The Big Lobotomy: How Republicans made Congress stupid Last September, as they scrambled to decide on one final ultimatum before shutting down the federal government, Republican House leaders came up with what seemed like an odd demand: to strip their own staff of health care benefits. At the time, staffers reacted to the news with a…
Hobby Lobby: A ruling that both sides can run with The Supreme Court’s ruling Monday that the government cannot force certain employers to pay for birth control was more than a rebuke to President Obama. It was vindication of the conservative movement’s efforts to chip away at laws it finds objectionable by raising questions of freedom of expression. The…
The single most important fact about American politics Perhaps the single most important fact about American politics is this: the people who participate are more ideological and more partisan, as well as angrier and more fearful, than those who don’t. The finding emerges from Pew’s massive survey of 10,000 Americans, which concluded that “Republicans and Democrats are more divided…
Recess appointments: Obama loses, but the presidency mostly prevails A loss for the president, a win for the presidency. That’s the best way to describe the Supreme Court’s landmark decision Thursday on the “recess appointment” power–the president’s power to fill government posts when the Senate isn’t in session. Technically speaking, the Obama administration lost 9-0, with not…
An insider’s battle plan: ‘Elections are about winning. Period’ A “2014 Election Cycle Budget” of $3.983 million was laid out nearly a year ago when Enterprise Washington, a business and industry political committee, displayed its wares to the Washington Retail Association. Power in the Washington Legislature was the message of the Powerpoint presentation, announced on page…
Conservative freakout blames ‘Uncle Tom’ and voter fraud for McDaniel loss in Mississippi Senate primary Some conservatives aren’t happy that their preferred candidate, state Sen. Chris McDaniel (R) lost to Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) in the runoff of the GOP primary for U.S. Senate in Mississippi. Many tea party types are openly speculating foul play…
Obama alums join anti teachers union case Teachers unions are girding for a tough fight to defend tenure laws against a coming blitz of lawsuits—and an all-out public relations campaign led by former aides to President Barack Obama. The Incite Agency, founded by former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs and former Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt,…
Republicans finally admit why they really hate Obamacare Conservatives spent years predicting Obamacare would collapse in all manner of gloomy scenarios. But those predictions all occurred in the run-up to the law coming on-line, on the basis of sketchy, preliminary data or pure conjecture. But in the months since the law has come into effect,…
In Wichita, Koch influence is revered and reviled In national politics, playing in Charles Koch’s arena can mean saturation advertising against vulnerable Democrats, calls for tax cuts, demands to roll back government regulation, and bitter clashes over climate change. Here in the windswept hometown of the Koch family and Koch Industries, playing in Charles Koch Arena means something…
The audacious new proposal to save the labor movement As president of the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW), Dave Regan is well aware that over the past several decades, the number of American workers who are part of a labor union has declined fairly steadily—and the scales of power have continued to tip from workers…