The Grand Old Tea Party Has A New Majority Leader

Kevin McCarthy is your new majority leader, a victory for the Republican establishment in the ongoing battle with its identical twin, the Tea Party. Then again, who can tell who's who? Take a quick look at McCarthy's record on women. He's repeatedly voted against legislation to help women fight back against pay discrimination. He's voted to defund Planned Parenthood and control women's access to reproductive health care services. And oh, last but not least, he co-sponsored extreme, anti-woman legislation to redefine rape as "forcible rape." Sound familiar? It's tragic, really, watching the Tea Party and the Republican establishment continue to fight like this, and over what? We'd tell them to put their differences aside, but there are no differences. Even Speaker Boehner says so. Now that they have a new majority leader, can't everyone just get along in the Grand Old Tea Party?

BREAKING: The 5 Things You Need to Know About Scott Walker & John Doe

The release of new documents today in the most recent Wisconsin John Doe investigation is making major headlines for one key reason: we now know that Scott Walker is a direct subject of this investigation into potentially illegal coordination between Walker's recall campaign and outside groups. More importantly, prosecutors are alleging that Walker's campaign "tacitly admitted to violating Wisconsin law." Bridge has posted all of today's newly released documents here for your review, but we've done one better and read through them all for you. Here are the 5 things you need to know about Scott Walker and this latest John Doe investigation:

1. Prosecutors are citing the existence of a "wide ranging scheme" to illegally coordinate activities between Walker's campaign and outside groups
2. Scott Walker's campaign "tacitly admitted to violating Wisconsin law" per prosecutors - Page 139-140
3. Prosecutors argue that this scheme "pervaded nearly every aspect of the campaign activities during the 2011 and 2012 elections" - Page 144
4. Even the national Club for Growth raised concerns about the coordination - Page 126
5. Scott Walker personally emailed Karl Rove to praise the coordination efforts of R.J. Johnson, who was at the center of the alleged coordination - Page 128

Dave "No Questions" Brat to Hold "News Conference"

Since Tea Party prince Dave Brat did the unthinkable and dethroned Majority Leader Eric Cantor, he's been hard to get a hold of. In fact, he actually shot a text message to the Associated Press saying he wasn't doing any public appearances. That might cut it for a teenager who isn't coming home for dinner, but Dave Brat is running for the United States Congress. Well Brat is putting an end to his disappearing act this morning. He's putting on what his campaign is calling a "news conference." We're just trying to figure out what makes something a news conference when you announce in advance you won't take any questions... Then again, it's understandable. The last time Brat tried to take a question, the economics professor didn't "have a well-formed response" to whether we should abolish the minimum wage, though as Chuck Todd pointed out, getting rid of the minimum wage certainly seemed to be the argument Brat was making. So the world will have to wait for Dave Brat to answer questions on his plans to slash social security and education funding. But hey, he's answered one important question already: Is the Tea Party dead? Far from it. Watch:

Rick Scott's tax returns: unearthed and searchable

Yesterday, in an attempt to give off an air of transparency, Rick Scott released a few years of tax returns. Of course, he didn't want to make it too easy on anyone who might be interested in digging through them--they were not downloadable or searchable. Luckily, American Bridge is here to help Scott take his disclosure efforts a step further. Feel free to search through his records after the jump.

Thom Tillis Is Back And More Racially Divisive Than Ever

You may remember him from his hit single "Divide and Conquer." Well he's back with an all new track. Your…

Dave Brat's Grand Old TEA Party

The Republican establishment was dealt a shocking blow last week when Eric Cantor, an ardent conservative and supposed young star of the GOP, was defeated by little-known Tea Party candidate Dave Brat. The upset sent shockwaves through the Republican Party, and Brat wasted no time in demonstrating his extreme views. In an interview with Chuck Todd the day after winning his primary, Brat, an economics professor, appeared to lay out a case for abolishing the minimum wage, before backpedaling and claiming that he didn't have a "well-crafted response on that one." But the real story isn't Brat's bumbling, or even Cantor's fall from grace. The real story is that the positions of Dave Brat and his Tea Party friends and the positions of today's "Republican establishment" aren't any different. Whether you ask overnight Tea Party sensation Dave Brat, or longtime Washington elite Speaker Boehner, they'll tell you the same thing. There ain't any difference between the Tea Party and the GOP.

