For years, Republican leaders including President George W. Bush, former House Minority Leader Tom Delay and current Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell have insisted that "no American is denied health care in America" because "you just go to an emergency room." But while Mitt Romney reminded Joe Scarborough that the funds Massachusetts used to pay […]

Next week, Karl Rove's memoir Courage and Consequence hits the bookshelves. But as the previews make clear, you won't have to wait until March 9th to appreciate Rove's gift for fiction. According to the AP, his revisionist history claims that "many of the controversies that weakened his presidency were falsehoods perpetuated by political opponents," including […]

When it comes to the budget reconciliation process in the Senate, the truth is not setting Republicans free. On Sunday, John McCain vowed to end the use of reconciliation to change Medicare, despite the GOP's repeated deployment of that same tactic for 30 years. Now, Utah Senator Orrin Hatch, who previously warned Democrats that resorting […]

Republicans desperate to halt health care reform at all costs are turning to a new gambit. To Democrats intent on passing a Senate bill with a 51 vote simple majority via the reconciliation process, Republicans for months have warned the move would trigger a "holy war" (Hatch), a "nuclear war" (Kyl) or even "end the […]

Canada may have eked out a thrilling 3-2 overtime win over the United States in the Olympic hockey final on Sunday, but when it comes to political obstructionism, it's no contest. The AP is just the latest to document the Republicans' runaway gold medal in the filibuster. On track to easily shatter their previous record, […]

In May 1996, a sheepish businessman admitted to a hotel bellhop, "There's a guy in the lobby who was running for president two months ago, and now I've forgotten his name." When the bellhop told him the man was the former Tennessee Governor, the businessman quickly remembered, "that's right, Lamar Alexander." Now, 14 years after […]

"My goal is to cut government in half in twenty-five years," Reagan Revolutionary Grover Norquist boasted, "to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub." Now, a generation after Norquist launched his crusade, Republican White House hopefuls Newt Gingrich and Tim Pawlenty are leading a new charge to "starve […]

For years, Republican leaders including President George W. Bush, former House Minority Leader Tom Delay and current Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell have insisted that "no American is denied health care in America" because "you just go to an emergency room." Apparently, Minnesota Governor and 2012 White House Republican hopeful Tim Pawlenty didn't read the […]

At Thursday's White House health care summit, President Obama pleaded with the participants for "a discussion, and not just us trading talking points." Alas, as Tennessee Republican Lamar Alexander made clear from the get-go, the President was destined for disappointment. In his opening remarks, Alexander insisted Democrats should abandon the bills they've already passed and […]