Identity politics is the mother's milk of the Democratic Left.

It is an old liberal theme that conservative ideas, being red in tooth and claw, cannot possibly emerge from any notion of the public good.

The conservative idea is not that government has no role. You might have argued that in the thirties when conservatives opposed the New Deal.

Doves oppose war on the grounds that the risks exceed the gains. War with Iraq could be very costly, possibly degenerating into urban warfare.

There's a reason why in New York Harbor we have the Statue of Liberty, not the Statue of Equality.

The Iraquis can see it. The Kurds can feel it. The jihadists are counting on it.

In explaining any puzzling Washington phenomenon, always choose stupidity over conspiracy, incompetence over cunning. Anything else gives them too much credit.