<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1" ?><rss version="2.0"><channel><title>washingtonpost.com - E. J. Dionne Jr.</title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/opinion/columns/dionneej?nav=rss_opinion/columns/dionneej</link><description>E. J. Dionne Jr.</description><language>en-us</language><ttl>15</ttl><image><title>washingtonpost.com</title><width>140</width><height>20</height><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com</link><url>http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/hp/image/wp_web.gif</url></image><item><title><![CDATA[Tests for an Unbending Pope . . .]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2949-2005Apr19.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns/dionneej</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2949-2005Apr19.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns/dionneej</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 12:27:09 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ROME  --  Pope Benedict XVI, born Joseph Ratzinger, is not afraid to be unpopular. That is why he was elected pope Tuesday. It is also why he will face excruciating difficulties in holding together the most ethnically, geographically and ideologically diverse religious institution in the world.]]></description><author> E. J. Dionne Jr.</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Cardinal Ratzinger's Challenge]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64469-2005Apr18.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns/dionneej</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64469-2005Apr18.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns/dionneej</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 12:27:09 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ROME  --  The words broke like a thunderclap inside St. Peter's Basilica. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, addressing the world's cardinals just hours before they sequestered themselves Monday to choose the next leader of the world's 1 billion Catholics, decided to define this conclave.]]></description><author> E. J. Dionne Jr.</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Tom DeLay And the Wright Stuff]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55027-2005Apr14.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns/dionneej</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55027-2005Apr14.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns/dionneej</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 12:27:09 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[Being Tom DeLay means never having to say you're sorry. So when the embattled House majority leader apologized  Wednesday for the "inartful" way in which he attacked the federal judiciary after Terri  Schiavo's death, it was the surest indicator that DeLay's days are numbered.]]></description><author> E. J. Dionne Jr.</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Paris Hilton Tax Cut]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45305-2005Apr11.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns/dionneej</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45305-2005Apr11.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns/dionneej</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 12:27:09 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[  The same people who insist that critics of Social Security privatization should offer reform proposals of their own are working feverishly to eliminate alternatives that might reduce the need for benefit cuts or payroll tax increases.]]></description><author> E. J. Dionne Jr.</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Cardinal Principles of Politics]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35735-2005Apr7.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns/dionneej</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35735-2005Apr7.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns/dionneej</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 12:27:09 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[  Outsiders scoff at the claims we Roman Catholics make, that the Holy Spirit guides the cardinals who will be electing a new pope. To those skeptics, I would suggest that divine protection is the only rational explanation for how our magnificent but flawed church has survived all these years.]]></description><author> E. J. Dionne Jr.</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[A Papacy of Spirit]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26527-2005Apr4.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns/dionneej</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26527-2005Apr4.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns/dionneej</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 12:27:09 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[  The pope's plane was heading to the Ivory Coast from Togo on a journey that was to end that evening in Cameroon. In the press section, my friend Victor Simpson of the Associated Press had just read through the thick packet of speeches that John Paul II was to give on that long August day.]]></description><author> E. J. Dionne Jr.</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Stepford Town Meetings]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17352-2005Mar31.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns/dionneej</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17352-2005Mar31.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns/dionneej</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 12:27:09 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[  If President Bush is so insistent on the need for his political adversaries to talk to him about fixing Social Security, then why does he keep throwing them out of his campaign rallies  --  excuse me, "town meetings"  --  on the subject?]]></description><author> E. J. Dionne Jr.</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Conservative, Liberal, Principled]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8327-2005Mar28.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns/dionneej</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8327-2005Mar28.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns/dionneej</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 12:27:09 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[  Liberals have so little respect for conservatives these days that people on the left are genuinely astonished when people on the right have principled disagreements with each other. The left assumes the right marches in lock step under orders from the White House.]]></description><author> E. J. Dionne Jr.</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[A Thin View of 'Life']]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64568-2005Mar24.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns/dionneej</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64568-2005Mar24.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns/dionneej</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 12:27:09 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[What does it mean to be pro-life? Might the one good thing to come out of the rancid politics surrounding the Terri Schiavo case be a serious discussion of the meaning of that term?]]></description><author> E. J. Dionne Jr.</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Will Republicans Go Nuclear?]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55429-2005Mar21.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns/dionneej</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55429-2005Mar21.