I’ve seen several suggestions that Dem leaders have not been nearly aggressive enough in holding the White House accountable for the series of failures in response to Hurricane Katrina. I’ve been hesitant to join the bandwagon, in part because I suspect party leaders haven’t felt the need to go on the offensive — administration officials […]
In case you missed it, The Daily Show was in rare form last night. C&L has some video, and here’s some of the transcript, via Dan Froomkin: Ed Helms: “Jon, today, finally, a ray of hope. Eight days after Katrina came ashore, the federal government has gotten its act together, marshalling all of its resources […]
Way back in mid-July, shortly after John Roberts was nominated for the Supreme Court, there were a number of ideas of how best to use the process. If Dems weren’t going to defeat the nomination — with 55 Republican senators, a long-shot from the get-go — the trick of it was how to make the […]
I saw this on CNN this morning and was pretty amazed. Miles O’Brien: As millions watched the horror unfold in New Orleans, our next guests took some immediate action. They got in a car, and they drove from North Carolina straight to Louisiana. They managed to get into the heart of the city and rescue […]
As noted here over the weekend, FEMA gave TV preacher Pat Robertson’s Operation Blessing a top slot on a list of approved charities that are helping the victims of Hurricane Katrina. It was, to be sure, an odd choice. Now, I’m pleased to report, FEMA has not only pulled Robertson’s charity from the list, they’ve […]
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 Field Poll released today shows that barely more than one-in-three California voters would vote re-elect to Arnold Schwarzenegger and that the broad base of independent and Dem support he enjoyed in […]
One of the first announcements about this week’s legislative agenda came late Monday when Bill Frist announced that a vote on a permanent repeal of the estate tax would be delayed indefinitely. And one of the second announcements was that Republicans on the Hill still wanted other tax cuts. House and Senate lawmakers said they […]
Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) is considered one of the Senate’s most vulnerable Republican incumbents, but several high-profile Dems have nevertheless withdrawn from consideration. Rumors swirled that Reps. Sherrod Brown and Tim Ryan were eyeing the race, but both announced in August that they have no intention of taking on DeWine. There is, however, one high-profile […]
A top aide to a Republican senator told Slate’s John Dickerson the other day that there are two primary tasks at hand in addressing the disaster on the Gulf Coast: “writing and figuring out who gets fired.” As for the second part, all signs are pointing to FEMA’s Mike Brown. In truth, Brown’s position has […]
Borrowing a page from the Harper’s Index, the Democratic Policy Committee issued this fascinating list of facts and data this morning. Iraq Approximate number of U.S. troops currently in Iraq: 139,000 Percent of coalition forces contributed by the U.S. 85.7 Weeks since the Pentagon developed a plan to draw down U.S. forces in Iraq to […]