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As lefties gloat over the political implications of Osama bin Laden’s demise, and the media ramp up an “Obama bounce” meme, conservatives should politely but persistently shift the conversation from politics to policy. In my latest column for Townhall, I draw on a number of fascinating news accounts elucidating how the our military and intelligence community finally nailed bin Laden. US officials describe a “mosaic” of intelligence that ultimately led a team of Navy SEALs to a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan — suggesting that it took many years and myriad sources to pinpoint bin Laden’s precise location. As we now...

"Yeah, we waterboarded Khalid Sheikh Mohammed," former President George W. Bush told an audience in Grand Rapids, Michigan in June 2010. "I'd do it again to save lives." When Bush said this a year ago, the howls from the left weren't as loud as usual. And why would they be? The "angry left," as Bush called it -- and felt it more acutely than anyone bestriding the planet -- didn't care much anymore. Waterb oarding had been a tool for the left's purposes: to demonize and defeat Bush. It had usefulness just as Iraq once had. It had gotten the...

I'm a nonpartisan pollster, but I'm also a columnist with a strong Republican background. So let me be clear right from the start: I believe President Barack Obama and his national security team performed admirably in the near-flawless effort to capture and kill Osama bin Laden. It's disingenuous and just plain silly for anyone to say otherwise just because the president is a Democrat or because they disagree with his other policies. The snuffing out of the world's top terrorist demonstrated the power and determination of America and its leaders. A poll we conducted just after the announcement of bin...

"So when does Seal Unit 6, or whatever it's called, drop in on George Bush? Bush was responsible for a lot more death, innocent death, than bin Laden. Wasn't he, or am I wrong here?," Liberal radio talk show host Mike Malloy said on his show Monday evening.

Osama bin Laden was (a) killed by a unit overseen by Dick Cheney's "executive assassination ring," (b) sent into action based on intel derived from now-outlawed "enhanced interrogation techniques" (c) used on detainees captured during Bush's term, who were (d) held in now-outlawed "secret prisons" or Gitmo. President Obama's deputy national security advisor, John Brennan, confirmed that the death of bin Laden resulted from "a mosaic (of intelligence) appearing over time and by ... people who have been following bin Laden for many, many years." This explains why 81% of Republicans give George W. Bush "at least some of the...

Obama invited former President George W. Bush and former New York Mayor Rudy Guiliani to hear him speak at the former site of the World Trade Center. Bush declined, and Giuliani’s status is unclear, but those are the kinds of guests one would invite for a major political event. Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/05/04/obamas-big-bet-ground-zero-speech/#ixzz1LOVrDZEw

When word emerged Sunday night that President Obama would be making remarks from the White House at 10:30 p.m., viewers knew it must be important. When it began to leak that America had finally found and killed Osama bin Laden, there was joy from sea to shining sea. The nagging pain that this radical Islamic assassin had never received American justice was finally relieved. Crowds gathered in front of the White House and at Ground Zero to chant joyously, "USA! USA!" But for most, it wasn't jubilation. It was the silent fist pump and a silent prayer of thanksgiving...

President George W. Bush declined an invitation from the White House to join President Obama in a visit to Ground Zero Thursday. "President Bush will not be in attendance on Thursday. He appreciated the invite, but has chosen in his post-presidency to remain largely out of the spotlight. He continues to celebrate with all Americans this important victory in the war on terror," according to a statement released by Bush spokesman David Sherzer late Tuesday.

President Obama invited former President George W. Bush to join him at ground zero in New York City on Thursday to mark the killing of Osama bin Laden, but Mr. Bush declined, a spokesman for the former president confirmed on Tuesday. “President Bush will not be in attendance on Thursday,” said his spokesman, David Sherzer. “He appreciated the invite, but has chosen in his post-presidency to remain largely out of the spotlight. He continues to celebrate with Americans this important victory in the war on terror.” The White House did not confirm that the invitation had been made or comment...

President Barack Obama was met with nearly universal praise immediately after the mission that killed Osama bin Laden, but as the dust settles, some on the right are now coming out swinging. Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, whose initial reaction was clouded with ambiguity, slammed Obama yesterday, saying the president and the Democrats owe the country an "apology" for taking credit for Bush administration policies that led to bin Laden's killing. "Virtually every tool, every apparatus, every technique, every policy used to effect a successful mission to kill Osama bin Laden was [campaigned against] by this current administration … and...

