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Jennifer Harper

Jennifer Harper

jharper@washingtontimes.com

Jennifer Harper wrote the daily Inside the Beltway column for The Washington Times.

Articles by Jennifer Harper

The annual OSS Society Awards Dinner on Saturday will honor Admiral William H. McRaven, commander of U.S. Special Operations Command. (U.S. Navy)

Inside the Beltway: Rarefied revels of OSS

There is an authentic intensity about the annual OSS Society awards dinner, an autumnal rite that celebrates the Office of Strategic Services — OSS — the agency created during World War II by Army Maj. Gen. William J. Donovan that was the predecessor of the CIA. The time has come again.

October 24, 2013
The Texas School Book Depository window Lee Harvey Oswald shot from is among the "Kennedy assassination items" going up for bid on Thursday. (rr auctions)

Inside the Beltway: Obamacare lost in translation

Gentlemen, start your engines and let the FOIAs begin. Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus already has filed a Freedom of Information Act request to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services asking for information on the number of Americans who have enrolled in Obamacare. Now comes another request, with an interesting demand.

October 23, 2013
A "brosurance" outreach for Obamacare aimed at young males from the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative and ProgressNow Colorado taps into party mentality. (Colorado Consumer Health Initiative)

Inside the Beltway: The Allen West brand expands

"Steadfast and loyal" are the bywords of a vigorous new outreach from Allen B. West that closely resembles a news site. He is clearly in touch with his inner journalist through AllenBWest.com, meant to be a platform for an unapologetic conservative message.

October 22, 2013
** FILE ** In this Oct. 16, 2013, file photo Speaker of the House Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, pumps his fist as he leaves a meeting with House Republicans on Capitol Hill in Washington during the third week of the partial federal government shutdown. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci, File)

Inside the Beltway: John Boehner’s guerrilla war

House Speaker John A. Boehner is not done with the Affordable Care Act; there's some health stealth in mind to undermine Obamacare — we're talking smart and pesky tactics rather than one big, bunker-busting bomb here.

October 20, 2013
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich says there's little comparison between this month's government shutdown and the shutdown of 1995-96. (Associated Press)

Inside the Beltway: The grim aftermath of the shutdown

Finger waggling and earnest talk: It's time for Republican soul-searching and a GOP gut check, say observers who found little nobility in the extended effort by some conservative Republican lawmakers to defund the Affordable Care Act at all costs. There's a price to pay, warns Grover Norquist, founder of Americans for Tax Reform, and it starts in 2014.

October 17, 2013
"Political leaders on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue need to stop undermining consumer confidence with partisan posturing," says National Retail Federation President Matthew Shay. "If it's bad for retail, it's bad for the economy." (National Retail Federation)

Inside the Beltway: So now what after votes on shutdown?

The agreement on the shutdown and the debt ceiling is no guarantee that lawmakers and the White House will behave. They are addicted to spectacle and hand-wringing political theater that garners press coverage, while masking inactivity or indecision.

October 16, 2013
"There must be accountability for this astounding failure and waste of taxpayer money," Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus says, in calling for the firing of Kathleen Sebelius. (Associated Press)

Inside the Beltway: Whew! The end is not near

Brinkmanship, blinkmanship and partisan cliffhangers have prompted dire speculations that the United States is going down, with its best days in the past — you know, just like Rome.

October 15, 2013
A screen grab of the official White House website reveals that the federal government shutdown has taken its toll on transparency and blames Congress.

Inside the Beltway: White House website woes

Add this one to the list of government-shutdown victims, fresh from the official White House website: "Due to Congress's failure to pass legislation to fund the government, the information on this website may not be up to date. Some submissions may not be processed, and we may not be able to respond to your inquiries."

October 14, 2013
U.S. Senate Chaplain Barry C. Black says "humility" may be the key in solving the shutdown and debt ceiling standoff. (Associated Press)

Inside the Beltway: Seeking enlightened conservatism

"Clearly something is not working in the GOP and hasn't since its nervous breakdown caused by George W. Bush and exacerbated by the political consulting classes. The only part of the GOP that makes sense now is the tea party movement," Craig Shirley — a Ronald Reagan biographer and presidential historian — tells Inside the Beltway.

