Is Being Republican An Inherited Condition?

HOME POLITICS NATIONAL NEWS WORLD ECONOMY SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT Joe Conason Carl Hiaasen Connie Schultz E.J. Dionne Gene Lyons Jonathan Alter April 18, 2012 THE BIG STORY, BY JOE CONASON What Mitt Romney Seems To Believe (And Why He's So Disliked) No matter how carefully the former Massachusetts governor parses and prevaricates, many voters evidently feel they've detected the inner Mitt: a man with utmost regard for himself and people like him -- and a profound disregard for people like most of them. They've observed him straining to express concern for the unemployed, the poor, and the powerless, while sounding sincerely resentful whenever the privileged are held accountable. They've perceived an attitude of entitlement, whether he is withholding tax returns, defending tax breaks for billionaires, or spending vast amounts to defame opponents. And they don't like it, no matter what they may feel about Barack Obama. READ MORE FEATURED COLUMN: GENE LYONS Do Republicans Suffer From A Congenital Condition? Here's the latest alarming dispatch from the frontiers of knowledge: Scientists say that Republicanism may be a congenital problem. Well, not scientists, exactly, but journalist Chris Mooney, whose latest treatise, The Republican Brain, The Science of Why They Deny Science -- And Reality, has got suggestible Democratic brains all atwitter. Bewildered by right-wing irrationality, Mooney found it "impossible to ignore a mounting body of [scientific] evidence that points to a key conclusion. Political conservatives seem to be very different from political liberals at the level of psychology and personality." READ MORE ELECTION 2012 Will Tea Party Blow Republicans' Senate Chances In Indiana? Dick Lugar, the six-term GOP Senator from Indiana, is locked in the fight of his career, fending off a vigorous challenge from conservative groups angry at his cooperation with President Obama. And just as they did in Nevada, Colorado, and Delaware in 2010, those groups risk losing a Senate seat -- and even the opportunity for a Republican majority -- in the name of ideological purity. READ MORE ON THE GRIFT Becoming An 'Expert' Witness: So Easy A Cat Can Do It One afternoon early last year, I punched in my credit card information, paid $495 to the American College of Forensic Examiners International Inc., and registered for an online course. Ninety minutes later I had passed a multiple choice exam, earning me an impressive-sounding credential that could help establish my qualifications to be an expert witness in criminal and civil trials. Among ACFEI's members are top names in science and law, along with some far less celebrated characters, notably including a violent prison inmate and a housecat. READ MORE VIDEO OF THE DAY Did Border Patrol Agents Murder A Defenseless Man? A recently unearthed video appears to show United States Border Patrol agents killing a Mexican man with a stun gun in a brutal display of excessive force. In one segment, a Mexican man who had been detained trying to illegally cross into California can be heard screaming for help and pleading for his life. In another, he is seen lying on the ground, surrounded by a dozen agents as one deploys the stun gun that would end his life. READ MORE FEATURED COLUMN: MARK SCHMITT The Win-Win Tax Reform Fantasy What we need is not tax reform, but revenue reform -- a system that is not only fair and efficient, but brings in adequate revenues to support the services we want government to provide. Nothing on the table right now -- not the Buffett Rule, nor anything in Paul Ryan's budget -- constitutes anything like revenue reform. And when we do see real revenue reform, it won't be a "win-win" for everyone. It will mean that those who have been the big winners in tax policy for the last 30 years will have to pay a bit more. READ MORE CARTOON OF THE DAY   (c) 2012 Eastern Harbor Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 28 West 27th Street, Suite 502 New York, NY 10001