Hi, I'm James Taranto, a member of The Wall Street Journal's editorial board and author of the daily Best of the Web Today column for WSJ.com. Here is a collection of my articles from the pages of The Wall Street Journal (and elsewhere).

2013

The Journalist as Apparatchik (The American Spectator, September)
J-schools have been miseducating for at least a quarter century.

A Strange Sort of Justice at West Point (July 27)
Trent Cromartie was cleared of sexual-assault charges. But the cadet was kicked out of school anyway.

We Don’t Need No Stinking Badges (The American Spectator, July/August)
The Obama scandals and the case against a media shield law.

The Woman Who Fought Racial Preference (June 29)
Jennifer Gratz felt as if she had lost her case at the Supreme Court 10 years ago. But this week she sees vindication, with more to come next year.

Gen. Helms and the Senator's 'Hold' (June 18)
An Air Force commander exercised her discretion in a sexual-assault case. Now her career is being blocked by Sen. Claire McCaskill. Why?

Gabby Giffords Poisons the Well (The American Spectator, June)
The incivility and unreason of her case for gun control.

Nuts to Nutter (The American Spectator, May)
Philadelphia's mayor tries to suppress a conversation about race.

The Difference Between 43 and 44? Not So Much. (April 26)
One of the "humbling" aspects of the job for President Obama may be how much his tenure resembles his predecessor's.

Back-Alley Abortion Never Ended (April 19)
The Kermit Gosnell murder trial challenges a traditional defense of Roe v. Wade.

Journalism That Dare Not Speak Its Name (The American Spectator, April)
Do Washington Post reporters deal in the facts, or crusade for gay rights?

The Clock Ticks on Racial Preferences (March 29)
The Supreme Court may soon rule that universities cannot anymore use race as a factor in admissions.

Gray Lady Dumps Darwin (The American Spectator, March)
Feminism is the new creationism.

The Coming Battle for the Ballot Box (February 9)
A voting-rights veteran talks about the liberal campaign to expand the electoral rolls—and why Obama is on board.

The Medium Is the Motive (The American Spectator, February)
School shootings implicate the First Amendment as well as the Second.

2013 and Beyond (Commentary, January)
What is the future of consevatism in the wake of the 2012 election?

2012

Taranto's Revenge (The American Spectator, December)
This time, it was the conservative media's turn to fool ourselves.

Jaws '12 (The American Spectator, November)
Did the mainstream media jump the shark?

False Balance (The American Spectator, October)
Obama critiques the media by appealing to his own authority.

God Save This Voluble Court (The American Spectator, September)
The ObamaCare leaks bode ill for judicial inddpendence.

Obama's Risky Campaign Strategy (July 13)
The campaign's narrow appeals to particular voting blocs could alienate other Democratic or swing voters.

Prematurely Gay (The American Spectator, July/August)
Obama takes a chance in endorsing same-sex marriage.

The Ineffective Greenhouse (The American Spectator, June)
A reporter thinks she's a higher legal authority than the Supreme Court.

That Was No Fluke (The American Spectator, May)
A Democratic distraction doesn't work out as planned.

We're All Catholics Now (The American Spectator, April)
The New York Times sneers at religious liberty.

When the Archbishop Met the Persident (March 31)
Cardinal Dolan thought he heard Obama pledge respect for the Catholic Church's rights of conscience.

The Truth Vigilantes (The American Spectator, March)
Should the whole New York Times become an op-ed section?

Social Issues and the Santorum Surge (Feb. 18)
Jeff Bell says they're crucial to a Republican majority.

The Appeal of Santorum (The Daily, Feb. 11)
The media myths behind the former speaker's comeback.

Strange Newt Respect (The American Spectator, February)
The media myths behind the former speaker's comeback.

2011

'We Need an Election' (Dec. 10)
The head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee on the party's chances to take control next November.

Occupy the Media (The American Spectator, December)
"Tea Party envy" sparks a short-lived leftist protest movement.

History's Smallest Monster (The American Spectator, November)
Former Enron adviser Paul Krugman remembers 9/11.

After Osama (The American Spectator, October)
It was downhill for Obama--and steeply so.

