The New Yorker's stunning expose of the server communications between the Trump Organization and Russia's Alfa Bank during the 2016 election is a must-read piece that exposes the tantalizing threads of the Trump-Russia investigation. Reporter Dexter Filkins reaches no hard ...read more
Retiring Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid will not serve under Trump when he takes office in January, but that doesn't mean he is going to leave office without telling America exactly what he thinks about the Republican. In a scathing press release on Friday, Reid ripped Trump ...read more
The next seven days will determine the tone of the presidential race for the next five months. Specifically, much of the onus for how Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party fares against Donald Trump will be up to Bernie Sanders and the difficult choices he's tasked with making ...read more
Here's the week that was, at Banter. Republican Govs Don’t Give a Shit They’re Blowing Holes In Their States’ Budgets The Republican brain has long since taken its leave on economic policy, but GOP governors like Scott Walker (Wisc.), Sam Brownback (Kan.) and Bobby Jindal ...read more
When you picture an “offshore holiday,” you might think of white sand beaches, gentle breezes, turquoise waves, and rum-based drinks served in coconut shells. However, when Congress conjures up an “offshore holiday,” it looks a little more like a $96 billion tax break for ...read more
"They’re nothing more than domestic terrorists." -- Harry Reid on the Bundy Ranch supporters who brandished weapons against federal agents during a weekend standoff He goes on to say: "I repeat: what happened there was domestic terrorism. Clive Bundy does not recognize the ...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
It really is infuriating when the media try desperately, in the name of supposedly achieving "balance," to draw equivalencies between the Republicans and the Democrats these days. What makes it so infuriating isn't just the fact that each side's sins aren't equal in the ...read more
Update: 10:27P ET (Chez Pazienza) The Senate has approved a deal to stave off the debt ceiling crisis and reopen the government by a vote of 81-18. The House has likewise approved the deal by a vote of 285-144, with 87 Republicans choosing to break ranks. Keep in mind that ...read more
It wasn't the first time, and it won't be the last time, but yesterday I was ashamed to be a registered member of the Democratic Party. Not only was it the tenth anniversary of the invasion and occupation of Iraq, which more than half of all Senate Democrats along with 81 House ...read more
In this week's mailbag we discuss whether the media should apologize for subjecting us to a 24/7 GOP primary circus, Jon Stewart's continued assertion that there is equivalency between Democrats and Republicans, and whether we miss Rick Santorum or not! The questions: Would you ...read more
Senate Democrats are teeing up a vote on the “Buffett Rule” legislation on the eve of Tax Day, and are pledging to push the issue all year as a defining contrast between the parties ahead of the election. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid scheduled the cloture vote for April ...read more
What a mistake this guy is. Q: How will U.S. Sen. (Edward) Kennedy's death affect things? A: I think it's going to help us. He hasn't been around for some time. We're going to have a new chairman of that committee, it'll be, I don't know for sure, but I think Sen. (Chris) Dodd ...read more
Words indicate that the very flaccid majority "leader" is not down with the public option. Again I ask, why bother with a majority if this is what we get? ...read more
Clearly President Obama has dropped a bit in the approval polls, but I don't see it as anything to worry about. I frankly lay more of the blame for this at the feet of Sen. Reid and Sen. Baucus whose dithering has caused the delay in passage of health care reform. If there's ...read more
Harry Reid is such a failure. Everything about him reads concede, retry, and fold. Who knew I would be longing for the comparatively bold leadership of Tom Daschle? And compared to strong Senate leaders of the past like LBJ? Reid will be lucky to win his seat back. At least then ...read more
Baucus to uninsured Americans: suck it up, losers. After weeks of secretive talks, a bipartisan group in the Senate edged closer Monday to a health care compromise that omits a requirement for businesses to offer coverage to their workers and lacks a government insurance option ...read more
Rep. Chris Van Hollen: 'What concerns me about what's happened in the Senate Finance Committee is that they've had a whole lot of time to work these things out, and just don't seem to be able to break the impasse,' Van Hollen said in an interview on the liberal Bill Press Radio ...read more
That is the number for Sen. Harry Reid's office. If you were to call it you could ask the majority leader of the United States senate to take the 60 votes in his caucus and make a vote on some health care for the 300 million of us before he goes off for summer vacation. It would ...read more
You've got to think that every time Harry Reid leaves a meeting with Republicans they laugh hysterically. "'The Republicans have asked for more time, and I don't think it's unreasonable,' Reid said at a noon press conference." Hitler just wants Austria. That's all. He's promised ...read more
Harry Reid is a joke. A laughable, sick joke that is allowing Americans to have a substandard way of life. Democratic divisions in Congress stalled President Barack Obama's health care overhaul Thursday, with Majority Leader Harry Reid now saying that the Senate will not pass a ...read more
Hey Harry Reid, how about you take some control in the freaking senate, quit letting Max Baucus dick around and get us to a vote on health care reform. You know, if you weren't busy doing anything (like voting to increase the spread of guns). ...read more
No thanks to the sorry majority leader, Harry Reid. ...read more
Remind me again why this man is even in the senate, let alone leading the Democrats? The latest measure, offered by Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), has far greater reach. Offered Monday as an amendment to the defense authorization bill, it would allow people to carry concealed ...read more
I sure hope so. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Tuesday ordered Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) to drop a proposal to tax health benefits and stop chasing Republican votes on a massive health care reform bill. ... According to Democratic sources, Reid ...read more
And until the Democrats get a new leader in the senate who isn't compromised up to his eyeballs in right wing noise, we won't be able to pass our agenda without it being seriously watered down. We need a majority leader from a strongly blue state who isn't afraid to bust some ...read more
If only the scaredy pants Democrats in congress would let them have it. Americans overwhelmingly support substantial changes to the health care system and are strongly behind one of the most contentious proposals Congress is considering, a government-run insurance plan to compete ...read more
The man is a serious mistake in leadership, and the only reason it isn't a bigger deal right now is because we've got Obama in the White House. ...read more
Why bother have a Democratic Majority Leader if he does stupid things like echo the dumbest of the dumbest Republican talking points on where Gitmo detainees are to be housed? Honestly, I'm surprised the Senate Dems have been able to push anything through with someone as limp as ...read more
As John notes, whether Nancy Pelosi knew or didn't know about the Bush administration's authorization and execution of torture doesn't matter. Either Pelosi didn't know or she abdicated her responsibility as a political leader and American by not speaking up and opposing it. ...read more
The latest sign that the Senate needs to quit diddling around and pass the stimulus is here. The country moved into its second year of uninterrupted job losses last month, with companies shedding another 598,000 jobs — the most since December 1974 — and the unemployment rate ...read more
Sen. Reid claims that he has the votes to pass the stimulus plan. When something as important as the economy is at stake, lets not let the GOP dick us around again. ...read more
