Democrats

The Democratic incumbent is looking vulnerable in Missouri

Looking ahead to 2020.

Cutting off funding for Senate candidates and elevating Michael Avenatti are just two examples.

An ugly, dishonest and ever-changing attack on Brett Kavanaugh and the nomination process.

The anti-immigration nationalists come up short.

It’s a party of scoundrels and ideologues.

Woke emotionalism is not a substitute for sober policy debate.

How the Trump era has inspired women—mostly Democrats—to run for office.

Politics is rarely edifying, much less elegant. And the mayhem over President Trump’s comments after meeting with Vladimir Putin and the response of his adversaries is an example of just how bad politics can get.

Today on the Daily Standard Podcast, Chris Deaton and Ethan Epstein join host Charlie Sykes to discuss what's next for the Democratic party now that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez may represent its future, as well as President Trump's relationship with three very different men: Kim Jong un, Vladimir…

Lawmakers lay out a list of demands to President Trump ahead of planned summit.

Will we witness the strange death of conservative—or liberal—America?

Allies, committed to deal and looking to preserve economic benefits to Tehran, risk U.S. sanctions

What you should know about discharge petitions and the 'Queen of the Hill' rule.

It doesn’t look that way.

A new book recently caught our attention: It's Time to Fight Dirty: How Democrats Can Build a Lasting Majority in American Politics by David Faris, an associate professor of political science at Roosevelt University in Chicago. We weren't aware that Democrats needed the advice of the title, having…

On Tuesday, Mississippi Democratic Senate candidate Mike Espy's campaign released an internal poll showing him in the lead in Mississippi's upcoming Senate election. The headline might sound like good news for Democrats—every candidate obviously prefers to be ahead, and Mississippi is extremely…

President Trump traveled to Ohio Thursday to give what was supposed to be a speech touting his administration's infrastructure plan, as the White House attempts this week to refocus on infrastructure for the umpteenth time since Trump's inauguration. But that effort ran aground Thursday for the…

Congressman Dan Lipinski beat back a primary challenge Tuesday night from liberal activists who targeted the Illinois Democrat mainly because of his anti-abortion views and votes.

Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee said Monday that they did not find any evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Kremlin in a more than yearlong probe of 2016 Russian election interference.

State legislative elections are easily overlooked, but they can carry enormous consequences for policy and politics, even on the national level. Democrats were reminded of this truth the hard way in 2010, when Republicans took control of state governments across the country amid the Tea Party wave.…

“The powerful Jews are my enemy,” remarked Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan at his organization’s annual “Saviours’ Day” celebration in Chicago in late February. That was just one of several choice anti-semitic tropes. Another one, oddly stated in the third person: “The FBI has been the worst…

No president has been so consistently unpopular so early in his term as Donald Trump. Though there are three years left to improve them, these weak numbers are a bad sign for his reelection prospects. The political betting marketplace PredictIt gives him just 1-in-3 odds of winning in 2020.

For decades, Republicans have been stuck with the epithet “the stupid party,” and they’ve often deserved it. But there’s been a switch in the Trump era. Democrats now are the stupid party.

On election night 2016, political activist Jess Self wasn’t in much of a partying mood. She’d just spent four days knocking on doors in neighboring Nevada. Her efforts helped elect a Democratic U.S. senator and representative and pass two controversial ballot measures.

Top Democratic leaders are calling to provide the FBI and Department of Homeland Security with hefty funding boosts to expose and counter Russian election interference ahead of the 2018 midterm elections.

In the wake of the Florida school massacre that left 17 innocents dead, there’s been a push to renew the Assault Weapons Ban. “Courage and conviction led to an assault weapons ban once before. Let’s do it again,” tweeted Bill Clinton, who signed the Assault Weapons Ban into law in 1994. The federal…

When is Texas going to turn blue?

Lawmakers in the Senate are expected to pass a bipartisan two-year budget deal ahead of a midnight government shutdown deadline when it comes to a vote Thursday evening, leaving the ball in the House’s court.

During his first state of the union address Tuesday night, President Donald Trump repeatedly called for bipartisanship, painted hopeful images, and told inspiring stories about guests in the crowd. But a year’s worth of partisan battles cut through the president’s optimistic rhetoric.

