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How Do I Get Started if I Would Like to Have a Mad Hatter Tea Party?

The Mad Hatter is a character made famous in Alice in Wonderland. Get started with a Mad Hatter themed tea party with help from your go-to girl for all things Read More

Ladies' Tea Party Favor Ideas

Whether you are hosting a tea party as a bridal shower, church gathering, fundraiser or just to spend some time with friends, favors provide a special touch to your elegant Read More

Decorating Ideas for Hats for a Tea Party

Tea parties are popular with females of all ages, from grandmothers to little girls. Many tea parties have a theme, such as a garden tea, a girls' night out tea, Read More

Women's Tea Party Ideas

Tea parties are an all-time favorite for intimate gatherings with close friends and special celebrations. Follow these essential tips to host a successful tea party. Read More

Tea Party Sandwich Ideas

A tea party includes details with a degree of refinement, as ladies gather for lively chatter and delicious refreshments. Serve elegant tea sandwiches that are light, yet flavorful, for the Read More

How to Set a Tray for Tea

Full English tea service, complete with tea, savory sandwiches, scones, sweets and dessert, is a rare experience rather than the every-afternoon norm. The pomp and circumstance of the tradition is Read More

Fun Games for a Ladies' Tea Party

Along with purchasing several flavors of teas and making some finger foods, organize some games to help make your guests feel at ease and keep the conversation rolling. Board games, Read More

Religious Tea Party Ideas

Host a religious tea party to share your faith, or encourage fellow believers through fellowship. The practice of sharing tea allows women to dress up and get together in a Read More

Tea Party Ideas for 5-Year-Olds

Five-year-old little girls love to play dress up and have tea parties. Inviting friends, dolls and teddy bears to join the party encourages imaginative play. Adding fun touches, craft projects Read More

Tea Party Name Tag Ideas

China cups and saucers, sweet treats and elaborate table settings characterize the best tea parties, whether for children or adults. What's even better is connecting with old friends and making Read More

Victorian Tea Party Games

Tea parties were a popular pastime in the Victorian era, both in the United States and Great Britain. A Victorian-themed tea party teaches children about the time period and gives Read More

How to Throw an Irish Tea Party

The cultural tradition of an Irish tea party makes a great theme party for adults and children. A strong cup of Irish tea mixes well with up to 1/3 cup Read More

Tea Party Ideas for Boys

Once the province of ladies and little girls, tea parties are no longer obviously gender specific, and many children of both sexes find them enjoyable and entertaining. They are also Read More

How to Word a Tea Party Invitation

A tea party is such a special occasion in itself, whether an elegant affair with live music, gowns and curried chicken tea sandwiches or a Teddy bear tea where lemonade Read More

Tea Party Theme Ideas

A tea party is a perfect choice for an afternoon entertainment, for adults or children of any age. What's more, the tea party concept is flexible and accommodating. Your event Read More

How to Identify the Markings on a Silver Coffee & Tea Set

Buying and evaluating antiques has become a very popular hobby. Understanding and identifying what you have found can be the most difficult part of this process. If you have a Read More

Games for an Adult Tea Party

Tea parties conjure images of ladies in lovely Victorian garb, sitting at lace-covered tables, sipping from fine china. Of course, tea parties today need not be so formal and games Read More

Rainbow Tea Decoration Ideas

Rainbow teas are most often hosted by Christian women as church fund-raisers. Each color of the rainbow represents a characteristic or promise of God. For example, the color red stands Read More

How to Throw A Fancy Tea Party For Little Girls

Little girls are often enthralled by the idea of having tea parties. To truly throw a proper tea party, you must do more than simply serve tea. From the setting Read More

Conversation Ideas for a Tea Party

Tea parties are where ladies and gentlemen share a cup of tea with some light refreshments. Conversation is an important part of tea parties. Start guests talking by placing these Read More

High Tea Party Menu Ideas

A high tea menu contains sweets and breads that complement the tea. Besides brewing a pot of English evening tea for the guests, have a pot of hot water and Read More

How to Select Music for a Tea Party

Deciding on the music for your tea party is not that hard--it's the budget you need to consider. A professional musician can supply live tunes or you can rely on Read More

How to Dress for a Tea Party

Tea parties aren't just for young girls and their teddy bears anymore. Although youngsters still enjoy clinking their tea cups and nibbling on finger sandwiches, adults are also partaking in Read More

Originally posted here:
Tea Parties | Parties | eHow

Tea Party movement, Tea Party movement: Tea Party rally in Sacramento, California, 2010Steve Yeater/APconservative populist social and political movement that emerged in 2009 in the United States, generally opposing excessive taxation and government intervention in the private sector while supporting stronger immigration controls.

