Love him or hate him -- and plenty of people did both -- former New York Mayor Ed Koch deserved better than he got from The New York Times on Friday. So did we.

By mid-afternoon, the Times had made at least three revisions to Koch's obit, ...

I owe Jodie Foster's family an apology. Like a lot of people and virtually all the media last night and this morning, I missed the real significance of what happened at the Golden Globes.

It wasn't that Jodie Foster came out. That was all settled five years ago, at a...

Tuesday was huge for lesbian and gay Americans -- and for any citizen who believes that this country is always moving upward to a more perfect union.

The closest thing we've ever had to a national election involving full citizenship for lesbian and gay Americans went off remarkably, though...

Scott Brown may be the best-looking guy running for office anywhere in the country. He's got a compelling personal story rooted in economic hardships he overcame with a cum laude degree from an elite university and a JD from Boston College.

He's also a Republican with a...

He's FED UP! and he's come out swinging. He's attacking Barack Obama, Mitt Romney, Social Security and Medicare, anyone who is anti-business or anti-Jesus, and now -- Ben Bernanke.

The national press loves...

Yep. Monday night belonged to Michele Bachmann.

Let's be clear: If history is any indication, the Republicans are not going to nominate "a maverick" for president. The party has its share of them at the state and Congressional levels, but I'm talking about a presidential nominee who's a true outsider...

The challenge with writing about Fred Phelps, frankly, is suppressing the urge to urp.

Phelps and his hateful clan spent this weekend in West Virginia taunting innocent families whose fathers, brothers and sons were buried alive in the Upper Big Branch mine disaster. The last four...

I'm wondering what it's going to take for my former colleagues in the Texas press corps to call out Rick Perry for using the term "socialism" over-and-over to describe the insurance reform Congress passed last week.

Either Perry and reporters covering him don't know...

Mr. President:

It's my humble privilege as a citizen with my own place in American history to write to you as you're about to make the most important decision of your presidency. I'm referring to more than a single issue here, Mr. President. I'm talking about the course you are...

The whole mess at Texas Tech involving head coach Mike Leach and Adam James, son of ESPN college football analyst Craig James, is just sort of dark and odd.

We know Leach is quirky. We know he can be crude and sexist. It's...

We're really in trouble if Barack Obama thinks his road to the pantheon of presidential history is getting Joe Lieberman to giggle again.

You know, the Lieberman who campaigned against Obama in 2008. The Lieberman who lost his own Democratic primary then waged an independent campaign...

The defining moment in my adult life came inconveniently about six months after I got the first big break in my journalism career. At least it seemed so at the time.

"You ought to look at our (pro-gay) position papers on gays and lesbians, if you want to see something...

Turns out -- to my relief -- my gut reaction to a Houston TV story (picked up by CNN) last week that blasted the Texas attorney general for saddling rape victims "across Texas" with outrageous bills for police investigations in their cases was on target.

I should...

Journalists occasionally shine light on a public policy that is so disgusting it literally stuns you - just takes your breath away and leaves you speechless.

Your first thought is they've made a mistake. Or this is ratings hype. It can't be true.

After the initial shock wears...

I've had enough of Rick Perry.

At least the Perry who stood on the steps of the Texas Capitol today bashing our federal government and talking openly about Texas seceding from the United States.

This isn't the Perry I knew 25 years ago, when he first ran for...

Pardon my excess here, but occasionally I just lose it. Someone needs to tell Pope Joseph Ratzinger to stop the demagoguery or abort this trip to Africa.

His statement Tuesday, reported as a virtual Papal pronouncement -- that condoms actually increase the spread of HIV -- is frankly unconscionable....

The scene that hugs my heart each time a new president is sworn-in, is generally eclipsed by the pomp and circumstance of the parade and the swearing-in at the Capitol.

It typically lasts about five minutes, and it's treated like an afterthought by the media and celebrants trying to capture...

Let's talk hope for a minute.

Barack Obama seized the word "hope" this year, but back in 1977 my first political hero gave a big speech about it out in California. His name was Harvey Milk, and there is a film about him right now every American...

Enough.

I don't have anything against Caroline Kennedy, though I sort of hate to see her get into electoral politics.

I was in second grade when her father was assassinated about two hours from my home in North Texas, and I always thought of her as keeper of something...

As I watch John McCain's presidential campaign degenerate into a dark, disgraceful display of veiled racism unworthy of the hero who suffered in Vietnam, I'm reminded of the late J.J. "Jake" Pickle, the venerable congressman who represented Central Texas from 1963 to 1995, and a story he once told...