As President Obama finally starts to fight for his economic stimulus bill, roadblock Republicans in the Senate continue to decry the price tag. While John Thune (R-SD) described how many times $1 trillion worth of $100 bills would circle the earth, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) proclaimed "Americans can't afford a trillion-dollar mistake." Of course, […]

After two weeks of letting his Republican opponents in Congress dominate debate over his economic stimulus package, President Obama is finally starting to fight back. Blasting the GOP for an economy "headed over a cliff," Obama only now is showing signs of playing his strong hand. But it may be too late. While Obama will […]

When it comes to blocking President Obama's economic stimulus plan, what is old is new for the conservative movement. Fearing a permanent Democratic majority if Bill Clinton succeeded in passing his health care reform package, Bill Kristol in 1993 famously rallied Republicans with a memo urging his party to halt it at all costs. With […]

There can be little doubt that yesterday was the worst day of the fledgling Obama presidency. In a matter of hours, the President saw two key nominees undone by their tax woes. The surprising implosion of Tom Daschle then proceeded to consume an Obama media offensive originally intended to pressure obstructionist Senate Republicans blocking the […]

With Senate Republicans threatening a filibuster over the President economic stimulus package, the Washington Post on Monday offered its assessment that "as Obama talks of bipartisanship, definitions vary." For the likes of Rush Limbaugh, that definition is George W. Bush. As Bush showed in 2001, bipartisanship on the economy meant jamming his catastrophic $1.4 trillion […]

On Sunday afternoon at 3:28 PM PST, I will be in front of the television for the Super Bowl, my annual ritual of watching the Cleveland Browns not compete for an NFL title. But while my Browns are one of just five teams (along with Houston, Jacksonville, New Orleans and Detroit) never to reach the […]

The Vatican may have chosen the wrong week to protest President Obama's reversal of the Mexico City policy banning federal funds from international family planning groups. Even as a Vatican spokesman blasted Obama's decision as "the arrogance of a person who, having the power, thinks they can decide on life and death," Pope Benedict XVI […]

Last year, the Roadblock Republicans of the 110th Congress set the all-time filibuster record. Forcing 104 cloture votes by October 2008, the Senate's GOP minority easily eclipsed the old mark of 61 filibusters. And now, fresh on the heels of "elated" and "celebrating" House Republicans' refusal to provide a single vote in support of President […]

Among the most predictable frauds in the Republican war against the Obama stimulus plan is the bogus claim that it offers to tax credits to Americans "not paying taxes." But while voters on Election Day rejected the cries of "socialism" from John McCain and Sarah Palin, GOP leaders from Rudy Giuliani and John Kyl to […]

For those keeping score, Wednesday's final was Immovable Object 1, Irresistible Force 0. For all of his unprecedented outreach to Republican leaders on his economic stimulus package passed by the House yesterday - the poetry of post-partisanship, larding the bill with business tax provisions he opposed, meeting three times with GOP leaders, a rare presidential […]