Some of you may be wondering why it’s been so long since I wrote a satirical piece using my favorite character, Buckwheat, to make fun of the Republican presidential candidates. The answer is simple. As I’ve observed before, these candidates are more ridiculous than anything I could make up. They’re beyond satire, even for Buckwheat.…

So, brother Herman, how’s that jungle fever thing working out for you?  Absurd as it seems, black businessman Herman Cain’s apparent weakness for white and white-looking women may wind up playing a pivotal role in the presidential election, if Cain finally realizes that the jig is up and pulls out of a contest he was…

The highly anticipated, totally predictable failure of Congress’ so-called super committee is but the latest highly anticipated, totally predictable failure of our political system to address America’s economic crisis. And though many analysts will strive for a balanced assessment of who is to blame, there really is only one villain: fanatical right-wingers so determined to…

How many more cases of alleged sexual harassment have to surface before Herman Cain becomes known as the Tiger Woods of the Tea Party? To quote the soon-to-be-former presidential candidate’s reprise of one of his father’s favorite quips, “I does not care.” Cain never was and never will be more than a minstrel act in…

If there’s one thing I admire about Herman Cain — and truth be told, there is only one thing I admire about Herman Cain — it’s his chutzpah. That, as the great Leo Rosten observed, is the kind of gall it takes to murder your parents and then throw yourself on the mercy of the…

This is a painful story to write because I’ve considered Juan Williams a friend since we covered Jesse Jackson’s first presidential campaign back in 1984, when Juan was with the Washington Post and I was with Time magazine.  We attended the same Episcopal church in Washington before I moved to Richmond, Va., a few years…

You can’t make this stuff up. As if the coyote-shootin’, secession-talkin’, global-climate-change denyin’, George Wallace-channelin’ twit from Texas — otherwise known as Gov. Rick Perry — didn’t already have enough trouble proving he was ready for prime time, here comes a Washington Post story alleging that he hunted at and entertained guests at a hunting…

Based on his record alone, the president should be, at best, a long shot for re-election. The stock market is tanking. Unemployment remains stubbornly high. Poverty is on the rise. Washington seems adrift. To many, Obama’s current crusade on behalf of the American Jobs Act looks more like a cynical campaign ploy than a serious…

Who says miracles don’t happen? One occurred at the Republican presidential debate earlier this week. To wit: making Texas Gov. Rick Perry — the coyote-shootin’, secession-talkin’, George Wallace-channelin’, global-climate-change denyin’, extremist loudmouth — look less loony than some of his opponents. If that doesn’t qualify as a miracle, what would? I mean, Perry is the…

The 2012 election season is now under way, and President Barack Obama’s strategy for winning a second term is emerging. Instead of reprising the messianic movement that swept him into the White House, he will reinvent himself as “Give ‘Em Hell” Barry, an impassioned leader railing against do-nothing Republicans if they oppose the $447 billion…