UN Ambassador Susan Rice is withdrawing from consideration for Secretary of State, NBC News reported Thursday. The embattled ambassador, harshly criticized by the GOP for her unintentionally misleading statements following the attack in Benghazi, cited partisan politics in a letter to President Obama.

“If nominated, I am now convinced that the confirmation process would be lengthy, disruptive and costly — to you and to our most pressing national and international priorities,” Rice wrote. “That tradeoff is simply not worth it to our country… Therefore, I respectfully request that you no longer consider my candidacy at this time.”

Led by Republican senators John McCain, Kelly Ayotte and Lindsey Graham, the GOP steadfastly protested Rice’s handling of the post-Benghazi media appearances. Though it became clear early on that Rice was not responsible for the inaccurate statements regarding the character of the Benghazi attack, the trio of GOP senators persisted in their efforts to prevent her nomination.

President Obama accepted Rice’s decision in a White House statement:

Statement by the President on Ambassador Rice 

Today, I spoke to Ambassador Susan Rice, and accepted her decision to remove her name from consideration for Secretary of State. For two decades, Susan has proven to be an extraordinarily capable, patriotic, and passionate public servant. As my Ambassador to the United Nations, she plays an indispensable role in advancing America’s interests. Already, she has secured international support for sanctions against Iran and North Korea, worked to protect the people of Libya, helped achieve an independent South Sudan, stood up for Israel’s security and legitimacy, and served as an advocate for UN reform and the human rights of all people. I am grateful that Susan will continue to serve as our Ambassador at the United Nations and a key member of my cabinet and national security team, carrying her work forward on all of these and other issues. I have every confidence that Susan has limitless capability to serve our country now and in the years to come, and know that I will continue to rely on her as an advisor and friend. While I deeply regret the unfair and misleading attacks on Susan Rice in recent weeks, her decision demonstrates the strength of her character, and an admirable commitment to rise above the politics of the moment to put our national interests first. The American people can be proud to have a public servant of her caliber and character representing our country.

Republican South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint, a powerful conservative voice in the GOP, forecast that President Obama would “get his wish” in the “fiscal cliff” negotiations and succeed in raising taxes.

DeMint, who earlier this month resigned from the Senate to become president of the conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation, accused Obama of “intentionally trying to take us over this cliff,” in pursuit of the “political trophy” of higher taxes. “We’re going to be raising taxes. Not just on the top earners. Everyone’s going to be paying more taxes next year in this country, and I think that’s what the president wants,” DeMint said on CBS This Morning.

President Obama has repeatedly stated his intent to raise taxes on the top two percent, while keeping them at their current rates for those making $250,000 or less. If no bipartisan deal is reached on the so-called fiscal cliff by the end of 2012, taxes will automatically go up across the board.

The South Carolina senator faulted both parties for their lack of success in reaching an agreement, saying they had “failed” the country.

In an era of rare bipartisanship, President Obama’s drone program is unique in at least one, major way: Republicans actively and consistently support it. What is not unique: Fox News analysts’ endless capacity for generating moronic soundbites. The latest comes from Ralph Peters, the network’s resident “strategic analyst,” brought aboard The O’Reilly Factor Monday night to comment on reports that the U.S. had killed al Qaeda’s second in command, Abu Zaid al-Kuwaiti.

“The inevitable blowback isn’t from Pakistan, they’re not making noise about this one,” Peters told host Bill O’Reilly. “The blowback is always from the extreme left in the United States that won’t be happy until we give terrorists food stamps.”

Both Peters and O’Reilly agreed, however, that Obama “deserves credit” for the approximately 2,000 alleged terrorists killed by the drone program, and on its continued need in the future.

This is hardly the first time Peters’ hyperbolic excess has emerged on Fox News. Commenting on the attack in Benghazi, and Obama’s “indecisive, fearful” response, Peters said, “in this part of the world, the only thing these radical Islamist fanatics understand is brute force. They kill four of ours, you kill 400 of theirs. Nothing else works. … When our people are killed, you kill them in large numbers.” For a collection of Peters’ more outrageous quotes, head over to Media Matters’  “A History of Inflammatory Rhetoric.”

Earlier this year, rumors began swirling that actress Ashley Judd might run for Senate in her home state of Kentucky, where she would challenge Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in 2014. While she has not yet officially announced her candidacy, Judd has begun assessing her chances by hiring a Democratic pollster and conducting opposition research on herself, Politicoreported yesterday.

