It’s hard to even think, better yet write, about the Republicans’ approach to crafting a “budget.” But TNR’s Noam Scheiber had a good observation yesterday about the process that I wanted to pass along. Scheiber noticed this graph in a Washington Post article: The House budget resolution orders $13 billion in entitlement-spending cuts, significantly more […]
Putting a rest to rumors that one of the bigger networks will lure Jon Stewart away, Comedy Central announced yesterday that it had renewed the contract for Stewart and “The Daily Show” through 2008. “A lot of people like to get out when their show’s still going well,” Stewart said. “This gives me the opportunity […]
As if the Republicans’ new-found obsession with court-stripping and overturning Supreme Court rulings by two-thirds vote isn’t radical enough for you, Reps. Robert Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Tom Feeney (R-Fla.) have launched a new round in the GOP assault on an independent federal judiciary. It’s called the “Reaffirmation of American Independence Resolution” Goodlatte and Feeney are […]
One alert reader, whom I fondly call Chief Osceola, brought a funny one to my attention. John Hargrave created a project he calls “The Senator Prank,” in which he posed as a 10-year-old boy to ask each member of the Senate what their favorite jokes are. A bi-partisan group of 15 senators wrote the “kid” […]
This one needs a better name. Bribegate? That’s no good. I’m open to suggestion. No matter what you call it, the investigation into the illegal bribes offered to Rep. Nick Smith (R-Mich.) on the House floor during the Medicare debate has reached the big time. The House Ethics Committee announced yesterday it will conduct a […]
Yesterday, I wrote about the battle for control of the Senate and how the Dems’ chances have improved in recent months. But that’s the Senate; how does the House look? No matter how predisposed one is to optimism, seeing a scenario in which we’ll get the House back is difficult, but not impossible. There are […]
The Wall Street Journal moves the ball forward in a major way today on the Medicare cost estimate scandal, obtaining a copy of an email written during congressional debate in which Medicare’s actuary was warned specifically not to share the truth with Congress. Specifically, the actuary was told to “work up the numbers,” and was […]
I’ve gone out of my way to avoid the absurd flap over Kerry’s support from unnamed world leaders — I just find it too dumb to even comment on — but Salon noticed a great exchange on the matter that I’d like to pass on. Richard Holbrooke, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and […]
What if we were to take the worst stereotypes about southern conservatives, compile the nuttiest elements of their ideology, and put it all into one small town. What would it look like? Rhea County, Tennessee. Rhea County commissioners unanimously voted to ask state lawmakers to introduce legislation amending Tennessee’s criminal code so the county can […]
I remember “scandal fatigue” was a conservative buzz phrase in the late 90s. The point, obviously, was to suggest the Clinton years were marred by too many controversies and that the public could use a little down time, free of strife and scandal. (Never mind that virtually all of these alleged indignities turned out to […]