The Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee have offered a sweeping indictment of the Bush White House’s casual approach to law-breaking in a new report, “The Constitution in Crisis.” It’s quite a document. TPM Muckraker’s Justin Rood spoke with Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), the ranking Dem on the committee, about the report and its purpose. […]
Embarrassed by the length of previous years’ [tag]vacation[/tag]s, and the tragedies that have unfolded while the [tag]president[/tag] enjoys clearing some brush, [tag]Bush[/tag] will take an abbreviated August vacation this year, spending only 10 days at his Crawford retreat. The break began last night. As Nico noted, the president’s British counterpart is taking a different approach. […]
For a variety of reasons, it was disappointing to see groups with progressive agendas, such as the [tag]Sierra Club[/tag] and [tag]NARAL[/tag], endorse less-conservative Republicans like Sen. Linc Chafee (R-R.I.). It should be pretty obvious that a Democratic majority is key to the groups’ causes, so endorsing a Dem who shares the groups’ beliefs should be […]
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 Connecticut, the Washington Post reports that Sen. Joe Lieberman (D) has given up on his GOTV efforts for next week. “Facing a likely defeat, Lieberman has scrapped plans for a massive […]
The American Prospect’s Benjamin Weyl had a great item yesterday on what’s slowly become an important phenomenon: Republicans leaving the [tag]GOP[/tag] and becoming Dems. Kansas is the epicenter of [tag]party[/tag]-[tag]switch[/tag]ers, with nine former [tag]Republicans [/tag]running for office as [tag]Democrats[/tag], including Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ (D) running mate, who was no less than the former state GOP […]
In the world of professional punditry, heavy-hitters like [tag]David Broder[/tag] and [tag]Thomas Friedman[/tag] not only help reflect the [tag]conventional wisdom[/tag], they help shape it. The mainstream political world considers their opinions as the most serious and credible perspectives in the country, and in turn, their points of view become synonymous with sensibility. And right now, […]
TV preacher [tag]Pat Robertson[/tag] is, oddly enough, finally feeling the heat. (TP has video) Conservative Christian broadcaster Pat [tag]Robertson[/tag] said Thursday the wave of scorching temperatures across the United States has converted him into a believer in [tag]global warming[/tag]. “We really need to address the burning of fossil fuels,” Robertson said on his “700 Club” […]
[tag]Republicans[/tag] pulled out all the stops, twisted every arm, and pushed as hard as they could, but in the end, enough Dems held firm and blocked the GOP’s cynical ploy. Senate Democrats blocked a Republican bid to combine a tax cut for the wealthy with a wage increase for the working poor last night, adding […]
Jim Pinkerton had an interesting column in Newsday today about the tendency of voters to “look up to war heroes.” As he sees it, this makes John McCain the odds-on favorite to win not only the GOP nomination in 2008, but also the presidency. With all due respect to Pinkerton — a professor from my […]
Former House Majority Leader [tag]Tom DeLay[/tag] resigned from Congress and withdrew himself from consideration for re-election, after he had already won a GOP primary, claiming he moved to Virginia and was therefore ineligible. A lawsuit challenged the move, arguing a) DeLay couldn’t take his name of the ballot just because he expected to lose; and […]