The report is based on the work of Carmen Reinhart and Ken Rogoff, two economists often cited by Republican Obama critic, Congressman Paul Ryan.

The U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops almost immediately rejected a compromise on requiring contraception coverage that the Obama administration announced on Friday, and Republicans have continued to attack the accommodation. Under the compromise, religious institutions will not be required to provide contraceptive coverage because insurers will provide contraception directly to employees at no cost, completely removing religious institutions from the equation. But this deal was not enough to satisfy conservative opposition.

By Amanda Peterson Beadle

We knew the Republicans favored an economic policy that was last used in the 19th Century.  And their treatment of science comes out of the 17th Century. And now it looks like some on the far right are moving to a criminal justice policy that is at least 100 years out of date (from Ed Kilgore’s “wingnut of the week”).

n a shocking turn of events, Republicans have turned on the very man they chose to speak for them this week in response to Obama’s State of the Union address — Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels. He is taking a drubbing in the conservosphere, but what’s most peculiar about the scandal that threatens to engulf him is that Republicans don’t seem aware that they’re attacking him

Ron Paul is on track to end the GOP presidential race in second place. But his refusal to directly take on the man who's ahead of him — Mitt Romney — has Republicans wondering: What does Ron Paul want?

Josh Lederman

Republicans during Tuesday's New Hampshire primary will use a technology recognizable to Washington and Lincoln to make their choices

Voters in the recent Iowa caucuses and Tuesday's New Hampshire primary will rely on paper ballots as they have for generations. In the very next primary on January 21, South Carolinians will vote with backlit touch-screen computers.

By Larry Greenemeier

Topeka — House Speaker Mike O'Neal, R-Hutchinson, on Thursday issued an apology for an email he forwarded to fellow House Republicans that refers to first lady Michelle Obama as "Mrs. YoMama" and compares a photograph of her to a picture of the Grinch.

By Scott Rothschild

GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell famously said a year ago that his main task in the 112th Congress was to make sure that President Obama would not be re-elected. Given how he and House Speaker John Boehner have handled the payroll tax debate, we wonder if they might end up re-electing the President before the 2012 campaign even begins in earnest.

The precarious state of the Republican primary season continues to draw much media chatter, as the party faithful seem to lurch from one imploding candidate to the next. Now, with Clinton-era player Newt Gingrich suddenly vaulting to the top of the polls, even conservatives are acknowledging what a wreck the season may turn out to be. Today, CNN's Erick Erickson posted a lament at RedState today about the possible GOP "suicide pact" that's emerging as voters in Iowa prepare to cast ballots in three weeks.

Eric Boehlert

(Reuters) - Democratic and Republican lawmakers skirmished on Friday over plans to extend a payroll tax cut seen as crucial to a fragile U.S. economic recovery, but aides predicted a last-minute deal.

By Thomas Ferraro and Roberta Rampton

WASHINGTON, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama Saturday said Republicans in Congress "should stop the games" and pass a payroll tax cut extension.

The number of moderate Republicans who believe in global warming has jumped dramatically over the last two years – opening a big gap between moderate and conservative Republicans on the issue, according to a new poll Thursday. 

Tim Mak

Republican lawmakers in Congress introduced legislation on Wednesday that would require the Obama administration to issue a construction permit for the controversial Keystone XL pipeline within 60 days unless the president decided the project was not in the national interest.

By DAN FROSCH

Rare if not unique among pollsters, Public Policy Polling tries not to take itself too seriously. Their latest attempt to inject some levity into the often brittle world of opinion surveys is quite inspired:

This was going to be a column about Cosmopolitan magazine's "100 Best Sex Tips of the Year," but with sex abusers bringing down the Italian government and the president of Penn State, and embarrassing any Republicans who are capable of shame, it seems inappropriate right now.

Grover Norquist’s grip on the House Republican Conference is loosening.

A growing number of GOP lawmakers have disavowed Norquist’s pledge against supporting tax increases in recent days, telling The Hill they no longer feel bound to uphold a document that they signed, in some cases, more than a decade ago.

by markomalley

(Bloomberg) -- Democrats criticized a Republican plan to cut the U.S. deficit by overhauling the tax code, as a Democratic staff analysis said it would lower rates for high- income Americans while raising taxes on the middle class.

