Kevin Drum, Mother Jones
Earlier today, I argued that contrary to popular opinion, John Boehner has not agreed to raise more revenue as part of a deficit reduction plan. He's rather vaguely said he might agree to this, but he's steadfastly declined to produce any details. "I'll believe Boehner is serious," I said, "as soon as an actual proposal is on the table and both Eric Cantor and Paul Ryan say they've signed onto it."Well, good news! Today Boehner wrote a three-page letter to President Obama outlining his proposal. And it was signed by, among others, Eric Cantor and Paul...

Roger Ailes, the longtime Republican media guru, founder of Fox News and its current chairman, had some advice last year for then-Gen. David H. Petraeus.

So in spring 2011, Ailes asked a Fox News analyst headed to Afghanistan to pass on his thoughts to Petraeus, who was then the commander of U.S. and coalition forces there. Petraeus, Ailes advised, should turn down an expected offer from President Obama to become CIA director and accept nothing less than the chairmanship of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the top military post. If Obama did not offer the Joint Chiefs post, Petraeus should resign from the military and run for president, Ailes suggested.

WASHINGTON — Republicans have to stop using "political math" and say how much they are willing to raise tax rates on the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans and then specify the spending cuts they want, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said in an interview that aired Sunday.

Just four weeks from the proverbial "fiscal cliff," House Speaker John Boehner countered that Republicans have a plan for providing as much as $800 billion in new government revenue over the next decade and would consider the elimination of tax deductions on high-income earners. But when pressed on "Fox News Sunday" for precise details, the Ohio Republican declined to say.

There are "a lot of options in terms of how to get there," Boehner said.

Both Boehner's and Geithner's latest remarks indicate it could be some time before serious negotiations begin between the White House and Republicans on how to avert economic calamity expected in less than a month when President George W. Bush-era tax cuts expire and automatic, across-the-board spending cuts kick in.

Last week, the White House delivered to Capitol Hill its opening plan: $1.6 trillion in higher taxes over a decade, hundreds of billions of dollars in new spending, a possible extension of the temporary Social Security payroll tax cut and enhancing the president's power to raise the national debt limit.

In exchange, the president would back $600 billion in spending cuts, including $350 billion from Medicare and other health programs. But he also wants $200 billion in new spending for jobless benefits, public works projects and aid for struggling homeowners. His proposal for raising the ceiling on government borrowing would make it virtually impossible for Congress to block him.

Republicans said they responded in closed-door meetings with laughter and disbelief.

"I was just flabbergasted," Boehner said. "I looked at him (Geithner) and I said, `You can't be serious.'" Boehner described negotiations as going "nowhere, period," and said "there's clearly a chance" the nation will go over the cliff.

Geithner, the administration's point man for negotiations, was slightly more optimistic while saying the ball was in Boehner's court. But the treasury secretary also said he didn't expect a counteroffer right away, as Republicans work to sort out tensions within the party in the wake of bruising national elections that left Democrats in charge of the White House and the Senate.

Boehner acknowledged in his interview, aired Sunday, that he wasn't happy with public remarks by Republican Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma, who said he was ready to go along with Obama's plan to renew expiring income tax cuts for the majority of Americans and negotiate the rates on top earners later.

"They're trying to figure out where they go next," Geithner said of Republicans, "and we might need to give them a little time to figure out where they go next."

He called the back-and-forth "normal political theater," saying all that's blocking a timely deal is the GOP's reluctance to accept higher tax rates on the wealthy.

"It's welcome that they're recognizing that revenues are going to have to go up. But they haven't told us anything about how far rates should go up ... (and) who should pay higher taxes," Geithner said.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said Sunday that she will try to force a vote on the Senate-passed bill favored by Democrats to avert a fiscal cliff. But she was unlikely to line up enough Republicans to succeed.

Republican leaders have said they accept higher tax revenue overall, but only through what they call tax reform — closing loopholes and limiting deductions — and only coupled with tough measures to curb the explosive growth of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

"If we gave the president $1.6 trillion of new money, what do you think he'd do with it?" asked Boehner. "He's going to spend it. It's what Washington does."

Cole didn't back down Sunday on his earlier comments that Republicans should agree to Obama's plan for continuing Bush's tax rates for middle-class America and focus the negotiations on the other issues. Doing so, he said, would make the GOP position even stronger.

