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WASHINGTON - Lawmakers stood side by side on the steps of the Capitol and belted out an impromptu rendition of "God Bless America" after the terrorist attacks five years ago. Democrats and Republicans pulled together, as did the country at large. "We had an astonishing moment of unity," former President Clinton said Monday. But now, the two political parties couldn't be further apart. On the fifth anniversary of the terror attacks, Democrats and Republicans struggled for the upper hand on what has become the main issue of the midterm campaigns — the war in Iraq and its relationship with the...

There are so many bullheaded and stubborn people holding political office in the United States it's distressing. But in reality, being bullheaded is exactly the type of mindset one needs in order to succeed in such a business where competition is savage and one's reviews (elections) determine not whether one receives a raise, but rather whether one keeps his job.

It's been a busy week at the White House. President Bush has a new chief of staff. His press secretary resigned. One of his top advisers is getting a new assignment. And he's defending his choice to keep Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld on board. Personnel decisions are hot in Washington right now, and on Tuesday, Bush declared "I decide what is best" when it comes to Rumsfeld. Does he make the "best" choices on personnel and policy

It is not only in Tehran and Damascus that the game of "waiting Bush out" is played with determination. In recent visits to several regional capitals, this writer was struck by the popularity of this new game from Islamabad to Rabat. The general assumption is that Mr. Bush's plan to help democratize the heartland of Islam is fading under an avalanche of partisan attacks inside the U.S. The effect of this assumption can be witnessed everywhere. In Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf has shelved his plan, forged under pressure from Washington, to foster a popular front to fight terrorism by lifting restrictions...

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday accused Republicans of "playing the fear card" of terrorism to win elections and said Democrats cannot keep quiet if they want to win in November. The New York Democrat, facing re-election this year and considered a potential White House candidate in 2008, said Republicans won the past two elections on the issue of national security and "they're doing it to us again." She said a speech by presidential adviser Karl Rove two weeks ago showed the GOP election message is: "All we've got is fear and we're going to keep playing the fear card."...

The 58-42 vote for Judge Samuel Alito to be the 110th Supreme Court Justice could very well culminate in a detrimental change in the role and operation of the Supreme Court. Progressives think that this is because Justice Alito will replace the so-called swing vote of moderate Justice Sandra Day 0’Connor. No, the risk is that the bitter partisanship associated with his confirmation could undermine the Court’s independence and authority.

RUSH: Crystal in Miami, nice to have you on the program. Welcome. CALLER: Hi, Rush. You often comment that politics have become more partisan over the last decade or two, and I'm only 29 so I really have to take your word for that, but I wonder what you think may have motivated that development and is there anything we can do to effect some kind of change towards less partisan politics. RUSH: Hmm. The second part of that I find a fascinating question, "Is there anything we can do?" Partisanship is not a problem that we can all get...

There are a few laws that govern life. For example, if you drop Al Franken from the Sears Tower in Chicago, gravity will drive him into the pavement at a rate of thirty two feet per second. A diet of fudge, pixy sticks and Schlitz will eventually result in a sensation not unlike indigestion, and some shooting pains in your left arm. If you are going to be a passenger in Ted Kennedy’s car, wear water wings. Last but not least, a law of nature is that liberals hate the military and all who serve in it. Asking a liberal...

CHICAGO Illinois Senator Dick Durbin says he won't apologize for comments comparing American interrogators at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to Nazis and Soviet gulags. News of the Democrat's comparison created a buzz around the Internet today, fueled by sound bites of yesterday's Senate floor speech on radio talk shows. By this afternoon, Illinois Republican Party Chairman Andy McKenna asked Durbin to apologize. Durbin says the Bush administration should apologize for abandoning the Geneva Conventions. Human-rights activist groups and some lawmakers -- mostly Democrats -- want Bush to close the prison. But administration officials say some of the people who have been...

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The first week of June has been remarkable in our nation's history. It was this week in 1776 that a congressional committee was formed to start drafting a Bill of Particulars for King George to consider. Just a month later, it was ratified as the Declaration of Independence. It was during this week in 1942 that the battle of Midway -- the turning point in World War II in the Pacific -- was fought. Within days, Congress was deliberating appropriations for more carriers. In 1944, this was the week during which hundreds of thousands of Allied soldiers...

