Outside the Beltway

Mitch McConnell made clear today that he’s targeting Barack Obama for defeat in two years.

Will the incoming “Tea Party” caucus in the House and Senate force the GOP to reconsider its views on foreign policy? Don’t count on it.

Ok, what strategy should Speaker Boehner pursue?

Is the public anger at Obama really just papered over racism?

The British press takes a look at America’s Midterm Elections.

Theodore Sorensen, a speechwriter and close adviser to President John F. Kennedy, died today at the age of 82

215,000 people attended the “Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear” compared to 87,000 for “Restoring Honor.” Even if you believe the numbers, they don’t tell us much.

The Rally To Restore Sanity And/Or Fear ended up having a point after all, but it’s not one that anyone is likely to take to heart.

Political pundits love centrism and moderate candidates. But political movements are built on desire for broad change.

Sarah Palin and the Tea Party aren’t as clueless as their detractors think.

High earners are going to have to pay more than our fair share of the costs of government to make things work. But how we frame the debate matters.

Who’s to blame for the rise in anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States, President Obama or those who have actually been encouraging bias against Muslims?

Venezuela have reached a series of agreement on energy. Should the US be concerned?

More bad news for Democrats as a new poll shows that voters are more likely to consider them extreme than Republicans.

Support for the Tea Party is at record levels but that movement does not have a coherent policy platform. Can the energy be harnessed to good use?

Vice-President Biden has a message for the Democratic base — stop complaining and just support us already.

More than ever before in the past, Fox News Channel will be the exclusive medium through which many of the candidates for the 2012 Republican nomination communicate with the public. And that’s a problem.

Shepard Fairey, the artist behind the iconic HOPE poster, is disappointed with President Obama.

Yet more signs that Sarah Palin is quietly positioning herself for the opening moves of a White House run after the mid-term elections are over.

The Delaware GOP now has, according to Nate Silver, a 17% chance of winning the Senate seat.

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels appears to be quietly putting together the beginnings of a campaign for President of the United States. Don’t count him out by any means.

Taking a short trip back in time via Instapundit’s archives reveals a September 11th post that turned out to be prophetic.

Steve Walt, Steve Clemons, Matthew Hoh and others have released a provocative new report arguing for a change in our Afghanistan strategy.

The Obama administration has persuaded the nation’s most liberal appellate court that the executive branch’s right to secrecy trumps the rights of people claiming they were tortured by the United States Government.

Everyone from David Petraeus to Sarah Palin is speaking out against a nutbag pastor’s Koran burning event. While they’re right, they’re emphasizing the wrong message.

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.

Not surprisingly, Radical Islamists are taking notice of the tone of debate in the United States over the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque.”

America’s obsession over the fate of the Burlington Coat Factory in Lower Manhattan, and a general rise in anti-Islamic rhetoric, plays right into the hands of the people that are actually our enemies.

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?

The Associated Press tells its reports to stop using the phrase “Ground Zero Mosque.” That’s a good thing.

Ann Coulter has been dis-invited from a World Net Daily conference for her decision to speak at a convention sponsored by a gay conservative group.

If it was called the “Burlington Coat Factory community center” would anyone care about Cordoba House?

Every new report out of Iran seems to bring us closer to the moment when Israel has decided it’s heard enough. What happens if that day actually happens ?

Remember when dealing with the utterances of Hugo Chávez that you should take them with a grain of salt (or twelve).

Is the GOP really serious about changing the citizenship rules in the 14th Amendment ? Not likely.

As the campaign in Kentucky heats up for the final sprint to November, Rand Paul seems to have succeeded in moving beyond many of the mis-steps that plagued him three months ago.

Former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan shared his views on extending the Bush tax cuts today on MTP.

Everyone seems to agree that the new 1099 reporting requirements contained in the health care reform bill are a bad idea, but nobody wants to take the time to repeal them.

Immigration “moderate” Lindsey Graham is suddenly sounding not so moderate.

The Obama administration is refusing to enforce border security, right?

Republicans are much closer to America’s political center than Democrats.

The Lt. Governor of Tennessee suggested recently that religious freedom possibly shouldn’t apply to Muslims, but he’s only part of the problem.