For all the pleasantries and polite rhetoric about “bi-partisanship” and “cooperation,” the president has decided to pick two fights in the immediate aftermath of his party’s devastating election losses: the John Bolton nomination and legislation to authorize warrantless searches and wiretaps. Tony Snow was asked today about what kind of message this sends. Q Back […]
A couple of years ago, a legal action was brought against Donald Rumsfeld in Germany, stemming from alleged wrongdoing in Iraq, including prisoner abuse. The Pentagon was livid, and Bush administration told German officials that the matter could adversely impact U.S.-German relations. Eventually, a German prosecutor announced he would not pursue the matter, leaving the […]
When the WaPo’s Chris Cillizza first reported on Wednesday night that Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele (R), who lost his Senate race by 10 points on Tuesday, is “mulling a bid for the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee,” I honestly thought it was a joke. In its editorial on his Senate race, the WaPo […]
Howard Dean made some risky moves over the last two years, but after the election results were in, he looked pretty smart. As Joe Conason noted in Salon today, the DNC chairman is “enjoying vindication.” As well he should. Though I’ve been hard on Dean on occasion, his strategy helped the party in the short […]
I have to say, for a group of folks who just got their hats handed to them, the gang at Grover Norquist’s Wednesday meeting sound quite content. Awaking to the dismal reality of widespread defeat, more than 100 of the conservative movement’s most ardent leaders gathered as they have every Wednesday for more than a […]
The notion of a simmering schism between the Republican Party’s libertarian and Christian conservative wings isn’t exactly new. These two have never really gotten along, or even been on the same page, but they’ve trudged along under the GOP’s “big tent.” In the wake of this week’s election results, however, the fissures are becoming more […]
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 election was three days ago, but it’s worth noting that there are still 11 races that remain undecided. Taegan Goddard offers a helpful list: CT-2, FL-13, GA-12, NC-8, NM-1, OH-2, OH-15, […]
The WaPo had an interesting item today about voters replacing some of the few remaining Republican moderates in Congress with Democrats. Tuesday’s electoral upheaval wiped out many of the few remaining Republican moderates in Congress, further cementing the geographic partitioning of the House and potentially widening the ideological divisions that have contributed to partisanship and […]
After months in which the conventional wisdom suggested that [tag]corruption[/tag], as a political issue, lacked salience and would do little to help Democrats, Election Day proved otherwise. Not only was the issue important to voters, many of the incumbents tarnished most by scandal found themselves unemployed this week. Some conservatives clearly get this. National Review’s […]
The fact the conservative voices have dominated the Sunday-morning public affairs shows in recent years is well-documented. Some have suggested that shows like Meet the Press simply go where the action is — if Republicans have power, than it’s Republicans who’ll get the invitations. Since the GOP has been the majority party in recent years, […]