For nearly four decades, advocates for reproductive rights have been stuck fighting an ugly, expensive and sometimes dangerous campaign to ensure that women have access to safe and legal abortions. It’s a Groundhog’s Day sort of battle in which both proponents for choice and the opposing camp — rigid anti-abortionists — trot out the same [...]

After several days of unmitigated disaster – bad press, angry donors, baffled supporters, unwelcome scrutiny – the leaders of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the world’s leading advocate for breast cancer research, moved to restore their credibility and calm the roiling waters that threatened to drown the organization in unfavorable reviews. It quickly became [...]

I once trudged many miles in a cold rain to raise thousands of dollars for Susan G. Komen For the Cure’s fight against breast cancer. I won’t do it again. I once stood in the blazing sun to cheer men, women and young children walking in support of breast cancer survivors and in memory of [...]

“Since when do we in America accept this alien and discredited theory of social and class warfare? Since when do we in America endorse the politics of envy and division?” — Ronald Reagan, 1982 ** ** ** When Ronald Reagan spoke those words, the American economy was still a colossus astride the globe — its [...]

“We can thank (Ronald Reagan) for our annual ‘Hate Whitey Day.’ ” — 1990 Ron Paul newsletter on MLK holiday It’s tempting to simply forget Ron Paul’s unfortunate history on racial issues, especially since he seems to be trying to forget it himself. He won’t be the Republican nominee, and his years in Congress have [...]

Rick Santorum — who gained the media spotlight after coming in a close second to Mitt Romney in Iowa — has long been a hard-right social conservative: opposed to reproductive rights, adamantly homophobic, hostile to contraceptive use. But he hasn’t previously been known as a race-baiter. The scion of a working-class Pennsylvania family, he spent [...]

WASHINGTON — Newt Gingrich has always had a way with words — provocative words, harsh words, incendiary words. He and GOP consultant Frank Luntz pioneered Republicans’ use of catchy phrases and misleading language not only to demean their rivals but also to redefine their rivals’ policies. As Speaker of the House, Gingrich famously fined his [...]