William Rehnquist turns 80 this year and has already admitted to “thinking about retirement.” And, in case you needed yet another reason to vote for John Kerry in November, here are four very scary words you should consider: Chief Justice Clarence Thomas. This isn’t just some far-right dream; it’s a plan for which Bush’s White […]
This is a story that’s just starting to reach the big time after a weekend of simmering beneath the surface, but it’s extraordinarily important and deserves far more attention than it’s been receiving. Juan Cole and Kevin Drum have written a number of informative posts on this over the past couple of days and I […]
It was bad enough when Oklahoma Senate candidate and former House Rep. Tom Coburn (R) announced he wants to execute physicians for performing a legal medical procedure. “I favor the death penalty,” Coburn said, “for abortionists and other people who take life.” And it wasn’t much better when we learned that the Gun Owners of […]
When it comes to Justice Department investigations, the norm is for investigators not to comment publicly on any case, at least while the inquiry is ongoing. With this in mind, it seems odd, to put it mildly, that Ashcroft’s Justice Department has authorized federal officials to speak to Congress about the investigation into Sandy Berger’s […]
Kid Rock’s performance at this year’s Super Bowl half-time show infuriated Sen. Zell Miller (R-Ga.) so much, he used it on the Senate floor as an example of the nation’s “deficit of decency.” “[T]he thing that yanked my chain the hardest was seeing that ignoramus with his pointed head stuck up through a hole he […]
I wasn’t planning on returning to this topic, but the White House’s spinning of last month’s abysmal job numbers was so annoying, I can’t let it go. In reality, Bush doesn’t have a lot of options here. His vaunted tax cuts should be, according to White House estimates, producing robust job growth right now. Instead, […]
Alan Keyes made it official yesterday, announcing his candidacy and offering the kind of sentiment that captures the GOP’s perspective on this race: “I’m not going to stand here and with tremendous ease promise you a victory….” But to get a sense of what key national figures from Illinois, including, say, the Speaker of the […]
It’s no secret that Republicans are going out of their way to help Ralph Nader gather signatures so he can appear on presidential ballots nationwide, but it’s rare when we get a peek at how, exactly, they’re doing it. Bush was in New Hampshire on Friday for another event in a key swing state. Before […]
I’ve never really been bothered by party-switchers. If a lawmaker feels that they no longer fit into their party’s agenda and that the rival party better fits their ideology, then crossing the aisle makes sense. If I’m thrilled when Jim Jeffords leaves the GOP, I can hardly complain when someone else leaves the Dems. That […]
If you’ve been reading this site for a while, you’ve hopefully come to expect this. If you’re new, welcome; we do this every Friday afternoon. It’s my weekly round-up of statewide presidential polls released over the last seven days and this week’s a big one. This week reflects a lot of post-convention numbers, many of […]