From here on out, the Republican primary is a contest between insurgent, extremist Tea Party/Evangelicals and what remains of the party’s pragmatic corporatists. This division was evident in June, when Ralph Reed invited Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour to Washington to speak to the Faith & Freedom Coalition convention. In fact, the only “news” to report […]

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Bob Perry, as we and other news outlets reported, had contributed $11.5 million to the RGA, much of which was earmarked to be passed through to Rick Perry. After we went to press with our previous issue, a Bob Perry spokesperson told the Houston Chronicle that Bob Perry had been contributing to the RGA long […]

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The $27 billion equaled 15 percent of the $182 billion biennial budget the Legislature had passed two years earlier. If not Armageddon, an apocalyptic loss of revenue in a low-tax state that provides bare-bones public services. Perry’s statement was even more remarkable because most of the budget shortfall was a consequence of a business-tax bill […]

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A Bonus for Consumers “Wall Street bonuses in 2010 alone totaled $20.8 billion — more than 51 times the size of the C.F.P.B.’s budget cap.” —Elizabeth Warren in testimony before the House Financial Services Committee   THREE BILLS WORKING THEIR WAY THROUGH the House Financial Services Committee are precisely what most Republicans on the committee […]

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Limitless Greed “This estate tax proposal is emblematic of the limitless greed of the wealthy, but also that Republicans are so beholden to the wealthiest Americans that they would demand it.” —Rep. Jan Schakowsky “IT’S POPULAR TO SAY THAT SPENDING IS THE PROBLEM. But one can’t help noticing the irony of extending the ’01-’03 tax […]

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