In Washington, the partisan war is flaring up again, this time of over taxes. President Obama wants to keep the "Making Work Pay" middle class tax credit while rolling back the expiring Bush tax cuts for households earning over $250,000. Republicans hope to stop him, keeping the Treasury-draining Bush windfall for the wealthy despite the […]

Until this week, Republican Congressman Zach Wamp's claim to fame had been breaking his term limits pledge. But now, the Tennessee gubernatorial candidate is making voters a new promise: secession. And as it turns out, Wamp has plenty of company in transforming the Party of Lincoln into the Party of Jefferson Davis. From their inflammatory […]

This week, National Review editor and Sarah Palin bath water drinker Rich Lowry branded the imbroglio that swept up Shirley Sherrod, "progress." What once involved "elemental matters of justice," Lowry amazingly declared, now merely features "offensive statements, shadowy questions of motive, and frankly cynical allegations made for political reasons." Like those, for example, of Newt […]

For over a generation, Republicans and their conservative amen corner have routinely brushed off charges of their own corruption and lawlessness by accusing their opponents of "criminalizing politics." From Iran-Contra, Plamegate and Tom Delay to the U.S. attorneys purge and the Bush regime of detainee torture, Republicans survived their endless scandals by instead successfully politicizing […]

Despite his turtle-like appearance and seeming Ambien-induced demeanor, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell can tell a gripping tale. And yesterday on the Senate floor, he told some tall ones. Republicans, it turns out, supported unemployment benefits for the victims of the Bush recession all along. And just days after he joined the Republican Tax Cut […]

For Democrats with a strong schadenfreude streak, the recent dust-up between GOP White House hopefuls Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin is pure joy. After all, the growing feud pits Romney, a man who has changed his mind about virtually everything against Palin, who knows virtually nothing. Better still, perhaps the most honest assessment of both […]

During an episode titled "The Pitch," George Costanza describes Seinfeld as "a show about nothing." And so it is now with the Republican Party. As the Washington Post relates this morning, in the run-up to the November midterms Republican leaders are fiercely debating whether to stand for something or nothing. By this fall, the Party […]

Long before he became what Politico deemed "Barack Obama's biggest critic," Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer was a Democrat. Dr. Krauthammer left his psychiatric practice to work for Jimmy Carter and write speeches for Walter Mondale. But that was before he fell - hard - for Ronald Reagan. And now in his latest assault on […]

So it comes down to this. Republicans believe they can turn bullshit into gold. Despite the inescapable conclusion of history, theory and empirical evidence to the contrary, Mitch McConnell, Jon Kyl, John Boehner, Tom Coburn, John McCain, Kay Bailey Hutchison and other Republican alchemists continue to insist that cutting taxes increases government revenue and thereby […]

Last fall, John Judis warned that like Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton before him, first term President Barack Obama would see his disapproval ratings rise - and fall - along with unemployment. This week, new polls from the Washington Post, CBS News and PPP confirmed the toll the sluggish recovery is taking on Obama's popularity. […]