Eugene Robinson's Blog, page 103

An act of terror on Flight 9525

We don’t need to know the political or religious views of Germanwings co-pilot Andreas Günter Lubitz to call his crashing of a crowded airliner into a mountainside an act of terrorism. And we don’t need any further evidence to recognize a cruel irony: Legitimate fear of potential terrorist attacks apparently made this tragedy possible. Read full article >>

And they’re off: An early look at the GOP field

With Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas becoming the first A-lister to throw his hat in the ring for president — in his case, I’m picturing a Napoleonic bicorn rather than a fedora — it’s time to handicap the race for the Republican nomination. I see it as Jeb Bush vs. the field, and I’m not ready to put my money on Bush.Read full article >>

The dysfunctional GOP is failing to govern

It was only January when Republicans took full control of Congress, but already it is safe to say they have no earthly idea of what they want to accomplish.What we’re seeing is not just a bit of sputtering before the GOP machine cranks up and begins to systematically fulfill its governing plan. There is no plan. Republican majorities in both the House and Senate are so out of control that they’ve managed a feat once thought impossible: They make the Democratic Party look like a model of unity and discipline.Read full article >>

Fraternity boys and the long shadow of racism

See, I keep telling you that old-fashioned racism is alive and well in this country. After the fraternity bus sing-along at the University of Oklahoma, do you hear me now?Frankly, the happy-go-lucky bigotry of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) fraternity brothers — captured on video and shown to the world — shocked even me. And I was raised in the South, back in the days when Jim Crow was under assault but still very much alive.Read full article >>

Why do the Clintons continue to act guilty?

Finally, Hillary Clinton came out and addressed those emails. Opinion writer Eugene Robinson dives into what the former secretary of state’s response to the scandal tells us about her—and her husband.Read full article >>

New scandals and reasons to wonder if Hillary is hiding something

The Hillary Clinton e-mail controversy is a reminder of one inescapable fact: She comes with baggage. Not the kind that fits in the overhead bin, either. I’m talking steamer trunks.How could anyone serve four years as secretary of state with no official e-mail account, instead conducting business from a private address with its own domain and server? The answer is: Deliberately. Read full article >>

Netanyahu goes beyond bluster on Iran

The worst moment of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress, at least for me, came when he used Elie Wiesel, a great moral hero, as a Hollywood-style prop. Presidents giving State of the Union addresses have the right to tug at our heartstrings by saluting honored guests in the gallery. Foreign leaders taking advantage of partisan invitations do not.Read full article >>

Boehner’s pointless leadership

House Speaker John Boehner needs to decide whether he wants to be remembered as an effective leader or a befuddled hack. So far, I’m afraid, it’s the latter.Boehner’s performance last week was a series of comic pratfalls, culminating Friday in a stinging rebuke from the House Republicans he ostensibly leads. Boehner (R-Ohio) wasn’t asking for much: three weeks of funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which was hours from shutting down. He came away, humiliated, with just seven days’ worth of operating money for the agency charged with keeping Americans safe from terrorist attacks.Read full article >>

A necessary deal with Iran

President Obama is clearly right — and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is wrong — about the Iran nuclear negotiations. But the broader and more consequential question of Iran’s place in the world is much more complicated.Read full article >>

Deranged by Obama, Republicans are spouting nonsense

Republicans had better divert some of their campaign cash toward finding a cure for Obama Derangement Syndrome. If they don’t, their nemesis will beat them in a third consecutive presidential contest — without, of course, actually being on the ballot.Read full article >>