Historically, populist movements in the United States have arisen in response to periods of economic hardship, beginning with the proto-populist Greenback and Granger movements in the 1860s and 70s and continuing with William Jennings Bryans Populist Party in the 1890s and Louisiana politician Huey Longs Share Our Wealth program during the Great Depression of the 1930s. In the wake of the financial crisis that swept the globe in 2008, populist sentiment was once more on the rise. The catalyst for what would become known as the Tea Party movement came on February 19, 2009, when Rick Santelli, a commentator on the business-news network CNBC, referenced the Boston Tea Party (1773) in his response to Pres. Barack Obamas mortgage relief plan. Speaking from the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Santelli heatedly stated that the bailout would subsidize the losers mortgages and proposed a Chicago Tea Party to protest government intervention in the housing market. The five-minute clip became an Internet sensation, and the Tea Party rallying cry struck a chord with those who had already seen billions of dollars flow toward sagging financial firms. Unlike previous populist movements, which were characterized by a distrust of business in general and bankers in particular, the Tea Party movement focused its ire at the federal government and extolled the virtues of free market principles.

Within weeks, Tea Party chapters began to appear around the United States, using social media sites such as Facebook to coordinate protest events. They were spurred on by conservative pundits, particularly by Fox News Channels Glenn Beck. The generally libertarian character of the movement drew disaffected Republicans to the Tea Party banner, and its antigovernment tone resonated with members of the paramilitary militia movement. Obama himself served as a powerful recruiting tool, as the Tea Party ranks were swelled by Birthersindividuals who claimed that Obama had been born outside the United States and was thus not eligible to serve as president (despite a statement by the director of the Hawaii State Department of Health attesting that she had seen Obamas birth certificate and could confirm that he had been born in the state)as well as by those who considered Obama a socialist and those who believed that Obama, who frequently discussed his Christianity publicly, was secretly a Muslim.

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: protest against health care reform legislation in Washington, D.C., Nov. 5, 2009Roger L. WollenbergUPI/LandovThe Tea Party movements first major action was a nationwide series of rallies on April 15, 2009, that drew more than 250,000 people. April 15 is historically the deadline for filing individual income tax returns, and protesters claimed that Tea was an acronym for Taxed Enough Already. The movement gathered strength throughout the summer of 2009, with its members appearing at congressional town hall meetings to protest the proposed reforms to the American health care system.

At the national level, a number of groups claimed to represent the Tea Party movement as a whole, but, with a few exceptions, the Tea Party lacked a clear leader. When former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin resigned as governor of Alaska in July 2009, she became an unofficial spokesperson of sorts on Tea Party issues, and in February 2010 she delivered the keynote address at the first National Tea Party Convention. Beckwhose 9/12 Project, so named for Becks 9 principles and 12 values as well as the obvious allusion to the September 11 attacks, helped draw tens of thousands of protesters to the U.S. Capitol on September 12, 2009offered daily affirmations of Tea Party beliefs on his television and radio shows. FreedomWorks, a supply-side economics advocacy group headed by former Republican House majority leader Dick Armey, provided logistical support for large Tea Party gatherings, and Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina supported Tea Party candidates from within the Republican establishment. The diffuse collection of groups and individuals who made up the Tea Party movement was unique in the history of American populism, as it seemed to draw strength from its ability to stick apart.

The absence of a central organizing structure was cited as proof of the Tea Partiers grassroots credentials, but it also meant that the movements goals and beliefs were highly localized and even personalized. Nonetheless, the Tea Party proved its influence at the polls. In a special election in New Yorks 23rd congressional district in November 2009, Tea Partiers mobilized behind Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman, forcing Republican candidate Dierdre Scozzafava from the race just days before the election. This tactic backfired, however, and the seat went to Democrat Bill Owens; Owens was the first Democrat to represent the district since the 19th century. The Tea Party fared better in Massachusetts in January 2010, in the special election to fill the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by the death of Ted Kennedy. Dark-horse candidate Scott Brown defeated Kennedys presumptive successor, Massachusetts attorney general Martha Coakley, in a race that shifted the balance in the Senate, depriving the Democrats of the 60-vote filibuster-proof majority they had held since July 2009. In May 2010 the Tea Party exerted its influence again, this time in Kentucky, where Rand Paul, son of former Libertarian presidential candidate Ron Paul, won the Republican primary for a seat in the U.S. Senate. Paul defeated Trey Grayson, Kentuckys secretary of state and the favoured choice of Senate minority leader and Kentuckian Mitch McConnell, in a race that was widely seen as a repudiation of the Republican Party establishment.

Across the country, dozens of Tea Party-affiliated candidates won the Republican nominations for their respective U.S. Senate, House, and gubernatorial races. The November 2010 midterms promised to be a referendum as much on the Tea Party as on President Obama, particularly as the push-pull relationship between the Tea Party and the Republican Party continued. In some states Tea Party candidates won endorsement from local Republican groups, while in others they provoked a backlash from the Republican establishment. Some longtime Republicans, a number of whom had lost to Tea Party candidates in their respective primary races, chose to contest the general election as independents or only lukewarmly endorsed their previous opponents in the general election. In the end, it seemed that the Tea Party label mattered less than the strength of an individual candidate.