While we savor the possibility of an upcoming Judd-McConnell showdown, here are five thespians who turned their acting skills to politics.
Ronald Reagan

Without a doubt, President Ronald Reagan is the number one celebrity-turned-politician. Reagan dedicated two decades of his post-college career to radio and film, where he honed the rhetorical skills that would serve him well in the political arena. During World War II, Reagan narrated and starred in several military short films, which, as Rachel Maddow writes in Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power “made him a practiced hand at stirring America’s martial moxie.” His most famous movie role was in Knute Rockne, All American (1940), where he played the role of Notre Dame halfback George “the Gipper” Gipp. Starting out as governor of California (1967-1975), Reagan went on to become President in 1980, when he defeated incumbent Jimmy Carter. He was re-elected in 1984, winning a landslide election against Democrat Walter Mondale.
Arnold Schwarzenegger

The man whose distinctive Austrian accent spawned countless impersonations first became known as a professional bodybuilder, whose seven Mr. Olympia titles granted him permanent legend status in the trade. The film Pumping Iron (1977) immortalized his bodybuilding exploits and put him on the fast track to Hollywood. Schwarzenegger went on to become an international action film star, starring in blockbusters like Terminator and Terminator 2, likely his most famous roles. In 2003, Arnie announced his candidacy for governor of California as a Republican, and won the election. Thus, The Governator was born. Schwarzenegger won a second term in 2006, signing, among other things, the country’s first bill creating a cap on carbon emissions.
Clint Eastwood

This man hardly needs an introduction. His illustrious film acting career spans 50 years, and contains numerous classics, such as Dirty Harry, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, and more recent classics  Million Dollar Baby and Mystic River, both of which he directed. His foray into politics is lesser known. In 1986, Eastwood served in the nonpartisan office of Mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, until 1988. More recently, he gave a speech at the 2012 Republican Convention, where he traded barbs with an imaginary Barack Obama sitting in an empty chair.
Al Franken

The junior senator from Minnesota, Al Franken first ran for Senate, and won, as a Democrat in 2008, defeating incumbent Norm Coleman. Franken became initially well known when he joined Saturday Night Live in 1975 as a writer and performer, and one of its founding members.
Fred Thompson

The former U.S. senator of Tennessee (1994-2003) has an extensive film résumé, but is probably most well known for his role on Law and Order, where he played Manhattan District Attorney Arthur Branch. Thompson has remained active in both acting and politics, and in 2008 ran in the Republican presidential primaries, garnering 11 delegates before dropping out in January 2008. He currently does TV commercials for reverse mortgages.

Sitting down for his first interview since the election, President Barack Obama remained optimistic about reaching a deal on the fiscal cliff, but not before rejecting House Speaker John Boehner’s “out of balance” proposal.

Obama reiterated the need for a balanced approach, dispelling the notion that he was driven by politics—“It’s not me being stubborn, not me be partisan; it’s just a matter of math,” Obama told Bloomberg News’ Julianna Goldman. The full interview can be viewed here.

The president said he was “prepared to make some tough decisions on this issue,” and allowed that he would not get “100 percent” of his demands, but stated that he would not “agree to a plan in which we have some revenue that is vague and potentially comes out of the pockets of middle-class families in exchange for some very specific and tough entitlement cuts that would affect seniors or other folks who are vulnerable.”

Speaker Boehner’s proposal yesterday called for slashing $600 billion in federal health care programs—driven partly by increasing the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 67—$200 billion in savings by modifying how the government calculates inflation estimates for increasing Medicare and Social Security benefits, and extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy.

Obama restated the need for increasing top tax rates, while maintaining current rates for those making less than $250,000. “We’re going to have to see the rates on the top 2 percent go up, and we’re not going to be able to get a deal without it,” he said. The Republican plan proposed generating new revenue by closing special-interest loopholes and deductions while lowering rates. But Obama soon rejected that approach. “If you do not raise enough revenue by closing loopholes and deductions, it’s going to be the middle-class families that make up the difference,” the president said. “And that would be bad for business.”

Photo Credit: Bloomberg News Screenshot

While debate over the “fiscal cliff” continues to rage in Congress between Democrats and Republicans, and between President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner, a key issue remains unresolved—the fate of the Bush tax cuts. Since the beginning of his first term, Obama has called for the wealthiest Americans to pay their “fair share” of taxes. He has argued for a return to Clinton-era tax rates, when the country’s economy surged and President Clinton left office with a healthy budget surplus.

