National Journal published a list this week of salaries for the several hundred political appointees who work at the White House. As TP noted, one guy, [tag]Stuart Baker[/tag], makes $106,641 a year to serve as the president’s “[tag]Director for Lessons Learned[/tag].” It is, by any reasonable measure, the most patently absurd title in Washington. It’s […]
We’re almost half-way through July, which means August is right around the corner — and that’s the month Bush likes to take off. The president easily broke the record last year for most vacation days for a two-term president (with three years to spare!) thanks in large part to the fact that he enjoys month-long […]
The Washington Times reported today that Senate Dems are considering a filibuster for William J. [tag]Haynes[/tag]’ [tag]nomination[/tag] to the U.S. [tag]Court of Appeals[/tag] for the 4th Circuit. My first choice would be to see the Bush White House have the decency to pull the nomination. My second choice would be to see enough reasonable [tag]Senate[/tag] […]
It’s been days since I said anything derogatory about [tag]Fox News[/tag], so I hope readers won’t mind if I take note of an odd statistic about [tag]Bill O’Reilly[/tag]’s audience. The New York Times had an interesting item yesterday about O’Reilly’s arch-nemesis — [tag]MSNBC[/tag]’s [tag]Keith Olbermann[/tag] — and his success in an otherwise-bleak MSNBC prime-time line-up. […]
In a year in which almost nothing of any substance is passing Congress, renewing the Voting Rights Act was supposed to be an easy one for the GOP. Especially in light of the controversies surrounding voting problems, which in some instances may have racially motivated, protecting the rights of minorities to vote was a no-brainer. […]
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 Minnesota, Veterinarian and philanthropist [tag]Ford Bell[/tag] (D) ended his Senate campaign yesterday, clearing the way for Hennepin County Attorney [tag]Amy Klobuchar[/tag] to win the Dem (technically, the DFL) nomination in September. […]
Yesterday’s announcement from the administration on extending protections from the Geneva Conventions to U.S. detainees was not quite as elucidating as it could have been. As Spencer Ackerman noted, the policy still doesn’t protect prisoners in CIA custody, and as Slate’s Eric Umansky explained, “Terror suspects in U.S. custody won’t get full POW status under […]
It’s taken several years, but the very lucrative [tag]no-bid[/tag] [tag]contracts[/tag] for [tag]Halliburton[/tag] appear to have come to an end. The WaPo’s front-page story that broke the news, however, included one key tidbit that shouldn’t be overlooked. The [tag]Army[/tag] is discontinuing a controversial [tag]multibillion-dollar[/tag] deal with oil services giant Halliburton Co. to provide logistical support to […]
House Intelligence Committee Chairman [tag]Peter Hoekstra[/tag] (R-Mich.) sure has been busy lately. The conservative lawmaker generated headlines two weeks ago with some bizarre ideas about WMD in Iraq, and raised more than a few eyebrows over the weekend by hinting at still undisclosed NSA surveillance programs that, he believes, the Bush administration may have illegally […]
The [tag]Department of Homeland Security[/tag] looked rather silly last month when it announced new anti-terrorism grants for states and localities, which slashed money for Washington, D.C., and New York City. Making matters worse, a risk scorecard for NYC concluded that the home of the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, and Brooklyn Bridge has “zero” […]