Outside the Beltway

The abrupt departure of Chuck Hagel says much more about Administration policy than it does about Chuck Hagel.

Sen. Charles Schumer says Democrats made a mistake by concentrating on getting health care reform passed instead of on fixing the economy.

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.

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.

Republicans don’t really have many options if the President pulls the trigger on immigration reform via executive action.

Always as many military personnel identify as Independents as with the GOP.

Once again, reporters and pundits are arguing that Chris Christie’s “New Jersey style” won’t play well on the stump. I’m not so sure they’re right.

Republican Senate candidate Ed Gillespie picked an odd issue on which to start his closing argument to Virginia voters.

Despite conventional wisdom, there remains little incentive for the GOP to change its position on immigration reform.

Rich guys are backing organizations that are taking over traditional party functions. Is that a problem?

If the GOP wins the Senate in November, their majority could prove to be fleeting.

It has nothing to do with winning, but it does have a lot to do with the foreign policy debate inside the Republican Party.

After keeping his distance from them for three years, President Obama is placing much misplaced hope in the “moderate” Syrian rebels,

Congress seems ready to avoid having to vote on expanded attacks against the Islamic State

So far at least, there is no evidence that 2014 will be a “wave election.”

Dispelling a rising myth,

It’s hard for a party to win four straight presidential elections. The Democrats may pull it off.

Republicans in the House seem determined to make life difficult for whomever wins the GOP nomination in 2016

It wasn’t the Democrats.

It’s beginning to look like the 2016 race for the Republican nomination will have its own collection of oddballs.

Led by Speaker John Boehner, Republican leaders are trying to placate calls for impeachment.

Emil Henry makes “The Case for Mitt Romney in 2016.”

For some reason, President Obama wants to arm so-called “moderate” Syrian rebels.

When it comes to Iraq, the media only seems to be giving Americans one side of the story.

Chris McDaniel and his Tea Party supporters are being very sore losers.

Recent events in Iraq have opened up old domestic political arguments in the United States.

TNR makes the worst possible case for a proposition that’s almost certainly right.

Iraq is falling apart for reasons that have nothing to do with President Obama or his policies.

The Obama White House rejected Republican criticism of the deal that led to the release of the only American Prisoner Of War from the Afghanistan War.

Petty politics, or valid concerns?

Eric Shinseki resigned as Secretary of Veterans Affairs this morning, to the surprise of absolutely nobody.

Once again, President Obama’s attempt to communicate a foreign policy vision falls short.

It seems unlikely that Eric Shinseki will have a job for much longer.

Hubris.

A new poll indicates that Democratic candidates are holding their own against Republican challengers in three southern states.

The GOP “establishment” keeps beating back challenges.

It might not be pretty.

So, this happened.

The bloom is off the rose, but Chris Christie could still be a strong candidate in 2016.

Who watches Sunday morning talk shows anymore?

As Sarah Palin and the Tea Party turn on Paul Ryan, they are making apparent their own lack of relevance in the political process.