Republicans, none more stringently than Grover Norquist, claim that higher taxes will hurt growth, and stymie the recovery. But there is little evidence to back that up. A recent study by the non-partisan Congressional Research Service found no correlation between lowering top tax rates and economic growth—an ideological uppercut to Republicans who, led by Mitch McConnell in the Senate, cried foul and had it withdrawn. Many millionaires and billionaires, meanwhile, have reached the conclusion that in order to begin chipping away at the budget deficit, it is essential to raise the marginal tax rates for the wealthiest Americans. Here we present five members of “the 1 percent” asking to pay more in taxes.

Warren Buffett

For the past two years, billionaire hedge fund manager Warren Buffett has carried the torch in advocating higher taxes for the rich. Ever since The New York Times published Buffett’s op-ed (“Stop Coddling the Rich”), President Obama has dubbed a proposed tax increase for millionaires and billionaires the “Buffett Rule.” In a more recent Times op-ed piece, Buffett newly argued for a higher minimum tax rate for the richest Americans:

Additionally, we need Congress, right now, to enact a minimum tax on high incomes. I would suggest 30 percent of taxable income between $1 million and $10 million, and 35 percent on amounts above that. A plain and simple rule like that will block the efforts of lobbyists, lawyers and contribution-hungry legislators to keep the ultra-rich paying rates well below those incurred by people with income just a tiny fraction of ours. Only a minimum tax on very high incomes will prevent the stated tax rate from being eviscerated by these warriors for the wealthy.

(AP Photo/Nati Harnik)
Bill Gates

Microsoft founder and billionaire Bill Gates is well known for his close relationship with Warren Buffett, who is one of three trustees in the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and has pledged most of his sizable portion to the philanthropic organization. Gates has spoken out on the need to address the budget deficit, in part by raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans.

“I hope we can solve that deficit problem with a sense of shared sacrifice — where everybody would feel like they’re doing their part,” Gates told the BBC earlier this year. “And right now, I don’t feel like people like myself are paying as much as we should.”

Photo by World Economic Forum via Flickr.com
Lloyd Blankfein

“I think if that’s what it took to make the math work, when you looked at the entitlement side and you looked at the revenue side, I wouldn’t preclude that,” Blankfein said on CNN. “Of course we would have to do that if the numbers drive that way.”

Photo by Fortune Live Media via Flickr.com

Garrett Gruener

Founder of Ask.com Garrett Gruener is a member of Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength, a group lobbying Congress for higher taxes. Like Goldman’s Lloyd Blankfein, Gruener advocates returning to Clinton-era tax rates. When asked by a PBS interviewer why he favored this approach, Gruener responded, “We think that, you know, like other Americans, we love this country, and that those in the upper 1 percent essentially have been treated too good for their own sake, too good for the sake of the country. We have all done very well, and it’s time to give back.”

Ron Garret

Ron Garret is a former Google software engineer and former Principal Research Scientist at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, as well as a member of Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength. In a recent appearance on Fox Business, Garret made the case for higher taxes on the wealthy.”There is this myth that raising taxes on rich people is a job-killer. That’s simply not true,” Garret said.

File this one under “Republicans Who Don’t Understand Why They Lost The Election.”  Virginia attorney general and 2013 gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli has a reliable track record of opposing President Obama and, like other Republicans, climate science. In a radio interview with WMAL’s “Mornings on the Mall,” Cuccinelli unequivocally agreed with guest host Cheri Jacobus’ assertion that Obama “can’t win in a state where photo ID is required. So clearly there’s something going on out there.”

Cuccinelli sympathized with Jacobus’ thinly veiled accusations, responding,”your tone suggests you’re a little upset with me. You’re preaching to the choir. I’m with you completely.”

That “something” that Jacobus alludes to is voter fraud, a Republican scare tactic that featured prominently in the 2012 election, designed to curb Democratic voters, which resulted in nationwide initiatives to implement voter ID laws. Ultimately, states like Texas and Pennsylvania struck them down, citing the suspect motivations of Republican legislators and the potential for disenfranchising thousands of eligible, largely Democratic voters. On Tuesday, several former GOP leaders in Florida admitted that voter suppression was the primary reason the new laws were created—not to combat voter fraud.

