Outside the Beltway

The participants in the debt negotiations are being led by constituencies that have little interest in compromise.

Mitt Romney sought to clarify his pro-life bona fides yesterday. But, will it matter?

Mitt Romney told a group of unemployed Florida voters that he was unemployed, too! It’s being touted as a gaffe on Twitter but appears to be a joke.

Sarah Palin will be heading to yet another important primary state while insisting she isn’t running for President yet. And the press follows her like a lonely puppy.

Herman Cain is getting a lot of attention lately, but will he amount to anything?

At least 128 are dead, with the toll expected to rise, in the flurry of tornadoes that hit Alabama yesterday.

President Obama is suffering in the polls because of high gas prices, but is there really anything he can do about them?

Once again, President Obama has ignored Candidate Obama’s promises to reign in the Presidential powers assumed by George W. Bush.

Obama is visiting Brazil and Chile while American fighting men join the coalition against Libya.

It’s springtime in Washington, when the buds start to grow on the Japanese Cherry trees, and political hacks come out of their holes to criticize the President for golfing.

Wouldn’t we be better off offering besieged rules exile in relative comfort in exchange for graceful exits?

Of the 314 police and firefighter unions in Wisconsin, only four endorsed Scott Walker.

Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak is expected to step down after 17 days of pro-democracy protests.

Al Jazeera English is kicking the butts of the American news networks on the Egypt story. Why?

The American media and Sarah Palin have developed an odd symbiotic relationship, and it’s unlikely to change anytime soon.

It’s Lee-Jackson Day again in Virginia, and, once again, I find myself wondering why the South continues to honor a dishonorable legacy.

One columnist argues that Sarah Palin’s response to the Arizona shootings mark the end of whatever political future she might have had. He’s probably correct.

Jared Loughner could have possibly been stopped, and treated, if someone had said something.

Palin’s infamous “target” poster recycles a theme used by both parties over the years.

I don’t like it when things my allies say are misquoted and attacked; it’s no better when my allies do it.

Anti-Immigrant groups are beginning their assault on the 14th Amendment, but don’t expect it to go anywhere.

Like it or not, the U.S. Constitution has always been a political document, evolving depending on the players on the stage.

The reaction to President Obama’s recent recess appointments provide us with yet another example of bipartisan hypocrisy.

For the first time in 35 years, the Senate may finally be on the verge of reforming the filibuster.

Despite yesterday’s victory for opponents of the Affordable Care Act, the prospects in the Supreme Court are not good.

The weekend arrest of a Columbia University Professor for an apparently consensual act raises some interesting questions about why precisely a specific act should be subject to criminal prosecution.

Did Obama’s tax cut deal demolish the Republican charge that he’s a radical? Not hardly.

If 33 states can muster support to kill a law, how would it have gotten enacted to begin with?

Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley wants to fix the filibuster by making Senators actually filibuster. It’s a good idea.

Cathy Bossi, a U.S. Airways stewardess and cancer survivor, was forced to show her breast implants to TSA agents when her prosthetic implants triggered alarm during a pat-down.

TSA boss John Pistole has offered to give Senators a pat-down search so that they understand the controversial new procedures.

A ten year old case out of Texas raises yet more doubts about the justice of the death penalty.

An NBC analysis shows Tea Party candidates winning only 5 of 10 Senate races and 40 of 130 House races, a success rate of only 32 percent.

Another poll confirms that Sarah Palin continues to be viewed negatively by the majority of American voters, but that doesn’t seem to matter to supporters who seem have a degree of adulation usually reserved for celebrities than serious politicians.