Linda Chavez: Do the right thing

In my experience, many who plead most passionately for bipartisanship do so because they hope to persuade those on the other side of the aisle to cave in on their principles. But there are times when bipartisanship is not only desirable, but also absolutely necessary. Partisan bickering and finger pointing have no place when national security is at stake.

Lawrence Kudlow: Special counsel is only way to clean up IRS rat's nest

When you get right down to it, the political targeting and stalling of tax-exempt applications by the IRS was an effort to defund the tea party. Rick Santelli, one of the tea party founders and my CNBC colleague, was the first to make this point. I've taken it a step further: The IRS was taking the tea party out of play for the 2012 election, as it looked to avoid a repeat of 2010 and another tea party landslide.

Froma Harrop: Tea party rage: Nothing fails like excess

Back in their day, the tea party folks were riding high, fueling indignation over alleged government-run death panels, a treasonous Federal Reserve and the like. They commandeered sparsely attended Republican primaries, managing to nominate for Senate seats a dabbler in witchcraft in Delaware, holders of strange views on rape in Missouri and Indiana, and in Nevada, a candidate suggesting armed insurrection if her people didn't win elections.

Leonard Pitts Jr.: In Florida, timely injustice

At great political peril, George Ryan did the right thing.

Scott Rasmussen: A difficult task ahead for Obama

It's impossible to predict the lasting impact of the controversies now besetting the Obama administration, but the risks to the president's agenda are sizable.

Joel Brinkley: Iraq war: Miserable mission failure

Ten years ago this month, President George W. Bush climbed confidently from the cockpit of a fighter jet that had landed on the USS Abraham Lincoln flight deck. He strode to the microphone and declared an end to major military operations in Iraq.

Bill O'Reilly: Mr. President: Why so much stonewalling?

It hasn't been a great week for the Obama folks, as the scandal du jour tour has firmly taken hold. Every day it seems another federal agency is exposed as having intimidated, snooped, covered up or gone to Vegas on the taxpayer dime. Zimbabwe is even making fun of us. On Jan. 21, 2009, in remarks welcoming his new presidential staff, Barack Obama said: "Let me say it as simply as I can: Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency."

Mona Charen: Obama, his allies flout Constitution

Speaking at Ohio State just a few days before abuse of power and dishonesty scandals swept over his administration, President Obama sang one of his trademark odes to the benevolence of government:

Mark Shields: Second-term pitfalls

Dan Jenkins, a sportswriter of rare wit, once gave us the Ten Stages of Drunkenness, which include these separate points on the road to inebriation: "Witty and Charming," ''Rich and Powerful," ''Clairvoyant," ''Patriotic," followed by "Crank Up the Enola Gay" and culminating in Stage 10, "Bulletproof."

Rachel Marsden: China's low-profile imperialism

PARIS -- Hardly a day goes by without America-bashers accusing the U.S. of "imperialism" or "interventionism." Meanwhile, China is largely exempt from that sort of criticism from the same crowd. If only they'd listen to the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and a few other stray voices.