Columns

Who wants a fantastic job? Unemployment is high, so there ought to be many candidates. The job is leader of the Republican Party.

WASHINGTON -- At the end of this year in which election results reinserted immigration into the political conversation, remember that 2012 is the 150th anniversary of "the first comprehensive immigration law."

Last week, Republicans proved they are not a governing party. Next week we will see whether Democrats are.

In keeping with the holiday season, I went looking for good news.

WASHINGTON -- Ideas are not responsible for the people who believe them, but when evaluating Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's ideas for making the Senate more like the House of Representatives, consider the source.

The last time I saw Bob Bork was the Sunday before Election Day. His familiar baritone was faint. You had to sit close to hear him, and he seemed to have a little difficulty following the conversation.

On Monday, the U.S. Senate got its newest member and lost its most senior member.

WASHINGTON -- It is a conundrum of wordsmiths that sometimes events are so horrible that words escape us. Bereft of the tools of our trade, we are left with what is perhaps the only appropriate response to something as heart-stopping as the massacre of children: Silence.