Back in November 2010, I wrote a piece titled "The End of the Tea Party." A year later, a version of that essay ("Tea Party Activists Are Just Republicans by Another Name") appeared in The Tea Party Movement, an anthology published by multi-billion dollar education publisher, Cengage Learning, Inc. But in the intervening two years, […]

As 2013 draws to close, the negotiations over the Iranian nuclear program have entered a delicate stage. But in 2014, the tensions will escalate dramatically as a bipartisan group of Senators brings a new Iran sanctions bill to the floor for a vote. As many others have warned, that promise of new measures against Tehran […]

After watching Americans engage in a week of national self-flagellation over Duck Dynasty and its controversial patriarch Phil Robertson, I decided to watch something else. Passing up ersatz conflict for the real thing, I put on Ken Burns' unforgettable documentary, The Civil War. But my escape from the Daily Mail's latest "exclusive" from the Robertson […]

Former Arkansas Governor and Baptism Minister turned Fox News regular Mike Huckabee has had a very big week. On Monday, his son David announced his father would be launching his own news and culture web site--Huckabee Post--in January. That same day, Governor Huckabee announced he was "keeping the door open" to a run for the […]

In 1988, Tom Delay made the painful decision to have his father removed from life support after he was severely injured in a tragic accident. Yet in 2005, then House Majority Leader Tom Delay led the massive federal intervention to prevent Michael Schiavo from choosing the same act of mercy for his wife, Terri Schiavo. […]

With another government shutdown averted by this week's two-year budget compromise, Republican leaders are once again threatening to hold the debt ceiling hostage if their demands aren't met. So what if they don't know yet what those demands will be? House budget chief Paul Ryan insisted, "We as a caucus -- along with our Senate […]

On January 24th, Netflix will air Mitt, a documentary about Governor Romney's quixotic quest for the presidency. But that hagiography, lovingly compiled by a close friend, covers only the campaign that led to Romney being immortalized as Mr. 47 Percent. But the years before--when Mitt became Mitt--seemed destined to remain a mystery. A mystery, that […]

Charity, it is said, begins at home. But as Tuesday's Wall Street Journal suggests, charity clearly ends with America's health insurance companies. As the Journal reports, insurers are battling charities and hospitals who have launched pilot programs to help pay for the health care premiums of lower-income Americans. But the carriers' campaign to prevent potentially […]

On Monday, the GOP-controlled House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chaired by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) released a damning report about the so-called Obamacare "navigators." That Issa's inquisition railed against the Affordable Care Act's use of dozens of dozens of community groups, hospitals and other non-profit organizations who have received $67 million in federal grants […]

That was quick. Just two days after he joined House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) in lashing out against right-wing extremists who threatened to trigger another government shutdown by blocking his compromise budget, Rep. Paul Ryan on Sunday promised to support the Tea Party's other favorite act of national economic blackmail. Despite the fact that both […]