DES MOINES—Granted, it was a one-word slip, an adjective out of place. But still its usage rankled — given how the religious right dominates politics in Iowa. So, within seconds of the close of the WHO-TV 6 P.M., news cast, I emailed the anchor and the news director: “Why on earth in its profiles tonight [...]

By Nick Schwellenbach, crossposted with POGO My friends over at the Center for Public Integrity unveiled a wallop of a story on Sunday afternoon—dozens of Members of Congress who decried the Recovery Act, better known as the “stimulus,” were simultaneously sending letters to government agencies asking for a piece of the action. The Center got [...]

Newt Gingrich either has a serious memory deficit or he simply will say or do anything to call attention to himself. Gingrich’s latest is to declare that the GOP is the party of paychecks and Democrats the party of food stamps. Catchy, no? Reflect on it a bit and you realize that Gingrich has sacrificed [...]

An interesting Glenn Beckian tidbit from the Washington Post’s Dana Milbank: “One day, he rhetorically asked his Fox News viewers: “Why did we buy Alaska in the 1950s?” As Milbank says, “a good question” seeing as how “we”, the U.S. of A., bought it from the Russians in 1867. It was known as Seward’s Folly [...]

Full disclosure up front. I have been a Helen Thomas friend ever since we stood on a tarmac, interviewing Jackie Kennedy through a crack in the window as The First Lady sat in a limo, waiting for her infant son, John, and three-year-old Caroline, to arrive in a plane and commence life in the White [...]

In all the media hoopla about Richard Blumenthal’s Vietnam military record, a major issue has been ignored. Democrat Blumenthal, Connecticut’s attorney general now running for the U.S. Senate, has been in the hot seat ever since the New York Times reported he erroneously stated that he had served in Vietnam. Among other speechifying moments he [...]

The Patient Protection and Affordability Act, sometimes known as the full employment act for lawyers, has critics salivating to get into court to challenge the law’s requirement that everyone buy health insurance. The critics are beside themselves over the provision. To hear the moans and gnashed teeth you’d think the very foundations of Western civilization [...]

What would you think of a U.S. political leader who said, “I do not believe there is a problem in this country or the world today which could not be settled if approached through the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount?” In today’s environment, one might think such a person was courting votes from [...]

The Iowa caucuses haunt political news and reporting in the Hawkeye state. News stories pop up all the time about whether Iowa will retain its “first-in-the-nation” status in screening presidential candidates and whether the parties in Iowa will agree on the date for the 2012 caucus carnival. Meantime, likely candidates are weekly visitors at fund-raisers [...]

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — If national security is your No. 1 concern, shouldn’t you want to repeal the policy that prevents gay Americans from openly serving in the military? A Charlotte, N.C., gay rights group asked that question of Rep. Sue Myrick (R-N.C.) last Friday, a day after her town hall here on the danger the [...]