In early 2005, [tag]Kansas[/tag] Attorney General [tag]Phill Kline[/tag] (R) launched an unprecedented effort to subpoena medical records from state abortion clinics, insisting that harassing clinics and obtaining confidential records is necessary to combat statutory rape. In February, the Kansas Supreme Court today blocked Kline’s plan, ruling that the initiative would violate patients’ [tag]privacy[/tag]. But Kline […]
I was anxious to see how the major dailies — who have reporters with better [tag]White House[/tag] sources than I do — covered yesterday’s [tag]staff[/tag]ing changes in the West Wing, and see how insiders described the significance of the “shake-up” for Bush’s presidency. The consensus: not much. [tag]Karl Rove[/tag], for example, has lost some power […]
OK, so [tag]Karl Rove[/tag] is giving up the policy job he never should have had in the first place. Who’s getting the responsibilities that have been taken away from Rove? That would be [tag]Joel Kaplan[/tag]. Who’s he? I’m glad you asked. According to his official WH bio, Kaplan seems like a logical choice to coordinate […]
Newsweek’s [tag]Howard Fineman[/tag] takes a relatively helpful big-picture look at this morning’s events in the White House and suggests [tag]Josh Bolten[/tag] is the big winner — because he’ll go home tonight with more [tag]power[/tag], and [tag]Karl Rove[/tag] will go home with less. In the snakepit of the White House — any [tag]White House[/tag] — power […]
I noted earlier this week about a breathtakingly dishonest [tag]ad[/tag] the Republican National Committee is running out West accusing Dems voting to “treat millions of hardworking [tag]immigrants[/tag] as [tag]felons[/tag],” when in fact, [tag]Republicans[/tag] had done so. A number of you asked what the Dems, specifically the DNC, planned to do about this. The Note reported […]
The bad news is, Josh Bolten appears to be rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. The good news is they [tag]Bush[/tag] gang, at this point, has nowhere to go but up. President Bush’s job-approval rating slipped for the third consecutive month and remains near the lowest mark of his presidency, according to a new […]
Earlier this month, we learned that the U.S. effort to reconstruct health centers across [tag]Iraq[/tag] has not only failed; it’s run out of money. After two years and roughly $200 million, we’re on track to finish no more than 20 of the 142 [tag]clinics[/tag] we planned to build. At the same time, we learned that […]
President [tag]Bush[/tag] can’t say enough about how much he supports Defense Secretary [tag]Donald Rumsfeld[/tag]. Rumsfeld is “doing a fine job,” Bush says. He’s “transforming the military” and “helping us fight a war on terror.” Just yesterday, the president concluded, “I have strong confidence in Don Rumsfeld.” But the New York Daily News’ Thomas DeFrank, whose […]
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: * Florida’s gubernatorial race appeared to be leaning the GOP’s way, but the latest Quinnipiac poll shows it’s still anybody’s race. In the Dem primary, Rep. [tag]Jim Davis[/tag] leads state Sen. [tag]Rod Smith[/tag], […]
Yesterday, [tag]Bush[/tag] spoke at a magnet middle school in Maryland to talk up his “[tag]American Competitiveness Initiative[/tag],” and he emphasized how important it is for students to think of [tag]science[/tag] as being “[tag]cool[/tag].” “We saw two [tag]scientists[/tag] who are here from NASA. These are good, hard-working folks who said, ‘I kind of want to lend […]