I’m a little too young to really appreciate Walter Cronkite’s iron-clad credibility, but it’s nevertheless encouraging to see the retired news anchor tell audiences what he really believes about the state of American politics. In a word, Cronkite’s angry. What America needs right now, legendary TV anchor Walter Cronkite said Thursday, is a new election […]
Just to reiterate something that The American Prospect’s Sam Rosenfeld brought up yesterday, Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), the ranking Dem on the House Intelligence Committee, had a noteworthy reaction to Republicans killing the intelligence reform bill. “If there is another major terrorist attack on our soil — and sadly, there will likely be one — […]
I’ve noticed an odd double standard when it comes to politics and the Boy and Girl Scouts. Since the Scouts are generally well liked by the electorate, this seems like a distinction that deserves some attention. The Boy Scouts, for example, probably found it reassuring to learn last week they have a lot of allies […]
My friend Eugene Oregon has discovered the latest disturbing twist in the GOP drive to stop Dems from blocking Bush’s worst judicial nominees. It’s not a new scheme or clever legal strategy — it’s a name change. Human Events, one of the nation’s most conservative publications, describes the benefits of what they call the “constitutional […]
I continue to be impressed with Harry Reid’s approach to problem solving. For example, the Dems are still dealing with an internal conflict over who (and how) to elect a new chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Part of the problem is naming a new chair who may or may not be able to serve […]
No wonder the United States Commission on Civil Rights delayed its report on Bush until after the election; the president heads an administration in which civil rights laws go largely unenforced. Federal enforcement of civil rights laws has dropped sharply since 1999, as the level of complaints received by the Justice Department has remained relatively […]
It’s hard not to love “Michael Kinsley moments,” in which a political figure commits a gaffe by telling the truth. The latest example comes by way of Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) on the issue of tax “reform.” “You can’t very well claim there was a mandate in this election for tax reform,” said Senator Jon […]
First the Bush administration boasted in a government report that global terrorist attacks had fallen to the lowest level in three decades. Then the Bush administration said it had counted wrong and that the attacks had actually increased and reached a 21-year high. Now, however, administration officials are saying their definitive analysis on global terrorism, […]
When lawmakers weren’t using a $388 billion spending package to gain access to tax returns, they were loading the bill with pet projects and pork-barrel spending for their districts. One project in particular stands out: * $2 million for the government to buy back the presidential yacht USS Sequoia, sold in 1977 by President Jimmy […]
In case you were away from your computer over the weekend, you might have missed the fact that congressional Republicans nearly empowered themselves to review your tax returns without restrictions or regard to privacy laws. Yes, the law currently considers it a felony to disclose information from income tax returns, but under a new GOP […]