"The reality is, nobody can look at this budget and think if you don't reform entitlements you can balance it. You can give the president every tax increase he's asked for, you'd still be in the hole," he said.

Geithner appeared on CBS' "Face the Nation," NBC's "Meet the Press," CNN's "State of the Union," ABC's "This Week" and "Fox News Sunday." Cole appeared on ABC "This Week."

___

Associated Press writers Mark S. Smith in Washington and Erik Schelzig in Nashville, Tenn., contributed to this report.

Gary Younge, The Guardian
Turn autoplay offTurn autoplay onPlease activate cookies in order to turn autoplay offDefeat has shattered the US right's impenetrable front on tax and healthcare. The party's pragmatists are finding their voiceDick Morris's twitter feed on election night was a thing to behold. The day before the presidential election Morris, a rightwing pollster, analyst and Bill Clinton adviser, told Fox News: "Romney will win by a very large margin. A landslide, if you will... I think he'll get 325 electoral votes." (Romney lost with 206.) A week earlier he said his...

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said on Sunday that Republicans are nowhere near reaching a deal with the White House to avoid going over the "fiscal cliff" at the end of the year.

"Right now, I would say we're nowhere, period. We're nowhere," he told Fox News' Chris Wallace.

Boehner said he was shocked by what he called the "nonserious" budget proposal Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner presented him on Thursday, which calls for $1.6 trillion in tax increases for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans and $80 billion in new spending. “I was just flabbergasted,” he said. “I looked at him and I said, 'You can't be serious.' I've just never seen anything like it. You know, we've got several weeks between Election Day and the end of the year, and three of those weeks have been wasted with this nonsense.”

The expiration of the Bush-era tax cuts and automatic spending cuts that are set to go into effect early next year could be devastating for the economy and potentially spark another recession. The Obama administration is proposing to avoid that cliff by extending unemployment benefits and middle class tax cuts, setting tax rates for the wealthiest Americans back up to Clinton-era levels, investing in infrastructure and end the Afghanistan war in order to stimulate the economy and balancing the budget. Republicans have scoffed at President Barack Obama's plan, arguing that it spends more than it saves. But Republicans so far have not put forth any specifics about which spending cuts they would make to balance the budget.

"The ball really is with them now," Geithner told Wallace on Sunday. "They're in a hard place. And they're having a tough time trying to figure out what they can do, what they can get support from their members for. That's understandable. This is very difficult for them. And we might need to give them a little more time to figure out where they go next."

Boehner said there are specific tax loopholes that he would like to eliminate for the wealthy instead of raising taxes on them. But when Wallace asked him repeatedly for specifics, Boehner avoided answering the question. "Listen, there are a lot of options in terms of how to get there," he said. "I'm not going to debate this or negotiate this with you. But if you could sign the bill into law, I'd be happy to."

Boehner said when he saw the election results in November, he conceded that he and the Republicans would have to be willing to allow some tax increases for wealthy Americans in conjunction with deep spending cuts on entitlement programs. But the president, he said, is being a bully on cliff negotiations. "I think when they won the election, they must have forgotten that Republicans continue to hold a majority in the House," he said. "The president's idea of a negotiation is 'roll over and do what I ask.'"

Both Geithner and Boehner said on Sunday that the possibility of going over the fiscal cliff is very real, but that the ball is in the other party's hands.

If you don't think it is, then how in the devil did the Republicans manage to persuade the Democrats that Social Security is! If you want to know what the 'Real Entitlements' are, read Carl Gibson's November 30th perspective in Reader Supported News: "Why Democrats Should Embrace 'Entitlement Reform.'"

Three Presidents:

"I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country... corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed." -- Abraham Lincoln

"It is not a partisan issue; it is more than a political issue; it is a great moral issue. If we condone political theft, if we do not resent the kinds of wrong and injustice that injuriously affect the whole nation, not merely our democratic form of government but our civilization cannot endure." -- Teddy Roosevelt and the extreme Right's robbery of the public trust!

