GOP’s Favorite Lies About Obama Are a Broken Record

Rev. Wright, birth certificates. Don’t the Republicans have any new material?

One of the more unfortunate episodes of the 2008 campaign had an unexpected sequel last week, and I don't expect it to be the last one. According to the New York Times, a group of Republican strategists authored a plan to tie President Obama to his former pastor Jeremiah Wright, in order to “do exactly what John McCain would not let us do." The plan, presented for consideration to billionaire Joe Ricketts and overseen by GOP strategist Fred Davis, was meant to tie Obama to Wright in a series of television ads to air later this year.

This Should Be the Last Thing You Read About Parenting

Time’s breastfeeding cover proves the media doesn’t make good moms.

Last week's Time magazine cover was a hard one to avoid. Next to the headline "Are You Mom Enough?," it depicted a young woman in casual clothes, breastfeeding a boy who looked to be about four. The article was about "attachment parenting," a not-exactly-new theory of parenting that was invented by Dr. Bill Sears, and that has apparently gained renewed popularity of late. Among other tenets, the philosophy involves breastfeeding long into childhood, eschewing strollers and bouncy seats, and sleeping with the child in your bed.

Reasonable, Bipartisan Politics Still Not Sexy Enough for Voters

America’s not ready to end the two-party system.

The leaders of Americans Elect, a semi-high-profile effort to find a nonpartisan, centrist, Internet-driven presidential candidate for the 2012 cycle, said last week it's canceling the first phase of its planned "online caucus," due to a lack of candidates who met the minimum thresholds for qualification.

Phillies Fans Should Cling to Cheap, Young Vance Worley

So why doesn’t everyone shut up about trading him?

The Phillies' Vance Worley is a young, dependable and very good starting pitcher. He earns a pretty low salary for his skill level and is under team control for five more years. So why has he been mentioned in trade rumors pretty much from the moment he joined the team?

You Can’t Dodge the NFL Draft

Every fan’s a recruiter these days.

This year's NFL Draft gets underway Thursday. It's always one of the most anticipated and highly rated sporting events of the year, even though it's not really a sporting event at all. We all know about the "Dirty 30" incident in 1999, which is to the history of Philadelphia sports fandom what the "Mission Accomplished" ceremony was to George W. Bush's presidency. NFL Draft obsession may not always take on that level of hostility, but it remains obsession nonetheless.

National Sports Announcers Hate Philadelphia! Or Do They?

And if they do, who cares?

In recent years, an entire industry has crept up around the notion that the mainstream media is biased in its coverage of the news. Mostly on the right, but increasingly on the left as well, there are whole organizations dedicated to proving that certain people, outlets, or the media in its entirety are in the tank for one side or the other. It's even gotten to the point—the Trayvon Martin case being a recent, sorry example—in which events themselves aren't even covered anymore. How the media covers those events is more often than not the story.

Chris Hayes Is the Least Annoying Host on Cable News

If you only tune in to see people shout over each other, his MSNBC show isn’t for you.

Whether it's Fox News or MSNBC, the phrase "cable news" comes to mind and probably brings with it a certain connotation: sensationalism. People on two sides of a split screen yelling at each other. Guests billed as Democratic and Republican "strategists," even though they've likely never strategized for anyone. Cliched argument segments that are over in two minutes. Pure, grandstanding ideology. And an obsessive focus on the "horse race," in which policy implications are no consideration and literally every piece of information is filtered through how it affects presidential election polling. But there's one show on cable news that's literally the polar opposite of all that. It's Up With Chris Hayes, and it brings illumination and complexity rather than grandstanding and noise.

Everyone Thinks President Obama Secretly Supports Gay Marriage

Should he go public?

There's something President Obama isn't being honest about. I'm not talking about being a secret Muslim, or faking his birth certificate, or having a secret, socialist, radical agenda that's about to be unleashed any day now. I'm talking about his position on same-sex marriage. The President's position on the issue, both earlier in his career and during his 2008 campaign, was that he was supportive of most LGBT issues, while stopping short of endorsing marriage. Since becoming president, Obama has repeatedly stated that his stance on the issue is "evolving."

Phillies Fans, Don’t Throw That Home Run Baseball Back

Yes, even when the Phillies play the Mets.

With baseball season about to start, I turn our attention to one of the national pastime's most maddening, odious traditions: fans throwing back home run balls hit by opposing teams. When it comes to modern-day crimes against the integrity of the game, I think this one bothers me more than steroids, the designated hitter and artificial turf put together.