When it comes to tolerating [tag]unethical[/tag], and probably [tag]illegal[/tag], conduct, congressional [tag]Republicans[/tag] will talk the talk, but Dems walk the walk. House Democrats voted on Thursday night to strip a Louisiana congressman [William J. [tag]Jefferson[/tag]] of a key committee position as they tried to avoid any taint of scandal in a year when they want […]
We reached another unfortunate milestone today in Iraq, as the Pentagon announced that the number of U.S. military deaths has reached 2500. White House Press Secretary Tony Snow was asked if the president had “any response or reaction.” Snow responded: “It’s a number, and every time there’s one of these 500 benchmarks people want something.” […]
Foreign Policy, an influential journal published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, did something interesting recently. The journal asked 100 leading American foreign-policy analysts, from both sides of the aisle, for their perspectives on the war on terrorism. The participants were some serious heavy-hitters, including a former secretary of state, former heads of the […]
We’ve been hearing about it for a while now, but the [tag]House[/tag] [tag]Democrats[/tag] are unveiling a policy agenda they’d implement if they take back the [tag]majority[/tag] in November. It sounds pretty good. The “[tag]New Direction[/tag]” platform hits all the high points — stem-cell research, use Medicare to negotiate lower prescription-drug prices, minimum wage increase, a […]
[tag]White House[/tag] [tag]Press Secretary[/tag] [tag]Tony Snow[/tag] appeared on [tag]Don Imus[/tag]’ show today, and the two apparently enjoyed themselves by attacking former President [tag]Jimmy Carter[/tag]. One of Snow’s comments, in particular, stood out. Whereas Bush “snuck off” to visit Iraq, Carter “used to sneak off and fish on the weekends.” First, for a Bushie to criticize […]
A couple of months ago, a report by the Commonwealth Fund, a private, health care policy foundation, showed that nearly 60% of all Americans of uninsured Americans with chronic conditions either skip doses of medication or go without because it’s too expensive. Of course, because they can’t afford preventative measures, those same Americans are more […]
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: * The back-and-forth in New Jersey’s Senate race seems to have swung in the incumbent’s favor, at least for now. A new Quinnipiac poll shows Sen. [tag]Bob Menendez[/tag] (D) leading state Sen. [tag]Tom […]
I was surprised and delighted to see that Bush will designate a 1,400-mile island chain northwest of [tag]Hawaii[/tag] as a [tag]national monument[/tag] today. It will, apparently, be the largest protected [tag]marine reserve[/tag] in the world. Oddly enough, up until fairly recently, the president held the opposite position. While Clinton had declared a coral reef ecosystem […]
The LA Times ran a front-page item today explaining the Republicans’ new strategy when it comes to the politics of Iraq: talk about how they consistently see the war differently than most of the public. The [tag]Iraq[/tag] [tag]war[/tag] is the most immediate foreign policy problem besetting the [tag]Bush[/tag] [tag]administration[/tag]. But as a political issue, the […]
For decades, the [tag]Pledge of Allegiance [/tag]was purely secular. It used to end, “one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” In 1954, Congress changed the language and inserted “[tag]under God[/tag]” as part of the response to the Cold War. (If the enemies were godless communists, we did the opposite. Now that our enemies […]