John Nichols

Voters Send a Loud Anti-NRA Message

John Nichols on February 27, 2013 - 1:31 AM ET

Robin Kelly celebrates her special primary election win for Illinois' 2nd Congressional District. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Robin Kelly, who as a young state representative sponsored gun-safety legislation with state Senator Barack Obama, swept to victory Tuesday night in an Illinois US House primary that sent a powerful signal about the National Rifle Association’s dwindling influence within the Democratic Party.

To Beat Austerity, Obama Must Campaign for Democracy

John Nichols on February 25, 2013 - 8:00 PM ET

President Barack Obama waves before giving his State of the Union address. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, Pool)

President Obama, who famously used his 2010 State of the Union address to rip activist Supreme Court Justices for removing longstanding barriers to corporate control of the political discourse, did not mention the Court’s wrongheaded Citizens United decision in his 2012 State of the Union address.

Sequestration Sacrifices Jobs to Save Billionaire Tax Breaks

John Nichols on February 22, 2013 - 11:21 AM ET

“Fix the Debt” bankroller Pete Peterson. (Reuters/Jason Reed)

There is a great deal of talk about how Republican senators have gone off the rails in their opposition to the nomination of former Senator Chuck Hagel to serve as Secretary of Defense. And there have been some bizarre deviations, with senators making pronouncements based on internet rumors and unfounded speculation.

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Sequestration Is Austerity, but Not Enough for Simpson and Bowles

John Nichols on February 19, 2013 - 12:29 PM ET

Alan Simpson, right, and Erskine Bowles, left, co-chairmen of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, testify on Capitol Hill, March 8, 2011. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Sequestration?

Gun-Violence Focused House Race Tests the NRA's Political Toxicity

John Nichols on February 17, 2013 - 11:18 PM ET

Debbie Halvorson chats it up at a farmer's market in Bloomington, Illinois. (Flickr/Gemma Billings)

Chicago—Most countries take special elections to fill vacant seats in their national legislative chambers far more seriously than does the United States.

Senator Harry Reid, D-Fool Me Twice

John Nichols on February 15, 2013 - 12:29 PM ET

Harry Reid. (AP Photo)

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Thursday was shocked to learn that there was filibustering going on in the Senate.

Congress Can Block Postal Austerity, and Save Saturday Delivery

John Nichols on February 13, 2013 - 4:19 PM ET

(AP Photo)

President Obama was right in his State of the Union Address to declare that “we can’t just cut our way to prosperity.”

Obama Demands That Congress Do 'the Work of Self-Government'

John Nichols on February 13, 2013 - 12:09 AM ET

President Obama's 2013 State of the Union address. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

For those who doubted that Barack Obama would maintain his commitment to a gun-safety agenda that challenges the supposed political power of the National Rifle Association, and the political caution of Democrats who more than a decade ago decided for the most cynical of reasons to abandon the struggle to address gun violence, the president’s fourth State of the Union address provided the answer.

The State of the Union Is Best Served by Growth, Not Austerity

John Nichols on February 11, 2013 - 10:10 PM ET

(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

The great debate in America is not about the “fiscal cliff” or the “debt ceiling” or the “sequester” or whatever other fantasy pops into Paul Ryan’s head when he’s not reading Ayn Rand.

Democrats Have a Unique Constitutional Duty to Check, Balance the President

John Nichols on February 10, 2013 - 4:42 PM ET

(AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

When Lyndon Johnson was president, Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman William Fulbright held his fellow Democrat to account with hearings that challenged Johnson’s escalation of the undeclared war in Vietnam. It was the right thing to do.