Why is the Republican Establishment Trying to Stop Trump?
For a good while now, we have heard about how the “Republican Establishment” is trying to stop Donald Trump from becoming the Republican nominee for president. The question arises: What is their reason...
View ArticleHow Bernie Should Push His “New York Values” (in the New York Primary)
On April 19, New York will hold its Democratic Primary election. Here's a good move for Bernie to make in his campaign there: declare the "New York values" that his campaign represents, and contrast...
View ArticleShould President Obama "appoint Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court if the...
An op/ed column in Saturday's Washington Post, by an attorney named Gregory L. Diskant, proposes a most interesting idea. The essence of the idea is suggested by the title, "Obama can appoint Merrick...
View ArticleBernie and Hillary, Give Us the Campaign We Need
Your recent squabble — with one questioning whether the other is “qualified to be president” — highlights how you two have not been giving us the kind of campaign that would best serve not just the...
View ArticlePossible Scenarios for the GOP Convention in Cleveland in July
To run in newspapers in my conservative congressional district in Virginia..The current Republican presidential campaign has not only been full of surprises, but it has led to a situation with such a...
View ArticleBernie, It's Not "the Billionaire Class" You Need to Defeat But Its GOP Minions
Dear Senator Sanders,You've done the nation a great service in calling attention to the way Big Money is rigging our politics and our economy.But in focusing so much of your fire at "the billionaire...
View ArticleOne Glimpse of Liberal America's Role in Enabling the Right
Almost everyone knows that the American political system is in bad shape. But way too few seem to understand what’s gone wrong and what is needed to set it right.I assume that readers here understand...
View ArticleIsn’t It Obvious Hillary and Bernie Should Be Campaigning Against the...
Dear Hillary and Bernie,Is there any reason we voters should care which of you is better at lacerating the other when what we need to know is how well you will be able to fight our real opponents after...
View ArticleTrump’s Rise: Not just a Threat but an Opportunity
The rise of Donald Trump means that the American political system, already sick, could be degraded still further. But – if Trump does become the Republican nominee for president, which looks probable...
View ArticleThe GOP and the Constitution: The Grotesque Mismatch Between Walk and Talk
This piece is appearing in newspapers in my conservative congressional District in Virginia.Which party do you think of when you hear the phrase, "defender of the Constitution"? I would wager that...
View ArticleHillary a Superhawk? Maybe Less than Some Think
One of the themes in the critiques of Hillary Clinton that one hears from progressives of an anti-Hillary bent is that she’s a superhawk. The assertion is that, as president, she will pursue the kind...
View ArticleWhat's Bernie Thinking? His Present Strategy Doesn't Make Sense to Me.
I am now perplexed about what Bernie Sanders is doing.I write as someone who would have liked for Bernie to have prevailed over Hillary in the contest for the nomination--but also as one who regards...
View ArticleAn "Intensity Gap": The Nation's Problem Crystallized
This is appearing in newspapers in my conservative congressional district in Virginia.Having spent a decade now trying to understand the sickness degrading America's politics, I watch for developments...
View ArticleLook Away from Trump and See the Bigger Story
It is understandable that, since Donald Trump locked up the Republican nomination for president, we can talk of little else. After all, we've seen nothing like him at center stage of our politics.And...
View ArticleWhat Ryan Is Trying to Do
I just got an email from the DCCC under the subject heading "Ryan embraces Trump."That might be a politically useful way to characterize the situation -- it's useful, I suppose, to show how craven the...
View ArticleHow Obama Can Break the Impasse on the Supreme Court Vacancy
The Republicans are getting away with their disgraceful strategy of blocking the whole constitutional process for filling a Supreme Court vacancy. All signs show that although roughly two-thirds of...
View ArticleThis Precedent Must Not Stand: New Thoughts on the Crisis over the Supreme...
Since posting the piece here two days ago on “How Obama Can Break the Supreme Court Impasse,” 've had two related adventures on the topic.EXECUTING A PLAN ALREADY IN PLACEThe first was purely internal:...
View ArticleWhat Should a Morally Responsible Republican Do Now?
Appearing in newspapers in my conservative congressional District in Virginia.This is not addressed not to those Republicans who think Donald Trump is an appropriate kind of person to be President of...
View ArticleCan Anyone Stop Bernie's Breaking Bad?
Note: I write as one who has supported Bernie from the beginning, and voted for him in the Virginia primary.Various good commentators are noting that Bernie has lately been campaigning in a way that...
View ArticleWhy Trump’s Lies and Transgressions Appeal to His Followers
Donald Trump breaks the rules. For his followers, that’s part of his appeal. Trump specializes in the lie. That, too, draws his followers to him.That’s because Trump’s movement is an appeal to the...
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