As the New York Times reported Sunday, within the Obama White House a fierce debate is raging about what to do next about jobs and the economy. But on the same day Americans learned advisers David Plouffe and Bill Daley are pushing President Obama to put forward only proposals which can pass Congress as part […]

During the just concluded debt ceiling crisis, only one American political party was willing to see the United States default and its economy crippled rather than raise the nation's borrowing limit. That culprit was the Party of Lincoln, whose namesake once explained the Confederacy's threat to the Union, "one of them would make war rather […]

That all six of the Republicans selected to the Congressional debt reduction "Super Committee" are signers of Grover Norquist's anti-tax pledge is hardly surprising. But the choice of Arizona Senator Jon Kyl is an especially fitting one for the GOP. After all, Kyl didn't merely define a generation of Republican talking points when he explained […]

Yesterday, RNC chairman Reince Priebus blasted Harry Reid's selection of Patty Murray (D-WA) to lead the Senate Democrat's contingent on the debt reduction Super Panel, calling his choice of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee chairwoman a "blatantly political move." But for the most part, Republicans seem more than comfortable with Max Baucus joining the new […]

Reveling in the political opportunity presented by America's economic woes, Republicans are taking President Obama to task for stating the simple truth, "much of it I inherited." While GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney charged, "It's just blame, blame, blame - It's a blame presidency," former Bush press secretary turned Fox News regular Dana Perino complained, "The […]

In the wake of S&P's reduction of the U.S. credit rating, Republican leaders and amen corner are apoplectic about what Democrats John Kerry and David Axelrod deemed the "Tea Party Downgrade." Sadly, there's one small problem for the right-wing bloggers insisting "they can't possibly sell that" and for the GOP presidential candidates attacking President Obama […]

If nothing else, the 2012 Republican presidential contest has forced GOP White House hopefuls to run a gauntlet of ever more draconian pledges demanded by party purists. At the top of the list is the Grover Norquist's Taxpayer Protection Pledge, which demands candidates "solemnly bind themselves to oppose any and all tax increases." But at […]

Among the things we learned during this week's debt ceiling debacle is that Republicans in general and their Tea Party hardliners in particular don't like to be called "hostage-takers" and "terrorists." While Sarah Palin called Vice President Biden's alleged use of the T-word "appalling," Rep. Jeff Landry (R-LA) suggested it was the Obama administration "who's […]

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Just for different groups of Americans. That's the picture emerging from a wave of stories about the depths of the American economic downturn. On the same day The Economist revealed that the U.S. economic contraction beginning in late 2007 was far deeper than […]