Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) may have been needlessly easy on Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, but when it comes to Bush’s warrantless-search program, Pennsylvania’s senior senator has said all the right things. Now, the test will be to see if he means it. After several weeks in which Specter has been as […]
The “fight” over Samuel Alito’s Supreme Court nomination wasn’t supposed to go this way. This guy not only had a voluminous record after 15 years on the appellate bench, it was all almost embarrassingly conservative. Dems and progressive groups had several weeks to prepare, craft a compelling narrative, pressure moderate and vulnerable Republicans, and narrow […]
When Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) unveiled a redeployment plan for Iraq, most of us assumed it would only be a matter of time before the decorated Marine veteran received the Swiftboat treatment. I just didn’t expect it to be so literal. Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), the former Marine who is an outspoken critic of […]
On Thursday, Bush participated in a roundtable discussion with small business owners and community leaders in New Orleans, billed as a chance to discuss the progress seen over the last few months. But when the president said the city is “a heck of a place to bring your family,” it couldn’t have been too encouraging […]
Al Gore has scheduled a major address for Monday. If you get the chance, you might want to check it out — it sounds like it’ll be pretty powerful. In a major address slated for delivery Monday in Washington, the former Vice President is expected to argue that the Bush administration has created a “Constitutional […]
Last week’s edition of this idea blatantly stolen inspired by The Daily Show seemed to be fairly well received, so it’s back for another installment. Let’s see what the ol’ “God Machine” kicks up this week…. First up is the bizarre tale of a Navy chaplain who’s been on a hunger strike by the White […]
In Maryland, there are four private employers with more than 10,000 workers. Three of the four spent at least 8% of their payroll on health insurance. The fourth is Wal-Mart. With this in mind, state lawmakers passed a law that didn’t mention the behemoth by name, but would have required any company with exactly these […]
Earlier this week, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter said, in surprisingly candid language, that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales would have to testify on the legality of Bush’s warrantless-search program. As Specter said, in reference to Gonzales, “Well, I didn’t ask him if he had agreed…. I don’t think he has a whole lot of […]
Last week, as the Republican establishment grew increasingly nervous about the Jack Abramoff affair, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist leaked word that the Senate GOP would “get ahead of” the scandal by promoting a reform measure that would change the way lobbying is done on the Hill. Frist tapped one member to take the lead […]
More and more, I understand why the president doesn’t like press conferences. For example, here was an exchange from today’s joint event with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Q: Thank you, sir. If I could just follow up on that. China’s U.N. Ambassador says referring Iran to the Security Council might complicate the issue. How hard […]