Author: Elspeth Reeve

Weiner Won't Get Women's Votes but He'll Take Their Money

Associated Press

Anthony Weiner is reportedly holding a fundraiser called "Women for Weiner" next week. And the politicians who really need "Women for…" groups are the ones who have women problems. And Anthony Weiner is one of those guys.

By Elspeth Reeve

May 16, 2013

The Conservative Crackdown on Tea Party Groups Vanished in the IRS Scandal

Prominent figures on the right are calling for harsh consequences for the IRS's inappropriate targeting of Tea Party groups — Michele Bachmann floated impeachment of President Obama on Thursday — but it's worth remembering that prominent figures on the right, like Erick Erickson just five weeks ago, wer insisting that some of these Tea Party groups get some extra scrutiny.

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By Elspeth Reeve

May 13, 2013

Stop Laughing at Newt Gingrich, He Knows the Future

Everyone's laughing at Newt Gingrich because he made a video saying he and his staff had puzzled for weeks that we don't have a new word for cell phones that do the Internet.

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By Elspeth Reeve

May 13, 2013

Obama Tells Harvey Weinstein, Justin Timberlake to Blame Rush Limbaugh

After admitting that his 2012 Republican "fever" theory was wrong, President Obama told donors like Jessica Biel, Justin Timberlake (who was wearing hipster glasses), and Tommy Hilfiger that Washington gridlock is pretty much Rush Limbaugh's fault on Monday evening at a fundraiser at Harvey Weinstein's house in New York's Greenwich Village.

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By Elspeth Reeve

May 13, 2013

Did Obama Cry for Benghazi? An Inquiry

President Obama answered a question about Benghazi during a press conference on Monday, and hi-def photos reveal that some moisture traveled from the president's eye area to his cheekbone in a thin stream. Was it a tear? It certainly looks like a tear. These images revealing Obama's epiphora raise new and troubling questions.

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By Elspeth Reeve

May 13, 2013

What's Next in the Benghazi 'Sideshow'?

On Monday, after Obama called the ongoing theories a "sideshow," Rush Limbaugh floated a different theory that would make Obama's actions much worse, if not quite so treasonous. Rush was not alone in his floating; so long as there is an attack's aftermath with which to create more aftermath, he never will be.

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By Elspeth Reeve

May 13, 2013

Jason Richwine Says He's No Racist, Has Tough Time Spotting Racism

Jason Richwine might have written that "No one knows whether Hispanics will ever reach IQ parity with whites," but he is not some kind of bigot, he says in his first interview since cutting ties with the Heritage Foundation.

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By Elspeth Reeve

May 13, 2013

D.C., We Finally Have a Scandal

The Obama administration was tediously, depressingly scandal-free for years. But the IRS targeting of Tea Party groups — which President Obama called "outrageous" on Monday — is enough for the various players in the capital's political-media complex to resume their usual roles for a performance of Wartergate-in-miniature.

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By Elspeth Reeve

May 10, 2013

Carney: 'We Did Not Hide' Role of Terrorism in Benghazi Talking Points

White House press secretary Jay Carney reaffirmed his previous statement that the only edits the White House made to the Benghazi talking points was "a matter of non-substantive factual correction."

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By Elspeth Reeve

May 10, 2013

What Benghazi Truthers Are Looking For

Truth has been the watchword of the Benghazi controversy. "The goal here is to get to the truth," said House Speaker John Boehner says. And the truth may indeed be out there, but where it lies depends on who you ask. 

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By Elspeth Reeve

May 9, 2013

It's the Little Things That Count for Paul Ryan

The revelation that Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan and White House chief of staff Dennis McDonough had a successful secret beer date might be cause to fundamentally rethink skepticism that dinner diplomacy could end Washington gridlock caused by Republicans and Democrats holding diametrically opposed positions.

