During the 2008 presidential campaign, Republican John McCain famously acknowledged "I'm an illiterate" when asked about his use of personal computers and the Internet. Then as now, McCain's ignorance is reflected in his public policy. After laughably extolling online auction giant eBay as the cure for what ails the American economy, John McCain now opposes […]

On Friday, the New York Times provided a jaw-dropping analysis of the dismal state of the economy under George W. Bush. Just days after the Washington Post documented that Bush presided over the worst eight-year economic performance in the modern American presidency, the Times charted his historic failure in expanding GDP, producing jobs and fueling […]

Staying true to his commitment of bipartisanship, President Obama today hosted Congressional Republican leaders to discuss his proposed $825 billion economic recovery package. But while Obama listened to the GOP team air both its grievances and its alternative proposals, the President also gently reminded his Republican guests, "I won." And as Congress considers the Obama […]

When it comes to Americans' reproductive rights, it's amazing what a difference one week - and one new president - makes. On Sunday, President Bush offered a final parting gift to anti-abortion extremists in the form of "National Sanctity of Human Life Day." But by Thursday, President Barack Obama marked the 36th anniversary of the […]

On the very day President Obama signed an executive order calling for the closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention center within one year, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) regurgitated one of the GOP's tried and untrue talking points in its defense. Claiming the facility "has more comforts than a lot of Americans get," Boehner […]

Less than a week into the Obama presidency, Texas Senator John Cornyn has emerged as the new face of the obstructionist Republican Party in Congress. Rejecting President Obama's calls for a new spirit of cooperation, Cornyn on Tuesday delayed the inevitable confirmation of Secretary of State Clinton. The next day, Cornyn pushed back the confirmation […]

When he famously proclaimed Christ his favorite philosopher ("because he changed my heart") during a 1999 Republican debate, George W. Bush was signaling the outsized role the religious right would play in his presidency. Now as his disastrous tenure in the White House draws to a close, President Bush has offered Christian conservatives a final […]

Among the lowlights of the confirmation hearings for Eric Holder this week was a jaw-dropping endorsement of torture by Senator John Cornyn (R-TX). Having watched one too many "ticking time bomb" scenarios on the Fox series 24, Cornyn asked the would-be Attorney General if he "would still refuse to condone aggressive interrogation techniques like waterboarding […]

In his predictably self-absorbed farewell address to the nation, President George W. Bush grudgingly acknowledged, "There are things I would do differently if given the chance." But as he demonstrated last night, rejecting his repeated linkage of the 9/11 attacks to his war on Iraq is not among them. Even as Bush and Vice President […]

With Barack Obama's inauguration just days away, the conservative commentariat is outraged about comparisons between the 44th president and the 16th, Abraham Lincoln. The true successor to the Great Emancipator, the right-wing noise machine continues to insist, is George W. Bush. And as it turns out, no one has made that comical analogy more frequently […]