There was widespread consternation last week — OK, in some circles, downright panic — that the Federal Election Commission was prepared to start regulating the blogosphere under federal campaign laws. The alarm was raised when FEC Commissioner Brad Smith, a Republican, did an interview with CNET, noting that “it’s very likely that the Internet is […]
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay has been admonished by the House Ethics Committee for violating ethics rules four times in his career, including three reprimands just last year alone. Last week, we learned of a possible fifth, stemming from a trip DeLay took to England and Scotland that was apparently paid for by a crooked […]
Like a lot of bloggers, there are issues that I care deeply about, but, for one reason or another, don’t write about. The crisis in Darfur is just such an issue. My friend Eugene Oregon, at Demagogue, has done extraordinary work covering developments in the region with his “Daily Darfur” posts. Thankfully, he’s also taken […]
For those who’ve been following the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings of some of Bush’s already-rejected would-be judges, you’d be forgiven for getting a little confused. After all, there’s a strategy in place, which seems to have no connection to reality. The strategy, as stated by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, was pretty straightforward: start […]
Last week there were several reports about Tom DeLay’s 10-day England-Scotland excursion, which may have been paid for by a disgraced lobbyist, a definite no-no under congressional ethics guidelines. This week, we learn that DeLay wasn’t the only one enjoying the travel benefits. A group of congressional figures has joined House Majority Leader Tom DeLay […]
I was intrigued by an item Ed Kilgore raised yesterday about the intra-party fight going on in Colorado about the future of the Dem Party leadership in the state. The more I look into this, the more bizarre it looks. Like Ed, I kind of assumed Colorado Dems would be basking in their own success […]
Prosecutors in Texas don’t want to talk about whether House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is the target in the ongoing investigation of illegal corporate campaign contributions and money laundering, but the probe keeps moving in his direction. Documents subpoenaed from an indicted fund-raiser for Tom DeLay, the House majority leader, suggest that Mr. DeLay was […]
My new daily feature about campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may nevertheless be of interest to political observers: * Doris Matsui, the widow of Rep. Robert Matsui (D-Calif.), cruised to an easy victory yesterday in a special election to fill her late husband’s seat. She avoided a run-off […]
The ACLU has put together one of the more amusing reports I’ve seen in a while in response to a successful lawsuit against provisions of Bush’s Patriot Act. Materials that the administration had heavily censored from public view were released yesterday for the first time, following a federal court ruling from last year. The funny […]
I guess this was inevitable. We’re engaged in a war, the Republican majority has expanded, so it’s only natural that we’ll have to deal with a constitutional amendment to ban flag burning. South Dakota’s new U.S. senator, who defeated a politician who didn’t think a flag-desecration amendment was needed in the Constitution, says he will […]