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Joseph Curl

Joseph Curl

jcurl@washingtontimes.com

Joseph Curl covered the White House and politics for a decade for The Washington Times. He can be reached at josephcurl@gmail.com.

Columns by Joseph Curl

FILE - In this June 17, 2014, file photo, Washington Redskins helmets sit on the field during an NFL football minicamp in Ashburn, Va. The U.S. Patent Office ruled Wednesday, June 18, 2014, that the Washington Redskins nickname is "disparaging of Native Americans" and that the team's federal trademarks for the name must be canceled. The ruling comes after a campaign to change the name has gained momentum over the past year. (AP Photo/Nick Wass, File)

CURL: Is the term ‘Redskins’ really offensive?

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who is literally wrong about everything, vowed this week to boycott Washington Redskins games until team owner Daniel Snyder changes the name. That's right, the man who lives in the Ritz-Carlton is going to tough it out and give up his Sundays in a luxurious skybox at FedEx Field. How brave.

June 18, 2014
**FILE** President Richard M. Nixon is shown at his desk in the White House on Feb. 16, 1969. On Aug. 9, 1974, Nixon would go down in history as the only U.S. president to resign. (Associated Press)

CURL: IRS scandal gets Nixonian: The 18½-minute (or 26-month) gap

On Sept. 29, 1973, President Nixon's secretary, Rose Mary Woods, made "a terrible mistake." She was reviewing a tape recording from the previous year when she took a break to take a phone call. She meant to hit the pause button, she said, but hit the record button by accident — and poof, an 18½-minute gap.

June 15, 2014
Brat

CURL: A Brat sends a shudder through comfy incumbents

"The Tea Party is finished: smashed, at last, by the power and dollars of the Republican establishment," a New York Times columnist giddily wrote. "The Tea Party," The Washington Post blared in a succinct headline, "is dead."

June 11, 2014
In speech after speech, President Obama blames everyone but himself for the nation's woes. (associated press)

CURL: A desperate president spews bitterness, pessimism

President Obama swept into office on a theme of "Hope and Change" (remember those days?). But 5 1/2 years later, he spits only bitterness and pessimism, blaming Republicans, the media — even ordinary Americans — for his impotence.

May 28, 2014
President Barack Obama pauses while speaking in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, May 21, 2014, following his meeting with Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki. Seeking to head off a growing furor over veterans' health care, President Barack Obama declared Wednesday that allegations of misconduct at Veterans Affairs hospitals are "dishonorable" and will be not be tolerated by his administration.   (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

CURL: Obama, the unaccountable president

Has there ever been a president in the history of America who knew less than President Obama? With each new crisis and scandal, Mr. Obama tells Americans that he just didn't know.

May 21, 2014
The Left doesn't want Lara Logan to return to CBS' "60 Minutes," in part because she was, and is, unabashedly pro-military. (Associated Press)

CURL: Left scrambles to squash Lara Logan’s return

Remember Lara Logan? The foreign war correspondent with the smoldering good looks who had risen to the pinnacle of CBS News, covering wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and uprisings in Egypt and Libya?

May 14, 2014
Mitt Romney

CURL: GOP finally wises up about nomination process

You know the drill: Every four years, Republicans vying for the presidential nomination move hard right to defeat their challengers in debates and primaries, then are forced to move to the center to be palatable to the mostly-centrist American voter.

May 11, 2014
FILE - In this Oct. 17, 2010 file photo, Los Angeles Clippers team owner Donald Sterling watches his team play in Los Angeles. The NBA is investigating a report of an audio recording in which a man purported to be Sterling makes racist remarks while speaking to his girlfriend. NBA spokesman Mike Bass said in a statement Saturday, APril 26, 2014, that the league is in the process of authenticating the validity of the recording posted on TMZ's website. Bass called the comments "disturbing and offensive." (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File)

CURL: What to do with racism in the 21st century

Let me tell you a story about a TV talking head. You know him — he's on the tube every day. I won't name him — he'd deny it, and there's no tape recording. But the tale comes from a friend I trust, someone who witnessed this incident first-hand, and someone who has no reason to lie. It's solid.

April 30, 2014
Sterling

CURL: Racism everywhere, Obama and Democrats agree

Racism is everywhere these days. Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy is a racist. L.A. Clippers owner Donald Sterling is a racist. Redskins owner Dan Snyder is a racist. "Duck Dynasty" star Phil Robertson is a racist. And of course, every member of the tea party is clearly racist.

April 27, 2014
First lady Michelle Obama, right, looks on as President Obama jokes with Danish prime minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt during former South African president Nelson Mandela's memorial service in December. Columnist Joseph Curl says Mrs. Obama can often be seen with her "I'm-Not-Amused" face. (Associated Press)

CURL: Shelly O — first lady Michelle Obama comes in last

First ladies, almost from the beginning, have taken up lofty causes when they move into the White House. Dolley Madison concerned herself with the plight of orphans. Ellen Wilson, shocked by the squalid streets of Washington, took up urban housing (and even got a bill through Congress, the first FLOTUS to do so). Rosalynn Carter made her signature issue mental health.

April 20, 2014
President Barack Obama shares a laugh with outgoing Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Friday, April 11, 2014, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington to announce he would nominate current Budget director Sylvia Mathews Burwell to replace Sebelius. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

CURL: Kathleen Sebelius — You just can’t make this stuff up

With Team Obama, every day brings another story that falls into the "You Can't Make This Stuff Up" category. Like Friday, when Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius stood in the White House Rose Garden with President Obama to deliver her farewell speech.

April 13, 2014