In the course of a discussion on filibusters and Senate rules, Washington's top Democrat gave the 60 juniors a lesson in partisan politics, particularly about the commander in chief. "The man's father is a wonderful human being," Reid said in response to a question about President Bush's policies. "I think this guy is a loser. "I think President Bush is doing a bad job," he added to a handful of chuckles. "He's driving this country into bankruptcy," Reid said, referring to the deficit. "He's got us in this intractable war in Iraq where we now have about 1,600 American soldiers...

Guest Column: Politics, religion work better sans parties, sects Samuel G. Dawson John Kanelis, in his excellent March 20 column, "Donkeys, elephants not allowed at City Hall," declares that partisan politics doesn't belong in city government or the election of judges, tax assessor, county clerk, etc., because all these offices deal with "the nuts and bolts of what's good for the residents." At the conclusion, he states with no evidence whatsoever that "partisanship has its place on Capitol Hill or on Congress Avenue." Why is federal partisanship acceptable? Is it because the federal government deals with matters less important that...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Amid the backdrop of soaring oil and gasoline prices, a sharply divided Senate on Wednesday voted to open the ecologically rich Alaska wildlife refuge to oil drilling, delivering a major energy policy win for President Bush. The Senate, by a 51-49 vote, rejected an attempt by Democrats...

New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) has long been rumored as desperately seeking the democratic nomination for president in 2008. And while many political observers fully expect the power hungry former First Lady to hit the campaign trail within only a few months of being re-elected as a US Senator in 2006, US News & World report claims to have a confirmation of sorts. From USNews.Com's Washington Whispers: Hillary's in… You don't have to take it from us about Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton 's desire to run for president. Her brothers, Hugh and Tony Rodham, say it's true. Friends...

Disaster strikes a world away We get the call, what do we say? We move at once, to ease their plight, To aid them through their darkest night. But come shrill cries from carping Press, That’s not enough to fix this mess. We know that, fools, but give us room, To counter Mother Nature’s doom. America gives to those in need, With no regard to faith or creed. We’re there for all when need is great A helping hand to any state, That’s fallen under Nature’s wrath And needs a lift back to the path. So what they may have...

Kweisi Mfume recently announced his departure as NAACP President, and not a moment too soon. His tenure has been a disaster for the storied civil rights organization, driving it deeper into liberal irrelevance. But that doesn't mean it still shouldn't be defended against the current IRS probe of its tax-exempt status. Back in October the NAACP was informed that it may have violated a law that prohibits charities, churches and other nonprofits from engaging in partisan activities. Under Mr. Mfume and chairman Julian Bond, the group has accused President Bush of being at war with black America; compared Republicans to...

The nation's new poet laureate, Ted Kooser, drove without a second thought across the red-blue fissure of the elections - two days on the road from his Nebraska home to his splendid aerie by the copper dome of the Library of Congress. He listened to Bach, not Limbaugh, as he crossed the Appalachian Mountains and headed down into this politics-crazed place, arriving as an aberration: an American filled with notions apart from partisanship. "This is really an apolitical position, and I think it ought to stay that way," Mr. Kooser laconically ruled, disappointing anyone who thought that as the nation's...

Major media needs resuscitation. Entrenched in political partisanship, left-wing big media is failing to tell many of the stories of our day. Too often, wittingly or otherwise, journalists miss important stories that will educate and inspire. Digging to find real stories takes work. Today, the preferred method of reporting is something akin to tabloid journalism — day after day, hawking rumors and gossip and spotlighting bungled lines in political speeches. This is the easy way to get words on a paper or to fill airtime, but the RatherGate scandal illustrates that this type of journalism polarizes and does not advance...

Try to catch this roundtable. Man, Maher is so smug and ignorant. Ashleigh Banfield is showing her dimness and John O'Neill came off as much more knowledgable than Maher. Tune in and comment

I have a message for the NAACP's Julian Bond and Kweisi Mfume, who have accused black conservatives of being the "puppets" of white people, unable to think for ourselves: You do not own, and you are not the arbiters of, African-American authenticity. I am a lifelong member of the NAACP. I have a great respect for the organization. Its historical leaders, all visionary thinkers, have been responsible for helping to advance the struggle of African-Americans over the past century, making our nation a more equitable and race-blind society. Sadly, the current NAACP leadership has managed to take a proud, effective...