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Olympia Snowe Retirement Is Devastating for the Senate
Tweet Share on Facebook February 29, 2012 Comment (13)There are people in Washington about whom one says, "Is there anyone who doesn't like and respect this person?" Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe is one of those people. And the only thing sadder than Snowe's decision to retire from the Senate is that hardly anyone in the nation's capital is described in such deservedly reverential terms anymore.
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Rick Santorum Is a 'Snob' by His Own Definition
Tweet Share on Facebook February 28, 2012 Comment (6)So Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich, Barack Obama, and a whole bunch of other people in politics want to be president.
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Rick Santorum Should Not Apologize for Compromise
Tweet Share on Facebook February 27, 2012 Comment (2)Rick Santorum has been taking a lot of heat recently for saying he regretted his vote for the No Child Left Behind law, and explaining that he "made a mistake." Former President Bush wanted the law—which ushered in unprecedented federal authority into elementary and secondary education—and "when you're part of the team, sometimes you take one for the team," the former Pennsylvania senator said at a debate in Arizona.
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Who Is Newt Gingrich Calling 'Elite'?
Tweet Share on Facebook February 23, 2012 Comment (10)With all the vitriolic and just bizarre phraseology being thrown around on the campaign trail ("severely conservative"?), there's one word that really needs to go. And that is "elite."
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With Jeremy Lin, Harvard Finally Makes the Big Time
Tweet Share on Facebook February 22, 2012 CommentThe obsession with New York Knicks basketball star Jeremy Lin, already a little over-the-top, took an ugly turn recently, with an ESPN employee posting an update on Lin's so-so performance in a game as being a "Chink in the Armor." It's hard to imagine what went on in the head of the person who came up with that incredibly offensive and racist play on words, and ESPN's initial response was stunningly lame, apologizing for the insult to the Chinese-American player and stating the network would have no further comment on it.
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Anthony Shadid, Foiled Terrorist Plot Remind Us Heroes Do Exist
Tweet Share on Facebook February 21, 2012 Comment (1)In this era of distrust and finger-pointing, the media and government are common targets, slammed for being in the pocket of an interest group or just plain lazy and incompetent. In the past week, we have been reminded of the remarkable and valuable contributions made by both.
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The Upside of the Racist Hoekstra Ad
Tweet Share on Facebook February 16, 2012 Comment (3)The ad was so cringe-inducing, so over-the-top offensive, that one could be forgiven for assuming that the Super Bowl-timespot political ad by GOP Senate candidate Pete Hoekstra was some sort of Onion News Network spoof. But no, it was real—the Chinese-American actress affecting a terribly insulting Asian accent to thank Michigan Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow for borrowing money from China and spending it here.
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The Real Congressional Scandal
Tweet Share on Facebook February 15, 2012 Comment (4)Dumping on Congress, always an entertaining parlor game, is now an industry unto itself, drawing in congressional "oversight" groups on the left and the right, the media, and, of course, campaigns. Much of it is legitimate; the public is rightly unhappy about the legislative branch's inability to come to terms on even seemingly noncontroversial matters.
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It's Too Early to Write Off Either Rick Santorum or Mitt Romney
Tweet Share on Facebook February 14, 2012 Comment (2)Sen. John McCain was dead—or so we were told. His campaign in 2007 had foundered; he had a staff exodus, and there was little chance he'd stay in the presidential campaign past Labor Day, let alone be a viable contender for the 2008 GOP nomination. Except that McCain did win the nomination, having done a critical re-think of his strategy and successfully comparing himself to the rest of the field.
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Why the Catholic Contraception Controversy Is a Phony Battle
Tweet Share on Facebook February 13, 2012 Comment (17)Public health and women's autonomy collided with religion last week. Elders in the Catholic Church were incensed as the regulations implementing the federal healthcare law would have required institutions affiliated with the Church (but not the Church itself) to provide health plans covering contraception. The rules (part of the normal regulation-writing process that comes after a sweeping law is enacted) would not have forced the Church or its clergymen to hand out birth control; they only would have required Catholic-affiliated schools, hospitals, and universities to play by the rules everyone else has to follow, and provide for full healthcare coverage for women.
Susan Milligan
Susan Milligan is a political and foreign affairs writer and contributed to a biography of the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, "Last Lion: The Fall and Rise of Ted Kennedy."
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