Mark Shields from Creators Syndicate

Religion Provides Added Value to U.S. for 02/11/2012

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Without the courage and the constancy of Methodists and of Quakers, the struggle to abolish slavery in the United States would not have succeeded. Later, the heroes of the civil rights movement were people of faith — both clergy and laypersons — while the movement's leaders, let us recall, were named the Reverend Martin Luther King, the Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth ...

Updated: Sat Feb 11, 2012

“He Could Have Been a Contender ...” for 02/04/2012

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

At the 1972 Democratic convention that nominated Sen. George McGovern of South Dakota for president, McGovern's choice of a running mate was postponed until the convention's last day. At the urging of his campaign manager, Gary Hart, McGovern called the charismatic mayor of Boston, Kevin White, to ask him whether he would accept an invitation, if it were offered, to join the ticket. White said ...

Updated: Sat Feb 04, 2012

Why Newt Scares Republicans for 01/28/2012

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Hymie Shorenstein, a legendary Democratic leader in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, was renowned for delivering lopsided majorities, up to 15 to one, for his party on Election Day.

One year, the story goes, a party-endorsed candidate for judge who had contributed generously to the Democratic coffers nervously asked Boss Shorenstein where all the posters and pins were with his name o ...

Updated: Sat Jan 28, 2012

A South Carolina Giant for 01/21/2012

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

One of the real pluses of the South Carolina primary was the chance to tap into the fresh wisdom of an authentic American giant, the 90-years-young Fritz Hollings.

A vintage sample from an earlier speech: "Having been governor, I am frequently asked the difference of being a governor and senator. As governor, if you want to raise revenue, you raise taxes. As senator, if you want to ...

Updated: Sat Jan 21, 2012

Tolerant Americans 2012 for 01/14/2012

Sat, 14 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Tom Rath, the New Hampshire Republican, is one of the really good guys. A former state attorney general and advisor to the presidential campaigns of Howard Baker, Bob Dole, Lamar Alexander and George W Bush, Rath is the savvy and witty pol who answers your calls and gives good quote. This year, as in 2008, Rath is a national counselor to Mitt Romney, about whose appeal he observed: "Ordina ...

Updated: Sat Jan 14, 2012

GOP Populist, 2012 Version for 01/07/2012

Sat, 07 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

CONCORD, N.H. — During the campaign for the 1996 Republican presidential nomination, Malcolm "Steve" Forbes pushed a flat-tax plan that would have abolished all taxes on dividends and capital gains. Pat Buchanan, in characteristically understated fashion, charged that the Forbes plan was written to benefit "the boys down at the yacht basin, " because under it, "lo ...

Updated: Sat Jan 07, 2012

In Defense of Iowa for 12/31/2011

Sat, 31 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Beating up on Iowa — and the Hawkeye State's Jan. 3 first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses — is once again in the Eastern Time Zone. Readers of The New York Times are urged to read the gifted Gail Collins' column so that they can "Feel Free to Ignore Iowa." If that's not enough, The Washington Post trumpets "The Idiocy of Iowa" in recommending Matt Miller's co ...

Updated: Sat Dec 31, 2011

Down to Blood Relatives and Paid Staff for 12/24/2011

Sat, 24 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

When the voters' job rating of Congress fell in one national poll this year to just 9 percent positive, Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain explained that "9 percent" meant he and his congressional colleagues were "down to blood relatives and paid staffers."

After House Republicans refused, for the better part of a week, to accept a compromise agreed to by Senate Demo ...

Updated: Sat Dec 24, 2011

Newt Rewrites His Reagan Connection for 12/17/2011

Sat, 17 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

In 1995, when Newt Gingrich first became speaker of the House, Bob Dole was already on the threshold of becoming the longest-serving Senate Republican leader in U.S. history. Relations between the two GOP leaders, which were never chummy, were not helped by Gingrich's openly disparaging Bob Dole as "the tax collector for the welfare state."

Barely two years later, after having ...

Updated: Sat Dec 17, 2011

Endorsements Matter on Checks, Not for President for 12/10/2011

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Let's be candid with each other: I have never heard (and I bet you haven't, either) anyone explain that in the upcoming presidential primary he intends to vote for Johnny Geesil. rather than any of the other seven active presidential candidates, because his home-state lieutenant governor had publicly endorsed Johnny Geesil. We don't deliver milk or bread in this country, and nobody — not ...

