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Joseph Curl

Joseph Curl

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

Columns by Joseph Curl

This Aug. 1, 2014, photo shows President Barack Obama as he smiles near the conclusion of a news conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, Friday, Aug. 1, 2014. President Barack Obama is starting his birthday weekend with a round of golf before escaping to the Maryland mountains. Obama turns 53 on Monday. In what's become an annual birthday tradition, he's joining friends on the green for an early morning round at Andrews Air Force Base in suburban Maryland. He'll board Marine One later Saturday for the short helicopter flight to Camp David, the presidential retreat in the Catoctin Mountains. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

CURL: Obama making fools of the media

The Obama administration, the most politically calculating team in U.S. history, had once again succeeded, simply by falling silent. When disastrous news emerges, Team Obama does two things: refuses comment and charges its foes with playing politics. Published August 3, 2014

U.S. President Barack Obama speaks to the media, while meeting with El Salvador's President Salvador Sanchez Ceren, Guatemala's President Otto Perez Molina, and Honduran President Juan Hernandez, to discuss Central American immigration and the border crisis in the Cabinet Room of the White House Friday, July 25, 2014, in Washington. (AP Photo)

CURL: Obama, staffers not even pretending any more

President Obama and his sycophantic minions don't even bother any more to come up with plausible answers to queries from the suddenly awakened media. Instead, they just repeat past talking points — aware that they've been repeatedly proven false, but not caring a bit. Published July 27, 2014

MEMBER EXCHANGE ADVANCE FOR JUNE 21-22 In this photo taken on June 13, 2014, Brianna LePage, right, activities director for Gathering Place Lower Cape Adult Day Center in Eastham, Mass., sings "Edelweiss" to Erika Groth who participates in the programs. LePage was trained in music therapy, and now uses her skills as a singer and musician to help those with dementia and other cognitive impairments access their memory. (AP Photo/Cape Cod Times, Merrily Cassidy)

CURL: The politics of death and dying

Everyone I've met during my two-plus months in Florida has been touched by dementia. Not a few people, or nearly everyone, but — Every. Single. Person. Published July 20, 2014

President Obama enjoys a shave ice at Island Snow in Kailua, Hawaii, where the Obamas spent the 2010 winter holidays. (Associated Press)

CURL: The hypocrisy of Obama’s 15-day Vineyard vacation

On April 1, the U.S. economy dropped a whopping 2.9 percent for the first three months of the year (no fooling). The American workforce participation rate fell to a 40-year low. One-third of people aged 18-29 have moved back in with their parents. Millions of Americans this summer will enjoy yet another "staycation": They just can't afford to go to the beach or the mountains, even for a week — again. Published July 13, 2014

President Barack Obama speaks at a news conference after meeting with Gov. Rick Perry in Dallas about immigration on Wednesday, July 9, 2014. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

CURL: Obama turning millennials into Republicans

When summer ends, millions of adorable toddlers will head off to school for the first time. Each one will be as unique as his or her little fingerprints, but every kindergartner across the country will have one thing in common: They've never known an America that didn't have a black president. Published July 9, 2014

President Obama and former President Nixon. AP Photo

CURL: In Obama White House, echoes of Nixon

There's a scene in the movie "All the President's Men" — a terrifying scene — that could easily have been written about the Obama White House today. Published July 6, 2014

** FILE ** President Obama walks across the East Room of the White House in Washington, Monday, June 30, 2014. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

CURL: Obama is the worst president ever

It's official: Barack Obama is the worst president ever. Worse than Richard Nixon, who resigned from office to avoid impeachment. Worse than Jimmy Carter, who blamed Americans for their "malaise." Worse than President Clinton, who had sex in the Oval Office with an intern half his age and actually was impeached. Published July 2, 2014

10ThingstoSeeSports - An athlete dives from the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series platform in the final round, in Havana, Cuba, Saturday, May 10, 2014. The world's best cliff divers jumped from the 27-meter platform positioned on the historic Morro Castle in Havana. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa, File)

CURL: Obama now in all-out free fall

President Obama is now reaching terminal velocity, like a skydiver plunging toward earth. Except he doesn't have a parachute. There's a mighty splat coming soon. Published June 25, 2014

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. Published 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. Published 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." Published June 11, 2014

President Obama. (Associated Press) ** FILE **

CURL: Is Obama really that stupid?

There's something very odd going on these days at the White House. How else to explain the Bowe Bergdahl debacle? Published June 4, 2014