Terry Connelly

Dean emeritus, Ageno School of Business - Golden Gate University

Although this sort of Washington summer may be just as unpleasant for the country as DC humidity, it could be a boon for the economy, at least under the Hippocratic principle of "First, do no harm."

Rev. Chuck Currie

United Church of Christ minister

"Star Trek Into Darkness" does what Star Trek has always done best: holds up a mirror to the United States and asks, "Are we the moral people we want to be?"

Ian Reifowitz

Author of 'Obama’s America: A Transformative Vision of Our National Identity'

Say what? "Benghazi. The IRS. AP phone records. The failures for which Barack Obama will be remembered are not just those of one man or one administr...

Geoffrey R. Stone

Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor of Law, University of Chicago

I am a card-carrying member of the ACLU, a strong proponent of press freedom and a staunch believer in both a robust First Amendment and a vibrant Fourth Amendment. But I also care about rational public discourse, and the furious condemnation of the Department of Justice in this situation is way over the top.

Brad Friedman and Desi Doyen

Co-hosts of the radio's nationally syndicated 'Green News Report'

TWITTER: @GreenNewsReport FACEBOOK: Green News Report The 'GNR' is also now available on your cell phone via ...

David Bromwich

Professor of Literature at Yale

Three scandals have converged in the past week to preoccupy Congress and the press. Benghazi was the first to come, and it has surprised by its staying power. The abuse of power by the IRS may be, in the long run, the most damaging of these cases for the Obama presidency, but its outlines are only beginning to emerge. But the ugliest of the scandals has come from the revelation of the justice department's seizure of two months of phone calls by 100 AP reporters. This was done to investigate the leak of a thwarted terrorist plot which the government itself had already decided to disclose in public. Different as they are, the scandals all point to a single disorder that afflicts the Obama White House and the Holder justice department. The name of the disorder is paternalism, and its leading symptoms are suppression and secrecy.

Jeffrey Laurenti

Senior Fellow, The Century Foundation

As pressures mount in Washington for a more aggressive American involvement on behalf of at least some rebel groups in Syria, President Obama has seemed intent on proving the Nobel committee was farsighted in awarding him its peace prize four years ago.

Lincoln Mitchell

Harriman Institute, Columbia University

The news this week about the DOJ looking at the phone logs of journalists covering the White House, and of the IRS scrutinizing the tax returns of various right-wing groups, is bad for the Obama administration. They are also much more likely to stick than the Benghazi story.

Eric Alterman

Distinguished Professor of English, Brooklyn College, City University of New York

If we take the word "Watergate" to mean what nearly everyone has understood it to mean for the past four decades, then it becomes rather difficult to justify even mentioning Watergate and Benghazi in the same sentence.

Bob Cesca

Political Writer, Host of The Bob & Chez Show

The congressional Republicans are outraged by the IRS story, but they haven't been able to scramble to the floor of the House quickly enough to target left-leaning groups.

Mark Weisbrot

Co-director, Center for Economic and Policy Research, Washington, D.C.

When our government tells us such an agreement will create jobs in the U.S., they are saying that the agreement will increase our exports faster than imports.

Lester & Charlie

Political satirists

Not since New Coke have we as a nation seen a disaster that both sides of the aisle can agree on. America is now unanimously and officially outraged that the IRS would have the audacity to target political groups -- groups that publicly despise taxes and call for the end of the IRS.

David_Goldstein

Mediator

China has recently overtaken the United States as the world's highest carbon emitter. Of course, for any solution to be effective, not only the United States, not only China, but the entire world must get on board.

Robert Reich

Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy, University of California at Berkeley; Author, 'Beyond Outrage'

Six months into a second term and the Obama White House is on the defensive and floundering: Benghazi, the IRS's investigations of right-wing groups, the Justice Department's snooping into journalists' phone records, Obamacare behind schedule, the Administration's push for gun control ending in failure.

Jonathan Richards

Cartoonist

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Ken Blackwell

Fellow of The National Academy of Public Administration and the Family Research Council

John F. Kennedy as a candidate liked to tweak his opponent, Richard Nixon. When the Wall Street Journal criticized Republican Nixon, Kennedy jumped on...