Susan Davis

High atop the list of old habits in media that will never die: kneejerk apologia for the failed utopia known as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Russian President and former KGB spook Vladimir Putin isn't alone in pining for its glories. During a weekly roundup of the NPR Politics podcast on Feb. 14, Domenico Montanaro, the state-funded radio network's "lead political editor," chided…

We’re halfway through 2013, and PBS’s Washington Week used last Friday’s episode to reflect on the past six months of D.C. politics. During the course of the reflections, moderator Gwen Ifill trotted out the oft-uttered liberal complaint about “distractions” that have impeded President Obama’s second-term agenda so far. She lamented, “You know, the one thing that's been a common theme…