Three top officials of the General Services Administration (GSA) were ousted Monday in advance of an Inspector General's report documenting a lavish spending spree at a 2010 agency conference in Las Vegas. But while White House chief of staff Jacob Lew reported that President Obama was "outraged by the excessive spending, questionable dealings with contractors, […]

After the Republican controlled House passed Paul Ryan's budget plan by a 228-191 party line vote, Speaker John Boehner lauded his GOP colleagues for laying out "a real vision of what we were to do if we get more control here in this town." But Boehner's "we" isn't limited to Republicans in Congress. As it […]

As the New York Times suggested last week, the fate of President Obama's Affordable Care Act in general and its mandate that Americans obtain health insurance in particular may hinge on Justice Anthony Kennedy's notion of "liberty." While Solicitor General Donald Verilli posited "a profound connection" between health care and liberty, his opponent Paul Clement […]

Following their mid-term landslide in late 2010, emboldened Senate Republicans led by leaders Mitch McConnell and Jon Kyl almost scuttled the START treaty with Russia, a pact which enjoyed overwhelming support from the public and every living Republican secretary of state. So, when President Obama told his outgoing Russian counterpart that he would have more […]

After another bad day for the Affordable Care Act at the Supreme Court, voices across the political spectrum are already pondering life after death for health care reform. Conservative Ross Douthat and liberal James Carville agree that overturning the ACA will help President Obama get reelected. Meanwhile, statements by Mitch McConnell and Mitt Romney seemed […]

On Monday, GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney blasted President Obama's open mic comment to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that he'll have more "flexibility" to deal with issues like missile defense after the November election. Predictably, a "disturbed" Romney denounced Obama's remark as "alarming" and "troubling." But what is surprising is that Governor Romney went on to […]

That Mitt Romney will lie about anything - no matter how major or mundane - is virtually taken for granted by the press and the public alike. Steve Benen has created a cottage industry cataloguing Romney's lies, an encyclopedic task now up to Volume XI. As Jonathan Chait explained, there's even a clinical term for […]

As the Supreme Court this week begins to consider the fate of the two-year old Affordable Care Act (ACA), ironies abound. For starters, while health care is worst in Republican red states, its improvement will be underwritten by blue state taxpayers. The virtually identical law in Massachusetts has been wildly successful and wildly popular. Meanwhile, […]

This week, GOP White House frontrunner Mitt Romney marked the two year anniversary of the Affordable Care Act by declaring the reform law the "national nightmare" he "always predicted." But leaving aside for the moment that Romney repeatedly touted his virtually identical Massachusetts law as a model for the nation, there's a much bigger problem […]

This week, Karl Rove took to the pages of the Wall Street Journal in the feeble attempt to undermine of one of President Obama's signature achievements, the killing of Osama Bin Laden. "Mr. Obama did," Rove sniffed, "what virtually any commander in chief would have done in the same situation." Well, not quite every commander-in-chief. […]