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By Elspeth Reeve

May 8, 2013

The Heritage Foundation's Immigration Guru Wasn't Just Racist — He's Wrong

A co-author of the already controversial new Heritage Foundation study — the one that claims to show immigration reform will cost the U.S. $6.3 trillion dollars — wrote in 2009 that the government should grant immigrants visas based on IQ. And of course his idea that Latinos won't assimilate because they're doomed to low IQs for generations is offensive. But more importantly, his idea is wrong.

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By Elspeth Reeve

May 8, 2013

Mark Sanford's Scandal-Proof Formula: The Party Trumps the Sex, Every Time

The combination of Sanford's sex scandal and his opponent's relationship to a funny person wan't enough to overcome the fact that South Carolina's first congressional district is very Republican. The lesson, maybe even for Anthony Weiner: Don't have a sex scandal in a swing district. Just look at the math.

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By Elspeth Reeve and Philip Bump

May 7, 2013

Watch Delaware Join the Great American Wave of Gay Marriage Legalization

Delaware legalized gay marriage Tuesday afternoon, making it the 11th state to do so, and only days after Rhode Island did the same. Here's our updated GIF map showing that the pro-gay marriage wave has a long way to go to undo two anti-gay marriage waves ushered in by Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

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By Elspeth Reeve

May 7, 2013

The Military's Rape Problem Is a Lot Like Everyone's Rape Problem

There were 3,374 rapes in the military last year, a 6 percent increase, and an estimated 26,000 sexual assaults — news that comes from a Pentagon report released Tuesday, the day after news arrived from the Air Force that its officer in charge of sexual assault prevention office was charged with sexual assault. But there are really two problems here: rapists, and bringing rapists to justice.

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By Elspeth Reeve

May 7, 2013

The War on Free School Breakfast Is Beyond Wrong

One conservative pundit's case — there are no hungry kids in Los Angeles, because of webMD — would be more compelling if he applied it to the legions of business travelers at the continental trough at hotel chains across the country. But first, let's look at why Dennis Prager's case against breakfast doesn't work for poor school kids.

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By Elspeth Reeve

May 7, 2013

Chris Christie's Weight Loss Secret Is a 2016 Narrative Women Can Believe In

He's already lost 40 pounds after no-longer-secret lap-band stomach surgery, and it's perfectly timed for a presidential run. There will be the inevitable grand tale of the Incredible Shrinking Chris Christie — the humanizing interviews, the many side-by-side photos — and it will play into one of his recently acquired political strengths: women have started to like him.

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By Elspeth Reeve

May 6, 2013

The Air Force Sexual Assault Prevention Chief Arrested for Sexual Assault Looks Like He Got Beat to a Pulp for It

The officer in charge of the Air Force's sexual assault prevention office has been charged... with sexual assault, for allegedly grabbing a woman's breasts and butt in a parking lot. According to police, the woman fought him. And judging by the photo of his face, well, she beat him up.

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By Elspeth Reeve

May 6, 2013

The GOP's Big Gay Immigrant Dilemma

One important fight in this week's dizzying array of amendments to the bill is simply about extending current laws to gay people. "Guns, gays and immigration — it's too much," one senator reportedly told the White House. "I can be with you on one or two of them, but not all three." What about two in one bill? Does that have a better chance? Or a better chance to kill the whole thing?

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By Elspeth Reeve

May 6, 2013

Hackers Turned the NRCC Website into Spam for Viagra

People are so mean when Republicans try to highlight there are actual young people who like the GOP.

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By Elspeth Reeve

May 6, 2013

The Ghost of Sandra Fluke Is Haunting Rush Limbaugh's Mega-Deal

Rush Limbaugh enied that the advertiser boycott of his show after he called Fluke a slut would cost him anything, but a year later, it's clear that prediction wasn't true. It has, at the very least, cost him his relationship with the radio network giant Cumulus Media.

