Not all of the snipers targeting U.S. military personnel are in caves or perched on cliffs in Afghanistan. Some are right here in America, planting stories instead of explosives. Their mission: to destroy the military's moral backbone. On Oct. 28, unnamed "sources" claimed to the Associated Press that a survey conducted by the military over ending the ban on homosexuality reveals that most soldiers are thrilled with the idea. Sure they are.
In the immediate wake of the elections, there's a growing perception that as the novelty wore off and the romance faded, the president proved himself as inept at campaigning (at least for others) as he has been at governing.
All of the discussion of how the newly empowered Republicans in Congress will interface with the newly empowered Tea Party has overlooked one issue that could prove more fundamental than all of the others. The Tea Party clearly wishes to seize the opening provided by the recent elections to advance many of its supporters' views of the proper constitutional role of the federal government. Certainly conservatives in 1964, 1980 and 1994 also protested the extent to which the federal government had overreached its original constitutional bounds. However, in the Tea Party universe, constitutional concerns now seem to occupy a more visible position than for its predecessors.
Say this much for Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson: They understand that Washington's fiscal policy is putting us on a path to economic disaster. The co-chairmen of the president's National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform know that unless we want to follow the likes of Greece or France, we need to get to work.
The Tea Party's influence on the direction of Senate Republicans in the 112th Congress is about to be put to the test. Grass-roots activism helped swell the ranks of the chamber's fiscal hawks with several newly elected members who are fired up about banning earmarks. When the Republican conference meets next week to consider South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint's resolution that would end the practice for its members, the outcome will demonstrate whether Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky or Mr. DeMint and the Tea Party have captured the heart and soul of the Senate GOP.
Is outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi mentally stable? Sanity - at least for Democrats - is subjective. Yet, following the Republicans' historic election landslide, it was assumed that Mrs. Pelosi would step down as House Democratic leader. Some even thought the unpopular San Francisco liberal would resign from Congress.
Lawmakers returning Monday for the start of the lame-duck session on Capitol Hill face an age-old political conundrum: How to respond to voter anger over federal spending without cutting into the entitlement programs and tax breaks that so many of their constituents enjoy.
Departing House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton said Thursday that he fears a chasm will develop between U.S. military troops and the rest of the citizenry.
Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee will seek to hold the Obama administration's feet to the fire on the implementation of sanctions against Iran, undercutting the president's diplomatic efforts to stifle Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
