Thursday’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 the always-fascinating Florida Senate race, a new Quinnipiac poll shows Sen. [tag]Bill Nelson[/tag] (D) trouncing Rep. [tag]Katherine Harris[/tag] (R), 58% to 25%. This is slightly better for Nelson than his 56% […]

Apparently, Broder can’t get enough

It was discouraging enough for the [tag]New York Times[/tag] to run a 2,000-word, front-page article this week with salacious speculation about the [tag]Clintons[/tag]’ love life, but for the WaPo’s [tag]David Broder[/tag], the “dean” of the Washington press corps, to follow up on this nonsense is mystifying. The article, by [tag]Patrick Healy[/tag], was anything but unsympathetic. […]

Note to DeLay: Colbert is kidding

Silly me, I always thought it was fairly obvious that [tag]Stephen Colbert[/tag] of Comedy Central’s [tag]Colbert Report[/tag] was an over-the-top parody. Apparently, [tag]Tom DeLay[/tag] isn’t in on the joke. [Yesterday] morning, DeLay’s legal defense fund sent out a mass email criticizing the movie “[tag]The Big Buy[/tag]: Tom DeLay’s Stolen Congress,” by “Outfoxed” creator [tag]Robert Greenwald[/tag]. […]

Putting Cheney on the stand

According to recent court filings, [tag]Patrick Fitzgerald[/tag] apparently believes [tag]Dick Cheney[/tag] should testify in [tag]Scooter Libby[/tag]’s criminal trial. As the NYT put it, a filing “underscored the prosecutor’s contention that the vice president’s role was critical to understanding Mr. Libby’s wrongdoing,” and is the first indication that Cheney himself might be called as a government […]

Last remaining moderate too qualified to stay in Bush administration

Bob [tag]Zoellick[/tag], the number-two man at the [tag]State Department[/tag], who has overseen Darfur peace negotiations for the administration and played a major role in managing U.S.-China relations, appears to be on his way out of government. Apparently, he wanted a promotion, but the Bush gang decided he was far too qualified. Robert B. Zoellick intends […]

ABC News isn’t backing down on Hastert story

As posted last night, [tag]ABC News[/tag] reported late in the afternoon that House [tag]Speaker[/tag] [tag]Dennis Hastert[/tag] is “under [tag]investigation[/tag] by the [tag]FBI[/tag], which is seeking to determine his role in an ongoing public corruption probe into members of Congress,” according to “senior U.S. law enforcement officials” who spoke to ABC’s [tag]Brian Ross[/tag]. The investigation reportedly […]

Is Speaker Hastert ‘in the mix’ of a bribery investigation?

[tag]ABC News[/tag]’ [tag]Brian Ross[/tag] has what may be a blockbuster scoop. There are, however, some lingering questions. The [tag]Speaker of the House[/tag] of Representatives, [tag]Dennis Hastert[/tag], is [tag]under investigation[/tag] by the [tag]FBI[/tag], which is seeking to determine his role in an ongoing public [tag]corruption[/tag] probe into members of Congress, ABC News has learned from senior […]

The solution for the war in Iraq — by John McCain

Jason Horowitz reports in the New York Observer that John McCain met with an exclusive audience of very wealthy Republicans in New York late last week, shortly after getting booed relentlessly at the New School’s commencement ceremony. The students weren’t terribly impressed, but apparently McCain “saved some of his best material” for the elite crowd […]

Bush facing resistance on anti-gay amendment — close to home

The right is hitting the White House for not doing enough on a constitutional amendment on gay marriage, but according to [tag]Insight[/tag] magazine, the president is facing the opposite pressure closer to home. The issue of [tag]gay marriage[/tag] is causing divisions within the Republican Party, including the highest reaches of the [tag]White House[/tag]. The split […]

No access means no investigation — redux

This seems to be part of a pattern. The [tag]Federal Communications Commission[/tag] will not pursue complaints about the National Security Agency’s access to millions of telephone records because it cannot obtain classified material, the commission’s chairman said in a letter released on Tuesday. Representative Edward J. Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts, had asked regulators to investigate […]