Campaign

Not long ago Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) was questioning the patriotism of Secretary of Defense and war hero Chuck Hagel.

Then last week, Dr. Ben Carson was apologizing for comments on Fox News seeming to compare being gay to bestiality and pedophilia, not long after he became the darling of the right for making insulting, partisan comments against President Obama at a National Prayer Breakfast.

And Friday, Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) was apologizing for referring to Hispanics as "wetbacks."

Almost daily, leading Texas Republicans are opposing Medicaid, opposing voting rights for Hispanics and all minorities, and opposing even civil unions for gays. National Republicans have an intolerance problem and an extremism problem.

If as has been widely suggested, CPAC 2013 marked a paradigm change, a generational change, a new direction of conservatism, it is possible to speculate that someone who fits the new paradigm could be president in 2016. Among them: Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Sarah Palin, all of whom starred at the Conservative Political Action Conference. For any one of these, the perfect choice for vice president should be David Petraeus.

This was an historic week in U.S. political history. No Democrat can now seriously run for president, and survive a primary, without supporting gay marriage. Why? Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, a conservative Republican, came out in favor of same-sex marriage, followed immediately by a video announcement from Hillary Clinton (why wait for an interview?) declaring her support for the same. Then an ABC News/Washington Post poll released Monday showed that an all-time high of 58 percent of the country now supports same-sex marriage, up an astonishing 26 percent in just nine years.

The issue is now a litmus test in Democratic presidential politics, the exact opposite from 2008, the last open election, when no Democrat seeking the Oval Office would dare sanction marriage for anyone but one man and one woman for fear of tainting themselves for the general election.

Shocker poll: A new Quinnipiac poll finds that in a 2016 match-up Hillary Clinton would crush former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush by 51-40 percent and would crush Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) by 52-41 percent IN FLORIDA! This follows a PPP poll showing Hillary would crush Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) in Texas by 50-42 percent. Consider this alongside my new column supporting the battle of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) to defend consumer rights, a view that has large public support, against another Republican filibuster. There are reasons Hillary could turn Texas blue and would swamp Republicans in Florida.

“Taxes should hurt.” That is what then-Gov. Ronald Reagan of California said back in the late 1960s. And while these words seem curious coming from the man who lowered the overall income tax rates significantly and flattened the tax code during his eight years in the White House, they are as true today as they were when Reagan uttered them.

Reagan’s premise was simple. If the people are separated from the cost of government through hidden fees, inflation or taxes, then they mistakenly believe that the government services they demand are free. And who wouldn’t want free?

Two of the key figures in the Republican Party happen to live in the same city, in the same state, share many supporters and donors and enjoy a close, personal friendship where one has been a mentor to the other.  So they both can’t run for president against each other, right?

One of the most interesting subplots in the open race for president in 2016, which will begin in about 18 months after the midterm elections, is whether former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) or Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) choose to run for president.

Both have strong cases to make.

The dormant desire to restore Israel to Jewish values is exploding, said Naftali Bennett, who brings a new force and a new generation of politics to the Knesset in Israel. According to reports, he says that if the United States doesn’t take care of Iran’s nuclear production, they should let Israel do it themselves. So he seems to be asking America for permission. This is the new Israel? For all the rhetoric, Iran is not a real and credible threat to the United States any more than Iraq was or North Korea is. Iran is a threat to Israel and nothing could be more obvious. Israel should remove the threat. A new Israel would not ask permission, and until Israel stops asking permission, it will continue to be an American sub-state cursed by the vicissitudes of neurotic American presidential politics.

Will President Obama bomb Iran? Maybe. My guess is yes. But he will only do so as a bargaining chip. If Obama were to bomb Iran, he would come back to Israel with a bargaining chip demanding a Palestinian state. Israel should act and not ask. In one fell swoop, it would bring safety to Israel and independence, removing Israel from American peonage.

The funny thing about right-wing Republicans is that they can dish it out, but they can't take it.

Consider the case of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).  I was one of the first to write about his cheap shots against the war hero and veterans’ champion Chuck Hagel, who is supported for Defense secretary by a virtual who's who of Republican national security experts, especially those who served President Reagan.

The Groundhog Day New York Times headline screamed, “Top Donors to Republicans Seek More Say in Senate Races.”

Now there’s a man bites dog.  Big money wants more power.  Who’da thunk it?

Steven J. Law, president of American Crossroads, the super-PAC creating the new project explained, “We don’t view ourselves as being in the incumbent protection business, but we want to pick the most conservative candidate who can win.”

As Hillary Clinton leaves Foggy Bottom and begins the next stage of her life, Texas Democrats are buzzing about new numbers from Public Policy Polling that show Hillary would defeat Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) for Texas's electoral votes in 2016. This is both profound and predictable, as I wrote in a recent column titled "Hillary turns Texas blue." The biggest steroid infusion in America is not in pro sports but in the Texas Democratic Party, whose insiders (finally) sense a moment of opportunity for statewide and congressional races in 2014.