Paul Krugman in a February 17 column noted that many Americans make use of government programs but are oblivious that they are beneficiaries. He quoted a Cornell University professor who found that 44 percent of Social Security recipients, 43 percent of those receiving jobless benefits, and 40 percent of those on Medicare say they “have [...]

You get insights into presidential campaign news coverage from the darndest places — a pharmacy, for example. I picked up three prescriptions, all packaged for me in one bag. When I opened the bag at home, I noticed one prescription was different from what I had ordered — they gave me something called doxycycline instead [...]

U.S. presidential elections come in two parts, the preliminary or nominating phase in the form of state caucuses and primaries, followed by the general election. The latter is considered the main event. This year, though, it’s the preliminaries that may prove to be decisive. In them, the GOP candidates are staking out such uniformly far-right [...]

My local paper informed me Feb. 8 that Rick Santorum was the top vote-getter in Minnesota, capturing 45 per cent of the votes cast in the state’s Republican presidential caucuses. But 45 percent of what? Finding out basic information about the contest was a day-long task. A Google search yielded nothing about the number of [...]

“Awww, shucky ducky!” as Herman Cain would say. I was so hoping that Donald Trump would have used his Las Vegas platform to endorse Newt Gingrich. He had hinted at it, but no. The “Celebrity Apprentice” maestro (and don’t you know it will be premiering soon) endorsed Mitt Romney instead. With Romney’s easy Nevada victory, [...]

The best way to heal self-inflicted wounds is to confess error quickly, fully and unambiguously. The Susan Komen breast cancer foundation’s apology for withdrawing funding from Planned Parenthood, and to reinstate the money, fell short of candidly explaining why it adopted a policy one of its board members described, accurately, as “stupid.” The policy it [...]

How much longer will Republican presidential candidates pretend that George W. Bush doesn’t exist? Mitt Romney’s victory speech in Florida is a case in point. Romney tore Barack Obama limb from limb on joblessness and other issues, but never once acknowledged that what preceded Obama’s election might have had a bearing on his record. Leaving [...]

In the wake of the Florida primary, it may be timely to return to Iowa to provide context for the rancor and discord still besetting the Republican Party. In assaying the wreckage of the 2012 Iowa GOP caucus, you can conclude the obvious — that it was a fiasco. You also might wonder if that [...]