Per Politico, the White House claims that “more than half of the projected deficits over the next 10 years are directly attributable to the previous Administration’s failure to follow the pay-as-you-go principle.” But even if that’s true, which is likely given the Medicare drug benefit, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and the expansion of the [...]

After having an electoral stake pounded through its heart last November, after being exposed to the searing media morning light of a “permanent realignment” in the “center-left” American electorate, with a silver bullet in the brain of a “broken GOP brand”, and with a garlic necklace strangling it’s “sixty’s culture war” neck, the corpse of “Divided Government” seemed dead and buried in the media for the foreseeable future. But last week the undead meme was walking again

But they promise that detainees won’t be abused. More on why I think that’s nonsense later on in the post. But first, more from NY Times: The announcement, by President Obama’s Interrogation and Transfer Policy Task Force, seemed intended in part to offset the impact of the release on Monday of a long-withheld report by [...]

“It’s not just a congresswoman. This is bigger than Debbie. This is bigger than me. I promise you: If the Republicans succeed in knocking off these new bright stars … What do you think the chances [are] for the kind of reform we need for that little 3-year-old beauty in the next four to six [...]

The Finance Committee keeps plugging away and the Maine senator talks to Andrea Mitchell about it… Yes folks, it’s all about co-ops. That will allow the moderate Republicans and the Blue Dog Democrats enough cover to vote for this thing. The only question now is will the left wing of the Democratic party accept this [...]

If I was a betting man, I’d put the over/under at a net 12 seat gain for the GOP in the House of Representatives.

So Canada has basically decriminalized marijuana possession and Mexico has added cocaine, meth, heroin and LSD to the mix. Wonder what’s going to happen in the US in the next decade…especially given the current reality in California where shops are selling pot out in the open? The Daily Beast has more… In an effort to [...]

Some interesting polling numbers from PPP via Pollster.com: Favorable / Unfavorable Newt Gingrich: 33 / 42 Mike Huckabee: 45 / 28 Sarah Palin: 40 / 49 Mitt Romney: 37 / 34 2012 President Obama 49%, Gingrich 41% Obama 47%, Huckabee 44% Obama 52%, Palin 38% Obama 47%, Romney 40% What is most notable to me [...]

Our first head of the Department of Homeland Security has written a tell all and it’s more of the same we’ve heard from insiders about the former administration. They politicized nearly everything and made the wrong decision and nearly every turn. From US News: Among the headlines promoted by publisher Thomas Dunne Books: Ridge was [...]

f there is one lesson that any close political adviser to a sitting president should have learned by now, it is this: It is not necessarily actual conflict of interest or impropriety that bites you in the ass. It is the appearance of conflict of interest and impropriety that is political poison. Axelrod is a very smart guy. He knows how to cover his tracks. He knows how to walk the line. That is why it is so surprising that he still chooses to walk so very very close to the ethical edge.

My head is starting to spin. Luckily for me, Conor Clarke can make some sense of it all: What’s the logical conclusion here? Do we boycott and counter-boycott, until we’ve whittled ourselves down to country of red and blue companies as well as red and blue states? There’s nothing to stop us. Fox is well [...]

I’m not a huge fan of Congressman Frank. However, I will say that in this video he is exhibiting the best retort to a nutter that I’ve seen. Anyone who compares the President of the United States (any POTUS) to Adolf effing Hitler deserves to be verbally abused in this manner. Period. If you don’t [...]

The following editorial from Steven Pearlstein is one of the more clear headed I’ve read on health reform, the public option and why co-ops could be better. So I’m going to excerpt a little more than I usually do. First, on why health reform is needed and why the magic of the market isn’t helping [...]

Sorry I’m late. Let’s start with the back and forth on Astroturfing that, for me, culminates with this comment from mw: If we agree that there is no difference in political tactics between Bush/Rove and Obama/Axelrod, that both bring an identical “end justifies the means” ethos to their political shenanigans, that both are willing to [...]

What do George Bush, Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama have in common? Cindy Sheehan. The anti-war protester who used to stake herself at George Bush’s ranch in Texas will now follow the Obamas’ to their vacation at Martha’s Vineyard. Her cause is to protest the continuing wars in the Middle East. She also ran against [...]

Not that this is any surprise, but the speed in which they’re signaling they won’t accept any reform package is startling. Just check out what Senator Jon Kyl is saying today… President Barack Obama has vowed to veto any bill that would increase the deficit over the long term, but Kyl said that a revenue-neutral [...]

You may have heard about this before, and one Florida lawmaker is finally doing something about it. Yes, I realize these laws are meant to prevent repeat offenses, but either up the penalties for those offenses or just leave them be. Once somebody gets out of prison, that should be it. End of story. If [...]

Looks like the left is realizing that the bait and switch was in from the start and now the White House is trying to do a little damage control. But let’s not kid ourselves…it wasn’t just Sebelius who said it. Obama said it too. In fact, her response was after she was asked a question [...]

At first glance, this would appear to be a huge step towards peace with the troubled nation. But it’s simply a reopening of the border so the North can make some money from the South. Still, a positive step and one worth noting. From Reuters: North Korea said on Monday it had agreed to reopen [...]

As this health care debate has dragged on, Obama has taken a lot of shots from both the left and the right. From the left comes the charge that he hasn’t taken more control over the debate or the legislation, but I wonder if they’ve forgotten what happened in 1993 or if they’re just ignoring [...]