Barack Obama takes a step back on campaign finance. “We will not play by two sets of rules,” say his managers, announcing a superPAC to offset Republican money to defeat the President, despite his denunciation of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision that unleashed tons of hard-to-identify funds for negative ads. As Mitt (“Corporations are people”) Romney edges closer to the GOP nomination,...

A person’s faith should in no way be a disqualifier for the presidency or any other public office. That certainly was true of John F. Kennedy’s Catholicism in 1960 and that is true of Mitt Romney’s Mormonism in 2012, but there the similarities end because there are aspects of Romney’s relationship with the Church of Latter Day Saints that do not necessarily disqualify him but do raise...

The Nazi legacy is an understandably heavy burden for Germany, even today. This leaves Germans emotionally vulnerable to comparisons to their 20th century forebears. And with the country exercising ever-more influence over its European Union allies, cutting remarks that include such comparisons are blossoming like mushrooms after a spring rain. So how to deal with it? For Germany’s Die Zeit, Bernd...

Why Import Engineers? Study Shows U.S. Has Engineering Surplus; Why the Pressure to Import More? by Joe Guzzardi Earlier this week, a live online video chat featured President Obama and Jennifer Weddel, the wife of an unemployed engineer whose husband has been out of a job for three years. Weddel asked the president: “Why does the government continue to extend H-1B visas when there are tons of Americans...

WASHINGTON — Politicized culture wars are debilitating because they almost always require partisans to denigrate the moral legitimacy of their opponents, and sometimes to deny their very humanity. It’s often not enough to defeat a foe. Satisfaction only comes from an adversary’s humiliation. One other thing about culture wars: One side typically has absolutely no understanding of what...

Daryl Cagle, MSNBC.com This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to appear on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

The news that GOPers in Congress will soon move to try and make it so any employer (not just a religious organization) can deny women birth control coverage will likely not help how Republicans in Congress are faring. Just keep the newest push in mind when you read this poll: While positive ratings for Congress remain at an all-time low, more voters than ever see the Republican agenda in Congress as extreme....

Just declared: the Republican Party’s war against contraception.

File this in your Department of Sour Grapes file. Former Sen. Rick Santorum is suggesting that former Massaschusetts Gov. Mitt Romney may have rigged it so he won the CPAC straw poll vote: Rick Santorum suggested on Sunday that Mitt Romney’s campaign may have rigged a straw poll of conservative activists by paying the entrance fee for supporters. Romney beat Santorum by 7 points Saturday in a straw poll...

I have thought all along that the recent birth control flap had little to do with birth control.  The Republicans and tea party crows are opposed to it because it comes from Obama.  The Catholic hierarchy is opposed to it because it is a threat to their power – the power to control women and sex.  Over at Balloon Juice recovering Catholic Dennis G. has some great insight. The Bishops are demanding an...

A new poll finds that Catholic voters support President Barack Obama’s new — and controversial — contraceptive policy compromise: Catholic voters largely approve of President Obama’s new policy on contraception, according to a poll released Saturday by groups that support the policy. Supporters say the poll shows that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and congressional Republicans,...

Our political Quote of the Day comes from Time’s Adam Sorenson who notes that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s two clear-cut wins yesterday mean he has re-seized control of the political narrative. Sort of: Mitt Romney, the perpetually questioned front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, had a rough week. Three embarrassing losses to Rick Santorum in Tuesday’s non-binding...

Obama Does What? by Peter Funt We know President Obama did something Friday related to rules covering contraception and health insurance for employees of religious organizations. But how do you characterize his action in a short headline? What’s the appropriate verb to follow “Obama…”? Saturday’s front pages went in many, telling, directions. The Boston Globe and Seattle Times were...

The conventional wisdom a)is like a yo yo on this Republican presidential nomination race, b)will continue to operate like yo yo c)is made trickier with the news that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has just won the Maine caucuses vote on a day when conservatives at CPAC in effect went along with his insistence that he was a “severely conservative” Governor and is a conservative now. The latest...

After a terrible political week, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has gotten some good news in terms of imagery and the argument he’s making that he is conservative and was a “severely conservative” governor: he has won the highly touted Washington Times/CPAC straw poll, which many had expected former Senator Rick Santorum to win: Mitt Romney won The Washington Times/CPAC Presidential...

How is former Massachusetts Mitt Romney doing among some conservatives? To be sure, he seems to be winning some over, but not all. For instance, add conservative icon Richard Viguerie to those who are skeptical. Here’s his latest e-press release in full: Richard Viguerie Says Mitt Romney is a Severe Conservative Impersonator Manassas, VA — Richard A. Viguerie, the Chairman of ConservativeHQ.com,...

First polls showed former Godfather CEO Hernan Cain surging in the polls as conservative GOPers felt they found their viable alternative to former Massachusetts Mitt “I-was-severely-conservative” Romney. Then he fizzled. Then polls showed former House Speaker Newt Gingirch surging in the polls as conservative GOPers felt they found their viable anti-Romney. And now a PPP national poll find that it’s...

Is it possible that American citizens, now under arrest in Cairo, were involved with a plot to partition Egypt into four smaller states? According to columnist Muhammad Dunia of Egypt’s state-run Al-Ahram, maps that were discovered during a raid on the Cairo offices of the U.S.-based International Republican Institute prove that at least some of the foreign NGOs operating in Egypt are actively involved...

UPDATE: A wave of unusually severe cold is gripping Europe. But the weather is not the only thing that is chilling over there. Under the headline “A Chilling Verdict in Spain,” the New York Times reports that “The enemies of Judge Baltasar Garzón have finally gotten their way” as Spain’s Supreme Court has found Judge Garzón guilty of misapplying the country’s wiretap law and suspended him from...

Did former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney just put his food in what seems to be his most accustomed spot again when trying to convince conservatives he’s one of them at the big conservative gathering in Washington, D.C.? It certainly seems so. Our political Quote of the Day typifies the raised eyebrows a particular quote of Romney’s has generated among many movement conservatives. It comes from...

When Dad is a One Percenter by A Daughter My father, who is 85, grew up believing that all Americans can succeed through hard work and education, and that people who didn’t weren’t trying hard enough. He still believes that. I grew up with the same belief, but its implicit promise of reward based on merit didn’t turn out to be true for my generation or its children. Our economic circumstances have diverged...

Rick McKee, The Augusta Chronicle This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

A Little More Heat by Michael Reagan It seems to me that what is missing in the top two contenders for the Republican presidential nomination is passion. While Ron Paul speaks with passion of the Federal Reserve and Rick Santorum speaks with passion about life, Newt Gingrich speaks passionately mostly about Mitt Romney; and Mitt, it seems, merely speaks in sound bites. I don’t know about you, but I want...

When it comes to the oppression of dissent in Syria, are the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council undermining global peace and security by issuing ‘reckless vetoes’? According to this editorial from Japan’s Kochi Shimbun, by concerning themselves with the interests of their own countries rather than what is best for the world, China, Russia, America, Britain and France are demonstrating...

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney delivered his long awaited address to CPAC today. Most commentaries noted the following: 1. He used the word “conservative” so many times you could swear he was trying to hypnotize the audience (and perhaps he was). 2. He used a teleprompter almost completely in the style of President Barack Obama. Which raises the obvious question now being asked: will Newt...