In the spring of 2017, the Democratic party kicked off a debate about whether pro-life Democratic candidates should be tolerated anywhere in the country. The controversy began in the middle of middle America: Bernie Sanders and Democratic National Committee chairman Tom Perez attended a “unity…

The basic math of the 2018 Senate elections shows a challenge for Democrats. In order to win control of the upper chamber, the party need to successfully defend all 26 of its seats up for election (some of which are in highly red states like Missouri, Indiana, North Dakota, West Virginia, and…

Congress has just two weeks to come to a consensus on how to codify protections for the Dreamers—roughly 700,000 unauthorized immigrants who were brought to the United States as children—before government funding runs out February 8, or risk another shutdown scenario.

A short-term funding bill to end a three-day government shutdown passed the House Monday evening after getting a thumbs-up from the Senate earlier in the day.

Lawmakers in the Senate reached an agreement to end the government shutdown Monday afternoon, but congressional Democrats who voted down a spending bill that would have kept the government open on Friday because it did not include a replacement for the expiring Deferred Action for Childhood…

Donald Trump is historically unpopular. At the end of 2017, the three major polling aggregators—the Huffington Post Pollster, Real Clear Politics, and FiveThirtyEight—put his approval rating at 40.4, 40, and 37.9 percent respectively. According to FiveThirtyEight’s historical averages, this is the…

Pave Breezewood. I'm back from my trip to Cleveland (where I covered the Browns #PerfectSeasonParade), and as is tradition, I had to drive through the godforsaken town of Breezewood, Pennsylvania. Over at the Examiner, Salena Zito has an appreciation of the place. One thing's for sure, having…

Think you have heard the last of the Republican tax plan that now seems certain to become law? Think again.

This post had been updated.

How will tax reform impact you? It hasn't passed just yet, but it just might! The New York Times has a basic calculator worth checking out. And Maxim Lott has one that's a little more advanced. Neither are perfect, but worth examining to get a broad sense of how the tax reform bill might benefit or…

In the wake of Democrat Doug Jones’s surprise win over Republican Roy Moore in the Alabama special election to replace Jeff Sessions in the Senate, pundits and prognosticators were scrambling to make sense of the new political landscape. The verdict was almost all bad for the Republican party.

There are plenty of understandable objections to the tax bill sailing through Congress. Some people think it will increase the deficit. Others cry foul that it is being rushed through without sufficient deliberation. And there are those who like big government and frankly oppose the idea of letting…

Minnesota Sen. Al Franken announced Thursday morning that he would resign from the Senate amid allegations that he forcibly kissed or groped several different women. Franken’s resignation would trigger a special election for the seat in the 2018 midterms and allow Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton to…

Democratic lawmakers are at odds about whether the president should declare Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, a recognition he is expected to make Wednesday.

Longtime congressman and civil rights icon John Conyers is under fire for a previously undisclosed settlement with a former staffer who claimed she was fired for rejecting Conyers's sexual advances. Buzzfeed broke the story that after the woman was fired in 2014, she filed a complaint with…

To those feverishly speculating, whether in glee or in terror, that the election results in Virginia and New Jersey portend loss of GOP control of the House of Representatives in midterm elections a year from now, I ask this question: What difference does that prospect make not as of January 2019…

I was in New England for a few days last week and found myself at breakfast one morning with a group of Armenian academics, born in Lebanon but now settled permanently in and around Boston. By any measure, they were a distinguished group—historians, physicians, political scientists—and for them, of…

(This post has been updated to account for additional vote returns reported Wednesday.)

Everyone’s talking about the civil war in the Republican party. It seems more like a surrender to us.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Gill v. Whitford, a case in which University of Wisconsin professor William Whitford and a group of plaintiffs (all Democratic voters in the state) contend that the drawing up of Wisconsin’s state legislative districts was an…

With the U.S. Supreme Court case, Gill vs. Whitford now concluded, we wished to look at how the Badger State found itself at the center of the judicial fight over partisan gerrymander. The following is Part 2 in a series relaying Wisconsin’s recent history in drawing its legislative district lines.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Gill v. Whitford, a case in which University of Wisconsin professor William Whitford and a group of plaintiffs (all Democratic voters in the state) contend that the drawing up of Wisconsin’s state legislative districts was an…

A key Democrat said Tuesday that he would support supplemental agreements to the Iran nuclear deal, but urged the administration in the interim to certify Iranian implementation of the deal ahead of an upcoming deadline.

