As I watch President Obama and his minions mercilessly tout his genius and bravery as a “War President,” presumably to attract “swing” voters, my only consolation is that I can now delete his incessant money-grubbing emails without a trace of guilt. Actually, it’s become a pleasure to do so, and it saves money, too. Never mind the creepy grave-dancing involved; the most galling part is how easily he slipped into this role, even resorting to tinny Bushisms about Bin Laden being “brought to justice.”

Occupy may not have reached “critical mass” yet. It may not be that movement that can force the White House and Congress to change “national policy on matters of war and social justice.” But, if energy and resources are put into running candidates, it’s virtually certain there will be little chance of growing a movement and building a force that can tug this nation in a less corporate and destructive direction.

According to to new polling data from Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, the Paul Ryan budget could be a serious political liability for Congressional Republicans who voted for it. The polling operation is Democratically aligned, so take that into account when reading their analysis. From GQRR.

Pete Stark has introduced his bill called the Women’s Option to Raise Kids (WORK) Act, which would allow low-income mothers with children up to 3 years old to classify their child-rearing responsibilities as work, just the way Ann Romney did. Will Mrs. Romney support it?

Kent Conrad, the retiring Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, just announced that the markup for the FY 2013 budget will commence tomorrow. And instead of creating model legislation, he will simply take the recommendations proposed by the Chairmen of the Bowles-Simpson deficit commission, popularly known as the “catfood commission,” as the baseline.

French election rules feature a runoff after a first round with multiple candidates. If the unpopular Sarkozy wins a small first round plurality because of a divided field, that isn’t the end of the story. On May 6th the two candidates that did the best in the first round complete in a run-off election. That can’t happen in America, because the rules effectively prevent the success of other parties.

To the surprise of absolutely no one, Senate Republicans blocked consideration of the Buffett rule last night with a filibuster. The bill would have set a millionaire’s minimum effective tax rate at 30%, with a phase-in between $1 million and $2 million and an exemption for charitable donations. But Senate Republicans wouldn’t let it get onto the floor for debate.

Today, the Senate will vote on a motion to proceed to the Buffett rule, formally known as the Paying a Fair Share Act. A filibuster is expected, about 5:30 p.m. ET. This concludes a two-week push by Senate Democratic leaders and the Obama Administration on the bill, and the larger conversation around tax fairness and the need for the rich to pay a higher amount than those in the middle class.

Conservatives, as a rule, are gullible nitwits who will happily make voting decisions against all available evidence; liberals, not so much. As proud members of the reality-based community, we tend to vote based on, well, what actually happened.

Yesterday, Democrats began their media push on the Buffett rule, which Sheldon Whitehouse and Tammy Baldwin have turned into legislation called the Paying a Fair Share Act. The bill would set a minimum 30% effective tax rate for earners making over $1 million.