Ilan Goldenberg writes that talking to Iran is not as controversial as people seem to think:
If two years ago you were to tell me that the Democratic presidential nominee would make engaging with Iran a central element of his campaign, I would have thought you were joking. After all, talking to a country that has historically enjoyed a favorability rating of a whopping 10 percent in the United States and has a president known for his anti-Western rhetoric probably isn't going to be all that popular. Not to mention the fact that the most substantive interaction Americans have had with Iran over the last 30 years involved watching blindfolded hostages and burning American flags on their television screens.
Julian Sanchez explains why Democratic leaders supporting the House's FISA bill are wrong when they say it protects civil liberties:
One might think, as Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) does, that the proper word for this is "capitulation." After all, Republicans got precisely what they had wanted all along, and Democrats seem not to have wheedled even a mess of pottage in trade for the rule of law and the Fourth Amendment. But give the House leadership points for at least accidental honesty: "Compromise" can also mean "to make a shameful or disreputable concession," which fits the deal brokered by Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) to a tee.
And Sarah Posner has the latest on the religious right:
By the 2012 election they will be, says the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the 15 million-member National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference. The NHCLC, which Rodriguez describes as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference blended with the National Association of Evangelicals and "a little Taco Bell," represents one of the fastest-growing religious groups in America. Rodriguez says that "in 20 to 30 years, Latino evangelicals will dominate [the political landscape] ... what they believe in socially and politically will influence presidential campaigns." And presidential campaigns, says Rodriguez, "won't be about courting white evangelicals exclusively." "After 2012," he says, "there's no way you can move into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue without the Latino vote."
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--The Editors
