Jamelle Bouie

The takeaway from this afternoon’s hearing of the House Oversight Subcommittee on TARP, Financial Services and Bailouts? Republicans don’t like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and they really don’t like it’s leader, Elizabeth Warren. Subcommittee Chairman Patrick McHenry, a Republican from North Carolina, billed the hearing as an attempt to “watch the watchdogs,” citing the […]

**Charlie Cook** is [bullish](http://rdd.me/ktnjxnay) on former Minnesota Governor **Tim Pawlenty**’s chances for the Republican presidential nomination: >While former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is generally considered to be the front-runner, he is going to have a tough time broadening his appeal to the different factions of the Republican Party. He is limited by conservative antipathy toward […]

For at least the third time, I am genuinely disturbed by David Brooks‘ latest for The New York Times. After spending some time in the United Kingdom, Brooks comes away with a newfound admiration for the British political system that happens to focus on its worst and most undemocratic elements: Britain is also blessed with […]

Some Democrats want consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren to challenge Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown for his Senate seat in 2012: In seeking to enlist Ms. Warren for a different campaign, Democrats are taking aim at two birds. They can lay the groundwork for a potential compromise over a different candidate to lead the new agency and, […]

As Republican elites panic over the apparent weakness of their presidential field, it’s worth noting the extent to which this isn’t a novel situation. To borrow from Battlestar Galactica, “All this has happened before, and all this will happen again.” For example, here are two New York Times headlines from 1991 and 1992: Democrats’ Distress […]

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities revises its widely used deficit chart to reflect the chief drivers of debt since the beginning of last decade. The results are nearly identical: Together, the Bush tax cuts — and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — account for a huge chunk of current and projected public […]

Is definitely running for president, as evidenced by his latest campaign video: A few thoughts. If the “time for truth” slogan is any indication, Pawlenty is clearly positioning himself as the anti-Mitt Romney candidate and trying to capitalize on conservative discomfort with Romney’s willingness to “flip-flop” from previously held positions. More broadly, with both Daniels […]

Mitch Daniels, current Indiana governor and former budget director for George W. Bush, is not running for president: Over the last year and a half, a large and diverse group of people have suggested to me an idea that I never otherwise would have considered, that I run for President. I’ve asked for time to […]

Republican Senator Tom Coburn‘s sudden defection from the Gang of Six is only a “quandry” if you treat senators as purely autonomous actors. If you treat them as members of a political party (or legislative caucus) with its own goals and incentives, then this makes a lot more sense: The other senators in the Gang […]

Riffing off of **Gail Collins**’ latest _New York Times_ [column](http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/19/opinion/19collins.html?ref=opinion), **Steve Benen** wants to [know](http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_05/pondering_republicans_double_s029682.php) why Republicans are prone to crazy sex scandals: >[N]ot only do the Republican scandals seem worse in their scope and severity, but we’re talking about “the family-values party.” Indeed, except for Giuliani and maybe Schwarzenegger, all of the recent Republicans […]