Outside the Beltway

Cory Booker is in the race for New Jersey’s open Senate seat, but is he really unbeatable?

Jean Stapleton, an accomplished stage and screen actress who achieved entertainment immortality playing opposite Carroll O’Connor as Archie Bunker’s long-suffering wife Edith, has died at the age of 90:

Michael Kinsley contends “Being against marriage equality doesn’t make you a monster.”

Tom Brokaw has some good criticisms of what the White House Correspondent’s Association Dinner has turned into.

It would be nice if columnists for major newspapers would consult political science, rather than Hollywood, for their understanding of our system.

Today is the 75th anniversary of Superman.

The Chinese are hacking Washington institutions to unearth the secret plan under which the town operates.

“Who owns Sherlock Holmes?” The answer is . . . complicated.

Actress Ashley Judd is reportedly considering a run for the United States Senate.

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.

Days after “Friday Night Lights” author Buzz Bissinger endorsed Mitt Romney, the writer and producer of the acclaimed television spin-off is accusing the campaign of plagiarizing the show’s catchphrase.

This campaign has gone to the birds.

In Rick Santorum’s brand of conservatism, no smart people need apply.

One Professor suggests we sacrifice yet more of our freedom in the wake of the embassy protests in the Middle East.

President Obama says he’s a huge Clint Eastwood fan and wasn’t offended by his performance at the RNC.

Mitt Romney’s speech last night was the best he’s ever given, but it’s impact may have been undercut but several odd production decisions that preceded it.

After three days of buildup to a “mystery speaker,” the closing night of the Republican convention featured a rambling performance by Clint Eastwood and an empty chair.

A new book by one of the Navy SEALs involved in the raid that killed Osama bin Laden differs significantly from the official version put forward by the government.

I was more amused than I should have been by the YahooNews headline “Obama Says George Clooney Friendship Born in Sudan, Not Hollywood.”

The new Red Dawn promises to be even sillier than the first.

The novelist, playwright, and social critic Gore Vidal has died, aged 86.

Restaurant chain Chick-fil-A is facing criticism after its President’s comments on same-sex marriage.

Rush Limbaugh made perhaps one of the dumber comments I’ve seen from the right about the entire Bain Capital story, and managed to display an apparent inability to use Google to look things up.

Sage Stallone, who appeared with his father Sylevester is several films, has died aged 36 of an apparent prescription drug overdose.

Insult comic Don Rickles told a joke about President Obama being a janitor. Like most of Rickles’ material over the last several decades, it wasn’t funny.

As societal attitudes change, what counts as an insult so bad you can sue someone over it also changes.

Thirty-Five years ago, an adventure began.