It's been almost eight months since Trump was sworn in yet he and his staff still haven't seemed to have learned an important lesson about American politics: The executive branch cannot treat Congress like the hired help because they do not work for Trump and his administration. ...read more
Despite controlling all three branches of the government, the Republican Party is in disarray and it's about to get infinitely worse. As hard as it may be, put aside Donny Junior's stunningly stupid admission that he met with the Russians to get information about Hillary ...read more
The strangest creature in the world is the Republican Deficit Hawk. No other animal on the planet can be counted on to go extinct every 4 to 8 years. If you'll recall the distant past of 2011, the mighty Republican Deficit Hawk was so plentiful that they caused the credit rating ...read more
Ezra Klein makes a very generous observation about Republican ideology: "We are about to learn whether Republicans are more addicted to power or to ideas." The idea in question? Keeping deficit spending under control. Right after the election, the Tea Party Caucus made some ...read more
In March of this year, a petition was sent to the White House signed by over 320,000 people in protest of the Republicans who sent a letter to the Iranian government in order to undermine official negotiations over nuclear disarmament. The petition stated: On March 9th, 2015, ...read more
As we've noted here, it's sometimes been difficult to tell the difference between what the Vox says and what Fox News says, and at Wednesday's White House daily briefing, Press Secretary Josh Earnest drew laughs from reporters when he confused the two outlets. When The Hill ...read more
It's Wednesday, and we're now down to 2 short days before Valentine Day, you dateless wonders. Here's what's happening on the interweb. 1. House Passes 'Clean' Debt Limit Bill After Republicans Capitulate The House of Representatives approved a rise in the nation's debt ...read more
The schadenfreude wore off quickly. Observing the tea party suffer a political defeat, with other Republicans like Rep. Pete King (R-NY) and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) piling on, was entertaining for a solid 24 hours until the grim realization set in that this rogue faction of ...read more
Remember a year-and-a-half or so ago when it looked like the Tea Party had been sufficiently cowed, driven back to their trailers and rest homes by the very melting pot electorate they so feared? Remember when it looked like we'd never have to see Sarah Palin again, that like ...read more
"It was a surreal end to what will go down as a surreal episode in American history, and a somehow fitting one. On a literal level, it’s the story of a woman who, for reasons still unknown, lost it in a very public way. But as a metaphor, oh boy. Grabbing the place reserved ...read more
Marco Rubio isn't thinking about what's good for the country at a time like this, nor is he even thinking as far as the 2016 general election for president that he hopes to win -- all he's thinking about is securing the 2016 Republican nomination. And that's why he's taking ...read more
"This party is going nuts. So many people I run into who are normal people -- and I hate to use that term -- they just can't understand what's going on." - Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.) on the Republican Party. Peter King, the Republican who once accused President Obama of going on ...read more
As we careen headlong toward the debt ceiling deadline, with the House Republicans and Speaker John Boehner in full Three-Stooges-Trying-To-Fix-The-Plumbing mode, the issue area that's been overshadowed by the grandstanding, political props and brinksmanship is government ...read more
There have been so many unbelievable comments to come from the Republicans and the Tea Party types during this whole ridiculous debt ceiling hostage situation. But I think Lindsey Graham may now be ready to step up and definitively take the award for the most jaw-dropping and ...read more
It's easy to be distracted from what's going on in Washington right now. In fact, it's probably preferable to be distracted from it. It seems almost impossible to wrap your head around the likelihood that the United States government is about to potentially be plunged into ...read more
The cognitive dissonance within the tea party is already notorious (I'll have more tomorrow morning). Yesterday, for example, Sarah Palin quoted Ronald Reagan during her remarks at the rally near the World War II memorial in Washington, DC yesterday. So if we're bringing ...read more
Sarah Palin wrote another Facebook post in which she outlined why defaulting on the debt is an impeachable offense. That, in and of itself, doesn't make any sense since it's Congress which is tasked with voting to raising the debt ceiling in order to prevent a default, not the ...read more
Speaker Boehner has apparently offered a deal to raise the debt ceiling by $1 trillion, lasting roughly six weeks, while demanding that the government remain shut down until he and the president can work out a budget deal. As Josh Marshall wrote, Boehner is keeping both ...read more
The Republican misinformation geyser continues to erupt unabated. Today, let's focus on a pair of statements from tea party champions Sarah Palin and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) who seem to completely misunderstand the deficit, the debt ceiling, the economic status of the United ...read more
I pick on Salon quite a bit but I've always said that there are some really terrific people on-staff there, you just have to wade through a lot of nonsense to get to them. To wit, Brian Buetler seems to have taken over much of the political heavy lifting from the always ...read more
The Republican Party's geyser-like misinformation campaign regarding the government shutdown, accompanied by continued misinformation about the Affordable Care Act and the debt ceiling, has been almost too powerful to follow as it whizzes by. The latest line, which appears ...read more
There's a new meme going around Republican circles. Evidently, if the United States doesn't raise the debt ceiling -- the nation won't default on its debt obligations and everything will be just fine. In an appearance on CBS This Morning, for example, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) ...read more
The Daily Banter Headline Grab. From TPM: Democratic leaders are worried enough about Republican debt limit threats that they’re counseling President Obama to circumvent the entire debate by invoking untested and unconventional executive powers. House Minority Leader Nancy ...read more
The Daily Banter Headline Grab. From Huff Post: With the tax-hiking proposal President Barack Obama sent to Congress on Thursday, it seems the president is finally heeding a lesson he learned in the first month of his first term. At a press conference in February 2009, ...read more
The Daily Banter Headline Grab. From TPM: President Obama ran on raising taxes and won. House Republicans ran on not raising taxes, and got to keep their majority. So now the GOP is offering a familiar sounding compromise: let’s not raise taxes. More specifically, Obama’s ...read more
The Daily Banter Headline Grab (via The AP): WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker John Boehner said Tuesday that he's not confident Congress can reach a budget deal and avoid a downgrading of the U.S. debt rating. Moody's Investors Service said Tuesday that it would likely cut its ...read more
