Occupy Wall Street

CHART OF THE DAY: The '47 Percent' Pay Their Fair Share

Brian Beutler | October 21, 2011, 6:03AM

Conservatives are continuing their counter-protest against the so-called "47 percent." Specifically, that's the share of recession-era households that pay no federal income taxes. Most of them pay payroll taxes and other federal taxes (not to mention state taxes), but Republicans have chosen to depict them as the free-riding half of the country.

The fact of the matter, though, is that those other taxes constitute a huge chunk of federal revenues. Check out the charts below. Over the 58 years preceding the Lesser Depression, the share of federal revenues that came from individual income taxes has remained fairly stable, fluctuating between 40 and 50 percent, and peaking just before George W. Bush slashed rates in 2001.

Read more »

Libya

McConnell: GOP Outspoken On Libya Because There's A Democrat In The White House

Brian Beutler | June 22, 2011, 10:48AM

Mitch McConnell (R-KY)

Here's an impressive package of candor from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who spoke to reporters Wednesday at a breakfast roundtable hosted by the Christan Science Monitor.

McConnell admitted that his party is divided over President Obama's military action in Libya, but that you're only hearing about it because Obama's a Democrat. Many of these same divisions, he said, existed under President Bush, but party loyalty "muted" the dissent.

Read more »

Barack Obama

White House: Obama's Signing Statements Are Legit -- Unlike Bush's

Susan Crabtree | April 18, 2011, 4:09PM

President Barack Obama

The White House is disputing any notion that President Obama broke a campaign promise by using a signing statement to ignore Congress' attempt to defund the positions of four so-called administration czars.

The President in the early evening on Friday -- a time notorious for news dumps -- raised reporters' and his critics hackles by adding a signing statement to the resolution that funds the federal government through September and avoids a government shutdown. The signing statement suggests Obama would ignore some parts of the deal, including language defunding the czars overseeing healthcare, climate change, the auto industry and urban affairs. Republicans have long lambasted Obama's use of czars, senior presidential advisers on major issues who do not require Senate confirmation.

Read more »

Sarah Palin

Barbara Bush: I Hope Sarah Palin Stays In Alaska (VIDEO)

Ryan J. Reilly | November 20, 2010, 3:28PM

Doesn't look like former First Lady Barbara Bush is a big Sarah Palin fan.

In a taped interview scheduled to air Monday on "Larry King Live," Bush was asked for her thoughts on the former vice presidential candidate.

"I sat next to her once, thought she was beautiful, and I think she's very happy in Alaska, and I hope she'll stay there," Barbara Bush said.

Read more »

David Addington

Addington Takes Top Post At Conservative Heritage Foundation

Brian Beutler | August 30, 2010, 12:00PM

David Addington, former chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney

Former Dick Cheney aide David Addington is headed to the conservative Heritage foundation. Addington will serve, according to the Daily Caller as vice president for domestic and economic policy studies -- but he's most famous for advocating vast Presidential powers. Under Cheney, he allegedly helped to shape an infamous Justice Department memo sanctioning torture in some cases, and was a key architect of the previous administration's warrantless surveillance program

Read more »

Bush Administration

Unless Obama Lets All The Bush Tax Cuts Expire, Deficits Are Here To Stay (CHARTS)

Brian Beutler | August 27, 2010, 3:43PM

President Barack Obama

What's at stake in the upcoming battle over the Bush tax cuts? The simple answer is about $700 billion over 10 years. That's a ton of money -- but nowhere near enough to right the country's fiscal course. To really get the budget back in order and the deficit under control, all of Bush's tax cuts would have to go.

They crow about deficits, but Republicans want to make the whole batch permanent, for a total cost of $3.8 trillion over 10 years. Democratic leaders on the Hill and in the White House, however, want to preserve most of the cuts, too, and just let the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans expire. That would still increase deficits by about $3.1 trillion over 10 years -- not as fiscally responsible as they'd have you believe. Even if Democrats get their way, in other words, there will still be revenue shortfalls as far as the eyes can see.

Take a look at this comparison from CBO.

Read more »

John Negroponte

Negroponte: I Would Have Waited Longer Before Invading Iraq

Brian Beutler | August 26, 2010, 11:41AM

Former U.S. Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte

Former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq John Negroponte now says if he'd had his way, the invasion of Iraq wouldn't have proceeded quite like it did. In fact, he would have waited until weapons inspectors finished their job and the U.N. had passed a resolution backing the war before sending U.S. troops to Iraq.

In an interview with Mainichi Shimbun, one of the largest newspaper's in Japan, Negroponte took issue with part of the Bush administration's conduct.

According to a translator, Negroponte essentially acknowledged that the Bush administration "didn't give proper justification" for the war and "was too optimistic about what would happen after the fall of Saddam."

Reached by email, Negroponte took issue with Mainichi Shinbun's characterization, but effectively confirms much of it.

Read more »