In Delaware, for example, Christine ODonnell, who endured lampooning by the national media because of her views (particularly those shared on a comedy show years earlier), lost the Senate race by a wide margin, and in Nevada embattled Senate majority leader Harry Reid, despite low favourability ratings, defeated Tea Party candidate Sharron Angle. In Kentucky Rand Paul, perhaps identified more closely with the Tea Party than any other candidate, coasted to a comfortable victory, and in Florida Tea Party nominee Marco Rubio won a three-way Senate race that included the sitting Republican governor, Charlie Crist. Dan Maes, running as a Republican with Tea Party backing, faded from contention for the Colorado governors office after former Republican presidential candidate Tom Tancredo entered the race on the American Constitution Party ticket.

Perhaps the most surprising result came from Palins home state of Alaska, where the Tea Party candidate for the U.S. Senate, Joe Miller, won the Republican nomination but faced a strong general election challenge from incumbent Republican Lisa Murkowski, who chose to run as a write-in candidate. On election day the sum of votes for write-in candidates outpaced those for either Miller or the Democratic nominee, and, after weeks of vote tallying and almost two months of legal challenges, Murkowski was certified as the winner on December 30, 2010.

While these contests constituted some of the most conspicuous individual examples of Tea Party influence, the 2010 midterm elections saw the Republicans gain approximately 60 seats to take control of the House and reduce the Democratic majority in the Senate. Many observers credited this performance to the interest and enthusiasm generated by the Tea Party, and over the next two years the Republican Party endeavoured to bring Tea Party supporters into the Republican mainstream and to avoid the fratricidal competition that had cost them a number of races in 2010. One notable addition to the 2012 Republican Party platform was the inclusion of language opposing Agenda 21, a United Nations (UN) resolution that promoted sustainable growth and that some Tea Party activists believed represented a UN plot to subvert American sovereignty. In addition, both Rand Paul and Rubio were featured in prominent speaking slots at the 2012 Republican National Convention.

Although Tea Party candidate Ted Cruz coasted to an easy victory in his race for a U.S. Senate seat in Texas, that result was far from typical for both the Tea Party and the Republicans in the November 2012 elections. Rep. Todd Akin, a member of the House Tea Party caucus, scuttled his bid for a vulnerable U.S. Senate seat in Missouri when he stated that cases of legitimate rape very rarely result in pregnancy. Tea Party support enabled Richard Mourdock to defeat six-term incumbent Richard Lugar in the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate in Indiana, but Mourdock did irreversible damage to his own campaign when he stated that pregnancy as a result of rape was something that God intended to happen. First-term Tea Party representatives such as Floridas Allen West and Joe Walsh of Illinois were turned out in their reelection bids, and Tea Party icon Michele Bachmann narrowly survived a Democratic challenge for her U.S. congressional seat in Minnesota. In Massachusetts, Sen. Scott Brown, who had alienated some of his Tea Party supporters by crossing party lines to vote with Democrats on a variety of issues, was defeated by Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren. In an election where it was widely believed that Republicans had a reasonable chance of winning control of the Senate, they ultimately ceded small but significant gains to the Democrats in both houses of Congress.

In December 2012 DeMint, one of the most visible faces of the Tea Party in the U.S. Senate, stepped down to become president of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. Some analysts opined that the Tea Party appeared to be a spent force, and in February 2013 Republican strategist Karl Rove founded the Conservative Victory Project, a super political action committee (PAC) whose stated goal was to intervene at the primary stage and prevent the nomination of weak or unelectable candidates. Tea Party groups immediately criticized Rovewhose other super PACs had spent $175 million in the 2012 election cycle to little effectfor attempting to thwart what they considered to be the wishes of the conservative base. As the divide between the Republican establishment and the Tea Party threatened to become an irreparable breach, a scandal involving the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) quickly brought the two groups back together.

In May 2013 the IRS revealed that it had unfairly targeted for additional scrutiny conservative groups that had applied for tax-exempt status as 501(c)(4) nonprofit social welfare organizations. The 2010 Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission had spurred politically affiliated groups representing a wide range of ideological viewpoints to seek 501(c)(4) status, which allowed them to preserve the anonymity of their donors. Because groups with 501(c)(4) status were prohibited from making the promotion of a particular candidate or political viewpoint their primary activity, IRS workers attempted to ascertain the degree of political involvement of certain applicants. In some cases, this involved invasive questions about donor activity and excessively burdensome delays on a final determination of tax-exempt status. Most notably, roughly one-third of the 300 organizations flagged for additional review contained the words Tea Party, Patriots, or 9/12 in their names. Although a review of the case by the Treasury Departments inspector general did not uncover overt political bias, many within the Tea Party felt that their worst suspicions of the government had been confirmed, and the scandal served to reinvigorate a movement that had struggled to regain its footing in the wake of the 2012 elections.