"The first truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in essence, is fascism -- ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power." -- Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Bernard Goldberg, IBD
Those old, angry, white Republican guys are at it again. They just can't control their worst instincts. They see a black face and they go nuts.Now they're going after U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, not because she went on five Sunday news shows and told a fairy tale about why four Americans were killed in Benghazi, but simply because she's a black woman.

Conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer drew a curious comparison on Fox News Thursday evening between Washington's fiscal cliff standoff and the Civil War.

During a panel appearance on "Special Report" with Bret Baier, Krauthammer compared the White House's opening proposal in the fiscal cliff negotiations to the surrender terms offered General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House to conclude the Civil War.

Said Krauthammer:

It's not just a bad deal, this is really an insulting deal... Robert E. Lee was offered easier terms at Appomattox and he lost the Civil War. The Democrats won by 3% of the vote and they did not hold the House. Republicans won the House. So this is not exactly unconditional surrender, but that's what the administration is asking of Republicans.

There not only are no cuts in this, there's an increase in new spending with a stimulus - this is almost unheard of. I mean, what do they expect? They obviously expect the Republicans will cave on everything. I think Republican ought to simply walk away.

The actual offer, as explained by the Huffington Post's Ryan Grim, is as follows:

The proposal is based on a two-step plan that would decouple the high-end tax and capital gains rates from the middle-class rates, extending only those for the middle class. It would revert estate taxes to their higher 2009 level, and raise an additional $600 billion in taxes elsewhere, according to the GOP summary. It then proposes tax reform required to raise at least as much as the tax hikes, and entitlement reform that would trim $400 billion from the programs.

Members of Congress and the White House are currently engaged in the first stages of negotiations to avoid a combination of tax increases and spending cuts -- the former through the expiration of the Bush tax cuts, and the latter as mandated by last summer's debt ceiling deal -- that would take effect at the end of 2012.

Jeffrey Goldberg, Bloomberg
By Akiva HamiltonBy Christopher FordSign up for our daily newsletter and receive the latest news, analysis and videos in your inbox!By Daniel McGroartyBy Will Marshall

Peter Kirsanow, NRO
Today’s Questions for the President: Benghazi EditionAlthough the press displayed its usual tenacity during the recent presidential news conference, it may nonetheless benefit from a review of some of the more basic questions about the Benghazi controversy Next time, perhaps members of the press might ask more than one question about the matter (congressional staffers are welcome to use the following as a starting point).Failure to Secure the Consulate Prior to 9/11/12Why were several requests for enhanced security prior to the attack on the U.S. consulate...

Brian Montopoli, CBS News
United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice will meet with senators on Capitol Hill Tuesday to answer questions about the Sept. 11 attack in Benghazi, Libya. CBS News has learned her appearance will include a morning meeting with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who has been among her biggest critics since her initial remarks on the attack.Rice has come under fire from Republicans for her initial account of the attack five days after it took place, when she suggested that there was no evidence the incident was an act of terrorism. On CBS News' "Face the Nation," in one example, she said the...

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Tom Ricks clashed once again with Fox News.

When the network hosted him on Monday for an interview abou this new book "The Generals," host Jon Scott asked the author to weigh in on the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.

Ricks said that he thought the incident had been "generally hyped by [Fox News] especially." He added, "I think the emphasis on Benghazi has been extremely political, partly because Fox is operating as the wing of the Republican Party."

At this point, Scott ended the interview with Ricks after about 90 seconds. Ricks said he thought the interview lasted about half the length as originally planned. He also said that a Fox News staffer called him rude after the segment.

Ricks and Fox News are still feuding. Fox News' executive vp of news editorial Michael Clemente told the Hollywood Reporter that Ricks "apologized in our offices afterward but doesn’t have the strength of character to do that publicly."

Ricks denied an apology ever took place. In an email to the Hollywood Reporter, Ricks wrote, "Please ask Mr. Clemente what the words of my supposed apology were. I'd be interested to know. Frankly, I don't remember any such apology."

Donald Trump's children intervened with their father's bashing of President Obama ahead of the November election, the New York Daily News reported on Saturday.

The very outspoken birther and "Celebrity Apprentice" host took to his Twitter account and seemingly fancy HD YouTube videos to viciously attack the president. After Obama won reelection on November 6, Trump called the election "a total sham and a travesty." He also suggested that a revolution should occur. He later deleted those tweets. Trump later deleted a number of his incendiary tweets.

