The Tea Party

Seven Tests That Can Keep Republicans from Screwing Up

By Edward Morrissey

It didn’t take long for Republicans to make their first tin-eared mistake after winning a broad victory in November. In fact, they had barely opened the new session of Congress before performing a...
One Place the Trump Train Isn’t Stopping: Paul Ryan’s Backyard

By Martin Matishak

In a year in which an outsider candidate seized the reins of one of the country’s two major political parties, there’s one place where folks haven’t gotten the anti-establishment message: House...
Two-Thirds of the US Government Basically Won’t Work for the Next Year

By Rob Garver

With a deadlocked Supreme Court and a compromise-averse Congress, 2016 promises to be a year in which simply keeping the lights on will be a major accomplishment.
House Freedom Caucus Prepares to Challenge Ryan on 2016 Agenda

By Eric Pianin

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) has gotten off to a strong start with the far-right conservatives in his conference who drove former Speaker John Boehner from office and blocked Boehner’s heir...
Ted Cruz Gets a Boost from Powerful Conservative Insiders

By Rob Garver

An influential political action group in Washington, Heritage Action for America, all but endorsed the presidential candidacy of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz on Monday, with the release of an analysis of the...

Boehner Ready to Exit a Historically Feeble Congress

By Rob Garver

As he heads into what appears to be the final week his leadership of the House of Representatives, House Speaker John Boehner will be the subject of no end of retrospective profiles of his career...
Did Paul Ryan Outsmart the Freedom Caucus?

By Rob Garver

The news that Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan had persuaded a large majority of the House of Representatives’ most conservative element to support his bid for Speaker of the House left the...
Paul Ryan Has Probably Already Lost His Shot at the Presidency

By Rob Garver

Regardless of whether Rep. Paul Ryan decides to declare himself a candidate for Speaker of the House sometime this week, his political future will likely sustain some real damage – and there is...
Meet the Freedom Caucus, the Group Inflaming Washington

By Martin Matishak

If you don’t know much about a group of congressional lawmakers called the House Freedom Caucus, don’t worry; you’ll hear about them plenty in the weeks and month ahead.
Why You – Yes, You – Could Be the Next Speaker of the House

By Martin Matishak

Spoiler alert: The race to be the next Speaker of the House is pretty much over.

Obama’s Jobs Act—Not Just a Failure but a Fraud

By Liz Peek

If President Obama wins reelection, it will be because he has snookered the American public and outwitted the GOP. It will not be because his policies have succeeded. As he campaigns for a second...
Dems’ Progressive Agenda Has a Hawkish Twist

By Merrill Goozner, The Fiscal Times

President Obama and the Democratic Party depart their rain-soaked three-day convention having accomplished what they set out to do – offering an effective and coherent rejoinder to Republican...
Woodward: Congress Snubbed Obama in Debt Talks

By Steve Luxenberg, The Washington Post

A new book by journalist Bob Woodward says that a combination of miscalculations, ideological rigidity and discord within the leadership of both parties brought the U.S. government to the brink of a...
Clint Eastwood's Empty Chair: Built to Last

By Maureen Mackey, The Fiscal Times

People are still scratching their heads over the “empty chair” speech that actor and director Clint Eastwood made last week at the GOP convention in Tampa. His address to an “invisible” President...
Clinton Commits Obama to an Audacious Agenda

By Josh Boak, The Fiscal Times

Former President Bill Clinton made a case for Obama’s reelection on Wednesday night as complex as his own tenure in the White House: tightly focused but rambling, folksy yet wonkish, a call for unity...

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