Updated: Sat Dec 10, 2011

A Plea to Republicans for 12/03/2011

Sat, 03 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

"No man is good enough to be president," wisely observed Abraham Lincoln, one of the nation's greatest, "but someone has to be."

Americans' choice of a president is truly the most personal vote that any of us will ever cast. We are far more likely to vote strictly on issues — whether taxes, education or the environment — when choosing our representative in ...

Updated: Sat Dec 03, 2011

GOP Is Biggest Winner in Supercommittee Failure for 11/26/2011

Sat, 26 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

You can make a case that the failure of Congress's overhyped "supercommittee" to find common ground to reduce the federal budget deficit politically benefits the Democratic Party. After all, the one real point of public consensus on dealing with the deficits that emerged is voters' agreement with President Obama's argument that the wealthiest taxpayers should pay higher taxes.

Updated: Sat Nov 26, 2011

Thanksgiving -- The Holiday You Have to Love for 11/19/2011

Sat, 19 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Thanksgiving remains the most American of all our holidays. Thanksgiving belongs to everyone. It is truly an ecumenical day without sectarian divide.To fully celebrate Thanksgiving, you do not have to belong to any particular religious group or tradition, or for that matter, to belong to any religious group or tradition.

No costumes or expensive purchases required. No loud music or forc ...

Updated: Sat Nov 19, 2011

Rhetorical Grave-Robbery for 11/12/2011

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

For more than half a century, American liberals, resistant to swelling defense budgets, have regularly quoted Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower's warning delivered on Jan. 17, 1961 — just three days before he was to leave the White House — in his farewell address to the nation: "In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influenc ...

Updated: Sat Nov 12, 2011

Back From the Dead in Ohio for 11/05/2011

Sat, 05 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0700

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Exactly one year ago, Ohio Republicans stood as a colossus astride the Buckeye State. Prior to Election Day 2010, Ohio Democrats had held every statewide office except that of auditor. After the votes were counted, Republicans had won back control of the state House, held all seven state Supreme Court seats, took five U.S. House seats away from incumbent Democrats and cap ...

Updated: Sat Nov 05, 2011

In Cincinnati, an Incumbent President in Trouble for 10/29/2011

Sat, 29 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

CINCINNATI — In Ohio, which has voted for the winning White House nominee in the last 12 consecutive presidential elections, there has been no major county that has been more reliably Republican than Hamilton, with its county seat of Cincinnati.

In carrying Ohio in 2008, Barack Obama became the first Democratic presidential nominee since Lyndon Johnson in 1964 (and only the third ...

Updated: Sat Oct 29, 2011

Rising Cain for 10/22/2011

Sat, 22 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

There is a glib, widely circulated explanation offered for the remarkable rise of outsider Herman Cain in barely five weeks from fifth place to first — from being the choice of just 5 percent of Republican voters to being the favorite of 27 percent in the Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll. That explanation goes like this: Herman Cain is just the latest winner of the Republican's latest AB ...

Updated: Sat Oct 22, 2011

Inevitability Is Not a Campaign Strategy for 10/15/2011

Sat, 15 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Shortly after the cooling of the Earth — when I was still a young man — I worked around the country in political campaigns. One of the first rules of politics, my sainted precinct committeewoman had taught me, is that there was no such thing as a bandwagon effect in campaigns. She was right.

Still, self-anointed political sages, everywhere I traveled, would insist that " ...

Updated: Sat Oct 15, 2011

Republicans Just Want to Fall in Love for 10/08/2011

Sat, 08 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

To understand the 2012 Republican presidential contest in the fall of 2011, think of GOP voters as a young maiden writing for advice from a wise elder such as Ann Landers.

"What's wrong with me? He's handsome, an excellent provider, well-educated, and he comes from a good family. He neither drinks nor smokes and doesn't run around. While courting me relentlessly for several years no ...

Updated: Sat Oct 08, 2011

"Do Not Leave This Prophet Without Honor" for 10/01/2011

Sat, 01 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Robert D. Novak, a great and controversial political reporter, judged Eugene McCarthy's nomination of Adlai Stevenson at the 1960 Democratic convention in Los Angeles to be "the greatest national convention speech I ever heard."

The Minnesota senator's words echo in my memory: "Do not reject this man who, his enemies said, spoke above the heads of the people, but they sai ...

Updated: Sat Oct 01, 2011