Outside the Beltway

Politicians on both sides of the aisle like to tell people they’re just “average Americans,” but they’re lying and the American people seem to have figured out that they’re lying.

A US-EU free trade zone is a no-brainer. But the devil is in the details.

Chris McDaniel and his Tea Party supporters are being very sore losers.

Looking back at the first round and forward to the second.

The former Florida Governor is talking more openly about running for President than he ever has before.

As Sarah Palin and the Tea Party turn on Paul Ryan, they are making apparent their own lack of relevance in the political process.

The two ends of Pennsylvania Avenue are clashing on defense appropriations.

A San Francisco bacon restaurant smells like bacon. Thankfully, a compromise has been reached.

Once again, politics is dictating military policy.

Hell hath no fury like a Christie scorned.

Alex Pareene’s annual hack list omits an obvious candidate: Alex Pareene.

The Pork and Mindy Edition OTB Caption Contest^TM is now over.

In calling for the sequestration cuts to be delayed, Republicans are demonstrating their lack of seriousness on the issue of fiscal responsibility.

The people trying to undo the Defense Budget sequestration cuts are making some pretty weak arguments.

Cave quid dicis, quando, et cui.

The Love You Long Time Edition OTB Caption Contest^TM is now over.

Huntsman’s tactics reinforced his fellow Republicans’ natural skepticism of his candidacy.

Rick Santorum’s views on the role of government are somewhat disturbing.

Could traders soon be betting on the outcome of the Presidential elections? Should they be?

There is a fundamental problem with the feedback loop in American politics.

From Europe, a case of regulation gone nuts.

It was clear from the start that “Cash For Clunkers” was a bad idea.

Is money the only thing that matters in post-Citizens United American politics?

Tim Pawlenty took aim at Michele Bachmann yesterday but will he keep up the attack?

Sarah Palin will be heading to yet another important primary state while insisting she isn’t running for President yet. And the press follows her like a lonely puppy.

Thanks to the help of a group of Tea Party Freshman in the House. Congress has finally cut off funding for a second engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter that the Pentagon never wanted.

The Pelosi Estates Edition OTB Caption Contest^TM is now over.

The incoming House Republicans aren’t making a good first impression.

Politics makes for strange bedfellows and, when it comes to the debate over the extension of the Bush tax cuts, anti-tax Republicans are making common cause with soak-the-rich progressives.

Eliminating earmarks is good policy and good politics.

Rand Paul is taking some heat for remarks that may or may not indicate that he’s backtracking on his previous vow not to seek earmark spending for Kentucky. Yes folks, the phony war on earmarks is back.

Taxpayer “watchdog” groups are urging House Republicans to cut Congressional pay as an act of symbolism. It’s symbolism all right, pointless symbolism.

Nancy Pelosi is irritating some party stalwarts by funneling money into the campaigns of Democratic incumbents running ads against her.

Harry Reid think it’s his Constitutional duty spend other people’s money and bring it home to Nevada. His constituents seem to have other ideas this year.

One Republican analyst thinks that President Obama could learn a few leadership lessons from Vito and Michael Corleone. In order to do that, though, the President would need to stop acting like the weakest of the Corleone brothers.