Karl Marx famously said that "history repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce." So it is with Texas Governors George W. Bush and Rick Perry. After all, Perry isn't merely trying to follow the path blazed by his predecessor from the Lone Star State to the White House. Not four years removed from Bush's […]

During the just concluded debt ceiling crisis, only one American political party was willing to see the United States default and its economy crippled rather than raise the nation's borrowing limit. That culprit was the Party of Lincoln, whose namesake once explained the Confederacy's threat to the Union, "one of them would make war rather […]

If nothing else, the 2012 Republican presidential contest has forced GOP White House hopefuls to run a gauntlet of ever more draconian pledges demanded by party purists. At the top of the list is the Grover Norquist's Taxpayer Protection Pledge, which demands candidates "solemnly bind themselves to oppose any and all tax increases." But at […]

It's tough to be taken seriously as a presidential contender when you call yourself "T-Paw" and repeatedly trumpet your "smoking hot wife" as a qualification for the White House. But just two days after having to deny he was preparing to pull the plug on his flat-lining campaign, Tim Pawlenty made his growing credibility problems […]

For weeks, Republican presidential candidates have been a running a gauntlet of ever-more draconian pledges put forth by party purists. Grover Norquist's anti-tax oath, the Susan B. Anthony List anti-abortion manifesto , the "Marriage Vow" and the "Cut, Cap and Balance" pledge are just some of the multiplying litmus tests now demanded by social and […]

On July 4, U.S. officials, foreign dignitaries and conservative luminaries gathered outside the American embassy in London to unveil a $1 million statue of Ronald Reagan. As it turns out, the timing was more than a little ironic. Because even as the Gipper was honored in Britain, it's increasingly clear he would have no place […]

Last December, the conservative New York Times columnist Ross Douthat fretted that Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney is "serially insincere." His concern is well-founded. After all, Romney gymnastic flip-flops don't merely make it "awfully hard to figure out where he would actually stand when the pandering stops and the governing begins." As his latest failed […]

Of all of Mitt Romney's comical flip-flops on the issues, his gymnastic reversal on the abortion rights is the most pathetic. During his 1994 Massachusetts Senate run, Mitt and his wife Ann contributed $150 at a Planned Parenthood event. Eight years later during his race for governor, Romney assured Planned Parenthood he supported Roe v. […]

As his aides head off to Iowa to assess his prospects for a run at the 2012 GOP presidential nomination, Texas Governor Rick Perry has been hinting that he may be more than just the savior of the Republican Party. After issuing his invitation to the other 49 governors for an August 6 "day of […]