Outside the Beltway

The Beast has released its The 50 Most Loathsome Americans of 2010, which I gather is supposed to be amusing rather than taken seriously.

As the night of the State Of The Union Address approaches, the silliness in Washington has been taken up a notch.

Time for midterms.

When determining the effects on the deficit of a certain legislative action, both revenues and spending have to be accounted for. Indeed, you can’t determine whether there is a deficit, surplus or balanced budget without both variables.

Will the Tea Party Movement grow up?

Is Jon Stewart the next Edward R. Murrow? No.

If Democrats had been this effective the previous two years, would they have lost as badly in November?

The 20th Amendment was supposed to eliminate lame duck sessions, but it didn’t.

Politics makes for strange bedfellows and, when it comes to the debate over the extension of the Bush tax cuts, anti-tax Republicans are making common cause with soak-the-rich progressives.

Bernie Sanders took to the floor of the Senate yesterday to rail against President Obama’s tax cut deal. It was history in the making, but it’s not clear that it actually accomplished anything.

Several smart center-left commentators argue that President Obama is not triangulating. At least one argues there’s no such thing.

The Senate has constructed the legislation to correspond to the Obama-McConnell deal, sweeteners and all.

Krauthammer thinks Obama tricked the GOP into agreeing to Stimulus II.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says he isn’t running for President, but he’s sure acting like a guy who’s at least thinking about it.

Senate Democrats cancel vote on DREAM Act, meaning the immigration measure is likely dead for the year.

The pending compromise between the two parties on taxes and other policies underscores the fact that enhanced minority power (in this case, the filibuster power) helps contribute to fiscal irresponsibility.

Don Surber imagines this edition of “Hardball.”

Did Obama’s tax cut deal demolish the Republican charge that he’s a radical? Not hardly.

Minor fluctuation in tax rates is not the most significant thing happening in the world’s largest economy.

Even though it will likely be unsuccessful, a primary challenge against President Obama could end up harming him enough to hand Republicans the White House in 2012.

Amid signs that Democrats in Congress might rebel against the tax cut deal he struck with Republicans, President Obama took to the airwaves today to defend it at the same time that his base is rebelling against it.

President Obama is already taking heat from the left for his compromise on tax cut extensions, but will it actually hurt him in the end?

The unemployed are predominately poorly educated non-voters. Some argue that they are therefore getting far too little attention from the political class.

President Obama and the GOP have reached a deal on extending the Bush tax cuts that gives the GOP virtually everything it wanted.

Republican maneuvering to extend the Bush tax cuts for all Americans appears about to pay off.

Democrats are losing the debate over the extension of the Bush tax cuts, but when you look at the playing field it seems pretty clear that that they never had a chance.