Free Republic

President Obama told reporters on Thursday that his meeting with Qatar's emir was cordial and useful, complete with banter about tickets for the 2022 World Cup. But he struck a different tone later that night at a Democratic fundraiser in Chicago, saying Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani isn’t doing enough to promote democracy in his own country, even as the TV news network he sponsors promotes democracy to the entire region. The diplomatic gaffe was the result of the same “open mic” problem widely reported Friday: Obama thought he was speaking in confidence to Democratic donors, but CBS News’s Mark Knoller...

Arnold Schwarzenegger probably has stunk up his Sacramento smoking tent with more than a few celebratory cigars of late. Nine months ago, after a special election wipeout with few parallels in U.S. history, the governor looked like a political shooting star whose time had quickly come and gone. Nowadays, basking in the on-time passage of a generally lauded state budget and facing a charisma-challenged Democratic opponent with big weaknesses on both taxes and the environment, Schwarzenegger appears on a clear path to re-election. Hold your cheers. The conventional wisdom – sure, he punted on addressing that pesky structural deficit for...