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Tim Rutten |
Recent Columns:
How sensitive is Sen. John McCain's campaign about his presumptive running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin?
John McCain's selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his Republican running mate is likely to push social issues back into prominence in a presidential campaign dominated so far by the economy and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Every four years, an astonishing array of conservative commentators and Republican campaign strategists suddenly discover an intimate concern for Catholic consciences and an overriding preoccupation with the Roman church's sacramental and liturgical norms.
The swirl of frenetic attention on Barack Obama's selection of a running mate is good political entertainment, but keep in mind that it's mostly a media event rather than a campaign milestone.
At this point in his amazing shrinking career, you probably could fill most of Staples Center with local politicians who've got it in for Los Angeles City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo. Now the question is: Do we need a row of seats for the FBI?
The fact that John Adams and Thomas Jefferson's famous friendship recovered from the acrimonious presidential campaigns of 1796 and 1800 is a monument to 18th century detachment and the mysterious power of genuine human fellowship.
If you've been having a hard time following the murky political melodramas over the proposed half-cent county sales tax increase to fund more public transportation, you shouldn't blame yourself. You've probably been making the naive citizen's basic mistake of considering the question on its merits.
When John Edwards admitted Friday that he lied about his affair with filmmaker Rielle Hunter, a former employee of his campaign, he may have ended his public life but he certainly ratified an end to the era in which traditional media set the agenda for national political journalism.
The controversy that erupted Tuesday over Ron Suskind's new book-length account of the Bush/Cheney administration's conduct of the war on terrorism raises some interesting questions about the way publishers treat a literary genre that has become increasingly vital to our political journalism.
If the Los Angeles City Council were a reality television show, picking the right title would be a challenge. "America's Silliest Local Legislators" has a nice sort of retro ring to it, but there's a certain appealing simplicity to "Empty Gestures" too.