The New Republic

The nanny state is in the news. READ MORE >>

The country is headed into a political and economic cul-de-sac. It’s mostly the fault of the House Republicans, who insist on policies that undermine the recovery, but it’s also the fault of the Obama administration for failing to dramatize the choices that Americans face. READ MORE >>

President Barack Obama’s new budget will call for cuts to Social Security and Medicare, according to the New York Times. This is a huge, shocking development—except for the fact that Obama called for these things already. READ MORE >>

When House Democrats failed to win a majority last November, despite winning the popular vote, many people recognized how difficult it would be to realize President Obama’s dream of retaking Congress in 2014. Just how difficult, though? READ MORE >>

No one is more preoccupied these days with Hillary Clinton's 2016 plans than the Beltway political class—not even the former presidential candidate herself. To hear some tell it, her decision will be dispositive for all other Democrats thinking of entering the race. READ MORE >>

Dr. Ben Carson, the famed neurosurgeon and overnight GOP star, wasn't known to most people at Johns Hopkins University, where he has worked for more than two decades, as an outspoken social conservative. READ MORE >>

Mark Sanford is one step closer to a remarkable political comeback after locking up the Republican nomination for Congress in South Carolina’s First Congressional District on Tuesday. A general election match-up in conservative South Carolina might seem like an easy final leg for Sanford, but there’s no guarantee that he’ll waltz to victory. Next month, Sanford will face off against Elizabeth Colbert Busch—Stephen’s sister—in a deeply conservative district where Democrats don’t usually have a chance. This time, they do. READ MORE >>

As the Republican rout in the 2010 midterms loomed, official Washington had already assigned much of the blame to President Barack Obama’s half-hearted support for imperiled congressional Democrats. Two months before the election, Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen wrote in Politico: READ MORE >>

Regardless of how the Supreme Court rules on the two big gay marriage cases it heard last week, it’s only a matter of time before the institution is legalized. Public acceptance is accelerating and will soon be overwhelming. READ MORE >>

Marco Rubio's role as the Republican point man on immigration reform is remarkable if you think of the senator who played the part before him. John McCain had been in the Senate for nearly twenty years when he took up the issue in President Bush's second term; Rubio has been in Washington only a little more than two. Of course, Rubio has something McCain lacked: credibility with the GOP’s right-wing base. And so Rubio is seen as the key to forming the bipartisan coalition that has eluded those who have worked on this issue. READ MORE >>