Is Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in political trouble in his homestate of Nevada? A new poll suggests he is: It’s the highest stakes ever for a Nevada election, and former boxer Sen. Harry Reid is on the ropes early. Either Republican Danny Tarkanian or Sue Lowden would knock out Reid in a general election, according to a recent poll of Nevada voters. The results suggest the Democratic Senate majority...

The Forbes list of the world’s 100 most powerful women is out. The top honour goes to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the leader of the world’s fourth-largest economy. She has won this honour for the fourth consecutive year. “In assembling the list, Forbes looked for women who run countries, big companies or influential nonprofits. Their rankings are a combination of two scores: visibility...

In ancient mythos, the rainmaker symbolizes a part of the psyche which detaches and leaves the mad world and goes into the forest and down under the roots of the trees and sees the world from there… through a unique, set-apart zeitgeist, a spirit of our times that is not dedicated to apoplexy over cultural contretemps, but just calm observations, a remembering of honor… and unusual ways of dealing...

“Hi, my name is Arlen Specter and I’ll be here all week. Tell your friends!” Well not quite…but he DID do a real, laugh getting set at the Improv. Don’t believe it? JUST WATCH THIS: Of course politicians of both parties do comedy all the time. It’s called “campaign promises.” FOOTNOTE: It’s great to see a politico have fun (particularly someone his age)...

As it has in the United States, Scotland’s release of convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdel Basset al-Megrahi on the grounds of ‘compassion’ is sparking controversy in Europe. Much of the debate revolves around the issue of which is more valid: European ‘compassion’ vs. American ‘revenge’. This editorial from Trouw of The Netherlands frames the issue this way: “The...

Polimom wrote an excellent post just a few hours ago titled “Health Care and Insurance: A Lost (and Crucial) Distinction.” It is generating some great, instructive, civil discussion on a subject that I had not given much thought to. I highly recommend you go there and partake in the discussion. I have been there and learned a lot. But I also learned something new when reading the New York Times today....

Believe me when I tell you how hard I gritted my teeth and refrained from commenting on the clucking chatter of First Lady Michelle Obama stepping off Air Force One wearing short shorts in 108-degree temperature on a visit to the Grand Canyon in Arizona. “Smart, lady,” I say to myself. “Very practical.” But, nooo. Her critics among the fashion police piously complained she was showing...

Two conservative Republican attorneys who worked in the Justice Department during the Reagan and Bush 41 administrations argue in the Washington Post that universal health insurance coverage is unconstitutional. Their reasoning? Lacking health insurance does not have any effect on the economy:

This is sickening:

John Cole, The Scranton Times-Tribune This cartoon is copyrighted and licensed to run on TMV. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Here in the Empire State, Governor David Paterson is in trouble and there’s no two ways about it. Though his approval numbers have actually rebounded a bit lately, the upward trend still leaves him hovering in the neighborhood of 30 after hitting a low of 18 earlier this year. (Maybe he should run for Congress instead? Those sorts of approval numbers are par for the course there.) And in a way, you almost...

Last month, in a column at Pajamas Media, we talked about the Franking Sign Monster. At that time we discovered that the Franking Commission – usually little more than a glorified group of hall monitors charged with making sure none of the members are stealing stamps – had been censoring the mailings of certain Republican Congressmen because they didn’t care for the characterizations and language...

Back when I was young, Kris Kristofferson warned us all of the dangers of the silver tongued devil… the person who would come off as a charming fellow and say things you want to hear, then turn around and do you wrong. If you’ve been paying any attention at all to the running series of comments from both President Obama and Congressional Democrats on matters of spending, the deficit and the national...

Mixed Messages Sent On Public Option by Jon Wells One day after HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and President Obama both said a public option wasn’t essential to health care reform, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said a public option needs to be a part of the health care overhaul. She said there was strong support in the House for the public option, joining Rep. Maxine Waters and Sen. Jay Rockefeller in a...

From the Minneapolis Star Tribune: Gay ministers will be allowed to lead parishes, representatives of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) voted today in Minneapolis. The 559-451 vote marks a historic change for the 4.8 million ELCA members, including 830,000 in Minnesota. The vote repeals the ELCA’s ban on gay clergy unless they agreed to remain celibate. The new position allows the installation...

Our political Quote of the Day comes from The Atlantic’s Ronald Brownstein (who did superb work when he was on the Los Angeles Times). He analyzes polls showing that Barack Obama and the Democrats are being steadily weakened by the healthcare reform battle, then writes: As the prospects for bipartisan agreement in the Senate fade, the need for Obama to unify Democrats will increase. Right now, though,...

I have frequently written about, quoted from, or published letters to the editors of our newspapers. I have often said that one can find unbelievably good common sense and wisdom in such letters from ordinary Americans. Once in a while, a politician’s letter to the editor finds its way onto the editorial pages. Alarm bells should ring when this occurs. I am not saying that politicians don’t have...

John Cole, The Scranton Times-Tribune This cartoon is copyrighted and licensed to appear on TMV. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

A question asked by a member of the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) got my attention. The question was: “I think most members of Congress don’t understand what it’s like to serve in the armed services. How many members of Congress have served in the military?” The MOAA’s answer was: The numbers of veterans in Congress has significantly diminished over the years....

I recently took note of a young conservative who spoke at an event hosted by Sen. McCaskill’s staff. I wrote that, while I didn’t entirely agree with this young man’s arguments, his clarity of thought and stage presence were impressive for someone his age, perhaps signaling a future for him in Republican politics. In addition to his public-speaking acumen, I also give this young man props for...

A quickly emerging question on the political scene is now this: are the Democrats going to do it again? Are they really going to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory? It certainly seems like it’s headed in that direction. Although events — and political takes — in our increasingly hyperactive political culture can suddenly change the calculations, it seems several factors are at work. But...

Comments that follow an article in a newspaper/magazine/blog generally indicate the quality of its readership. The Economist magazine does get an impressive array of views. I offer below the views, tied in a string in a random fashion, of different readers under the article “Losing Afghanistan?” Reader No. 1: “The real purpose of the (American) occupation is to extend and entrench western...

Nate Beeler, The Washington Examiner This cartoon is copyrighted and licensed to appear on TMV. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

I’m late to this story, via TechCrunch: Flickr really stepped in it this time. And they’ve sparked a free speech and copyright fascism debate that is unlikely to cool down any time soon. Sometime last week they took down a photoshopped image of President Obama that makes him look like the Heath Ledger (Joker) character from The Dark Knight. The image was created and uploaded to Flickr by 20 year old...

In a summer season fraught with bad news and political unrest, there is at least one glimmer of sunshine ready to light up our miserable and tawdry lives. From her twitter account, Meghan McCain has announced that she will be sitting in for Elisabeth Hasselbeck while she is out on maternity leave. And obviously I couldn’t be happier for her. Of course, this may not have much of a direct impact on my life,...