Congress

Forget beer and/or Slurpee summits. In a Post Partisan blog entry from last night reprinted in today's Washington Post, writer Jonathan Capehart suggested President Obama and presumptive-Speaker John Boehner (R) should forge a bond over cigarette breaks during legislative negotiations:

Good Morning America's George Stephanopoulos on Monday devoted almost an entire interview with Republican Darrell Issa to attacking a criticism the Congressman made of Barack Obama as "corrupt." Stephanopoulos attempted four times to get Issa to recant his accusation. The GMA host demanded of Issa, who next  year will chair the powerful House Oversight committee, "And just before the election…

They're back, they have their media water-carriers in place, and the Obama administration is smack dab in the middle of it. The United Nations is pushing for countries in the developed world to keep their "promise" to, in the worlds of Charles J. Hanley at the Associated Press,  "raise up to $100 billion a year in new money for poorer countries to cope with climate change and reduce their…

Darn. If only the midterm elections had been held after Friday's Employment Situation Report instead of before, the results might have been very different. Apparently that's what the Associated Press's Liz Sidoti (pictured at the top right at this post's home page tease) wants us to believe, as she ended her borderline bitter take on the origins of Congressional Republicans' successful…

It seems that the Associated Press is selective in correcting errors it occasionally makes in calling election results. In the case of the GA-02 Congressional race between incumbent Democrat Sanford Bishop and Republican challenger Mike Keown, the wire service declared Keown the winner at 10:55 p.m. on Election Night, only to reverse its call and declare Bishop the victor three hours later…

MSNBC's "Jansing & Co." zoomed in on rifts developing within the Republican House majority Friday morning – but ignored a growing spat between Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democrats who don't want her to continue as the party's leader in the House. With the headline "GOP Civil War?" anchor Chris Jansing explored the conflict between upstart Tea Party Republicans and the establishment. Rep.…

Contrasting a “contrite” President Obama with a “less conciliatory” Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell, CBS reporter Nancy Cordes on Thursday night conveyed Democratic concern about likely House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's pledge to hold oversight hearings as she recalled “a barrage of damaging probes, one of which ended in impeachment hearings.” Cantor, Cordes asserted, has called “…

Bill Press says what most liberals in the media will only shroud in cryptic code: the voters who swept Democrats out of power in the House are stupid. During the first hour of his eponymous radio program today, Press wished more liberal politicians would just say what they really think about the constituents they ostensibly serve: "Just once – probably never get reelected if you ever said it…

Lawrence "Crazy Larry" O'Donnell was back to his former self during MSNBC's Election Night coverage Tuesday. During the 9 p.m. EDT hour the MSNBC anchor claimed that if Rand Paul holds to his "principles" and filibusters an attempt to raise the debt ceiling, it would destroy the United States' credit rating and possibly spark a worldwide depression. O'Donnell also pressed House Minority Whip…

Warning that victorious House Republicans may be conducting an investigation of the actual birthplace of President Obama, MSNBC's Ed Schultz called a possible GOP victory a "rebirth of the birthers." "There is nothing good about losing the House," Schultz remarked Nov 1, on his Monday evening MSNBC show. "[House Republicans] may even be launching an investigation into the President's…

The coming conflict between Tea Party Republicans and the mainstream GOP leadership will be both "ugly" and "exciting," remarked MSNBC's Joe Scarborough Tuesday morning, Nov 2. But count on one thing: the Tea Partiers will be playing ball their way. "Good luck controlling Rand Paul, good luck controlling Marco Rubio, good luck controlling other people that, uh, that I think Jim DeMint are…

When the House voted to adjourn about a month ago by a 210-209 margin, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and her cronies avoided dealing with extending the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts, which expire Dec. 31. Rather than address the tax issue, the Senate also voted to adjourn. Instead, Congress is holding a lame-duck session beginning Nov. 15. What that means is whether or not you elect them back…

For newly empowered congressional Republicans, priority one must be an extension of the Bush tax cuts. There should be enough votes not only from a new Republican majority, but also from some of the decimated and dispirited (and even newly elected) Democrats. If President Obama is smart, he won't veto the bill. If the tax cuts are allowed to expire, everyone who gets a paycheck and has taxes…

One of the more egregious results of the Democrat-controlled Congress skipping town without passing a budget, thus failing to address the issue of whether scheduled income tax increases will really go into effect for everyone, the highest income-earners, or no one at all, is that the Internal Revenue Service and employers have been left in the lurch with no idea of how to prepare for next year…