Six weeks into the presidency of Barack Obama, a growing chorus of voices among the leaders of the defeated and downtrodden Republican Party is calling for his failure. During a time of war and national economic crisis, Rush Limbaugh, Tom Delay, Michelle Malkin, Johan Goldberg and Rick Santorum are just some of the GOP politicians […]

Back in December 2007, Americans learned that then-head of the CIA's clandestine service Jose Rodriguez two years earlier ordered the destruction of at least two videotapes of detainee interrogations. Today, government lawyers revealed the number of tapes destroyed was much higher, totaling almost 100. That shocking revelation prompts two questions. First is the issue of […]

The last time the top income tax rate was 39%, the United States enjoyed a booming economy, rising incomes, low unemployment and expanding budget surpluses. Unfortunately, that simple truth has been ignored by Republican propagandists and mainstream media alike during the debate over President Obama's stimulus plan and budget proposal. In his budget, Barack Obama […]

As the beaten and battered conservative faithful gather at the CPAC event in Washington, casual incitements to violence against the President, Democratic leaders and liberal Americans once again are filling the air. While former UN ambassador John Bolton produced guffaws with the specter of Obama's hometown being destroyed in a terrorist attack, Joe "the Plumber" […]

Even as this year's Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) kicks off today in Washington, the transformation of the Republican Party into a cartoon is almost complete. In the same week in which Bobby Jindal extinguished his own rising star in a now legendary response to President Obama, the GOP's know-nothing every man Joe "the Plumber" […]

During the 2008 presidential campaign, John McCain's chief economic adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin took more positions on the federal budget deficit than Newt Gingrich has had wives. Within a matter of weeks last year, Holtz-Eakin alternately claimed John McCain would balance the budget by either 2013 or 2017, all before announcing in April, "I would like […]

During the height of the battle over judicial nominees in 2005, the Republican Party debuted its short-lived "up or down vote" talking point. Of course, after being reduced to minority status in the 2006 midterms, the GOP was quick to abandon that gambit, instead easily shattering the record for filibusters in the Senate. But in […]

The recession is good for you. At least, according to former Bush speechwriter turned Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson. Praising the "recession's hidden virtues," Gerson on Sunday reassured Americans that their financial hardships may be a boon to their physical health and personal morality, all while helping foster cultural renewal. As it turns out, Gerson […]

To the displeasure of many on both sides of aisle, President Obama on Monday will host the so-called Fiscal Responsibility Summit at the White House. While some Democrats question the timing of Obama's expenditure of political capital on Social Security, Medicare and other entitlement reform, obstructionist Republicans are ridiculing the event even as they hype […]

In his first budget, President Obama apparently plans to keep his campaign promise to let the Bush tax cuts expire for Americans making over $250,000 a year. And just as during the election, Republican leaders are falsely claiming that Obama's proposal constitutes a tax hike on small business owners. This time, it is Senate Majority […]