According to a New York Daily News source, Trump's three eldest children, Eric, Donald Jr. and Ivanka, held a meeting with their father at his Fifth Avenue offices in mid-October. "They showed a lot of respect, but told him he’s worked too long and too hard to build up the reputation he has. They understand completely he’s always been outspoken and that he likes attention, but this is too much," the source told the New York Daily News.

Trump's rep denied the meeting ever took place. After the election and Trump's Twitter rant, even Barbara Walters took a moment to intervene. "Donald, you're making a fool of yourself. You're not hurting Obama, you're hurting Donald and that hurts me because you're a decent man. Stop it. Get off it, Donald," she harshly said.

While it seems as though Trump considers Obama his number one foe, the "Celebrity Apprentice" host has also publicly feuded with Rosie O'Donnell (though he did tweet her well wishes after her heart attack), Lawrence O'Donnell, Star Jones and Cher. Last week, Wendy Williams and Bravo's Andy Cohen reenacted Trump's Twitter feuds in appropriate wig attire.

NBC News stopped Chelsea Clinton from appearing in an ad supporting same-sex marriage during the 2012 campaign, BuzzFeed reported on Thursday.

In August, Clinton told Vogue magazine that she is ready to embrace the more political aspects of her life, but her status as a "special correspondent" for NBC News appears to be getting in the way. Clinton has been on the NBC payroll since November 2011, working as a special correspondent. Though she has filed very few reports for the network, NBC has reportedly prevented her from making a series of political moves during the past year. In October, the New York Post claimed that Clinton had been virtually absent from the 2012 campaign trail because of her NBC job.

BuzzFeed wrote that Clinton had cut a series of web videos in support of a marriage equality referendum in Washington state, but that NBC "scuttled" the ads.

Read the full report here.

Ana Marie Cox, The Guardian
Republicans' belief in the feel-good Fox News fantasies of what "real America" wanted and believed helped them lose the election. Would Romney have lost if his base didn't stubbornly insist that polls were rigged, that almost half the country was looking for a handout (and the other half was angry about it), and that government exists only to coddle or sabotage (not so much the "Nanny state" as Mommie Dearest)? The "conservative entertainment complex", as columnist David Frum put it, promulgated a view of the American electorate that wasn't just...

Joan Walsh, Salon
Go to home page Topics: Dana Milbank, Maureen Dowd, Susan Rice, News, Politics News U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice isn’t just facing down right-wing GOP attacks these days, she’s taking incoming fire from pundits widely perceived as liberal. Maureen Dowd went all in on Rice in a nasty column Sunday, while the Washington Post’s Dana Milbank termed Rice...

Margaret Brennan, CBS News
(CBS News) WASHINGTON - CBS News has learned that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) cut specific references to "al Qaeda" and "terrorism" from the unclassified talking points given to Ambassador Susan Rice on the Benghazi consulate attack - with the agreement of the CIA and FBI. The White House or State Department did not make those changes.There has been considerable discussion about who made the changes to the talking points that Rice stuck to in her television appearances on Sept. 16 (video), five days after the attack that killed American...

Attorney General Eric Holder is reportedly staying on for an unspecified time beyond President Barack Obama's first term, according to Fox News.

The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that Holder had accepted President Barack Obama's request to stay on, but the timeline had yet to be settled. The New York Post reported on Nov. 13 that Holder would stay on.

Holder told an audience at the University of Baltimore on Nov. 8 that he was still sorting out if he would stay on. He said, speaking of his thought process, "Do I think that there are things that I still want to do? Do I have some gas left in the tank?"

The GOP-controlled House charged Holder with Contempt of Congress over the "Fast And Furious" gun-running scandal in July. The Justice Department did not pursue charges.

The Justice Department did not immediately return a request for comment.

BY MICHELE SALCEDO, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON (AP) — Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal says the Republican Party needs to go back to basics to attract the broad coalition of voters credited with putting President Barack Obama back in the White House.

Kindergarten basics.

"If we want people to like us, we have to like them first," Jindal said on Fox News Sunday.

