It hasn’t been a good week for the anti-gay crowd. First, the Massachusetts legislature easily rejected a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage and establish civil unions. The vote made plenty of sense — the state has had gay marriage for a year, it’s been relatively conflict-free, and the whole “controversy” has become more politically […]
Just a week ago, as lawmakers began to appreciate the costs associated with Gulf Coast relief efforts, a few Republicans went off-message and wondered aloud how we’ll pay for all of this. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) said Bush has “failed a test of leadership” by not including spending cuts to pay for part of the […]
On Tuesday, Knight Ridder made life more difficult for Director of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff with a report noting that it was he — and not Mike Brown — who was in a position to launch an aggressive federal response, but waited a day and a half before pulling the trigger. The leaked info prompted […]
Perhaps aware that they have a political problem with the African-American community — a recent Gallup poll showed 72% of blacks believe Bush “doesn’t care about black people” — the president’s speechwriters seemed to go out of their way to emphasize their concern for minority-owned businesses in last night’s speech in New Orleans. “When the […]
Watching the president’s speech from New Orleans last night, I kept noticing how much it resembled a State of the Union address — without all those pesky interruptions of applause. The president talked about spending lots of money; there was no talk of how to pay for any of it; there were “big ideas” without […]
The president will address the nation this evening, live from New Orleans. He will reportedly speak, without a live audience, from Jackson Square, with the famous St. Louis Cathedral as a backdrop. One wants to assume there will be no “Mission Accomplished” banner overhead, but time will tell. And with just about four hours until […]
The president, earlier this week, articulated an approach to Gulf Coast reconstruction that emphasized the importance of local citizens and officials rebuilding the communities as they see fit. “My attitude is this: The people of New Orleans can design the vision; the people of New Orleans can lay out what New Orleans ought to look […]
The good news is health care premiums only rose a little a lot, but less than in recent years. The bad news is the average cost for a family health insurance policy is nearly $11,000 — and, according to the non-partisan Kaiser Family Foundation, rising health care costs are pricing more consumers and employers out […]
Take a wild guess who’s heading up the White House’s reconstruction effort on the Gulf Coast. Republicans said Karl Rove, the White House deputy chief of staff and Mr. Bush’s chief political adviser, was in charge of the reconstruction effort, which reaches across many agencies of government and includes the direct involvement of Alphonso R. […]
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 from Strategic Vision, a Republican firm, shows Rick Santorum trailing Pennsylvania Treasurer Bob Casey (D) by an even wider margin than before. In its latest survey, taken after Santorum […]