Outside the Beltway

One of the Tea Party movement’s favorite Senators used the dreaded c-word.

President Obama’s signing statement on the allocation of funds to Presidential “czars” sets a potentially dangerous Constitutional precedent.

We’re approaching the point where those job approval numbers start to matter, and President Obama’s are heading down again.

Will the Ryan Plan ever be voted out of the House?

The GOP seems to be telling President Obama that revenue increases are off the table. That’s a huge mistake.

Two new polls show that the public supports the budget deal, but has no idea what to do to solve our long term problems.

Paul Krugman is disappointed with the President, but it’s really his own fault for being so naive.

Did the GOP toss social conservatives under the bus when it gave away the Planned Parenthood rider?

What, if anything, does the budget deal mean for the future?

Games legislators play…

For the past day or so, America’s fighting men have been pawns in a cynical political game.

A government shutdown is not just a hypothetical in a debating contest. It will affect real people.

There are still three days left, but it’s looking less and less likely that a budget deal will be reached in time to avoid a government shutdown.

The Obama Administration has given up on the idea of trying the September 11th suspects in a civilian court. Considering how much that trial would have perverted the justice system, that’s a good thing.

Rather than fighting over the remnants of the FY 2011 budget, the GOP should make a deal and get ready for the bigger, and more important, battle ahead.

House Republicans engaged in a publicity stunt on Friday that displayed a profound misunderstanding of how government actually works in the United States.

The next week promises to be a battle between John Boehner and the Tea Party over whether or not compromise is a good idea.

Nor, it would seem, are really tired clichés.

Donald Trump, who may or may not be running for President, is continuing his strange obsession with the birther myth, and reminding Republicans that two years of silence in the face of lunacy may come back to bite them.

U.S. officials are making clear that the current mission in Libya may not lead to the end of Muammar Gaddafi’s rule. If that’s the case, then why are we there in the first place?