Get ready, this is about to get VERY ugly

The opening salvos in the involvement of Super PACs in the 2012 presidential race happened in the past week. There are two very obvious examples and they should give us all a taste of the bitterness we’re going to see over the next seven months.

First, American Crossroads, Karl Rove’s privately-funded group, announced…

Going above and beyond the call of duty? New Hampshire House Speaker Bill O’Brien is displaying a level of complete and utter dickishness unlike anything I have ever seen in my life. State Rep. Tony Soltani is threatening legal action because he says House Speaker Bill O’Brien has refused to accommodate his disabilities in his seating assignment as part of […]

We’re failing our children! Last summer I posted a rant against the GOP’s demonization of teachers that gained a bit of traction. It went like this: In any rational society, teachers are not considered “costs”. They are considered assets. Something to be valued. Something to be rewarded. The Republicans have done an amazingly effective job of turning the public’s perception […]

Hoo boy… “Psychological projection or projection bias is a psychological defense mechanism where a person subconsciously denies his or her own attributes, thoughts, and emotions, which are then ascribed to the outside world, usually to other people. Thus, projection involves imagining or projecting the belief that others originate those feelings.” That definition of projection succinctly defines what is happening with […]

Sometimes the truth hurts Republicans around the country are freaking over Chrysler’s Super Bowl half-time ad that was narrated by Clint Eastwood. Here is the ad, in case you missed it: Karl Rove had this to say about it: The President of the United States’ political minions are, in essence, using our tax dollars to buy corporate advertising and the […]

At the moment, as egregious as the Citizens United Supreme Court decision was, it’s still illegal for corporations to give directly to candidates or political parties. If the GOP has its way, that will end. The century-old ban on corporate donations to federal political campaigns should be junked as unconstitutional, the Republican National Committee argued in a legal brief filed […]

It has got to be tough being a moderate, reasonable Republican these days. Sitting here watching the skabillionth Republican primary debate, the only person that is even close to being reasonable is Jon Huntsman and he doesn’t have a prayer of getting the nomination. I think we’re going to begin seeing a LOT more things like this piece by a […]

I traveled to Europe in the waning days of the 2008 election and, in fact, wrote a piece for Huffington Post about my experience including watching the last presidential debate between at 3:00 a.m in a little hotel in Gemona, Italy. My [business] trip started in Brussels, Belgium. My first clue that American politics reach firmly across the Atlantic ocean […]

Apparently Michigan Governor Rick Snyder didn’t get the memo. From a Mackinac Center-sponsored event a couple of weeks ago, here is the Governor speaking about keynote speaker Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels during his introduction: But when people were talking about people that should run for president, Gov. Daniels … really would have been an outstanding candidate. Again, I’ll be blunt, […]

This is a worthy question for Michiganders to be asking tonight as we host the clown show that is the Republican primary debate in our fair state: “What if Mitt Romney had been President in 2009?” When the candidates seeking the Republican nomination for president stand onstage in Michigan tonight to debate the future of this country, they will be […]

In one of the sickest and most vile acts of irony yet seen in Michigan under the current Republican regime, Michigan Republicans yesterday passed a bill that lays out specific pathways for legalized bullying in our schools. It is effectively a “Blueprint for Bullying”. The bill passed 26-11 along party lines. It now goes to the House of Representatives. Legislation […]