Skip to content
TRENDING:
Donald Trump
Advertisement
Author profile
Jennifer Harper

Jennifer Harper

jharper@washingtontimes.com

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

Articles by Jennifer Harper

**FILE** Rep. Peter T. King, New York Republican (Associated Press)

Inside the Beltway: Post-Perry possibility

The new law in Texas that bans abortions after 20 weeks gestation and strengthens health standards at abortion clinics has transformed Gov. Rick Perry and pro-life state lawmakers into legislative role models of sorts.

July 18, 2013
Rolling Stone and publisher Jann Wenner defend the cover story on Dzhokhar Tsarnaev as "within the traditions of journalism" and magazine's "serious and thoughtful coverage of the most important political and cultural issues of our day." (Associated Press)

Inside the Beltway: The Zimmerman numbers

The long-range political implications of George Zimmerman's trial are emerging. A Rasmussen Reports survey finds that 48 percent of U.S. adults agree with the Florida jury's verdict that the neighborhood watch volunteer is not guilty of murder in the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin; 34 percent disagree with the verdict while 18 percent are not sure.

July 17, 2013
Cover of "Emily Gets Her Gun ... But Obama Wants to Take Yours" by The Washington Times' Emily Miller. To be published by Regnery on September 2, 2013.

‘Emily Gets Her Gun’ book cover unveiled, the readers voted

In just more than six weeks, Emily Miller's powerfully personal book "Emily Gets Her Gun — But Obama Wants to Take Yours" will be published. The book is due in stores Sept. 2. For now, though, the cover of Emily's book has been revealed by Regnery Publishing, chosen with the kind help of many The Washington Times readers and other fans who voted for the image from eight other choices through an online poll.

July 17, 2013
The cover for "Emily Gets Her Gun" by Washington Times senior opinion editor Emily Miller was chosen via an online poll. It goes on sale Sept. 2. (Regnery Publishing)

Inside the Beltway: Emily’s covered

In just more than six weeks, Emily Miller's powerfully personal book "Emily Gets Her Gun — But Obama Wants to Take Yours" will be published. Her story? The Washington Times senior opinion editor was taken aback at her own challenges while trying to legally purchase a gun in the nation's capital — and found her experiences revealed what could happen on a national level if President Obama gets the gun control policy of his dreams.

July 16, 2013
** FILE ** Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. (The Washington Times)

Inside the Beltway: Hillary Clinton’s buckraking life

Oh, that platinum podium: Consider that Hillary Rodham Clinton gets $200,000 and up for many speeches. None other than The New York Times acknowledges that the nation's favorite Democrat has tapped into the "speechmaking gold mine" via the exclusive Manhattan-based Harry Walker Agency.

July 15, 2013
** FILE ** Former Gov. of Alaska Sarah Palin, with her husband Todd Palin, top left, greets supporters after speaking at the Faith and Freedom Coalition Road to Majority 2013 conference, Saturday, June 15, 2013, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Inside the Beltway: ‘Senator’ Palin emerges

And so it begins: Sarah Palin suggested she would run for the U.S. Senate seat in Alaska, and 72 hours later has fired the first volley against her potential opponent, one Sen. Mark Begich — a Democrat, former Anchorage mayor and spirited Palin-basher.

July 11, 2013
The U.S. Marine Corps band celebrates its 215th birthday this week. It is proud of its nickname, "The President's Own." (United States Marine Band)

Inside the Beltway: Semper Fi

The thump of the bass drum, the precision of the brass and a cadence that matches the beat of a patriot's heart: that is the U.S. Marine Corps band, which celebrates its 215th birthday this week with much fanfare.

July 10, 2013
Former President George W. Bush, enjoying a wave of good reviews, is hosting a forum titled "What Immigrants Contribute" at his presidential center in Dallas. (The Washington Times)

Inside the Beltway: Firing up the ‘W’ legacy

It has to do with wise civility, perhaps, and some fabulous strategery. Former President George W. Bush, deemed either a "frat boy" or war monger by an unfriendly press for years, has re-emerged on the public radar, earning a growing number of positive reviews and rising approval ratings on par or even besting President Obama's numbers.

July 9, 2013
"Manhattan Madam" Kristin Davis is running for comptroller of New York City against one of her former clients — Eliot Spitzer, the former New York governor who resigned after his involvement with prostitutes became public. (Kristin Davis)

Inside the Beltway: Kristin vs. Eliot

New York City politics are baroque and entertaining, and offer evidence that voters are either very forgiving or have short memories. Step right up and witness disgraced former Congressman Anthony D. Weiner running for mayor, now joined by disgraced former governor and MSNBC host Eliot Spitzer, who pines to be city comptroller.

