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Higher Ames

**Written by Doug Powers (Scroll down for updates) I’ve got C-Span 2 on right now because, well, it isn’t football season yet — that and a vote may take place soon in the Senate on the Reid bill (I’ve discovered that the Detroit Lions aren’t the only thing that can make me yell at the [...]

Trillions of dollars worth of Who Hash at stake

**Written by Doug Powers (Scroll down for updates) Two more debt plans are bouncing around Capitol Hill today — the Boehner and Reid plans (Obama just endorsed the Reid plan). As you read the summaries, note the trick Harry Reid employs to artificially bulk up his “cuts” in order to make them more attractive — [...]

**Written by Doug Powers (Scroll down for updates) The media’s favorite tax metaphor has been to refer to President Obama as the “adult in the room.” If that’s the case, the Beltway daycare has been left unattended: First came the Biden talks. When those blew up, the Obama-Boehner talks took center stage. And when that [...]

**Written by Doug Powers Democrats such as Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi approve of the McConnell plan. In Republican circles, that fact alone should automatically disqualify it from consideration, but according to Speaker Boehner, it’s still on the table: “Mitch described his proposal as a ‘last-ditch effort’ in case we’re unable to do anything else,” [...]

Longtime readers are familiar with our time-honored tradition of marking inevitable Senate GOP sellout moments with the head-banging-against-the-wall animated gif. Well, it is time to resurrect it again to commemorate Mitch McConnell’s latest maneuver that would give President Obama new power to automatically increase the federal debt limit. It’s a convoluted way of abandoning the [...]

**Written by Doug Powers It’s hard to blame Sheriff Joe for getting testy — the Republicans are trying to keep his side from implementing higher levels of patriotism, and Biden doesn’t like it one bit: The president today continued to make the case for a big deal, arguing that if they’re going to draw heat [...]

**Written by Doug Powers President Obama is holding a press conference today before resuming budget negotiations with John Boehner and the Republicans. At the press conference, Obama will to “use the bully pulpit” to push his “deficit reduction plan” that includes massive tax increases. During the subsequent meeting, Republicans might want to remind Obama what [...]

Signs

**Written by Doug Powers To my recollection, in the years I’ve been writing about the political scene in my little corner of the blogosphere, I’ve only mentioned Rep. Thaddeus McCotter once, and that was for getting the Led out on the House floor. I’ve kind of liked the guy ever since, but I’m still in [...]

Selling point?

**Written by Doug Powers The Palins will be in Iowa next week for the premiere of The Undefeated. It’s not known yet if they’ll be flying to Pella, Iowa, or driving in on the lawless “rolling menace” that makes reporters flee for their lives like Tokyoites from Godzilla. Let the “is she or isn’t she” [...]

**Written by Doug Powers File this one under “Romney finally catches a break on the praise from liberals” — not that it seems to bother him a whole lot. First Read: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, reviled by conservatives for ushering Democratic legislation through Congress during Obama’s first two years in office, told reporters Tuesday [...]

**Written by Doug Powers Back in January, Michelle reminded us that Robert Gibbs was leaving the White House, but not leaving leaving. Starting tonight through late next year we’ll probably be seeing more of him than ever: WASHINGTON (AP) – Former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs will defend President Barack Obama in New Hampshire [...]

And they’re off…

**Written by Doug Powers Many Beltway Republicans will say that Washington needs to think and operate differently in order to tackle the crushing debt, economic turmoil and all manner of problems that our country is enduring. But when somebody comes along who operates slightly outside the box and doesn’t follow the status quo rulebook — [...]

As readers of this blog know, I called on scandal-ridden corruptocrat GOP Sen. John Ensign to resign early and often. Flashback: John Ensign plays the victim card for cash 8/23/10 Flashback: I repeat: John Ensign needs to go away 8/2/10 Flashback: The GOP Crapweasel Club 5/18/10 Flashback: Republicans: Clean your own house 7/17/09 Flashback: Ensign [...]

**Written by Doug Powers President Obama in late October of 2008: We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America. President Obama yesterday on why we should avoid Paul Ryan’s budget plan: But the way this plan achieves those goals would lead to a fundamentally different America than the one we’ve [...]

**Written by Doug Powers As the budget negotiations were raging in Washington late last week, Nancy Pelosi ducked out for a mini fleebager road trip to Tufts University. While there, she vented some frustration about Tea Party influence in Washington and expressed her dissatisfaction with the election process when things don’t go her way. Transcript [...]

**Written by Doug Powers This is a good indicator that he’s serious about throwing his hair, er, I mean hat… into the presidential ring: Rumored presidential candidate Donald Trump will make a surprise visit to the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington today. He plans to address the convention in the afternoon. The decision to [...]

**Written by Doug Powers The State of the Union address & congressional prom night is just a couple of days away, and the kids are getting giddier by the day: Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the second-ranking Democrat in the chamber, told “FOX News Sunday” that he and newly elected Republican Sen. Mark Kirk from his [...]

**Written by Doug Powers Over the weekend, Congress will be consumed by the important national business that will no doubt involve sending their colleagues text messages that say things like, “OMG, I totally heard that he’s going to ask you to go to the SOTU with him!” Back when this idea was first floated, there [...]

**Written by Doug Powers President Obama was originally hoping the GOP would play to his base (somebody should, I suppose), but the odds that the Republicans will cave and raise taxes, extend unemployment benefits to 2025, shutter Gitmo, make college absolutely free and force Limbaugh off the air and replace him with Ed Schultz are [...]

Sorry. Can’t work up much interest or passion about the RNC debate that just kicked off in D.C. this afternoon. Am I the only one? You can watch it here if you care and share your thoughts in comments or e-mail. The reason it’s so difficult to muster up interest in these insider horse races [...]

**Written by Doug Powers Is it getting hot in here, or is Nancy Pelosi crazy? House Republicans will most likely bet on the latter: Republicans will eliminate the House committee created by Speaker Nancy Pelosi to highlight the threat of climate change, Representative James Sensenbrenner, the top Republican on the panel, said today. In one [...]

**Written by Doug Powers For Illinois Republican Joe Walsh, life’s been good to him so far (sorry), because three term incumbent Democrat Melissa Bean has conceded the race: Republicans get to add another red seat to Congress. Following the completion of ballot counting, Democratic Rep. Melissa Bean on Tuesday night called her Republican challenger, Joe [...]

**Written by Doug Powers A break from politics? Never! The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum hosted to the first GOP debate to kick off the race for the 2008 nomination, and that will be the case once again heading into the 2012 election: The Reagan Presidential Foundation and former first lady Nancy Reagan announced [...]

**Written by Doug Powers Hey, whose side is this “fiscal commission” on anyway? The chairmen of President Obama’s fiscal commission sparked a political firestorm Wednesday with the early release of a report proposing sweeping changes to Social Security, Medicare and the tax code. The plan would reduce the deficit by nearly $4 trillion over the [...]

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery…