The Hill ran an interesting item today about the latest nuclear option developments, but you’ll need some kind of secret Republican decoder ring to decipher the whole thing because the article includes some conflicting updates. For what it’s worth, Bill Frist, after several weeks of hemming and hawing, is telling allies that he’ll execute the […]
Think Progress’ Jon Sherman had a good item yesterday, noting that Liberian dictator and war criminal Charles Taylor maintains his brutal reign with the help of powerful friends, including TV preacher Pat Robertson. Sherman found it odd that Robertson would sign on to an anti-poverty campaign for the developing world while simultaneously defending a thug […]
The ongoing problem for congressional Dems when it came to Tom DeLay’s scandalous behavior is that so few Americans knew he was. There’s no point in trying to brand a GOP candidate a “Tom DeLay Republican” if voters say, “Who?” At least that was the problem. As the DCCC’s Jesse Lee noted, DeLay’s name recognition […]
The question of whether Bill Frist has the votes to pull off the nuclear option or not has been the subject of intense scrutiny here and elsewhere. On the record, most Republican senators paint it as a foregone conclusion: the votes are there and the floor confrontation is inevitable. Indeed, just this week, Frist told […]
One of the more common complaints from Senate Republicans lately is that Dems “abuse” the filibuster by using it too often. It’s an inherently subjective complaint — is blocking 10 right-wing judges excessive? — but the argument is not entirely without merit. When it comes to judicial nominees, there have been more filibusters in the […]
The ongoing struggle to combat the administration’s use of public funds to create fake-news segments has finally taken legislative form. Late last week, Sens. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.) introduced the Truth in Broadcasting Act. The legislation would require that “prepackaged news stories” produced by the Administration contain a disclosure of the source […]
Some of you may recall the controversy surrounding Stephen Williams, a California school teacher who was disciplined and allegedly ordered not to tell his students about the Declaration of Independence because it includes a reference to a “Creator.” Talk radio, Fox News, and conservative blogs went apoplectic, using Williams’ example as proof of secularists gone […]
Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers: * A new poll of voters in Tom DeLay’s district shows faltering support for the flailing House Majority Leader. A poll conducted by SurveyUSA for a local television station showed 51% disapprove of […]
A couple of weeks ago, Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) told Roll Call that she had agreed to listen to the White House’s pitch about Social Security privatization, but was surprised at how little she heard with which she could agree. Lincoln has flirted in the past with Fainthearted Faction status, so her trip down Pennsylvania […]
As with every poll released in the last couple of months, if there’s good news in the latest USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll for the Bush White House, it’s hiding very well. * Approval rating — Bush’s approval rating remains at 48%, which is exactly where it was a month ago. The percentage of poll respondents who […]