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By Elspeth Reeve

May 3, 2013

The NRA Convention Is Packed with Heat, Dip, and Sore Winners

The NRA just had an amazing victory in defeating a bill to require universal background checks on gun purchases — something it endorsed 15 years ago — and yet the speakers at its 142nd annual convention in Houston sounded awfully bitter. Here's how Rick Perry, Ted Cruz, Sarah Palin, and more defended freedom against those sissies in the White House.

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By Elspeth Reeve

May 3, 2013

The GOP-Fox News Benghazi Feedback Loop

Congressional Republicans have had little luck convincing anyone other than Fox News and its viewers that there's something scandalous about the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazie. But to keep the story's momentum going a feedback loop has emerged in which Fox reports something, the House holds hearings on it, and then Fox reports on those hearings.

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By Elspeth Reeve

May 3, 2013

Marco Rubio Won't Please Everyone, and Not Everyone in the GOP Is Very Pleased

Rubio's op-ed in today's Wall Street Journal says that while he'll listen to upset voters about immigration reform, there's only so much criticism from professional conservatives he'll put up with. There's plenty to go around.

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By Elspeth Reeve

May 2, 2013

Just Why Won't Obama Have a Drink with These People?

In a desperate attempt at virality, or perhaps simply to make their boss look cool by comparison, Sen. Mitch McConnell's campaign team has created a Tumblr in which McConnell fans send in their own photos of themselves drinking alone.

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By Elspeth Reeve

May 2, 2013

Penny Pritzker Is Obama's Mitt Romney

She promised to stay in the business world then, but here's how President Obama's kiss-worthy new Cabinet member-to-be now stacks up against his temporary worst enemy. Just count the dollar signs.

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By Elspeth Reeve

May 2, 2013

Karl Rove's Anti-Akin Strategy Is Really Full of Mini Todd Akins

Rove writes today that Republicans have an "outside chance" of winning a majority in the Senate in 2014, as long as they don't nominate awful candidates who "self-destruct" like Akin and Richard Mourdock did last year. Here's an analysis of some of the most promising seats for the GOP to pick up, with an analysis of their Akin potential.

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By Elspeth Reeve

May 2, 2013

Bringing Up the Boston Bombing Seems to Work for Opponents of Immigration

As several politicians and pundits using the Boston bombing as a cautionary tale about immigration, public support for immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants has dropped 7 percentage points in less than a month, according to a new poll from Quinnipiac University.

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By Elspeth Reeve

May 1, 2013

Don't Believe the 2014 Midterm Myths — Believe the Math

The conventional wisdom going into the midterm elections is that Obama fatigue puts Democrats in major trouble, but the historical evidence says otherwise.

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By Elspeth Reeve

May 1, 2013

The House and Senate Are on Different Planets on Immigration

One way to understand how hard it is for Republicans to agree amongst themselves on immigration reform is to look at what's controversial in the Senate — and compare all of that to what's controversial in the House. Because they are very, very different things.

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By Elspeth Reeve

May 1, 2013

Ted Cruz Could Be the Barry Goldwater of 2016 — Except Win!

The junior Senator from Texas is a man who clearly has tremendous confidence in his own abilities — he's publicly scolded fellow senators, he read Shakespeare during an anti-drone filibuster, and now he's reportedly thinking about a run for president. This has not made him many friends inside the Senate, but it has won him many, many fans outside of it.

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By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 30, 2013

Obama Is Maybe Kind of Thinking About Deciding to Arm the Syrian Rebels

The Obama administration is getting ready to send arms to Syrian rebels, The Washington Post's Karen DeYoung reports, by way of very convoluted descriptions from anonymous senior administration officials attempting to describe the Obama administration's thinking. Got that? Didn't think so. Here's a guide to where we're at — almost.

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By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 30, 2013

Lindsey Graham Is a Terrible Expert on Everything

Of the Senator's latest expert suggestions — that the Boston bombings and Benghazi showed a national security weakness — President Obama said, "No, Mr. Graham is not right on this issue, although I'm sure it generated some headlines." Wrong. What it generated was cable news hits for Graham. And the No. 1 thing Lindsey Graham is an expert on... is getting on TV.

