For Rep Ron Paul (R-TX), education and medical care are not rights but rather “things that you have to earn.”

In an exchange about U.S. credit policy with MSNBC’s Cenk Uygur on Wednesday, Paul was asked whether people should be able to borrow money to buy a house, or car. “Oh, in a free market, you can do that,” Paul said, but only so long as that credit is backed up by real money, and not something that “comes out of thin air.”

Here’s how the Republicans’ power over the purse could lead to an insoluble fight over spending, and, potentially, a government shutdown.

In a presentation at CPAC on Thursday, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) called on Republicans to hold the government hostage until President Obama abandons his dream of reforming the nation’s health care system.

Or to put it in King’s words: Republicans should do to “ObamaCare” what Democrats did to the Vietnam War.

After a weekend of horror and subsequent political confusion (and more than a bit of opportunism), Bill O’Reilly came out swinging in his opening segment tonight, condemning those on the left, particularly Paul Krugman and MSNBC, for what he called the exploitation of a national tragedy.

The national Tea Party Nation group is planning to send a letter to Sarah Palin asking the former governor of Alaska and John McCain sidekick to run for chair of the Republican National Committee.

Tea Party Nation leader Judson Phillips says in his letter to Palin that without her at the helm of the RNC, the party will fall back into “establishment” hands.

Helen Thomas, the long-time White House correspondent who was forced to apologize and retire last spring after making comments about Israel and Jews, stood by those remarks yesterday at an event in Dearborn, Michigan—and then made even more fiery statements. “Congress, the White House and Hollywood, Wall Street are owned by the Zionists,” Thomas said during her remarks at an Arab-American workshop, according to The Detroit News. “No question.”

Thomas Shultz says it’s time for a change at the Republican National Committee. A 22-year-old student at Brigham Young University in Utah and the brother of Iowa’s Secretary of State-elect, Shultz plans to use the power of the grassroots to topple RNC chair Michael Steele, who has touted a connection to grassroots as a cornerstone of his tenure at the top of the committee.

Billionaire Warren Buffett said that the Bush tax cuts should be allowed to expire for the richest Americans and that the “trickle down” economic theory hasn’t worked. “If anything, taxes for the lower and middle class and maybe even the upper middle class should even probably be cut further,” Buffett told ABC News in an interview set to air later this week. “But I think that people at the high end — people like myself — should be paying a lot more in taxes. We have it better than we’ve ever had it.”

Talking Points Memo celebrates its tenth anniversary this week with some news hinting at its future and its position in the online news ecosystem. The pioneering left-wing political blog, launched by Josh Marshall on November 13, 2000, has grown tremendously over the last ten years — expanding from one man to dozens of staffers, winning awards for its coverage, and establishing itself as one of the most innovative online news organizations.

Under pressure from groups like Media Matters and Color of Change, ABC News first scaled back, and then canceled, Andrew Breitbart‘s planned participation in its Election Day coverage. Rather than admit they were responding to pressure, however, they decided to blame Breitbart, claiming that he had exaggerated his role in their coverage, essentially firing him for promoting their broadcast. In an exclusive interview with Mediaite, Mr. Breitbart was clearly stung by ABC’s treatment, and is now stinging back.

New York gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino (R) walked out on a local television interview in Plattsburgh, New York on Friday evening after the anchor asked him whether his comments about Sen. Kirsten Gillbrand (D) were sexist. Paladino had called New York’s junior Senator “[Schumer's] little girl” on Thursday, in reference to Sen. Chuck Schumer (D).

If you can’t stand the heat — or, in this case, the questions about your college shenanigans involving ‘Aqua Buddha’ — get of of the kitchen. (Or, in this case, the previously-scheduled televised Senate debate.)

Rand Paul is considering skipping the final debate of the Kentucky Senate race, one day after a Louisville debate with Democratic nominee Jack Conway that was among the cycle’s nastiest.

Harry Reid‘s spokesman Jim Manley emails: “Democrats believe we must permanently extend tax cuts for the middle-class before they expire at the end of the year, and we will. Unfortunately, to this point we have received no cooperation from Republicans to do so. Democrats will not allow families in Nevada and across the country to suffer or be held hostage by Republicans who would rather give tax giveaways to millionaires and corporations that ship jobs overseas. We will come back in November and stay in session as long as it takes to get this done.

