Governor Romney was blunt:

We need only look at the experience of some ideologically oriented parties in Europe to realize that chaos can result. Dogmatic ideological parties tend to splinter the political and social fabric of a nation, lead to governmental crises and deadlocks, and stymie the compromises so often...

At his speech to a business group in Nashua, NH, on Monday, Mitt Romney said, "I like being able to fire people who provide services to me."

It was a Gotcha! moment for the press and his Republican opponents, which we will no doubt continue to see and hear for...

At the GOP presidential candidates' debate in Tampa Monday night, Texas Gov. Rick Perry said, "I am always going to err on the side of life."
Perry was speaking about his executive order, later withdrawn, which would have required 12-year-old girls to be injected with

In declaring his presidential candidacy in Charleston, SC, on Saturday, Texas Governor Rick Perry made clear that he is running on his record of 10 years in office.

But an objective look at the state of the State of Texas suggests he would be better off running away from...

In ancient Rome, a condemned citizen might not only lose his life. The Roman Senate could decree that all traces of his worldly existence be expunged. In Latin the term was damnatio memoriae -- condemned from memory. His name would be struck from public scrolls, his statuary likeness...

Like pickpockets at a hanging, Republican politicians exploit public spectacles to distract voters from noticing that someone is lifting their wallets.

Party leaders have been using variations of the same M.O. for more than 40 years:

• Richard Nixon's Southern Strategy got people worked up over uppity blacks.

In a party not lately known for strategic thinkers, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) stands out among Republicans. His is the handsome face the GOP appears to be pushing forward to make it appear that - yes, America - the Republican party recognizes that...

Those of us who are old enough can remember a time when the Republican Party played a constructive role in addressing the nation's problems. The Voting Rights Act of 1965, which put Federal enforcers in the South to ensure that African-Americans could register and vote, passed with greater

Yes, Virginia, there is a 'death panel.' His name is Ken Cuccinelli, the Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Soon after the House of Representatives passed health-care reform legislation, Cuccinelli tweeted: "Well, they did it. Once the president signs it into law, we'll walk...

At a time when right-wingers gabble loosely about secession and revolution, it's worth remembering that our nation experienced a second - necessary and successful - American revolution 45 years ago.

On March 7, 1965, the climactic battle of...

On the night of February 18, 1965, Jimmie Lee Jackson accompanied his mother, Viola Jackson, and his maternal grandfather, Cager Lee, to Zion's Chapel Methodist Church in Marion, the county seat of Perry County in west central Alabama.

Jimmie...

Got health insurance? Think you're sitting pretty? Think again.

Health insurance companies fatten their bottom line not by helping people but by screwing them.

For-profit companies make money three ways:
First, they use medical underwriting, which is industry shorthand for finding ways to reject those applicants most...

Republicans adhere passionately to their Code of Ethics: Do as I say, not as I do.

So, we need to give them a name. A label. A brand. Something that generically identifies the hypocrisy of these politicians who preach biblical fidelity to the masses, castigate those who veer from the...

America's health insurance companies today are talking the talk of universal health care. But "Harry and Louise," the insurance industry ad campaign widely credited with killing the Clinton health care initiative in the 90's, remain among the most skilled and secretive knife fighters when the industry's bottom line...

The Department of Veterans Affairs faces a crucial decision: Will it take on the private insurance companies that have long enjoyed a free ride at the VA's - and taxpayers' - expense? The drive by the Obama administration to move the nation toward universal coverage while reining in health care...

Alexandria, VA--We Alexandrians think of Market Square as the heart of this city of 128,000. Every Saturday, at the farmers' market, we come to buy fruit, vegetables, eggs, meat and prepared foods, especially bread and pasta. In continuous operation since 1753, this may well be the nation's oldest such market....

General Eric Shinseki (US Army, retired) faces two major challenges as the incoming Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) .

First, and above all, he must meet the needs of veterans grievously wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. In its arrogance, the Bush administration ignored Shinseki in 2003...

In the eighteenth century, if the captain of a warship could not identify the nationality of an armed vessel, he might order his crew to fire a cannonball across the other ship's bow. The immediate message was clear: Show your colors. Equally clear was the implied warning: If you reveal...

At seven-thirty this morning I went to the polls two blocks from my house. I had voted two weeks before, but I wanted to observe the activity in my stretch of the city. I saw a neighbor in the front of the line, just short of entering the...

Alexandria, Virginia--For the past week, I have been a small cog in the rather large wheel of the Obama Ground Game that is stealthily rolling across the northern stretch of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Just across the Potomac River from Washington, DC, Alexandria, with a population of 140,000, has long...