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By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 30, 2013

Anthony Weiner Marvels at Himself

Not only is Weiner bragging about cashing in, he's bragging about how easy it was to cash in.

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By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 30, 2013

Big, Dumb Government: Why the GOP Is Winning the Sequester

Why hasn't the American public risen up in fury at Republicans over the sequester's annoyances and inconveniences, as President Obama had clearly hoped? Because the annoying things about the sequester perfectly play into the Republican talking point that government is dumb and wasteful and run by people with no common sense.

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By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 29, 2013

The Mock Congress Hearing on Aliens Is Heavy on Real-Life Mulders, Not Scullys

Six former members of Congress will hold a faux hearing this week on whether the American government has covered up evidence of the existence of aliens. This could have been fantastic, because aliens are cool, and because science says the idea of life on other planets is not crazy. But it should have come from people who actually care about science.

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By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 29, 2013

Would You Let This Man Buy You a Drink?

At the White House Correspondents' Dinner, President Obama joked: "Some folks still don't think I spend enough time with Congress. 'Why don't you get a drink with Mitch McConnell?' they ask… Really? Why don't you get a drink with Mitch McConnell?" It got a laugh. Today, McConnell has a snappy comeback.

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By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 29, 2013

Three Things the CIA Is Doing to Undermine American Values

No one is getting off the island during the Guantanamo hunger strike, where there aren't review boards. And did we mention the latest on drones and financing Afghan warlords? Here are a few core democratic principles the CIA is glossing over these days.

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By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 29, 2013

Obama Is Not the Reason There Aren't More High-Profile Black Politicians

Answers to a Politico story today amount to a polite way of noting that since Obama's election, the national conversation about race hasn't always been enlightening. But while racism among some people, particularly in the South, plays a role, there are other barriers keeping black politicians from winning statewide.

Comments

By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 26, 2013

Glenn Beck Glad He Escaped Fox News Before He Got 'Too Enamored'

It's generally understood that in the Fox News and Glenn Beck breakup, Fox was the dumper and Beck the dumpee. But, in most breakups where the couple shares a social circle, neither party wants a reputation as the dumpee. Beck says he's the one who wanted to leave — because the network was so depressing so amazing.

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By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 26, 2013

Since When Is Anyone Being Nice About the (Alleged) Boston Bombers?

You might have watched the first riveting week of the Boston bombing news coverage and thought people needed to calm down a little bit. But now, after a second week with few public answers and a brand-new federal prosecution, it turns out we've been too restrained, apparently.

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By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 26, 2013

What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Abortion Right Now

As president Obama spoke to Planned Parenthood on Friday, Fox News aired footage of the Kermit Gosnell trial. The coverage is a perfect representation of the split in the abortion debate: on one side, a triumphant march of progress for women, and on the other side, a fixation on late-term abortion nationally. Less covered is how some states are working to stop all abortions.

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By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 26, 2013

Washington: More Incestuous Than Ever — and Proud of It!

Politico gives the big "Behind the Curtain" splash today to a shameless embrace of shameless DC navel-gazing, and just in time for the White House Correspondents' Dinner, the annual peak of media loathing. So who's really the most incestuous here?

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By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 25, 2013

Frank Luntz's Secret Tape Reveals the Right-Wing Media's True Cruise Control

We've gotten so used to the idea that conservative media parrot official Republican Party talking points that even Luntz — king of the on-air focus group, prompter of Fox News teleprompters — is surprised when they fail to do so.

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By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 25, 2013

The Tsarnaevs Are the New Welfare Queens

Rush Limbaugh has struggled mightily to come to grips with why Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev bombed the Boston marathon. Now he and others are reminding us that the Tsarnaevs were possibly aided by the thing liberals apparently love most of all — the bloated welfare state.

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