You don't have to be a liberal or conservative, woman or man, to find Harvey Weinstein's conduct repulsive. Weinstein, co-founder of Miramax Films and the eponymous Weinstein Company, producer of dozens of well-known, well-regarded, and multiple-Oscar-winning movies over the past three decades,…

President Donald Trump’s new willingness to deal with Democratic leaders of Congress has conservatives worried. Is the president really with us anymore? Is he going to help his fellow partisans in Congress hold the line of spending, or is he going to become a Rockefeller-style Republican, cutting…

"I will immediately terminate President Obama’s illegal executive order on immigration. Immediately.” That was Donald Trump speaking on the day he launched his presidential campaign: June 16, 2015. The executive order he was referencing was the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. It…

Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi came away from their Wednesday White House dinner with a simple message: President Donald Trump is ready to reinstate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, and he doesn’t mind not getting a border wall in return.

Bernie Sanders might be the most popular politician in all of America, and his constituents give him the highest approval rating in the Senate—but the Vermont social worker who just announced his intention to challenge Sanders says it’s all for show. “The electorate is ready to see who Senator…

On Monday, the congressional leaders of the Democratic party announced their 2018 campaign agenda, modestly titled “A Better Deal.” And it was no coincidence that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and Senator Elizabeth Warren visited Berryville, Virginia for…

The effort by congressional Republicans to repeal and replace Obamacare hit a major roadblock last week, as GOP senators on the left and right sides of the caucus declared their opposition to majority leader Mitch McConnell’s latest proposal. It is hard to blame them for their unease. Obamacare was…

In this episode of THE WEEKLY STANDARD Confab, executive editor Fred Barnes tells host Eric Felten what to take away from the Democrats' special election defeats. Karlyn Bowman talks about what pollsters have and haven't learned from 2016's polling fiascos.

During a recent Seattle City Council meeting, member Tim Burgess sought agreement on a juvenile justice issue by noting that "even some of our Republican friends" favor criminal justice reform. Council member Kshama Sawant, a socialist, stood to oppose what she saw as Burgess's unfounded claim, the…

"Does anyone remember when Donald Trump wasn't president?" Senator Roy Blunt (D-Missouri) asked the audience recently at a Capitol Hill seminar sponsored by the law firm Baker-Hostettler.

Abortion is back: back in the news, back in the American political scene, back in the fights that rage through a party as it tries to understand itself. Last time we saw this, it was during Donald Trump's campaign for the Republican nomination, when three months in a row—February, March, and April…

Abortion is back: back in the news, back in the American political scene, back in the fights that rage through a party as it tries to understand itself. Last time we saw this, it was during Donald Trump's campaign for the Republican nomination, when three months in a row—February, March, and April…

In mid-December, Jeb Bush announced his intention to explore a presidential bid. If he runs and wins the Republican nomination and then the election, he will be the third President Bush in 25 years. That unprecedented prospect has left many wondering: In a republic like ours, is it proper for one…

Asked why Virginia has become a Democratic state or at least is Democratic-leaning, former governor Jim Gilmore had a one-word answer: "Fairfax."

Amid a tense Democratic debate over whether pro-lifers have any place inside the party, Nancy Pelosi delivered a blunt message to her fellow Democrats: Trump won because of the party's rigid stance on abortion and other social issues.

In an 1852 letter, Gustave Flaubert announced his ambition to write “a book about nothing, a book with no external attachments." He added: "The most beautiful books are those with the least matter."

In an 1852 letter, Gustave Flaubert announced his ambition to write “a book about nothing, a book with no external attachments." He added: "The most beautiful books are those with the least matter."

