Jamelle Bouie

North Dakota Democratic senator Kent Conrad isn’t particularly liberal. He is only the 32nd most liberal member of the Senate, according to National Journal‘s vote rankings for the 111th Congress, and has a well-established reputation for social conservatism and deficit hawkery. My colleague Bob Kuttner describes Conrad’s prospective budget plan as “well to the right […]

The Mitt Romney campaign announced its fundraising haul for the second quarter of 2011 — an impressive $18.25 million. This dwarfs the funds raised by his competitors. Tim Pawlenty brought in a disappointing $4.2 million for the second quarter, while Jon Huntsman raised $4.1 million, half of which came from his personal fortune. Ron Paul […]

If today’s column from David Brooks is any indication, several months of GOP economic brinksmanship have finally accomplished what years of liberal hand-waiving couldn’t — forcing Beltway elites to recognize the dangerous extremism of the Republican Party. As usual, Brooks begins his piece with effusive praise for some new conservative policy. This time, it’s a […]

Like most people with well-defined ideological views, liberals want their political standard-bearers to represent their interests and stand-up for liberalism as a governing ideology. Typically, this is viewed as good messaging — the public likes progressive policies — and good politics. As the argument goes, voters want a choice, not an echo, and Democrats would […]

Over the holiday weekend, Talking Points Memo’s Brian Beutler highlighted this gem of a chart from the Senate Appropriations Committee: As Hawaii Democratic Senator Daniel Inoyue explained in a statement, “Although non-defense discretionary spending in nominal dollars has increased, when taking inflation and population growth into account the amount contained in the FY 2011 Continuing […]

Essentially, Mitt Romney‘s pitch for the presidency rests on a single line, “He made it worse.” In campaign ads, speeches and op-eds, Romney has attacked the president for lengthening the Great Recession. During last month’s presidential debate, for example, Romney led with this: “He didn’t create the recession, but he made it worse and longer,” […]

The official deadline for Republican presidential candidates to report their second quarter fundraising totals isn’t until next month, but several campaigns have offered preliminary numbers. Let’s take a look. According to The New York Times, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney has raised less than $20 million for the Republican Primary, placing him “slightly ahead of […]

Even if you don’t like Barack Obama, or see nothing wrong with using quasi-vulgarities to attack him, it’s not hard to see why Time’s Mark Halperin was suspended by MSNBC for calling the president a “dick” on national television. In the modern era, at least, political commentators have generally refrained from using higher than PG-13 […]

Like everything else Congress does, an official recess requires a piece of legislation. Under the Constitution, if the Senate wants to adjourn for more than three days, then it needs approval from the House of Representatives. The House, however, has already taken its July 4th recess, and House Republicans have left town without approving an […]