The past couple of years have not been kind to military chaplains and there’s no indication the problems are going away soon. There was the fiasco surrounding Capt. James Yee, a Muslim Army chaplain stationed at Guantanamo Bay; a report that some Defense Department chaplain services have been directing military personnel to a Web site […]
As a conservative House member, Rep. Don Sherwood (R-Pa.) is pretty predictable. Especially when it comes to “family values” issues, Sherwood toes the party line and makes the GOP base happy — he voted for the Defense of Marriage Act and the “Marriage Protection Amendment” to the Constitution, and was re-elected to Congress with a […]
Looking back, one of the more disturbing moments from the president’s prime-time press conference came in response to a question about military readiness. Q: Do you feel that the number of troops that you’ve kept there is limiting your options elsewhere in the world? Just today you had the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency […]
Today’s White House press briefing included a lengthy exchange on whether the president believes in supporting the Treasury’s obligations. It didn’t go well. A reporter asked Scott McClellan about the president’s belief that the current Social Security system “leaves behind file cabinets full of IOUs.” The journalist asked if the president is suggesting that there’s […]
When Rep. Chris Shays (R-Conn.) became the first congressional Republican to call on Tom DeLay to resign, the political establishment held its collective breath to see if it was the start of a trend. It never really materialized. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) said it’s “probably not the worst idea” for DeLay to step down, but that […]
I mentioned earlier that the right-wing Progress for America, probably best known for its “Ashley’s Story” ads from the campaign, will be spending $1.5 million on television commercials over the next two weeks to help bolster support for the nuclear option. I wanted to add, however, that Progress for America has tapped Benjamin Ginsberg to […]
To follow up on an item from Saturday guest-poster Morbo, PBS’s future is looking increasingly bleak. A brief interview with the New York Times Magazine recently highlighted the fact that Ken Ferree, the new Republican president of PBS, doesn’t watch the network he’s taking over. Today we learn that the problem is even worse than […]
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: * Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas (R) announced over the weekend that he will not run for the Senate next year, despite pressure from party leaders. He will instead seek a third gubernatorial term […]
After last week’s press conference, talk of the president finally having something of a “plan” for Social Security started to solidify. This, at least at first, sounded like a change. We’ve been playing this annoying game for months. Most it comes down to semantics and strategy, but for nearly all of the current fight over […]
I’m on board with the entire Dem strategy when it comes to judicial nominees. I agree with the filibusters, the strategy in dealing with the nuclear option, the attempts at negotiations that aren’t going anywhere, the whole shebang. I do, however, realize that there are semi-legitimate arguments on the other side. I think the Republicans […]