DALLAS (AP) – Flag-waving supporters left flowers and patriotic red, white and blue balloons outside the Dallas home of former President George W. Bush Monday in the hours that followed the U.S.-led mission that killed Osama bin Laden. “Thank you President Bush,” said a sign left on the gate outside the street leading to the secluded Bush residence. About a dozen people gathered near his security-tight residence until a thunderstorm rolled into the area early Monday. “George Bush did so many great things for our country. We really wanted to be with him to celebrate this momentous day in American...

~ EXCERPT ~ There has rarely been a starker juxtaposition of evil and innocence than the moment President George W. Bush received the news about 9/11 while reading The Pet Goat with second-graders in Sarasota, Florida. Seven-year-olds can't understand what Islamic terrorism is all about. But they know when an adult's face is telling them something is very wrong — and none of the students sitting in Sandra Kay Daniels' class at Emma E. Booker Elementary School that morning can forget the sudden, devastated change in Bush's expression when White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card whispered the terrible news...

Thank you, George Bush! Thank you, Donald Rumsfeld! Thank you, Dick Cheney!

President Obama failed to release a statement or a proclamation recognizing the national observance of Easter Sunday, Christianity's most sacred holiday. By comparison, the White House has released statements recognizing the observance of major Muslim holidays and released statements in 2010 on Ramadan, Eid-ul-Fitr, Hajj, and Eid-ul-Adha. The White House also failed to release a statement marking Good Friday. However, they did release an eight-paragraph statement heralding Earth Day. Likewise, the president's weekend address mentioned neither Good Friday or Easter. However, the First Family did attend an Easter Sunday worship service at a Baptist church and last week, the president...

Tomorrow the W100 will begin with a 12 mile (19.4 km) ride in the heat of the day. A grueling 30 mile (48.3 km) ride will follow on Tuesday, with President Bush and the warriors finishing up the last 20 miles (32.3) on Wednesday. Stay tuned here for pictures from the trail, video of the ride and daily photo albums. Until then, get a sneak peek at some of the rough terrain and trails President Bush and 14 wounded warriors will be taking on over the next three days:Some of the trail is wide enough for vehicles and several bikes.Parts...

I've been looking for a good analogue to the willingness of Republicans to believe, or say they believe, that Obama was born abroad, and one relevant number is the share of Democrats willing to believe, as they say, that "Bush knew." There aren't a lot of great public numbers on the partisan breakdown of adherents to that conspiracy theory, but the University of Ohio yesterday shared with us the crosstabs of a 2006 poll they did with Scripps Howard that's useful in that regard. "How likely is it that people in the federal government either assisted in the 9/11 attacks...

A California Republican official who sent out an e-mail picturing President Barack Obama's face on the body of a baby chimpanzee issued an apology late Monday after a weekend of criticism that ended with a strongly worded public rebuke from the local Republican Party chairman, who also called for an ethics investigation into the incident. Marilyn Davenport, a 74-year-old elected member of the Orange County Republican Central Committee, sent an email Monday afternoon asking for forgiveness for her "unwise behavior," just before the local Republican committee met for its monthly summit at a hotel in Irvine. The email sent on...

The first rule in warfare is aim. Target selected, target engaged, target destroyed. The same rules of selecting and maintaining a clear aim apply when the military is sent on humanitarian missions. For example, we are going to Libya to remove a dictator who is killing pro-democracy demonstrators. An example of how to miss the mark? We are going to Libya to bomb stuff, but we surely are not there to remove the illegitimate and flamboyantly dressed leader. Because regime change is bad. Very bad. We wouldn’t dream of it. The hypocrisy meter is off the charts. Bombing Gadhafi was...

This time next year, we could have the two presidential candidates in play. Only God knows who the Republicans will decide upon, but President Obama is a lock on the Democratic side. The big issues that will most likely decide the election of 2012 are the economy and leadership. And now there's new data on the leadership front. According to a Gallup poll released this week, Obama has fallen more than 20 points in the leadership category in less than two years. Right now, 52 percent of Americans believe he is a strong and decisive leader, while 47 percent say...

In the less-than-gracious way President Barack Obama compares himself to his predecessors and other mere mortals, we’ve come to expect oblique swipes at President George W. Bush. They’ve been sprinkled in Obama’s inaugural address (“we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals…our power alone cannot protect us”); in prime-time addresses (“the decision to go into Iraq caused substantial rifts between America and much of the world…I’ve spent this year renewing our alliances”); in his Cairo speech (“Iraq was a war of choice…there has been controversy about the promotion of democracy in recent years, and much of...