October 13, 2013
Capt. Keith Coburn of Discovery's "Deadliest Catch" will be on the Hill to testify about shutdown's damage to Alaska's king crab fishing. (Discovery Channel photograph)

Inside the Beltway: Shoring up the wobbly GOP at Values Voter Summit

Will the liberal media heed the Values Voter Summit? The annual gathering opens Friday in the nation's capital for three days of smart, authentic and, yes, fervent talk about faith, freedom and politics, as told by 66 speakers with much on their minds in troubled times. The opening line-up in the first hours tells all: GOP Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Ted Cruz of Texas and Tim Scott of South Carolina, plus GOP Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, Dr. Ben Carson and Mark Levin.

October 10, 2013
The government may be shut, but the "business of handsomeness" in the nation's capital shouldn't be compromised, says a fancy retailer offering a 15 percent discount to federal workers now on furlough. Members of Congress, however, need not inquire. (Grooming Lounge)

Inside the Beltway: Potholes more popular than Congress

How low can Congress go? Alas, voters have a more favorable opinion of the IRS, jury duty, hipsters, potholes, cockroaches, mothers-in-law, toenail fungus, public radio fundraising drives, motor vehicle departments, hemorrhoids and even "dog poop" than they do of Congress.

October 8, 2013
"We don't have that data," White House press secretary Jay Carney says, echoing others, including the president, who don't know how many people have signed up for coverage under the Affordable Care Act. (Associated Press)

Inside the Beltway: Obama’s trillion-dollar question

So how many people actually have signed up for health coverage under the Affordable Care Act? Uh-h-h-h, no one seems to know. In the past week, President Obama and officials within his administration avoided answering the trillion-dollar question by either claiming the numbers weren't available yet or that they had no access to the data.

October 7, 2013
Could controversy and political correctness cause the Washington Redskins to be redefined as Redskins, as in the potato variety? There's already a "Redskins Mr. Potato Head" out there at the team store. (PPW TOYS)

Inside the Beltway: Redskins as in spuds

President Obama's comment that the Washington Redskins should consider changing their name to avoid offending Native Americans has generated much discussion, both pro and con.

October 6, 2013
Attractive underwear models were hired to help sell Obamacare in Denver this week by Colorado HealthOP, a nonprofit insurance group. (Colorado HealthOp)

Inside the Beltway: Stripping down for Obamacare

Attractive women wearing nothing but a smile and flesh-colored underwear emblazoned with the motto "Are You Covered?" strolled the most popular shopping areas of Denver in the name of the Affordable Care Act this week.

October 3, 2013
** FILE ** President Barack Obama arrives to speak about the Affordable Care Act, his signature health care law, in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2013. Congress plunged the nation into a partial government shutdown Tuesday as a long-running dispute over President Barack Obama's health care law forced about 800,000 federal workers off the job, suspending all but essential services. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Naughty number? Obamacare hotline’s vulgar suggestion

Dialing for depravity? There's more than a glitch involved in the great national campaign to get Americans to sign up for Obamacare. The new toll-free consumer number associated with the Affordable Care Act uses an unfortunate sequence of numbers that unfortunately spells out 1-800-F***-YO.

October 3, 2013
Actor Sean Astin invites listeners to meet "occasionally interested people" on his online radio show soon to be on regular airwaves. (Invision via Associated Press)

Inside the Beltway: Just blame the shutdown on the GOP

Republicans have been almost universally blamed for the government shutdown in melodramatic reports from the White House, amplified by a sympathetic liberal media. The press, however, literally teed up the blame game many days ago.

October 2, 2013

Doves and peaceniks no more: These Democrats relish the role of bullies

Democrats, who have long posed as the party of peaceniks and doves, have been anything but during the great rhetorical war of 2013. In fact, the party of George McGovern and Jimmy Carter has been mad as hell as of late, leading an offensive of bombastic insults and rhetorical bullying that has dominated the government shutdown.

October 2, 2013