Partly, it was a bait and switch. Much of the Tea Party was always the Christian right rebranded; according to the Public Religion Research Institute, three quarters of Tea Partiers consider themselves Christian conservatives. Among those who made their way to Congress with Tea Party support were Ann Marie Buerkle (R-NY), a former spokesperson for […]

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Santorum’s position on contraception conforms with a doctrine that most Catholics ignore: that sexual union must serve the purposes of procreation. “It [contraception] is not okay because it’s a license to do things in the sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be,” Santorum said. “They are supposed to be within […]

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to the collateral constitutional damage of the War on Terror. But the author, former New York Times correspondent David K. Shipler, is in pursuit of a much larger and more troubling development. Shipler exposes the frayed edges of our “constitutional culture.” Most citizens don’t know much about our liberties, he argues persuasively, and so don’t guard them from […]

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In their reporting on the 2004 contest, authors Harvey Wasserman and Bob Fitrakis make a compelling argument that Republicans stole the race when they turned what was in reality a narrow 4-percent John Kerry victory into a narrower 2-percent win for George W. Bush. Working in concert with Bush advisor and fellow ideologue Karl Rove, […]

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If the U.S. Supreme Court agrees that the Texas primary election schedule doesn’t allow time for the Justice Department or a federal district court to preclear the state’s reapportionment plan, a roadmap around the Voting Rights Act will be written into case law. Other states will follow suit. The Texas redistricting fight argued on the […]

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