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So it’s come to this. NBC News and Politico have postponed their first blockbuster Republican presidential primary debate, originally scheduled to take place at the Reagan Library in May. The reasons are obvious: Few candidates have even formed exploratory committees and the major players expected to shape the race haven’t yet declared …

What was Newt Gingrich doing at John Hagee’s Cornerstone Church on Sunday? Besides delivering another speech from his book of Demagogue Mad Libs, that is. The most obvious answer is that Gingrich is courting evangelical voters. But ever since the LA Times wrote about Gingrich’s outreach to evangelicals earlier this month, I’ve been …

The former Senator and aspiring presidential candidate shared his thoughts recently in New Hampshire:

The former Pennsylvania senator and potential presidential candidate was asked about Social Security during an interview on WESZ-AM radio in Laconia on Tuesday morning. He said the system’s design is flawed, but the reason it is in big

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It is always an education to watch our American writhings from overseas. It is particularly excrutiating watching the Republican Party presidential candidates who, on a daily basis, pronounce some ignorant racist or irreligious twaddle…which–amazingly enough–manages to be heard around the world. As Crowley notes below, today’s …

Speaking before the flock of evangelical pastor John Hagee, the master of political hyperbole has outdone himself this time:

Newt Gingrich stood before thousands of evangelical churchgoers Sunday night to deliver a dire warning that nation’s Christian roots are under attack.

“I have two grandchildren — Maggie is 11, Robert is 9,”

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Jerusalem

Michael Crowley is appropriately skeptical about Barack Obama’s speech last night. I understand, and respect, the principles that the President laid out, but in a world of troubles–and with really limited resources (a concept apparently foreign to most Americans, for whom “exceptionalism” includes boundless amounts of …

Barack Obama’s speech on Libya on Monday night was a curious beast — both ambitious and cautious at once. The President surprised Washington by articulating a big idea about U.S. power. But he may have disappointed Americans by dancing around the challenge that remains in Libya.

Obama was clear enough, to be sure, about why he chose …

I’ll have a longer analysis of Barack Obama’s speech about Libya later tonight. But my thumbnail take is that Obama delivered a thoughtful speech, one in the tradition of the Washington foreign policy establishment, which managed to offer both an unexpectedly ambitious vision for America’s global role–but also a frustrating lack of …

Jerusalem

I’ve just spent an intense two days of reporting on both sides of the green line, on the West Bank and in Israel, and I’ll be writing for the print magazine, and posting here, about all I’ve learned, starting tomorrow. But I just can’t resist the following:

Acting in silent, but unspoken, mainstream-media conspiracy with …

A White House briefing on Libya today, featuring deputy national security advisor Denis McDonough, shed little new light on the ongoing kinetic military operation in North Africa. And, disappointingly, neither McDonough nor White House press secretary Jay Carney would give a hint about the substance of President Obama’s speech this …

Earlier this morning, religious leaders and anti-poverty advocates announced that they will begin fasting to protest budget cuts that they argue “balance the budget on the backs of poor people.” Progressive evangelical leader Jim Wallis and David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World, joined former Democratic congressman Tony Hall …

As Michael Crowley pointed out in his reflection on the death of Geraldine Ferraro over the weekend, the first woman to appear on a major party presidential ticket inspired countless women of all political persuasions. As an 11-year-old candidate for student council president of my elementary school, I proudly wore a “Mondale-Ferraro” …