The issue of the Democratic Party trying to co-opt the growing “Occupy” movement has become a topic of establishment media conversation. It is being discussed through the lens of whether this movement will do for Democrats what the Tea Party did for Republicans in 2010. It is also being discussed in terms of how to use the broad-based anger and energy to advance Democratic policy proposals in Congress.

The media is watching closely to see how this impacts the political landscape. For example, on “Hardball” on October 11, Chris Matthews focused attention on the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s email calling for 100,000 people to stand strong with Occupy Wall Street.

Two new national polls out today confirm that the top tier of the Republican primary is made up of just Mitt Romney and Herman Cain. The same polls also show Rick Perry continues to fall even farther behind in the race.

we have more evidence today of how crippling austerity measures can be for an economy trying to come out of a deep recession. Unemployment in Great Britain is now the highest in 17 years.

Call it incredible luck, call it determination, call it political skill or call it a sign of the poor state of the modern Republican party. Whatever the cause or set of causes, Mitt Romney has managed to end up basically the last legitimate Republican nominee standing.

The original deal between the oligarchy and the rest of us was embedded in the US Constitution. They keep their money and use the government to deploy and protect it, and we get to decide some of what’s left.

Last month, the Administration delayed an EPA rule on ozone standards, part of a capitulation on regulatory rollbacks demanded by the business community and Republicans. For years, the Administration told environmental groups not to sue to force new standards, because they were working on them. Now the environmental groups are taking E.P.A. to court.

With Willard looking more inevitable every day, this is especially bad news for the White House. The Everest-size electoral challenge facing President Obama is encapsulated in a single question in the latest Washington Post-Bloomberg News poll: Would the economy be better or worse if a Republican were elected president in 2012? [...] …the division, even [...]

Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 Plan is a flat tax dressed up in fluffier clothing. Every GOP Presidential nomination campaign since Reagan has had at least one flat-taxer: Jack Kemp in 1988, Steve Forbes in 2000, Mike Huckabee in 2008, and now Herman Cain. The plans have a simplistic logic to them until people realize it’s basically another scheme to redistribute wealth upward.

Frank Kameny, a landmark figure of the gay rights movement, has died at the age of 86 of natural causes. Rest in peace, Mr. Kameny. It’s fitting that he passed away on National Coming Out Day, a day that represents both a celebration of kicking closet doors open and a challenge to those thinking about doing so.

While the American Jobs Act failed a cloture vote last night, the Currency Exchange Rate Oversight Reform Act passed the Senate on a final vote. That bill would allow the Commerce Department to target currency manipulators like China with tariffs proportional to their currency manipulation if industries or unions file complaints. And it would force [...]