For voters listening to the Republican leadership over the past year, the most startling surprise was the shift in their attitude toward Medicare. Where faithfulness to true conservatism was once measured by fierce hostility to the popular insurance program for the elderly, as articulated by Ronald Reagan at the birth of Medicare in 1965, today the Republicans claim to be its staunchest defenders.
The last few months have been cruel and wintry for global-warming true believers. The long storm began in November, when a leak of e-mails from Britain's University of East Anglia Climate Research Unit revealed that key global-warming scientists tried to stifle dissent and politicize peer review, which led to revelations that the researchers had dumped much of the raw data used to bolster the alarmist argument.
We keep hearing that "Obama should move to the center." A variation on this theme is that the president should find the "sensible middle" on policy.
Money and politics is about my favorite topic (apart from spiritual faith, of course). And we had plenty of both in the last day or two.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's recent dig that Florida is "for the old people" cut locals here to the quick.
In his bestseller "Inside U.S.A.," the hugely readable journalist John Gunther described America as it was in the last year of World War II. He interviewed hundreds of politicians, businessmen and journalists, but only four men rated a separate chapter -- three politicians and Henry J. Kaiser, the California construction magnate who built dams and ships and manufactured concrete and steel and aluminum.
Last August, Nicholas George, 22, was getting ready to fly from Pennsylvania to Pomona College in Claremont, Calif., when TSA agents found Arabic-English flash cards in his pocket -- the 200 cards included such words as "bomb" and "explosive" -- two stereo speakers in his carry-on bag, a Jordanian student ID card and a passport that showed he had visited Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Sudan.
The disconnect between Washington and the rest of the country has never been greater. Why can't the political class in the District of Columbia produce a fiscal product that voters, taxpayers and investors are willing to consume?
At least it's on a Sunday. Friday and Saturday are the worst.
Second only to New Year's Eve, Valentine's Day is a surefire downer for those of us who find ourselves alone on a day when it seems that everyone else is happily in love. Of course, it's all silliness. Compared to cancer and earthquakes, compared to not having a job or a place to live, who cares about silly red hearts full of chocolates, or frilly cards and bouquets? Let Hallmark have its day. Let the florists' registers ring. Why should the rest of us care?
Had George Washington joined me outside a Chili's at Chicago's O'Hare Airport recently, he would have shuddered at the sight.
How could such smart people do so many stupid things? That question, or variations on it, is being asked in Washington and around the country about the Obama administration.
My friend Ethel is mad as hell, but she has no choice but to keep taking it. She's mad at her health insurance company, and she's mad at the administration and Congress. She's equally mad at Democrats and Republicans. It's not partisan; it's personal.
"No new ideas." That was the most prominent of the criticisms of Sarah Palin's speech at MSNBC's too-cool-for-school "Morning Joe" on Monday.
The age of adulthood -- and the rights and responsibilities that come with it -- is largely a matter of opinion. Age 18 traditionally separates minors from adults. But one can't legally buy a drink in America until age 21. Meanwhile, many states are now sending minors into the adult criminal justice system, even for nonviolent crimes.
In the circle of lawyers and judges I know, U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker is a giant. He is a brilliant jurist, legal eagles will tell you, who has insightful, and often unexpected, opinions. He's funny and charming -- and he's gay.
Growing up in Michigan in the heyday of the United Auto Workers, I long assumed that labor unions were part of the natural order of things.
Republicans have been hitting the Obama administration for Attorney General Eric Holder's too-quick decision to Mirandize accused Christmas bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab after a mere 50 minutes of what has been described as valuable interrogation. After the Miranda moment, the would-be bomber clammed up.
Everyone knows that what doesn't destroy you makes you stronger. That is particularly true in politics, where a hard kick either knocks you down or wakes you up.
“We’re not going to save our way out of this recession. We’ve got to spend our way out of this recession.” – U.S. Majority Whip Jim Clyburn
The most revealing moments in President Obama's State of the Union Address were not in his remarks, but the reaction to them by those listening on the Republican side of the aisle.
