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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

American Conservative Union Chairman Al Cardenas is among those wondering whether social conservatives and libertarians can actually get along. (American Conservative Union)

Inside the Beltway: The Libertarian awakening

"We support the maintenance of a sufficient military to defend the United States against aggression. The United States should both avoid entangling alliances and abandon its attempts to act as policeman for the world," states the Libertarian Party in its bedrock platform statement.

September 5, 2013
Actor James Woods (Associated Press) ** FILE **

Inside the Beltway: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange meets Ron Paul

Yes, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange still has asylum inside the Embassy of Ecuador in London, where he has resided for more than a year. That hasn't stopped him from staging news conferences, issuing statements and making broadcast appearances — so many that Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa reportedly has sent Mr. Assange a letter requesting that he stop using the embassy as a backdrop while making fun of politicians in Australia, the whistleblowing activist's home turf.

September 4, 2013
A book by George W. Bush adviser Tevi Troy explores the kinship between pop culture and the presidency. (REGNERY BOOKS)

Inside the Beltway: Syria is GOP’s hot potato

Republicans are damned if they agree with President Obama's proposal for a military strike on Syria — and damned if they don't. The party's lawmakers have been cast in the role of moral arbitrators, whether they like it or not.

September 3, 2013
** FILE ** Actor Gary Sinise, 58, is named an honorary U.S. Marine by Gen. James F. Amos, commandant of the Marine Corps. (Associated Press)

Inside the Beltway: Dithering strategy on Syria

Too much talk, not enough action: The adage comes into play among those who criticize President Obama for either overthinking the Syria matter, huddling with advisers or simply handwringing on the sidelines as the situation grows worse. Of course, the slowing of discourse plus a series of mini-events and public statements could be strategic devices to buy time or prime diplomatic channels. Or not.

September 2, 2013
"We should be choosing peace — not a new conflict," says former Rep. Ron Paul on his "Stay Out of Syria" petition. (Associated Press)

Inside the Beltway: The mounting din of Syria talk

Talk is dramatic over Syria, fueled by endless commentary from those witnessing President Obama grind through unfamiliar gears as he switches from the hopey-changey man who once won a Nobel Peace Prize to, uh, a president confronting the realities of the office.

September 1, 2013
Radio host Dana Loesch.

Inside the Beltway: Regulating the gun relics

Wait, they want this old M-1? Firearms collectors are livid over President Obama's new executive action that bans the re-importation of military surplus firearms by private buyers and sellers. Vice President Joseph R. Biden delivered the news, framing it as a "common sense" measure.

August 29, 2013
** FILE ** Rep. Scott Rigell.

Inside the Beltway: The political subplots of Syria

It has taken eight days for the major players to stake out their territory after the chemical attacks on civilians in Syria. The emerging strategic messages and responses are under the magnification of many journalists who pine to shield President Obama from any comparisons to former President George W. Bush, and the challenges he faced in the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

August 28, 2013
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky is among Republicans feeling pressure to defund Obamacare.

Inside the Beltway: Here comes the ‘tsunami’

"If you fund it, you own it," says the message to high-powered Republicans from their grass-roots critics. Conservatives and tea partyers wonder how lawmakers can oppose the Affordable Care Act, then duck for cover when the chance comes to defund the monster health care law.

August 27, 2013
Bob Woodson of the National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise was at the RNC fete for the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington.

Inside the Beltway: Parsing the Syria response

Will President Obama go "surgical" in Syria? Press, pundits and analysts have taken to using key phrases to explain the ever-mutating, ever-dramatic situation — at least until uneasy world leaders arrive on a proper and productive response to the continuing civil unrest.

August 26, 2013
Sen. Ted Cruz, (R-Texas), speaks during the family leadership summit in Ames, Iowa, Saturday Aug. 10, 2013. (AP Photo/Justin Hayworth)

Inside the Beltway: What Ted Cruz really wants

The Republican lawmaker is also the first to say he "won't blink" when it comes to Capitol Hill confrontations that challenge his principles. The result? Mr. Cruz is capable of some canny strategy, even as his critics accuse him of being ruthless, and/or unreasonable.

