The last we heard from former FEMA Director Mike Brown, he was sending around his resume, looking for work. It didn’t seem to be going very well — one exec called him “radioactive.” And yet, as C&L discovered, Brown needn’t worry about finding a new employer; his old one will do just fine. Former FEMA […]
Since former FEMA Director Mike Brown’s background came to public light, there’s been considerable discussion about cronyism in the Bush administration — the only people who seem to get jobs are those who are reliable political allies, and they’re given jobs whether they deserve them or not. Since the Brown example, critics have not hurt […]
It doesn’t happen often, so when key Republican players express deep concerns about the party’s electoral fate, it’s worth paying attention to. For example, the Boston Globe had a piece today on Republicans targeting Michigan as a state where they hope to make some headway next year, thanks in part to high unemployment and luke-warm […]
With a trial about to begin in Dover, Pa., over the use of intelligent-design creationism in public school science classes, the latest skirmish in this extremely annoying culture war is about to get underway. Some are even calling this Scopes II. I’ve already written about as long a piece on the subject as I could […]
It seems inevitable that just about everyone in the Republican establishment who even shook hands with Jack Abramoff will soon regret it, if they don’t already, but there are a handful of members of Congress who may never recover from it. Tom DeLay’s connections are well established, but Michael Isikoff noted this week that Ohio […]
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: * In a move that may indicate his desire not to run for re-election, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) is now using his state as a punch-line to a Republican joke.”Being a conservative […]
I hadn’t given a lot of thought to Dick Cheney’s surgery over the weekend, because it didn’t seem like a terribly big deal. A man in his mid-60s having two aneurysms repaired behind his knees doesn’t seem the kind of thing that should raise suspicions. (I will say, however, that a friend of mine had […]
The idea of Bush being a Manchurian Candidate is not entirely new. Over a year ago, Doonesbury, for example, had an amusing one, explaining that Bush’s presidency had united the Muslim world against the United States, inspired a new generation of future terrorists with an unnecessary war in Iraq, and squandered our moral authority around […]
Watching John Roberts’ Supreme Court nomination unfold has been vaguely surreal. Republican moderates who were supposed to be skeptical of any nominee hostile to Roe v Wade have been silent. Hard-line conservatives who heard grumbling from the base about Roberts’ dubious commitment to a right-wing agenda bit their tongue. Dems who had geared up for […]
The role of inspectors general in the Bush administration has elevated the position to new heights. Because Congress decided, shortly after Bush’s inauguration in 2001, that administrative oversight would no longer be necessary, controversies that used to spark hearings and/or investigations on the Hill are now often handled by an agency’s inspector general, an allegedly […]