Former Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez has a more nuts-and-bolts approach to bringing in some of the largest and fastest growing groups of Americans: He's forming a super PAC to support Republican candidates who back comprehensive immigration reform, including legalizing the status of an estimated 11 million immigrants in the U.S. without authorization.

The 2012 elections drove home trends that have been embedded for years in the fine print of birth and death rates, immigration statistics and census charts. Nonwhites made up 28 percent of the electorate this year, compared with 20 percent in 2000, with Hispanics comprising much of that growth. Obama captured a commanding 80 percent of the growing ranks of nonwhite voters in 2012, just as he did in 2008. Republican Mitt Romney won 59 percent of non-Hispanic whites, and although he dominated among white men — outperforming 2008 nominee John McCain among that group — he couldn't win.

Republicans have spent much of the time since the election wrestling with ways to appeal beyond their base of white men and married women. Nonetheless, in a conference call to big donors last week, Romney credited Obama's win to "extraordinary financial gifts from government" he said the president gave groups in his base coalition: Latinos, African-Americans and young people.

Both Jindal and Gutierrez backed Romney's bid for the White House, but distanced themselves from his post-election comments.

Jindal, the incoming chair of the Republican Governors Association and a potential presidential candidate in 2016, on Sunday said slighting people simply isn't good politics.

"You don't start to like people by insulting them and saying their votes were bought. We are an aspirational party," he said.

Jindal said the Republican Party needs to convince voters it is the party of the middle class and upward mobility. Its conservative principles "are good for every single voter" and it "has to campaign for every single vote," he added.

"We also don't need to be saying stupid things," Jindal said, referring to GOP Senate candidates in Missouri and Indiana who lost their races after comments about rape that were widely criticized.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, the GOP group's incoming vice chair, said also on Fox News Sunday that governors are key to bringing a diversity of voters to the GOP. Thirty states have elected Republican governors, an indication that "the trust factor is there."

"We've got a message that works for young people, that works for people who come to our country from other countries, and, basically for anyone who wants to live their piece of the American dream," Walker said. "I think that starts with our governors as great messengers."

Gutierrez, who served under President George W. Bush, said the country cannot grow without immigrants and the Republican Party is a natural home for them.

"We are the party of prosperity, of growth, of tolerance," Gutierrez said in remarks taped Friday for CNN's "State of the Union." ''These immigrants who come across, and what they do wrong is risk their lives, and they come here and they work because they want to be part of the American dream. That is what the GOP is."

Gutierrez said he is working with Charlie Spies, who created the largest super PAC supporting Mitt Romney, Restore Our Future, on a super PAC to back candidates that support "a path, a process for legalization of workers who are here undocumented."

"First they have to be legalized," Gutierrez said. "Then you have to find a way to get into a line for the green card. ... There will be requirements. And we'll have to negotiate some sort of requirements."

Gutierrez said Republicans for Immigration Reform is about people from all over the world, including Hispanics, Asians, West Africans and Ethiopians.

"If we get this right... the 21st century is ours," Gutierrez said, referring to the GOP. "If we get it wrong, shame on us."

* Jindal, Walker, Graham aim to broaden party's appeal

* Republicans must stop insulting voters, Jindal says

WASHINGTON, Nov 18 (Reuters) - The Republican Party needs to stop insulting voters and broaden its appeal after Democratic President Barack Obama won re-election this month over Mitt Romney with overwhelming support from Hispanics, blacks and single women, top Republicans said on Sunday.

Comments made by two leading Republican governors and an influential U.S. senator on Sunday reflected the soul-searching taking place in the party after Obama's victory over Republican challenger Romney on Nov. 6.

"If we want people to like us, we have to like them first. And you don't start to like people by insulting them and saying their votes were bought," Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, chairman of the Republican Governors Association, told the "Fox News Sunday" program.

Jindal and some other Republicans rejected Romney's remarks last week blaming his election loss on what he called an Obama strategy of giving "gifts" to blacks, Hispanics and young voters - groups instrumental to his re-election victory.

These "gifts" cited by Romney included passage of Obama's signature healthcare law, support for contraceptive coverage in medical insurance, and a policy change relaxing U.S. deportation rules so that many young illegal immigrants who came to the United States as children can stay in the country and work.

Romney's remarks were made in a telephone call to supporters that news organizations heard.

