unimpeded."

"President Barack Obama says that he is less concerned with scoring 'style points' for his improvisational handling of the Syria crisis than in 'getting the policy right.' This dismissive defense comes at the precise moment that Washington is awash in brutal critiques of the Obama leadership style. 

"The president’s harried, serial about-faces on Syria — coupled with the collapse of Larry Summer’s candidacy for chairmanship of the Federal Reserve — have combined to highlight some enduring limitations of Obama’s approach to decision-making, public persuasion and political management. 

"Across the capital, anxious friends and chortling enemies alike are asking: What’s wrong with Obama?"

"Political crusades for raising the minimum wage are back again. Advocates of minimum wage laws often give themselves credit for being more 'compassionate' towards 'the poor.' But they seldom bother to check what are the actual consequences of such laws. 

"One of the simplest and most fundamental economic principles is that people tend to buy more when the price is lower and less when the price is higher. Yet advocates of minimum wage laws seem to think that the government can raise the price of labor without reducing the amount of labor that will be hired. 

"When you turn from economic principles to hard facts, the case against minimum wage laws is even stronger. 

"Countries with minimum wage laws almost invariably have higher rates of unemployment than countries without minimum wage laws."

"Prostitution. Bribery. Blackmail. Thuggery. Hypocrisy. 

"Those were just some of the incendiary words thrown around the U.S. Senate last week, and that doesn’t count what people said in private. 

"The Senate may still have a reputation as a genteel club, but lawmakers seemed to abandon rules of decorum completely last week in arguments about whether Congress should be treated like the rest of the country when it comes to ObamaCare. ...   

"A new poll taken for Independent Women’s Voice, a conservative group, found that 92 percent of voters think Congress shouldn’t be exempted from the insurance provisions of ObamaCare. Most voters blame both parties equally for the exemption, which means Republicans will also be hurt politically if it stands. 'This is an issue with almost unprecedented intensity,' IWV president Heather Higgins told me."

"For its stunning blend of recklessness, fecklessness, callousness, and shamelessness, Benghazi overcomes steep competition to remain the worst of the Obama administration’s collection of scandals. The American people deserve to know what happened and why."

"My working and personal relationship with President Obama is marked by growing trust."

“Today, our fellow citizens, our way of life, our very freedom came under attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts. …  
 
"Thousands of lives were suddenly ended by evil, despicable acts of terror.  … 
 
"Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve.”

"A mere three weeks remain before the ObamaCare exchanges open for business. The likely result will be the closing doors on Main Street, as shopkeepers and entrepreneurs shut down, unable to make ends meet. It’s clear that the wounded economy can’t cope with the exploding costs ahead.  ... 

"In the past month alone, 312,000 Americans abandoned the search for a job, as labor force participation, already at levels not seen since the Carter administration, dropped another notch. This can only grow worse with ObamaCare telling employers and employees to work less — or not at all. 

"A vibrant economy is the reward of hard work by a lot of Americans, and the government should encourage productivity, not penalize it. ObamaCare is a prescription for a shrinking economy, and the nation won’t recover from stagnation as long as it remains the law. In the weeks ahead, the House will get one last chance to prevent the train wreck. The House must stand firm and refuse to fund the president’s health care takeover."

"In an astonishing display of either ignorance or brazenness, the White House will mark the first anniversary of the Benghazi terrorist attack this Wednesday by sending National Security Adviser Susan Rice to Capitol Hill to argue the administration’s case for military force in Syria. Rice infamously delivered false talking points on national television, blaming the Benghazi attacks on a spontaneous demonstration against an anti-Islam YouTube video. Sending Rice to Congress to brief members on Syria is like sending Typhoid Mary to lecture on public health. Her credibility is, to use a diplomatic term, limited."

"What should Congress do? ... 

"Unless Obama can show the country that his don’t-mock-me airstrike is, in fact, part of a serious strategy for altering the trajectory of the Syrian war, Congress should vote no."