Quin Hillyer

Bipartisanship May Actually Emerge from Scandal

Thu, 16 May 2013 12:00:00 CDT

This seems to be "scandal week" in Washington, D.C., with three major controversies roiling the national political waters. What's interesting is that while conservatives and liberals disagree on the significance of the scandal involving the September 11 terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya and the one involving Justice Department monitoring of phone records of the Associated Press, virtually everybody, including ordinarily partisan Democrats and even President Obama, seems to agree that the IRS' targeting of conservative groups is an unforgivable violation.

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Common Core: The Wrong "Butterfly Effect"

Thu, 09 May 2013 12:00:00 CDT

A new bombshell has dropped in an ongoing controversy in Alabama about whether the state should officially align itself with the national "Common Core" standards for education. Legislators and state school board members who refuse to disassociate from Common Core may not know until too late just what a political hit awaits them.

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Obama Pushes, the System Pulls

Thu, 02 May 2013 12:01:00 CDT

Has President Obama suddenly “lost his juice,” as one prominent reporter asked at Obama’s April 30 press conference?

Or is there some other explanation for the stalling, on almost every front, of Obama’s legislative agenda in these first months of his new term?

A fair-minded assessment falls somewhere in between the “no juice” and “other reasons” alternatives. Within that assessment lies a good civics lesson - as we shall see.

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