Asked, "Do you think the Republicans are intentionally stalling efforts to jumpstart the economy to insure that Barack Obama is not re-elected?" a poll found that 34 percent of Florida conservatives said yes. Conspiracy, political posturing, savvy strategy-- call it what you want, but the Suffolk University poll gives evidence that the theory is not just a partisan position. As Peter Scorsch, from SaintPetersBlog points out, it's the Republican answers that surprised:

 By Alexander Abad-Santos

The timeline to get out of Iraq, announced today by President Obama, is the same timeline initiated by George W. Bush, yet Mitt Romney and other Republicans are bashing Obama because of it.

While Republicans seem determined to take us back to the Gilded Age, it helps to remember how we escaped that era and became a great country.

by Stuart Shapiro

Republicans have seized on the Solyndra controversy to go on a witch-hunt against all clean energy programs authorized by the Department of Energy.

Lee Fang

CNN has an interesting new poll comparing the attitudes of Republicans who identify with the Tea Party movement to those who don't.

By Steve Kornacki

When it comes to foreign policy, the saying goes that politics stops at the water’s edge.

When it comes to climate science, we say that politics should stop at the atmosphere’s edge.

One of us is a Republican, the other a Democrat. We hold different views on many issues.

-Joe Romm

Protecting the 1 Percent While Attacking the Other 99 Percent

It’s not news that Republicans will do nearly anything to protect the wealthy and special interests like Wall Street banks and Big Oil.  Now they’re taking their own brand of class warfare even further by outright attacking the other 99 percent.

I doubt the facts are going to matter much now that Republicans have latched onto the Solyndra solar “scandal,” and even if they did matter, I’d be the wrong guy to defend the Obama administration (and some of the world’s top venture capitalists) for making the same honest mistake I made. 

By Michael Grunwald

ANALYSIS:

Rick Perry rode off in a new direction for the first time before a national audience Wednesday night, calling for a less-interventionist American foreign policy than has been articulated by most of his chief rivals in the 2012 Republican presidential field.

Senate leaders will start their debate on the proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex unions Monday afternoon. But they didn’t want anyone to know about it.

By Laura Leslie

That's the question as the committee, composed of six Republicans and six Democrats, tries to figure out how to slash $1.5 trillion from the national deficit in a new round of negotiations. The group must make its recommendations before Thanksgiving, and Congress is expected to vote on them by Dec. 23.

Want to know why President Obama is going to have such a hard time persuading Republicans to support his jobs proposals this week? Don’t ask a pundit, or a politician, or a pollster. Ask a psychologist.

Former Florida governor and First Brother to Bush 43 Jeb Bush was asked by FNC’s Neil Cavuto if he thinks Republicans have gone too far in their criticism of President Obama.

Have the Republicans actually done anything at all to create jobs?

The United States is very familiar with energy wars. Our long-time national energy strategy, as former U.S. Sen. Gary Hart points out, is to send our children off to kill and be killed in foreign lands to protect our access to oil.

by William S. Becker

Anyone who has been following politics since the 2010 Midterm elections knows that Republicans do not enter any major negotiations without taking some hostages first to help bend the Democrats to their will.

At this juncture, it may be more efficient to highlight which interactions between New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and the media are not newsworthy. The Republican’s appointment of Muslim-American Sohail Mohammed to a state bench this week ruffled some feathers among some who fear the threat of Sharia Law, but when asked about those concerns, Gov. Christie made clear he had no patience for such “ignorance,” calling the complaints “crap.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has signed off on a deal to raise the debt limit pending the approval of his caucus -- and of course if can win the backing of Senate GOP leaders and then a majority of the House.

There is not equivalency and, like Paul Krugman, I am so tired of hearing, “Both parties are responsible” for our problems. No. One is.

As an Aug. 2 deadline nears for raising the nation's debt limit, some in Congress continue to press for steep cuts in programs for working families. Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid remain in jeopardy.

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NewsVine CoH #1

American voters disapprove 56 - 38 percent of the way President Barack Obama is handling the economy, but by 45 - 38 percent they trust the president more than congressional Republicans to handle the economy, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

Republicans may rule in House of Representatives, but Democrats reigned supreme on the baseball field Thursday night.

