Jennifer Harper

Inside the Beltway: GOP advised to battle ‘war on women’ rhetoric

There's Republican reinforcement for the March for Life at the National Mall on Wednesday, offering a boost for pro-lifers and potential push back against liberal rhetoric claiming the GOP is waging a "war against women."

January 21, 2014

Inside the Beltway: Marco Rubio builds up his resume with Asia tour

Sen. Marco Rubio has gone to Asia. No, really. He has. The Florida Republican left Saturday for a weeklong tour of Japan, the Philippines and South Korea — his agenda filled with power meetings and photo ops with Caroline Kennedy, the U.S. ambassador to Japan; Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe; assorted military officials and diplomats plus U.S. troops.

January 20, 2014

Inside the Beltway: The bipartisan side of the March for Life

Lawmakers are not ignoring the March for Life, scheduled at high noon Wednesday on the National Mall, and currently the largest pro-life demonstration on the planet, according to organizers.

January 19, 2014

Inside the Beltway: 2014 ‘a good year for liberty,’ Gary Johnson predicts

Well somebody's happy out there: that would be Gary Johnson, the former Libertarian candidate for president who appears poised to do it all over again for 2016. Mr. Johnson will be in Texas all weekend, appearing Friday at an oyster lunch followed by a bustling "Liberty Forum" in Houston that appears to include a cast of thousands, plus his vice presidential running mate Jim Gray and Steve Munisteri, chairman of the Republican Party of Texas.

January 16, 2014

Inside the Beltway: The Scott Brown intrigue continues

Voters appear to have a message for Scott Brown. So, run already, OK? The fickle former Massachusetts senator has carried on a serious flirtation with New Hampshire in recent months, prompting speculation that the pickup-driving, former Cosmopolitan centerfold would run for the U.S. Senate seat in the Granite State against incumbent Sen. Jeanne Shaheen.

January 15, 2014

That Democratic instinct to spend starts in childhood

Notions about big spending could start quite early in Democratic households. And here's why.

January 15, 2014

Inside the Beltway: Pork-barrel police root around the earmarks

Mammoth legislation with a stupefying price always draws close scrutiny. Such is the case with the 1,532-page, $1.1 trillion Consolidated Appropriations Act, as the lumbering bill that will fund federal agencies and assorted programs through September 30 has been christened. Though it has not yet begun to smell, the big bill is already offending those of a more frugal mindset.

January 14, 2014

Inside the Beltway: The Chris Christie image remains intact

The traffic turmoil of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie did not galvanize the American public, despite endless media coverage and pundit caterwaul. The public was far more interested in the polar vortex than Mr. Christie's "Bridgegate," according to new data from the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.

January 13, 2014

Inside the Beltway: Charting Chris Christie’s uncertain future

Journalists and pundits are still lining up to join the press buffet currently hosted by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, whose five-day old bridge controversy has fueled much news media interpretation and fancy footwork.

January 12, 2014

Salem-Eagle deal eyes conservative media powerhouse

California-based Salem Communications Corp. is buying the assets of Eagle Publishing, owner of a range of corporate brands familiar to conservatives, including Regnery Publishing, HumanEvents.com, and Redstate.com.

January 12, 2014

Inside the Beltway: The Christie banquet for Democrats and media

The bridge scandal has exacted a mighty hefty toll on New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and it has galvanized his friends, his foes and the press while melodrama and political peril hang in the balance.

January 9, 2014

Inside the Beltway: Don’t worry, be happy, Republicans

Republican foes were eager to spring upon new Gallup poll findings revealing that a mere 25 percent of voters currently identify with the Grand Old Party, compared to a record high 42 percent who call themselves independents and 31 percent who were Democrats. Is it time to gnash teeth and panic as midterm election season sets in? No, Republican strategist Matt Mackowia tells Inside the Beltway.

January 8, 2014

Inside the Beltway: A little gift to the ‘Stop Hillary’ movement

The determined activists behind Stop Hillary PAC — a grass-roots political action committee founded six months ago solely to deter Hillary Clinton from making a 2016 run for the White House — are still devoted to their task, spokesman Garrett Marquis tells Inside the Beltway.

January 7, 2014

Inside the Beltway: Polar vortex fits leftist agenda

The word of the day is "polar vortex," which has inspired several thousand press accounts obsessing over the frigid weather pattern now freezing much of the nation — along with a call of fraud.

January 6, 2014

Inside the Beltway: Gary Johnson hopes 2016 is his oyster

They are not just libertarians. Behold, it's the Republican Libertarian Caucus, which has joined forces with Gary Johnson to show voters that the former third-party presidential hopeful is intent on remaining, well, a third-party presidential hopeful.

January 5, 2014

Inside the Beltway: The de Blasio effect

Who is the latest brave progressive standard-bearer? Why, that would be newly minted New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has been anointed as the populist favorite by the press for now, what with President Obama keeping a very low profile in Hawaii this week.

January 2, 2014

Inside the Beltway: Who does Congress work for anyway?

Inquiring minds want to know: who do the nation's esteemed lawmakers work for? It looks like the freewheeling group works for nobody. The vast majority of Americans — 90 percent — say elected officials in Washington behave "like they don't have a boss."

December 19, 2013

Inside the Beltway: Larry Klayman’s spiritual calling

There is a noteworthy dimension to Larry Klayman's zeal to be a vigilant government watchdog. The Creator is a presence for the conservative attorney who is ever ready to file a lawsuit to underscore the presence of corruption or ethical lapses within federal agencies.

December 18, 2013

Legal gadfly in NSA surveillance case can sting even his own mother in pursuit of principles

There's still a fire in his belly and multiple causes in his heart. Lawyer and longtime conservative legal gadfly Larry Klayman, the man behind the first successful lawsuit against the National Security Agency's mass surveillance programs, remains ready to rumble on behalf of ethics and morality within the American legal and governmental systems.

December 17, 2013

Legal gadfly can sting NSA, even his own mother