Could Nader Hurt Obama? (September 23)
Imagining a 2012 protest candidacy like Pat Buchanan's in 1992.

The Lonely Narcissist (The Daily, September 20)
What Obama’s self-love means for his political future.

Two Decades of Pursuing al Qaeda (September 10)
Years before 9/11, Michael Mukasey knew all about a free society's vulnerabilities to mass terrorism.

Keep Rockin (The American Spectator, September)
The Los Angeles Times vs. the First Amendment.

The Left's Summer of Discontent (August 12)
Progressives increasingly see Obama as a loser. If so, it's because he is one of them.

Winning the Future (The Daily, July 27)
In debt showdown, Obama pursues safest course for re-election.

The Birth of a Notion (The American Spectator, July/August)
Obama, the media and the birthers.

Online Journalism's Golden Age (The American Spectator, June)
Sometimes a Berlin Wall is better than a porous border.

The bin Laden Raid and the 'Virtues of Boldness' (May 7)
Paul Wolfowitz on the death of Osama, the pro-democracy Arab Spring, and the importance of U.S. leadership..

'Civility' Was Alwayd Dead (The American Spectator, May)
The post-Tucson pieties prove to be empty. That didn't take long.

Actual Malice (The American Spectator, April)
What if Justice Scalia sued the New York Times for libel?

A Week in the Death of the New York Times (The American Spectator, March)
The Tucson massacre occasions a partisan witch hunt.

Whiplash! (The American Spectator, February)
Mark Halperin is pro-Obama! No, he's anti-Obama! Wait, he's pro-Obama again!

Strong Tea (Commentary, January)
A review of "Boiling Mad: Inside Tea Party America" by Kate Zernike.

2010

National Partisan Radio (The American Spectator, December/January)
Juan Williams gets defenestrated. Nina Totenberg stays.

'Push Back Hard' (The American Spectator, November)
A gesture of "conciliation"--in your face!

The Marine Who Has Barney Frank Worried (Oct. 9)
In a district where Scott Brown won, Sean Bielat mounts a serious challenge.

The Klein Clan (The American Spectator, October)
Is anything more stupid than a liberal media conspiracy?

The Legend of Helen Thomas (The American Spectator, September)
A living icon of journalism whose admirers cannot be reached for comment.

'A Commandeering of the People' (July 23)
A legal scholar handicaps whether the Supreme Court will find ObamaCare's insurance mandate constitutional.

We're From the Government (The American Spectator, July/August)
How to hold politicians accountable--and how to avoid doing so.

Ordinary Ornery (Commentary, June)
A review of "The Next American Civil War" by Lee Harris.

Tea and Sympathy (The American Spectator, June)
Conservative populists get strange new respect.

The Right's Happy Warrior (May 1)
"I'm optimistic," says R. Emmett Tyrrell, "but it's sort of like being optimistic in 1939 and saying, I think we can beat the Germans."

Bar Fight (The American Spectator, May)
The New York Times opposes "politically motivated witch hunts"--sometimes.

Censorship Inc. (The American Spectator, April)
A corporation uses its First Amendment rights to denounce First Amendment rights for corporations.

Garden State Voters Gear Up to Recall a Senator (March 20)
The Constitution is on the Democrat's side, even if New Jerseyites no longer are.

Glenn Beck Isn't Lonesome (The American Spectator, March)
He's no "face in the crowd," but he's mad as hell.

Peer Pressure (The American Spectator, February)
The global-warming scandal and the "Big Cutoff."

The Media and Corporate Free Speech (Jan. 30)
President Obama says the Supreme Court made a big mistake. The pre-eminent First Amendment expert disagrees.

'Nobody's Watching Charlie Rose' (Jan. 16)
Glenn Beck on conspiracy theories, his critics on the right and left, and how he resembles Howard Beale of "Network."

2009

Caprice Prize (The American Spectator, December)
Even journalists can't defend Obama's Nobel.

Our 'Constitutional Moment' (Nov. 14)
Seth Lipsky says our founding document is especially vital today, in an age of expanding state power.

