[tag]Lee Bandy[/tag], South Carolina’s legendary political reporter, had an interesting item today about how [tag]Republicans[/tag] have used the “[tag]tax-and-spend[/tag] [tag]liberal[/tag]” label so often, it’s reached the point that it no longer has any real meaning — or salience. “They’ve used it so often that they’ve milked all the meaning out of the phrase,” says Francis […]
[tag]Senate Intelligence Committee[/tag] Chairman [tag]Pat Roberts[/tag] (R-Kan.) has been playing a very annoying game for an embarrassingly long time. Initially, the committee was prepared to release a comprehensive report on pre-[tag]war[/tag] [tag]intelligence[/tag], what it said, and how it was handled. Then Roberts split the report in two — one on how wrong the intelligence was […]
Karl Rove spoke at my alma mater over the weekend, and delivered a couple of gems that were so jaw-dropping, it’s hard to believe he’d have the gall to say them out loud. Of course, we are talking about [tag]Karl Rove[/tag]. “It’s odd to me that most of these critics [of political professionals] are [tag]journalists[/tag] […]
The growing push-back against trying a conservative partisanship and [tag]Christianity[/tag] is hard to miss. Earlier this month, for example, progressive religious leaders such as Bob Edgar, Tony Campolo, and Jim Wallis argued, “We are furious that the religious right has made [tag]Jesus[/tag] into a [tag]Republican[/tag]. That’s idolatry. To recreate Jesus in your own image rather […]
July’s almost over, Congress starts a five-week summer break tomorrow, and Bush seems to have some kind of moral objection to working in the month of August, so let’s take on a slightly less serious discussion-group topic today, shall we? National Review’s John J. Miller recently published what he labeled the “50 greatest conservative rock […]
If you have time, I’d really encourage readers to watch the video of yesterday’s press conference with Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. A link to the video is on the White House transcript. The president doesn’t hold many press conferences, so it’s sometimes easy to forget just how difficult it is for him […]
As expected, one of the more shameless GOP stunts in a while passes the House last night, by a fairly narrow vote. The House approved an increase in the federal minimum wage on Saturday, but its future was clouded because Republicans tied the pay change to an estate tax cut that had been blocked in […]
Sen. [tag]Russ Feingold[/tag] (D-Wis.) likes to joke that the campaign-finance reform measure that bears his name is so well-known that a large part of the country thinks his first name is “[tag]McCain[/tag].” As it turns out, that may not be a problem anymore. The quartet of lawmakers behind every major federal campaign finance restriction in […]
First up from the God machine this week is an unusual trend in the field of religion and sports. Hand fans waved in southeast Atlanta on Thursday afternoon as they do at so many summer worship services in the South. Only this revival was at Turner Field, and Atlanta Braves pitcher John Smoltz preached on […]
Guest Post by Morbo Fred Phelps, the Kansas minister known for his strident opposition to homosexuality, is widely acknowledged to be a moron. There’s a good reason for this: Phelps is a moron. Phelps’ entire family consists of morons. (I will exempt the young children, who appear to have been brainwashed.) But guess what — […]