Steve Benen

Last week, Mitt Romney relied on a standard conservative talking point to make a point about the budget: he’s eyeing changes to public television. “I like PBS,” the Republican said. “We subsidize PBS. Look, I’m going to stop that. I’m going to say, ‘PBS is going to have to have advertisements.’ We’re not going to […]

Last week’s report on initial unemployment claims was far less encouraging, but the general trend in an encouraging direction continued this week. The number of Americans who filed requests for jobless benefits fell by 15,000 last week to 372,000, the U.S. Labor Department said Thursday. Claims from two weeks ago were revised up to 387,000 […]

Republicans were not at all pleased yesterday when President Obama used a recess appointment to make Richard Cordray the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. But as Felicia Sonmez noted, the fight leaves GOP officials in the unpleasant role of fighting over process, while Democrats work on policy. The problem for Republicans is that […]

Today’s edition of quick hits: * EU vs. Iran: “The countries of the European Union have agreed in principle to impose an embargo on Iranian oil, but there are many details to resolve before a decision is taken by heads of state and government at the end of January, European and French diplomats said Wednesday.” […]

As we talked about earlier, John McCain probably didn’t want to endorse Mitt Romney today, but he did. Was this largely a matter of party loyalty and the Republican establishment rallying behind their guy? Probably, though there are a couple of related angles to consider. For one thing, as much as McCain dislikes Romney, he […]

President Obama raised quite a few eyebrows this morning when the White House announced a recess appointment for Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. It was an unusual display — congressional Republicans abused the rules and told the president to just accept it, and Obama effectively responded, “No.” As it turns out, […]

As had been expected, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) threw his support to Mitt Romney at a campaign event in New Hampshire today, the latest evidence that the Republican establishment is rallying behind the frontrunner. It’s worth keeping in mind, though, one minor detail: John McCain appears to loathe Mitt Romney. The senator has never liked […]

For Republicans hoping to deny Mitt Romney the party’s presidential nomination, the problem has never been their numbers. The former governor has consistently run into a modest ceiling precisely because so many in the GOP neither like nor trust him. The problem, rather, has been their splintering. It’s never been enough to simply oppose Romney; […]

President Obama, to the delight of progressives everywhere, will appoint Richard Cordray to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau through a recess appointment. Congressional Republicans are predictably apoplectic. Here’s a statement issued by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), which I’ve decided to annotate: “Although the Senate is not in recess [1], President Obama, in an […]

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: * In case you missed it, Michele Bachmann ended her presidential campaign less than an hour ago. * Will Rick Perry be the next candidate to quit? Last night, that looked pretty […]