Seventy years ago, the government created a quota system to regulate tobacco production. But as companies found it cheaper and easier to grow tobacco overseas, many tobacco farmers were forced out of business. Pressure has grown for Congress to do something. Farmers, the industry, and most Southern politicians have advocated a proposal for a buyout […]
If you haven’t seen this video that’s been making the rounds this week, you really should. Right now, the poor server is completely overwhelmed, but keep trying until you see it. (Update: if that link doesn’t work, you can also try this one.) I’ve heard for some time that George W. Bush used to be […]
Under federal tax law, churches cannot legally intervene in a political campaign. It’s a flat ban — churches that violate the law and seek to influence the outcome of a race run the risk of losing their tax-exempt status, which they’re given because they’re supposed to be non-partisan, charitable institutions. With this in mind, the […]
I get tired of saying it, and you must get tired of reading it, but Dick Cheney’s pathological disdain for the truth seems to be getting worse, not better, as we get closer to Election Day. Vice President Dick Cheney, who acknowledged last week that Iraq had produced no weapons of mass destruction after 1991, […]
I mentioned a few weeks ago that Barack Obama, the soon-to-be senator from Illinois, is accepting invitations to appear with other Dem candidates across the country, since he no longer has to worry about campaigning at home. Yesterday, however, the Washington Post had an interesting addition: Obama is also spreading the wealth. In the past […]
The issue came up in the St. Louis debate and it was a common question among the Sabbath-day gasbags 48 hours ago. The good news is, the political press has rediscovered the deficit and wants a fiscally responsible president. The bad news is, the same press thinks Kerry and Bush are equally flawed in their […]
Bush, in last Friday’s debate: “Of course, I listen to our generals. That’s what a president does. A president sets the strategy and relies upon good military people to execute that strategy.” Bush, at a White House press conference with Interim Iraqi Prime Minister Allawi last month: “[W]hen our commanders say that they need support, […]
You’d think after hurting his campaign with months of bizarre remarks, Oklahoma’s Tom Coburn would know by now to keep his foot out of his mouth. Alas, he’s a slow learner. The Republican Senate candidate in Oklahoma warns of “rampant” lesbianism in some schools in the state in a tape released Monday by his Democratic […]
How bad have things gotten for Bush since the debates started? Even Gallup says he’s losing. President Bush and Sen. John Kerry head toward their third and final televised debate this week with voters increasingly pessimistic about the economy, the war in Iraq and the battle against terrorism, a USA Today/CNN/Gallup Poll shows. Unease about […]
The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank, one of the nation’s great political reporters, was a little off his game today. His story about the difference between Bush’s and Kerry’s audiences downplayed the single biggest factor explaining the discrepancy. The Republican faithful love their candidate; the Democratic faithful have less such enthusiasm for Kerry but know he […]