If integrity is doing the right thing when no one is watching, opportunism is doing so only under the spotlight. And when it comes to South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, much of the American media is confusing the two. Reading Politico or the Washington Post's resident conventional wisdom regurgitator Chris Cillizza, you'd never know candidate […]

As he accepted Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox in April 1865, Union General Ulysses S. Grant was neither jubilant nor boastful. "I felt sad and depressed at the downfall of a foe who had fought so long and valiantly, and had suffered so much for a cause," Grant later recalled, "though their cause was, […]

Massachusetts Republican Governor Charlie Baker found himself under fire for his comments Thursday defending the Confederate flag still flying over the South Carolina capitol grounds in Charleston. But his apology to Bay State residents and the entire pathetic episode could have been avoided had Baker just looked out from the Massachusetts state house in Boston. […]

"It is my view that no American woman should be denied access to family planning assistance because of her economic condition." So said President Richard Nixon after signing Title X of the Public Service Health Act of 1970. That vitally important and very successful federal program which now helps fund cancer screening, STD tests, contraception […]

In April, the Tennessee legislature offered a unique moment of clarity regarding women's access to abortion services. As the Senate debated GOP proposals to institute 48 hour waiting periods and regulate abortion providers like hospitals or ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs), Democrat Sara Kyle asked: "Here you're putting all this burden on a woman. Why don't […]

During the 2000 Republican presidential primaries, Arizona Senator John McCain proclaimed Jerry Falwell an "agent of intolerance." But after losing the nomination to George W. Bush, McCain determined he would not repeat his mistake the next time around. So, in May 2006, the Maverick acknowledged he was going to what John Stewart deemed "crazy base […]

If nothing else, today's conservative movement may be the greatest talking point generator in American history. Judging by the conservative choir now singing in unison, the aftermath of the sometimes violent protests in Baltimore is providing just the latest case in point. The tried and untrue sound bites predictably include GOP favorites like "blame the […]

Over the past few years, two topics have come to dominate the discourse about religion in America. The implementation of the Affordable Care Act and especially the rapid acceptance of marriage equality have prompted social conservatives to decry the supposed threat to "religious liberty." At the same time, the rise of "the Nones"--the growing numbers […]

Tuesday, April 28, 2015 may go down as a watershed moment in the history of American civil rights. At the Supreme Court, the justices heard oral arguments in a set of cases which may decide whether or not all Americans have an equal right to marry. Less than 50 miles away in Baltimore, demonstrators are […]

For four decades, American public opinion on the issue of abortion has been largely unchanged. As the numbers from Gallup, the Pew Research Center and other polls show, roughly half of Americans have identified themselves as "pro-choice" even as consistent majorities support keeping abortion legal in all or many circumstances. But now, a new survey […]