Outside the Beltway

In just over a decade, America has gone from a bipartisan consensus that torture and brutality are bad to a bipartisan consensus that they’re necessary.

Opposition to marriage equality is no longer the wedge issue it used to be.

Calls are coming from both sides of the aisle for the U.S. to do “something” about the situation in Libya. It would be better if we didn’t get involved.

The repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is a sign that the political ground is shifting. Will the GOP take notice?

Are Marco Rubio, Haley Barbour, and Mike Huckabee the favorites to win the White House?

Don Surber imagines this edition of “Hardball.”

The namesake of “Sarah Palin’s Alaska” is no hunter, no matter what she might pretend.

The prospective Republican field for 2012 is dismal. Then again, it always is.

George W. Bush’s new memoir reveals that he briefly considered replaced Dick Cheney as Vice-President before the 2004 elections. His decision not to do so reveals much about the relationship between Presidents and Vice-Presidents in modern American politics.

Robert Gates says he wants to retire next year, but will the call of duty cause him to stay longer ?

The First Family can go on vacation, but politics never does.

What impact will Judge Walker’s decision on Proposition 8 have on politics in 2010 and beyond ?

Biden got hammered by the FEC for violating campaign finance rules. A big fining deal?

One conservative argues that the “scandal” over the New Black Panther Party’s alleged voter intimidation is a tempest in a teapot.

Should Obama waive restrictions on international shipping, as Bush did during Katrina? It’s more complicated than you may think.