AP Photo/Jim Prisching

When Franklin D. Roosevelt wanted to stimulate the economy in 1933, the first thing he did was create the Civilian Conservation Corps.

Within 37 days of FDR’s inauguration, he had proposed and Congress had enacted the CCC. On the 38th…

Weird: Texas jury indicts Alberto Gonzales and Dick Cheney. Seriously. I am not making this up.

Joe Lieberman uses his get-out-of-jail-free card to escape serious retribution from the Democrats in the Senate over his campaign-season antics.

President-elect Barack Obama is serious about change.

Someone fell for…

Charity is one of those topics that, almost without exception, is nobody’s business.

Anonymous giving is regarded by some as the highest form of charity.

Judging others by what they give, moreover, is a perilous exercise, as one seldom can be sure of…

Post-Dispatch photo by Robert Cohen

Nine Days before the Feb. 5 presidential primaries in Missouri and Illinois, this editorial page endorsed Barack Obama and John McCain in their respective races.

We did so enthusiastically. We wrote that either Mr. Obama’s message of…

You know that vague, shapeless worry that never quite goes away? That sense that the things you count on for your security and that of your family — your spouse, your children, your brothers, sisters and parents — aren’t quite solid?

It…

The ghosts of Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln slept soundly last night. The vice presidential debate at Washington University did not threaten their immortal legacy of 1858.

On the other hand, Democrat Joe Biden did not stick his foot in his mouth.…

Do you think there’s been enough hype?

In a few minutes, Sen. Joe Biden and Gov. Sarah Palin take center stage at Washington University’s field house in our hometown for the only debate between the vice presidential candidates.

According to the Commission on Presidential…

Eleven months ago, when the Commission on Presidential Debates announced that Washington University would host the vice presidential debate this year, it was a little like being awarded the ArenaBowl instead of the Super Bowl. Indoor football’s championship game is a…

Courtesy of CBS News

Pop quiz:
Below, you’ll find transcripts from two television interviews that aired last week. One comes from the interview of Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican nominee for vice president, by “CBS Evening News” anchor Katie Couric. The other…

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin round-up:

Mitt Romney says let her speak. Yep. The same Romney thought to be on the VP short list.

Biden beware.

Conservative columnists are not getting in line. Or rather, they are getting out of line.

But when you knock her…

Thanks to loyal Platformista jjk for passing on his copy of Christopher Buckley’s latest Washington satire, “Supreme Courtship,” which posits that a bowling-loving president with epically low approval rates would nominate a sassy TV judge to the Supreme Court.

I’m a big Buckley…

 After two weeks’ vacation and more than 1,700 Midwestern highway miles, I came home looking for some wisdom. I found it on the editorial page of Sunday’s Post-Dispatch — in a letter to the editor by Dorothy Anderson of Spanish Lake:
“I have…

Technology whiz John McCain invented the BlackBerry. Really. His aide said so himself. (Because there’s nothing better to talk about.)
Just like Al Gore invented the Internet.

And Carly Fiorina, a McCain adviser, was on KTRS today. Anybody listen? On McGraw Millhaven’s show, she said Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin could not…

President George W. Bush announced Tuesday that the United States would begin drawing down troops in Iraq next year. Why, five and a half years into the war, did that long-awaited announcement land with barely a thud?

Two years ago such an…

Sarah Palin’s hunting skills are marvelous. Joe Biden’s mom is a hoot. John McCain’s wisecracks are hilarious and Barack Obama’s three-point shot is deadly. So stipulated.

Also stipulated: Ms. Palin may have over-reacted to in-law troubles. Mr. Biden was at times too…

John McCain’s speech should be interesting, coming the night after his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, rocked the house, rooting the base firmly in his camp.

He is expected to lay out policy in detail, to give further information on…

Over the next 65 days, Americans will be presented with two very different visions of the role of government, one anchored in the verities of the past, the other urging something that hasn’t been tried for a while.

The first will be…

Barack Obama accepted the Democratic party’s nomination for president tonight. There is no denying that it was a historic event.

Did you watch the speech? What did  you think? Did his speech meet your expectations? Exceed them? Did he mention the…

Of all the 23 gazillion words written, uttered, blogged, Twittered, texted, broadcast, cablecast, uploaded or downloaded during the first day of the Democratic National Convention, here are some of the more prescient:

• Humorist Dave Barry, writing for The National Journal Online:…