'Call Fox' (The American Spectator, November)
The mainstream media are slow to report on Obama scandals.

Taking On the 'Democrat-Media Complex' (Oct. 17)
Andrew Breitbart on bringing down Acorn, Hollywood liberals, and embarrassing the mainstream media.

Appeal to Authority (The American Spectator, October)
Journalists defer to Democrats--sometimes even letting them write the news.

Now They Tell Us (The American Spectator, September)
In the Obama era, breaking news is hard to do.

There Is Such a Thing as Too Much Judicial Restraint (July 13)
The Supreme Court leaves big decisions for future justices.

Tea Hee (The American Spectator, July/August)
A conservative protest movement draws media mockery.

Nuance and Nazis (The American Spectator, June)
Has the New York Times gone soft?

How an Evolutionary Garden Grows (May 7)
The man with whom Darwin walked, and his botanical legacy.

A Joint Venture Is the New Hip Thing (May 1)
A visit to the factory where part of me was made.

Gold Star Movie (The American Spectator, May)
What it took to make a successful film about the Iraq war.

A Times Leader (The American Spectator, April)
Libya's dictator becomes an op-ed writer.

The Honeymooners (The American Spectator, March)
As Obama prepares to take over, the press speaks ruth to power.

Blogged Down (The American Spectator, February)
In 2004, they debunked humbug. In 2008, they propagated it.

The Ex Files (Jan. 16)
George W. Bush joins the club.

2008

Fact-Check Follies (The American Spectator, December/January)
The latest way opinion journalism masquerades as straight news.

'Our Culture Is Better' (Nov. 29)
Geert Wilders: Champion of freedom or anti-Islamic provocateur? Both.

The War Against the Normal (The American Spectator, November)
Smearing Sarah Palin as a devout Christian and a mother.

Edwards Lied, People . . . Were Born? (The American Spectator, October)
The National Enquirer scoops everyone else.

Bad Judgment (The American Spectator, September)
How the L.A. Times became a party to a vexatious litigant's smear campaign.

How a Young Lawyer Saved the Second Amendment (July 19)
One plaintiff was a gay man who had used his gun to stop a hate crime.

A Harsh Mistress (The American Spectator, July)
Will the media still love Barack Obama in the autumn?

Vast Company (The American Spectator, June)
Mrs. Clinton joins the right-wing conspiracy.

Attack of the Keller Tomatoes (The American Spectator, May)
The New York Times tries to "swift boat" McCain.

Fanfare for the Column Man (April 30)
A musical kerfuffle in Chattanooga.

We Stand Behind Our Stereotype (The American Spectator, April)
The New York Times embraces the "wacko vet" myth.

The Audacity of Hype (The American Spectator, March)
How Obama and Mrs. Clinton fell for their own good press.

US Has Moved Beyond Racist Past (Australian, Feb. 11)
Obama may lose, but not because he's black.

That '80s Show (The American Spectator, February)
The press remembers Reagan, not always fondly.

Poetic License (Jan. 25)
Republicans need not apply.

2007

The Second Time as Farce (The American Spectator, December/January)
Blasts from the past from Dan Rather and Anita Hill.

Legal Warrior (Nov. 24)
Can the lawyer who won Bush v. Gore win over social conservatives for Rudy Giuliani?

Unstatesmanlike Conduct (The American Spectator, November)
Larry Craig didn't cover himself in glory. Neither did the press.

Issues of Narrative (The American Spectator, October)
What journalists do when "the facts are wrong."

In Katrina's Wake (Sept. 8)
Louisiana's would-be governor says the state needs a sense of urgency.

Unaccountably Biased (The American Spectator, September)
Has the Associated Press given up on straight news?

'It Didn't Happen' (July 26)
Democrats go soft on crimes against humanity.

Ignorance of the Law (The American Spectator, July/August)
How journalists help politicize the Supreme Court.

The Truth About Guantanamo (June 26)
Proposals to treat detainees as criminal defendants make a mockery of international humanitarian law.

No News Is Good News (The American Spectator, June)
Reflexive pessimism and dubious "experts" in terror-war coverage.