During the radio broadcast, Jacobus claimed Obama had lost in every state where photo ID was required to vote—an interesting factoid, but one entirely devoid of truth. In fact, Obama won Michigan, Florida, Hawaii and New Hampshire, four states that have implemented voter ID laws.

Here’s the Nov.20 broadcast:

After the interview, Cuccinelli political spokesman Noah Well stepped in to correct the media’s interpretation of the attorney general’s statements, saying it was “silly” to suggest Cuccinelli doubted the legitimacy of Obama’s re-election, according to The Virginian-Pilot.

“There is no question that President Obama legitimately won re-election,” Wall told the Pilot. “Ken was simply talking about the fact that there were problems on election day which need to be addressed.”

The 2016 election is still four long years away, but one thing is certain: if the GOP continues to claim voter fraud cost them the election, without addressing the structural problems that vex their party, there is little reason to imagine a Republican takeover of the White House.

Wielding one of the most recognizable voices in America, Morgan Freeman has the capacity to lend gravitas to any topic he chooses to speak on. Late in the campaign season, Freeman narrated the “Challenges” ad endorsing President Obama’s presidency and his re-election. This time, Freeman provides the voiceover for a 30-second spot released by the Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBT equality-rights advocacy group organization in the United States, in favor of marriage equality.

Evoking the inspirational tone of “Challenges,” the HRC ad sets archival footage of the Civil-Rights movement—women’s suffrage, Martin Luther King Jr.—against a rousing soundtrack and the promise of a new, more inclusive era. The ad comes on the heels of unprecedented ballot victories on Election Day for same-sex marriage in Maine, Washington state, and Maryland. Additionally, in Minnesota, voters rejected a Constitutional amendment defining marriage strictly as between a man and a woman. Supported by the recent wave of LGBT rights, the HRC says there is a “mandate for full equality.”

Watch:

The transcript:

America stands at the dawn of a new day. Freedom, justice and human dignity have always guided our journey toward a more perfect union. Now across our country, we are standing together for the right of gay and lesbian Americans to marry the person they love. And with historic victories for marriage, we’ve delivered a mandate for full equality. The wind is at our back. But our journey has just begun. Join us.

“This year proved to be a pivotal turning point in the movement for marriage equality and now we press onward with renewed vigor and public opinion squarely on our side,” HRC president Chad Griffin told Buzzfeed. “As we continue the march toward full equality in legislatures and the courts, it is crystal clear that the prospect of an equal future is no longer up for debate; the question now is how soon it will arrive.”

This week, the Supreme Court will determine whether it will hear appeals questioning the constitutionality of California’s Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act, both of which banned gay marriage.

After roaring into the national spotlight in 2010 with a slew of victories in Congress, it appears the nation’s honeymoon with the Tea Party is nearing its end. Doomed by their intransigent partisanship, an obsession with ending Obamacare (and Obama), and a collection of casually-voiced extremist views, these far-right Republicans finally saw the results of their policies on Election Day. Others, such as Michelle Bachmann, the chairwoman of the Tea Party Caucus, barely scraped together enough votes to hold on to their seats.

Here we take a look at 5 Tea Partiers who will not be in Congress in 2013.

Photo by Fibonacci Blue via Flickr.com
Allen West

A Tea Party darling, Rep. Allen West (R-FL) is known for out-of-left-field statements such as, “If Joseph Goebbels was around, he’d be very proud of the Democrat Party, because they have an incredible propaganda machine,” or calling Obama supporters a “threat to the gene pool.”  Although Democratic opponent Patrick Murphy expanded his lead over West to 2,000 votes in an early ballot recount, West’s campaign still refuses to concede victory. There is, however, little doubt that the Florida congressman is on his way out.

Photo by Gage Skidmore via Flickr.com
Joe Walsh

Here’s some advice when running against a double-amputee war veteran: Do not accuse her of not being a “true hero.” Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) was defeated by Iraq-war veteran Tammy Duckworth, who lost both her legs when a rocket-propelled grenade took down her helicopter. Walsh complained Duckworth was too focused on her military career, and had little else going for her. “What else has she done?” Walsh said. “Female, wounded veteran … ehhh.” Later in the campaign, Walsh claimed a woman’s life could not be threatened by a pregnancy. Apparently, voters have a limit to how much stupidity they will tolerate.