Later in 2013, Tea Party members in the House and the Senate demonstrated their influence when they used the threat of a government shutdown as a bargaining tool in their ongoing campaign against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). The health care law, known colloquially as Obamacare, was Obamas signature legislative acvhievement, and, since its passage in 2010, Republicans in the House had voted more than 40 times to repeal, defund, or delay it. DeMint used his position at the Heritage Foundation to direct the campaign, and he embarked on a cross-country speaking tour during the August congressional recess to bolster support for it. Throughout September the Republican-led House parried with the Democratic-led Senate. The Senate rejected numerous bills that proposed funding the government at the expense of the PPACA, and Cruz delivered a 21-hour address against the PPACA on the floor of the Senate (for procedural reasons, the speech did not technically qualify as a filibuster).

With Congress unable to agree on a continuing resolution to fund the federal government, those parts of the government deemed nonessential were shut down on October 1, the start of the fiscal year, and some 800,000 federal workers were furloughed. House Republicans sponsored a series of bills that would have funded select federal agencies, but Obama refused to discuss anything short of a full reopening of the government. Business leaders, traditionally strong supporters of the Republican Party, vocally criticized the Tea Party and the tactics that led to the shutdown. More than 250 chambers of commerce and trade associations signed an open letter advocating the funding of the government. As the shutdown entered its third week, the Treasury Department approached the limit of its borrowing power (the so-called debt ceiling); on October 17 the United States would risk defaulting on its debts.

Trying to navigate between the White House and Senate on the left and Tea Party representatives and the Heritage Foundations PAC on the right, House Speaker John Boehner was unable to craft a compromise bill to reopen the government and raise the debt ceiling. As the October 17 deadline neared, the rating agency Fitch threatened to downgrade the U.S. credit rating, and attention shifted to the Senate, where Minority Leader McConnell and Majority Leader Reid agreed on a measure to fund the government through January 15, 2014, and to raise the debt ceiling through February 7. Boehner brought the bill passed by the Senate to a vote in the House, where it easily passed, drawing support from 87 Republicans as well as all 198 voting Democrats in the chamber. In the early morning hours of October 17, Obama signed the bill, which authorized the creation of a committee to deal with long-term budget issues but made no significant concessions to Tea Party demands.

As the 2014 primary season began, the political fortunes of the Tea Party once again appeared to be in decline. Seen as the group most responsible for the government shutdown and facing increasingly vocal and robust challenges from pro-business lobbies such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Tea Party watched its candidates suffer losses in a string of primary contests. Across the country, establishment Republicans, many of whom had tacked right to embrace elements of the Tea Party platform, won nominations in closely watched races. In May 2014 McConnell easily defeated a well-funded Tea Party challenger to win the Republican U.S. Senate primary in Kentucky, and incumbent Rep. Mike Simpson of Idaho was victorious in a race in which outside pro-business groups spent more than $2 million to fend off a candidate who was backed by the Tea Party-affiliated Club for Growth.

The narrative of a resurgent Republican establishment took hold in the media, as the sole bright spot for the Tea Party appeared to be in Mississippi, where six-term incumbent Sen. Thad Cochran was forced into a runoff against Tea Party candidate Chris McDaniel for the Republican Senate nomination. That narrative suffered a stunning blow on June 10, however, when Republican House majority leader Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia was defeated by a dark horse Tea Party candidate in the Republican primary electiona vote that was widely seen as a rejection of the incumbents support for immigration reform. Cantor, who had outspent his opponent roughly 40 to 1 and held a comfortable lead in opinion polling prior to the primary, ultimately lost by more than 11 points to university professor David Brat, who had received virtually no support from national Tea Party groups.

Read more from the original source:
Tea Party movement | American political movement | Britannica.com

Ukraine, one of the largest countries in Europe, is a unitary semi-presidential republic, having achieved its independence with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Public protests demanding closer ties with the European Union and the resignation of President Viktor Yanukovych began in late 2013, leading to widespread civil unrest and, ultimately, revolution in 2014. Russia, prompted by counter-revolutionary sentiment in the Crimean Peninsula, staged a military intervention and subsequently annexed the region in a move largely condemned by the international community. Fighting between government forces and pro-Russian separatists has continued despite domestic and international efforts to de-escalate the crisis.

Learn more about Ukraine. Scroll below to view our archive of articles and chronology of latest news.

The Donetsk City Court said she directed mortar fire at a rebel-held checkpoint, resulting in the deaths during the height of the fighting in eastern Ukraine in June 2014.

By IVAN NECHEPURENKO

Nadiya V. Savchenko is accused of directing artillery fire that killed two Russian journalists, in a case that has become symbolic in Russia and Ukraine.

A Russian judge said that a Ukrainian pilot, Nadiya V. Savchenko, was complicit in the killing of two Russian journalists.

By REUTERS

The vacation I took as a young boy in a Russian seaside town in the spring of 1986 seemed entirely normal.

By MICHAEL MARDER

Photos from Belgium, Ukraine, Greece and Cuba.

