The Bush administration opened several lines of attack against the rule of law and the integrity of an independent Justice Department. The scandals are so famous that they've been reduced to shorthand: Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, NSA, Attorneygate.
Iowa is especially critical for underdog and cash-strapped campaigns, because the caucus system relies on grassroots organizing, enabling candidates with time for retail politicking to beat better-funded rivals. So underdogs usually seize on the state.
The modern GOP has perfected this cyclical deficit outrage ritual. Republicans run up the tab when they control the White House, then scream about deficits when Democrats win - insisting that 'serious reform' means cutting only Democratic budget priorities.
From the Fourth Amendment to post-Watergate reforms to the national outcry when Bush's warrantless surveillance was revealed in 2005, the United States has a strong tradition of overseeing the government's power to spy on its citizens.
Law and politics are often overly complicated because there are people that don't want the rest of us to know what's going on.
The Obama campaign has adeptly used YouTube and social networks as a relatively thrifty way to do targeted messaging.
I feel like I'm totally me, and I feel like the show reflects my intensity, my vibe, and my search for evidence and answers.
The Trump administration has struggled with ethics vetting for Cabinet nominees and faced criticism for the president's decision to remain invested in his business empire.
It always rankled me - in law school and the legal profession - when lawyers would speak to each other in their own exclusive language.
Barack Obama was first elected after a period of profound failure by elite and government institutions, from finance to foreign policy to Hurricane Katrina, and his first term immediately and unapologetically enacted a flurry of government solutions.
Obama won the presidency by running the first integrated three-screen campaign - reaching people directly via Internet, cell phones, and TV - with an authentic, complex style that resonated for voters sick of dark, deceitful, and divisive politics.
If you believe in democracy, you accept, by definition, the existence and triumph of opposing ideas. The people who believe deeply in the Internet's force as a commons operate on that kind of premise.
There's a lot of hip-hop that's oriented toward a progressive view of America because it's oriented toward a civil rights progress and a critique of the power structure.
TV can keep you honest because the viewers really do listen. People who have succeeded in this have shown the audience how hard they work and that their reporting is really worthwhile.
TV ads are great for broadcasting, but voter turnout is about narrow-casting. And not all messengers are created equal.