It's not your imagination: Our politics are more polarized than at any point in recent history.
The World Trade Center is again the tallest building in New York one year after the killing of Osama bin Laden and more than 10 years after the attacks that brought them down.
"I have here in my hand a list of 205 communists ..."
It's tough to get quality people to run for political office these days. There's the cult-like polarization, the vicious mudslinging, and the cost to families and finances.
The slaughter of civilians in Sudan goes on with too little attention.
It's not your imagination: Our dysfunctional divided Congress is the least productive and least popular in recent history.
The message of Super Tuesday was clear: Mitt Romney still cannot seal the deal with the conservative base, despite winning six states and outspending his rivals 4-to-1. And while Romney is far ahead of his rivals with 404 delegates collected to date, he needs 740 more to clinch, a process that could take at least until May and possibly go all the way to the convention.
The Vital Center is under siege on Capital Hill. "Congress is now more polarized than at any time since the late 19th century," attests the data-driven blog Vote View.
Mitt Romney is learning that there are costs to an ugly, extended primary fight marked by a rush to the far right. Independent voters get alienated by the extremism.
Beneath Rick Santorum's stunning three-state sweep on Tuesday stands another stubborn sign of dissatisfaction with the status quo: Republican turnout is down.
All presidential primaries matter, but some matter more than most.
We're in the thick of the South Carolina Republican Primary, and all the ugly old stereotypes are being deployed as shorthand for one very beautiful state.
In the run-up to the New Hampshire primary, I wrote a column on the five things to look at while the votes came in. Now we've got the results, and here's how it played out:
New Hampshire is all about the independents. And that's why it's the best test of general election electability.
It has become a great American tradition, an act of small-town civics, an example of direct democracy in action where citizens get to meet presidential candidates multiple times.
Only two Republican presidential candidates will appear on the ballot in Virginia next year, regardless of how many are in the race.
Among the political threats wielded by Donald Trump in his carnival barker quest for the presidency is that if denied the Republican nomination, he would run as an independent.
The wild card in the Iowa caucus is Ron Paul, the libertarian congressman from Texas. As with all wild cards, his place in the top tier of candidates is itself unlikely and his ultimate effect on the Republican presidential nomination is unpredictable. But based on what I saw during my trip to Iowa earlier this month, no one should count Paul out.
The "conservagencia" is starting to give Jon Huntsman a second look. He deserves it. But the stirrings of respect may be too little, too late. Too bad, because he might stand the best chance of beating President Barack Obama.
Confession: I'm a Teddy Roosevelt nerd. And apparently President Obama is as well.
There's an old saying that a lie can go halfway around the world while the truth is putting its boots on -- and in politics, a steady drumbeat of misinformation and mischaracterization can too often shape the national debate.
"It would be an irony of fate if my administration had to deal chiefly with foreign problems," said Woodrow Wilson during his presidential campaign 100 years ago.
The clock is ticking in Washington on the bipartisan super committee, those 12 members of Congress tasked with finding at least $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction by Thanksgiving.
Silly season has begun again. The sideshow is threatening to move into the big tent, and distraction will seem like it's the main event.
Rick Perry is calling for a flat tax to stop his campaign from flatlining. But it might be just what he needs to revive his presidential ambitions. Because a flat tax is not just a big idea; it could prove to be both good politics and good policy.
Our dysfunctional divided Congress finally was able to find some common ground Wednesday, passing long-delayed free-trade bills with South Korea, Panama and Colombia. Together, these treaties promise to increase U.S. exports by more than $12 billion a year while creating more than 300,000 jobs -- good news for our still-sluggish economy and struggling American workers.
Here's one idea that could unite Main Street voters with Occupy Wall Street protesters -- raise taxes only on individuals making more than $1 million a year and use that revenue to pay for President Barack Obama's jobs bill, which is made up of bipartisan policy proposals to get the economy moving again.
Vaclav Havel died Sunday in the Czech Republic he helped build. A few months ago, I wrote an appreciation as a way of marking his 75th birthday. The sentiments, of course, still stand and I'm glad I didn't wait until his death to write it. We have lost a hero of our times, a friend of freedom, who lived his life with integrity and sent forward ripples of hope into the world. He will be missed and remembered.
Gov. Rick Perry unleashed an onslaught against President Obama's Israel policy Tuesday in New York, calling it "moral equivalency," "appeasement," "naive and arrogant, misguided and dangerous."
