The company that they keep – redux

Following up on an item from a few days ago, the Family Research Council, DC’s most powerful religious right lobbying group, is hosting a major conference, starting today, called the “2006 Values Voter Summit.” For a mere $95, attendees can hear three days worth of far-right, theocratic rhetoric from nearly all of the movement’s most […]

Friday’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 Pennsylvania, two new Rasmussen polls offer Dems good news and very good news. In the Senate race, after Rick Santorum (R) closed the gap recently against Bob Casey (D), the Democrat […]

Time for Alphonso Jackson to go

Following up on yesterday’s item about Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson and his apparent penchant for letting politics dictate the grant process, it looks like Bush’s cabinet secretary has a real problem on his hands. Yesterday, an initial news report indicated that HUD’s inspector general found that Jackson “urged top aides to take […]

Bush goes off-message

Bush was in Florida yesterday to hammer home the GOP’s message and attack Democrats. With torture, tribunals, warrantless searches, the war in Iraq, and discussions of terrorism dominating the discourse, it stood to reason that the president would go after the opposition party on … taxes. President [tag]Bush[/tag] began a blistering new political offensive on […]

O’Reilly targeted by al Qaeda?

One of my all-time favorite Stephen Colbert quips came a couple of weeks ago when he delivered a stinging rebuke to Geraldo Rivera and Bill O’Reilly, after the two criticized the Comedy Central hosts. Colbert told Jon Stewart: “What are you implying, John? That Geraldo and O’Reilly are narcissists that enthralled by their overblown egos? […]

The National Black Republican Association’s telling new ad

I realize the GOP is anxious to try to win Maryland’s competitive open Senate race, but this is truly ridiculous. (thanks to PWalker for the tip) Black Republican groups emerged from the political margins yesterday, launching a campaign to persuade African American voters to support Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele’s bid for the U.S. […]

McCain, Warner, and Graham cut and ran

I feel like I need to go to a chalkboard and write, 100 times, “I will not count on congressional Republicans to do the right thing.” For all the talk about the GOP “mavericks” who showed great courage and conviction standing up to a White House bent on torture, in the end, it didn’t amount […]

‘Karl Rove’s juggernaut’

Tom Edsall, one of my favorite, old-school political reporters in the country, has a great item in The New Republic about what he describes as “Karl Rove’s juggernaut.” Thanks to a link on Ezra’s site, the TNR piece is actually available to non-subscribers. There’s a lot to consider in the piece, but like Ezra, I […]

Bush, McCain reach agreement on detainee provisions

Details are still non-existent, but it seems there’s been a break in the stalemate. President Bush and Republican negotiators led by Sen. John McCain have reached an agreement on legislation covering tribunals for enemy combatant suspects, NBC News reported Thursday. Details on the deal were not immediately available, but Rep. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said it […]

Name one thing that Congress has done in the past year that stands out

OK, one more post about the latest New York Times/CBS News poll. There’s plenty of data on Congress’ stunning unpopularity — the institution’s approval rating is down to just 25% — but I was even more impressed with some of the more obscure details. Two-thirds said Congress had accomplished less than it typically did in […]