Dealing With Iran (May 26)
Israel's former--and future?--prime minister talks about the threats to peace.

Disparate but Not Serious (May 18)
College is an expensive way of taking an IQ test.

Life in the Vast Lane (The American Spectator, May)
Journalists treat Mrs. Clinton with kid gloves. That may not last.

'Let's Just Say' (The American Spectator, April)
A global-warmist hysteric trivializes the horrors of Nazi Germany.

Who's Counting? (The American Spectator, March)
The media's "grim milestones" in Iraq further a political agenda.

Reckless Caution (Feb. 8)
Edwards vs. Clinton: Indecision 2008.

Tit for Tet (The American Spectator, February)
The media follow the Vietnam script in Iraq. Will the Democrats' victory change that?

2006

On Reflection, This Timely Honour's All Mine (Australian, Dec. 26)
It came as something of a surprise being named Time's Person of the Year.

Raging Bill (The American Spectator, December/January)
Why did Clinton blow up at Chris Wallace? Because he's used to sycophantic interviewers.

Lieberman Saves the Day for Hillary (Nov. 11)
Had Lamont won, she might have had to lurch left.

Read and Despair (The American Spectator, November)
Media myths about Guantanamo.

Boomer Terror (The American Spectator, October)
The New York Times struggles to make sense of the world.

Hicks Trial a Privilege Not a Right (Australian, Sept. 25)
The case against the Guantanamo detention camp rests on myths.

War Inside the Wire (Sept. 16)
You can handle the truth about Guantanamo Bay.

Where the Wild Things Are (Sept. 15)
Not everyone at Guantanamo is a terrorist.

Endangered Species? (Aug. 5)
A moderate Republican faces a liberal Democratic tide.

Getting to Yes (July 1)
For Chief Justice Roberts, it isn't easy.

Suicide Out of Spite (Australian Online, June 15)
Don't fret over the deaths of three irredeemable jihadists.

Kos Celeb (May 13)
Meet the man who's gunning for Joe Lieberman.

Brother From Another Party (April 8)
Can a black Republican win in a blue state?

Bad News Bearers (The American Spectator, February)
The media won't defeat America by fighting the last war.

A Strong Executive (Jan. 28)
Dick Cheney discusses presidential power and foreign policy.

A Waiting Period on Abortion (Jan. 23)
If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.

He Didn't Say Uncle (Jan. 20)
But Salvador Taranto lived to become one.

2005

Latter-day President? (Dec. 31)
A Mitt Romney candidacy would test the religious right.

Pro-Wife Extremism (Nov. 5)
Judge Alito was right on spousal notification.

Filibuster Bluster (Oct. 1)
Liberals threaten a fight over Justice O'Connor's replacement. Mr. President, call their bluff.

How's He Doing? (Sept. 12)
Bush is "average," but far from ordinary.

Myths of Hurricane Katrina (Australian, Sept. 8)
Like looters, the Angry Left seeks opportunity in disaster.

Kerry's Quagmire (The American Spectator, July/August)
How the liberal media helped re-elect George W. Bush.

The 'Roe Effect' (Society, July/August)
Abortion today results in fewer Democratic voters 18 years from now.

C Man in the Navy (June 8)
John Kerry turns out to have been an average student, just like President Bush.

Why I'm Rooting for the Religious Right (May 5)
Secular liberals show open contempt for traditionalists.

Cold Warriors Get Their Due (Australian, April 6)
Gorbachev's death is unlikely to draw the fanfare that greeted the demise of Reagan and the pope.

Who Will Remember Terri? (April 1)
Disabled Americans aren't eager to embrace the "right to die."

Hillary's Secret Weapon (Feb. 25)
Republican loathing may make her the next president.

How Privacy Went Public (Feb. 8)
Penumbras and emanations make strange bedfellows.

2004

Chief Justice Thomas (Dec. 31)
President Bush gets a free pass on replacing Rehnquist. Here's how he can make the most of it.

Be Careful What You Wish For (Dec. 7)
Overturning Roe v. Wade would be good for the Democrats.

Now Tell Me Who Won (Nov. 3)
The best and worst of the presidential race.

