Rod Dreher, responding to John Murtha at the National Review Online yesterday, said he was “sure there’s going to be an anti-Murtha pile-on in the conservative blogosphere, but from where I sit, conservatives would be fools not to take this man seriously.” As it turns out, the pile-on went way beyond right-wing blogs — and […]
CBS Early Show anchor Harry Smith, describing the new White House, particularly after Dick Cheney’s attack, said, “The White House basically called the Democrats liars.” Actually, it’s probably safe to remove the word “basically.” Consider the latest from the WH Communication office. Nicolle Wallace, the White House communications director, says challenging Democrats is essential. “Our […]
Shortly after Dick Cheney accused Democrats of making “dishonest and reprehensible” attacks, the issue came up during a presidential press conference in Korea. Q: Mr. President, Vice President Cheney called it reprehensible for critics to question how you took the country to war, but Senator Hagel says it’s patriotic to ask those kinds of questions. […]
Roll Call Executive Editor and Fox News regular Mort Kondracke raised an interesting subject today that might be of interest to the Dem grassroots: impeachment. Kondracke observed that the “I-word” is more common on blogs than the halls of Congress, but, he noted, it does pop up now and again. In particular, none other than […]
Update: Apparently the deal isn’t as solid as previously reported. Several lawmakers, from both parties, demanded today that further changes be made to the Patriot Act — or they’ll block reauthorization. Negotiations over the future of the Patriot Act were supposed to be about improving some of the law’s more troublesome provisions. So, when lawmakers […]
When a Supreme Court nominee starts facing questions about his or her ideology during confirmation hearings, he or she has a few choices. One is to play dumb and answer questions like Clarence Thomas did in 1991. (“Roe? Griswold? Never heard of ’em.”) If there are memoranda expressing an opinion on some of these issues, […]
Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) is probably not quite as famous as some of his congressional colleagues, but his reputation and stature in Congress, particularly on military issues, is unquestioned. A former Marine, Murtha is a decorated Vietnam veteran. Ideologically, he rarely draws right-wing fire because of his centrist voting record that always backs the military. […]
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: * About a year ago, it seemed the Democratic Party of Florida was in real trouble. Bush won the state by a wider margin than expected, the GOP dominated Tallahassee, and the party […]
Congressional Republicans just haven’t been able to spin that silly “bridge to nowhere” in Alaska they approved as part of the $286 billion transportation bill passed earlier this year. The legislation was filled with equally embarrassing pork projects — let’s not forget the $1.5 million bus stop — but that darn bridge became the symbol […]
House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Steve Buyer (R-Ind.) recently announced that, for the first time in six decades, there would be no joint session of the House and Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committees to hear concerns directly from organizations representing those who’ve served. The announcement was not well received. Disabled American Veterans National Commander Paul W. […]