By THE NEW YORK TIMES

Oksana I. Syroyid has shot to the top of politics in Ukraine by trying to derail a peace accord with Russia.

By ANDREW E. KRAMER

Photos from Greece, Turkey, Ivory Coast and Ukraine.

By THE NEW YORK TIMES

Nadya V. Savchenko, a captured military pilot, drank water after receiving a letter from Ukraines president, news outlets said, but his office said he sent no such document.

By ANDREW E. KRAMER

In interviews with The Atlantic, President Obama took an unusually blunt tone in expressing consternation with Middle Eastern nations and the demands placed on the U.S.

By MARK LANDLER

The pilot, Nadezhda Savchenko, brandished her middle finger and burst into the Ukrainian national anthem during her closing statement.

Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down by a missile, killing all 298 people on board.

As Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists carry on an almost forgotten fight, several evangelical groups are staging a campaign of their own.

By ANDREW E. KRAMER

The number of casualties from fighting has fallen in recent months, a senior official said, but killings, abductions and torture are still being reported.

Nadiya V. Savchenko, a helicopter pilot charged in connection with the deaths of two Russian journalists, has become a symbol in the Ukraine conflict.

By ANDREW E. KRAMER

Working remotely, attackers conducted extensive reconnaissance of the Ukraine power systems networks, stole the credentials of operators and learned how to switch off the breakers, plunging more than 225,000 Ukrainians into darkness.

The Ukrainian entry in the 2016 Eurovision song contest is the latest example of popular protest music aimed at Russia.

By ALISA SOPOVA

A partial truce in Syria capped something of a foreign policy trifecta for President Vladimir V. Putin, but his goals are uncertain for all three.

By NEIL MacFARQUHAR

Scenes from the designers recent presentation in Kiev.

The branch offices of three Russian banks were firebombed or looted over the weekend, and some of the attacks by Ukrainian nationalists.

By ANDREW E. KRAMER

A resumption of hostilities suggests that Russia, which supports the rebels, is willing to sustain the conflict there as well as in Syria.

By ANDREW E. KRAMER

The Donetsk City Court said she directed mortar fire at a rebel-held checkpoint, resulting in the deaths during the height of the fighting in eastern Ukraine in June 2014.

By IVAN NECHEPURENKO

Nadiya V. Savchenko is accused of directing artillery fire that killed two Russian journalists, in a case that has become symbolic in Russia and Ukraine.

A Russian judge said that a Ukrainian pilot, Nadiya V. Savchenko, was complicit in the killing of two Russian journalists.

By REUTERS

The vacation I took as a young boy in a Russian seaside town in the spring of 1986 seemed entirely normal.

By MICHAEL MARDER

Photos from Belgium, Ukraine, Greece and Cuba.

By THE NEW YORK TIMES

Oksana I. Syroyid has shot to the top of politics in Ukraine by trying to derail a peace accord with Russia.

By ANDREW E. KRAMER

Photos from Greece, Turkey, Ivory Coast and Ukraine.

By THE NEW YORK TIMES

Nadya V. Savchenko, a captured military pilot, drank water after receiving a letter from Ukraines president, news outlets said, but his office said he sent no such document.

By ANDREW E. KRAMER

In interviews with The Atlantic, President Obama took an unusually blunt tone in expressing consternation with Middle Eastern nations and the demands placed on the U.S.

By MARK LANDLER

The pilot, Nadezhda Savchenko, brandished her middle finger and burst into the Ukrainian national anthem during her closing statement.

Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down by a missile, killing all 298 people on board.

As Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists carry on an almost forgotten fight, several evangelical groups are staging a campaign of their own.

By ANDREW E. KRAMER

The number of casualties from fighting has fallen in recent months, a senior official said, but killings, abductions and torture are still being reported.

Nadiya V. Savchenko, a helicopter pilot charged in connection with the deaths of two Russian journalists, has become a symbol in the Ukraine conflict.

By ANDREW E. KRAMER

Working remotely, attackers conducted extensive reconnaissance of the Ukraine power systems networks, stole the credentials of operators and learned how to switch off the breakers, plunging more than 225,000 Ukrainians into darkness.

The Ukrainian entry in the 2016 Eurovision song contest is the latest example of popular protest music aimed at Russia.

By ALISA SOPOVA

A partial truce in Syria capped something of a foreign policy trifecta for President Vladimir V. Putin, but his goals are uncertain for all three.

By NEIL MacFARQUHAR

Scenes from the designers recent presentation in Kiev.

The branch offices of three Russian banks were firebombed or looted over the weekend, and some of the attacks by Ukrainian nationalists.

By ANDREW E. KRAMER

A resumption of hostilities suggests that Russia, which supports the rebels, is willing to sustain the conflict there as well as in Syria.

