 | What America will we pick? Oct 26th 2012, 00:04 This election is only tangentially a fight over policy. It is also a fight about meaning and identity — and that's one reason voters are so polarized. It's about who we are and who we aspire to be. President Obama enters the final days of the campaign with a substantial lead among women — about 11 points, according to the latest Washington Post/ABC News poll — and enormous leads among Latinos and African Americans, the nation's two largest minority groups. Mitt Romney leads among white voters, with an incredible 2-to-1 advantage among white men. Read full article >>   | | Intervening in Syria the right way Oct 26th 2012, 00:02 PARIS Successful military interventions are sufficiently rare as to induce utmost caution when contemplating the use of force in Syria, a country as populous as Iraq or Afghanistan and no less divided along religious and ethnic lines. Yet the legal, political, strategic and military conditions for an international operation are being fulfilled, which is in turn creating an opportunity to bring down Bashar al-Assad's bloody dictatorship and its regionally destabilizing repression. Read full article >>   | | Candidates' deafening silence on gun violence Oct 26th 2012, 00:02 This summer, I almost died when a man with several guns opened fire on a packed movie theater audience at the midnight premiere of "The Dark Knight Rises." I had stopped in Aurora, Colo., for the night with my best friend. We were on a cross-country bicycling tour of America's heartland and had already covered 2,750 miles through 10 states. Countless strangers along the way had offered us food, housing, money and, in one case, a salsa-dancing night held in our honor. Aside from a few careless drivers, not a single person ever came close to harming us. Read full article >>   | | Still hopeful for a debt deal Oct 26th 2012, 00:00 Betting on Congress to do something — anything — is, as Samuel Johnson said of second marriages, the triumph of hope over experience. Betting on a lame-duck Congress to do anything of consequence is even more foolhardy. Read full article >>   | | An appeal to America's heart Oct 25th 2012, 23:56 The last days of the 2012 presidential election are a study in contrasts. Barack Obama has chosen to end his final campaign with an appeal both sour and small — Big Bird, binders and Romnesia. It is little wonder that Mitt Romney's personal favorability rating now exceeds the president's. Obama's closing message is remarkable for its aggression, mocking tone and sheer triviality. Read full article >>   | | Hurricane Sandy's path to 'WORST CASE SCENARIO' Oct 25th 2012, 23:42 The debates are over, the campaigns are hugging their talking points and the polls are moving in micro-increments. In other words, it's an ideal time for some other news story to sweep in and wash the almost-over presidential campaign to the side for a few days. Read full article >>   | | Snark debased the final debate Oct 25th 2012, 21:42 Frankly, I've heard quite enough of the "horses and bayonets" phrase that was first uttered during the third presidential debate, but I'll join the throng of repeaters long enough to commend Kathleen Parker for her insight ["Peace through strength," op-ed, Oct. 24]: "Rather than correct Romney's figures [about the number of ships in the Navy], Obama treated him like a child." Read full article >> | | Oct 25th 2012, 21:42 If accidents are down on Interstate 295 in the District, it could be due to fewer cars on that road. I stopped using I-295 after a speed-camera ticket prompted me to examine the speed limit signs more closely. Read full article >> | | Oct 25th 2012, 21:42 I share the frustration of many drivers over the aggressive use of speed cameras in places such as the District. My suggestion: Call the bluff of D.C. authorities when they claim the cameras exist to promote safety, not generate revenue. Read full article >> | | Jennifer Rubin: Ohio's a dead heat. Now what about Pennsylvania? Maine? Oct 25th 2012, 21:27 The Romney campaign put out a memo confirming what Right Turn has reported over the last week: Republicans believe Ohio is a dead heat. Its reasoning is simple: "Rasmussen this week showed it tied at 48%, Suffolk tied at 47%, and Angus-Reid tied at 48%. Our view is that the race is a dead heat with Romney on an unmistakable upward track. Other public polling continues to vastly overstate Democrat partisan advantages in Ohio. For example, the Time Magazine poll this week shows a nine-point advantage for Democrats in party identification, which would be a stronger Democratic turnout than in either of the last two presidential campaigns in the state." Read full article >>   | | Alexandra Petri: Obama calls Romney a 'bulls***er' Oct 25th 2012, 20:27 Quoted in an extensive interview with Rolling Stone, President Obama used the word "bull[crapper]" to describe "the other guy." Mike Allen at Politico quoted from the Brinkley piece: "We arrived at the Oval Office for our 45-minute interview . . . on the morning of October 11th. . . . As we left the Oval Office, executive editor Eric Bates told Obama that he had asked his six-year-old if there was anything she wanted him to say to the president. . . . [S]he said, 'Tell him: You can do it.' Obama grinned. . . . 'You know, kids have good instincts,' Obama offered. 'They look at the other guy and say, 'Well, that's a bullshitter, I can tell.' " Read full article >>   | | Jennifer Rubin: Obama depresses his electorate Oct 25th 2012, 18:31 It is almost as if the president set out to run the dreariest, least inspiring campaign possible. No agenda (other than a belated brochure that looks like a glossy college marketing catalogue). Snarky insults, rotten debate performances (listless or rude) and incessant trivialization of the campaign and the office. His juvenile rhetoric and contempt for voters' common sense (they'll believe Romney is "pro-rape"!) degenerates day by day. It's not surprising that in a Rolling Stone magazine interview (no "Meet the Press" for him) he referred to Mitt Romney as a "bull*****er." It is like he is daring sincere Democrats not to vote for him. He sure isn't making the case that he can work with anyone. Read full article >>   | | Was Susan Rice set up on Libya? Oct 25th 2012, 18:27 U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice has been pretty low-key over the past three years. With Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's personal appeal, strong personality and extensive relationships in Washington, there hasn't been much opportunity for Rice to make her mark. Her opportunities to appear on Sunday news shows have been pretty rare. Read full article >>   | | Alexandra Petri: The necessary weirdness of Obama appearing on Leno Oct 25th 2012, 17:48 Kings had it easy. All they had to do was cure scrofula with their touch. The presidency makes more unreasonable demands. It's not simply the hours of jet travel, the endless strings of babies being handed to you to soothe with your presence, the insistence that you eat whatever bizarre local delicacy is on offer — and like it. Candidates for the nation's highest office have to do the equivalent of leaping through a ring of fire with a live opossum clutched in their arms in order to earn the right to be the person taken most seriously in any given room. Read full article >>   | | Greg Sargent: Mitt Romney goes mum on Mourdock mess Oct 25th 2012, 17:38 Mitt Romney is under increasing pressure today to further distance himself from Richard Mourdock after the Indiana GOP Senate candidate's remarks about rape and God created a national firestorm. Yet according to various reports, the Romney camp has gone silent on the matter, and there are no public indications that this is going to change. Read full article >>   | |
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