Photo by Gage Skidmore via Flickr.com
Todd Akin 

Attempting to become a senator after serving as representative for Missouri’s 2nd congressional district since 2001, Todd Akin held a lead over Democratic incumbent Claire McCaskill until he uttered his infamous “legitimate rape” comments. The widespread backlash from that television interview dogged Akin all the way to the voting booth, ensuring a victory for his Democratic opponent.

Photo by KOMUnews via Flickr.com
Frank Guinta

Featured in a “Most Corrupt Members of Congress” report from a Washington-based non-profit, Rep. Frank Guinta (R-NH) “fudged the numbers and cooked the books to buy a seat in Congress,” according to CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington). Leading into the election, Guinta loaned his campaign $355,000, claiming the money was his own. His financial disclosure forms showed that, based on his income, he could not have covered those loans himself. Guinta refused to reveal the true origin of the funds. He lost his seat to the previous incumbent, Carol Shea Porter.

Photo by US House of Representatives via Wikimedia Commons
Bobby Schilling

In 2010, when the Tea Party-driven GOP wrested the House majority from Democrats, Rep. Bobby Schilling (R-IL) became the first Republican elected to his Illinois seat in almost 30 years. During the campaign for his second term, Schilling could not resist adding to the chorus of Republican conspiracy theories. Asked by a Republican volunteer if he thought Obama had campaigned in 2008 with a strategy to “make America fail,” Schilling responded, ” “A lot of people think this is being done on purpose.” In November, Schilling lost his seat to Democratic challenger Cheri Bustos.

Photo by US House of Representatives via Wikimedia Commons

Ever since President Obama took office in 2008, Republicans in Congress—not to mention Fox News—have sustained a hair-trigger response to the slightest possibility of a scandal. Their first real opportunity came with Operation Fast and Furious, in which Obama’s assertion of executive privilege sent Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and rest of the GOP into a paranoid frenzy. When the consulate attack in Benghazi took place, the administration’s failure to present a cohesive narrative ignited the fire of controversy—fire which Republicans continue to stoke.

On Wednesday, Senator John McCain (R-AZ), joined by fellow senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), proposed to create a select committee with wide powers to investigate the incident, and the Obama administration’s response to it. McCain has repeatedly turned to the media to rail against what he believes to be a catastrophic mishandling of the events in Libya, and to call for further investigation. Therefore, when McCain missed a classified Senate briefing on the attack on Thursday, and instead held a press conference about the lack of information on said attack, CNN’s Ted Barrett, naturally, pressed him to comment on it. McCain snapped and refused to answer the question. Here’s the video:

“I have no comment about my schedule and I’m not going to comment on how I spend my time to the media,” McCain told Barrett. “I have the right as a senator to have no comment and who the hell are you to tell me I can or not?” Later on, his spokesman Brian Rogers cited a “scheduling error.”

Senator Susan Collins criticized McCain for missing the briefing, Politico reported. “I do not see the benefit of creating a brand-new committee when we already have the Senate’s chief oversight committee, plus the Intelligence Committee, examining this very important matter.”

On Wednesday, McCain’s temper was again set off when a reporter asked if the David Petraeus sex scandal posed a greater threat to national security than the Benghazi attack. “With great respect,” McCain responded, “that’s one of the dumbest questions I’ve ever heard.” The video below shows his exasperated response:

While Senator McCain continues to pursue the Benghazi matter, an issue most Americans do not find worthy of a scandal, his daughter, Meghan McCain, threatened to leave the Republican Party in a Daily Beast op-ed. Citing the Tea Party’s antiquated focus on social issues, the senator’s daughter urged the GOP to modernize or risk permanently losing relevance.

Times are changing. The face of America is changing and we as Republicans stand at a crossroads. Are we going to accept the changing face of America and change with it? Or are we going to continue to become more isolated and irrelevant? It’s possible to maintain the core values of this party and evolve when it comes to social issues. Quite frankly, I don’t see any other path to success.

I’ve spent most of my adult life fighting for change from inside the Republican Party. We Republicans need to look at the future instead of living in the past. We have to learn from what the last two presidential elections have taught us. We must accept each other and the different opinions within the party instead of trying to cannibalize people that diverge from an arbitrary purity test. I refuse to let the extremists win. We can’t let the Tea Party bully us any longer. We can’t keep worrying about ultraconservative white male voters. At the end of the day, I still believe I’m on the right side of history, and we can’t let this party sink away. We can and we must evolve. I don’t know exactly how yet, but I for one am ready to spend the next four years helping us get there.