By ANDREW E. KRAMER

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Ukraine - The New York Times

All Commentary & News Stories

- Myth of the Stay-at-Home Republican - Karl Rove, Wall Street Journal

- How White House Learned to Be Liberal - Jonathan Chait, NY Magazine

- Mitt Romney in Denial After 2012 Defeat - Dan Balz, Changing Lanes

- N.C. Finds 35K Incidents of 'Double Voting' in 2012 - Andrew Johnson, NRO

- White House Delayed Policies Ahead of Election - Juliet Eilperin, Wash Post

- Double Down: The War of Umbrage - Michael Kinsley, New York Times

- How Much Does Voter Ignorance Mattter? - Sean Trende, Cato Unbound

- Romney Camp's Own Polls Showed It Would Lose - John Sides, Wash Post

- No Drama Obama's Dramatic 2012 Reelection - Richard Wolffe, Daily Beast

- Can Twitter Predict Elections? Not So Fast - Mark Blumenthal, Huff Post

- How Twitter Can Help Predict an Election - Fabio Rojas, Washington Post

- Yes, the Missing White Voters Matter - Sean Trende, RealClearPolitics

- Case of the Missing White Voters, Revisited - Sean Trende, RealClearPolitics

- Why Republicans Lost the Vote But Kept the House - Sean Trende, RCP

- Sweeping Conclusions From CPS Data Are a Mistake - Sean Trende, RCP

- Black Turnout, GOP Denial Both High - Michael Tomasky, The Daily Beast

- Not Every GOP Approach Will Work Everywhere - Jim Geraghty, The Corner

- Did Dems Get Lucky in the Electoral College? - Nate Silver, FiveThirtyEight

- Better Technology Won't Save the GOP - Jamelle Bouie, TAPPED

- Why Stuart Stevens is Right - Chris Cillizza, The Fix

- Why Black Voters Are Critical to the GOP - Jamelle Bouie, TAPPED

- Republicans Shouldn't Be Too Reasonable - Jonathan Tobin, Commentary

- The Republican Renewal - Yuval Levin, The Corner

- Long Voting Lines & Democratic Cities - Hans von Spakovsky, The Foundry

- A Lot of Cooks in the GOP Kitchen - Steve Benen, Maddow Blog

- Are Democratic Senators Frightnened? - Ed Kilgore, Political Animal

- Is a Franken-Bachmann Showdown on the Horizon? - Scott Conroy, RCP

- GOP Makeover is Purely Cosmetic - Greg Sargent, Plum Line

- Republicans Facing a Grim Reality - Jonathan Chait, New York Magazine

- The Establishment, the Tea Party and Blame - Jamelle Bouie, TAPPED

- The Great Gerrymander of 2012 - Sam Wang, New York Times

- New GOP Strategy: Run Subtle, Run Deep - Ed Morrissey, Hot Air

- GOP Doesn't Know It Has a Problem - Steve Benen, Maddow Blog

- GOP Could Be in the Wilderness For Awhile - Daniel Larison, TAC

- The Necessity of Second Inaugurals - Susan Milligan, TJS

- A President Who Has Learned Nothing - Jonathan Tobin, Contentions

- GOP Must Accept Reality of Single Moms - Lori Sanders, Ideas

- What Obama, Romney Spent Per Vote - David Boaz, @Liberty

- To Pick Cabinet, GOP Should Win More - Jamelle Bouie, Plum Line

- The Future of Conservative 'Populism' - Ed Kilgore, Political Animal

- Obama's Vote Total Puts Him in a Small Club - Steve Benen, Maddow Blog

- Conservative Populism Worthy of the Name - Ross Douthat, Evaluations

- Lessons for Both Parties From the 2012 Elections - Albert Hunt, Bloomberg

- Why the Election Polls Missed the Mark - Steven Shepard, National Journal

- In Montana, Dark Money Helped Keep Dem Seat - Kim Barker, ProPublica

- What 2012 Population Estimates Could Mean in 2020 - Sean Trende, RCP

- The GOP Really Hits Bottom - Jonathan Tobin, Contentions

- Pelosi Stalls on the Ethics Committee - Lachlan Markay, The Foundry

- The Real Presidential Election is Today - England & Ross, The Corner

- The Best and Worst of 2012, Part II - Stuart Rothenberg, Roll Call

- The Age of GOP Governors - Peter Wehner, Contentions

- Best and Worst of the 2012 Campaigns - Stuart Rothenberg, Roll Call

- Big Money Played Destructive Role in 2012 - Albert Hunt, Bloomberg

- Team Obama Tries to Reframe Brutish Win - Jason Zengerle, NY Magazine

- Were Super PACs a Giant Waste of Money? - Robert Schlesinger, TJS

- Ten Encouraging Signs for Republicans - Jennifer Rubin, Right Turn

- A Conservative Purge in the House? - Ed Morrissey, Hot Air

- Whither the Tea Party? - Chris Cillizza, The Fix

- Republicans Get Religion on Campaign Tech - Tim Murphy, Mother Jones

- How Both Parties Borrow From Europe - Jamelle Bouie, TAPPED

- Swing Counties Tell Story of Romney's Defeat - Albert Hunt, Bloomberg

- Class Wars of 2012 - Paul Krugman, New York Times

- The Science Behind Those Obama E-Mails - Joshua Green, Bloomberg BW

- The Racializing of American Politics - Daniel Henninger, Wall St. Journal

- GOP Can't Afford to Ignore Health Care - Philip Klein, Beltway Confidential

- How Can the GOP Win? Find a Good Candidate - Noemie Emery, Examiner

- The Coming Liberal Wave - Jamelle Bouie, The American Prospect

