Josh Marshall noted a disturbing (to put it mildly) quote from Oklahoma Senate candidate and former House Rep. Tom Coburn (R). “I favor the death penalty,” Coburn told the AP last week, “for abortionists and other people who take life.” That’s right, we may soon have a Republican senator who wants to execute physicians for […]
Immediately after John Edwards was named John Kerry’s running mate, the Republicans released an opposition research report noting every negative thing they could think of about Edwards, his beliefs, and his record. As I noted last week, some of the attacks bordered on the bizarre. For instance, the GOP attacked Edwards for opting out of […]
A few months ago, some Republican on Capitol Hill thought he had a brilliant idea. Lawmakers, with significant support from the White House, would push a vote on a constitutional amendment on gay marriage. It was a strategy that had everything the GOP could hope for: it would focus political attention on social issues (and […]
Here’s a funny instance of a misguided press flack choosing the wrong word (via TBogg). “The last sign of a defeated and intellectually bankrupt party is a hate-filled strategy of caricature assassination,” said Jonathan Grella, a DeLay spokesman. (emphasis added) We’re intellectually bankrupt, but he wants to protect caricatures? Sure, I know what he meant, […]
Though it didn’t generate much attention over the July 4 weekend, the New York Times had a very interesting story about a behind-the-scenes deal in which the Bush administration released suspected Saudi terrorists from Gitmo in order to keep some international allies content. American officials agreed to return five terrorism suspects to Saudi Arabia from […]
Read the key section from the now-infamous Newsweek report again. [The Department of Justice] was specifically asked to review a recent letter to Ridge from DeForest B. Soaries Jr., chairman of the newly created U.S. Election Assistance Commission…. Soaries, a Bush appointee who two years ago was an unsuccessful GOP candidate for Congress, wants Ridge […]
The Constitution’s 12th Amendment explains that a person ineligible for the presidency is also ineligible for the vice presidency. Moreover, whether one agrees with the provision or not, Article 2, Sec. 1, of the Constitution says you have to be a “natural born citizen” to be eligible to seek the presidency, and according to the […]
I noticed recently that one of the new Bush campaign ads, titled “Priorities,” emphasizes the votes John Kerry has missed while on the presidential campaign trail. This strikes me as an unusually dumb move, even for the Bush gang, but let’s explore it a bit. Bush: “I’m George W. Bush, and I approved this message.” […]
I know some of you hate the anecdotal articles about Republicans abandoning Bush, but I can’t help myself. I know they offer little, if any, predictive value, but there’s something about reading these items that makes my day a little better. The latest comes from the AP’s Scott Lindlaw who found some pretty high-profile conservatives […]
There are two things everyone can agree on regarding the vote on the so-called “Federal Marriage Amendment”: a) it isn’t going to pass; and b) it’s a political stunt intended to influence the election. The mechanics of it should be pretty simple, right? Schedule the time, hold a meaningless debate, hold a roll call vote, […]