On Sunday, First Lady Laura Bush revealed a new side of her persona to the American people: policymaker. Describing herself "involved for a long time in policy," Mrs. Bush decried the Stepfordesque stereotype she claimed is applied to her. But given her past public statements and policy roles to date, Americans should be forgiven for […]

As Fred Thompson's discussion of the Terri Schiavo case again highlighted this week, the so-called conservative "culture of life" contains a personal exemption. That is, when it comes to abortion, stem cell research and other such issues, the culture warriors of the right fervently oppose personal choice and potential medical breakthroughs - until they or […]

Much to chagrin of its radical right organizers, this weekend's Values Voter Summit of GOP White House hopefuls produced only confusion. Despite the gymnastic contortions and acrobatic back-flips of Republican presidential candidates eager to win evangelical hearts and minds, no clear winner of the conference straw poll emerged. Thanks to his stuffing of the online […]

If there is any area of public policy where George W. Bush has been consistently "dead certain," it is almost certainly in the application of the death penalty. As Texas Governor and later as President, Bush showed himself to be an equal opportunity executioner, content to condemn the mentally ill, the developmentally disabled, racist thugs […]

The battle over the teaching of intelligent design and creationism crossed the Atlantic this week. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe voted to condemn the teaching of creationism in the schools of its 47 member states. Given the recent public relations campaign by the Discovery Institute and other U.S.-based intelligent design front groups […]

The third visit to New York by the bombastic Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is producing predictable howls of protest. While Columbia students protested his upcoming address there and Mitt Romney called for his indictment for genocide charges when he appears before the UN, CBS 60 Minutes host Scott Pelle lectured Ahmadinejad on the supposedly laudable […]

Growing evangelical angst over its choices in the 2008 Republican presidential field reached new heights this week. Just two days after the GOP frontrunners skipped the supposed Values Voters Debate, Focus on the Family's James Dobson lambasted late entrant Fred Thompson. Dobson, whose previous crusades for moral righteousness included his campaign to out SpongeBob Squarepants, […]

As I recently detailed, in recent weeks the GOP White House hopefuls have sent a powerful message to minority voters by skipping the Univision, NAACP, and upcoming PBS presidential debates. Now, even many Republican proponents of the race card worry the GOP has overplayed its hand. As the Washington Post reports, Newt Gingrich, Jack Kemp, […]

John McCain's schizophrenia this week over his alternating Episcopalian and Baptist status is just the latest chapter in the faith-based follies of the GOP presidential hopefuls. In a delicious double Catch 22, those running as "men of faith" to win the nomination of what many of it own members call "God's Own Party" are now […]

Last week, I detailed the continuing aversion of the Republican White House hopefuls to participate in debates sponsored by minority organizations. Now hot on the heels of their collective snub of the Univision and NAACP presidential forums, Fred Thompson, Mitt Romney, John McCain and Rudy Giuliani are skipping a PBS event hosted by Tavis Smiley […]