I know there are still a few Dems out there who like [tag]John McCain[/tag]. They see him on [tag]The Daily Show[/tag], they find him charming, and they hear the far-right complain bitterly about him, and these Dems are left thinking, “McCain isn’t like his [tag]GOP[/tag] colleagues.” In case it wasn’t abundantly clear before, it’s well […]
I got a couple of emails yesterday asking why I hadn’t mentioned Sen. Arlen [tag]Specter[/tag]’s latest vow to introduce legislation letting Congress [tag]sue[/tag] [tag]Bush[/tag] over “[tag]signing statements[/tag].” I didn’t because I was confident one of two things would happen — either Specter would back down (or accept some absurd “compromise”) or Specter’s [tag]Republican[/tag] colleagues would […]
Two weeks ago, a [tag]Treasury[/tag] Department report made clear what was already pretty obvious: “tax cuts do not come remotely close to paying for themselves.” Yesterday, Treasury undermined the administration’s message on [tag]tax cuts[/tag] again, this time reporting that — surprise, surprise — the cuts have costly consequences. The federal government will need to either […]
A committee of National Research Council experts, which included prominent computer scientists and two former governors, began last year researching “the right questions” about [tag]electronic voting[/tag]. This week, the panel is presenting its results to the public. “Some jurisdictions — and possibly many — may not be well prepared for the arrival of the November […]
Last week I noted that FEMA said it has a “policy” that prevents hurricane victims living in FEMA trailer parks from doing interviews with [tag]reporters[/tag]. Journalists had already been removed from public property for speaking with residents and FEMA insisted that people living in the [tag]trailers[/tag] need government “escorts” to sit in on all media […]
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 good news for Rep. [tag]Katherine Harris[/tag]’ Senate campaign in Florida is that it’s almost at the point in which it has no where to go but up. A new Mason-Dixon poll […]
A couple of weeks ago, Cursor noted a “[tag]Rapture[/tag] Ready” online message board featuring some cautiously-optimistic evangelicals who believe events in the Middle East may be part of a [tag]Biblical[/tag] [tag]end-times[/tag] [tag]prophecy[/tag]. As one person asked, “Is it times to get excited?” Of course, it was just random speculation on a largely-unknown message board. We […]
When I worked at AU, I’d receive a bunch of calls every November from angry people who thought it was wholly inappropriate to ask voters to go to a house of worship to cast a ballot. It’s a fairly common scenario: some localities don’t have large enough facilities to host a polling station, so officials […]
As part of my ongoing fascination with the oddly anti-Bush articles appearing in Insight magazine, an off-shoot of Sun Myung Moon’s far-right Washington Times, the latest issue suggests the neocons, who consistently railed against Colin Powell when he led the State Department, are none too pleased with his successor. Conservative national security allies of President […]
With the Senate [tag]Judiciary Committee[/tag] scheduled to hold a hearing today on Committee Chairman [tag]Arlen Specter[/tag]’s (R-Pa.) “[tag]compromise[/tag]” proposal on warrantless searches, it’s worth taking another moment to remember just how awful the senator’s idea really is. In the end, the [tag]White House[/tag], which has circumvented the law with a [tag]warrant[/tag]less-[tag]search[/tag] program that operates with […]