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: * With all precincts reporting, Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) narrowly avoided a run-off in Texas’ 28th congressional district against former Rep. Ciro Rodriguez (D), winning his four-way primary, 53% to 41%. With no […]
About a week ago, when South Dakota’s sweeping new ban on abortion was working its way through the state legislature, a reporter asked Scott McClellan for the White House reaction to the effort. McClellan dodged, saying only that Bush “believes we ought to be working to build a culture of life in America.” Now that […]
The White House has latched onto a meme that Republicans seem particularly fond of: the president’s critics are “angry.” Bush is the optimistic visionary, the argument goes, while his political opponents are wild-eyed cynics, fueled by hate, who use over-the-top rhetoric. The notion that Bush’s detractors are bitter is not without merit. And, sure, the […]
Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee may not be willing to stand up to the White House on warrantless searches, but Republicans in the House see no reason to follow Bush’s lead on the Dubai Ports World issue. In a clear rebuke of President Bush, Republican leaders in the House are expected to block Dubai […]
OK, so Tom DeLay won his Republican primary challenge by a 2-to-1 margin. That said, DeLay should still be concerned about the results. Representative Tom DeLay survived a challenge to his renomination for Congress Tuesday night, outpacing three Republican primary rivals seeking to capitalize on the criminal charges and ethics citations against him. Mr. DeLay, […]
It seemed like a no-brainer. The ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. John Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), had unveiled a proposal to have the committee do its job, and conduct an investigation of a controversial intelligence-gathering mechanism, in this case, the president’s warrantless-search program. Seven of the 15 members of the Committee are Dems, and […]
Just a reminder, Koufax Award voting is open and The Carpetbagger Report has been nominated in four categories. * Best Blog (on Monday, voting in this category was delayed. It’s open now.) * Best Writing * Best Post (for this post) * Best Series (for my coverage of the Denver Three) To vote, follow the […]
The news item of the day seems to be this front-page piece in the WaPo on all the problems congressional Dems are having in “seizing the opportunity” presented by a weakened Republican majority. To be sure, going through the piece, it sounds like the Dems have been given the chance of a generation — and […]
In January, top administration officials — including the president, Condi Rice, and others — remained optimistic that Hamas would not do well in Palestinian elections. When Hamas, which is considered a terrorist organization by the State Department, won a landslide victory, the administration seemed confused and surprised. Rice said that she had directed State Department […]
Following up on the previous post about South Dakota’s abortion ban, the perspective from the law’s chief legislative sponsor is particularly noteworthy. The quote has been making the rounds this week, but it deserves to be shared as broadly as possible. South Dakota State Rep. Bill Napoli’s (R) legislation includes no exception for unwanted pregnancies […]