Billionaire Warren Buffett thinks that the Bush-era tax cuts for the superrich have had their day. Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway and one of the richest people in America,
told Politico’s Mike Allen after a small business program commencement ceremony at LaGuardia Community College, in Long Island City, Queens that it takes time for economic “wounds” to heal. He said he still supports President Obama.

Long before Tea Party backed candidate Christine O’Donnell won the Republican primary in Delaware and became the GOP Senate nominee, the conservative firebrand was arguing that the government was spending too much money fighting AIDS and said condoms wouldn’t stop the disease from spreading.

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said today that he opposes a Florida church’s plan to burn copies of the Koran on Sept. 11, and said he accepts “totally” that President Obama is a Christian. “I do not think well of the idea of burning anybody’s Koran, Bible, Book of Mormon or anything else,” Barbour told reporters at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor.

Andrew Breitbart, who has been in the news a little bit over the last week, will speak at a Beverly Hills Republican fundraiser in August, according to Talking Points Memo.

The co-headliners August 12 at the “Election Countdown” will be Breitbart and RNC Chairman Michael Steele – two stars of the right, sure, but also both who have been shrouded by controversy recently.

Michael Steele attended a Republican Party fundraiser in Connecticut yesterday, and an amateur video camera captured comments made by the GOP National Committee chairman declaring that the war in Afghanistan “was a war of Obama’s choosing,” adding that America had not “actively prosecuted or wanted to engage in.” This was in reply to a question regarding General McChrystal’s recent resignation, which Steele called “very comical.” According to Talking Points Memo, “top Republicans” are already piling on Steele for the seemingly untoward gaffe.

J.D. Hayworth is a former conservative radio talk show host who is now running for U.S. Senate against Republican stalwart John McCain. On his own website, he refers to himself as the “consistent conservative” and claims “no greater danger to the security of our nation than our national debt.” Yet now it appears that Hayworth once participated in an infomercial promoting a conference designed purely for attendees to take advantage (get rich!) of government grants (quickly!) Perhaps Hayworth should rethink the moniker of “consistent conservative?”

The murky Alvin Greene plot in South Carolina thickens. Remember two days ago when some in the media were panicking that the American-dream-gone-wrong that is Orly Taitz would become an official Republican Party candidate? That actually happened, except it happened to the Democrats, with Alvin Greene. Now that it’s time for him to meet the press, he’s having trouble answering hardball questions like “What kind of campaigning did you do?”

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before – a candidate for political office fakes being bisexual to please voters, but their opponent in the race attempts to out them as being straight in order to sabotage their campaign. Oh, what’s that? You haven’t heard of anything like that? Well, clearly you haven’t been paying attention to the race for the 182nd district seat in Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives.

The Tea Party Tax Day protests yesterday were got wall-to-wall coverage yesterday on the different news channels, from Fox News’ heroic depiction over to MSNBC where Rachel Maddow seemed even smirkier that usual. Maddow looked into the major corporations like Exxon and Phillip Morris that have ties to the Tea Party and yesterday’s protests in a segment called “Caught Red Handed” (we see what you did there, Ms. Maddow).

It’s official: Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens announced his retirement today at the tender age of 89, giving Barack Obama the second Supreme Court opening of his tenure. Let the speculation begin.

The health care summit that framed much of our weekly news cycle has passed, but if the coverage of the event by the media is any indication, it reminded us of the durability of the media’s own bipartisanship, with pundits on the left and right both sounding off against it: CNN is confused as to the direction Congress will now take, MSNBC’s pundits unhappy with the call for compromise, and news anchor Shepard Smith is tired of Congress wasting his time on talk that leads nowhere.

It’s a dream come true, albeit a little late, for Washington’s (and Wall Street’s) worst behaved: a blog dedicated to serving legal advice for managing corporate, political, or public relations crises. Talking Points Memo has the story on attorney and Clintonite fixture Lanny Davis‘s new project, Legal Crisis Strategies, whose motto, “where litigation, media, and lobbying intersect,” could very well apply to its owner, a veteran of all three disciplines.

Health care reform isn’t exactly about health care reform anymore. TPM commentator Brian Beutler is quite comfortable with the fact that the Obama administration’s proposed bipartisan health care summit will probably do little to promote the cause of universal health care. So what’s the point? You may be surprised to hear his conclusion.