For so long now I have dismissed the growing conventional wisdom that predicted social conservatives would shelve their passionate devotion to their principles and priorities and vote for left-leaning Republicans in 2008.

But now a purely conservative Republican who believed his pro-life stand was the most important principle he could fight for in public office has looked me in the eye and told me so. He has decided homeland security is now the most criticial issue of our time. Read more...

A year ago I asked my class of 25 graduate students at George Washington University’s School of Political Management how many of them read a hard copy of a newspaper nearly every day. Mind you, these are serious politicos, they work on the Hill, in lobbying firms, as political consultants.

Last Spring, 5 of the 25 read a hard copy of a newspaper (and those 5 also went to the web). The other 20 went exclusively to the web and read the papers online, but rarely read a “real” newspaper. Yesterday, I asked the same question; only 3 students out of 25 read a hard copy of a paper. Read more...

Why is Hillary’s enforcer, Howard Wolfson, shooting Barack Obama in the kneecaps over David Geffen’s criticism of his candidate?

Hillary and her boys realize that all that Obama has to sell is his purity. He’s like Evian Water. He has no particular taste, he just is the un-cola — the opposite of the vicious, destructive, partisan politics that pervades our country and turns off the voters. Purity is a high standard, particularly for a politician, especially for one who is running against a Clinton. And purity is the easiest thing to sully. Just a drop of ink in a bottle of Evian makes it undrinkable. So what Wolfson and Hillary are trying to do is to pollute Obama with the remarks of his supporter to show that Barack is just like the rest of ‘em — a politician after all. The Wolfson attack is good strategy. It is designed to bring the Obama candidacy back to earth. Read more...

Is it hard to think of anything besides the Hillary/Obama/Geffen fight, Britney leaving rehab for the second time in a week, and Anna Nicole Smith's body rotting while the courtroom battle over her money rages on cable as "breaking news"? I know it is, but once again I have Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on the brain. Read more...

Poor little Georgie. Pretty soon, he’ll have nobody left to play with.

Italy went home. Poland, Lithuania, and South Korea went home. And now Tony Blair says England’s going home, too.

Of course, Georgie and Dickie say this is actually good news. They claim it proves they’re winning the game of war they’re playing in Iraq.

But nobody believes them. Everybody knows this just makes Georgie and Dickie look all the more incompetent. Read more...

We’ve all heard David Geffen’s remarks aimed toward former President Clinton and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.). What I find surprising about the exchange is the manner in which Sen. Clinton and her supporters have responded — actions speak louder than words.

If Sen. Clinton, long hailed as the front-runner for the Democratic nomination for president in 2008, is secure in her standing, why would her spin room get spun up and launch rather personal attacks against Sen. Obama? The answer, of course, is that she’s worried that he’s gaining traction, money and supporters, to her detriment. Read more...

I guess I hadn't realized just how powerful the Clintons are, or better yet how powerful I must think they are, until I read Maureen Dowd's column this morning and reread it twice in search of a phrase claiming it was fiction. I never found one; this bombshell is true.

In her cozy chat with David Geffen at his home in Beverly Hills, Dowd scored a major exclusive and a first for the 2008 presidential campaign that is sure to be remembered for many years to come — a high-profile Hillary Clinton bashing. Geffen, before falling out with the Clintons in 2001 over Bill's pardons, had slept in the Lincoln bedroom twice at the invitation of Hillary and Bill. But now he dares to say — on the record ! — that Hillary is the easiest to defeat, that Bill's dirty laundry will be used by the GOP the minute she becomes the nominee, and that no one as incredibly polarizing as Hillary, "no matter how smart she is and no matter how ambitious she is — and God knows, is there anybody more ambitious than Hillary Clinton? — can bring the country together." Read more...

Has anyone heard of John Cox? Apparently he is the author of the book “Politics, Inc.” and a candidate for president of the United States for 2008. He is a CPA, real estate broker, attorney and investment adviser, residing in Chicago, Ill., and financing his own campaign. John Cox says “we need more statesmen to enter politics — not more career politicians.”

Maybe Cox knows something we don’t know. We have been so conditioned to vote for the Clintons, Bushes, Reagans, and Kennedys of the world that we haven’t taken the time to think beyond the two-party system where two major political parties dominate the voting in nearly all elections. You have to ask yourself: Why are we so locked into a two-party system that we do not think about a third-party candidate? Are we getting the best and brightest candidates to run this country? Read more...

Okay, what’s next? For the second time, Republicans blocked debate over Iraq on the Senate floor. So, what’s next?

There’s only one answer: President Bush didn’t want a non-binding resolution. So, Democrats should give him something binding, instead. The next priority for Democrats in Congress should be to repeal the 2002 resolution authorizing the use of military force in Iraq. Read more...