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns/dionneej</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 12:27:09 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[   Harry Reid, the Senate Democratic leader, called an urgent meeting last week with leaders of civil rights, civil liberties, environmental and women's groups. His message: The Senate faces a nuclear winter that could engulf them.]]></description><author> E. J. Dionne Jr.</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Destined for Deficits]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45505-2005Mar17.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns/dionneej</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45505-2005Mar17.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns/dionneej</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 12:27:09 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[  The sexy issues in budget fights get the headlines, and, Lord knows, drilling for oil in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a big deal. But the budget's most revealing details are hidden in plain sight and thus ignored.]]></description><author> E. J. Dionne Jr.</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Rolling the Dice on a GOP Rift]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35347-2005Mar14.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns/dionneej</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35347-2005Mar14.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns/dionneej</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 12:27:09 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[   House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's ethics troubles threaten more than his own political future. They have the potential to create a much wider scandal over lobbying on the Indian gambling issue and to open a rift among socially conservative Republicans.]]></description><author> E. J. Dionne Jr.</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[The GOP's Lesson on Abortion]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28527-2005Mar11.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns/dionneej</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28527-2005Mar11.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns/dionneej</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 12:27:09 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[  Why are George W. Bush and his party so skillful in dealing with the  abortion issue, and why are Democrats so clumsy?]]></description><author> E. J. Dionne Jr.</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Bush's Misplayed Hand]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A18707-2005Mar8.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns/dionneej</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A18707-2005Mar8.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns/dionneej</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 12:27:09 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[   American politics has been so corrupted by concepts such as "positioning" and "message discipline" that citizens don't get credit for their ability to decide issues on the merits. But when the public knows and cares a great deal about what's at stake, it is quite discerning about what's true and what's not.]]></description><author> E. J. Dionne Jr.</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Good-News Bind]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5693-2005Mar3.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns/dionneej</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5693-2005Mar3.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns/dionneej</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 12:27:09 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[   When the news from abroad is good, what is the political opposition to do? Should Democrats let President Bush crow about favorable developments in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,  Lebanon and  Iraq? Should they crow with him? And how should Democrats deal with Bush's appropriation of what Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) calls "Wilsonian" and "Kennedyesque" rhetoric promoting the spread of democracy? If Bush pushes policies that are both "Democratic with a large D and a small d," Lieberman asks, shouldn't Democrats encourage him?]]></description><author> E. J. Dionne Jr.</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[A Bill Bankrupt Of Pity]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61634-2005Feb28.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns/dionneej</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61634-2005Feb28.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns/dionneej</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 12:27:09 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[   My late parents, who came of age during the Great Depression, offered my sister and me a couple of simple rules about money: Never take on financial burdens you can't bear, and always pay your bills. Many years later, I still think they were right.]]></description><author> E. J. Dionne Jr.</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Getting the Democrats Back in Commission]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51780-2005Feb24.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns/dionneej</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51780-2005Feb24.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns/dionneej</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 12:27:09 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[   When the going gets tough, Democrats form commissions.]]></description><author> E. J. Dionne Jr.</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[About Those 'Greedy' Seniors]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42608-2005Feb21.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns/dionneej</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42608-2005Feb21.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns/dionneej</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 12:27:09 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[   Of all of the arguments for cutting and privatizing Social Security, the most obnoxious and misleading focus on the alleged "greed" of senior citizens -- present and future.]]></description><author> E. J. Dionne Jr.</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Where's the Faith  In This Agenda?]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36620-2005Feb18.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns/dionneej</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36620-2005Feb18.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns/dionneej</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 12:27:09 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[   I recently reread one of the best political speeches of the 1990s. It was powerful because the leader in question not only discussed his own views but also offered a vision of who we are as Americans.]]></description><author> E. J. Dionne Jr.</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Arthur Miller's Lessons]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24749-2005Feb14.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns/dionneej</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24749-2005Feb14.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns/dionneej</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 12:27:09 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[   Facing grave new threats from demonic forces, we can't be as exacting as we used to be about our rights and traditions, can we?]]></description><author> E. J. Dionne Jr.</author></item></channel></rss>
