Jennifer Harper

Inside the Beltway: Scott Walker — heartland he-man with a plan

The title of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's brand-new book tells all: "Unintimidated: A Governor's Story and a Nation's Challenge" is all about practical success and the inner mettle of an unapologetic Cheesehead determined to defeat his state's $3.6 billion deficit, rising unemployment and escalating property taxes.

November 20, 2013

Armstrong Williams, conservative columnist, to buy two television stations

Conservative columnist, commentator and entrepreneur Armstrong Williams can add broadcast ownership to his professional resume. The Federal Communications Commission has approved the sale of two local television stations in Michigan and South Carolina to Mr. Williams, a decision he has been waiting for since late February.

November 20, 2013

Inside the Beltway: ‘Miss me yet?’ now applies to Mitt Romney

"Smaller, simpler, smarter. Believe in America." That was the official motto of "Office of the President-Elect," a website launched by Mitt Romney's campaign in late October 2012. It was publicly visible for a time, but quickly deactivated after Mr. Romney lost the election. Now the public appears to have had a Romney renaissance of sorts.

November 19, 2013

Inside the Beltway: Step aside, here comes George W. Bush

An alarm must have gone off somewhere, signaling former President George W. Bush to step out of his polite, self-imposed exile and back onto public radar. Indeed, Mr. Bush makes a noteworthy debut Tuesday evening, joining NBC "Tonight Show" host Jay Leno, the sole late night guy who wears an American flag pin.

November 18, 2013

Inside the Beltway: Obamacare ‘fix’ now in a fix

So much for President Obama's convoluted announcement that offered home remedies for the big ills of health care reform, plus a one year sign-up reprieve for those who have lost their insurance. For a president who enjoys golf, the big news teed up Republican outrage to perfection. Oh, the irony.

November 15, 2013

Inside the Beltway: ‘Hope and change’ becomes hope for change among voters

Once, the nation was all about "hope and change." Now, the White House simply hopes for some change upon confronting these numbers of woe: 54 percent of American voters disapprove of the job President Obama is doing, 39 percent approve.

November 13, 2013

Inside the Beltway: Even titillating tactics fail to peddle Obamacare

Though a reported $684 million in taxpayer funds has been designated to promote Obamacare, health care providers are still failing to attract young, healthy Americans who will shore up the cost. Their answer? Frat boy talk is the best outreach, at least according to the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative — which recently wooed males with a raucous pitch for "bro-surance" that included a beer keg.

November 12, 2013

Inside the Beltway: Sarah Palin enters the Christmas wars

On bookshelves Tuesday: "Good Tidings and Great Joy: Protecting the Heart of Christmas," Sarah Palin's unapologetic book that seeks to preserve the faith in a holiday that has been homogenized, commercialized and stripped of its authentic and meaningful appeal.

November 11, 2013

Inside the Beltway: N.J. Gov. Chris Christie enters the ‘lean’ years

Hey, fat chance that a certain Garden State guy is going to eat his way right out of the 2016 election. Critics who hope New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has weight-related health issues that will squash a White House run need to find another complaint.

November 10, 2013

Tea party to honor fallen SEALs Chris Kyle, those at Benghazi with sculptures

They loom over him, brandishing their weapons, their gaze steady. The sculptor can feel the presence of the heroes he honors in clay and bronze, U.S. Navy SEALs all. And all of them gone.

November 10, 2013

Inside the Beltway: Republicans remember the basics of politics in Iowa

Just when the din of liberal politics reaches epic proportions, along comes an event that clears the air. Such is the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition's "Friends of the Family Banquet" on Saturday evening, which is a formidable and straightforward force indeed, assembling at the Iowa State Fairgrounds.

November 7, 2013

Inside the Beltway: White trash allure in America

Has America become hopelessly tacky thanks to reality TV, celebrity gossip, baby daddies, tattoos and trailer parks? Someone has at last sounded a tasteful alarm about a trend that has permeated just about everything, including politics.

November 6, 2013

Inside the Beltway: Politics bubbles in a ‘cauldron of discontent’

Political analysts are resorting to dramatic terms to describe dire findings. "American voters are extraordinarily dispirited. The fights in Washington over the federal budget and the debt ceiling, coming on top of an aggravatingly slow economic recovery have produced a cauldron of discontent. If these sentiments last for the next 12 months, a large number of incumbents are going to be in trouble on Election Day," declares Christopher Arterton, dean of George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management.

November 5, 2013

Inside the Beltway: Presto! It’s instant change Obama

Hope and change has been replaced by presto change-o. While Obamacare creaks toward commercial viability, its patron saint is busy with fast patter and some appealing parlor tricks. President Obama is talking about many things besides health care and flying around on Air Force One this week — a tried and true method to distract the public during difficult moments.

November 4, 2013

Inside the Beltway: Newt Gingrich girds for battle in book

It is a new book with a monumental title from Newt Gingrich, and it arrives Monday. "Breakout: Pioneers of the Future, Prison Guards of the Past, and the Epic Battle That Will Decide America's Fate" singles out enemies and rallies the troops, grass-roots and otherwise.

November 3, 2013

Inside the Beltway: Hillary Clinton evolving

The newly configured Hillary Rodham Clinton may not be playing so well in Peoria. And elsewhere. The former first lady, senator and secretary of state has become a polished, confident public entity in recent days, joyous in demeanor and freshly coiffed — as opposed to her "what difference at this point does it make?" meltdown moment before Congress over Benghazi. That was a mere six months ago, incidentally.

October 31, 2013

Inside the Beltway: Washington’s elite Halloween

Yes, they do things differently in the nation's capital, and Halloween is no exception.

October 30, 2013

Inside the Beltway: Ignoring the obvious about Obamacare

This bombshell news never really got to explode: NBC News' senior investigative correspondent Lisa Myers found buried in the 2010 Obamacare regulations language predicting "a reasonable range for the percentage of individual policies that would terminate is 40 percent to 67 percent."

October 29, 2013

Inside the Beltway: Obama’s journey to Romney territory for health care law

This strategy of spectacle and grandeur could be premature, or even unlucky, in the fickle political arena: President Obama will journey to Boston on Wednesday with plans to talk about the Affordable Care Act in none other than Faneuil Hall — the same historic spot where then-Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney signed his state's health care law in 2006.

October 28, 2013

Inside the Beltway: The uninsured — a new GOP voting block?

Some advise the Republican Party to be ready to capitalize on the implementation failures of the Affordable Care Act by picking up support of vexed voters subject to potential collateral damage. It could be a mighty big voting bloc.

October 27, 2013