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 […]

In 2008, I gave my money and my vote to Barack Obama. With somewhat less enthusiasm, I'll do the same in 2012. But on this his 50th birthday, it's time for a gift the President could really use. After his latest capitulation to Republicans in this week's debt ceiling debacle, the presents would include a […]

If nothing else, the debt ceiling crisis provided what Barack Obama is so fond of calling a "teachable moment." Hopefully, that extends to the President himself. After seeing his nominees blocked, his legislation filibustered and popular upper-income tax increases delayed by Republicans who withheld their support from his watered down stimulus and health care programs, […]

In the wake of the debt ceiling deal they opposed, Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann are predictably apoplectic that Vice President Joe Biden allegedly likened Tea Partiers to "terrorists." In that case, they must really be furious with observers like New York Times reporter Joe Nocera and George W. Bush's Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill who […]