Outside the Beltway

Republicans seem to have realized that the Ryan Plan’s Medicare reforms aren’t going anywhere.

There are signs that the Ryan Plan isn’t playing well with the public.

By engaging in a blatantly unconstitutional prosecution of Pastor Terry Jones, Dearborn has actually boosted his nonsensical cause.

The new CBS/NYT poll is out and the numbers are not exactly happy, no matter whom you support.

It is waaay too early to be putting much stock in polling for 2012 (either in terms of X v. Obama or GOP v. GOP).

President Obama’s budget speech was light on specifics, but that’s because it was really the opening salvo of the 2012 campaign.

The GOP seems to be telling President Obama that revenue increases are off the table. That’s a huge mistake.

What, if anything, does the budget deal mean for the future?

As yesterday’s budget negotiations began, the GOP had a choice – appease the base, or make a deal. They made the right choice.

For the past day or so, America’s fighting men have been pawns in a cynical political game.

There are still three days left, but it’s looking less and less likely that a budget deal will be reached in time to avoid a government shutdown.

Rather than fighting over the remnants of the FY 2011 budget, the GOP should make a deal and get ready for the bigger, and more important, battle ahead.

Whether due to innumeracy or intentional deceitfulness, ThinkProgress has the JobsOhio bill totally wrong.

The next week promises to be a battle between John Boehner and the Tea Party over whether or not compromise is a good idea.

Nor, it would seem, are really tired clichés.

Natural disasters in Japan have lessened the supply of pigments necessary to make black paint.

The Supreme Court will decide whether states may jail parents who fail to make child support payments without providing them an attorney.

Operation Odyssey Dawn has resurrected the eternal battle over what limits there are, and should be, on the President’s ability to use military force without Congressional authorization.

Lawyers in US court case spent ten pages of transcript arguing what a photocopier is. “Do you have machines where I can put in a paper document, push a button or two, and out will come copies of that paper document, also on paper?”

Warren Christopher, Bill Clinton’s first Secretary of State, has died at 85.

William Easterly identifies the concept of the negative highway, inconvenient connections between Interstate highways seemingly created for the sole purpose of enticing people to shop at local businesses.

As the standoff in Wisconsin drags on, there is no sign that the public accepts the argument being made about public sector unions by Governor Scott Walker and other Republicans.

Americans had it so much better in the 1950s, right?

Opposition to marriage equality is no longer the wedge issue it used to be.

A new set of polls from Gallup show that President Obama is still looking good for re-election.

A new national poll suggests that moves to restrict the collective bargaining rights of public sector unions are not popular with the public at large:

Florida has again scheduled its primary ahead of the deadlines set by the Republican and Democratic parties.

Neither side is covering themselves in glory in the battle over the Badger State budget.

Four years after Barack Obama became a Presidential candidate, the birther myth not only persists, it seems to be becoming more prevalent. Why?

An Ohio woman was convicted of two felony counts for sending her kids to good schools.