I’m still stunned, appalled and deeply disturbed by the last debate among the candidates for the GOP nomination for president. Not by the candidates themselves (although there was plenty there to dislike), but by the crowd, which cheered lustily when the number of people Texas has executed since Rick Perry has been governor was announced, [...]

You’ve got to love the thinking here. Obama proposes a hefty $450 billion jobs bill, containing many items that Republicans used to favor. The tab is to be paid by raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans to their pre-Bush tax cut levels. The Republicans (surprise) oppose asking the rich to pay for the jobs the [...]

Unless things change dramatically in the next few days, the Republican party will take this country into default on its obligations for the first time in history. The fanatical freshmen members of the House, elected in the depth of the recession in 2010, are in no mood to compromise in any way, even with their [...]

I’m on the road right now without access to all of my tools, so this one is in black and white only. It still amazes me that the GOP can get away with unabashedly siding with the wealthiest Americans against the interests of the poor and the middle class, and still manage to persuade so [...]

Anyone other than us pundits watch the debate among the presidential wannabees on the Republican side the other day? Of course, they all ganged up on Obama, who, if the folks on stage are to be believed, is single-handedly responsible for all bad things that ever happened, are happening, or will happen in the United [...]

The Republicans sure love drama, don’t they. First they threatened to shut the government down unless their demands were met. Now they’re swearing they won’t agree to raise the debt ceiling unless they get the deep cuts they want. Shutting down the government would have caused some pain, but no permanent damage. Failure to raise [...]

The game of chicken over raising the debt limit continues, with Republicans (and some Democrats) vowing that any vote for it will have to be accompanied by deep budget cuts, and tax increases of any kind will not be considered.  If Republicans have their way, there’s only one possible outcome. The social safety net, already [...]

The post-2010 Obama style is emerging. Out is the optimistic liberal standard bearer. In is the Clintonian triangler. Let the Republicans frame the agenda, stay above the fray, expend as little political capital as possible, then step in as the mediator to forge a last-minute consensus. Hey, it worked brilliantly for Clinton, and it might [...]

Unless there’s a surprise agreement, the government will shut down at the end of the day tomorrow, largely because of the intransigence of the Tea Party members of the House, who apparently see compromise of any kind as a betrayal of their core principles. This, of course, is no way to run a government. Compromise [...]

We may yet get a budget deal without a government shutdown, but it won’t be any credit to the Tea Party absolutists who see ANY compromise as a betrayal of their core principles. It will be because feckless Democrats caved on theirs. The last I heard, the Dems were so desperate for a deal they [...]