The White House could resort to an little-known line in the US constitution to prevent a ruinous default if Democrats and Republicans do not agree to raise the debt ceiling by August 2, experts say

By Marc Jourdier - AFP

In a move that could be called anything but conservative, Republican lawmakers are set to bring a bill to the House floor next week that will repeal state and municipal rights to set efficiency standards for light bulbs. 

By Stephen Lacey

Democrats have found their response to last night's big Republican presidential debate in New Hampshire.

evan_mcmorris-santoro

Whether or not you think Anthony Weiner should resign, remember this: Republicans have kindly provided the frame in which to argue the question.

Next year's budget for science and technology at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) would be drastically downsized under a spending bill passed yesterday by the House of Representatives.

With Tea Party conservatives and many Republicans balking at raising the debt ceiling, let me offer them an example of a nation that lives up to their ideals.

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

Decade after decade, year after year, month after month, week after week, day after day, hour after hour we hear Republicans channelling Grover Norquist and claiming that taxes are too high, we must lower taxes for corporations and raising taxes is always forbidden.

-John Amato

"If you walk into the room and they [Republicans] say taxes are off the table, you [Democrats] gently say to them: 'We'll come back when you take your tin foil hats off.' You know, you want to act like a sane person," Michael Moore said about Congress negotiating budget cuts.

WASHINGTON, May 17 (UPI) -- GOP U.S. presidential hopeful Rick Santorum said Tuesday John McCain, tortured as a prisoner of war, "doesn't understand how enhanced interrogation works."

It’s beginning to feel like a broken record – once again the GOP put its allegiances to Big Oil ahead of their responsibilities to the American people. Yesterday 45 of 47 Senate Republicans filibustered an attempt to end the outrageous handouts to Big Oil – a plan Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) claimed was “not a serious effort to address the price of gas at the pump.”

Oil companies already drill—and spill—on some of America’s most sensitive wild lands. Do they really need taxpayer money to do it?

(Reuters) - A Republican rift over the government health program for older Americans widened on Monday as Congressman Paul Ryan hit back at criticism of his Medicare overhaul plan from within his own party.

By Donna Smith and Ann Saphir

Mitt Romney isn’t alone in having to defend his past positions on healthcare. Taegan Goddard explains Newt’s previous positions on healthcare that will not sit well with Republicans

With oil companies such as ExxonMobil announcing a jump in profits of nearly 70 percent while gas prices are hovering around $4 a gallon, Republicans are trying to avoid any impression of defensiveness over their strong support for Big Oil.

Congressman Rick Crawford of Arkansas, like some of his fellow Republicans, are facing tough questions at town hall meetings. In Crawford’s case, when it heated up, he left the kitchen.  After heated questions about why services are being cut while corporations and the wealthy are off the hook for taxes, Crawford responded by declaring, “We’re done!”

Republican - Corporate Compact to Control ALL Assets of Worth

BIG YEAR for Republican Vision for America: REALLY BIG GOVERNMENT, King John Boehner's Intrusive, Authoritarian, Play-book

Anthony Weiner: "Isn't it ironic the Republicans spent all last year criticizing the health care act because it harmed Medicare?

Republicans say they are tired of raising the debt limit — but they'll have to do it again. Their own budget proposals demand it.

While Republicans have blasted President Obama's fiscal 2012 budget for failing to get the deficit under control, a pair of GOP plans released this week made clear more debt will be coming no matter which approach is adopted.

--Peter Schroeder

Yesterday the Republicans tried to shutdown the entire federal government over funding to Planned Parenthood.

46% of Mississippi Republicans say inter-racial marriage should be illegal, to 40% who say it should be legal. And it seems Palin does better with the racist crowd.

Another week, another hearing by the House Natural Resources Committee to perpetuate the myth that the only thing standing between us and energy security are the policies erected by the Obama administration that are supposedly thwarting domestic drilling on public lands. According to a recent statement by committee chairman Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA), the "greatest factors" for new drilling are federal regulations and laws:

Federal regulations and laws, especially those imposed by the Obama Administration, are the greatest factors affecting the pace of developing leases. The Administration has imposed regulation after regulation, roadblock after roadblock, and now wants to turn around and say production is not moving fast enough.

