Outside the Beltway

A staffer for U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss left a threatening slur on an Internet discussion of the right of gays and lesbians to serve openly in the U.S. military.

Another new media star is coming to the rescue of an old media dinosaur. Put it’s probably too late.

For the moment, the Tea Party movement is helping pull the GOP out of a slump that seemed like it would continue for a long time. Will it last, or will the movement end up doing for Republicans what the left has done for Democrats ?

Great news, everybody: The biggest economic calamity since the Great Depression has been over for well over a year.

The Tea Party movement and the populist backlash against DC mayor Adrian Fenty are a sign that things are changing so fast that a lot of people simply can’t adjust.

Sarah Palin had a very good track record in her primary season endorsements, but it’s not at all clear that she will have much of an impact on the 2010 General Election.

Last night’s celebration in Wilmington is sure to be tempered just a bit by news that Christine O’Donnell is sixteen points behind her Democratic opponent.

Why do innocent people confess to crimes they didn’t commit, and what should we do about it ?

White America is within thinkable distance of a moment when it will no longer be the majority.

The strength of the Tea Party movement within the Republican Party manifests itself in a poll out of Maine showing the Olympia Snowe is vulnerable to a primary challenge in 2012.

In addition to Delaware, the Tea Party movement appears to have a shot to upset an establishment candidate in New York.

Sergeant Salvatore A. Giunta is the first living recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor since the Vietnam War.

Over the course of a little more than two hours, the “Burn A Koran Day” story merged with the “Ground Zero Mosque” story in a bizarre media circus that seems to have accomplished little other than give press attention to a bigoted Pastor in Florida.

An academic study reveals that police officers with college education are less violent than their peers. But the real story is how violent cops are, period.

Comments sections on larger blogs seem inevitably to turn into cesspools. Is it worth trying to stop it happening?

It’s getting harder and harder to tell blogs from newspapers.

According to Paul Krugman’s latest column, the massive destruction of World War Two was actually good for the U.S. economy. Sadly, there are people who consider him an expert.

Will Israel attack Iran ? You’d better hope not.

Democrats are sending some of their candidates to the Death Panels.

Both the Constitution and the Federalist Papers, impressive as they are, must be understood in terms of not just applied political philosophy, but practical politics as well.

The first ad of the 2012 presidential cycle has aired, by some dentist touting Hillary Clinton. She’s not running. Could she?

How long will we stop annual commemorations on the anniversary of that horrible day?

Did you know that more Christians than Muslims were victims of hate crimes in America? Did you also know that there are a lot more Christians? Oh. Never mind, then.

For many reasons, the housing market is unlikely to fully recover for the foreseeable future.

The controversial Muslim center near Ground Zero may get public financing.

The New York Times realizes that most Republicans just don’t care that Ken Mehlman is gay. Surprise, neither do most Americans at this point.

Americans who earn a lot of money disproportionately live in a tiny number of states and are married to other high-earners.

The Army and its officer corps are becoming increasingly Southern and rural. Is this a bad thing? If so, what can we do about it?

Ok, Saudi Arabia has less freedom than the US. Why do some people think that should form the basis of an argument about appropriate behavior in the US?

The guy who ran George W. Bush’s campaign and the Republican National Committee has realized after only 43 years that he likes dudes.

The Tea Party is coming to Washington, D.C. on Saturday for a Glenn Beck rally and one travel guide is warning them to stay away from certain parts of the city. Subtle racism ? No, it’s common sense.

Glenn Greenwald argues that the “Ground Zero Mosque” debate is about more than just a “mosque” near Ground Zero. He’s right, but that also means the debate is likely to get uglier.

Rick Lazio is running for Governor of New York and he’s found an issue in the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque,” but it doesn’t seem to be helping him in the polls.

Some of our politicians and commentators are looking to odd places for guidance over the application of fundamental American values.

Steve Emerson has reportedly found 13 hours of tape of Cordoba Initiative chairman Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and found him to be a “radical extremist cleric who cloaks himself in sheep’s clothing.” Does it matter?

Glenn Greenwald asks, “Why won’t the Pentagon help WikiLeaks redact documents?” For the same reason we don’t negotiate with terrorists.