August 25, 2013
Former Vice President Dick Cheney and his daughter, Liz Cheney, will appear together at the Freedom Conference in Colorado. (Associated Press)

Inside the Beltway: Cheney double feature

A political and cultural moment of note: former Vice President Dick Cheney and his daughter, Liz Cheney, will appear at the fifth annual Freedom Conference this weekend in Steamboat Springs, Colo. It's all courtesy of the esteemed and feisty Steamboat Institute, a grass-roots organization that counts fiscal conservatism, lower taxes and a strong national defense among its founding principles.

August 22, 2013
"America Tonight," a prime-time news show hosted by former CNN anchor Joie Chen, is among the flagship programming on Al-Jazeera America, which debuted August 20, 2013. (Photo by Jennifer Harper/The Washington Times)

Inside the Beltway: Al-Jazeera America arrives

A welcome relief for fatigued viewers, or stealthy propaganda outlet? Al-Jazeera America arrives on the airwaves at 3 p.m. Tuesday with promises of credible news and weighty content, powered by funds from the Qatar government.

August 19, 2013
Here comes the book Reince Preibus can do nothing about: a memoir from Hillary Rodham Clinton, due in 2014. The book is yet to be named.

Inside the Beltway: Ronald Reagan and Elvis Presley

Ronald Reagan and Elvis Presley, an impossible combination? Not this week. The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation is offering a tribute to Elvis on Thursday — an "old time Vegas" gala, complete with Elvis impersonator, seven-piece show band and casino-inspired eats at the spectacular Reagan Library in Simi Valley, Calif.

August 18, 2013
Fox News' Monica Crowley says a media investigation into the Clinton Foundation is a backhanded attempt to aid Hillary Rodham Clinton. (Monica Crowley)

Inside the Beltway: Strategic media bias over the Clinton Foundation

There was considerable hubbub over The New York Times' decision this week to investigate the finances of the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation; the news organization accused the feel-good, globally minded organization of mismanagement, among many things. Analysts swooned. Oh, the shock. Surely the account will mar Hillary Rodham Clinton's potential presidential campaign, they agreed.

August 16, 2013
T.W. Shannon, speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives, is among those formally deemed a "Rising Star" by the Republican National Committee. (T.W. Shannon)

Inside the Beltway: The evolving GOP

Republicans are getting a clear warning from long-range strategists: Expand and diversify your ranks, or else. And do your homework. The party is now about "rising stars," and providing voters with authentic answers and thoughtful policy as midterm and presidential elections glow with promise on the distant horizon.

August 14, 2013
Sydney Leathers, former online pal of New York mayoral hopeful Anthony D. Weiner, is now offering her opinion of conservative women: "really uptight." (CBS' "Inside Edition)

Inside the Beltway: Oh, those uptight conservative girls

Everyone can get partisan, even while explaining their odd relationships with certain politicians. "Conservative girls are really uptight. It makes me think of all those, like you know, Fox News fembots who obviously are self-loathing or they wouldn't be Republican and female, in my opinion," says Sydney Leathers.

August 13, 2013
"Greyhound One" — the $1.1 million custom bus that carried President Obama through Iowa fields in 2011 — could be out on the road again. (Associated Press)

Inside the Beltway: Editing the Hillary script

"What difference does it make?" is bound to end up on the cutting room floor. Though Hillary Rodham Clinton may soon be ready for her presidential close-up, the Republican National Committee predicts that her now infamous, strident appearance on-camera before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Jan. 23 will be delicately excised from a pair of upcoming "Hillary bi-ops," as the Hollywood establishment now calls them.

August 12, 2013
** FILE ** President Reagan signs the Economic Tax Recovery Act on Aug. 13, 1981. (Ronald Reagan Library)

Inside the Beltway: Reagan’s theory on the IRS

Why not celebrate the 32nd anniversary of Ronald Reagan's historic Economic Tax Recovery Act, signed Aug. 13, 1981? Yes, why not? That's the idea at Young America's Foundation, which will assemble a noteworthy crowd of conservative students and grassroots luminaries Tuesday at the former president's ranch outside Santa Barbara, Calif.

August 11, 2013