The Senate on Tuesday voted to repeal the health care overhaul's 1099 tax reporting requirements, finally ending months of debate and votes over a provision that, by the end, had few defenders.

The overwhelmingly bipartisan vote, 87-12, gives President Barack Obama the first opportunity to sign or veto a bill repealing a piece of his signature law. He's expected to sign it despite concern about how to replace the money the provision would have raised.

You're a Florida businessman who'd benefit from legislation sitting before your state lawmakers? You wish there were an easy way to meet with the leaders of the House or Senate, pull out a wad of cash and buy their vote?

For the seventh time in a row, Chairman Doc Hastings (R-WA) of the House Natural Resources Committee held a hearing where he pushed for more domestic production of oil and gas, a proposal known to benefit Big Oil with little impact on gas prices. His colleague on the Committee, Rep. Jeff Landry (R-LA), whose largest single industry contributor is oil and gas, took the opportunity at the hearing to defend the profits of Big Oil.

Former Orlando Congressman Alan Grayson appeared on radio with me Thursday night and says he might run again. He adds that Republicans are illegally gerrymandering and that his governor, Rick Scott, wants to drug-test welfare recipients and state employees because it benefits his company.

House Speaker John Boehner promised that the Republicans would put all bills on line at least 72 hours before floor debates to give the public time to read them. That pledge was violated when they voted on a bill to defund NPR, and now they've done it again by voting on the Government Shutdown Prevention Act.

With the 2012 presidential elections somehow already on the horizon, speculation as to Republicans rising up to challenge President Obama continues to crest, and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann is topping the list of potential candidates. But while some on the right consider her an "intellectual" and a potential danger to President Obama's incumbency, Bill O'Reilly is skeptical of her experience and appeal.

Republicans trying to gut four decades of women's progress have met with very little resistance — but that's changing

Ominous headlines are dominating the news: revolution in the Middle East; surging gas prices; even a possible government shutdown.

Getting less attention, but with equally dire implications, is the concerted war against women being waged by Republicans.

In Washington, and in state houses where they have gained power, Republicans are hell-bent on erasing a generation of gains made by women.

President Eisenhower opposed school integration, and Nixon and Reagan opposed our democratic rights including the ones they took credit for. Despite Ike's warning about the Military-Industrial Complex, all three burdened the nation with high and unnecessary military spending. And yet, even they took better positions than today's extremists.

Tim Pawlenty is among the first Republicans tossing hat in the ring to run for president in 2012. The former governor of Minnesota announced Monday he was launching a formal exploratory committee to run for president.

Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) thinks the House bill to defund NPR is completely ridiculous. And he thinks the Republicans who rushed it to the floor Thursday are wasting everyone's time.

A new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows that Republicans are abandoning Sarah Palin.

Republicans introduce legislation in the House and Senate to make English the official language of the U.S.

By Pete Kasperowicz

WASHINGTON — A House subcommittee voted on Thursday to strip the Environmental Protection Agency of its power to regulate greenhouse gases, chipping away at a central pillar of the Obama administration's evolving climate and energy strategy.

When you propose a budget with $61 billion in cuts, you are going to hit some sympathetic targets. And you deserve to be mocked for your heartlessness as a result.

Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) accused Republicans on Tuesday of having an "allergy to science and scientists" during a House hearing on a Republican-led proposal to strip the Environmental Protection Agency of its authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

This week, Congress could cut a deal on the budget. And if Republicans get their way, billions will be cut from vital programs that millions of Americans count on—while tax cuts for the richest are protected.

--By J Stepper

Congressman Earl Blumenauer of Oregon raised the ire of Republicans when he took to the House floor to assert that the GOP claim that health care reform is a government takeover is a lie. Republican Dan Lundren of California asked that the words be "taken down" because of a breach of decorum.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- At the last minute, Ohio Senate Republicans have changed the makeup of a committee that will vote whether to approve a controversial bill that would overhaul the state's collective bargaining rights.

John Boehner's decision to hit the links instead of working to avert a looming budget shutdown is not going over well in Washington, particularly with U.S. Senate Democrats and liberal groups.

