This week, Rex Nutting of the MarketWatch caused a stir with his analysis correctly showing that federal spending has hardly budged under President Obama, rising at the slowest pace since the Dwight Eisenhower was in the White House. Predictably, James Pethokoukis of the conservative American Enterprise Institute cited the jump in Washington's spending as a […]

It's rare that a criminal publicly announces his intent to commit a felony. But when it came to their scorched-earth campaign of obstructionism to destroy the Obama presidency, GOP leaders weren't shy about their plans. While 15 top Republicans schemed in private on the night of Obama's inauguration to "challenge them on every single bill […]

When President Obama suggested Monday that private gain does not always equal the public good and maximizing shareholder value is not necessarily a qualification for the White House, Mitt Romney branded those self-evident truths "attacks on the free enterprise system." But if Romney's experience at Bain Capital was the story of the day, the candidates' […]

In the wake of the debt ceiling crisis he helped manufacture last summer, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell boasted it was "a hostage that's worth ransoming" which "also is a new template" for the future. As it turns out, those threats were among the few true words McConnell has uttered. Because while he's promising once […]

Four years ago, conservatives mocked Joe Biden's suggestion that paying taxes is "patriotic." Now, some on the right are praising Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin as "an American hero" for renouncing his U.S. citizenship in order to avoid paying millions in future capital gains taxes. Leaving aside Saverin's dubious denial and the fact that he owes […]

"When the president told me yesterday that he wanted a clean increase in the debt limit," House Speaker John Boehner said this week, "It almost took my breath away." It shouldn't have. After all, Congress raised the debt ceiling 17 times under Ronald Reagan and seven more under George W. Bush, including a "clean" increase […]

A new Gallup poll released Monday offered both good news and bad for Mitt Romney. While his favorability jumped 11 points since February to reach a personal best of 50 percent, Romney still badly lags other recent nominees at the same stage in their campaigns. Despite the improvement, Mitt Romney is still plagued by an […]

In the wake of her state's vote to ban marriage equality last week, North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue caused quite a stir when she declared "We look like Mississippi." In response, Mississippi's Republican chief executive Phil Bryant call Perdue's remark "disappointing" and warned "I think she'll regret that after she's had some time to reflect […]

Just in case you had forgotten, the campaign web sites of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney want to remind you it's Mother's Day. The Obama site includes a card you can sign for the First Lady and a video of the President paying tribute to his mom and grandmother. Meanwhile, Team Romney is offering "Moms […]

Like the force of gravity or the sun rising in the east, Mitt Romney's pathological lying is now taken for granted. As Steve Benen among others can attest, documenting Romney's runaway mendacity may now be America's greatest growth industry. Explaining the causes of Mitt's daily dissembling may be another. Rick Perlstein looked to Shakespeare, seeing […]