For over 30 years, it has been the Republican Party's uber lie. Ever since Jude Wanniski first sketched Arthur Laffer's curve on the back of a napkin, conservatives have claimed that "tax cuts pay for themselves" because the extra economic activity they incentivize will produce tax revenues at least as great as they otherwise would […]

Still in the throes of Bridgegate, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has another crisis on his hands. With only two months remaining in the Garden State's current fiscal year, Christie faces a whopping $800 million shortfall. In response, Chris Christie is doing what Chris Christie always does. After being warned by the legislature's nonpartisan budget […]

"Waterboarding," would-have been GOP vice president Sarah Palin told a cheering NRA audience Saturday, "is how we baptize terrorists." On Monday, she defended the comments even her most ardent supporters called "sacrilegious," calling it "utterly absurd for MSNBC to suggest that I could put our beloved troops in harm's way." But MSNBC has plenty of […]

Last year, Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY) sponsored a bill prohibiting the Internal Revenue Service from implementing or enforcing any part of the Affordable Care Act. "The IRS," Grimm charged, "has proven to be a scandal-ridden organization that has abused its authority by targeting individuals and organizations." Two years earlier, he called for the repeal (though […]

According to the Daily Beast, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry warned a closed-door meeting on Friday that Israel risks becoming "an apartheid state" if a two-state peace deal with the Palestinians is not reached soon. While many of the usual suspects among Israel's hardline supporters in the United States will be apoplectic, any rage […]

Back in May 2009, the Washington Post touched on the greatest irony of the health care debate just beginning to grip the nation. "The Democrats' No. 1 domestic policy initiative," Alec MacGillis wrote, "is likely to help red America at the expense of blue." You didn't need a crystal ball to see why. The chasm […]

From time to time, Republican Party leaders are forced to remind their candidates that they are living in the 21st century. In early 2008, the GOP got diversity training in preparation for campaigning against Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, including the guidance "you can't allow the party to be Macaca-ed." After the likes of Todd […]

At an event this week at the University of Chicago's Institute of Politics, 2016 White House hopeful Rand Paul came face to face with the inescapable conundrum for any Republican seeking the presidency. Hoping to secure the nomination of a party whose platform calls for a "human life amendment" banning abortion even in case of […]

Last week, the Topeka Unified School District in Kansas invited First Lady Michelle Obama to deliver the May 17 commencement address at a first-ever combined graduation event for four area high schools. Some students and parents aren't happy out of concern that there won't be enough tickets to accommodate all of their family and friends […]