I would support making it illegal to complain about politics -- any politics, from any viewpoint or party, including criticizing any politician -- unless you can prove you voted in the last election.

Today, we're just going to throw caution to the wind, and go ahead and predict the outcome of tomorrow night's returns.

Seriously, a man running for the most powerful office in the country didn't bother to plan for one of the two contingencies that were guaranteed to happen last night? And he wanted us to let him make crucial decisions for all of us?

You ready, Republican Party? Are you sitting down? Here's what you have to do to avoid going the way of the Whigs. It's pretty easy -- it would fit on a Twitter message: "Begin championing Puerto Rican statehood."

In a way, I'm glad that David Petraeus's sex scandal is playing out across the pages and television screens of the mass media. Because one of the alternative ways it could have been handled is so much worse.

Every member of Congress began this year knowing what was going to happen at the end of 2012. They have now had over ten months to work on the impending crisis. And what have they done about it? Nothing.

Both parties are now openly speaking of letting a crisis happen, just to increase their bargaining position. The ends, they tell us, will fully justify the means, and pay no attention to that sinking credit rating behind the curtain.

Millions of Americans will start off their Thanksgiving statements with, "I am thankful Barack Obama will be our president for four more years. The biggest lesson we hope he learned from over the past four is to not start negotiating from a compromise position.

There's a way out of this mess. It's an easy one, really, although it does require some suspension of disbelief on everyone's part. Just change the date on the floor of Congress. No, not the date on the bill, the actual date.

There's going to be pain all around in whatever deal is struck. Most Americans are going to be directly impacted in one way or another by whatever bargain is made between President Obama and congressional Republicans.

Obama, as the chattering classes will tell you, is "done negotiating with himself." That's a pretty good phrase, because it accurately describes how these negotiations have taken place over Obama's first term. This time, the White House seems to be saying, that isn't going to happen.