Author Biography | Full-Length Samples
Byron York
Byron York, chief political correspondent for The Washington Examiner, provides conservative commentary once a week for Newspaper Enterprise Association. Previously the White House correspondent for National Review, and a frequent guest on political talk shows, York is a columnist respected for his reporting skills, fine writing, and analytical approach.
“My column is a reporting-based column, coming from Washington, with the latest from capital insiders — but also with a sense of life outside the Beltway bubble,” says York, who is originally from Alabama. “To me, reporting is the key; I've never assumed people were interested simply in finding out what I think. When they read my column, they want to find something out, something they aren't able to read anywhere else.”
York's work has been published in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Atlantic Monthly, New Republic, and Weekly Standard. A contributor to Fox News, he has appeared on that network’s “Fox News Sunday,” and “Special Report,” as well as “Meet the Press,” “This Week,” “The News Hour with Jim Lehrer,” “The Daily Show,” and other television programs. He has also contributed occasional commentaries to National Public Radio and is the author of The Vast Left Wing Conspiracy: The Untold Story of How Democratic Operatives, Eccentric Billionaires, Liberal Activists, and Assorted Celebrities Tried to Bring Down a President — and Why They’ll Try Even Harder Next Time.
Current Samples
September 6th, 2010
Monday, Sept. 6, 2010
For Immediate Release
BYRON YORK
What accounts for first lady's falling popularity?
By Byron York
After a widely admired start in the White House, first lady Michelle Obama's popularity is falling and, if the current downward trend in her approval ratings continues, could touch lows not seen since the scandal-tainted days of Hillary Rodham Clinton.
In a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, 50 percent of those surveyed say they have a positive opinion of Mrs. Obama. That's down from 64 percent in April 2009 and 55 percent in January of this year. The first lady's positive rating is barely ahead of her husband's personal-approval figure, which stands at 46 percent in the new poll.
The survey was taken from Aug. 5 to Aug. 9, which happened to coincide with Mrs. Obama's vacation in Spain, where she, along with daughter Sasha and several friends, stayed in a posh five-star resort. It was a luxurious getaway for the first lady of a nation wit ...
August 30th, 2010
Monday, Aug. 30, 2010
For Immediate Release
BYRON YORK
For Obamacare supporters, judgment day approaches
By Byron York
Say you're a Democratic member of Congress. You proudly cast your vote for Obamacare, you cheered when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi hailed it as the achievement of a generation, and you scoffed at Republicans who vowed to repeal it. Now you're running for re-election, and a voter asks: What is the most important thing you've done in the past two years?
The answer should be easy. In passing the national healthcare bill, you accomplished something your party dreamed of for decades. It was your most important vote, and now is the time to take credit for it.
Except it's not.
Recently, top Democratic pollsters Celinda Lake and Stanley Greenberg conducted focus groups in Las Vegas, Nev.; Charlotte, N.C.; Philadelphia, Pa.; and St. Louis, Mo. They also conducted a national poll of 1,000 likely voters and an online poll of 2,000 more likely voters. They ...
August 23rd, 2010
Monday, Aug. 23, 2010
For Immediate Release
BYRON YORK
Does Obama share blame for Muslim problem?
By Byron York
In 1985, Barack Obama had just arrived in Chicago for his new job as a community organizer when he headed to Smitty's Barbershop, a tiny storefront on the South Side. As Smitty cut his hair, Obama listened to the men in the shop talk politics and racial grievance. When the barber finished, he handed Obama a mirror and said, "Haircut's ten dollars. What's your name, anyway?"
"Barack."
"Barack, huh," Smitty responded. "You a Muslim?"
"Grandfather was," Obama said, according to his memoir "Dreams From My Father."
Smitty's question, which Obama didn't exactly answer, prefigured a controversy that continues to this day.
A new poll by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life shows that 18 percent of Americans believe Obama is a Muslim. That is up from the 12 percent who believed that in October 2008, just before Obama was elected president.
At the s ...
August 16th, 2010
Monday, Aug. 16, 2010
For Immediate Release
BYRON YORK
Cut spending without cutting services? Start here
By Byron York
Whenever a conservative suggests reducing the federal deficit by cutting spending rather than raising taxes, there's always someone to ask, "Well, what would you cut?" Americans may say they want less government spending, the argument goes, but they don't want anyone to touch their services and subsidies and monthly checks.
Fair enough. But there's a persuasive counterargument going around in conservative circles these days: You can start cutting government spending without cutting anyone's services or subsidies or monthly checks. Just bring the pay of federal workers into line with pay in the private sector.
A recent Heritage Foundation study found the average federal worker (excluding the uniformed military) makes $78,901 a year in wages and salary versus $50,111 for the average private-sector worker. When you count generous health and pension ...
August 9th, 2010
Monday, Aug. 9, 2010
For Immediate Release
BYRON YORK
Obama's zealous civil-rights enforcer
By Byron York
"I love this job," said Thomas Perez, the hard-charging head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, in a speech last December to the liberal legal group American Constitution Society. "We have a very broad, a very ambitious vision. It's a very exciting vision, and I wake up every morning with a hop in my step."
There's no doubt Tom Perez is hopping a lot these days. Of all the transformations that have taken place in the Obama administration, perhaps none is so radical as that within the Civil Rights Division. Under Perez, it is bigger, richer and more aggressive than ever, with a far more expansive view of its authority than at any time in recent history.
Perez is playing a leading role in the Justice Department's lawsuit against Arizona's new immigration law. He is promising a huge increase in prosecution of alleged hate crimes. He vows to us ...
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