Media, tea party coalesce around common enemy

Breaking news: Conservative organizations suddenly have found common cause with one of their favorite objects of contempt - the benighted Mainstream Media.

Critics of Cruz wrongly question his 'Hispanic-ness'

WASHINGTON

Tsarnaev entitled to all his rights as a US citizen

As the manhunt for the Boston bombers reached its climactic conclusion, Americans of all hues and backgrounds heaved a sigh of relief. Thank goodness it wasn't ...

Man's inhumanity to man is unfathomable

WASHINGTON

Proposed gun-control regulations are only feel-good steps

WASHINGTON

'Law and Order' star makes real impact on rape cases

WASHINGTON -

In Catholic Church, this is no century for introverts

Tout le journalism monde has descended on Rome since Pope Benedict XVI's surprise retirement last month. The ensuing Vatican intrigue has been appropriately sumptuous: Was it the gay cabal? Blackmail? Did the butler do it?

Yahoo is the latest battleground in mommy wars

WASHINGTON

Sensitivity training soon will turn us into drones

WASHINGTON

Calling all RINOs: It's time for a rebellion

WASHINGTON

A major Friedan legacy may be stay-at-home dad

Now is the time for all good women to pay homage to Betty Friedan, who 50 years ago wrote the game-changing manifesto "The Feminine Mystique."

4 Myanmar women step into the light; pray for them

WASHINGTON - When Myanmar's Zin Mar Aung was placed in solitary confinement for trying to organize students in 1999, Bill Clinton was president of the United States.

Asking the right questions about marriage, at last

More than perhaps anyone else in America, David Blankenhorn personifies the struggle so many have experienced over same-sex marriage.

Judging Armstrong's sincerity may be a mistake

To the world-weary, Lance Armstrong's confession to Oprah was just one more in a series.

Witness decline of civilization Honey Boo Boo-style

No one forced me, but I finally decided it was time to discover what all the business was about Honey Boo Boo.

Attacks on Hillary Clinton have been disgusting

The new year began not with a cannonball off the fiscal cliff but with an outbreak of conspiratorial cynicism.

So, it's time to man up, right? No problem

This is the time of year when columnists write mea culpas, make predictions and list their resolutions.

Obama needs to provide leadership on fatherhood

One of my great hopes for an Obama administration - and thus one of my personal disappointments - was that he would use his bully pulpit to emphasize the importance of a two-parent family, and especially of fathers, to children's well-being.

GOP's opposition to Rice is making no sense

A variety of insults have been deployed in opposition to Susan Rice's likely nomination for secretary of state: She is not qualified; she's too aggressive; she misled the public after the lethal attack on the American Consulate in Libya.

Women in Petraeus saga are pilloried unfairly

WASHINGTON - As events have unfolded in what shall ever be known as "The Petraeus Affair," one cannot escape noticing that the women in this sordid saga have been handed the short end of the shtick, as though the men are mere victims of ambitious, hormonally driven vixens.

Ditch the snark - Petraeus saga is just too sad

It is tempting, oh so tempting, to unleash the snark as the script unfolds: Real Housewives of Tampa. Or is it Real Generals of Kabul?

It's time for nation to heal, work together

Four-year-old Abigael Evans spoke for millions when she sobbed, "I'm tired of Bronco Bamma and Mitt Romney."

Just stop it: Use of race card getting ridiculous

Predictable as rain, the race card has surfaced just in time to stir up electoral passions, justify outcomes and explain away inconvenient truths.

Only our enemies benefit from Benghazi blame game

Once again, Hillary Clinton has demonstrated herself to be the classiest person in the room. No wonder she's one of the most revered public figures in America.

Beware of politicians, like Biden, who smile too much

After two debates, one presidential and one vice presidential, we can fairly conclude that Obama and Biden are happy warriors.

Reproductive issues aren't women's top concern

To the extent that women's votes count more than men's, it's been the year of the woman since at least 1964 - when women began outvoting men.

Documentary on feminist pioneers keeps memories fresh

Gloria Steinem is unmistakable. Across the room surrounded by a clutch of admirers, she is utterly ageless. At 78, she looks, well, fabulous.

Words of practicality betray Romney the cyborg

What's a day without a leaked video, a scandal, an unintended sliver of truth?

Candidates' 'likability' rating overemphasized

One of the great fallacies of politics - and life - is that one must be liked to be effective.

Michelle's right: Children need a loving father

CHARLOTTE, N.C.

Eastwood knew: Cowboy always wins in America

CHARLOTTE, N.C.

Why Jindal may be happiest Republican on planet

TAMPA, Fla.

A model for living well, dying with grace

TAMPA, Fla. -

Circus distracts voters from substance of election

"Under a democratical government, the citizens exercise the powers of sovereignty; and those powers will be first abased, and afterwards lost, if they are committed to an unwieldy multitude."

Cosmo Girl's legacy is a dubious one at best

The legendary Cosmo Girl, Helen Gurley Brown, has died and with her, one hopes, a not-so-fabulous legacy.

And the winner of the gold medal for courage is ...

Oh, to be the fastest woman in the world. Other dreams may be equal to this one, but few are as accessible. Every able-bodied human being on the planet can and has run, knows the feeling of running full speed - as fast as you can - and the exhilaration of crossing a finish line, or not.

Detractors talk of gaffes as Romney talks substance

The same week President Obama's health regulations go into effect, forcing people of faith to violate their conscience or shut their doors, Mitt Romney was preaching the gospel of economic and religious freedom in Poland and Israel.

Loony liberals sounding a lot like birthers lately

We're still a few weeks from summer's dog days and the conventions, and already rabidity has set in. Add to the long list of psycho-political syndromes the "Romney Derangement Syndrome."

Rising GOP star Haley needs to think before she speaks

CAMDEN, S.C. - South Carolina politics never fails to amuse - and bemuse.

No turning back for Romney on immigration

As the Supreme Court rules this week on a variety of volatile issues, the question has come up: Is Barack Obama really running against the high court?

Ideological nonsense about Ann Romney's horse

The punch line is at least as old as the eldest baby boomer: "I didn't get a pony."

Laura Bush is a force for women; 'The 22' know nothing

By now most sentient Americans have heard about the war on women. That is, the so-called Republican war on women, which has been framed as a battle waged by stodgy old white guys who want to deny women reproductive freedom.

We have met the 'Ordinary American' - and it is us

Among the lessons of this presidential election season, perhaps most salient is that the so-called Ordinary American is dead.

Clinton's playing Dean Martin to Obama's Sinatra

All the world's a stage, all right, and never so much as when presidential politics are in play.

Proof there's no place for independent thinking

The past several days of Newark Mayor Cory Booker's life have been painfully amusing to watch.

'Likability' politics takes us back to high school

A presidential race recently focused on high school has come to resemble a popularity contest of the same vintage.

How a rumor about Nikki Haley was repeated, grew

All it takes is one little twit. Or a tweet, as the case may be - not that the two are mutually exclusive.

Shooting spawns no end of appalling aspects

There are so many appalling aspects to the Trayvon Martin case that it's hard to find a permanent home for outrage.

Health-care, civil-rights laws are like horses, zebras

By now you've heard it plenty: The Affordable Care Act (ACA), aka "Obamacare," is like the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This creative bit of dot-connecting began with President Obama, and has been perpetuated by countless talk-show hosts and their guests.