Steve Benen

The New York Times pointed yesterday to Newt Gingrich’s previous support for an individual health care mandate, but this time, uncovered a tidbit we hadn’t seen or heard before. More broadly, he has indicated his agreement with the most controversial aspect of President Obama’s heath care plan, the requirement that every American buy health insurance. […]

It wasn’t one of the highest-profile events of the week, but President Obama spoke in Maryland yesterday at the 71st General Assembly of the Union for Reform Judaism. Reader F.B. encouraged me to take a look, so I watched it, and anyone questioning the president’s commitment to Israel should take the time to do the […]

Late Thursday, policymakers struck an agreement on funding the government through September, averting a government shutdown that would have begun last night. The House easily approved the $1 trillion spending deal yesterday, and the Senate is expected to do the same today. But while most of the talk yesterday was focused on the shutdown that […]

Senate leaders struck a deal late yesterday for a two-month extension of the payroll tax break, which senators will probably approve later today. House passage will likely be a much heavier lift. The key problem is pretty straightforward: Republicans have met a tax cut they simply don’t like. Bloomberg TV’s Al Hunt sat down yesterday […]

First up from the God Machine this week is a look at the national controversy surrounding advertising on a reality-show. As you’ve very likely heard by now, TLC’s “All-American Muslim” is a show documenting the fairly-mundane lives of some Muslim-American families in Dearborn, Mich. A fringe, Christian fundamentalist activist in Florida, David Caton, put his […]

With only two weeks left before the payroll tax cut expires, Democratic and Republican Senate leaders reached an agreement late yesterday for a temporary extension. It’s a positive development, but there’s quite a bit of work left to do. Senate leaders said on Friday night that they had reached a deal that would extend a […]

Today’s edition of quick hits: * Overdue: “The SEC charged six former executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with securities fraud Friday, saying they misled the public about the companies’ exposure to subprime loans during the onset of the mortgage meltdown.” * The House passed the omnibus spending bill to keep the government open […]

Readers may have noticed the blinking holiday lights just to the right of this column. It’s part of the annual fundraising drive here at the Washington Monthly. You can show your support for the year that was, celebrating all that the Monthly did in 2011, by clicking here. Donations to the Monthly are tax-deductible — […]

Jonathan had a good post about this yesterday, but I have a chart to publish, so I hope readers won’t mind two items on the same subject. The number of Americans who filed requests for jobless benefits fell sharply last week to the lowest level since May 2008, indicating that a fragile U.S. labor market […]

The conventional wisdom keeps telling me that Mitt Romney, for all his many faults (chronic dishonesty, incessant flip-flopping, cowardice, etc.), is at least a smart guy who cares about policy. Romney may lack integrity, we’re told, but at least he’s a vaguely technocratic wonk. Except, I’m not at all convinced this guy is any smarter […]