Karl Rove spends $10 million on a smart, mendacious attack ad

There’s a reason George W. Bush called Karl Rove “Boy Genius.” When it comes to attack ads, no one is smarter. 

Conservative bishops court the disdain of Catholic women

America’s conservative Catholic bishops are so worried that some woman in their employ will get access to birth control that they have filed 12 lawsuits against the federal government. What they are failing to see is a much bigger challenge that should have them truly worried: the independence of Catholic women.

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg faces the perils of Wall Street

Congratulations to Mark Zuckerberg on his surprise wedding last Saturday. I certainly hope his marriage gets off to a better start than Friday’s initial public offering of shares in his social networking colossus, Facebook. 

Today's anarchists are just brats in black

The small gangs of destructive knuckleheads who style themselves as anarchists have been the bane of Occupy Wall Street protests this spring. On May Day, the brats in black smashed store windows, bashed cars and fought with police on the streets of Seattle, Oakland, Montreal and other cities. Their antics stole attention from the thousands of peaceful protesters who may have had serious things to say about the expanding divide between rich and poor. 

White babies are the new minority in America

Pudgy, pink Gerber babies are no longer the typical child being born in the United States. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, moms who are Latino, Asian, African American or mixed race are now giving birth to just over 50% of American babies.

Greek debt crisis proves Obama is not master of his own fate

Americans like to believe they are masters of their own destiny. The ancient Greeks had a different understanding. They thought the fate of humanity was in the hands of temperamental gods. Modern Greeks are demonstrating how their ancestors, not Americans, were closer to the truth.

Tea party insurgents are rattling and energizing the GOP

If it has accomplished nothing else, the tea party insurgency has made Republicans vastly more newsworthy than Democrats. While the party of the left plods along performing the boring old tasks of governing, the party of the right is engaged in high drama worthy of Shakespeare.

Republican Party suckles at the breast of Big Business

If money is the mother’s milk of politics, then America’s big corporations are Big Mama and Big Baby is the Republican Party suckling at the enormous bosom of business. Democrats, meanwhile, are abandoned brats scrounging for nourishment wherever they can find it.

Does Mitt Romney still have a high school bully inside?

Sure, you may know which man -- Mitt Romney or Barack Obama -- you want to see running the country, but which one would you have wanted to know in high school?

Obama champions gay marriage; the culture war is on

President Obama has crossed the Rubicon and come to the defense of same-sex marriage. For him, it was a small step, since his is already the most pro-gay rights presidency in history, but it will have big political ramifications.

Al Qaeda goes retro with exploding underwear

Those sultans of style at Al Qaeda have released their line of lingerie for spring and it’s a blast. Tucked away in their secret atelier in Yemen, the fanatics of fashion have come up with an updated version of the exploding underwear that caused such a stir on Christmas Day 2009 when a hapless African lad tried to blow up an airliner over Detroit and only managed to severely singe his private parts.

Through most of the primary season, Ron Paul was overlooked, underestimated and laughed off. There was no scenario by which this ideological renegade could become the nominee of the ideologically dogmatic Republican Party. Yet as the last candidate standing in the way of Mitt Romney's smooth slide to the nomination, he is proving himself capable of ingenious mischief.

Political cartoons have infuriated kings, crooks and captains of industry since the days of the penny press in 19th century England. In a new video produced by two talented Los Angeles Times staffers, Armand Emamdjomeh and Don Kelsen, I describe how I carry on this satirical tradition in a world of iPads and online news. Please check it out.

Richard Grenell had the right resume to be Mitt Romney’s spokesman on foreign policy -- a stint as communications director for four of the George W. Bush administration’s U.N. ambassadors, a degree from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, his own international PR firm and frequent stints on TV as an expert on international issues. Too bad for him he has a boyfriend.

This week, Republicans have been criticizing President Obama for his surprise trip to Afghanistan marking the one-year anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden. By accusing the president of hyping the commemoration, they apparently hope to undercut the political potency of his biggest foreign policy coup. Instead, the GOP critics may merely make themselves look a bit silly.

A political campaign is about the worst time to have a discussion about economic realities. The party that is out will speak of nothing but looming disaster while the party that is in will be singing nothing but “Happy Days Are Here Again.” And, since our current political system is in a permanent campaign mode, economics never escapes the warp of politics.

The more I read about John Edwards’ shenanigans during the 2008 presidential campaign, the more I’m convinced he is a mirror-gazing, fork-tongued, tramp-chasing weasel. But the more I read about the federal case against him, the more sure I am that he does not deserve to go to jail.

Just as the U.S. Supreme Court begins to hear arguments about Arizona’s hard-line immigration law, a study pops up that says illegal immigration from Mexico is a diminishing problem.

The neck-and-neck race between President Obama and the presumptive Republican nominee, Mitt Romney, will be the most expensive campaign in American history. It will be a battle between two robust political organizations. And it is a good bet things are going to get really nasty.

We have learned a secret of the Secret Service: At least a few of those tight-lipped tough guys are not quite as straight-laced and serious as they appear to be. In fact, they apparently love to party like frat boys.

Back during the Democratic primaries of 2008, Hillary Clinton had a clever idea: make an appeal to evangelical Christian voters. And why not? She had a solid Methodist upbringing and a good narrative of how her faith had guided her through life's challenges (like coping with a horny husband). Plus, a lot of these voters were convinced that her rival, Barack Obama, was a Muslim.

SEATTLE -- This weekend, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow and I sat down in a couple of armchairs and talked about how America drifts to war.