-- By Jeremy Wallace

This is a 2010 piece that seems timely today given Obama's efforts to jump-start high speed rail in America and the response by many conservative governors to block that effort (see "Passenger rail is not in Ohio's future": New GOP governors kill $1.2 Billion in high-speed rail jobs).

Weather predictions were once a frequent punchline but have improved dramatically in recent years. More often than not you'll need an umbrella if your local television channel or website of choice tells you to take one when you leave the house. But we could take a huge step back to the days when your dartboard had a reasonable chance of outpredicting Al Roker if House Republicans have their way with the 2011 federal budget.

The Republican-controlled House approved a bill in the middle of the night that should curtail monies for healthcare, social services, environmental regulations, child care and research.

The EPA and its science-based safeguards are the "thin green line" that protects your children from the corporate polluters who want to poison the air and water and oceans and climate. This ThinkProgress cross-post (with video compilation) reveals just how many GOP extremists want to end that protection.

-- Scott Keyes

A Republican representative has introduced a spending bill amendment aimed at promoting the use of contraception – by horses.

Prominent Republicans gather to roast Barack Obama at the Conservative Political Action Conference

Most people enjoy Valentine's Day -- and choose to leave politics out of it.

While there are some who grumble it's a holiday made up by card companies and florists, a new Fox News poll finds most people like Valentine's Day.

Minnesota House Republicans introduced a bill Monday that would prevent cities, counties and other local governments from making laws related to immigration enforcement. St. Paul, Minneapolis and Worthington have ordinances on the books that direct city employees to check the immigration status of their residents only in certain instances and instead leave immigration enforcement to federal officials.

With more antiabortion allies, a push to cut spending and an undercover video of the organization, the GOP jumps at the chance to cut off its funding.

By Kathleen Hennessey

Republicans have a new idea: instead of wasting time protecting this planet, let's figure out how to escape it.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 10 (UPI) -- House Republicans are poised to extend the FBI's right to eavesdrop on terror suspects, two days after failing to get the two-thirds majority needed.

A fun nugget buried in this story about Rep. Ann Buerkle's (R-NY) first town hall meeting as an elected member of Congress. Constituents repeatedly asked a puzzled Buerkle about her health benefits. She couldn't figure out why. But her staff sure could.

Congressional advocates of suspending the Clean Air Act to block the Environmental Protection Agency from requiring reductions in carbon dioxide pollution either don't know or don't care that the public overwhelmingly opposes their efforts. What's worse is that they pretend that the public is on their side just because their big oil and other special interest pals are egging them on to stop EPA from protecting our families' health.

--Daniel J. Weiss

Republicans, ignoring what they said Democrats should have focused on when they ran the House (the economy), are busy trying to overturn a woman's right to choose.

One of the most curious arguments that Republicans made, and continue to make, against the Affordable Care Act is that it "cuts $500 billion dollars" from Medicare. It is curious that Republicans, so adamantly opposed to "government" health care and "socialized medicine," chose to "defend" the largest single payer health care system in the world.

The Republican Party, as a brand, is dead in California.

That's the eye-opening consensus of a crowd of political observers, lawmakers and strategists - Democrats and Republicans - gathered at a UC Berkeley symposium this weekend to mull over California's defiantly blue status in the wake of a conservative tide that swept the nation in November.

--Carla Marinucci,Joe Garofoli

In the last 24 hours, former U.S. House speaker Newt Gingrich has touched base with several prominent Republicans in his former home state, telling them that he intends to make a run for president in 2012 using Georgia as his base – and that he already has his eye on office space in Buckhead for a campaign headquarters.

With its highly touted author now chairing the House Budget Committee, you would think that the year-old Roadmap for America's Future would be on the lips of every leader of the GOP House majority.

--by Meteor Blades

State Sen. Bruce Tarr was elected Senate minority leader earlier this month, but he might as well have earned another title — lone juror.

Tarr leads a caucus of just four Republicans in the 40-member Senate, making him, more often than not, the dominant voice of the losing side.

Chris Cassidy

Democrats insist that Republicans refer to health care reform as job destroying, not job killing.

On this Martin Luther King Day, spare a thought for America's forgotten minority: Comfortable white conservatives

By Alex Pareene