Their losing 2012 presidential ticket warned that America is becoming a nation of "makers and takers" as self-identified "victims" seek "free stuff" from their government. In 2013, Republicans in Congress voted to gut food stamps, blocked the extension of jobless benefits to 1.3 million long-term unemployed Americans and supported drug testing for recipients. Now on […]

With another government shutdown averted by this week's two-year budget compromise, Republican leaders are once again threatening to hold the debt ceiling hostage if their demands aren't met. So what if they don't know yet what those demands will be? House budget chief Paul Ryan insisted, "We as a caucus -- along with our Senate […]

On January 24th, Netflix will air Mitt, a documentary about Governor Romney's quixotic quest for the presidency. But that hagiography, lovingly compiled by a close friend, covers only the campaign that led to Romney being immortalized as Mr. 47 Percent. But the years before--when Mitt became Mitt--seemed destined to remain a mystery. A mystery, that […]

On Monday, the GOP-controlled House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chaired by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) released a damning report about the so-called Obamacare "navigators." That Issa's inquisition railed against the Affordable Care Act's use of dozens of dozens of community groups, hospitals and other non-profit organizations who have received $67 million in federal grants […]

That was quick. Just two days after he joined House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) in lashing out against right-wing extremists who threatened to trigger another government shutdown by blocking his compromise budget, Rep. Paul Ryan on Sunday promised to support the Tea Party's other favorite act of national economic blackmail. Despite the fact that both […]

It would be fair to say the Ryan-Murray compromise budget announced Tuesday hasn't exactly produced rejoicing in the nation's capital. Democrats generally lament the entrenchment of austerity spending levels for discretionary outlays, including $8 billion in cuts to food stamps and the exclusion of $23 billion in funding to extend long-term unemployment insurance next year […]

Despite their decades-long record of shaking hands with tyrants whose nations posed an existential threat to the United States, when President Obama shook the hand of one who did not Republicans nevertheless took to the fainting couch. The image of Obama's brief handshake with Cuba's Raul Castro prior to his address at the memorial service […]

For three years, "tax reform" has been the centerpiece of the Republican Party's program for the American economy. Ever since taking control of the House, GOP leaders have promised that "lowering rates" while "broadening the base" would produce "revenue-neutral" tax reform. In 2011, 2012 and again in 2013, 95 percent of Congressional Republicans voted for […]

Over the past couple of days, Jonathan Chait's "12 Years a Slave and the Obama Era" seems to have struck a nerve among the conservative commentariat. In it, Chait responded to the Obama caricature of the National Review's Quin HIllyer depicting the President with "chin jutting out, countenance haughty, voice dripping with disdain for conservatives... […]

The refusal of Republican-led states to accept the Affordable Care Act's expansion of Medicaid will rank among the greatest self-inflicted wounds in the recent history of American public policy. But in the red states where the GOP calls the shots, that act of pure political spite will produce not one crisis but three. For starters, […]