The Mask Slips  —  I haven't read much Karl Marx since the early 1980s, when I taught political philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania.  Still, it didn't take me long this weekend to find my copy of “The Marx-Engels Reader,” edited by Robert C. Tucker — a book that was assigned …

Democrats Wrangle Over Words and Beliefs  —  GRANTHAM, Pa. — A candidate forum devoted to issues of faith and justice became another flash point for Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton to spar in their intensifying nominating fight, with the candidates exchanging frosty glances Sunday night …

BILL REFERS TO ‘BITTER’ REMARK  —  From NBC/NJ's Mike Memoli  —  BLOOMSBURG, Pa. — After tiptoeing around the matter in North Carolina yesterday, Bill Clinton weighed in on Obama's “bitter” remark before a small-town audience in Central Pennsylvania today.

Obama, Bitterness, Meet the Press, and the Old Politics  —  I was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, 61 years ago.  My father sold $1.98 cotton blouses to blue-collar women and women whose husbands worked in factories.  Years later, I was secretary of labor of the United States …

Is John McCain Bob Dole?  —  Or is he Dwight Eisenhower?  (Actually, that may depend on whether Barack Obama is Mike Dukakis or John Kennedy.)  A handicapping.  —  By the time John McCain trundles into the ballroom of the Fairmont hotel in Dallas, he has already had what for most men his age would have been a very full day.

The Indiana primary's fretful five  —  In the May 6 Indiana primary, the next critical contest after Pennsylvania votes on April 22, both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama can point to impressive rosters of endorsements by prominent state and local politicians.

The Matter With What?  —  The politics of condescension.  —  ON THE AFTERNOON OF May 25, 1984, the rising It Candidate of the current electoral season committed an unwitting faux pas at a fundraising event for le tout California that set his high-flying campaign on its heels.

Foreign Legions  —  At the beginning of this web video, Michael O'Hanlon explains that the current pace of deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan isn't sustainable.  He also notes that the situation in Iraq is “nowhere near an acceptable or sustainable outcome.”

Rev. Wright: Fox's Hannity ‘Stuck on Stupid’  —  The embattled former minister of Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama fired back at the news media during a Chicago funeral service.  —  The Rev. Jeremiah Wright's remarks were reported Sunday in the Chicago Sun-Times.

Iraq to seek parliamentary approval for long-term U.S. pact  —  BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq will seek parliamentary approval for a strategic agreement being negotiated with the United States even though it expects heated debate over the deal, Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said.

Iraqis aren't stupid — and they're watching us  —  Last month, Vets for Freedom visited the Twin Cities to talk about their experience in Iraq — and got rewarded by being booted from a local high school.  Michael Honeycutt and I, along with hundreds of people from our community …

Housing Woes in U.S. Spread Around Globe  —  DUBLIN — The collapse of the housing bubble in the United States is mutating into a global phenomenon, with real estate prices swooning from the Irish countryside and the Spanish coast to Baltic seaports and even parts of northern India.

Despite Tough Times, Ultrarich Keep Spending  —  Who said anything about a recession?  Sometime between the government bailout of Bear Stearns and the Bureau of Labor Statistics report that America lost 80,000 jobs in March, Lee Tachman spent roughly $50,000 last month on a four-day jaunt to Miami for himself and three close friends.

Obama On The Culture War  —  He made the same “bitter” point in 2004:  —  I see less condescension than empathy.  In fact, I see a disdain for elite condescension.  And nothing like the fathomless cynicism of Clinton.  The latter is now front and center: … We'll see.