From the moment he first picked up the Speaker's gavel, the choice before John Boehner was a simple one. He could betray the far-right Tea Party extremists whose support for him was always tenuous or he could betray his country. When it came to his party's debt ceiling blackmail--which Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell acknowledged […]

One day after hijacking a veterans march on the World War II Memorial closed by the government shutdown her Tea Party has been demanding since 2011, Sarah Palin took to Facebook to lob another grenade at President Obama. Should Republicans succeed in blocking the debt ceiling increase required to allow Uncle Sam to keep paying […]

On Sunday, Tea Party icons Sarah Palin and Ted Cruz appropriated a veteran's march to the World War II memorial in Washington to blame the Obama administration for services idled by the government shutdown. The march organizers were none too happy about it, explaining on their web site, "We feel disheartened that some would seek […]

After first threatening to destroy the American economy if Obamacare wasn't defunded or delayed, desperate House Republicans have sent the President a new ransom note. Now, the GOP will grant a six-week extension to the debt ceiling and reopen the government if President Obama, among other things, accepts cuts to mandatory spending programs including Medicare […]

Having discovered that their shutdown of the federal government has made them less popular than the Ebola virus, House Republicans are backing away from their blackmail that Obamacare be delayed or defunded. But John Boehner's new ransom note is almost as preposterous. In exchange for a short-term increase in the debt ceiling that would only […]

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has not had a very good week. Just days after the glitch-filled roll-out of the Affordable Care Act's online health insurance exchanges, Sebelius got grilled by Jon Stewart of the Daily Show. So it should come as no surprise that CNBC resident right-wing water carrier Lawrence Kudlow called […]

Al Qaeda chieftain Osama Bin Laden was never shy about the objectives of his jihad against the United States. High on that list was the destruction of the U.S. economy which, he declared in 2004, would be accomplished by "bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy." But even with the economic shock after 9/11, the […]

During his short time in the Holy See, Pope Francis has had two clear messages for his faithful in the United States. Decrying those who "seek selfish profit," Francis in May pleaded with "those in public office to make every effort to give new impetus to employment." And just last month, the Bishop of Rome […]

While the federal government remains shuttered over Republican demands to defund the Affordable Care Act, the United States faces the growing prospect of its first-ever default. If Congress does not increase Uncle Sam's borrowing authority of $16.7 trillion by October 17, experts like former Bush Treasury official Tim Bitsberger warn, the resulting global economic cataclysm […]

Wednesday's Wall Street Journal provides the perfect encapsulation of the conservative crusade against the Affordable Care Act. On the opinion pages, columnist James Taranto mocked the story of new Obamacare enrollee Brendan Mahoney. But where news is actually reported, the WSJ's Arian Campo-Flores explained "Why Kentucky's Health Exchange Worked Better Than Many Others." But the […]