Mitt Romney's announcement that he will deliver a major address Thursday concerning his Mormon faith confirms three fundamental truths about the former Massachusetts Governor. First is Romney's desperation in the face of evangelical darling Mike Huckabee's surge in Iowa, a development that threatens his entire campaign. Second, with his insistence that the President be a […]

The state of Texas this week offered Americans a preview of a Mike Huckabee presidency. In Austin, the veteran science director of the Texas Education Agency was forced to resign after coming under withering assault by creationism advocates. Judging by his words and deeds, the former Arkansas Governor and Baptist minister promises a similarly grim […]

As the scandal surrounding his surreptitious taxpayer-funded Hampton frolics continues to envelop Rudy Giuliani, two questions are coming into focus. Obviously, the first is to what degree Giuliani's efforts to conceal his NYPD-financed romps with then-mistress, now third wife Judith Nathan imperils his presidential campaign. The second? Will David Broder, supposed dean of the Washingtonpress […]

There are three certainties about life in the United States: death, taxes, and the predictably explosive reaction of Americans to the mistreatment of dogs. With the latest revelations that New York residents paid the NYPD to walk the dog of Giuliani mistress-turned-third wife Judith Nathan, the mushrooming scandal surrounding Rudy's Tryst Fund is about to […]

More and more, President Bush's strategy in Iraq resembles an M.C. Escher illustration. Like the hands drawing each other or the elegant depiction of stairways that cannot possibly meet, the military progress of the U.S. surge is producing an image of a future Iraq that, while glorious to behold, can never be built. The very […]

Sounding more like Bill O'Reilly or Bill Donahue than the leader of the world's one billion Catholic faithful, Pope Benedict XVI today issued a stinging critique of atheism. In the encyclical titled Saved by Hope, the Pope assigned atheism responsibility for some of the "greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice" in human history. […]

Over at the conservative Weekly Standard, there is despair and consternation at the picture of the Republican Party presented at last night's CNN/YouTube debate. While one column feared the "vaguely threatening parade" of the assembled GOP White House hopefuls, editor and Fox News commentator Fred Barnes lamented a debate that was "mortifying to the candidates." […]

In last night's Republican CNN/YouTube debate, Rudy Giuliani provided Americans with a rare moment of candor about the Bible and himself. Asked if every word of the Bible was literally true, Giuliani replied that much of it was "allegorical." Given his repeated distortions, exaggerations and outright falsehoods, Giuliani could have been describing his own campaign. […]

Rudy Giuliani has a new best friend. With Mitt Romney holding twin leads in Iowa and New Hampshire and Rudy's former wingman Bernard Kerik now under indictment, Giuliani's position as the national GOP presidential front-runner seemed increasingly precarious. Enter former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, whose surge in Iowa is just what the doctor ordered. The […]

The visit of Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore to the Bush White House Monday constituted one of the more surreal moments in recent Washington memory. While Gore was quick to praise his campaign 2000 opponent ("He was very gracious in setting up the meeting and it was a very good and substantive conversation"), Bush […]