Rice may be out as Secretary of State, but soon she'll be on your television screen. Not, that is, UN Ambassador Susan Rice, but former Bush National Security Adviser, Secretary of State and rumored 2016 GOP presidential candidate Condoleezza Rice. Joining her former Bush administration counter-terrorism colleague Juan Zarate, Rice will be a regular contributor […]

You can't make this stuff up. One day after being instructed "stop talking about rape," House Republicans attending their caucus' secret conclave will listen to a panel on Friday titled, "Discussion on Successful Communication with Minorities and Women." Unfortunately, that session will be held in the Kingsmill Resort's "Burwell Plantation" room, named after a prominent […]

President Obama on Wednesday will unveil the recommendations of the gun violence task force led by Joe Biden. Despite the popularity of many of the measures among the American people and even its own membership, the National Rifle Association is almost certain to oppose each and every bill and executive order. But that doesn't mean […]

One day after New York Times columnist and Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman described Republican brinksmanship on the debt ceiling as "hostage-taking," President Obama used his Monday press conference declared, "They will not collect a ransom in exchange for not crashing the American economy." But you don't have to take their word for it that […]

This weekend, Republicans led by Senator John McCain stepped up their withering criticism of President Obama's nominee for Defense Secretary, Chuck Hagel. In a new line of attack, Tennessee Senator Bob Corker questioned Hagel's "overall temperament." As it turns out, Corker's choice of words was more than a little ironic. After all, back in 2008 […]

Now for a few words of unsolicited advice for my conservative friends. First, when the film Lincoln is dominating box offices and the Oscar nominations, think very hard before you use slavery as an analogy for anything. Second, make up your mind whether slavery was good or bad, a big deal or a historical footnote. […]

During their rare moments of candor, Republicans leaders agree with President Obama that failing to raise the U.S. debt ceiling would be "catastrophic." Two years ago, Speaker John Boehner acknowledged "that would be a financial disaster, not only for our country but for the worldwide economy." Senator Lindsey Graham concurred, warning that not lifting the […]

As McClatchy and the New York Times among others have documented, Senators and Representatives in the minority party have often voted against debt ceiling increases. Whether motivated by opposition to larger spending or tax legislation, or as a symbolic vote to embarrass the president and his Congressional majority (as Senators Obama and Reid did in […]

The Republican opposed the Iraq surge and favored regional negotiations with Iran and Syria. The GOP luminary has cautioned against pre-emptive strikes on Tehran's nuclear facilities. He publicly criticized Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank. He advised the presidential campaigns of both John McCain and Mitt Romney on national security policy, and in 2000 […]

For each of the last 38 years, Lake Superior State University has published its "List of Words to be Banished from the Queen's English for Misuse, Overuse and General Uselessness." But missing from the dozen terms and phrases including "double down" and "spoiler alert" sentenced to the school's rhetorical death row for 2013 is one […]