Senate Democrats delayed a committee vote Monday on Supreme Court nominee Judge Neil Gorsuch to next week, with the top Democrat on the judicial panel citing the failed appointment of Merrick Garland, interest-group spending in support of Gorsuch, and the jurist's answers about past High Court…

During hearings with FBI Director James Comey and Adm. Mike Rogers, several Democrats joined ranking member Adam Schiff (D-CA) in claiming that the GOP's platform position on Russia was weakened at this summer's convention. Democrats suggested this weakening was a result of Russia's influence on…

The New York Times Magazine's Charles Homans has an in-depth look at the rapid evolution of Democratic resistance to the Trump administration.

President Donald Trump touched on some encouraging foreign policy points in his joint address to Congress Tuesday, Democratic lawmakers told THE WEEKLY STANDARD. But the speech's optimistic tone was soured by preexisting concerns about Trump's ties to Russia and the administration's potential…

We know very little about what to expect in President Trump's address to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night. That was obvious from the Democratic "prebuttal" that House minority leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer delivered on Monday, which volleyed between standard…

A day before President Trump is slated to address the nation before a joint session of Congress (note: Not a State of the Union), Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi addressed reporters at the National Press Club to offer a prebuttal.

Since we now live in a world where Democrats have a "new standard" for Supreme Court nominees, it's worth gaming out what to expect from Dems at Neil Gorsuch's confirmation hearing. Will they pull some sort of unprecedented stunt? Perhaps by staging a walkout? Or a performance of "La Resistance"?…

Reuters commissioned a poll about President Trump's executive order that caused so much controversy over the weekend. Here are the results:

Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday night he has "very serious doubts" whether Judge Neil Gorsuch will meet his standard for winning confirmation to the Supreme Court. "The burden is on … Gorsuch to prove himself to be within the legal mainstream and, in this new era, willing to…

Top Democratic lawmakers are calling for strong action in response to Iranian ballistic missile activity after Tehran conducted another test-fire over the weekend, its first since the inauguration of President Donald Trump, according to statements provided to THE WEEKLY STANDARD.

Editor at large William Kristol's weekly Kristol Clear podcast, where Trump's winning week in the Senate as his cabinet nominees appear to be on track to approval; Democrats have painted up targets for next round (DeVos and Price); Trump's nominees show independent streak; and did Paul Anka really…

Democrats are addicted to Obamacare. It has performed poorly, alienated far more people than it has aided, and been a political disaster. Yet Democrats can’t shake it. In 2010, it was the issue that delivered the House to Republicans. In 2014, it gave them the Senate. In 2016, it was one of the…

With just under a month until Donald Trump's inauguration, many liberals have ratcheted up the hyperbole to the point of derangement. The New York Times editorial board has called for the abolition of the Electoral College, dismissing it as nothing more than an artifact of slavery. This came on the…

As readers know, The Scrapbook is a longtime connoisseur of the Law of Unintended Consequences. And this election year has furnished more than a few examples.

As readers know, The Scrapbook is a longtime connoisseur of the Law of Unintended Consequences. And this election year has furnished more than a few examples.

With just under a month until Donald Trump’s inauguration, many liberals have ratcheted up the hyperbole to the point of derangement. The New York Times editorial board has called for the abolition of the Electoral College, dismissing it as nothing more than an artifact of slavery. This came on the…

The predictable furor over President Obama’s executive order offering relief to approximately 5 million undocumented immigrants has obscured the fact that his initiative is much bolder in form than in content. Obama has gone to extraordinary lengths to offer less than what immigrant advocates have…

In this episode of THE WEEKLY STANDARD Confab, Fred Barnes joins host Eric Felten to talk about Donald Trump's politically transformative use of Twitter technology. What promises will a President Trump be in a position to keep? Tod Lindberg tells us. And then Michael Warren Skypes in to talk about…

Over the weekend Ross Douthat had an interesting column about the"crisis of liberalism." "The 2016 campaign was a crisis for conservatism," he writes, "its aftermath is a crisis for liberalism."

