Just days after the chairman of Gun Appreciation Day tried to misappropriate the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., the always execrable Rush Limbaugh pointed both barrels at the civil rights movement. Just in time for the weekend jointly marking King's birthday and President Obama's second inauguration, Limbaugh asked: "If a lot of African-Americans back […]

If the broad sweep of President Obama's gun control proposals wasn't enough, conservatives on Wednesday found another reason for their blood vessel-bursting apoplexy. The President was joined at the White House by several children who had written letters to him pleading for action on gun violence, some of which were released to the press. In […]

President Obama on Wednesday will unveil the recommendations of the gun violence task force led by Joe Biden. Despite the popularity of many of the measures among the American people and even its own membership, the National Rifle Association is almost certain to oppose each and every bill and executive order. But that doesn't mean […]

Now for a few words of unsolicited advice for my conservative friends. First, when the film Lincoln is dominating box offices and the Oscar nominations, think very hard before you use slavery as an analogy for anything. Second, make up your mind whether slavery was good or bad, a big deal or a historical footnote. […]

Every Christmas brings the same frustrating question: what do you get the man who has everything? So it is with Wayne LaPierre, the executive vice president of the National Rifle Association. After all, for two decades, the NRA has gotten almost everything it wanted, including an end to the national assault weapons ban, a Justice […]

As the Obama administration and Congress ponder their responses to the slaughter in Newtown, Connecticut, one of the central tensions in the American system of government is once again coming to the fore. That is, the freedoms enshrined in our Constitution's Bill of Rights are neither absolute nor in harmony with each other. For example, […]

When a federal judge ruled in August that Texas can withhold millions of dollars from Planned Parenthood and other family planning clinics, Governor Rick Perry proclaimed it a "win for Texas women." As it turns out, Perry's crusade against Planned Parenthood isn't a win for either the women of Texas or the budget of the […]

Appearing on Fox News Sunday morning, Arizona Senator John McCain urged his Republican Party to leave the abortion issue "alone." Given the drubbing among women voters the GOP endured thanks in part to anti-abortion extremists like Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock, McCain's fear is well-founded. Well-founded and very personal. After all, the same John McCain […]

The cruel and unnecessary death last month of Savita Halappanavar, the 31 year-old dentist denied a life-saving abortion, is rightly prompting soul-searching in Ireland. But those in the United States whose business is saving souls would do well to join them. After all, with their "human life amendment," draconian clinic regulations, "personhood" initiatives, heartbeat bills […]

For the better part of a year, Mitt Romney has been frantically trying to narrow his persistent gap with President Obama among women voters. (In recent polling, Romney's disadvantage remains in the range of 8 to 13 points.) As a show of his commitment, Romney announced in March that his wife Ann "reports to me […]