Online Journal of Politics and Foreign Affairs
Just three years after Californians narrowly approved Proposition 8, public opinion in the Golden State on the issue of gay marriage has changed dramatically: A new poll shows gay marriage has arrived in California – in public opinion if not in state lawbooks. Golden State registered voters now favor same-sex unions by 59 percent to [...]
Three weeks after announcing that he was not running, former Senator Bob Kerrey has apparently changed his mind and will now be running to replace Ben Nelson in the Senate: Bob Kerrey is coming back. The former Nebraska governor announced today that he would run for U.S. Senate, setting the stage for a competitive election [...]
Franklin Graham is apologizing for his remarks last week questioning the President’s faith: WASHINGTON (RNS) Evangelist Franklin Graham apologized Tuesday (Feb. 28) to President Obama for questioning his Christian faith and said religion has “nothing to do” with Graham’s decision not to support Obama’s re-election. Graham’s apology came after a group of prominent black religious [...]
Jonathan Chait notes Olympia Snowe’s reference to a “vital need for the political center in order for our democracy to flourish” and “unique opportunities to build support for that change from outside the United States Senate” in yesterday’s retirement announcement. Additionally, he adds, “it may not be coincidental that David Boren, the former Democratic senator [...]
Worried the GOP might eliminate the filibuster if they gain control of the Senate? Don’t be.
Playing a game that we’ve seen from them before, the North Korean regime is apparently giving in a little on their nuclear program in exchange for desperately needed food aid: WASHINGTON — North Korea agreed to suspend nuclear weapons tests and uranium enrichment and allow international inspectors to monitor activities at its main nuclear complex, [...]
Looking through the exit polling from Michigan and Arizona, there’s one fact that stood out to me. In both states, Rick Santorum, who has made his Catholicism and his positions on culture war issues like contraception part of his campaign for weeks now, lost the Catholic vote to a Mormon. In Michigan, Catholics went for [...]
Romney eked out a win in the Michigan primary. He’s going to have a harder time there in November.
Rick Santorum’s inability to stay away from the culture wars may have been his undoing.
After a week in which the polls seemed to suggest the possibility of disaster, Mitt Romney managed to pull off a victory in Michigan: Mitt Romney won the Michigan Republican primary on Tuesday, beating back a tough challenge by Rick Santorum in Romney’s birth state. By winning, he grabs momentum going into next week’s Super [...]
To nobody’s surprise, Mitt Romney has won the Arizona Republican Primary: Mitt Romney will win Tuesday’s Arizona primary, CNN projected based on exit polls, and he took an early lead over rival Rick Santorum in Michigan, a key contest in the Republican race for a candidate to run against President Barack Obama in November. The [...]
The future of the Republican race in 2012 is in the balance in the Wolverine State.
Andrew Sullivan highlights a new ad from Vladimir Putin’s campaign: Since it’s in Russian, here’s a translation: Allow me to (kinda) translate. A doe-eyed gal goes to a fortune teller, who kittenishly divulges: “We’ll find out, little beauty, who fate has in store for you.” “You know, I hope it’s for love.” Blink-blink-blink. “It’s my… first time.” [...]
As we’ve noted here at OTB in several posts over the last week, Rick Santorum has been in the news lately for saying that the President is a snob for saying that everyone should go to college. Politifact took a look at the matter, reviewing nearly 20 Presidential speeches and remarks over the past three [...]
Rick Santorum has come up with a new theory for the economic crisis that sent the world into the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression: LANSING, Michigan—Rick Santorum sharpened his attack on President Barack Obama over rising gas prices, saying high energy prices caused the 2008 recession. “We went into a recession in 2008 [...]
A discussion in the comments thread of my “Time Running Out For GOP?” post led me to a post from four-plus years ago by frequent commenter and erstwhile blogger* Michael Reynolds titled “Money, Bombs and Jesus.”
There’s some really odd things going on in New Mexico: Two city officials in Sunland Park, New Mexico were arrested on extortion charges after they allegedly tried to blackmail a political opponent by sending a stripper to his office and secretly videotaping the encounter. Sunland Park Mayor Pro Tem Daniel Salinas and City Manager Jaime [...]
The Pentagon has released the name of the US Army National Guard major murdered in an Afghan ministry this weekend.
Rick Santorum’s views on the role of religion in public life are built on lies about American history.
2012 may be the last chance for the current Republican Party to win the White House.
I’ll say this much for Mitt Romney, he’s got one amazing memory: DETROIT—When Mitt Romney regaled a Michigan audience this week with childhood memories of a landmark moment in Detroit history, it was a rare instance of emotional candour. And, perhaps, an even rarer example of time travel. Romney recalled he was “probably 4 or [...]
On Thursday March 1st, Google’s new privacy policies, which will result in the sharing of user data across all Google-owned sites. While I personally don’t see what the big deal about it is, some people have been up in arms about it. So, if you’re concerned, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has detailed instructions on removing [...]
A remarkable and potentially groundbreaking development in the field of biology: Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital say they have extracted stem cells from human ovaries and made them generate egg cells. The advance, if confirmed, might provide a new source of eggs for treating infertility, though scientists say it is far too early to tell [...]
President Obama’s health care reforms are not winning him fans in the swing states. USA Today (“Swing states poll: Health care law hurts Obama in 2012“): The health care overhaul that President Obama intended to be the signature achievement of his first term instead has become a significant problem in his bid for a second [...]
Some while back, we installed a plugin that allowed limited editing of comments after posting. Alas, that plugin is not compatible with more recent versions of WordPress, our blog software, and there do not appear to be any forthcoming updates to said plugin. Nor do there appear to be other plugins available that perform the [...]
While the race in Michigan is neck-and-neck, the same cannot be said for the tomorrow’s Arizona Primary: Mitt Romney is headed for an overwhelming victory in Arizona’s primary on Tuesday. He’s at 43% to 26% for Rick Santorum, 18% for Newt Gingrich, and 11% for Ron Paul. You can make a fair argument that Romney’s [...]
With less than twenty-four hours of campaigning left, the race in Michigan looks to be heading down to the wire: Mitt Romney’s taken a small lead over Rick Santorum in PPP’s newest Michigan poll. He’s at 39% to 37% for Santorum, 13% for Ron Paul, and 9% for Newt Gingrich. Compared to a week ago [...]
Adam Winkler writes what can only be described as a “what the frak?” column: Clarence Thomas Is a Long Shot for President, But His Candidacy Makes a Lot of Sense. Surely, the piece is a misguided attempt at humor? The piece deserves, perhaps, a fuller treatment than this, but I don’t have the time. At [...]
Via CBS News: Asked by a reporter from the Associated Press about whether or not he follows NASCAR, Romney reportedly responded "Not as closely as some of the most ardent fans," he said, continuing, "But I have some friends who are NASCAR team owners." See? He’s just reg’lar folk. h/t: Taegan Goddard.
Romney has recaptured a slight lead (31-29) over Santorum in the latest Gallup tracking poll. More significantly, the trends suggest that Santorum peaked too soon and that the direction is Romney-ish going into this week’s contests.
Rick Santorum is at the front of a brigade that wants to re-fight the sexual revolution. They’ll lose.
Via the BBC: Brazil wants more IMF power for extra eurozone funds Brazil has said that developing nations would be happy to provide more money to ease the eurozone’s debt crisis, in return for more power within the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Anyone with any knowledge of the 1980s (and later, for that matter) will [...]
The latest round of protests in Afghanistan prove yet again that it’s time for us to leave.
There’s an entire industry that profits from exploiting political controversy and division. Why do we let them get away with it?
There’s an odd little bill making its way through the Wyoming legislature: CHEYENNE — State representatives on Friday advanced legislation to launch a study into what Wyoming should do in the event of a complete economic or political collapse in the United States. House Bill 85 passed on first reading by a voice vote. It [...]
Via the BBC (Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez heads to Cuba for more surgery): “Mr Chavez, 57, is expected to undergo an operation on a lesion which he says is probably malignant.” Why Cuba, one might ask? I think that Greg Weeks provided the basic answer earlier this week: The Hugo Chávez saga keeps chugging along. He [...]
A man who has three degrees from three public universities considers the President of the United States a “snob.”
John Hinckley Jr. has image problems: WASHINGTON — The man who tried to kill President Ronald Reagan more than 30 years ago said he would like to be known as something other than a would-be assassin. John Hinckley made the statement to a doctor who interviewed him in the past year at a Washington mental [...]
An important vindication of the right against self-incrimination.
Kevin Drum reports on some changes at Mother Jones: Raw Data: How Registration Affects Comments. Two data points: 22% decrease in total comments and 45% decrease in comments needing deletion. Interesting. The other thing, however, that was key: allowing people to login via Facebook or Twitter, as that makes “registration” painless.
