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His latest foray into dangerous naivete came while campaigning Sunday in Pendleton, Ore. He told the assembled multitude: "Iran? Cuba? Venezuela? — these countries are tiny compared to the Soviet Union. They don't pose a threat to us the way the Soviet Union posed a threat to us."

He went on to defend his policy of "aggressive personal diplomacy" and called for "tough, disciplined and direct diplomacy. That's what Kennedy did. That'd what Reagan did."

Well, not quite.

Obama said that Reagan's "direct negotiation" with Gorbachev "over time allowed the kind of opening that brought down the Berlin Wall." What brought down the Berlin Wall, and the Soviet Union, was Reagan's unrelenting resistance to and confrontation with the "evil empire" based on his strategy of "we win, they lose." That was how Reagan "negotiated" with Gorbachev.

Yes, Reagan talked with Gorbachev. But he resisted the Soviet advance from Nicaragua to Grenada to Afghanistan. He put Pershing missiles in Europe. He launched the Strategic Defense Initiative and said "nyet" when Gorbachev wanted us to deal it away. When Reagan said, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall," the end of the Cold War already was a fait accompli.

Obama responded during a campaign stop Monday in Billings, Mont.: "The Soviet Union had thousands of nuclear weapons, and Iran doesn't have one." And he'll probably believe that right up to the moment the phone rings at 3 a.m. and he hears: "Mr. President, Tel Aviv has been nuked."

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Whatever else we've thought about Michelle Obama, we've never doubted that this outspoken Princeton- and Harvard-trained lawyer was capable of fighting her own battles. But now her husband says no. Pick on her and you're going to have to deal with him. As he told "Good Morning America" this week, "Lay off my wife."

How manly. How chivalrous. How hypocritical.

But now her husband has laid down a rule: Michelle can say whatever she wants and not be called on it. He specifically went after a group of Tennessee Republicans running TV ads that compared his wife's appearance of late-blooming patriotism with the views of some other Americans.

In a recent On The Left article, columnist Ruth Marcus assails as "cartoonish" John McCain's criticism of overreaching federal judges...

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Most of the drafters of the Constitution and Bill of Rights were experienced legal practitioners. Even some of the non-attorneys — such as James Madison — had studied law extensively. Contrary to common myth, most of the clauses they wrote, including several sometimes misleadingly labeled "elastic" or "expansive," were composed with great precision.

To understand this, one first must learn something of the law of the time. Too many judges and law professors have jumped to conclusions about constitutional meaning without the necessary investigation.

A more egregious example involves the constitutional term "due process of law." The Supreme Court has interpreted this phrase in expansive ways that have led it to strike down scores of democratically enacted state and federal laws. The most notorious was Roe v. Wade, which invalidated centuries of abortion law.

Yet "due process of law" was not intended to be an expansive term at all. As originally understood, the phrase meant only that when government started a proceeding against a citizen, it had to proceed in accordance with pre-existing law, and (in some cases) by grand jury indictment.

Thus, decisions using the Constitution's Due Process Clauses to strike down substantive laws are indefensible. When McCain criticizes this sort of judicial decision making, he is again very much on target.

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How does he demagogue the issue? Let us count the myths. Fact is, Social Security is all trust and no fund. There's no stash of your cash in an account with your name on it that nobody can touch. The money beneficiaries get comes from the paychecks of their children, grandchildren, friends and neighbors. But with private accounts there would be cash in an account.

As for raising the retirement age, it's an option that's been considered by politicians of both parties, even by Barack Obama. In a May 2007 interview with George Stephano-poulos on ABC's "This Week," Obama said he'd consider raising the retirement age himself. Obama also said he'd consider raising payroll taxes. Indeed he would.

#2: Due process for wives.

In Malaysia, Islamic Sharia law allows men to divorce their wives with a triple talaq text message.

Coming to the US?

Put aside your political differences and join me in keeping Sen. Ted Kennedy and his family in your prayers as they grapple with the news of his malignant brain tumor diagnosis.

My feelings exactly.

“Negative personal campaigning?” What’s “personal?” Michelle Obama is out on the stump, speaking on behalf of her husband. The only thing “negative” about the Tennessee GOP’s ad came from Michelle Obama’s mouth.

Is it “negative personal campaigning” when candidate spouse Bill Clinton’s public campaign trail remarks are scrutinized, criticized, and analyzed?

Are we to shut up about him, too? Will the Republican civility-mongers not stop until the Right is completely disarmed?

The GOP establishment has been all atwitter of late over its demise and urging itself to “stand for something.” But when its state parties takes a stand–againstagainst the America-bashing of the Obamas–the party elders quiver like Jell-O on a roller coaster ride. the radical demagoguery of Jeremiah Wright or

GOP: The fecklessness we deserve.

The Examiner tells the presidential candidates and their wives to suck it up

On budgeting and asymmetrical threats