- Why the Right's Reaction to Moore Matters - Steve Benen, Maddow Blog

- Why Republicans Should Have Won the Election - Chris Cillizza, The Fix

- Learning From the Election - Victor Davis Hanson, PJ Media

- The GOP's Senate Problem - Ramesh Ponnuru, The Corner

- States Choose Own Paths - Michael Barone, Washington Examiner

- What Do Republicans Want? - Paul Waldman, TAPPED

- The Norquist Rebellion Isn't News - David Dayen, Firedoglake

- Republican Senate Hopes For 2014 Get a Boost - Paul Mirengoff, PowerLine

- Analyst on Young Voters in the 2012 Election - The NewsHour

- 2012: Arrival of Reconfigured America - Ron Brownstein, National Journal

- Republicans' Voter Suppression Strategy - Ari Berman, The Nation

- A Return to Trench Warfare Politics - Michael Barone, DC Examiner

- Shields and Brooks on the Week in Politics - The NewsHour

- The Enduring Threat of GOP Challengers - Steve Benen, Maddow Blog

- The Next Conservatives? - Steven Hayward, PowerLine

- Challengers for Chambliss? - Michael Warren, The Blog

- Analysts on the Campaign Finance in 2012 - The NewsHour

- How Charter Schools Fleece Taxpayers - Timothy Noah, The Plank

- Remember the Provisional Ballot Problem? - Abby Rapoport, TAPPED

- Polarization and Federalism - Ed Kilgore, Political Animal

- Is the White House Ready to Go Over the Cliff? - Greg Sargent, Plum Line

- Sources of Conservative Renewal - Rod Dreher, TAC

- The Fiscal Cliff and Downgrading U.S. Debt - Rebecca Thiess, EPI

- Should Obama Call the GOP's Bluff? - Kevin Drum, Mother Jones

- Democrats' Electoral College Advantage - Jonathan Bernstein, PostPartisan

- The Liberal Gloat - Ross Douthat, New York Times

- Our Suddenly Race-Obsessed Politics - Mark Steyn, National Review

- The Political Landscape After 2012 - Sean Trende, RealClearPolitics

- Feminists for the Win in 2012 - Jessica Valenti, The Nation

- Jackson-Vanik Ends, But Legacy Continues - Seth Mandel, Contentions

- The Coming Democratic Fights - Ed Kilgore, Political Animal

- Social Issues: Should Republicans Re-Calibrate? - Paul Mirengoff, PowerLine

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Generic Congressional Vote - RealClearPolitics

Rolling Stone endorses Hillary Clinton for president. Jann S. Wenner explains why. Illustration by Roberto Parada

It's hard not to love Bernie Sanders. He has proved to be a gifted and eloquent politician. He has articulated the raw and deep anger about the damage the big banks did to the economy and to so many people's lives. He's spoken clearly for those who believe the system is rigged against them; he's made plain how punishing and egregious income inequality has become in this country, and he refuses to let us forget that the villains have gotten away with it.

I've been watching the debates and town halls for the past two months, and Sanders' righteousness knocks me out. My heart is with him. He has brought the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations to the ballot box.

But it is not enough to be a candidate of anger. Anger is not a plan; it is not a reason to wield power; it is not a reason for hope. Anger is too narrow to motivate a majority of voters, and it does not make a case for the ability and experience to govern. I believe that extreme economic inequality, the vast redistribution of wealth to the top one percent indeed, to the top one percent of the one percent is the defining issue of our times. Within that issue, almost all issues of social injustice can be seen, none more so than climate change, which can be boiled down to the rights of mankind against the oligarchy that owns oil, coal and vast holdings of dirty energy, and those who profit from their use.

Hillary Clinton has an impressive command of policy, the details, trade-offs and how it gets done. It's easy to blame billionaires for everything, but quite another to know what to do about it. During his 25 years in Congress, Sanders has stuck to uncompromising ideals, but his outsider stance has not attracted supporters among the Democrats. Paul Krugman writes that the Sanders movement has a "contempt for compromise."

Every time Sanders is challenged on how he plans to get his agenda through Congress and past the special interests, he responds that the "political revolution" that sweeps him into office will somehow be the magical instrument of the monumental changes he describes. This is a vague, deeply disingenuous idea that ignores the reality of modern America. With the narrow power base and limited political alliances that Sanders had built in his years as the democratic socialist senator from Vermont, how does he possibly have a chance of fighting such entrenched power?

