Related Content: Doyle McManus
Is Romney a True Conservative?On The Radar For months, Mitt Romney's rivals in the Republican presidential race have hammered him as a closet moderate, especially on third-rail social issues such as abortion and gay marriage. "Mitt Romney: Not conservative," charged one recent and typical television commercial sponsored by supporters of Newt Gingrich. |
Romney's 'Electability' is KeyOn The Radar New Hampshire Republicans are practical people. As I traveled around the state this week, voters who said they supported Mitt Romney in Tuesday's presidential primary consistently offered two reasons for their choice. One was Romney's resume: his experience as both a businessman and a reasonably successful governor of Massachusetts. |
Even Despots Don't Live ForeverOn The Radar It was a bad year for the villains of the world. Three of the biggest bad guys met their ends: Osama bin Laden, killed by U.S. commandos who stormed his villa in Pakistan in May; Moammar Kadafi, killed by Libyan insurgents who captured him (with the help of a NATO airstrike) in October; and Kim Jong Il, the ruler of North Korea, who died Dec. 17, reportedly of a heart attack. |
Oops! That Was the Year that Wasn'tOn The Radar A year ago, soon after the Tunisian uprising, I demonstrated my powers of prediction in a column about the democracy movement in the Arab world. The revolution in Tunisia, I wrote, "arose from local circumstances that don't foretell what will happen anywhere else." Three weeks later, Egypt's Hosni Mubarak fell, and the Arab Spring was in full bloom. This brings me to the subject of today's column: A confession of my year's errors and omissions (along with a mention of one or two things I got right). |
December 23, 2011Weekly Show This week, we look back at 2011 and forward to 2012. We’ll analyze battles between Congress and the President, the economy, the killing of Osama bin Laden, the pullout of US troops in Iraq while fighting continues in Afghanistan, and more. Joining Gwen: Helene Cooper, New York Times; Michael Duffy, Time Magazine; Doyle McManus, Los Angeles Times; David Wessel, Wall Street Journal. |
A Long Goodbye to AfghanistanOn The Radar This week, the last convoy of U.S. troops in Iraq drove noisily across the border into Kuwait and shut the gate behind them. The next drawdown comes in Afghanistan, where American forces are scheduled to disengage from most combat by the end of 2014. But the Afghanistan withdrawal won't be anywhere near as final as the one we just saw. U.S. military leaders are working on a new slimmed-down strategy that would keep some American troops in combat against the Taliban for years to come, long after 2014. |
Could Rubio Save the GOP Ticket?On The Radar Florida's new Republican senator, 40-year-old Marco Rubio, is handsome, personable and smart. He can talk with intelligence and ease about foreign policy, the federal budget and the aspirations of the American people. And he has a Reaganesque gift for sounding reassuring, even when he's arguing for Tea Party positions such as a complete overhaul of Social Security and Medicare. |
Obama sides with the 99%On The Radar Conservatives were quick to accuse President Obama of embracing class warfare in his speech last week in Osawatomie, Kan. And liberal Democrats were thrilled to see a hint of the populist president they had hoped they were voting for in 2008. The polarized reactions suggest that Obama's speech succeeded in one of its goals: to frame the 2012 election as a clear choice between two philosophies, a contest he might be able to win, instead of a referendum on his own unhappy economic record. |
Tough Guys on Illegal ImmigrationOn The Radar "I believe in the idea of amnesty for those who have put down roots and lived here, even though some time back they may have entered illegally." That was Ronald Reagan speaking during his 1984 reelection campaign. After that election, he stuck to his guns, signing an immigration reform law that allowed illegal immigrants to apply for residency if they could prove they'd lived in the country for five years, held jobs and committed no crimes. |
October 21, 2011Weekly Show Analysis of possible paths forward in Libya now that Moammar Gadhafi is dead. Will the U.S. play a role in nation building? President Obama announces all U.S. troops will be out of Iraq by year's end. And why the GOP debates have become pivotal in the 2012 presidential race. Joining Gwen: Martha Raddatz, ABC News; Doyle McManus, LA Times; Dan Balz, Washington Post; Gloria Borger, CNN. |
