Some candidates need to say provocative things that make noise to break through the media muffle and get themselves noticed.

Unquestionably, American political rhetoric can be repugnant, and the Right can certainly be as guilty as the Left.

The 2004 presidential election that saw George W. Bush win with 51 percent of the vote was the last one Republicans will ever win with the overwhelmingly white and male coalition they have now.

I think making a pretense of civility toward Eric Alterman is like making a pretense of civility to a scorpion.

Over the next decade, cities and states across America will be compelled to tighten their belts as the really big bills - the pension bills they cannot afford - come due. They'll have to go after existing contracts with current workers.

This, of course, has no chance of passing. But then Tuesday night'€™s State of the Union address could be the first one in history deliberately designed solely to generate a Pavlovian rage response in members of the opposing party.

Obama is defining himself in a way that will destroy him.