WASHINGTON – Last night’s Iowa debate will not help Mr. Gingrich reverse his slide, with Michele Bachmann delivering merciless blows, as the video above reveals. Another one came today when South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley endorsed Mitt Romney, with robocalls now going out across the state touting Romney. But it was last night’s debate that could be the killer for Newt. Bret Baier showed his...

You can’t say Republicans — and Americans — have not been warned if former House Speaker Newt Gingrich gets the GOP Presidential nomination and is elected. Two former Bush Attorneys General have called his idea on how to deal with the Supreme Court “dangerous”: Two former attorneys general under President George W. Bush have found a few things to like in Newt Gingrich’s position...

NOTE TO READERS: I am at a motel in Missouri with exceedingly slow internet and the hotel does not get Fox News. Due to these to factors I cannot live blog the debate tonight. I may monitor the debate on line. This means I may take some excerpts from live blogging or news reports about the debate. But I myself will not be able to watch it online or on television. Post from here is snail-paced. Once the debate...

In 1896 William Jennings Bryan, a liberal populist, won the Democratic nomination for president. He did it largely on the basis of the rousing speech he made at the party’s nominating convention — his famous “Cross Of Gold” speech. The specific economic issue that speech addressed, the question of whether bimetalism, using silver as well as gold as the backing for our currency, may seem...

Robert A. Levine 12-15-11 Republican conservatives and Tea Party types have ranted about how the Accountable Care Act will increase health care costs and federal budget deficits, though the Congressional Budget Office has presented contrary data. But legislation just passed by House Republicans would in itself both raise health care costs...

Available at Amazon.com and Apple starting Dec. 15. WASHINGTON – Oh, what a set up. First it was floated on NBC’s First Read, then came Politico. This is my wheel house. Having written the book, quite literally, on what happened (which hits Amazon and Apple tomorrow), there isn’t anyone who can speak to this subject better. “During the primary elections that pitted Hillary Clinton against...

Well not really… But they did get 61 Senators from both parties to participate in a secret santa gift exchange. Given the season I think we should all be able to just enjoy this story without bringing politics into the mix…

Let me say at the outset: I think Christiane Amanpour got a bum rap from many critics, partisans and bloggers. She was a highly informed, outward looking and thinking host of ABC’s “This Week” and it was refreshing to see someone on American television whose focus was not soley on our domestic political horse races. That being said, this does not surprise me one bit: Christiane Amanpour is...

Saudi officials have executed a woman for practicing witchcraft. According to this post it seems that they have a system for finding witches.

Paul Krugman reminds his readers today that tough economic times can sow the seeds of authoritarianism. He then offers an analysis of what is happening in Europe. The economic crisis there, he writes, is killing the European Dream: Specifically, demands for ever-harsher austerity, with no offsetting effort to foster growth, have done double damage. They have failed as economic policy, worsening unemployment...

It’s getting hot now in the battle between the former presumptive front-runner for the 2012 Republican Presidential nomination, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, and the current front-runner who shows signs of not going anywhere and quite possibily going all the way to the Republican nomination, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Today they engaged in an exchange that could portend a)how the rest...

WASHINGTON – The CBS News poll released this past weekend shows Pres. Obama’s approval higher, mid-40s, than the last daily Gallup, which had him at 41%. But 54% in the CBS News poll say he doesn’t deserve reelection is a problem. It’s part of what Pres. Obama talked about on “60 Minutes” last night. …And meanwhile, they know that corporate profits are at a record...

In all the debate over the payroll tax cut the gorilla in the room has been Social Security (and Medicare) and the fact that both face future problems with solvency. Some would argue that since they are currently secure we don’t need to worry about things but to me that is like arguing that the cliff is still a half mile away so I can continue to race towards it at 70 miles an hour. While I can still...

Donald Nuechterlein is a political scientist whose writing can be found in the Richmond Times-Dispatch. In an article published today, he says that because of an assumption that the 2012 presidential election will focus on domestic issues, pundits and reporters are paying scant attention to where the candidates stand on foreign policy issues and the GOP candidates themselves largely content themselves to say...

Democrats are spending 1 million dollars for ads for the January 31st special election in the 1st District of Oregon. Given that the district has been in Democratic hands since 1974 and is widely considered to be safe for the party it seems odd to me that they are spending so much money. I can’t see the race really being that close but perhaps it is.

Souring U.S. Pakistan relations are now poised to get much worse: Pakistan is vowing to shoot down U.S. drones that it sees in its airspace: Pakistan will shoot down any U.S. drone that intrudes its air space per new directives, a senior Pakistani official told NBC News on Saturday. According to the new Pakistani defense policy, “Any object entering into our air space, including U.S. drones, will be treated...

For a long time I’ve had a personal dream. That poetry becomes a regular feature of political commentary and analysis in major media. Not just in a few high-profile publications, not just when a new poet laureate is named or a famous poet reads her verse at a presidential inaugural. But on a regular basis on radio, TV, print publications, and well-trafficked media of all kinds. I’ve come to a number...

Hey: whoever said you can’t go home again? Panama’s ex-dictator Manuel Noriega is going home again to Panama so there’s hope for us all. Well, it is a bit more complicated than that: he’s going from a prison in France to a prison in Panama (you can’t win them all). He is quite ill. Former dictator Manuel Noriega left France for Panama on Sunday, nearly 22 years after U.S. forces...

Here is live blogging of tonight’s economy-driven ABC Yahoo Republican Presidential Debate from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. All attention tonight will be on the new front-runner, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who is zooming in the polls and the former front runner Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney who many believe must take off the globes to cut Gingrich down and build his own stagnant support....

If you’re old enough to remember the Shirelles, a great pop singing group that started recording in the late 1950s, you’ll also probably remember one of their biggest hits — “Will you still love me tomorrow.” Whenever I hear President Obama speak these days, I’m reminded of the lyrical sentiment of that song. In a recent speech, Mr. Obama said that economic inequality is “the...

As the Republicans eat each other up or engage in the eternal quest for an Anti-Romney, polls continue to show the GOP is being handed a historic opportunity: President Barack Obama’s poll numbers are setting records for their lowness — and the latest CBS News poll says voters don’t believe he deserves a second term: Less than one year out from Election Day 2012, voters remain overwhelmingly...

WASHINGTON – First it was Bart Stupak. Then came poor women in Washington, D.C. Now it’s Pres. Obama putting politics before science, while making Kathleen Sebelius the first H.H.S. secretary ever to overrule the F.D.A. In a statement, FDA Administrator Margaret A. Hamburg said she had decided the medication could be used safely by girls and women of all ages. But she added that Health and Human...

At the end of his reflection on the border security agreement which Stephen Harper and Barack Obama signed this week, Lawrence Martin writes: In many respects, we have what might be described as our very own Republican Party at the helm in Canada. Public opinion prevents it from going as far in social areas as the GOP. But on war, on the security file, on trade and in many other policy domains, the similarities...

Congress has done it again, giving their members special consideration other Americans can only dream of. For some time now, Congressional insiders have been able to enrich themselves on the basis of knowledge not available to the public. (Washington officeholders have access to a treasure trove of economic data not available to ordinary citizens.) After prime time exposure of Congressional insider trading...

Word just coming in that accused child rapist Jerry Sandusky has posted $ 250,000 bail and will thus be out of jail and free for the holidays. We do live in a society where you are innocent until proven guilty so Sandusky has every right to post bail and await trial. But one hopes this time he won’t be allowed to run a childrens camp.