AOL News Team - John Merline

John Merline

Opinion Editor

John is an 18-year journalism veteran, most recently as an editorial writer for USA Today. Prior to that, he was Washington Bureau Chief of Investor’s Business Daily.

Latest Post Opinion: The One Word Missing from Obama's Health Care Speech

View All Posts

Contact

Traffic Fatalities Sink to Record Low

posted: 9 hours 14 minutes ago

(March 11) -- Amid all the worries about safety troubles with Toyota cars comes some actual good news about traffic safety: Almost 4,000 fewer people died in traffic accidents in 2009 than the year b ...

Full Story »

Opinion: Is GOP Too Tough on the Unemployed?

posted: 2 days 11 hours ago

(March 9) -- Writer Michael Kinsley once defined a "gaffe" in Washington as when a politician accidentally tells the truth. By that definition, Republicans have been particularly gaffe prone when it ...

Full Story »

Opinion: The One Word Missing from Obama's Health Care Speech

posted: 8 days 4 hours ago

(March 3) -- Out of the more than 2,600 words President Barack Obama delivered in his latest pitch for health care reform, one word was noticeably missing: mandate. It's an odd omission. The health c ...

Full Story »

Congressional Reconciliation Takes Time

posted: 8 days 11 hours ago

(March 3) -- Easter is the new Christmas. At least, it is if you're a Washington lawmaker hoping to get health care reform passed before the next congressional recess. But it will take a minor miracl ...

Full Story »

Opinion: Sugarholics Could Help Others Kick the Habit

posted: 9 days 9 hours ago

(March 2) -- In their quest to gain energy, lose weight and be more productive, comedians Jeff Garlin and Ellen DeGeneres are turning their backs on sugar. By shunning the sweet stuff, they're settin ...

Full Story »

Opinion: 'Not Factually Accurate'? Who Knows

posted: 14 days 2 hours ago

(Feb. 25) -- One of the testier moments of the health care summit was revealing in several ways, but mostly because it helped make clear why the public is so turned off to the whole health care refor ...

Full Story »

Public Sends Mixed Message on Health Reform

posted: 14 days 7 hours ago

(Feb. 25) -- Over the past year, President Barack Obama has been nothing if not determined to get the public behind him on health care reform. In addition to the various town halls, rallies and speec ...

Full Story »

Opinion: Few Health Care Pundits Behaving Unpredictably

posted: 17 days 6 hours ago

(Feb. 22) -- Perhaps the partisan and ideological divide has become so entrenched that bloggers and pundits no longer feel the need to read anything before they react to it. That might help explain t ...

Full Story »

Opinion: The 'Eldrick' Solution to Tiger's Problems

posted: 19 days 7 hours ago

(Feb. 20) -- OK, Tiger Woods, so you really want to change your image? Let me introduce you to a different breed of big cat: the Cougar. Remember "John Cougar"? The pop-rock singer from the mid-1970s ...

Full Story »

Austin Tragedy Ignites Tea Party Battle Online

posted: 20 days 11 hours ago

(Feb. 19) -- Before the flames from Joseph Stack's suicide run at an Austin, Texas, building had been extinguished, fires broke out on the Internet over whether his attack could or should be linked t ...

Full Story »

1234»Last