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: * New York businessman Thomas Golisano, who’s run unsuccessfully for governor three times as an independent, will switch his party affiliation and become a Republican today on route to a fourth attempt. Golisano […]
At yesterday’s White House press briefing, Scott McClellan responded to a series of questions about the president’s claim that the feds have “disrupted at least ten serious al Qaeda terrorist plots” since Sept. 11, 2001. Needless to say, some of press corps were skeptical. Q: Scott, more on the speech. First, on that issue, obviously, […]
As if it weren’t bad enough for the right that Harriet Miers helped create a women’s-issues lecture series at SMU — generally not the kind of thing the right likes because it just screams “feminism” — Knight Ridder has looked into Miers’ one term on the Dallas City Council. In particular, KR reviewed her work […]
I know there’s plenty of frustration out there that Dems on the Hill aren’t doing enough to aggressively go after Republican malfeasance, but frequently, Dem efforts are hard-hitting but largely ignored. There’s a lot going on in the political world this week, but consider a few examples of Dems showing solid follow-through. For example, a […]
National polls released last week showed Bush’s approval rating creeping back up a bit. This was not entirely unexpected. The federal response to Hurricane Katrina — and Bush’s cluelessness during the crisis — hurt the president’s support badly, and his numbers dropped into the high 30s. The anger, however, subsided, and the less-painful response to […]
I mentioned yesterday that the Senate passed a measure, 90 to 9, setting new limits on “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment” on detainees (read: prohibiting torture) in Iraq and elsewhere. The nine pro-torture votes came from Sens. Allard (R-CO), Bond (R-MO), Coburn (R-OK), Cochran (R-MS), Cornyn (R-TX), Inhofe (R-OK), Roberts (R-KS), Sessions (R-AL), […]
A central piece of Tom DeLay’s defense against the three criminal charges he’s now facing is total ignorance. He started Texans for a Republican Majority (TRMPAC) and then, as he tells it, played no role in the organization’s fundraising or activities. Unfortunately for DeLay, evidence keeps mounting to the contrary. Former House majority leader Tom […]
Needless to say, the next few days will be exceedingly interesting for Karl Rove, Patrick Fitzgerald, and the political world following the ongoing criminal investigation of the Bush White House. Rove is poised to make his fourth appearance before the grand jury, and while few outside the courthouse know exactly what this means, the one […]
The political world’s been waiting with baited breath today, wondering if Plame indictments will be issued. It looks like it won’t be today, because investigators still have a few questions for Karl Rove. Federal prosecutors have accepted an offer from presidential adviser Karl Rove to give 11th hour testimony in the case of a CIA […]
There wasn’t much in the way of new content in today’s not-so-major speech from the president, but there was one new talking point. Since it was the only original point, it’s generated all the media attention. “Overall, the United States and our partners have disrupted at least ten serious al Qaeda terrorist plots since September […]