Obama’s IRS ‘gift’ to GOP is a boomerang
This boomerang will come back
Giving the Tea Party folks something real to be angry over is a “gift” to Republicans, for sure.
The gift is a boomerang that will hurt the GOP’s prospects in a general election. What energizes the Republican fringe, weakens the Republican middle.
TEA PARTY RAGE: NOTHING FAILS LIKE EXCESS
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Tags: Obama, Republicans, Tea Party
Amazing
The bipartisan Senate plan for immigration reform is brave and smart. The amazing part is it might even become law.
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Tags: Democrats, immigration, Obama, Republicans, Washington
The sequester is dumb. But awful?
Business almost as usual
My view that that the sequester may not mark the end of the world seems to be shared by Charlie Cook. Not that this is any way to run a railroad . . .
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Tags: economy, Obama, Republicans, taxes, Washington
Does God want Mark Sanford in Washington?
The former governor of South Carolina — he who disappeared for days to visit his mistress in Buenos Aires under the cock-and-bull story of hiking alone on the Appalachian Trail — is now running for Congress.
His modest message to voters is that, yes, he sinned. But we all sin. And we’d all be better people if we recognized that God wants Mark Sanford to have a second chance in politics.
We all sin, but, ooooh, not like Mark Sanford.
NO, WE DON’T ALL SIN LIKE MARK SANFORD
Tags: Mark Sanford, religion, Republicans, South Carolina, Washington
Good news plagues Republicans
Sure Obama played fast and loose with some facts, but the overall improving state of the union was too positive for Republican comfort.
GOOD NEWS PLAGUING REPUBLICANS
Tags: Democrats, Obama, Republicans
Cheap labor Republicans speak
On immigration, it’s a big guest-worker program or no enforcement. So says WSJ’s Kimberley Strassel:
organized labor remains opposed to central pieces of reform, in particular a guest-worker program. That mechanism would allow low-skilled immigrants to legally fill temporary labor demands, and it is absolutely necessary if we are to avoid a future flood of illegal immigrants.
How about arresting employers who repeatedly hired illegal labor? That could work, too.
Tags: culture, immigration, Kimberley Strassel, labor, Republicans
Immigration plan ignores the American worker
The proposed immigration reform nicely balances several interests but ignores one: the interests of the American worker. A giant guest-worker program helped kill the 2007 “grand bargain.” It could kill the new one. And should.
NOT ALL SMILES ON IMMIGRATION REFORM
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Tags: Democrats, economy, immigration, labor, Latinos, Mexico, Obama, Republicans, Washington
Thinking gets better in Obama’s second term
Call me a wild-eyed optimist, but the atmospherics in Washington seemed to have made a turn for the better.
THINKING GETS BETTER, THE SECOND TERM AROUND
Tags: John Boehner, Obama, politics, Republicans, Washington
A fair and balanced laugh
Thanks, Ross Douthat, for lightening up this gray morning with your musings on the upcoming Obama address.
Your right jab:
I’m going to keep this brief, because we’re all cold and there’s always a chance that the House Republicans might start imitating the Donner Party if we stay out here too long.
Your left jab:
I always knew my fellow liberal elites were self-involved, self-dramatizing and out of touch: I was in academia, remember? But the kind of mood swings I’ve had to put up with have been absolutely ridiculous.
Can’t agree with Douthat’s conclusion that Obama governs as any wild-eyed lefty, but the laughs are most appreciated.
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Tags: culture, Democrats, liberals, Obama, Republicans, right wing, Ross Douthat, State of the Union
Defending Hagel
If Hagel can get on board tough economic sanctions against Iran, he’ll be just fine.
Tags: defense, Hagel, Obama, Republicans, Washington
