Corporate America and the GOP have been playing a very dangerous game, throwing enormous amounts of money behind PR campaigns demagoguing the very deficit that their radical manipulation of the political system created in the first place. They thought they could hide their true intentions under the cloak of fiscal responsibility and good governance. The fact that the very tool they virtually invented to captivate the democratic process finally turned around and bit them in the ass is almost Shakespearean in its irony.

The US Chamber of Commerce has decided to come out in public support of repealing the recently passed health care law. From Chamber CEO Thomas Donohue’s State of American Business address: By mid-December, HHS had already granted 222 waivers to the law—a revealing acknowledgement that the law is unworkable. And, with key provisions under challenge [...]

At the AFL-CIO’s weekly Monday morning legislative meeting, the UAW tried to sell the deal to their fellow unions in the federation. The unanimous disapproval from all the other unions was summed up in a 10 minute invective by Matt McKinnon, the Political Director of the Machinists, who said the UAW concessions were “worth a lukewarm bucket of spit.”

Dear Congressman Sestak, We haven’t seen each other in person since last year at Netroots Nation, but I’ve followed your Senate race since then and am glad you’re doing well. I’ve contacted you several times recently regarding the claims you’ve made about your support for small business, but haven’t received a response. I understand you’re [...]

At the turn of the 20th century, North Dakota’s population was mostly rural farmers, yet a small number of powerful corporate interests dominated the state’s politics and finances. Most of these powerful financial interests could have served an important role in the economy of the plains but had decided instead to embrace maximum profitability through [...]

Large corporations with a huge corrupting political influence are exploiting regular people. Bankers and traders on an exchange are selling phantom commodities to make huge profits to the detriment of the working class. A left-leaning group turns to politics to address these grievances, and the Chamber of Commerce and the mainstream attack it as “socialist,” [...]

The commentary regarding the Lincoln/Halter race continues, ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous. Glenn Greenwald: “What happened in this race also gives the lie to the insufferable excuse we’ve been hearing for the last 18 months from countless Obama defenders:  namely, if the Senate doesn’t have 60 votes to pass good legislation, it’s not [...]

Recent events give us four powerful examples of why we desperately need to take back our elections from the big-money interests that are buying our politics. The solution is to clean up election funding through voluntary public financing, so that candidates can run without needing to grovel for donations from wealthy individuals and corporate lobbies. [...]

It’s been a little over a week since the new health care law was signed into law and already the process of gaming the new regulations to maximize health insurance industry profits has begun. We first heard of the health insurance industry’s plans to the game the system when they started talking openly about not [...]

Live Pulse has a letter from the US Chamber of Commerce attacking four amendments that have yet to be voted on in the Senate Finance Committee. (Rockefeller C1 – Applying new rating rules to the large and self-insured (ERISA) market, Schumer C1/C2 – Public Option Amendments, Wyden C1 – Healthy Americans Act) The Chamber attacked [...]