Steve Benen

In about 15 minutes, the remaining Republican presidential candidates will In about an hour or so, the six remaining Republican presidential candidates will take the stage at St. Anselm’s College in New Hampshire for yet another debate, this one co-sponsored by ABC News, Yahoo News, and WMUR. It takes place, of course, just three days […]

When it comes to the Democratic strategy against Mitt Romney in 2012, the party has a few themes to choose from. The first is that Romney is a far-right ideologue who intends to give millionaires tax breaks, end Medicare, privatize Social Security, give Wall Street free rein, and screw over the middle class on everything […]

Rick Santorum argued earlier this week, with a straight face, that President Obama has “sided with our enemies.” The same day, Santorum also accused the president of engaging in “absolutely un-American activities.” The New Yorker‘s George Packer raised an excellent observation about the way in which these allegations were covered. (thanks to D.K. for the […]

We talked yesterday about Mitt Romney’s Bain Capital and the millions it made while crushing a Missouri steel company called GS Technologies. Reuters called the fiasco the “steel skeleton in the Bain closet.” MoveOn.org has a new video highlighting some of Romney’s victims. One is Donny Box, whom we met on Thursday, and the other […]

For quite a while, Bill Kristol, The Weekly Standard editor and leading Republican voice, has been pining for new entrants into the Republican presidential field. But this week, the GOP pundit seems to have found a new love — who happens to already be running. [Rick] Santorum can hope to win. He has been running […]

First up from the God Machine this week is a word from on high as to who will win the 2012 presidential election. Most of us will have to rely on polling, projections, trends, and some guesswork, at least until the first Tuesday in November, but radical TV preacher Pat Robertson claims to have a […]

Four years ago, John McCain ran into a little trouble when he owned so many homes, he forgot exactly how many and had to check with his staff. Mitt Romney is not quite in the same boat, but the issue does come from time to time. Take this exchange last night in New Hampshire, for […]

Today’s edition of quick hits: * Amazing rescue: “In the middle of a tense standoff between Iran and the United States, the crew of an American destroyer patrolling the North Arabian Sea rescued 13 Iranian fishermen who had been taken hostage by Somali pirates more than a month ago, the Pentagon announced on Friday.” * […]

For the most part, Republicans responded to the good jobs report this morning with quiet bemusement. They don’t want to say it’s encouraging, because Republicans don’t want to give the impression that the economy is improving. GOP officials and candidates don’t want to seem discouraged either, for fear of looking like they’re rooting against the […]

After catching Mitt Romney repeating another obvious falsehood, Greg Sargent noted this afternoon, “I know this risks getting boring and predictable, but we really should document them all.” That’s a good idea. In fact, I’m thinking about starting a new feature for Friday afternoons, highlighting the Republican frontrunner’s most offensive falsehoods from the previous week. […]