The Guy on the $10 Bill (Oct. 20)
Alexander Hamilton was much more.

Gloom Is Not a Plan (Sept. 30)
Is John Kerry's personality winning enough to win in Iraq?

The Democrats' Patriotism Problem (Aug. 30)
Whining about imagined attacks is not a winning approach.

With Trends Like These . . . (July 27)
No Republican has won the presidency without Ohio. So what?

If You're Happy and You Know It, Run for Office (July 9)
Good cheer is a political asset.

What Makes a President Great? (June 10)
Scholars finally begin giving Reagan his due.

Touché! (OpinionJournal.com, March 29)
Our readers give a Frenchman a piece of their minds.

Why Do Dems Lose in the South? (March 8)
Don't blame civil rights.

2003

To Coin a Prez (Dec. 12)
Reagan was ahead of his dime.

Left Behind (Dec. 8)
Liberals imitate the retro-right.

Taking 'Cides (OpinionJournal.com, Aug. 11)
Fox News should drop the term "homicide bomber."

Politicians Go Online (Aug. 6)
They can run, but can they blog?

Handicapping the Democrats (OpinionJournal.com, June 30)
Howard Dean wins an online "primary." Will Al Gore regret having helped create the Internet?

Indian Summer (June 4)
In Jayson Blair's wake, newspapers inch away from political correctness.

No Distraction (OpinionJournal.com, March 6)
Why liberating Iraq is crucial to beating terrorism.

Poetry for the War (OpinionJournal.com, Feb. 12)
A whole new way to slam Saddam.

2002

Just What the Doctor Ordered (OpinionJournal.com, Nov. 25)
"Post-traumatic slavery disorder" is only the start.

Half Empty (OpinionJournal.com, Oct. 10)
How Stephen Glass might have covered the Stephen Glass scandal.

The New Red Scare (Aug. 14)
Is America in danger of "creeping totalitarianism"? No. There's no such thing.

Enronymy (OpinionJournal.com, March 4)
New names for a disgraced company.

The New Sue Review (OpinionJournal.com, Jan. 28)
Our readers' suggestions for trial lawyers--and "Simpsons" writers.

'My Camel Ate the Manifest' (OpinionJournal.com, Jan. 14)
Our readers explain it all to Colin Powell.

2001

A Squandered Opportunity to Give the Devil His Due (Australian, Dec. 28)
Why Osama bin Laden should have been Man of the Year.

Zero Tolerance for Duck Sauce (Aug. 27)
New Jersey throws the book at an innocent schoolboy.

In Praise of Online Journalism (June 27)
We helped bust Slate's hoax.

'Zero Tolerance' Makes Zero Sense (May 18)
School discipline goes mad.

A Newspaper Plays With Fire (Feb. 7)
Did a reporter go too far in pursuit of a hot story?

Marconi Goes Online (Jan. 12)
"Wireless" once meant radio. It may again.

We Have a Winner (OpinionJournal.com, Dec. 15)
Actually, 10 of them. The October Surprise contest is over at last.

The October Surprise: Readers Respond (Oct. 3)
How will Clinton try to influence the November election?

Got a Sense of Humor? (OpinionJournal.com, Aug. 28)
Rudy Giuliani is the butt of PETA's latest joke. Maybe the organization itself is just a prank.

Why Class Warfare May Work This Year (Aug. 24)
Al Gore has followed Bill Clinton's lead by abandoning the nonworking poor.

Recycling Shouldn't Be a Crime (July 11)
The Boston Globe is shocked, shocked to find that rewriting is going on.

Swiss Army Life (Wall Street Journal Europe, June 30)
The joys of armed neutrality.

Global Village Idiots (April 18)
Protest, 2000-style: you name it, someone's against it.

It's Noncensus (New York Press, March 15)
The Census Bureau discovers interracial marriage.

Next, Cyberbums (New York Press, March 1)
Urban blight comes to the Internet.

Havana's Hostages (Jan. 31)
Fidel Castro divides Cuban families.

Elian's Journey (Jan. 24)
An exclusive interview with the two adult survivors.

A Byte to Eat in the Kitchen of Tomorrow (Jan. 14)
Computers can organize recipes, but they still can't cook.

Extra! Extra! Journalists Gaze at Own Navels! (Dec. 31)
The L.A. Times screwed up. But do we need to read 35,000 words about it?

I, the Jury (New York Press, Dec. 8)
How I shirked my civic duty.

Ku Klux Klowns (Oct. 26)
Meet the face of the New Racism--if you can find it amid all the counterdemonstrators.

The Pastor vs. the Social Workers (Sept. 15)
A minister, charged with abuse for spanking his son, slaps the state with a lawsuit.

In Praise of Waffling (Aug. 31)
How Roe v. Wade distorts American politics.

Halfway Around the World--Ultimate Sun Block (Aug. 13)
A total eclipse of the sun, as seen from a small Turkish town.

Save the Bugs! A Touchy-Feely Utopia in 2000 (Jan. 15)
Silly liberals take on silly computer problem. Silliness ensues.

The Real Sexual McCarthyites Back Clinton (Dec. 22)
Larry Flynt and Betty Friedan aren't really such strange bedfellows.

An Adolescent View of Smoking (The American Enterprise, September/October)
Hey kid, Hillary Clinton says you shouldn't light up. What could be cooler?

Why Stereotypes Are So Hard to Eradicate (Aug. 12)
We can't help but make generalizations, and many of them are based on experience.

Who's a Hypocrite--and Who Cares? (Aug. 4)
Why shouldn't vice pay tribute to virtue once in awhile?

A Kiss Is Still a Kiss, but a Grope Can Be a Felony (March 19)
What if Bill Clinton were a lowly worker's compensation judge?

Why the Unabomber Must Die (Jan. 6)
He sought a soapbox. Execution is the only way to be sure he'll never have one.

Nader's Raiders Try to Storm Bill's Gates (Nov. 18)
A self-styled consumer advocate exposes Microsoft's plan for total world domination.

The Cigar Bar (March 27)
A smoker's quixotic quest for justice.

The Year 3000 Problem (Jan. 28)
Y2K is all hype. It's Y3K we should be worried about.

Tax Incentives I'd Like to See (Sept. 11)
The government should encourage people to quit annoying me.

Close Encounters of the Third-Party Kind (Aug. 13)
A bold experiment in American politics: a coalition between the wacky and the wacko.

Berlin Diarist: Still Divided (City Journal, Summer 1996)
Mental walls collapse more slowly than physical ones.

1990

The Avant-Garde Laughs--at Last (New York City Tribune, Dec. 11)
A hilarious send-up of the NEA controversy.

The Homeless Are Ill Served by Advocates (Nov. 14)
Let them sell the Daily News.

NEA Head John Frohnmayer: Caught in the Crossfire? (New York City Tribune, Nov. 2)
His top lawyer slanders a Christian conservative.

The Prurience and Prejudice of Holly Hughes (New York City Tribune, Oct. 8)
An evening with America's preeminent lesbian performance artist.

Let's Not Rush to Conclusions About Rock Music (New York City Tribune, Sept. 5)
Tunes for the traditionalist.

Daniel Ortega Plots a Sequel to 'Revenge of the Nerds' (New York City Tribune, Aug. 15)
Nicaragua's answer to Michael Dukakis.

These Marxist Hacks Are Hackers Too (New York City Tribune, Aug. 7)
Online pioneers of the kooky left.

Roseanne Barr: From Deification to Disgust (New York City Tribune, Aug. 1)
A heroine? A goddess? Or just a pig?

A Civics Lesson for the ACLU Chief (New York City Tribune, July 24)
A so-called civil libertarian takes an extreme antidemocratic position.

Just Give Me That Old Time Derision (New York City Tribune, July 24)
Karen Finley preaches to the choir at Lincoln Center.

Charting Controversial Art (New York City Tribune, July 17)
"Serious Fun!": Crotch-grabbing and shooting Sen. Helms.

College Campuses Crawling With Crazies (New York City Tribune, July 13)
A report on political correctness, back when it was still news.

1988

The Rooster Papers (The Quill, September)
A student's journalistic feathers are plucked.