The New York Times takes a good look today at Democratic super PACs and their continuing fundraising troubles, tracking down various donors and cash-wranglers to find out where the problems lie. The answers are pretty interesting: There’s run-of-the-mill policy disagreement and radio silence from George “Not Much Difference Between …
democrats
Two Wrongs and the Right: Overreaction to Conservatives Leads Liberals to Hypocrisy
Celebrity attorney Gloria Allred needs to join the 21st century. Or the 20th. Last week, amid the well-deserved outcry over Rush Limbaugh’s stunningly loutish remarks about Georgetown Law student Sandra Fluke — whom Limbaugh called a “slut” and a “prostitute” for supporting mandated contraception coverage — Allred made a …
Bill Daley, a Weakened White House Chief of Staff, Steps Down
For months now, Bill Daley has been living in a sort of Washington purgatory. His title, White House chief of staff, usually the second most powerful job in Washington, remained the same. But his role was something less. Over the …
Can Well-Heeled Insiders Create a Populist Third-Party Sensation?
In a city that thrives on power, being attacked is often a sign that you have some. So in mid-December, when President Obama’s advisers took aim at Americans Elect, a bipartisan clutch of political elites planning to bankroll a …
PolitiFact’s Semantic Distinction of the Year: Ending Medicare
The ubiquitous fact-checking outfit PolitiFact has chosen Democrats’ charge that Paul Ryan’s budget would “end Medicare” as its Lie of the Year. This dubious honor, which follows 2009 and 2010 rulings that both went against the …
Could We Be Headed Toward Yet Another Government Shutdown?
For what feels like the 624th time this year, the federal government on Friday will run out of money unless Congress acts. This deadline hasn’t gotten much ink because a) we’re all tired of writing the same fishbowl, government …
Re: The Supercommittee, Compromise and 2012
With the demise of the supercomittee today, there’s a certain section of Washington that is mourning the death of bipartisan compromise, too. Michael Scherer deftly writes its eulogy with an eye to the next election:
With Supercommittee Failure, 2012 Election Offers False Hope
“Good riddance!” say the pundits on both left and right. The Super Committee is dead, and with it any short-term hope of a solution to the nation’s long-term deficit woes. For the right, this is a victory, because no tax …
Winners and Losers of the Deficit Supercommittee Deadlock
With the deficit supercommittee charged with finding $1.2 trillion in savings teetering on the brink of failure, Washington is embroiled in a high stakes round of recriminations. Depending on whom you listen to, everyone’s to …
Are Congressional Republicans Caving on Tax Hikes?*
Are Republicans caving on tax hikes? The short answer is no. But the more nuanced answer is that there’s been some significant movement.
No one has been talking about tax hikes per se. Allowing George W. Bush’s 2001 tax cuts to expire simply returns taxation to previous levels, and no one, Republican or Democrat, has proposed going …
In Jumping to Rubio’s Defense, Romney Exacerbates the Origin Story Uproar
Yesterday I posted a commentary in this space on what I believe was liberal hypocrisy in the wake of last Thursday’s Washington Post article on conservative U.S. Senator Marco Rubio. But today, in fairness, I think former Massachusetts Governor and leading Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney should be called to question for …
With Obama Jobs Bill Vote, Democrats Seek to Prove Congressional Dysfunction
The Senate Tuesday night is expected to vote down President Obama’s jobs bill. Democrats aren’t even sure they can get 51 votes, let alone the 60-vote threshold needed to overcome a Republican filibuster. And even if it …
Team Obama Finds Hope for 2012 in a History Lesson
Weeks before the debt-limit showdown came to a head, White House chief of staff Bill Daley held an unannounced retreat for his senior staff at Fort McNair, an Army base near the southern tip of the District of Columbia. The …