Writers like, Ezra Klein and Greg Sargent, who have bought into the idea that that debt ceiling must be raised by August 2nd to avoid catastrophe, are very worried about this new Pew poll that found the country evenly divided on the dangers of the debt ceiling. The poll found that 39 percent thought we [...]

In a moment of angry accidental honesty, President Obama compared his recent deal with the Republicans on tax cuts to the fight over the public option. From a transcript of the press conference via Greg Sargent: This notion that somehow we are willing to compromise too much reminds me of the debate that we had [...]

This country’s subsidies for blending ethanol with gasoline is one of our government’s most wasteful and corrupting uses of taxpayer money. The subsidies distort the market, they don’t create jobs, they fail to improve the environment, and most of the funds flow to a few wealthy individuals and well-connected companies. I’m glad to see there [...]

I’m glad the DNC decided to clear something up for me. You might sometimes mistakenly think the Democratic Party is not about endless wars with no clear goals or defined victory. Well, this news release from the DNC about Michael Steele’s statement that history proves an outside army can’t pacify Afghanistan should completely dissuade you [...]

Senate Democrats have again failed to pass a large tax-extender and jobs bill because of a unified Republican filibuster. The bill is meant to stop massive layoffs, make sure poor people don’t lose their health care and provide continued unemployment insurance to the many Americans hit hard by the recession. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) firmly [...]

We recently learned that Harry Reid (D-NV) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) were actually whipping against the public option and trying to deny the American people a real up-or-down vote on the issue in the Senate. It is good to see that Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is willing to defy them and instead go with the will [...]

New Research 2000 polling by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee shows that the Senate health care bill is very unpopular–but the public option is extremely popular (via Greg Sargent, full results): * In Nevada, only 34% support the Senate bill, while 56% support the public option. * In Illinois, only 37% support the Senate bill, [...]