There was a time when the Republican Party fancied itself the party of personal responsibility. Of course it was aimed directly at welfare recipients -- the "takers" -- and was never intended to trigger blowback. The party's use of racist "Southern Strategy" dog whistles has ...read more
As a flood of dark money swamps Washington in support of placing Neil Gorsuch on the Supreme Court, the Democratic Party has a choice to make... To continue reading this article, please go here. A Banter Membership gets you access to the magazine and all our Members Only content. ...read more
With the announcement of a hard right nominee to fill the illegitimately open seat on the Supreme Court, Trump is handing the Democratic Party both an opportunity and a potential time bomb. Neil Gorsuch may not be quite as extreme as Antonin Scalia, but he's well to the right on ...read more
With the relentlessly bad news about Donald Trump's election victory and the team he is compiling to run the country, I must confess to feeling completely overwhelmed by it all. Trump's cabinet picks are so genuinely terrifying that trying to comprehend the new America we will ...read more
Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell informed President Obama of his intention to leave the Supreme Court vacated by the death of Antonin Scalia until there is a new president in 2017. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has given Democrats a clear message that as long as ...read more
The Keystone XL pipeline wasn't the only piece of legislation that was killed on Tuesday. Make no mistake, it'll unfortunately be back after the new Congress is sworn in next year, but for now it's been blocked. The other item on Tuesday's agenda was the USA Freedom Act, a bill ...read more
UPDATE: The Senate Democrats have successfully voted to engage the nuclear option -- changing the rules to end the need for cloture motions to end obstructionist GOP filibusters against judicial and executive nominees. Following the rule change, President Obama said, "Today's ...read more
TPM has put together a fantastic mashup of the best bits of Ted Cruz's awesomely cringeworthy 21 hour filibuster that has made him quite literally the laughing stock of the nation. Anyone speaking for 21 hours is going to have to do some serious winging it, but when you get a ...read more
UPDATE via the AP Twitter feed: Texas lt. gov. reverses himself, declares vote on tough abortion bill came too late to pass. Following a nearly 13-hour filibuster by Sen. Wendy Davis (D-Forth Worth), Republicans held a vote on a sweeping anti-abortion bill after the midnight ...read more
Welcome to this week's edition of The Daily Banter Mailbag! Today, Bob, Ben and Chez discuss the Boston marathon bombing suspects, filibuster reform, and the indestructible status of CNN's John King. The questions: 1) Wow. I guess we could've seen the religion of the Boston ...read more
Call me a sap but I am going to get this point out of the way immediately. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is one of my all time favorite movies. I LOVE it. When I look at the Capitol, I make sure to appreciate it. Along the same vein is my true appreciation of the US Senate. ...read more
The Romney campaign released a shockingly Orwellian commercial over the weekend, which perpetuates something Romney himself has been saying for months now. Honestly, there's a book-length analysis to be written here, but I'll keep it as brief as possible given the depth and ...read more
