Dems Better Organized, Top Righties Say

Looked 'heartless' as Obama seized advantage: Charles Krauthammer

(NEWSER) - Republicans really blew it in the payroll tax debate—both in terms of policy and politics, writes Charles Krauthammer. For one thing, the two-month extension simply doesn't make sense: It requires businesses to plan for "two-thirds of a one-quarter tax-holiday extension." More importantly, for Democrats, it was "the perfect campaign ploy: an election-year bribe that has the additional virtue of seizing the tax issue for the Democrats," Krauthammer writes in the Washington Post . More»

Vocal minorities can temporarily sway the masses

(NEWSER) - Wondering about the future of the Tea Party, or what affect the Occupy Movement might have on Democrats? Try asking a bunch of fish. Scientists have found that in a school of fish, a "vocal minority"—that is, a group determined to swim in a certain direction—can entice a less-committed majority to follow. But when uncommitted fish are introduced, they tend to follow the majority. More»

Character flaws make former speaker the wrong choice for GOP

(NEWSER) - The Republican Party has reached an "uncharacteristic degree of unity" and is capable of taking control of the White House and both houses of Congress next year—but it could blow it all if it nominates Newt Gingrich, warns the National Review . An editorial in the influential conservative magazine makes the case against Gingrich, urging the GOP to "reject a hasty marriage" to the frontrunner and choose Mitt Romney, Jon Huntsman, or Rick Santorum instead. More»

Krugman: It's a 'disaster' for the country, and shows he'll surrender again

(NEWSER) - President Obama caved deeply in a debt deal that made the Republicans big winners, with both Andrew Leonard and Paul Krugman arguing that he "surrendered." Their take:

• “In the end, President Obama had to admit surrender,” writes Andrew Leonard in Salon , detailing “a smashing victory for the Tea Party and a crushing defeat for Democrats.” In Obama’s defense, he “had to choose between an awful deal or an outright catastrophe.” But he made a mistake in trying to sell it as a compromise. "The president said it was not 'the deal I would have preferred.' He should have said it's a bad deal that does not address the pressing needs of the nation," but one that he had no choice but to sign.

'Dysfunctional' party is pointing the nation toward something like Armageddon

(NEWSER) - One thing we’ve learned from the debt ceiling debate: Republicans are no longer behaving rationally. They’ve been revealed as a “dysfunctional” party “whose conservative wing is behaving less like a mainstream electoral force than an ultra-left sect being advised by a petulant 2-year-old,” writes Gary Younge in the Guardian . “It is simply not economically feasible to cut the US deficit without raising taxes.” More»