Paying Off Student Loans Is Easy: Just Get A Massive Book Deal!

Last week, Marco Rubio spoke out in opposition to President Obama's Student Loan Relief Initiative. Specifically, Rubio railed against the idea of forgiveness for student loans after 20 years. It was a notably unsympathetic stance from a Senator who has personal experience with the burden of having massive student loans to pay back. When Rubio was elected in 2010, his financial disclosure showed that he was still encumbered by over $100,000 of debt on his own student loans. Luckily for Rubio, he netted a hefty sum from his book deal in 2012 and was finally able to pay off his debt. As for the rest of us, a lucrative book deal doesn't seem like it's in the cards. And to us normal folk, Marco Rubio has a nice message: You're on your own, pal!

Thom Tillis Is Frustrated By "Emotional" Female Colleague

Thom Tillis has a clear record when it comes to women. And it's not good. Tillis supports a personhood amendment that could make some forms of birth control illegal. He passed legislation that threatened to close women's health care clinics in North Carolina. And he even believes states should have the right to make birth control illegal entirely. So it's no surprise when Tillis's attacks on women extend beyond his legislation and into his personal comments and behavior. Coming under fire this week after a film tax credit that supports North Carolina was killed in committee, Tillis let his true colors shine though. While he previously supported the credit, Tillis was notably quiet after the Koch brothers' Americans for Prosperity railed against it--a group that has also poured millions upon millions into false advertisements attacking his Senate opponent. So when a female legislator, Susi Hamilton, called Tillis out for betraying North Carolina's film community, he brushed her criticism off as being "born out of emotions." Thom Tillis. No friend of women.

Funnier Than Fallon? Chris Christie's Comedy Of Errors

Chris Christie is taking his scandal-tainted show on the road this evening for an appearance on the Tonight Show. But before he crosses the Hudson via the bridge his aides shut down access to in a cheap political stunt (maybe he's more of a tunnel man), Christie already has people in hysterics with the comedy of errors of his failing governorship. Just a short while back, Chris Christie was considered the clear frontrunner for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination. But one spiraling bridge scandal, a handful of state credit downgrades, and several millions in wasted taxpayer dollars on a joke of a self-exoneration later, Christie seems more likely to succeed Jimmy Fallon than Barack Obama. So before tonight's show, grab some popcorn and check out some of Christie's greatest hits, courtesy of American Bridge:

Floundering Republican Elites Lose Control of Party, Ask "What Civil War?"

Ask the elites of the Republican establishment in Washington about the civil war within their party, and you're likely to be met with feigned bewilderment. Well golly, I've got no idea what you're talking about! It's a strategy that has been an almost religiously adhered to by the so-called adult types - the John Boehners and Paul Ryans in Congress, and George Wills and Charles Krauthammers of the punditry class - who are grasping at straws in an effort to keep the party from coming completely unglued. But now, even the most wide-eyed supporters must now see through this guise of unity. This week House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, who boasts a 95 lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union, was tossed aside for Dave Brat, an unknown ultra-conservative Tea Partier. That's right, the same Eric Cantor who has been long-considered a young star of the party, known for being a constant thorn in the President's side for his refusal to compromise his conservative values, was toppled by the Tea Party in the blink of a primary. He became the sitting first majority leader in history to lose a primary since the position was created in 1899. Just hours later, extreme Tea Partier Chris McDaniel, who is running to unseat incumbent conservative Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran in another nasty and drawn out intra-party fight, sent a fundraising email with the subject line "We Just Beat Eric Cantor." Now that the Tea Party has killed the narrative of its decline with a single swift victory, what will be their next target? The American people can only await complete and utter government gridlock in the coming months.