It's clear more than ever that former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is going to have to make a major effort as it successfully did with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich to take apart former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorm. The latest big reason: a new South Carolina prim poll shows Santorum is quickly picking up steam there: What a difference a caucus makes. Rick … [Read more...] about South Carolina Poll: Romney Leads But Santorum Comes Up Close Behind
Experienced War Vets To Decide Fate Of Haditha Massacre Ringleader
Experienced Iraq war veterans will decide the fate of Marine Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich, who is charged with voluntary manslaughter and related charges in the massacre of two dozen civilians in the Iraqi village of Haditha in November 2005. The pool of potential jurors being questioned today at Camp Pendleton, California include a colonel, two lieutenant colonels, a … [Read more...] about Experienced War Vets To Decide Fate Of Haditha Massacre Ringleader
Another Regulation for Republicans to Hate
I had never been hospitalized before. I was in my forties, and, save for a long, sadistic episode in which they WOULDN'T let me sleep, after ten hours in a steel mill in Kansas, having hit my head on pavement and requiring five or six stitches and the creepy claustrophobia of a CAT scan and nothing to eat (which I do not consider hospitalization, but, rather, the eight-hour … [Read more...] about Another Regulation for Republicans to Hate
If Washington Makes War on Iran, it will be America’s Last (Samidoon, Palestinian Territories)
Is the United States a war-happy nation? With the situation surrounding the Strait of Hormuz escalating, columnist Abd Al Bari Atwan of Samidoon in the Palestinian Territories writes that American embargoes invariably lead to war, and with the U.S. economy in crisis, a war with Iran that would boost weapons sales may be precisely what Washington wants. For Samidoon, Abd Al … [Read more...] about If Washington Makes War on Iran, it will be America’s Last (Samidoon, Palestinian Territories)
2012: Start of an Historic Realignment in the Mideast
Terrorist bombs killed another 72 people in Iraq today, on a day considered holy by the Islamic Shia religion. This is a further sign of bloody sectarian strife boiling over after the withdrawal of US troops last December. It also presages a more significant trend that could make 2012 go down in history as the start of a seismic shift in the political makeup of the wider … [Read more...] about 2012: Start of an Historic Realignment in the Mideast
It is Iran that May Soon Find Itself ‘Wiped Off the Map’ (Al-Seyassah, Kuwait)
Like Saddam Hussein, are Iranian leaders boasting of their nuclear program and military prowess when in fact they are quite weak? Ahmed Al-Jarallah, the editor in chief of Kuwait's Al-Seyassah, warns Iranian leaders to step back from the brink and retract their threat to close the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway through which 40 percent of the world's oil flows - before it is too … [Read more...] about It is Iran that May Soon Find Itself ‘Wiped Off the Map’ (Al-Seyassah, Kuwait)
Newt’s Revenge
This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. … [Read more...] about Newt’s Revenge
A Sign Obama’s Recess Appointment Puts Republicans in a Spot
Like some other analysts, I have gotten the distinct impression that President Barack Obama would just loooooove the Republicans to make a big fuss over his decision to install Richard Cordray as head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Here is a significant sign: Here’s a pretty clear sign of which way the politics are moving in the fight over Obama’s decision … [Read more...] about A Sign Obama’s Recess Appointment Puts Republicans in a Spot
A Gulp of Humble Pundit Pie (Guest Voice) SEE UPDATE
NOTE: This column was released last week so some but not most of it is dated. It's one of the BEST commentary columns since it admits what many pundits try to hide: the self-assured prectictions do not necessarlily reflect the outcomes. A gulp of humble pundit pie By DANA MILBANK WASHINGTON -- Pundits say the darnedest things on TV. Take, for example, the genius … [Read more...] about A Gulp of Humble Pundit Pie (Guest Voice) SEE UPDATE
Quote of the Day: Romney Will Soon Be Under Intense Attacks
Our political Quote of the Day comes from First Read that says former Mass. Governor Mitt Romney better be prepared for the attacks coming his way from other Republicans who want to squelch his front-runner status for the 2012 nomination: *** Here come the attacks on Romney: Unlike past presidential-primary front-runners, Mitt Romney has enjoyed this advantage over the past … [Read more...] about Quote of the Day: Romney Will Soon Be Under Intense Attacks
Senator Brown on Gingrich’s Imperial Ambitions
Commenting on a USA TODAY editorial a couple of weeks ago on Gingrich’s campaign promise to, as president, haul-in judges whose rulings he doesn’t like, force them to explain their rulings and to abolish entire courts he doesn’t agree with, I said in a letter that “[Gingrich’s] interpretation [of the Constitution] would undermine the timeless, functioning, checks-and-balances … [Read more...] about Senator Brown on Gingrich’s Imperial Ambitions
Keith Olbermann is Clashing with a New Employer Again
Well, that didn't take long, did it? Keith Olbermann is most famous for his hundreds of not-so-special "Special Comments" those melodramatic commentaries more often than not delivered in an indignant tone. He split with MSNBC after clashing with his employers there and then went over to Al Gore's Current Television." And now he is showing the second thing for which he has … [Read more...] about Keith Olbermann is Clashing with a New Employer Again
The Past Is A Blast. And Everlasting!