Republicans in tight races are closing out the election with ads blasting their Democratic opponents for supporting last summer's nuclear deal with Iran, while Democrats are remaining largely silent about the broadly unpopular agreement, according to media analysis provided to THE WEEKLY STANDARD…

In the depths of the Great Depression, two progressive congressmen added a little noticed amendment to the Agricultural Adjustment Act that over the next 80 plus years grew like an octopus with its tentacles touching every single American. At its inception, the Jones-Costigan Amendment was intended…

The Obama administration failed to inform a number of Democratic lawmakers that a $1.7 billion payment the U.S. sent to Iran earlier this year would be made wholly in cash, according to senators who spoke to THE WEEKLY STANDARD Wednesday.

Socialism is now "mainstream," according to the vice president of the United States. Joe Biden made the comments in an interview with Politico:

There are new polls out of the Democratic early states and they aren’t especially good for Hillary Clinton. ARG has Bernie Sanders at +3 in Iowa. That's probably an outlier, but the trend is pretty clear: Clinton has led by double digits in Iowa since October. Now Sanders is suddenly within single…

Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren had some praise this morning for Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.

Tom Nichols has a thoughtful and pretty persuasive piece over at the Daily Beast arguing that Trumpmania is the direct consequence of the militant PC radicalism that has infested American society over the last decade or so.

On Tuesday, MSNBC's Chris Matthews asked Hillary Clinton, "What's the difference between a socialist and a Democrat?" He even preempted her dodge by asking, "Is that a question you want to answer, or would you rather not?"

Democratic presidential candidate Martin O'Malley said on CNN today that the Democratic National Committee is actively trying to help Hillary Clinton.

Reporters are being put on the ice (rink) for tonight's Democratic party primary debate in New Hampshire.

The WEEKLY STANDARD Podcast with editor William Kristol on Trump shouting his love of Vladimir Putin, and why the Democrats are hiding their debates with a consciously poor debate strategy.

Fred Barnes, writing for the Wall Street Journal:

When Hillary Clinton announced her opposition to the Keystone pipeline from Canada, she said climate change was the reason. In the first Democratic presidential debate (CNN), Martin O’Malley listed the greatest national security threats to America as nuclear Iran, ISIS, and “climate change, of…

If you were to acquire political information only from former and current officials of the Obama administration, you would think the Republican party is borderline seditious. President Obama himself regularly castigates Republican motives as un-American. Last week, in a typical tweet aimed at…

The head of the Democratic National Committee, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, believes the Syrian refugees of today are like the European Jews of 1939. Wasserman Schultz made the claim in a conference call to explain how "out-of-touch" Republicans are with the Jewish community.

As reported by The Hill, Bernie Sanders is:

Bernie Sanders gave a big speech at Georgetown University today and used the opportunity to make clear a few things:

In new State Department emails obtained by Judicial Watch, Hillary Clinton's close personal aide, Huma Abedin, is seen warning another aide that Clinton is "often confused."

During the Democratic debate Saturday night, Hillary Clinton said that ISIS "cannot be contained, it must be defeated." She also said, not once but twice, that this "cannot be an American fight" (while adding, "although American leadership is essential").

While she opposed marijuana decriminalization during her first run for the presidency in 2007, according to Politico, candidate Hillary Clinton now provides support for so-called “medical marijuana.” She attributes her decision to “medical research,” which leads her further to seek a liberalization…

Bernie Sanders is no longer "sick and tired" of Hillary Clinton's "damn emails."

Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe, the former Democratic National Committee chairman and pal of the Clintons, has taken it on the chin again.

In January 2011, we at TWS had the notion that it would be good to defeat President Obama in 2012. And so in a blog post we asked the sensible question: " Wouldn't it be easier just to agree now on a Ryan-Rubio ticket, and save everyone an awful lot of time, effort, and money over the next year and…

The Republican candidates for president were remarkably unified in the (few) policy preferences they espoused at their debates on Wednesday night. All support cutting taxes and reducing regulation, and all oppose crony capitalism. The candidates may be remarkably diverse in terms of ethnicity and…

Democratic presidential candidate Martin O'Malley slammed his main rival, Hillary Clinton, for flip-flopping on guns. 

Martin O'Malley came out firing this morning in an interview on Morning Joe:

In 2012, Vice President Joe Biden told the story of President Obama deciding to send a Navy SEAL team to kill Osama bin Laden. Hillary Clinton, the secretary of state at the time, "hedged" her bet, according to Biden's telling of the story.

Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina has released an ad taking her Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, to task. The ad focuses on immigration, foreign policy, national security, Benghazi, and (in Fiorina's words) "lying."

In an interview with CNN, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton insisted that she's not so different than her main rival, socialist Bernie Sanders:

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with executive editor Fred Barnes on the Democrats' disastrous week.

The debate earlier this week in Las Vegas was very good for Martin O'Malley. According to the O'Malley campaign, the Democratic presidential candidate has now had his most succesful fundraising period.

During the debate in Las Vegas, CNN’s Anderson Cooper asked Jim Webb how, if were he elected, “he would not be a third term for Obama.” Webb said that “there would be a major difference between my administration and the Obama administration,” and it would concern “the use of executive authority.”

Vice President Joe Biden praised the Democratic field after last night's primary debate in Las Vegas. 

Debates produce winners and losers. And CNN, known to some as the Clinton News Network, saw to it the biggest winner was the Democratic contenders as a group. Recall that when CNN staged a Republican debate, most of the questions were aimed at getting each candidate to attack the others, producing…

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with senior writer Stephen F. Hayes on the Democratic Debate. 

Senator Sanders had been on a roll—until tonight. He had been playing a tent revival preacher in which he got himself, and his audiences of the faithful, worked up about the evil that has kept them in chains and from which he intends to free them before going on to use those same chains to whip up…

I've been saying for the last few weeks that Hillary Clinton's campaign is in a window of danger. Tonight might be the moment of maximal peril.

President Obama's former top political adviser, David Axelrod, took some shots at Hillary Clinton in a Slate interview from over the weekend. Clinton, Axelrod said, is on "double secret, super probation" after flip-flopping and declining to support Obama's trade bill that she previously championed.

Bernie Sanders has been noted, above all, for his consistency. He doesn’t change his mind.  Ever.  Except, maybe, a little bit on gun control.  And this inflexibility is considered a virtue among politicians.  Especially in this season, given his opposition. 

President Obama did not provide cover for Hillary Clinton in an interview last night on 60 Minutes. Obama said that the email scandal is a legitimate issue:

In August, six Republican presidential candidates appeared at a forum to discuss education reform in New Hampshire hosted by Campbell Brown. Brown, the former NBC news anchor and CNN host, has just launched a news website, The Seventy Four, dedicated to covering issues related to education reform.…

Democratic National Committee vice chair Tulsi Gabbard went on MSNBC last night to call for her party to have more presidential primary debates:

With the new fiscal year for the federal government rapidly approaching, the irresponsible and dangerous game of chicken being played with national defense continues. For most of the year, the White House and Democrats have made it clear that they will block passage of defense authorization and…

We're two weeks from the first Democratic debate and to be honest with you, I can't tell right now if we are underestimating Hillary Clinton's weakness, or her strength.

Democratic presidential candidate Martin O'Malley believes the Hillary Clinton email scandal has been bad for the Democratic party. He made the remarks in a CNN interview.

An old friend who's worked at high levels of government and politics writes:

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton sat down with the Des Moines Register editorial board yesterday to answer questions. After, Des Moines Register reporter Jennifer Jacobs managed to ask Clinton a few questions while she was already in the building.

Democrats want more debates. Today in New Hampshire, they're making sure DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz hears them. 

Earlier this evening, Governor Jerry Brown of California hinted that he might, possibly run for president of the United States. "You could have a lot of big surprises," said Brown.

Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz is "thrilled" the Republican debate is drowning out the Democratic primary. The DNC chair made the comments today on MSNBC:

Hillary Clinton is not so interested in debating her Democratic primary opponents, but her campaign wants voters to watch the Republican debate tonight on CNN.

Democrats are protesting Democrats later today on Capitol Hill. A group calling for more Democratic presidential debates will gather outside the Democratic National Committee's headquarters to do demand more debates. 

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with editor William Kristol on the Iran deal, and his recent piece The Supporting Actors.

Senator Tom Cotton is blasting Senate Democrats from failing to block the Iran nuclear deal.

