Now that Tom DeLay’s travel arrangements have come under intense scrutiny, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are digging through their report filings and noticing a few “clerical errors” — some which happen to be tied to Jack Abramoff. Lobbyist Jack Abramoff paid at least a portion of the expenses for two Democratic members […]
Yesterday, I noted that Sens. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.) have introduced the Truth in Broadcasting Act, which would require “prepackaged news stories” produced by the administration contain disclose the source of the material forever more. And while we wait for the legislation to work its way through the Senate Commerce Committee, you’ll […]
I’ve often wondered what presidential candidates, who have no day job, do for four years. One can’t just go around campaigning for a race that doesn’t exist (I guess they could, but voters wouldn’t respond very well). When it comes to 2008, most of the likely Dem aspirants are plenty busy attending to their professional […]
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their own, but may be of interest to political observers: * Now that Richard Morrison, Tom DeLay’s 2004 opponent, has withdrawn from consideration in 2006, a new name is in the mix among Dems who want to take on the flailing Majority Leader: […]
In the mid-90s, Newt Gingrich used to tussle with Dems over whether GOP plans to scale back spending on health care and education amounted to “cuts” or whether he was simply “slowing the rate of growth.” It was a silly debate — when the government spends less than it promises on a program, it’s cutting […]
Last week, I noted that the system religious intolerance at the Air Force Academy had grown so serious that every non-Christian cadet was effectively treated as a second-class citizen. My friends at Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which produced a devastating report on the academy’s tolerance for harassment, had threatened to sue […]
The Hill ran an interesting item today about the latest nuclear option developments, but you’ll need some kind of secret Republican decoder ring to decipher the whole thing because the article includes some conflicting updates. For what it’s worth, Bill Frist, after several weeks of hemming and hawing, is telling allies that he’ll execute the […]
Think Progress’ Jon Sherman had a good item yesterday, noting that Liberian dictator and war criminal Charles Taylor maintains his brutal reign with the help of powerful friends, including TV preacher Pat Robertson. Sherman found it odd that Robertson would sign on to an anti-poverty campaign for the developing world while simultaneously defending a thug […]
The ongoing problem for congressional Dems when it came to Tom DeLay’s scandalous behavior is that so few Americans knew he was. There’s no point in trying to brand a GOP candidate a “Tom DeLay Republican” if voters say, “Who?” At least that was the problem. As the DCCC’s Jesse Lee noted, DeLay’s name recognition […]
The question of whether Bill Frist has the votes to pull off the nuclear option or not has been the subject of intense scrutiny here and elsewhere. On the record, most Republican senators paint it as a foregone conclusion: the votes are there and the floor confrontation is inevitable. Indeed, just this week, Frist told […]