She's using a typewriter to write a letter... The letter is to a friend in Spain who sent a postcard -- "apparently people don't send them anymore, either" -- asking for a real letter. She bought the typewriter last summer at Goodwill. "I just love old things... I was surprised that the ribbon is still good." Note the paper dictionary she must use to find the correct … [Read more...] about The Past Is A Blast. And Everlasting!
Anyone-But-Romney Sweepstakes Survivors
Parsing Iowa results is like trying to solve the old riddle of why French intellectuals loved screwball comic Jerry Lewis, critics gave “The Nutty Professor” their Oscar and the government showered him with honors. In the world of slapstick, you never know which way the croissant will crumble and, post-Iowa, Michele Bachmann is gone, Rick Perry has his foot on a banana peel … [Read more...] about Anyone-But-Romney Sweepstakes Survivors
The Rick Santorum That America Doesn’t Know
SANTORUM AFTER HIS 2006 DEFEAT It matters not that Rick Santorum, who is the right-wing Republican flavor of the moment, doesn't stand a chance of becoming the GOP presidential nominee let alone beating Barack Obama. What matter is that Santorum has never gotten the kind of scrutiny that he deserves with the exception of one reporter working for one newspaper. That reporter … [Read more...] about The Rick Santorum That America Doesn’t Know
Book Review: Errol Morris’s ‘Believing Is Seeing: Observations On The Mysteries Of Photography’
Take a look at this photograph taken by Thomas Hoepker from the Brooklyn waterfront on the morning of September 11, 2001. Take a really good look. What are the people saying and thinking as they look away from the burning World Trade Center towers? That it's a lovely morning to go bike riding? That they'll be inconvenienced because they'll have to cancel their dinner … [Read more...] about Book Review: Errol Morris’s ‘Believing Is Seeing: Observations On The Mysteries Of Photography’
Why Great Photographers Make Their Luck
DETAIL OF "MIGRANT MOTHER" Years of lugging around cameras and lenses has convinced me that luck has a central role in outstanding photojournalism. This is because lucks results from years of practice. That is the story behind pioneering photojournalist Dorothea Lange's "Migrant Mother," perhaps the best known rural photograph from the Great Depression of the 1930s. The … [Read more...] about Why Great Photographers Make Their Luck
Newt Gingrich: And His List of Words
Below is the list of negative words Newt proposed be used by potential candidates against their opponents: It is from Newt Gingrich's 1996 GOPAC memo. I remember reading a nearly identical list of negative words in one of his books and wondered why he would broadcast his strategy that then could so easily be boomeranged back on him by his opposition. It's odd now, all … [Read more...] about Newt Gingrich: And His List of Words
How Newt Gingrich Threw It Away
I've often noted that the more people see, listen to and think about Newt Gingrich and his career and ideas, the more they really don't like him. He makes more sense when he isn't high in the polls. And once he's high in the polls, he blows it. Yes, indeed, in Iowa he was obliterated by the mass of attack ads Mitt Romney -- and let's not play the stupid political ballet … [Read more...] about How Newt Gingrich Threw It Away
Democracy vs. Autocracy: 2012 Will Be Critical Year (Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Germany)
Four of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council will see political changes at the top this year - including the United States. According to Stefan Kornelius of Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung, these decisions, out of the hands of most of the world's people, could decide the type of civilization most of us end up living in: some form of democracy or as the Chinese … [Read more...] about Democracy vs. Autocracy: 2012 Will Be Critical Year (Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Germany)