Joe Biden had praise for Bernie Sanders, but had nothing for Hillary Clinton. Biden, of course, is considering challenging Sanders and Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination.

A few people have asked me to elaborate on the thought I tried hurriedly to express at the end of the This Week roundtable. Here it is: Republicans have a problem, while Democrats have a crisis.

A week ago, I suggested that—contrary to conventional wisdom and perhaps even to first-blush common sense—the GOP field might benefit from one or more new candidates. One of the well-qualified dark horses I mentioned was third-term Rep. Mike Pompeo from Wichita, Kansas.

A savvy friend who's held elective office emails:

In apparent retaliation for Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush's statements critical of Planned Parenthood, the Democratic party has launched an attack on crisis pregnancy centers. A blog post on Democrats.org said that crisis pregnancy centers "have zero understanding of what women’s…

Bakari Sellers, a former member of the South Carolina House of Representatives and a key supporter in that early state, scolded Hillary Clinton for her comments about her email server. 

Democratic presidential candidate Martin O'Malley wants his party to lean forward. In an interview this morning with ABC News, O'Malley said that Democrats "have to look to the future." And he wants his party to have more debates.

Democratic presidential candidate Martin O'Malley is still trying to expand the shrunken Democratic debate schedule. Today his campaign is collecting debate questions to be asked of all candidates.

Chuck Grassley, the dean of the Iowa congressional delegation, recently sent out a fundraising letter/poll to Iowa voters. (He's running for his seventh six-year term in the Senate in 2016.)

With South Carolina removing the Confederate flag from its capitol grounds, state and local Democratic parties seem to have developed an urge to purge. Salena Zito of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports on an effort to get rid of the party’s founders:

Democratic presidential candidate Martin O'Malley said that it was "outrageous" the Democratic National Committee is limiting the number of primary debates. O'Malley also called it "undemocratic."

I would like to address myself to the poor, the huddled masses, the wretched refugees teeming to America’s shore, the homeless, the economically, socially, and mentally tempest-tossed. Also, I’d like to address the young, the hip, the progressive, the compassionate, and the caring. I’d like a word…

Chuck Schumer is coming under fire from President Obama's former top political adviser, David Axelrod. The former advisor is using Twitter to question Schumer's decision to oppose Obama's nuclear deal with Iran. 

DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz was confronted this morning on national TV about the Democrats' truncated debate schedule:

While Republicans debated in Cleveland, Hillary Clinton raised money from the Kardashians in California. Kim Kardashian hoped to get a selfie with Clinton. 

President Obama is responding to the Republican presidential debate by asking Democrats to give his party money. 

Earlier today, a Twitter user with the handle @Ladysandersfarm questioned the Democratic National Committee chair's decision to limit the number of debates to six. 

Bill Hyers, a senior strategist in the Martin O'Malley presidential campaign, is calling the new Democratic debate schedule "less democratic."

In his speech today at American University on the Iran nuclear arms deal, President Obama asked for critics to evaluate the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on its own merits. “Unfortunately,” said Obama, “we're living through a time in American politics where every foreign policy decision is…

Democratic presidential candidate Martin O'Malley is blasting his party for limiting the number of presidential debates. It's been reported that the Democrats are planning to hold only six debates in the entire primary.

President Obama is calling on Democrats to watch the Republican presidential debate, which will air Thursday on Fox News.

Here's part of Maureen Dowd's interesting and moving column in tomorrow's New York Times on Joe Biden:

Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush, as well as Martin O'Malley and Ben Carson, will speak today at the National Urban League Conference in Florida. 

Hillary Clinton's campaign is hiring from journalistic outfits. Julie Whitaker, a member of BuzzFeed's distributed content team, has been hired to run Clinton's social media accounts. 