A day can be a long time in politics, and that was certainly true this past Saturday.
So here's what I learned watching Thursday night's Republican debate:
The center can hold. That's at least part of the big-picture takeaway after the House passed a lopsided if 11th-hour debt ceiling and deficit reduction bill by a refreshingly bipartisan margin of 269 to 161.
As the debt-ceiling deadline ticks closer, conservatives in Congress are fighting among themselves. The civil war is between responsible Republicans and extreme ideologues. The question is whether the collateral damage will include the American economy.
Let me get this straight. The people who have been preaching the most about the dangers of American decline are right now helping to hasten American decline.
There might still be a chance to depolarize the political debate over the debt ceiling and deficit reduction.
As we celebrate Independence Day at the start of a long hot campaign season, it is worth remembering that patriotism is not the same thing as partisanship.
There are three ways to run for president these days.
Strongest lines: No one sound bite dominated the debate, but two gimmicks stuck -- Mitt Romney announcing the Bruins' lead in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup to great applause and Michele Bachmann announcing her candidacy for president on the set.
Really? Another ambitious politician is laid low by personal behavior that would make a drunk frat-boy think twice. What's with these people?
With Mitch Daniels' decision to opt out of the 2012 presidential race, Jon Huntsman is the lone standard-bearer of the center-right in a crowded GOP field.
Across the country, state legislatures are debating redistricting right now. It's a once-a-decade proposition: the opportunity and obligation to redraw political district lines to reflect the latest census.
In response to the increased heat of conspiracy entrepreneurs selling books and seeding presidential campaigns with "birther" theories, President Obama released his long-form birth certificate Wednesday.
Among the political threats wielded by Donald Trump in his carnival barker quest for the presidency is that if denied the Republican nomination, he would run as an independent.
It's great that the government shutdown was stopped just before the midnight deadline. But it's pathetic that it got so far. And the damage done during the bitter and contentious debates is a troubling sign for what lies ahead.
President Obama officially kicked off his re-election campaign today with an early morning e-mail blast to supporters.
Ronald Reagan was shot 30 years ago Wednesday. His grace under fire helped him solidify the support and affection of the American people. It also helped propel his economic policies through a Democratic-controlled Congress and put American politics on a different trajectory.
Two months after the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, talking reasonably about gun policy remains a third rail in American politics.
Washington has been preoccupied with the prospect of a federal government shutdown. Protesters from the Tea Party to the pro-union Wisconsin activists disproportionately dominate our debates. We cover the political car crash but not the constructive conversation.
Overreach and backlash: They are the prime drivers of politics in our time, pushing the pendulum swing back and forth between the parties faster and faster.
The newly elected executive began implementing his campaign platform in a tough economic environment.
The Conservative Political Action Conference's annual Washington convention this week is not where you'd expect to find a new front in the gay civil rights movement. But that's going to be the story this week at CPAC.
Politics is history in the present tense. And this week has been crowded with historic anniversaries that should adjust our expectations upward when it comes to the dark carnival of contemporary politics.
In the wake of the Tucson tragedy, even calls for civility are being politicized.
Last week, South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint argued that the Senate should not approve the new START agreement with Russia because it might force senators to work over Christmas, thus showing insensitivity to the Christian faithful.
Compromise has come to Washington, and the all-or-nothing activists on either side are not happy.
The fault lines beneath the Democratic Party have been rumbling between the left and the center. Now with President Obama's compromise on the Bush taxes, they threaten to erupt entirely.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski's win should be a wake-up call for the Republican Party.
Americans have voted for divided government roughly two-thirds of the time over the past half-century, and this year was no exception.
Keith Olbermann's suspension for making political contributions to three Democratic candidates is just the latest example of the problems that come with the rise of partisan media.
At the end of a bitter political season too often hijacked by the extremes, the Rally to Restore Sanity was a heartening reaffirmation of American humor, smarts and civility.
With the election just days away, most Americans disapprove of both Democrats and Republicans in Congress, while 58 percent of our fellow citizens say it's time for a third party.
Carl Paladino's anti-gay statements at a Brooklyn synagogue Sunday didn't surprise me -- New York's GOP nominee for governor is a gaffe machine constantly on the verge of careening out of control.
If you're angry at Washington politics, you're not alone. But if you're only angry at one party, you're missing the point.
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