Outside the Beltway

In retrospect, and in comparison with other recent Presidents, George Herbert Walker Bush’s four years in office were pretty darn good.

Americans are skeptical about getting involved in the Ukraine crisis. This isn’t a surprise.

Some on the American right have a very odd view of both Nelson Mandela and the Apartheid regime he fought against.

There are many choices in dealing with Iran’s nuclear program there are many choices, but some are better than others.

Conservatives have their own Kennedy myth to compete with the myth of Camelot.

Bill Clark, who served as National Security Advisor and Interior Secretary under Ronald Reagan, has died at 81.

Military coups used to be far more common than they are today.

Providing a little context for Pope Francis’ background+Erick Erickson needs to learn a little history.

The anti-communist icon is once again in hot water for making idiotic comments.

President Obama easily won re-election last night, carrying virtually all of the battleground states. Meanwhile, abortion, gay marriage, and recreational marijuana also won big.

Afghanistan was a much different place half a century ago.

Americans Elect is dead. This should surprise nobody.

Does the Romney campaign know the USSR doesn’t exist anymore? Of course they do, but the language they use still means something.

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.”

Maggie Gallagher’s anti-gay marriage argument is an example of pure conservative thinking.

He may be praising Ronald Reagan now, but Newt Gingrich was singing a different tune in the 1980s.

With Gingrich surging in the polls, the pundit class has gotten out the long knives.

It’s the 5% versus the 1% moreso than the 99% against the 1%.

Protests at least loosely affiliated with the Occupy Wall Street movement were conducted around the globe yesterday.

Not every 10th anniversary of a horrible surprise attack has been treated the same.

The climate change deniers aren’t going to like what Chris Christie has to say.

160 million girls are “missing” owing to selective abortion and cultural preferences for male children.

The debate format was the biggest loser last night, but there were a few memorable moments in New Hampshire.

As with most of the other issues facing us, our political conversation about climate change and what to do about it basically just involves yelling at each other.

While President Obama has had some amusing gaffes on his trip to London, including getting the year wrong in the guest book and an awkward toast to the Queen, his speech to Parliament today hit all the right notes.

How much of public opinion is about tribal political identification and how much is about the actual policies themselves?

Matt Eckel’s takeaway from my Atlantic piece on How Perpetual War Became U.S. Ideology is that we need a peer competitor.

Can a candidate appealing enough to the base to win the Republican nomination beat Obama?

Examining Levin’s examination of the Constitution, jurisprudence, and property rights.

The blogging of Mark Levin’s magnum opus continues.

Fidel Castro is back in the public eye, but he’s singing a slightly different tune now.