I have been to the revolution before. It ain't happening.

On the other hand, Hillary Clinton is one of the most qualified candidates for the presidency in modern times, as was Al Gore. We cannot forget what happened when Gore lost and George W. Bush was elected and became arguably one of the worst presidents in American history. The votes cast for the fantasy of Ralph Nader were enough to cost Gore the presidency. Imagine what a similar calculation would do to this country if a "protest vote" were to put the presidency, Congress and the Supreme Court all in the hands of the extreme right wing that now controls the Republican Party.

Clinton not only has the experience and achievements as first lady, senator and secretary of state, but a commitment to social justice and human rights that began for her as a young woman. She was one of those college students in the Sixties who threw herself into the passionate causes of those times, and she continues to do so today.

The debates between Clinton and Sanders have been inspirational; to see such intelligence, dignity and substance is a tribute to both of them. The contrast to the banality and stupidity of the GOP candidates has been stunning. It's as if there are two separate universes, one where the Earth is flat and one where it is round; one where we are a country that is weak, flailing and failing; the other, an America that is still a land of hopes and dreams.

I keep hearing questions surface about her honesty and trustworthiness, but where is the basis in reality or in facts? This is the lingering haze of coordinated GOP smear campaigns against the Clintons and President Obama all of which have come up empty, including the Benghazi/e-mail whirlwind, which after seven GOP-led congressional investigations has turned up zilch.

Battlefield experience is hard-won, and with it comes mistakes but also wisdom. Clinton's vote authorizing Bush to invade Iraq 14 years ago was a huge error, one that many made, but not one that constitutes a disqualification on some ideological purity test.

Rolling Stone has championed the "youth vote" since 1972, when 18-year-olds were first given the right to vote. The Vietnam War was a fact of daily life then, and Sen. George McGovern, the liberal anti-war activist from South Dakota, became the first vessel of young Americans, and Hunter S. Thompson wrote our first presidential-campaign coverage. We worked furiously for McGovern. We failed; Nixon was re-elected in a landslide. But those of us there learned a very clear lesson: America chooses its presidents from the middle, not from the ideological wings. We are faced with that decision again.

In 2016, what does the "youth vote" want? As always, I think it has to do with idealism, integrity and authenticity, a candidate who will tell it like it is. It is intoxicating to be a part of great hopes and dreams in 2016 it's called "feeling the Bern."

You get a sense of "authenticity" when you hear Sanders talking truth to power, but there is another kind of authenticity, which may not feel as good but is vitally important, when Clinton speaks honestly about what change really requires, about incremental progress, about building on what Obama has achieved in the arenas of health care, clean energy, the economy, the expansion of civil rights. There is an inauthenticity in appeals to anger rather than to reason, for simplified solutions rather than ones that stand a chance of working. This is true about Donald Trump, and lamentably also true about Sanders.

Sanders blaming Clinton's support of "free trade" policies for the loss of jobs in Detroit is misleading. The region's decline began as foreign automakers started making and exporting cars of clearly superior quality. The Big Three saw their market share slipping, and pressed the White House to enact import quotas on foreign cars instead of facing the competition head-on and improving their own products. This backfired when foreign companies built their own factories in the United States and directly took on Detroit.

Politics is a rough game, and has been throughout American history. Idealism and honesty are crucial qualities for me, but I also want someone with experience who knows how to fight hard. It's about social and economic justice and who gets the benefits and spoils of our society, and those who have them now are not about to let go of their share just because it's the right thing to do. And Clinton is a tough, thoroughly tested fighter.

Elections have consequences. Bush brought us into a war that still plagues us today; he authorized massive tax cuts for the rich and the corporations; abandoned the Middle East peace process; ushered in the worst financial crisis since the Depression; and totally neglected the climate emergency.

This election is even more consequential, a tipping point like none since before the Civil War. We are at the culmination of a decades-long effort by the right wing to take over the government. Historian Sean Wilentz told this story in Rolling Stone. The House, the Senate and, until a month ago, the Supreme Court are under the thumb of special interests and the extremely wealthy, who seek to roll back decades and decades of legislative progress that have furthered "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." And most horrifying of all, they would stop the world's last-minute effort to fight climate change, where the stakes are the fate of civilization as we now know it.

When I consider what's in their hearts, I think both Clinton and Sanders come out on the side of the angels; but when I compare their achievements in the past decades, the choice is clear. This is not the time in history for a "protest vote."

Clinton is far more likely to win the general election than Sanders. The voters who have rallied to Sanders during the primaries are not enough to generate a Democratic majority in November. Clinton will certainly bring them along, and add them to the broad coalition that Democrats have put together in the past to take the presidency, as did Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

On the question of experience, the ability to enact progressive change, and the issue of who can win the general election and the presidency, the clear and urgent choice is Hillary Clinton.

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Hillary Clinton for President | Rolling Stone