Chaplain confirms system of harassment at Air Force Academy

We’ve seen several reports of late on the systemic and widespread religious discrimination that has become common at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. Ample evidence and first-hand accounts from many former and current cadets points to religious intolerance and harassment against anyone who’s not Christian, including incidents of mandatory prayers, proselytizing by […]

Why we can expect the nuclear option to come up next week

When it comes to scheduling the Senate showdown over judicial nominations, Bill Frist’s credibility is a little shaky. He’s been making various promises/threats to various constituencies about when the fight would come to the floor for months. We might see the vote in March, Frist said. Or maybe early April. Make that late April. Or […]

Republicans embrace Tom DeLay — from a distance

It’s supposed to be the premier right-wing social event of the year — a tribute (political eulogy?) to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, scheduled for this evening. A lavish affair, the event is a special opportunity for Republicans to show their appreciation for the man who breaks the rules and abuses his power for their […]

Taking on history, comity, and the Senate Parliamentarian

I honestly had no idea who the Senate Parliamentarian was before today, but it’s very possible that he’s going to be a lot better known if the Republicans try to execute the nuclear option next week, as planned. The parliamentarian (a non-partisan position) has an important responsibility that doesn’t come up all that often — […]

Communication between feds and press reaches really dangerous levels

From the outset, let me say unequivocally that there’s nothing funny about a potential terrorist threat. I’m not in Washington anymore, but I can appreciate how scary it is when the White House and the Capitol are evacuated because a plane had entered a no-fly zone. It’s hardly the kind of thing one should joke […]

The Attention it Deserves

(Editor’s Note: The Carpetbagger Report, as regular readers know, has joined the Coalition for Darfur, a bi-partisan online initiative created to raise awareness and resources to address the crisis. This is the tenth in a series of posts from the Coalition.) The Coalition for Darfur has two goals: to get bloggers writing about Darfur and […]

Dobson still pulling the Senate’s strings

To understand why the Senate fight over judicial nominees went from imminent compromise to inescapable confrontation in less than 12 hours, look no further than James Dobson. Bush doesn’t do nuance, and Dobson doesn’t do compromise. Worried by reports of a possible compromise, conservative groups that want to eliminate the filibuster in advance of a […]

DeLay’s troubles at home — redux

Yesterday, Tom DeLay received what appeared to be encouraging news from his home district — the Republican Party of Harris County still likes him. The county party’s Executive Committee, which comprises the Republican precinct chairs, unanimously approved a resolution in support of DeLay at its quarterly meeting Monday night. About half of the more than […]

Even if we include withdrawn nominees, Republicans still have a ways to go

The game has been fairly predictable at this point. Republicans will argue that Dems have blocked 10 Bush judicial nominees … and Dems respond that Republicans blocked over 60 Clinton judicial nominees. Republicans then argue that Dem filibusters are unprecedented … and Dems respond by pointing out 17 other judicial filibusters, most of which came […]

Wednesday’s political round-up

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: * In Vermont, Rep. Bernie Sanders’ Senate campaign has barely started and he’s already crushing his likely opponents. Businessman Richard Tarrant, who announced last week that he will run, trails Sanders, 62% to […]