Pressure mounts on White House to shake-up staff

Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) is almost always a good little soldier for the White House, but yesterday, he admitted he’d like to see some changes at the White House. “I have some concerns about the team that’s around the president,” said Coleman, a Minnesota Republican with close ties to Bush. “I think you need to […]

‘Weakening our national security is their agenda’

RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman sent around an email last night to his list, highlighting his take on Sen. Feingold’s censure resolution. Take a moment to read it, if for no other reason to understand what Dems are up against it. (Keep a bottle of Maalox handy…) This week, liberal Democrat Russ Feingold called on the […]

Now, we’re the ‘party of death’

National Review editor Ramesh Ponnuru is about to publish the right-wing’s new favorite book. It’s called — I’m not kidding — “The Party of Death: The Democrats, the Media, the Courts, and the Disregard for Human Life.” The pitch seems straightforward enough. According to the publisher, Ponnuru’s latest will be “the first book to expose […]

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: * Rep. Katherine Harris’ (R-Fla.) Senate campaign remains up in the air, but also in disarray. Pollster Ed Goeas tendered his resignation this week, and plans for the “major announcement” Harris announced this […]

‘Insight’ into how the CEO President delegates

As part of my ongoing fascination with the oddly anti-Bush articles appearing in Insight magazine, an off-shoot of Sun Myung Moon’s far-right Washington Times, the latest issue suggests the hands-off president has reached a point in which he’s delegating almost everything. President Bush has decided to stay out of the lion’s share of decisions made […]

A promotion for the Big Dig guy?

Richard Capka may not be a household name, but chances are you’ve heard about his most notable professional challenge: Boston’s Big Dig, which at $14.6 billion, was the most expensive highway project in the history of the world. Capka was the CEO of the project from January 2001 to June 2002 until his position was […]

‘Is handing out fliers now considered a terrorist activity?’

The notion that Americans should trust the Bush administration to use its surveillance powers responsibly, and trust federal agencies not to abuse the rules, is getting harder and harder to believe. An FBI counterterrorism unit monitored — and apparently infiltrated — a peace group in Pittsburgh that opposed the invasion of Iraq, according to internal […]

So much for fiscal responsibility

At the Southern Republican Leadership Conference, would-be presidents were cautious about criticizing the president (or the Republican Congress) directly, but they practically tripped over one another to emphasize one problem: fiscal irresponsibility has run rampant. Yesterday, some of these same Senate Republicans had a chance to do something about it, by voting to restore “paygo” […]

One less hack to worry about

By any reasonable measure, Stewart Simonson was probably the wrong choice to be the Health and Human Services Department’s point man “on matters related to bioterrorism and other public health emergencies.” With the avian flu raising concerns in the public health community, Simonson’s total lack of experience in the field was more than a little […]

‘It’s time for some straight talk about John McCain’

I’m a little behind on this one, but with the Southern Republican Leadership Conference unofficially kicking off the 2008 presidential campaign over the weekend in Memphis, there’s been some renewed buzz about the GOP field and whether John McCain is the likely Republican nominee, as conventional wisdom suggests. Paul Krugman explained yesterday that it’s “time […]