Grand old vote suppression

  So, the narrative goes like this:   “Republicans are the party of racial equality. They are the party of Lincoln. Democrats tried to obstruct the civil rights initiatives of the 1960s. And, you know Martin Luther King was a Republican.”   The interesting thing: This history is true, if one discounts history.    Party of…

Women will be heard in 2012

  President Obama made one too few phone calls last week.   The one he made was smart and important, offering support to Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke in her courageous stand for smarter policies about women’s health.   Obama’s next phone call should have been to Rush Limbaugh, just to say thanks, and to…

Tea party’s poisoned punch

   In sitcoms, it’s called “Jumping the Shark.” In politics, I’m introducing a term for a political party that loses contact with its essence and forgets its audience.    It’s called "passing the ladle."    Ladle — as in bearer of a beverage with arsenic sweetener.    Suddenly, in the presidential nominating process, it appears…