July 8, 2013
Texas Gov. Rick Perry is "expected to keep the door wide open for another White House campaign," says Wayne Slater, a political writer for The Dallas Morning News. "What's he got to lose?"

Inside the Beltway: Is Gov. Rick Perry mulling another White House run?

It's called the most popular parlor game in Texas: Is Gov. Rick Perry mulling another White House run? We should know on Monday when Mr. Perry steps before a microphone at the Caterpillar heavy equipment dealer in San Antonio — which happens to be the nation's largest — to reveal his "exciting future plans," among other things.

July 7, 2013
Voters in the Lone Star State have picked their very own freshman senator as the most promising White House hopeful. Sen. Ted Cruz grabbed 25 percent of the vote in a University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll. (Associated Press)

Inside the Beltway: Vigilant America

In what seems like another era, President Obama declared in a May 23 national security speech that the war on terrorism is ebbing, and that the need for "perpetual wartime footing" is past. Is it? Not according to 77 percent of American voters who say the struggle is ongoing and should remain a "top priority" on the government to-do list. Eighty-six percent of Republicans and 72 percent of Democrats agree with this, according to a Fox News poll released Wednesday.

June 20, 2013
Associated Press CEO Gary Pruitt says at the National Press Club that the fallout from the Justice Department's seizure of AP phone records has "intimidated both official and nonofficial sources from speaking" to reporters.

Newsgathering has taken a hit since AP phone records seized

The Department of Justice's seizure of Associated Press phone records has had a "chilling" effect on the news organization according to CEO Gary Pruitt, a First Amendment lawyer who took his case to the National Press Club on Wednesday, complete with a wish list of changes he would like to see.

June 19, 2013
If Hillary Rodham Clinton wants to run a successful campaign for president, she "needs not only to manage expectations but also to show she can manage her husband," according to Bloomberg News columnist Margaret Carlson. (Associated Press)

Inside the Beltway: The evolving president

One gauge of a president's favorability is the assorted descriptors the public volunteers to a pollster about the leader of the Free World. The Pew Research Center has tracked the assorted description of President Obama over the years, and has this to say: "Terms like incompetent and liar now are among the most frequently used words to describe Obama."

June 19, 2013
Freshman Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas Republican, will be among the congressional Republicans gathering Wednesday at the Capitol for the "Audit the IRS" rally organized by the Tea Party Patriots, who want to keep reminding everyone of the agency's excruciatingly close attention to conservative groups. (Associated Press)

Inside the Beltway: Tea party takes on the IRS

Party like it's 2009? Fourteen Republican lawmakers, media mavens and liberty-minded activists will crowd onto the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol Wednesday, ready to rumble as they did four years ago when the tea party first crackled to life.

June 18, 2013
Glenn Beck will be in Washington for Wednesday's "Audit the IRS" rally at the Capitol despite his professed loathing of the capital city.

Inside the Beltway: Glenn Beck goes to Washington

It portends to be a fierce demonstration, as in days of yore: The Tea Party Patriots will assemble at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday for an "Audit the IRS" rally in support of conservative groups that were subject to some uncomfortable scrutiny by the federal agency in recent years. The tea partyers will have some high profile company. Independent media maven Glenn Beck plans to be there, despite his own misgivings about visiting the veritable heart of big government.

June 18, 2013
Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to meet privately with President Obama during the G-8 summit in Northern Ireland, but maybe not at a pub. (Associated press)

Inside the Beltway: O’bama arrives in Ireland on Monday

When President Obama arrives in Northern Ireland on Monday for the two-day Group of Eight summit, he'll encounter "the biggest policing operation" in local history. Some 8,000 police and military troops have assembled in the picturesque town of Enniskillen, which plays host to the president and seven other leaders, along with a large, uninvited gaggle of dissidents, environmentalists, pacifists and protesters that also number in the thousands.

June 16, 2013
Associated Press CEO Gary Pruitt, a First Amendment lawyer, will "outline ways to protect newsgathering against government interference" when he speaks Wednesday at the National Press Club. (Associated Press)

Inside the Beltway: A call to protect ‘newsgathering’

It's been a little more than a month since The Associated Press revealed that the Justice Department had gained access to its phone records. The news organization came out swinging: CEO Gary Pruitt declared the action a "massive and unprecedented intrusion" and "unconstitutional." Now he's ready to explore "the way forward," he says, this time taking his case to the National Press Club.

June 13, 2013
Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes has been named the most influential person in political news by Mediaite.com (Associated Press)

Inside the Beltway: Unifying conservatives by 2014

Organizers behind the bodacious "Road to Majority" conference are determined to wrangle conservatives onto the same page as the 2014 midterm elections loom. The event, virtually ignored so far by the mainstream press, begins Thursday at a hotel just three blocks from the White House.

June 12, 2013