This topic is not for the faint of heart. The debate to come will tear apart families and turn friends into enemies. Rivers will run red with the blood of 1,000 tomatoes. Cheese will be everywhere and dough — oh, God, so much dough. We are about to talk about pizza. Specifically (and dangerously), we are talking about » 11/14/13 3:30pm 11/14/13 3:30pm

The thing about being a debate moderator is that you are expected to moderate. Alas, Jim Lehrer (who, being from PBS, would likely be euthanized if Mitt Romney has his way) was not up to task. He was unable to control the candidates or the discussion; things were particularly bad when it came to Mittens, who all too… » 10/04/12 9:30am 10/04/12 9:30am

Women! Did you know that we're allowed to vote now, without our husbands' permission? That means we should probably be paying attention to political debates, even though they sometimes make us want to gently feed ourselves to a woodchipper that's pH balanced for a man and made just for us. But fear not,… » 10/03/12 5:30pm 10/03/12 5:30pm

Today, the Commission on Presidential Debates announced that CNN's Candy Crowley will be one of three anointed moderators during this fall's Presidential debates between President Obama and Mitt Romney. One out of three ain't bad. » 8/13/12 4:30pm 8/13/12 4:30pm

Fed up with the nonstop anti-woman crap emanating from Wisconsin State Senator Glenn Grothman's mouth, State Rep. Kelda Helen Roys offered to debate him one on one, mano a womano, in public. Unsurprisingly, he turned her down, saying that she wanted to "to gain further platform to misrepresent the Republican position… » 4/23/12 5:30pm 4/23/12 5:30pm

Magniloquent human fart Newt Gingrich has risen like hot air to the top of the polls in the race for the Republican Presidential nomination. People who get paid to talk about politics on the teevee say that this is due to his debate performances. But now, Newt says that unless the audience is allowed to cheer after… » 1/24/12 7:15pm 1/24/12 7:15pm

So far Sarah Palin has yet to cast her lot behind any of the Republican primary candidates and issue an endorsement, but yesterday while appearing on Fox News she did come awfully close to giving Newt Gingrich her support. It's not because she necessarily thinks he'd make the best president—it's simply because a… » 1/18/12 10:00am 1/18/12 10:00am

Sweden became the first country to outlaw physical punishment of children in 1979. Now, the first generation of Swedish young adults to have been raised in a spanking-free society is in its thirties. Contrary to what your cantankerous, defensive grandpa might suggest, the entire country hasn't turned into a bunch of… » 11/11/11 10:30am 11/11/11 10:30am

In what I would venture is a deliberately inflammatory firebomb, one mom, "Maia," writes on Feministe: "i thought that maybe some feminists could use a refresher course, a reminder, that kids are people. shorter, cuter, more honest people." Go on! » 7/27/10 3:49pm 7/27/10 3:49pm

Gretchen Voss, whose eloquence about her own late term abortion » 10/16/08 6:40pm 10/16/08 6:40pm inspired a lot of thought in about McCain and women's "health," was watching the debates last night, too. She said, "Know where I was when that freaking maniac said that I—and all women—were invisible and meaningless? Sitting in the emergency room,…

While few people think » 10/16/08 10:00am 10/16/08 10:00am that John McCain did himself any great favors with last night's blink-and-Plumber-filled debate performance, there are nonetheless a few things for "Cavalier Activity Machine" and I to wonder about. Things like whether we can have a substantive discussion of Obama's idea of cavalier activity,…