Steve Benen

There is a school of thought, recently articulated by Nicholas Kristof among others, that says a vote for Mitt Romney may be a vote for the moderate agenda he’s forcefully rejected. As the argument goes, the former governor used to be a fairly sensible centrist, and if elected, he might abandon all the nonsense he’s […]

Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that won’t necessarily generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers: * The “King of Bain” video put together by Newt Gingrich’s Super PAC caused quite a stir, but a closer look suggests it also played fast and loose with the facts. * […]

My prediction about the failure of a year-long payroll tax-cut deal isn’t looking so good. On the contrary, it’s looking increasingly likely that an agreement should come together well ahead of the deadline. The problem, as I saw it, was that House Republicans bit the bullet in December after badly miscalculating. They accepted a two-month […]

Mitt Romney has a new ad out this morning, which, in addition to moving the job-creation goal posts, defends the candidate’s private-sector business practices at Bain Capital. Hoping to bolster Romney’s record, the commercial highlights an Indiana company called Steel Dynamics. Romney campaign staff may want to reconsider their choice of examples. What Romney doesn’t […]

While some would have us limit all discussions of income inequality to “quiet rooms,” I’m relieved to see that President Obama’s economic team feels differently. What Mitt Romney a few days ago called “the bitter politics of envy,” President Obama’s chief economic adviser instead described Thursday as the basic economics of unequal opportunity. As long […]

Everyone has probably heard the corny “I once caught a fish this big” joke. A guy boasts about the size of the fish he reeled in, but when pressed, he gradually reduces the actual size of his catch. The little comedic routine is about exaggeration. I wonder if Mitt Romney has heard it. As recently […]

I can appreciate that staff work on Capitol Hill is not always fast-paced and exciting, but when Republican aides are passing the time with wildfire office pools, there’s a problem. Tens of thousands of firefighters employed by the federal government battled flames last year that scorched more than 8 million acres and caused billions of […]

The short film put together by Newt Gingrich’s Super PAC is proving to be one of the bigger political stories of the week, but a new video from the Gingrich campaign itself is also likely to raise a few eyebrows. This new spot doesn’t appear ready for broadcast — it’s a minute long, not 30 […]

Today’s edition of quick hits: * Deplorable: “A video showing four United States Marines urinating on the bodies of three dead Taliban fighters provoked anger and condemnation on Thursday in Afghanistan and around the world. American officials said they feared the images could incite anti-American sentiment at a particularly delicate moment in the war effort.” […]

When President Obama announced his recess appointments last week, Republicans were not only outraged by the White House’s move on political grounds, they also argued that the appointments were in conflict with the law. As the GOP sees it, so long as lawmakers maintained sham sessions, Congress wasn’t technically in “recess,” so recess appointments weren’t […]