Reagan was not immune to the open-mike trap. Remember "We start bombing in 30 minutes?"

In my opinion, any candidate who puts his/her personal ambition ahead of the interests of the nation is thereby disqualified for the Presidency. That means both Romney and Santorum. The question is not which one can win the nomination and the election, but whether either or them is the inspiring conservative leader the nation needs so that we can undo the appalling damage perpetrated by Obama. I would have much more respect for them if they recognized that they simply do not have what the job will take and therefore both withdrew for the good of the country.

Look on the bright side: this Executive Order will stimulate the economy by increasing gun sales to citizens worried about dictatorial government.

The Executive Order of 3/16/2012 does not establish martial law, but it does set up the machinery for such a regime. It means that the President can assume totalitarian dictatorial powers by merely issuing a Finding that there is a risk (not a certainty) of some national defense emergency or natural disaster (Iran might get the bomb? Israel might attack Iran? The climate might get warmer?). Why does Obama think he needs this Executive Order at this time? Is it conceivable that he might invoke it if he thinks he will lose the election? Could he suspend the election? Would the armed forces rebel if he did? Would the people take up arms? What has happened to our Government if we can even think of such nightmares?

Proliferation of nukes among irresponsible states, especially those run by fanatics who openly declare that it is their holy duty to attack us or our allies (such as Israel), is an obvious direct threat to US national security. We have every right to defend ourselves. We don't need to kill anybody, but we do need to impose so massive and inevitable a penalty for acquiring nukes that even the craziest leaders will be deterred. The alternative is to acquiesce in proliferation until religious or ideological maniacs and tinpot dictators everywhere have them, That is a world in which nuclear war is certain sooner or later, killing millions and spreading radioactive pollution.

"Containment" worked with the USSR because of MAD. Our policy was and still must be that the only legitimate use of nuclear weapons is to prevent the use of nuclear weapons. To contain Iran and other rogue states, we need Unilateral Assured Destruction (UAD): we should tell the leaders that every time they detonate a nuke, even as a test, we will give the people in one of their major cities one week's notice to leave before we reduce it to rubble with a nuclear missile.

You are wrong, Matt. Newt wins when he is positive and loses when he is negative. He would be the frontrunner today if he and his PAC had not attacked Romney over Bain Capital. He needs to concentrate on showing that (unlike Romney and Santorum) he has real solutions to the many problems we face. If he wastes time, money and energy on savaging his opponents, he is dead meat.

Most electric cars are recharged at night. This means that they consume baseload electricity from the grid. (This is true even if you have a rooftop PV system, unless your car is not in use during the day so it can be recharged while the sun shines.) Most baseload electricity comes from coal-fired plants. For the same energy delivered to the wheels, burning coal produces MORE CO2 than burning gasoline. Electric cars move the CO2 from an automobile exhaust to a power plant smokestack, but they INCREASE the overall emissions (until we move to carbon-neutral generation, such as nuclear reactors or solar power satellites).

The Republicans will introduce a bill in the House reversing the regulation forcing Catholic institutions to pay for health insurance that covers contraception, etc. I hope the Church will promptly excommunicate any Catholic Member who votes against this bill.

If the Allied High Command in 1944 were having a debate about the invasion of Europe, would they have invited Wehrmacht officers to serve as moderators? How is having Democrat hacks moderate GOP debates any different? Where does the GOP get this death wish? David Gregory tried hard to get various candidates to say that others were unqualified to be President. It he had succeeded, Obama would have run soundbites showing that even Republicans think so-and-so is unqualified. It was obvious that Gregory's objective was to prepare these tidbits for Obama's campaign. Disgusting.