Columns

On this matter of offering federal jobs to potential candidates to induce them not to run against Senate Democratic incumbents, this White House is drifting dangerously close to the falls. Colorado's Andrew Romanoff has now confirmed that White House Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina trolled three federal jobs in front of him, if he would desist and not run against incumbent Sen. Michael Bennet.

By eliminating secret-ballot union elections, the deceptively named Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), or card check, would fundamentally violate the freedom of workers.

WASHINGTON -- When a long-ago South Carolina legislator described his state as "too small to be a republic and too large to be an insane asylum," he might have added, "but just perfect for a bordello!" Perhaps it is the humidity. Throw in a cocktail, stir with human nature, and you've got that ol' fleeting magic.

WASHINGTON -- Today, as it has been for a century, American politics is an argument between two Princetonians -- James Madison, class of 1771, and Woodrow Wilson, class of 1879. Madison was the most profound thinker among the Founders. Wilson, avatar of "progressivism," was the first president critical of the nation's founding. Barack Obama's Wilsonian agenda reflects its namesake's rejection of limited government.

PBS station managers made a big push last year to drive any trace of "sectarian" Christianity out of the taxpayer-funded broadcasting system, banning any church services or religious lectures that appeared on a handful of stations. They ultimately compromised and banned any new church programming.

WASHINGTON -- The only thing you need to know about the upcoming Republican primary race in Nevada is: Who does Harry Reid want to win? In another instance of strange bedfellows, the answer is the same person the tea party people are backing -- former Nevada Assemblywoman Sharron Angle. When tea partiers and Democrats are on the same team, Republicans might need to worry.

"Obama Struggling to Show He's in Control," reads the headline on The Washington Post's story on Barack Obama's Thursday press conference, where most of the questions were about the Gulf oil spill. "Defensive, unauthoritative and equivocal," wrote Congressional Quarterly's Craig Crawford of Obama's performance. "He came across as a beleaguered bureaucrat in damage control."