Was it wishful thinking, naivete or utter cluelessness? There’s no denying that during last week’s debate of Republican candidates in Columbia the needle on the applause-o-meter went wild at the mention of Jack Bauer. Bauer was U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo’s go-to guy when confronted by debate moderators with a hypothetical terrorist attack on the country. [...]

When is a news story done, played out, way past its expiration date? What is the shelf life of an American media tale? News events are radioactive entities with half-lives determined primarily by when the next item comes along to displace the last one. The relative importance of the tale hardly matters. A diaper-wearing astronaut [...]

It was one of those extraordinary moments we’ve come to expect. Public figures play out private dramas in front of cameras and microphones. Elizabeth Edwards’ cancer has returned. The breast cancer she discovered in 2004 has recurred, this time in her bones. She faces a lifetime of treatment as she fights the disease. John Edwards [...]

As you drive past the bowling alley, off in a corner of a slightly forlorn shopping center in Orangeburg, S.C., it’s hard to imagine the scene in February 1968. Thirty-nine years ago, what started as a protest of segregation ended with state troopers shooting into a crowd of black students at S.C. State, killing three [...]

The new No. 1 issue for Roman Catholic bishops in Charlotte and Raleigh is embryonic stem cell research. In last fall’s national election, Michael J. Fox’s poignant endorsement of embryonic stem cell research set off dueling television ads that argued the point. Now, the bishops are urging parishioners to fight any efforts by the North [...]

Catching glimpses of the movie musical “1776” on election eve is an inspiration and a reality check. It’s inspiring watching the Founding Fathers – or the actors playing them – struggle over the Declaration of Independence. It’s enlightening seeing these figures in a history book as flawed and feuding individuals who came together for a [...]

Every election cycle, Republicans lament their party’s lack of appeal to African American voters. They apologize – as Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman did last year – for the GOP’s Nixon-era “Southern strategy” of welcoming white voters resentful of black progress. They vow to do better. But then, Election Day nears. Exploiting white fear [...]

By now, most everyone has a gay friend or relative. Does anyone alive still believe that bachelor Uncle Bernie – the one with the special friend – is just waiting for the right girl to come along? You would think that homosexuals would be considered simply human – good, bad, flawed – but ultimately human. [...]

Is it fair to ask the president who named Jesus as his favorite philosopher, “What would Jesus do when interrogating terrorist suspects?” I think so. It’s not a trick question or a frivolous one. It’s an attempt to figure out how compassionate conservatism applies in the real world of foreign policy, congressional corruption and displaced [...]