Outside the Beltway

Is it appropriate for news organizations to decide that the people don’t need to hear from certain political candidates?

James Arness, best known as the iconic Marshal Dillon on Gunsmoke, has died at 88.

Sarah Palin will be heading to yet another important primary state while insisting she isn’t running for President yet. And the press follows her like a lonely puppy.

As of today, the United States is legally barred from borrowing money to finance its operations. Thanks for nothing, Congress.

It’s Campaign Fact of Life No. 1: If you aren’t a factor in the race, you aren’t going to get free media.

Do people really understand the taxes we pay?

The defense of torture as an extreme measure for extraordinary circumstances has evolved.tortu

There’s not much movement in the President’s job approval numbers.

President Obama chided the media for paying too much attention to the birther issue, but his criticism was unwarranted.

The new CBS/NYT poll is out and the numbers are not exactly happy, no matter whom you support.

It is waaay too early to be putting much stock in polling for 2012 (either in terms of X v. Obama or GOP v. GOP).

One of the Tea Party movement’s favorite Senators used the dreaded c-word.

Demographic information about TV viewers is worthless to advertisers.

President Obama’s budget speech was light on specifics, but that’s because it was really the opening salvo of the 2012 campaign.

Would you like President Obama to speak at your graduation? You’re the only one.

Why is Charlie Sheen seen as likable despite his serial abuse of women?

Mike Huckabee channels Dan Quayle when he decides to comment on the pregnancy of Oscar winner Natalie Portman.

As the standoff in Wisconsin drags on, there is no sign that the public accepts the argument being made about public sector unions by Governor Scott Walker and other Republicans.

A New York judge has sided with comedian Jerry Seinfeld in a bizarre lawsuit by a crazy woman who writes cookbooks.

Of the 314 police and firefighter unions in Wisconsin, only four endorsed Scott Walker.

Prominent commentators on the Left and Right are amused by an outrageous assault on CBS reporter Lara Logan.

Tweeting feels like IM’ing but it’s more like blogging.

The media are wildly exaggerating the heckling at a gathering of conservatives.

Al Jazeera English is kicking the butts of the American news networks on the Egypt story. Why?

Twenty-five years ago today, the American space program came crashing to Earth in a horrible accident.

The initial instant reaction to the President’s speech last night was largely positive, but does it really matter?

We won’t be able to solve our fiscal problems until the American people grow up. So far, there are no signs of that happening.

The American public still has a totally unrealistic view of what it will take to get the Federal Government’s fiscal house in order.

Freshman Members of Congress are threatening to block a vote to raise the debt ceiling that Congress will have to take by this Spring. They’d be irresponsible if they did so.

Sarah Palin’s reality show as as popular as the critically acclaimed drama everyone’s talking about. And that’s just half the story.

John Boehner’s whining about being called a “hostage taker” by President Obama is reminiscent of Newt Gingrich’s whining about being “snubbed” on Air Force One.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says he isn’t running for President, but he’s sure acting like a guy who’s at least thinking about it.

According to a new poll, the Tea Party movement, which is largely now the base of the GOP, is not completely in step with the views of American voters as a whole.