Politics

Apparently enamored of the virtues of "compromise" regardless of circumstance, the poll might just have well have asked: “Should officials in the two parties act like adults in order to get the country’s business accomplished, or should they insist on all their silly ‘positions’ as we watch effective governance grind to a halt?”

Does it really make sense to take at face value the statements made by and behalf of Mitt Romney as he and his campaign try to place a positive spin on his tenure at Bain Capital? Wouldn’t it be better to look at how the firm articulates its mission for current and prospective business clients?

...can keep Congress and the press from shortsightedly focusing on "balanced" budget reductions despite a stalled economy and both long-term and short-term experience with the folly of austerity. It's like one of those arguments where you may think you're making headway, but where you get to the end and you might as well have saved your breath. Can anything prevent Democrats from seeking to give up hard-won gains?

In other words, a little from column A and a little from column B. By stubbornly resisting the possibility that one faction's prescription (even a liberal Democratic or a Tea Party Republican one) can sometimes be correct to the exclusion of all other options, formula replaces reporting.

Not so much, it seems, if you only want to become president of the United States. Ask Chris Christie.