Debt Ceiling

O'Malley: Eric Cantor And 'Dinosaur Wing' Of GOP Already Hurting States In Debt Limit Fight

Brian Beutler | July 20, 2011, 2:10PM

Gov. Martin O'Malley (D-MD)

The ratings agency Moody's is threatening to reduce the rating of five states with AAA credit (along with the rating of the federal government) if Congress fails to raise the debt limit in early August. Now the governor of one of those states -- Maryland's Martin O'Malley -- is publicly singling out the Republicans in Congress who are preventing swift action on the debt limit.

"All of this brinksmanship and these threats of the dinosaur wing of the Republican party led by Eric Cantor to drive us needlessly into a default have impacted confidence I think throughout the country," O'Malley told me in a Tuesday interview. "It's impacted consumer confidence, it's impacted investor confidence, it's impacted the confidence of small businesses who are the backbone of this economy and who need to hire again. In that respect it's already had an effect. The closer we get to this deadline, and the more immediate ramifications that has for those of us that are going out into the bond market."

These concerns will become very real if Congress doesn't raise the debt limit in the next few days.

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Haley Barbour

Barbour Says Everyone In Mississippi Has Access To Health Care -- But 18% Are Uninsured

Jillian Rayfield | April 20, 2011, 5:21PM

Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS)

Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS) says Mississippi doesn't need Washington's help with health care reform because "there's nobody in Mississippi who does not have access to health care."

"One of the great problems in the conversation is the misimpression that if you don't have insurance, you don't get health care," Barbour said.

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Interracial Marriage

Nearly Half Of Mississippi Republicans Think Interracial Marriage Should Be Illegal

Jon Terbush | April 7, 2011, 4:18PM

Americans nationwide are evenly divided over the issue of same sex marriage. But Republicans in Mississippi are divided over a wholly different wedlock issue: interracial marriage.

In a PPP poll released Thursday, a 46% plurality of registered Republican voters said they thought interracial marriage was not just wrong, but that it should be illegal. 40% said interracial marriage should be legal.

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