WASHINGTON — Jon Kyl is different from you and me. In the days following Hurricane Katrina, the nation was reeling over the death and destruction in New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast. But Kyl, now the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, saw opportunity: According to a voice-mail recording left at t...

1. Gingrich is an academic. He earned a Ph.D. in history and taught college before winning a seat in Congress. He has often spoken of himself as a historian. In 1995, he told CNN’s Bob Franken, ”I am the most seriously professorial politician since Woodrow Wilson.”...

WASHINGTON — Another debate, another episode of ”The Dating Game.” Will the winner be contestant Number One, Two ... Eight? The truth is, everyone has always known who the Republican nominee will be, but we enjoy the game. For a while. By now, self-caricature has evolved into full-blown self-m...

WASHINGTON —The headline on Democratic strategist Paul Begala’s recent Newsweek essay dodged subtlety: ”The Stupid Party.” ”Republicans used to admire intelligence. But now they’re dumbing themselves down,” was the subhead. Democrats couldn’t agree more. And quietly, many Republicans...

WASHINGTON — Almost exactly a year ago, members of Congress voted overwhelmingly to censure their colleague, Rep. Charlie Rangel, for bringing dishonor on the House. Then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi summoned the New York Democrat to the well and chastised him for 11 ethics violations, which include...

WASHINGTON — Sixteen hours between Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning on Capitol Hill brought out the best and the worst in our leaders. The worst: With just a week to go before the all-important deadline for the congressional supercommittee to come up with a plan to avert a looming debt catast...

WASHINGTON — As the GOP candidates have been thrashing it out in debates that seem to occur every couple of hours or so, one almost misses the iconic wink that enraged or beguiled the nation a political season ago. Admit it. You miss Sarah Palin just a little: The wink, the red shoes, the pointing...

WASHINGTON — Reince Priebus, the 39-year-old chairman of the Republican Party, got that deer-in-the-headlights look a week ago when I asked him a simple question. ”Is Cain another Eisenhower?” The context was that over the past century almost no one, save for Herbert Hoover, a disaster, and D...

WASHINGTON — Herman Cain denies that he sexually harassed women over the years, but there’s no disputing the obscene thing his campaign did last week to a man. After Karen Kraushaar identified herself as one of those who accused the Republican presidential candidate of workplace misconduct, Cai...

WASHINGTON — Most Americans would agree that the most memorable moment from Wednesday night’s debate was when Rick um, um, um, whateverhisnameis couldn’t remember the third leg of his own policy for streamlining the federal government . With great conviction, Perry asserted that when he become...