PostPartisan - Quick takes by The Post's opinion writers - June 20, 2010

Where is Arizona? Don't ask Peggy West -- or Google

By Alexandra Petri So where is Arizona, exactly? I have always been under the impression that it was somewhere to the left of Texas, but that could just be a political statement. And it looks like Milwaukee County Board of...

By Alexandra Petri | June 25, 2010; 5:45 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (43)
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Supreme Court sides with the big dogs against everyone else

Hold on to your wallet. In a galling decision Thursday, the Supreme Court has made it abundantly clear: American government exists to protect unprincipled corporations and corrupt public officials from citizens, not the other way around. In their evisceration...

By Katrina vanden Heuvel | June 25, 2010; 5:08 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (20)
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Barbershop 3: black men, stigma and HIV/AIDS

Sunday is National HIV Testing Day. A perfect excuse to get tested and know your status. But one of the biggest obstacles to getting tested and, thus, controlling the spread of the HIV/AIDS epidemic is stigma. The shame, discrimination...

By Jonathan Capehart | June 25, 2010; 2:44 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (7)
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McChrystal's mystifying media ignorance

What has been most fascinating to me in the whole McChrystal implosion is the fact that he and his team thought it would be a good idea to spend days with and give unprecedented access to a writer for...

By Jonathan Capehart | June 25, 2010; 8:36 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (11)
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GOP: generic optimism over poll

Republicans must be giddy over the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. Thanks to the BP oil spill in the gulf, the administration’s problems getting a public handle on the disaster and the stubborn economy, President Obama’s job approval...

By Jonathan Capehart | June 24, 2010; 4:03 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (26)
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Judicial activism in the deepwater drilling decision

The confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan are about to get under way -- and with them the inevitable denunciations of activist liberal judges substituting their policy preferences for those of elected officials. Spare me. If you’re...

By Ruth Marcus | June 24, 2010; 3:55 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (52)
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Time for Obama to build a real team of rivals

At the start of the 2008 primary season, Doris Kearns Goodwin, presidential historian, author of Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln and die-hard Boston Red Sox fan, got a call from Barack Obama. “He talked to...

By Katrina vanden Heuvel | June 24, 2010; 2:30 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (20)
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Al Gore: big lummox or crazed sex poodle?

By Alexandra Petri “Get off me, you big lummox!” It’s officially the worst sex scandal ever. When people accused Bill Clinton or Tiger Woods of extramarital activities, their accounts, if startling, were at least occasionally flattering. Not this time. “You’re...

By Alexandra Petri | June 24, 2010; 1:33 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (42)
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"Other people" get HIV/AIDS

Just as the Obama administration puts the finishing touches on a national HIV/AIDS strategy, a powerful movie on the film festival circuit shows in heart-breaking detail why such a plan is long overdue. "The Other City," made by filmmaker...

By Jonathan Capehart | June 24, 2010; 7:09 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (6)
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Australia gets its first female prime minister, dumps PM Rudd

It’s an astonishing day in Australian politics. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who has been a loyal supporter and ally of President Obama, was dumped by his Labor Party today, and Julia Gillard, the deputy prime minister, was chosen as...

By E.J. Dionne | June 23, 2010; 11:18 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (5)
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Advice Gen. Stanley McChrystal should have followed

It's not as if Gen. Stanley McChrystal didn't know that loose lips can sink not just military vessels, but military careers as well. Last October, when President Obama was conducting his in-depth review of U.S. policy in Afghanistan, McChrystal...

By Eugene Robinson | June 23, 2010; 2:39 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (98)
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After McChrystal, time to change course in Afghanistan

Gen. Stanley McChrystal has submitted his resignation. Or he's been fired. In any case, it was time for him to go. His departure will help slow the increasing erosion in civil-military relations -- aided by both political parties over...

By Katrina vanden Heuvel | June 23, 2010; 1:40 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (34)
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New levels of presidential disrespect?

In his column today, my Post colleague Dana Milbank tries to link Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s comments about President Obama to recent Republican criticism of the president, declaring “Republicans… have reached new levels of presidential disrespect.” His evidence? Comments Rep....

By Marc Thiessen | June 23, 2010; 1:12 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (16)
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The key moment in Rolling Stone's McChrystal piece

Of all the names associated with the now-celebrated Rolling Stone article on Gen. Stanley McChrystal -- Obama, Biden, Jones, Eikenberry, Holbrooke -- the one that matters most is Hicks. He is Staff Sgt. Kennith Hicks, who, among other NCOs,...

By Richard Cohen | June 23, 2010; 11:19 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (35)
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Gen. McChrystal's firing offense

By Sally Quinn My father, a lieutenant general in command of the 7th Army in Germany at the beginning of the Vietnam War, had had dealings with President Johnson. To say that he loathed him was an understatement, as it...

By Sally Quinn | June 23, 2010; 9:15 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (37)
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Handy apology tips for McChrystal's meeting with Obama

By Alexandra Petri Gen. McChyrystal, after your "misguided" remarks to Rolling Stone, you have been summoned to meet with President Obama and explain yourself. Having been summoned to the principal’s office a few times, I am an expert at explaining...

By Alexandra Petri | June 22, 2010; 2:50 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (15)
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Obama's steady progress on gay equality

In a few hours President and Mrs. Obama will throw open the White House doors to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans to celebrate pride month. It's a time to reflect on where the community is and how much...

By Jonathan Capehart | June 22, 2010; 2:02 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (15)
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Don't blame McChrystal, blame Obama

Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal should not lose his job because of the article about him in Rolling Stone magazine. If anyone deserves blame for the latest airing of the administration’s internal feuds over Afghanistan, it is President Obama. For...

By Jackson Diehl | June 22, 2010; 11:59 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (234)
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Rolling Stone McChrystal article understates the backbiting

10:12 p.m.: This post has been updated to reflect President Obama's remarks Tuesday afternoon. Sometimes media gaffes overstate the degree of dissension among policymakers. In the case of Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s bizarre decision to grant “fly on the wall”...

By David Ignatius | June 22, 2010; 11:14 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (150)
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Gen. McChrystal must go

Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the man charged with executing President Obama's war plan for Afghanistan, has gone rogue in an explosive article in Rolling Stone. He and his staff crack wise on just about everyone. Obama ("unprepared"), Vice President Biden...

By Jonathan Capehart | June 22, 2010; 7:46 AM ET | Permalink | Comments (187)
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Charlie Crist comes back from the political dead

Remember when Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (I) was left for dead -- politically -- when he dumped the Republican Party to become an independent in his race for the U.S. Senate? Well, this headline over at The Atlantic Wire...

By Jonathan Capehart | June 21, 2010; 5:08 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (38)
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Barack Obama wants to freeze your baby

As if the famously long lines at defibrillator machines weren’t enough in Britain’s SOCIALIST health-care system, now the country’s doctors have started FREEZING babies in order to “heal” them. Seriously. Watch the video. Now, I’m no expert. But doesn’t...

By Stephen Stromberg | June 21, 2010; 4:35 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (13)
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PostPartisan: June 20, 2010 - June 26, 2010