Rep. Grace Meng of New York has come out against the Iran nuclear deal. Meng's statement reads as follows:

Louisville

Jonathan Easley of The Hill reports that

Senator Elizabeth Warren praised two Democratic presidential candidates - Sen. Bernie Sanders and Gov. Martin O'Malley - for their stances on Wall Street. "I'm pleased that Sen @BernieSanders and Gov @MartinOMalley are supporting @TammyBaldwin's bill to slow down the Wall Street revolving door,"…

With all the grave issues confronting the nation in these dangerous times, it may seem frivolous to worry overmuch about whose picture appears on the $10 bill. But public symbols matter. They are one of the ways we tell each other, and the world, what we honor as Americans. Treasury secretary Jack…

Bernie Sanders, the socialist senator from Vermont, is surging in the polls against Hillary Clinton. A Quinnipiac University survey has him within 20 points in Iowa, while three of the last four polls have found him within 15 points in New Hampshire. Judging by state polls alone, Sanders is in…

Anthony Weiner, the husband of Hillary Clinton's closest aide, Huma Abedin, is suggesting that Bernie Sanders run as an independent. Sanders, of course, is currently challenging Clinton for the Democratic nomination in the 2016 presidential race.

The mainstream press corps and (at least privately) many Republicans officeholders have adopted two seemingly irreconcilable positions.  They claim Obamacare is politically toxic for Democrats yet is somehow immune to repeal by Republicans (even after President Obama leaves office).  A recent piece…

It’s the summer of 2015, and the left is on the march. Or perhaps one should say—since the left presumably dislikes the militarist connotations of the term “march”—that the left is swarming. And in its mindless swarming and mob-like frenzy, nearly every hideous aspect of contemporary leftism is on…

"It was like an out-of-body experience,” Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell says. He was talking about his congratulatory phone call from President Obama after Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) passed the Senate last week. “It was kind of fun.” McConnell enjoyed hearing the president castigate…

The former top political adviser to Barack Obama, David Axelrod, has likened the Bernie Sanders surge to Howard Dean's in the 2004 election. Axelrod made the comments on Twitter.

Hillary Clinton is scheduled to speak at the Virginia Democratic party's Jefferson-Jackson Dinner on Friday in northern Virgnia. The event is from 2-6 p.m. in Fairfax. 

The top Republican in the Senate is applauding President Obama after the passage of the trade bill.

Former Hillary Clinton aide Maria Cardona said she wouldn't be surprised if socialist Bernie Sanders beats Hillary Clinton in Iowa or New Hampshire:

Democratic presidential candidate responds to the Charleston shooting with an email saying, "I'm pissed."

President Barack Obama met with Senate and House Democrats to push trade, the White House announced this evening.

All the Democratic presidential candidates are "excellent," according to the president of the United States. Barack Obama made the comments this morning in a fundraising push targeting Democratic supporters. 

The campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Martin O'Malley is whacking Hillary Clinton today for not taking a firm stand on critical issues in her speech today in New York City. 

Democratic presidential candidate Martin O'Malley is rallying the opposition against President Obama's proposed "fast track" trade law. O'Malley, unlike his rival Hillary Clinton, has voiced strong opposition to the plan.

While Hillary Clinton will re-launch her campaign this weekend in New York City, Martin O'Malley is headed to New Hampshire.

Two months after Hillary Clinton entered the race to be the next president of the United States, she will be hosting a launch party in Iowa.

Congressman Mark Pocan attacked the Republican field at the Wisconsin Democratic state party convention over the weekend:

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has a warning for his main rival, Hillary Clinton. “Let me tell you a secret: we’re going to win New Hampshire,” Sanders reportedly told supporters, according to the Keene Sentinel. 

The Democratic presidential candidates are a sad lot. Hillary Clinton is clumsily positioning herself inside the left wing of her party. She won’t take questions. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont is 73, looks 10 years older, and says a 90 percent income-tax rate would be fine with him. Lincoln…

Charles Gasparino of the Fox Business Network reported today that Martin O'Malley is the "last person" Wall Street CEOs want is Democratic presidential candidate Martin O'Malley:

Martin O'Malley is running for president. And even his slogan, "New Leadership," appears to take a shot at his main Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton. 

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with editor William Kristol on the 2016 presidential race and why Democrats will pay a price for Hillary's early dominance. 

President Obama's former top political adviser, David Axelrod, compared Martin O'Malley to Gary Hart in comments this morning on national television:

"Don’t underestimate me,” warns Bernie Sanders who will, as the AP reports:

Megan R. Wilson, writes at The Hill, that: