Republicans Fiddle While Markets Burn

Stocks down more than 100 points
Can Boehner and Reid do it?
GOP wasting time with another balanced budget amendment push
Cantor’s cozy relationship with hedge funds and private equity firms troubling
Republicans flip-flopped on short-term deal
Republicans want election issue; Obama wants it solved…

Bunny Mellon On John Edwards: “You Know That John Had A Hard Time With Elizabeth”

The reclusive John Edwards financier and defender speaks out to Meryl Gordon of Newsweek.

Prosecutors have charged that she gave $725,000 to former presidential candidate John Edwards in 2007 and 2008, which he used to conceal his extramarital affair with Rielle Hunter and the existence of their child. Mellon has not been accused of wrongdoing…

Stressing that her sympathies have always been with Edwards rather than his wife, who died last year from cancer, she confides, “You know that John had a hard time with Elizabeth.” Mellon’s lawyer Alex Forger elaborates further on his client’s attitude: “She was not …

David Wu Won’t Step Down, But Won’t Run Again

Nancy Pelosi calls for ethics investigation on sex charges…

Bachmann Vs Pawlenty: It’s War

The two Minnesotans vying the the same nomination are getting personal. Pawlenty called Bachmann’s accomplishments “non-existent” a couple of weeks ago. Now it’s getting ugly.

[Sunday] Bachmann linked Pawlenty to President Barack Obama’s philosophy of proactive, aggressive government, which “has brought us record deficits, massive unemployment, and an unconstitutional health care plan.”

She also said Pawlenty left “a multi-billion-dollar budget mess in Minnesota.”

Pawlenty spokesman Alex Conant:

“…when Governor Pawlenty was scoring conservative victories to cut spending, pass market-based health care reform, and transform a supreme court from liberal to conservative, and was elected twice in a …

Eric Cantor Now Favors Short-Term Deal He Once Opposed

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor calls President Obama’s opposition to a short-term deal “purely political and indefensible.” But last month, Cantor insisted that we needed to make a longer-term deal.

“I don’t see how multiple votes on a debt ceiling increase can help get us to where we want to go,” the Virginia Republican told reporters. “It is my preference that we do this thing one time. … Putting off tough decisions is not what people want in this town.”

Cantor’s position seems to be based on Obama’s position. Whatever the president wants, Cantor wants the opposite.…

Markets Getting Nervous

Patience wears thin
Boehner says grand deal not possible, adding to volitility
Futures drop, gold up…

UK Enhancing Security At Mosques

It’s a reaction to the Norway attacks by a man who thinks Muslims are taking over Europe.

European government leaders may even be feeding fears of Islam through measures such as bans on face veils on the streets, aimed at appeasing a non-Muslim majority wary about the continent’s rising Muslim population.

Muslim leaders say it’s time for governments to wake up to the threat of anti-Islamic extremism and stop pandering to far right nationalist movements that have made inroads in politics from the Netherlands to Austria.…

Republicans: A Party Divided Over Debt Strategy

McConnell: Short-term deal ok; Cantor: not ok
Cantor: Obama’s actions “purely political and indefensible”
Boehner: Don’t let Obama divide us.”The White House has never gotten serious”…

GOP Governors Pay Price For Running Away From Voters

by Stuart Shapiro

Political scientists talk about the “median voter theorem” to explain why politicians that want to get reelected govern from the center of the electorate.  A bunch of GOP governors elected in 2010 are trying to defy the theorem by pursuing agendas that are extreme by the standards of their states.  Nate Silver explains the result.

So just a year ago, there were plenty of moderate Republican governors — most of them in liberal or moderate states, where they were often quite popular. Now there are almost none, save some borderline cases like Mr. Daniels and Mr. …

Straight Man Turned Away From Indiana Blood Center Because He “Looked Gay”

Submitted by ANDYBOYBLUE

Aaron Pace victim to 30-year policy that won’t let gay men donate–and he’s not gay…

Jane Fonda: “The Truth About My Trip To Hanoi”

In the wake of QVC’s canceling of Jane Fonda’s segment because of protests about her actions 40 years ago, Fonda has written about her trip to Hanoi.

…lies have circulated for almost 40 years, continually reopening the wound of the Vietnam War and causing pain to families of American servicemen. The lies distort the truth of why I went to North Vietnam and they perpetuate the myth that being anti-war means being anti-soldier.

Little known is the fact that almost 300 Americans – journalists, diplomats, peace activists, professors, religious leaders and Vietnam Veterans themselves – had been traveling to …