"We are in a big hole," Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told NBC's "Meet the Press" program. "We are not getting out of it by comments like that (by Romney). When you're in a hole, stop digging. He keeps digging."


'DEATH SPIRAL'

Graham, who has taken part in a bipartisan effort to fashion immigration reform legislation, said the Republican Party is "in a death spiral with Hispanic voters."

Republicans in recent years have taken a hard line against the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants living in the United States, most of whom are Hispanic. During the campaign, Romney called for "self-deportation" of illegal immigrants.

Obama also was able to score points during the campaign by criticizing congressional Republican refusal to support higher taxes on the wealthiest Americans as part of a deficit-cutting plan. During the campaign, Romney was caught on videotape saying that 47 percent of Americans are "victims" who depend on government and do not pay federal income taxes.

Graham said that most Americans who receive public assistance do not have a character flaw but may have a tough life. He said the focus should be on how to create more jobs, not demonize people who find themselves having hard times.

Jindal said: "We need to make it very clear - we're not the party trying to protect the rich. They can protect themselves. We are the party that wants growth, pro-growth policies."

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, vice chairman of the Republican Governors Association, also called for a more inclusive message from Republicans.

"We've got a message that works for young people, that works for people who come to our country from other countries, and basically for anyone who wants to live their piece of the American dream," Walker told "Fox News Sunday."

"We have to show that we are serious about reaching out and helping everyone, not just a group here, not just a group there," Walker added.

Asked about why about two-thirds of unmarried women voters flocked to Obama, Jindal alluded to comments by Republican senate candidates in Indiana and Missouri who called pregnancy from rape something God intended and that women's bodies can ward off pregnancy after "legitimate rape."

Jindal, who opposes abortion, said: "I'm pro-life. I follow the teachings of my church and my faith." But he said Republicans should respect people who disagree on abortion.

"We don't need to demonize - and we also don't need to be saying stupid things," Jindal added.

The vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee said on Sunday that U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice will have to testify before Congress about the attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, which killed four Americans in September.

“She’s going to have to come in and testify at some point, whether it’s in a closed hearing or an open hearing,” Sen. Saxby Chambliss, (R-Ga.) said on “Fox News Sunday.”

Rice has been harshly rebuked by Republican senators for initially saying that the assault at the U.S. mission in Libya was part of an anti-Islam film protest. The attack was later determined to be a terrorist attack.

Former CIA Director David Petraeus told lawmakers on Friday that there had never been any confusion over whether the assault on the mission was a terrorist attack. "He's always been very straightforward," said Chambliss of Petraeus during the Fox show on Sunday. "He was straightforward on Friday."

While Chambliss said he would have to discuss any potential appearance from Rice with the panel's chairwoman Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), he stood firm in his assertion that Rice needs to come and speak before Congress.

"I think she's agreed to come testify, and she needs to," he said.

"SNL" took several different swipes at the Petraeus scandal on Saturday's Jeremy Renner-helmed episode, including spoofing Paula Broadstone in the cold open, and Seth Meyer's winners and losers segment on Weekend Update.

But the ensemble reserved a heavy does of snark for CNN's coverage of the scandal as well, mocking "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer." The sketch sees Jason Sudeikis as Blitzer, showing the same footage of Jill Kelley leaving her apartment over and over again, as he struggles to report breaking news that isn't quite breaking.

Video will be embedded as soon as it's available.

Jennifer Rubin, Wash Post
Nov 16, 2012 05:06 PM EST This post has been updated. Sometimes a dastardly conspiracy is just a dastardly conspiracy. Indeed the Benghazi episode, at least the response to the attack, is beginning to look more and more like the work of a partisan cabal afraid of upsetting the president’s reelection prospects, exactly as conservative critics have been saying for two months.House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) is providing a glimpse of what occurred in hearings today in which former CIA director David Petraeus testified: Fox News reports:Watergate had...

Mickey Kaus, The Daily Caller
Let your friends help you discover the best news, features and videos on TheDC. Publish what you read and maintain full control.We’ll dilute our way out of it! Republicans did poorly among Hispanics last week. How to address that problem? The answer, they’re told by Washington savants, is to back an immigration reform that … increases the number of Hispanics! It’s a plan so crazy it just might be crazy.