Author profile

Follow author updates

David Keene

Editor at Large — David Keene, a trusted adviser to presidents, a longtime champion of personal liberty and one of conservatism’s most respected voices, is the former opinion editor of The Washington Times. An author, columnist and fixture on national television, Mr. Keene has championed conservative causes for more than five decades while offering advice to Republican presidents and countless candidates. He additionally served as chairman of the American Conservative Union and president of the National Rifle Association.
To read his obituary, please CLICK HERE

Columns by David Keene

DAVID KEENE: Black voters for Obama get nothing but disrespect

President Obama discounted November's election results because turnout is lower in midterm than in presidential elections, but there is reason to believe that his treatment of his base contributed to the decision of many Democrats to not bother going to the polls in what everyone recognized as a crucial election.

November 25, 2014

DAVID KEENE: ‘Put up or shut up time’: America expects the Republicans to match big talk with action

Phil Gramm, an avid waterfowler, and I were sitting in a duck blind on Maryland's Eastern Shore waiting for the birds to fly and discussing conservatism, politics and the Senate. After analyzing a few of his colleagues, the senator from Texas asked me, "What are the four most dangerous words a senator can utter on the Senate floor?"

November 18, 2014

In the beginning there was Goldwater

In a very real sense, the modern conservative political movement began with Barry Goldwater. Had it not been for the Arizona senator it might have taken years or even decades for conservative ideas to break into the political mainstream, Ronald Reagan would be remembered today not as one of our greatest presidents, but as a "B" movie star and television host, and many of those who since the 1960s shaped our nation's politics would not have had an opportunity to do so.

November 17, 2014

DAVID KEENE: Phil Crane, a positive force of modern conservatism

Few young conservatives even remember Phil Crane, who passed away over the weekend, but he was one of the most significant conservative leaders and politicians of his generation.

November 10, 2014

DAVID KEENE: A voting opportunity of a lifetime

In the run-up to every election, Americans are told they must vote because "this election is the most important of our lifetime." Usually these words are spoken by candidates for whom every election is the most important of their lifetime — because they can be career-killers if they lose.

November 3, 2014

DAVID KEENE: A liberal dose of campaign ground and pound

As Election Day approaches, most analysts are focusing on campaign optics and poll data — who spends more on television or wins debates few voters watch.

October 29, 2014

DAVID KEENE: When ‘A Time for Choosing’ changed the world

History tells us that seemingly inconsequential decisions can sometimes change the world in ways that no one would have predicted at the time they were made.

October 27, 2014

DAVID KEENE: A new, unimproved Ebola czar

Liberian health care workers have threatened to strike unless they receive higher pay for working with Ebola patients.

October 20, 2014

KEENE: Avoiding the Obama virus on the campaign trail

The Democratic Senate candidate in Kentucky refuses to even say she voted for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012. Democratic senators running for re-election in New Hampshire and North Carolina tell reporters they don't want their party's president to campaign for them.

October 13, 2014

KEENE: Signs of a coming Republican wave

Although signs of the political wave Republican leaders have been praying for may be peeking over the horizon, it's been late in coming this year as many contestable Senate, House and gubernatorial races have remained up in the air for months.

October 3, 2014

KEENE: Colorado’s Second Amendment wildfire

Last year, in the wake of the Sandy Hook school shootings in Connecticut, the Obama administration and then-New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg worked to put together a "coalition of the willing" to join them in a war on the Second Amendment and hit upon Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper as a likely recruit.

September 29, 2014

KEENE: How Bill Clinton oversells his rescue of Haiti

Bill Clinton never stops. Last week while he and Hillary were in Iowa, Mr. Clinton continued his nonstop campaign to sell his unique take on his own accomplishments.

September 23, 2014

KEENE: The third-party candidate conundrum

Republicans, political strategists and pundits are beginning to notice that in almost every close Senate race in the country, there are one or more third-party or independent candidates on the ballot who could conceivably decide which major candidate will prevail in November.

September 15, 2014

KEENE: Too much fun for the anti-cigar spoilsports to allow

It is increasingly difficult to escape the consequences of Washington's foolishness even in the remotest corners of the republic.

September 8, 2014

KEENE: The devious designs of Operation Choke Point

President Obama wasn't kidding about acting on his own if Congress won't go along with his plans to "fundamentally transform" the country that elected him president.

August 25, 2014

KEENE: Going down in flames in the war on fossil fuels

It's been a bad year for Al Gore and his global warming buddies.

August 18, 2014

KEENE: Pointing the presidential finger over Iraq

President Obama can't help himself. Even as he ordered airstrikes on the Islamic State forces in Iraq threatening to starve, shoot or behead as many as 50,000 refugees trapped on a mountaintop, he had to try to assure the world, his fellow citizens and perhaps, most importantly, himself that the mess wasn't his fault.

August 11, 2014

KEENE: A confident and clueless president

President Obama returned from his full-time job as the Democratic Party's fundraiser-in-chief to host today's U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit.

August 4, 2014

KEENE: Why Israel needs to destroy the tunnels

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has the support of something like 84% of his fellow citizens for his effort to destroy the dozens of tunnels Hamas has dug under Israeli territory over the last few years because every Israeli knows that they allow Hamas fighters to infiltrate their country to kidnap and kill Israeli civilians or worse.

July 31, 2014

KEENE: The lone soldier

Earlier this week, an estimated 20,000 Israelis gathered in Haifa for the funeral of a 21-year-old from South Padre Island, Texas, who had come to Israel, joined the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), and died in fierce fighting in Gaza.