Outside the Beltway

If nothing else, the Petraeus affair is teaching us a valuable lesson in just how extensive the Surveillance State has become.

Kevin Clash was falsely accused of having sex with an underage boy. He merely had sex with a boy who was too young.

Harry Reid appears to be short of the votes he needs to enact filibuster reform.

There’s been a bit of buzz of late about the fact that people in several states have filed petitions to secede from the Union. There shouldn’t be.

As we approach the fiscal cliff, there are signs that House Republicans may not be as rigid as they were the past two years.

The scandal now surrounding David Petraeus should lead people to reassess his past record.

Mitt Romney wasn’t a perfect candidate, but he was much better than most of the 2012 Republican field.

Some people on the right apparently want to return to this map.

Many conservatives are living inside of a media bubble and they’ll continue to have problems until the consciously decide to break out of it.

Barone tells some tales to make himself feel better.

The David Petraeus/Paula Broadwell story gets curiouser.

Republicans used to dominate California. Now, they’re barely a factor in the state’s politics.

Political reality says that the Bush Tax Cuts for high income earners are likely doomed in the wake of the election, but the GOP will find it very hard to switch positions on this issue.

There are some expected and unexpected results in Nate Silver’s review of pollster accuracy in 2012.

The Republican Party needs more than outreach to Hispanics to become a viable national party again.

Obama thinks he has a mandate to raise taxes on high earners. Republicans think they have a mandate to stop him.

Turning young voters into Young Republicans isn’t going to be an easy thing for the GOP to pull off.

Republicans are starting to talk about immigration reform, but do they really mean it?

An attempt to lay down some basic groundwork for discussing this story.