I’m as perplexed as anyone by the lack of focus among Democrats running for office this election. It starts at the top, with a White House that has been unable to produce a coherent election message. It ought to be easy, especially for as gifted an orator as Obama, but he’s been bizarrely unable to [...]

Last night President Obama formally announced the withdrawal of all combat troops from Iraq, bringing that sorry adventure closer its end, whatever that may be. Perhaps the fledgling Democracy, against formidable odds, will take root and flourish. Perhaps not. Al Qaeda and other disaffected parties may well be able to undermine the struggling government and [...]

The New York Times has been running leaked information about the war in Afghanistan, and–surprise!–it’s not going as well as the administration would like you to believe. What a shock. The administration was quick to point out that none of the information contained in the leaks was exactly new, which is true. Critics of publishing [...]

Conservative provocateur Andrew Breitbart did it again, quite spectacularly this time. His first memorable foray into the slime was his destruction of ACORN with misleading videos edited to make it look as though the umbrella organization of community organizations, which primarily helped the poor and disadvantaged, was corrupt. His attempt at smearing civil rights hero [...]

With all the bad news coming out of Afghanistan, I thought I’d look for the silver lining in the latest storm cloud, the firing of General Stanley McChrystal for his and his staff’s contemptuous comments about their civilian bosses. At least one group of soldiers is leaving America’s longest war ahead of schedule.

Like many who lean to the left, I’ve had a tendency to dismiss the Tea Party movement as a loud distraction, a small, misinformed collection of wingnuts. The reality is much more complicated. The economy is bad, and people are hurting. It’s natural at times like this for people to become angry, and they generally [...]

Many years ago I read a hilarious Russell Baker column (at least, I’m pretty sure it was Russell Baker) in which he promised not to trash Richard Nixon for one single day. By the end of the column, however, he was unable to restrain himself and let loose a barrage of invective. I made a [...]

Here we go again. One more attempt at crafting a health care reform bill with the Republicans. The problem is that the GOP wants nothing to do with the main ideas the Democrats have put forth. Part of it is ideological–a reflexive rejection of anything but market-driven health care, (which has dismally failed either to [...]

Hypocrisy is nothing new in politics, and neither side has a monopoly. That said, former vice president Dick Cheney is taking it to a whole new level with his constant attacks on the Obama administration’s conduct of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the handling of terror cases. Wasn’t it just a few years [...]