Diplomacy can never supplant the importance of military victory. Obama may want to bring the troops home, but the diplomacy-first strategy hampers peace. As the history of drinking tea with the Taliban shows, talk is not only cheap; it is deadly.

Grading the Democratic candidates.

For John Kerry to win election 2004, the election has to be a referendum, not on him or his running mate, but on President George W. Bush.

It bodes ill for Republicans that recent special congressional elections have not only seen party switches but also movements against the districts' partisan leanings.

Reformatting the debate structure would force presidential candidates to be more substantive.

Red State, Blue State, Rich State, Poor State by Andrew Gelman and The Big Sort by Bill Bishop are must-reads for understanding the inner workings of American politics.

Chirac's message is: If you want to be part of New Europe, then echo France's anti-Americanism.

A complicated system of filling political positions is starting to negatively affect our government's ability to function in a time of crisis.