A handful of articles that I read recently have caused me to worry about how we are conducting our politics in the first decade of the 21st century. These pieces illustrate how the right and the extreme left are degrading the way we communicate with citizens in our democracy.

The...

For 60 years, liberals have had the unenviable task of defending our loyalty and patriotism from right-wing attack dogs who claim that we hate America. In the Jewish community, we have witnessed a parallel phenomenon. Too often, those with dovish political views toward Israel have had to defend their stances...

Last week, President Barack Obama opted to boycott the United Nations Conference against racism in Geneva (also know as Durban II) set to take place in April of this year. The Obama administration made clear to the Islamic nations driving the Durban II agenda that as long as the...

Today, I learned that CBS News named Jeff Ballabon, a New York Republican activist, to serve as the Senior Vice President of Communications.

What is CBS thinking? This guy is very far out there with his partisan rhetoric.

A decade ago, I debated Ballabon in New York....

One of the more fascinating spectator sports in recent weeks has been watching the behavior of the Republican apparatchik class as it sounds off on President Barack Obama's economic recovery package. A good example of this "frothing at the mouth" reaction is a February 5, 2009 blog penned by...

At the House GOP retreat this weekend Minority Whip Eric Cantor made the following crack about Health and Human Services designee, Tom Daschle.

"It's easier for the other side to advocate for higher taxes because you know what?"... "They don't pay 'em!"

In 2003, Representative Cantor...

The Republican National Committee's (RNC) selection of Michael Steele as RNC Chairman has elicited a wave of positive reaction from political pundits. Republicans, as could be expected, praised the pick; Democrats and progressives reluctantly agreed that the Steele victory was good news for the GOP. No one denies Steele's oratory...

On "Hannity & Colmes" Ann Coulter revealed that she will appear on NBC's "Today" show on January 6, 2009 to promote her newest book, "Guilty: Liberal 'Victims' and Their Assault on America." Once again, a respectable, mainstream outlet is giving legitimacy to an unreasonable and highly offensive "commentator"...

As the clock ticks down to November 4th, polls of the nationwide constituency and polls targeting American Jews predict a disastrous loss for the McCain-Palin ticket. In response, some Republican Jewish activists are scraping the bottom of the barrel to find a few more ways to smear Senator Barack...

It is hard to believe that Election Day 2008 is only days away. There has never been an election where the focus on the Jewish vote has been as intense and where the emotions within the community have run so high.

Yet for all the emotion and heated rhetoric,...

The 2008 presidential campaign will be remembered as a year in which the McCain campaign and its GOP supporters reached new depths of cynicism when attacking the candidacies of Senators Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Yet in this year of sleazy campaign tactics, (see the McCain's campaign claim that...

There is a great deal of information and rumors circulating throughout the Internet and the mainstream media concerning Governor Sarah Palin. The Jewish community deserves to know the facts. Is Senator John McCain's pick for Vice President a reformer or a pork barrel spender? Is Palin a maverick or a...

The John McCain derogatory hit squad is at it again. All they know how to do is to sling mud, falsify records and go negative -- no matter how ridiculous the charge.

They are reduced to such absurd tactics because they know that for Jewish voters the issues that matter...

Political pundits and Republicans are abuzz with talk that Senator John McCain (R-AZ) may name Representative Eric Cantor (R-VA) as his choice for Vice President. Although Cantor is Jewish he is wildly out of step with the Jewish community's values. Here are the top ten reasons Cantor is out...

Yesterday's political hit piece by the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) is an egregious example of the worst kind of cut and paste smear. In the RJC's press release, they pulled Senator Barack Obama's quote totally out of context and ignored the rest of the statement. Unfortunately, these kind of...

Yesterday, I wrote an op-ed for the Jerusalem Post to respond to the irrational attacks of Senator Barack Obama's critics. In the continuing smear and fear campaign being waged by Senator John McCain and his allies. My op-ed, titled, "The irrationality of Obama's critics," is in a direct response...