Eugene Robinson's Slant

Despite what you might have heard, the coming battle on Capitol Hill is not really about "government spending" in the abstract. It's about two radically different visions of how money should be spent. Republicans who feign attacks of the vapors and fainting spells over the big, scary deficit would .. submitted 05/21/12

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This whole health-care thing isn't quite working out the way Republicans planned. My guess is that they'll soon try to change the subject - but I'm afraid they're already in too deep. Wednesday's vote to repeal President Obama's health insurance reform law was supposed to be a crowning triumph. We .. submitted 05/21/12

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In the spirit of civil discourse, I'd like to humbly suggest that Sarah Palin please consider being quiet for a while. Perhaps a great while. At the risk of being bold, I might observe that her faux-presidential address about the Tucson massacre seemed to fall somewhat flat, drawing comparisons to .. submitted 05/21/12

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The powerful elegy that President Obama delivered in Tucson was a big step toward his long-held goal of transforming the nation's choleric and dysfunctional political culture. Subsequent steps will be harder - but no longer seem impossible. Listening to Obama's speech brought back memories of Obama .. submitted 05/21/12

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We may not be sure that the bloodbath in Tucson had anything to do with politics, but we know it had everything to do with our nation's insane refusal to impose reasonable controls on guns. Specifically, the rampage had everything to do with a 9mm semiautomatic Glock pistol - a sleek, efficient kill .. submitted 05/21/12

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If the incoming Republican leadership in the House of Representatives is serious about trying to repeal health-care reform, there's only one appropriate Democratic response: "Make my day." Just to be clear, there's no earthly chance that a bill repealing the landmark health-care overhaul could make .. submitted 05/21/12

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At stake are issues of free speech, censorship, privacy, piracy, sovereignty and corporate power. We may know what we think about these concepts, but applying real-world logic to the Internet leads to unacceptable conclusions - such as sympathy for the goons in Iran or China who suppress anti-govern .. submitted 05/21/12

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It pains me to write those words, because the agreement President Obama negotiated with Republicans on tax cuts is really quite awful. I know that some progressives have come to see the package as a cleverly disguised "second stimulus," but they're just rationalizing. The fact is that nobody would s .. submitted 05/21/12

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An expert on the Great Depression, Bernanke is determined not to be the Federal Reserve chairman who allows the nation to plummet into Great Depression II. Since our political leaders can't be bothered to do what urgently needs to be done - stimulate the fragile economy before it sputters out - Bern .. submitted 05/21/12

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Sure, the "don't touch my junk" guy touched a nerve. I spend enough time fighting my way through airport security lines to share his frustration at ever-changing procedures that seem capricious, intrusive and sometimes just bizarre. But what, specifically, is the alternative? Last Christmas, Umar .. submitted 05/21/12

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Last week, voters made a powerful statement about leadership: They'd like some, please. So far, there's no evidence that either President Obama or the top Republicans in Congress were paying the slightest attention. In his only interview since the GOP rampage, with Steve Kroft of "60 Minutes," Obam .. submitted 05/21/12

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President Obama still has the ability to set the nation's agenda - and also the power of the veto, in case of emergency. Harry Reid is still Senate majority leader - and after the way he punched and scrapped his way to victory, who wants to mess with him? As for John Boehner, he'll soon learn that h .. submitted 05/21/12

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The main source of hilarity has been the Tea Party movement and its candidates, quite a few of whom give every indication of being several sandwiches short of a picnic. Whether they win or lose - and yes, there remains the possibility that some might actually be elected - they leave us with mondo-bi .. submitted 05/21/12

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What if President Obama and the Democratic leadership on Capitol Hill had pushed through an authentic, righteous, no-holds-barred progressive agenda, perhaps with a thick overlay of pitchfork populism? How different might the political landscape look? Would predictions for the party's prospects on E .. submitted 05/21/12

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Banks and other lenders, it seems, made statements in courts of law that turned out not to be true. Because judges have such an underdeveloped sense of humor when it comes to prevarication, this mess may be with us for a while. The mortgage industry would love to blame the whole thing on predatory, .. submitted 05/21/12

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