This guest post comes from Sean McElwee — a research associate at Demos and an excellent follow on Twitter. Find out more about Sean, his work and what his research into voting uncovered about Michigan by checking out his Eclectablog posts on how to make America more progressive and Michigan’s somewhat impressive voter turnout. In my latest Salon piece, I […]

As the Republican Party inches around Marco Rubio, he’s getting the vetting his success has awarded him. The press is looking into his personal finances, possible misuse of a Republican Party charge card, and his 80s-sitcom like dependence on a local billionaire. But none of this could reveal anything more damning than what Marco Rubio is basing his entire candidacy […]

If the Republican Party were capable of embarrassment, this debate season would have already turned it redder than John Kasich’s forehead. Each debate has had its own pre-debate where each of the candidates who are losing so badly they aren’t in the main debate ends up getting as much as or more time to talk than the poll leaders. The […]

Chris Christie was mad. So mad that CNBC security was afraid that he might go Kool-Aid. The failed governor and successful punchline of millions of bridge jokes didn’t want to talk about fantasy football, which is essentially unregulated gambling that seems to be grifting off of and deluding millions Americans. NO! He wanted to lie about your Social Security. “It’s […]

The unbearable costs of Republican politicians pandering to their base Michigan’s Attorney General Bill Schuette is wasting taxpayer agenda to join another partisan lawsuit designed to stifle the agenda of a president his state overwhelmingly supported twice. The Detroit News reports: Led by West Virginia, the states are asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit […]

The worst irony of our political system is that the party that wants to gut Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid — the three programs that have combined have cut the senior poverty rate from about 35 percent to about 10 — is in only power because of the votes of senior citizens. It’s time to change that — or at […]

A lot of people call the Buddha the greatest marketer in the world because he told people, “Don’t trust me. Try it yourself and see how you feel.” You can make that promise when you know you have a great product. The Buddha did and the result was a world religion that even people who don’t like religion often claim […]

Conservatives have discovered that ending the career of the third most powerful public official in the world and hijacking the U.S. Congress is pretty easy. It doesn’t even take a majority of both houses — though Republicans have that — it just takes a few dozen House members who are ready to burn some shit down. Meet the House Freedom […]

We live in an time when it often feels as if there are no consequences. After losing two wars, a financial crisis and a concerted effort to prevent a recovery, Republicans now hold more elected state and federal offices than any time since the Great Depression. Instead of preventing gun deaths, the gun industry profits off them by raising the […]

Backlash over Ben Carson’s anti-Muslim smears forced the Detroit-born neurosurgeon to twist and spin. But his refusal to apologize is winning him donations and crucial support. “I wouldn’t expect those remarks would hurt Dr. Carson in Iowa,” Steve King, Iowa congressman and the GOP’s Pope of Xenophobia, said. “I think they help him.” King is probably right. Republicans crave exactly […]

This guest post comes from Sean McElwee — a research associate at Demos and an excellent follow on Twitter. Find out more about Sean, his work and what his research into voting uncovered about Michigan by checking out his first guest post for Eclectablog. In my latest report, Why Voting Matters, I argue that nonvoters are more progressive than voters, […]