The other day, Josh Marshall noted, accurately, that Rick “Man on Dog” Santorum, the Senate’s most aggressive advocate for Social Security privatization, “ain’t hiding.” He may be getting his head handed to him this week in Pennsylvania. But he’s out there making his case to some pretty unfriendly crowds. True. To his credit, Santorum is […]
I see this morning that there’s a new Zogby poll (not yet online), conducted for a Democratic firm called WhatsNext Communications, on how Dem voters feel about prospective presidential candidates in 2008. The results were fairly unexpected considering the names included in the mix: Hillary Clinton led the field with 32% support, trailed by John […]
It’s been exactly a month since Harry Reid unveiled his Prevention First Act and NARAL began asking anti-abortion activists to join them in an effort to reduce unwanted pregnancies. Let’s see how it’s gone so far. First, on the Hill, Reid’s proposal has generated considerable interest, and to date, has picked up 22 co-sponsors. Alas, […]
An odd but inescapable reality to many political controversies is the need among reporters for the opposition to drive a story. Controversies are rarely seen as independently interesting; news outlets tend to care (or at least, care a lot more) when one side “pushes” a story by staying engaged. In the Guckert/Gannon scandal, a lot […]
Before the White House gets its heart set on expanding Bush’s “No Child Left Behind” law, administration officials may want to step back and realize that everyone outside Bush’s payroll (we’re looking at you, Armstrong) sees the law as an abject failure. Concluding a yearlong study on the effectiveness of President Bush’s sweeping education law, […]
The Gadflyer’s Paul Waldman has an item on TomPaine.com this week, raising an issue that’s bothered me for years. Noting that last week’s Conservative Political Action Conference featured high-profile Republican leaders hobnobbing with some of the right’s most polarizing extremists, Waldman wonders why there’s no outcry when mainstream Republicans in powerful government positions rub elbows […]
When counting heads on which Republican senators would be willing to join Dems in opposing the “nuclear option,” Arlen Specter has been, at a minimum, leaning the right way. The Pennsylvanian told the Washington Times two weeks ago, for example, that he was wary of the change, but was non-committal about how he’d ultimately vote […]
I know you probably believe your opinion of Fox News Channel can’t get much worse, but wait, it can. Many of the major news websites — CNN.com, MSNBC.com, ABCNews.com, etc. — publish AP articles on their respective sites, under the AP’s byline. Fox News is no exception. The difference, however, as Media Matters discovered, is […]
Just to follow up for a moment on yesterday’s post about Bush’s tax increase on ammunition, I wanted to add that “user fees” (read: taxes) are, under the White House budget, poised to go up all over the government. According to the Office of Management and Budget, Bush’s 2006 budget includes: * A proposed fee […]
It’s 160 pages, but Frank Luntz’s strategy report, obtained and posted online by Kos, is one of the more important post-election documents available. Luntz, an über-pollster for Republicans and MSNBC, no doubt intended this to be available to a limited audience, which makes it all the more entertaining to read. Luntz’s playbook confirms all of […]