The House of Representatives, which hasn’t done much of anything of substance in months, has been surprisingly busy lately, debating and voting on a series of bills that are geared towards making the Republican base happy. Taken together, I think there’s a pattern. * The House approved a measure to shield “under God” in the […]
Once in a while, we’ll hear a Republican lawmaker express concern that the party’s recent rhetoric on immigration has been so over the top that the GOP risks driving Hispanic voters away for the indefinite future. Apparently, the party should probably pay closer attention to those warnings. A new poll of Spanish-speaking voters shows significant […]
In the Wall Street Journal today, [tag]Peggy Noonan[/tag] argued that it’s “sad and frustrating” that the world’s leading scientific minds can’t get together and decide if [tag]global warming[/tag] is real, and if it is, whether it’s dangerous. And this meeting of the minds happen, Noonan says, because scientists aren’t reliable. You would think the world’s […]
Other than Joe Lieberman, it seems Bush is just about alone in his optimism about the war in Iraq. That includes Republicans. Faced with almost daily reports of sectarian carnage in Iraq, congressional Republicans are shifting their message on the war from speaking optimistically of progress to acknowledging the difficulty of the mission and pointing […]
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 Wisconsin, both of the key statewide races are leaning in the Dems’ direction, but one more so than the other. According to a new Rasmussen poll, Sen. [tag]Herb Kohl[/tag] (D) continues […]
The list of examples is exceedingly long, but for every [tag]Bush[/tag] commitment to a reasonably progressive goal, there’s overwhelming evidence that the [tag]president[/tag]’s rhetoric is hollow and meaningless. Kevin Drum had a terrific post about this last month, highlighting the president’s alleged concerns about a series of issues (counterproliferation, deficits, democracy promotion) that completely contradict […]
As if [tag]FEMA[/tag] hasn’t done enough already, the agency now believes it can interfere with hurricane victims living in FEMA [tag]trailer parks[/tag] doing [tag]interview[/tag]s with [tag]reporters[/tag]. If there’s a reasonable explanation for this, I can’t think of it. Residents of trailer parks set up by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to house hurricane victims in […]
On the heels of Republican outrage over the DCCC’s use of war imagery in a web video, Sen. [tag]Mike DeWine[/tag] (R-Ohio) muddled the GOP message by launching a new TV ad with images of 9/11. Republican leaders had some trouble explaining why something is offensive when Dems do it, but reasonable when the GOP does […]
With two-and-a-half weeks to go in the closely-watched Dem Senate primary in Connecticut, Sen. Joe Lieberman isn’t consolidating party support; he’s losing it. A [tag]Quinnipiac[/tag] University [tag]poll[/tag] released Thursday has Democratic challenger Ned [tag]Lamont[/tag] leading the U.S. Senate race over incumbent Joe [tag]Lieberman[/tag]. The poll shows Lamont ahead 51-47 percent among likely voters in the […]
As expected, Bush vetoed the bi-partisan stem-cell research bill that passed both houses of Congress and enjoys broad national support. It was the first veto of his presidency, and he was apparently a little embarrassed about it. Bush addressed a friendly audience in the East Room this afternoon after vetoing the bill, and instead of […]