Steve Benen

Senate Republicans’ habit of blocking Obama administration nominees for key government posts isn’t exactly new. But the case of Mari Carmen Aponte is a little different than most. The president gave Aponte a recess appointment in 2010 to serve as the U.S. ambassador to El Salvador, and now the administration wants her to be formally […]

What the headline says: President Obama predicts unemployment could drop to 8% by next year in ’60 Minutes’ interview What Obama actually said, in response to a question about whether we might see 8% unemployment by Election Day 2012. “I think it’s possible. But I’m not in the job of prognosticating on the economy. I’m […]

First up from the God Machine this week is a look at just how confused some federal lawmakers can get when it comes to religious liberty. In Colorado, the Air Force Academy has spent millions of dollars on a chapel, but also spent $80,000 for a worship center to be used by self-identified pagans cadets. […]

This has to be one of my favorite quotes of the week. A pro-Romney TV spot running heavily in Iowa touts an unproven claim that the candidate “helped create thousands of jobs” as CEO of an investment firm. When we asked the super PAC sponsoring the ad for proof of its claim, a spokeswoman said: […]

This week, as part of the “Take Back the Capitol” protests, demonstrators from Mass Uniting did some occupying in the sitting area of Sen. Scott Brown’s (R-Mass.) office. Here’s a shot, taken by Getty Images: What we here at the Washington Monthly found interesting about the image was the coffee table. If you look carefully, […]

Today’s slightly-later-than-usual edition of quick hits: * Europe: “European leaders, meeting until the early hours of Friday, agreed to sign an intergovernmental treaty that would require them to enforce stricter fiscal and financial discipline in their future budgets. But efforts to get unanimity among the 27 members of the European Union, as desired by Germany, […]

The Washington Monthly is looking for a couple of super-bright and motivated interns for our D.C. offices beginning in the new year. It’s not a paid internship, alas, but the interns get hands-on experience working on the print magazine and the website (research, fact-checking, promo, and some writing), and the chance to say that they […]

It’s generally not too much to ask that major party presidential candidates know how many Supreme Court justices there are. Alas, Rick Perry, who’s already struggled to be coherent on a wide range of issues, flubbed this one, too. After trying to argue that private schools should legally able to promote religion — they already […]

I remain pretty skeptical about Newt Gingrich’s chances of winning the Republican presidential nomination, but on the “Why Newt Will Lose” list of arguments, some points are more compelling than others. Ezra Klein makes the case today that the GOP establishment simply will not allow such an outcome. There’s just no way the Republican establishment […]

Mitt Romney clearly didn’t want to endorse Paul Ryan’s radical budget plan, which includes a measure to end Medicare. But now that he’s losing, Romney apparently feels as if he doesn’t have any choice. After months of avoiding taking a firm stand on Ryan’s privatization scheme — Medicare’s guaranteed benefit would be scrapped, replaced with […]