If you have something to say...
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If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
The Blog
We repeatedly express surprise when this unilateral power is used and are quick to decry the lack of principle behind some uses of the pardon power. Yet we never ask how a candidate would use the pardon power during the election cycle?
The most serious problem facing the Republican Party is that they have backed themselves into the corner of being a party whose base, and to a large extent, entire electorate is white and born before about 1960.
When Haley Barbour gave out 215 pardons a few weeks back, the relatives of victims immediately contacted the media to share their outrage. The media seem to have completely ignored the reality that the real problem is systematic.
There is a great deal of fodder for criticism in Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour's recent mass pardons -- but not a lot of discussion on his Christian rehabilitation justification.
The last 30 years of sentencing policy may provide an answer. Getting "tough on crime" became popular among the public and politicians alike. We rejected the notion that a criminal could be rehabilitated.
The lesson in all this is clear: The GOP played with fire, and they are getting their hands burned. They unleashed a monster they hoped to turn against Democrats, but it has turned on them first.
An election-eve poll showed that if the presidential election were held today, the Buckeye State would give President Obama an 11-point victory over his nearest Republican opponent, Mitt Romney.
Conventional wisdom pushers and the Beltway chattering class have been scrambling to explain the crushing defeat Republicans suffered in last night's off-year election. To hear them spin it, Republicans lost because they "overreached." Ridiculous.
For a glimpse into a Republican Religious Right wishlist, check out Amendment 26, in Mississippi.
Anti-choice extremists never take their eye off the prize: making abortion illegal in the United States. Right now, they have their sights set on Mississippi.
As Mississippi Republicans back away from the personhood ballot initiative that would restrict reproductive rights in the state, Mitt Romney's position on this national issue looks increasingly out-of-touch with a majority of voters.
Republican presidential straw polls are supposed to test the direction of that party's leading windbags. But what to do when there is no direction? A slew of these polls have so far produced results that reflect few votes and no trends.
Where in the world do at least seven people participate in a brutal and fatal sectarian attack against an innocent working man whose only crime is to be part of a targeted minority? Welcome to 21st century Mississippi.
Huntsman's record shows that, faced with the reality that he must appeal to the increasingly far right Republican base, he is quickly trying to jettison formerly held "moderate" positions.
Mary Matalin and Ron Reagan discuss why Romney isn't doing better and whether Palin could do any worse. Plus there's strong disagreement over global warming and Germany's nuclear punt.
