America

The Conservative Political Action Conference once again took up the subject of same-sex marriage last week, with one big change to the political landscape: this time the discussion took place under the shadow of Obergefell v. Hodges. “Dearly Beloved: A Conversation on Religious Liberty and Marriage in America” presented differing perspectives on the issue of religious freedom and gay rights, and during the discussion, one panelist revealed the particular quandary he faced in light of the freedoms lost and freedoms gained with the decision.

Did you watch the GOP debate last night? I did, and there were distressingly few instances of penis-comparing or other tabloid moments. It was actually a sober exchange. It may well have been Marco Rubio’s best debate ever. He will probably make a good president one day, but not this time. If that Rubio had been present at the New Hampshire debate instead of Robo-Rubio, we would probably be looking at a different scenario now. If, if, if. Ted Cruz was composed and articulate, but, as my boss tweeted last night:

With the Trump juggernaut (which was unthinkable for most of the "sophisticated" media punditry and analysts) growing stronger by the day toward the all important Florida and Ohio primaries, and after that straight to the showdown with Hillary Clinton, the real estate tycoon is gradually showing a more moderate side, one which was put on display during last night's GOP debates.

Julia Ioffe talked to some Russian officials and experts about the silly idea that refusing to attack Syria in 2013 encouraged Russian intervention in Ukraine, and this is what they told her:

“Wow, it’s kind of a revelation what you just said,” said a very surprised source from the Russian Foreign Ministry, who was not authorized to speak on the record, on hearing the question. “It’s not tied to any kind of reality. These things are not connected to each other in any way.”

The foreign policy that President Obama describes in his extraordinary series of interviews with Jeffrey Goldberg is pretty much exactly the foreign policy that I would support – far more so than the foreign policy that the Obama Administration has actually followed.