Outside the Beltway

Fool us once, shame on you. Fool us twice, shame on us.

In a case that took seven months to decide, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Presidency’s broad authority in foreign affairs, and inserted itself just a little bit in the thorny politics of the Middle East.

Rick Perry is hoping to do something that hasn’t happened before in American politics, come back from a campaign that imploded.

After months of “not running,” Jeb Bush will formally enter the Presidential race on June 15th.

Lindsey Graham is the latest entrant into the Presidential race, but it’s hard to see how he gets out of the bottom of the polls.

Rand Paul is out with one of his more forceful attacks on Republican hawks to date.

Robert Gates, the former Defense Secretary who now serves as head of the Boy Scouts Of America, has called for an end to that organizations ban on gay Scout Leaders.

Hillary Clinton has admitted she made a mistake in supporting the Iraq War in 2002, but there are plenty of other questions she needs to answer when it comes to foreign interventions.

Marco Rubio is the latest Republican Presidential candidate to have a problem giving a coherent answer to a few simple questions about the Iraq War.

Iraq seems to becoming a political headache for yet another member of the Bush family.

Seymour Hersh is out with a conspiracy theory about the death of Osama bin Laden that just doesn’t make sense.

Like most Republicans, Jeb Bush either fails or refuses to recognize what an utter, unjustifiable disaster his brother’s decision to invade Iraq actually was.

Jeb Bush told a group of supporters that his brother is his top Middle East policy adviser. This strikes me as being a bad idea.

A Federal Appeals Court has ruled that the N.S.A.’s data mining program is illegal, but its ruling may not have a very big impact.

A new poll has some bad news for Jeb Bush in the Hawkeye State, which leads to the idea that maybe he shouldn’t waste too much time there to begin with.

Pot, meet kettle.

New allegations regarding foreign government donations to the Clinton Foundation seem likely to become a campaign issue.

Pundits and political scientists agree that, if the 2016 presidential election were today, we’d have a much better idea who would win.

Like nearly all of his fellow Republicans, Jeb Bush has adopted the disastrous foreign policy views that typified his brother’s Presidency.

Some thoughts on a column by Roger Noriega on the Obama administration and Latin America,

Unlike most world leaders, Pope Francis is wiling to call a genocide a genocide.

President George W. Bush had a running battle with the CIA throughout his eight years in office. Now, they’ve given him an award.

More than ever before, even mild criticism of Israel seems to be verboten among Republicans.

The Republican frontrunner claims he doesn’t read America’s most important newspaper.

Do we really want to put another first-term Senator with no executive experience in the Oval Office? Because beyond the mere legal requirements, it does not appear that Ted Cruz is qualified to be President.

Another tone deaf action from leading Republicans.

Rand Paul is carrying on a family tradition, winning the CPAC straw poll won many times by his father Ron.

A Federal Judge has issued a temporary halt to the Obama Administration’s deferred deportation program, but appeals can be expected.

There’s no excuse for the former NBC anchor’s lies. But there are reasons.

President Obama will ask Congress to authorize a war he started six months ago.

In the end, there is no difference between Roy Moore resisting a Federal Court Order related to same-sex marriage and George Wallace’s efforts to block desegregation.

I don’t Think that Means What you Think it Means (Huckabee Edition)

Scott Walker surged to the top of a new poll of Iowa Republicans, but Iowa is not a very good predictor of success in the race for the GOP nomination.

For some reason, Republicans want to change filibuster rules even though it’s unclear that they’ll still hold the Senate after 2016.

A Federal Judge has issued a ruling that sort of says that President Obama’s Immigration action is unconstitutional. Except it’s poorly reasoned, and apparently not legally binding on anyone.

The families of many of the Sandy Hook victims are seeking to have the manufacturer of the AR-15 held legally responsible for what happened. While understandable, their lawsuit is misplaced and largely without legal merit.

The former Florida Governor announced that he’s taking the first step towards running for president in 2016.

Vice-President Cheney’s amoral defense of torture has come to define how most conservatives view the issue, and that’s a problem.

A dark and regrettable time in American history is finally seeing the light of day.

The Navy has stripped Navy veteran Bill Cosby of an honorary promotion in the wake of unproven sexual misconduct accusations.

The Obama Administration took some fire yesterday for recent Ambassadorial Appointments, but the President’s record has been consistent with those of his recent predecessors.

The fact that Republicans lack anything approaching a coherent immigration plan makes it hard to take their criticism of the President seriously.

Top Republicans worry that their party’s response to the President’s executive action will alienate Latinos. However, there’s little they can do about that.

The shocking has become routine. We’re no safer because of it.

An adviser close to Hillary Clinton is talking about expanding the Electoral College map in 2016, but even without such an expansion the GOP faces an uphill battle.

A Presidential candidate’s health and fitness for office are legitimate issues. When it comes to bringing up Hillary Clinton’s age in the context of 2016,, though, Republicans need to proceed with caution.

Republicans performed better among Latino voters this year than they did in 2012, but that doesn’t mean they’ve solved their problems.